Law and Order
Andrew (not Morse) joins the intraconservative conversation about bringing Rhode Island back in line with the rest of the country by making prostitution explicitly illegal: Justin, I agree with Dan on this. You can’t legislate morality. There’s a reason that prostitution is known as the oldest profession. Even Christ hung out with a hooker. And…
Today’s epiphany — which I wouldn’t be surprised to find to be common understanding among a great many people more insightful than myself — is the intellectual proximity of those who would erase from the books any “victimless crime” and those who see a “victim” of a social crime in every unhappy circumstance. The first…
Before we let his subject drift into the vague pastures of public memory, let’s join Mark Patinkin in shaking our heads at the tale of the neighbor-killer who retired in his twenties after six months of public service: You no doubt saw that Nicholas Gianquitti, 41, now serving 40 years for murdering Cranston fire lieutenant…
As with much else in Rhode Island, it could be that some of the decisive ambivalence about the continued permissibility of prostitution in the state would dissipate if people took a moment to understand what it actually means. The blog of a new Web site that URI Professor Donna Hughes and associate Melanie Shapiro have…
Growing up in the ’80s, with all of the romanticizing of the ’60s that was fashionable, then, I thought it pleasantly discordant to hear George Harrison describe his disappointment in the Beatles’ visit to Haight-Ashbury, where the big scene consisted of “a bunch of spotty teenagers” (or something close thereto). Less pleasant was learning, some…
Lynn Arditi has an excellent article in today’s Projo on the evolution of prostitution law in Rhode Island, challenging the notion that the loophole in state law allowing indoor prostitution was somehow created by accident. Apparently, pro-legalization activists in the late 70s were active in many states…Margo St. James, the former prostitute who challenged the…
Only evil was served by the killing of abortionist George Tiller. Just as one can imagine the phrases by which Satan guided Tiller to see his barbarous work as righteous, one can imagine the whispers that brought the killer to Tiller’s church — leading him perhaps to see as poetry a setting that should have…
As Americans accede to the concerted push to break down our mores and cultural definitions, we shouldn’t be surprised if there’s an increase in this sort of double-take news items: Two men and a woman, ages 18, 19 and 20, have been indicted for allegedly raping a fellow University of Rhode Island student on campus…
Laws should be enforced (or stricken or modified if they will not be), but there’s something unseemly — extortionate — about this: The state in April increased the excise tax on cigarettes by $1, to $3.46 a pack, the highest in the country. The move has obvious health benefits, but it also aims to generate…
Last night, Matt Allen and I chatted about our new Community Crier feature and reviewed some of the particulars of Paul Kelly’s ordeal with the Rhode Island judiciary. Stream by clicking here, or download it.