Tag: grounded

Critical Race Theory

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From Wikipedia — Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary intellectual and social movement of civil-rights scholars and activists who seek to examine the intersection of race and law in the United States and to challenge mainstream American liberal approaches to racial justice…

A key CRT concept is intersectionality—the way in which different forms of inequality and identity are affected by interconnections of race, class, gender and disability. Scholars of CRT view race as a social construct with no biological basis. One tenet of CRT is that racism and disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing, and often subtle social and institutional dynamics, rather than explicit and intentional prejudices of individuals. CRT scholars argue that the idea of race advances the interests of white people at the expense of people of color, and that the liberal notion of U.S. law as “neutral” plays a significant role in maintaining a racially unjust social order, where formally color-blind laws continue to have racially discriminatory outcomes.

CRT began in the United States in the post–civil rights era, as 1960s landmark civil rights laws were being eroded and schools were being re-segregated. With racial inequalities persisting even after civil rights legislation was enacted, CRT scholars in the 1970s and 1980s began reworking and expanding critical legal studies theories on class, economic structure and the law to examine the role of U.S. law in perpetuating racism. CRT, a framework of analysis grounded in critical theory, originated in the mid-1970s…

Addition of Critical Race Theory to the list of curricula opposed by Americans, openly or not-so-openly racist, is simply that. A recent addition.

Criticism of some of what may be termed self-delusion about American law and enforcement is nothing new. Whether pointing at liberals or some other flavor of thought that believes that every law is passed to make life better for us all…and is interpreted and enforced with that aim in mind…doesn’t remove racism from root and context.

Utah law lets authorities take down drones at wildfires

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Click to enlarge

❝ Utah’s governor has signed into law a measure that makes the state the first to let authorities jam drone signals and crash the devices specifically for flying too close to wildfires.

❝ Republican Gov. Gary Herbert’s office announced Monday that he signed the law over the weekend, just days after lawmakers met in a special session to pass it and a handful of other bills.

State Sen. Evan Vickers, who co-sponsored the law, says it technically allows firefighters and law enforcement to shoot down drones, but they probably won’t do that because it’s too difficult. Instead, authorities are expected to use technology that jams signals and crashes drones.

❝ Utah passed the law after a drone recently was sighted five times over one wildfire, causing firefighters to ground their aircraft and slow their work.

But, but, but…some idjit was seriously getting some dynamite images and video for his YouTube account. Might’ve gone viral and got him a real job.

Massachusetts boy calls 911 on his mom

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Shamayne Rosario
Kid is lucky mom has a sense of humor

Ten-year-old Dan Davis had no interest in going to bed. So he called the police for help.

His mother, Shamayne Rosario, had just given him the news Wednesday night that it was time to head to his room, but the fourth-grader had other ideas on school vacation week.

“He’s like, ‘I’m gonna call the cops on you,’” said Rosario, 34, of Brockton, speaking on behalf of her son.

Shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dan was shuffling his way to the bedroom, but instead picked up the wall phone and dialed 911. He quickly hung up, but not before connecting.

“Then he just walked to his room and got under the covers,” said Rosario, a mother of six and a student at Massasoit Community College.

Brockton police, following protocol, returned the call. Rosario explained the situation, then asked her son to pitch in.

“Dan, would you like to talk to the police?” she is heard saying in the 911 call, “because you can’t be calling 911 when there is no emergency.”

Then she told the police, “He doesn’t want to come to the phone…”

Regardless of what a person says, the department has to confirm all 911 calls in person, because police never know if it’s a situation in which someone was coerced into lying.

“You can’t really take that chance,” Lt. Paul Bonanca said…

Brockton police sent an officer out to the Rosario house, near Keith Park in the city’s Campello section. Rosario asked the officer to talk to her son about the importance of using 911 for emergencies only. No charges were brought.

“This is a lot for him,” Rosario said, as a throng of television reporters gathered outside her home. “I believe he’s not going to do that again.”

For good measure, Dan will spend the next two weeks grounded.

His mom put it best when she said that children…“need to know that there’s boundaries and responsibilities they need to uphold, no matter how old they are.” Bravo, Ms. Rosario.

Suspected arsonists sought as wildfires rage in Texas

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Dropping water one bucket at a time

One of the dozens of massive blazes that have torched rain-starved Texas was set by arsonists, police say.

Cops in Leander are hunting for two teenage girls and two teenage boys suspected of starting a fire Monday night that gutted around a dozen houses and forced hundreds of people to evacuated their homes…

The teens were spotted running through a wooded area where the fire started, police said. The city was offering up to $2,000 to anyone with information leading to the arrest of the arsonists.

Local reports said the blaze ripped through at least 300 acres, destroyed 11 homes and damaged at least eight homes around Leander, about 22 miles northwest of Austin…

Investigators say one of girl suspects was wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans, and she had black hair that may have been dyed. The other girl was described as having dirty blond hair in a white T-shirt and jeans. Both boys had dark, shaggy hair and were dressed in jeans, police said. All four teens are white, cops said.

More than 150 different wildfires have ravaged hundreds of thousands of acres and destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Texas this week.

One fire, in Bastrop, southeast of Austin, was described as the most devastating wildfire in more than a decade. That fire raged for a fourth-consecutive day on Wednesday, consuming 45 square miles and forcing 7,000 to evacuate the area. More than 600 homes were said to have been destroyed, and four people have been killed.

Murder is murder is murder. If they catch these kids and they are proven to have started fires – throw away the key.

In a related story – a DC10 air tanker ain’t flying and dropping water on fires because the state of Texas in their infinite wisdom [which means Rick Perry] was too cheap to hire a backup pilot. The only one they hired has exceeded maximum consecutive hours for a pilot to be allowed to fly.

Yes, there are safety reasons for that – the maximum flying hours, not the cheapskate part.