David Thacher
@dtha15.bsky.social
Professor studying police history, police reform, policy responses to serious mental illness, ethics. Richard Olney & John Dewey stan. Dad to a danseur and a goalie; married to a historic preservationist http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dthacher/index.html
This is my favorite "join in and retweet" game. I'm currently in to Holly Humberstone's "I Would Die 4 U" Also Francis Mercier's remix of Rachid Taha's cover of Dahmane El Harrachi's "Ya Rayah" But in general my answer to this question is "anything Buddy Miller covered"
Sophia_Nyx 🐰@sophianyx.bsky.social · 4d agoname your fav cover song.
This is a really important and distressingly topical new paper. Police and -- especially -- prosecutors seem to *still* be mired in the reactionary "if the victim didn't resist physically it isn't really rape" mindset jnix.netlify.app/publication/...
Examining victim self-protection on police and prosecutorial decision-making for sexual assault case advancement | Justin Nix
Historically, demonstrating a victim's “resistance” to sexual assault was a legal requirement to achieve convictions. While these legal requirements have been repealed, victim self-protective behavior...
jnix.netlify.app
Re: that WSJ story about 287(g)s, the $ that DHS has put behind this push is really staggering -- like one-sixth of the largest-ever federal revenue-sharing program for police. (And since big states like CA & NY are basically not participating, the $ for those like TX & FL that are is even bigger.)
David Thacher@dtha15.bsky.social · last yr.I expect this will (unfortunately) sway a lot of cities & counties. The piece mentions $650M for 287(g)s, or ~$160M/year over 4 years. (COPS, the biggest-ever fed grant program for policing, distributed ~$1B/year at its peak.) If nothing else, it takes the "unfunded mandate" objection off the table.
sickening: DHS task force program "has become a cash cow for state and local law enforcement agencies nationwide." Arrest 1 deportable immigrant = $60,000 a year per deputized officer. WV sheriff: “When you get an opportunity to get possibly $100,000 for equipment or vehicles, that’s a no-brainer.”
Exclusive | How Local Police Get Paid Big Money for Just a Few Immigration Arrests
The Department of Homeland Security gives local agencies as much as $2 million for each arrest in a nationwide task force.
wsj.com
Seems smarter than the typical call to "start a CIT" program or whatever
Bass orders audit of LAPD mental health crisis response
An independent review will examine how LAPD responds to mental or behavioral health crises, with the goal of improving training, de-escalation and less-lethal options.
thelalocal.org
A stronger thunderstorm developed yesterday evening over the Coachella Valley and provided even more awesome lightning viewing from the Borrego area. Seen here in this timelapse behind the Santa Rosa Mountains with the camera starting a bit after 9:30 pm. www.nbcpalmsprings.com/local-and-co...
They are coming for birth control. #vote
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w agoMURRAY: The Trump admin falsely labeled birth control as abortion. Do you agree that an IUD is an abortifacient? OVERTON: If confirmed, I'll be fully briefed M: That's not an answer. The prospect of an FDA commissioner who doesn't know that birth control isn't an abortion is deeply alarming O: 😊
This is really good. "Solving problems is only a tool and proxy for achieving the primary goal of conceptual understanding and insight. Forgetting this in the world of AI may turn the tool against the primary goal."
Declaration — Math and AI
Read the declaration and add your name.
mathandai.org
Critics of alternative response programs often say that social workers &c shouldn't or won't accept the risk of being assaulted. There's some truth to that but it's also worth noting how often they're already assaulted at pretty high rates -- not quite as high as police but not *that* much lower.
This, by my very smart colleague Gabe Mendlow, is one of the most interesting things I've read about policing in a while.
Justifying the Police: State Coercion and the Crime Prevention Power
AbstractThis chapter examines a relatively neglected facet of state coercion: a police officer’s power to prevent crime using force or force-backed command
academic.oup.com
Sharing this one because we don't read enough about what's happening in the lives of trans people - this is thorough and tragic.
Opinion | What’s Happening in Kansas Should Alarm Us All (Gift Article)
Is Kansas just the beginning?
nytimes.com
This is, no joke, my favorite museum in the world.
The Associated Press@apnews.com · 3mo agoNew Bedford is considered the home of whaling's history in America — and now, home to the worst aquarium ever.
I guess, but the handwringing about ideological scholarship on the left is..very partial. I just read Allen Guelzo's critique of Alan Taylor's work. Guelzo thinks a test for good history should be "Is this the kind of book that would've steeled the nerves of some 18 year old to land on Omaha Beach?"
Samuel Moyn@samuelmoyn.bsky.social · 3mo agoThis is very good. “History is neither a teacher who rewards the best students nor a sweeping morality play. It is inconsistent, morally ambiguous, and often not especially helpful.” newrepublic.com/article/2117...
I stayed at the Residence Inn in Franklin, Mass. last night and met some very nice Ghanians. But tbh also some nice Englishmen. We had a cosmopolitan moment at the breakfast bar!
Bill DiFilippo@billdifilippo.bsky.social · 4mo ago“the english historically struggle here in massachusetts” bless you john strong
OMG don’t get a big head kid — first newspaper review 🤩 ‘What ranks as the highlight of the show is the “Dream Ballet”…Soledad Beck…was joined by Tommy Monroe…and Lucas Thacher…The four put on a show for the ages...’
From The Great American Song Book: CAP Presents Oklahoma - The Sun Times News
The Chelsea Area Players’ (CAP) raised the curtain on Broadway’s most decorated team, Rogers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma June 12 – 14, at the Ron Mead Auditorium. Oklahoma premiered on Broadway in 1943, ...
thesuntimesnews.com
OLC falsely says DOJ has "pressure[d] states into discharging individuals from mental-health institutions." In fact it has pressured them to create the capacity to support people in communities, so institutionalization isn't the only option. It has asked them to do more, not less
Eric Michael Garcia@ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 4mo agoThis week, the Department of Education announced that the Department of Justice would handle civil rights. But the Department of Justice announced a legal opinion saying that states do not need to provide community-based care for people with disabilities. www.cbsnews.com/news/doj-dis...
@jessicacalarco.com hit the nail on the head in her @pnas.org editorial about why the trend towards data transparency can be complicated for qualitative research--a dilemma that came to head in our recent PNAS paper on violence. I recommend giving it a read. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
With qualitative research, the risks of data sharing can outweigh the rewards | PNAS
With qualitative research, the risks of data sharing can outweigh the rewards
pnas.org
Southeast Michigan, you have one more chance to see LUCAS on stage before he makes it big on Broadway! The Chelsea Area Players are doing Oklahoma in 11 days; he & other Ballet Chelsea dancers will perform the dream/dance scenes. Here he is strangling Tommy. Tix here: chelseaareaplayers.org
Whoever found my wallet and brought it to my house and left it by the front door, THANK YOU! There are nice people in this world.
turning the screws on retailers who sell crime guns >> turning the screws on brown-skinned teenagers out for a walk or a drive
Aaron Mendelson@amendelson.bsky.social · 5mo agoA powerful LA elected official is calling for a probe into Turner’s Outdoorsman, following @thetrace.org reporting on the outsize share of crime guns traced to the chain. "What The Trace has uncovered in this data is shocking and demands investigation." www.thetrace.org/2026/05/turn...
The aftermath of President Trump's Minnesota immigration blitz has brought federal law enforcement there to a near-standstill. Gun and drug prosecutions plunged. Prosecutors quit. Agents disappeared from taskforces and increasingly turn their cases over to the state. www.reuters.com/world/americ...
Once when I was backpacking in Glacier I sprayed myself with bear spray when I went around a blind corner and found myself face-to-face with a bear
The Associated Press@apnews.com · 5mo agoAuthorities say a hiker was likely killed by a bear in Glacier National Park in Montana, the first fatal bear attack there since 1998.
Herman Goldstein's comments on a draft of Egon Bittner's "Florence Nightingale in Pursuit of Willie Sutton", challenging the demand to isolate a single characteristic that unifies all police work. It's an interesting bridge to Goldstein's own, more eclectic analysis, in Policing a Free Society.
View of Mescal Bajada this morning with Golden Pacific Powerlink 500-kV high-voltage transmission line. will cut through the middle of Anza-Borrego Desert (if SDGE and their investors get what they want). Please go here to learn more and take action: theabf.org/park-threat/
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Ballet Chelsea on Instagram: "We could not be more excited for this weekend! Join us in Wonderland May 2 & 3. May 2 at 7pm May 3 at 2 pm Tickets available on our website, linked in our bio. #ballet...
63 likes, 0 comments - ballet_chelsea on April 28, 2026: "We could not be more excited for this weekend! Join us in Wonderland May 2 & 3. May 2 at 7pm May 3 at 2 pm Tickets available on our website,...
instagram.com
David Thacher@dtha15.bsky.social · 6mo agoMad Hatter is ready. Get your tix! (Lucas is Mad Hatter in the Sunday show.). events.ticketleap.com/tickets/ball...
