Daniel Somers was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and served with Task Force Lightning, an intelligence unit. He ran more than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in the turret of a Humvee and interviewed Iraqis and insurgents alike. When he returned, he had PTSD as well as traumatic brain injury and several other war-related conditions. On June 10, 2013, he wrote the letter below to his family. A heartfelt and heart-breaking account of pain and memories that he could not overcome. He tells his family that “I was made to participate in things, the enormity of which is hard to describe. War crimes, crimes against humanity.” You may have seen this but if not it is worth reading. It is worth considering the unfathomable cost of these wars that our politicians, including Obama, allowed to continue for years despite little sign of progress. Men and women like Daniel have paid the cost of a cynical political calculation.
We have previously discussed the legal blindspot for businesses that sell products with a claim of a divine touch like ChristianMingle.com and heaven-blocking bullets for Muslims. An analogous issue was raised this week with a filing in Los Angeles in which Klarissa Castro is suing her former psychic, Jennifer Williams and her company, Psychic Readings By Yana, over her failure to life a curse on her love life. The case could be dismissed under the notion of “a fool and her money are soon separated” but there were some interesting wrinkles in the psychic treatment.
Continue reading “California Woman Sues Former Psychic Over Failure To Lift Love Curse”
Judge Brenda Branch in Halifax County, N.C., was not satisfied with simply sentencing Tonie Marie King, 21, for drunk and disorderly. So Branch sentenced her to write an essay entitled “How a Lady Should Behave in Public.” As with most shaming or novel sentences, Branch was instantly a national celebrity receiving praise from people for caring enough to fashion her own brand of justice. I am not one of them. As many of you know, I have long been a critic of such sentencing where judges seem to merge law and entertainment to the thrill of citizens. Judges are not appointed or elected to instruct women on being ladies like some Miss Manners issuing advice from a criminal docket.
It seems that artists from the beginning of time have found a natural relationship between drugs and creative expression. Or at least that is the implications of a theory of scientists who believe that cave drawings were the result of biological-hallucinogenic drugs producing common geometric patterns.
Prehistoric cave paintings across the continents have similar geometric patterns not because early humans were learning to draw like Paleolithic pre-schoolers, but because they were high on drugs, and their brains—like ours—have a biological predisposition to “see” certain patterns, especially during consciousness altering states.
Last night saw an extraordinary confrontation between the defense and the court in the George Zimmerman trial. The defense is seeking to use photos and material from the phone of Martin. The most serious issue is that the defense claims that the government had this material since January and only recently gave it to the defense — another allegation of withholding evidence by the prosecution. The judge and the lawyers are clearly exhausted and I think the schedule is a bit too punishing. I realize that the jury is sequestered and want to go home. However, these days are diminishing the professional ability and clearly the personal restraint of the judge and lawyers alike. While I do not think that the defense should get a few days to rest, I do think that schedule has been unnecessarily demanding and even a few hours of more rest would be in order. I realize the jurors and courts have limited time but I have never agreed with the punishing schedule of many trials. However, I am more concerned with the delay in turning over this evidence until June.
Continue reading “Meltdown: Judge Walks Out In Tense Exchange With Zimmerman Counsel”
American diplomats are condemning what they view as President Barack Obama’s selling ambassadorships to high donors. This has long been a problem, which I criticized in earlier administrations, and Obama supporters are likely to return to the refrain that he is just doing what his predecessors did. That is never a very satisfying answer. This is a form of corruption as presidents give high diplomatic posts to people who give them loads of money. Obama has apparently expanded on this sordid practice to a level that is alarming diplomats. The fact is that all ambassadorships should be confined to people selected for their diplomatic skills, preferably from the ranks of our career diplomats or academia.
Continue reading “Obama Criticized For “Selling” Ambassadorships To Highest Donors”
Tulsa pastor Rev. Gregory Hawkins, 54, of Zion Plaza Church in North Tulsa has reportedly admitted to having sex with a 14-year-old girl who is five months pregnant with Hawkins’ child.
Continue reading “Tulsa Pastor Confesses To Sex With 14-Year-Old Girl At Church”
This is HD 189733b, which is the latest planet to be spied by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is like many planets except for one fascinating feature: it’s blue.
We have another Saudi royal on the criminal docket. The latest family member of the House of Saud was arrested in Santa Ana for human trafficking where a Kenyan woman gave a familiar account of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. She said that her passport was taken and she was forced to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week for virtually no money. Meshael Alayban, 42, is one of the wives of Saudi Prince Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud.
Continue reading “Saudi Princess Charged With Human Trafficking in California”
I would like to introduce the newest member of the Turley family, Luna Turley, our golden doodle puppy. A few pictures from this morning are below.
As the federal and state governments continue to shutdown or curtail core educational, environmental, and scientific programs due to lack of money, the disclosures of unspeakable waste continue to mount in Afghanistan and Iraq with no appearance of accountability or abatement. Indeed, for years, the media has reported billions of lost or wasted funds, including money disappearing into the corrupt government circles of leaders in the countries. Yet, Congress would prefer to debate Planned Parenthood or global warming grants. Consider the latest outrage. The U.S. military spent $34 million to build a huge headquarters for the Marines in Afghanistan with a theater, special operations rooms and other amenities. The problem that various people including the Marine commander were saying that it was not needed and would not be used. Now it is likely to be demolished, unused and unoccupied. There was the bridge to nowhere and now we have the building for no one.
We have previously discussed such bizarre and distasteful items like Hitler wine. Now you can have Hitler Chicken with your Hitler Pinot Noir. A new line of fried chicken restaurants have opened in Thailand. The owner was said to think it was a catchy title and “a good image.” Kentucky Fried Chicken however did not and threatened legal action. The restaurant is reportedly changing its name to “H-ler” to accommodate critics. Somehow I don’t think that that will quite suffice.
Continue reading “Would You Like Mein Chianti With Your Hitler Chicken?”
Lawyer Christopher Kirby certainly had quite a night when he appeared to represent the East Ramapo School District at a simple school board meeting. By the end of the evening, Kirby was leaving just before the arrival of police, a community was in full uproar, and his firm was terminated from further representation of the District. How can things get that bad, you ask? It started with a smirk.
The medical staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital Center in Syracuse, New York may have committed the ultimate act of malpractice in 2009 — a litany of errors that culminated in doctors wrongly pronouncing her dead and preparing to harvest her organs when Caroline Burns, 41, suddenly opened her eyes. What is equally troubling is that the hospital was fined just $6000 and never called to account in a court of law. Burns committed suicide a few years later in 2011. It is not clear why she or her family chose not to sue (also some reports have her name as Colleen Burns).
The appointment of National Research Council president John MacDougall in Canada — effectively the country’s top scientist — is being received by scientists the way James Watt was received by environmentalists in the Reagan Administration as head of the national park system. Like Watt, MacDougall seems antagonistic to the field that is supposed to be fostering with federal funds. Recently, MacDougall announced that “Scientific discovery is not valuable unless it has commercial value.” It turns out that all of that stuff by Galileo was just academic crap.