Tag: West Coast

Colin Flaherty, July 1993. Photograph by author.

1,619 words

I found some intriguing perspectives in the recent batch of obituaries for Colin Flaherty, who died on January 11. They almost all recall him as best known for his internet videos and bestselling books on under-reported black crime (White Girl Bleed a Lot, Don’t Make the Black Kids Angry, et al.).

Maybe that’s a valid point today. However, having known him for 30 years, I thought of this post-2012 phase as just a minor coda to his career, sort of like Laurence Olivier doing Polaroid commercials in the 1970s. If you had to explain to clueless people who Sir Laurence Olivier was, you’d mention the commercials, and the folks would think, “Oh, he’s this guy who sells cameras.” (more…)

2,057 words

The aphorism “Never let a crisis go to waste” may soon have historic consequences beyond what most of us can imagine. Maybe as soon as November.

The first part of this series, “Trump Should Wargame Secession, Too,” outlines the various ways (more…)

2,474 words

Earlier this month, the New York Times revealed that top-level Democrats have been wargaming possible outcomes of the November 2020 election and are considering secession if things don’t go their way. This should come as a surprise to no one. Since the epoch-changing George Floyd riots — which began in May and are still ongoing (more…)