President Barack Obama and other leaders have stressed that the greatest victims of Islamic extremism are not Christians and Jews but Muslims. This week produced another tragic example. Yemen’s top Salafi cleric Samahan Abdel-Aziz, also known as Sheikh Rawi, was found in the southern port city of Aden, Sudan after he gave a sermon denouncing the Islamic State and Islamic extremism. He had been tortured before he was killed.
There is a shocking interview circulating on the Internet that purportedly (I have no way to confirming the translation) shows the “Grand Mufti of Gaza” Hassan Al-Laham holding forth on such subjects as how to best beat your wife, including the advice not to hit them in a way that “makes the face ugly.” He also reminds women that they cannot refuse sex with their husbands under the Koran and must please him in accordance with the principles of Islam. He is also asked for guidance on such issues as whether to allow women to shop during the holidays. Of course, this discussion strikes most sane people as two raving lunatics engaging in a delusional fantasy. Yet, this is a high ranking cleric who apparently holds sway with many people. You are left with the bizarre image of people dutifully writing down such advice as “beatings — yes; but try not to make her ugly.”
ISIS again caused international outrage with pictures this week of its beheading of Ayham Hussein, 15, who was reportedly executed for listening to Western music. ISIS considers such influences to be anti-Islamic and subject to death under the medieval Sharia law system enforced by the militants.
Continue reading “ISIS Beheads Teenage Boy Caught Listening To Western Music”
Below is my column in USA Today on some of the possible nominees to fill the vacancy left with the death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. There is a long list of potential nominees and only some are discussed in this column. One of the more interesting prospects is Jane Kelly from the Eighth Circuit who would bring badly needed trial experience to the Court and particularly a rare criminal defense background. As a threshold matter, it is worth noting that the current chaos that we are witnessing over Scalia’s replacement is the result of a long-standing flaw on the Court. As I have argued for many years, our Supreme Court is demonstrably too small and should be expanded by Congress to 19 members – roughly the size of other large nations – to avoid so much power being concentrated in so few hands. If the Court was larger, there would likely be no question that President Obama could get a nominee confirmed because there would be greater turnover on the Court and less at stake with each justice. However, as it stands, even a moderate nominee would move the center of gravity of the Court significantly to the left and would likely produce a host of sweeping changes on gun rights, abortion, affirmative action, and other areas. That is something that the Republicans have pledged to bar, at least until we know who the next president will be.
So our dysfunctionally small Court has left us in another dysfunctional standoff. However, we have some added issues due to the timing of this vacancy as discussed in the column below.
Mallam Luthfi Jamal-Baba, an Imam and exorcist from Ghana, has warned that beautiful women are more likely to be possessed by evil “jinns” or spirits or genies. It appears that beauty is a jinn magnet.
In a direct violation of international rules governing these sporting events, the Iranian government barred women from entry to the Beach Volleyball World Tour event on Kish Island. The FIVB had expressly required Iran to guarantee that women would be allowed to enter and watch the matches. However, the Iranians barred them anyway at the five-day competition.
Continue reading “Iranian Women Barred From International Volleyball Competition”
We have been following reports on climate change that appear to support the view that major changes are occurring around the world. This week, NASA released figures showing that, after setting records in 2015, January was was the warmest on record. In another story, Australian wine producers are faced with changing grapes due to the sharp change in climate in that country. As someone who loves Australian reds, the news hits particularly hard and captures the range of subtle and substantial changes that will have to be made in light of the worsening situation.
Apple has decided to fight an unprecedented and highly controversial order by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym that the company has to assist the government in breaking into one of its encrypted phones. Apple says that it does not have the technology and does not want to be part of such an effort to create a privacy stripping tool for the FBI. Pym seems to believe that she can order companies to become unwilling participants in surveillance research and development. I fail to see her legal basis for such an extraordinary order against a private company.
One of the most basic functions of government should be to require accurate descriptions of products in the market. I am a big believer in the free market and tend to resist government regulation whenever possible. However, the free market functions best when the government enforces the rules to prevent misleading and fraudulent practices. This week is an example of how labeling continues to mislead consumers. While parmesan cheese is often advertised as “100%” pure, it can include wood pulp and cheaper cheeses such as cheddar, Swiss, and mozzarella. One manufacturer, Castle Cheese, supplying Target actually had no parmesan in its “100 percent” parmesan cheese product.
China is again showing that it remains an authoritarian government fearful of its own people learning the truths of history or politics. This week, China barred Yang Jisheng, 76, a former journalist with China’s official news agency, from traveling to the United States to accept a Harvard University prize for Tombstone, a 2008 book uncovering the devastating toll of the Great Chinese Famine of 1958-1961.
We have previously discussed the disgusting fetish for “crush videos” — films where small animals and birds are crushed under stiletto heels, boots and objects or stabbed to death. Now, Ashley Nichole Richards, 23, and Brent Wayne Justice, 52, have been given long sentences for their roles in making such videos. Richards was sentenced to 10 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to three counts of animal cruelty while Justice, 52, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for cruelty to animals.
Continue reading “Two Texans Given Long Sentences For Production Of Animal Crush Videos”
We have previously discussed the controversy surrounding University of Missouri Assistant Professor of Communication Melissa Click who was caught on videotape obstructing a student journalist and calling for “muscle” to prevent him from covering a protest. She was charged with assault in that case. Now, a new videotape has emerged showing Click yelling profanities at police officers who were trying to clear protestors blocking traffic on campus. The new videotape below will obviously not help the already suspended academic.
We have previously dealt with the issue of judges arrested for DUI and how to address such cases in their continuing on the court (here and here and here and here and here). Another such case has arisen with the arrest in New York of Judge Leticia Astacio. While it was a Saturday morning, police say that Astacio was on her way to work when she had an accident with another car on Interstate 490. She refused to take a Breathalyzer and was arrested for DUI. Astacio is a former assistant district attorney who prosecuted drunk driving cases.
Continue reading “New York Judge Arrested For DUI On Way To Court”
Poland has added its name to the countries seeking to criminalize unpopular opinions or speech. In a law that attacks both free speech and historical scholarship, the Polish government is seeking to make it a crime to imply the country bears any responsibility for atrocities carried out on Polish soil by Nazi Germany. Violators who simply argue Polish complicity in war crimes could face five years in prison.
We recently discussed the highly disturbing cases of 12 protesters who called for the boycotting of Israeli products. France’s Supreme Court (the Court of Cassation) upheld the shocking prosecution of the twelve anti-Israel activists in a blow to free speech. Now, England is moving to bar local councils, public bodies and even university student unions from boycotting “unethical” companies.
Continue reading “England Moves To Bar Support For Israeli Boycott Movement”