I have often heard people question the use of service dogs for people with psychological conditions and thought that this videotape might change a few minds. It shows a young man having an Asperger’s attack and how his dog calms him down in a matter of minutes.
Continue reading “Video Shows How Dog Calms Young Man In Midst Of Asperger’s Meltdown”
Ronald A. Lynn, 52, reportedly has a curious defense in the making for his trial on child pornography charges: he really did not know any of the children personally.
There are few felons who can top the pain caused by so many victims as Dr. Farid Fata, who is facing a demand by prosecutors for a 175-year sentence for sending hundreds of healthy patients into unnecessary cancer treatments.
I have heard of some pretty rude conduct at movies and plays but a New York man set a new low on July 2nd when he climbed on to the stage of a performance of Hand to God, the award-winning Broadway play. The reason? He spotted an outlet and plugged in his cellphone to charge it during the performance.
Continue reading “Roaming Charge: Man Climbs On Stage Of Performance To Plug In Cellphone”
There is an interesting story out of England that shows the rising expectations among people that speech is regulated to prevent unpopular expressions. A man was photographed walking past Parliament with a small child on his shoulders and waiving an Islamic State flag. What I saw was a demonstration of free speech that is a testament to Western values. What many in England saw was an outrageous failure of the police to arrest the man.
Morocco has added itself to the list of farcical counties in the Middle East with two women prosecuted for wearing skirts. Morocco has a significant population of modern and secular Muslims but also has a growing influence of Islamic advocates demanding greater criminalization of immoral and anti-Islamic conduct. In this case, a market trader told police that there were two women wearing skirts and a crowd formed calling for their arrest in Inezgane last month.
Continue reading “Morocco Prosecutes Two Women For Indecency . . . For Wearing Skirts”
There has been rising criticism of YouTube censoring content on its site and today is another example. People posted the video of a mob taunting a man nearly beaten to death at a Fourth of July event. The video has triggered a debate over hate crime investigations as well as the simple lack of humanity found in today’s society. In other words, there is a substantive debate surrounding the videotape. However, YouTube says that it has been taken down for disgusting content. It rekindles the objection that YouTube has become a private censor — rather than a forum that warns of such content but allows people to make their own choices. [UPDATE: The video appears to be going up and coming down on YouTube but appears to be currently available here with a warning. I have not problem as I stated below with the addition of such a warning and wall]
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There is a growing controversy in Cincinnati where police had to fight their way into a scene to rescue a white male who was nearly beaten to death at a Fourth of July concert. The video below shows the mob laughing and taunting the nearly dead man lying on the ground. Critics have asked why the beating of the white male by a largely black mob was not immediately identified as a possible hate crime. They charge that, if the situation were reversed, the reaction would have been different in the media and the police. Yet, there is no evidence that I can find that the beating itself was racially motivated. In the end, the behavior of the mob does not have to be racially motivated to shock the conscience as to the lack of humanity and cruelty. Officers were attacked and injured by the crowd as they tried to rescue the unconscious man. While the police at the scene reported the beating as “anti-white,” the police chief later stated that the attack was not racially motivated.
Continue reading “Cincinnati Man Beaten Almost To Death As Crowd Laughs and Jeers”
There is an interesting criminal appeal filed in Pennsylvania by a convicted murderer Robert Urwin Jr., 58 who has serious reservations about the judge who presided at his trial. He should know. Former Washington County Common Pleas Judge Paul Pozonsky was later sentenced in the same courthouse for stealing cocaine from the evidence room and replacing it with baking soda.
A Maine man and part-time Disney cast member, Devon Staples ended his life in a senseless and careless way this Fourth of July by trying to launch a firework off the top of his head at a party. The firework exploded and killed him.
Below is my column today in the Washington Post on the ruling in Obergefell on the basis for the Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. Due to limitations on space, I could not go into great depth in the opinion which primarily dealt with the notion of the “right to dignity.” The Court did not pursue an equal protection analysis beyond the following highly generalized statement:
The right of same-sex couples to marry that is part of the liberty promised by the Fourteenth Amendment is derived, too, from that Amendment’s guarantee of the equal protection of the laws. The Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause are connected in a profound way, though they set forth independent principles. Rights implicit in liberty and rights secured by equal protection may rest on different precepts and are not always coextensive, yet in some instances each may be instructive as to the meaning and reach of the other. In any particular case one Clause may be thought to capture the essence of the right in a more accurate and comprehensive way,even as the two Clauses may converge in the identification and definition of the right.
Since the Court did not substantially address whether homosexuals are a protected class or the other Equal Protection line of cases, the opinion appears to craft a right around the inherent right of self-expression and dignity in intimate affairs. That is very appealing to many in the expansion of due process concepts, but the column explores what it portends for future rights.
Here is the Sunday column:
I wanted to wish everyone as wonderful and safe Fourth of July. Despite our economic and political woes, we remain as a people united by a common article of faith in our representative democracy. Indeed, the disgusting abuses of extremists in other part of the world like ISIS should remind us of the enduring symbol of freedom celebrated today. It is the very rights that we celebrate that are under attack by such groups who wish to replace free thought with rigid orthodoxy.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We wish you a festive and joyful Independence Day and pose a question to you. Does the use of fireworks constitute protected free speech?
A tradition spanning multiple generations in the United States is that a large portion of our society celebrates and shows tribute to the United States through the lighting and observance of fireworks. Yet numerous municipalities and counties impose sweeping and total bans of fireworks. Some statutes regulate the type of firework allowable, such as those having a ferocity that safety requires certified technicians. Others ban benign devices such as snakes and small fountains.
But does a complete ban on fireworks regardless of size constitute an infringement on the first amendment rights of citizens?
Continue reading “Does Lighting Fireworks Constitute Free Speech?”
We have previously discussed the series of scandals in Washington where powerful individuals have been spared serious sanctions for acts where ordinary people have faced long and unrelenting prosecution. (here) It is part of America’s Animal Farm system where some individuals are more equal than others. That concern is even greater this week with the combination of the disclosure that Hillary Clinton did use a personal email system for classified communications and most media outlets appear to be ignoring the obvious import of that fact.
We have been following rulings on spanking where parents have been arrested for the disciplining of their children. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has overturned the conviction of Jean Dorvil who was arrested after he spanked his daughter in public.