Word: conning
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...gets the benefit of the doubt in this case, since the translation is probably to blame for taking away the meaning of the scene. Some of the lines and gestures, though, can only be schmaltz in any language. At one point, Dini is at a bar with an old con; after explaining his feelings, the con mutters. "And as for women ... ", and the two clink their glasses together...
...when the Robert Redford and Paul Newman characters turn out only to be feigning death, the twist is a shock because those actors portray such genuine. killable men. The viewer believes he is watching real-world scenes in which such a tragedy could occur. The movie itself is a con game, the audience its victims, and everyone falls...
...turmoil in Scientology began to intensify with Armstrong's scrutiny of Hubbard's private papers. "I went from being a devotee to realizing I was the victim of a con game," he says. Archivist Armstrong concluded in his court statement that Scientology is "behavior therapy masquerading as a 'church' and making a mockery of honest religious practices." His wife Jocelyn, also a former leader in the church, agrees. She declares, "Most Scientologists simply have no idea of what goes on or how the church is really...
...often argued, with blithe inhumanity, that there are good fiscal reasons for executing murderers: prison is too costly. It is cheaper to send a student to Stanford for a year than it is to keep a con in nearby San Quentin ($10,000 vs. $20,000). But imprisoning one inmate for 50 years would require less than $1 million in New York, not bad compared with the costs of the painstaking appeal process...
...electric chairs, nine gas chambers, several gallows and ad hoc firing squads back to regular work. In addition, five states have a new and peculiarly American technique for killing, lethal anesthesia injections, which could increase public acceptance of executions. Experts on capital punishment, both pro and con, agree that as many as ten to 15 inmates could be put to death this year, a total not reached since the early 1960s. "People on death rows are simply running out of appeals," says the Rev. Joe Ingle, a prison activist and death-penalty opponent. "I fear we are heading toward...