The buried lede of the New York Times’ otherwise hyperbolic and simultaneously vapid editorial that the NYPD can no longer “reject” reform is that the Times doesn’t call to Abolish Police or Defund Police, but reform police.

Faced with enormous suffering during a pandemic, a possible economic collapse and maybe the largest civil rights movement in history, a healthy police department could have acted as a balm. Many members of the New York Police Department work hard every day to do just that, putting their lives on the line alongside the city’s nurses, Emergency Medical Services workers, mass transit employees and other essential workers.

How the police are supposed to act “as a balm” is unclear, just as is the suggestion that it would have been different, but for the pandemic, economic collapse and civil rights “movement,” of little significance compared to the 1960s) (where the word “maybe” can’t possibly do the heavy lifting demanded of it). But vague covers a lot of intellectual failings and is rarely recognized as an empty rhetorical device to woo the passionate. Continue reading →

While brighter minds than mine hash out what the word means, or whether it means anything at all, the word “anti-racist” is making a dent in unexpected places. The concept comes from critical theory, an aspect of which is that it’s not good enough to not be racist; if you aren’t a warrior against racism, then you’re a racist. Ibram Kendi says so, and I’m not allowed to disagree according to Kendi, so I won’t.

But then, Antifa combined the words anti-fascist, making it absolutely clear that claiming nifty words doesn’t make you one. But in the scheme of race, there are racists, non-racists and anti-racists, except both racists and non-racists are racists, because they’re not anti-racists, which is the only thing you can be to not be racist. I hope I got this right, because it can be confusing.

What if race isn’t the center of universe? What if you have go to work today to feed the little shits darlin’s, so you can’t don your cute black outfit and attend the riots outside the Portland federal courthouse? What if you have dedicated your every breath to battling transphobia, and instead of having to go to work, search Jesse Singals twits in search of dog whistles? Continue reading →

After The Letter came the Counter Letter, which was largely ignored because it said nothing of substance and no one gave a damn about who signed it because they were insignificant (Hey, Noah Berlatsky signed it, right?). But the Letter started a number of battles, one of which was about whether “cancel culture” existed and, if so, what it meant.

Mind you, its non-existence was argued in a curious fashion by folks like Judd Legum and Charles Blow.

Once more: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CANCEL CULTURE. There is free speech. You can say and do as you pls, and others can choose never to deal this you, your company or your products EVER again. The rich and powerful are just upset that the masses can now organize their dissent.

— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) July 11, 2020

Blow’s rhetorical trick, sneaking in “you can say and do as you pls” under free speech will slip right by his fans because he called that thing that doesn’t exist free speech. Continue reading →

Courting pop opinion has long been a dangerous road in New York City, given that the cops wield enormous influence, but that the denizens of the city are otherwise relatively progressive as long as it doesn’t get in the way of happy hour. This meant Mayor Bill de Blasio had to carefully thread the needle in commanding a hiatus of good times due to the threat of COVID-19. After all, the protests must go on.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has banned large gatherings in the city until the end of September, saying, “We just can’t have that while we’re focusing on health right now.” But he’s making one big exception: Black Lives Matter protests.

“This is a particular moment in American history where 400 years of oppression, 400 years of racism are being addressed in a very, very powerful way that can’t compare to anything else,” he says, “and people’s voices needed to be heard.”

Continue reading →

Old pal and former Fault Lines colleague, Greg Doucette, has done yeoman’s work chronicling videos of police violence during the protests, in most cases, and riots in some cases, following the killing of George Floyd. He’s been numbering the videos and, if I’m correct, is up to 753 as of now.

7️⃣5️⃣3️⃣ St. Louis, MO: how many SLMPD cops does it take to break up camping protestors at 4am? ? People on scene put the count at 150+, including stacked in buses behind the videographer

Crazy

10 July 2020

[@Ohun_Ashe]
pic.twitter.com/Ee81TVgN7K

— T. Greg Doucette (@greg_doucette) July 11, 2020

Continue reading →

Maybe this is a lesson learned. Maybe this is her confession of guilt. Either way, Betsy Hodges condemns the true enemy of black people.

Democrats have largely led big and midsize cities for much of the past half-century. Yet the gaps in socioeconomic outcomes between white people and people of color are by several measures at their worst in the richest, bluest cities of the United States.

How could this be?

Is that meant as a rhetorical question? Nope. She’s going to answer it. Continue reading →

There are a few things one ought to realize from watching the Supreme Court over the long term.

1. Supreme Court justices may not be of quite the same view as they appeared before they became Supreme Court justices.
2. Supreme Court justices cannot be bought or stay bought.
3. Supreme Court justices don’t care about being called mean names, or nice names, by the media, pundits, academics or groundlings.
4. The only serious function of the Chief Justice of the United States is to maintain the integrity of the Supreme Court, because it’s the least dangerous branch.

Continue reading →

The readers mailbag used to be a regular feature at SJ, which died out somewhat after most of the emails consisted of young public defenders writing, “fuck you, traitor. DIE!!!” But an interesting, unsolicited query arrived the other day that might provoke some useful answers from anyone but Barleycorn, so I thought it prudent to post here.

Scott,

I’ve spent some time reflecting on Elizabeth Bruenig’s recent tweet about forgiveness and atonement; specifically, she said our current environment is unsustainable: we demand atonement but disdain forgiveness. Continue reading →

If factless argument could be bottled and sold, somebody would be fabulously rich. And the effort to take rhetorical credit for outcomes, good or bad, becomes infinitely easier when the connections seem to make sense. Making sense is infinitely easier when it confirms people’s priors. This afflicts pretty much everybody, and every argument, but sometimes the logical fallacy that “correlation does not imply causation” can be so brutal that even the most virulent supporter of a tribe says “no.”

The New York Post, tabloid rag that loves it some cops, said “no.” Continue reading →

What could possibly be controversial about a letter entitled “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate“? When I first read it and read through the many names of the famous and important signers, two things bothered me about it. First, it struck me as taking needless political potshots that were wholly irrelevant to its putative purpose, promoting free speech and thought. It seemed counterproductive to engage in political posturing when the point is that the concept of open debate isn’t a tit-for-tat political problem.

The second issue I had was that, while most of the signatories were people who had lived their support for open debate, some were leading voices in political correctness and silencing debate. It was like Richard Spencer signing onto a letter telling people to be nice to black people. It didn’t quite compute. Continue reading →