The NAACP claims I posted a racist image and has called me out for it. The accusation has made the news. Now bloggers have weighed it. So am I a racist?
I guess I am if you think that being a racist means not recognizing the claims of people of color for special treatment on account of their unique history in the United States.
I guess I am also a misogynist if you think that means I don’t recognize the claims of women for special treatment based on their unique history. But the broader truth is that I am a misanthrope.
I don’t trust folks of all races, genders,...
January 11, 2019
It turns out that I am not the only person to notice the recent increase in Facebook censorship. Just yesterday I learned that a lawyer in California who posted something about his willingness to defend people's right to bear arms had his post removed because it violated Facebook's opaque standards. Are we entering a period of "Latte Liberalism," with 20-somethings deciding what is and is not acceptable from a cocoon in Silicon Valley?
Under pressure from Congress and others after disclosures that Facebook has sold the data it harvested from its users to various entities,...
January 10, 2019
Folks: The Connecticut NAACP condemned me today for re-posting a photo of a group of beer cans wearing hoods and surrounding a brown beer bottle on Facebook. Ku Klux Coors, I called it. It was sent to me by someone who could not believe that Facebook censored it as violative of the site's community standards.
I wrote the following about Scott Esdaile of the NAACP in 2006 on a blog page called Crime and Federalism. I stand by the assessment today.
Just Call Me Mark Furman April 10, 2006
In this morning's New Haven Register, the president of the Connecticut NAACP...
January 8, 2019
I like to say the following to folks after one of my all-too-frequent displays of bad temper: “I’m sorry. I’m in AA. That outburst was totally in character. I am trying to recover.”
Generally folks pause for just a moment, reassessing me, and taking in the news that I am a recovering alcoholic.
Before they get too comfortable with that reassessment, I spring the punchline on them.
”I am not referring to Alcoholics Anonymous, mind you.” I pause to make sure I’ve got their full attention. “I am referring, of course, to...
January 3, 2019
January 2, 2019
It did not take a New Haven jury long in March of 2017 to acquit Saifullah Khan of the raping a classmate at Yale University one Halloween night....
November 12, 2018
There’s not a whole lot written about identity politics and immigration that makes much sense. From the right come claims of...
October 9, 2018
Jill Lepore’s These Truths: A History of the United States, promises to be just the book we need in divisive times. It sets out to...
September 16, 2018
We now know the name of the woman who accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault in an anonymous letter to California Senator Diane Feinstein...
June 6, 2018
Remind me never to piss off John Uustal. Or, if I do, remind me that I should get him angry at someone I don’t like. The...
April 26, 2018
There is a special place in Hell for those who cheer sending a person to prison, so mark today as a special day for the keepers of the roll...