NYC Mayor Eric Adams And I Now Share Something In Common

We were both protested by CUNY Law students.

On Friday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams was the graduation speaker at the City University of New York Law School. One might think that the Democratic politician, who was elected in one of the most Democratic cities in the country, would receive a warm welcome from the second-most liberal law school in the country. But no. He was too conservative for the students. Adams was protested.

As the dean of the City University of New York School of Law, Sudha Setty, introduced the mayor at a Queens College auditorium on Friday, she noted his time spent on the police force. The crowd booed.

When Mr. Adams took to the stage and began to speak, things got much worse. Many of the newly minted doctors of law, in black gowns and mortar boards, turned their backs to him.

There were more boos and heckles, according to video of the event, which was closed to the press, and according to two people who were in attendance. Even a couple of raised middle fingers, one person said.

The linked YouTube video was made private, but I found this clip on Twitter. Adams is booed, heckled, and interrupted, as the graduates turned their back to the Mayor.

RIGHT NOW. At the CUNY Law school graduation. Graduates turn their backs on NYC Mayor Eric Adams. A protest against his terror against Black & brown communities, public education, libraries, migrants, health & safety. His support for state violence. Wow. pic.twitter.com/hC9npXJwnh

— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) May 12, 2023

Mayor Adams called out the students for not participating in a "healthy dialogue."

Mr. Adams tends not to give such speeches with prepared remarks in hand, according to his spokesman, Fabien Levy, so there was no script from which to veer. But the mayor, who has something of a combative streak, did quickly tailor his riff to the situation at hand.

"We're watching a clear lack of desire to even participate in healthy dialogue," he told the students. He concluded his remarks with a broad smile, commending the graduates for exercising their right to protest, but suggesting that they do more.

"My message today to the graduates," he said, "my message to those who believe that their beliefs are the only beliefs in a diversified city like New York, my message to you, instead of being a detached spectator in the full contact sport called life, get on the field and participate about improving the lives of the people of this city."

Well said. Civil discourse is extremely important, but alas, has no place at CUNY. Welcome to the club of CUNY Law protestees, Mayor Adams.

Several years ago, the graduation speaker at my law school went on a rant about gun control. I took off my hat as a sign of protest. At one point, I sighed and rolled my eyes. I only realized later that my reaction was caught on camera, and broadcasted on the big screen. My Dean was not pleased with me, and asked how I could react that way, given the CUNY debacle. I replied that my silent protest was an effective way to make my point, without interrupting the speaker. I also told our graduation speaker that her remarks were completely inappropriate, and she was shocked and offended. Several of my conservative students thanked me afterwards for saying and doing what they could not. Tenure is a good thing.

Comments

[Theendoftheleft]

Why do you Americans insist upon using the labels ‘liberal’ and ‘progressive’ for things that are clearly not, ie, for ideologies that have different, clearer, more accurate labels, ones that are used openly and correctly in other Western countries?

Why do American libertarians and 'conservatives' do so? What is your interest in utilising and preserving those inapt labels? Is it to help to control political discourses, ie, mystify how politics actually works in your country?

[Martinned]

Well, in this case the first question is why Josh finds it necessary to pretend that he doesn't know anything about Eric Adams' politics, despite the fact that Adams is the highly controversial mayor of the largest city in the US.

[David Nieporent]

Adams isn't "highly controversial." "Controversial" is just a term people use when they want to express disdain for someone while pretending that it's someone else's opinion.

Obviously there are people who disagree with/dislike him — I mean, that's the whole topic of the post! — but that doesn't make him "highly controversial;" there are people who disagree with any politician.

[Mr. Bumble]

"Adams isn’t “highly controversial.”"
Wonder why VC's European contributor thinks he is?

[Don Nico]

Indeed, David.
That is how Willie Brown, an effective mayor in SF, became
"the black face of white supremacy."

[Martinned]

Adams isn’t “highly controversial.” “Controversial” is just a term people use when they want to express disdain for someone while pretending that it’s someone else’s opinion.

He is "highly controversial" in the sense that Democratic voters in New York, i.e. the people who are ostensibly his own base, wouldn't cross the street to piss on him if he was on fire. (See examples below.) If that's not controversial, I don't know what is.

[David Nieporent]

He is “highly controversial” in the sense that Democratic voters in New York, i.e. the people who are ostensibly his own base, wouldn’t cross the street to piss on him if he was on fire.

Democratic voters in New York strongly voted for him, and are his strongest supporters now. I've got news for you: the student body of CUNY is not representative of NY voters.

[Martinned]

Well yes, that's the marvel of US politics. Once he got the Democratic nomination, Democrats were going to vote for him. But that doesn't mean that he is aligned with the median Democrat in New York. As best as I can tell, he isn't. He's a conservative Democrat who is probably somewhat to the right of the median voter in New York, and well to the right of the median Democrat.

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

Well yes, that’s the marvel of US politics. Once he got the Democratic nomination, Democrats were going to vote for him.

Aaaaaand...how do you think he won the nomination?

[SimonP]

I wouldn't describe Adams as "controversial," but Josh is taking an odd rhetorical approach here, by pretending to be a total ignoramus about NYC politics in order to exaggerate the audacity of the students protesting him.

Adams is an incompetent, corrupt idiot, caught flat-footed by a city (and city workforce) that is stubbornly refusing to return to the office. He was elected by a coalition of white conservative and Black, hispanic and Asian-American Democrats who favored a more pro-cop, public safety-oriented mayor over his technocrat and BLM/scandal-prone primary opponents. Since getting into office, he has done basically nothing besides hand out positions to cronies and get public corruption back to the status quo, letting the police and corrections officer unions take back control over their respective fiefdoms. His main virtue, it seems to me, is the fact that he isn't constantly fighting with the governor, who seems to share his "merely mediocre incompetence" approach to governance. Not even his dust-ups with the city council seem worthy of much note.

So, I don't know why these CUNY law students feel so strongly about him. The tweet is basically just making reference to his budget, which would cut funds for some public services while protecting the police department. But he's also not a beloved Democratic mayor of a deep-blue city. He's just kind of there.

[Gandydancer]

Well, AFAIK he still hasn't denounced the Marine who was involved in the death of the subway miscreant, so there's that. But, yes, of course nobody who gets elected will ever be rad enough for some.

[SimonP]

He won't comment on that because (1) there is zero political need for him to do so and (2) any criticism of Penny risks boomeranging back to him, since he's in charge of the systems that are supposed to house and care for Neely.

Which maybe you would have figured out on your own, if you had paused to think about it, rather than rush to be a racist asshole online. Or - what am I saying? You've proven you're a moron by now. Of course you wouldn't view this through anything other than the polarizing filter of the rightwing media.

[TwelveInchPianist]

1. The Governor denounced him, and she's also in charge of systems that are supposed to house and care for him. IIUC there was a warrant out for his arrest for unlawfully leaving a facility that was housing him, feeding him, and giving him mental health care.

2. What was racist about the comment?

[SimonP]

1. Congratulations, you’ve witnessed the fact that the New York state governor has different political incentives than the New York City mayor.

2. I said that Gandy is a racist asshole. His comment reflects his racist priors and consumption of media that has been portraying Neely’s killing in a racist way.

Just to be clear – I do not engage in the game that online racists like to play, where you can’t call them “racist” because they don’t say the words. I know perfectly well why Gandy chose to refer to Penny as “the Marine” and Neely as the “miscreant”, why he chose to say that Penny was merely “involved” in the incident where Penny held Neely down and caused his death, and why so many others emphasize Neely’s arrest record; I understand, too, why Gandy is eager to over-construe the left’s “embrace” of Neely (like New Yorkers aren’t actually somewhat sympathetic to what it’s like being trapped on a subway car with a yelling, crazy, homeless person).

You lot think you’re clever, like we all can’t go online and see how you talk about these things amongst yourselves. But the truth is you only think you get away with being only quietly racist because most people like me are too polite to just call it what it is. Personally, I don’t give a shit about your “but we didn’t say the words” game. You understand why I think Gandy’s being a racist asshole, and you recognize why that perception is likely on the mark. You just want to spin out a pedantic argument that he didn’t use the words, like that provides some kind of cover.

[Hibernian]

"where you can’t call them “racist” because they don’t say the words"
And I can't call you a Stalinist because you don't say the words.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Congratulations, you’ve witnessed the fact that the New York state governor has different political incentives than the New York City mayor.

Well, no shit, Sherlock, but you haven't given any reason to think that they are different with respect to this.

I know perfectly well why Gandy chose to refer to Penny as “the Marine” and Neely as the “miscreant”,

Are you suggesting that those labels are inaccurate?

...why he chose to say that Penny was merely “involved” in the incident where Penny held Neely down and caused his death,

Perhaps it's because not enough facts have emerged yet to understand the extent of his culpability?

[bernard11]

Are you suggesting that those labels are inaccurate?

Don't act stupid, if you can help it. There are a lot of labels that can be attached to anyone. The choice someone makes, even if accurate, tells you something about the person choosing the label.

[SimonP]

He's not acting "stupid." He's playing a game. Shifting a disagreement over whether Gandy is a racist asshole to a debate over whether "miscreant" is the correct term to describe a homeless, mentally unstable man with an arrest record.

This is part of why it's impossible to have a "healthy dialogue" with TwIP and others like him on the right. This is just rhetorical sparring for them. They "win" when they have so exasperated their "opponents" that they just give up trying to debate anything.

Going back to the start - you can see how derailed the chain already is. Gandy was asserting that the CUNY students booed Adams possibly because Adams hasn't adopted a particular position on Neely's killing, treating the "rad" position as both perfectly obvious and likely to be adopted by law students living in NYC. Being a New Yorker myself, I can see that no one expects much of anything from Adams on the topic, and probably would prefer that he stay out of it altogether, as I can also see that the question of Penny's culpability is going to break with more complexity among a population of upwardly-mobile law students in New York.

But Gandy doesn't know anything about any of that. For him, he surmises that the CUNY law students dislike Adams because Adams has gone off the "plantation."

[TwelveInchPianist]

Shifting a disagreement over whether Gandy is a racist asshole to a debate over whether “miscreant” is the correct term to describe a homeless, mentally unstable man with an arrest record.

You're the one that complained about the terminology.

[TwelveInchPianist]

The choice someone makes, even if accurate, tells you something about the person choosing the label.

Perhaps the person choosing the label appreciates Marines and doesn't appreciate criminals.

If Neely had chosen to join the Marine Corps and chosen not to commit crimes, then he too would be be labeled a Marine instead of a miscreant. Choices and actions have consequences, you know.

[Sarcastr0]

Who do you think you are convicting with this shit? Connotation matters, any moron can read between the lines with your bullshit false choice between Marine and criminals.

Yeah, playing stupid games seems the best explanation. You have become an unserious person.

[TwelveInchPianist]

As usual, you don’t have an argument. And you’re being a dick.

As you and SimonP are showing, the left can't do critical thinking, so you resort to poo-flinging.

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

Don’t act stupid, if you can help it.

I'd suggest the same to you if I thought you were just acting.

[Gandydancer]

There was a black guy and some other minority involved in holding Neely down. As with George Floyd, who died of stress from pulmonary edema caused by ingestion of his stash pf Fentanyl rather than Derek Chauvin kneeling on his shoulders it is not at all clear what contribution Penny made to his death.

I called them the Marine and the miscreant because I didn't recall their names. If I thought "black" were relevant I would have used it unhesitatingly.

Adams has in fact been criticized by those more rad than he for not calling Neely's death a murder. Why he hasn't done so has no relevance to my comment whatsoever.

I have been given to understand that Bragg has charged the Marine with 2nd deg. murder. Don't know about charges against Penny's "accomplices".

I of course don't give a fuck about what SimonP "thinks".

[SimonP]

"I'm not racist, I'm a lazy ignoramus."

It's called Google, Gandy. Use it, and you might be able to avoid stupid mistakes, like claiming that Penny has been charged with second degree murder.

[Gandydancer]

That's what I thought I heard John Derbyshire say, but it turns out it is second degree manslaughter, I see. Wow, what a consequential stupid mistake! Clearly I'm an ignoramus!

As opposed to you, who thinks Penny was the only one involved in restraining the nutter-miscreant.

[David Nieporent]

There was a black guy and some other minority involved in holding Neely down.

There was only one person involved in choking Neely.

As with George Floyd, who died of stress from pulmonary edema caused by ingestion of his stash pf Fentanyl rather than Derek Chauvin kneeling on his shoulders it is not at all clear what contribution Penny made to his death.

Gandydancer is a racist liar. Floyd died of being asphyxiated from Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck.

Perhaps you got your news from the same place that told you there were no witnesses to Trump's assault on E Jean Carroll.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

It was more likely from Keung kneeling on his back. Floyd's neck was not consistently pinned under Chauvin's knee during the entire incident. Floyd was clearly able to move his head around somewhat.

[Gandydancer]

I recall it being the rookie cop Lane who was on Floyd’s back.

The autopsy showed Floyd’s lungs weighed 2-3x what they would be expected to weigh were they not filled with fluid, though you wouldn’t know that unless you were in the habit of cutting out and weighing lungs since the ME only gave the weights and only mentioned that fact in the interview he gave the first prosecutor, who was disqualified from the case for conducting that interview without participation by the defense attorney, iirc. He also told her that he would have classified the death as an OD if he hadn’t seen the video. So, no, I don’t think the officer kneeling on his back killed Floyd. He wasn’t in good health and, as he said, he couldn’t breate. Because his lungs were full of liquid.

SimonP is a dumbass asshole. I didn’t google the names of those involved because I was perfectly satisfied that the descriptions “Marine” and “miscreant” got my meaning across. Maybe Neely was a miscreant because he was also a nutter, but a dangerous miscreant is exactly what he was.

And the idea that I’m hiding my racist views by avoiding referring to Neely’s race is absurd. I don’t sugarcoat my views about anything.

[Gandydancer]

me: There was a black guy and some other minority involved in holding Neely down.

You: There was only one person involved in choking Neely.

Wikipedia: “At least two others restrained Neely’s limbs.”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Jordan_Neely

The Lefty impulse to lie freely is strong in you.

[Vryedni]

Restraining limbs isn’t choking, so where did David Nieporent lie?

[David Nieporent]

me: There was a black guy and some other minority involved in holding Neely down.

You: There was only one person involved in choking Neely.

Holding Neely down isn't the issue, so bringing it up was just "Look! A squirrel!" on your part. The topic of the discussion was being "involved in his death."

[SimonP]

Well, no shit, Sherlock, but you haven’t given any reason to think that they are different with respect to this.

Apart from their demonstrated behavior? I don't see any particular need to educate you on the political environment or these politicians' personal style. I have simply explained why Adams isn't wading into a debate that has no political upside for him. That's all that's needed.

Are you suggesting that those labels are inaccurate?

I am saying that the choice to refer to Penny, a young, white male veteran, as "the Marine," and Neely, a homeless, mentally unstable Black man with an arrest record, as "the miscreant," is intended to lead one to devalue Neely's life and undermine concern over the manner of his death. And that is a choice consistently being made by racists assholes in the rightwing media.

Perhaps it’s because not enough facts have emerged yet to understand the extent of his culpability?

This kind of selectively scrupulous application of the "burden of proof," drawn from the criminal context, is an example of the above-described racist coverage. Because of course we have enough information to be reasonably confident of what happened, and why Neely is dead. You know this, because you know what I'm referring to, without my having to spell it out for you.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Well, we know that the cops released him without charges after the initial investigation.

It would have been nice if the cops had been more transparent, because we don't have a good idea of what evidence there was for not charging him. But they the DA waited until there was a bunch of political pressure, and now there's an appearance that the charges are politically motivated.

And we're not reasonably confident about what happened, there a lot of different opinions about that. But you're clearly a lazy thinker who thinks that everybody who disagrees with him is a racist asshole.

[SimonP]

Well, we know that the cops released him without charges after the initial investigation.

Yes, as I'm sure you would have, in their position.

It would have been nice if the cops had been more transparent, because we don’t have a good idea of what evidence there was for not charging him. But they the DA waited until there was a bunch of political pressure, and now there’s an appearance that the charges are politically motivated.

An "appearance" actively promoted by people like you, yes.

And we’re not reasonably confident about what happened, there a lot of different opinions about that.

The medical examiner rule the death a homicide, citing the pressure applied to the neck. We have video of that pressure being applied. So what else do you need?

You have cited zero direct evidence that Neely's death was caused by something other than Penny's actions, pointing only to the fact that the NYPD initially released Penny without charges. That's not probative of anything.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Huh? No one is claiming that the death wasn't caused by Penny. The question is whether or not Penny was justified.

[hoppy025]

I'm okay with abuse by Republican aligned unions like the PBA and Firefighters Union, but not Democrat unions like the NYFT, and AFSCME, which is a union of semi-retarded black government "workers."

[SimonP]

You are leaning too hard into this schtick for it to be tempting to reply to you seriously.

[Frank Drackman]

"semi"?? are you familiar with the term??
nothing "semi" retarded about them

[Pereours]

Theendoftheleft, I appreciate the sentiment you express, but I don't see clearly the specific problem you want us to solve.
Is the claim that "liberals" being illiberal shouldn't be allowed their self-designation? Or that American "liberals" aren't "liberal" in the way that the term has been used in other countries with a different political history and culture?

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

There's a red under every bed...

[Commenter_XY]

Theendoftheleft....What are the proper labels, then?

[Dr. Ed 2]

Agreed -- they are leftists, not liberals.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Correct.

[Childhood reader of SCOTUS opinions, really]

You vomit about labels and then use two yourself.
Okay, you are just automatic writing

[bacchys]

Aw, c'mon, Josh. You guys have long shared a disdain for constitutional rights and a love of turning America into a police state.

[Gandydancer]

“”You guys…”

White guys? Cisgendered males? TX law profs?

[Doug Heffernan]

Another "dear diary" post from blackman, chock full the of the first person drama that he infuses into nearly every post, as if the world revolves around him.

"rant about gun control"

"I also told our graduation speaker that her remarks were completely inappropriate"

"my conservative students thanked me"

What made it a rant? Why were the remarks inappropriate? Blackman doesn't say. He does take time to say how much he was thanked.

[Frank Drackman]

Unless the "Gun Control" being discussed are (is? stupid english language) techniques to improve accuracy, I consider most arguments supporting restriction of J-hovah given (and secondarily Constitutional) a "rant" whether it's my "right" to own whatever "Assault Style" rifle I want, smoke a J on the back porch, or keep my property even if the local city wants to turn it into an LGBTQ-MOUSE "Shooting Gallery",
don't even remember what the speaker at my Med School Grad-jew-ma-cation said, probably something about serving for "Duty and Humanity!" was stoned to the B-Jesus belt at the time,

Frank

[Gandydancer]

Poor you. You think someone's interested in your disdain for Blackman mentioning his relevant experiences, why? You bothered to read and comment, why?

[David Nieporent]

Poor you. You think someone's interested in your disdain for Heffernan criticizing Blackman, why? You bothered to read and comment, why?

[Gandydancer]

False equivalence. Heffernan's empty bloviation was despite his declaration that Blackman had nothing to say worth reading, whereas I think his guano deposit on this page, which could not be avoided unless I blocked him, deserves derision.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

It is pretty funny. I wonder if he's aware?

[tkamenick]

"We're watching a clear lack of desire to even participate in healthy dialogue" - Huh? It was a speech. There was zero opportunity for dialogue there. The silent turn-your-back bit was actually more of a dialogue than just sitting and listening would be. I know it was an unscripted remark, so I don't fault him, but I don't know why you'd highlight it as something well said.

[Gandydancer]

Blackman liked the sound of the sentiment, but didn't think about it too much.

He's a cheap date. Give him an opportunity to bloviate in the ABA Journal and he is willing to reduce his criticism of DEI to the fact that DEI administrators aren't tenured, the better to maximize his chances of getting invited back.

[Davy C]

Agreed that a speech is not dialogue.

But turning their backs when he gets up to speak does, perhaps, show that these people are not willing to listen to anything the "other side" has to say. (That's what the symbolism of turning their backs means, right?) And *that* attitude is not conducive to dialogue.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Adams is not Black enough or left enough for these loons.

Wow....

[Frank Drackman]

Robert Mugabe was an "Uncle Tom" to these shitheads (who 1: Probably don't know who Robert Mugabe was, 2: Don't know who succeeded him (Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, who's actually older than Senescent J) had to Google that, don't keep up with Zimbabwe politics.
3: would love to see CUNY students heckle Mnangagwa, Heads would roll (literally)

Frank

[Sarcastr0]

Left enough, sure. But did you even consider that maybe his blackness isn’t really part of whether students like his policies or not?

[Gandydancer]

What a dumb way to pose the question, Gaslightr0.
If he weren't black they'd criticize him for that.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Clearly Dr Ed is referring to him being politically black.

[Sarcastr0]

Wow you two sound as dumb as Ed.

Gandy, counterfactuals are no way to prove something and also not really proving what Ed said.

TiP I think that was just a weak joke. Sometimes it’s best not to comment.

[Gandydancer]

You're a total dumbass, Gaslightr0. I didn't offer my observation about what would happen if Adams were not black as proof of anything. That's merely your erection of a strawman. I simply contradicted the appositeness of your claim, which wasn't proof of anything either.

[Sarcastr0]

So you came in with an irrelevant fictional speculation about what would happen if Adams were not black.

Just as dumb!

[wolfefan]

Obama wasn't black enough for a loon like Herman Cain.

[Frank Drackman]

Since Barry Hussein didn't support Senescent Joe in 0-16, he's really "Not Black"(OK, not 1/2 Black) by Senescent Joe's own criteria.
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?&q=joe+biden+you+ain%27t+black&&mid=5741DEF4DF21BDF9EA9D5741DEF4DF21BDF9EA9D&&FORM=VRDGAR

[LawTalkingGuy]

You are an extremely bizarre person.

[Frank Drackman]

That's what they said about Ted Kacynski

[BravoCharlieDelta]

This is what the Democrats do to blacks when they step off the Plantation.

Rhetorical lynchings.

[Sarcastr0]

Speaking of overuse of the word lynch, each of your comments lynches my liberal heart a bit. I’m going to call the rhetorical lynching police and they will use campus protests to start a civil war against such talk-based-lynchifications and you will be so sorry.

[Mr. Bumble]

Saturday edition of "Ass Wipe Speaks" brought to you by SarcastrO.

[SimonP]

This is what self-styled "progressives" do for any centrist Democrat who doesn't pay sufficient lip-service to their pet causes.

It's only when the centrist Democrat (or Republican) is Black that conservatives chortle to themselves about the "plantation."

[Gandydancer]

Here's the well-known joke about Steele:

Q: What do you call the black guy at the GOP meet-up?
A: Chairman.

Damn few black guys on the GOP "plantation", and they're more in the way of racism-slur-juju-beads than a workforce.

[Frank Drackman]

Well in the House there's Byron Donalds (FL 19), John James (MI 10)
Wesley Hunt (TX 38) Burgess Owens (UT 4) in the Senate Tim Scott (SC), in the Surpremes there's Clarence "Frogman" Thomas, who can definitely tell a Gash from a Schlong, from "45"s cabinet (Dr) Ben Carson, sitting in "the back" of the Repubic-clown Bus, is NC LT Governor Mark Robinson,
OK, not alot, but enough for a basketball team (and would beat the shit out of "The Squad")
And if he hadn't died after getting the Covid jab, there was Herbert "9-9-9" Cane,

Frank

[Gandydancer]

Thomas of course stands out as the affirmative action hire who's actually performed well. But even there I suspect Corn's motives for being his patron are of the performative variety.

[Gandydancer]

Adams isn't off the Plantation. He's just in the House Nigger quarters instead of in the Che operation.

[Frank Drackman]

Ooooh, you're "Edgy"! try saying "Nigger" around some real Niggers, (I don't) better hope you have your Dental Insurance paid up!

Frank "Some of my best friends are Niggers"

[Gandydancer]

You think "House Nigger quarters" would best be called "residences on the plantation for slaves of African ancestry"?

I see no reason to call anyone a nigger, but if someone won't recognize the distinction I'm making, too fucking bad. I grew up in the midst of the Potrero Hill Projects (back then on the north side of the Hill, too), and fighting blacks came with the territory irrespective of any name-calling happening.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

The Volokh Conspiracy censors words such as “sl_ck-jaw_d”, c_p succ_r,” and “p_ssy” when used to described conservatives, but welcomes and uses plenty of vile racial slurs.

The proprietor has ascribed the censorship of liberals at this blog to enforcement of “civility standards.” The habitual use of vile racial slurs at this blog, and the Conspirators’ regular acceptance* of those racial slurs, indicates that when this blog attempted to hide its intolerance behind “civility standards” it was a lie.

Efforts to avoid a conclusion that this blog is animated by bigotry are becoming more and more difficult to take seriously.

*If even one of the right-wing law professors who operate this blog wish to express any thoughts concerning the incessant stream of racial slurs (and homophobic slurs) at their blog, this would be a great time to dispel natural inferences of cowardice and bigotry.

Carry on, clingers. Without the respect of better Americans.

[Frank Drackman]

"Coach" Jerry Sandusky, ladies and gentlemens, experienced in demanding "Respect" (OK, "Coach" I get the wind sprints, stadiums, suicides, but why is your dick up my ass?)

Frank "hated football"

[Gandydancer]

Nah, when you popped up under a new name he simply gave up on civility standards as a fool's errand. That's a different thing than lying about whether he wishes he could flush you.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

You are mistaken. Arthur Kirkland was an establishment commenter long before Artie Ray Lee Wayne Jim-Bob Kirkland arrived or departed.

He could ban me at any time, so far as I am aware. Why would he need to wish about it?

You seem confused. Stick with the right-wing racism and conservative ignorance.

[Voize]

I replied that my silent protest was an effective way to make my point, without interrupting the speaker.

I gather from this that Josh endorses Nancy Pelosi's on-camera shredding of Trump's state of the union speech. He probably thinks he inspired her.

[Frank Drackman]

I loved it, made her look like the Bee-otch she is. (Admittedly, hot in her youth, and not bad for an Octogenarian) On a related note, is her husband Paul eating solid foods yet??
Funny how that prosecution has just fallen off the ends of the earth...

Frank

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

I loved it, made her look like the Bee-otch she is. (Admittedly, hot in her youth, and not bad for an Octogenarian) On a related note, is her husband Paul eating solid foods yet??

I hope the deans at Georgetown, UCLA, Chicago, Berkeley, and a few other legitimate, mainstream law schools are paying attention to the quality and nature of the Volokh Conspiracy -- and considering whether hiring additional movement conservatives and having their institutions associated with white, male, bigot-hugging, right-wing blogs that habitually publish racial slurs would reflect sound judgment.

Carry on, clingers. But only so far and so long as better Americans permit.

[Gandydancer]

Not seeing that Trump giving a perfectly standard SOTU speech is the same as a commencement speaker ranting about gun control, but =I= was OK with Pelosi's childishness. If you want to attend your own graduation ceremony you become a captive audience, but Pelosi had no need to show up for the SOTU at all, and she knew what was coming.

[CJColucci]

Dear Penthouse Letters:

I never thought I'd be writing to you until..............

[Gandydancer]

...you were raped by your boss, and had so much fun you want to know how to encourage it happening again?

[Frank Drackman]

My first "Boss" was a hot Lebanese chick at a stuffy Southern Country Club (the club members thought she was Italian) she never raped me (dammit) but I did rub more than a few out....

[SimonP]

Query how acting like a petulant teenager while someone is speaking contributes to a "healthy dialogue." I am also puzzled by the apparent belief that there are standards that apply to the content of a commencement speech (her remarks were "completely inappropriate") but not to how a professor on stage with the speaker listens to it.

To be sure, if I found myself onstage with a speaker who was espousing beliefs that I found reprehensible - rather than beliefs I oppose only because I'm a cynical opportunist - I might also want to find ways to "silently protest." But I'm not sure that rolling my eyes and conveying my contempt for the speaker through my body language would really say anything other than, "I'm a big baby and I don't like this."

(I am also not surprised that "conservative" law students at a fourth-tier law school would view that kind of display approvingly. I honestly think it's marvelous that they're doing so well, for being functionally retarded.)

[Gandydancer]

Ranting in favor of gun grabbing at a TX commencement speech asks for a response, as anyone not functionally retarded would grasp, so if you want to see "functionally retarded" look in the mirror.

[SimonP]

I take it you've never been to a commencement.

[Gandydancer]

I skipped mine, but if I had made the mistake of going to one and some speaker had gone away from the pablum scripts to rant about gun control I would have hissed and booed.

[SimonP]

I'm sure that would have played well with your high school classmates. Or was it kindergarten?

[Gandydancer]

I lack your sheeple gene, so I wouldn't care.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

How many tiers are there, by the way?

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

The video offered as evidence of inappropriate conduct shows some students standing and other students exclaiming, all of which resembles the conduct of people applauding a speaker and none of which appeared to deter the speaker from speaking.

Speaking of Houston and deplorable gun nuts . . . gun nuttery claims another victim in Texas, another step toward the predictable backlash in which mainstream Americans will arrange sensible, effective gun safety laws against the efforts and wishes of conservative culture war casualties.

Carry on, clingers. The liberal-libertarian mainstream will let you know just how far and how long. And you will continue to comply with the preferences of better Americans. Thank you for that compliance.

[SimonP]

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the gun nuts start talking about how it's necessary to break a few eggs to make an omelette. Where the "omelette" is, "stopping some thugs from breaking into cars," and the "egg" is, "a sleeping mother's head."

[Frank Drackman]

CoachJerry Sandusky, experienced in thanking his victims for "Complying"

[Gandydancer]

Yeah, I'm sure this Darius Lewis guy is a white supremacist gun nut.

And the fact that the police would probably tell him to fill in a report about the break-ins rather than respond has nothing to do with anything.

[SimonP]

So it turns out that Lewis is a Black man with a criminal record - trespassing, evading arrest, and drug possession. Does that make you less willing to defend his actions?

[Gandydancer]

Wow, Darius is black? What a surprise!

Except that getting the point of what I wrote requires that you understand that I thought that he was black.

But Lefty can’t resist making the “racist, racist” slur at every imagined opportunity, can he?

And my other point was that if the cops aren’t doing their job then the populace has little choice but to defend their property on their own.

Which is not to say that Darius made a good choice here. Obviously he did not. But there’s other things going on than “gun nuttery”.

[SimonP]

Except that getting the point of what I wrote requires that you understand that I thought that he was black.

No, I understood perfectly well that you were making a racist inference, and had not spent a single minute looking it up to confirm, like I did.

What you are not getting is that your response to Kirkland was strangely irrelevant – Kirkland wasn’t saying anything about white supremacist gun nuts – but was more explicable once your racist priors are properly accounted for. You were trying to say, to Kirkland, that Lewis wasn’t the “ideal shooter” for the leftist narrative, since he was a Black man defending his own property where the police couldn’t be counted on to be of any use.

Thus, my response, to you, is to flip that same putative criticism around, and note that Lewis isn’t your “ideal good guy with a gun,” either, because as it turns out he’s a Black man with a criminal record, which is the sort of person you usually choose to describe as simply a “miscreant.”

Indeed – we have the advantage in this case of talking about two cases of manslaughter simultaneously. In one case – the case involving the Black killer of a white woman – you admit his culpability and describe him as not making a “good choice,” while essentially doing the “right thing” of trying to defend his property from thieves. In the other – the case involving the white killer of a Black man – you insist on phrasing that avoids attributing blame, emphasize the killer as being the victim of an over-zealous prosecutor, and highlight the “miscreant” background of his victim.

I have to wonder if you’re not dealing with a bit of cognitive dissonance, over Lewis. He’s clearly someone you’re only begrudgingly excusing, having been trapped into that position by your own ignorance.

[Gandydancer]

But I wasn’t ignorant that he was black, as you pretended. The idea that I was somehow derelict in not confirming a likelihood that turned out to be true is just bizarre.

Obviously he ought not be squeezing off shots that he can’t reliably bury in his targets.

And even miscreants have the right to protect their property if the police won’t do so. I don’t have to be “trapped” into saying that.

I’d ask wtf you’re talking about, except that you are always a bag of wind.

[Frank Drackman]

Yes, he's obviously a Black White Supremercist.
And a bad shot, White Men don't shoot like that (since we can't jump, we have to do something well)

[Gandydancer]

You're recreating Sailer's Law of Mass Shootings.

[Frank Drackman]

Well, "White Privilege" has it's umm "Privileges" one of those being we get "training" in how to shoot effectively, where our Afro-Amurica "Brutha's" (get it?) learn by watching "Boyz n da Hood" and get no training unless they "act White" by joining the Boy Scouts or Military
Frank "2 in the Pink, 1 in the, umm, oops, wrong "Training" Drackman

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Does a single Volokh Conspirator want to express any thoughts about the level of commentary its fans -- and target audience -- provide?

The Volokh Conspiracy: Official Legal Blog of Right-Wing Cowards and Conservative Bigotry.

[Frank Drackman]

A "single" Conspirator?? my, "Coach" you are the choosy one,
been meaning to talk to you about this,
it's this "Klinger" thang, don't know how to put this,
it's got a bit of an "Odor"
now I know "Personal Hygiene" isn't easy at https://www.cor.pa.gov/Facilities/StatePrisons/Pages/Greene.aspx
but can you brush your Klinger a few times a week, maybe use some deodorant on it, air it out??

things even your best friends won't tell you,

Frank

[MoreCurious]

You’re fighting a losing battle, Arthur. Volokh and his colleagues don’t care how often the children who follow this blog try to shock us with their use of vulgarities and racist comments. They’re neither clever nor amusing, but they always go away giggling at what they’ve gotten away with. Someone yesterday advised me to use the mute button, and it’s working well so far. If no one responds to these cretins, will they go away? We can only hope.

[David Nieporent]

Kirkland is one of the three people actively working to make the comments section unreadable, along with the poster who used to call himself Sebastian who now goes by SBF, and Drackman.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

I recognize that the Volokh Conspiracy's mainstream-hating fans object when I mention how bigoted this blog is.

Racists. Misogynists. Gay-bashers. Antisemites. Immigrant-haters. Islamophobes. More racists. The bigotry at this blog is intense, is deplorable, and has been cultivated by the right-wing law professors who operate the Volokh Conspiracy.

If it bothers you that I direct attention to this blog's remarkable and disgusting bigotry, feel free to ask the proprietor to censor me. He's done it before. Maybe he would do it again.

I emphasize again that the Volokh Conspiracy is entitled to impose viewpoint-driven, hypocritical, cowardly censorship on those who offend movement conservatives. Their playground, their rules. Disaffected, obsolete, right-wing culture war casualties have rights, too.

[MoreCurious]

Sorry, David, but I can’t help thinking you’re barking up the wrong tree. All of us have our quirks — including Kirkland — but to compare him to Drackman and a few of his ilk, seems to be missing the point. For some reason Volokh and his colleagues have chosen to turn control of their blog over to adolescent, vulgar, racist bigots. In the past this was a place where left-leaning people like me could go to hear informative debates by people I normally wouldn’t have any connection to. Now it’s a place that turns ugly by about the third or fourth comment — no matter what the topic — and gets worse from there. In a way, Arthur plays the role of the guy who points out that the emperor has no clothes. Some readers may enjoy playing in the sewer with Drackman and his friends, but there are still some of us who wish we could go back to the time when this was a serious blog about legal issues, even when we don’t agree with each other.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

the poster who used to call himself Sebastian who now goes by SBF

Who is SBF?

[David Nieporent]

Who is SBF?

In real life, the former owner of the crypto exchange/mass fraud FTX. Here, the person using his name, Sam Bankman-Fried.

[Childhood reader of SCOTUS opinions, really]

But you are a guy sitting in an audience and he is a disgraceful public servant. No connection at all. TO posit one is to be part of the problem. You have a right to be an annoyed member of an audience.

[Eric Von Salzen]

Right now, the greatest single problem threatening our political discourse is the idea that the appropriate response to a speaker who expresses an opinion you disagree with is to "silence" the speaker (which often means making so much noise and causing so much disruption that no one can hear that speaker, but can also mean causing such disorder that the proposed speaker cannot even speak).
It's not that such behavior on college campuses is all that important in itself; rather it's the principle that the way to respond to an idea you dislike is by attempting to silence it, rather than by refuting it. To the extent that one "side" dominates the media, it means that you are not only deprived of hearing dissenting arguments; you are even deprived of knowing what the dissenting arguments are.