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Month: June 2020

A German Shepherd places its paws on a computer keyboard in a police station office. The meme reads, "Saw bad man, bit same. End of Report."
Rethinking policing for Rana Station

Rethinking policing for Rana Station

by Jan S. Gephardt Rethinking policing has always been an important part of my world-building  for the futuristic world of my science fiction novels. Recent protests and calls to abolish or defund the police have given me fresh material to work with. But they haven’t changed my plans for the series. Balancing reality and fiction One of the joys of speculative fiction is that you get to make up your own world. That makes it possible to explore all sorts of thought experiments. How would this or that work out, if this or…

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A city worker power-washes "Defund the Police" from the road outside the Atlanta Police Department, after the protests in Atlanta.
How (and why) might we defund police?

How (and why) might we defund police?

By Jan S. Gephardt It appears that when people say, “Defund the Police!” they often don’t mean completely. They usually appear not to mean “dismantle the police force and don’t replace it,” although some do. I started examining the ideas of abolishing or defunding the police in the previous post on this blog. Defund the Police, like Abolish the Police, is an arresting (sorry), but inadequate slogan. Like most ideas, if you take the logic to its farthest extreme, it’s a terrible idea (hint: for real-life applications, never go to the farthest extreme)….

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This meme shows police violently throwing a protester on the ground. The superimposed words read "Protect and serve Yer doin it wrong"
Abolish the Police?

Abolish the Police?

By Jan S. Gephardt If we abolish the police in the 21st Century, why should people need XK9s in the future?  Wait! That wasn’t the question at the top of your mind? Actually, it wasn’t my first question, either (although I do have answers). When I originally learned about the movement to abolish the police, my first question was why would we do that?  Then I realized that by asking that question I had already marked myself as a person who owns property and benefits from white privilege.  Clearly, there was a disconnect happening. I needed to…

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The Learning Project was G. S. Norwood's "sampler" afghan.
Get crafty!

Get crafty!

By G. S. Norwood When the isolation hit, did you get crafty? This is the way it happened for me. When the coronavirus shut down Dallas, I was allowed to work from home. That freed up about three hours each week day that I didn’t have to spend on the road, commuting to and from work. Did I use my free time to clean my admittedly messy house? Did I join one of the amazing collective baking challenges, like the…

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