"It takes guts not to execute someone"

On sensationalistic news, violent crime, and the death penalty in Taiwan. Also: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Hello readers! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! We’ve been stuffed with mooncakes, although sadly we haven’t been able to make it to any barbecue. (As our friend Sarah informed us, the barbecue apparently originated as a marketing ploy from a BBQ sauce company.)

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! (The translation of the remaining text is a pun on the word taste. Roughly it says: “Food only tastes right when you’re there!”)

Apologies for being out of touch. We’ve been working on this piece since it broke two weeks ago, but the sensationalism of the news got us too depressed to write.

A recap: on August 22, two police officers near Tainan, a major city in southern Taiwan, stopped a man suspected of stealing a motorcycle. When confronted, the suspect resisted arrest, stabbed both officers multiple times, and stole one of their guns. Both officers died en route to the hospital. A nationwide manhunt ensued. Police initially issued an arrest warrant for a man named Chen, who turned himself in to prove his i…