David Simon Gives Marty O'Malley the Bizness on Baltimore's Drug War

[alcibiades_mystery]

Remarkable interview now making the rounds.

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/29/david-simon-on-baltimore-s-anguish

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The drug war began it, certainly, but the stake through the heart of police procedure in Baltimore was MARTIN O’MALLEY3. He destroyed police work in some real respects. Whatever was left of it when he took over the police department, if there were two bricks together that were the suggestion of an edifice that you could have called meaningful police work, he found a way to pull them apart. Everyone thinks I’ve got a hard-on for Marty because we battled over “The Wire,” whether it was bad for the city, whether we’d be filming it in Baltimore. But it’s been years, and I mean, that’s over. I shook hands with him on the train last year and we buried it. And, hey, if he's the Democratic nominee, I’m going to end up voting for him. It’s not personal and I admire some of his other stances on the death penalty and gay rights. But to be honest, what happened under his watch as Baltimore’s mayor was that he wanted to be governor. And at a certain point, with the crime rate high and with his promises of a reduced crime rate on the line, he put no faith in real policing.

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[bravenak]

1. The drug war is why I'm a no go on O'malley. And HRC.

[Eleanors38]

3. A wrong and archaic stand, stemming from morality-based prohibition.

[bravenak]

4. Exactly. Great way to put it.

Morality based prohibition. I prefer to focus our attention on violent crimes and save the moralizing for those who are interested. Be nice to have more jail time for ruthless predatory bankers and child molester than the local dope man. Might be better to just find decent paying jobs for the dope man (I mean, hell, they obviously like working all the time) and rehab for the addicts. Cheaper too and then they wouldn't need illegal guns to make money. I have plenty of ideas. Some say I'm crazy but I think i'm right.

[bullwinkle428]

5. But how are the for-profit prison companies supposed to make a buck??!?!?

[bravenak]

6. A go fund me? Kick starter? Cannibis outlets?

Start a chain of rehab centers? These are all great ideas, If I do say so myself. Great ideas!

[hifiguy]

9. If they have cannabis brownies at their bake sale,

I will toss in a few bucks.

[bravenak]

10. Heh. Me too.

For my pain. My ipad finger gets sore and stiff.

[Eleanors38]

2. The WOD was and is the stalking horse to unravel Constitutional protections.

That is why the WOD has NEVER, been a "back burner issue," or a "hot button issue," or "gut issue," or any of the other flashy metaphors MSM used to denote lack of substance and gravitas. Hell, the WOD formed the backbone of Newt Gingrich's hugely successful efforts to put the Far Right into permanent and respectable power in the U.S., and to permanently brand the Democratic Party as immoral and soft.

It remains a CORE issue.

[Koinos]

7. Serious Article: A Must Read

If O'Malley cannot give a credible and detailed response to these accusations, he is finished as a candidate.

[Trillo]

8. Is a "front stoop" private property?

But they weren’t. They were anybody who was slow to clear the sidewalk or who stayed seated on their front stoop for too long when an officer tried to roust them.