Adam Serwer

So, I just wanted to clear something up: I wrote my post yesterday about the Justice Department’s decision not to pursue criminal charges against the NBPP during the Bush administration because I had seen conservatives arguing that it was made by the Obama administration. It wasn’t. I did not mean to suggest that the civil […]

How New York is like Arizona. Roy Edroso on the passing of American Splendor creator Harvey Pekar. Hip-hop vs. Arizona. Justin Elliot, from his new digs at Salon, reports that pollster Scott Rasmussen seems pretty chummy with the folks from National Review. Dayo Olopade on how Africa won the World Cup.

A few commenters on my previous post about the Obama administration not being in office when the decision was made not to pursue a criminal case against the New Black Panther Party are arguing out that conservative outrage is over the subsequent decision, made in May, not to further pursue the civil complaint after obtaining […]

Cord Jefferson thinks I haven’t adequately explained why the Justice Department didn’t “throw the book” at the New Black Panthers involved in the 2008 Philadelphia voter-intimidation case: Why didn’t Justice throw the book at these clowns? It’s certainly wasn’t a case that required the time, energy and finances of the entire Civil Rights Division, but […]

Paul The Octopus, a cephalopod with seemingly remarkable (but not really) powers of clairvoyance in picking the winners of international soccer matches, is receiving death threats after accurately “predicting” that Spain would win the 2010 World Cup, according to CNN. I’m exceedingly curious as to other examples of what Paul’s hate mail looks like. “I’m […]

Over the weekend Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer taunted Attorney General Eric Holder over the fact that the Justice Department lawsuit against SB 1070 didn’t involve racial profiling: “Why would they have to hesitate, after all the comments they made, and all the outrage that they made against the bill in regards to racial profiling, that […]

I did an interview with New York Daily News Columnist Errol Louis about the New Black Panther Party case today and realized that there’s a specific data point that has been lost in all the breathless coverage of this case and whether or not it represents a racist agenda from the Obama administration: The decision […]

An attack on soccer fans in Uganda is being blamed on the Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab, which has ties to al-Qaeda: NAIROBI — Two explosions, minutes apart, tore through two venues in the Ugandan capital where crowds were watching television broadcasts of the World Cup final late Sunday, killing at least 64 and wounding scores, […]

A number of commenters took issue with my characterization of the difference between “voluntary” and “involuntary” manslaughter in the Oscar Grant case, pointing out that “reasonableness” is not a word used in the California penal code to distinguish one from the other. 192. Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice. It […]

Tim Fernholz on the morality of strategic defaulting. Recess appointments for my spouse, but not for thee. NOM thinks Obama flubbed the DOMA lawsuit on purpose. Johannes Mehserle writes about his remorse in killing Oscar Grant. The Miami Herald‘s epic chronicler of Gitmo, Carol Rosenberg, is returning now that the DoD ban has been lifted. […]