Category: Society

The Exorcist Files: Catholic Church Agrees To Reality Show With the Discovery Channel

The Vatican is teaming up with the Discovery Channel in a reality show based on the Vatican’s case files and interviews with its top exorcists. While Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon might have had to wait for a Vatican murder to get access to the Vatican files, Discovery can do so with the promise of a reality show. It just shows that even the Pope cannot resist the temptation of a reality show any more than Sarah Palin.
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Scalia Publicly Rejects the Use of the 14th Amendment to Bar Discrimination Against Women and Gays

While the legal profession debates the propriety of his decision to participate in the educational sessions for conservative new members of Congress, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia is also causing a stir over his public statement that the 14th Amendment does not prohibit discrimination against women or gays.
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Federal Court Clears Way For Jury Trial on Whether There Is A Different Standard for Blacks and Whites In The Use of the N-Word

While academics and commentators line up to denounce the plan of New South publishers to edit out the n-word from Huckleberry Finn, a federal jury is set to decide whether there is a different standard for a white person as opposed to a black person in using the n-word in the work place. Former Fox29 reporter-anchor Tom Burlington has sued his former station alleging that he was the victim of racial discrimination and a hostile work environment over the use of the n-word.
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Mainstream Pakistani Islamic Groups Praise Assassin of Governor and Warn Others That They Would Be Killed For Opposing Blasphemy Prosecutions

The mainstream Islamic organizations have rallied in response to the assassination of of Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab province by one of his bodyguards. However, they are not rallying to denounce the killing but to celebrate it because Taseer had stood up against the country’s notorious blasphemy laws. Islamic leaders warned people not to mourn his death and warned other politicians that they could face the same fate if they tried to curtail blasphemy prosecutions. In the meantime, his killer, Mumtaz Qadri was showered with rose petals and kisses by supporters in court.
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Colorado Senator Accused of Causing Wreck and Putting Grandson Back Into Car Seat After Being Ejected

Colorado Senator Suzanne Williams (Dem. Aurora) is being accused of an extraordinary act in Amarillo, Texas. Police allege that, after her 3-year-old grandson was ejected in a head-on accident, Williams placed him back into a seat in her SUV after the wreck.

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Jets Appeal Fine Over Dolphin Trip

When the New York Jets were fined just $100,000 for the infamous tripping of Miami’s Nolan Carroll by Jets coach Sal Alosi, many of us remarked how relatively light the punishment was for such an unsportsmanlike act. It appears, however, that even that fine is too much for the management of the Jets, which is appealing the punishment.
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Ninth Circuit Declares Mount Soledad Cross To Be Unconstitutional

In a ruling that could reach the Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit has held that San Diego’s Mount Soledad cross is unconstitutional. The 43-foot cross was erected to honor veterans of the Korean war. The case is Trunk v. City of San Diego, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 53 (January 2011), and the case could well be on its way to the United States Supreme Court where at least four justices are likely to question this analysis.
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Video: Police Officer Shown Beating and Then Pepper Spraying a Man in St. Louis

There is a public outcry over the video below showing St. Louis City police officer Dustin Ries beating a man with his baton outside of a St. Louis gas station. The police officer insisted that the man was drunk and unruly but the officer seems to use his baton immediately after grabbing the man and then pepper sprays him after striking him repeatedly.

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Scalia Agrees To Speak To New Conservative Members on the Constitution

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia is again in the midst of controversy with his decision to accept an invitation from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to speak to incoming conservative members about the Constitution as part of their training. Bachmann, the founder of the House’s Tea Party Caucus, is leading efforts to repeal health care and seek new legislation based on a more conservative view of the Constitution. The decision to participate in such an event shows exceedingly poor judgment.

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California Supreme Court Allows Warrantless Searches of Cell Phones

The California Supreme Court has handed down an important ruling that allows police to search an arrested person’s cellphone without a warrant — a ruling that will allow police access to a wide array of information now kept on modern cellphones.
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Publisher Announces Intention to Edit Huckleberry Finn To Remove N-Word

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are widely viewed as an American classic. However, the editors of NewSouth Books have decided that they need to do some editing. The editors have decided to remove the “n” word from the book and replace it with “slave.” The editing of a classic raises very troubling questions from the right of an author to have his works remain unchanged to the integrity of literary and historical works. Like all great works, the book must be read with an understanding of the mores and lexicon of its time.
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Vermont Supreme Court Decides Not To Disbar Former Traffic Court Judge Who Caused Accident with Biker, Left Scene of Accident, Falsely Blamed Wife, and Gave False Statement To Police

Vermont lawyer Melvin Neisner Jr. has been suspended but not disbarred after he caused a car accident in September 2007 and then had his wife falsely claim that she was the driver — even watching as she was arrested and charged with the accident.

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Toddler Left in ER for Hours Until Her Feet and One Hand Are Amputated

We have another case of an alleged horrific injury due to the ever-present delays at emergency rooms in the United States. Malyia Jeffers, 2, was left for hours in the ER at the Methodist Hospital in Sacramento as her Strep A devoured her body. She ultimately lost both of her feet and one of her hands to amputations and she is fighting for her life at Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.
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