Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.
View all posts by craigcrawford
79 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ping Pong
8 years ago
Is this the Obama legacy?
Maybe Donald Trump is correct and the despair in these cities is much greater than anyone would like to admit. What are the facts over the last eight years in which have been dominated by the Democratic Party and the policies of the left? Maybe President Obama can come down and sit down and have a beer!
It’s really hard to watch and see this happening to our country and know that we have so many resources and so much potential that has just not been achieved.
Craig, excuse me, and I’ll drop a quarter in the box.
Ping you are a (deleted).
what is going on in Charlotte has squat to do with Obama or any other national figure. It is a purely local matter and if you aren’t local then you are clueless.
I was at a meeting with our local Police chief. I told him how much I thought the police department had improved. then I told him that at one time I viewed the policed department as just another gang in my community He said to me “You are right we were” Which is a rather amazing thing for any police officer to admit. After listening to him talk I have hope for this town. He talked about backing off and being less confrontational There are police departments that are trying to make a change. But as the Bernie Bros learned,… Read more »
I was thinking while driving to work today that there is a relatively small group at Trail Mix. New people visit but few stick around (GrannyMumantoog being an exception: Thank You.) Maybe encouraging everyone to write a Post now & then might help; the very act encourages inclusiveness & interaction. Any other ideas or suggestions?
Nah, I’ve worked many an overnight shift so bedtime is whenever. Used to work 9PM Christmas night through to 7am of the 26th. I’d be leaving as the mass of humanity would be flooding in. Wonderful.
Why did Baltimore explode last year on the Freddie Grey murder, and not this year after another man was shot? Why do some cities explode and others come together? I was in Charlotte for one day earlier this year and thought it a nice place, but far too short a time to see the other side. Obviously, there was something building up. Would a different governor and legislature have changed the mix and Charlotte not explode? How much interaction did the police and communities have? What has happened other than the killing of the man? I have a lot of… Read more »
oops, posted this and the following on last thread before seeing the new one: this is a good start. looks like some are beginning to look at the substantive stuff. cbs: Where does Hillary Clinton stand? What would Hillary Clinton do should she win the White House? She said when she announced her candidacy that “Everyday Americans need a champion,” and told voters she wanted to be that champion. That is largely borne out in her platform, which has placed a high emphasis on college affordability, income inequality, green energy, criminal justice reform, gun policy and the economic concerns of… Read more »
yes, the presidency is catching the golden ring on the carousel, but what good does it do if the congress continues to malfunction, the carousel itself breaks down? we are perilously close to the country falling apart and spinning off into chaos. hopefully an increased and motivated get-out-the-vote effort will be the fix and we can happily go round and round again on ascending and descending painted donkeys and gilded elephants.
speaking of the critters in critterville, rand has some buddies from across the aisle to help with his latest effort: startribune: Sen. Franken joins Sen. Rand Paul in pushing to halt Saudi arms sales At issue, Franken said on the Senate floor, is the Saudi-backed civil war in Yemen where thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded. In the last decade, the U.S. has sold $100 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia. The Obama administration plans another $1.15 billion in tanks, armor and ammunition to sell to the Saudis. The measure, which failed Wednesday 71 to 27, was a resolution… Read more »
Holy demographics, pp! From the census six years ago…more black live in the suburbs in the south. Sure looks like a lot of white agitation going on in that riot photo…trump correct? Only in the jingoist, alt right universe in which you reside.
“But, when a community burns, I question the police first.”
bbronc, in this case with a black chief and a black policeman shooting one also has to expand the inquiry to identify the specific instigators of the looting as opposed to the protesters whether peaceful or the rowdy.
craig, which media are you talking about in your last comments from the ODC post? The Faux news variety? The online? Those on the plane with HRC? The ones trump has barred from his rallies and faux press conferences? Investigative journalists (all two of them)? Really, the media is not one at all…help me with the confusion, please. wiki-leaks? joe and mika? I have posted that I think Clinton had done some self-harm and her campaign is not the way I would have run it…but she has my vote and is not trying to get it anymore…she is attempting to… Read more »
pp race baiting is an old political tactic. this is so messed-up to believe that Obama and the last eight years are responsible for the problems in the old US of AA. Ignore history…slavery comes to mind, women not be able to vote and we have been able to mature and correct our past sins as a nation. trump mocks political correctness…tells ‘it’ like a bigot does…he is old school Joe McCarthy…he learned from McCarthy’s lawyer who was the trump family lawyer, too. Drag us back to the 1950s. They will never take me alive, if this is… Read more »
usa today: “Toby, C.J., Josh, Charlie, Will and Kate (a.k.a., actors Richard Schiff, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Dulé Hill, Joshua Malina and Mary McCormack) will participate in grassroots organizing events across Ohio,” the Clinton campaign said in statement “The actors will discuss why they are supporting Clinton and urge Ohioans to register to vote.” Cleveland, Toledo, Sandusky, Dayton and Columbus are among the cities to be visited by the former fictional White House staffers. Martin Sheen —who played the liberal President Bartlet on the TV show that aired its last episode 10 years ago — is noticeably absent from the list.… Read more »
excerpt from garrison Keillor oped at wapo:What every New Yorker knows about Donald Trump
A week ago, a panhandler in Times Square sat holding a sign reading, “Give me a dollar or I’ll vote for Trump,” and people laughed and reached into their pockets. His bucket overflowed. He stuffed the bills into his jacket, and other panhandlers looked at him with admiration. The man could’ve sold franchises and retired to Palm Beach.
The panhandler knows what every New Yorker knows, which is that the biggest con job since the Trojan horse is taking place in our midst.
SJWNY, yes I’ve been pleased that so many have written posts, would welcome more. I’ve always wished more lurkers would post comments. For some reason, and this has always been the case here, only a small fraction of visitors to the site post comments. Some I’ve heard from by email over the years have said they enjoy reading our comments but are intimidated about writing their own.
To Ping’s point, Obama really hasn’t done anything dramatic for inner city job creation since the stimulus program, which has come and gone, and wasn’t enough money to make a huge difference. Black leaders do grumble, mostly in private, that he disappointed them.
KGC, something I’m hopeful about it with Hillary is that she surely can do a better job than Obama in corralling Congress. He put forth so little effort in that department, think she would throw herself into the fray behind the scenes, LBJ style.
West Wing is the equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard to me, but if the cast from Deadwood started politicking I might take notice of what they said. Will give props to Bradley Whitford as Hubert Humphrey in All The Way though. Mr Crawford, are people intimidated about writing or intimidated by the possibility of being attacked or ridiculed for what they wrote? I plead guilty for being less than civil at times & am sorry if this causes potential Trail Mix members to not share their thoughts, not share their voice. I wonder at times if this scares people… Read more »
Which TV Show Cast would A) help a Candidate by publicly supporting her/him B) hurt said Candidate by showing support. So many to choose from, so little time.
SJ, the sense I get is that it’s high level of writing that gives some pause about joining comments, because I’ve always only heard compliments about he unusual civility of the place.
I’d like to see the VEEP cast on the road for HRC, Julia is no fan of Trump
Interesting blurb scrolling across the bottom of my TV screen…
Time Warner News reports that the FBI is questioning Erie County (NY) Democratic Committee members in regards to a probe involving former State Senator Marc Panepinto’s 2014 State Senate run & accusations that groups connected with NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s campaign were getting around finance limits by funneling money through county committees.
***
Also, charges coming down against those involved with Andrew Cuomo’s vaunted Buffalo Billion initiative. Bid rigging supposedly included & one of WNY’s biggest builders is involved; execs to be indicted.
Anyone who thinks any of this confrontation between police and minority communities is anything new, needs to hit the history books. The only difference I can see is military level uniform & fire power on the police, number of guns available to the general public, huge increase in population, and political movements that make response and rioting in response to events more likely. When Watts happened, I was newly married living in Northern CA having just recently left lifetime residence in Los Angeles. My comment at the time shocked many, “I don’t know why it didn’t happen a whole lot sooner”.… Read more »
Anyone who thinks any of this confrontation between police and minority communities is anything new, needs to hit the history books.
Jamie…. that bears repeating…
As I’ve mentioned before I read another blog (Dagblog) daily. I’ve never posted there. The reason… I swear everyone posting there has their PhD and I am intimidated. No one need be intimidated here… we don’t take off points for spelling or grammatical errors. We will debate your point of view… but if that intimidates anyone… IMO, they don’t belong on a blog about politics.
When people agitated for civilian review boards here, the cops and pols opposed them. Eventually we got them, and the mayors promptly stuffed the boards with relatives of cops. Civilian review has not made a bit of difference in the TCs.
Minneapolis has an especially bad record for police brutality and cover ups. However, the last incident wasn’t covered up; it was a matter of he said vs she said.
When I was a teenager, and I was a teenager in Florissant, Missouri, most of the cops looked like Ward Cleaver. Today a lot of them look like Dick the Bruiser! Muscled up shaved head ex-military. I’m not trying to draw to a conclusion, but merely make an observation.
Police departments also didn’t have military personnel carriers and urban assault vehicles.
The crony issue is a problem but in the end in partnership with other changes – civilian oversight and an established procedure for every officer involved shooting will go along way. I’m sure there is a better way but the only things I have seen be successful is when there is sunlight and civilian involvement.
A huge part of the Flying Pigs Problem is police culture shifts. Unless you fire the entire force, you’re unlikely to be able to construct a new culture. If you fire the entire force, you lose everyone who has experience.
So, how does one keep the valuable lessons of experience while building a force that follows Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, or the Dalai Lama ?
Trump: There is no right to engage in violent disruption.
Me: Guess you would have moved to Canada in 1776
Response on Twitter from someone named Christopher: How is this protest comparable to 1776?? Monkeys are on the lose in Charlotte assaulting innocent businesses and whites.
{{{{{{{Flatus}}}}}}! DV… my nephew wanted to become a small town cop once upon a time. He was told that if he joined the military he’d be moved to head of the line for consideration. With city and town budgets being tight nowadays, it costs less to train someone for police work if they already know how to handle a gun. The problem is that military people are trained to view others as enemies. Cops are supposed to be trained to view people as citizens that need protection… even from themselves. After getting out of the national guard, he went on… Read more »
Sunlight is imperative ! And body cameras help with that. They are making a difference.
After the urban riots of the late ’60s the country militarized police. Most towns train police to shoot first and maybe apologize later, maybe. Being quick on the trigger is probably not the best way to police.
We need a little relief from the stress of the current climate. Beirut used to be a wonderful place. Here, Ibrahim Maalouf plays a wonderful creation using his four valve trumpet that allows him to play quarter tones. Perfect for jazz.
flatus, thanks for that link. i clicked all the way to the scoring charlotte page and see that even if it got an F on crime it got a livability score of 73.
Well, from the bottom of the barrel to the extraterrestrial – this is really interesting to me. And while your are keeping your mouth shut about politics Poobah, I think these astronomical articles are something you might feel you can comment on. The findings can help astronomers understand how galaxies form and evolve. Researchers believe the two galaxies at the center of the Lyman-alpha blob are in their earlier stages of development, spitting out at least 100 sun-size stars per year. Eventually, they’ll probably merge into a single, elliptical galaxy. Note that because this blob is 11.5 billion light years away,… Read more »
wannabe thread contributors are halfway there for just the wanting. craig is very kind to add to, edit, and pretty up the leanest offerings and as renee noted no one here makes fun of the form, just the content… if poking holes count.
Is this the Obama legacy?
Maybe Donald Trump is correct and the despair in these cities is much greater than anyone would like to admit. What are the facts over the last eight years in which have been dominated by the Democratic Party and the policies of the left? Maybe President Obama can come down and sit down and have a beer!
It’s really hard to watch and see this happening to our country and know that we have so many resources and so much potential that has just not been achieved.
Why?
Change is due!
Craig, excuse me, and I’ll drop a quarter in the box.
Ping you are a (deleted).
what is going on in Charlotte has squat to do with Obama or any other national figure. It is a purely local matter and if you aren’t local then you are clueless.
Jack
I was at a meeting with our local Police chief. I told him how much I thought the police department had improved. then I told him that at one time I viewed the policed department as just another gang in my community He said to me “You are right we were” Which is a rather amazing thing for any police officer to admit. After listening to him talk I have hope for this town. He talked about backing off and being less confrontational There are police departments that are trying to make a change. But as the Bernie Bros learned,… Read more »
Hi Ping Pong,
Good to hear from you.
Whskyjack,
Great comment(s) from the last thread.
I was thinking while driving to work today that there is a relatively small group at Trail Mix. New people visit but few stick around (GrannyMumantoog being an exception: Thank You.) Maybe encouraging everyone to write a Post now & then might help; the very act encourages inclusiveness & interaction. Any other ideas or suggestions?
sjwny
Isn’t it past your bedtime, I know it is past mine,
Night all
see ya tomorrow
Jack
Nah, I’ve worked many an overnight shift so bedtime is whenever. Used to work 9PM Christmas night through to 7am of the 26th. I’d be leaving as the mass of humanity would be flooding in. Wonderful.
Why did Baltimore explode last year on the Freddie Grey murder, and not this year after another man was shot? Why do some cities explode and others come together? I was in Charlotte for one day earlier this year and thought it a nice place, but far too short a time to see the other side. Obviously, there was something building up. Would a different governor and legislature have changed the mix and Charlotte not explode? How much interaction did the police and communities have? What has happened other than the killing of the man? I have a lot of… Read more »
oops, posted this and the following on last thread before seeing the new one: this is a good start. looks like some are beginning to look at the substantive stuff. cbs: Where does Hillary Clinton stand? What would Hillary Clinton do should she win the White House? She said when she announced her candidacy that “Everyday Americans need a champion,” and told voters she wanted to be that champion. That is largely borne out in her platform, which has placed a high emphasis on college affordability, income inequality, green energy, criminal justice reform, gun policy and the economic concerns of… Read more »
yes, the presidency is catching the golden ring on the carousel, but what good does it do if the congress continues to malfunction, the carousel itself breaks down? we are perilously close to the country falling apart and spinning off into chaos. hopefully an increased and motivated get-out-the-vote effort will be the fix and we can happily go round and round again on ascending and descending painted donkeys and gilded elephants.
speaking of the critters in critterville, rand has some buddies from across the aisle to help with his latest effort: startribune: Sen. Franken joins Sen. Rand Paul in pushing to halt Saudi arms sales At issue, Franken said on the Senate floor, is the Saudi-backed civil war in Yemen where thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded. In the last decade, the U.S. has sold $100 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia. The Obama administration plans another $1.15 billion in tanks, armor and ammunition to sell to the Saudis. The measure, which failed Wednesday 71 to 27, was a resolution… Read more »
Holy demographics, pp! From the census six years ago…more black live in the suburbs in the south. Sure looks like a lot of white agitation going on in that riot photo…trump correct? Only in the jingoist, alt right universe in which you reside.
“But, when a community burns, I question the police first.”
bbronc, in this case with a black chief and a black policeman shooting one also has to expand the inquiry to identify the specific instigators of the looting as opposed to the protesters whether peaceful or the rowdy.
craig, which media are you talking about in your last comments from the ODC post? The Faux news variety? The online? Those on the plane with HRC? The ones trump has barred from his rallies and faux press conferences? Investigative journalists (all two of them)? Really, the media is not one at all…help me with the confusion, please. wiki-leaks? joe and mika? I have posted that I think Clinton had done some self-harm and her campaign is not the way I would have run it…but she has my vote and is not trying to get it anymore…she is attempting to… Read more »
billionaire angst…Leon Cooperman indicted…no fan of Obama, Clinton or trump.
pp race baiting is an old political tactic. this is so messed-up to believe that Obama and the last eight years are responsible for the problems in the old US of AA. Ignore history…slavery comes to mind, women not be able to vote and we have been able to mature and correct our past sins as a nation. trump mocks political correctness…tells ‘it’ like a bigot does…he is old school Joe McCarthy…he learned from McCarthy’s lawyer who was the trump family lawyer, too. Drag us back to the 1950s. They will never take me alive, if this is… Read more »
usa today: “Toby, C.J., Josh, Charlie, Will and Kate (a.k.a., actors Richard Schiff, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Dulé Hill, Joshua Malina and Mary McCormack) will participate in grassroots organizing events across Ohio,” the Clinton campaign said in statement “The actors will discuss why they are supporting Clinton and urge Ohioans to register to vote.” Cleveland, Toledo, Sandusky, Dayton and Columbus are among the cities to be visited by the former fictional White House staffers. Martin Sheen —who played the liberal President Bartlet on the TV show that aired its last episode 10 years ago — is noticeably absent from the list.… Read more »
bw
I’m with you
excerpt from garrison Keillor oped at wapo: What every New Yorker knows about Donald Trump
A week ago, a panhandler in Times Square sat holding a sign reading, “Give me a dollar or I’ll vote for Trump,” and people laughed and reached into their pockets. His bucket overflowed. He stuffed the bills into his jacket, and other panhandlers looked at him with admiration. The man could’ve sold franchises and retired to Palm Beach.
The panhandler knows what every New Yorker knows, which is that the biggest con job since the Trojan horse is taking place in our midst.
SJWNY, yes I’ve been pleased that so many have written posts, would welcome more. I’ve always wished more lurkers would post comments. For some reason, and this has always been the case here, only a small fraction of visitors to the site post comments. Some I’ve heard from by email over the years have said they enjoy reading our comments but are intimidated about writing their own.
To Ping’s point, Obama really hasn’t done anything dramatic for inner city job creation since the stimulus program, which has come and gone, and wasn’t enough money to make a huge difference. Black leaders do grumble, mostly in private, that he disappointed them.
What have Republicans done for inner cities jobs or anything else except block or end programs
KGC, something I’m hopeful about it with Hillary is that she surely can do a better job than Obama in corralling Congress. He put forth so little effort in that department, think she would throw herself into the fray behind the scenes, LBJ style.
West Wing is the equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard to me, but if the cast from Deadwood started politicking I might take notice of what they said. Will give props to Bradley Whitford as Hubert Humphrey in All The Way though. Mr Crawford, are people intimidated about writing or intimidated by the possibility of being attacked or ridiculed for what they wrote? I plead guilty for being less than civil at times & am sorry if this causes potential Trail Mix members to not share their thoughts, not share their voice. I wonder at times if this scares people… Read more »
Which TV Show Cast would A) help a Candidate by publicly supporting her/him B) hurt said Candidate by showing support. So many to choose from, so little time.
WEll I’m not sure even LBJ would have done well with the current congress especially if they had vowed to make sure he didn’t get anything done
SJ, the sense I get is that it’s high level of writing that gives some pause about joining comments, because I’ve always only heard compliments about he unusual civility of the place.
I’d like to see the VEEP cast on the road for HRC, Julia is no fan of Trump
Interesting blurb scrolling across the bottom of my TV screen…
Time Warner News reports that the FBI is questioning Erie County (NY) Democratic Committee members in regards to a probe involving former State Senator Marc Panepinto’s 2014 State Senate run & accusations that groups connected with NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s campaign were getting around finance limits by funneling money through county committees.
***
Also, charges coming down against those involved with Andrew Cuomo’s vaunted Buffalo Billion initiative. Bid rigging supposedly included & one of WNY’s biggest builders is involved; execs to be indicted.
Welcome to Albany, folks.
Almost forgot … Welcome to Autumn. Beauty defined.
Anyone who thinks any of this confrontation between police and minority communities is anything new, needs to hit the history books. The only difference I can see is military level uniform & fire power on the police, number of guns available to the general public, huge increase in population, and political movements that make response and rioting in response to events more likely. When Watts happened, I was newly married living in Northern CA having just recently left lifetime residence in Los Angeles. My comment at the time shocked many, “I don’t know why it didn’t happen a whole lot sooner”.… Read more »
You need to know the background to get the satire and bite in the song, but either way it’s still great music particularly when Ella sings
To get an idea of where Charlotte stands in comparison with other communities, this tool may prove useful: Areavibes
Anyone who thinks any of this confrontation between police and minority communities is anything new, needs to hit the history books.
Jamie…. that bears repeating…
As I’ve mentioned before I read another blog (Dagblog) daily. I’ve never posted there. The reason… I swear everyone posting there has their PhD and I am intimidated. No one need be intimidated here… we don’t take off points for spelling or grammatical errors. We will debate your point of view… but if that intimidates anyone… IMO, they don’t belong on a blog about politics.
How ’bout cops stop murdering people with impunity?
Civilian Review Boards
Renee you are both smart and creative. I’ll take you over any Ph.D that spends most days staring at the diploma on her wall.
“Civilian Review Boards”
That’s a reactive response, proactive solutions like police-culture shifts, enhanced training, and taking guns off of most cops are needed.
Yeah, I know, “when pigs fly”. Watch our cities burn while we wait.
When people agitated for civilian review boards here, the cops and pols opposed them. Eventually we got them, and the mayors promptly stuffed the boards with relatives of cops. Civilian review has not made a bit of difference in the TCs.
Minneapolis has an especially bad record for police brutality and cover ups. However, the last incident wasn’t covered up; it was a matter of he said vs she said.
When I was a teenager, and I was a teenager in Florissant, Missouri, most of the cops looked like Ward Cleaver. Today a lot of them look like Dick the Bruiser! Muscled up shaved head ex-military. I’m not trying to draw to a conclusion, but merely make an observation.
Police departments also didn’t have military personnel carriers and urban assault vehicles.
Bink – those things too
The crony issue is a problem but in the end in partnership with other changes – civilian oversight and an established procedure for every officer involved shooting will go along way. I’m sure there is a better way but the only things I have seen be successful is when there is sunlight and civilian involvement.
A huge part of the Flying Pigs Problem is police culture shifts. Unless you fire the entire force, you’re unlikely to be able to construct a new culture. If you fire the entire force, you lose everyone who has experience.
So, how does one keep the valuable lessons of experience while building a force that follows Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, or the Dalai Lama ?
I have no answers, and can only ask. sigh
Trump: There is no right to engage in violent disruption.
Me: Guess you would have moved to Canada in 1776
Response on Twitter from someone named Christopher: How is this protest comparable to 1776?? Monkeys are on the lose in Charlotte assaulting innocent businesses and whites.
Anybody have any questions about causes?
{{{{{{{Flatus}}}}}}! DV… my nephew wanted to become a small town cop once upon a time. He was told that if he joined the military he’d be moved to head of the line for consideration. With city and town budgets being tight nowadays, it costs less to train someone for police work if they already know how to handle a gun. The problem is that military people are trained to view others as enemies. Cops are supposed to be trained to view people as citizens that need protection… even from themselves. After getting out of the national guard, he went on… Read more »
“A huge part of the Flying Pigs Problem”
Yup, would take a generation to get there. Better start now.
Yes, Ms Cracker !
Sunlight is imperative ! And body cameras help with that. They are making a difference.
After the urban riots of the late ’60s the country militarized police. Most towns train police to shoot first and maybe apologize later, maybe. Being quick on the trigger is probably not the best way to police.
Bink,
One generation seems unduly optimistic to me. And yes, better start now.
However, I admit that I am a sourpuss.
Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star is keeping track of Donald Trump’s daily lies.
We need a little relief from the stress of the current climate. Beirut used to be a wonderful place. Here, Ibrahim Maalouf plays a wonderful creation using his four valve trumpet that allows him to play quarter tones. Perfect for jazz.
flatus, thanks for that link. i clicked all the way to the scoring charlotte page and see that even if it got an F on crime it got a livability score of 73.
Well, from the bottom of the barrel to the extraterrestrial – this is really interesting to me. And while your are keeping your mouth shut about politics Poobah, I think these astronomical articles are something you might feel you can comment on. The findings can help astronomers understand how galaxies form and evolve. Researchers believe the two galaxies at the center of the Lyman-alpha blob are in their earlier stages of development, spitting out at least 100 sun-size stars per year. Eventually, they’ll probably merge into a single, elliptical galaxy. Note that because this blob is 11.5 billion light years away,… Read more »
wannabe thread contributors are halfway there for just the wanting. craig is very kind to add to, edit, and pretty up the leanest offerings and as renee noted no one here makes fun of the form, just the content… if poking holes count.