"In order to understand the nature of the Syrian conflict, it is essential that we remember the first years of the uprising, and, through remembering what took place between 2011 and 2014, dispel the myth that Syria has always been a proxy war or has always been a struggle between a secular government and jihadis. To ignore the years which lead Syria from a democratic uprising to a bloody proxy war is to read history backwards."

On how BIDs push for the criminalization of homelessness using Denver's urban camping ban and Downtown Denver Partnership as its primary example.

For a book-length treatment of this and similar issues, I recommend Randall Amster's Lost In Space: The Criminalization, Globalization, and Urban Ecology of Homelessness (2008) which examines the role BIDs play in criminalizing homelessness using the struggles over the sit-lie ordinances in Tempe, AZ, as a case study.