Given the story today about the poaching of elephants, this video on Reddit caught my eye. It part of a show called Under Wild Skies What is this shit? For some reason, NBC Sports Network has been airing an NRA-sponsored hunting show called Under Wild Skies, which apparently airs on NBC. This video shows a lobbyist named Tony Makris shooting an elephant in the face. I am surprised to see NBC airing the scene. It shows that, while one cannot swear on television or show certain types of intimate scenes, you can still shoot a elephant in the face. [WARNING The video contains graphic and disturbing images]
The reason why elephants are going extinct may have something to do with a trial in Cameroon against twin brothers accused of killing more than 100 elephants in Central Africa. What is most striking about this story is that these brothers — Symphorien Sangha and Rene Sangha — have been arrested before and never served a day in jail. Now, with over 100 dead elephants to their credit, they are only looking at a maximum of three years in jail. Indeed, Symphorien Sangha was found guilty of killing elephants and wounding a forest ranger. He will receive 10 years for wounding the ranger but no more than three years for killing a huge number of elephants and a long record of poaching. With a deterrent level of that kind, it is astonishing that any elephants remain alive.
Recently, I received from three sources an article that St. George, Utah had passed an ordinance making possession of pornography a crime. The article quoted public figures and gave details on the new law. When I researched the story, I could not confirm its origin despite its attribution to CNN. It now turns out to be a hoax by the “National Report” but the editors succeeded in convincing many on the Internet that it was true. I am once again left confused why this is funny or considered a form of creative satire. This is more akin to graffiti except that it spreads rumors that are harmful or offensive. Most of us have fallen victim to such hoaxes in the fast-moving Internet world but this is an organization that appears dedicated to embarrassing people and degrading the national debate on important issues like homosexual rights or free speech.
If dogs can do this, why has my dog suddenly discovered the attraction of our toilets?
In torts, I often discuss the collateral consequences for same-sex couples not having recognized marriages from intentional infliction of emotional distress claims (which are limited to close family members in seeking third-party claims) to spousal immunity claims. Kentucky last week demonstrated the problem for such couples with the opinion below. Bobbie Jo Clary (left) and her domestic partner, Geneva Case, claimed spousal immunity on the basis for a civil union in Vermont in 2004. However, Judge Susan Schultz Gibson ruled that they could not claim spousal immunity in a criminal case because they do not have a marriage recognized under Kentucky law. It is an example of the type of “full faith and credit” cases that could lead to a showdown before the Supreme Court. Normally, states are required to give full faith and credit to the contracts from other states, including out-of-town marriages.
Continue reading “Same-Sex Couple Denied Protection Of Spousal Immunity In Kentucky Murder Trial”
Investigative journalist Eric Schlosser has uncovered near disaster of epic proportions after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request confirmed that a 4 megaton nuclear bomb almost exploded over North Carolina in 1961 — an explosion that would have been 260 times more powerful than Hiroshima and would have devastated the United States. What is amazing is that, once again, the government used classification laws to hide that fact that it almost destroyed the large part of the country and was saved by a simple low-voltage switch that fortunately was able to deactivate the armed bomb. The details were hidden for over fifty years by the government.
There is a case in Michigan that captures what many parents complain is a child protective system that strips away basic due process rights and at times defies both logic and controlling authority. There may be no better example than the treatment of Gordon “Steve” and Maria Green after their 6-month-old baby girl, Bree, was taken away from them. The reason is the determination that the parents have marijuana in the house. It was not hard for the case worker to find: the Greens have a right to medical marijuana protected under state law. That did not matter to the Department of Human Services however and their baby was taken away from their Lancing home.
Continue reading “Michigan DHS Takes Baby From Home Due To Parents Use Of Legal Medical Marijuana”
University of Florida Professor Don Samuelson, 65, has been arrested for a rather bizarre obsession. Using a camera pen, Samuelson was accused of filming under the clothing of female students in his class. What is even more bizarre is his defense: he insists that he was doing research to determine whether any students were not “wearing undergarments.” What Samuelson insisted was harmless research is considered by the police to be voyeurism.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s office clearly has a lot of crime to address when its officers are arresting people for “walking on the wrong side of the road.” That is what Bobby Wingate says happened to him. He says that the officer punched him and threatened to taser him for the heinous offense.
Continue reading “Jacksonville Man Sues After Arrest For “Walking On Wrong Side Of The Street””
We have previously discussed the wholesale attack on free speech principles in France from limits on religious garments to stripping the Internet of anonymity to attempting to criminalize historical accounts. The most recent case involves a woman who named her boy “Jihad” and then dressed her three-year-old in a sweater with the words “Je suis une bombe – I am a bomb” on the front, along with his name and ‘Born on September 11th’ on the back. She was given a suspended jail sentence for “glorifying a crime” — it is a crime that is only punishable if you disregard the most fundamental principles of free speech. It turns out that the boy was born on September 11, 2009.
We have another example of a teacher being disciplined for an act of free speech in his private time. I have previously written about the increasing scrutiny given public school teachers in their use of social media sites. University of Kansas Associate Professor of Journalism David Guth has been placed on administrative leave after posting an anti-NRA tweet following the recent Navy Yard shootings that killed 12 people. Guth tweeted” “blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God damn you.”
Continue reading “Kansas Professor Under Fire For Anti-NRA Tweet”
According to Dr Kate Loveman of the University of Leicester, the famous Earl of Sandwich was not the only member of his family with a keen culinary eye. Researchers have uncovered what is arguably the first English recipe in a collection of this grandfather, the earlier Earl of Sandwich. It turns out dessert came first in the family with recipes for chilled chocolate treats in 1668.
I felt that same way at midnight last night when the Bears beat the Steelers.
Continue reading “What Siberian Huskies Do When They Can’t Find Snow”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
In the Public Interest (ITPI), which describes itself as “a comprehensive resource center on privatization and responsible contracting,” released a report this month titled CRIMINAL: How Lockup Quotas and “Low-Crime Taxes” Guarantee Profits for Private Prison Corporations. The report provides information about “the prevalence of prison occupancy guarantee provisions in prison privatization contracts.” ITPI said that it had “identified 77 county and state-level private facilities nationwide and collected and analyzed 62 contracts from these facilities.” Of the contracts that ITPI reviewed, 65% contained occupancy requirements that ranged between 80% and 100%–with 90% being the most frequent quota guarantee.
ITPI found that the states of Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Virginia were locked into contracts with the highest occupancy guarantee requirements. All four states had quotas requiring an occupancy rate between 95% and 100%.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
I saw this story during this past week and I have to admit, that it made my stomach turn. Despite the increased interest some in Congress and in the Pentagon have shown in how accusations of rape by female members of the military are treated, women can still jeopardize their careers and their mental well-being if they bring charges against their alleged attackers.
‘”For roughly 30 hours over several days, defense lawyers for three former United States Naval Academy football players grilled a female midshipman about her sexual habits. In a public hearing, they asked the woman, who has accused the three athletes of raping her, whether she wore a bra, how wide she opened her mouth during oral sex and whether she had apologized to another midshipman with whom she had intercourse “for being a ho.”’ New York Times Continue reading “The Military’s War on Women Continues”