I might live a thousand years before I know what that means.

 Running late today, my apologies. I stayed up fairly late last night doing my Actual Paying Work and, of course, defending humanity from alien invasions. Overslept this morning, and by the time I was done editing and brushing up the APW to send it to the Chief, it was past 3 p.m. I wasn't feeling my sharpest, so I decided to take a nap and here we are.

 Anyhow. I've been keeping an interested eye on these "autonomous zones" that have popped up around the country in the wake of the nation-wide protests against police brutality. Of course, there's the first well-organized one in Seattle, and because there was a mass walkout of police in Atlanta to protest that one guy getting fired and charged with murder for shooting Rayshard Brooks in the back as he was running away. I'm not sure if that counts, though. One was started on the northwest side of Portland yesterday evening but apparently the cops shut it down fairly quickly. It was set up outside the mayor's house, apparently, so it makes sense the law would be Johnny-On-The-Spot there. One's trying to kick up at the Capitol Square in Nashville - which the protesters have renamed "Ida B. Wells Square" - but the Tennessee governor's giving dire forecasts should it become a permanent thing.

 It should be noted a lot of this revolves around how the cops are reacting to the protesters. In Portland, for example, they cut that to the quick, while the thing in Seattle is flourishing basically because the local precinct emptied out the first day. No cops, no worries. In Atlanta, it's more a case of the "blue flu" by petulant po-pop even though Garrett Rolfe has turned himself in. They're not protesting or walking out on the job so much as a bunch of them all turned up sick this morning, amazingly enough. Given one of the issues the protesters have is the out-of-control militarization of the police that's both dangerous to the people and police while being more or less useless for dealing with crime, if Seattle or anyone really wanted to wipe folks out, they could.

 And that's part of the problem, really. Full disclosure, I've never had any real problem with the police. When I was 18, I was detained for four hours because a cop thought I was a guy selling drugs at a popular teen hangout area in Tupelo. Once in New Orleans I was pulled over because I was on the Westbank after midnight giving a black co-worker a ride home, and apparently that's suspicious behavior there. I was shocked, my co-worker and boss (who I had to call for the cop to believe us) were not. More naive me.

 The handful of times I called the police for assistance, I got the distinct impression they resented me cutting into their donut time. Granted, nothing I called for was all that interesting. A broken window or a stolen tag, little stuff like that, and the only reason I called was to have the official paperwork to deal with insurance. Nevertheless, every episode ended with me feeling like they thought me expecting them to do their job was a bit presumptuous. Beyond that, I've got a cousin who used to be a cop and I've had pleasant evenings hanging out and drinking with cops. I wouldn't call any of them "friends," but there you go.

So, I'm fairly ambivalent about cops and having them in general. I understand why some sort of order-keeping force might be useful in a large, varied society. I've generally gotten along with them when I've had to be around them for extended periods of time, but I generally get along with everyone. I've seen with my own two eyes cops abuse power and actively harass the black people they're supposed to be "protecting and serving". And I've spent enough time in the journalism trenches to hear all sorts of horror stories, some told by the cops themselves.

 I understand what the push to "defund the police" means and I don't know if it's an example of bad branding. That small-town police departments the size of Tupelo have twice the riot gear they have as cops as well as armored personnel carriers is ridiculous. This has been an issue since the '90s, as police budgets are often tied to how much they spend. If they don't spend all their allotted one year, they get less the next.

 And there is something in the whole "warrior" mentality we're seeing in police that desperately needs to be nipped in the bud. That they're using the Punisher's logo, despite Gerry Conway's objections, is worrisome. That they see the people they're supposed to be "protecting and serving" as "the enemy" is, well... we've seen how that works out. For me, I don't trust people are packing heat and that includes the fuzz. In my perfect world, most police work would consist of traffic control and keeping the flow of public moving smoothly, & dealing with crimes after the fact. That cops are sent on wellness checks or to deal with potentially suicidal individuals with no more training than they get - usually six weeks at most - is just not working.

 I don't have answers to fix the problem with out-of-control police brutality. I have told the aforementioned cousin that if the police want to repair relations with the community, especially the black part, stop treating black folks like criminals before the fact and especially stop shooting them whenever you feel the least bit threatened. You don't make yourself look better or trustworthy or worthy of respect when you amp up the behavior that got people protesting in the first place.

 But I'll tell you what most unnerves me about this whole deal. When reading about the Atlanta walkout or the autonomous zone in Seattle, I keep seeing conservatives gleeful at the idea of chaos raining down on the ungrateful city dwellers and actively hoping for a city in flames because it won't bend the knee to police violence. I don't believe either Seattle or Atlanta had a particular uptick in violence, but right-wingers are not only convinced  it's inevitable they're actively looking forward to it and encouraging it.

 The same people keep saying society is in danger of collapsing, but I got to say if this is the society they want, I'm fine with it collapsing. If you're cheering the idea of people being crushed under governmental heel because they don't agree that they should be subjugated and second class, you are the bad guy. Full stop.

I feel a storm, all wet and warm, not ten miles away approaching my Mexican home.

 Getting a late start on this tonight. Or a normal one, depending on how you look at it. In any event, it's 9 p.m. and I need to get something in the can for today. Before we get on with the business, links to this week's News.

Monday

Wednesday

Friday

 I'm particularly pleased with Friday's effort. As a part of the general thing the country finds itself, in re: dealing with systematic racism, there's a serious movement in the Mississippi Legislature to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag. I went into a little detail of why this is a big deal and why we're waiting until 2020 to make anything happen. A little history and a little background, that's what I'm here for.

 Wednesday was pretty good, too, as a look at the mess that was the Georgia primary vote and what it bodes for November. In short: nothing good as the GOP will use all at its means to decide the election. Monday was a fairly bog-standard wrap up of the weekend's events concerning the protests across the country in reaction to the murder of George Floyd, the growing discontent among some higher ranking Republicans with Trump's chances come November, and a little bit about Tropical Storm Cristobel, which thankfully turned out to be not much of nothing. A good piece for what it was, though.

 I've been keeping my eye on what's going on in Seattle, the "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" or "CHAZ". In all things, I recommend eschewing the national press and paying attention to the folks who actually live in a place that's in the news. I've long been a fan of indie magazines, having written for several, and The Stranger is considered one of the very best. Plus, they're keeping a solid look on what's going on without the bias and ignorance of some of the national publications.

 It seems folks in Nashville are trying to kick up a similar "autonomous zone" type thing, as well, despite dire warnings from Gov. Bill Lee. I don't know what he thinks he's going to do. I do believe that apart from the hard-core authoritarian types, any sort of government heavy handedness, from state or federal forces, doesn't go down as well as they think. It's interesting that a lot of the voices that have been screaming about government tyranny or Second Amendment rights - from the Bundy-types to the NRA - have been pretty quiet when the rubber is hitting the road. Undoubtedly, since this is happening mostly to black folks and left-leaning types, they're all of the sudden down to the ground with an authoritarian government ignoring basic civil rights.

 Anyhow, The Nashville Scene is a pretty good magazine, as well. Full disclosure, they paid me less than $50 for a story about someone, I think either Slobberbone or The Drive-By Truckers, nearly 20 years ago. As I said, I've always preferred those sort of magazines and have worked for a couple in the past. They never pay well or, indeed, enough to live on - this is indie journalism, after all - but it's always much more fun.

 Me and Momma had a fairly heavy conversation about all this and what it implies the other night. My mother is a very intelligent woman, but she is - by her own admittance - happily provincial and a bit naive about how the world outside Itawamba County actually is. She's also old fashioned and conservative. What I'm saying is she will listen but you have to take a hammer to her if you ever want to get anything through.

 Plus, while she understands what I mean when I tell her about being an atheist who leans towards far-left anarchism, she really doesn't like those stances. I think I got it through to her why this autonomous zone business wasn't the popular perception of anarchy but rather the political connotation of anarchism. That is, a rejection of unearned authoritarian groups as someone automatically obeyed. If your "leadership" fails to the extent that it did the folks in Capitol Hill, or so they consider, feel they're justified in telling them to piss off and taking it over on their own.

 If I get Sarah Thompson to understand that anarchism is a viable political ideology, I'll consider this a life well lived. Anyhow, that's plenty. I intend to keep the weekly stuff done in the morning (or as close to morning as I get) but anything goes for the weekend. In the meantime, keep safe, wash your hands, maintain social distancing, and don't let the bastards grind you down.