Month: June 2020

Posted on

We never suspected they were the ones holding the fabric of the Universe together.

Posted on

What Have the Protests Accomplished?

eowyntheavenger:

5/26 4 officers fired for murdering George Floyd
5/27 Charges dropped for Kenneth Walker (Breonna Taylor's boyfriend, who police accused of killing her)
5/28 University of Minnesota cancels contract with police
5/28 3rd precinct police station neutralized by protesters
5/28 Minneapolis transit union refuses to bring police officers to protests or transport arrested protesters
5/29 Activists commandeer Minneapolis hotel to provide shelter to homeless
5/29 Former officer Chauvin arrested and charged with murder
5/29 Louisville Mayor suspends "no-knock" warrants
5/30 US Embassies across Africa condemn police murder of George Floyd
5/30 Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison takes over prosecution of the murdering officer
5/30 Transport Workers Union refuses to help NYPD transport arrests protesters
5/30 Maryland lawmakers forming work group on police reform, accountability
5/31 2 abusive officers fired for pulling a couple out of their car and tasing them – Atlanta, GA
6/1 Minneapolis public schools end contract with police
6/1 Confederate monument removed after being toppled by protesters – Birmingham, AL
6/1 CA prosecutors launch campaign to stop DAs from accepting police union money
6/1 Tulsa Mayor agrees to not renew Live PD contract
6/1 Louisville police chief fired after shooting of David Mcatee
6/1 Congress begins bipartisan push to cut off police access to military gear
6/1 Atlanta announces plans to create a task force and public database to track police brutality in metro Atlanta area
6/2 Minneapolis AFL-CIO calls for resignation of police union president Bob Kroll, a vocal white supremest
6/2 Pittsburgh transit union announces refusal to transport police officers or arrest protesters
6/2 Racist ex-mayor Frank Rizzo statue removed in Philadelphia
6/2 6 abusive officers charged for violence against residents and protesters – Atlanta, GA
6/2 Civil rights investigation of Minneapolis Police Dept launched
6/2 San Francisco resolution to prevent law enforcement from hiring officers with history of misconduct
6/2 Survey indicates that 64% of those polled are sympathetic to protesters, 47% disapprove of police handling of the protests, and 54% think the burning down of the Minneapolis police precinct was fully or partially justified
6/2 Trenton NJ announces policing reforms
6/2 Minneapolis City Council members consider disbanding the police
6/2 Confederate statue removed from Alexandria, VA
6/3 Officer fired for tweets promoting violence against protesters – Denver, CO
6/3 Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Art cut ties with the MPD
6/3 Chauvin charges upgraded to second degree murder, remaining 3 officers also charged and taken into custody
6/3 Richmond VA Mayor Stoney announces RPD reform measures: establish "Marcus" alert for folks experiencing mental health crises, establish independent Citizen Review Board, an ordinance to remove Confederate monuments, and implement racial equity study
6/3 County commissioners deny proposal for $23 million expansion of Fulton County jail
6/3 Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board unanimously votes to sever ties with MPD
6/3 Seattle withdraws request to end federal oversight/consent decree of police department
6/3 Breonna Taylor's case reopened
6/3 Louisville police department (Breonna Taylor's murderers) will now be under review from an outside agency, which will include review on training, bias-free policing and accountability
6/3 Colorado lawmakers introduce a police reform bill that includes body cam laws, repealing the "fleeing felon" statute, and banning chokeholds
6/3 Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announces plans to reduce funding to police department by $150M and instead invest in minority communities
6/4 Virginia governor announces plans to remove Robert E. Lee statue from Richmond
6/4 Portland schools superintendent discontinues presence of armed police officers in schools
6/4 MBTA (Metro Boston) board orders that buses wont transport police to protests, or protesters to police
6/4 King County Labor Federation issues ultimatum to police unions: admit to and address racism in Seattle PD, or be removed
6/5 City of Minneapolis bans all chokeholds by police
6/5 Racist ex-mayor Hubbard statue removed – Dearborn, MI
6/5 NFL condemns racism and admits it should have listened to players' protests
6/5 California Governor Gavin Newsom calls for statewide use-of-force standard made along with community leaders and ban on carotid holds
6/5 2 Buffalo officers suspended within a day of pushing 75 year old protester to the ground, and lying about it
6/5 2 NYPD officers suspended after videos of violence to protesters
6/5 The US Marines bans display of the Confederate flag
6/5 Dallas adopts a "duty to intervene" rule that requires officers to stop other cops who are engaging in excessive use of force
6/5 Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax releases an 11-point action plan for immediate police reforms
6/6 Statue of Confederate general Williams Carter Wickham torn down – Richmond, VA
6/6 2 Buffalo officers charged with second-degree assault for shoving elderly man
6/6 San Francisco Mayor London Breed announces effort to defund police and redirect funds to Black community
6/7 Frank Rizzo mural removed, to be replaced with new artwork – Philadelphia, PA
6/7 Minneapolis City Council members announce intent to disband the police department, invest in proven community-led public safety
6/7 Protesters in Bristol topple statue of slave trader Edward Colston, throw it in the river
6/7 NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio vows for the first time to cut funding for NYPD, redirect to social services
6/7 A Virginia police officer faces charges after using a stun gun on a black man
6/8 NY State Assembly passes the Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act
6/8 Democrats in Congress unveil a bill to rein in bias and excessive force in policing
6/8 Black lawmakers block a legislative session in Pennsylvania to demand action on police reform
6/8 France bans police use of chokeholds
6/8 Seattle council members join calls to defund police department
6/8 Boston reevaluates how it funds police department
6/8 Honolulu Police Commission nominees voice support for more transparency, reforms
6/8 Rights groups and Floyd's family call for a UN inquiry into American policing and help with systemic police reform

No, it's not enough, but this is only the beginning. Keep fighting!!!

Posted on

So the Other Day I Was Watching This Documentary…

…called Scanning The Pyramids, and they were describing Caliph al Ma'mun's breaching of the Great Pyramid in the ninth century. (Supposedly the first time it had been entered since its construction was completed ~2000 years earlier.) At the time of the breaching, the exterior of the pyramid was still covered in polished limestone and there were no visible entrances. The original account described how, once they gained entrance, Ma'mum's men were overcome by the number of bats and their guano found in the inner passageways.

In my mind, this raises an interesting question: if there were no openings to the pyramid prior to al Ma'mun's exploration where did the bats come from? How did they get inside? We now know there are at least two "air shafts" that lead from both the King's and Queen's chambers to the outer casing of the pyramid, but are we to believe that bats somehow managed to fly the hundreds of feet down the narrow shafts that led into the still-sealed chambers?

I'm sorry, but something just doesn't add up. Either there was another, unknown entrance through which the bats were coming and going, or the inner chambers weren't sealed up as described.

Just another question about those ancient, enigmatic structures which we'll probably never have an answer to.

BTW, the documentary is very interesting and worth your time if you're even slightly interested in this stuff. I also found it not at all surprising that Zahi Hawass, former Minister of State for Egyptian Antiquities Affairs—known for rejecting pretty much anything that does not conform to his self-proclaimned archeological orthodoxy—was looking at the data and outright rejected the findings of the team which claims they had located additional chambers in the Great Pyramid—stating outright that there was nothing additional to be found within the structure and refusing to allow any followup investigations that might definitively settle the matter one way or another.

Infuriating. And as always it makes me wonder what he's so afraid of finding.