Outside the Beltway

This really is the heart of the issue.

The ‘outside agitators’ trope strikes again.

Shame on him for defending authoritarian actions.

The similarities are obvious. The differences are more important.

Cops aren’t soldiers or spies but fellow citizens.

Federal agents deployed nonlethal force against peaceful demonstrators.

Pentagon officials are speaking out about the militarization of police.

At what point does a demonstration become something else?

Portland may be a preview of what’s to come.

The Senator from Minnesota is no longer a candidate for Vice President.

Decades of reform efforts have failed. Is it time for a radical solution?

Balancing social justice and criminal justice in a politically charged environment.

The system makes it next to impossible to punish bad cops.

A stroll down memory lane.

The officer involved in the shooting death of a woman in Fort Worth, Texas has been charged with murder.

Another police shooting of an innocent African-American. This time in Fort Worth, Texas.

Oops.

The President’s latest ravings are “very bad, very bad.”

A Chicago police officer convicted of second-degree murder has been sentenced to seven years in prison, but could be out in as little as three-and-a-half.

Former Dallas police office Amber Guyger has been charged with murder in connection with the September shooting of Botham Jean in his own apartment.

Amber Guyger has been fired by the Dallas Police Department, now it’s up to the justice system to hold her accountable for her actions.

The shooting of Botham Jean by off-duty Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger earlier this month seems like a clear cut murder. So why is she only charged with manslaughter?

A decryption device called GrayKey is being used by all manner of government agencies.

Stephon Clark died after being shot eight times in the back and side by police in Sacramento. So far, the authorities haven’t acted.

A Nurse in Utah stood up for her patient’s rights, and was harassed by the police for her efforts.

Authorities are being second-guessed over their handling of Saturday’s protests. Virginia gun laws are the more obvious problem.

A guilty plea in a particularly shocking case of police brutality.

Police must be seen as neutral protectors of the peace.

An Oklahoma police officer has been charged in the shooting death of an African-American man while North Carolina authorities continue to balk on releasing a video in a shooting case there.

After two questionable police shootings, protests erupted overnight in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Blue feelings matter.

Another acquittal in Baltimore leads to questions about whether or not prosecutors should continue with the trials against the officers involved in the Freddie Gray matter.

Another targeted killing aimed at police.

The Dallas shooting spree ended with police killing the perpetrator with a drone. I’m okay with that.

A horrific night in Dallas.

Two cases quite a distance from each other, but in both police seem to be acting with a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ attitude, especially when it comes to African-American men.

The trial of the man who was believed to be the most culpable in the death of Freddie Gray has been acquitted, calling the entire prosecution strategy into question.

The decision by a Cleveland Grand Jury to decline to indict a police officer in the shooting of 12 year old Tamir Rice raises once again questions about how the law handles shootings involving police officers.

The Justice Department has launched a widespread investigation into the operation of the Chicago Police Department in the wake of the murder of LaQuan McDonald.

The October 2014 shooting of 17 year old LaQuan McDonald is beginning to have a political impact in Chicago and could have national political implications as well.

French officials have confirmed that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the man believed to be the plotter of last Friday’s attacks in Paris, was killed in a police raid early Wednesday morning. This doesn’t mean authorities in France or elsewhere in Europe are any less concerned about future attacks, though.

Thanks apparently in part to body camera footage, two police officers in Louisiana are facing murder charges in the shooting death of a child during a police chase.

Removing the responsibility to investigate police misconduct from the prosecutors who have to work with those police on a daily basis is a good idea.

A few days late, but a story worth noting if it has escaped notice.

The Cleveland Police Department has agreed to submit to significant monitoring in the wake of a damning Justice Department investigation.

The six Baltimore cops charged in the April death of Freddie Gray have been indicted by a Grand Jury.

President Obama is taking steps to reduce police militarization, but there’s much more that needs to be done.

The Baltimore Police Department will finally be under the Federal microscope. But it took the death of Freddie Gray for it happen.