Learning to Write

     You learn to write by writing. It's a truism, but what makes it a truism is that it's true. The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.

     If you went to work for a newspaper that required you to write two or three articles every day, you would be a better writer after six months. You wouldn't necessarily be writing well--your style might still be full of clutter and cliches. But you would be exercising your powers of putting the English language on paper, gaining confidence and identifying the most common problems.

William Zinsser, On Writing Well, originally published in 1975

H. L. Mencken on the Fiction Writer

What are the hallmarks of a competent writer of fiction? The first, it seems to me, is that he should be immensely interested in human beings, and have an eye sharp enough to see into them, and a hand clever enough to draw them as they are.

H. L. Mencken in H. L. Mencken on American Literature, edited by H. L. Mencken and S. T. Joshi, 2002 

How Not to Hire a Hitman

     In 2013, Megan Schmidt, a 23-year-old from Dubuque, Iowa, didn't like her father and wanted him dead. She claimed he had abused her. So, in an effort to find someone to murder him, she posted an ad on Craigslist promising to pay $10,000 to the person willing to do a "mysterious job."

     When people responded to the posting, Schmidt told them she wanted her father killed. One of these people reported her to the police. Shortly thereafter, she was on video soliciting an undercover cop to carry out the murder. A year later, a judge sentenced her to seven years in prison.

     Unfortunately for Schmidt, stupidity is not a recognized legal defense.

Winners and Losers in the Prohibition Era

     In 1919, the 18th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution allowed for the Volstead Act that banned the manufacture, shipping, and selling of liquor. In 1933, the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment which allowed the repeal of the Volstead Act. Americans went back to lawful drinking.

     Besides people who liked to drink, the U. S. government, during the prohibition era, was the big loser. During that period, the federal government lost $11 billion in tax revenue from liquor sales. Moreover, the government spent $300 million in a futile effort to enforce the Volstead Act.

     Prohibition's big winner ended up being organized crime. During the liquor ban, the Mafia gained a giant foothold in every major city in the country. In Chicago, gangster Al Capone earned $60 million a year providing illegal booze to thirsty Americans. Eventually the IRS brought Capone down by taking him to court for tax evasion. Scarface served eleven years at Alcatraz before he died in 1947 from untreated syphilis. Before his federal conviction, Capone virtually ran the city of Chicago.

"Going Redneck"

     In the early morning hours of Friday, January 10, 2020, not far from Lexington, Kentucky, officers with the Kentucky State Police received a disturbance call involving an altercation between a man and a woman at her home in Mount Vernon. According to the 911 caller, he heard the woman order her pit bull to attack the man.

     When officers arrived at the house, they found 38-year-old Melissa D. Wolfe on top of 55-year-old Donald W. Abner. She was punching him in the face as he was being mauled by her dog. Mr. Abner had already died from the attack.
 
     Officers shot and killed the pit bull, and took Wolfe, who had a clump of the victim's hair in her bloody hand, into custody. According to the arrestee, she was "going redneck" on Mr. Abner.

     A Rockcastle County prosecutor charged Melissa Wolfe with murder. 

Changing Opinions Regarding the O. J. Simpson Verdict

     In July 1994, before O. J. Simpson's double murder acquittal, 37 percent of white people believed he was guilty. Only 15 percent of blacks thought he was.

     In a 2016 poll, 76 percent of whites believed O. J. Simpson guilty, and 44 percent of blacks thought he was guilty as well. 

Growing Up in a Crime-Free Environment

There was one "crime" during the whole time I was at school, when a fountain pen went missing. Stealing just didn't happen. I was taught not to shoplift, not to steal, not to behave badly. We weren't even allowed to drop litter.

Joanna Lumley, English actress

Arson Amid the Historic Australian Brushfire Catastrophe

   
     Since September 2019, hundreds of out-of-control brushfires have burned millions of acres in Australia. The fires have killed 25 people, millions of wild animals and livestock, and have destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

     In January 2020, prosecutors in the state of New South Wales charged 24 people with deliberately setting bushfires amid the historic fire catastrophe. Most of those charged were juveniles. Hundreds of others have been charged with violating the country's fire burning ban. 

The Trigger Happy Motorist

     At eight o'clock on Saturday evening in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, several children were throwing snowballs at cars. When a snowball hit a passing white Toyota, someone in the vehicle fired a gun into the group hitting two of the youngsters.

     After the wounded children, ages 12 and 13, were treated at the scene for non-life threatening injuries, they were transported to a local hospital. Meanwhile, police officers searched for the white Toyota and the unidentified shooter.

     Memo to kids with snowballs, throw them at each other, not cars. There are people out there who will kill you for nothing.

Mandatory Sentencing

Mandatory sentencing guidelines have become as complicated as the IRS code.

Harold H. Greene, U.S. District Court Judge