Month: August 2019

Relative to California, where I lived for over fifty years, Pennsylvania is weird about guns. Really weird.

I’m not just talking about your garden variety hunting rifles, handguns, or even machine guns. That would be like the Lawrence County state representative’s bill to legalize concealed carry without a permit.^[1] Read more →

1. ^[1]Jon Delano, “Lawrence Co. Lawmaker Wants To Abolish Concealed Carry Gun Permits,” KDKA, May 7, 2019, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/05/07/aaron-bernstine-abolish-pennsylvania-concealed-carry-law/↩

Driving for Lyft, I wind up going in all sorts of neighborhoods. In the Pittsburgh area especially, I have noticed that in some neighborhoods that I would identify as predominantly Black, I get a second look from the locals.
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I know from my own experience with faculty reviewing my papers as I proceeded through my Ph.D. program that peer review can be wonderful. The work that emerged from this process was immensely improved.

But Paul Thacker and Jon Tennant are absolutely right to point to some shortcomings^[1] and I encourage you to read their article. I would add that peer reviewers are much too often from the same fields or disciplines as authors and thus share biases that lead to mistakes. Read more →

1. ^[1]Paul D. Thacker and Jon Tennant, “Why we shouldn’t take peer review as the ‘gold standard,’” Washington Post, August 1, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/why-we-shouldnt-take-peer-review-as-the-gold-standard/2019/08/01/fd90749a-b229-11e9-8949-5f36ff92706e_story.html↩

Still playing “chicken.”^[1] Undated photograph by Ben Pruchnie via Politico.^[2] Fair use.

Boris Johnson continues to pedal his bicycle as fast as he can at a brick wall.^[3] In the event of a hard Brexit, still the legal default,^[4] the (dis)United Kingdom now faces several prospects: Read more →

1. ^[1]David Benfell, “The Disunited Kingdom,” Not Housebroken, July 31, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/07/31/the-disunited-kingdom/; Josh Wilson, “No-deal Brexit odds: Latest predictions on leaving the EU without a deal,” Telegraph, August 2, 2019, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/0/no-deal-brexit-odds-latest-predictions-leaving-eu-without-deal/↩
2. ^[2]Paul Dallison, “‘The bicycle guy’ — Kenyan president forgets Boris Johnson’s name,” Politico, August 30, 2018, https://www.politico.eu/article/the-bicycle-guy-kenyan-president-uhuru-kenyatta-forgets-boris-johnsons-name-theresa-may-visit-africa/↩
3. ^[3]David Benfell, “The Disunited Kingdom,” Not Housebroken, July 31, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/07/31/the-disunited-kingdom/↩
4. ^[4]Jack Maidment, “Brexit latest news: Theresa May’s deal defeated again by 58 votes – PM hints at general election to break deadlock,” Telegraph, March 29, 2019, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/03/29/brexit-latest-news-theresa-may-final-push-mps-prepare-vote-withdrawal/; Peter Walker, “Could parliament’s latest amendment stop no-deal Brexit?” Guardian, July 18, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/18/could-parliaments-latest-amendment-stop-no-deal-brexit; Josh Wilson, “No-deal Brexit odds: Latest predictions on leaving the EU without a deal,” Telegraph, August 2, 2019, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/0/no-deal-brexit-odds-latest-predictions-leaving-eu-without-deal/↩

Following her debate performance last night (July 31), I think my question of Marianne Williamson remains, how is it that she qualified for the debates and not Mike Gravel? That said, I must credit her this:
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[Kamala] Harris, who served as San Francisco District Attorney from 2004 to 2011 and California Attorney General from 2011 to 2017, describes herself as a “progressive prosecutor­­­­.” Harris’s prosecutorial record, however, is far from progressive. Through her apologia for egregious prosecutorial misconduct, her refusal to allow DNA testing for a probably innocent death row inmate, her opposition to legislation requiring the attorney general’s office to independently investigate police shootings and more, she has made a significant contribution to the sordid history of injustice she decries.^[1]

So Kamala Harris bloodied Joe Biden in a previous debate with the (accurate) charge that he collaborated with a segregationist to stop school bussing.^[2] Read more →

1. ^[1]Marjorie Cohn, “Kamala Harris Has a Distinguished Career of Serving Injustice,” Truthout, July 8, 2019, https://truthout.org/articles/kamala-harris-has-a-distinguished-career-of-serving-injustice/↩
2. ^[2]Scott Detrow, “Democrats Blast Biden For Recalling ‘Civil’ Relationship With Segregationists,” National Public Radio, June 19, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/06/19/734103488/democrats-blast-biden-for-recalling-civil-relationship-with-segregationists; Michael Kranish and Laura Meckler, “Joe Biden called busing a ‘liberal train wreck.’ Now his stance on school integration is an issue,” Washington Post, June 28, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/joe-biden-called-busing-a-liberal-train-wreck-now-his-stance-on-school-integration-is-an-issue/2019/06/28/557705dc-99b3-11e9-830a-21b9b36b64ad_story.html; Matt Viser and Annie Linskey, “Tensions ripple through Biden campaign as his past working relationship with a segregationist senator comes to the forefront,” Washington Post, June 20, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tensions-ripple-through-biden-campaign-as-his-past-working-relationship-with-a-segregationist-senator-comes-to-the-forefront/2019/06/20/2518afe6-9394-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html; Matt Viser and Sean Sullivan, “Biden faces backlash over comments about the ‘civility’ of his past work with racist senators,” Washington Post, June 19, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-faces-backlash-over-comments-about-the-civility-of-his-past-work-with-racist-senators/2019/06/19/c0375d2a-92a8-11e9-b58a-a6a9afaa0e3e_story.html↩