There is an interesting story below on the nationwide trend of Native American tribes to exclude potentially thousands from membership on the basis of their not being “Indian enough.” Critics charge that the move comes as casino profits have increased and tribes are seeking to increase per capita payouts by reducing their membership rolls. Tribes insist that they are simply trying to police their ranks and reinforce their tribal identities. This has left it as a fight over whether the rejections are driven by casinos or culture.
If you wanted to me my ideal for a prospective lawyer, this is it.
We have been following stories of how European courts have been hammering Internet companies in stripping posters of anonymity and limiting speech (here and here). Now, Google has been hit again with a major fine of $1.4 million for failing to have cars that are readily identifiable in its Street View program in Italy. Italians complained that they were not given sufficient notice to get out of the way to avoid being filmed.
Continue reading “Google Hit With $1.4 Million Fine For Not Having Easily Recognizable Cars”
It is Saturday and some people have high expectations for you.
As many on this blog know, I have long been a supporter of same-sex marriage and gay rights. However, I have qualms about a story this morning that Mozilla Chief Executive Brendan Eich has been forced to step down after a campaign by an online dating service. The campaign revealed that Eich had made a donated $1,000 in 2008 in support of California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state before it was struck down in the federal courts. The controversy raises again the tension between free speech and corporate identity.
A secret recording has surfaced of Vice President Dick Cheney speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition where he held forth on various subjects — assuming that the session was closed to the public and press. Cheney appears to be intent on, again, revising history to get people to embrace a security state. You may recall how Cheney (who is often cited as a potential defendant in a torture prosecution) publicly assuring the nation that the Bush torture program produced valuable intelligence. That assertion has been previously dismissed by experts and insiders. However, as we discussed recently, the forthcoming Senate Report goes into great deal to show that not only is that assertion untrue but that the CIA actively sought to hide the fact that the torture program produced insignificant intelligence (and that detainees were tortured despite their cooperation in conventional interrogations). Cheney is now fighting to defend the massive surveillance of citizens — again dismissing even the concessions of intelligence officials about abuses and violations under the program. Cheney told a rapturous crowd that all such accounts were “hogwash.” He further pumped the crowd with support for an attack on Iran to add yet another war to our current international conflicts.
Israel’s Second Authority for Television and Radio has banned the Hoodies commercial below as containing “too many sexual insinuations.” The commercial shows a supermodel with Red Orbach, a famous puppet character, in bed with not so veiled references to puppet-human relations. It raises again the ongoing controversy over censorship in commercials to protect younger or more sensitive viewers.
Continue reading “Banned In Israel: Censors Block The Red Orbach in Hoodie Commercial”
Ever wonder how Italians learn to speak with their hands? By the way, every Italian word that I ever learned was taught to me by my Sicilian grandmother, Josephine Piazza, over her kitchen table.
Alberto Gonzales, former U.S. attorney general in President George W. Bush’s administration, remains as largely vilified figure — often cited in law school’s in discussion of how lawyers can be corrupted by power to jettison basic ethical and professional values. Gonzales is widely blamed for politicizing the Justice Department, destroying its credibility, appointing substandard officials, and turning a blind eye to egregious violations like the torture and surveillance programs. That record has made it difficult for Gonzales to find a job. He recently took a political science position at Texas Tech, viewed by many as a telling choice since he acted with more attention to politics than the law in his career. Now Gonzales has been named dean of Belmont University’s nearly 3-year-old law school. He had previously accepted a teaching position at the school.
Continue reading “Gonzales Becomes Law Dean At Provisional Law School in Tennessee”
We have been discussing the horrific rollback of environmental protections in Australia under Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Now, Abbott’s government and industry allies are pushing for a change in competition laws to ban on campaigns against companies on the grounds that they are selling products that damage the environment.
Continue reading “Australian Government Moves To Ban Environmental Boycotts Under Competition Laws”
I must be missing something. English prosecutors are heralding the sentencing of Mohammed Khalid Jamil as a “landmark case” in their campaign against computer fraud. Jamil ran an international conspiracy to defraud people of millions in a Microsoft scam. However, he received just a four-month sentence and that sentence was promptly suspended. As for the fine, he was told to pay £5,665. How exactly is that a landmark?
If the police are correct, Colin Chisholm III, 62, and Andrea Chisholm, 54, just may be the most outrageous welfare frauds in history. The Chisholms lived on a $1.2 million yacht when they were not in one of their expensive homes. However, they still collected more than $160,000 in state welfare benefits. They each face one count of welfare fraud. They also portrayed themselves as Lord Colin A.J. & Lady Chisholm of Struy.
Continue reading ““Lord and Lady Chisholm” Arrested For Welfare Fraud In Florida”
The owner on Reddit said that the snow melt revealed where all of his socks had gone.
Continue reading “With Spring, Rover’s Hidden Treasure Trove Was Revealed”
Angela Timmons, 54, an employee at Virginia College in South Carolina, appears to have carried out an April Fools’ Day prank that few in her family will soon forget. Timmons, 54, send an email to her daughter that there was a gunman on the loose at the school and the daughter called police — triggering a massive response. It was a stupid prank. However, the range of charges against Timmons is a bit disconcerting.
Continue reading “Fool Me Once . . . : April Fool’s Day Prank Of Daughter Leads To Mother’s Arrest”
The Albuquerque police have long been criticized for a high rate of shootings and the increasing militarization of their operations. This month, many have joined in that criticism after the release of a videotape of police shooting a homeless camper, James Boyd, in the foothills outside of the city.