We have been following the continuing abuse of citizens who are detained or arrested for filming police in public. (For prior columns, click here and here). Despite consistent rulings upholding the right of citizens to film police in public, these abuses continue. One of the more recent cases comes from Concord New Hampshire where Carla Gericke was arrested for trying to videotape the police at a March 24, 2010, traffic stop of a friend. She sued that the charge of wiretapping violated her constitutional rights and, in a major rule, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that she was entitled to a jury trial and was not barred by qualified immunity. The case is Gericke v. Begin, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 9623.
Month: May 2014
The courthouse in Lahore Pakistan was the scene of a shocking act of religious violence, even by the standards of the Middle East. The family of a pregnant woman stoned her to death in front of the courthouse in Lahore, Pakistan after she married a man against their wishes. This “honor killing” occurred when Farzana Parveen, 25, showed up to contest the abduction case filed by her family against her husband. The father had filed the case on the ground that their marriage was not approved by him and therefore was a case of abduction.
The poster on Reddit said that her dog does this every time she goes to take a bath and then pretends to ignore her.
As many on this blog know, I often object to those who criticize our Constitution as a way of excusing their circumvention of civil liberties or the separation of powers. Some in the Bush Administration took that position in suggesting that our Constitution was somehow a contributor to the 9-11 attacks — in their push to pass the Patriot Act. President Obama seems to take up a similar lament to rationalize his repeated violation of the separation of powers in recent years. Obama raised the issue with donors to suggest that the Framers got it wrong in their design of Congress and Article I of the Constitution. Indeed, he appears to be a critic of the “Great Compromise” that gave small states an equal voice in the Senate. It is of course not his assuming legislative and judicial powers in the creation of what I have called an “uber presidency” that fundamentally changed our system. There is no real need for compromise of any kind in the new emerging model of executive power so it should not be a surprise that “Great Compromise” would appear particularly precious and unnecessary.
Continue reading “The Great Excuse: Obama Blames The Constitution For His “Disadvantage” And The Need To Circumvent Congress”
Jessie White finally has her sheep skin. White, 99, was supposed to receive her degree in stenography and bookkeeping in 1939, but she lacked the $5 fee for her transcript. As a result, she never received the diploma until Alan Stehle, the president of Beal College in Bangor, learned of her fate and ponied up the money to release the diploma.
Continue reading “Ninety-Nine-Year-Old Maine Woman Receives Her Diploma After 75 Years”
The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that, after once being banned from classrooms, Scientology is back in California classroom spreading its controversial theories on drug use. The program is run by Narconon, an organization that was created by the Church and founded on the theories of L. Ron Hubbard. Narconon offers the lessons for free, but experts say that the theories are not only unfounded but directly connected to the religious organization that some accused of being a cult or criminal enterprise. Scientology has long objected to what it views as discrimination directed against it while ignoring mainstream religions. It also insists that Narconon is a successful and independent and secular organization.
Perfect symbiosis and balance found in nature.
Best wishes to all on this Memorial Day. It is a sobering holiday as we continue to lose men and women abroad in countries like Afghanistan. The cost to these heroes and their families is a debt that we can never fully repay. However, as we enjoy the time with our families, it is a day that reminds us of what they have given to us in their service to this country.
Continue reading “Happy Memorial Day”
As I have discussed previously, I have participated for years in a program to help train lawyers and judges in dealing with cases involving the “cultural defense” where a defendant claims a tradition or religious practice as a mitigating factor or even an outright defense to crimes or civil claims. We have a new case involving such a claim in Brooklyn after Noor Hussain, 75, beat his wife to death. He insisted that such beatings are considering appropriate under Pakistani culture. We have previously discussed (here and here). Islamic clerics who have defended wife beating as permitted and even recommended under Islamic teachings. In this case, Hussain was reportedly upset because his wife, Nazar Hussain, 66, failed to make him a goat meat dinner that he preferred.
When FBI Special Agent Aaron McFarlane, 41, shot and killed an individual of interest in the Boston Marathon bombing operation, a few police officials were reportedly confused. McFarlane allegedly was collecting $52,488 a year in medical disability benefits under the California Public Employees’ Retirement System after an injury with the Oakland police. Yet, he appeared to be working as a FBI special agent. Oakland officials are reportedly investigating how such double dipping is possible for an officer who was relieved of duty “due to an illness or injury that is expected to be permanent or of an undetermined duration.” Not only have many asked how the FBI could hire an officer with a medial disability pension and a checkered past, but criticize the FBI over what was viewed as obstructive conduct during an investigation of the shooting.
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, is a mother living in a Sudanese prison with her 20-month old son awaiting for the implementation of the latest example of abuses under Sharia law. Ibrahim is a Christian and a Sharia court judge in Khartoum sentenced her to be hanged for refusing to renounce her religion after she gives birth to her second child and nursed her child for two years. She was given three days to renounce her faith to avoid flogging and hanging. It is that like perverse type of accommodation that has defenders claiming that Sharia law is really more humane and enlightened than Western law. For the rest of humanity, it is an unspeakable atrocity.
Someone posted this flower on Reddit from their garden. It is truly extraordinary.
By Charlton Stanley, Weekend Contributor
As I wrote on this blog a year ago, Memorial Day is the misunderstood “holiday.” Many people confuse Memorial Day with Veteran’s Day. Veteran’s Day began as Armistice Day, commemorating the Armistice signed at the eleventh hour, eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. In our political and military naivete, the Armistice was meant to be the end of the, “War To End All Wars.” Two decades later it started all over again. Veteran’s Day is on November 11 in the US. Veteran’s Day is meant to honor those who served in the military in both peacetime and war, both living and dead.
Memorial Day has a history predating Armistice Day by a half century. On May May 5, 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War, Decoration Day was established. It was named Decoration Day because the day was set aside for the living to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. May 30 was chosen as Decoration Day because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. The tradition somehow spread to honor non-veterans as well. As a youngster, I remember churches and communities where we lived celebrating Decoration Day by placing flowers on graves in all the local cemeteries. I remember attending some of these solemn rituals as a child,. I helped out the adults by placing at least one flower on each grave. Every grave needed at least one flower. It was important to decorate the graves of those who had no relatives left, otherwise, there would be no remembrance of them. The flower was a token of remembrance, even if we didn’t know who they were. Why? Because every life needs to be remembered and honored. In 1971, Memorial Day was established by an Act of Congress. Officially, Memorial Day differs somewhat from Decoration Day as I knew it as a youngster, because it was meant by Congress to remember those who served the country in uniform and have now passed through that mysterious veil.
Now? Nothing says “honor the dead” quite like a mattress sale.
Continue reading “Memorial Day 2014. A Day of Remembrance Everyone Seems to be Forgetting.”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Weekend Contributor
Yusef Komunyakaa, the author of the poem Facing It, was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana on April 29, 1947. He “served in the United States Army from 1969 to 1970 as a correspondent, and as managing editor of the Southern Cross during the Vietnam war, earning him a Bronze Star.” Komunyakaa began writing poetry in 1973.
Here is a video of Komunyakaa reading his poem Facing It, which is about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Continue reading ““Facing It”—A Poem by Yusef Komunyakaa in Honor of American Veterans”