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John Pfaff

@johnpfaff.bsky.social

40K followers 710 following 12K posts

Professor at Fordham Law. Prisons and criminal justice quant. I'm not contrarian, the data are. Author of Locked In. New stuff at johnfpfaff.com.

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Reposted by John Pfaff

Karolina Muchova Fan Club @irvineghost20.bsky.social · 6h

Broadview protester here. I've been disgusted that it hasn't gotten more attention. Please tell your followers to give him a follow on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rev.davidblack

And please cover this now that it is finally getting attention, @nytimes.com @washingtonpost.com @chicagotribune.com!

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 6h

I think that makes it worse!

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 6h

So I missed the lede of the piece and didn’t realize this was last month.

Which makes this far worse, bc there’s been a month for this to become such bigger news than it had been.

I know there’s a lot going on, but … still.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 6h

So I missed the lede of the piece and didn’t realize this was last month.

Which makes this far worse, bc there’s been a month for this to become such bigger news than it had been.

I know there’s a lot going on, but … still.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 6h

Yeah, I meant it meant more as a reference to how casually they did it.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 6h

It depends on what you think abt the default when there’s a tie.

If the extremists are trying to overturn, an even number forces them to get 2 marginal votes, not 1.

If the stuff coming in is the extremist stuff, then even disfavors sanity.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 6h

Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 8h

Here’s video of the incident

Reposted by John Pfaff

Playoffs Eschewer @scratchbomb.bsky.social · 17h

not to skate over the dumb homophobia here but there’s this bizarre delusion in America that cities (people living close together for communal and economic reasons, a mode of living as old as civilization) are unnatural while suburbs (hermetic sprawl invented circa 1950) are natural

Berny Belvedere @bernybelvedere.bsky.social · 18h

fellas is it gay to live in a city

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 7h

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 7h

It’s all going to be rotating panels anyway, and I’m on the record (at the other place) as strongly pro-tie: no median justice. Kennedy was almost king-like in his swing-vote power, not a fan.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 7h

“One part of the country and its soldiers are more America than another.”

And the newspaper headlines will still run with the “fighting crime” frame, not the “complete collapse in a sense of a union” frame.

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 8h

Aside from shattering core state sovereignty, it's saying one state's Guard (TX) is somehow more loyal to the national authority than another's (IL). It's treating the latter as something bordering on hostile, or at least alien. One part of the country and its soldiers are more America than another.

Reposted by John Pfaff

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 8h

In none of these cases, when the federal government was openly and with good reason using military force, did Eisenhower or JFK or LBJ say "ok, we're sending the Vermont National Guard to Mississippi to handle this." That would have been understood as insane, it wasn't even considered.

Reposted by John Pfaff

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 8h

Presidents have federalized a state's own Guard to use over its objection, most famously desegregation. And sometimes regular military has been used. But taking one state's soldiers and putting them in another state? This is a completely unprecedented breakdown of what the Union fundamentally is.

Reposted by John Pfaff

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 8h

Never before in American history has one state's military force been deployed in another state over its objection.

I say never because the Civil War involved states whose governments legally ceased to exist, their offices vacated by constructive resignation, with no legitimate governors to object.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 7h

They said on-line isn’t real life, and Bluesky is a niche social media site.

But here is @akalhan.bsky.social getting “Kavanaugh Stops” into the Boston Globe!

With a pic of Kav looking a little petulant too (but then when doesn’t he?).

Glad to see this is sticking to him.

Critics of Trump’s immigration crackdown are using the term ‘Kavanaugh stop.’ Here’s what it means. - The Boston Globe

The phrase, is "a window into where [the administration] can go next," some advocates say.

www.bostonglobe.com

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 7h

Expand it to 60 justices.

Move it to a strip mall in rural Kansas.

Cut the clerk budget to zero.

Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 9h

“Four months ago, in Skrmetti, the Court used purported medical uncertainty to give Tennessee more flexibility to discriminate. Today, Alito used purported medical uncertainty to give Colorado less flexibility to protect.”

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 11h

I've written my analysis of today's grim Supreme Court oral argument in the conversion therapy case:

As far as the Court's concerned, imaginary medical uncertainty gives states the authority to hurt queer kids, and takes away states' authority to protect them

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/chile...

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 9h

Given what Barrett is doing to our democracy, doesn’t hers, at least, trigger a Son of Sam law?

Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 15h

Hey Siri show me the desktop of someone who despises himself

my desktop which has copies of the recent dogshit books of Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, and Amy coney Barrett

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 9h

Huh, so apparently I’m okay w banning SOME books.

Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 15h

Hey Siri show me the desktop of someone who despises himself

my desktop which has copies of the recent dogshit books of Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, and Amy coney Barrett

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 15h

New statute of limitations doctrine just dropped.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15h

SCHIFF: Was it true when the White House press secretary denied that Homan took the money?

BONDI: I was not in office, I was not confirmed, when that was handled

SCHIFF: Did he take the money?

BONDI: That happened prior to my confirmation

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 15h

Omg, that’s awful, I’m so sorry!

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 16h

The kids are alright and doing better.

Barely a fifth of HSers are using the toxic US News rankings. May that number shrink ever lower and the ranking’s influence keep waning.

Only about 25 percent of the students surveyed said they paid attention to any one specific rankings source. For the students who did, U.S. News “Best Colleges” was the most commonly used online rankings platform; 22 percent of students sought rankings information there. But its influence has shrunk since 2016, and survey results now show a 10 percent narrower gap between it and the next most influential ranking source, Niche Best Colleges in America, which was used by 17 percent of the students surveyed.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 16h

Pretty sure Scalia’s opinions inarguably reflect two of those three.

I’m not sure abt the anti-Semitism, tho most far-right Christians hold Book of Revelation-based anti-Semitic views (tho maybe Scalia’s Catholicism mitigated a bit? No idea).

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 17h

Air Bud Jurisprudence.

a basketball referee says that a dog can 't play basketball

Alt: a basketball referee says that a dog can 't play basketball

media.tenor.com

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 17h

This (and many other quotes, like all his ones dissenting from the basic humanity of queer ppl) is why I never found the “Scalia and RBG enjoy opera together!” stories cute.

I don’t care how allegedly, say, charming someone who holds these views is. She shouldn’t have wanted to hang w him!

Dr Carole McCartney 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ @ctmccartney.bsky.social · 17h

I mean - how does someone even write that???

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 17h

There are definitely allegations out there:

“They Don’t Treat Us like Human Beings”

The 76-page report, “‘They Don’t Treat Us like Human Beings’: Abuse of Imprisoned Women in Japan,” documents the abusive conditions in many women’s prisons in Japan. Government policies towards women ...

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 17h

When I was a freshman in college, i recall the NYC kids standing out, bc they just radiated an extra level of urban confidence.

Buffalo (and I was in the city itself) wasn’t a hick town, but Chicago still felt … big.