There is an interesting story coming out of CBS this week where the network has refused to air advertisements for Truth by Sony Pictures Classics. The problem is that the film starring Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford places CBS in a negative light in exploring the network controversy over airing the 2004 news story on former President George W. Bush’s military service record. The story was discredited and CBS fired producer Mary Mapes. Anchor Dan Rather later retired from CBS. [For full disclosure, I worked for CBS as an on-air analyst with Rather and thought very highly of him in our work on the Bush v. Gore coverage].
Category: Politics
There is a bizarre case out of Alaska where hiker Kathleen Turley (no relation despite our shared name and mutual love for hiking) was found liable for springing traps John Forrest’s near a hiking path. The Juneau native insisted that she encountered the traps when it caught a bald eagle that she rescued from the trap. She tripped other traps to protect fellow hikers and her dog. However, the court found that that was no defense and that, under Alaskan law, she is liable.
While I loved spending a few days back home in Chicago this week, it was depressing to see how decades of mismanagement of the city and the State continue to take a toll on citizens and businesses. The latest absurdity is the announcement by the Illinois lottery that anyone who wins more than $600 will simply get an IOU for their winnings due to a lack of cash. Yet, the state is still encouraging citizens to play the lottery.
The United House of Prayer on M Street NW in Washington, D.C. has a curious view of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. The Church has claimed that the city is denying the freedom of religion by seeking to add a bike lane on one side of its street. While there is a rich literature on the scope of the protections afforded to religious practices, it is perfectly delusional to claim that the addition of a bike lane violates “constitutionally protected rights of religious freedom and equal protection of the laws.”
Continue reading “D.C. Church Claims Bike Lane Would Violate Freedom Of Religion”
The increasing recognition of politicians of climate change has been a welcomed change from the long denials of the past. However, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker has made a curious pitch in a BBC interview: increased oil drilling to offset climate change that most people associated with oil consumption.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The issue of abortion is at the very least highly contentious. Decades of heated arguments are not likely to end this discussion soon even in light of various statutory and common law mandates laying out a legal framework for which it is permitted or denied. The matter is a perennial source of political maneuvering, and litmus tests that can in some areas make or break the careers of politicians. This article will not discuss the ethical or legal aspects of abortion but rather the perspective and moral position of those who support pro-life, and why they cannot abandon their cause. It is an exercise in empathy that is applicable to other subjects in ethical studies.
Continue reading “Ethical Certainties: Why Pro-Life Supporters Cannot Morally Abandon Their Cause”
We previously discussed the truly bizarre scene of having Saudi Arabia sit on the UN Human Rights Council despite being one of the most infamous violators of human rights. As if to remind the world of the crushing irony, Saudi Arabia has issued a statement telling the world that it has no business objecting to the planned execution of a religious dissent. The Saudi Arabian embassy in the UK has denounced “any form of interference in its internal affairs” regarding the case of 21-year-old dissident Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who has been sentenced to death by beheading for engaging in pro-democracy protests.
There is another controversy brewing in California over allegations that the University of California at Berkeley is again trying to circumvent a state law that bars the use of race in educational decisions. Berkeley has announced a $20 million fund to endow scholarships for African-American students and to hire a diverse faculty. Critics say that it clearly runs afoul of the law and is another example the refusal of administrators to comply with a state policy for absolute racially blind decision-making in admissions and other educations decision making.
Continue reading “Berkeley Under Fire For New Race-Based Program”
House GOP primary candidate Kay Daly is challenging Rep. Renee Ellmers in North Carolina clearly has a different view of what constitutes a high calibre candidate. The former N.C. GOP spokeswoman and congressional aide is running an advertisement that says that she does not just oppose RINOs (“Republican In Name Only”) but wants to bag them . . . literally.
Continue reading “Gun-Toting North Carolina Candidate Pledges To Hunt Down “Rinos” In Political Ad”
State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez in Chicago has long been criticized for her efforts to bar the public filming of police officers, bizarre positions, and anti-civil liberties positions. Now she is again under fire for refusing to re-open four cases that were identified in an independent investigation as “more likely than not” resulting in the conviction of innocent men.
We have occasionally followed new reports on the economic condition of the public and the news is rarely good. After an extremely very poor jobs report, a new study found that twenty-eight percent of Americans have nothing in their savings accounts and another 21 percent have no savings account at all. Only 29 percent has $1,000 or more in their accounts.
Continue reading “Report: Half of the Country Has No Savings”
Augustus Sol Invictus is not your typical politician. While most politicians are known for kissing babies, Invictus is best known for admitting that he killed a goat and drank its blood in a ritual of thanks after returning from a journey in the Mojave Desert. Invictus changed his former name (which he will reportedly not reveal) to the Latin Sol Invictus (“Unconquered Sun”), which was the official sun god of the Roman Empire and a patron of soldiers. It appears the 32-year-old lawyer is willing to admit that critics got his goat, or at least the story, but insists that people can look beyond a goat-blood drinking Senator. “I did sacrifice a goat. I know that’s probably a quibble in the mind of most Americans. I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness … Yes, I drank the goat’s blood.”
Continue reading ““A Quibble”: Florida Senate Candidate Admits To Drinking Goat Blood”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The realpolitik in the Levant changed significantly upon the entry of the Russian Government into the foray. Russia announced recently it would assist the Assad Government in Syria as well as Kurdish forces in fighting what it perceives to be a mutual threat to Russia by ISIS. It has interest in maintaining the Assad government, which has long established ties with Moscow. In the past weeks the Russian military established operational bases in Syria and began a heavy program in supplying material and personnel.
Now, the Russian leadership announced it was working on providing weapons to Iraqi Kurds fighting ISIS through the Iraq Government. This shows a clear departure from the politics in the region where the focus was upon the United States to provide the Iraqis with defense abilities. Yet, this has proven to be ineffective due to the rapid expeditionary campaign launched against the people and government of Iraq by ISIS. It was almost an embarrassment when the United States surprised the world with the announcement of ISIS’ threat after it was six months into its war effort against Iraq and Syria and went so far as to claim that despite the loss of 25% of Iraq’s territory and ISIS forces advancing within several dozen miles of Iraq’s capital, the situation was under control and was not an existential threat to the nation.
Now, in the vacuum of a serious effort on behalf of the west to address the ISIS problem, other than airstrikes and millions of dollars recruiting and training a handful of Syrian volunteers, Russia is emerging to fulfill the void left behind. Russia will gain both in terms of influence in credibility in the area as a result.
Continue reading “Russia Allegedly Supplying Weaponry To Iraqi Kurds Fighting ISIS–Through Bagdad”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The archetype of bureaucracy is often associated with the Departments of Licensing / Departments of Motor Vehicles in various states. Washington’s contribution for this year manifested in the issuance of handicapped parking placards–the cards that hang from mirrors. It most certainly adds insult to citizens’ injuries who need the placards due to restricted mobility when the Washington Department of Licensing changed rules to supposedly address alleged fraud (which I personally have a difficult time accepting is rampant). But the DOL in doing so created a system that is easily circumvented and worse added another layer of delay for legitimate users by failing to announce changes to forms and procedures; thus requiring untold number of citizens to schedule new appointments with their doctors due to the agency’s bureaucratic rigidity and nonsensical new procedures.
The elevation of Saudi Arabia (in what appears now a secret deal with England) in 2013 to the United Nations Human Rights Council was to say the least controversial. After all, the Kingdom denies basic rights to women, bars basic religious freedom for non-Muslim (including the construction of any church in the Kingdom), engages in torture, and applies a medieval Sharia law that imposes grotesque and draconian punishments. It is widely viewed as the appropriate target (not a member) of the Council. Saudi Arabia has not wasted time in obstructing human rights measures. This week for example the Kingdom blocked plans for an international inquiry into human rights violations by all parties in the war in Yemen despite massive death counts among civilians in the last six months. It also announced at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that it will opposed any and all protections for gay people as anti-Islamic.
Continue reading “Saudi Arabia Uses Position On Human Rights Council to Block Human Rights Measures”