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…
Bloggingheads with Glenn Loury
Me on Bloggingheads with Glenn Loury.
Obama’s Dallas Memorial Speech
I like Obama (as do most Americans). And I know he couldn’t win over all cops with his speech in Dallas at the memorial for Officers Zamarippa, Ahrens, Krol, Smith, and Thompson. I knew, and this turned out to be correct, that even before the speech was done Obama haters would find a line or two in his 4,000 words…
Tone it down
I wrote thislast night for CNN, about the massacre in Dallas: Words have the power to inspire, inflame, provoke. Or else we wouldn’t say them. When words inspire others to kill, however deranged those others might be, we must see the consequences. When those on the political right speak against immigrants, Muslims or abortion, those on the left are quick…
Philando Castile
This police-involved shooting is bad. And unlike the killing of Alton Sterlingin Louisiana, I’m willing to call this one before the polls have closed. This more recent shooting in Falcon Heights, Minnesota reminded me of Joseph Schultz. Schultz, you probably don’t remember because you’ve never heard of him, got shot in the face in 2003 by FBI agents who were…