In the recent past, police shootings have been scrutinized in the US. The Trump Administration seems to be breaking from that tradition.

Across the US, if local police shoot someone, it is taken seriously and there are investigations. When ICE shoots someone, such as the Good case in Minneapolis, the Trump Administration plans no investigation, it's immediately justified and the administration doesn't take it that seriously.

While I normally sympathize with most local police who have a difficult job, it is important that political leaders scrutinize their work. It seems like, with the corrupt Trump Administration, scrutiny isn't done. It's a vey different situation than how things were dealt with in the recent past, such as in the George Floyd case where there was scrutiny which lead to those officers being found guilty.

Now, at least at the federal level, it seems like scrutiny isn't a priority anymore.

Protests against police may have brought the opposite of what was intended.

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the killing of George Floyd which sparked nationwide protests. I didn't participate in those protests though it was unfortunate what happened to Floyd.

In most cases, I felt, and still feel that police aren't as big a problem as some of the other problems we face in this country. Our culture has a lot of bro aggressive energy.

Since those protests, things seem to have slid more backwards away from the goals that most of the protesters advocated. We are now in the era of Trump.

Admittedly, I am speaking from my own experience, here in Bellingham which does, so I've heard, have a reputation for some of the kindest police in the country. Personally I tend to be a very cautious person anyway, so I haven't had problems with police. I notice much of American culture is driven by aggression and hostility; especially male aggression being dangerous: reckless driving, gun culture, domestic violence and so forth.

We do have lots of problems to address including a shortage of affordable housing. I would guess, from what I hear in the news, that there are some problems with policing, but I would put it pretty low on the priority list compared to many other factors that add to inequality, such as economic and political situations.

Fear of crime can create its own problems such as fear of strangers and a general lack of trust when people venture out in public. Increased fear of crime seems to have pushed society away from open hearts.

I also think that there are lots of good people and ideas that can prevail; especially as people are realizing what bad politics can do to a society. Populism can bring bad politics if politics is dependent on who yells the loudest. I feel that anger is usually a bad strategy for bringing a more humane society.

DEI is just a newer acronym.

DEI is basically just an acronym related to a push, in society, to bring about a more equitable and fair society. Such efforts have been going on for decades under different names, such as civil rights.

It seems like whenever there is a lot of anger associated with these movements such as the anger against police after the killing of George Floyd, then there is push back. Often the push back is in a better position to prevail, given how close it is to the levers of power in society.

DEI has gotten a bad rap.

DEI stands for diversity equity and inclusion and it's getting lots of push back these days. It's not new. Dating back many decades there have been efforts to improve fairness and inclusion in society. I remember the days when there was sensitivity training and other things under different labels.

My first memories of the DEI acronym was around the time of the angry push back against police in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. I personally did not attend those protests, for several reasons including covid.

It's not that simple, but I guess just change a few buzzwords and strategies to continue efforts toward a more inclusive world.

As we get more crowded are we getting more savage? Possible reasons behind vitriol about immigration.

I've heard people say that as the population of certain animals increases in a limited space, such as rats in a cage, the animals become more savage in attacking one another. Some say that will happen with humans as earth gets more crowded.

That may help explain Trump's anti immigrant rhetoric as well as the growing reaction against immigration in some European countries and some other countries around the world. It also may help explain nimby-ism; the not in my backyard syndrome.

How we plan for and accommodate our growing population makes a difference.

I got to thinking that discord often starts from a traffic situation; an accident, road rage, desputes about police behavior when someone is pulled over in a traffic stop. This recent uproar, in Springfield, Ohio, happened after an accident involving an SUV driven by a Haitian.

I keep thinking too much reliance on private automobiles is a problem. Traffic being one of the main complaints about city life.

A rapidly growing population can put stress of housing, schools, infrastructure and various social services. Good planning is a key to making the best of a situation. In some cases, growth can be a good thing. Growth is often seen as good in economic terms as well as, in cultural terms. Larger cities can offer amenities in the arts and so forth.

Much does depend on how we plan and adapt to the situations we face.

See my article in The Betty Pages. Is overpopulation driving anti immigration sentiment?

Remember, even the Chop Zone in Seattle happened during Trump's watch.

People forget that the Chop Zone in Seattle and much of the unrest against police happened during the Trump Presidency; 2020. Biden is more into de escalating the situation. Trump antagonized people on purpose and they pushed back. Things do seem to be a bit calmer today. I fear that if Trump were back in office, both the left and the right would rise up in anger and most of us would be caught in the middle.

Whatcom County does need a new jail. The old one is close to the breaking point in 2023

I plan to vote for the jail (new facility for incarceration and alternatives to incarceration services) this time around November 2023.

Update. The measure won. November 2023.

A government default could pull the plug on asset values

The debt ceiling impasse has gone to the next step. Surprisingly enough Republicans in the House did barely get on board for a "Republican plan" to raise the ceiling and have big cuts in spending.

Democrats and probably most of the American people would not go for those cuts. Meanwhile, raising taxes isn't being considered by the Republicans.

The government does provide a lot of important services, such as health insurance for many who can't afford super high insurance premiums. Governments provide public safety, police, fire, and the large military budget. Affordable housing is provided as well. Basic research in medicine, space exploration and other science is often funded by a small sliver of the budget which helps to keep us abreast with the rest of the world that is moving forward.

Some people think we need to rely more on the private sector, which does some good things, but much private money goes to private yachts, big homes, called McMansions, second homes, political bribes and multi million dollar salaries for playing football.

There we have the dilemma of the budget. We could just pull the plug and let the economy go into a depression. Much of the money, that we thought we had in things like bank accounts and asset values could disappear. These perceived stores of value could plummet.

Perceived stores of value are possibly no more real that some of the tricks proposed, that Biden could do, such as minting a trillion dollar coin and calling it "money," so we can continue to prop things up, rather than the possibility of panic setting in and things crashing.

One possible scenario for the debt ceiling problem is that the impasse will put the US into default and uncharted financial territory. Like the virus, it could cause financial panic and a Wall Street crash. Like in March of 2020, politicians got a bit scared and figured out how to make more money out of thin air; thus paying unemployment to cover the shutdowns that likely saved many lives. Rents were paid for businesses and individuals when restaurants, bars and so forth closed. Money was spend to develop the vaccine and provide hospitalization to the afflicted. Most of us, still alive at least, came out of the pandemic, but now there is worry about some inflation.

Driver assist technology could be used to enforce safer driving.

While I tend to feel favorable toward the police, I also understand the argument that "an ounce of prevention," from things like social services, is better than "a pound of cure;" only relying on police.

This same logic can apply to traffic safety as well. Driver assist technology and even self driving technology is becoming more prevalent. I've heard that we can pretty much make the cars enforce things like speed limits, but there is reluctance to do this from automakers and the driving public.

How about having a breathalyzer in all cars so the car doesn't start if the breathalyzer detects alcohol? We've had that technology, since the 1980s, as it is often installed in the cars of folks who have been convicted of drunk driving.

How about having the cars, themselves, enforce speed limits and having the cars refuse to do reckless driving? The human driver could still override these features given certain emergencies or the need for higher speeds in passing and so forth.

This isn't just my idea, I've heard, on the news, that we could do a lot more to make cars safer by just installing technology where the car refuses to do reckless driving. GPS could be used so the car knows the speed limits for each road.

Many of the problems, that cause folks to complain about police, stem from traffic stops. The cars, themselves could do more to enforce public safety.

Strong Towns suggests changing street design to encourage slower and safer driving. Slower style city planning is nice. I would appriciate it being a bicyclist and a pedestrian, but it does take billions of dollars in retrofitting. A quicker solution is to use technology, in the cars themselves, to enforce safer driving.

Avoiding a hostile world

So many controversies, involving the police, start with a traffic stop. Reckless driving, or whatever. Another problem related to a transportation system overly dependent on private automobiles.

Police can over react, but at the same time, the public worries about rising crime rates, auto theft and increasing violence, including gun violence and reckless driving, in our society.

Seems like our culture has too much anger, but at the same time, I notice the people, around me, seem reasonable, for the most part. The media tends to focus on the problems as there is an old phrase, about journalism, that goes, "if it bleeds it leads."

In everyday life, I still place a fair amount of trust in the kindness of strangers. I'm fairly sympathetic to the police, for the most part. At the same time, I don't worry much about property theft as I don't have much property. Pretty much all of my possessions have a low replacement value.

I often leave things on my bike and they have been untouched when I return. The pannier, I use in town, looks very tattered and anything in it is usually not worth more than a few dollars; such as the flashlight I use for a light. Yes, it's modern LED, but just a flashlight from a regular hardware store for around $5. My jackets are from secondhand stores.

While biking through Sequim, WA. in 2021, I found these banners, along the main street, promoting kindness.

I may be less vulnerable to crime being a bicyclist

During summer of 2020, I wasn't a big fan of the idea that police are the big problem. I'm hearing that some of the police reforms, in Washington State, have made it harder for police to do their jobs.

Now, people in Bellingham, including folks calling themselves liberal, are starting to get real worried about crime.

Personally, I haven't noticed the increasing crime situation. I still feel safe, myself, but I'm hearing lots about it from other folks. I am sympathetic to folks feeling threatened, but, again, it seems like some of the talk might be over reaction. The anti police talk was over reaction, now people's fear for their safety could be, in part, over reaction.

I'm thinking that my bicycle has helped my own feeling of safety. There are lots of street people and homeless folks around, but I just go by on my bike. Walking can make one more vulnerable; especially folks who must walk with canes and walkers. Being male, rather than female, makes a difference as well. I feel less vulnerable than a lot of women are feeling these days.

Another thing about the bicycle, that adds to my personal sense of safety, is that I park my bike inside my locked apartment. Folks with cars often have to leave the car out in a parking lot or along the street. Car prowls and thefts are up. There's been a big rash of catalytic converter thefts.

I do worry about more lawlessness on the roads. Traffic is getting worse, law enforcement is short handed as it's getting harder to fill jobs in policing. Traffic death tolls are up, but so far I've been okay on the roads. For the most part I've been out of the mainstream traffic pattern. Trails, shoulders and light traffic roads are where I go.

Now the need for police is likely more appreciated than in summer of 2020.

Telephone exchange bldg. in Bellingham becomes a magnet for graffiti.

Increasing crime, in this county, is becoming a topic of discussion. Quite a few conservatives are blaming Democrats for rules that place undue limits on the police.

To some extent, I agree as I was not a fan of the big focus on police reform that was prevalent during the summer of 2020.

As for situations that discriminate against the poor, I tend to look at things like exclusive single family zoning, rather than focusing on the police who do have a difficult job. More recently, that phrase, "defund the police" has fallen by the wayside, however.

Washington State may have passed some badly designed laws making policework more difficult. The Legislature is trying to step back from some of these reforms, more recently, but they might need to do more.

I'm okay with more funding for social services that are less expensive than police, but police are needed. I'm sure some police reform is needed; especially depending on which city one is talking about. Still, I think there was too much focus on police reform when other things in society cause more of the problems people are complaining about.

Seems like there has been some hatred toward police; enough to cause low moral so it's difficult to retain and recruit police. Quite a few positions are unfilled locally, from what I gather. A big problem in Seattle as well.

Seems like some of the anti police rhetoric of 2020 wasn't the best focus, but liberal politics has been tainted by it. I tend to think that politics, based on anger, creates problems.

Now that the crime rate has risen and people are getting scared, liberal politics may be tainted by the tendency of folks to paint everything with a broad brush. Some of the reforms that came out of 2020 likely went too far, but that situation could be an anomaly. I've often thought conservatives are not friendly to public safety as well. There is the gun culture. Also, people forget that it takes taxes to fund police and conservatives are often anti tax.

Here in Whatcom County, we have a convergence of liberal and conservative values that lead to the failure of new jail construction. Lack of space in our old jail is leading to problems. Dangerous people being let out as room in the jail is very limited.

I'll admit, I voted against the new jail, back then as well, but eventually we will need to do something.

The stereotype liberal thought the new jail proposals were too large and needed more focus on alternatives to hard core incarceration. At the same time, there is a tendency, among stereotypical conservatives, to vote down big taxes. The new jail would have maxed out our local taxing authority for quite some time, at least in that category of taxation.

Washington State has some limits that it imposes on local taxation. Limits imposed by popular initiatives on the ballot. Remember Tim Eyman?

Some kind of solution to the jail issue will be back on the ballot eventually.

The crime rate is now a big topic in local discussion.

Philadelphia experimenting with ban on police pulling over drivers for minor offences

More chaos on the roads?

Philadelphia Police will not pull people over for minor offences, such as a light out, license obscured or even noise and pollution. One can still be pulled over for more serious things, like speeding.

Here in Washington State, I hear lots of people complain that they don't seem to enforce smog and noise limits anymore. Yes, I've noticed some cars are real loud. Loud tailpipes.

This issue relates to police, race relations, but I often think about other types of topics; like the chaos caused by automobiles in the first place.

We can see if this experiment brings more, or maybe less chaos. Article says that most Philadelphia police are okay with this change. It is seen as a way to focus police time on more serious crimes.

I keep reading, in Strong Towns Facebook Group, that we need to design roads, in town, for less speed. Rely less on the over burdened police and more on road design to calm the traffic.

The minor violations, such as a light out or license obscured, can still be picked up by traffic cams. Article says citations can still arrive in the mail.

One wonders how a traffic cam can know where to mail the citation to if the license is obscured.

I'm relived that the verdict is guilty in this case.

I'm relieved that the Chauvin verdict is guilty. Partially because of the prospect of civil unrest if the verdict wasn't guilty. As for the actual crime, I wasn't there to judge the facts, but seems like, from what I can gather in this specific case, guilty is the proper verdict.

To some extent, society as a whole criminalizes poverty. Police are more a scapegoat.

Police reform isn't necessarily a bad idea, but I do tend to think a lot of the anger against police is misplaced anger against things like gentrification, income inequality, poverty and so forth.

Also I notice (my own hunch at least) some parts of life are less funky, in a way, than in years past. Cities are trying to "clean up the city." When I was a child, we wandered around town with less worry and supervision. Bad things happened, but there was less worry and awareness of it.

Now society demands a higher level of safety. Seatbelts, for instance. Drunk driving laws more enforced. Often for good reason, but not everyone fits those molds easily.

The police are like at the knife edge of a blade cutting through. They get the blame as they are often the bringers of the bad news in efforts to keep the town more tidy.

One of the problems that we have is that poverty is criminalized. There are laws against sleeping in an RV on city streets, for instance.

Some of these laws are now not being enforced, which is good. Looking back, the laws were problematic. Now, with the virus and the Boise court ruling on homelessness, things may be changing for the better.

We could accept RVs, tiny homes and even, in some cases tents, as a legitimate form of low income housing by admitting to the fact that other housing is in short supply.

We could work with the situation as it is to improve things with various technologies. The smartphone is already used as contact. People can have PO boxes. Composting toilets can help in RVs, there can be trash pickup. Some areas can have reasonable fees for things like trash pickup and water.

Admit that we are a bit like a third world country. Try and make the best of the reality of these situations, rather than criminalizing then.

The police do make some mistakes, but they get too much blame for society's problems.

I'll admit I may be writing from a position of white privilege, but I do feel that so much media focus on deadly mistakes made by police usually leaves out some deeper issues. These mistakes are bound to happen in tense situations.

Conservatives will say that the violent crime rate is higher in black neighborhoods. Maybe better to say in poor neighborhoods. Discussing underlying causes of these problems is valuable.

I only have my own opinions, but I think about things like restrictive "single family" zoning and it's contribution to the high cost of housing.

Segregation is often an unintended consequence of things, in society, that are designed to protect people's wealth and peace of mind. In the past, there was a history of more overt racism behind lots of urban planning decisions, but now many traditions, rooted in the past, continue without the overt stated racism.

I've seen some articles about this. The racial roots of some zoning rules that have been cleansed of their original, 1950s, language, but still are enforce.

I would think that over dependence on the automobile contributes to problems. The way freeways have carved up cities.

There is the problem of traffic stops in the first place. A fear of what's lurking inside vehicles. Who's behind the tinted glass? Do they have a gun? Were they reckless drivers? Are they on drugs? Automobiles, in the hands of the general public, can be very dangerous. I think about the problem of "stranger danger." How wary ordinary people are of folks they don't know. A lot of people fear using public transit for that reason, but is public transit really as dangerous, or unpleasant, as folks perceive?

I think maybe we should all be more accepting of strangers.

There is a lot of suspicion, out there, created by a climate of fear. Media can enhance fear as it often highlights the one in a million type fluke events and crimes when the overall statistics might say that common activities; like driving a car, are more dangerous. More dangerous than, say riding a bus with unknown passengers.

Scared to ride the bus? Picture of haunted Whatcom Transit bus, Halloween 2010.

When people get to know each other, fear usually diminishes. Problem is that in most situations, there isn't time to develop a rapport with people we encounter.

A group of menacing looking teenagers might be fine, if one gets to know them more. Even just some brief conversation. Most situations don't allow that, however. People will walk across the street instead. I'll admit I'd walk across the street also.

I'm a bit shy on first contact with people, but, if the opportunity is there, I am pretty open to meeting new people. I don't worry too much about privacy or being out there in public. Still, I avoid things out of fear as well.

Some folks are very insular and stay in their small world of friends. That's a common part of human nature. Other folks are more open to mingling with the public, with the diversity that the public mix brings.

Maybe we do need to be more tolerant and not allow as many things to annoy us. Sometimes, though, people can be annoying and even outright dangerous. There are times when one has to call a spade a spade. I would think that the police aren't usually going out there arresting people without cause.

The police have to deal with things all the time. People and situations that other folks, including myself, tend to avoid. Part of the problem is the way our society tends to isolate people from one another. It's kind of a natural cliquishness. I think a lot of the problems, related to the police, are more the symptoms of human tendencies. Things that would cause everyone to have to rethink their own tendencies.

As for stranger danger, here is a funny thought I often have walking on the sidewalk. When I see some young people heading my direction on skateboards, my first thought is often, "they are cute." My second thought is to jump out of the way.

Fortunately, I am still quite agile so jumping out of the way works. Also, even if I didn't jump, they can almost always swerve around me anyway. They are kind of fun to watch.

My point being to try and have a different mindset than fear, or anger is often a good strategy.

Unintended consequences. Seattle's anti police Chop Zone helped Republicans while Wednesday's right wing rebellion at the US Capitol helped Democrats.

Some people, on the right on talk shows and so forth, have kept asking why folks weren't that upset about the violence last summer in Portland, Oregon.

People were upset about that. I would even speculate that those situations, like the Chop Zone in Seattle, could have led to the vote adding more Republicans to the US House of Representatives in the same 2020 election that Joe Biden won.

By far, from what I understand, most of the protesters were peaceful, but there was the violence.

Wednesday's right wing violence at the US Capitol will have the opposite effect. Republicans now more boldly denouncing Trump. Many Senators, who were questioning the election results, dropping plans to continue pushing that objection.

A lot of public officials, including some Trump administration staff, seriously discussing use of the 25th amendment to remove the president from power due to inability to govern, mental illness being discussed.

Looks like Trump's been really going off the rails in recent days and this could have contributed to Democratic Senators winning in the Georgia runoff elections. The margins were slim so something like this could have tipped the scale.

Personally, I'm happy that the Democrats will now be able to remove McConnell as Senate majority leader, but I, admittedly, do lean toward the Democrats.

McConnell's recent speech on the Senate floor, after the capitol was able to resume proceedings on Wednesday, was pretty good, however.

Wednesday was a very bazar day.

How police handled pro Trump mob at capitol versus black lives matter protests. My thoughts from living in Bellingham, WA.

I don't know what to think about police behavior, or lack thereof, in various cities I have no experience with.

Here in Bellingham, there were quite a few pro Black Lives Matter protests, last summer, that were peaceful and the police had a soft presence, if any presence at all. At least from what I gather.

Holly Street was blocked a few times which didn't seem to bother the police and neither did it bother me. I don't drive. Pedestrians were able to wonder around on Holly Street.

I think actions can bring on reactions. Heavy policing and violent protests; like a vicious cycle. Protests on the right versus protests on the left.

I prefer civil and thoughtful discussion that can, hopefully lead to our society's evolution.

There was some vandalism, in Bellingham, aside from the actual protests. Some individuals that broke windows at other times. After one protest was winding down, some people graffitied City Hall.

Seems like most liberal activists distanced themselves from those things. Spoke out critical of those actions on local media. I didn't participate in the BLM marches, in Bellingham, though I have friends who did.

There were folks who thought mass gatherings, during this pandemic, would be a bad idea. Turns out spread of the virus wasn't as bad as first feared with gatherings being outdoors and masks worn, for the most part.

I still wasn't a big fan of those protests thinking, myself, "if we are giving up the fun things, like the gay parade that also help culture evolve, why gather for the more angry, serious stuff?"

Culture also evolves by the way we lead our lives and the things that we consume.

It isn't just the left that might defund the police. It's more likely finding efficient solutions for limited budgets.

Speaking of defunding the police, the town of Republic, WA. has just defunded it's police department. Republic is not a bastion of "liberal, radical" people.

As I've been saying all along, the budget speaks loudly. Republic City Council voted to eliminate it's one person police department due, I guess, to a tight budget. Police services have been turned over to county sheriff's department.

The one officer being laid off is also known for his run for governor of Washington in 2020. Republican Loren Culp. He recently lost to incumbent Democrat Jay Inslee, but is challenging the results. That's a whole-nother story.

During Culp's run for governor, he was on leave from the city so they used the county sheriff's department to take his place. Apparently they discovered that doing it through the county was a more efficient arrangement than having a one person city police department Though that town has had a police department for over 100 years, according to a video posted by Culp.

On a personal note, I've been through Republic on a bike tour, or two. Below see some pictures I took passing through.

Some photos I took in Republic.

I'm not a big fan of "defund the police," but I understand the need to think about "prevention," such as mental health funding, versus "cure," such as having to call the police. It's similar to the concept of having preventative medicine versus relying on the emergency room for healthcare. Problem is, there is never enough funding for everything. These problems can be made worse by an attitude that is anti government. I can also see why people wish to limit government, but remember, if you want the police, you do need government.

In a way, this isn't really defunding the police. It's just finding a more efficient way to fund police services.

I think the bigger issue, in the whole defund the police discussion, is the effects of tight budgets; especially due to corona virus effect on the economy and whether federal relief to local governments becomes available. Moderate Democrats need to point that out as a bigger problem than, necessarily, animosity toward the police from farther to the left.

To the swing voters in the middle that might be driven right wing from their fears about crime and anti police rhetoric from the far left, I'd say be more worried about the far right. If government was to be drowned in a bathtub, as in anti tax activist Grover Norquist's famous quote, it could mean anarchy.

Pressure to reduce police budgets from both the left and the right. From the left for ideology. From the right from tax cuts and loss of local revenue.

On the right, the law of unintended consequences related to tight budgets. From the left, the idealism of transfering resources from police services to a utopia of softer social services.

Seattle City Council is proceeding with a 4 million dollar cut in police budget due to pressure from BLM protesters. Less noticed is an even larger 20 million dollars in cuts that are probably inevitable due to reduced local tax revenue. The second, bigger figure is strongly influenced by reduced local revenue due to the virus situation.

The police are being chopped at from both directions; no pun intended, since there was the "Chop Zone" in Seattle a few weeks back. This is pretty much a worrisome situation for public safety.

Some people on the left want to transfer money from police to other softer and more preventative things such as affordable housing and mental health resources.

Like the phrase an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; cure being calling the police.

As there are problems in society, the police are the one's who get called when things like domestic violence happen. The last resort, versus, for instance, a therapist.

Problem is that just about all services of local government, from police to mental health services, are facing the potential for larger cuts due to the loss in tax revenues.

Tho conservatives tend to oppose this, there still needs to be a financial bailout, or backstop, for local government from the federal government. Yes, it does seem like we just need to keep printing the money.

In an ideal society, there would be more affordable housing and a better social safety net. As funds to provide these things professionally are dwindling, it looks like more services will need to be provided by volunteers. Many of the softer services, such as mental health and housing, could be provided by informal and more volunteer means. Tiny home villages, for instance.

As for volunteer police services, there is the worry about citizen vigilantism.