We are now officially number one in the wine world. The United States has finally passed France as the top consuming wine nation with 330 million cases to France’s 321 million cases.
Continue reading “Au Revoir, Bon Ami: United States Passes France As Top Wine-Consuming Nation”
Category: Society
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
I guess it takes a few whacks to get things into the heads of the theocrats in Tennessee. Eighty-six years after the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial” pitted Clarence Darrow, Esq., against William Jennings Bryan, Esq., in a classic cross-examination of opposing counsel that decimated the notion that teaching creationism was anything except the indoctrination of religion by public school officials, Tennessee legislators are at it again with a new version of the Butler Act.
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
I know what you might be thinking after reading that title, “Duh”! However, a few days ago, I read an article by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, which proposed that the Wealthy must contribute more revenue to the government through the form of higher taxes. When I first read it, I nodded my head in agreement and moved on to another article. In light of my guest blog last week titled, The Tea Party Versus the Middle Class, and in light of the “deal” that was reached last night to keep the government from shutting down, I think it is imperative to review Mr. Reich’s words. Continue reading “Should The Wealthy Pay More Taxes?”
The radical art collective Voina is facing charges for hooliganism after the group painted a 210-foot penis a drawbridge in St. Petersburg. The group, however, will also receive an art prize from the Ministry of Culture and the National Center for Contemporary Art.
Continue reading “Russian Ministry Awards Art Prize To Group That Painted 210-Foot Penis on Drawbridge — While Criminal Charges Are Pending”
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has handed down a ruling against both a client and his lawyer for the violation of a gag order. The ruling against Don Hill, the former Dallas official, and his lawyer, Ray Jackson, could have implications for lawyers defending their clients in public against alleged governmental misconduct. Hill was given 30 days on top of the 18-year prison sentence in 2009 for corruption and Jackson was given a $5,000 fine levied by the trial court as well as a 120-day suspension from any client appointments in the Northern District of Texas
A poll released this week shows that 46% percent of Mississippi Republicans believe that interracial marriage should be illegal. That staggering number is accompanied by only 40% who believe that adults should be free to marry who they want. This poll just happens to come out on the anniversary of the argument in Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), where the Supreme Court in a 9-0 vote struck down Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statute.
Continue reading “Mississippi Polling: Roughly Half of Polled Republicans in Mississippi Believe Interracial Marriage Should Be Illegal”
The Idaho House just passed a sweeping anti-abortion bill that grants no exceptions for rape, incest, severe fetal abnormality or the mental or psychological health of the mother. As if to avoid any question of the religious basis for the measure, the sponsor state Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, explained to the House that this was God’s will.
Continue reading “Idaho Passes Strict Anti-Abortion Measure After Sponsor Invokes “Hand of God””
Former prosecutor and judge Clifford J. Minor has confessed to taking a bribe, procuring a false confession, lying to investigators, and falsifying documents. Before serving as a prosecutor and a judge, Minor was a police officer. He later ran for mayor of Newark.
Continue reading “Former Judge and Prosecutor in Newark Confesses To Arranging False Confession By Innocent Man To Clear Career Criminal”
Australia is upping the ante in the war on smoking. Previously we saw how some countries have put disgusting pictures on cigarette packages to discourage smoking. Now, Australia is set to require “ugly packaging” where companies are prevented from putting their logos on cigarettes and must use the least attractive color found in government research for smokers: dark green. (For the record, dark green is my favorite color and this move is likely to push me toward smoking).
Maine lawmakers are addressing what appears to be a pressing public policy issue: one-armed people who want switchblade knives. A bill will allow one-armed persons to possess the currently illegal switchblades knives.
Continue reading “In the Land of the Armless Men, The One-Armed Man is Gang Leader: Maine Moves To Legalize Switchblades For One-Armed People”
For those of us who are lifelong Bears fans, there are few icons quite like William “The Refrigerator” Perry. It is well-known among Bears fans that Perry hit tough times financially and then was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome. I saw this story on Reddit and was moved by the kindness shown to Perry by a Cliff Forest, 10, who saw that Perry’s Super Bowl XX ring was being sold. Realizing that Perry may have had to sell it, Forest used $8,500 from his college fund to buy the ring . . . and then tracked down Perry and gave it to him.
Continue reading “Ten-Year-Old Boy Uses College Money To Buy “The Fridge’s” Super Bowl Ring . . And Returns It To The Ailing Bears Linebacker”
There is an alarming report the FBI had a senior ABC news journalist as a confidential informant in the 1990s — a report who was actually given a confidential source designation with other snitches. The reporter appears to have passed along confidential information to the FBI including the identification of a confidential source. The reporter is identified only as informant number NY290000-SI-DT and the description as “a senior official employed by ABC News for over 15 years.”
Continue reading “Who Was The FBI Mole At ABC?”
Many people were a bit surprised when the Candie’s Foundation, a nonprofit group, selected Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol, 20, to be their national advocate against teen pregnancy. Now, the judgment of Candie’s Foundation officials has been put into even greater question with the disclosure that the nonprofit paid Palin $260,500 for this role.
Continue reading “Raiding the Candie’s Jar: Bristol Palin Paid $260,500 To Campaign Against Teen Pregnancy”
China has continued its effort to avoid the type of protests for freedom seen in other authoritarian regimes. By permitting free speech or association? No, a more classic approach. The Chinese are rounding up bloggers, lawyers, activists, and anyone who has expressed free thought in the last few years. The latest is prominent artist Ai Weiwei, who was arrested trying to board a flight to Hong Kong.
Continue reading “China Arrests Leading Artist in Crackdown on Free Speech”
I confess I delayed in posting this story because I was convinced that it an April Fool’s joke but various media outlets are reporting that a police officer in Marble Hill, Missouri was forced to resign after she shot to death a threatening . . . Chihauhua. The dog was shot by deputy, Kelly Barks.