It looks like Seattle police may think the Sunday morning shooting deaths of four Lakewood police officers was the work of a guy who was reportedly out on $150,000 bail from another couple of crimes. However, the thing that everyone's going to be talking about is the fact that he had previously been sentenced to a 95-year sentence in Arkansas, but he was released early after … [Read more...] about The Crime of the Moment
Thanks For My Friends
For the last twenty years or so, my wife and I have spent every Thanksgiving with my parents. However, my parents both passed away this year. Everyone says the holidays are hard times after a loss, and I've had two of them, so I've been a bit concerned about how this Thanksgiving would go. Fortunately, some good friends have invited us to join them for dinner. This year, … [Read more...] about Thanks For My Friends
Keeping the Jury in the Dark
I'm guessing that most of you are neither lawyers nor career criminals, which means that, like me, your most significant role in the criminal justice system is probably going to be juror. As Norm Pattis explains, this means you're going to be kept in the dark: When we refuse to let juries know the truth about the consequences of a conviction in a criminal case we hamper a … [Read more...] about Keeping the Jury in the Dark
Scattershot 2009-11-20
Random shots around the web: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been returning overhead photos of the Apollo landing sites. Cory Maye is getting a new trial. Steve Landsburg slams Krugman and then praises Krugman. Sounds right to me in both cases. It just kills me that teachers grade students all the time, but their unions fight anything that suggests some teachers are … [Read more...] about Scattershot 2009-11-20
The Public Option to Healthcare Reform is Stupid
Putting a public option in the comprehensive healthcare reform bill is a stupid idea. Note that I'm not saying that the public option is a stupid idea, nor am I saying that comprehensive reform is a stupid idea. Either or both of those things could be stupid, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying it's stupid to have a comprehensive reform bill and a public option. … [Read more...] about The Public Option to Healthcare Reform is Stupid