The Israeli Knesset became the latest legislative body to ban skinny models. The new law prohibits both Israeli and foreign ads with “underweight” models and requires disclosure of when pictures have been manipulated to make the model look thinner.
Continue reading “The Rubens Regulation: Knesset Tells Skinny Models To Eat Or Starve”
A court in Moscow has upheld a lower court decision declaring books on Scientology to be extremist literature and banning publication or distribution of such books. This decision follows moves by other countries against Scientology as a criminal or fraudulent enterprise as well as testimony against the church by former high-ranking church members.
Continue reading “Russian Court Bans Scientology Books As “Extremist””
We have previously discussed Afghan President Hamid Karzai stated inclinations toward the Taliban and harsh treatment of women. Then there was Karzai’s recent position that women are worth less than men — presumably even those American women keeping Karzai and his corrupt family and friends in power. This week Karzai has added that Americans are “demons” and no better than the Taliban. Karzai then called for divine intervention to defeat the Americans and the Taliban — a dangerous call in a nation known for religious fanaticism: “Let’s pray for God to rescue us from these two demons. There are two demons in our country now.”
Professor Paul Frampton of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is not in his classroom his week because he is sitting in Devoto Prison in Buenos Aires for allegedly smuggling cocaine in his luggage. Frampton insists that he is innocent and that he will return to his research into “phenomenology” at the physics department. Frampton is an accomplished physicist and an adviser to the National Republican party, including drafting the science portion of the Republican platform for the 1988 Convention.
This curious picture was taken in Miami. Officer Sandra Lyles has now been relieved of duty for hauling mattresses with her patrol car.
Vice President Joe Biden is known for yielding to rhetorical over factual observations. He was in fine form this week when he told an audience at the fundraiser that the plan to kill Osama Bin Laden was the greatest and most audacious plan in 500 years. While the Bin Laden raid was incredible, there are a few raids that may have equal or greater claim to that title. To put that into perspective, the raid surpassed such minor skirmishes as the Battle of Trenton, Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, and the Raid at Cabanatuan – just to name U.S. operations. There are also a few notable foreign rivals like Operation Eiche (Oak) to rescue Mussolini, the Dambusters Raid on Ruhr, the Pegasus Bridge landing, Operation Chariot to destroy the St Nazaire dry dock, and the Entebbe raid to rescue Israeli hostages.
Continue reading “Biden: Killing of Bin Laden Most Audacious Plan in 500 Years”
The same week that a video showed a Chicago police officer choking a young man on St. Patrick’s Day, this video shows police arresting reporters outside of a hospital without apparent justification. The video shows Photographer Donte Williams and WGN Reporter Dan Ponce complying with orders and seeking to work out the disagreement on their presence at the scene. The officer proclaims “Your First Amendment rights can be terminated if you’re creating a scene or whatever.” This appears to be the “whatever” category.
Continue reading “Chicago Police Arrest Two Journalists For Willful Commission of “Whatever””
We have been following the constitutional challenges to the new cigarette advertising regulations requiring graphic images on packages. I have been highly critical of those images and agree with the constitutional and policy concerns raised by the regulations. Now we have two decisions — one from the Sixth Circuit and one from the D.C. district court — reaching opposing results on the constitutionality of regulations. The district court decision sets up the possibility of a split in the circuit with the appeal now going to the D.C. Circuit.
The video below is from St. Patrick’s day in my hometown Chicago. A young man, who may be drunk, is mouthing off to a Chicago police officer. The officer then escalates the confrontation by choking the young man and throwing him to the ground.
Continue reading “Video: Chicago Police Officer Chokes Young Man Mouthing Off At St. Patrick’s Day”
I just saw this photo on Reddit and I had to share it. This is a picture from the mid-1870s of a pile of American bison skulls waiting to be ground for fertilizer.
Kyle Hunter, a television weatherman, has sued CBS for sex and age discrimination for what he claims is an overriding preference given to young attractive women to give the weather forecasts. We have followed this controversy in earlier stories over whether attractive looks can be an appropriate (even an overriding) criteria for anchors, waitresses, or other professions. Hunter insists that he encountered a cold front at every term.
Continue reading “Cloudy With A Chance of Dismissal? Weatherman Sues CBS Over Gender and Age Discrimination”
A study by the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity and Public Radio International paints a rather dim picture of the state of transparency and honesty among the several states. Eight state governments received a failing F grade while no state received an A. Thus, in this class, getting a B tops you in the top ten percent of the class.
A New York City lawyer has been removed from a case involving a high-end prostitution ring because the judge, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan found his relationship with the accused “Madam” to be “murky.” Attorney Peter Gleason had put up his own $2.5 million New York City loft as collateral on the $2 million bond for Anna Gristina (shown here in a photo with her husband).
There is a horrific Dutch story out this week. In the 1950s, a boy named Henk Heithuis came forward to allege abuse by priests. He was interviewed, put into a Catholic psychiatric facility, and then castrated to cure him of his homosexual tendencies.
They called him the “crapper scrapper” — a man who was stealing toilet parts from bathrooms in the Denver metro area for cash. Donald Allen Citron, 48, faces 18 charges, including burglary and theft.
Continue reading “Meet Donald Citron: The Alleged “Crapper Scrapper” of Denver”