A British author Alan Shadrake, 76, is the latest victim of a worldwide trend of attacks on free speech. Shadrake wrote a book entitled Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore’s Justice in the Dock detailing the inequities and unfairness of the Singapore justice system. The response of Singapore’s courts was to convict Shadrake and throw him in jail for contempt. The abusive case should be a rallying point for civil libertarians around the world, not to mention any Singaporeans who value free speech and the rule of law. The Singapore government compounded the abuse by banning the book.
I thought a video of a nice Australian waterspout from this weekend would be a nice way to get you going after a week day weekend. I just returned with the family from North Carolina and had a great time.
Continue reading “A Waterspout To Start Your Day”
We previously followed the bizarre story of Pop — a child being raised genderless by his Swedish parents. Now, Canadians Kathy Witterick and David Stocker are raising a five-month-old child, named Storm, and are hiding his gender to raise the child as an “it.”
Continue reading “Storm Rising: Canadian Parents Under Fire Over Plan to Raise Genderless Child”
Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) has sent a letter challenging the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s signing the Patriot Act with an autopen. I discussed this issue on CNN where I explained that, while this is not a good practice, it would likely be upheld under long-standing precedent going back to the 1600s. While obviously the autopen post-dated such precedent, the idea of signing by direction or surrogate is not new.
Continue reading “Is The Autopen Mightier Than The Sword? Rep. Graves Challenges Use of Autopen Presidential Signatures”
I just saw this video of a teenager who reportedly was spotted texting and driving. For years, police have argued that texting has the same impact as alcohol on drivers. This video certainly shows the truth of that claim.
Continue reading “OMG I Just Crashed . . .”
When asked where is the happiest place on Earth, you might have said “Disneyland” but, according to North Korea’s state-controlled media, it is China . . . followed in close second by North Korea.
Continue reading “And The Happiest Place on Earth Is . . .”
Zimbabwean police sergeant Alois Mabhunu has joined a large number of his countrymen in jail under the tyrannical rule of President Robert Mugabe. His crime, however, is rather unique: he used Mugabe’s private toilet. The murder detective was arrested for the offense despite the fact that there is no specific law of criminal commoding. However, in Mugabe’s paradise laws are of little import.
Continue reading “Messing With Mugabe’s Throne: Detective Thrown In Jail For Using the Presidential Privy”
In case you have not seen the YouTube hit below, this is German Shepard Dunder who was pictured in the same spot everyday for a year. You can watch Dunder age from two months to one year old in forty seconds.
Continue reading “See Dunder . . . See Dunder Age”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Lakeysha Beard admitted that she had been blathering away on her cell phone in the “quiet car” of an Amtrak train. Still, “she didn’t understand why she had to be
escorted off the train” by police. Beard said she felt “disrespected” by the incident.
Police in Salem, Oregon, said Beard got into a “verbal altercation” with other train passengers who complained that she refused to put her cell phone away. They were annoyed that she had been talking continuously from the time the train had left the station in Oakland, California—sixteen hours earlier.
Continue reading “Off Track: Non-stop Cell Phone Talker Escorted off Amtrak Train by Police”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Reeling from the backlash of sentiment questioning why liberals and Democrats were banned from a public town square meeting on Florida’s budget, Governor Scoot pulled an “Oops.” Apparently, it was all the work of a poor misguided staffer, Russ Abrams, a $60,000.00 a year special assistant to the Governor who has a serious First Amendment mental block. Despite newspaper notices that the meeting in the conservative retirement community was open to the public, Abrams told Sumter County Sheriff’s deputies that the event was private and that Democrats and liberals were not required. A reluctant deputy informed the banned folks that he was instructed to remove them.
Continue reading “Update: Gov. “Scoot”: Banning Dems & Liberals All A Big Mistake!”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Recently, the findings of a controversial five-year study into the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church were released. The study, commissioned by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops, was conducted by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. The study concluded that homosexual priests were no more likely to be abusers than heterosexual priests. It also found that celibacy was not to blame for the sexual abuse of children. Authors of the study wrote: “The most significant conclusion drawn from this data is that no single psychological, developmental, or behavioral characteristic differentiated priests who abused minors from those who did not.’’
Karen Terry, PhD., John Jay’s principal investigator for the report, claimed that the bulk of the cases occurred decades ago. Terry said: “The increased frequency of abuse in the 1960s and 1970s was consistent with the patterns of increased deviance of society during that time.” She added that “social influences intersected with vulnerabilities of individual priests whose preparation for a life of celibacy was inadequate at that time.” The poor training of priests combined with social isolation, job stress, and few support systems were also said to have been contributing factors to clergy sex abuse of children.
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
In an advertisement on Craig’s List sure to test the boundaries of commercial free speech, a rural property owner has offered a house for sale or rent. Nothing unusual there. What makes it interesting is that the North Bend Washington property is touted for its marijuana growing propensities: “Green house is set up for specially growing Marijuana growing, flowers, veggies,” the ad read. “With the legal 45 plants at a time, you can easily grow over $125,000 in crop per summer and take the winters off or grow indoors during the winter.”
Continue reading “4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths … Marijuana Greenhouse”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
America likes to think of itself as a country where one’s abilities determine one’s fortune. America was founded by those fleeing European countries where upward mobility was restricted by the state.
The opportunity to obtain a good education is essential to a society that values meritocracy.
Continue reading “School Vouchers and the Death of Meritocracy”
-Submitted by David Durmm (Nal), Guest Blogger
We have previously discussed the attempt by Disney to trademark the term “Seal Team 6″, here. Disney has withdrawn its application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office “out of deference to the Navy.” Several days after Disney filed its application, the U.S. Navy filed its own application for trademarks on the phrases ‘SEAL Team’ and ‘Navy SEALs.’ The Navy had established a beachhead with its longstanding trademark of “SEALs,” which it has licensed to video game producers.
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Florida Governor Rick Scott (R-Fla) may be changing his name to Rick “Scoot” after his rousing speech at The Villages Retirement Center Town Square in central Florida. Crowing over budget cuts to programs for homeless veterans, meals for poor seniors, a council for deafness, a children’s hospital, cancer research, public radio, whooping-cough vaccines for poor mothers, and aid for the paralyzed, the tea-party darling decided the public square was the perfect place to squelch any dissent. Ordering sheriff’s deputies and that endless coterie of blonde Republican fresh-faced staffers to comb the crowd for Democrats and any other persons sporting “liberal looking pins and buttons,” the Governor banned them contending the event discussing the public’s money and re-enacting the signing of Florida’s budget was a very “private” affair among friends.
Continue reading “Florida Governor Rick Scott & The “Private” Town Square”