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Tear gas creeps up the street May 30 in Indianapolis. Police enforcement used tear gas to break up the protest in response to the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and Dreasjon Reed in Indianapolis. Alex Deryn

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department agreed on Oct. 29 to end the use of riot control agents against peaceful, law-abiding protesters and passive resistors. Passive resistors are defined as those who are nonviolent but may be breaking the law. Riot control agents include chemical agents such as tear gas and pepper balls.

The agreement settled a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in June on behalf of Indy10 Black Lives Matter and individual protesters who were exposed to chemical riot control agents deployed at protests in late May. The complaint claimed the deployment of tear gas violated First and Fourth Amendment rights of those protesters.

Similar scenes, and similar lawsuits, played out across the country during protests after the killing of George Floyd. IMPD was one of about 100 law enforcement agencies across the U.S. and one of three in Indiana that deployed tear gas and other riot control agents against protesters this summer. According to the New York Times, this summer marked the most widespread use of tear gas in the U.S. since the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The IMPD settlement states that riot control agents will not be used against future protesters unless there is an imminent threat of serious injury or death or other exigent circumstances.

The department also agreed not to use riot control agents to deter protesters from relocating or because there are unlawful activities occurring elsewhere in the city, both of which they did this summer. It also limits the circumstances in which IMPD can use impact weapons, such as rubber bullets, against protesters.

Demonstrators in mourning deserve safe and secure places to gather without the threat of state-sanctioned violence, especially prematurely and without provocation, Indy10 Black Lives Matter said in a statement responding to the settlement.

The ACLU of Indiana also filed a lawsuit on behalf of Balin Brake, a 21-year-old Fort Wayne, Indiana, protester who lost his right eye to a tear gas canister on May 30. That complaint, filed on Oct. 2, also argues Brakes First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated.

A former IU student was among those tear gassed at a protest in Indianapolis this summer. She said she went to protest police brutality and mourn the loss of George Floyd. She said the crowd was peaceful when the police deployed tear gas.

It just seemed like it came out of nowhere, she said.

She said the feeling of not being able to breathe was the most notable affect the gas had on her.

She observed that I cant breathe became a common political refrain this year.

"It's been such a strong theme lately with COVID, with police brutality now with this, like with this tear gas," she said. "This theme of not being able to breathe. I can't breathe. It's just, I mean, we're being suffocated."

She said the gas also made her eyes burn and tear up. She wears contacts, which she had to remove because they made the effects of tear gas worse. She was separated from her friends and unable to see. She said the pain was intense for about 15 minutes.

Its an acceptable first step, she said of the IMPD settlement. But I dont think theyre great at having a good grip on what a peaceful protest is. And I think tear gas should be illegal all the time.

Tear gas and other riot control agents are used because they are thought to have short-lived but debilitating effects, making them effective for quelling protests. The sensation of not being able to breathe and a burning sensation in the eyes are the most common short-term effects of tear gas.

There is no legal obligation on state or federal governments to monitor or report the deployment or effects of tear gas, which is banned under the Geneva Protocol for use in warfare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges those who have been exposed to riot control agents to seek medical attention immediately.

This summer, there were concerns that tear gassing protesters might contribute to the spread of the coronavirus by causing people to cough, rub their eyes and nose and remove their masks. A U.S. Army study showed soldiers exposed to tear gas had a higher risk of contracting respiratory infections such as the flu and the common cold, heightening experts' concerns about tear gas exacerbating COVID-19. Experts say its difficult to determine whether spikes were related to tear gas use because it was used around the same time states began to allow businesses to reopen.

While there are no exact counts of tear-gas related casualties available, it is clear the effects of tear gas arent always short-lived. Tear gas has caused at least hundreds of miscarriages and menstrual irregularities, lost eyes and limbs, respiratory failure, other permanent injuries and deaths.

Editors note: The author of this piece wrote opinion columns for the Indiana Daily Student this summer opposing the use of tear gas by police, specifically including one about this lawsuit.

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The state has set three new single-day records in the last four days.

There is no clear cause, according to the Duke Energy website.

The board had to reject 94 out of 110 provisional ballots.

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IMPD agrees to end use of tear gas, other riot control tactics against peaceful protesters - Indiana Daily Student

(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post)

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of government' gets done, and where we sat together in the park as the evening sky grew dark.

We begin in Kentucky, where the police department in Louisville is having a really bad year, and it's about to get even worse. From the Louisville Courier-Journal:

The charges themselves are ghastly. In one way or another, they appear to involve all of the city's law enforcement apparatus and a healthy portion of city government. And it's clear that the police department and city hall had the same initial reaction that every institution, from Penn State to the Roman Catholic Church to the Boy Scouts, had. They looked for a way to bury the evidence.

Almost 800,000 pieces of evidence? Somebody's going to jail behind this. And it's another example of the culture of impunity that grows within too much of law enforcement. Policing in this country needs to change, top to bottom, and if that makes "swing district" congresscritters uncomfortable, then that's the way it goes.

Neilson BarnardGetty Images

We move along to Utah, where the pandemic is spiking, as it is everywhere, and where we once again find our fellow citizens holding out against the jackboots of public health. From the St. George News:

This, however, seems a little nuts.

Is this a thing now? People deliberately spreading the 'Rona because FREEDOM! or something? Apparently, the Department of Justice thought so, at least theoretically. Are a huge number of our fellow citizens absolutely unconscionable morons? Experts are divided.

Joe RaedleGetty Images

We move on to Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis seems determined to cast the deciding "yes" vote in the survey mentioned above. In addition to hiring some third-rate sports blogger from Ohio to do "data analysis" on the pandemic in Florida, DeSantis is also taking some action against people who say mean things to him on the street, as the South Florida Sun-Sentinel explains.

Almost none of this authoritarian swill is constitutional. (The no-bail provision belongs in North Korea.) And immunizing drivers who run down protestors in the street?

And that's not all. DeSantis also proposed adjusting the state's Stand Your Ground law, the one that allowed George Zimmerman to kill Trayvon Martin and get away with it, to a point where they might as well rename it Kyle's Law, after freedom fighter Kyle Rittenhouse, The Kenosha Kid. From the Miami Herald:

There's serious competition for the title of The Next Trump, and DeSantis is only one of the favorites. That's what worries me.

And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, where Blog Official Natural Gas Dowser Friedman of the Plains brings us the saga of yet another charter school outfit that's only in it for The Kids. From the Tulsa World:

The Oklahoma legislature, which never has been mistaken for the People's Liberation Army, is furiously demanding that the state's Department of Education be audited, and Governor Kevin Stitt has had no choice but to join the legislature in this demand.

The charter industry is a license to loot the public treasury unless strictly regulated. In fact, theoretically, if a kid with a brick in Florida behaved toward a liquor store the way that the charter sharpies behaved toward the Oklahoma taxpayers, Ron DeSantis would let you shoot him.

This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.

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This Is the Culture of Impunity That Grows Within Too Much of Law Enforcement - Esquire

Nobel laureate Milton Friedman once said that One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results. When it comes to the $15 minimum wage hike supported by Joe Biden and many of his fellow Democrats, its becoming increasingly clear that the results will be ugly.

New reporting reveals that Chief Financial Officers at top American companies are considering raising prices, cutting workers hours and investing in automation to offset a potential rise in labor costs.

Companies including Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Potbelly Corp. and Texas Roadhouse Inc. are already doing the math to assess what a higher federal minimum wage could mean for their operations and cost base, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Some executives fear that increases to the federal pay floor would drive up wages across income classes, hurting profits and forcing businesses to find savings to offset higher spending on labor, the paper continues.

First and foremost, we can expect businesses to respond to artificially-high wage mandates by cutting jobs and reducing employee hours.

Why?This new reporting is bad news for low-skilled workersthe very group that a $15 minimum wage is supposed to help.

Well, labor is a product like any other. If the cost of soda was artificially mandated at $10 per can by the government, the simple fact is that consumers would buy less of it. When employers are legally forced to pay more for labor than it is worth in the market, they naturally and inevitably do the same.

By the simplest and most basic economics, a price artificially raised tends to cause more to be supplied and less to be demanded than when prices are left to be determined by supply and demand in a free market, famed economist Thomas Sowell wrote in Basic Economics. The result is a surplus, whether the price that is set artificially high is that of farm produce or labor.

Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, Sowell concluded. And that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage."

Ample evidence confirms these theoretical predictions.

For example, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that enacting a $15 minimum wage nationwide would destroy from 1.3 to 3.7 million jobs. Similarly, analysis from the Employment Policies Institute concludes that a federal $15 minimum wage would kill 2 million jobs.

These studies arent outliers. A research review by the Cato Institute concluded, The main finding of economic theory and empirical research over the past 70 years is that minimum wage increases tend to reduce employment.

So, its fair to assume that the warnings CFOs are offering about potential slashes in employment can be extrapolated beyond their specific companies. Proponents of a $15 minimum wage might intend to help workers, but they will inevitably and invariably put millions of them out of work altogether if their efforts are successful.

Meanwhile, other companies told the Journal they would pass the costs onto consumers by hiking prices. (Is that a win for the working class?)

And in an another twist, some companies said they would seek additional opportunities to invest in automation and eliminate their demand for labor altogether in lieu of paying mandated wages that far exceed a workers value.Lets hope that Joe Bidens minimum wage fantasies never become lawor workers will pay the price for his naivet.

Pool Corp., a distributor of swimming pool supplies, plans to ramp up investments in technology to offset the potential rise in labor costs, the Journal reports. The company would look to reduce manual processes such as product orders and certain warehouse operations.

[Automation is] the most significant investment that we can make...when it comes to lowering the impact of potentially higher labor costs down the road, Pool Corp CFO Mark Joslin said.

All of this is bad, bad news for workers. You know, the group that a $15 minimum wage is supposed to help.

So, lets hope that Joe Bidens minimum wage fantasies never become lawor workers will pay the price for his naivet.

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Companies Are Preparing to Cut Jobs and Automate if Biden Gets $15 Minimum Wage Hike, Reporting Shows | Brad Polumbo - Foundation for Economic...

Lights, colours, and fireworks may not light up in profusion in the skies this year on Diwali due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the low-key, virtual celebrations that have been planned will be just as beautiful.

Most Diwali celebrations will be done virtually this year

Celebrities, founders, chefs, and entrepreneurs have different ways to celebrate Diwali this year.

Children are adapting to the concept of online learning

The entire education industry has been in a dilemma as to whether or not schools should be opened. Although there are advisories to restart classes, when it comes to our little ones, there is no room for any risk. The good news: youngsters are learning how to manage within the framework of the new normal and are doing their best to study with their virtual lessons.

Timeless fashion classics will always be popular during the festive season

Despite the fact that we are planning virtual meet-ups with family and friends amid the pandemic, the need for a festive range of clothes is always top priority during the festivals.

Make smart investments on auspicious occasions

Its that time of the year again when people flock to the stores to buy some yellow metal to add a touch of auspiciousness to Diwali. However, is buying physical gold still a feasible option?

Breakfast is the new lunch for intermittent fasters

As intermittent fasting becomes more popular, the first meal of your day must be healthy and wholesome.

This practice of two meals a day can actually help your body recover from chronic diseases. What matters is that you stay on course with food, sleep, and a healthy lifestyle.

Rajat Jadhav

Are your favourite writers Nicholas Taleb, Herman Hesse, Jordan Peterson and Matt Talibi? Is your hero of fiction James Bond? Is your dream journey a trek through Spiti Valley?

As for his motto, Put blinders on and keep going through hard times, he believes is the best way to conquer challenges and work towards a brilliant future.

Dont miss reading all about Rajat's greatest loves, hates, regrets, treasures, and more in his responses to our Proust Questionnaire.

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Best of Weekender: India is finding light in the darkness with simple, small-scale celebrations this Diwali - YourStory

For the 102 English people aboard the Mayflower, this very week four centuries ago was one they would never forget.

After more than 65 days on a perilous, storm-tossed journey at sea, they sighted land (Cape Cod) on November 9, 1620. They dropped anchor on November 11. In between, they produced a document to establish what historian Rebecca Fraser describes as the first experiment in consensual government in Western history between individuals with one another, and not with a monarch.

We recognize that 200-word statement today as the Mayflower Compact. Its quadricentennial should be noted and appreciated by freedom-lovers everywhere.

Frasers observation is an important one. Previous statements and declarations in which freedom was a factor were agreements between an aggrieved people and the king or queen who ruled them. Magna Carta, for example, created a new relationship between English nobles and King John in 1215.

The Mayflower Compact, however, had nothing directly to do with the State. It was a private contract between the men among the Pilgrims and the men among the other half of the passengers, called strangers by the Pilgrims because they were placed on the ship by the sponsors in Britain to provide necessary skills to help the new colony succeed.

During the voyage, tensions between the Pilgrims and the strangers grew. When storms blew the ship off course and it became obvious they would land well north of Virginia, the strangers nearly mutinied. They argued that the wrong destination voided their agreement to assist the colony.

Compelled by circumstances (survival hung in the balance) to settle the issue one way or another, the passengers did the adult and civil thing. They put in writing a promise to each other to form a government of consent. Its laws would bind them all without religious or political discrimination. True to the longstanding customs of the day, women could not sign such a legal document but no evidence exists to suggest that if they could, they would have rejected it.

This short video from PBS provides some context:

Philosophers debate the legitimacy of the idea of a social contract. It is routinely taught in school these days that we are all bound by one, and that it demands our subservience to government. Personally, I cannot recall ever receiving my copy, let alone signing it. But if such a thing truly exists, the Mayflower Compact surely comes closest to its ideal. No one on the ship was compelled to sign, and the few who chose not to were either too ill to do so or were sailors intending to return to England.

Nathaniel Philbricks bestseller, Mayflower: Voyage, Community, War, expounds on the Compacts significance:

What made the document truly extraordinary was that it applied to a group of people who were three thousand miles from their mother country. The physical reality of all that spaceand all the terror, freedom and insularity it fosteredinformed everything that occurred in the days and years ahead.

In the end, the Mayflower Compact represented a remarkable act of coolheaded and pragmatic resolve[T]hey put pen to paper and created a document that ranks with the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution as a seminal American text.

The passengers then elected a Governor and went ashore on November 11. A month later, after some exploration, they opted to sail west to set up their permanent home, which they named Plymouth. Fortuitously, if not miraculously, friendly Indians whose names we should honorMassasoit and Squanto in particularhelped the colony get through rough times. And the colonists learned an important lesson in economics early on when they rejected the starvation policy of communal socialism and embraced private property.

Personally, I love this story because it is so quintessentially American, so sublimely pro-liberty. Why? Let me summarize:

The Pilgrims fled religious persecution at the hands of a government. They made a deal with investors to privately finance a new settlement across the ocean. Half of the passengers on their ship did not share their religious views but together, the Pilgrims and the strangers put their differences aside and signed a social contract to establish a secular self-government. Then they made a peace with the local tribes that lasted half a century. They succeeded and prospered when freedom of enterprise and personal initiative formed the central bedrock of their new society.

In 1776, the American Declaration of Independence asserted that all men are created equal and that to secure their unalienable rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

To Americans who remembered the Mayflower Compact, this was a glorious echo from a century and a half before.

It is no exaggeration to say that the great American experimentthe achievement of self-government, rule of law and enlightened liberty for allbegan not in 1776 but in 1620. We are still on that same voyage and though occasional storms block and even set us back, we remain committed to the ideal.

That, I believe, is what it really means to be an American.

Text of Mayflower Compact

Mayflower: Voyage, Community, War by Nathaniel Philbrick

The Mayflower: The Families, the Voyage, and the Founding of America by Rebecca Fraser

Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1645 by William Bradford

America Wasnt Founded on Slavery in 1619, But on Pilgrims Ideals Written in 1620 by Peter W. Wood

Remembering Warwick Charlton, Builder of Mayflower II by Lawrence W. Reed

Why the Pilgrims Abandoned Common Ownership for Private Propertyby Lawrence W. Reed

How the Mayflower Compact Laid a Foundation for American Democracy by Sarah Pruitt

1620: A Critical Response to the 1619 Project by Peter W. Wood

See the article here:
The Mayflower Compact: As an Idea, America Began in 1620, Not 1776 - Foundation for Economic Education