Recall Barack Obama’s famous, or infamous, “Beer Summit,” which brought Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cambridge, Mass Sergeant James Crowley to sit down like civilized men and discuss their differences over brews?

While the event is lionized today as an example of Obama’s ability to bring people together, it went over less well at the time. The President, in particular, drew steep criticism from law and order whites after he characterized the arrest of Gates as “stupid.” Over the years, many of my white conservative acquaintances have interpreted that as Obama calling all law enforcement stupid.

Contemporary news…

Pauline Harmange hates men so much she wrote a book about it.

She calls it: I Hate Men.

Catchy title. Right?

It’s more elegant in the original French: Moi, les hommes, je les deteste. I found it on a table at The Strand. A slender volume clothed in a bright yellow cover. It was supposedly banned in France.

I think I at least understand what you're expressing here without having experienced it myself. Philando Castile, in particular, was egregious because he had so many citations & warrants pertaining to licensure & registration, but relatively few moving violations.

In short, why was he being stopped & his license scrutinized so often if not for DWB?

But, I have to add there are differences between say, Lt. Nazario, Daunte Wright & George Floyd. Nazario should never have come into contact with police because he was driving a legally-puchased car with new car tags. No one in their right mind believes…

I want to offer some preliminary comments, very preliminary, because a five-art series such as this offers a great deal to digest.

Focus on department as whole, their ability to serve the public interest in a manner consistent with the Constitution & greater good, & hold supervisors accountable for malfeasant cops.

I believe that summarizes your position (though oversimplifying considerably). I'm intrigued.

Police reform has been a topic of interest for me for many years now. …

Astonishing wordsmithery, Paul. Dense, but highly readable. Writing to consume while resting in the place that isn't there.

Despite showering daily and brushing my teeth at least twice-a-day, I’m not clean. Nor do I aim to be. How I came to use Suboxone (buprenorphine) is a tale told by an idiot readers can find in greater detail here. The short version is that from a very early age I was given all sorts of meds—some heavy anti-psychotics, others controlled substances. Why will forever remain a mystery because my mother, who managed such things, passed away in ’74, and the prescribers are long since gone as well.

If I had to guess I showed signs of ADD, which along…

I haven't seen the docu, don't know when I might. Does it imply or conclude that Woody started with Soon Yi before she was 18? If so, that's news to me.

And I take it there is another woman accusing him of having sex with her while she was underage?

I wrote about the Allen/Farrow case from a different angle last summer. My perspective was, truth notwithstanding, were Dylan's allegations legitimately part of the #metoo movement? Granted her brother co-founded it, but piling on as she did implied that new information, or additional allegations had been levied (which hadn't at…

“FDR, ymakih shemo!” wrote Harry in response to some issue in recent US history.

I was shocked.

Ymakih shemo … ?

May his name be erased….

It is a curse applied originally to Haman from the Book of Esther. Observant Jews get drunk during Purim while children use noisemakers to blot out the original anti-Semite’s name. Later examples of Y”S (opposed to Z”L, of blessed memory) might include Hitler, Stalin, Martin Luther, etc.

But Franklin Roosevelt? How was Harry equating our nation’s 32nd president with Hitler?

I asked.

Harry’s response: Roosevelt, Y”S sent the people on the St. …