Marilyn Mosby said she is dropping all charges against the six Baltimore Police officers in the custody death of Freddie Gray. In the press conference she sounded like a petulant child who was caught out doing bad, and so blames everybody else instead. “Systemic issues,” she said. I think a voice of humility, noble humility, might have served her better.…
Month: July 2016
20 People Shot at Florida Nightclub (ho hum)
From the Times: Two teenagers were killed and at least 18 people were wounded early Monday when attackers raked a crowd with gunfire outside a nightclub here that had been hosting a party for young people, the authorities said. Sound familiar? Yeah, because it is. But this isn’t even the main story of the day. It kind of started as…
“The False Promise of a ‘Conversation’ About Race”
John McWhorter wrote this article about race and racial discourse. I doubt most readers here subscribe to the Chronicle of Higher Education. It’s behind a paywall, and you can’t access it back-door style through google. So though this excerpt doesn’t really do his whole argument justice, it’s better than nothing: After the horrific shootings in Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and…
“One Police Shift: Patrolling an Anxious America”
From the New York Times: “Riding along with officers illuminated fears they confront, compassionate gestures from the public after two recent ambushes against the police, and varied responses to the Black Lives Matter movement.”
RIP Thomas Lynch, d. 1849
On July 22, 168 years ago, Thomas Lynch was the first police officer in America (at least best I can tell) to be fatally injured in the line of duty: Patrolman Lynch responded to 16 Dover street after receive a report of a large dispute. As he tried to mediate the dispute, he was struck in the head 11 times…
Clarence Thomas, misdemeanor convictions, and constitutional rights
[Note: I wrote this back in March. It never ran. It’s no longer even relevant, since the Supreme Court ruled in June (Voisine v. United States) that you can lose your right to own a gun over a misdemeanor conviction. But I still thought I’d let it see the light of day.] On February 22, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas…
Crime is up then down than level then down slightly (then up)
The Atlantic has a fun guess-the-homicide-rate-over-timegame! Turns out I’m really good at this game. But I shouldn’t boast; I have no excuse not to do well. I show this chart literally half a dozen times in each and every class I teach. What I don’t like is how dismissive they are of the current increase in violence, the largest percentage…
Hands up don’t shoot
“As long as I got my hands up, they’re not going to shoot me. This is what I’m thinking. Wow. Was I wrong.” What the f*ck? Charles Kinsey is almost obscenely complaint. And unarmed. Does anybody have a link to a video that shows the moment he’s shot? I’d like to see it. But unless a gun magically flew into…
Princeton in the Nation’s Service
My alma mater sent this out to their graduate-student mailing list. From: W. Rochelle Calhoun [rochelle.calhoun@PRINCETON.EDU] Sent: Friday, July 08, 2016 2:44 PM To: allgs@Princeton.EDU Subject: Letter from Vice President Calhoun and Deans Dolan and Kulkarni Dear Princeton Students, Within the past few days, we have been faced with the tragic deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, and Philando…
Reducing police-involved shooting & “The List”
This past week John McWhorter and I were both (separately) on Bloggingheads.tv with Glenn Loury to talk about race and all the recent shootings. McWhorter emphasized race as a factor of those shot by police and: challenged those who disagree to present a list of white people killed within the past few years under circumstances similar to those that so…