Category: Politics

Bizarre, Politics, Society

Trump Critics Unleash Vulgar and Violent Rhetoric Over Immigration Debate

Screen Shot 2015-12-12 at 10.24.53 AMDonald Trump’s recent proposal to ban Muslims from entry in the country and his policies on illegal immigration has caused a heated debate. As we recently discussed, some have taken this debate to a personal and vulgar level, including the involvement in children in disgraceful videotapes. Now El Diablito, a food cart company in Portland, Oregon has followed suit with its own disgraceful display of children screaming to “kill” Trump and flashing vulgar signs. It is beyond me how parents would expose or encourage such things with children. However, they are not alone in such shocking conduct. Loring Wirbel, co-chairman of the Colorado Springs, Colo., chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has resigned after saying that Trump supporters should be shot.

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Criminal law, Politics, Society

Come for the Pot, Stay For the Powder? Colorado Finds Roughly Half of Tourists Visit Due To Legal Marijuana

Marijuana LeafWe have been following the expanding market pressures in favor of legalization of marijuana in the United States. Now a new study seems to support those who have argued that legalization is a powerful economic lift for the Colorado economy. It appears that the powder on the slopes is less of a draw than the pot for tourists.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, International, Politics, Religion

Trump Calls For “Total and Complete Shutdown” of Muslims Entering The United States

495px-Donald_Trump_by_Gage_SkidmoreIn a truly shocking and facially unconstitutional plan, Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump is calling for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States. The plan would violate a host of domestic and international protections, as I discussed today with the Washington Post.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion, Society

The First Glimpse Into The Farook Family Confirms Twisted and Hateful Views

tashfeensyedpicWe have often discussed how Islamic extremists seem to recruit mentally ill candidates for terrorist operations. What is most unnerving about the history of the couple is that they appeared to be fully functioning and relatively successful people. However, exposure to extreme elements on the Internet and in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan seemed to unleash a deep hate and latent violence within them. If that is now clear is that San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook came from a family and married a woman with extreme views on Jews and Islam. An Italian newspaper interviewed Farook’s father who offered his own bizarre take on the world. In the meantime, more is being learned about the entry of Tashfeen Malik, who married Syed Rizwan Farook after meeting him online and coming to the U.S. on a fiance visa – including this entry photograph.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Religion

Jewish Montana Man Shoots Neighbor And Dog Over Serving Non-Kosher Drink

monteleonMonte Leon Hanson, 59, has a curious concept of a pious life. Hanson ordered a “red beer” (a mixture of beer and tomato juice) from his neighbor, Joe Lewis, who works as a bartender at the Rainbow bar in Hamilton, Montana. After drinking the red beer, Hanson learned that Lewis used Clamato tomato juice made from clam broth. He became irate that he did not use straight tomato juice because the Clamato juice was not kosher for his Jewish faith.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Politics, Society

President Obama Reportedly Preparing Unilateral Gun Control Regulation As Response To Recent Shootings

SseudqLThe New York Daily News has a controversial front page this morning blasting politicians and others who are offering prayers while opposing to take steps to curtail gun access in this country in the wake of the latest massacre in California. It is the same message sent by President Barack Obama who appears ready to use executive authority to restrict gun sales at gun shows. The problem with calls for such action is that Congress has declined to order such changes — raising yet another potential conflict over executive overreach in our system. Moreover, the right to own firearms is now recognized as an individual right under the Second Amendment, limiting the extent to which gun ownership can be meaningfully curtailed. Absent a constitutional amendment, many of the calls for banning gun ownership would fail as unconstitutional.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Media, Politics, Society

The House Of Representatives Files Motion For Summary Judgment In ACA Challenge

800px-Capitol_Building_Full_ViewThis evening, the United States House of Representatives filed its motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit against the unilateral actions taken by the Administration under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Three months ago, Judge Rosemary Collyer rejected a motion to dismiss the case by the Administration. The motion below seeks a final ruling on the merits of the lawsuit.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics

“We Swears To Serve The Master”: Turkish Court Orders Investigation Into Whether a Comparison of Erdoğan to Gollum Is Insulting And Thus Criminal

220px-Gollum220px-Recep_Tayyip_ErdoganLike most of the world, we have watched the rapid decline of civil liberties in Turkey after the election of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his coalition of Islamic parties. Just last month, we discussed the arrest of Mehmet Emin Altunses, 16, who allegedly committed the crime of “insulting” Erdoğan. calling people who use birth control “traitors” and saying Muslims discovered America, you are not allowed to be disrespectful or insulting in discussing Erdoğan. Then there was the prosecution of model and former Miss Turkey Merve Buyuksarac, 26, for criticizing Erdogan for quoting a few lines from a poem called the “Master’s Poem” from weekly Turkish satirical magazine Uykusuz. Erdogan’s totalitarian measures have earned him the nickname “Buyuk Usta” (the Big Master). The fact is that censorship and repressions is that it tends to become increasing absurd as leaders try to punish those who would insult them or question their leadership. This week is another case in point for Erdoğan. His government is investigating physician Dr. Bilgin Çiftçi for allegedly insulting Erdoğan after sharing a meme comparing Erdoğan’s facial expressions to the Gollum character in the “The Lord of the Rings” movies. Now here is the truly wonderful part: a court has reportedly demanded an expert examination by two experts to determine if a comparison to Gollum’s character would be an insult.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Religion, Society

Former Mizzou Instructor Arrested After Attacking Teenage Relative At High School For Not Wearing Veil

56588096de584.imageThe University of Missouri has been battered by protests over racial relations on the campus for weeks, including the recent resignation of a faculty member who tried to silence a student reporter. Now, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri is under arrest on suspicion of child abuse after Benghazi native Youssif Z. Omar reportedly attacked a female 14-year-old relative for not wearing a hijab to Hickman High School. The University says that Omar has not worked at the university for months. Students were reportedly not fond of Omar and some noted his explosive temper, yelling at students, and poor English.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion

Muslims in India Launch Violent Protests and Call For Arrests Over “Blasphemous Picture” In Newspaper . . . of a Piggy Bank

piggy-bank-isis We have often discussed the various protests, often violent, in Islamic countries over alleged blasphemous statements or images. These usually involve depictions of Mohammad or religious symbols. In Mumbai, however, Muslim protesters found a new blasphemous symbol: the use of a piggy bank to show where ISIS gets its money to conduct worldwide terror campaigns. This is a standard illustration of a “piggy bank” to show the savings of a group or person. Yet, some took this from a different perspective.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Saudi Arabian Woman Sentenced To Be Stoned To Death . . . Male Lover To Be Given 100 Lashes

200px-Coat_of_arms_of_Saudi_Arabia.svgstoningWe recently discussed the bizarre report that the Saudi Arabian government was going to sue a Twitter user for a tweet where he compared the death sentence given poet Ashraf Fayadh to ISIS executions. It appears that decapitations of non-believers ordered under Sharia are materially different from decapitations of nonbelievers ordered by ISIS under Sharia law. Now, as if struggling to bring home the absurd distinction, another Saudi Sharia court has sentenced a Saudi Arabian woman to death by stoning for adultery. The man? He gets 100 lashes.

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Politics, Society

Controversial Leonard Peltier Art Now Displayed In Grocery Store

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier

This month we revealed the artwork of Leonard Pelteir, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1975 murder of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams, was being displayed at the Washington Department of Labor and industries during a Native American art and culture event. After the article, KING-5 News broadcast a news segment concerning the controversy which led to the immediate removal of the art.

The artwork in question has found a new home for its display and promotion.

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

Our Decapitations Of Nonbelievers Are Nothing Like Their Decapitations of Nonbelievers: Saudi Arabia To Sue Twitter User Over Comparisons To ISIS

125px-Coat_of_arms_of_Saudi_Arabia.svgFlag_of_the_Islamic_State.svgI recently raised concerns on PBS Newshour about a lawsuit by Israelis who are suing in the United States to force Facebook to take down violent, anti-Jewish sites. While I believe Facebook can and should take down the sites, the use of the government to close such sites raise serious free speech questions in where to draw the line on such censorship or regulation of speech. I noted that such lawsuits like the recent successful action against Twitter by Jewish students are part of a comprehensive attack on free speech that uses such civil actions as a form of speech regulation or retaliation. Saudi Arabia has again stepped forward to make this point more powerfully that I could ever hope to. The Saudi justice ministry has announced that it will sue a Twitter user who compared the death sentence handed down on Friday to a Palestinian poet to the punishments meted out by Islamic State. I have drawn the same obvious comparison in the case of Ashraf Fayadh as have readers on this site and other sites. Rather than stop acting like ISIS (which would require a greater recognition of due process and human rights in the Kingdom), Saudi Arabia is seeking to threaten people to stop them from making the analogy. However, the beheadings of nonbelievers will continue. For many, the Saudi Foreign Ministry sounds like it is putting out the word “if you say we are like ISIS again, we will behead you.”

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

Russia Moves To Shoot Down Turkish History: New Legislation Would Make Denial Of Armenian Genocide A Crime

260px-MarcharmeniansThe Russians appear to be moving in the aftermath of Turkey shooting down one of its fighters: it has targeted Turkish history in a new and abusive criminal law. Russian lawmaker Sergei Mironov said that his Just Russia party has proposed a bill that criminalizes the denial that the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces was a “genocide.” I previously wrote about a similar law passed in France as not just a denial of free speech but academic freedom. The law was later struck down. The Russians are moving just weeks after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Switzerland also violation freedom of speech for its criminalization of the denial of the killings of Armenians as genocide.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Massachusetts Cheerleader Tweets A Criticism Of Illegal Immigration And School Responds By Banning Her From Her Team

2ECD3FC200000578-3333566-image-m-25_1448461305506We have been discussing the rapid erosion of free speech on our campuses. That trend started a long time ago in our high schools where officials have steadily attacked the exercise of free speech by teenagers. Few however have reached the level of censorship and content-based punishment as Revere High School in Massachusetts. Cheerleader Caley Godino has been banned from her team because she tweeted political comments that her teachers did not like about illegal immigration.

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