The plight of servants in Saudi Arabia is well-documented as foreign workers particularly are beaten and sexual assaulted with little apparent repercussions from the Kingdom. Women generally are denied basic rights and freedoms in the country which follows the medieval Sharia legal system. Now a wife is facing imprisonment because she filmed her husband sexually assaulting a maid and posted it. Such filming is viewed as defamation and subject to imprisonment in the draconian legal system in Saudi Arabia.
We previously discussed the truly bizarre scene of having Saudi Arabia sit on the UN Human Rights Council despite being one of the most infamous violators of human rights. As if to remind the world of the crushing irony, Saudi Arabia has issued a statement telling the world that it has no business objecting to the planned execution of a religious dissent. The Saudi Arabian embassy in the UK has denounced “any form of interference in its internal affairs” regarding the case of 21-year-old dissident Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who has been sentenced to death by beheading for engaging in pro-democracy protests.
Police have finally nabbed one of the most infamous environmental criminals in the world. Chinese national Yang Feng Glan (known as the “Ivory Queen”) was arrested in Tanzania on charges of poaching and smuggling ring. Glan is responsible for countless kills of elephants for their ivory. Glan, 66, would travel between China and the killing fields in open defiance of international and environmental laws. Despite her notoriety and serving an insatiable Chinese market for ivory, Chinese officials never arrested Glan.
There is another controversy brewing in California over allegations that the University of California at Berkeley is again trying to circumvent a state law that bars the use of race in educational decisions. Berkeley has announced a $20 million fund to endow scholarships for African-American students and to hire a diverse faculty. Critics say that it clearly runs afoul of the law and is another example the refusal of administrators to comply with a state policy for absolute racially blind decision-making in admissions and other educations decision making.
Continue reading “Berkeley Under Fire For New Race-Based Program”
Dr. Ben Carson is learning the perils of rising in the polls in a presidential election. This week, the National Enquirer produced an article detailing what it says is a pattern of malpractice by Carson, including leaving a sponge in the head of a patient. Some of the harshest commentary however have come from liberal African Americans. Much like some of the criticism faced by Clarence Thomas, Carson has been attacked as being a type of traitor to the black community despite the fact that he is a hugely successful doctor and mentor for many. University of Pennsylvania Professor Anthea Butler however took that criticism to a new low in calling Carson a “coon.” While such a racial slur would normally be followed by demands for terminations from a white professor, the response to the slur has been at best muted.
Continue reading “UPenn Professor Under Fire For Reportedly Calling Ben Carson A “Coon””
House GOP primary candidate Kay Daly is challenging Rep. Renee Ellmers in North Carolina clearly has a different view of what constitutes a high calibre candidate. The former N.C. GOP spokeswoman and congressional aide is running an advertisement that says that she does not just oppose RINOs (“Republican In Name Only”) but wants to bag them . . . literally.
Continue reading “Gun-Toting North Carolina Candidate Pledges To Hunt Down “Rinos” In Political Ad”
Yes, it has happened. The Cubs shut out the Pirates 4-0 just minutes ago. For Cubbies, this has been long in coming. Years of all of the ribbing and jeering about the “lovable losers.” Well, there is a wave of Cubbie blue heading for the St. Louis Cardinals and this is going to be one heck of a series.
Bahar Mustafa, of the University of London is facing criminal charges for sending a threatening communication. Mustafa attracted international condemnation for her use of a Twitter hashtag #killallwhitemen and asked for white men not to come to certain university events. Despite her unmitigated racism and sexism, an effort to remove her failed after only 165 people signed a petition for her removal. The retention of Mustafa at the university is a disgrace for both the university and academia as a whole.
State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez in Chicago has long been criticized for her efforts to bar the public filming of police officers, bizarre positions, and anti-civil liberties positions. Now she is again under fire for refusing to re-open four cases that were identified in an independent investigation as “more likely than not” resulting in the conviction of innocent men.
We have occasionally followed new reports on the economic condition of the public and the news is rarely good. After an extremely very poor jobs report, a new study found that twenty-eight percent of Americans have nothing in their savings accounts and another 21 percent have no savings account at all. Only 29 percent has $1,000 or more in their accounts.
Continue reading “Report: Half of the Country Has No Savings”
St. Margaret of Cortona Church in Little Ferry, N.J. this week is dealing with the arrest of its pastor, The Rev. Kevin Carter, 54. Even more shocking is the charge: aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. However, on closer examination, the arrest and charge seems wildly out of place according to published reports. What was a gag based on football rivalry has turned into a full fledged criminal case due to the refusal of the police or prosecutors to show a modicum of discretion or logic.
Augustus Sol Invictus is not your typical politician. While most politicians are known for kissing babies, Invictus is best known for admitting that he killed a goat and drank its blood in a ritual of thanks after returning from a journey in the Mojave Desert. Invictus changed his former name (which he will reportedly not reveal) to the Latin Sol Invictus (“Unconquered Sun”), which was the official sun god of the Roman Empire and a patron of soldiers. It appears the 32-year-old lawyer is willing to admit that critics got his goat, or at least the story, but insists that people can look beyond a goat-blood drinking Senator. “I did sacrifice a goat. I know that’s probably a quibble in the mind of most Americans. I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness … Yes, I drank the goat’s blood.”
Continue reading ““A Quibble”: Florida Senate Candidate Admits To Drinking Goat Blood”
I have long bee ribbed by my colleagues for excusing students from any assignments the day after either the Chicago Bears or Chicago Cubs win (They may claim either a “Lovie” — after former coach Lovie Smith — or a “Cubbie.”) Indeed, with entry into the post-season, I awarded a week off in-class assignments in celebration. It appears that I am not alone. One of our regulars has sent me a story from MLB.com of a law student that was given permission to skip class due to Wednesday’s game against the Pirates. What is most impressive is that this is a waiver for an exam the day after the game. Good lawyering. Below is the exchange between Ben Larson and his University of Illinois law professor.
Continue reading “Law Student Gets Reprieve From Exam Due To Cubs – Pirates Game”
We previously discussed the bizarre lawsuit by Andrew Rector, 26, who sued ESPN, the Yankees, Major League Baseball, and announcers Dan Shulman and John Kruk are being sued by Andrew Rector, 26, for defamation after the network showed him asleep at the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox game and joked about his being “oblivious” to the game. While Rector says that the commentators called him “stupor, fatty, unintelligent, stupid,” those insults are not heard on the videotape below from the telecast. Rector sued for $10 million in a complaint that I earlier criticized. The lawsuit has now been dismissed by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Julia Rodriguez, but Rector’s lawyer says that she sees a solid basis for appeal — though I fail to see such a basis. Indeed, given the condition of the original complaint, some judges might have awarded sanctions with the dismissal.
Continue reading “$10 Million Defamation Lawsuit Of Sleeping Baseball Fan Dismissed In New York”
This is what passes for honesty in Nigeria. The notoriously corrupt country reached a new low this week with Kogi State APC Chairman, Alhaji Hadi Ametuo. Ametuo was asked about the slightly awkward fact of his party’s candidate in the forthcoming governorship poll, Prince Audu Abubakar, being under investigation for stealing over N11 billion during his prior office term. Ametuo shrugged off the alleged theft as something that is quite common and then promised that Audu would return the money . . . if he is elected.