Crime and Punishment

There's a sculpture in a public park in Chicago that people aren't allowed to photograph because the artist still owns the copyright. Apparently the guards hassle people they see taking pictures. According to the comments in this Hit and Run article, this is pretty common, although usually in private displays, not on public property. Also, personal photography is usually … [Read more...] about Creepy Parallels

The Gleeful Extremist is bitching about the fact that federal employees leaving work are perfect mugging victims because everyone knows they're not allowed to bring weapons to work. I think I have a solution. After 9/11 a lot of people realized that disarming airplane passengers had a bigger downside than previously believed. But what weapons to allow the passengers for … [Read more...] about Gleeful Battering

Others have already mentioned the unfortunate shooting of undercover police officer Lisa Ramsey in Fort Worth. Public accounts are still incomplete, but it looks like she or some other officer made a buy from a crack dealer outside a convenience store then came back when he was inside to arrest him. Not wanting to have her cover blown, she wore a mask. Expecting trouble, she … [Read more...] about Brave and Courageous.

Illinois Governor George Ryan is preparing to commute the sentences of most of the inmates on death row. This is probably a good thing, as Illinois has had to free a surprising number of condemned prisoners who later turned out the be almost-certainly innocent. Not just technically not guilty, mind you, but really innocent, as in somebody else did it. From the Reuters piece: … [Read more...] about Allegedly on Death Row.

The ex-wife and son of alleged sniper John Allen Muhammad both have stated that he should receive the death penalty if found guilty. I don't know what else they said, but the quotes from the Reuters article are pretty amazing: "If he sat in a car and killed innocent people, if they find him guilty for that, then yes." -wife "Even though he is my father, in my eyes, you reap … [Read more...] about Intellectual Courage.