Bob Lord

Bob has mostly wound down his 39-year career as a tax and business lawyer (with a 1-year interruption to run for Congress in 2008 (CD3), when he tried to unseat John Shadegg. Bob now serves as the senior advisor on tax policy for the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy Americans who believe the light taxation of America's rich is destabilizing our democracy, and as an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Bob has been writing for Blog For Arizona since late 2011, concentrating mostly on federal issues, with an occasional foray into Arizona state politics.

The Few Bad Apples Canard

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Truthiness, that wonderful concept Stephen Colbert introduced to us. It’s when something has the feel of truth to it, even if it’s not quite true. Heck, it’s almost as if it is true. Almost.

So it is with police violence. It MUST be just “a few bad apples.” Or must it?

Call me obtuse, but I’m not buying it. If we’re so sure it’s just a few bad apples, why is systemic corruption in police departments so ingrained in our popular culture? How many dozen movie plots are based on one or a few good cops facing long odds in a fight against a corrupt police department? Funny, I’ve never heard anyone say about such a movie “Oh that’s ridiculous. Police departments can’t get corrupted like that.”

And those cop corruption movies are not entirely fictional. Remember Serpico, the circa 1973 thriller about an idealistic cop who wages a one man fight against corruption in the NYPD, and nearly pays with his life? That was based on the story of Frank Serpico, a real-life cop who was left by his fellow officers to die from a gunshot wound.

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Hey White Progressives, Saying “All Lives Matter” is Not Okay

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One of several mind-boggling aspects of the whole O’Malley / Sanders Town Hall debacle is the insistence of white progressives that saying “all lives matter” is an acceptable response when asked whether black lives matter.

I was confronted with this on Saturday at Netroots Nation, and again yesterday on Facebook. I even encountered genuine anger about Martin O’Malley apologizing for saying all lives matter.

I struggled in responding, because to me it’s instinctive that “all lives matter” is an inappropriate, unfeeling response. That’s the mind-boggling part. I can’t believe people need this explained to them. Especially those who consider themselves progressives.

I’m guessing Donna encounters this feeling on a regular basis from commenters to her posts who need an explanation why their chauvinistic (or even misogynistic) comments are unacceptable. Donna, I’m feeling your pain.

“All lives matter” is dismissive. It’s an implicit denial that racial disparities exist. People really need this explained to them?

This issue has taken on a life of its own. Dara Lind, at vox.com, addresses it well in Why Martin O’Malley had to apologize for saying “all lives matter” Any progressive who is struggling with why “all lives matter” is not okay should read Lind’s entire piece, but I’ll share this analogy she quoted from Reddit, which is brilliant in its simplicity:

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Further to the Disruption of O’Malley and Sanders, Including the Black Lives Matter Perspective

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Angela Peoples, of GetEqual, was one of the organizers of the group that disrupted the Martin O’Malley / Bernie Sanders Town Hall at Net Roots Nation on Saturday. Pamela reported on that yesterday in #BlackLivesMatter Protesters Disrupt Netroots Nation Sanders & O’Malley Town Hall.

I bumped into Ms. Peoples later in the day, and she was nice enough to speak with me for a few minutes.

I’m more of an opinion guy than a reporter, but Ms. Peoples’ perspective here is more important than mine, so I’ll get to my opinions later. Although she was speaking for herself, I suspect the views she expressed represent those of the great majority of her collaborators.

By way of background, I spoke to several people from the mostly white audience after the event. Their view largely was that the disruption was inappropriate or that the initial disruption was fine, but that the disruptors were wrong to keep going after the first 15 minutes or so.

So, I asked Ms. Peoples for her reaction to those views.

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The Leaky Logic of Hillary’s Minions

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It’s often interesting to follow the statements of a candidate’s unpaid and not formally affiliated supporters. You know, the ones who post on Facebook or yak in coffee shops. Those minions, if you will, are as dedicated as the candidate’s paid staffers and volunteers, probably more so, but they’re not subject to the candidate’s control. They make their own choices on campaign messaging.

In the case of the Ready for Hillary crowd on Facebook, the messaging is rather hilarious. They’re largely in attack mode right now against Sanders. The conventional wisdom is that going into attack mode against a persona like that of Sanders is unwise, but these folks are not subject to conventional rules.

They’re kind of the id of the Hillary campaign. 

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Think Trump-Arpaio is a Scary Combo? In Israel They’d Be Moderates

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Interestingly, a friend of mine and staunch Israel supporter posted this photo on Facebook, along with her statement that it was the “scariest photo she’d seen in a while”: Googleusercontent So I wonder, where would Trump and Arpaio stand on the “scary spectrum” in Israel? How would they be perceived if standing next to Ayelet … Read more