Society

Learn Empathy For The Homeless: Give Them Cigarettes

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor.

cigaretteIt’s time for some out of the box thinking.

I performed a very informal study to discover a way the average person could engage homeless persons in the hope of fostering empathy for these citizens, their lifestyles and outlook.

Most of us are removed from direct interaction with the homeless. The closest approach is perhaps to give them money and to then walk away, with little more than a greeting and a thank-you being the entire discourse. Our time among them is momentary and relegated to simply a transaction initiated and dismissed by each side with expediency.

I discovered cigarettes can change it all. Now, we can have a dialogue.

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Environment, Hikes

OLD RAG IN THE FALL

img_5316I did one of my favorite hikes yesterday – the Old Rag Mountain in the blue Ridge Mountains of the Shenandoah National Park.  The trail is very challenging but always spectacular as you rise to a 3300 foot summit (after a series of false summits and outcroppings).  For those of us who love not just hiking but geology, Old Rag is a delight. The range was formed a billion years ago with massive granite formations.  Then basaltic magma was overlaid on the granite about 400 million years ago and then a layer of greenstone formed over the granite.  There was even an ocean to add to the geology.  It makes for a tough but truly gorgeous hike.  What always impresses me is how Old Rag always presents a different face and conditions — making no two hikes likes. This was no exception.

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Politics, Society

Washington Post-ABC Poll: Hillary Clinton’s Unpopularity Hits Record High And Majority of Women Now Hold Unfavorable Views [Updated]

unknownunknown-1Hillary Clinton has campaigned tirelessly for women votes, including heralding her nomination as a historic moment for all women. However, she continues to be unpopular not only with voters as a whole but a majority of women.  The new Washington Post-ABC poll shows her at a record low despite spending roughly $100 million in political advertisements and an overwhelming media barrage against Trump.  While seen by supporters as more of an anti-establishment figure, Trump has equally shocking figures and even top Clinton in unpopularity with many groups.  Voters continue to reject both Trump and Clinton but that overwhelming voter anger at these choices does not appear to matter in our political system.  The importance of this poll is not to suggest that Clinton will win. Rather, for voters, many believe it simply does not matter. Their views of Trump or Clinton seem immaterial to a system that is detached from the wishes of the majority of the electorate. While the Washington Post reports that Clinton has halted the polling “swoon” in August, the overwhelming distrust factor from the earlier poll continues.

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Bizarre, Media, Politics, Religion

Fundamentalists Declare Hurricane Matthew To Be Divine Punishment

wv0It often appears that no natural disaster can occur without some religious group claiming divine retribution.  The latest example is Hurricane Matthew, which Andrew Bieszad, a contributor to the Christian website Shoebat.com, claimed as God’s retribution for this country tolerating homosexuality.

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Bizarre, Politics

Weld Versus The Libertarians: Weld Under Fire For Renewed Pro-Hillary Comments and Questions Of Commitment

During the Libertarian convention, I was asked how libertarians generally felt about Gary Johnson’s preferred running mate, former Massachusetts government William Weld.  At the time, I said that Weld made for a remarkably strong ticket for the Libertarians and broadens the base for libertarians but that there was widespread suspicion that Weld did not have libertarian values in his DNA.  Many resented the view that the Libertarian party is treated as a back stop for Republicans and others viewed Weld as a classic establishment figure, including his well-known friendship with Hillary Clinton.  To make matters worse, Carl Bernstein and others who were quoted as saying that Weld was considering withdrawing because he did not want to hurt Clinton’s chances against Donald Trump.  He denied that he was withdrawing. However, this week, those past suspicions are in full rage on libertarian sites after the Boston Globe reported that Weld had told reporters that he was going to focus on trashing Trump and again saying how he thought Hillary Clinton is remarkably well qualified to be president.  Weld has again denied the stories, but he has repeatedly stated his admiration for Clinton.  The result is a total mess for libertarians who hoped that this could be the year that the ticket could make it to one of the presidential debates.

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Academia, International, Science

Space Cadet: Iraqi Transport Minister Proclaims That Sumerians Traveled To Pluto Thousands of Years Ago

It is good to see, after hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars and thousands of U.S. lives, Iraq is in stable governmental hands.  We have previously discussed the rampant corruption in the Iraqi government where billions of our aid has simply disappeared.  However, there is also the problem of sheer lunacy.  That would be the problem with Kazem Finjan, Iraq’s Transport Minister, who has claimed that  the ancient Sumerians travelled to Pluto in spaceships thousands of years ago.  It appears that Finjan was not content with the claim of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan that Muslims discovered America.  He had to go beyond the Earth to the farthest reaches of the solar system.   Continue reading “Space Cadet: Iraqi Transport Minister Proclaims That Sumerians Traveled To Pluto Thousands of Years Ago” →

Academia, Bizarre

James Madison Students Instructed Not To Say Things Like “Picking People Up By Their Bootstraps”

james_madisonu_sealJames Madison University has issued a list of 35 things to instruct students on not saying “dumb” things, a list that reflects phrases considered to be “microaggressions” or insensitive comments. The students at the orientation were told never to say things like “love the sinner, hate the sin,” “we’re all part of the human race,” “I treat all people the same,” and “people just need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps.” among other expressions.
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Criminal law, Society

Police Arrest Third Suspect In The Murder Of Professor Dan Markel [UPDATED]

unknown1405809806000-Dan-MarkelWe have been following the investigation of the murder of Florida State Professor Dan Markel – a case that has cast suspicions on the family of his ex-wife and fellow professor Wendi Adelson. Much of this suspicion has been drawn to Adelson’s brother, Charlie Adelson. Charlie Adelson was reportedly romantically involved with Katherine Magbanua, who just happened to be the mother of two children with Sigfredo Garcia, one of the two accused hit men (with Luis Rivera). Now, Magbanua has been arrested — drawing the case even closer to the Adelson family. UPDATE: Rivera has cut a deal to cooperate in a guilty plea. That deal appears connected to this arrest and will likely increase the pressure on Magbanua to cut her own deal.

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Academia, Bizarre, Free Speech, International

University of Bristol Cancels Performance of Aida After Protests That Verdi Was A Cultural Appropriator

270px-aida_poster_colors_fixedIt appears that the movement against “micro aggressions” and “cultural appropriation” has now targeted opera. In an act of artistic cowardice, the theater at the University of Bristol has cancelled the performance of Aida after students declared that the entire production was a cultural appropriation. It turns out that Giuseppe Verdi was culturally (and operatically) appropriating in 1871 and continues to do so with every performance of this classic opera.

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law

House Committee: FBI Cut Side Deal To Limit Search Of Computers Of Key Clinton Aides And To Allow The Computers To Be Destroyed

146px-US-FBI-ShadedSeal.svg
The FBI investigation into the Clinton email scandal seems to grow more questionable by the day.  As I discussed earlier, the five immunity deals handed out by the Justice Department were, in my view, largely unnecessary and undermined the development of any criminal case.  Now, House investigators have learned  that Justice Department officials, in addition to their immunity deals, cut a “side agreement” with Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson for agents to destroy their laptops after searching their hard drives for evidence.  With Congress seeking the information, the side deal clearly would obstruct that investigation and the details of the side agreement make little sense if the FBI were pursuing any and all evidence of criminal conduct.

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Politics, Society

Trump Charity Ordered To Halt Further Solicitations Due To Alleged Violations Of State Law

495px-Donald_Trump_by_Gage_SkidmoreLast night I appeared on Fox to discuss the Trump tax disclosure and my view that such use of debt or losses to avoid taxation are allowed under federal law.  This is not say that such practices are based on good tax policy but rather that such practices are not unlawful.  Conversely, I have previously stated that the allegations over the status and operation of the Trump Foundation do raise potential liability.  Now, the F0undation has been ordered by New York AG Eric Schneiderman’s office to  “cease and desist” from soliciting charity contributions.

 

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Criminal law, International

Duterte: Human Rights Is The “Antithesis of Government”

rodrigo_duterte_and_laotian_president_bounnhang_vorachith_croppedThe election of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte constitutes the lowest point for the struggling Filipino democratic system.  Duterte has used profanities against President Obama, the United States Ambassador to the Philippines, Pope Frances, the United Nations and others who have questioned his blood-soaked reign as president.  Recently, he even compared himself to Hitler in not only refusing to stop his extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals but saying that he was prepared like Hitler to murder millions.  Now this budding tyrant has declared that the very  concept of human rights is the “anti-thesis of government.” In reality it is Duterte who is pushing the Philippines back into a state of Nature where might is right and government is merely the dominion of the powerful over the powerless. What is particularly chilling is that Duterte is a lawyer and former prosecutor.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Media

Gay YouTuber Charged In Alleged Fake Attack

unknown-2We previously discussed the bizarre arrest of leading Gay YouTuber Calum McSwiggan in Los Angeles.  Now McSwiggan has been charged with felony vandalism. It is a truly odd turn over events for the an online personality who allegedly filed a fake police report that he had been beaten and attacked by three men in West Hollywood last June.  He originally said that the men also damaged a Lexus, which police now say that McSwiggan damaged.

 

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