I have never seen the Hungarian Shadow dancers but I hope that this will not be my last opportunity.
For many years, this and other blogs have criticized President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders for their failure to pull out of Afghanistan after his election. There was clearly an unwillingness to risk the political costs of being blamed for a withdrawal or a perceived defeat. As a result, our personnel were left in harm’s way, even as the country’s president called us “demons”, our allies denied basic rights to woman and religious minorities, and polls showed intense anti-American sentiments. Hundreds of billions were spent to provide political cover for leaders who needed to show that they were tough on terror. Of course, many were made millionaires off the war while others paid the price on the ground. Roughly 75 percent of the fallen were from working class families. Now, a study by a conservative organization has shown that 73 percent of all U.S. Afghan War casualties have occurred since Jan. 20, 2009 when Obama was inaugurated. While another site shows slightly different numbers, the result is the same: most of the deaths have occurred under Obama (a fact that is seldom reported) Continue reading “Study: Almost 75 Percent of All Afghanistan Deaths Occurred Under Obama”
Lance Armstrong has succeeded this week in establishing a constitutional right that is tailored perfectly for his legacy: the constitutional right to lie. U.S. District Judge Morrison England dismissed a lawsuit by people who bought his books while he was lying about his use of performance enhancing drugs and attacking his critics. In a clearly correct decision, England ruled that such writing is squarely protected by the First Amendment. The case is Stutzman v. Armstrong, No. 2:13-CV-00116-MCE-KJN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129204, September 9, 2013
Continue reading “Court Declares Armstrong Has Protected Right To Lie To Fans”
The Muslim Brotherhood has continued its crackdown on Christians and has now implemented a tax or Jizya for Christian Copts who do not agree to convert to Islam. Based on Koran 9:29, Christians are being told in Dalga that they must pay jizya or tribute to their Muslim overlords as described in the Koran.
Continue reading “Muslim Brotherhood Forces Christians To Either Convert Or Pay Jizya”
Exxon has long been viewed by many environmentalists as one of the most hostile companies on environmental protection. Indeed, many environmentalists continue to boycott the company’s gas stations. This is not simply because of the Exxon Valdez disaster but a long record of environmental violations. We can now add the illegal dumping of shale-gas drilling waste water in Pennsylvania. Exxon employees found a plug had been removed on a massive tank that allowed the wastewater to drain out and contaminate a nearby stream with chlorides, barium, strontium and aluminum. The company has warned the public that the charges against Exxon could produce an anti-environmental backlash from other companies.
What is truly amazing is that Kamryn’s mother says that she had only two voice lessons before this competition.
While it was not long ago that President Obama, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other officials insisted that there was no illegal surveillance in the massive warrantless programs disclosed by Snowdon and others, new documents show that the National Security Agency not only violated the law for years but actively misled judges on the use of such illegal surveillance. The programs covered millions of call records and was only acknowledged by the Administration after a lawsuit by civil libertarians — a lawsuit that it has tried to dismiss (like dozens of others tossed out at the demand of the Obama Administration).
A federal civil rights suit filed Friday raises some troubling questions about the conduct of Harris County deputies. As shown on the video below, David Braxton Scherz Jr., 26, was arrested on Sept. 10, 2011, along with his father, mother, sister and aunt in front of their Houston home. Scherz was stopped for running a stop sign and the scene quickly escalated due, it seems, to the action of the officers. A Harris County deputy constable held Scherz down and kicked him until he, Scherz, had multiple broken ribs. The police never had probable cause for any of the family arrests and all charges were later dropped. As for David Scherz, he was not charged with the traffic violation but for denting the car of the deputies. The videotape also shows a family member being arrested after an officer spots her with a camera.
Continue reading “Houston Family Sues Harris County For Abuse Allegedly Caught On Tape”
The rankings from the good people at U.S. News and World Report are out and Princeton has grabbed the top spot among national universities. The top five universities (six this year due to a tie) are Princeton (1), Harvard (2), Yale (3), Columbia (4), and University of Chicago (5) and Stanford (5). I am happy to see my alma mater UChicago at 5th place, though I would quibble with the precise line up. The most useful aspect of these rankings is to see the spread on tuition costs and other objective criteria.
Continue reading “Princeton Takes Top Spot In Ranking of National Universities”
Now this I did not see coming. As a born and bred Midwesterner, I would have guessed that a study of which state swears the most would have led to the usual suspects: New York or New Jersey. Well, according to a study of more than 600,000 phone calls from the last year, the state with the highest use of profanity is . . . Ohio.
Continue reading “Looking For Profanity? Try The %&$#?@ Buckeyes!”
The plight of women and children in traditional Muslim areas has long been a focus of our blog. While most shock our conscience, this story reaches a new low for the sanctioned pedophilia that occurs in arranged marriages. An eight-year-old girl named Rawan died in Hardh, Kuwait after an arranged marriage with a 40-year-old man and forced sex with a husband who was five times her age. She died of internal bleeding resulting from what would be considered rape in most nations on Earth.
Continue reading “Eight-Year-Old Girl Reportedly Dies After Forced Sex With 40-Year-Old Husband”
Today I learned what is missing in my torts class. (The Causation Rhapsody perhaps?)
There is an intriguing case out of Montana this week where Jordan Linn Graham, 22, is accused of murdering her new husband Cody Lee Johnson, 25, by pushing him off a cliff at the Glacier National Park. There were no witnesses to the act but Graham left a trail of conflicting accounts and emails discussing how she was having second thoughts about the marriage after only a few days. She was the one who reported finding the body and said that she looked in a place that Johnson said he wanted to see before he died.
Continue reading “Newlywed Accused Of Pushing Husband Off Cliff”
There is a troubling conviction in Alexandria, Virginia where Chad Dixon has been sentenced to eight months in jail for training people how to pass top-secret security polygraphs. The Administration prosecuted Dixon, a former Little League coach, obstruction and wire fraud for teaching between 70 and 100 people how to get past lie detector tests. He was paid $1000 a day and the Justice Department labelled him a “master of deceit.” However, if other people are actually giving false information or gaming the system, the question is whether this should be treated as a protected form of speech. It raises many of the same issues as the prosecution of people who encourage or advice others on how to commit suicide. [The picture is a file image of a test and not associated with Dixon or these underlying charges]
There is a controversy in Iowa where the state has started a program to issue permits to carry guns in public to people who are legally blind. This includes people who are completely blind. Disability advocates insist that any denial of a permit for a gun to a blind person would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).