Category: International

Bizarre, International

Who Gets Baby? Wealthy Couple Fights Over Custody Of Piano In New York Apartment

28A0285600000578-3080014-image-m-38_1431530837784img-thingAttorney Richard Fields his estranged wife Ekaterina may represent the worst of stereotypes that people have of the top 1 percent and their distinct problems. The couple has been in an intense battle of who gets a $100,000 baby grand piano in the couple’s former New York apartment. Neither is actually a pianist but Fields, who is managing director of Juridica Asset Management, insists that he already lost another baby grand in an earlier divorce from another wife. Indeed, both of these people make a Tom Wolfe novel look like Little Home on the Prairie.

Continue reading “Who Gets Baby? Wealthy Couple Fights Over Custody Of Piano In New York Apartment” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, International

Saudi Arabia Posts Ad For Swordsmen To Handle Increased Beheadings . . . No Experience Required

220px-Traditional_Ethiopian_picture170px-Ministry_of_Interior_Saudi_Arabia.svgWe have previously discussed Saudi Arabia’s infamous “Chop Chop” square where the country’s medieval Sharia law is carried out for everything from apostasy to drug dealing to murder. The Kingdom has had a bumper crop of executions this year with as many beheadings already this year (85) than the entire 2014 period (87). The work appears to be exhausting their executioners so the Kingdom is hiring eight new executioners. While the Saudis insist that this is a humane form of execution approved by the Koran, the fine print on the advertisement is notable: no experience is needed for those who want to cut the heads off people in Chop Chop square or handle amputations under Sharia law.

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Bizarre, International, Media, Society

Report: Labor Unions Contributed To Clinton Foundation

225px-Hillary_Clinton_official_Secretary_of_State_portrait_cropThis is shaping up for another bad week for Hillary Clinton with stories on another undisclosed and unofficial email account that was used during tenure as Secretary of State as well as a New York Times story on the role of Sidney Blumenthal in seeking business with the State Department while continuing as an unofficial and controversial adviser to Clinton. However, the story that I found most interesting is a report that unions have been pouring significant money into the Clinton Foundation. The Foundation has been accused of being a conduit for donors and foreign governments to give money to the Clinton, who have used the Foundation to hire loyalists (like Blumenthal) and pay for luxury travel for the Clinton family. While some have denounced the Clinton Foundation a “slush fund,” the New York Times has offered a more tempered criticism of the Foundation for its business dealings and advancement of Clinton’s political interests. Yet, Clinton supporters insist that the Foundation has done important work around the world. The use of union funds to support the Foundation would in my view be the most serious of the past disclosures, though it has received less attention than the huge sums paid by corporate and foreign figures trying to influence Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Religion, Society

Third Secular Writer Hacked To Death By Islamic Extremists In Bangladesh

Ananta-Bijoy-Das_3300494iWe have been covering the attacks on secular writers and bloggers by Islamic extremists in Bangladesh. Now a third blogger and secular writer has been murdered by Islamic extremists . The latest victim is Ananta Bijoy Das, a blogger who advocated secularism, was attacked by four masked assailants wielding machetes. The rise of Islamic extremism has alarmed the free speech community in Bangladesh, which sees increasing Islamic orthodoxy in society and intolerance for non-Islamic views.

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Criminal law, International, Society

Spanish Authorities Find Eight Year Old Boy In Luggage At Border

smuggledboySpanish police were a bit surprised when they checked out the luggage of an Ivory Coast woman trying to come into the country from North Africa at a border crossing between Morocco and Spain. They were suspicious because the 19-year-old woman appeared nervous and decided to x-ray her bag. The 8-year-old boy, Abou, was described as in a “terrible state” when he was let out of the bag. It brings a chilling meaning to the old Samonsite slogan: “If you traveled the way your luggage does, would you look as good as Samsonite?”

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Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Religion

Four Teenagers and a Teacher Arrested For “insulting Islam” After Making Videotape Mocking ISIS

video_clip_253x338Egypt continues to descend toward a Sharia-based system with a new prosecution of four teenagers accused of “insulting Islam.”  The insult came in a video that the boys shot while on a trip with their teacher Gad Younan, 42 – a film that mocked ISIS.  While the boys were accused of insulting Islam, the brief video only showed them mocking ISIS beheadings.  One of the boys apparently mumbled an Islam prayer as part of the execution and that was enough to cause riots and demands for their executions.  The four teens and teacher are from the ancient Coptic community, a community targeted by Muslim extremists for harassment and killings.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Religion

Afghan Court Sentences Four To Death in Farkhunda Murder As Islamic Clerics Denounce The Verdict As Attack On Islam

thThere is a verdict in the horrific case that we discussed earlier involving the mob beating and burning of a woman named Farkhunda, 27. A judge has sentenced four of those responsible to death in Kabul. Eight other suspects received 16-year sentences. Eighteen others were found not guilty.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Science, Society

Is The Cell Phone Kill Switch in the Wrong Hands?

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Weekend Contributor

You may not have heard of it before, but the government has the ability to shut off cell phone service at any time, under the guise of National Security.  The Department of Homeland Security has an operating procedure known as Standard Operating Procedure 303( SOP 303) and it has been labeled as the cell phone “kill switch”.

I knew very little about the “kill switch” before today, but according to a recent Al Jezeera America article, the kill switch authority is being currently debated in Federal court. Continue reading “Is The Cell Phone Kill Switch in the Wrong Hands?” →

Animals, Criminal law, Environment, International

Two Cases In The United States and Australia Raise Questions Of Punishment For The Torture Of Animals

Qokka_by_the_Hotel_Rottnest,_WA,_Rottnest_Islandmoose-John-J-MosessoThere are two more disturbing cases highlighting the abuse of animals and the limited sanctions available in such cases. In Anchorage, three men were arrested after they allegedly killed a yearling moose after tormenting it in a public park area. In Australia, two men were arrested for trying to burn a small protected animal alive for fun. In both cases, there is a considerable gap between the horrific actions and the penalties under the law.

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Courts, Criminal law, International, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Religion, Society, Torts

Stranger in a Strange Land: ABA To Hold Session On The Cultural Defense

200px-AbalogoI will have the honor of serving as the moderator on a panel at the American Bar Association’s conference in Washington, D.C. today. The panel is entitled “Stranger in a Strange Land: Cross Cultural Issues in the Courts.” This is part of an internationally successful program organized by Judge Hon. Delissa A. Ridgway of U.S. Court of International Trade. Judge Ridgway has brought together jurists and lawyers from around the world to discuss difficult cultural issues that are increasingly appearing in criminal and civil cases. These cases deal with arguments or defenses that turn on the cultural norms or practices of a given defendant or litigant. The cases have forced the question of when and how courts should recognize such defenses.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Society

Putin Does Not Twerk: Women Jailed For Twerking In Russia

Russia-jails-women-in-twerking-video-at-WWII-memorialA Russian court has sentencing two women and a teenager to 15 days jail time for twerking. That’s right, twerking. The women filmed a dance video with twerking in front of a World War II memorial. The timing could not be worse — or better — depending on your perspective. The Putin regime is using the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory to rally citizens. The court ruled that the twerking constituted “hooliganism.” You will recall that this is the same undefined crime used to jail two members of punk band Pussy Riot to prison for two years for an impromptu protest at Moscow’s main cathedral in 2012.

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Criminal law, International, Justice, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Sixty Yazidi Girls Per Month Reportedly Commit Suicide After Rape By ISIS Terrorists

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

yazidi-women-facing-wallAccording to an Iraqi based aid worker, who identified himself only as Yousif, approximately two girls a day commit suicide in the aftermath of being raped by ISIS Terrorists. The news and other corroboration of reports of inhumanity directed toward women in girls are unimaginable. Compounding the horror experienced from gang rapes in open streets, being sold into sexual slavery, or subjected to other outrages is both the stigma and shame forced onto women and girls–a furtherance of ISIS’ crimes against humanity. It also shows a macabre window into a policy of ethnic cleansing by ISIS at several levels.

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Bizarre, International, Military, Society

U.S. Funded Industrial Park in Afghanistan Found With Only One Business and No Electricity . . . And Missing Records

158px-flag_of_afghanistansvgWe have yet another example of how we are wasting billions of dollars in Afghanistan where a combination of incompetence and corruption continues to drain the U.S. treasury. This week, SIGAR released two reports showing how, an inspection of the $7.8 million Shorandam Industrial Park in Kandahar is an utter failure and how the money to create a sustainable source of power for Kandahar City has left the city literally in the dark. Once again, there is no indication of any discipline or action taken against those who approve such projects and oversee such failures.

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Academia, Bizarre, Free Speech, International, Society

ISIS Bans Archeology and Tourism Studies At Mosul University While Cutting The Heads Of Foosball Figurines.

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A new story on life after the take over by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Mosul reveals the bizarre existence for academics at places like University of Mosul. ISIS has outlawed lessons on democracy and political thought in favor of concentrations on religious indoctrination and Sharia law. Not too surprising, ISIS also banned hotel management and tourism and archaeology.

Continue reading “ISIS Bans Archeology and Tourism Studies At Mosul University While Cutting The Heads Of Foosball Figurines.” →