Monthly Archive: June 2020

Strong Majority of Americans Oppose Defunding the Police

by · Jun 13, 2020 7:35 pm

An ABC/Ipsos poll finds that 64% of Americans oppose defuding the police, while 34% approve it.  The story is here.  Interestingly, it also notes:

…Democrats stand as the lone faction among the political tribes that approve by a majority of defunding the police (55%) and redirecting it to mental health, housing and education programs (59%).  But Democrats are more divided in their support than Republicans and Independents are in their opposition, with 43% and 41% of Democrats opposing both defunding the police, and using the money for other purposes, respectively.

If I were Donald Trump’s campaign manager  —  which I surely am not  — this would give me a clue about what issues to stress.

Tom Cotton’s Op-Ed and the Ensuing Gnashing of Teeth

by · Jun 13, 2020 1:12 pm

Sen. Tom Cotton, a combat veteran and a leader for sober, law-oriented criminal justice, wrote an op-ed for the NYT arguing that, if civilian police were unable or unwilling to restore order to cities ravaged by riots, arson and looting, the military should be called in.  Immediately there ensued an uproar inside the Times, which then apologized for running the piece.  The Times said the op-ed did not, on reflection, meet its “standards,” never explaining, however, what those standards consist of.  It has since become obvious that they consist, not of honest debate  —  which used to be the standard for the discussion of public issues among opinion leaders  —  but of abject obedience to the new, “woke” party line of the extreme Left.

We are left to wonder whether the Times’ apology is the beginning of the end of journalism as we have known it and, even more ominously, of classical liberalism itself, now to be replaced by an updated version of the Cultural Revolution and enforced conformity of thought.  Ross Douthat, a committed NeverTrumper, explains why he’s worried. 

Serious Crime Increased During Floyd Riots

by · Jun 12, 2020 1:59 pm

Police Departments in U.S. cities where the largest George Floyd protests occurred are reporting substantial increases in burglaries, shootings and murderers over the first week of June. The Associated Press and Stephanie Pegones of Fox News report that burglaries and shootings increased dramatically in Minneapolis, where Floyd died on May 25. Nineteen people were shot and two killed during the initial week of protests.  There were 250 burglaries during the same period, a 220% increase over the same week last year.  The week of protests in Chicago resulted in the deadliest 24-hour period in 60 years, with 18 people killed.  Police reported orchestrated burglaries where multiple cars would pull up to a store then thieves smashed the windows, loaded merchandise into the cars and drove away.  In another case, thieves called police to report a burglary in a mall, then broke into and looted a box store on the other side of town.

Continue reading . . .

News or Parody?

by · Jun 10, 2020 7:54 pm

It’s getting harder and harder to tell whether you’re reading the New York Times or the Onion.  I’m going to quote the opening paragraphs from an article about how the anti-police movement is reacting to TV cartoons about police dogs (not a typo) and ask readers to guess the source. Continue reading . . .

The Standard under which the Flynn Case Should Be Decided, and the Correct Result

by · Jun 10, 2020 5:12 pm

On Friday, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit will hear oral argument on the petition for mandamus to require the district court to grant the government’s motion to dismiss the case against Gen. Michael Flynn.  Fed. R. Crim. P. 48(a) permits the government, “with leave of court,” to dismiss the prosecution.  The key question, then, is how much discretion the district court has under the “leave of court” language and under what standards that discretion should be exercised. Continue reading . . .

The Facts Matter

by · Jun 10, 2020 1:42 pm

For decades, the public has been admonished a dozen times a day by the media, liberal politicians and our betters in academia that government policy decisions they prefer are based upon evidence and data.  But what evidence and data are they talking about? Real science carefully reviews all the data.  Junk science supports a narrative.  Americans of all colors have been intentionally misinformed with regard to race relations, particularly when it comes to the police.  The the clarion call of liberal/progressives, race hustlers like Al Sharpton and a complicit major media is that racial bias was baked into the U.S. Constitution by the founding fathers and that 244 years later, every American institution remains systemically infused with bigotry.  In order to sustain this narrative, its adherents simply ignore the data.  In her remarks before the House Judiciary Committee today, Manhattan Institute scholar Heather MacDonald addressed that claim, highlighted by the tragic death of George Floyd, that systemic racism infects the police departments across America.

Continue reading . . .

Baltimore Residents Blame Record-High Murder Rate On Lower Police Presence

by · Jun 10, 2020 1:10 pm

The title of this post is the headline of an NPR piece (written two and a half years ago but unfortunately more timely than ever) discussing what people living in Baltimore’s inner city actually want from the police.  The answer NPR found can be summarized in one word:  More.

They don’t want abusive police, obviously, as no one would.  They want police who talk to them and respond to their needs both for respect and safety.   But the basic thing they want  —  notwithstanding what we hear from leftist think tanks and law professors who Live Somewhere Else  —  is more and more active policing. Continue reading . . .

John Gleeson, Making the Same Old Mistake

by · Jun 10, 2020 12:35 pm

When the government filed its motion to dismiss the Flynn prosecution rather than proceed to sentencing, Judge Sullivan appointed former federal prosecutor and US District Judge John Gleeson as a “friend of the court” to evaluate how the court should respond.  The preeminent question is whether and to what extent it is consistent with separation of powers for a court to compel the executive branch, which alone has to power to press criminal charges, to continue to prosecute a case it now views as irretrievably tainted by prior FBI misconduct.  Judge Gleeson today filed his amicus brief, arguing that Sullivan should reject the government’s motion and continue the prosecution to sentencing notwithstanding the prosecutor’s desire to stand down.

In a coming post, I might address the merits of Judge Gleeson’s recommendation, which I view as both legally incorrect and inconsistent with the ethical standards the judiciary should want  —  not resist  —  from the Justice Department.  But for however that may be, I write now to point out that Judge Gleeson is uniquely unqualified to hold forth on the separation our system embraces between the role of an advocate and that of a judge  —  unqualified because Gleeson himself, while on the bench, breached that separation to an extent I have never seen before in more than 40 years practicing law.  The story is here.

Jason Riley Spills the Beans on Race, Policing, and the Media’s Pervasive Deceit

by · Jun 10, 2020 12:20 am

Jason Riley of the WSJ is one of the brightest and most honest observers of the real story with crime, race and policing.  His column today about Chicago’s murder crisis is short but devastating.  I repeat excerpts after the break, but the entire column is worth the read.  Here’s a sample:

The political left, with a great deal of assistance from the mainstream media, has convinced many Americans that George Floyd’s death in police custody is an everyday occurrence for black people in this country, and that racism permeates law enforcement. The reality is that the carnage we witness in Chicago is what’s typical, law enforcement has next to nothing to do with black homicides, and the number of interactions between police and low-income blacks is driven by crime rates, not bias. According to the Sun-Times, there were 492 homicides in Chicago last year, and only three of them involved police.

Continue reading . . .