mahiwaga

Disclaimer: I unequivocally condemn the actions of Michael Xavier Johnson and I can’t help but wonder if his actual aim was not just to terrorize law enforcement officials but also to discredit the Black Lives Matter movement.

I’m not sure how many people are really tripping about the fact that they used a “robot bomb” to kill a heavily armed suspect after the failure of negotiations instead of snipers or something, but it seems clear that the real controversy among law enforcement officers is whether a tactic that has formerly been reserved for active warfare has a place in day-to-day law enforcement.

Similar to the controversy of using UAVs to kill suspects remotely, I imagine the real concern among civil libertarians especially in the wake of the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile is the likelihood that this tactic will be abused and the likelihood that the right to due process will be further abridged.¹

When a reporter asked the POTUS about “living in a perpetual state of war” I wasn’t sure if he was asking about fighting terrorists abroad or asking about life in the U.S. with militarized police and a heavily armed populace.²

see also: - ‘Bomb Robot’ Takes Down Dallas Gunman, but Raises Enforcement Questions • 2016 Jul 8 • Henry Fountain and Michael S. Schmidt • New York Times - Use of Dallas ‘bomb robot’ to kill revives police militarization issue • 2016 Jul 8 • Dustin Volz and Isma’il Kushkush • Reuters - Why the Dallas police had explosives, and how those explosives were fatal • 2016 Jul 8 • Philip Bump • Washington Post

If not revolution, then at least incrementalism.

Sanders scores platform victory, calls for $15 minimum wage • 2016 Jul 9 • Catherine Lucey and Ken Thomas • PBS Newshour

Democrats’ new platform adopts many Sanders demands • 2016 Jul 10 • Chris Megerian • Los Angeles Times

The Democratic Party has moved left after Bernie Sanders’s run. The platform is proof. • 2016 Jul 11 • Jeff Stein • Vox

Automation has already happened. The robots have already taken over most of the jobs that robots can perform. And it’s already had major effects.

crossposted on Facebook

The Best Jobs Now Require You To Be A People Person • 2015 Aug 25 • Andrew Flowers • FiveThirtyEight

…“[C]omputers aren’t good at simulating human interaction….” …That means a job as a manager or consultant is harder to automate, and the skills those jobs require become more valuable.

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Has there been a slowdown in growth of high-wage, technical jobs, or is there simply a shift in growth toward jobs that also require high social skills? It seems to be the latter.

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…most of the employment growth in jobs requiring cognitive skills occurred in those that also required interpersonal skills. Think of doctors, lawyers and management consultants. Purely technical occupations — those requiring knowledge of math but fewer social skills, such as actuaries, machinists, electricians, billing clerks — have fared badly since 2000 in both pay and job growth. Even jobs with low math but high social skills have grown — lawyers and physical therapists, for example.