Police

Grad School Advice

I always feel like who am I to talk about grad school? I didn’t follow any of the standards Rules to Successful Completion. I liked school, but I wasn’t hanging around the department and I took nine years to finish. I might have been the only Harvard sociology student history to fail the “oral exam” (go ahead and snicker, I…

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Flogging Momentum

My piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education seemed to make a splash. There’s also a piece out in the Washington Monthly (not yet available online… but why not subscribe?). I haven’t seen it yet. I mean, I’ve seen it. I wrote it…. But I haven’t seen it in print. Most people seem to be responding to the book correctly:…

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Sitting at the Schadenfreude Cafe

I don’t quite know how else to describe my perusal of right-wing blogs responding to the shocker than Obama was born in Hawaii. What’s funny, though not surprising, is I haven’t heard a single person say, “gosh, I guess… I was wrong.” I guess it’s all about that “conviction” thing. “Why does it say Barrack and not Barry,” is a…

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We need higher taxes…

…to pay for police. Newark laid off police and murders are up 71percent this year. That’s penny wise and pound foolish. The Newark Star-Ledgerreports.

Police

NYPD Stop and Frisks and Marijuana Arrests

WNYC reporter Ailsa Chang reports on the curious link between stop and frisks and marijuana arrests in New York City. It’s curious because small-scale possession of marijuana in New York State isn’t a crime (it is a non-arrestable ticketable “violation”). Nor do drugs that are “immediately apparent” based on “plain-feel” during a “Terry Frisk” (for weapons) give police justification to…

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Faith and the Badge

NYPD Sergeant (and Cop in the Hood fan) Martin Browne is interviewed about being Catholic and being a cop. It’s a good interview.

Police

An Easter Flogging

The first article to come from my new book is out in the Chronicle of Higher Education. A crazy idea came from a dinner in New Orleans. I had cold-called (or whatever the e-mail equivalent is) a writer and his wife because I was a fan of his work and thought we had much in common. They were gracious enough…

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Mexican Poet Against the Drug War

I’m back from Mexico City, happy to have been there. No, I didn’t get sick (or mugged). Yes, I ate everything (including grasshopper quesadillas, which I can say are tasty, but it’s still best not to lift the tortilla and look at the critters melted in with the cheese). But I’m also happy to be back at low altitude. Seriously,…

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