-
"Was this good? Or a misstep?" This was you doing what you can with the tools you have.
Oh! Well then, thank you for clarifying, and sorry to be a bit defensive.
@Watcher: I meant that as agreement to your statement, "What I doubt is that it was anywhere near complete, let…
"The number is more like 72 years, since the US and the UK overthrew an elected government and replaced it…
-
Category Archives: Prisons and Justice and Police
Police Racism Isn’t Disproven By Black Cops
In the National Review/Oberlin thread, RonF wrote: ((In comments, Ron objected that I was responding to an argument he hadn’t actually made, hence the cross-out.)) The anti-racist-policing movement hasn’t had much to say in Freddie Gray’s case given that of … Continue reading →
Baltimore
I really don’t have anything to say. But I can quote. Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Nonviolence as Compliance“: Now, tonight, I turn on the news and I see politicians calling for young people in Baltimore to remain peaceful and “nonviolent.” These well-intended … Continue reading →
A letter from Robert. Which I received yesterday. Yesterday. I’m just sayin’.
(Or was it three days ago? Whatever. As usual, I’ll wait a few days, and then I’ll forward comments from this thread to Robert. Anyhow:) March 23, 2015 Dear Barry: Heyo. Thought I’d drop you a line using my spiffy … Continue reading →
Why I doubt that “63 percent of young men between the ages of 11 and 20 who are imprisoned for homicide have killed their mothers’ batterers.”
I’m posting this here on “Alas” so that, two or three years from now, when I run into this statistic again and think “oh, yeah, I wrote a thing on that, didn’t I?” I can search for here it and … Continue reading →
Must-Read Jamelle Bouie Article On The Decades-Old Context For Ferguson
Ferguson protests over Michael Brown won’t end soon: The black community’s anger is rooted in a history of racism. This longish (well, longer than a blog post) article by Jamelle Bouie, about the long history of official racism in Ferguson, … Continue reading →
A quick note on Michael Brown’s death and “plausibility”
Dorian Johnson was walking with Michael Brown when they were stopped by Officer Darren Wilson. According to Johnson’s eyewitness account: …a police car pulled up alongside Brown and him, and the officer—who has been identified as Darren Wilson—allegedly told Johnson … Continue reading →
Rob Hayes Is In Jail, And Would Like To Hear From People
(Honestly, I would rather have illustrated this post with this cartoon. But it looks like that cartoonist hates having his cartoons reproduced, so…) Several “Alas” folks have asked me if my old college friend and frequent “Alas” comment-writer Rob Hayes … Continue reading →
Study Shows Enormous Sentencing Discrepancy Against Men
A study (( Starr, Sonja B., Estimating Gender Disparities in Federal Criminal Cases (August 29, 2012). University of Michigan Law and Economics Research Paper, No. 12-018. Link to paper. )) by Sonja Starr, a University of Michigan law professor, shows … Continue reading →
Want Fewer Heroin Deaths And Users? Give Addicts Heroin For Free
Well, for free under very controlled circumstances. From a blog post by “M.S.” on The Economist: But we do have a good idea of how to stop more people from destroying themselves specifically with heroin injection, which has a higher … Continue reading →
“Obama often speaks as if he is an outside observer of his own administration” (UPDATED) (UPDATED AGAIN)
*SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM* Jacob Sullum at the libertarian site Reason nails it (UPDATE: No, he didn’t nail it. See the update at the bottom of this post): Obama at first denied that the executive branch has the power to … Continue reading →
Dreidel: "I don’t see it as a big moral issue — that’s just the way war works." Whether or not…