The New York Daily News has a controversial front page this morning blasting politicians and others who are offering prayers while opposing to take steps to curtail gun access in this country in the wake of the latest massacre in California. It is the same message sent by President Barack Obama who appears ready to use executive authority to restrict gun sales at gun shows. The problem with calls for such action is that Congress has declined to order such changes — raising yet another potential conflict over executive overreach in our system. Moreover, the right to own firearms is now recognized as an individual right under the Second Amendment, limiting the extent to which gun ownership can be meaningfully curtailed. Absent a constitutional amendment, many of the calls for banning gun ownership would fail as unconstitutional.
This month, Israel will honor Roddie Edmonds, the first U.S. soldier to be recognized among those called Righteous Among The Nations. The recognition is for an extraordinary act of courage in January 1945 in a German POW camp, an act where Edmonds stood face to face with pure evil and refused to yield.
Continue reading ““We Are All Jews”: In Memory of Roddie Edmonds, A True American Hero”
Circuit Judge Jack Schramm Cox has made a rather ignoble entry into national news with a clearly unconstitutional order to the Palm Beach Post to unpublish material from its website. The act of prior restraint violates core first amendment protections and will achieve nothing since the information was part of a public filing. The utter lack of legal judgment (and knowledge) shown by Cox in this order is deeply troubling.
Continue reading “Florida Judge Issues Shocking Order For Newspaper To “Unpublish” News Story”
The massacre in San Bernadino, California is as baffling as it is chilling. I am very familiar with the Redlands and San Bernadino areas since I would spend summers in the area growing up and still have relatives there (including one of the officers responding to this shooting). What is so chilling is the lack of any indication of such an act from a couple that seemed to be living the American dream with a good income and new baby . . . and highly supportive colleagues who they proceeded to slaughter.
Harvard University has long followed the ancient tradition of British schools in naming “Masters” for undergraduate residential houses. These are senior faculty members who serve as the chief administrative officers for each of the houses. The school has announced that that long-standing term will be dropped as racially insensitive for African American students, even though it has nothing to do with slavery or racism.
Continue reading “Harvard To Drop Traditional “House Master” Title As Racially Insensitive”
Jamie Lee Sharp, 25, currently needs to find another line of work. Sharp and his friend James Honeywell, 26, allegedly stole a Porsche Boxster and Sharp proceeded to videotape himself driving the sports car and texting friends. He then crashed the car and trapped himself within it for the police to collect.
Kean University in New Jersey has been struggling with racial protests that were magnified by the report of racist threats on the Internet to kill black students on campus. Police say that they have the culprit and that it was one of the protesters who was most vocal in decrying the threats in protests. Kayla-Simone McKelvey, 24, is a black alum of Kean who graduated in May and is now face with a third-degree charge of creating a false public alarm.
This evening, the United States House of Representatives filed its motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit against the unilateral actions taken by the Administration under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Three months ago, Judge Rosemary Collyer rejected a motion to dismiss the case by the Administration. The motion below seeks a final ruling on the merits of the lawsuit.
Continue reading “The House Of Representatives Files Motion For Summary Judgment In ACA Challenge”
There is a highly disturbing criminal case out of Mecosta, Michigan where Keith Wood, 39, has been charged with a felony for obstruction of justice and misdemeanor of tampering with a jury. His felonious conduct? Passing out fliers about jury nullification rights on the sidewalk of the Mecosta County courthouse. The fliers from the Fully Informed Jury Association describe juror rights that some complain are omitted by judges and prosecutors in explaining jury service before trial.
Sunni leader Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musalyar (head of one of the traditionalist Sunni Muslims in Kerala, India) has reportedly confirmed that worst expectations of women and civil liberties advocates in India with recent comments calling the concept of gender equality “un-Islamic” and saying that women could never equal men as “they are fit only to deliver children.” It is a chilling reminder of the intense prejudices and oppression faced by women in many traditional Islamic areas.
Like most of the world, we have watched the rapid decline of civil liberties in Turkey after the election of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his coalition of Islamic parties. Just last month, we discussed the arrest of Mehmet Emin Altunses, 16, who allegedly committed the crime of “insulting” Erdoğan. calling people who use birth control “traitors” and saying Muslims discovered America, you are not allowed to be disrespectful or insulting in discussing Erdoğan. Then there was the prosecution of model and former Miss Turkey Merve Buyuksarac, 26, for criticizing Erdogan for quoting a few lines from a poem called the “Master’s Poem” from weekly Turkish satirical magazine Uykusuz. Erdogan’s totalitarian measures have earned him the nickname “Buyuk Usta” (the Big Master). The fact is that censorship and repressions is that it tends to become increasing absurd as leaders try to punish those who would insult them or question their leadership. This week is another case in point for Erdoğan. His government is investigating physician Dr. Bilgin Çiftçi for allegedly insulting Erdoğan after sharing a meme comparing Erdoğan’s facial expressions to the Gollum character in the “The Lord of the Rings” movies. Now here is the truly wonderful part: a court has reportedly demanded an expert examination by two experts to determine if a comparison to Gollum’s character would be an insult.
The University of Missouri has been battered by protests over racial relations on the campus for weeks, including the recent resignation of a faculty member who tried to silence a student reporter. Now, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri is under arrest on suspicion of child abuse after Benghazi native Youssif Z. Omar reportedly attacked a female 14-year-old relative for not wearing a hijab to Hickman High School. The University says that Omar has not worked at the university for months. Students were reportedly not fond of Omar and some noted his explosive temper, yelling at students, and poor English.
We have often discussed the various protests, often violent, in Islamic countries over alleged blasphemous statements or images. These usually involve depictions of Mohammad or religious symbols. In Mumbai, however, Muslim protesters found a new blasphemous symbol: the use of a piggy bank to show where ISIS gets its money to conduct worldwide terror campaigns. This is a standard illustration of a “piggy bank” to show the savings of a group or person. Yet, some took this from a different perspective.
We often spend so much time on this blog detailing the crimes and abuses by truly horrible people. It often leaves one depressed and pessimistic about humanity and the direction that it is now going. Then someone like Matthew Jackson comes along and we remember that the essence of being human is found in simple acts of kindness. In Matthew’s case, it proved to be one of the last things that he did on this Earth.
Chicago police believe that they have arrested the man who they believe executed a 9-year-old boy, Tyshawn Lee. Police believe that Corey Morgan, 27, lured Tyshawn into an alley in retaliation for the murder of his brother. Police have been struggling to solve the case due to what they say has been a refusal of Tyshawn’s father (reportedly also a gang member) to cooperate with police. Police believed that Pierre Stokes had critical information on the murderers of his son but refused to share it.
Continue reading “Chicago Police Arrest Alleged Killer Of Nine-Year-Old Tyshawn Lee”