police
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What are the police for?
According to the Urban Institute, state and local governments spent $115 billion on police. Broadly speaking, one might say that their purpose is to How good are they at this? The evidence I’ve seen suggests…
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Disarm the police; rebuild the polity
Police in the U.S. kill between 400 and 1000 people every year; meanwhile, the number of what the FBI calls “Law Enforcement Officers Feloniously Killed” averaged 51.1 per year from from 2004-2013. The number of people…
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Dreadful numbers
Numbers don’t usually speak for themselves — but these come close: United States United Kingdom Ratio (US:UK) Population 319 million 64 million 4.98:1 Gun deaths (2011) 32,163 146 220.29:1 Gun homicides (2011) 8,855 38 233.03:1…
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War is Hell
A sniper sits atop an armored vehicle, gloved hand holding the pistol grip of his weapon, aiming at his target through his scope. He is in battle dress: his uniform is camouflage. On his shoulder…
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Do you feel lucky today?
A few years ago, some friends and I were celebrating a birthday at a bar down on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, California. As a friend and I left the bar, two men approached us…