It's Saturday night chez RossStag (that's my clever way of saying Rossi Stagliano - moi and my 3 daughters). We're listening to music. Getting PJs on. Tidying up the kitchen. (Again.) And enjoying a really nice weekend together. Meanwhile, in Poway, CA, another place of worship is reeling from a shooting, during Passover. There was a deadly shooting in Sri Lanka days ago on Easter Sunday. And a few moments ago, I read this article about Dylan Roof, the boy who shot and killed nine worshipers in a Charleston church. He has been sentenced to death. He did not defend himself. He denied any psychological defense. He "sidelined" his lawyers. He wants to die. How is it that a young man like Dylan is so lacking in spark that his own life means nothing? He is committing suicide by mass murder. We're twenty years out from the Columbine shootings. What has happened to The American Boy?

The guilt of Mr. Roof, who coolly confessed to the killings and then justified them without remorse in a jailhouse manifesto, was never in serious doubt during the first phase of the proceedings in December. And by the time jurors began their sentencing deliberations on Tuesday, it seemed inevitable that they would lean toward death, not only because of the heinous nature of the crimes but because Mr. Roof, 22, insisted on denying any psychological incapacity, called no witnesses, presented no evidence in his defense and mostly sidelined his court-appointed lawyers.  NYT.