It turns out that the correct meaning of ‘Stalinistic” is kind, family-oriented, and greatly loved. Or, at least that is the view expressed in a Russian court by Joseph Stalin’s grandson, Yevgeny Dzhugashvili. (Stalin’s given name was Joseph Dzhugashvili). He is suing opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta for publishing declassified death warrants from the period and offering an unvarnished account of the atrocities under Stalin.
Continue reading “Defaming Uncle Joe: Stalin Family Sues Newspaper for Portraying Stalin as Stalinistic”
Category: International
President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. It is a great honor for this country and for the President. For civil libertarians, however, the prize is a bit of a mixed message. Obama has blocked any investigation of war crimes or torture in violation of international law. He has also supported the limitation of free speech to allow the criminalization of criticism of religion. With less than a year in office, the selection may send the wrong message to Obama that personality rather than principles succeed in both domestic and international politics.
Continue reading “Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize”
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair used a speech at Georgetown University to warn of the threat against the West that is growing at alarming rate. No, he wasn’t talking about terrorism, the recession, or even Swine Flu. He was talking about atheists and the menace they present to the world. Not since leaders tackled the dangers of witches in our midst has a politician sounded such an alarm. This politician happens to be the leading contender for the first “president of Europe.”
Continue reading “The Blair Witch Project: Former Prime Minister Warns of Atheists Among Us”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has added nepotism to his current personal controversies — shocking the French political establishment by appointing his son, Jean, 23, to be the head of the multibillion euro public agency that runs La Défense, the island of corporate towers in the west of Paris. It is reminiscent of Le Dauphin or child heir apparent to the French throne.
The line of countries asking for handouts as part of the global warming agreement included a curious member: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is concerned that if environmentalism should ever break out, the Kingdom could suffer. Accordingly, they are quietly asking that the KSA not be forgotten in the list of needy nations.
Continue reading “Brother, Can You Spare a Riyal? Saudis Ask For Possible Financial Assistance If World Reduces Emissions”
The Obama administration has shocked many in the civil liberties community with the tacit endorsement of limitations of free speech in the United Nations. We have been following the international trend (here and here and here and here) to criminalize criticism of religions, including this prior column. The Administration has joined the UN Human Rights Council and has agreed to create a “new” standard balancing speech and respect for religion. These new standards are merely thinly disguised blasphemy laws that are spreading throughout the world, including the West.
A consumer advocate Mitch Lipka has alerted Target and the public about cheap Chinese-made flashlights being sold for Halloween. The devices sold for three for a dollar appear to succeed in not just lighting up the night but the children holding them.
Continue reading “Lighting Up Halloween: Target’s Pulls Another Chinese-Made Product”
Do these apples look alike? Computer giant Apple appears to believe so. It is suing Australia’s Woolworths for trademark infringement over the use of the new logo.
Continue reading “And Apple Commanded: “You Must Not Take of the Apple Tree . . . For You Will Surely Be Sued””
I have heard of air turbulence but this is ridiculous. Two Air India pilots — identified as Commander Ranbeer Arora and Captain Aditya Chopra — are grounded after they allegedly left the cockpit of their Airbus A320 to punched flight crew members who accused them of sexual harassment — in front of freaked out passengers.
Continue reading “Air Turbulence: Two Pilots Grounded After Allegedly Leaving Cockpit at 30,000 Feet to Punch Out Flight Crew”
There are reports this week detailing a 1993 agreement of Roman Polanski to pay Samantha Geimer $500,000 in damages for raping her when she was thirteen. It is an interesting twist in the case because Geimer later said that she forgave Polanski and advocated that charges be dropped. The agreement came 16 years after the rape when Polanski was living as a fugitive and trying to come home.
Continue reading “Polanski Agreed to Pay Victim $500,000 in 1993 Despite Professing His Love for Young Girls”
The Iranians have faced rape charges recently in cases of women facing execution as well as the rape of protesters. Now, two protesters have come forward to publicly allege that they were raped as a form of extrajudicial punishment while in Iranian jails following the demonstrations over of the disputed presidential election.
Continue reading “Two Iranian Protesters Go Public With Allegations of Rape While in Custody”
There is a fascinating case in Ontario, Canada this week. Levi Shaeffer, 30, was shot dead by Peterborough police officers when he was camping near Pickle lake. He had not committed any crimes and was simply camping on an island. However, an investigation was terminated because the officers involved in the shooting did not write down contemporary accounts of the shooting after meeting with counsel. Chief Murray Rodd, however, insists on the department website that “[w]e are truly dedicated to our core values to be the best Police Service, providing the highest standard of professionalism in partnership with our community.” They might want to start with writing down accounts of shooting campers.
This is the only known video of Anne Frank that was just made available. While short, it adds an even more chilling aspect to her writings.
Continue reading “Amazing Video of Anne Frank”
Her name is Ardi and, while she may not have been much of a looker by modern standards, she had one remarkable skill. She walked upright. This find in Ethiopa pushed our evolutionary traces about a million years earlier than the famed Lucy found in 1974.
Continue reading “Scientists Find 4-Million-Old Hominid . . . Creationists Find 10,000 Year Old Talented Monkey”
The Vatican appears in need of a serious media consultant. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN, has issued a defense that boils down to insisting that implicated priests were not pedophiles but homosexuals who liked young boys — and besides no more than five percent of priests had sex with children . . . and Jews and Protestants do it more.