Radley Balko reports with some astonishment that a grand jury in Burleson County, Texas has refused to indict a man who shot and killed a police officer who was conducting a SWAT-style raid on his home: Last December 19th, nine of the 10 members of the Burleson County Sheriff’s Department staged a raid on the rural home of Henry Magee. [...]By the time the raid was over, … [Read more...] about An Unfortunate Message For Police
I Have Got to Start Writing Shorter Posts
It just feels like way too many of my posts are really long, including several that are in the pipeline. I have got to start writing more short posts. That is all. … [Read more...] about I Have Got to Start Writing Shorter Posts
Sources and Credit
Scott Greenfield is a little peeved that reporters don't give credit when they pick up stories from bloggers: For many years, mainstream media got a lot of juice as a result of links from the web, from blogs. We would see a story and pick it up, run with it, comment on it, and people would find it sufficiently fascinating to go read the source article in a paper they would … [Read more...] about Sources and Credit
Thane Rosenbaum Wants Us to Stop Being Mean…Or Else
Thane Rosenbaum has an opinion piece at the Daily Beast arguing that we should suppress the rights of Neo-Nazis and others to spout "hate speech." That's a common and well-meaning proposition, however misguided, but his reasoning for why we should have these laws is dangerously overbroad.Let me start, however, by pointing out that the Nazis themselves were no fan of free … [Read more...] about Thane Rosenbaum Wants Us to Stop Being Mean…Or Else
Scattershot 2014-02-01
Random shots around the web:Matt Brown has a lot more background information about the cop who shot a surrendering man in the back and about the leadership in Pinal County that make it likely he'll get away with it.Norm DeGuerre has a very good essay describing the mismatch between how the justice system works and how real people live their lives.Gideon notes that … [Read more...] about Scattershot 2014-02-01