The Supreme Court has upheld a drug used in Oklahoma executions, dismissing the claim of three death-row inmates that it causes excruciating pain.
Basically, the majority of the Supremes said the inmates should’ve come up with an alternative drug – which Justice Sonia Sotomayor thought was nutty.
“Petitioners contend that Oklahoma’s current protocol is a barbarous method of punishment — the chemical equivalent of being burned alive,” Justice Sotomayor wrote. ...
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Boy, the Public Editor’s column in the June 28 edition of The New York Times really struck a chord with me. The column by Margaret Sullivan wondered if both The Times and its readers are served by reporters who write books, people like columnist and PBS commentator David Brooks, whose latest work, “The Road to Character,” has been the subject of several columns that linked to his website. Readers complained not only about his shilling for his book but about errors in the book that have since been corrected.
While I haven’t read the book, I thought the premise of related columns – that the individual needs to be subjugated to the good of the community – was essentially illogical and unrealistic. ...
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You know how they always say you have to get back on the horse, back in the saddle?
Well, that’s just what American Pharoah has done, so to speak. After a three-week victory parade, he’s back working out at his home track, Santa Anita, and looking good doing it.
No word on where he’ll be racing next so there’s no point in speculating. What’s clear is that he has a few races left, including the Breeders’ Cup Classic Oct. 30 and 31, before he begins making other little horseys. That’s too bad. Bloodlines are tricky, as I’ll explore in “Criterion,” the third planned book in my series “The Games Men Play,” told in part from the viewpoint of a racehorse trying to win the Triple Crown. ...
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What’s with The New York Times’ love affair with Roger Federer?
“Against the odds, Federer bids for an eighth Wimbledon title,” the paper noted in a headline on the eve of Wimbledon’s opening. The article was accompanied by a photograph of Feddy winning in 2007. For the Grey Lady, time stopped in 2007. Honestly, it’s as if The Times were Anna Wintour.
Unfortunately, for Fed, The Times and Anna, along came Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, who proved to be Fed’s real rivals, not merely his opponents. In a sense, however, they came along too late. ...
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Can Novak Djokovic overcome the devastation of losing to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final and defend his Wimbledon title? He is said not to be one to dwell on loss. Still, this one had to sting like no other. Can he put aside that sting as he did when he lost to Roger Federer in the French semifinals in 2011 then went on to win Wimbledon and the No. 1 ranking?
Speaking of Fed, can he summon his glory days to win his 18th Slam?
Can Rafael Nadal – who won one grass tournament and lost early in another recently – regain the form that made his Wimbledon matches with Fed so memorable? ...
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OK, I must take a moment away from the Supremes and their historic decisions this week to protest the idea of getting rid of Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill in favor of a woman.
Alexander Hamilton? The man who gave us shopping? It’s not surprising that there’s a hit Broadway musical about him. The guy was all about the cash. Say what you want about Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison, but Hamilton understood that “Power without revenue is a mere bauble.” Precisely. The reason we are the richest nation on earth is because of Hamilton. ...
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As the Supremes were busy upholding gay marriage barely (5-4, still a win is a win) the dissenters among them went into overdrive with talk of the Aztecs, hippies and California not being part of the American West.
But leave it to Justice Clarence “Uncle” Thomas – a man who once dismissed a racial discrimination suit by noting that most of the players in the NBA are black – to come up with a point that really misses the point. ...
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