There are fresh doubts over the 2004 execution in Texas of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted of murdering his three young daughters. The Washington Post reports that Johnny E. Webb, the informer whose testimony was critical to the verdict, gives a detailed account of how he lied in court in return for help from the prosecutor, John H. Jackson, in getting Webb’s sentence reduced and in arranging for cash assistance from a wealthy rancher. In addition, there are letters and documents that seem to support Webb’s latest account. Webb has, over the years, both recanted and affirmed his testimony.
It’s not just Rick Perry’s glasses that are new. It’s everything. And Michelle Cottle has it all in the National Journal. The secessionist firebrand of old is now the seasoned veteran of 2016.
In a Vox.com explainer, it is sadly clear that the Republican plan for child migrants at the border would be a disaster – at least for the children.
Read Frank Rich’s brilliant review of Rick Perlstein’s “The Invisible Bridge.” And, from all accounts, you should then reach the book, which may be even better. it traces our time from the fall of Nixon to the rise of Reagan.
The Strip: John Boehner, Speaker at Law. “I don’t legislate. I litigate.” Via the New York Times.
Nearly everyone agrees that the GOP is getting whiter while the country is not — meaning that the Republicans could face a demographic time bomb. But Marisa Abrajano, an associate professor of political science at the University of California at San Diego, says that in the short term that the demographics could actually help Republicans. Via the Washington Post.
To blame colleges for society’s woes is to ignore the facts. Of course, there’s a lot of that going around. Via the New Republic.
U.S. Air Force Academy cadets who are athletes cheated, committed sexual assaults, and otherwise violated the honor code while the academy focused on winning games and attracting money from donors, according to an investigation by the Gazette. Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson has called for an Inspector General’s investigation of the athletic department.
The southern slope of Pikes Peak has been closed to the public for a century, and it might or might not open up for a brief period this fall. Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services has to give the go-ahead before anyone can get after all the hiking, fishing, cycling, hunting and horseback riding that this remote region has to offer. CSU is finishing up an access road, set to finish late August. Via The Gazette.
In the last decade, almost $13 million in public money has gone to legal settlements involving Denver police and sheriff departments mostly in civil rights and excessive force cases. Via the Denver Post.
Emails between Pueblo city council members and unelected county official show important civic decisions being made behind closed doors — or, as it goes in the 21st century, “behind a bunch of screens and keyboards.” Via the Pueblo Chieftain.
[Photo by Scott via Flickr/Creative Commons.]
