The American Cult of Cruelty

The most memorable public utterance this week was the Alice in Wonderland logic of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia asserting on 60 Minutes that torturing detainees wasn’t cruel and unusual punishment because they weren’t, having not been convicted of anything, being punished. He even gave the example of a police officer trying to get information from a suspect. So I guess it’s only police brutality if it’s done just for the fun of it. Or maybe that’s OK too.