The Eighth Amendment clearly states “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Bridgett Nickerson Boyd found a new meaning to that prohibition after Deputy Sheriff Mark Goad pulled her over on a Texas highway. After she had to go to the hospital with a racing heart, she was handcuffed and, she alleges, required to listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio. By any measure, that would shock the conscience as cruel and unusual punishment.
Continue reading “Cruel and Unusual Punishment? Woman Sues Over Arrest and Being Forced To Listen To Rush Limbaugh”
Category: Politics
Florida may be facing rising unemployment, funding cuts of major social programs, and environmental threats, but Rep. Ritch Workman (R-Melbourne) has stepped forward to tackle an issue that few have even acknowledged, let alone addressed, in the halls of power: dwarf-tossing. Workman is seeking to lift the ban on dwarf-tossing and to return Florida to a competitive position in the sport.
Continue reading “Florida Legislator Seeks To Legalize Dwarf-Tossing”
I recently ran a couple of columns (here and here) and postings criticizing President Obama’s assertion of the right to kill citizens as a presidential prerogative. It now appears that he has delegated the selection of targets for killings to a panel of unnamed officials who determine which people should be killed without a trial or even a charge. When it comes to citizens like Anwar al-Awlaki, the killings raise serious constitutional problems that are being kept from the courts by the Administration.
Continue reading “Death Panel: Obama Delegates Hit List To Panel of Unnamed Officials”
In a previous, I expressed profound doubt over the latest installment of “Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: Action Hero.” If you recall, after his being featured a race car driver, great white hunter, jet pilot, oceanologist, martial artist and Hell’s Angel, Putin was shown as a scuba diver. While only having dived three times, Putin was filmed at an ancient Greek Black sea site and . . . you guessed it . . . he “discovered” two sixth century urns under the water — one of which was in pristine condition with nary a seaweed adhering to its surface. Most of us laughed at the display of unrestrained megalomania, but the Russians insisted that it just shows how superhuman Putin is. Now, after ridicule outside of Russian, an aide admitted it was staged.
Continue reading “Putin’ On A Show: Russian Aide Admits Putin Discovery of Ancient Urns Was Staged”
Well, we finally have been cited as the inspiration for reforms in England. Prime Minister David Cameron is suggesting a “fat tax” on foods to combat obesity and to avoid becoming like the United States — a nation of fat people. He appears to be unaware that we prefer to call ourselves a Rubenesque nation.
Continue reading “PM Cameron Calls For Fat Tax To Prevent England From Becoming . . . Well . . . Us”
Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor has created a firestorm of controversy in Topeka, Kansas by announcing that his office will no longer prosecute domestic abuse cases and other misdemeanors due to a lack of funds. Notably, Taylor was faced with a 10 percent budget cut, but elected to simply bar prosecution of crimes like domestic abuse.
Continue reading “Topeka District Attorney Refuses to Prosecute Domestic Abuse Cases After His Budget is Cut”
Below is today’s column in USA Today (to run in paper form on Wednesday) on President Barack Obama’s claim to the right to kill citizens as dangers to the nation. Ironically, the day after I wrote the Los Angeles Times column on Obama’s disastrous impact on the civil liberties movement in the United States (including his assertion of the right to kill citizens on his own authority), the U.S. killed two citizens in Yemen. Notably, Ron Paul (who has emerged as the only candidate discussing these issues from a civil libertarian perspective) suggested an impeachment inquiry based on the killing of the two citizens. Below is the column in USA Today.
Continue reading “The Hit List: The Public Applauds As President Obama Kills Two Citizens As A Presidential Prerogative”
Christine Hemming, 53, may be the ultimate cat burglar. The wife of Member of Parliament John Hemming is allegedly shown in this video breaking into the mistress of her husband and stealing her kitten, Beauty.
Continue reading “Cat Burglar: MP Wife Convicted of Stealing “Beauty””
U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford verbally lashed the Fullerton Police Department in its handing of allegation by sexual misconduct of an officer, calling the police department actions as “shocking” in its failure to take serious steps to preserve and act on evidence.
Continue reading “Federal Judge Criticizes Lack of Response of California Police Department To Allegations of Sexual Abuse By Officer”
Charlie Whittington, owner of the Kwik Kar oil-change shop in Plano, TX, no doubt accepts the promise in Hebrews 1:9 that “God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows,” but he wants to throw in a discount oil change for good measure. Whittington has achieved national notoriety by offering customers an oil change for $19.99 if they recite a Bible verse to him or his staff. They must recite John 3:16: “For God so loved that world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Continue reading ““For God So Loved The World, He Gave You Bargains, Bargains, Bargains”: Texas Mechanic Offers Cheap Oil Changes For Christian Recitals”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Ex-con Bruce Price is a principled guy. He spent a decade as a prison chef while serving time for assault. Many of those meals were for condemned men in the Texas penal system. We’ve recently discussed Texas’ knee-jerk abandonment of the Last Meal for condemned prisoners here on the blog. Seems Price was reading about it, too.
Continue reading “Have Ladle, Will Travel: Texas Chef Calls State’s Hand On Canning Last Meals”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Bank of America is leading banks all across the country in instituting new monthly fees for customers who use debit cards. BoA will start charging customers $5 a month while Wells Fargo and Chase are testing a $3 a month fee, Regions a $4 a month fee, and SunTrust a $5 fee.
Below is today’s column in the Washington Post (Sunday) exploring the growing infusion of religious pitches and policies in the presidential campaign. With the anniversary this week of the Danbury letter, this is a particularly good time to take account of the condition of the wall of separation. Today is also the day of the “Red Mass,” the annual religious service held with members of the Supreme Court before the start of their term and leading Republican and Democratic politicians. While the separation of church and state is not mentioned in the Constitution, this exchange cemented the phrase in our legal and cultural lexicon. The piece below does not delve into the meaning of the First Amendment and whether it can be read broadly or narrowly given its language and history. Even if one accepts that the establishment clause was only designed to prevent the creation of an official church, there remains the long-standing principle in politics and government against the intermingling of church and state. To put it simply, religion is back in politics. While the targeted religious minorities may have changed from Baptists to Muslims, the fight over separation has resumed with the same politicized piety that once tore this country apart.
Continue reading “Separation of Church and State? Not on the 2012 Campaign Trial”
Few people would mourn the passing of radical U.S. cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi. However, his reported death from a U.S. air strike raises the long-standing question over President Obama’s insistence that he can unilaterally label a citizen as a terrorist and order his killing. It is one of the policies (of many) that Obama continued from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and was one of the subjects of my column yesterday in the Los Angeles Times.
Awkward. Primera (Texas) Police Chief Joe Rodriguez recently sent his opponent for the office of constable, Robert Lopez, text that contained transgender porn. Oops.
Continue reading “Texas Sheriff Sends Transgender Porn To Political Opponent By Mistake”