Wednesday, February 17, 2016

@8:30, 2/17/16

|


1
N.Y. / Region

New York Police Struggle to Follow New Street-Stop Policy, Report Finds

The findings, described in a report filed by the federal monitor, Peter L. Zimroth, portray a department still straining to make its routine inquiries of citizens compliant with the Constitution.

Appearances are that the police act in an unconstitutional manner.
Better training could correct the police.
Better training requires a change in the culture of the police.
Cultural change is slow and expensive.

2
Science

Our Brains Remember the Good Stuff

Researchers have found that the human brain is attracted to things that were once pleasing, but no longer are.

Habits are easily established and then resist change.

3
Opinion

Criminal Justice Reforms

The American Civil Liberties Union discusses the reform of “mens rea” provisions.

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse."
Actions are crimes. 
Intent is requires mind reading, an impossibility.

4
Health

A New Culprit in Lyme Disease

Researchers have discovered a second bacterium that may cause the condition.

Ticks are everywhere.
I am asymptomatic.

5
World

Hungary Assails Human Rights Advocates in the Country, U.N. Expert Says

Michel Forst, the expert, said the advocates faced criticism and that those aiding women, ethnic minorities and gays were most at risk.

Mr. Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party has been causing trouble for several years.
They will be nearly as difficult as the Tea party to dislodge.

6
N.Y. / Region

What Planners of Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar Line Can Learn in New Jersey

The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, across the river from New York City, offers a look at the benefits and challenges of a street-level transit line.

Do not mix parking and streetcars.
Look to New Orleans where streetcars survive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_New_Orleans

7
Health

F.D.A. Issues Zika Virus Guidelines for Blood Supply

The Food and Drug Administration is advising some blood banks to import blood from regions without an outbreak and certain at-risk donors to delay making a donation.

Reasonable profilaxis.

8
Fashion & Style

Rag & Bone Marches to Its Own (Two) Drummers

Rag & Bone showed its women’s and men’s collections on two parallel but syncopated runways, scored by two live percussionists.

Androgeny and misogeny.


9
N.Y. / Region

New Jersey Mayor’s One-Man Mission to Help Cuban Migrants Draws Scrutiny

Felix Roque, the mayor of West New York, has spent over $200,000 helping more than 150 Cubans en route to the United States, but government officials say he is interfering.

The anticommunist orthodoxy is failing with Marxism. 

10
The Upshot

Medical Residents, Misplaced Pride and Saner Hours

Studies suggest there are no harms from long hours, but reduced hours aren’t a problem either.

There is no special benefit to exhaustion.  Sleep as necessary.
Medical doctors must learn to get treatment right the first time.

11
World

U.N. Rights Official Urges China to Release Detained Lawyers

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the high commissioner for human rights, expressed concern over a “very worrying pattern” of arrests and disappearances.

Chinese officials are properly worried about threats to their governments legitimacy.

Economic collapse is supposed to be only a capitalist problem.

12
N.Y. / Region

Plan by Princeton Institute Clashes With a Park’s Revolutionary War Past

A proposal by the Institute for Advanced Study to build faculty housing has drawn criticism from preservationists of a 1777 battleground.

The Institute for Advanced Study can build elsewhere.
It has the cash and the political power.
The past cannot move.

13
N.Y. / Region

Man Waving Gun Is Shot by Officers in the Bronx, Police Say

The man, George Watson, 29, had pointed the gun at a driver and at passing cars, the authorities said, before officers shot him in the arm near a playground in the Morrisania neighborhood.

Probably a proper action by the police.
 
14
N.Y. / Region

De Blasio Says Idea of Closing Rikers Jail Complex Is Unrealistic

Despite Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s support, the proposal struck Mayor Bill de Blasio as impractical, and it poses many financial and political challenges.

The site is not a bad one.
The use needs modification.
The buildings can be changed.

15
World

Xinjiang Region of China Bans Glacier Tourism, Citing Risk to Ecosystem

Officials in the far western region say that tourism is harming the fragile glaciers and that they should be observed from a distance.

The government is worried about water.

The action is a silly one.

16
U.S.

Scalia’s Absence Is Likely to Alter Court’s Major Decisions This Term


Yes.  

The decisions will differ more if a replacement is seated.

18
U.S.

U.S. Closing a Loophole on Products Tied to Slaves

President Obama will close a loophole this week that allowed fish caught by forced labor into the American market, part of a flurry of recent actions to address lawlessness at sea.

I approve.
Humans are not a "special creation".

19
U.S.

Caught Between Costly Alternatives, Ferguson Residents Worry About Its Fate

Ferguson, Mo., which challenged parts of a pact to overhaul its police and court system, faces a lengthy, costly legal battle now that the Department of Justice has filed a civil rights suit against the municipality.

It will be cheaper to restructure as agreed.

20
World

University Student in New Delhi Arrested on Sedition Complaint

The complaint against a student union president is the latest controversy to hit one of the country’s highly politicized universities.

Islam has no special place in civil government.

*
Business Day

European Steel Workers Protest Cheap Chinese Imports

Thousands marched through Brussels to urge the E.U. to keep protections against Chinese imports, which executives say are destroying jobs and the environment.

Protectionism conflicts with "Free Trade".
The European Union has another problem.

No comments:

Post a Comment