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David Menschel Profile picture
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9 Jan, 6 tweets, 3 min read
1. Absolutely terrible idea & a reflection of a deep sickness in the culture. Everything that occurred at the Capitol is already a violation of numerous criminal laws. There are already countless police forces — lathered with beyond ample resources — to enforce those laws.
2. Any laws that are passed will inevitably be used against disfavored minorities (rather than the intended target) and we already have such laws that are comically broad.
3. I mean we *already have laws (designed to infiltrate criminal organizations) that we use to label every black kid in a neighborhood a “gang” member (based on their clothing choices!) and then hold them all responsible for the act of one or two.
4. If you want to understand how mass incarceration happened, this is it right here. We see a bad act that our massive sprawling unchecked Carceral State failed to prevent and so we turn over yet more unchecked power to that very same Carceral State.
5. If you’re concerned about right-wing violence, consider that if Trump had won a second term and Barr remained AG, these wildly overbroad laws would have been weaponized against black civil rights protestors and perhaps people like you — vocal Trump opponents.
6. I find it utterly baffling that we narrowly escaped a true authoritarian nightmare and yet even now the knee-jerk liberal response is to give the authorities more power! In four years Josh Hawley may hold those reins!

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More from @davidminpdx

David Menschel Profile picture
28 Jul 20
1. Once again, the New York Times Metro section – as part of a long history of crude, sensational journalism – publishes a blatant falsehood in order to stoke and exaggerate crime fears. nytimes.com/2020/07/27/nyr…
2. The NYPD does not separate data into “violent” and “non-violent” categories, but if one looks at the data they do provide, several different ways, it’s clear that that statement (which is also in the sub-headline) is false.
3. If one looks at the seven major felony offenses – murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, grand larceny, & GL auto, crime is **DOWN** in NYC this year.

I know that’s not what the press is telling you, but it’s right there on the NYPD website. www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/do…
Read 29 tweets
David Menschel Profile picture
21 Jul 20
1. Here’s the thing about the politics right now: Trump desperately wants it to seem like there’s a conflict between protesters and *federal officers. And actually that’s exactly what Democratic mayors want as well. But it’s mostly a misunderstanding — or a hijacking — of things.
2. In truth in many large American cities, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, there has been weeks of conflict between largely peaceful protestors and *local* police. And the local police have been caught on camera being extraordinarily violent over and over again.
3. This puts ostensibly liberal mayors — who run police departments — at odds with their own constituencies. These mayors love policing believe in it through and through and are terrified of the idea that they might be pressured into reining in their police.
Read 12 tweets
David Menschel Profile picture
19 Jul 20
1. If you’re reading national media portrayals of Portland as dangerous, you really ought to read this thread. Other than a few blocks (almost exclusively at night), Portland is a quiet, friendly, safe place. Safer from violence than any time in the past three decades.
2. And in that downtown area that does get violent at night, the violence is almost entirely police violence waged on overwhelmingly peaceful protestors.
3. Yes there’s been protestor graffiti. Yes early on, many weeks ago, there was significant property damage & some looting. Yes these days there are isolated protestors who throw water bottles at police or light small fires. But the overwhelming bulk of protestors are nonviolent.
Read 10 tweets
David Menschel Profile picture
8 Jul 20
1. When I read these arrogant whiners at Harpers complaining essentially about experiencing criticism for the garbage they write and having the gall to call that “cancel culture,” I’m reminded of the dangers – not that long ago – of speaking out against mass incarceration
2. When I helped to exonerate a client a decade ago, the local defense counsel told me he couldn’t come to the press conference if we were going to talk about prosecutorial misconduct because such talk would injure his ability to work in the county.
3. When friends and I began a blog about prosecutorial misconduct, after much discussion, we decided to use pseudonyms because – even though we knew that would limit our credibility – it would have been impossible for some to work if our identities were public.
Read 9 tweets
David Menschel Profile picture
10 Jun 20
1. It seems to have been lost down the memory hole, but last year the Plain View Project examined the Facebook pages of 1000s of police officers from several police departments around the country. The findings were extraordinary. buzzfeednews.com/article/emilyh…
2. The project found 1000s upon 1000s of racist, bigoted, misogynistic, xenophobic posts; posts that glorified and reveled in police violence; posts that fantasized about killing protestors; posts that mocked the constitutional rights of citizens. nytimes.com/2019/06/03/us/…
3. Here is one posted by a police officer in Philadelphia. plainviewproject.org/data/philadelp…
Read 11 tweets
David Menschel Profile picture
7 Jun 20
Slogans are always imperfect. I’m not sure “defund the police” quite captures what I would imagine. Maybe it would be more like “disband/rebuild police departments, dramatically shrink policing and build community.” Something like that. Solve problems rather than policing them.
But so long as we’re talking about what the “defund the police” movement could mean in practice – in addition to cutting budgets – here are some ideas.
First off, shrink the footprint of policing. That can include flat out decriminalizing some things. Marijuana should be taxed and regulated. Other drugs can be decriminalized.
Read 20 tweets

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