When he played Gordon Deitrich in V For Vendetta, the television personality who challenged an authoritarian state, Stephen Fry exposed the terror of living in a state that reserved to itself the right to determine what speech was considered criminal. He now faces a criminal prosecution over a statement in Ireland that would be entirely protected in the United States as an exercise of free speech. Irish police are investigating him under the country’s infamous blasphemy law for asking why he should “respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world…. full of injustice.” Ireland allies itself with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other nations in prosecuting free speech deemed insulting or offensive to any religion. The law is a disgrace to all freedom-loving people and the Irish demean themselves in keeping blasphemy in the criminal code. The only thing missing is some menacing Irish Chancellor saying “Ireland Prevails.” Continue reading “B for Blasphemy: Stephen Fry Under Investigation For Sharing His Views Of Religion”
Police in Baltimore are looking for this 26-year-old for attempted first-degree murder in a particularly heinous alleged crime. Gerald Gaffney is accused of firing at a 90-year-old woman after she scolded him for throwing chicken bones on the ground. It appears that littering may not be the only offense that Gaffney is comfortable with.
First there was that warning that our faces would “freeze like that” when we made grotesque grimaces. Then there was the thing about an apple a day keeping the doctor away. Then there was the warning that if you keep putting your finger up your nose, your finger is going to get stuck up there. Some maternal warnings are debatable from a medical science perspective and it appears that another one has just fallen. Remember Mom telling you to take your finger out of your noses and not to eat snot? Scientists at Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say that eating boogers is actually good for your teeth and health.
Continue reading “The Booger Diet: New Study Shows Medical Benefits of Mucus”
We have previously discussed prosecutions of people who defraud caring people by saying that they or a loved one is dying. The latest such case is out of Shelby County, Alabama. Jennifer Flynn Cataldo, 37, allegedly faked terminal cancer and secured $38,000 in donations through online fundraising campaigns. She is charged with two counts of first-degree theft by deception
Continue reading “Alabama Woman Charged With Cancer Hoax That Raised $38,000”
There is an important lawsuit that has been filed in California after four high school students were suspended for simply “liking” Instagram posts deemed racist. The lawsuit could force reconsideration of the erosion of free speech rights for students, including the widening scope of discipline for student speech outside of schools. School officials now believe that they have full license to punish students if their personal views outside of school do not conform with accepted values. This case did have troubling aspects that raised legitimate concerns (though these students were not the author of the posting). The question is one of authority to regulate speech outside of schools if they do not involve criminal threats.
The Church of Scientology is facing renewed allegations of abusive and cult-like conditions of followers. A string of psychiatric facilities run by the Church of Scientology in Cannon County, Tenn. have been closed after police reportedly found that patients there were being held against their will in crude trailers and cabins in the woods. Former Scientologists have accused the Church of holding people against their will and adopting bizarre remedies for mental illnesses due to their founder’s opposition to psychiatry. Marc Vallieres, the operator of the facilities, was charged with two felony counts of facilitation of kidnapping and two other men working at the facility pled guilty to misdemeanors.
Below is my Hill column this week on the confirmation from both Trump’s Chief of Staff and the White House Spokesperson that the Administration is working on possible changes in our libel laws — changes that by definition would require altering the First Amendment. The decision in New York Times v. Sullivan is decades old and celebrated as one of the Court’s greatest decisions. It has never been challenged by a president . . . until now. The case clearly states that the libel standard is a constitutional rule and thus the Court would have to overturned the decision or the President would have to amend the First Amendment. Whatever must be shown under the “actual malice” standard of New York Times v. Sullivan, it pales in comparison to the actual malice shown by this Administration toward the free press. Here is the column:
Continue reading “A SHOWING OF ACTUAL MALICE: THE WHITE HOUSE “TIRES” OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT”
American Airlines has decided to dispense with any semblance of being a quality airline and will slash another two inches from economy class seats despite rising complaints of the already painfully cramped conditions. The airline is effectively boasting to investors that it will stuff more seats on its planes while charging passengers in economy to buy the necessary leg room to be remotely comfortable. United is also planning to join the cattle call and reduce legroom, though it might make dragging passengers from planes a bit more difficult. The reduction at American will put it close to the infamous Spirit Airline in terms of cramped, uncomfortable conditions.
Continue reading “Cattle Car Carriers: American Airlines To Slash Legroom For Passengers”
We have been discussing the alarming erosion of free speech on our campuses and the increasingly twisted view of free speech by students calling for speech codes and regulations. At the same time, we have seen campus police denounced as being a “triggering” element on campuses (Here and here). Both trends were evident this month at the University of California at Berkeley, including the alarming published comments of a student senator, Juniper Angelica Cordova-Goff. Cordova-Goff denounced the large presence of campus police to deal with the protests as triggering while reaffirmed that free speech should not protect speakers who she views as part of a “violent conversation” like conservative Ann Coulter.
Hillary Clinton has been speaking publicly about her electoral defeat and offering a long list of reasons for the loss except one: Hillary Clinton herself. A new study by the New York Times however concludes that there was not a failure of Democratic turnout, as often suggested by Clinton supporters spinning the election. Rather, voters simply rejected Clinton herself. While Clinton has offered the perfunctory statement that she takes responsibility for the loss, she has been blaming everyone else except herself from the Russians to the FBI Director to self-hating women. Yesterday, she sat through an interview with Christaine Amanpour at the Women for Women event in New York and proclaimed that, if it weren’t for FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress, and “[i]f the election had been on October 27, I would be your president.” Update: President Donald Trump has fired back at Clinton saying that he simply ran a great campaign. That assertion is equally debatable since Trump remained equally unpopular with most voters who simply felt that they had no choice (again) offered by the two parties. As discussed below, I think that the election turned on the manifest demand of the voters for someone outside of the establishment.
There has been considerable criticism over Trump’s description of the bombing of Syria over a dinner with Chinese President Xi where he seemed to have as much recollection of the chocolate cake as he did the decision itself. (“I was sitting at the table. We had finished dinner. We’re now having dessert. And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen, and President Xi was enjoying it.”) That comment now looks decidedly presidential in comparison to the comment made by his dinner mate at Mar-a-Lago, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that the bombing of Syria: “It was in lieu of after-dinner entertainment.” Even as a joke, speaking of acts of war like they are versions of the Roman games is distasteful. Even missile strikes involve American sailors or soldiers and airman placing themselves into harm’s way. Having them referred to as “entertainment” at a conference by a wealthy Commerce Secretary to his well-heeled friends is insulting to those who must pay the price of wars.
Continue reading “Commerce Secretary: Syria Bombing Was Dinner “Entertainment” At Mar-O-Lago”
The call by President Donald Trump to break up the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit have been echoed by members of Congress, including most recently Sen. Ted Cruz (R., TX). Below is my column in The Hill Newspaper on the controversy.
President Donald Trump made a rather curious statement on Monday about the Civil War that had people either confused or enraged. In an interview with the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zico, Trump said that the Civil War was avoidable and could have been prevent if President Andrew Jackson had lived a bit longer. He insisted “There’s no reason for this.” Many people have noted that there were millions of reasons in the form of enslaved blacks and Jackson was hardly the man to call when the question of slavery was raised.
Continue reading “Trump: Civil War Could Have Been Avoided By Big Hearted Andrew Jackson”