Saudi Arabia has given the world another bizarre example of life under the strict Islamic code and values of the Kingdom. The Talaee Al-Noor International School in Riyadh painted an inviting and playful rainbow image on its building. The Kingdom’s religious police quickly swooped in an arrested the administrator, fined the school $25,000, and ordered the facade painted over. The reason? Rainbows are seen as “emblems Of homosexuality.” It is not clear what the religious police will do with naturally occurring rainbows.
Retired general and former Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark has caused a stir with an interview with MSNBC in which he appeared to call for the establishment of World War II-style internment camps to be revived for “disloyal Americans.” Clark used the infamous American internment camps for Japanese, German, and Italian Americans as a model: “if someone supported Nazi Germany at the expense of the United States, we didn’t say that was freedom of speech, we put him in a camp, they were prisoners of war.”
Continue reading “Wesley Clark Calls For New American Internment Camps”
The arrest of Brandon Hayes, 30, in Rhode Island may have seemed like a routine traffic stop and possession case until police officers checked his record. Hayes had succeeded in racking up his 41st arrest in two states. That is 38 arrests in Massachusetts and two in Rhode Island including gun and drug charges. The case is a prototypical example of habitual offender in the criminal justice system.
Continue reading “Rhode Island Man Arrested For 41st Offense In Two States”
A Maryland state lawmaker was recently charged with trespassing and indecent exposure for allegedly baring her breast during a dispute with her ex-husband at his home. Delegate Ariana B. Kelly, a Montgomery County Democrat, was charged with trespass and indecent exposure in a confrontation with Barak Sanford after dropping off their two children.
Continue reading “Maryland Legislator Charged With Bizarre Conduct Outside Ex-Husband’s House”
It is hard to believe that it has been a year since the murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel on July 18, 2014. There has been no arrests in the case but this week the police released a picture of the car that they believe may have been involved in the crime.
The extensive move to remove the Confederate Flag from public and some commercial settings has raised serious concerns over both free speech and academic freedom. While the flag has been used as a racist symbol, it is also a historical symbol. According to one author, that distinction appears to have been lost by Amazon, which reportedly took done the book by Michael Dreese, a civil war author with six books on the conflict. Two of those books concern both the Union and Confederate battle flags and their roles in the Civil War. However, “This Flag Never Goes Down” (a book on the Confederate flag) was taken down by Amazon from its listed works.
We have been following the controversy over people declaring “All Lives Matter,” which is now viewed as racially insensitive and a “micro aggression” against the black community. We recently discussed the heartfelt apology given by Kathleen McCartney, the president of prestigious Smith College after she said “all lives matters” rather than ‘Black lives matter.” Now Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley has followed suit with his own apology for saying that “all lives matter” in a speech, which he was interrupted by black audience members booing and protesting.
Continue reading “O’Malley Latest To Apologize For Saying “All Lives Matter””
As an academic, I am often cautious about stories criticizing scientific studies due to some esoteric or humorous subject matter. However, I must confess that I am perplexed by the scientific basis or value of a U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) study to understand why lesbians are supposedly fat. The government has spent over $3.5 million thus far on the study, “Sexual Orientation and Obesity: A Test of a Gendered Biopsychosocial Model.” [Some reports however put the original grant at $1.5 million] The study seeks to determine why there is a disparity in the obesity rates between straight women and lesbian women and straight men and gay men.
This rather unimpressive rock is worth $5.4 trillion dollars according to scientists and you have rarely been closer than this weekend. The problem is that 2011 UW-158 is an asteroid and just past by like a tease to all those wealth maximizing Earthlings.
Continue reading “Meet Asteroid 2011 UW-158: The Platinum Planetary Object”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
An Australian study proposes that wildfires might increase risk for cardiac arrest and other acute heart ailments by nearly seven percent, especially in the elderly.
A time-stratified-case-crossover study looked at cardiovascular health effects of wildfire smoke when combined with ambient air from brushfires surrounding Victoria, Australia in 2006-2007, according to Anjali Haikerwal, MBBS, MPH, of Monash University in Melbourne, and colleagues.
Continue reading “Smoke From Wildfires Might Lead To Heart Attacks”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
An interesting situation has developed in an Eastern Washington county where the public utility district is facing challenges to its electric system caused by the arrival of Bitcoin mining operations attracted to the area due to the low cost of power. The strain from these electricity data centers poses risks to both the cost of power to residents and might if left unabated pose a strategic cost to the credit rating of the utility itself, which will negatively affect the utility’s municipal bond rates for future expansions or debt retirements.
The allure of cheap power is leading to wildcat bitcoin mining that if unchecked could load the county’s power system at a greater level than that utilized by all the county’s electric users.
Continue reading “Wildcat Bitcoin Mining Centers Cause Problems For Utility District”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In Sharp v. Roling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit granted a habeas corpus petition by a Kansas woman convicted in state court of kidnapping and felony murder. The evidence in question was what the Court determined to be an involuntary confession elicited by detectives on the promise that the defendant would not be jailed in exchange for her statements.
The significance of this ruling should establish a new practice that any offer by law enforcement that can be considered an offer of immunity from prosecution, regardless of whether formal or informal, will generate a high probability of suppression of any confession by a potential defendant.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A small measure of relief can be found in the return of several historical artifacts stolen from the Iraqi and Syrian people after plundering by ISIS.
The world has reacted with outrage and suffered the loss of historical treasures and landmarks at the hands of ISIS which has prided itself to be cleansing the region of a cultural history at odds to what the terrorist network considers to be non-conforming to its ideals. We featured such incidents HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
The raid lends credence to evidence that ISIS is selling artifacts on the illicit antiquities market to raise funds for its operations.
Continue reading “U.S. Special Forces Return ISIS Plundered Relics To Iraq”
There is an interesting intrigue building of an employee suspected of being an undercover agent observing and recording events in the animal rights area. What is different is that the agent was not allegedly working for animal activists but SeaWorld. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has identified a man that it says was a SeaWorld employee who took part in the group’s activities under the name of Thomas Jones. They say that he is actually Paul McComb, 28, who has held various jobs for SeaWorld including work as a human resources representative. SeaWorld has now put McComb on paid administrative leave pending findings of the investigation..
Continue reading “PETA Uncovers An Alleged SeaWorld Employee Who Worked Undercover For Years As Activist”
The Justice Department has lost a major case where it sought to bar efforts to determine if a convicted rapist is in fact innocent. The Obama Administration argued in United States v. Watson that Bill Watson should not be able to use a new DNA test that was not available when he was convicted of a rape in 2006. Despite dozens of cases where convicted individuals were proven innocent, the Obama Administration fought to prevent the use of this test even though the Innocence Project offered to shoulder all of the costs. The position of the Justice Department was inimical to the values of due process and the rule of law, in my view. The United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit rejected the highly technical claims that neither Watson nor the court should knew the true identity of source of key evidence found at the crime scene.