This may be a case where the mugshot is admissible as core evidence in a case. Alan Becker, 47, reportedly objected to a haircut at the Loft Salon in Stamford and became even more irate when he was told it would cost $50. What happened next may guarantee an institutional cut for some time to come for Becker.
In Saudi Arabia, the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is a religious police force that has been a constant presence in the Kingdom arresting woman having coffee with colleagues or forcing young girls to burn to death in fire rather than run out without their scarves. Then there was the time that the religious police in Dammam marched into a popular dinosaur exhibit and shut it down without any explanation of why the dinosaurs threatened the virtue of good Muslims. Then there was the flogging of a women who insulted them. Then there are the round ups of religious people for simply praying at home. Then there is the arrest of a man for standing in line with his wife at a grocery store. The list goes on and on. The latest entry is the arrest of young men for simply dancing at a birthday party. Birthday parties have been denounced by Saudi clerics as unIslamic, but this the first such arrest that many can recall that did not involve dancing with women.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A consortium of one hundred and twenty Islamic Scholars have placed onto the internet an Open Letter to Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi denouncing the organization’s violent and extremist actions in the Middle East. The letter, in the form of an interactive website, provides the world with an opportunity to read a perspective of the Islamic State’s affront to civilization from an academic analysis by scholars. The letter addresses the fundamental and basis in canon for disputing the claims of Al-Baghdadi that his is the only pure and legitimate form of Islam–refuting his claims of divine assent.
The original, in the Arabic, is presently being translated into other languages. The English is presently available.
There has been unfortunately much misconception in the Western World that there lacks true dissent to the terrorist outrages in the Muslim World. This letter can serve a secondary goal to educate those in other cultures having concerns.
Continue reading “Islamic Scholars Present An Open Letter To ISIS Leader Al-Baghdadi”
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw) Weekend Contributor
I have to give Governor Bruce Rauner credit for not taking long to show his hand and publicly attack the Higher Education system in Illinois. It has only been a few weeks since he was inaugurated and he recently unveiled his budget. A budget plan that slashes over $200 million just from the University of Illinois alone.
At the very time Gov. Rauner announced he wants to slash the Higher Education budget for all universities in the State of Illinois by almost a third, he claimed that his budget makes education a priority! Continue reading “Gov. Bruce Rauner Declares War on Higher Education and the Poor in Illinois”
By Mike Appleton, Weekend Contributor
“Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.”
-Herman Melville, Moby Dick
The response to the grotesquely brutal murder of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh on February 3 was intense and swift. Within hours after the Islamic State released its obscene video, Jordan hanged two al-Qaeda prisoners. Thousands of Jordanian citizens marched through the streets of Amman in a demonstration joined by Queen Rania. The young pilot’s father, Safi al-Kaseasbeh, demanded “revenge, severe revenge for the blood of Muath.” Tribal elders, who only recently were arguing that Jordan should withdraw from the U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, now called for retribution in the name of “Muath the Martyr.” By the following day, Jordanian F-16s were bombing ISIS targets in Syria.
The conservative media in this country promptly labeled King Abdullah II a hero. On Fox & Friends, Elisabeth Hasselbeck praised him for “stepping up with strong leadership and clarity, ” adding, “What is our president doing?” Even Charles Barkley weighed in, publicly expressing his wish that President Obama were more like the Jordanian king.
Please excuse me if I refrain from joining the fawning multitudes.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We previously wrote HERE of Richland, Washington Florist Baronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers, who caused a row when she refused to provide her floral services for a gay wedding. Now, a Benton County Superior Court Judge ruled that she violated the state’s consumer protection act that bars discrimination against a protected class.
The legal action was brought by customer Robert Ingersoll and the Washington Attorney General’s Office.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In what has become both controversial for several groups and will be likely frustrating for couples who have few options for having children of their own genetics, the Thai government has introduced legislation that bans foreign couples from utilizing the services of its citizens for surrogacy for commercial means and other types based upon demographics of the contracting parents. The government cities that it has concerns that their nation will become “The Womb of the World” where social and economic issues could be distressful to young women and cause issues with society as a whole.
Yet, the law seems to have become more than this. Additional restrictions levied affect specific demographics of married couples and for homosexual couples especially.
Continue reading “Thailand Government Bans Surrogacy For Foreign Parents And Others”
There is an interesting criminal case out of Hawaii where Jay Lowell, a diver who pulled off the breathing apparatus (regulator) of a conservationist, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. The case itself is different in a response to the filming by a coral reef conservation group For the Fishes, but also the specific charge: Terroristic threatening.
Continue reading “Hawaii Diver Pleads Guilty In Controversial Scuba Attack On Conservationist”
We have previously discussed the sometimes curious notion of an intellectual in Saudi Arabia. The fact is that I have met many brilliant Saudi academics and that fact is that every country has their wing nuts. However, Saudi has had a litany of these respected clerics or academics spouting nonsense. The latest is Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari who corrected a student and told him that it is a myth that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Al-Khaibari’s defense of the Ptolemaic system would seem a few hundred years out of date but he appears to view geocentrism as commanded by Allah.
Continue reading “Saudi Cleric: Earth Does Not Move And Sits At Center Of The Universe”
Oklahoma State Rep. Dan Fisher presumably has an array of tough issues to tackle for his state from unemployment to the environment to crime. However, Fisher has decided to take on the ignoble task of banning Advanced Placement history classes in the state because he objects to the inclusion of negative aspects of American history and the omission of material embracing “American exceptionalism.” As an academic, I have previously criticized politicians (here and here and here and here) intervening in our school system to impose their own values or priorities on educators. This however ranks as one of the worst such intrusions that we have seen.
Continue reading “Oklahoma Legislator Introduces Bill To Ban Advanced Placement History Classes”
Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known as Vanilla Ice, is facing burglary and grand theft charges in a case that could raise the liability or responsibility of production companies in reality shows. The rapper who gained fame in the 90s was reportedly stealing items form a residence as part of a reality show. That presumably created not just a clear record of the crime but would also lead to questions about the role of the company.
Continue reading “Ice Ice Baby: Rapper Vanilla Ice Charged With Burglary and Grand Theft”
Not since the movie “Liar, Liar” has a man been shown making such a thorough effort at kicking his own butt. In this case, however, Aleksander Robin Tomaszewski, 33, did not come clean like Jim Carey. Instead, he sued the sheriff’s department for the beating only to find out later that his cell was under video surveillance. The result is evidence of his own self-beat-down.
Russell Kerr, 92, stars in a video that has now gone viral. Unfortunately, the performance is far from flattering. The 92-year-old Wisconsin man is shown in the video below pulling out of his parking space and crashing into nine or ten cars. Police have decided that Kerr will not be charged after concluding that he got his foot stuck in the accelerator. Fortunately, no one including Kerr was hurt.
Continue reading “No Charges For 92-Year-Old Wisconsin Man Who Hit 10 Cars”
Justice Court Judge Bill Weisenberger of Madison County has been indicted on a charge of simple assault involving a confrontation that he allegedly had with a mentally disabled man in which the judge was accused of striking Eric Rivers, a 20-year-old African American, and yelling “Run, ni**er, run.” The alleged assault occurred at the Canton Flea Market on May 8 of last year where Weisenberger was working as either a security guard or a traffic monitor (accounts differ).
It appears that White Power and White Powder do not mix. The UK Krispy Kreme branch has made a hasty retreat from its promotion for a new event: KKK Wednesday. No, the donut chain insists that it was not trying to get a neo-Nazi niche market. It was supposed to stand for Krispy Kreme Klub. The news will likely be a disappointed for all of those rotund Ku Klux Klan members seeking a donut with just the right white glaze and segregated flavors. A company spokeswoman has apologized “unreservedly for the inappropriate name of a customer promotion at one of our stores.”
Continue reading “The White Powder Movement: Krispy Kreme Pulls Its Planned “KKK Wednesday” Events”