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 …
Category: justice
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 …
Jun 30 2023
The Totalitarians And The State Of Fear
My acquaintance with the works of the late Michael Crichton isn’t deep. However, I have read what many consider to be his best novel, State of Fear, and was greatly impressed by his insight into the desires and methods of contemporary power-seekers. A fearful populace, that shrinks from terrors real and imagined, is …
Jun 28 2023
Assertions Are Not Evidence
I have a grueling day before me, so I must dash off a quickie and bid my Gentle Readers a good day. However, we do have a newsworthy story before us. Concerning the death of accused teen-sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, Justice Department Inspector-general Michael Horowitz has issued a “report.” It does nothing to …
Jun 22 2023
Powerful Or Powerless?
Anyone who follows the storms of political commentary will be aware that the Left is angry that the Supreme Court of the United States is currently moderately conservative. (I make it roughly 5.33 conservatives to 3.67 left-liberals, as Chief Justice John Roberts has proved that he cannot be trusted.) This morning, John Hinderaker comments …
Jun 22 2023
The Hunter Biden Saga
Yes, it’s been going on for quite a while now. Many are asking whether it’s genuinely important or one of the Establishment’s diversions. I’m no longer sure. But of this I am certain: developments are telling us in the plainest possible manner that the American ideal of classlessness has been overthrown. There is now …
May 08 2023
Owing To The January 6 Trials…
…and much else, including such events as the death of black thug Jordan Neely at the hands of a public-spirited Marine veteran, the legal principle – yes, Gentle Reader, it is a principle, not just some libertarian’s half-baked notion – of jury nullification has re-entered the national discourse. It’s actually rather strange that …
Apr 29 2023
Forms Of Community Service
I found this gem at Kenny “Wirecutter” Lane’s site: [He] had a video rental store, that kept getting broken into, so he slept there for a couple nights. After about a week, someone broke in, a couple of 17 or 18 year olds. The story he told was that one of them grabbed …
Jan 27 2023
Qualifications For The Federal Bench
…don’t include intimate familiarity with the Supreme Law of the Land: Q: “Judge, tell me what article V of the Constitution does?” Biden judicial nominee: “Article V is not coming to mind at the moment.” “How about article II?” Nominee: “Neither is Article II” pic.twitter.com/MvdLR3TDKZ — Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) January 26, 2023 …
Jan 09 2023
SKUNC >> RINO
This news item “Adam Kinzinger, House Republican Who Served on Jan. 6 Committee, Lands Job at CNN After Retiring” reminded me why I could never abide the easier to recognize but poor choice for a pejorative that is Republican In Name Only. For one thing, a RINO is still a republican, just not a constitutional …
Nov 04 2022
The Ongoing Firestorm
Emily Oster’s saccharine-saturated column in The Atlantic, in which she argues – unpersuasively – for a “pandemic amnesty” has ignited a blaze that, so far, has refused to go out. Indeed, it seems to be mounting as the days count down to the midterm elections…and that’s a good thing. I’ve already said my …
Oct 17 2022
Deterrences
Back in the Sixties and Seventies, the hottest controversy in criminal justice was that of punishment versus rehabilitation. The trendy theory was that punishment actually increases the incidence of crime – that rather than inflicting punishment of any sort on the offender, carefully re-educating and reorienting him to social norms would be more fruitful. …
Oct 07 2022
TEOTWAWKI Stuff
I don’t write a great deal on this subject, but lately I’ve been getting the sense that the time has come to confront some harsh realities and some ugly possibilities. If you’re not in the mood for the subject this fine Friday morning, I promise that I’ll understand…but I am. *** The following …
Aug 28 2022
Third-Party Forgiveness
Joseph Sobran once composed an instructive parable that went something like this: Davis is listening to Jones speak of some injustice done to him by Smith. Davis waits until Jones runs down, and then says, “Oh, that’s all right. I forgive Smith for what he did to you.” How do you suppose Jones …
Aug 04 2022
Using Law To Defeat SJWs
On properly using the law against the lawless: The Governor has the authority under the Florida Constitution to suspend state officials for reasons of misfeasance, malfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony. The Governor has further authority to fill that office by appointment for the …
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