Gongol.com Archives: August 2014
Badly-mixed messages from a former cop
While absolutely correct that we should probably start putting body cameras on most patrol officers, LAPD officer Sunil Dutta wanders into dangerous territory when he writes that citizens should be plainly submissive when encountering the police. That's not how the law is supposed to work. Polite? Yes. Respectful? Inasmuch as we should be of any other person, certainly. Submissive? Now that's a step in the wrong direction, particularly when there are some (not all or even many, but some) law-enforcement officers who overstep their own bounds. It's troubling to see serious escalation taking place on the streets of an American city, with police officers pointing loaded weapons at people. We need de-escalation, not further escalation.
Reasons to hold back from sharing too much about your kids online
There are a whole lot of unresolved questions and potential pitfalls from over-sharing. At the very least, people need to think carefully about sharing their kids' pictures on Facebook and elsewhere.
Scotland votes in less than a month on whether to leave the UK
And the British government is campaigning to keep them in
Retired general says ISIL "is not a flash in the pan"
The group, which is carrying out forced conversions in the territory it occupies, is in fact carrying out a plan that was clearly documented and reported in 2005. The current state of affairs is exactly what Al Qaeda said it wanted a decade ago -- and on precisely the current schedule.
Sioux City considers banning plastic bags
