Present trends continuing: S’Doni Pettis, a black career criminal “on probation after serving time for aggravated battery” (a downgraded charge as Pettis was facing attempted murder) reportedly led police on a high-speed pursuit in a stolen vehicle in February, a chase which ended almost as soon as it began: In less than 30 …
Category: justice
Apr 28 2025
Dodges And Their Dodgers
Way, way back in high school, as part of an essay contest, I was tasked to read a rather inane essay which lodged firmly in my damnably retentive memory: “On Not Prosecuting Civil Disobedience,” by “legal philosopher” Ronald Dworkin. Dworkin’s argument was as convoluted as such things always are. At the core, it consisted …
Apr 25 2025
Evil Knows No Limits
I was going to give myself an easy day today, when I ran across this infamy: FRISCO, Texas – The family of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, who was fatally stabbed at a Frisco track meet, was targeted by yet another “swatting” call, police confirmed. What we know: Frisco police confirmed that officers …
Apr 20 2025
The State’s Paramount Imperative
…is to condition the masses never to question or quarrel with the State: Christopher Dunn was falsely convicted of fatally shooting a 14-year-old in 1991. He was later released after serving over three decades of a life sentence in prison for a crime he did not commit. So far, this looks like …
Apr 10 2025
Apparently It’s Not Just Me
If you remember this bit of bile — I certainly do – it seems others are being victimized as well: Earlier today, US Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient Joe Biggs was suspended by X. Mr. Biggs served several years in federal prison after being convicted on charges relating to January …
Feb 14 2025
Peak Insanity Chronicles
First, for all the lovers among our Gentle Readers, Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope you’re with that special someone and enjoy an affection-and-chocolate-filled day completely free of the sudden impulse to murder her. Easter, our other chocolate-intensive holiday, falls on April 20 this year. That’s a long way off, so get your fill of …
Jan 13 2025
Preventive Measures
It will not surprise you, Gentle Reader, to learn that quite a lot of people think I’m “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.” Neither will it surprise you to hear that that doesn’t bother me. I’m a retired engineer. Most non-engineers consider my sort to be problematic company. Their reasons are fairly consistent. …
Dec 26 2024
The X Travesty
679 Mount Sinai – Coram Road Mount Sinai, NY 11766 December 26, 2024 X Corp. 865 FM 1209 Building 2 Bastrop, TX 78602 Dear Sirs and Mesdames: On December 23 of this year, you suspended my fully paid-for Premium-Plus X account. The email announcing that suspension gave as the reason “Inauthentic accounts.” Yet I …
Dec 25 2024
A Christmas Present I’d Like To Return
X has done it to me again: Twice in less than a month – and whatever their “careful review” might consist of, if the above is literal, then I’m out over $180 for the Premium-Plus access I’ve already paid for. What’s their reason for this bit of larceny? And it’s apparently …
Nov 03 2024
Awakenings
Yes, I’ve used that title before. Twice, in fact. But third time’s the charm, I hope. A word of warning, Gentle Reader. This one will get rough. Moreover, you may not sense it coming. But when it does, you’ll be in no doubt of it. If you can stand to have every …
Sep 22 2024
Still Think The U.N. Is A Force For Good?
Ask an Israeli Jew: (Sep. 18, 2024 / JNS) Jerusalem’s Old City, in addition to Judea and Samaria, must be Judenrein within a year, according to a Palestinian-drafted resolution, which the U.N. General Assembly passed on Wednesday. The resolution, which passed by a 124-14 margin with 43 abstentions, is meant to …
Aug 27 2024
“It’s Not Fair!”
If you’ve ever had responsibility for preschool children, you’ve heard that phrase. Likely you heard it enunciated in one of those inimitable juvenile shrieks that no adult throat can reproduce. It’s the juvenile plaint. Nothing else comes close. Fairness, of course, is one of those words. There are as many definitions as there …
Aug 08 2024
Crime, Punishment, And Lawsuits
About a year and a half ago, there was an assault on a teacher’s aide in a Florida high school. You may have heard about it. The teacher’s aide, Joan Naydich, is a middle-aged, middle-size white woman. The attacker, Brendan Depa, is a giant teenager: 6 feet 6 inches tall, 270 pounds worth of …
Mar 15 2024
The Easiest Sin
Happy Ides of March, Gentle Reader! If you enjoyed your Pi Day – we did – then perhaps you’ll also enjoy this commemoration of the day, in 44 B.C., when a group of civic-minded patricians decided to take an aspiring dictator “off the ballot” in a rather final and unappealable way. It’s a recipe …
Mar 02 2024
This Happened In A “Public” High School
First, a brief excursion into stupidity from a nominally intelligent person: Don’t get me wrong: vigilantism in any form is wrong… Show me the difference – moral or practical – between vigilantism and the State’s version of “justice.” What palm of morality goes with a badge or an office in a “public” …
Feb 07 2024
Evil: A Little Something To Lighten The Mood
[“Heavy” topics can be usefully leavened with humor, if the humorous material is relevant. Herewith, a piece I wrote back in 2010, about a distant culture with a…peculiar view of criminal self-indulgence. — FWP] The Scourge: A Report From Epsilon Eridani III Those boys over at NASA have not been idle. Oh, no, …
Dec 11 2023
Adverse Possession And Easements
This story out of England, which from the headline might appear an unconscionable travesty of justice, reveals facets that raise uncomfortable questions: The property originally belonged to Doris Curtis, who died in the 1980s and left her house to her son, Colin. Mr. Curtis moved out in 1996 to live in another inherited …
Dec 06 2023
A Growing Hunger
“If the law is too mild, private vengeance comes in.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson No, I’m not entirely well, but a plaintive comment by a regular Gentle Reader that he was experiencing “Porretto withdrawal” has – temporarily, at least – restored enough of my energy and determination to write something substantial for him…and …
Oct 04 2023
Is This A Dictator In A Judge’s Robes?
This supposed jurist has a unique belief about his judicial powers: In one clip circulating on the Internet, New York District Judge Arthur Engoron told college students that he has a tool for juries who get it wrong as he sees it. He’s the tool, but says the tool is “judgment notwithstanding the verdict.” …
Sep 11 2023
Sovereign Immunity
[The following piece first appeared at Liberty’s Torch V1.0 on June 14, 2016. And before you ask: No, I haven’t been to the kzinti homeworld since then. – FWP] Some years ago, a friend of mine who sought to pursue an action against his township for mistakenly demolishing his house was told, in …
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