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.”

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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

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This week’s post is going to be completely different from anything I’ve ever tried here. Today, I proudly assume the mantle of consumer critic. Yes, I’m still a motivational speaker, but I have to hone various talents while venue bookings are finalized.

Like far too many of us, I am addicted to my cell phone. Whether acting like a fool on Twitter or engaging in a few levels of “One Finger Death Punch 2,” that little black rectangle commands way too much of my attention. My self-awareness led me to check out a device called the “Palm Phone.” 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.

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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 →

One of the more notorious Karens, Amy Cooper, was fired, lost her dog and will be a social pariah for the foreseeable future. This was the punishment imposed by the mob for calling the police and claiming that her life was threatened by a “Black bird watcher.”

Wasn’t that enough? Nooooooo. No, says the social justice mob. No, says the Manhattan District Attorney, who might under other circumstances take responsibility for its actions but is now too vulnerable and subject to influence with Cy Vance being primaried for DA that appealing to the mob matters. And so, Amy Cooper, unemployed dogless pariah, will now be prosecuted for the misdemeanor of falsely reporting an incident. Continue reading →

When it first came on my radar, it was via a twit by Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern.

It’s amazing that passionate foes of “cancel culture” who don’t want people to get fired for stupid or arbitrary reasons have managed to conceal their deep opposition to at-will employment for so long. Welcome to the fight for just cause employment protections, everybody!

It struck me as a non-sequitur, the usual snark intended to shift focus away from the vicious mob they adore to the cause they despise. I wouldn’t have used the word “amazing,” but “incredible,” as it’s not believable that anyone would so flagrantly conflate cause and effect for their own purposes and expect anyone outside of their echo chamber not to see the irrationality. Continue reading →