In a direct violation of international rules governing these sporting events, the Iranian government barred women from entry to the Beach Volleyball World Tour event on Kish Island. The FIVB had expressly required Iran to guarantee that women would be allowed to enter and watch the matches. However, the Iranians barred them anyway at the five-day competition.
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Apple has decided to fight an unprecedented and highly controversial order by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym that the company has to assist the government in breaking into one of its encrypted phones. Apple says that it does not have the technology and does not want to be part of such an effort to create a privacy stripping tool for the FBI. Pym seems to believe that she can order companies to become unwilling participants in surveillance research and development. I fail to see her legal basis for such an extraordinary order against a private company.
One of the most basic functions of government should be to require accurate descriptions of products in the market. I am a big believer in the free market and tend to resist government regulation whenever possible. However, the free market functions best when the government enforces the rules to prevent misleading and fraudulent practices. This week is an example of how labeling continues to mislead consumers. While parmesan cheese is often advertised as “100%” pure, it can include wood pulp and cheaper cheeses such as cheddar, Swiss, and mozzarella. One manufacturer, Castle Cheese, supplying Target actually had no parmesan in its “100 percent” parmesan cheese product.
We have previously discussed the controversy surrounding University of Missouri Assistant Professor of Communication Melissa Click who was caught on videotape obstructing a student journalist and calling for “muscle” to prevent him from covering a protest. She was charged with assault in that case. Now, a new videotape has emerged showing Click yelling profanities at police officers who were trying to clear protestors blocking traffic on campus. The new videotape below will obviously not help the already suspended academic.
We have previously dealt with the issue of judges arrested for DUI and how to address such cases in their continuing on the court (here and here and here and here and here). Another such case has arisen with the arrest in New York of Judge Leticia Astacio. While it was a Saturday morning, police say that Astacio was on her way to work when she had an accident with another car on Interstate 490. She refused to take a Breathalyzer and was arrested for DUI. Astacio is a former assistant district attorney who prosecuted drunk driving cases.
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Poland has added its name to the countries seeking to criminalize unpopular opinions or speech. In a law that attacks both free speech and historical scholarship, the Polish government is seeking to make it a crime to imply the country bears any responsibility for atrocities carried out on Polish soil by Nazi Germany. Violators who simply argue Polish complicity in war crimes could face five years in prison.
We recently discussed the highly disturbing cases of 12 protesters who called for the boycotting of Israeli products. France’s Supreme Court (the Court of Cassation) upheld the shocking prosecution of the twelve anti-Israel activists in a blow to free speech. Now, England is moving to bar local councils, public bodies and even university student unions from boycotting “unethical” companies.
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The Democratic National Committee has long been criticized as being overtly biased toward the Clinton campaign, particularly Democratic Chair Debbie Wasserman-Shultz. First there was the scheduling of debates when no one was watching and refusing more debates in what was universally viewed as a move to help Clinton. Then, when Clinton lost her lead in the polls, the DNC suddenly scheduled more debates at primetime hours. Now, with Sanders setting records for donations from ordinary voters, the media is reporting that the DNC rolled back restrictions introduced by presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008 that banned donations from federal lobbyists and political action committees. While it is not clear when this was done, the relative secrecy about the change on such a major campaign issue is pretty shocking. The Washington Post broke the story today. The issue of such contributions was only addressed in one substantive question by the moderators last night in the PBS debate. Many were surprised that neither moderator asked Clinton whether she would release the transcripts of the speeches in light of growing demands to see what she told Wall Street and banking groups.
Martin Shkreli may be the worst criminal defendant client since John Gotti, who loved to taunt and flaunt while facing criminal charges. After his cocky performance (just reciting the invocation of the right to remain silent) at the House committee this month, most criminal defense attorneys were cringing. Then came his not-so-silent tweets mocking the committee after his appearance. Now, after the IRS hit him with a massive tax bill for unpaid taxes, the former drug company head has offered $10 million to Kanye West for rights to his album The Life of Pablo. This follows his controversial $2 million deal for Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin amidst condemnations of his bilking AIDS victims through over-pricing of life sustaining drugs. Not since Colin Ferguson has a defendant done more to get the court, potential jurors, or anyone on Earth to truly hate him.
Pakistan is the latest Muslim country to ban a holiday as a threat to Islam. In this case, it is not Christmas but Valentine’s Day. The Interior Ministry has proclaimed that the harmless holiday is now deemed an “insult” to Islam and banned by order of Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan (right). Khan is one of the leading and most senior members of Pakistan Muslim League.
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I read about a fascinating new scientific study where Emmanuel Virot and colleagues at the Ecole Polytechnique and ESPCI ParisTech have concluded that there is a critical wind speed, of around 42 m/s (90 mph), at which almost all tree trunks break – regardless their size or species. Thus, under a simple scaling law, the critical wind speed is largely independent of the tree’s diameter, height or elastic properties.
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I had to sure this picture of Crimewatch presenter Jason Mohammad who was showing the audience the picture of convicted robber Viktor Lakatos. Viewers could be forgiven if they called in to say that they had found Lakatos.
Bernie Sanders has repeatedly warned his supporters that they are up against the biggest political machine in the country with the Clintons and expressly criticized Hillary Clinton for her PAC and association with “attack dog” David Brock. However, one of the biggest liabilities facing Clinton is her continuing refusal to release the transcripts of her speeches to Wall Street and other groups. One solution appears to be snare anyone searching Hillary Clinton’s speeches. An unknown group of Clinton supporters has created a clearly misleading site called “HillaryClintonspeeches” that comes up whenever someone tries to search the controversies. What they find is not a site on the speech controversy but a pro-Clinton site that directs them to glowing reviews of Clinton and campaign websites. The unknown hosts of this site may have a perfectly legitimate reason for its title but I fail to see how it is not knowingly misleading given the growing controversy over the speeches. If you put in “Hillary Clinton speeches” to search the current status on the release of the speeches, this site now pops up.
Densibel Calzada, 23, and Eddy Albert, 21, have secured two distinctions in Tennessee. They have not only secured the harshest penalty ever issued by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency but they are generally viewed as this week’s worst human beings in the state or possibly nationwide. The two men have been banned from hunting in Tennessee and 43 other states after they illegally killed as many as 40 deer. They added to that carnage with sickening videos mocking suffering or dead animals.
Right-wing rocker Ted Nugent has never been the paragon of stability or reason. However, few were prepared for his raving attack on Jewish leaders who favor gun control. On his Facebook page, posted pictures of Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Charles Schumer, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and other leaders next to an Israeli flag under the banner “So who is really behind gun control?” The answer, according to Nugent, is the chillingly familiar: “the Jews.” This controversy seems to mystify Nugent who later wrote “What sort of racist prejudiced POS could possibly not know that Jews for guncontrol are nazis in disguise?”
Continue reading “Ted Nugent Unleashes Rabid Anti-Semitic Rant Over Gun Control”
