The death of Batman

batman

Washingtonpost.com:

The Batmobile pulled into a gas station Sunday night and, as usual, the children who spotted it gawked.

Lenny B. Robinson was used to that. The Maryland man, better known as the Route 29 Batman, had for years dressed as the Caped Crusader and driven his custom-made car to deliver moments of happiness and distraction to hundreds of sick children at area hospitals.

His costume stored in the Batmobile but his alter ego never entirely switched off, Robinson gave the kids at the gas station some superhero paraphernalia before driving off.

Minutes later, Robinson pulled over with engine trouble on an unlit stretch of Interstate 70 near Hagerstown, Md., police said. The people he had just met parked behind him, turning their emergency lights on.

His car was stopped in the median but still “partially in the fast lane” when he got out to check the engine, according to state police. Around 10:30 p.m., a Toyota Camry slammed into the Batmobile, propelling the steel-framed hunk of black metal into his body. Robinson, 51, died at the scene.

Life really isn’t fair.  How tragic that this kind, generous man has died.  RIP, Lenny B. Robinson…aka Batman.

Good for Charles Koch: Sentencing Reform

Washingtonpost.com:

August 15, 2015 1:53 PM EDTWeldon Angelos was 25 when he was sentenced to 55 years in prison after selling marijuana to a police informant. His sons, now 16 and 18, look back on the childhood they missed without their father. But the boys and Weldon’s sister remain hopeful for an early release, as billionaire Charles Koch campaigns for clemency for Weldon.

It is totally absurd for anyone to spend 55 years in prison for selling marijuana.   It makes no sense.  Just the cost of incarceration makes this sentence stupid.   People just should not be spending their lives in jail for selling controlled substances.

I never thought I would be saying “Go Koch Brothers” but on this one, I sure am.  Sentencing reform needs to happen immediately.  In fact, sentencing reform should be a national issue for this upcoming presidential election.  We are wasting valuable resources when we send penny ante drug users to prison for decades.