"I've got a shotgun. Do you want me to stop 'em?" On November 14, 61-year old Joe Horn saw two men breaking into his neighbor's home. He called 911, told the operator what he could see through his window. As Horn watched the men, he grew more and more agitated, saying he was going to go outside and shoot them. When the men left the neighbor's home, Horn went outside and did just that.
Now, Texas gets to argue over the
hero or
villain status of Joe Horn in the public square (a debate made more volatile by concerns that
race was been a factor), while weighing the merits of that state's recent adoption of
Castle Doctrine (aka "Stand Your Ground" Law).
First adopted by Florida in 2005, Castle Doctrine is now law in
19 of 50 states. So what does this mean for Joe Horn? Public accusations of vigilantism aside, what Horn did
is arguably legal under Texas law ... or, at least, it
would be had
he shot the two men after dark.
posted by grabbingsand
on Dec 5, 2007 -
181 comments
What If ... 9/11 Never Happened? "
The broader culture would have gone its own way, 9/11 or no 9/11—progressing effortlessly from the obsessions of
Gary Condit and
Survivor in summer ’01 to Brangelina and
American Idol in ’06. The Oliver Stone project of August ’06, however, would not be
World Trade Center, but, with exquisite timing,
Fidel."
One possibility from many in a collection of "could've-beens" compiled by
New York Magazine. Other contributions of note:
Tom Wolfe,
Fareed Zakaria, an alternate-future blog by
Andrew Sullivan, and perhaps best of all, a simple sketch from
Ex Machina's
Brian K. Vaughan.
posted by grabbingsand
on Aug 15, 2006 -
118 comments
