Iran has long been flog-happy in its imposition of medieval Sharia laws. Now, it has sentenced cartoonist Mahmoud Shokraye to receive 25 lashes for drawing a caricature of Iranian MP, Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani, that the MP found insulting. As you can see, it is a pretty mild cartoon but Iranian officials stand by the punishment.
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For the ten percent of the world population who believes the world end end according to the Mayan calendar, you may want to make plans for 2013. For months, experts have been saying that this is simply hogwash. Now the oldest-known version of the ancient Maya calendar has been discovered in ruins of a city deep in the Guatemalan rainforest and it shows, as previously said, that the Mayans not only believes life would go on past 2012 but would continue for centuries and centuries.
I am in Omaha, Nebraska today to speak at the Hilton Omaha where Mitt Romney will be raising cash in a private fundraiser for his campaign. It will be interesting if he is pressed on this story picking up steam this week. Romney has been accused of former school chums from his elite all-boy boarding school of attacking a presumed gay student and cutting off his hair. Since in many states the attack on the now-deceased John Lauber would be a hate crime, it is a serious charge even if it was so many years ago. The witness turns out to be a former prosecutor who says that he has been haunted by the act. This week Romney reaffirmed that he opposed same-sex marriage as a personal matter. Update: Romney has apologized for incidents in his youth.
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Our Lady of Sorrows Academy, a conservative Catholic school, has forfeited its team rather than compete in the state championships because the second baseman for Mesa Preparatory Academy is no man at all. Second baseman Paige Sultzbach is a girl and, according to this report, Our Lady of Sorrows has religious objections to its boys playing with a girl.
We previously discussed the rather shocking treatment Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner gave an ACLU lawyer over the right of citizens to videotape police in public. As discussed in prior columns and blogs, police across the country have been arresting citizens who film them — a clear abuse of their rights and an effort to prevent citizens from creating incriminating videotapes increasingly used against police. The Seventh Circuit has now barred the use of the law to prosecute citizens for videotaping. Posner dissented and showed, again, a dismissive view of the rights of the citizens vis-a-vis police. The court majority slams State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez for her extreme views expressed in the case and effort to strip videotaping of constitutional protections.
President Obama faced his toughest competitor in West Virginia this week and barely came out ahead. Mitt Romney? Guess again. Keith Judd won 10 counties in West Virginia and 41 percent of the vote against Obama. He was not on hand, however, for interviews because Judd is Federal Inmate No. 11593-051 and was sitting in his prison cell for the duration of the campaign.
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After years of “evolution,” President Obama today switched his past opposition to same-sex marriage and says that he now supports the right. Obama stated that he only came to this realization after speaking with his family and gay and lesbian associates, but he now personally supports same-sex marriage. He continues to maintain however that the question of same-sex marriage must remain a state issue, which would indicate that he does not view this as a right protected under the Bill of Rights. Obama however has now distinguished himself as the only major candidate in the general election who will not oppose same-sex marriage as a personal matter.
Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., has introduced legislation that would protect service members and chaplains who oppose gay and lesbian service members. The bill raises the long-standing question of status of chaplains as service members as well as members of religious orders.
Reps. Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva introduced a bill yesterday that would amend the House appropriations bill for Commerce, Justice and Science to add a provision punishing states with “Stand Your Ground” laws — the law at the heart of the trial of George Zimmerman in Florida. While I have been a long critic of both Castle Doctrine laws and “Stand Your Ground” laws, I believe this bill is a mistake and represents an attack on federalism principles.
North Carolina yesterday became the 30th state to ban same-sex marriage. Early results showed the amendment to its Constitution passing overwhelmingly by as much as 61 percent. The popularity of the amendment and key position of North Carolina in the upcoming presidential election appears to have prompted the White House to cancel an event in the state. President Obama cancelled a scheduled trip to North Carolina on the day of the vote. While Obama opposed the amendment last year, this week the White House was ridiculed by the media over the President’s refusal to support gay marriage and his insistence that his views were still “evolving” on the subject. The cancellation was widely viewed as an effort to avoid renewed questions over Obama’s refusal to take a clear stand on the civil rights question.
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No wonder President Obama is so supportive of evolution, he finds it essential to explain both scientific and political developments. Faced with Vice President Joe Biden’s moment of honesty in a weekend interview that he is “comfortable” with same-sex marriage, White House Spokesman Jay Carney appeared to have a brain aneurysm in trying to respond to questions about the President’s position on one of the most fundamental civil rights issues of our generation. Since Biden had clearly “evolved” into supporting same-sex marriage, the reporters wanted to know the status of the President’s long evolution. It appears that Australopithecus evolved faster that President Obama on this civil rights question because Carney kept repeating he is still “evolving” over and over again.
In our trial practice classes, our students are trained on how to move the court for procedural and evidentiary rulings. Next year we should post this picture for students to learn the perfect pleading pose. It came to mind after reading the charges against a public defender Therese Cesar Garza who was accused of yelling at judges who ruled against her on motions and saying “shit” in court.
The Bronx District Attorney has opened an investigation into the actions and statements of Bronx police officers after a video surfaced that contradicts their statements as to the actions of 19-year-old Jateik Reed, who was beaten in the course of an arrest.
In Aurora, Colorado, D’Avonte Meadows, 6-year-old boy at Sable Elementary School was suspended for sexual harassment and disrupting other students. How can a six-year-old boy sexually harass someone? He told a girl “I’m sexy and I know it,” a line from a popular song.
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It is the ultimate testament to the life of the academic. You spend ten years in the finest schools gathering your degrees only to find yourself calculating dinosaur farts. British scientists have done exactly that. Estimating the flatulence of sauropods including the gas giant, Brotosaurus. The result is a finding that the Earth’s climate was actually warmed by the huge amount of methane gas produced by dinosaurs. It was also the reason why alien civilizations never invaded our planet.