Separating fact from fiction about the Cuyahoga River fire(s); Short Circuit: A roundup of recent federal court decisions; Police shootings and race; Heather Mac Donald (Manhattan Institute) guest-blogging about ‘The War on Cops’;     Is the overthrow of a democratically elected government ever justified? The failed Turkish coup raises the question of whether the forcible overthrow of a democratically elected government can ever be justified. In some circumstances, the answer is "yes." By Ilya Somin  •  Read more » ADVERTISEMENT   Separating fact from fiction about the Cuyahoga River fire(s) The 1969 fire was not much of an event, and Cleveland's not the only city to have a river burn. By Jonathan H. Adler  •  Read more »   Short Circuit: A roundup of recent federal court decisions Mugshots, nightclub scams, and more, including a very interesting (and rare) case granting habeas corpus because prosecutors failed to turn over an alleged rape victim's psychiatric record. By Eugene Volokh  •  Read more » Police shootings and race Does the actual distribution of police victims confirm the Black Lives Matter allegation that policing is lethally biased? That depends on the benchmark chosen for assessing police actions. By Heather Mac Donald  •  Read more »   Heather Mac Donald (Manhattan Institute) guest-blogging about ‘The War on Cops’ "Violent crime has been rising sharply in many American cities after two decades of decline. Homicides jumped nearly 17 percent in 2015 in the largest 50 cities, the biggest one-year increase since 1993. The reason is what Heather Mac Donald first identified nationally as the 'Ferguson effect': Since the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, officers have been backing off of proactive policing, and criminals are becoming emboldened." By Eugene Volokh  •  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   Recommended for you   Fact Checker Count the pinocchios. A weekly review of what's true, false or in-between. Sign Up »         Share The Volokh Conspiracy:       Twitter      Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you signed up for updates from The Volokh Conspiracy blog. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. If you believe that this email has been sent to you in error or you no longer wish to receive email from The Washington Post, click here. Contact us for help. ©2016 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071