I haven't really been following the trial of the four cops who shot an unarmed Sean Bell outside the strip club where he'd just had a bachelor party. However, a few things seem worth mentioning. First of all, the fact that the cops fired 50 shots is vivid and horrific, but I don't think it says much about the cops who did the shooting. Cops used to be taught to draw and … [Read more...] about A Few Thoughts About the Sean Bell Shooting
Nosocomial Blues
It all started when my 88-year-old father's home care nurse came to visit and noticed that his left foot looked infected. He has diabetes---meaning an infection in an extremeity could be serious---so she got some kind of medi-car service to take him to the emergency room at the local V.A. hospital. The ER there operates as a walk-in clinic during the day. The doctor took a … [Read more...] about Nosocomial Blues
Trimming the Elements to Make the Law a Lie
Iowa Champion Charles Kenville posts a complaint about the unfairness of drug threshold levels in Iowa: Because the threshold level for a mandatory 25 year prison sentence on methamphetamine charges is so low (five grams), prosecutors have unconscionable power over a defendant's fate during plea bargaining... The injustice with the low threshold is that the person trafficking … [Read more...] about Trimming the Elements to Make the Law a Lie
A Hard Drive Across the Border
New York Criminal Defense Lawyer Scott Greenfield has some comments about a disturbing Fourth Amendment ruling. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects everyone in the United States from unreasonable searches. And I'm pretty sure that the U.S. government can't conduct arbitrary searches of U.S. citizens outside the country either. But when we cross the border, … [Read more...] about A Hard Drive Across the Border
What Competition In Aviation Means To Us
Kip is making fun of an op-ed by Robert Crandall in the New York Times, and rightly so. Consider the first paragraphs of Crandall's missive: Thirty years ago this fall, Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Since then, America’s airline system has greatly deteriorated. I suppose that's one way of looking at it. Another way to look at it is that … [Read more...] about What Competition In Aviation Means To Us