The Baltimore Colts

I'm not a football fan. Baseball is my game. But I enjoyed watching the game last night and rooting for the Saints (and my wife won $140 in the betting pool--of which I made off with $50 since I paid for her squares).

I was rooting for the Saints because if I don't have a personal stake: 1) I root for the better city, 2) I just like rooting for New Orleans in general, and 3) the Colts left Baltimore! And they didn't just leave but they snuck out of town in the middle of a night during a snow storm! At least that's how I remember it. I was only 12 and had no personal stake. I had never been to Baltimore. Still, it didn't seem fair.

What surprises me about Baltimore's relations with the Colts is how, at least in 2000, so many people seemed to wish them well. By comparison, I think you'd have a damn tough time finding any kind words in Brooklyn about the Dodgers. Is Baltimore more forgiving or did I just not understand the dynamics?

I suppose it helped that the Ravens won the Super Bowl that year (probably the only three hours in history there were no calls for service). But still, is it true that Baltimore does not hate the Colts? And if not, why not? Maybe it can be summed up in just two words: Johnny Unitas.

The Real-Life Omar Little

From Vice magazine.

Less is Less

I didn't post for over a month and guess what? I kind of liked it.

So here's my plan: less posting. Maybe once or twice a week. We'll see how it goes.

If you need daily fixes of police news (and granted I still do), I urge you to look at all the links on the right side of this page. There's some good stuff out there. And that's where I get half my shit anyway.

I love all my readers (well... all but one or two). But still, blogging is kind of a one-way relationship.

Writing is hard work. Now no doubt blog writing is less hard work that "real" writing. But still, it's work. And it's not like I get paid for this. Just think... instead of writing stuff here I could be prepping for classes, or dating my wife, or cooking, or watching baseball, or playing pinball, or thinking about trains. Hell, instead of writing here, I could be doing basically anything!

But mostly I've got another book to write: In Defense of Flogging. While it's related to crime and justice, it's actually not about policing at all. And writing this book is something I actually get paid for.

So in case I don't post much and you wonder what I'm thinking, here are my beliefs to cover 90% of police issues:

1) Police: Good (but there's always room for improvement).
2) War on Drugs: Bad.
3) Prison: We've got too many people in them.
4) Tasers: Vastly overused.
5) Democrats: Better than Republicans.
6) Always do the right thing.

What else can I say?

Undoubtedly the most demoralizing force in the country today

It's official:

Responsibility of the Moving Picture Show for Crime

The demoralizing character of some of the moving picture shows, says the New Jersey Law Journal, continues to be exemplified by proceedings from time to time in our local and county criminal courts. One of the latest instances was a case which came before Judge Case, of the Somerset County courts, where a bright little fellow of nine years of age was arraigned before the judge for truancy and for incorrigibility. The prosecutor informed the court that the root of the boy's misconduct was the moving picture show, and the counsel for the boy stated that the offender had been a good child at home and obedient until he developed the passion for attending moving picture shows. The account of the case then goes on to say: "When the boy was commanded to stand up before Judge Case he burst into tears. Judge Case called him to his seat behind the bar and talked to him kindly, after which he announced that he would place him in charge of Probation Officer Osbourn for three years. In closing his remarks Judge Case said that the moving picture shows were undoubtedly the most demoralizing force in the country to-day. The pictures had a great fascination for even adults, and the graphic portrayals of holdups, robberies, and of immoral scenes and characters, made a lasting impression on the minds of children that were demoralizing in the extreme. Judge Case said that the court would expect the law relating to moving picture shows to be strictly obeyed in the county."

From the Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology.Vol. 1(5) January, 1911. p. 788.

Notes on the Balinese Cockfight

My wife and I were in Kalibukbuk, Bali, visiting a few friends from Amsterdam, one of whom kind of lives in Bali now. He asked if we wanted to go see a cockfight. Well, in the name of Clifford Geertz and “thick description,” yes! (Hell, and this slightly worries me, I’ve enjoyed every bit of blood sport I’ve ever seen from bullfights to Thai Muay Thai kickboxing.)

Every student of sociology and anthropology knows Clifford Geertz’s classic, “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight.” It’s based on his 1958 fieldwork. It’s a qualitative classic. Not until Geertz and his wife ran from a police raid of a cockfight were they accepted in the village.

Well I didn't have to any running but it turns out that 50-years later, cockfighting is still illegal and not at all underground. Some places are shut down. But just because they don't have enough money to pay off the police.

So one night at dinner we're introduced to a slightly hardcore character who will take us (but only the men, he says) to a cockfight the next day.

So my buddy and I meet him and follow his mopen to the town of Singaraja. First we stop by his house where he judged the feistiness of a few of his cocks (and yes, the puns are same in the Balinese language) before placing one in a bag. They're kept throughout Asia in these wicker cages.


We continued and got to the venue (we never would have found it on our own). I love the parking lot. I resisted the urge to push a bike over, starting the domino effect and certain bar fight.


In some ways all sports venues are the same. There are parking lot attendants, tickets, seats, fans, food vendors, and games. But nothing I’ve seen is quite like a Balinese cockfight. I wish I had internet access and could have reread Geertz’s piece. There was a lot going on I didn’t get. I respect a man with the skills to tie a razor to the foot of the rooster. The betting, $10 was normal, is high stakes for a poor country.

Some side betting games.

And one of the food vendors. We ate nuts and drank warm beer.

I guess pairing up the birds.

Tying on the razor.




Our man told us which bird to bet on.

Here's some of the pre-fight scene:



Then, right before the fight start, there's this brief silence and then this wave of sound, unlike anything I've ever heard. You can hear the sound (I didn't start the recording early enough to get the "wave") at the very start of this video. Fair Warning: this a video of a Balinese cockfight. These are birds with razors strapped to their leg killing each other. Don't watch it if you don't like it.


That was our man's two-year old bird that died first. It was sold as food to somebody for $5. But the fight was a draw. I was happy with a draw because I may not know all the nuances of cockfighting, but I know a dead bird when I see one! If somebody won, it sure wasn't us. But part of the rules is that the “winning” bird has be standing after or for a ten count.

Also worth a few pictures is the following day's “pig roast in the hood” (my friend's words, not mine). This involved killing a pig, cleaning it in the river, and roasting it over an open fire.

Here's some of the scene, worth a few pictures:



Everybody loves cracklin!
The pig was delicious. The people, friendly. A good time was had by all. We have the feeling they party a bit like this everyday, this day they just had a pig.

It would be remiss to not mention that in the river were, among other things, one woman bathing and brushing her teeth upstream and another doing laundry. On the opposite bank people were gutting and cleaning a dog to eat. We were told they only eat the "bad dogs." Why not? Hell, on our side we were eating a dish made with raw pig's blood (mixed with grated coconut, spices, and grilled pigs innards). If it all sounds hardcore, well, I suppose it kind of is. I think it's only the second time bougie old me has eaten at a home without running water.

I also got a kick out of the fact that I was corrected for eating with my finger wrong. You can't take me anywhere! I didn’t even know you could eat with your fingers wrong. (Take note: after you grab your food, don’t put your fingers in your mouth but place the food on the ends of your first two fingers and then kind of shovel/push the food with your thumb into your mouth.)

The majority of trip was spend in Thailand and Bangkok. The food in Bangkok is incredible. I love Thai food and the Thais are truly more into food than any country I have ever seen. And their sheer obsession with food, the amount of prepared food for sale--delicious, clean, spicy food--is hard to imagine. But those stories are for another time.

Leaving Thailand, we saw perhaps the secret to their success: a sign keeping out all those with “‘hippy’ characteristics.”

And the police station sign on the Malaysian side of the border train station. We really did not want to leave Thailand, but damn it was nice to be a place again where you could sound out the alphabet!


And I've been to Maryland. I know Maryland. And this, my friends, is no deep fried fish Maryland (as seen in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia).

Stat Production

The New York Times reports that, "Intense pressure to produce annual crime reductions led some supervisors and precinct commanders to manipulate crime statistics."

I'm shocked. Shocked.

Reclassifying a $1,100 theft as a $950 theft isn't the end of the world. But a police culture where it's OK to play a bit fast and loose with the numbers is in nobody's best interests.

Plus, if you play with the numbers this year, you have to play with the numbers next year just to keep even.

Does this mean the crime drop is a lie? No. Of course not.

But it does mean that hard-working and well intentioned officers are under too much pressure to produce better and better "stats."

Good Cop

I think Michael Mineo is a liar. I've said it before here and here and I'll say it again. The latest is this, "[A police baton] could not have possibly made the hole in this underwear," said [a defense witness], "This is a square hole."

Seems like pretty damning evidence. At the end of an expandable baton is a round little metal ball (which hurts like hell if you get hit by it). It can't punch out a square hole.

I suppose your opinion comes down to this: which do you think is more likely? That a cop would stick his own baton up a guy's ass or that a two-bit idiot would make up a story to win big in a lawsuit against the police. To me, it's no contest.

Seemed to me it was a good day in court for these officers. It'll feel better when the officers get off.

Drink This

LEO beer.

Q & A

A while back I was asked to do a little Q & A by Jeanette over at Cat5 Commerce. She puts together original content for such sites as BDU.com, Tactical.com and my own personal favorite, TacticalPants.com. She asked me so nicely (nothing like the combination of politeness, a personal non-form letter, and flattery) I couldn't say no. And no, I neither asked for nor received free tactical pants (or anything else). The original interview appears here.

Not only do you run a popular police blog, but in 2008 you penned a critically acclaimed book about your life as Baltimore cop. What compelled you to start sharing all these experiences?

The unromantic reason I wrote my book is that if you don't publish as a new college professor, you get fired! But I do hope I tell a good story about policing. It's too bad that more police officers don't write.

Have you always been a writer?

Both my parents are good editors and my father wrote a bunch of books. So maybe it's in the blood. In my mind, I really started writing when I started working for the Evanstonian, my high-school paper. It's when people read what you write and think about what you wrote that you realize it can actually be fun. My favorite writing is still an 800-word newspaper op-ed. But writing is hard work. Blog entries are pretty painless. And answering these questions is fun! But I think a dirty secret to writing is that nobody actually likes it. Sure, it's nice to have written. But the actually process is no fun. In fact, there's almost nothing I wouldn't prefer to do.

It took seven years after I quit the police department to finish Cop in the Hood. That comes out to 27 words a day. Of course it doesn't work that way (and it wasn't all I was doing for seven years). But when I think about my productively as a writer, it's kind of depressing.

Being a professor requires that you write. But it's a different game if you get paid every other week regardless, I tip my hat to those who write for a living. It's not easy.

What's one story everyone will remember from your book and/or blog?

What we as police find funny usually disgusts more normal people (and often for good reason). All good police stories involve the misfortune of somebody. And the good ones usually throw in a couple internal organs spilled out. I quickly learned that these stories don't go over too well with non-police. Rather than come away with a single story, I hope people will find my book a good read all the way through. Only then might we see the wisdom of Fat Albert's line: "if you're not careful you might learn something before it's done!"

What I find interesting is that different people take away different stories. I've had various people list every single chapter as their favorite. Maybe there really is something for everybody.

Is anybody in the book mad at you?

Not that I know of. When I wrote the book I was worried that some of what I say and quote would piss off people I like. The only people that criticized me are a few crusty old retired cops. They say they won't read my book on principle (I'm not certain what principle that is.) I only wish some of them would write their own stories. They have so much more experience and knowledge of policing than I do. I think I'm a quick learner, but I wasn't there for long. Regardless, the feedback from police has been very positive. That surprises me because there are a lot of quotes, taken out of context, that could make them look bad. But I think I get away with it because the book is honest, regardless of what people think of me and my position that drugs need to be regulated.

It doesn't seem like it's asking too much, but it's hard to find a simple honest portrayal of police officers on patrol.

Did your partners know you were writing a book? Did they accept you?

I was upfront and open about everything from day one. At first, some were naturally suspicious (as they should be!). But I got surprisingly little flack from police about being a Harvard student and planning to write a book. I think police are good judges of character. I won't pretend that everybody loved me. But on the street I did my job. And that's what counts most.

What's one piece of tactical gear that’s helped you time and time again?

My Streamline Stinger flashlight. When I was worked the midnight shift, it was essential, of course. But even now I still use the flashlight around the house. And with a little velcro block attachment, it's the world's best bike headlight. I got a new LED Stinger recently. I love how it lasts for hours on one charge.

You are got a doctorate in sociology from Harvard and now teach at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Do you find many undergraduates wooed by those CSI crime-solving montages?

Yeah. Too many. CSI has not helped the real world of policing. But it has gotten more people interested in law enforcement, which I guess is a good thing. At least The Wire has the added benefit of being filmed on the streets of Baltimore I policed and wrote about. The Wire is a lot more realistic, but even that's not perfect.

What's something you learned on the street that could never be taught in a classroom?

There's almost nothing you learn on the street that can be taught in a classroom. Seriously. But there are a lot of things you can learn in the classroom that you can apply to the street. You don't need a fancy education to be a good cop. But I believe a good education makes you a better cop.

What makes your blog different from all the other police blogs out there?

There are a few good police blogs out there and I think they all share honesty and a bit of a critical eye. The original goal of my blog was just to shill for my book, but now the blog has kind of taken off on its own. Ultimately, my goal is to make policing better. I like to ask, "how can policing be better" rather than just pointing out what is wrong. You can be critical of policing and still be pro-police.

But what I think makes copinthehood.com unique is that it brings together a much broader readership than most blogs do. I write for and hear from readers who normally wouldn't even talk to each other, much less listen to what others have to say.

The only way you'll ever learn is if you question your own beliefs. And in hearing from my readers, I certainly have to think about and question my own beliefs. I like that.

What's next for you?

I'm working on a book that proposes flogging as an alternative to prison. My conservative police friends already think I'm crazy because of my liberal beliefs. Now my liberal friends will think I'm crazy, too!

[I'm still on vacation, this post was scheduled to run in advance]

Baltimore Mayor Dixon Resigns

News travels, even to Bangkok. The story in the Sun.

And while I'm at it, here's a story about Commissioner Bealefeld wanting more foot patrol. Maybe he read my piece on foot patrol, "Angels in Blue: The Virtues of Foot Patrol."

Being a professor is a better job

"Most days I don't miss being a cop; being a professor is a better job." And so begins the thrilling story of Cop in the Hood.

Providing further evidence in support of this hypothesis, I'll be on vacation for the next three weeks in Thailand and Bali.

Happy New Year!

And of all nights to stay safe, tonight is the big one. Please don't get hit by any bullets, falling or otherwise.

And now you know... the rest of the story!

Fatal stabbing suspect Cyan Brown, 16, was the aggressor in Christmas Eve New York subway fracas, police say.

This happened in an area I go through a lot. The original reports said: poor girl "fondled" by group of bad men and stabbed one in self defense. The cop in me knew that wasn't the whole story (when will reporters ever learn?). The truth is never (or almost never) that simple. Now the real story seems to be coming out.

The account in the New York Daily News.

Murders down again in NYC

Illustrating once again that crime and the economy are not inherently linked. The story in the New York Times.

Taser shock in the courts!

The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals (never known for its pro-police views) to be precise.

This perhaps landmark decision has been called, "The clearest and most complete statements yet from an appellate court about the limits of Taser use."

From the story by Hudson Sangree and Kim Minugh in the Sacramento Bee.

In the summer of 2005, Carl Bryan, 21, was pulled over for a seat-belt violation and did not follow an officer's order to stay in the car.
...
During his second traffic stop in Coronado, he got out of the car. He was "agitated … yelling gibberish and hitting his thighs, clad only in his boxer shorts and tennis shoes" but did not threaten the officer verbally or physically, the judges wrote.

That's when Coronado Police Officer Brian McPherson, who was standing about 20 feet away watching Bryan's "bizarre tantrum," fired his Taser, the court said.

Without a word of warning, he hit Bryan in the arm with two metal darts, delivering a 1,200-volt jolt.

Temporarily paralyzed and in intense pain, Bryan fell face-first on the pavement. The fall shattered four of his front teeth and left him with facial abrasions and swelling. Later, a doctor had to use a scalpel to remove one of the darts.
...
McPherson could have waited for backup or tried to talk the man down, the judges said. If Bryan was mentally ill, as the officer contended, then there was even more reason to use "less intrusive means," the judges said.

"Officer McPherson's desire to quickly and decisively end an unusual and tense situation is understandable," Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote for the court. "His chosen method for doing so violated Bryan's constitutional right to be free from excessive force."

The court decision is here.

I think it's a very good decision, but I wish they had done so without hanging the officer out to dry. McPherson could end up in jail and lose his home. That's not right.

The court wrote:

If an officer’s use of force was “premised on a reasonable belief that such force was lawful,” the officer will be granted immunity from suit, notwithstanding the fact excessive force was deployed.
...
A reasonable officer in these circumstances would have known that it was unreasonable to deploy intermediate force.
...
Where an officer’s conduct so clearly offends an individual’s constitutional rights, we do not need to find closely analogous case law to show that a right is clearly established.
...
No reasonable officer confronting a situation where the need for force is at its lowest—where the target is a nonviolent, stationary misdemeanant twenty feet away—would have concluded that deploying intermediate force without warning was justified. We thus hold that Officer McPherson’s use of significant force in these circumstances does not constitute a “reasonable mistake” of either fact or law. ... Officer McPherson is therefore not entitled to qualified immunity for his use of the Taser X26 against Bryan.

Ouch.

How can the court say that "no reasonable officer" would conclude that force was justified? I’m reasonable (and against such Taser use) and I think what he did, prior to this decision, was legal! Given all the tasering incidents going on, it seems pretty obvious that many if not most officers would do exactly what McPherson did. Using a Taser in compliance situations has become standard operating procedure. That's what needs to change. This is a problem of policy and training, not one sadistic cop!

Terror Suspect

So what's the lesson with this guy? Seriously.

It's damn hard to stop people from doing harm if they're willing to kill themselves... but that's no real answer.

Here's one of many stories.

[poor Nigeria, their rep was bad enough with simply internet scams!]

[update:] Maybe it's this, from David Brooks' column in the New York Times.

At some point, it’s worth pointing out that it wasn’t the centralized system that stopped terrorism in this instance. As with the shoe bomber, as with the plane that went down in Shanksville, Pa., it was decentralized citizen action. The plot was foiled by nonexpert civilians who had the advantage of the concrete information right in front of them — and the spirit to take the initiative.

For better or worse, over the past 50 years we have concentrated authority in centralized agencies and reduced the role of decentralized citizen action.

Tooting Other People's Horns

Two of the best police books out there are little read. Too little read.

And top-quality and much more action packed than my book.

I've written about both these books before, but it can't hurt writing about them again.

Beyond Hope? by Michael East is about policing in Saginaw, Michigan. Unless you live in Saginaw, you probably won't find it in book stores, but you can buy it here. Beyond Hope? is one of those few books written by an active police officer under his real name. But East doesn't pull any punches.

The other is another book about the Eastern District. But his experience was very different from mine. Budges, Bullets, & Bars by Danny Shanahan.

They're both great books. I haven't met either of the authors. But both know more about policing than I do. And they write well. What more could you ask for?

Calls for Drug Legalization in Mexico

From the Wall Street Journal:

Growing numbers of Mexican and U.S. officials say—at least privately—that the biggest step in hurting the business operations of Mexican cartels would be simply to legalize their main product: marijuana. Long the world's most popular illegal drug, marijuana accounts for more than half the revenues of Mexican cartels.

"Economically, there is no argument or solution other than legalization, at least of marijuana," said the top Mexican official matter-of-factly. The official said such a move would likely shift marijuana production entirely to places like California, where the drug can be grown more efficiently and closer to consumers. "Mexico's objective should be to make the U.S. self-sufficient in marijuana," he added with a grin.

He is not alone in his views. Earlier this year, three former Latin American presidents known for their free-market and conservative credentials--Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil--said governments should seriously consider legalizing marijuana as an effective tool against murderous drug gangs.

Merry Christmas

Especially to those men and women working.

Ethnography Bashing

I don't mind a mixed review of my book (Contemporary Sociology), but it does bother me when a reviewer calls my participant-observation research a "major flaw." It's like a man who doesn't like olive oil, fish, and lamb bashing a Greek restaurant for being too "Mediterranean." If you don't like the concept, don't review it.

Basically, goes the tired old sociological argument, because I was a cop, I can't see police objectively. This is called "going native." Like all sociology majors, I learned this in college (in my case as a Princeton sophomore in Professor Howard Taylor's most excellent "Introductory Research Methods in African American Studies"--the class that made me a sociologist!).

While going native certainly is a possibility. Given the sum of my book and writing, to say I did so is a bit absurd.

The reviewer writes:

This raises the possibility that [Moskos] was not privy to some of the more sensitive issues and events that may have happened. He states categorically that he witnessed no instances of illegal police behavior while on the Baltimore Police Department which suggests that he failed to encounter them either because he was shielded from such events or he did not define them as illegal because he had adopted the police view that such activities were necessary to get the job done.

Actually, I stated categorically I saw no instances of police corruption. I wrote a bit about illegal behavior: "High-arrest officers push the boundaries of consent searches and turn pickets inside-out. Illegal (and legal) searches are almost always motivated by a desire to find drugs." So much for a thorough reading.

I did write this (p. 78):

I policed what is arguably the worst shift in the worst district in Baltimore and saw no police corruption. ... Incidents do happen, but the police culture is not corrupt. Though overall police integrity is very high, some will never be convinced. But out of personal virtue, internal investigation stings, or monetary calculations, the majority--the vast majority--of police officers are clean.

Sometimes reality causes cognitive dissonance to people with strong prejudices. I guess the idea that most cops are clean (cleaner than professors, I like to add) is just too shocking for some in academe. Rather than face up to one's own anti-police biases, I guess it's easier just to bash ethnography.

The snowball heard round the web

Everybody is talking about it...



...so here's my two-cents:

For a cop, having a gun out isn't such a big deal. Pointing a gun at someone is a big deal. Waving it around would be a big deal (and would also show a lack of professional training). I understand others may see any display of a gun as a shocking development. But this is D.C. and this is a police officer. The streets are dangerous.

Simply having your gun out means there's a threat. Having your hand on your holster means there might be a threat. This officer has lived through a lot of threats and I don't begrudge him for feeling threatened by a large crowd. And from what I can tell he holstered up pretty quickly.

To me the question is why the guy got out his Hummer in the first place? That's the mistake. He could have just kept on driving.

[Though I should point out, because I haven't heard anyone else do so, that all the uniformed officers handled the scene very well.]

When you're in your vehicle, snowballs are not a threat to anything but your manhood. The only potential threat to the officer was created by the officer when he made a choice to exit his vehicle to initiate a useless confrontation with a large group of people. Christ, if you feel so threatened while driving your Hummer, what's the point of owning a Hummer in the first place!?

It's not new, but is it fair?

I wasn't even going to link to this story because I don't want to repeat myself more than necessary.

Here's the point: black New Yorkers are seven times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession. For a moment, let's put aside the actually story (not that we should). For the sake of debate, let's accept the seven times figure (as we should). Let's also accept that whites smoke just as much weed as blacks (that's also true). Let's ignore that fact (not that we should) that these arrests happen even though personal marijuana possession in New York State is decriminalized. And let's also not concern ourselves with the cost of $53 million to $88 million annually for these arrests. Let's not worry that these arrests may play an important part in a general "broken windows" approach to crime prevention. And finally, let's assume that everybody arrested is guilty as charged.

Here's my question: Does it matter that blacks are seven times more likely than whites to get caught for this drug crime? Perhaps not. I mean, all you have to do to not be arrested in not commit a crime, right?

Is simple guilt all that is needed to give moral justification to our criminal justice system? Remember, this seven-times discrepancy is not due to the facts that blacks are more likely to commit this drug crime. We're just talking about the odds of getting caught.

I mean, what if cops only gave traffic tickets to women. Women who speed and run red lights. But what if basically men were given a pass when it comes to traffic violations. Does it matter? Would this be fair? Perhaps.... since all the tickets were given to guilty women. But for traffic enforcement to be fair, shouldn't men get tickets, too?

At some level, I think the very notion of justice--at least justice with any moral legitimacy--depends on the idea that everybody has an equal (or at least somewhat equal) chance of getting caught.

What do you think?

Stocking stuffers of the century!

And the century has just barely begun.

How come nobody is buying Cop in the Hood for Christmas? My Amazon sales rank is rapidly approaching infinity. Not good. Last I checked, more than 200,000 book were selling better than my book. That's a lot of books being bought that aren't mine.

I can't think of a better present in the holiday spirit than a scintillating story of blood, drugs, and arrest discretion!

Oh wait, I can. There's Forking Fantastic, the best cookbook ever. It's even got a recipe by me (though that's not what makes it the best cookbook ever).

Two great last-minute Christmas presents. You can still get them shipped in time for Christmas. Or go to your local bookstore. I'm just sayin'...

They are most definitely not playing

Only hours after the grieving family had finished burying [Ensign Melquisedet Angulo Córdova, a Special Forces sailor killed last week during the government’s most successful raid on a top drug lord in years] in his hometown, gunmen burst into the family’s house and sprayed the rooms with gunfire, killing his mother and three other relatives, officials said Tuesday.

More violence. More victory!

The story by Elisabeth Malkin in the New York Times.

Read it for the writing (don't peek at the pictures!)

"A pre-Christmas 2003 "Code Orange" terror alert that had police standing guard in heavy assault gear on the streets of Manhattan was the result of a scam by a man named Dennis Montgomery." From Playboy.

CopCams in San Jose

To record interactions with the public. The story in the Mercury News.