Battered and Blue →

Given the dangers inherent to being a police officer—and the extent to which most cops are trying to do the best they can—it’s actually understandable that cops are a little angry with official and unofficial criticism. But they should know it comes with the territory. For all the leeway they receive, the police aren’t an inviolable force; they’re part of a public trust, accountable to elected leaders and the people who choose them. And in the same way that police have a responsibility to protect and secure the law, citizens have a responsibility to hold improper conduct to account.

Increasingly Worrisome Behavior from Our Sworn Protectors →

I am stunned by the lack of professionalism allowed among those at the top of the NYPD and its affiliates, and increasingly alarmed at an organization invested with violent, coercive force at the behest of the people, tasked with "protecting and serving", which uses such reactionary rhetoric.

What’s Conservatism Without Liberty? →

Every group has its factions. The "conservative" wing of US politics has seemed especially schizophrenic since the rise of the Tea Party, actively disrupting the coherence of GOP policymaking. Of course, this isn't helped by the entrenched two-party system, which lumps disparate elements together.

This is a good piece on the inconsistencies and tensions within the Republican party, and touches on the recent conservative in-fighting with regards to police power. I'd quote this entire article...

However, Rubin is right about stark differences between libertarians and many more conventionally conservative Republicans—there is a significant and perhaps even irreconcilable philosophical contradiction developing on the right.
But it is not between libertarians and conservatives. If looking for the most accurate and useful term to analyze this conservative dilemma, the opposite of libertarianism is not conservatism, but authoritarianism, and the current tension is between libertarians and authoritarians.
Libertarians distrust government. So have generations of conservatives. Conservatives have also long trusted and admired certain types of government—the military, the police, the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency—believing these bodies represent law, order, and safety.
Recently, ascendant libertarian Republicans have extended their skepticism of government to state agencies that the right is accustomed to giving the benefit of the doubt.

 

Jeb Bush Might Have A Tea Party Problem In 2016 →

I'll try to minimize the amount of inside-the-Beltway think pieces, but a piece like this gets to the internal dynamics and history of the GOP...

Jeb Bush, who announced Tuesday that he was exploring a White House run, has been compared to Mitt Romney so often over the past week you’d think they were long-lost brothers. After all, both are mainstream candidates supported by the Republican establishment but on thinner ice with the GOP grass roots.

That’s largely true, but it’s far too simplistic. Bush and Romney have problems with different wings of the Republican primary electorate.

Exxon Mobil Shows Why U.S. Oil Output Rises as Prices Plunge →

The average cost to operate an existing well in most parts of the U.S. “is about $20 a barrel,” Petrie said. “It might be $5 higher or it might be $5 lower, that’s the out-of-pocket costs that we’re talking about. Until you dip into that and start losing money on a cash basis day in, day out, you don’t think about shutting in” wells.

The Conventional Wisdom On Oil Is Always Wrong →

Interesting look at predictions within the oil industry.

I don’t take issue with anything Yergin is saying here. In fact, it makes sense. But that’s the thing about the conventional wisdom: It always makes sense at the time. It’s only later that we can see all the reasons it was wrong.

Disavowal Politics →

There is a paradox in mass movements wherein a person or group of people will commit some terrible act, claim an association with a particular movement, and then people outside the movement will demand that the people inside of it disavow those who committed the terrible act.
It’s pretty typical, for instance, of Islam. The narrative goes like this: some terrorist group or individual terrorist does something terrible, and non-Muslims call upon Muslim leaders to disown or disavow the terrible acts and their perpetrators. There are a few problems with this response, whether the case is terrorism or not. Here are some.