For their review: Imagine that you–or, if you prefer, a younger, more reckless version of you–committed a crime. … And say you were offered a choice: you could either spend those years behind bars, or you could get ten lashes. … You may think flogging is barbaric, but is there any question which you would choose if you could? According…
In an attempt to get health care. What a country! I am curious to see how this will play out. He probably won’t be sentenced to the three years he wants. Will he then commit more crime? And he might disappointed about the quality of health care in prison. But it is better than nothing.
If you’re reading this, you’re in the good company of about 400 others. If you’re reading this, you probably have at least someinterest in what I write. But here’s the thing, if you’re reading this, you probably have not bought my book, In Defense of Flogging. Yeah, I’m calling you out. How, you may ask, do I knowyou haven’t bought…
How about that? Maybe that guy in 1996 at the Abbey Lounge in Somerville wasn’t him after all. The Timesarticle leaves out the details regarding his relationship with his younger brother, who was a long time state representative and then President of of the University of Massachusetts. If my older brother was on the lam, I wouldn’t rat him out,…
But his acquittal in Dutch court is an important victory for free speech in the Netherlands. As a side note, the Dutch legal system has some peculiarities from an American perspective, and not just the fact that somebody can be tried for what they say: The verdict had been expected as prosecutors themselves had called for his acquittal, arguing that…
I stumbled across an Asian grocery store in The Bronx that had some of the feistiest crabs I’ve seen a while. Decent sized, too (for New York). I bought six. I was tempted to let one loose on the subway home, but I resisted. But a good eye would have seen some some of the claws poking through the bag.…
This is good news for Republicans, supply-siders, and those who like to stick their ideological economic heads in the sand: the rich are getting richer. The top 0.1 percent of the population (those making about $1.7 million or more) now have an average income of $5.6 million per year. This is a 385% increase since 1970 (inflation adjusted). Think of…
The LA Times reports that the ATF Director is expected to resign over the “Fast and Furious” gun program. It sure does seem a little strange for law enforcement to watch guns being sold to criminals and not acting. The operation marked a rare instance in which ATF agents allowed guns to “walk” into the hands of criminals, ostensibly with…
I just received an email with a subject line that baffled me: “Enough room to swing a cat.” I’ve actually heard that absurd expression, which as far as I knew, came (at least in print) from Mark Twain. I was introduced to the phrase by a Russian translator in Moscow circa 1991 who liked to show off his learned “colloquial”…