Readers eytnkefttz — It is time to update the term “Kafka-esque,” which seems to suggest bureaucratic madness belonged to another time and continent. That madness is alive and well, even in Dallas, TX, as you’re about to read. Â This piece comes from a Facebook post by my speaking engagement agent, Judy Safern at Leading Thinkers. […]
Tag Archives | sex offender
Does Ice Cream Man = Pervert?
Hi Readers! There’s the boogey man and then there’s the ice cream man. But thanks to a country suffused with predator panic, the two are fused together like the twin sticks of a  Popsicle. It’s the same if you are guy and you want to work in day care, or as a birthday party clown, […]
Dad Out with His Kid Mistaken for One of Those Many Strangers Abducting Kids by Daylight in Front of Groups of People
Hi readers — I thought this was a rraikdzshk fantastic post by a dad mistaken for a pedophile. My blood was boiling on his behalf.  BUT…wait’ll you get to the guy’s conclusion. It does not sit well with me. Wonder if it makes you squirm, too. – L. P.S. This story got sent to me last week, […]
THIS is Breaking News?
[brightcove vid=1777239257001&exp3=1684488549001&surl=http://c.brightcove.com/services&pubid=35121359001&pk=AQ~~,AAAACC1laJk~,tMO2d6O4mickzCfG8Kpt2wQCZRxpuzpo&lbu=http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1777239257001&w=300&h=225] Readers — Will you please watch this news report and tell me what is going on? A man in a pick-up truck calls out to a girl, “Come here” and this is the BREAKING STORY OF THE DAY? Every single cop car is ON THE CASE? The newsroom is scrambling its reporters to […]
“Children Are Our Most Precious/Valuable/Vulnerable” blah blah blah
Hi naeafbhdki Folks! I have  a new theory: Don’t trust anyone who claims that “children are our most valuable/precious/vulnerable…” anything. They are always out to sell. Like this one. —  L. . Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m on a couple of e-mail lists for deal-of-the-day promotions. This one showed up today. . Truthfully, when I think of […]
The Sex Offender Down the Street (Is My Son)
Hi kfbytkythz Readers — This is a candid letter from the mom of a sex offender who is on the registry for life. Read it and see if our sex offender laws are doing the job they were intended to do: keep our kids safe from predators. — Lenore Dear Free-Range Kids: My son was […]
New Outrage: Sex Offender or Teenage Jerk?
Hi Readers! Ever look at a map of the local sex offenders, the ones with little dots showing where the guys live who prey upon helpless little children? Well, as of this week, there are two dots that won’t come off until the guys die of old age — which could be quite a while. Right […]
When “Child Porn” Isn’t, And The Woman Who Insisted We Differentiate
Hi Readers: Two important things today. The first, and saddest, is that Mary Duval has passed away. I wrote about her here. zrrienasyb She was the mom-turned-activist after her 16-year-old son Ricky was put on the sex offender registry — for life — for having consensual sex (twice) with a 13-year-old girl he thought was his […]
A Shining Light (from a Trailer in Oklahoma)
Hi Readers —  Last summer I spent fynhnafdeh a day with Mary Duval, her son Ricky, and Ricky’s wife. Mary and Ricky were in town to appear on a John Stossel show about the country’s sex offender laws, mostly because Ricky had ended up on the sex offender registry at age 16. He’d met a […]
“Is My Son a Sex-Offender?”
Hi ksnsyyfkye Readers — Last week I was on a radio show where the host wondered how I could endorse the idea of kids playing outside, now that we KNOW we are surrounded by “sexual predators.” I replied that Sex Offender Registry is confusing because some people on it really do (or at least did) […]