==CHAZ: 11 days before lethal violence==
Larry Niven, in “Cloak of Anarchy”, predicted it would take nine hours from a place being police free until we had deadly violence.1 The CHAZ, make that CHOP, police-free zone in Seattle which I blogged about on June 13 needed 11 days before its first murder.2
To say that police are horrible and should be abolished is easy. To actually keep violence down in a neighborhood takes real work.
==Stephen Hsu resigned but is still a tenured professor==
As a follow-up to my June 16 blog, Stephen Hsu has been forced to resign from his position as president of research and innovation at Michigan State University. He still has his position as a tenured professor.3
Not many people attended Trump’s rally in Tulsa Oklahoma;4 the days of Trump being able to pack a stadium may be done with. There are a number of possible reasons for this; I like to think it’s because even former Trump voters are tired of blaming immigrants and, via thinly veiled “dog whistle” language, minorities for the nation’s problems.
To say that immigrants and minorities (make that “thugs”) are horrible is easy. To actually run a country, especially in wake of a pandemic and the resulting economic collapse, takes real work.
As I type this, Slate Star Codex is down.5 The reason is because The New York Times apparently is threatening to reveal Scott Alexander’s real identity, i.e. “doxx” him. Scott has a legitimate reason to feel his job and livelihood is at stake if he is doxxed; I hope the reporters have the decency to ultimately respect Scott’s privacy.
Considering that an otherwise unknown woman was fired last week because The Washington Post decided a Halloween costume she wore back in 2018 was not politically correct,6 Scott Alexander has good reason to want to remain anonymous.7
- “Cloak of Anarchy” by Larry Niven. Originally published in the March 1972 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact.
- “Shootings Test Viability of Seattle’s Protest ‘Autonomous Zone’” by Mike Baker, published by The New York Times.
- “MSU Vice President of research and innovation Stephen Hsu resigns” by News 10, published by WILX.
- “The President’s Shock at the Rows of Empty Seats in Tulsa” by Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni, published by The New York Times.
- Slate Star Codex’s website as of 2020-06-23 shows the site replaced by a request not to be doxxed.
- “The Washington Post's Halloween Costume Hit Job Is a New Low for Cancel Culture” by Robby Soave, published by Reason.
- There is a
long discussion about Scott Alexander possibly being doxxed
over at “Hacker News”
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