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””
Category: Politics
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”
A new study from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has identified an area of young adults who have been overlooked by prior campaigns: young evangelicals. The study found 80 percent of unmarried evangelical young adults have had sex. That is virtually the same (8 percent below) the national average. With a campaign infused with religiosity this year and all of the talk of “real America” versus urban America, the study challenges stereotypes.
Continue reading “Laying Hands Upon The Faithful (and Available): Study Finds 80 Percent of Unmarried Evangelical Young Adults Have Pre-Marital Sex”
Earlier today, I posted another case out of Illinois where an officer arrested a citizen for recording him in public — only to have the charges later dropped without any disciplining of the officer. Now in New York city we have another alleged case where an officer detains a citizen over public videotaping — not of him, mind you, but of ground zero. Meredith Dodson of Georgia says that Officer Mark DeSimone not only detained her but became threatening with her and other citizens who objected to his arbitrary action over her taking a photo of the famous site.
Continue reading “Georgia Woman Reportedly Detained For Taking Photo Of Ground Zero”
A family in Pakistan is living in poverty and avoiding neighbors calling for their deaths. Their offense? The oldest daughter was raped and the family did not kill her as demanded as a matter of honor. Unlike hundreds of such girls killed in honor killings each year, Kainat Soomro, 17, is being supported by her family and refuses to back down in demanding justice for her kidnapping and gang rape.
Continue reading “Pakistani Religious Elders Order The Killing of Teenage Rape Victim For Losing Her Virginity Before Marriage”
We have yet another person arrested for recording a police officer in public. Louis Frobe felt he was wrongly stopped for speeding and decided to use his phone to videotape and record the stop and its surroundings. When he held the phone outside of the window to videotape the surrounding area, the officer proceeded to arrest him and charge him with a felony in Illinois. The arresting officer is identified in a lawsuit as Ralph H. Goar of the Village of Lindenhurst.
Continue reading “Police Arrest Illinois Man For Videotaping Traffic Stop”
Below is today’s column in The Los Angeles Times on the record of Barack Obama on civil liberties and his impact on the civil liberties movement in the United States.
Continue reading “Obama and the Decline of the American Civil Liberties Movement”
German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble left little question about his view of the wisdom of the economic policies of the Obama Administration. Schauble called the U.S. plan to pour trillions of dollars into the bailout fund “stupid” and said it would destroy the AAA ratings for the members — precisely what occurred to the U.S. this year. There is rising criticism of the economic views of Timothy Geithner, who some view as steering the U.S. into massive and unproductive spending.
Continue reading “Germany Calls U.S. Plan To Save Euro “Stupid””
We often criticize Saudi Arabia for its treatment of women and religious minorities under its extreme religious laws. Accordingly, we should also not hesitate to praise the country when it moves toward giving greater freedoms or embracing tolerance for minority groups. On Sunday, Saudi King Abdullah announced on Sunday he was giving women the right to vote and run in municipal elections.
Continue reading “Saudi Women Given The Right To Vote”