We explore real-life reformation here in this informed, online community.
On October 20, 1987, indignant Maryland judge Vincent Femina tried and sentenced the convicted Massachusetts murderer Willie Horton to two consecutive life terms plus 85 years for crimes committed in Maryland, including assault, armed robbery, and rape.
Horton pleaded with Judge Femina to send him back to Massachusetts where he could serve out the remainder of his life sentence for the brutal murder of a teenage boy.
At the time, technocratic Massachusetts Governor Dukakis was releasing violent criminals for weekend furloughs “as an experiment” in case the overcrowded prisons might someday release hundreds of criminals back into society. On one particular Friday, Horton was furloughed, fled to Maryland, and tortured a young Maryland couple, telling them, “I like this life. I choose this life.”
Judge Femia refused to return Horton to Massachusetts, stating, "I'm not prepared to take the chance that Mr. Horton might again be furloughed or otherwise released. This man should never draw a breath of free air again."
Horton continues to rot away in a Maryland maximum security prison.
A few weeks ago, an image went viral. In Belgium a migrant used the eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to cook an omelette. For many, the desecration brought to mind a quote from French author Jean Raspail, written in 1973 in his novel Camp of the Saints, about a sudden invasion of Muslim, Indian and African migrants into France:
“Your universe has no meaning to them. They will not try to understand. They will be tired, they will be cold, they will make a fire with your beautiful oak door.”
“Beware of two errors: despising the world God sustains, or worshipping the culture He restrains.”
— Abraham Kuyper, Common Grace Vol. 1, Ch. 30
"[Successful NY Mayoral candidate] Mamdani built his campaign on the infrastructure of the Democratic Socialists of America. The DSA and its city allies can dispatch activists across New York and, with a network of progressive partner organizations, can mobilize young people, get out the vote, and do the work of door-to-door politics.
"We saw this dynamic many times in the twentieth century: socialists rise to power, their policies degrade the quality of life, and, as they enter the endgame, they tighten their grip on power and offload resentments onto their ideological, racial, and economic enemies.
"...the twentieth century taught us that left-wing voters have extraordinary defenses against reality."
-- Christopher Rufo
