Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has earned an unwelcome immortality with her remark: I’ve made it very clear that I worked with the police and instructed them to do everything they could to make sure that the protesters were able to exercise their right to free speech. It’s a very delicate balancing act. . . .  We also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well. We worked very hard to keep that balance. Despite the mayor’s two clumsy attempts to walk back her foolish words, the evidence of Monday night’s rioting is that space to destroy was provided all over West Baltimore. The mayor’s attempts to walk back her remarks display remarkable incompetence, mixing obtuseness with arrogance.  First, her office issued a clarification that was a variation on the Groucho Marx line, to the effect of, “Who are you going to believe?  Me or your lying ears?” What she is saying within...(Read Full Post)