Category: Society

Congress, Constitutional Law, Media, Politics, Society

Washington Post: Obama’s Unilateral Immigration Action Is “Unprecedented”

220px-Washington_Post_buildingPresident_Barack_ObamaThe Washington Post has published a hard-hitting editorial that not only accuses the Obama Administration of fudging the figures on its unilateral immigration changes but calls the action “unprecedented” and “indefensible.” The stinging editorial from a generally favorable newspaper amplifies the criticism of others, including myself, that President Obama is doing considerable damage to the separation of powers and, more generally, our constitutional system in these actions.

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Bizarre, Religion, Society

“I Actually Discovered the Cure for AIDS”: Arizona Pastor Reveals Biblically Based Plan For An “AIDS-Free World by Christmas”

Screen Shot 2014-12-03 at 12.26.44 PMA series of videos of Baptist pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona have gone viral as he talks about the solution of AIDS being the exterminations of all homosexuals and bisexual citizens. He explained that AIDS could be solved by Christmas with a simple holocaust for homosexuals. The videos are below.

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Bizarre, Society

Chinese Cook Videotaped Pounding Meat On San Fran Sidewalk . . . Restaurant Allowed To Stay Open and Given One Month To Take A Course

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A YouTube video has gone viral that shows what is reported to be a cook at the Lucky River, a Chinese restaurant in San Franscisco’s Sunnyside neighborhood, slamming slabs of frozen meat on the sidewalk before cooking it. Media later inspected the area of the sidewalk and reported that it was covered with blackened gum, cigarette butts, and foot-tracked bacteria of all gut-twisting varieties.

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Congress, Society

New Jersey School District Produces Just 19 Students With College-Ready SAT Scores

SchoolClassroomThere is a truly alarming report out of Paterson, New Jersey that captures how far our educational system has declined. Only 19 kids in this large school district have SAT score that are considered appropriate for college. That means that less than a dozen score at least 1500 out of 2400 on the standardized test. This year, the average score was just 1,200. While meetings are held at the White House and across the country on Ferguson, I continue to believe that the greatest reform to benefit all races would be a greater commitment to our public schools. Too many families are trapped in a cycle of poverty with no real opportunities while our workforce becomes less and less competitive in the new economy.

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Congress, International, Politics, Society

Bundling Diplomacy: Obama Places Two Fundraisers In Key Ambassadorships

President_Barack_Obama250px-Theboldandthebeautifullogo2004We have previously discussed how President Obama continues to reward donors with ambassadorships, including some with little background or known talents for the jobs. I have long been a critic of this practice and I remain astonished that the American people allow it to continue. However, fat cat friends are often given trivial ambassadorships like the Vatican or smaller nations. It is still not a good practice but the damage is limited. Obama however have been handing out major posts to those who give him or the DNC millions in bundled dollars. This week the Senate confirmed two nominees to Argentina and Hungary that should outrage people who believe diplomacy should be left to diplomats and do not believe that such posts should be handed out as favors to wealthy friends. It is a national disgrace but we have become accustomed to the effective selling of these government offices. It certainly conveys a truly insulting message to these two countries that neither they nor their problems amount to much of a priority for the United States.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Can You Find The Crime In This Picture?

2014121174435504580_20If you guessed a woman driving, you are ready to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Loujain Hathloul has continued to defy the Saudi ban on female drivers. She was stopped at the border with the United Arab Emirates when she tried to drive back into the country. Our erstwhile ally is the only country to prevent women from driving in the name of Islam — making such medieval neighbors in the region like Iran look positively advanced in comparison.

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Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Society

Snowden Awarded Top Award In Swedish Parliament For Disclosing Threats To Democracy and Constitutional Rights

Stora_riksvapnet_-_Riksarkivet_Sverige228px-Picture_of_Edward_SnowdenThe debate in the United States continues over whether Edward Snowden is a whistleblower or a traitor. I previously wrote a column on that question. There appears to be less debate in Sweden where Snowden received standing ovations in the Swedish parliament after being given the Right Livelihood award for his disclosure of sweeping surveillance programs of the United States. The award honors Snowden “for his courage and skill in revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance violating basic democratic processes and constitutional rights”. This week, the new movie on Snowden also captured two more awards and critical acclaim.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Religion, Society

Canadian Woman Sentenced After Keeping Husband’s Body For Six Months While Family Prayed For His Resurrection

religious-symbols-on-vanThere is a truly bizarre cases at the intersection of religious beliefs and the criminal code in Canada. Peter Wald’s family truly believed he would rise from the dead. Kaling Wald, 50, has pleaded guilty to leaving her husband in their home for six months after his death because she and their family believed that he would be resurrected. They prayed over the corpse for months as it decayed until it was discovered. Notably, the husband died of an untreated illness because the family believed that he would also be healed by prayer.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Society

Notorious Killer Denied Injunction Over Kosher Food On Death Row

1415900687791_wps_28_steven_hayes_2014_photo_jYou may recall the case seven years ago of the horrific rape, murder, and arson case out of Connecticut involving Steven Hayes. He and a friend raped and murdered a mother and two daughters in a savage home invasion. He is now on death row but Hayes is not happy with his meals. He is an Orthodox Jew and insisted that his kosher meals were not being prepared with sufficient attention to religious rules and thereby forcing him to “choose between following God and starving or choosing sin to survive.” A court has rejected the motion for preliminary injunctive relief.

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Bizarre, International, Military, Politics, Society

The Iraqi Ghost Army: The Equivalent Of Four Divisions Found To Be Nonexistent

250px-Army_of_the_deadIn movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, a ghost army can be a decisive advantage for a besieged army. It appears that Iraq has not just a ghost army but one that is 50,000 strong. The “ghost soldiers” were discovered in an investigation as the latest example of corruption in the country where literally billions of dollars in U.S. aid have disappeared without a trace.

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Academia, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Turkish Government Building Mosques On University Campuses

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

blue-mosqueIn another sign of what formerly was a secular state that is now becoming more Islamist, the Religious Affairs Leader of Turkey, Mehmet Görmez, announced his department was constructing eighty mosques at various universities countrywide.

The Article 136 of the Turkish Constitution does provide for an official department, The Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, as it is known by formal name, “to execute the works concerning the beliefs, worship, and ethics of Islam, enlighten the public about their religion, and administer the sacred worshiping places.” After the dismantling of the caliphate in 1924, the department was formed.

Under Turkey’s former President Abdulla Gül who served from 2007 to August of 2014, the nation began separating from its secular practices. The latest announcement could be a sign that the government wishes to further instill Islam into the social fabric of future generations; beyond what was a long standing leaning toward separation of government and religion.

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Academia, Science, Society

Are You Even Listening To Me? Well, Scientifically . . . No

an-experiment-on-a-bird-in-the-air-pump-1768.jpg!BlogNow this is a study that any parent, particularly mothers, can verify with field research. A group of neuroscientists from the Universities of Pittsburgh, California-Berkeley and Harvard, and led by Kyung Hwa Lee have found that pre-teenage and teenage brains actually appear to partially shutdown when hearing criticism from mothers. In the meantime, another set of scientists have discovered a possible way to cut off pain — creating the ultimate possibility for teenagers to hear and feel nothing.

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Constitutional Law, Religion, Society

Video Goes Viral Of Iranian Woman Reportedly Protesting Restrictions With A Spontaneous Dance On The Subway

Screen Shot 2014-11-28 at 7.44.37 AMThe video below was posted on YouTube to show what people are saying is one of the spontaneous protests in Tehran by Iranian women. The woman reportedly danced on Tehran’s metro in protest against laws limiting women and such public displays.

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Animals, Bizarre, Environment, Science, Society

New Jersey Student Takes Picture Of Black Bear Before Being Mauled To Death in First New Jersey Black Bear Fatality

hiker-3As many readers of this blog know, I love to hike and bring back pictures from the various trails of wildlife so this story was particularly chilling for me. Darsh Patel was hiking with his four friends when they spotted a black bear in New Jersey and stopped to take pictures. Patel continued to take five pictures with his cellphone as the 300-pound bear charged and killed him.

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