from last week's Economist (sorry, I'm slow).

I thought this was an interesting column. Put me in the camp that believes that (1) we need police in American and the vast majority of men and women serving do so honorably and with good intentions and (2) we can still do better - we need more reform. It's ok to "back the blue" and acknowledge issues- I think at least.

I really hate the idea of lowering standards when we have labor shortages (we see it here, we see it with teachers). We're taking about professions here, not roles we can fill with people with limited skills. When we face shortages, prices go up. We should probably be looking for opportunities to push more dollars into these areas (and cut from others) and improve on what we have today in the process. We should treat policing like the profession we'd all like it to be (and that most cops want it to be) IMHO. There was so much bluster following the Floyd murder, yet nothing seems to have come from it- sadly, I'm not surprised,

At any rate, enjoy! If we don't want to discuss this, we can always go back to crossdressers and vaccines.