Joel Mathis

 NYT report on the death of Dijon Kizzee, who was shot to death by sheriff's deputies in LA: On Monday, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officials said deputies tried to stop a Black man who was riding a bike in South Los Angeles. They said he was stopped for a code violation related to the bike, but wouldn’t elaborate on what the alleged violation was. The sheriff's office said Kizzee fled and then "made a motion" toward a dropped gun. I think we've learned by now that such accounts should be viewed as provisional, at best, and possibly false. But even if completely true, I'm trying to imagine a "code violation related to the bike" that was so worth enforcing that this outcome was worth it. We need laws for good order and civilization. But the libertarian side of me has come to believe that maybe we go overboard -- and that the result, sometimes, is a death sentence for selling loose cigarettes, or having a bike code violation. At the very least, it

The contempt these guys must have for their constituents: In a special session called by Gov. Tony Evers to pass a package of bills on policing policies after a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, seven times in the back, Republicans started and recessed in less than 30 seconds -- satisfying requirements of the law that they meet. I wrote Monday at The Week : "You can't demand peaceful protests and dismiss them at the same time." That remains the case. Republicans couldn't be bothered to pretend they care about issues of concern to Wisconsin's Black community. It's kind of breathtaking.

WaPo: Hours after the Fulton County district attorney announced felony murder and other charges against the former Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man, in the back, a number of Atlanta police officers called in sick just before a shift change Wednesday evening. “This is not an organized thing, it’s not a blue flu, it’s not a strike, it’s nothing like that,” Vince Champion, a spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, told NBC News . “What it actually is is officers protesting that they’ve had enough and they don’t want to deal with it any longer.” Let's be clear what's going on here: Atlanta Police on Wednesday night decided it was more important for them to protect their impunity from accountability than it is to protect the public.  That they did so in organized fashion - Champion's denial of such is transparent BS - gives lie to the whole idea of "a few bad apples." Police violence is a cultural