Man the gates, ready the catapults!

Security planning has begun.

Ponder these numbers:

Estimated number of people who will attend the convention in one capacity or another: 30,000

Preliminary estimate of police/security officers to be deployed for the convention: 10,000

Presumably, the estimate for attendees does not include protestors, and you can bet that here will be thousands, both locals and out-of-towners.

Still, that’s a pretty high ratio of officers to convention-goers. Why, the Science Museum of Minnesota, mere steps from the Xcel Energy Center, only requires a 1:10 student-to-chaperone ratio, even though we all know the inherent dangers of science education – without proper supervision, the kiddies could learn how to make a meth lab or, worse, be exposed to the poison of Darwinism.

Strib: Between them, Minneapolis and St. Paul have about 1,400 officers. But those same officers still have to provide regular police services to their cities.

Another issue: The convention will overlap with the closing days of the State Fair, which also uses police officers to handle daily crowds of 150,000 to 200,000 or more.

Uh-oh.

Note to Republicans: You have taken away our civil liberties. You have taken away international political stability. You have taken away our dignity in the eyes of much of the world. You have taken away so much already. But please, please, please . . . DON’T TAKE AWAY OUR MINI DOUGHNUTS AND CHEESE CURDS!

***
. . . All of which makes me think: Start planning your (nonviolent!) protests and/or flight out of town now! I call dibs on chaining myself to the Herb Brooks statue . . . or maybe on seat 3A on flight 362 to Anywhere But Here.