Salt City Sinner

Most (if not all) prisons have a "Special Housing Unit" (SHU). Previously known as "the Hole," or, in cases where occupancy is one, by the good old standby " solitary confinement ." The use of SHUs is controversial, with many organizations claiming (and research backs them up ) that it constitutes psychological torture. You may remember climate activist and political prisoner Tim DeChristopher. I certainly do. I've written about Tim before ( here  ,   here  and   here ), but a quick recap may be in order. In 2008, Tim DeChristopher attended an oil and gas lease auction held in the hideous, radioactive sunset years of the Bush Administration, when public lands were being ruthlessly auctioned off in an extremely legally questionable last-minute fire sale. DeChristopher "posed" as Bidder 70 (actually, he was mistaken for a bidder by staff and just went along with it), and purchased 14 parcels of land for a cool $1.8 million, w...

Because my days do not already start with enough bile, black coffee and dread, I subscribe to the "Hatch Dispatch" (catchy!) to get my blood pressure pumped up. Senator Orrin Hatch's e-newsletter's most recent edition was entitled "Hatch Dispatch: Religious Freedom Under Attack." What has Orrin stirred up? Unfortunately the White House sharpened it's attacks on religion this week. The Obama Administration ruled that it was going to mandate preventative services, including birth control and emergency contraception, for health insurance plans, including those purchased by religious institutions to proving preventative services. An "attack on religion," Senator Hatch? Because of public health policy regarding women and their well-being? You ought to know what an "attack on religion" looks like, being a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - which, if I am not mistaken, was literally driven out of...