Category: Politics

Megabyte: Israeli Border Police Shoot Laptop of American Student

American student Lily Sussman, 21, likely has a new appreciation for our TSA personnel after encountering the Israel Border Police. Israeli officers allegedly interrogated her after she entered Israel via Taba, Egypt two weeks ago and ended up shooting her Apple laptop computer. It appears that the Border Police are PC people.

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The Not-So-Speedy Trial: Turkish Trial Ends After 28 Years

We often struggle with speedy trials in the United States, arguing over whether the Sixth Amendment can be honored in 160 days or less. The standard in Turkey appears a bit more flexible where they appear to measure speed in years rather than days. A panel of judges have found 39 people guilty in a trial that began on March 15, 1982 — roughly 28 years ago.

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The Accidental Tourist: Art Student Arrested in London for Photographing “Iconic Sites” as Terrorist Threat

Italian student Simona Bonomo has become the latest tourist to be nabbed in England for taking pictures of historic or “iconic” landmarks. Police community support officers (PCSOs) stopped Bonomo under anti-terrorism after she took pictures of buildings and arrested her under anti-terrorism laws. She was held in a jail cell and later released after paying a fine.
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Justice Minister Calls For Israel to Adopt Torah Law As The Governing Rules for the Nation

The application of Sharia law in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran has supplied this blog with a steady stream of cases involving stonings and censorship. Now, Israel’s Justice Minister Yaacov Neeman wants the country to adopt its own religious book, the Torah, as the basis for the country’s laws.
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Suffer Not The Children: Faith-Healing Parents Charged in Death of Teenager

Oregon is preparing to try yet another child death case related to the Followers of Christ in Oregon City, a group of faith healers with a long record of dead children. The group was part of the focus of a recent column on the prosecution of parents for faith-based neglect. Jeff and Marci Beagley are mentioned in the column and are now challenging the criminal neglect statute as vague and raising free exercise of religion claims to block their prosecution for the death of Neil Beagley, 15.
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You’ve Got Mail . . . A Lot of Mail: 22 Million Missing E-Mails From Bush Administration Found

The Bush Administration repeatedly denied that there were missing emails and later insisted that any emails that were missing could not be found. Now, 22 million missing White House e-mails have been found, according to two public interest groups who reached a settlement over the records. I discussed the issue on this segment of MSNBC Countdown.
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Anti-Corruption Advocate and Lawyer Dies in Jail — Kremlin Fired Prison Head and Others

Sergei Magnitsky, 37, was a courageous lawyer who fought the corruption in Russia and went public with his accusations. The result was first his arrest on tax evasion charges and then his death in a Moscow prison. Now, President Dmitry Medvedev has fired the prison head and 19 other officials. However, there will apparently be no investigation into his original arrest or its connection to his allegations against government officials.
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Flog the Blog: A Call to Arms for the Greatest Blogging Generation

By last count, we were roughly 25 votes out of first place in the ABA competition. Twenty-five votes stand between us and ever-lasting glory. Who among us can now claim that we have done enough when we are mocked from across the Internet?

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Thomas the Capitalist Stooge: Professor Finds Dark Messages in Children’s Series

Professor Shauna Wilton and colleagues at the Department of Social Sciences Research at the University of Alberta have made a disturbing discovery: Thomas the Tank Engine appears to be a vehicle used to implant a “conservative political ideology” in our children. This is the liberal version of the campaign against Purple Teletubby Tinky Winky by Jerry Falwell as sending hidden gay messages. The professor, however, may find proletarian values in another railway, the London underground: here.
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Baucus: “I Went Out Of My Way To Be Up And Up” On His Romantic Relations With Staff Member

It is a good thing that Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) represents Montana and not Minnesota, here. New details have emerged in the ethics scandal surrounding the Senator. Baucus allegedly gave his girlfriend Melodee Hanes a nearly $14,000 pay raise in 2008 when he started his romantic relationship and later took her on a taxpayer funded trip to Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
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American Taliban: Family Group Calls for Laws To Be Strengthened That Criminalize Sex Outside of Marriage

There is an interesting fight in Minnesota where State Senator Ellen Anderson made the modest suggestion that the state repeal laws making it illegal for a married woman to cheat on her husband and another statute that makes it a crime for single women to have sex at all. The response of the powerful Minnesota Family Council is to call for the law not to be repealed but strengthened to make it a crime for men to have sex outside of marriage.

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With All Due Respect . . . Kiss My Shillelagh

Irish Green Party member Paul Gogarty cut to the chase in the Irish Parliament in this video when confronted by by Labor Party members. Gogarty responds with “With all due respect and in the most unparliamentary language, f— you Deputy Stagg, f— you.” I felt the addition of “with all due respect” made all the difference.

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Uganda Law Would Execute Gays and Imprison Their Families

Uganda is considering a new law that would impose the death penalty for some gays and sentence family members to up to seven years in jail if they fail to report gay relatives to authorities. The law would even jail landlords for accepting gays as tenants.

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