By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
While our host is basking in a well deserved vacation in our nation’s most adventurous state, I’ve resigned myself to my office to travel via Google Earth and Street View.
In taking my whirlwind tour of Hadrian’s Wall, with my virtual flyover I found a 21st century “artifact” of sorts upon a 2nd century artifact.
Continue reading “Hadrian’s Hand: Bizarre Google Street View Artifact Discovered on Hadrian’s Wall”
We spent Day Five with our final hike in Denali National Park. The rain had passed over and the day was beautiful and warm for Alaska. We said farewell to our friends at RaftDenali and our cabin over the river. We then went to the Park with the intention of hiking the Savage River trail. However, the trail was closed due to an aggressive Grizzly Bear. We therefore went to Plan B and did the more challenging Mount Healy trail. It proved a wonderful move for the quintessential Denali hike.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We wish you a festive and joyful Independence Day and pose a question to you. Does the use of fireworks constitute protected free speech? We revisit this issue from a previous article of last year.
A tradition spanning multiple generations in the United States is that a large portion of our society celebrates and shows tribute to the United States through the lighting and observance of fireworks. Yet numerous municipalities and counties impose sweeping and total bans of fireworks. Some statutes regulate the type of firework allowable, such as those having a ferocity that safety requires certified technicians. Others ban benign devices such as snakes and small fountains.
But does a complete ban on fireworks regardless of size constitute an infringement on the first amendment rights of citizens?
Continue reading “Does Lighting Fireworks Constitute Free Speech?”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In a significant move toward a possible future change to United Methodist Church’s doctrine and discipline, the Pacific Northwest Conference’s 2016 Annual Conference voted for non-conformity to the Book of Discipline’s mandates proscribing gay marriage, gay ministers, and the disbursement of funds toward gay causes. In effect, the measure declares that the PNW Conference will not participate in any judicial or disciplinary actions against those who violate these laws enumerated within the Book of Discipline. This represents a strong departure from doctrine.
The subject of homosexuality has in the United Methodist Church traditionally brought decades of internal conflict within the Church from parishioners, clergy, bishops, and the various conferences; especially since the choices in the row have been polar in nature–either the status quo or to completely allow acceptance of homosexuality. The non-conformity action might finally offer a middle ground for the Church Community to move closer to that of society and of the secular laws.
I have previously written (here and here) about how free speech is dying in the West, including the sanctioning of speech among our closest allies in France and England and Canada. The most recent case is out of Canada where a feminist author is facing a slander trial for merely expressing her contempt for an Islamic school. Djemila Benhabib, an award-winning author and past candidate for office in Quebec, is facing a demand for $95,000 from her for “greatly tarnishing” the image of the Muslim Schools of Montreal, a private institution that teaches elementary and high school. Her remarks occurred during a radio interview.
Continue reading “Quebec Feminist Faces Trial Over Criticism Of Islamic School”
Day four of our Alaskan adventure was focused on the immense beauty of Denali Naitonal Park. As an avid hiker, Denali has been a dream of mine for many years. Famous for Mt. McKinley (recently changed by the Obama Administration to Mount Denali to the chagrin of the Ohio delegation), the highest mountain in North America at 20,310 feet, the park is an icon of American natural conservation. It is breathtaking in size and beauty — 1,334,200 acres of pristine tundra, glaciers, rock and forest. It was everything that we dreamed it would be as we hit the trails of Denali.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled June 27th that in addition to recognizing tribal fishing rights, pursuant to the Stevens Treaties entered in the middle 1850s between Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest and the Washington Territorial Governor, the government is mandated to protect the viability of sustainable fishing to preserve the allocation to local tribes.
In signing these treaties, the tribes relinquished “swaths of land, watersheds, and offshore waters adjacent to these areas…in what is now the State of Washington. In exchange, the Tribes were guaranteed a right to engage in off-reservation fishing.”
The panel held that in building and maintaining barrier culverts within Washington, the state violated, and continues to violate, its obligation to the Tribes under the treaties.
Our third day in Alaska had us driving from Anchorage to Denali National Park. It is a beautiful ride though the maps can be deceiving. What looks like one of the few towns like Willow is little more than a gas station and a couple of buildings. It took about 4-5 hours but it is fun to be able to stop and meet people. You can also take the Alaskan train which goes through the amazing Alaska countryside. We went directly to RaftDenal, which was hands down one of the best decisions of the trip. Today was our white water rafting trip and we loved it.
There could be an interesting constitutional case brewing in the Big Easy. As some know on the blog, I spent a few years in Louisiana and lived in New Orleans while teaching at Tulane Law School. The city has changed a bit after Katrina, but some of the biggest changes are social. The French Quarter always had a certain raunchy edge with strip clubs and seedy bars. Now, it is packed with tee-shirt shops and . . . tee shirt shops. Politicians have taken particular effort in cracking down on strip clubs and a new measure would likely cut the current 23 clubs to 7. That raises a serious question of the disparate treatment given adult entertainment business, a subject that we have previously discussed.
Continue reading “New Orleans Moves to Slash the Number of Strip Clubs”
There is another arrest in the United Kingdom for criminal speech, a crime that is on the rise in the West to censor and punish those who are deemed hateful or insulting in their views. The latest arrestee is reported to be Matthew Doyle, 46, a partner at a London PR agency. He was arrested after tweeting about how he asked a Muslim woman to “explain” the terror attacks in Brussels. It was a stupid and insulting act, in my view. Moreover, Doyle reportedly used some slur for Muslims in later postings. However, none of that justifies criminalizing speech and the arrest shows the increasing appetite in England (and the West) for rolling back on free speech. Indeed, we recently discussed the Obama Administration’s threats of prosecution for those who speak in ways deemed misleading or hateful.
Continue reading “Englishman Arrested For Posting Anti-Islamic Tweets After Brussels Bombing”
We had a wonderful day in Anchorage with perfect weather in the 70s and sunny. This is such a cool city. The city is ringed by beautiful mountains and the vegetation is lush. The city itself has some funky neighborhoods and endless things to do from biking to nature tours to sea plane rides. We made this our bike and hike day. It proved a brilliant choice.
The gay community was rocked by the recent beating of a gay man and popular YouTuber, Calum McSwiggan, 26. McSwiggan has now been charged with making a false police report after investigators concluded that he was not attacked and caused the injuries to himself. In a case reminiscent of the recent hoax by a gay minister, McSwiggan went to social media and created a firestorm over his alleged victimization.
We just landed in Alaska and we are already overwhelmed by the immense beauty of this place. I just wanted to share a few pictures taken out my plane window. Flying into the airport, we passed over hundreds of miles of uninhabited snow covered mountains and valleys, including areas with fresh avalanche markings. That gave way to brilliant green areas as you draw near to Anchorage.
Judges often have to deal with hard cases, including some who literally have nothing to lose in disrupting a courtroom. Most judges will have such defendants removed, but Floyd County Superior Court Judge Bryant Durham in Rome, Georgia appeared to be intent on trying to out crazy the craziest guy in the room. In this case, the guy was Denver Allen and he unleashed a tirade at Durham who proceeded to join him in trashing talking. This led ultimately to Judge Durham daring Allen to masturbate in his courtroom. It should also lead to Durham’s discipline and likely removal for conduct that violates the basic tenets of judicial ethics.
There is a disturbing threat from an Obama Administration official that the Administration could prosecute those who “spread false information or inflammatory statements about the perpetrators” in an alleged sexual assault by juvenile Muslim migrants in Idaho. The remarks of United States Attorney Wendy J. Olson has triggered concerns over the criminalization of speech.
