This story has me a bit mystified, but it promises that our steady stream of bizarre political stories will continue unabated in 2016. There is a controversy in New Hampshire where Republican Rep. Josh Moore addressed a proposed exception to nursing mothers in a bill to criminalize showing breasts in public. Moore tweeted “If it’s a woman’s natural inclination to pull her (breast) out in public, then you should have no problem with a man’s inclination to stare at it and grab it.” It was clearly meant as a joke but he was not the only one to attack a female legislator who raised the issue of criminalizing breastfeeding under the law.
I had to share the videotape below of two leading televangelists, Kenneth Copeland and Jesse Duplantis, as they explain why flying private jets is not just personally enjoyable but actually biblically required. It turns out that the luxury jets not only place them closer to God and allow to them speak directly with him but avoid “a long tube with a bunch of demons.”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
With the increasing frequency of government censorship and take-down orders blocking content hosted on web servers, a consortium of internet stakeholders has proposed to the IETF an RFC Draft (recently published) proposing a standard error response given to clients that the web page or resource sought has been blocked for legal reasons.
The proposal uses the status code 451, a reference to Ray Bradbury’s book “Fahrenheit 451”.
Continue reading “Proposal To Establish HTTP Status Code 451 For Websites Blocked By Censorship”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
One concept that local producers seem to miss when dealing with Chinese manufacturers is Quality Assurance, something that often must be addressed at higher levels and greater frequency than what is customary in the United States. The allure of fast turnaround and cheap production costs often blinds companies to underlying problems. Examples include asbestos in crayons, cadmium in toys, toxic dog treats, and even the bizarre examples such as a shaved dog substituted for a lion.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Last September I penned an article describing how the IRS demands tax payments but will refuse to take checks of $100,000,000 or more, now on the other end of the spectrum the US Postal Service seems to want to join the fun by placing post office box renewal notices and refusing to take payment in my case on the same day.
While in the latter case it was a minor affair, it does show the joy in dealing with another case of government red tape.
Continue reading “Post Office Puts Out Box Renewal Notice Then Refuses To Take Payment”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
There is going to need to be a rethinking of how schools with their propensity toward zero-tolerance rules adjudicate students they suspect of marijuana use or possession. That issue was played out in over the course of recent months at a high school in Wenatchee, Washington where in October of last year school administrators suspended for five days a student based upon the odor of marijuana on his person. Washington is a state having legal recreational and medicinal marijuana possession and use.
Though marijuana possession or use is for those under twenty-one years of age is a status offense–a misdemeanor and violates school policy–having a odor of marijuana in itself is not indicative of violations of law. The student and his mother denied the student using or possessing marijuana, however the school district continued with the suspension. It turns out, as alleged by the mother and is the most probable explanation, the student had the aroma on his person as a result of her harvesting legal medical marijuana in the household. The mother has a prescription for medical marijuana.
New Year’s Eve brought in the New Year with the usual array of injuries from the combination of excessive drinking, crowds, and other factors. Perhaps the most bizarre and ironic was the death of a Filipino man who decided to hug a giant firecracker appropriately named “Goodbye Philippines” just before it exploded. It took the man with it.
Happy New Year to all of our blog community from around the world. I get to celebrate both New Years and my anniversary on the 31st. Leslie and I eloped in Alexandria Virginia on New Year’s Eve in 1997. As has been our tradition, with the start of 2016, I thought I would share a few of our annual statistics and successes on the blog.
The charges against Bill Cosby are now filed and Cosby is out on bail pending his aggravated assault trial. Below is my column on the trial and what will likely be a core question for the defense: should Bill Cosby testify? It is a common question in celebrity trials and many prefer silence to the stand.
Continue reading “The Cosby Charges: When Silence Speaks Loudly”
The fire on Christmas Day at a Houston mosque attracted national attention as the latest hate crime directed against Muslims. However, police yesterday arrested the man allegedly responsible and it turns out to be a regular at the mosque, Gary Nathaniel Moore, 37, of Houston.
Continue reading “Suspect in Mosque Burning “Hate Crime” Is Reportedly Muslim”
Russia has shown again how the dream of post-Soviet civil liberties has plummeted under the authoritarian ambitions of Vladimir Putin. On Wednesday, a Russian court sentenced a blogger to five years in jail for extremist views and advocacy. Terrorism? Religious fanaticism? No, Vadim Tyumenstev, 35, from the Siberian region of Tomsk, encouraged people to protest against corruption and high transport fares.
People across the political spectrum in Israel were disgusted recently to see others at a Jewish wedding celebrating the fire bombing of a Palestinian family and holding up a picture of 18-month-old Ali Dawabshe who was burned away in the attack. One youth was shown stabbing the picture of the baby as others danced and rejoiced. Israeli police arrested four of the men in the videotape today, though (as despicable as these extremists are) the arrests raise questions over the criminalization of speech.
Richard Rizal McGee, third-year law student at Whittier Law School, was shot and killed last week in another case involving a mistaken shooting under “Castle Doctrine” laws. McGee appears to have been drunk and banging on the wrong door in Las Vegas when the occupants warned him and then fired through the door four times. The shooter is unlikely to be charged in the killing.
Continue reading “Whittier Law Student Shot and Killed In Las Vegas In “Castle Doctrine” Case”
We have another example of the grotesque Sharia legal system this week. A 20-year-old Indonesian woman was hospitalized after being publicly caned for violating Sharia law in having affectionate contact with a man who was not her husband. The chilling scene was magnified by cheering crowds who watched as students Nur Elita and Wahyudi Saputra were caned outside a mosque in Banda Aceh.
Continue reading “Indonesian Woman Caned for Having “Affectionate Contact””
An extraordinary English law came into effect this week that allows for five years imprisonment for spouses who inflict psychological cruelty on their other partners. Domestic abuse will now extend to “coercive and controlling behaviour.” The definition of the offense however is quite vague and the potential scope of criminalization is considerable. Indeed, a single episode of the Honeymooners would rack up a major case under the new Section 76 law from limiting funds to threatening language to controlling aspects of spouse’s life. (Frankly, I never understood why Alice Kramden stayed with Ralph Kramden).