By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The Washington Supreme Court ruled it is a violation of Due Process to require a rape defendant to prove lack of consent in rape trials, shifting the burden to the state. The opinion reverses decades old practices of the courts and by extensions investigators of such crimes to include elements showing lack of consent that were previously assumed based on the statements and evidence of alleged victims.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A controversy has erupted in academic and student circles over the University of British Columbia’s Vantage College. The college’s campus is under construction and expected to cost the university C$ 127 million but is beginning its enrollment
Canadian Citizens are prohibited from enrolling at Vantage College. The college is marketed toward wealthy foreign students mostly from China. Tuition and living expenses are stated to be over fifty thousand dollars per year for the privilege of attending Vantage. The university offers higher perks to these students than what is afforded the university’s common students.
The Supreme Court has decided to wade back into the controversy over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or “Obamacare” today with the granting of review of King v. Burwell, No. 14-114. I have previously written about the King case as well as the parallel case in the D.C. Circuit in Halbig.
Continue reading “SUPREME COURT ACCEPTS OBAMACARE CHALLENGE”
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out a 2005 conviction and death sentence that week based on the misconduct of prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The court found that prosecutors withheld material evidence favorable to Brown’s case in a denial of a fair trial.
Continue reading “Texas Death Row Conviction Overturned Due To Withholding Of Key Evidence”
A colleague and Chinese expert sent me this notice which is a bit chilling for Chinese residents. The notice tells residents that “To avoid injuries and ensure that sharpshooters will not open fire after misjudging the situation, please retrain from opening your windows or hanging out laundry.”
The Washington Post is raising another instance where the Obama Administration appears to be withholding information on immigration for political purposes — further contradicting President Obama’s pledge to be the most transparent Administration is history. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection releases its annual statistics on October 10th before the elections. Someone in the Administration then ordered the statistics taken down in what the Post is calling a move that seemed to confirm the view of “the Obama administration playing politics with public information.” Notably, the Post however only wrote about the story today so any such intention worked to keep the information out of the public debate. There is a reason why these statistics would be particularly bothersome before an election.
China has long been the greatest driving force in the trafficking of endangered species parts and ivory to fuel its traditional medicine market and jewelry market. We have discussed recent cases (here and here and here) of seizures of huge amounts of illegal animal parts going to China, which also set shocking records for pollution and contamination. Throughout these continual arrests and stories, the Chinese government simply insists that they are combatting such trafficking. Now however an environmental watchdog is accusing the government itself in trafficking. the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency says that Chinese officials used a state trip by President Xi Jinping and other high-level visits to smuggle ivory out of Tanzania. Worse yet, the Chinese are accused of using diplomatic bags to load huge amounts of ivory on planes as a government-maintained illegal trafficking operation.
Through the years, I have written stories criticizing the airline industry for its nosedive in customer services and accommodations. (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). It now turns out that airlines are moving to make flights even more uncomfortably with “bench seating” that will allow them to stuff more passengers into a cabin. While this is better than the “standing only” sections of RyanAir, it is yet another example of how passengers are now being treated as little more than bleating sheep by airline executives who have already reduced space so that you cannot open a computer or risk knee capping.
We previously discussed the horrific abduction of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither from a street in Philadelphia and the fear that such an offender would be unlikely to leave the 22-year-old nurse alive. It was wonderful news last night therefore to learn that Carlesha had been rescued by federal officers and is now at home with her family. The alleged abductor is Delvin Barnes, 37, who has a long history of violence against women and other crimes. Notably, however, it was not his criminal recidivism but his bad debt that proved his undoing.
In torts, we often discuss no fault insurance systems but this story out of Victoria is remarkable. A woman was run over by her own car after her own dog released the handbrake on the car. Victoria’s Transport Accident Commission (TAC) still awarded her $140,000 worth of compensation for injuries to her hip, shoulders, back, and neck. The resolution of the case took over nine years.
We have previously discussed the scourge of blasphemy laws, particularly in Muslim nations, used to punish and even execute people with differing views of religion. We have a deeply disturbing new case outside of Lahore, Pakistan where a Christian couple was accused of desecrating the Koran (Quran), beaten by a mob, and then burnt in a brick kiln where they worked. The couple, known only as Shama and Shehzad, were killed at the behest of a local Muslim mullah in Kot Radha Kishan, some 60 kilometres from Lahore.
Continue reading “Christian Couple Beaten and Burned In Pakistan For Blasphemy”
Christopher Maximilian Sandau, 33, is by all accounts a perfectly good minor hockey coach in British Columbia. Nevertheless, he was fired recently by the North Delta Minor Hockey Association because of his support of Nazi propaganda and history. It is the latest example of an employee being terminated for their statements or associations outside of the workplace.
Continue reading “Hockey Coach Fired Over Facebook Postings Glorifying The Nazis”
The Justice Department has previously been held in contempt by Congress and hit with increasingly tough court orders from a federal judge over its obstruction of efforts to secure evidence in the notorious Fast and Furious operation. Many have accused Attorney General Eric Holder of acting blatantly political in withholding documents to protect Democrats from backlash before the elections. As if to prove that view, the Justice Department waited until late on election eve to finally dump more than 64,000 pages of documents congressional lawmakers have been seeking for years. The timing was almost taunting in its impact. Guaranteeing that the content could not be viewed before people voted, the Obama Administration’s long obstruction resulted in this troubling image of a politically timed release. The Administration previously admitted that it would not discuss its plans for unilateral immigration action until after voters had gone home from the polls.
Dr. Alan Black, an American professor, was arrested last month for taking a picture of a sign banning photography. That act could send him to jail for five years. Various sites have been created to rally support for Roberts who is facing an absurdly harsh legal system and a rule against photography that can only be described as pathological.
There is a deeply upsetting video (below) released by police of the abduction of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 27, who was forced into a car by a man as she walked home from a family party on Sunday evening. It is painful to watch the father of Carlesha beg this man not harm his daughter.
Continue reading “Abduction Caught On Tape Of Woman In Philadelphia”