Given the pig poop story this morning, we might as well continue the scatilogical theme. The Town of North Hempstead has made a rather interesting decision that seems to confirm the view of many that some laws are solutions in search of a problem. The government put up new signs around the town threatening $250 fines for dog waste violations, but received complaints that the law actually sets the fine at $25. A typo had increased the fine 10 fold. No problem, the town said, we will change the law to match the signs.
A woman on a USAIR flight to Washington at Bradley International Airport was ordered off a flight after she carried on her 70-pound pig service animal. The woman said that the pig was needed to deal with her anxiety issues.
Continue reading “When Pigs [Don’t] Fly: Woman Ordered Off Flight With 70 Pound Pig”
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw) Weekend Contributor
Now that we have celebrated Thanksgiving, I was struck by the news that Congress is considering legislation that would grant large tax breaks to corporate citizens and actually remove tax breaks for the poor and the middle class.
‘ “This Congress seems willing to give huge tax cuts to big businesses—who are already doing better than ever—but somehow can’t prevent tax increases on 50 million working Americans that will occur when expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit expire,” Harry Stein, the Associate Director for Fiscal Policy at American Progress Action Fund, told ThinkProgress. “This is a great deal for CEOs and a terrible deal for struggling families.”’ Nation of Change Continue reading “Corporate Greed”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In another sign of what formerly was a secular state that is now becoming more Islamist, the Religious Affairs Leader of Turkey, Mehmet Görmez, announced his department was constructing eighty mosques at various universities countrywide.
The Article 136 of the Turkish Constitution does provide for an official department, The Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, as it is known by formal name, “to execute the works concerning the beliefs, worship, and ethics of Islam, enlighten the public about their religion, and administer the sacred worshiping places.” After the dismantling of the caliphate in 1924, the department was formed.
Under Turkey’s former President Abdulla Gül who served from 2007 to August of 2014, the nation began separating from its secular practices. The latest announcement could be a sign that the government wishes to further instill Islam into the social fabric of future generations; beyond what was a long standing leaning toward separation of government and religion.
Continue reading “Turkish Government Building Mosques On University Campuses”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We previously reported HERE the bizarre case of Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Marriya Wright who was charged with Rendering Criminal Assistance in the First Degree after a relationship she had with a wanted felon. She was alleged to have assisted him escape justice. Yet, after he was located and incarcerated, Marriya continued her correspondence through multiple visits and even provided him a bikini photo of herself. The relationship ultimately cost Marriya her job and led to criminal charges.
Now this is a study that any parent, particularly mothers, can verify with field research. A group of neuroscientists from the Universities of Pittsburgh, California-Berkeley and Harvard, and led by Kyung Hwa Lee have found that pre-teenage and teenage brains actually appear to partially shutdown when hearing criticism from mothers. In the meantime, another set of scientists have discovered a possible way to cut off pain — creating the ultimate possibility for teenagers to hear and feel nothing.
Continue reading “Are You Even Listening To Me? Well, Scientifically . . . No”
The video below was posted on YouTube to show what people are saying is one of the spontaneous protests in Tehran by Iranian women. The woman reportedly danced on Tehran’s metro in protest against laws limiting women and such public displays.
As many readers of this blog know, I love to hike and bring back pictures from the various trails of wildlife so this story was particularly chilling for me. Darsh Patel was hiking with his four friends when they spotted a black bear in New Jersey and stopped to take pictures. Patel continued to take five pictures with his cellphone as the 300-pound bear charged and killed him.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We begin this day as the Turleys have for over 40 years with our Turkey bowl football game. Then, after I put on our turkeys, I get to watch the Chicago Bears play the Detroit Lions today! We then follow with my favorite meal of the year with roughly a large assemblage of friends and family. It is hard to imagine a better day (beyond the other Bears prevailing in a towering victory for Monsters of the Midway).
Veena Malik, along with her husband Asad Bashir Khan Khattak and former network owner Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman to a total of 104 years in jail in the latest absurd blasphemy prosecution based on Sharia law. Malik, an actress, was given 26 years in jail by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court for “malicious acts” of blasphemy for reenacting the marriage of the Prophet Mohammed’s daughter.
This cheerful mug shot is of Denise Nagrodski, 52, of Easton, New Jersey is a bit deceiving given the charges brought against her.
Continue reading “Can You Guess What This Woman Is Charged With?”
Assemblyman Troy Singleton (D-Mount Laurel) has introduced a controversial measure that would change the law in New Jersey to criminalize lies used to get someone to have sex. While such lies are notorious but common elements in many pickup situations, Singleton calls such acts as “rape by fraud.”
There was an unscripted moment for President Barack Obama yesterday that might make Justice Department lawyers defending the recent unilateral changes to immigration laws a bit uneasy. The President was faced with an understandably annoying problem of hecklers who interrupted his speech demanding an end to deportations of anyone. The President responded with a clearly justified admonishment that they should let him speak, but he added in obvious frustration “What you’re not paying attention to is the fact that I just took an action to change the law.” That is what the Administration lawyers have striven to deny. They are insisting that this was not a change in law (which is a legislative act) but the exercise of discretion allowed under the law.
Continue reading “Obama: “I Just Took An Action To Change The Law” On Immigration”
Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) made headlines yesterday with public statements that passing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (or Obamacare) was a mistake and “blew” the opportunity of the party to pass meaningful legislation that appealed to the middle class. As the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, the statement was a rare public rebuke of the strategy of the Obama Administration and the Democratic leadership. Schumer stated that at the time “Americans were crying out for an end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs; not for changes in their healthcare.”
Scientists and environmentalists might be a bit alarmed by a bill introduced in the House that references a scientific theory that they were entirely (and perhaps blissfully) ignorant of before last week: the “Stockman Effect.” The Stockman Effect Act mandates that the director of the National Science Foundation must commission a study on the extent to which changes in the weather can be attributed to natural shifts in the Earth’s magnetic fields. That may have led many scrambling for their textbooks and scientific journals. They would have been better off looking up the names of the sponsors. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) clearly is looking for a legacy as he completes his final term in office after losing his seat in the last election. He wants a federal law that orders that a federal study of his own theory. Stockman, as you might imagine, is a sceptic of man-made climate change theories but he is an advocate of . . . well . . . Stockman science.