We didn't create ISIS. ISIS created ISIS.

Of course the system can be changed. Why would I bother spending 14 years of my life blogging if I didn't believe that?

You have to buy off interest groups, compromise your ideals, and settle for half loaves...

[Donald] Trump had the opportunity to go after [Hillary] Clinton's emails at length if he wanted to, but he didn't.

In other words, in the same way that mass incarceration surged because of a real thing, it's finally starting to ebb because of a real thing: the actual, concrete decline in violent crime that started in the early 90s and which appears to be permanent. America is simply a safer place than it used to be, and looks set to stay that way.

If you don’t want your followers to give up in disgust, your inspiration needs to be in the service of goals that are at least attainable.

Black crime rates fell more steeply than white crime rates, and now black incarceration is falling more steeply than white incarceration.