Thanks. It'd be a cheap night for you — two rum and Cokes and he's ready to go home!

And I apologize for swearing at you. However, "all available information" does not say otherwise. We are referencing two different databases that count minority groups in two totally different ways. But I don't really want to argue about it. Pray or cross your fingers or whatever you think will work that he and…

Oh, gosh, Internet stranger, you know everything about me! Since you are so clairvoyant, let me introduce you to my husband. He's a combat arms officer. He's coming up for COL and 20 years. He's got a Silver Star. He's also done two tours in Iraq and a tour in Afghanistan. On the second tour of Iraq he suffered a…

Oh, I understand, believe me! I've lived with an Irishman for almost two decades and hearing him and his family attempt "La Jolla, California" was eye-opening. Just as it was for them when I attempted "Dún Laoghaire" and dozens of other place names. in Ireland. (By the way, that last one sounds like "Dun-Leary." …

Ah, I see your point. And now that I think about it, actually lots of actors and actresses deliberately choose unconventional names as stage names!

Honestly, depending upon where you live (in the US, anyway) you can certainly run into names that might be strange for the country as a whole, but which are not difficult…

Saoirse is not at all an uncommon name for girls in Ireland. Neither are Aoife or Niamh or a host of other names that someone who grew up outside of Ireland might (or might not) have a problem pronouncing. Were you being sarcastic and I just missed it?

Sure. You outlined one possibility above. Also, people do change over the course of their lives. I'm not in favor of one-size-fits-all judgments.

I do object to LWOP. And don't tell me what I can find rational and what I can't.

Yeah, I get it. You want vengeance. Go indulge your bloodlust. You can stop trying to couch it in statistics. Sleep well.

You might want to check your statistics on how many people are actually executed in India and Japan as a percentage of the population then.

Your response confuses me. I didn't mention the number of people who live in countries with the death penalty (which is around half of the world's population, by the way .) I referenced the number of countries that use it. Only about 40 countries in the world retain and actually use the death penalty. That is a…

The numbers in the report referenced do not seem to align with the numbers in this report from the US Census: USA Quick Facts. The source you referenced listed the breakdown as 30.3% of active duty personnel identifying as Black, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. …

The US military is essentially very conservative. Women with shaved heads would not fit into that picture.

Another very good point. I just can't get over the sheer number of people here proudly professing that they are perfectly okay with execution if the crime committed was horrible enough. Presumably, these are the same people who write comments on other articles on this very same site trumpeting their open-mindedness…

Sordid is exactly the word for an all-volunteer military that is deliberately structured to tempt people who don't have much in the way of opportunity with fairly decently paying jobs and the occasional bonus. The military — especially in the enlisted ranks — depends heavily on African-Americans, Hispanics, and poor,…

Exactly! Just because I may want to do something vengeful, even if that desire is understandable, it doesn't make it ethically or morally correct.

It seems that veterinarians were actually consulted when states began adopting lethal injection back in the 1970's and their recommendations were ignored on the grounds that the public wouldn't like the idea of animal drugs being used on humans. Makes no sense, I know.

I am floored by the number of comments on this article from people who claim to be against the death penalty but who then write something along the lines of, "Except for this guy and the other guy because they deserve it." If you think anyone deserves it then you are not against the death penalty!

I think it might be the opposite, actually. Veterinarians use a different set of drugs to euthanize animals. The drugs used in the execution of prisoners do not work as well or as quickly as those used for animals. Here's a link, but be forewarned that it's not entirely easy to read:Animal Euthanasia and Capital…

Right — just like we don't really want parents and students to know what we call them behind their backs. It wouldn't matter if people grasped what we meant by the words or not. If it sounds awful to the average ear and you are in profession that is supposed to be about caring for other people then that should…