If you recall, Torrence Police Department was responsible for a shootout with an unarmed innocent man during their search for ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner. Surfer David Perdue only survived due to the poor marksmanship of Torrence Brian McGee. The district attorney now cleared that officers and said that they were just in a state of “panic” with a cop-killer on the loose. Of course, I thought officers were trained not to panic, but more importantly, I fail to see any reference to the termination of the officers or even discipline for the attack on Dorner. The coverage does mention that the district attorney cleared the officers without even interviewing the victim or his passenger.
Year: 2014
We have previously seen some hilarious propaganda films coming out of North Korea, including some directed at children. However, Marc Ambinder at the The Week says that he has found yet another classic North Korean cartoon. This one shows children how to use a protractor by showing that it can be useful in killing Americans.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Blogger
Recently, several high ranking members of the U.S. Congress have made public statements voicing proffering NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden might have had assistance from a foreign power, namely Russia. The announcements have been contemporaneous with President Obama’s speech about the NSA and reforms he proposes. While it has not been proven decisively if Edward has or has not one has to wonder what the intentions of such announcements by Congress are and if these announcements are consistent with others who have been alleged to be acting at the behest of foreign powers and if this is more propaganda than standard counter-intelligence practices.
Continue reading “Did Edward Snowden Receive Help From A Foreign Government or is The U.S. Government Alleging He Did To Discredit Him?”
By Mike Appleton, Weekend Blogger
In 1882 a man named John Kirchbaum submitted a patent application for a device which, when properly attached to a coffin, permitted the presumed deceased person to communicate to those on the surface that the burial had been premature. That someone would consider the erroneous pronouncement of death sufficiently common to support a market for such products strikes one as peculiar today, but the fear of possibly being buried alive was genuine in the 18th and 19th centuries. Until quite recently, after all, a determination of death was made solely by observation. Was the subject breathing? Did he have a heart beat? Under the common law, death was in fact defined as the irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions.
But in the 20th century two revolutions in medical technology changed attitudes and definitions. The first was the invention of the mechanical ventilator, originally intended to help patients breathe during surgery. The second was the development of anti-rejection drugs and their impact on the science of organ transplantation. The medical community quickly came to realize that continuing to provide oxygen to a deceased person greatly improved the viability of organs needed for transplant purposes. These advances created an obvious ethical and legal dilemma. A living person may agree to donate a kidney to save another’s life because we have two of them. However, other vital organs may only be removed upon the donor’s death. And if respiration is maintained to preserve organs after the donor has “died,” what has happened to our traditional definition of death? How can a person be deemed deceased if his or her breathing is being mechanically maintained?
The answer to the dilemma was the concept of “brain death,” the irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain. In 1968 a study committee at the Harvard Medical School created a set of guidelines indicative of what was termed “irreversible coma”: the persistence over a period of 24 hours of a set of conditions including absence of spontaneous breathing or movement, fixed and dilated pupils, unresponsiveness and the absence of reflexes. Twelve years later the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws proposed the Uniform Determination of Death Act, which defines death as either “(1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem.”
The Uniform Determination of Death Act was approved by the AMA in the fall of 1980 and by the ABA early the following year. Since then it has been adopted by 37 states and the District of Columbia. Of the remaining states that have not formally adopted the UDDA, most have incorporated its definition of brain death into their statutes. It is clearly the prevailing law on the issue in this country.
And that brings us to the case of Marlise Munoz.
Submitted by Darren Smith, Guest Blogger
In another chapter in the switch of Washington State from waging a war on drugs to marijuana “regulator” the legislature has introduced a bill to punish cities or counties that ban recreational marijuana retailers and another bill rewarding them if they fall in line and allow it. Does this represent an overstepping of the ordinance making authority of local governments?
By Darren Smith, Weekend Blogger
Felon Tyler Smith of Buckley, Washington has the opportunity to have his fifteen minutes of fame and his day in court.
Tyler pleaded guilty in 2009 to Felony Communication with a Minor for Immoral Purposes and to Theft in the First Degree. As a convicted felon, he is under Washington law prohibited from possessing firearms. He also is required to register as a sex offender.
Tyler recently appeared on the National Geographic reality show Doomsday Preppers in November of 2013 where he proclaimed his survivalist prowess and that he would engage in “marauding” by robbing people of high powered rifles and their provisions claiming that he would take it from his neighbors by force.” He was also alleged to have stated on the show: “We’re not in it to stockpile. We’re in it to take what you have and there’s nothing you can do to stop us. We are your worst nightmare, and we are coming.”
Continue reading “Convicted Felon Arrested After Allegedly Shooting Firearm On Reality TV Show”
By Lawrence E. Rafferty, (rafflaw) Weekend Blogger
We have all heard of the so-called War on Drugs and the recently maligned War on Poverty, but I submit that the real war we should be worried about is the War on the Poor of this country. The War on Drugs has not done much to stop the use of illegal drugs and the recent legalization of the sale of marijuana in Colorado may be a small step in the direction of ending the War on Drugs which has only succeeded in jailing thousands on minor drug offenses. The African-American community has been especially hard hit by this failed attempt to end the use of illegal substances.
However, the War on the Poor is in full swing and seems to be succeeding. One only has to look at the Farm Bill which is set to cut the SNAP program by anywhere between the $4 Billion in the Senate version and the $40 Billion in the House version. At a time when this same Congress is refusing to extend unemployment compensation, they are attempting a monumental double whammy by cutting the ability of the needy to survive by cutting Food Stamps. Continue reading “War on the Poor”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro
I’d like to honor the memory of David Blair Drumm with poetry. It’s the best way I know how.
Let Evening Come by Jane Kenyon
Click here to read the full text of Kenyon’s poem.
Continue reading “In Memory of David Drumm: Saying Goodbye with Poetry”
From his admirer, Mark Esposito
This kitteh says it all. Hail and Farewell, my friend.
I just listened to the NSA speech by President Obama and as expected there is precious little in terms of real change. For civil libertarians, it is a nothing burger served hot and with a sympathetic smile. It is much of the same. Another review board composed of government officials. Another promise for the Executive Branch to review itself. I am in Salt Lake City today on the Sister Wives case, but I am struck by the absence of civil libertarians on the coverage by the networks. I will have to run to court but I was underwhelmed. It seemed like another attempt to reinvent privacy in a new surveillance friendly image.
Continue reading “Obama Declares “Reforms” While Dismissing Influence Of Snowden on NSA”
Police in Oklahoma highway police are facing questions this week after beating an elderly deaf Oklahoma man, Pearl Pearson, 64, after he allegedly refused to comply with their orders during a routine traffic stop.
We recently discussed a weight-loss advocate who was taken off Facebook for potential hate speech in criticizing a plus-sized clothing ad campaign. Now, Marilyn McKenna of Washington State says that a similar thing happened to her. McKenna posted an image to show how much weight she lost (over 100 pounds) only to have Facebook reportedly inform her that the picture was inappropriate for promoting “idealized physical appearances.”
After outraging many civil libertarians for his attacks on Edward Snowden and support of the Obama surveillance programs, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has finally called for answer on the tracking of citizens . . . by Ford Motor Company.
Continue reading “Feel The Difference: Al Franken Finds One Surveillance Program He Can Denounce”
We have another conflict that has arisen between non-discrimination laws and religious practices. In Canada, a woman has challenged the decision of a Halifax aikido school to protect a Muslim man from having contact with females and relieving him of the need to bow in adherence with the traditions of the martial art. Just last week, we discussed another story out of Canada where a university ordered such an accommodation for a Muslim man who did not want to have contact with female students despite the requirements of the curriculum. This decision was reportedly supported by Nova Scotia human rights commission officials. [Photo does not show any of those involved in this story]