The Forbes list of "America's Most Miserable Cities" is out and Chicago has moved up to number 3 from last year's number 6 position. Lousy weather, long commutes, rising unemployment and the highest sales tax rate in the country are to blame for the Windy City being near the top of our list. High rates of corruption by public officials didn't help either. A big factor in our … [Read more...] about #3 With a Bullet
Pirates of Tenaha
You know how in third world countries a bunch of guys with guns will set up on a road and rob every vehicle that comes through? We have that here too, except they're run by local governments and call themselves the police. Law enforcement authorities in this East Texas town of 1,000 people seized property from at least 140 motorists between 2006 and 2008, and, to date, filed … [Read more...] about Pirates of Tenaha
Peter McWilliams
I just noticed that Rogier van Bakel has a blogroll link to Peter McWilliams's free on-line version of his magnificant book Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in a Free Country. The premise of the book is simple: This book is about a single idea---consenting adults should not be put in jail unless they physically harm the person or property … [Read more...] about Peter McWilliams
Michael Phelps Learns His Lesson
The Michael-Phelps-smokes-pot non-story I blogged earlier has taken a depressing turn and brought back a familiar character, according to an AP story by Meg Kinnard: Olympic superstar Michael Phelps could face criminal charges as part of the fallout from a photo that surfaced showing the swimmer smoking from a marijuana pipe at a University of South Carolina house party. … [Read more...] about Michael Phelps Learns His Lesson
Rubric, Meet Rationale. Play Nice, Why Don’t You?
The blogosphere -- and blawgosphere -- is abuzz today over the partial conviction of Ryan Frederick yesterday. That is, I guess, a bit like partial conception, or only being a little screwed, but let's get back to that. Rather than recap -- I'm lazy, and not getting paid by the word here -- let me just refer you to the pre-conviction roundup over at Balko's place, … [Read more...] about Rubric, Meet Rationale. Play Nice, Why Don’t You?