News Miner 94
McClain's attacker, tax-funded religious instruction, school closures, car crimes, housing costs, Republican threats, wolves, immigrants, and more.
McClain’s Attacker Back on the Force: Max Levy: “Aurora police officer Nathan Woodyard will return to his job after being acquitted for his role in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who Woodyard placed in a chokehold . . . . [C]ity spokesperson Ryan Luby . . . said Woodyard will also receive $212,546.04 in backpay.” This is horrible. Woodyard participated in the murder of Elijah McClain, who had done absolutely nothing wrong and whom the police detained without justification. Levy adds, “A jury found Woodyard not guilty of manslaughter and criminally-negligent homicide earlier this month, making him eligible to return to work.” As I’ve pointed out, prosecutors should have charged Woodyard with other crimes, including assault. The dynamics of the case, in which several people participated in the murder, are such that every individual can claim not to be responsible for McClain’s death. (See also what lawyers for the paramedics are saying.) In any just and sane society, Woodyard would be deemed a criminal and treated as such; certainly he would never again be allowed to work in law enforcement. Alas, we do not live in such a society.
Image: Paul Becker
Tax-Funded Religious Instruction: Should government force taxpayers to finance religious instruction for other people’s children? Obviously not, if you care about things like individual rights, freedom of conscience, and the separation of church and state. But now, with its funding program for (otherwise) private preschools, state government is getting itself into just that debate, as Ann Schimke reports. However, as I point out in my recent article, government also violates the rights of religious people by forcing them to finance nonreligious instruction. The libertarian solution is just to quit forcing people to fund education. Or, as I point out, direct cash transfers to families, which they could then use for education, “would avoid much of the conflict specifically pertaining to freedom of speech and of religion.” I think the legal breakdown of the separation of church and state is highly dangerous.
Questions about Tests and School Closures: Recently I asked a few people about using low standardized test scores to threaten school closures. Unfortunately, no one has gotten back to me. It’s an important issue, so I hope that a news reporter follows up. If you (anyone) has insights and wants to comment publicly, please write to me. My questions: “Do threats of school closures adequately take into account the improvements of a school’s students? One concern I have is that it takes a lot of work before a student can even start to take a standardized test. Do threats of school closure incentivize schools to ‘encourage’ low-performing students to leave and high-performing students to enroll? (I’ve heard anecdotes along these lines but I haven’t confirmed them.) Do potential threats of closure discourage innovative (public) schools from even opening in distressed areas where most students are struggling? If that’s the incentive structure, that’s a disaster.”
Car Theft: Good policing matters! The alternative to bad policing is not lax policing. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s car was stolen. Government should crack down on auto theft and on theft generally.
Street Racing: In the Denver metro area it’s a serious problem, and one that has killed people. On a drive back from the airport on a weekend night, I saw numerous people racing on the interstate—extremely dangerous. The problem has “prompted local law enforcement to form street racing units and make changes to city ordinances allowing for vehicle seizures,” CBS reports. Generally I think asset forfeiture is overused and abused, but if a person a convicted of street racing, I think seizure is totally appropriate. Now Rep. Brittany Pettersen wants to “form a street racing prevention and intervention task force under the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” CBS reports. It seems like this properly is mostly a local issue. But the bill wants to use some federal resources to help “State and local law enforcement agencies to deal with street racing,” which offhand seems reasonable. See also Pettersen’s release and the bill.
Expensive Housing: Marginal Revolution University has out an excellent, short video on why housing is so expensive. Start with cities attracting new potential residents. Then add limited supply of land, say because a city is surrounded by water (obviously this doesn’t affect Denver). Then add various government restrictions on the building of new housing, including anti-development zoning laws and obscene permitting delays. The result is that builders are simply unable to build much new housing to accommodate the greater demand. I hope all legislators, city officials, other elected officials, journalists, and people generally watch this video. See also Cathy Reisenwitz’s interview with Michael Tanner on the subject: “There is no policy solution to homelessness with compelling evidence of likely efficacy that does not involve building a lot more housing.”
Civil War: Jason Salzman begins his recent article: “The chair of the Colorado Republican Party [Dave Williams] says he doesn’t want civil war, but he’s sees one in America’s future under two scenarios: one, if courts remove Trump’s name from the ballot or, two, if ‘they’re successfully able to keep engaging’ in blatant election fraud (even though Williams or other Republicans have yet to produce evidence for such ‘blatant fraud’).”
Wolves: Wyoming hunters are luring Colorado wolves across state lines with “the recorded sounds of a pronghorn in distress,” CPR reports. Whatever you think of the reintroduction of wolves in Colorado, luring them out of state to kill them is a jerk move.
Immigrants: Rachel Estabrook: “Many want to find work in Colorado to set up lives for themselves and their families, but they aren’t legally allowed to work for many months or even years.” Obviously, when we legally prevent people from working, they cannot support themselves or well-integrate into our society. Such stupid and immoral policies.