Washington Post (January 29)
“Self-driving cars appear to be safer than those with human drivers.” We should welcome their introduction. For example, “Waymo robotaxis have logged 33 million miles, mostly ferrying passengers in San Francisco and Phoenix.” In those two cities, “compared with cars driven by humans, Waymo vehicles have been involved in 62 percent fewer police-reported crashes, 78 percent fewer crashes that resulted in injury and 81 percent fewer crashes severe enough to deploy the air bags.” Moreover, the reality is probably even better as some of these accidents were caused by other drivers.
Tags: Accidents, Air bags, Crashes, Human drivers, Injury, Passengers, Phoenix, Police, Robotaxis, Safer, San Francisco, Self-driving cars, Waymo
FreightWaves (February 14)
“The busiest commercial crossing between the U.S. and Canada, the Ambassador Bridge, reopened late Sunday after police in Windsor, Ontario, cleared out a protest over COVID-19 restrictions that squeezed the cross-border supply chain for a week.” Some other border crossings still remain closed by protests, which have “disrupted millions of dollars of trade and led multiple auto plants to slow production because of delays in receiving parts.”
Tags: Ambassador Bridge, Auto plants, Busiest, Canada, Commercial crossing, COVID-19, Delays, Disrupted, Ontario, Police, Production, Protest, Reopened, Restrictions, Supply chain, Trade, U.S., Windsor
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (November 22)
“The deadliest threat facing law enforcement officers in Georgia isn’t being shot, stabbed or run over by assailants—it’s COVID-19. Since the pandemic began, at least 60 Georgia police officers, deputies and jailers have died from the virus,” killing four times as many as violence or accidents.
Tags: Assailants, COVID-19, Deadliest threat, Georgia, Law enforcement, Officers, Pandemic, Police, Run over, Shot, Stabbed, Violence
New York Times (June 9)
“America, this is your chance: We must get it right this time or risk losing our democracy forever.” Amid protests, police violence and riots, “our democracy hangs in the balance. This is not an overstatement.”
New York Times (October 20)
“China’s assertive campaign to police discourse about its policies, even outside of its borders, and the acquiescence of American companies eager to make money in China, pose a dangerous and growing threat to one of this nation’s core values: the freedom of expression.” U.S. companies shouldn’t cave. They “have an obligation to defend the freedom of expression, even at the risk of angering China.”
Tags: Assertive, China, Companies, Dangerous, Discourse, Freedom of expression, Obligation, Police, Risk, Threat, U.S.
Newsweek (August 15)
As events in Charleston illustrates, “anti-government Americans are a bigger threat than Islamists.” Yet, since 9/11, public consciousness has largely fixated on Islamic terrorism. Law enforcement agencies know better. Studies have shown that police “consider anti-government violent extremists, not radicalized Muslims, to be the most severe threat of political violence that they face.”
Tags: 9/11, Anti-government, Charleston, Extremists, Islamists, Police, Terrorism, Threat, Violent
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Star (August 16)
After the police shooting of a black man, violence erupted in Milwaukee, “one of the nation’s most segregated” metropolitan areas where black male unemployment hovers around 50%. “While there is no excuse for what happened, there is a reason. Adults and teens exploded with anger and frustration because something is fundamentally wrong; something that has been building for decades.
Tags: Anger, Black man, Excuse, Frustration, Milwaukee, Police, Segregated, Shooting, Violence
Institutional Investor (July 18)
Following a tumultuous weekend with a failed coup, another police officer shooting in the U.S., and continuing Brexit worries, investors may want to consider “whether security and geopolitical threats to stability will undermine the impact of aggressive easing actions of the world’s central banks. A recovery in the Turkish lira and global equity indices and a retreat in gold prices, seemingly fueled by the coup’s failure, suggests that at least some parts of the market believe central bank policymakers still trump security threats when it comes to financial asset valuation.”
Tags: Asset valuation, Brexit, Central banks, Easing, Equities, Failed coup, Geopolitical threats, Gold, Investors, Lira, Police, Recovery, Security, Shooting, Stability, Threats, Tumultuous, Turkey, U.S., Worries
USA Today (July 7)
Recent shooting deaths of minorities by police, most recently in Minneapolis, have highlighted the need for significant reforms and better policing. “With a lack of national standards among our nation’s estimated 17,000 police agencies, individual officer and organizational competencies range from outstanding to notoriously bad. There is far too much variation and lack of agreement on what constitutes ‘good’ policing.”
Tags: Deaths, Minneapolis, Minorities, National standards, Officers, Police, Policing, Reforms, Shooting, U.S.
Chicago Tribune (November 26)
“Chicago will not begin to heal until there is accountability and transparency. If there is to be a silver lining in the death of Laquan McDonald, let it be shown through the power of the people who seek change and justice for all.” The release of a one-year old video showing a Chicago police officer shooting a black man 16 times, despite a non-threatening situation, triggered wide spread protests.
Tags: Accountability, Change, Chicago, Justice, Laquan McDonald, Police, Protests, Shooting, Transparency, Video