Paul Conrad on the Mideast.
 

This one, by homicide Detective Lt. Miles Practice, is my favorite: 

Sooner or later there is a pattern. Sooner or later everything
falls into place. I believe that. If I didn't believe that I
wouldn't want to wake up to see the sun tomorrow morning. [snippage]

Every
crime has its own pattern of logic. Everything has an order. If we
can't find that order it's not because it doesn't exist but only
because we've incorrectly observed some vital piece of evidence.

Let us examine the evidence. No. 1. In the last six months 345
homicides have been committed in this city. The victims have ranged
variously in sex, age, social status and color. No. 2. In none of the
345 homicides have we been able to establish motive. No. 3. All 345
homicides remain listed on our books as unsolved.

So much for the evidence. A subtle pattern begins to emerge. What is
this pattern? What is it that each of these 345 homicides have in
common? They have in common three things: A–that they have nothing in
common; B–that they have no motive; C–that, consequently, they remain
unsolved. The pattern becomes clearer.

Orthodox police procedure dictates that the basic questions you ask in
all such investigations is one: Who has the most to gain? What could
possibly be the single unifying motive behind 345 unsolved homicides?

When a case does not jell it is often not because we lack the necessary
facts but because we have observed our facts incorrectly. In each of
these 345 homicides we observed our facts incorrectly. Following normal
routine we looked for a cause. And we could find no cause. Had we
looked for effect we would have had our answer that much sooner.

What is the effect of 345 unsolved homicide cases? The effect is loss
of faith in law enforcement personnel. That is our motive. The pattern
is complete. We are involved here in a far-reaching conspiracy to
undermine respect for our basic beliefs and most sacred institutions.

Who is behind this conspiracy? Once again, ask the question: Who has
the most to gain? People in high places. Their names would astound you.
People in low places. Concealing their activities beneath a cloak of
poverty. People in all walks of life. Left wing and right wing. Black
and white. Students and scholars. A conspiracy of such ominous
proportions that we may not know the whole truth in our lifetime and we
will never be able to reveal all the facts.We are readying mass arrests.

The first season of major league baseball wasn't done yet in San
Diego and already the second-guessing had started. Could San Diego
support a big league franchise?

Padres officials hoped to draw 800,000 but with the season in its
final month 650,000 was looking pretty optimistic. "I don't think we
made a mistake in coming to San Diego but for the first time, I'm
wondering," said Buzzie Bavasi, the former Dodger general manager who
got a stake in the expansion franchise when he agreed to come south and
plot the ballclub's future.

How bad were things in San Diego? Kansas City, another expansion team that started in '69, was looking like a model franchise.

"It would be nice to see the kind of enthusiasm that I found in
Kansas City recently," co-owner C. Arnholt Smith said. "In Kansas City
you feel that the community strongly supports baseball. You can't walk
down the street without seeing banners and signs everywhere. I find
nothing like that here."

–Keith Thursby