Brannon McAllister

The United States has dealt with American citizens who had commit acts of terrorism before. We Mirandized them, we charged them, we ensured that they had competent legal counsel, and we tried them in civilian courts where they received the typical rights and protections guaranteed to the accused. In none of those cases did this decision endanger more lives, prevent adequate prosecution, or otherwise present any threat to the country or its people.

Timothy McVeigh: killed 168 people. Injured over 800 more. Was motivated by political convictions. He was arrested, Mirandized, charged, appointed with legal counsel, and tried in a civilian court. Ted Kaczynski: killed three people. Injured 23 more. Was motivated by political convictions. He was arrested, Mirandized, charged, appointed with legal counsel, and processed through a civilian court. Eric Rudolph: killed two people. Injured at least 150 more. Was motivated by political convictions. He was arrested, Mirandized, charged, appointed with legal counsel, and processed through a civilian court.

If you recognize that the results of these legal cases were consonant with our system of jurisprudence and with justice, you cannot ask for a separate status for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev without supporting legal discrimination based on ethnicity and religion. To deny Tsarnaev the legal status conferred on prior domestic terrorists, or to support such a denial, is to abandon the most elementary commitment of modern jurisprudence, which is the equality of all people under the law. It’s to stand for legal bigotry.

The rules of free commerce have not changed:

1. Identify something people need or want.

2. Create that thing and create it well.

3. Sell that thing at a competitive price.

4. Clearly communicate what that thing is.

5. Give half the money you make to the government.

6. Give a percentage of your money to causes that need your money.

7. Love your spouse and your children, because in the end little else will matter. They don’t care about your money.

If it is important to you, you will find a way. If it’s not, you will find an excuse.

Brooklyn is no longer the home of Luddite dignity within an urban context; it is the very idea of Luddite dignity within an urban context. Brooklyn, the specific landmass, is where The Local goes to be sanctified, and made ready for export: to Nashville, the Mission and Silver Lake; to London, Paris and Berlin. It is the sound of Local going Global. Such are the wages of contemporary life, I suppose. We reach out for reality, and no sooner do we brush it with our fingers than it turns into a brand.

I would say it is sort of a contagion or an infection that affects Republicans and Democrats when they get into the white house. They see the power that the presidency has. It’s enormous. They see themselves as good people, and they say I can’t give up any power because I’m going to do good with that power. The problem they don’t see is that the power itself is intoxicating, and the power someday may be in the hands of someone else who is less inclined to use it in a good way. I think that’s why the power grows and grows and grows –– because everybody believes themselves to be doing the right thing.