Cops, and the violence cops do have been in the news of late. It just makes me think.

Civilization is full of trade-offs. Animals can rely on their own violence to protect themselves. Under mob rule, allegiance to a strong cadre gives some security. Under the rule of law we set those things aside. But having accepted the law, we also accept that those who enforce the law have a monopoly on violence. These are human beings that we are giving that monopoly to, not saints or superheroes. Maybe it’s worth considering that the more power we invest in government, the greater likelihood there will be that one of these humans beings might possibly make a mistake.

We don’t need a law for everything. To do so puts us all at risk, since our government has a monopoly on violence, and since it is operated by humans, it is subject to error.

Of course our police officers should be held to a higher standard. They should be carefully selected, carefully trained and be held accountable to a higher degree, since we have given them a monopoly on violence in our society.

But there should be higher standard for civilians also. There is no reason that Brown or Garner could not have treated the police officers with some sort of politeness, and even deference. If our society gives these guys the authority to kill people as part of their job description, it is to everyone’s advantage if we all treat that as a fact.

Unlike most of us, they can get killed if they make a mistake. It is easy to talk about an unarmed teenager getting killed by a cop, but every cop knows unarmed teenagers are more than capable of killing anyone who hesitates on the job.

This lowly one had several thoughts all at the same time, and thought (ok, that was another one) that he’d share them with you:

– The child-king Obama is about to “pull a Judias Iscariot” on Israel by trading away America’s support for the only true electoral democracy in the Middle East for a deal to allow Israel’s (and probably the world’s) worst enemy to complete its research to build a nuclear weapon. Thus, the child-king Obama finally reveals himself to be a supporter of a sharia-based Islamic Caliphate rather than a supporter of human liberty and freedom.

The problem seems to be that the child-king Obama is annoyed that Israel wants to build housing on land under its control – something that the child-king Obama has effectively prevented in the USA by the injudicious and unconstitutional use of the EPA, IRS, BLM, and other agencies.

This one thinks that the child-king Obama is throwing a tantrum because Netenyahu appears to be more interested in defending Israel and its interests than in doing his – the child-king Obama’s – bidding. Poor thing. The child-king Obama must think that he, the Nobel Peace Prize awardee, isn’t getting the respect that he thinks the world owes him.

– Senate Democrats seemed intent on releasing that report “documenting” that the U.S. used interrogation methods that are severe torture (death metal music and sleep deprivation). This one thinks that Democrats tried, but were unable, to find evidence of bamboo splinters under fingernails, or electric shock applied to the ■■■■■■■■ or ■■■■■■■■, or the amputation of appendages, or blindings, or burning with hot irons.

Democrats claim that such treatment did nothing to extract actionable intelligence from our enemies. Those at the CIA who were directly involved with those methods disagree. Many have already testified in Congress that Usâma bin-Lâdin was located through information gleaned from those methods. Many of those who underwent such “torture” are either serving time in prison, awaiting trial, or have been released so they can return to the battle against America. Even John Kerry has mused whether releasing this report would increase the danger to Americans overseas and make our dwindling list of allies shrink even further.

There is only one reason for releasing this report, and it isn’t to “show the world how truthful and respectful of humanity we are”. Indeed, some things are often better left unsaid, a lesson that Democrats, liberals, progressives, and some MIT professors have never learned.

– (At least) two universities have now taken “feel-good” grading to a new level by telling students that their “consciencious objections” to the Brown and Garner situations is sufficient cause for them to skip final exams. Those poor law school students! One can only imagine the terror they will feel, and the horrors they will undergo when they must actually try a case in court and discuss what an accused rapist/murderer did to the deceased victim! The horror! The horror!

The other horror they’re about to undergo will be finding out that (a) they didn’t learn anything in “party school”, (b) they aren’t G-D’s greatest gift to the legal profession and aren’t worthy of a 6-figure starting salary, and (c) the public defender’s office has a very small budget and can’t pay for Kobi steak, sushi, and Absolut Crystal Vodka ($1000/bottle) 7 nights a week.

– Rolling Stone has forever demeaned the reputation of UVA, a fraternity, “greek life”, and itself by failing to exercise the first rule of good reporting: check your sources. Their belief in a “rape culture on campus” was the narrative the staff promoted, and a story that reinforced that narrative was just too good to be true. They licked their lips and published it without vetting it, knowing – knowing – it was true.

Unfortunately for them, the story was too good to be true: at the very least it was unverifiable, and is probably false from beginning to end. By trying to force an ideological viewpoint, the editors of the Rolling Stone have made it harder for those who actually are raped – a horrific crime – to be taken seriously.

This one hopes that all of the suspended fraternities at UVA and all of the UVA students whose lives have been disrupted come together and sue the pants off the Rolling Stone, its editors, its writers, the reporters involved. And then, that the all of the affected fraternities whose “Greek life” activities were injudiciously suspended turn their attention back to the UVA administration and sue them for their “guilty until proven innocent” attack.

Heads must roll – both at UVA and the Stone.