Important headlines for April 9th -
Bottom Line: These are stories you don't want to miss and my hot takes on them...
Parkland shooting victim Anthony Borges criticizes Sheriff's Office and School District - Sun Sentinel
Excerpt: The 15-year-old sat silently as his family's attorney, Alex Arreaza, read from a letter written by the student...
"I want all of us to move forward to end the environment that allowed people like Nikolas Cruz to fall through the cracks," the letter said. "You knew he was a problem years ago and you did nothing. He should have never been in school with us."
Borges' father, Roger, also criticized Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for taking a photo of Borges while he was recovering in the hospital after the shooting. The photo was shared on social media by the Broward County Sheriff's Office.
"I am not grateful for the picture that Israel took of my son in that condition, in any way, and I think it was a mockery to have sent me a $100 check from the school board," Roger Borges said in Spanish. "I think it showed a great lack of respect.
Hot Take: Lots of moving pieces here... Are these criticisms setting the stage for leverage in potential legal proceedings leading one to question the motivation of the student/family (the family attorney being right in the middle of the mix raises the prospect) or is that too cynical (thus far the attorney has only stated that they intend to sue the Cruz estate)? Broward school superintendent Robert Runcie, who's been willing to address criticisms head on rather than hiding from them - to his credit, has suggested that the district acted appropriately in the handling of Cruz's issues and eventual expulsion from Stoneman Douglas. One somewhat recent development is the knowledge that after a fight on campus with another student bullet "fragments" were found in Cruz's backpack. Does that detail change anything in this conversation?
Then there's the case of embattled Broward sheriff Scott Israel. Once again, he's being called out but this time for using a picture of a wounded student, who's credited with potentially saving 20 others, for his potential benefit. Was it appropriate for the sheriff to use the picture without consent? It's hard to know where this story goes from here or ends but I'm glad we're having these conversations about potential lapses in accountability and judgement because they are more likely to lead to policy changes that can prevent future tragedy than all the gun control one can pass. Again, even in a world without the NRA or legal guns of any sort - Cruz would still have been a threat. It's critically important we ID the warning signs as early as possible to hopefully prevent an escalation of violence with those who're capable of carrying out attacks and harming others.
Trump's Enemy Isn't Your Friend: Don't Defend Amazon Thomas Frank, The Guardian
Excerpt: Given the chance to remind the public of American liberalism’s instinctive tendency to defend cyber-oligarchs like Bezos, Team Liberal jumped at it.
Along the way, they gave us a vivid reminder of why modern liberalism keeps generating – and losing to – unbelievably awful antagonists such as Trump. Put it this way: yes, Trump hates Amazon, and its chief executive, and his newspaper the Washington Post. But Trump’s blustering animosity doesn’t make Amazon an admirable company. Nor does it make the Washington Post a temple of objectivity, untainted by the capital’s culture of influence-peddling.
Take the matter of the postal service’s contract with Amazon – the cause of so much self-assured guffawing among the know-better set. Guess what? The president’s complaint here is kind of legit. While it might be technically correct that the US postal service makes a “profit” on its current arrangement with Amazon, it would also be correct to say that it could easily be making a lot more.
If you care about the postal service workforce, maybe you too might want to show some concern about the question rather than brush it off as yet more idiocy from the comb-over caudillo.
Hot Take: While taking plenty of swipes at Trump along the way they make the important points here. Recently I've brought you this following information based on my in-depth research. First, Amazon.com is the world's fourth leading user of data brokers (and rising fast). That means that while everyone's still digesting Facebook's potential abuse of trust of its users and their inner secrets - Amazon's right behind them and is libel to pass them rapidly. Secondly, Amazon's USPS deal is 73% below market rate which literally puts every retailer at a massive competitive disadvantage and isn't in the best financial interest of the USPS which is hemorrhaging money. Two sides to stories... One side to facts. I still find myself rooting for Wal-Mart to at least be successful enough to help hold Amazon in check competitively.
Until tomorrow...