Once upon a time in a beautiful place called America police and communities were (almost) as one and (almost) everyone in these communities lived in harmony with them. (Most) Police lived in the communities that they served, walked beats and knew (most of) the people that they protected and served.  And (most of) the people of this beautiful land with ‘spacious skies’, ‘amber waves of grain’ and majestic purple mountains that towered above ‘the fruited plain’, cared for and highly respected the police.

This land was a land of hard-working immigrants who believed that anyone who worked hard and was determined could achieve ‘The American Dream’ for himself and his family.  They said, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddle masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teaming shore.  Send these the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

But as the years slowly drifted by in this dreamland that frequently stirred misty dreams of utopia, things changed and some of the police began to feel that they were not there to serve and protect the people in these communities by being good stewards of the law and enforcing it, instead, they began to feel that they were the law and, therefore, above it.  Thus began the downward spiral of this majestic land and the people began to complain and rebel.  Today…

Many people are completely fed up with the way that our police are treating the citizenry.  Police departments all around the country are experiencing this problem.  A perfect example of it is exemplified by the ongoing problem in the New York City Police Department (NYPD).  The quickest way for me to share with you what has taken place with the NYPD lately and is continuing to unfold is to share the content of the following article that I posted previously:

NYPD Unions Have Gone Too Far

All of New York and citizens throughout the United States feel the pain that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) feels for its two fallen police officers.  Everyone should be allowed to express those feelings, including Mayor Bill de Blasio.  For NYPD officers to turn their backs on mayor de Blasio at the urging of NYPD unions is shameful.  Not only is it shameful but it seems to me to, at least, border on insubordination.

The killing of these two innocent police officers was committed by someone who apparently had some mental problems.  Under these circumstances, even if the killer did evoke the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, it is ludicrous for anyone to lay the blame for what he did at the feet of peaceful protesters who are protesting against police brutality and unequal justice under the law.

For the NYPD unions to blame protesters and use it as an excuse to encourage NYPD police officers to turn their backs on the mayor does not make sense.  This is not the kind of leadership that those with such a grave responsibility as police officers should have.  They should expect more from their leaders.  New York is not a police state and neither is any other state in America.

Citizens have the right to peacefully protest and mayor de Blasio has a right to be a father and counsel his son as he deems necessary.  His situation with his son is unique because it is on the cusp of black and white.  He must recognize and effectively navigate both sides of this black and white dilemma; literally.  Probably all black parents have had the conversation with their children, especially if they are boys, about how they should conduct themselves with police officers.  I know that I had that conversation with my children.

Even if the NYPD unions feel that Mayor de Blasio does not support them and disagree with what he said about counseling his son to be careful in how he conducts himself if confronted by a police officer, they are still completely out of line to encourage NYPD police officers to turn their backs on the mayor out of disrespect for him because of this.  Even if they did not encourage officers to turn their backs on the mayor, as soon as union leaders became aware that officers had done this, they should have discouraged them from continuing to do it.

Whether this statement was a gaffe by the mayor or was something that he meant to say, he is still the mayor of New York and should be respected as such.  What if every angry citizen turned their backs on police and the heads of police departments every time an unarmed innocent citizen was killed whether accidentally or on purpose?  What kind of a society would we live in?

Mayor de Blasio may not be the direct manager of these NYPD officers who turned their backs on him or of the officers who head these unions but he is no doubt at the top of the NYPD organization chart.  What would happen if any of you reading this article treated your boss, let alone the Chief Executive Officer, the way that these NYPD officers treated the mayor?

The NYPD union leaders need to be more responsible and look at the big picture rather than allowing their anger and frustration to dictate their actions.  And if every manager from the chief of police down to the lowest level supervisor hasn’t addressed this issue with their subordinates and let them know that they do not condone such behavior, now is the time to do so.

That is the full content of my previously posted article.  One would think that with all that has happened thus far that the powers that be would put their heads together and try to find a solution.  They are trying.  But you might be surprised to learn what police commissioner Bill Bratton and Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, suggested.  They suggested that resisting arrest be made a felony charge rather than have it remain the misdemeanor charge that it is now.

According to an article in the atlantablackstar.com, when commissioner Bratton was asked about such a change he said that it is an idea that he enthusiastically supports.  And Patrick Lynch’s thoughts; according to this same article he said “We believe this change in law is necessary to deter the type of conduct we saw during last month’s demonstrations.”  He was referring to the protesters who had protested and are continuing to protest excessive force by police, police brutality and the recent deaths of unarmed citizens by police.

That’s right; these men want to give police even greater control over citizens by using the leverage of the threat of them being charged with a felony!  Never mind the fact that police have been found on previous occasions to have lied when they said that someone resisted arrest!  Never mind that police have used excessive force on numerous occasions!  Never mind the questionable deaths of many innocent people like Michael Brown, Erick Garner and Tamir Rice at the hands of police!

What do the commissioner and Patrick Lynch suggest is done to address the problems with police with respect to these situations and others like them?  For example, the recent situation like the one where a NYPD police officer was charged with stomping the head of someone he arrested?

Commissioner Bratton is a former police officer and although he may be a good man with good intentions, it appears that his natural instinct leads him to side with police officers rather than look at the problem objectively.  These protesters and citizens throughout the country who support them are not anti-police as Patrick Lynch has said that they are.

I don’t know about you but I think that somehow those powers that be are going to have to someway find a diverse group of police – including some who are already retired, and civilians who can look at this problem objectively and make a sincere effort to solve it.  We must bring police and communities together again and again make them (almost) as one.  America still won’t be the stuff of fairy tales but it will be better and at least working toward becoming a more perfect union.

Eulus Dennis

Rich people are a true enigma.  I wonder why they are so afraid of having a thriving middle-class group as a part of our social stratum.  Since they are not openly doing anything to encourage and support its revitalization, it seems that they are determined to do their part to totally eradicate it.

Based on research by Emmanuel Saez cited in “Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States,” the middleclass has been slowly losing ground over the past 30 years while the rich have continued to get richer.  He said that the top 1% received 95% of the income gains between 2009-2012.  The report is due to be updated this month, January 2015.  Further, according to an article in The Washington Post by Michael A. Fletcher, those who remain in the middleclass have been steadily losing wealth.

Certainly rich people must know that a thriving middleclass is an intricate element in the foundation of their wealth and, over the long haul, they are sure to be impacted negatively if they persist in their blind march to eradicate them.  Who will buy the products that the rich have an indirect role in producing?  Who will be able to purchase the homes and automobiles that are a part of the prosperous communities that help to fuel a healthy and thriving economy?  These things fuel rich people’s wealth!

Maybe they are not purposely trying to get rid of the middleclass.  I wrote an article a while back that said that these millionaires and billionaires are blinded by their greed.  Could it be that they are so focused on constantly trying to catch up with the rich people ahead of them while trying to prevent those rich folks that they are ahead of from catching up with them that there is simply no more cognitive room available for them to comprehend the magnitude of the damage that they are doing.

It certainly can’t be because they are afraid that too many middle-class folks through determination and hard work will make it into their exclusive ranks and therefore dilute their exclusiveness and privileged life.  Under the circumstances, I am compelled to maintain my view that they are blinded by their greed.

One can only hope that, like the scale-like coverings that fell off of the eyes of the proverbial Saul, these virtual scales of greed obstructing their view will be removed before it is too late to avoid going over the cliff and destroying the middleclass.  After that – because we are a resilient people, even though recovery will be inevitable it will be a very long and hard road to travel.

With the mentioning of ‘going over the cliff’, I cannot help but to be reminded of the potential problem created by the 2014 midterm elections that gave the Republicans control of both houses of congress.  Republicans have always sided with big business and big money and have shown a propensity to take our country over what has become known as ‘the fiscal cliff’ if they are not given their way.

Many of them are threatening to use the ‘power of the purse’ to force President Obama to sign bills into law that are completely unacceptable to Democrats.  If they do this, we could once again be faced with this so called fiscal cliff problem.  If this actually occurs, it would exacerbate the problem that the struggling middleclass is already facing and accelerate their impending demise.

It would be wrong for me to paint all rich people with a broad brush because there are those who have spoken out in support of a more equitable sharing of the wealth.  And the Republican Party deserves a break too, albeit small, because although there are factions in the Party who are demanding a confrontation with the president at all cost, there are those who prefer a more reasonable approach and are working to convince the members in those factions to reconsider their position.

There are many difficult problems that our country is faced with right now that constitute the phenomenon of social and economic trauma choking America.  Many of the components of this phenomenon dovetail with the need to rescue and revitalize the middleclass; components like the loss of wealth by the middleclass while the top 1% have received 95% of the gain since the great recession, the deaths of Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Erick Garner and Trayvon Martin, the ever widening income gap between the rich and the middleclass, the ever widening income gap between white people and people of color, the ever widening high school graduation rate between white people and people of color, the ever widening rate between white people who attend college and people of color who attend college; all of these components need to be addressed if we are to bring about real and lasting change.

It is hard for many Americans to even accept that we have problems in some of these areas let alone take the courageous and bold step to actually address them.  Some of those who refuse to accept this fact are naive.  Some are in total denial and some are fearful of the impact that these changes to make things more fair and equitable for everyone might have on them.

The fact of the matter is that by making the rich pay their fair share, standing up for equal justice under the law, finding a way to fairly distribute the wealth more equally and working to insure that all Americans have an opportunity to receive a quality education would be like a healing ointment.  It would not be a panacea but it would be a giant step in the right direction.

Middle-class Americans are not seeking to supplant the rich; that would be impossible.  They are simply seeking a way to live the American Dream.  To most that simply means a nice home, nice care, the ability to pay the bills and still take a vacation, the ability to send their children to college, and the ability to save for a rainy day.  We can give them a chance to do that by addressing these problems.

There is no doubt that this would be a tough call for many politicians to make but they are elected to make decisions, not just the easy and popular ones, for the betterment of our country and the common good of all of its people.  If they refuse to make them and instead choose to play politics, let’s force them to make them or replace them with someone who will.

Eulus Dennis

For the last several months, cybersecurity experts have been warning Verizon Wireless that it was putting the privacy of its customers at risk

via Verizon’s Mobile ‘Supercookies’ Seen as Threat to Privacy – NYTimes.com.

Click on the link immediately above to read this article in its entirety in The New York Times.

Is former mayor Rudy Giuliani responsible for New York Police Department (NYPD) cadets heckling Mayor Bill de Blasio during his speech to them at their graduation ceremony?  Well, it depends on which standards one chooses to apply.

If you apply the standards for laying blame that former mayor Giuliani used to conclude that Mayor de Blasio somehow shares responsibility for the deaths of two NYPD police officers, he is definitely responsible.  However – if you choose to apply more reasonable standards, laying the responsibility directly at his feet will prove to be more difficult if not impossible.

Mayor Giuliani may not be responsible for these cadets heckling Mayor de Blasio but by conducting himself in the way that he has recently, he certainly isn’t doing anything to help the NYPD, New York or the country to move toward finding a solution so that we can come together and begin to heal.

While Mr. Giuliani has a lot of power and influence that he could and should use to lead and help bring all of the previously mentioned entities together so that reasonable conversations can be had, they would be better off if he remained silent rather than make divisive comments.  As a seasoned politician, he no doubt knows this.

Mr. Giuliani has a right to his perspective and a right to express his opinions and concerns just as does Mayor de Blasio.  But in order for him to help solve the problem he would have to not do exactly what he has accused Mayor de Blasio of doing; give the appearance of taking sides.  He would have to exercise an open mind and side with right or wrong rather than cops or protesters.

If those on both sides of this issue side with right or wrong rather than cops or protesters then we will stand a reasonable chance of finding a solution; even though there is bound to be a dichotomy of what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’  If both sides choose to limit their choice to cops or protesters then the chance of finding a workable solution is greatly reduced and reaching an agreement unlikely.

Upon reviewing this article before posting it I began to feel as if the articles that I post are, to some degree, a repeat of previously posted articles.  At first I felt like; the reason why I feel this way is because they are, and that I would stop posting until different and fresh newsworthy information presented itself.  Upon further evaluation though, I realized that these articles are not repeats of themselves but an expansion on the coverage of what is happening as it continues to evolve.

As a result, I decided to continue posting my thoughts about what I observe as I continue to read articles and watch coverage by various news media on what is happening with these issues.  What I share with you via my posts hopefully will keep you engaged and stimulate your thoughts on current political events.  Then – if you chose to do more research and learn more about them, you can.

That way, you will continue to build a foundation on which you can base your more informed decision-making the next time that you speak to your elected representatives or go to the polls.  Or – it may simply cause you to leave a comment expressing your thoughts, which might generate other comments that will, in conglomerate, culminate in what will have amounted to a healthy discussion.

That would be great because, after all, that is what this site is all about!

Eulus Dennis

All of New York and citizens throughout the United States feel the pain that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) feels for its two fallen police officers.  Everyone should be allowed to express those feelings, including Mayor Bill de Blasio.  For NYPD officers to turn their backs on mayor de Blasio at the urging of NYPD unions is shameful.  Not only is it shameful but it seems to me to, at least, border on insubordination.

The killing of these two innocent police officers was committed by someone who apparently had some mental problems.  Under these circumstances, even if the killer did evoke the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, it is ludicrous for anyone to lay the blame for what he did at the feet of peaceful protesters who are protesting against police brutality and unequal justice under the law.

For the NYPD unions to blame protesters and use it as an excuse to encourage NYPD police officers to turn their backs on the mayor does not make sense.  This is not the kind of leadership that those with such a grave responsibility as police officers should have.  They should expect more from their leaders.  New York is not a police state and neither is any other state in America.

Citizens have the right to peacefully protest and mayor de Blasio has a right to be a father and counsel his son as he deems necessary.  His situation with his son is unique because it is on the cusp of black and white.  He must recognize and effectively navigate both sides of this black and white dilemma; literally.  Probably all black parents have had the conversation with their children, especially if they are boys, about how they should conduct themselves with police officers.  I know that I had that conversation with my children.

Even if the NYPD unions feel that Mayor de Blasio does not support them and disagree with what he said about counseling his son to be careful in how he conducts himself if confronted by a police officer, they are still completely out of line to encourage NYPD police officers to turn their backs on the mayor out of disrespect for him because of this.  Even if they did not encourage officers to turn their backs on the mayor, as soon as union leaders became aware that officers had done this, they should have discouraged them from continuing to do it.

Whether this statement was a gaffe by the mayor or was something that he meant to say, he is still the mayor of New York and should be respected as such.  What if every angry citizen turned their backs on police and the heads of police departments every time an unarmed innocent citizen was killed whether accidentally or on purpose?  What kind of a society would we live in?

Mayor de Blasio may not be the direct manager of these NYPD officers who turned their backs on him or of the officers who head these unions but he is no doubt at the top of the NYPD organization chart.  What would happen if any of you reading this article treated your boss, let alone the Chief Executive Officer, the way that these NYPD officers treated the mayor?

The NYPD union leaders need to be more responsible and look at the big picture rather than allowing their anger and frustration to dictate their actions.  And if every manager from the chief of police down to the lowest level supervisor hasn’t addressed this issue with their subordinates and let them know that they do not condone such behavior, now is the time to do so.

Eulus Dennis

Do politicians ever stop posturing?  This is a valid question because as the situation surrounding the protests that began in earnest as a result of the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown continues to fester, some powerful people – including current and former politicians, are seeking to take advantage of the limelight.  The President Obama haters have come out in force.

They are throwing the president into the mix right along with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Reverend Al Sharpton and accusing him of having blood on his hands as a result of the recent deaths of two New York Police Department (NYPD) police officers.

According to a story in The Washington Post, former mayor Rudolph Giuliani made the following statement while on ‘Fox and Friends Weekend.’  “We’ve had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police.  I don’t care how you want to describe it: That’s what those protests are all about.”  The same story said that Patrick Lynch who is the president of the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association said late Saturday “There’s blood on many hands tonight; those that incited violence on the street in the guise of protest, that tried to tear down what New York City police officers did every day.”

This kind of pointed criticism was not leveled only by former mayor Giuliani but also by Representative Peter King, a Republican who currently represents New York, and George Pataki who is a former governor of New York.  Based on this story, also in The Washington Post, these men have blamed Reverend Sharpton for being among those who have created the anti-police environment.  It also said that “former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik said Sharpton and others had ‘blood on their hands.’  The story further said that “conservative commentators posted pictures on Twitter of Sharpton with President Obama to paint the president as a radical on issues of race.”

President Obama is eons away from being a president who is a radical on issues of race.  Although the president was not mentioned directly by these men, the fact that they mentioned ‘anti-police’, and ‘blood on their hands’ seems to not-so-subtly seek to tie the president to this situation as being a part of the problem and not the solution.

It seems that these times would be among those when politicians put the partisan posturing aside and come together to work to resolve a grave problem that America is grappling with.  But it seems that too many of them have forgotten about why they were elected in the first place; to work together for the greater good of America and the American people!  They are not there to become political rock stars, garner the admiration of their constituent fans and gloat about their personal gain and how great they are!  They are there to work; and they certainly have not done much of that over the past few years.

Many of the young protesters are saying that Al Sharpton does not speak for them and that is okay.  They say that he is too tied to the ‘system’ so cannot be effective; he is inextricably tied to the way that our current leaders – civic and elected – do things.  To them, this way of doing things no longer works so they must take a different approach.  Again, that is okay.  They must find their own path.

That notwithstanding, our elected and non-elected leaders must realize that while these young leaders are seeking their own path, they need guidance; even if it is guidance that they are resisting.  They need to be under the auspices of leaders who have been tried and tested in civil and human rights efforts: someone who has the platform and ability to help assure that things remain below the boiling point.  Reverend Al Sharpton is among those people who can do this.

All of those politicians who are busy honing their thespian skills, positioning themselves for reelection, constructing the catapults that will propel them back into office and place them in chairmanships on coveted committees and perhaps someday make them President of the United States should wake up right now.  They should pull their heads out of the sand and step up and do the job that they were elected to do.  They should commit themselves to work for the betterment of America and the American people.

It does not matter whether they like or dislike the president, Al Sharpton or anyone else and disagree with their politics.  What matters right now is that we work to clean up this mess that we find ourselves in before it gets completely out of control.

Eulus Dennis

These are very challenging times since the deaths of a number of unarmed Black men and boys by police officers around the country.  This situation has only been made worse with the recent death of two New York police officers by a Black man; especially since he claimed to have killed them in retaliation for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

The anger and frustration harbored by those who support protesters who came together as a result of the killings of unarmed Black people and that by the New York Police Department (NYPD) has now exploded into finger-pointing and unreasonable accusations.

NYPD Police Unions claim that protesters and New York mayor Bill de Blasio are responsible for the current situation and said that the blood of these two police officers is on the hands of the mayor.  They are angry with Mayor de Blasio because – according to an article by Howard Koplowitz in International Business Times – he is “seen as unfriendly to police in part because of his coziness to the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has led protests in support of Brown and Garner, and the mayor’s public statements about the circumstances of Garner’s death.”

I have read a number of recent articles where Mayor de Blasio and the protest leaders have been bombarded with blame by police unions.  While I understand the anger and frustration that is vented in these articles by the leaders of these unions, I think that this is exactly the wrong thing to do.  Their anger also prompted some police officers to turn their backs on the mayor at an appearance he made to talk about the death of the police officers who were killed.  They should not have done this.

Loved ones in both the NYPD and on the civilian side of this challenging issue have been lost.  The death of these two innocent police officers is no more the fault of Mayor de Blasio and the protesters than are the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown the fault of every single police officer in the NYPD and Ferguson Police Department.  Although these union leaders are the official spokespersons for these policemen, it is unlikely that the majority of them share these unions’ opinions.

Now is the time for all of our leaders, from President Obama down to the leaders of the protestors, to speak words of peace and healing and not heated words of anger and frustration.  These leaders include the leaders of the police unions.  Words of anger and frustration from those on either side of this issue do not help.  They only serve to escalate a situation that needs to be deescalated.

It is not hard to understand why both sides are angry and frustrated but what is hard to understand is why leaders on either side would choose to escalate rather than deescalate the problem.  A part of what we expect from our chosen leaders is for them to separate their emotions from their decision-making responsibilities and make well-founded rational decisions.

The likelihood of the masses to make irrational decisions based largely on their emotions is not unusual; but that is why we choose leaders.  The leaders of the police unions need to take a step back from the situation, take a deep breath, reevaluate their responsibilities as leaders and then move forward from there.

If they make a serious evaluation, especially in light of the implications of our current situation – even though they will no doubt still be angry and frustrated, they will take a different path in moving forward from here.  This does not mean that they should change their minds and not continue to stand against the mayor and protesters if they feel it is the right thing to do.  It simply means that they should fully evaluate the situation and find some way to calm things down yet still make their point.  Cooler heads must prevail if we are to make a reasonable effort to solve this problem and effectively mitigate its root cause and eradicate it.

Eulus Dennis