When it started, the contest really highlighted the ‘unadoptable’ shelter dogs which is a worthy cause as a lot of great animals are overlooked due to physical imperfections.

Part of the reason men writing romantic novels end up in literary fiction is because they can’t compete with the novels in the romance category. There is a lot of money there, but much tougher competition.

The idea that ‘suicidal people will just find another way’ is not accurate. A gun in the home increases the likelyhood of a suicide happening at all, not just the likelyhood of it happening with a gun.

Maybe the airline is liable if they don’t get rid of a “known risk” passenger immediately. Unless there is an Air Marshal on board to sit on the guy, a different seat won’t keep him from potentially manhandling the flight attendants. Or leaving the seat.

In the original fairy tales they were dead, or looked dead. It’s a weird trope: women are supposed to civilize monsters (beauty&beast) while men are supposed to revive dead women (sleeping beauty, Snow White).

Love (of NRA money) is stronger than hate (of thoughts and prayers speeches).

I think it's reasonable for an elected official to be held accountable by his electorate.

I feel your pain. My husband, who has previously appeared sane on gun related issues, has recently started floating some gun nut nonsense and approaching the idea of getting a gun of his own (for self defense and not hunting purposes).

It’s pretty difficult to change someone’s mind when their livelihood, identity, and social circle all depend on holding on to the same ideas.

You don't need to injure the wolf, you need to startle it. An injured wolf is going to start fighting to protect itself. A startled wolf is going to back off and await developments, or take off looking for easier prey.

Maybe if you had a dead rabbit.

Don't worry, the coyote would just give you a dirty look and disappear.

Maybe she’d already downed the rest of the 6-pack. But why carry the can for twelve hours of harrowing wolf escape? Obviously, as a Canadian, I do not approve of littering but throwing the can at the wolf seems like a reasonable plan.

I was with her until the wolf growled at her. Even old, hungry, and sick hunters do not alert their prey prior to attacking it.

True, the care provided was unacceptable even if you can twist your mind into believing the incident was an accident. Traumatic neck damage is an issue for medical professionals.

The unbelievable thing is not that the 12 year old writes so well, but that the adult writes so poorly.

If no one’s sober to remember it, it wasn’t a real crime (unless it was any crime other than rape, of course).

I wonder whether her defense is partially because she's been unconscious in his vicinity. Declaring that whatever happened wasn't a crime is easier than wondering if it happened to you.

I wonder if she’d been unconscious for other reasons - stroke, seizure, etc - how that “binge drinking culture” excuse would play

I’m a bit worried some lawyer is going to see this and the next “so much potential” defense will be “not a *serial* rapist, so not like a real crime”. Does drugging a victim count as weapon use?