Indian clerics have issued a fatwa asking Muslims that they must not eat Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), which is now deemed a sin against Islamic law. The reason is the failure to kill chickens in front of Muslims.
Like many Muslim countries, Turkey has a long and troubling history of child brides and arranged marriages. Some Islamic clerics have maintained that there can be no age limitation on child brides. They often note that Muhammad married Aisha when she was seven and consummated the marriage at nine years old.Just as Pakistan recently struck down its protection for girls from such abuse, the Turkish Constitutional Court annulled a provision that punishes all sexual acts against children under the age of 15 as “sexual abuse.” It is a major set back for girls and women in Turkey and another example of how the Islamic fundamentalists have taken over this once secular country under the authoritarian rule of our ally Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
We recently followed the controversy over the shooting of “Cecil the Lion” by an American dentist Walter Palmer from Minnesota. There were other trophy hunting stories that enraged people around the world. (here and here and here). Now, a trophy hunter appears to be vying with Palmer as the most hated man on the Internet after he filmed and posted his killing of a black bear with a homemade spear. Josh Bowman has been denounced around the world for his video from Alberta, Canada as he celebrated the slow killing of the bear.
Continue reading “Ohio Hunter Triggers International Outrage With YouTube Video Of Speared Bear”
With climate change and other environmental crises, it is hard to often find positive environmental stories but here it is. The National Park Service has announced that various conservation and legal measures have result in bringing back the beautiful Island fox from the brink of extinction. The recovery of the Island Fox is an example of how it is possible for humans to repair some of the damage that we do and actually save animals from extinction.
Kristen Parker, 27, has achieved the type of national notoriety that every prosecutor dreads. The assistant McLennan County district attorney who prosecutes DWI cases was arrested over the weekend for . . . you guessed it, DWI.
Continue reading “Texas Prosecutor Arrested For DWI In Texas”
Below is my column in USA Today on Donald Trump’s statement that he thinks that American citizens should be tried at Guantanamo Bay with other “terrible people” accused of terrorism. I have previously criticized Hillary Clinton for her views on free speech and executive power. However, the suggestion that U.S. citizens could be sent for faux trials at Gitmo is truly chilling. Here is the column.
Continue reading “TRUMP’S TRIBUNALS: THE GOP NOMINEE EMBRACES USE OF GITMO TO TRY CITIZENS”
Cartoons and Muslim countries have a long and troubling history, including the Danish cartoons that led to a global spasm of violence where Muslims killed Christians and burned churches in retaliation of an insult to Mohammad. The fact that cartoons are satire or that this is an exercise of free speech has little meaning in countries that punish blasphemy and many which follow medieval Sharia law. Many view Jordan as one of the more progressive Arab countries, but that reputation has been severely undermined by a ridiculous and abusive arrest of Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar for merely sharing a cartoon deemed offensive to Muslims. Notably, the cartoon actually mocked terrorists and their expectations of virgins and heavenly rewards for murdering people. Mocking the terrorists over such beliefs was deemed as a criminal insult to Islam.
There is a highly disturbing story out of Somers, Iowa where Homer Martz was reportedly charged for flying a U.S. flag upside down in protest over an oil pipeline put near his home. It is clearly a protected act under the First Amendment, but the town of Somers appears to lack a single lawyer — or a telephone number for a single lawyer — to explain free speech protections to them.
Continue reading “Iowa Man Criminally Charged For Flying American Flag Upside Down”
As made clear in a recent column, I am no fan of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or its manifestly negligent decision to choose Rio as the location of this year’s Olympics. For the last year, the IOC has been in the full denial mode as various experts detailed the gross failures of Brazil to address shortfalls in pollution control and infrastructure (including the recent controversy over pools turning green and smelly). Even with the health of athletes at stake, IOC officials have dismissed every health warning concerning the raw sewage in the water events and the rampant crime around the Olympic facilities. The most recent example came with the latest robbery of athletes. In this case, an Olympic star and three other athletes were held and robbed at gunpoint at a gasoline station. Despite public accounts coming from Lochte and his mother, the IOC assured the world media that the story was absolutely false. Nothing to see here. Of course, the story was true but the IOC seems to put truth just behind the health of athletes on the list of its priorities. UPDATE: The police have released videotapes and accounts that sharply contradict the account of Lochte and his friends.
The University of Houston has offered the latest example of how free speech is being rapidly eradicated on our campuses. Rohini Sethi, vice president of the university’s student government association, was given a 50-day suspension from her student government post for saying “all lives matter” on social media. She has now been told that the suspension will be lifted after she publicly apologized and agreed to attend cultural events.
The Round Rock Independent School District appears to have found a cheap way to improve the test results of its students . . . it eliminated all Ds. That’s right, a D will now be a C. While insisting that it is merely following other schools, the move is a laughable recognition that the district cannot actually improve performance so it will instead artificially improve grading.
I have long been a critic of military tribunals as constitutionally dubious and practically ineffectual institutions. The tribunals at Guantanamo Bay have resulted in few actual trials and undermined the standing of the United States as a nation committed to the rule of law. The principle rationale cited by former officials in defense of Gitmo has been that it would not be used to try citizens. Now in a deeply disturbing interview, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has stated that he might try citizens at Gitmo — maintaining a shadow court system for stripping citizens of basic rights of due process just a few miles off the United States shore.
Continue reading “Trump: Americans May Be Tried In Military Tribunals Under His Administration”
As we previously discussed, Twitter has become a lightening rod for the free speech community — repeatedly accused of content-based censorship and a liberal bias. Now Twitter is again being accused of a departure from the policy of unfettered free speech in the filtering of negative comments against President Barack Obama. The culprit of this latest violation is former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo who in 2015 allegedly ordered employees to remove abusive or offensive replies to President Obama during a Q & A session.
Continue reading “Twitter Accused (Again) Of Violating Free Speech Principles”
The Clinton Foundation has been the subject of long-standing allegations of questionable donations and reporting. It is also viewed by many critics as a massive shadow campaign structure that employed aides and funded Clinton trips. However, the most serious allegation was a type of pay-to-play scheme where foreign and domestic donors gave money in the hopes of currying favor or gaining access to the State Department. Now, Judicial Watch has released dozens of emails that were deleted improperly by the Clinton staff, but contain non-personal communications. Among the recovered emails are communications showing interventions for donors at the State Department, including one on behalf of a convicted money launderer. The relative lack of coverage on both the proof of the improper deletion of such emails and the pay-for-play concerns is astonishing — and magnify concerns that mainstream media has been giving such controversies minimal coverage.