Screenshots of Wisdom

Republicans' Alternate Universe of Delusion and Disinformation

Poverty

 

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The Police

The Inappropriately High Cost Of Police

This Is How Much Major Cities Prioritize Police Spending Versus Everything Else

Growing calls to “defund the police,” explained

Why Rising Police Budgets Aren’t Making Cities Safer

Cities Spend More and More on Police. Is It Working?

How Much Do U.S. Cities Spend Every Year On Policing?

City Coffers, Not Police Budgets, Hit Hard By the High Cost of Brutality

What a World Without Cops Would Look Like

NEW YORK CITY AND LOS ANGELES SLASH BUDGETS — BUT NOT FOR POLICE

POLICE BUDGETS PUT OTHER RESOURCES IN JEOPARDY

The Price of Defunding the Police

SPENDING BILLIONS ON POLICING, THEN MILLIONS ON POLICE MISCONDUCT

Federal Programs and The Real Cost of Policing

Exploitative Revenues, Law Enforcement, and the Quality of Government Service

Police Misconduct Is Increasingly a Financial Issue

No More Cop Unions

Making Policing More Affordable

Measuring the Costs of Police Services 

Police and Corrections Expenditures

How Cities Offload the Cost of Police Brutality

The Burden of Municipal Police Costs

The Only Way To Fix It Is To Flush It All Away

Bad Cops & The Insufferably Woke

Times are tough. Really tough. Donald Trump is our so-called leader. A pandemic is sweeping the globe. Unemployment has exploded. America's inability to address racism and inequality is, again, on display.

Social media has been full of hashtags and finger-pointing. The righteous woke folk, cohorts of the cancel culture, are again calling for purity among the herd, while virtue-signaling their own superiority.

Most recently, in Milwaukee, the dust-up has been over Mayor Tom Barrett, on a Thursday, announcing that bars and restaurants could open to 25% capacity, on a Friday.

Complaints of this announcement ranged from a lack of notice, being a distraction, being political, to ... well, things really just went off the rails. This seems typical of liberals - the urge to eat their own. The immediate issue here would seem to be racism and/or police brutality. Yet somehow this has veered off into when and how restaurants should open up, how they're notified about such, the guidelines, how the mayor is a meanie, being a distraction or not, and so many other rabbit holes.

It became clear this was, again, another case of the self-superior types (and they all seem to be white) patting themselves on the back while, in essence, going after what would appear to be their allies because of a perceived lack of purity.

Lack of Notice

Many complaints were about the lack of notice regarding the reopening and their inability, thus, to prepare for such. But nothing said your bar or restaurant has to reopen right now. The mayor just gave notice that bars and restaurants could open at 25% capacity. After being closed for over two months (or just having curbside pick-up) one would think this would be good news for struggling bars and restaurants.

And, what exactly would have been the right amount of notice? How should this notice have been given? Is it a week? Two weeks? Was the mayor supposed to call each and every bar and restaurant owner to notify and or discuss.

If you don't want to open, don't. But know that you can when you want to and you are ready.

Guidelines

Another complaint was a perceived lack of guidelines for reopening. Yet guidelines for how we all interact during the pandemic have been spelled out, repeatedly, by the CDC, the WHO, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the Wisconsin Department of Health and the City of Milwaukee Health Department, to name a few. Wear a mask, stay 6 feet apart, wash your hands a lot, disinfect surfaces a lot, etc.

Milwaukee Releases Five Criteria To Open Up

Milwaukee outlines plan to re-open city

Distraction

Others complained this was a distraction - to allow bars and restaurants to open up now - during a time of protest for racial justice and police accountability. So, my question here is, are businesses to stay closed until we have complete racial harmony? What is the time frame?

Do some think people don't have the ability to walk and chew gum? People can't be focused on societal improvement ... and occasionally go out to eat?

So, let me get this straight, the George Floyd murder, at the hands of a piece of shit cop (and his shitty accomplices), has inflamed our better senses, but if we can suddenly dine out again, we'll forget about that? If that's the case, you're not as righteous, woke, or enlightened as you think you are.

Pushing for people to concentrate on one thought, or being able to only hold one idea at a time, doesn't make you a woke warrior, it makes you a baby. People can do more than one thing. If the fact that the mayor announcing a 25% capacity reopening for bars and restaurants has distracted you from the fact that America is, and has been, extremely racist and has a lot of work do, you're not woke, you're not an adult, you're just a squirrel distracted by any sudden noise or light.

And, it appears most of the recent distraction and other complaints about reopening are coming from white people. Which begs the question, where have you been? There's a long history of racism, oppression, segregation and inequality in America. It didn't just start in May 2020.

If you're so woke, let's look through all of your Twitter, Instagram and Facebook posts over the years and see how much time and effort you put forth in seeking racial equality and justice. Some of these same people were complaining of the lockdown not too long ago. Being closed, or being deemed non-essential, not being able to operate, that was un-American. The government, in trying to manage the pandemic, was overreaching and putting businesses at risk.

Seems to be a lot of bandwagon-jumpers with slogans and hashtags, pretending they've been part of the solution all along, and then criticizing, what would appear to be, their allies for not being as perfect as them, in their little fictionalized, sanitized, revisionist world.

The Mayor

A lot of vitriol has been throw at Mayor Barrett. He may not be perfect, but he sure as hell just seems to be trying to do the right thing. But let me get this straight, he alone is supposed to run a major city, try to manage the pandemic and solve racism?

Further, the mayor is not the police. Tom Barrett doesn't make the call for tear gas, rubber bullets or the use of force. Tom Barrett has called for officers to be fired and he has marched with the protesters. Tom Barrett took a pipe beating at State Fair to protect a baby and her grandmother. He is not some insensitive, racist, political apparatchik. He's doing his best to try to keep the city safe while trying to figure out how to move forward and right the wrongs. But there are no guidelines for this (at least not as many clear and concise guidelines as there are for operating your business during a pandemic); sometimes you have to figure it out as you go.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett joins protesters in Wisconsin against police killing of George Floyd

The Police

I've long complained about the police. Not that they are all bad or that it's not a tough job. But their budgets take way too much money from municipalities, which could be used for economic development, training, education, small business loans, etc. Which could go a long way toward helping poverty and inequality.

Yet, there are a lot of bad police doing bad things and costing their municipalities millions of dollars for their criminality. They need better vetting, training and accountability. Our country needs a paradigm shift in how we look at and operate our policing and law enforcement.

Also, we just have too many police in too many communities. We need to focus on police serving and protecting rather than simply enforcing the law. Because their emphasis seems to be on the force part of enforcement. 

In Closing

This country has a long way to go toward racial justice, fair pay, equal opportunity, health care as a right, giving voice to the voiceless, and numerous other issues where we sadly lag behind. So, by all means, peacefully protest, run for office, vote for candidates that will actually do something, join an advocacy or lobbying organization, or start a local group to focus on a particular issue. Focus on the issue(s), know your true enemy and don't cut off your nose to spite your face.

Proactive, Productive Ways to Help

Milwaukee Urban League using community roundtables to identify solutions to end injustice

A guide to protesting during a pandemic
How To Protest Safely During A Pandemic
Barack Obama Shares Action Plan For Real Change Amid Protest
If you're planning to take part in protests, know your rights
Teaching Ideas and Resources to Help Students Make Sense of the George Floyd Protests

4 Ideas That Could Begin to Reform the Criminal Justice System and Improve Police-Community Relations

Police Reform
Five Reforms Every Police Department Should Make

How To Reform American Police

5 Issues that Should Be Part of Efforts to Reform Policing in Local Communities

Reforming Police

Statistical, References

U.S. Police Shootings: Blacks Disproportionately Affected

The list of people injured or killed in officer-involved incidents is still growing

How much do we need the police?

The End of Policing

Majority of Minneapolis City Council Pledges to Dismantle Police Department

Our Misplaced Priorities: Doctors & Nurses Can't Get PPE, But Local Police Have Tanks

Weekend Reading

The Dark Side Of Recycling
Lies, Damned Lies, And Recycling
RIP, Paul Adolph Volcker
Trump's Tax Cut Was A Mammoth Fraud
Is College Worth It? A Georgetown Study Measures Return On Investment
How Business Leaders Caused Black Poverty
Economic Errors: Right-Wing Edition
How Oil Companies Avoided Environmental Accountability After 10.8 Million Gallons Spilled
Jillian Michaels Says We Shouldn't 'Celebrate' Lizzo's Body
The College Wealth Premium Has Collapsed
Popularity Of CBD Oil Vexes Regulators And Researchers
Deceased GOP Strategist's Daughter Makes Files Public That Republicans Wanted Sealed
Trump's Biggest Fox News Boosters Suddenly Stop Railing Against 'Deep State' Intelligence
Damning New E-Mails Show Trump Knew He Was Breaking The Law On Ukraine
Ex-Apprentice Staffer Noel Casler Speaks Out: 'Trump's A Raging Drug Addict'

The Misplaced Priorities Of Conservatives or Republicans Are Full Of Shit

Weekend Reading

California Scientists Unravel Genetic Mystery Of World's Tallest Trees
Record U.S Trade Deficit In 2018 Reflects Failure Of Trump's Trade Policies
How Rich Are The Bucks And Brewers Owners Getting Off Public Subsidies? Not As Much As You'd Think
Walker's Costly War On The Poor
Why American CEOs Are Worried About Capitalism

Weekend Reading

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wants To Raise Taxes On The Rich - And Americans Agree
Economists Get Serious About Harm From Monopolies
Declining Birth Rates: Are We In Danger Of Running Out Of People?
The House Democrats' Colossal Election Reform Bill Could Save American Democracy
Why You're Wrong About Communism: Here Are 7 Huge Misconceptions About It - And Capitalism
Why Scott Walker's Welfare Legacy Will Outlast Him
The Future Of The Great Lakes
Anticompetitive Mergers In Labor Markets
Labor Market Concentration
Beware of Consultants Bearing Rosy News About Mergers

Unions Did Great Things For The Working Class

Inequality In Milwaukee

2015 Milwaukee Summit - Marc Levine from L&S @ UWM on Vimeo.

Sunday Reading

Wisconsin Jobs Agency Writes Off $1.1 Million Loan Owed By DePere Businessman Jailed For Defrauding Investors
Three Reason Why The U.S. Is Vulnerable To Big Disasters - And Getting More Vulnerable All The Time
U.S Coal Industry Shows No Signs Of Comeback
High Court Sticks It To Milwaukee
Justice Kennedy Wasn't A Moderate
A Trade Tutorial For Trump
Which Anti-Poverty Programs Work
The Mind-Bendy Weirdness Of The Number Zero, Explained
In Many States, The End Of Roe V. Wade Is Already Here
Growth Benefits Of U.S. Tax Cuts May Be Overestimated: Fed Study
Fresh Proof That Strong Unions Help Reduce Income Inequality
New Study Confirms That American Workers Are Getting Ripped Off
Walker Protected Polluters Who Illegally Dumped Human Waste
How The Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around The Country

Weekend Reading

White Flights Returns, This Time From The Suburbs
Big Business Tax Breaks May Worsen Income Inequality
Big Coal Is Using This Small Oklahoma Town As A Toxic Waste Dump
Why Poverty Is Rising Faster In Suburbs Than Cities
Japan's Recovery Is The Greatest Economic Success Story Never Told
If The Economy Is So Great, Why Are 78 Million Hustling For Dimes?
The Financial Scandal No One Is Talking About
The Baby Boomer - Not Millennials - Screwed America
A New Genetic Clue To How Humans Got Such Big Brains
The Numbers That Explain Why Teachers Are In Revolt
No One Answers Their Phone Anymore
Why We Should Bulldoze The Business School
Mourning In America: What My Father, Ronald Reagan, Would Say

Sunday Reading

Water Safety, Lead Removal Plans Advance At Milwaukee City Hall
Watch 1998 Rudy Giuliani Torpedo 2018 Rudy Giuliani's Trump Arguments
Minnesota Outpaces Wisconsin, Report Says
Who Is The Freeloader: The Working Poor On Food Stamps - Or Corporations That Don't Pay Them Enough?
Trump Orders Help For Chinese Phone-Maker After China Approves Money For Trump Project
Journey Through The Land Of Extreme Poverty: Welcome To America
Scott Walker Has A Message For Wisconsin Voters: Here's Some Cash
All Betsy Devos Knows Is How To Profit From Schoolchildren
Enrollment Counts Expose Loophole In Wisconsin Parental Choice Program
Democratic Candidates For Governor Would End A Nation's First
Former DOT Head Is Scott Walker's Chief Critic On Transportation
The Anti-Roads Governor
The 9.9 Percent Is The New American Aristocracy

Scott Walker Is A Creep

Koch Brothers Group Applauds Walker On Welfare Bills
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Signs New Limits On Welfare Programs Into Law
Walker Signs Bill Sought By Landlords
Walker Signs Restrictions On Pro-Worker Rules

The Suburban Mystique

The Suburban Mystique

For decades, the suburbs were seen as havens where people moved to escape the crowding, poverty, and problems of the inner city. Despite the pervasive stereotype, the suburbs were never universally affluent or white, and since the 2000s, as a majority of Americans have settled in suburbs, the “burbs” have become increasingly diverse, both economically and demographically. Poverty has concentrated increasingly in poor suburbs, surpassing low-income populations in urban and rural areas and upending assumptions about what it means to “move to opportunity.”

As Scott Allard points out in his book Places in Need, despite the fact that white Americans make up the majority of the U.S. poor, and that poverty now concentrates in suburbs, media and scholarly portrayals still disproportionately focus on the “urban poor,” and white people settle in white neighborhoods because they associate black residents with poverty.

Suburbs—where most Americans, impoverished or otherwise, live—are increasingly the locus of work-life conflict and economic insecurity.

And since suburban identity is culturally tied to a myth of the American dream, not to mention a long legacy of racism—a space where the affluent have historically segregated themselves from the black and poor—admitting there is a problem, and creating policies to help poor and middle-income struggling families, requires introspection and new political will.

Weekend Reading

Trump Again Sues Over Property Tax Bill For Jupiter Golf Course
The U.S. Can No Longer Hide From Its Deep Poverty Problem
Good News: Wages Are Up
Experts Say This Is The Ideal Retirement Savings Timeline
The U.S. Drops Out Of The Top 10 In Innovation Ranking
The Right Question About Inequality And Growth
A New Map For America
An Unwelcome Tax Surprise Could Soon Lurk In Your Paycheck
Big Money Rules
President Trump's First Year, In 14 Metrics
Kansas Provides Compelling Evidence Of Failure Of "Supply-Side" Tax Cuts

Not In My Backyard

Bay View is in a tizzy over a recent outbreak of burglaries and vandalism.

Smashed windows, stolen goods, and on and on. None of that is fun or fair. But life's not fair. Being born into and living in poverty isn't fair. (Yes, I know, this isn't all impoverished youths. Some of it is, no doubt, dirtbags being dirtbags for entirely different reasons.)

The answer to increased crime isn't "we must cut everything except for the police." Yet most of what passes for discussion on this matter is - "more police!"

The police and fire departments in the City of Milwaukee already garner nearly 90% of the entire City budget!

Milwaukee also has twice as many police officers as similar sized cities.

The answer isn't more money for police and more police.

Why don't we try policies that benefit education, health care, infrastructure and those most in need? Rather than giving millions and billions to the Brewers, the Bucks, Foxconn, Harley Davidson, Mercury Marine, etc. How about the ridiculously rich of the community help to teach the under-educated, provide transportation options to available jobs and arrange gainful employment? Having such a privileged place in society, how about helping to be part of the solution, rather than just pointing fingers, screaming about the problem and only seeing "lock 'em up!" as the solution.

How can we ask working-poor and working-class people to pay taxes for Foxconn billionaires and then lose our shit when some poor kid steals or ruins something nice? Can we devalue life any more? Oh, such a lovely, caring Christian country. Give to the rich, take from the poor and then get all bent out of shape when the poor person decides they'd like a piece of the pie, too. If you think this is making American great again, you're a fucking idiot!

The other sad part of this drama (as it plays out on neighborhood groups on Facebook among the victims of robbery or vandalism) is how the same people decrying the increase in crime, didn't give a shit when it was happening in other parts of town. Then, it was somebody else's problem.

But now that their shit is getting stolen, we all need to pitch-in to buy more police to protect their shit...no matter the cost. Suddenly these bastions of conservatism, low-taxation and a hands-off government, now they're full-blown socialists dependent on the government to protect their property. Costs no longer matter. Spend whatever it takes!

Are we under some delusion that we can hire a police officer - without any increase in taxes - for every street, every alley, every block and that, somehow, we're going to eliminate all bad things?

Too much of my taxes already go toward the Pentagon and the local police presence. More men (88% of officers are men) walking and driving around carrying guns doesn't solve any of these problems. It just squeezes budgets with increased police costs.

If you don't solve why people aren't working, why the jobs aren't there, we're just continuing a cycle of crime and incarceration. If you don't give a person something to live for, a reason, something to have some sense of self about, what do you expect from that person? How do expect that person to function in society?

All we ever hear about is how high taxes are. Taxes must be cut. They are such a burden. Politicians get elected promising to cut taxes.

Yet, somehow more money needs to appear so we can police our way out of the problem. How much are you willing to have your taxes raised?

Those of you that feel more police are the answer, start sending those checks to the City. The tax return you're about to get - send it to the City. The next raise you get at work - fork that amount over to the City. You get the point - put your money where your mouth is. Services (like the police...especially the police) cost money.

We already pay too much and have too many police. If you'd like to double-down on this always-more-police experiment, you know where to send the money.