I call it the Secret Knowledge. Meaning that body of information not everyone has, that body known only to those few people who had the good sense to go off the beaten path and seek it. It is information you’ll never see in your “newspapers” or “network news” or any other place overly concerned with […]

He had his first major breakdown when he was 26. A man who had been known for his sunny, outgoing temperament became suddenly sullen, silent and withdrawn. He spoke openly of suicide. It got so bad that a couple took him into their home to ensure he did not hurt himself. His second breakdown was […]

Marissa Alexander got out of jail last week, but she is not free. At best, she enjoys only a species of freedom, a defective freedom that imperfectly resembles the real thing. After a cumulative total of three years behind bars, she will now spend two years on house arrest, monitored by a GPS ankle bracelet. […]

We should have seen this one coming. This is America, after all, a country having no shortage of people with, apparently, too much time on their hands. So someone should have predicted Cake Wars II. No, that’s not a new summer blockbuster from Marvel. Rather, “Cake Wars” is Slate’s name for the latest wrinkle in […]

Tucker Carlson said on Fox that more children die of bathtub drownings than of accidental shootings. They don’t. Steve Doocy said on Fox that NASA scientists faked data to make the case for global warming. They didn’t. Rudy Giuliani said on Fox that President Obama has issued propaganda asking everybody to “hate the police.” He […]

Imagine this: You get pulled over by police. Maybe they claim you were seven miles over the speed limit, maybe they say you made an improper lane change. Doesn’t matter, because the traffic stop is only a pretext. Using that pretext, they ask permission to search your car for drugs. You give permission and they […]

“There’s something happening here.” — Buffalo Springfield “Can you feel it?” — The Jacksons They have not stopped. That’s one of the most heartening things about the demonstrations against police brutality that began with the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August and renewed with a grand jury’s decision last week not to […]

So what does “cruel and unusual” mean? I once asked that of a law professor. The Eighth Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual” punishment, but I figured there had to be some technical definition I, as a layperson, was missing. I mean, from where I sit, it’s pretty “cruel and unusual” to execute someone, but to […]