1. It’s Tuesday, June 9, 2015.

2. t’s Aaron Sorkin’s 54th birthday. Talk faster when you’re walking today.

3. As of 10 a.m. ET, three of the lead stories on The New York Times’ homepage had something to do with the mistreatment of young African-Americans by law enforcement. The shooting of a 12-year-old boy in Cleveland last year. A video showing a Texas policeman wrestling a girl to the ground and waving a gun at a pool party. The suicide of a young man who spent three years in New York City’s jail, much of it in isolation, without standing trial.

This, folks, is pathetic.

Here’s a reminder to everyone. The people being abused in these cases, not to mention some of the others that have cropped up in the past few years (the Eric Garner case in Staten Island is one that especially sickens me), are people. They have the same rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that I have, that you have, that anyone with a billion dollars or anyone with less than a buck have.

Their lives matter. It’s long past time that people wearing uniforms start recognizing that. When you’re given a badge, you’re entitled to respect and a measure of authority. You are not above the law. You are not entitled to abuse that authority.

I find it hard to believe that people in law enforcement aren’t embarrassed by this. I can’t imagine that they measure success by fatalities and fear induced.

If better training is needed, then get it. I and everyone else pay enough in taxes to make sure law enforcement is properly prepared to handle all situations. We don’t pay enough to handle the fallout when those in law enforcement decide they’re in a war with people of color.

This epidemic of law enforcement cowboyism needs to end. Now.