Thug: ok or not?

A friend runs the SF Examiner crime blog but I had to call out the use of "thug" in this story about an arrest on the Muni platform:

If it “walks like a duck with a gun, talks like a duck with a gun, it’s a duck with a gun,” police said.

Bayview cops couldn’t avoid getting into a shootout Saturday. Two officers exchanged gunfire with thugs by a public housing development, though no one was hit, police said.

He said that the use of thug is to meant to denote "would-be criminals" but I think it's too presumptuous. On language: what do we really mean by "thugs"?

Apologies that this is not poetry-related.

Zone

Thougths on "Zone" ? I found some quotes from this poem in a book I'm reading and thought them quite striking. Although it's fascinating that the language is different in Poetry Foundation's version because of variations in translation. I liked the lines in the book I'm reading better.


Comment: More to come. The end of August was funky for me. I had a surprise appendectomy which set me back a few weeks. We were also visiting my family in CO for a few weeks. Hope you all are well!