But I do agree that most of the bitterness you see from both sides comes from people who are really similar - childfree adults who think the world should revolve around them, and parents who think the world should revolve around them. I guess I can see how that would cause conflict.

Oh Jesus Christ, can't we be done with this? First of all, I call bullshit. This is a fake, fake fucking thing that we're talking about here. I'm not saying that women don't judge each other's choices constantly. I just don't think that there's really a giant, new conflict between folks with children and those…

This is a lovely sentiment. My husband and I have two little girls, and we are both busy lawyers. Due to our having jobs in the public sector, we have more time to spend with them than most lawyers, but I have to tell you that most of the time two parents just doesn't seem like enough. I want them to have more role…

I got one for you. I used to go lobstering with my ex's family in the Keys. This involves a snorkeler being towed behind a boat while holding a rope. When the snorkeler sees a lobster hole (they live in holes in the ocean floor), she drops off to go get them and the boat circles around back for her.

Yes! Let's ask the French if they think people are fat. I wonder what they'll say.

Oh man you are so funny. I bet you get all the ladeez.

I think this is what people do. They do monstrous things and then later they think, "I am not a monster. Therefore I couldn't have done that monstrous thing." Their sense of themselves as good people is so strong that they can't square the things they've done with what they know about themselves. So they decide they…

I suppose he can, but it won't do him any good because it seems like he had effective assistance of counsel. Like I said and like IDontUsuallyDoThis says below, what he said didn't affect his sentence. And given that he was facing the death penalty, the plea bargain was probably a good idea. To win on that kind of…

Also, I may be a defense attorney, but I'm still human and this case is horrendous. If Castro's rights had been prejudiced or he hadn't received due process, that would be a problem. But he got his due process and all his rights. He just confirmed for the world what a monster he is at his sentencing hearing.

No it doesn't. They made a plea bargain way before he made this statement. Ariel Castro was going to get life plus 1000 no matter what he said at sentencing. The statement he made was totally gratuitous and beside the point. It just shows the world that he's nuts and how much fortitude his victims must have had to…

I'm a defense attorney. I cannot imagine what Castro's lawyer was thinking. It's pretty common for a defendant to make a statement at a sentencing hearing, but the thing is, and this is key, you have to know when your client is likely to throw the script out the window, go off the rails, and dig himself a hole. A hole…

Nope. That's just harassment on a smaller scale. Women have to jump through enough hoops to get abortions as it is. They don't need to explain to any more people, not even their medical provider, their reasons for getting one. It's a legal procedure. It's a safe procedure. And women should have unfettered access to…

That said: this is a ridiculous bill. If it is passed, it will be struck down as unconstitutional, and rightly so.

This is not true. Newborns of any color are in high demand. Sure, white newborns might be MORE in demand. But my any newborn is going to be snapped up pretty quickly.

It's an important point. If five people are doing something like this, it's horrible. If 80 are doing it, it's just sort of unbelievably, mind blowingly horrible. There is a qualitative difference as well as a quantitative one.

As a lawyer (defense lawyer, to be precise), I can appreciate some of Hanlin's frustration. The problem is that folks on the outside are going to get it wrong. They're going to get the facts wrong. They're going to make things sound worse or weirder or different, and it changes the narrative. It changes jury…

Thanks, y'all. That's about what I thought. I've just always wondered if I had concluded that I didn't need to tell because I'm a selfish person and don't want to have the awkward "So, there's something you should know . . ." talk.

After reading this, I am so ashamed I haven't written the novel I've always wanted to write.

There's no way to know how having kids will be. There's no way to be ready for it before you have them. No one is ready for kids before they have them. You can't be. They're something you grow into. I have a 2 year old and a 5 month old, and they are the awesomest, sweetest little girls. To have them in my life is to…

Just as long as you're sure that you're OK with the parameters of the encounter, i.e., you're not doing this because you're secretly harboring feelings for this dude. If you feel certain you guys can have sex and then still be friends and it won't be super weird then, sure — do it. Be prepared for it to be less…