Well, Peace Officer John Pike hasn’t been in the news for the past couple of years. Remember 
Pike? He’s the cop who pepper-sprayed the protestors at UC Davis in 2011, back when the entire United States still had a few people willing to protest anything at all. He’s exactly what you expect a cop to look like: fat, lumbering, and with a big stupid moustache on his chubby face. The kind of asshole that writes you a ticket for not making a complete stop and takes his goddamned time about it. That kind of cop.
Anyhoo, a couple of days ago I read the reports that this fine fellow was paid over $38,000 by the taxpayers of California for the psychological distress he suffered. As an aside, they also mentioned his salary was on the order of $118,000 a year. Ummm, what?
For his skill set (which apparently is just kind of walking around with a spray can), I would think about $40k would be about right. And that, my friends, is a fine example of the kind of largesse that the citizens heap upon their “public servants”. Pay them three times what they’re really worth, and if they get called mean names after violently assaulting citizens, cut them a check for their sad feelings. We are a nation of dunces.
