A Thousand Cuts

138. The TSA will no longer allow air travelers to fly unless they produce ID . . . or claim they’ve lost or forgotten it.  The world is now that much safer against terrorists who can’t lie.

139. A high school principal who wrote a letter in support of Derrick Foster, who is charged with shooting two Columbus, Ohio, police officers (see # 134) has apologized publicly: “In no way do I support, in no way do I condone, the alleged actions of my friend.”

140. Denver city attorneys argue that a police officer who beat and stomped on a 16-year-old boy, leaving him with broken ribs and internal injuries, acted in self-defense and used “reasonable force.” Because, you know, having a beer while underage is totally grounds for getting pounded until a kidney bursts.  The cop has been suspended without pay pending felony assault charges.

141. Police in Detroit hit an art gallery, don’t find any drugs, weapons or fugitives, decide to ticket the gallery for holding a dance without a permit.  Gallery director Aaron Timlin: “We’re going to dance without a permit.  If we get a ticket, we’ll fight the ticket and change the law. People should be able to dance where they want.”

142. California seizin’: voters approved Proposition 99, which protects owner-occupied homes from eminent domain seizures (at least in some cases), but leave other types of property such as apartment buildings vulnerable to land grabs by local authorities for private redevelopment.  A competing measure that would have placed much broader restrictions on property seizures by the government was defeated, probably because it would have also done away with rent controls.