Category: International

Congress, Constitutional Law, International, Military, Politics, Society

Obama: I Do Not Need Congressional Approval To Go To War With ISIS

President_Barack_Obama220px-B-2_spirit_bombingPresident Obama is again asserting his right to act unilaterally and without congressional approval in going to war. In what has become a mantra for this Administration, Obama reportedly told members of Congress that he does not need congressional approval to unleash a comprehensive military campaign against the Islamic State. The President informed a few members at a dinner — a striking image of how low congressional authority has become in our tripartite system of government.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized

British Woman Jailed in Tehran For Trying To Enter A Soccer Stadium To Watch Iran Play Italy

10409336_818529138177765_9034331348658361928_nGhoncheh Ghavami, 25, is the latest victim of Sharia law and the denial of basic rights to women in some Muslim countries. Ghavami has been in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for over 40 days after committing the unpardonable sin of try to enter a stadium to watch the Iranian national men’s team was playing Italy. She was part of a large group of women who simply wanted to be able to watch a soccer game but under Sharia law in Iran it is a crime for women to even be at a sporting match with men. The world community has gone to Facebook and other social media sites to demand her release but she continues to languish in a prison known for its torture and raping of inmates.

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Environment, International, Society

Sweden Moves Toward Zero Waste Goal While Germany Moves To Drop Greenhouse Emissions By Over 25 Percent

earth-screensaver_largeThe United States continues to lag behind leading countries in pushing aggressive environmental programs to reduce pollutants and garbage. Two stories this week highlight the sharp and disappointing contrast. In Sweden, the government has made an incredible leap in reducing household garbage and appears close to attaining the impossible: a zero waste national objective for landfills. Currently, less than one percent of Sweden household garbage ends up in landfills. In the meantime, Germany (which continues to outstrip the U.S. on green policies while continuing strong economic growth) has announced that it will add one million electric cars on the road by 2030 and expects to drop greenhouse emissions from transportation by 26 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels.

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International, Politics, Society

Polls Show Yes Vote Could Prevail In Scottish Independence Referendum

flag-of-scotlandEngland flag

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

To the surprise of some, polls are indicating that Scotland could become an independent nation as there are predictions, especially on YouGov, that 51% will vote yes.

Pursuant to an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Scottish Parliament both governments after years long negotiations formed the referendum process giving Scots the ability choose between independence and continued allegiance to the UK. A simple question posed on the ballot will most definitely bring profound changes:

“Should Scotland be an independent country?”

On September 18th that question will be answered.

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International, Religion, Society

Uniformed “Shariah Police” Patrol Center of German City Causing National Attention

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

shariah-police-group

Several young adults wearing orange reflective jackets embossed with the words “Shariah Police” began foot patrols of the central district of the German city Wuppertal, harassing who they perceived to be Muslim frequenting discos and gambling establishments.

The group held that they were promoting their Salafist beliefs and chastising others who deviated from the tenets of the religion. By consuming alcohol and engaging in gambling entertainment.

The German Federal Government reacted swiftly to the reports. Members of Angela Merkel’s coalition government immediately chastised the group and declared that the German State would not tolerate ad-hoc quasi-police patrols such as these. An Interior Ministry spokesperson told the newspaper Rheinisher Post that concerning the Shariah Police “In this way they are demonstrating that they do not recognized our law-based state.” Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands, or CDU a major German political party, Security Advisor Peter Biesenbach described the situation as an “alarm signal”.

The founder of the Shariah Police, thirty three year old Sven Lau claims the Shariah Police never existed and that the group was only a few men spending a few hours bringing attention to the issue of Sharia law in Germany.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

Four Family Members Arrested In India For Converting To Islam Without Government Approval

India flag220px-IslamicGalleryBritishMuseum3There is a bizarre case out of India this week where four people were arrested after they allegedly converted to Islam without state approval. In India, under the ironically named Freedom of Religion Act, you must get state approval before changing religions. The law is meant to guarantee that people are not coerced into conversions. In light of the ongoing forced conversions of ISIS or the Islamic State, that is a legitimate concern. However, it would seem a problem that can be addressed by just criminalizing forced or coerced conversions as opposed to forcing everyone to get state permission to change faiths. The obvious concern is that in the largely Hindu nation, such permission can itself be coercive for those who want to leave the Hindu faith.

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Academia, International, Science, Society, Uncategorized

Egypt Rehires Company To Restore Ancient Pyramid After Allegedly Damaging The Structure in A Prior Project

Djoser_Pyramid_-_1900-1Last year, I wrote a column about how there appears to be little accountability in government for gross negligence, as shown by the response to the debacle over the rollout of the Obamacare website and billions wasted or lost in Afghanistan and Iraq. Egypt has shown that this is not just a problem in the U.S. Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities, Mamdouh Eldamaty, is under fire after rehiring a company named Shurbagy for restoration of one of Egypt’s oldest pyramids after the firm caused damage and major deterioration to the very same structure in an earlier botched job.

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Academia, Environment, International, Politics, Science

Report: There is a 99.999% Certainty That Humans Driving Global Warming

earth-screensaver_largeThere is a new report on global climate change this week that addresses many of the claims being raised against the theory by critics. Despite the overwhelming agreement of the scientific community, people continue to cite anecdotal observations of cool temperatures to refute predictions. The new report crunches the climate numbers and concludes that there is less than 1 chance in 100,000 that global average temperature over the past 60 years would have been as high without human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

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International, Politics, Religion, Society

OMG U R F! Egyptian Clerics Issue Fatwa Banning Online Chats Between The Sexes

thumb_at_computer_silloetteEgyptDar Al Ifta, Egypt’s official body in charge of advising Muslims on spiritual matters, has shown that Egypt is not going to simply give up in the race back to the Stone Age between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Muslim cleric have issued a fatwa prohibiting online chats between unrelated men and women. How they are going to monitor that fatwa is a bit unclear but it appears that even sending text messages to a person of the other sex is an affront to Islam. Clerics issued the fatwa with the warning that social media is “one of the tools of the devil and a way for spreading discord and corruption.”

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society, Uncategorized

Morality Spill On Aisle 6: Saudi Religious Police Beat Husband After He And His Wife Use a Women-Only Checkout Line At Supermarket

Screen Shot 2014-09-02 at 7.20.12 AMIn Riyadh, the Saudi morality police are again in the news. You may recall that when we last left the medieval mod squad they had secured a sentence to flog a woman who insulted them. Now, the religious police was caught on video beating up a British resident after they paid a bill at a women-only cask desk. The religious police was irate at the violation of the strict Sharia-based separation of the sexists and apparently took what they thought was the morality correct approach in beating the man in front of his wife who was wearing a black abaya cloak.

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Academia, International, Science, Society

International Team Publishes Breakthrough Research Sequencing Ebola Strain Despite the Deaths of Five Team Members

ebolaThere is a chilling international report out of this week on the origins of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Researchers from the United States and Africa were able to trace the origins of the outbreak to a funeral in Guinea. The report expanded the data on Ebola by 400 percent. However, the standard listing of authors on the study have a chilling notation, a “‡” designation for “Deceased.” Five team members died in the effort to trace this Ebola stain and the release of the report honors their extraordinary sacrifice.

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Criminal law, International

SWAT Team Keeps Lights Off In Apartment Hallway So Not To Alert Suspect . . . And Proceed to Raid The Wrong Unit

250px-swat_teamUnknownAn Austrian SWAT team learned the perils of working in the dark this week (as did an innocent family) when the police decided to leave off hall lights in an apartment building so not to alert the suspect. The problem is that, with the lights off, they could not make out the door numbers and raided the wrong unit.

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International, Politics

Will The Threat Posed By ISIS Change Views Of The PKK From Terrorist To Friend?

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

flag-pkkThe bloody horror that befell Northwestern Iraq and in Syria at the hands of ISIS is likely to force a geopolitical reassessment as to alliances and policies. There have been many calling for us to change our role in the Syrian civil war as well as demanding changes in the leadership of Iraq itself. One fact is certain the threat posed by ISIS is real, growing and it seems ironic that even other jihadi groups can no longer accept the actions of this terrorist organization. European governments worry of the distinct possibility a terrorist, failed state will emerge having shores on the Mediterranean.

Such a change might be beginning now and will ultimately find common causes between the West and the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party. While the German Government has historically used legal and diplomatic maneuvers to suppress the PKK, it now is poised to arm the Kurds in Northern Iraq in response to ISIS and very well could be ultimately supporting the PKK, at least unofficially.

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International, Society

Some of India’s “Untouchable” Citizens Continue To Be Relegated Into Disposal Of Human Waste

Submitted By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

manual-scavengingWe have discussed the sad plight of the low castes of Indian society and their removal from the benefits of India’s emergence in the world. In particular is the notion of certain human beings are considered to be untouchable. Examples include being last to be rescued during floods (HERE), a case of doctors refusing to treat an untouchable woman in labor resulting in she and her child dying (HERE) Children suffering horrific acts of violence (HERE) Child Rapes (HERE) and others.

Deutsche Welle recently published an interview with Meenakshi Granguly, the South Asia Director for Human Rights Watch who co-authored a study titled “Cleaning Human Waste: ‘Manual Scavenging,’ Caste, and Discrimination in India.” The study focused on “Manual scavenging” – the cleaning of human waste from open roads and dry pit latrines by communities considered low-caste – [that] is still being practiced by hundreds of thousands of people in India” The report was released August 25th. It is one of sorrow and deep social injustice.

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