In case you’ve been out of the loop during the break: On Sunday, a guy named Maurice Clemmons ambushed and killed four cops in a Washington state coffee shop. He harbored a hatred for law enforcement and it’s becoming clear that he was also pretty crazy. It’s a tragic thing.Clemmons, who, I should probably say, is technically still a suspect at this point, had a history of violence. He was given a 95-year prison sentence in Arkansas at age 17 for a crime spree that included aggravated robbery, but was pardoned by then-Governor Mike Huckabee in 2000.This is not good for the political career of Mike Huckabee. But, as Jason Zengerle notes over at The New Republic, it’s even worse for people in Arkansas prisons who hope to be granted clemency in the future. When someone gets pardoned and then goes on to do something horrible like this, it makes for easy political sniping. The Willie Horton pardon more or less killed Michael Dukakis’s presidential bid. Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe isn’t likely to be doing much more pardoning in the future.The appropriate response to this situation, according to the laws of political opportunism, is to clamp down on clemency and promise harsh prison sentences. But it will only make things worse if we, the public, are fooled by simplistic arguments that leniency is the problem with the criminal justice system. As of 2005, our state prisons held 253,000 inmates for drug offenses, at a daily cost of $17,110,415. Now consider that psychopaths (and Clemmons kind of sounds like one) are more likely to be granted parole because they’re good at tricking inexperienced evaluators. If we could get more lenient on nonviolent drug crime and funnel some of those savings into better rehabilitation and evaluation programs in prison, we could save money while improving our ability to identify the most dangerous potential reoffenders.Until we start letting pre-cogs predict future crimes, Minority Report-style, we’ll always have to tolerate some recidivism, but this guy Clemmons was clearly misjudged and should have been behind bars. That said, the case of Clemmons isn’t an argument against clemency. It’s an argument for making better judgments about individual inmates.
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Man’s dog suddenly becomes protective of his wife, Internet clocks the reason right away
The online community came through in a big way.
Reddit user Girlfriendhatesmefor’s three-year-old pitbull, Otis, had recently become overprotective of his wife. So he asked the online community if they knew what might be wrong with the dog.
“A week or two ago, my wife got some sort of stomach bug,” the Reddit user wrote under the subreddit /r/dogs. “She was really nauseous and ill for about a week. Otis is very in tune with her emotions (we once got in a fight and she was upset, I swear he was staring daggers at me lol) and during this time didn’t even want to leave her to go on walks. We thought it was adorable!”
His wife soon felt better, butthe dog’s behavior didn’t change.
Otis knew before they did. Canva Girlfriendhatesmefor began to fear that Otis’ behavior may be an early sign of an aggression issue or an indication that the dog was hurt or sick.
So he threw a question out to fellow Reddit users: “Has anyone else’s dog suddenly developed attachment/aggression issues? Any and all advice appreciated, even if it’s that we’re being paranoid!”
The most popular response to his thread was by ZZBC.
Any chance your wife is pregnant?
ZZBC | Reddit
The potential news hit Girlfriendhatesmefor like a ton of bricks. A few days later, Girlfriendhatesmefor posted an update and ZZBC was right!
“The wifey is pregnant!” the father-to-be wrote. “Otis is still being overprotective but it all makes sense now! Thanks for all the advice and kind words! Sorry for the delayed reply, I didn’t check back until just now!”
Redditors responded with similar experiences.
Anecdotal I know but I swear my dog knew I was pregnant before I was. He was super clingy (more than normal) and was always resting his head on my belly.
realityisworse | Reddit
So why do dogs get overprotective when someone is pregnant?
Jeff Werber, PhD, president and chief veterinarian of the Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles, told Health.com that “dogs can also smell the hormonal changes going on in a woman’s body at that time.” He added the dog may “not understand that this new scent of your skin and breath is caused by a developing baby, but they will know that something is different with you—which might cause them to be more curious or attentive.”
The big lesson here is to listen to your pets and to ask questions when their behavior abruptly changes. They may be trying to tell you something, and the news may be life-changing.
This article originally appeared last year.
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14 images of badass women who destroyed stereotypes and inspired future generations
These trailblazers redefined what a woman could be.
Throughout history, women have stood up and fought to break down barriers imposed on them from stereotypes and societal expectations. The trailblazers in these photos made history and redefined what a woman could be. In doing so, they paved the way for future generations to stand up and continue to fight for equality.
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Why mass shootings spawn conspiracy theories
Mass shootings and conspiracy theories have a long history.
While conspiracy theories are not limited to any topic, there is one type of event that seems particularly likely to spark them: mass shootings, typically defined as attacks in which a shooter kills at least four other people.
When one person kills many others in a single incident, particularly when it seems random, people naturally seek out answers for why the tragedy happened. After all, if a mass shooting is random, anyone can be a target.
Pointing to some nefarious plan by a powerful group – such as the government – can be more comforting than the idea that the attack was the result of a disturbed or mentally ill individual who obtained a firearm legally.
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