Tag: Barack Obama

What Ukraine Should Do Now

By Paul Gregory

Paul Gregory is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. He holds an endowed professorship in the Department of Economics at the University of Houston, Texas, is a research professor at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, and is chair of the International Advisory Board of the Kiev School of Economics.

| February 25, 2015

In a new piece I have up at Forbes, I lay out exactly what’s at stake for the West with Vladimir Putin’s continued aggression in Ukraine. In short, Putin wants nothing less than to unravel NATO. The U.S. has been decidedly unhelpful in assisting Ukraine, even though our allies there are much more reliable than the ones we’ve been arming in Syria, Iraq, and Libya. So what should Ukraine do now? My suggestion:

If I were Ukraine, I might concede Donbass and Crimea on a de facto but not de jure basis. Russia will not let them go under present circumstances. Let the Donbass (or that part that it presently holds) be a problem for Russia and the separatists to contend with; don’t let its self-appointed leaders dictate Ukrainian policy. When the time is right, the Donbass can come back into the fold. I would maintain a formidable standing army to defend the remaining Ukrainian provinces that have come to hate Putin’s Russia with a vengeance. I imagine that Odessa, Kiev, Zaporozhe and Lviv will make short change of self-appointed Muscovites when they arrive to proclaim new people’s republics. Who knows? If active hostilities ended, maybe even Barack Obama would supply defensive weapons. He’s good at shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.

The upshot:

Seven Lessons for Statesmen and Sinners

By Doug Watt

| February 25, 2015

On February 4, 2015, George Weigel delivered the William E. Simon lecture at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC: “St. John Paul II: Lessons for Statesmen.” I’ll concentrate on three of the lessons that have a direct bearing on President Obama’s response or lack of one) to Putin and the Ukraine, Iran, and ISIS.

“Ideas count for good or for ill.”

How Obama Loves America

By Richard Young

| February 25, 2015

The latest brouhaha the media has managed to stir up surrounds Rudy Giuliani’s remarks suggesting that Barack Obama does not love America (see video here). There are too many articles from pundits much more talented than me who have dissected Obama’s peculiar kind of patriotism for me to add anything new to the subject. But every time I think of this president and the country he’s sworn to protect, it brings to mind that old English proverb “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”

Forget his platitudes and endless rhetoric Look at what he has managed to accomplish:

Increased the National Debt from $10.6 billion to $18.1 billion today, an increase of over 70%.

Engaged in policies resulting in an increase in the price per gallon of gas from $1.86 to $2.30, down from the 2012 high of $3.71 (with no thanks to his policies). Much of the windfall in profits flowed to regimes opposed to US policy and supportive of terrorism.

Health care spending by the government has increased from $961 billion in 2008 to $1.213 trillion in 2013, an increase of 26%. This despite Obama’s assurances that he was going to bring healthcare costs down.

Government spending on welfare has gone in the same period from $385.9 billion to $510.5 billion, an increase of 32%, as more people turn to the government and away from self-reliance. A record 20% of Americans received food stamps in 2013.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of the US population working has dropped from 66% to 63% from 2008 to 2014 after holding steady at 66% during the previous administration. Fully 11,472,000 people have left the workforce since Obama’s took office.

A search on US household income shows that median income has shrunk on a non-adjusted basis from $55,380 in the 4th quarter of 2008 to $53,891 at the end of 2014, a decrease of 3%.

What kind of a diplomat has Obama proved to be? According to a BBC poll conducted in 2013, “negative views towards the U.S. are so pervasive that the country presently ranks second most unpopular in the world – just ahead of Iran – and less popular than rivals Russia and China.”

After ushering in what many hoped would be a new era in race relations, according to a study cited in a Salon article, “The election of the country’s first black president had the ironic upshot of opening the door for old-fashioned racism to influence partisan preferences after it was long thought to be a spent force in American politics.”

Numerous scandals have plagued this administration including giving guns to Mexican cartels, NSA spying on American citizens, CIA spying on Senate members, failure of multiple business that received government dollars (think Solyndra, etc.), IRS targeting of conservatives, IRS auditing of those opposed to Obama, stonewalling by the EPA and IRS of congressional investigations, Veteran Administration cover-ups of neglect and maladministration, the inept rolling out of Obamacare, etc., etc. etc.

Sadly, the list goes on and on. Sure Obama loves America… he loves her to death.

President Obama has a Brian Williams Problem on Deficits

By Patrick Hedger

Patrick Hedger is the Policy Director of American Encore, an organization dedicated to defending freedom, promoting free markets, expanding economic opportunity, and making the case for the American ideals of liberty and democracy, both at home and abroad. He is the author of Blueprint for 2015: Setting the Stage for the Next Session. Hedger, a native of the Tampa Bay area, is a graduate of George Mason University with a Bachelor's Degree in Government and International Politics in 2012 and … [more]

| February 24, 2015

Despite the recent illogical musings of some liberal economists, including Paul Krugman, deficits and increasing debt are bad things. Not only do they jack up the borrowing costs and necessary amounts of taxation and/or inflation needed to cover the difference, deficits also drain investment capital that could be put to efficient use (and sustainably grow our economy) out of the market and into the hands of notoriously wasteful government bureaucrats.

Deficits are bad. There is no argument. Prior deficit spending by other presidents doesn’t make even bigger deficit spending OK. I wasn’t old enough to vote for George W. Bush either time and, as much as I admire many of the attributes of Ronald Reagan, The Gipper made fiscal mistakes too. I agreed with candidate Obama: trillions of dollars in national debt is unpatriotic. To some degree the president still seems to understand that deficits are a bad thing, even if just politically. At the Democrats’ Winter Meeting this past week, the president (again) took credit for falling deficits, claiming that deficits only seem to go down when Democrats are president. He claimed that our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years. This is technically true, but that’s the purpose of doublespeak isn’t it?

President Obama needs to learn a lesson from the Brian Williams suspension and stop taking credit for things in which he played absolutely no part. Deficits have fallen, but President Obama has done almost nothing to account for this, except for hiking taxes on people’s health care under Obamacare.

Curb Your Enthusiasm for Immigration Decision

By John Yoo

John Yoo is professor of law at the University of California at Berkeley and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. From 2001 to 2003, he served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department of President George W. Bush. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court, and as general counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary… [more]

| February 19, 2015

Opponents of President Obama’s immigration policy may want to temper their praise of federal Judge Andrew Hanen’s decision this week, which blocked the administration’s unilateral policy of refusing to pursue the deportation of millions of illegal aliens. Unfortunately, I think it is likely that an appeals court will reverse Judge Hanen’s decision because it tried — too cleverly — to avoid the fundamental issue of the President’s duty to enforce the law by relying instead on a technical aspect of the law governing administrative agencies. But when the case returns to the trial court, the judge will have to face the critical conflict between the Obama policy and the executive’s constitutional duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

Judge Hanen, who sits in Brownsville, Texas, issued a 123-page opinion explaining why Texas and 25 other states had the right to challenge the Department of Homeland Security. That part of the decision, which showed why the states were harmed by the federal policy, and so had “standing” to sue in federal court, is likely to be upheld on appeal. As I’ve argued before, the same logic that allowed Massachusetts to sue the EPA for failing to regulate greenhouse gases — on the speculative possibility that gases would lead to global warming, which would lead to rising seas, which would reduce the land mass of the state — would more powerfully support states who had to provide services to illegal aliens allowed to remain in the United States by the Obama Administration. Judge Hanen pointed out that Texas would suffer a sufficient harm to sue because it would have to bear expenses to provide illegal aliens with driver’s licenses. Hanen’s opinion straightforwardly rebuts the weak claims of Obama supporters who believed that states had no right to sue in court.

Dithering Toward Brutality

By Dave Carter

Dave Carter is a former cross country truck driver, retired military veteran, private detective, and radio show host. As a Security Forces member and Senior Historian in the US Air Force, he deployed throughout Asia, Europe & the Middle East. Author of over 40 volumes of Air Force histories, he also accompanied aircrews on combat missions in order to record combat events from a participant's perspective. Dave is a Contributor for Ricochet, The Federalist, Conservative Review, the host of The… [more]

| February 18, 2015

Of all the aspects of the Rite of Christian Initiation classes and discussions I’ve had — with one teaching or concept yielding beautifully to the next as though a flower were opening to reveal succeeding layers of transcendent wonder — very little has captivated me like the quest for a patron saint. My admittedly rudimentary understanding of Catholic doctrine and history tells me that the saints are not mere corpses whose visage here and there adorn stained glass. On the contrary, they are intercessors on our behalf, whose devotion offers an example to emulate, and whose wisdom offers guidance to those who will listen.

Very well then. I’ve been invited to choose one who will be, upon confirmation, my Patron Saint. The Catechism describes the term, “communion of saints,” as “…the communion of ‘holy persons’ (sancti) in Christ who ‘died for all,’ so that what each one does or suffers in and for Christ bears fruit for all.” In that regard, during my quest I’ve been struck by the writing and philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas who, among other things, further developed Just War Theory as espoused by St. Augustine.

Serious Guys

By Rick Wilson

Republican media guy. I aim to misbehave. @therickwilson on that Twitter thing.

| February 13, 2015

One of the highest compliments in my field is a simple one: “He’s a Serious Guy.” People often use the throwaway phrase, “Oh, he’s a good guy,” which is the political equivalent of “I heard he’s never been convicted of a felony” or “I know him,” which translates to “That ratbag sonofabitch better stay the hell away from this campaign.”

But being a Serious Guy in my world means that people can rely on you. It means people can trust your political judgment and experience. It means when the day is going all to hell, you’ll be found working the problem and not in a fetal position under your desk. It means you’re cool under political fire, thinking through problems beyond the ringing phone, the screaming reporter, and the dead intern. It means you’re mindful of how the actions you and your client are about to take will look to the outside world, no matter how tough the situation.

Fear God, Honor the Emperor

By James Of England

James Of England

A married California attorney with a focus on transnational legal issues, whose only important work was in Baghdad, working for an Iraqi government owned bank. Somewhat useful labels include Antiochian Orthodox Christian, fusion conservative, and patriotic tenth generation American immigrant (although I came out a month and two days after the bicentennial of the last death in my family in America). Key revered figures in my pantheon include Hayek, Jonah Goldberg, Romney, Burke, Derrida… [more]

| February 13, 2015

We should all be making an effort to show Obama some respect.

As conservatives, this is often one of the hardest biblical instructions.* We focus heavily on the wrongs of the state and forget our duties not just to obey the law and pay taxes**, but that we should actively and explicitly honor our head of state. Worse still, we are called on not to honor the office of the emperor, but the emperor himself, a man whose authority is instituted by God. Often, the response is that this command is generally applicable, but in this instance we have a really bad president. For this, it is helpful to remember that while Obama is bad, he’s a lot better than Nero, particularly from a Christian perspective. Obama’s not always good to the Church, but he isn’t murdering and publically humiliating us with the intent of wiping out the faith. Or if he is, he’s a good deal more subtle about it than Nero was. Even if Obama was worse, and treated us worse than the abusive slavemaster that were are similarly instructed to support, it would still seem to me that the unconditional statement would hold true. (Disclaimer: I’m not terribly likely to respect those who claim that their lives are worse than those of particularly poorly treated slaves. I have seen this argued, with a straight face, and will respect an intelligent argument to this effect, but ask that anyone tempted to state this claim put some time and thought into it.)

There are a variety of approaches to the command. For Reformed Christians, the instruction is linked to the Fifth Commandment in a general pattern of hierarchical respect for authority (questions 123-133). This doctrine is important enough to be one of the 33 tenets of the Westminster Confession, the most widely supported constitution for Protestant churches. For Orthodox Christians, the theological guidance is slightly embarrassingly parochial, generally assuming that the emperor is an Orthodox Christian because most Orthodox theology was written in times and places where that was true. This means that the designation of the emperor as God’s vice regent on earth is a relatively simple and powerful one, although one that might be watered down somewhat when the vice regent is manifestly heterodox. Catholics, unsurprisingly, have a greater body of literature on the subject, struggling more than Orthodox because of the fragmented nature of authority in the West, but less than some Protestants because they have been less keen to deny the existence of human authority.

A Random Day In A Random Life

By Son of Spengler

Son of Spengler

Mild-mannered actuary by day. Intrepid barbershopper by night. Renegade Jew. Twitter: @spengjr

| February 11, 2015

It’s Friday morning. I wake up early to shower and dress, so I’ll have time to attend random religious services at a random house of worship before work. I take special care to put on my random fringed vest and a random head covering. Then breakfast — a random round bread with a hole in the center.

That morning, I receive a call from a random place in the Middle East. It’s my older daughter, who is spending a year studying random religious texts in a random seminary. I ask about her plans for the upcoming random day of rest. We wish each other a peaceful day of rest in a random language.

Guns ‘n Gases

By Tom Meyer, Common Citizen

Tom Meyer, Common Citizen

Conservative libertarian, former Ricochet East Coast/Morning Editor. I post on Twitter @tomdmeyer

| February 4, 2015

When histories of the Obama Era are written — please, God, only two years more! — two great ironies will be noted: that the most progressive president since Johnson, and the most academically cloistered since Wilson, presided over a period of tremendous booms in domestic fossil fuel production and a continued restoration of Americans’ full Second Amendment rights, both of which the president and his allies opposed.

On the latter, it’s really amazing to recall just how far we’ve come of late. The twin decisions of D.C. v. Heller (decided during Obama’s first campaign) and McDonald v. Chicago (decided during his first term and, deliciously, with his home town as the defendant) confirmed that the Second Amendment is an individual right that both the federal government and the states are obliged to recognize. Relatedly, all fifty states now have at least some form of concealed-carry law.

More importantly, crime statistics during the period have overwhelmingly contradicted the predictions of the gun-grabbers, who spent decades arguing that gun control was the only thing preventing America from descending into chaos. This simply has not happened, and there’s strong (if not conclusive) evidence to support the theory that allowing law-abiding citizens to protect themselves actually reduces violent crime. For an interesting and — given our recent conversations — rather topical take on the matter, consider this piece on Chicago’s down-tick in violent crime since conceal carry permits became available.

Victor Davis Hanson: Obama Is Not Incompetent

By Mike Rapkoch

| February 4, 2015

As President Obama’s foreign police seems to be falling apart, many conservative critics and commentators wring their hands and wonder why he seems blind to the horrors that fill the newspapers. National Security Agencies are today analyzing an internet video that appears to show the Jordanian fighter pilot shot down by ISIL being burned alive. Why, Obama’s critics ask, doesn’t Mr. Obama see the dangers in Islamic extremism? Why won’t he call it what is: Islamic terrorism?

For many, Obama seems hapless. They thus attribute his policy to incompetence. We often hear that his lack of experience and accomplishment is coming home to roost. That he is just in over his head.

Michelle Obama, Saudi Arabia, and the Making of Political Dynasties

By Liz Harrison

Liz Harrison is a writer and media executive from Pennsylvania, who had been involved in political campaign work for over 20 years. She turned to political and news writing in late 2008 and since then, her writing has appeared on various sites, including Townhall.com, The Federalist and Ricochet. Currently, Liz is working on a book on sexual freedom activism, and is Editor-in-Chief at Practical Politicking. Her writing on the intersection of politics and culture can be found at Sub-culture.

| January 30, 2015

Yesterday, Aaron Miller started a conversation about Michelle Obama’s decision to not bow to customs in Saudi Arabia. Before that, the illustrious Jon Gabriel expressed a desire to see my take on the issue (taking second place behind another editor, since this was a conversation shared with a few). Being fair, or honestly wanting to mull over exactly how I would approach this topic here, I did write about the manliness of Mrs. Obama elsewhere first.

Yes, that was a correct choice for a couple reasons. First, Mr. Miller brought up quite a few questions, but the last ones he posed — “Did the President learn something from his critics? Why cater to foreign customs then and not now? Or are the President’s concerns irrelevant to his wife’s behavior?” — seem particularly important to my generally strategic mind. There was a significant change in the behavior of the president this time around in Saudi Arabia: no bowing. The clothing choice of Mrs. Obama was only part of the “big deal” on this trip, and was quickly observed by a journalist I know. Dustin Hoyt, host of “America Our Way” on Vigilant Liberty Radio was quick to observe something very important about not only the lack of head scarf:

However, with her choosing not to AND shaking the King’s hand, she showed some serious spine for America. It was great.

Is Obama’s Quest for Trade Promotion Authority One More Example of Executive Overreach?

By John Yoo

John Yoo is professor of law at the University of California at Berkeley and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. From 2001 to 2003, he served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department of President George W. Bush. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court, and as general counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary… [more]

| January 29, 2015

Some conservatives may worry that supporting President Obama’s bid for trade promotion authority undermines their criticism of his abuses of the Constitution’s executive power, an angle that was highlighted in a Washington Post story by David Nakamura earlier this week. We needn’t fret about these claimed contradictions, however — they are product of intellectually lazy or sloppy journalists who don’t understand the Constitution’s separation of powers in the first place.

The most important difference between trade promotion authority — informally known as “fast-track” among the trade cognoscenti — and Obama’s unilateral orders on immigration, drugs, healthcare, welfare (take your pick) is that Congress has authorized the former. With trade authority, Congress delegates authority to the President to negotiate the best deal possible with our foreign partners, but he has no opportunity to put the agreement into effect himself. Congress still has an up-or-down vote on the trade deal.

It’s Time for Patriotism over Politics

By Herbert E. Meyer

Herbert E. Meyer

Herbert E. Meyer served during the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council. In these positions, he managed production of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimates and other top-secret projections for the President and his national security advisers. Meyer is widely credited with being the first U.S. Government official to forecast the Soviet Union’s collapse, for which he was awarded the U… [more]

| January 26, 2015

Our country today is in a crisis the likes of which we’ve never seen before: during a period of exceptional global instability, we’re being led by a president who has absolutely no grasp of the danger we’re in; who seems almost bemused by it.

Yikes. It’s like being aboard a jumbo jet at 30,000 feet above the ocean with thunderstorms all around, the number-two engine sputtering while under the control of a pilot who marched with Occupy Wall Street, somehow got hired by the airline even though he’d never actually flown a plane before, and is having so much fun sending out selfies of himself decked out in a captain’s uniform that he doesn’t even hear the alarms going off all around the cockpit.

Playing the Short Stack

By HankRhody Freelance Philosopher

HankRhody Freelance Philosopher

In a world gone mad, only one man had the courage to cover himself in bees. These are his stories.

| January 25, 2015

In poker, your strategy should vary by how many chips you have in front of you. Every hand, each player is required to ante-up a small amount to stay in the game. If you’re winning, paying the ante is no big deal, and you can afford to play the long game: make safe bets, don’t bluff stupidly, wait for a good hand, and be content to let the ante drive your opponents broke.

If you’re losing, you’ve only got a few chips in front of you. Just putting your ante in the pot every time leaves your bankroll empty after, maybe, eight hands. You can’t afford to wait. You must bet on middling hands and — if necessary — bluff wildly. It’s not a question of winning: you’re playing to stay in the game. Delaying the inevitable loses every time, but making risky plays only loses most of the time; sometimes, it actually leads to victory.

In poker terms, that’s called “playing the short stack.” As a principle of strategy it has applications all over. Look at Putin: if gas prices remain low, the Russian economy will tank. To remain in power, he’ll have to find other ways of making Russians love him, probably by sending tanks where we don’t want them. Look at the Seahawks; they pull out all the trick plays to come back and actually win against my beloved Packers. Look at Herman Cain last election; he wasn’t going to win by being “the boring-but-reliable guy” or even “the boring-but-reliable black guy” so he had to make some waves. He kept shouting “Nine Nine Nine!” so people would pay attention to him. Otherwise he’d just have lost quietly.

Member Post

By Neil Hansen (Klaatu)

Neil Hansen (Klaatu)

Husband, father, grandfather, old broken soldier.

| January 21, 2015

For all the Boehner bashers out there: John Boehner Invites Israeli Prime Minister to Address Congress Next Month Preview Open

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When Free Becomes Worthless

By Doug Kimball

First posted in August 2011 and I've been subjecting the Ricochetti to my conservative opinions for a long time. I also contribute as my alter ego, El Colonel, with offerings of poetry, stories and even serialized novels. Peter Robinson and I attended Dartmouth together, but I'm two years his senior, not nearly so genteel, and did not know him at the time. I abandonned my BA in English, got an MBA and pursued commerce with modest success. Ricochet has provided a kind and like minded audience and… [more]

| January 16, 2015

640 A recent study compares — among other things — the average lifetime earnings of folks with an associate’s degree to the average earnings of those who lack any college degree. There are several reasons why one would expect that the educated person, even with such a nominal degree, would come out on top of these statistics. The degree itself might be causative, having provided valuable skills directly related to employment, or it may be indicative of the students’ drive and will to achieve. Alternatively, it may say little about community college students, but much about those without a college eduction regarding their motivation, intelligence, and discipline, or their particular circumstances.

If one considers just how inexpensive community college is — without even considering how easy it is to finance it — it’s difficult to presume that anyone would feel “left behind” because of its cost. Quite the opposite. It is far more likely that some people who have considered but passed on junior college, have simply rejected it for lack of value, not because of cost.

So what would be accomplished if junior college were tuition free, as the president proposes? First and foremost, it would place pressure on our other public universities who compete with community colleges for students. The relationship between two- and four-year schools is currently cordial, even cooperative: credits for junior college coursework are readily accepted and transferred to four-year schools, and two-year professional programs in teaching, engineering, accounting and nursing are often integrated with four year bachelor’s degree programs. This cooperation exists because — despite the community college system’s current and significant cost advantage — two-year schools act as a kind of farm system, a feeder program that weeds out nominal students who lack focus and drive.

Science: Your Kid’s Not Special

By Troy Senik

Troy Senik was a White House speechwriter for George W. Bush. He is the host of the Hoover Institution podcasts Law Talk with Epstein & Yoo; The Classicist, with Victor Davis Hanson; and The Libertarian, with Richard Epstein. Senik is the author of the forthcoming book A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland.

| January 9, 2015

OK, I may have taken a little bit of a shortcut there in the headline. What Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck is actually saying in the pages of Scientific American is that if you actually want your children to be special, just about the worst thing you can do is tell them that they already are:

Our society worships talent, and many people assume that possessing superior intelligence or ability—along with confidence in that ability—is a recipe for success. In fact, however, more than 35 years of scientific investigation suggests that an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings.

Member Post

By Son of Spengler

Son of Spengler

Mild-mannered actuary by day. Intrepid barbershopper by night. Renegade Jew. Twitter: @spengjr

| January 5, 2015

Our plan for Thursday was to visit the Israel Museum in the morning and the Knesset in the afternoon. The Knesset is easily walkable from the museum. We came as directed for the day’s English language tour, arriving 30 minutes early and with our passports. We were met at the gate by two suspicious armed […]

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The Extraordinary Life of Barack Obama’s Imaginary Son

By Stephen Miller

Stephen Miller is a digital media designer + consultant, writer and activist in occupied Brooklyn, N.Y. He also publishes and produces The Wilderness, which focuses on viral politics and social media narratives. He's recently converted over to an electric toothbrush to cut down on ozone pollution from coming out of his mouth.

| December 22, 2014

In an upcoming People magazine interview, Barack and Michelle Obama sit down and discuss life as the First Oppressed Couple of the United States. Hoping to shed light and relate to recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City, Barack reached into the upstairs White House bedroom of his mind and called upon his famous imaginary son to make an appearance:

The small irritations or indignities that we experience are nothing compared to what a previous generation experienced,” President Obama said. “It’s one thing for me to be mistaken for a waiter at a gala. It’s another thing for my son to be mistaken for a robber and to be handcuffed, or worse, if he happens to be walking down the street and is dressed the way teenagers dress.

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