David Gibson of Gibson’s Bakery died

If you followed the fracas between Gibson’s Bakery in Oberlin, Ohio, and Oberlin College, as many of us did (see here), you’ll know that one of the plaintiffs in the civil suit against the College, David Gibson, had cancer. It turns out that it was pancreatic cancer, an almost invariably fatal disease, and Gibson died […]

The issue of transgender prisoners: Where do you place them?

Like all liberals, I favor equal treatment for transgender people, including using the pronouns that they choose for themselves. Previously, though, I’ve drawn the line at sports, in which transgender women, some of whom have undergone neither surgery nor hormone replacement, are allowed in some places to compete with biological women. Given the greater strength […]

The case of Malcolm Gladwell vs. Jerry Sandusky

In January of 2018 I wrote a post about whether Penn State’s assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was guilty of child abuse. In 2012 Sandusky was, as you may remember, convicted of 45 counts of sexually abusing eight young boys. His prison sentence was 30-60 years, and, since he was born in 1944, this was […]

Wife of U.S. diplomat flees UK after killing British teen in a traffic accident; U.S. refuses to waive diplomatic immunity

Many venues have reported that, on August 27, the wife of an American diplomat in England killed a teenage English citizen riding a motorbike. The woman, Anne Sacoolas (not named in most American reports, but named by Boris Johnson and several British outlets), was apparently driving on the wrong side of the road at the […]

Felicity Huffman given prison sentence (a light one)

Actor Felicity Huffman, who pleaded guilty in the college-admissions scandal, was sentenced today to 14 days in jail beginning October 25, along with a $30,000 fine, 250 hours of community service and one year supervised release. Although this was a compromise between the jail time her own lawyers wanted (none) and what the prosecution requested […]

There’s already a movie on the college admissions scandal

Yes, theres a movie, “ripped from the headlines,” and out before even the most famous defendant Lori Laughlin, has been tried, much less sentenced (Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty and will soon be sentenced), while Laughlin pleaded not guilty and is yet to go to trial.) Were I Laughlin’s lawyer, I’d probably try to get her […]

Tennessee electrocutes convicted killer

From the Nashville Scene we learn that there’s just been an execution in Tennessee (why is it always the Red States that execute people?). The details are given in this article in The Nashville Scene (click on screenshot): The details are horrific, and nobody claims that Stephen West is completely innocent. He did have an […]

Jeffrey Epstein commits suicide in jail

UPDATE: The NYT updated report says that Epstein was on suicide watch, but had been taken off it, though I have no idea why—nor are officials forthcoming about it: But one federal prison official with knowledge of the incident said Mr. Epstein had been taken off suicide watch a few days ago, and was being […]

More horror from the Trump administration: federal government to resume executions after a sixteen-year hiatus

Given the lack of evidence that capital punishment is a deterrent, the fact that it’s more expensive—given the appeals system—than life without parole, the ineluctable fact that innocent people have been executed and, if the death penalty were abolished, they could have been freed, and the fact that capital punishment is barbaric and often painful, […]

Iran executes two teenagers in secret, informs them only the day before

According to the Amnesty International article below, Iran just executed two teenage boys for rape after what they say was an unfair trial as well as flogging during detention. The report also adds that the pair didn’t know they were to be executed at most one day before it happened (click on screenshot): Part of […]