I am CuTRis

This morning, on the news, they reported a need for school resource officers. That struck me as interesting, because a few years ago, there was anger, and people wanted those officers removed from schools. This is proof that dumb exists on both the political left and the political right. A few years ago, George Floyd was in the news and now it's the Annunciation school shooting. Narrow views produce narrow results.

One of our neighbors went to thank the police for doing a good job keeping our neighborhood safe, so police and fire offered to come and visit. Tonight was the night! They came with police cars and fire trucks, and soccer balls and popsicles for the kids. It's awesome when people are kind to each other and build positive connections.

Pay attention now those of you who thought it was a good idea to remove police liaison officers from schools...

For Tyre Nichols to be beaten to death by police earlier this month, nearly three years after George Floyd, shows me that there is the need for police reform. The color of the officers doesn’t seem to have any bearing on these atrocities. For starters, I would change the language. As a writer, I know how powerful words are. I can remember one night after working late, televising a meeting, being pulled over for going 5 MPH over the speed limit. The officer began swearing and yelling obscenities at me after I was found to be completely sober and with no outstanding warrants. I had clearly disappointed this officer, who dropped the “F” bomb numerous times as he cussed me out. I stayed quiet until I was allowed to leave. But what other profession allows someone to unleash obscenities on a member of the public? It was a verbal assault. It’s just another small step from there to a physical assault. Maintaining composure and an appropriate vocabulary is just the start to treating people...

If you look at a city like Minneapolis objectively, there are shootings daily. People are shot and shot to death at an alarming rate. That means law enforcement is reacting to these violent crimes daily. If you research the statistics, when it's not being obscured by the media, most of the victims are black lives. Most of the arrested shooters are as well. When you think of the hundreds of cases handled by the police, and the relatively few mistakes, it begins to show that the number of people killed by police, is a small number in comparison to the number being killed by gun violence every single day. Yet, the media, and certain groups have skillfully turned our attention to the few tragic deaths of individuals at the hands of police; and deflected the reality of daily killings by criminals, to back page news to be ignored because it doesn't bring the masses out to demonstrate their rage. In fact, if a child or innocent person is killed, few people mourn. It's only when ...

A lot of time and effort is going into reforming police. Today, a school bus driver was shot in the head in Minneapolis. Perhaps more time and effort should be spent on the reason police are out pursuing criminals--like why are people shooting each other and also killing and maiming innocent bystanders in the city and streets? Police reform is a byproduct... an effort to fix a symptom of the true problem. It's easy to yell and scream about police brutality, but that doesn't address the crime that necessitates the reason police are deployed in the first place. If you can fix the crime problem, the police won't even be needed. It was a while ago, but when I grew up in Richfield, and bought my first house in Minneapolis (both have had shootings already this month), there wasn't continuous shootings like there is now. So ask yourself, what has changed? If we focus on the cause of the dysfunction rather than reacting to the results, perhaps real solutions are possible. Be...

1. Be Respectful 2. Get an Education 3. Get a Job 4. Be Responsible 5. Don't Blame Others 6. Don't Brandish Weapons 7. Don't Assume or Practice Racism 8. Don't Steal 9. Don't Harm 10. Don't Litter 11. Obey Laws 12. Cooperate with Police 13. Don't Use Offensive Language 14. Be Kind 15. Spend Time with Your Children and Teach Them to Be Respectful

Looking past cancel culture, at the liberal ideas of blaming every social issue on systemic racism, vilifying law enforcement and making heroes of criminals and ignoring the demographics of who is actually shooting the most people--including innocent children, I don't feel that any of this is working or has any hope of success. In fact, the only thing it will likely do, is increase the power of conservatives, who are waging their own battle of distorted reality. I'm still convinced that the answers to the problems are in that gray area in the middle; rather than in the black and white or right and left. But people are too stubborn to think rationally or logically. So here "we" all are--angry, misinformed, misinterpreted and misdirected.

With the passage of police reforms, the officers took to the streets brandishing flyswatters and squirt guns! Liberal Americans rejoiced knowing that the criminal element was out of danger. Yes, if changes are needed, it only makes sense to do it to extremes. As long as the conservatives can keep their arsenals, and the police are carefully regulated, we will all be much safer. There will be time to talk about education, parenting and curbing criminal activity later.

https://kstp.com/minnesota-news/minneapolis-twin-cities-community-reaction-riots/5745543/?cat=1

http://www.startribune.com/judge-rejects-motion-to-seal-medical-records-in-trial-for-officer-who-killed-justine-ruszczyk-damond/492518991/ http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-police-face-questions-about-noor-s-fast-track-training/436057173/

We visited the Harkin Store in New Ulm, Minnesota. While this is an interesting story and we can step into it, it is also one of the smallest "museums" that I have ever been to.

https://kstp.com/news/minneapolis-release-police-body-camera-footage-of-thurman-blevins-shooting-/5009790/?cat=1 https://kstp.com/news/protesters-interrupt-hennepin-county-attorney-mike-freeman-news-conference-thurman-blevins/5010365/?cat= I'm convinced that Thurman Blevins would never have been shot by police if he had followed their instructions. Instead, he ran and can be seen with a gun in the video. Those who are still shouting for "justice," are not looking for justice. They are looking for revenge. If I was to fault the officers involved, it might be that no one (in most any other job) can repeatedly shout the "F" word at someone; and perhaps they should shout "police" instead. The last time I was pulled over by a police officer, he cited speeding as the reason but I know he was trolling for DWI arrests. When he was unable to give me either a ticket for speeding or arrest me for DWI, he began to swear at me. Then he let me go on my way. I ...

Shooting in Minneapolis Park UnAssociated Press July 16, 2018 At least 9 shots were fired in a crowded Minnehaha Park yesterday . No one is overly concerned and no protests are planned since police were not involved in the shooting.

If the NFL players would really like to make a positive difference in society, they could start by reducing the number of babies that they are "fathering" that they have no intention of being "dads" too. Because becoming a father to a lot of children without taking responsibility for teaching them, making sure they do good in school, making sure they don't join gangs, or do drugs, or carry guns is irresponsible. It is also irresponsible to blame police for a problem that is largely the result of children growing up without good role models and learning how to be successful and responsible. A DAD invests time and effort in his children. A DAD cries sometimes because his kid is sick and he is up late at night with him/her. A DAD hugs his kids and tells them he loves them. It might be easier to blame the police and the country and everyone else rather than to take responsibility for your own actions, but in the end it solves nothing.

Yesterday afternoon I found myself waiting in my car, at an intersection in downtown St. Paul (MN) while a group of police officers helped direct traffic so that a large group of people (it looked like students and teachers) were able to safely leave the Excel Energy Center. In the three or four minutes that I waited, the officers very professionally did their jobs while taking abuse from a number of people who drove past in vehicles and at least one who walked past. Every single person who I saw, who was swearing at the police officers and being openly and loudly disrespectful, was an African-American. At least one of the cars with people exhibiting this outrageously disrespectful behavior, had children in the car to witness it. So that left me with a number of questions for these individuals. 1. Who taught you that this behavior is acceptable? 2. Do you believe that your disrespectful behavior is helpful to the perception that police are unfair to black people (i.e. Black Lives Ma...

I'm just thinking out loud here so don't get too upset—because this could never really happen. But what if... in order to create more diversity, a police department was pressured into hiring individuals who were not qualified? I mean, what if an applicant had an education in business administration or economics instead of law enforcement? I'm not saying it would ever happen, but if it became more important to hire non-white people rather than those most qualified for the job, could it ultimately create a danger to society? It is something to think about isn't it? Not that such a scenario could ever happen. http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/18/us/justine-ruszczyk-minneapolis-shooting-australia/index.html http://kstp.com/news/mohamed-noor-officer-involved-shooting-justine-diamond-fatal-minneapolis-shooting/4544324/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-of-black-man-handcuffed-over-walking-in-street-draws-outrage/ http://www.startribune.com/at-edina-city-council-anger-over-police-incident/397532401/ From this point forward in the City of Edina, Minnesota, no police officer shall be allowed to stop any individual who is not classified as Caucasian. All other classifications (who are not Caucasian) shall be allowed to walk, drive or use any source of conveyance on any road (public or private), highway, freeway, yard, building, rooftop, etc. Said individuals are also allowed to freely walk on water if they feel it necessary. They may also act violently/angrily and swear at police officers (and others) if they wish. No non-Caucasian individual should be asked to behave in a reasonable, respectful manner when confronted by police or anyone else—regardless if public safety is compromised or for any reason at all.

Of course every incident is different, but I keep seeing a common theme in police shootings of unarmed people. The people who get shot don’t seem to be following directions. Despite the continued push to make us believe that only Black men are shot by police, killedbypolice.net says otherwise. What I see in most of the posted videos, is police with guns drawn; and the person who gets shot not getting down on the ground with their hands in the air. Instead, they seem to be continuing to move toward some other objective. If someone pulled a gun on me , I would try to run away; unless I knew it was a police officer. Then I would be very careful to follow directions to avoid agitating the officer pointing the gun at me! But from my work in county social services and also in schools, I learned that there are people in our society who do not think that anyone can make them do anything and they persist in that belief regardless of the outcome. In fact, life has become so cheap in some c...