News

DOJ announces plan to release prisoners convicted of drug offenses

2 Comments

Story from Fox News.

Excerpt:

The Justice Department moved Wednesday to significantly expand the number of people eligible for clemency, issuing new guidelines allowing certain prisoners who already have served at least 10 years behind bars to apply for release.

The initiative is part of a broader Obama administration effort to ease sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.

[…]DOJ leaders… argue that the new clemency changes are meant to address inconsistencies in sentences over time. The announcement is aimed primarily at drug prisoners, especially those sentenced under old guidelines that resulted in significantly harsher penalties for people caught with crack cocaine than for those who possessed the powder form of the drug. But it also applies to federal inmates imprisoned for other crimes, provided they meet the same criteria for clemency.

Keep in mind that this is the same DOJ that oversaw the sale of assault weapons to Mexican drug cartels. At least one of which was later used to kill a Border Patrol officer. So no one should be surprised where they come down when the rights of the law-abiding conflict with the rights of criminals.

It would be nice if criminals who are released would only commit future crimes against the people who are making the decision to release them. But unfortunately that’s not what happens. Instead, the people who are released will go to the poorest communities and commit more crimes there. It’s the poorest people who have to bear the consequences for this “compassion”.

Videos

Videos from the Tactical Faith Resurrection Weekend 2014

Leave a comment

All 9 videos from the Tactical Faith conference last weekend have now been posted on Youtube:

  • “What was the crucifixion like?” – Mike Licona 48:21
  • “The New Testament: Text, Translation, Canon” – Mike Licona 46:51
  • Logos Bible Software presentation – Greg Monette 17:13
  • “The Burial of Jesus” – Greg Monette 49:08
  • “iWitness: Evangelism and the Cross” – Doug Powell 42:14
  • “Why are there differences in the gospels?” – Mike Licona 1:06:38
  • Shroud of Turin – Dave Glander 52:58
  • “Resurrection: A Creedal Defense” – Shawn White 50:37
  • “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?” – Mike Licona 39:13

Here’s the last one in that list, which I watched and liked:

A very impressive line-up of scholars from Tactical Faith.

 

Polemics

New study: Teens with involved fathers more likely to graduate from college

Leave a comment

Here’s an article by W. Bradford Wilcox from the American Enterprise Institute.

Excerpt:

Family scholars from sociologist Sara McLanahan to psychologist Ross Parke have long observed that fathers typically play an important role in advancing the welfare of their children.[2] Focusing on the impact of family structure, McLanahan has found that, compared to children from single-parent homes, children who live with both their mother and father have significantly lower rates of nonmarital childbearing and incarceration and higher rates of high school and college graduation.[3] Examining the extent and style of paternal involvement, Parke notes, for instance, that engaged fathers play an important role in “helping sons and daughters achieve independent and distinct identities” and that this independence often translates into educational and occupational success.[4]

Likewise, a US Department of Education study found that among children living with both biological parents, those with highly involved fathers were 42 percent more likely to earn As and 33 percent less likely to be held back a year in school than children whose dads had low levels of involvement.[5] But little research has examined the association between paternal involvement per se and college graduation.

I investigated that association by using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents who were in grades 7–12 in the 1994–95 school year.[6] The Add Health data indicate that young adults who had involved fathers when they were in high school are significantly more likely to graduate from college.

[…]Compared to teens who reported that their fathers were not involved, teens with involved fathers were 98 percent more likely to graduate from college, and teens with very involved fathers were 105 percent more likely to graduate from college (see figure 1, which adjusts for socioeconomic background).[7] Clearly, young women and men with more engaged fathers are more likely to acquire a college diploma than their peers without such a father.

I would think that fathers are helpful for keeping children out of trouble, warning them away from threats, helping them to do their homework and get jobs, and showing them the value of work and frugality. I think that in general, fathers have a concern that their children will not be able to provide for themselves and will starve. They tend to try to push their kids into harder subject areas that pay more, instead of letting the kids decide what makes them happy. And it’s good for kids that fathers do those roles – it makes a difference.