Congress, Constitutional Law, International, Politics

House Bill Denying Social Security Benefits To Ex-Nazis Could Set A Troubling Precedent

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

NaziFlagCongress is drafting legislation to deny Social Security benefits to those accused of participating in persecutions of others by the Nazis. HR 5706 directs the Justice Department to provide names of individuals suspected as such to the Social Security Administration which would then terminate all social benefits to these individuals. This could occur despite payments by these individuals into the social security system and who are presently receiving such benefits.

The Bill, titled the “Nazi Social Security Benefits Termination Act of 2014,” came into being after the Associated Press reported that millions of dollars in benefits have been provided to those beneficiaries, many of whom the AP claims received the promise of social benefits on the condition they removed themselves from the United States. The Justice Department disputes this claim.

While there is no question that those who participated in genocides should be held accountable for their actions, the steps Congress is taking has substantial long term risks to due process rights, entitlements, and using retirement benefits as a form of collective punishment to individuals deemed undesirable by the U.S. Government.

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Academia, Congress, Media, Politics

The Purging of Professor Gruber: ACA Architect Disavowed In The Beltway

Screen Shot 2014-11-13 at 8.45.49 AMPelosi-denies-Gruber-2014nov-fullIt appears that friends (albeit a dwindling number) of MIT professor Jonathan Gruber may soon have to put his face on milk cartons to locate the economist. After a series of frank but embarrassing statements on the strategies behind the Administration’s passage of the Affordable Car Act (ACA), Gruber has moved from the status of “disfavored” to “disavowed” to “disappeared.” This week, Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi expressed a complete lack of knowledge of who Gruber is, was, or will be — even though she previously cited his work and he was paid $400,000 as one of the architects of Obamacare and has made over $2 million from HHS. Such roles are often difficult for scholars in moving between the political and academic worlds, but it is rare to find an academic become such an issue in a national debate.

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Animals, Criminal law, Environment, Society

No Animals Were Harmed In The Making Of This Film? New York Man Insists That Kicking Cat Is Not Animal Cruelty

article-0-1D995E9700000578-109_306x423article-0-1D995EA900000578-749_306x423We have another man charged this week after posting pictures on Facebook. In the case of Andre Robinson, 22, his defense has outraged people as much as his crime. After being shown luring a stray cat over and then viciously kicking it, Robinson essentially insists that no animals were harmed in the making of his film. The prosecutors say that the cat was kicked some 20 feet. His team challenged the prosecutors to prove that the cat was actually injured.

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Animals, Criminal law, Environment, International

Bagged: Four Men Arrested After Posting Pictures Of Poached Deer On Facebook

poachingonfb3Adrian Acevedo-Hernandez, 36, Jose Luis Montufar-Canales, 31, Jose Manuel Ortega-Torres, 30, and J. Nemias Reyes Marin, 31, are in need of some “friends” after their Facebook postings led to their arrest. The men were shown on pictures with an assortment of dead animals. One picture from Hiko, Nevada below shows Ortega-Torres carrying off a mule deer in Nevada but game officials were struck by the background of the picture that was clearly not in the hunting season. That prompted a 16-month state and federal probe that finally led to the arrest of the men who are described as carrying out “a systematic killing, illegal killing, of wildlife.” Authorities believe that Acevedo-Hernandez, Montufar-Canales and Marin are illegal immigrants.

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International, Society

Report: Thirty-Three Percent of Chicagoans Have Less Than $250 in Bank Accounts Before Every Pay Day

depression-era-unemployment-lineThere is a truly disturbing report out of Chicago that highlights the massive wealth gap in our country. The Springleaf Financial Strength Survey, found that 33 percent of Chicagoans are living paycheck-to-paycheck and have less than $250. Nationwide 43 percent of families are living paycheck to paycheck.

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Academia, Congress, Media, Politics

New Video Shows Gruber Discussing How Health Taxes Were Structured To Exploit The Lack of Knowledge Of The American Voter

Screen Shot 2014-11-13 at 8.45.49 AMThis week we discussed another videotape of Jonathan Gruber, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist who played a major role the ACA, or “Obamacare,” making revealing and highly embarrassing statements about the strategy behind the passage of the Act. Gruber had already previously attracted controversy with statements where he endorsed the theory at the heart of the recent decisions in Halbig and King by challengers to the ACA: to wit, that the federal funding provision was a quid pro quo device to reward states with their own exchanges and to punish those that force the creation of federal exchanges. That issue will now be decided by the United States Supreme Court. Gruber caused uproar when, after he had denounced the theory as “nutty” during the arguments in Halbig and King, he was shown later to have embraced that same interpretation. Gruber has become a major liability in the litigation. Gruber then was back in the news with an equally startling admission that the Obama Administration (and Gruber) succeeded in passing the ACA only by engineering a “lack of transparency” on the details and relying on “the stupidity of the American voter.” Now a new videotape has surfaced from Gruber speaking at the University of Rhode Island in 2012 and expressing the same contempt for the intelligence of citizens — suggesting again that they were hoodwinked to “the lack of economic understanding of the American voter.” Gruber was paid roughly $400,000 to help design the ACA by the Obama Administration, but he is proving far far more costly in its aftermath.

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Academia, Politics, Society

Kennewick Man Linked To Non-Native American Explorers In Contradiction To Claims Of Tribes and the Corps of Engineers

kennewickmanWe have previously discussed the controversy over Kennewick man, the 9,000 year old skeleton found along the bank of the Columbia River eighteen years ago. Putting aside the fact that the date of the skeleton once again contradicts those who believe that the Earth is only a few thousand years old, it also represented a major scientific find. Scientists stated that the skeleton did not appear to be Native American, but Native American groups insisted that under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) they had a right to take possession of the skeleton and stop any further scientific work at the site. To the astonishment of many (particularly in the academic world), Army Corps of Engineers sided with the tribe and fought to give the non-Native American skeleton to the local tribe and dumped 2 million pounds of dirt and planted several thousand trees on top of Kennewick Man’s burial site to stop further scientific work. Now, the results are in. Kennewick Man is not Native American but the Corps is continuing to defend its absurd position and its obstruction of important scientific work.

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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Politics, Society

Gun Stores Challenge California Law Barring Handgun Advertisements

Stock Photo of the Consitution of the United States and Feather Quill220px-CriminologygunglockThere is an interesting first amendment case developing in California where gun store owners are challenging a California Penal Code section 26820, a law from 1923 that bans gun stores from putting up signs advertising the sale of handguns. Shotguns can be advertised but not handguns. Four dealers are claiming that their freedom of speech is being curtailed on an arbitrary basis. They have a point.

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Criminal law, Lawyering, Media, Society, Torts

This Is CNN? Nancy Grace Sued By Man She Labeled The “Selfie Stalker”

200px-nancy_grace200px-Cnn.svgTelevision host Nancy Grace is again being sued this week over the latest example of her low-grade, gotcha programming. Grace is being sued by a man who she labeled the “selfie stalker” for allegedly taking a picture with a crime victim’s cellphone. The problem is that Ben Seibert is not a stalker and did not take such a picture with the phone. He was cleared of the allegations but that did not stop Grace from continuing to shred his reputation on-air. It is always shocking to see Grace appear not just on CNNHD but CNN generally. If, as the tagline reads, “this is CNN” it has truly experienced a fall from Grace.

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Academia, Religion

Marriages Made In Heaven? Stories Claim New Findings On The Marital Status of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith

Hoffman-ChristAndTheRichYoungRuler230px-Joseph_Smith,_Jr._portrait_owned_by_Joseph_Smith_III

For those who love to follow the marriages of the rich and famous, this week was a real doozy. In a new book, researchers are claiming evidence that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had two sons. In the meantime, a new publication on the website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says that Church founder Joseph Smith had as many as 40 wives including one who was only 14 years old.

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Criminal law, International, Politics, Society, Torts

“There Was No Negligence”: Ten Indian Women Die and Dozens Are Hospitalized After Mass Sterilization

India flagIndian officials are investigating a shocking case where 10 women have died and dozens of others hospitalized after participating in a state-run mass sterilization. The over 80 women underwent sterilizations by a single doctor in a single day in the central state of Chhattisgarh on Saturday. The most remarkable statement came below from the chief medial officer who promised an investigation.

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Environment, International, Uncategorized

Toxic Tofu: Chinese Gang Found To Be Selling Fuzhu Sticks Laced With Cancer-Causing Chemical

250px-Yuba_by_AbrilonChina's flagHorrific stories of food contamination have become almost commonplace in China from oil skimmed from sewers to rat meat to fake eggs (here and here and here and here and here and here). While the Chinese government has jailed food safety advocates and censored many stories, it is struggling to combat massive corruption and criminal elements in its food supply system. A story this week out of the province of Shandong in eastern China tells just how massive this problem is. A criminal gang in eastern China has sold almost 100 metric tons (110.23 tons) of toxic tofu. The tofu was mixed with rongalite powder, a cancer causing chemical banned in all foods. The gang was using it to make the tofu look whiter and fresher. The gang was selling tofu sticks called “fuzhu”, a popular snack in China.

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Criminal law, Society

New York Sheriff’s Deputy Suspended After Video Shows Him Threatening Citizens and Apparently Slapping Driver

n-COP-largeSgt. Shawn Glans a New York sheriff’s deputy has been suspended after a video was posted that showed him verbally abusing, and apparently slapping a young man after the man refused to let Glans search his vehicle. The car had a rifle in the backseat, which is not unlawful and, when the man refuses, Glans is heard threatening that he could “rip your … head off.”

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Media, Politics, Society

Obamacare Architect States That The Law Was Only Passed Due To “The Lack of Transparency” and The “Stupidity of the American Voter” UPDATED

Screen Shot 2014-11-11 at 9.26.38 AMWe previously discussed the statements of Jonathan Gruber, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist who played a major role the ACA, or “Obamacare,” where he repeatedly endorsed the theory at the heart of the recent decisions in Halbig and King by challengers to the ACA: to wit, that the federal funding provision was a quid pro quo device to reward states with their own exchanges and to punish those that force the creation of federal exchanges. That issue will now be decided by the United States Supreme Court. Gruber caused a considerable controversy when, after he had denounced the theory as “nutty” during the arguments in Halbig and King, he was shown later to have embraced that same interpretation. Having been paid almost $400,000 as an architect of the ACA, Gruber has become a major liability in the litigation. Now Gruber is back in the news with an equally startling admission that the Obama Administration (and Gruber) succeeded in passing the ACA only by engineering a “lack of transparency” on the details and relying on “the stupidity of the American voter.”

Continue reading “Obamacare Architect States That The Law Was Only Passed Due To “The Lack of Transparency” and The “Stupidity of the American Voter” UPDATED” →