On Saturday in New York City, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley reportedly shot and killed police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu while they were sitting in their patrol car. This tragic shooting has quickly become politically charged because it happened amid nationwide protests against police violence in the wake of several controversial shootings shootings of unarmed black … [Read more...] about Of Protesters and Cop Killers
Experts and Quackery
Over at Ethics Alarms, Jack Marshall is blogging about a recent British Medical Journal study of TV medical talk shows which found that, basically, Dr. Oz is talking out of his ass. Jack makes a good point, but this throw-away line caught my eye: For some reason medical experts have waited over a decade to actually check out the snake oil Dr. Oz has been selling to credulous … [Read more...] about Experts and Quackery
Thinking About Lethal Force – Part 3
This is my third post in a series of ruminations about lethal force. Part 1 discussed the basics of what might or might not be self defense, and in Part 2 I discussed how participants and witnesses report and distort what happens, and in this part, I'll be exploring how the news gets out, and what we do with it.NewsIn most cases of lethal force, not only do we not know … [Read more...] about Thinking About Lethal Force – Part 3
Not the Norks
In response to threats apparently coming from hackers in North Korea, Sony pictures has withdrawn their movie The Interview from a Christmas release. Several major theater chains had already backed out, and Sony seems to have given in, possibly after being weakened by the earlier release of hacked proprietary data.I've already made it pretty clear in a different context … [Read more...] about Not the Norks
Some Tortured Thoughts
Well, the CIA torture report is out. And for the record, it's pretty depressing that I now live in the kind of country that has a torture report.I'd heard about some of this stuff before, but some of the details are shocking. The rectal feeding, for example, is not a normal medical procedure, and using that route to get nutrition into the body is inefficient. It seems to … [Read more...] about Some Tortured Thoughts