Self-defense is the issue on which I probably feel most distant from the left. Crockett posits that it was the role of Penny and other strangers in this subway car, being threatened by Neely, to somehow divine and solve the problems of his life that hadn’t been solved by Neely himself, his parents, friends, or anyone close to him for 30 years. Absent that, they’re to just sit there in fear and hope he does nothing. Just like you’re supposed to sit in your car during a pro-Hamas/Hezbollah march and hope you don’t become Reginald Denny. Penny was also unarmed and put himself at risk to restrain someone who was threatening others. He was helped by others on the car and thanked by those he protected. Neely was alive when police arrived. The jury had more facts that Crockett has bothered to avail herself of and was diverse. They returned a not guilty verdict unanimously. And now NY can go back to not helping the Neelys of the world while it also ignores the crimes they commit, leaving the law-abiding subject to the repeated abuses of violent criminals without a state or Good Samaritans to protect them. And they wonder why cities swung right.