hypocrisy

Supreme Court rules foreign citizens can’t sue in U.S. for rights violations

"The Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal appeals court’s decision on Wednesday barring foreign citizens from suing corporations in American courts for human rights violations committed abroad. The Los Angeles Times reported that the 9-0 decision limits the scope of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) of 1789 in rejecting a lawsuit brought against Royal Dutch Petroleum by a group of Nigerian citizens accusing the company of helping their country’s government in a series of human rights violations — including, murder, rape and torture — during the 1990s." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupreme Court rules foreign citizens can’t sue in U.S. for rights violations

For Pakistanis It’s A Boston Marathon Bombing Nearly Everyday

"What a terrible and senseless tragedy. I can’t let myself think about it for too long without welling up inside. While my timing in saying what I’m about to say may seem harsh to some, now is the only time to make this point. For the people of Pakistan the Boston Marathon bombing happens nearly every day. Sometimes it’s a lesser bomb and fewer people are killed or injured. Sometimes it’s a much larger bomb like one example that left nearly seventy children dead at one time (that’s about three times the loss of children that happened in Sandy Hook). Can you imagine?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFor Pakistanis It’s A Boston Marathon Bombing Nearly Everyday

U.S. Treasury to BOJ: Do As We Say, Not As We Do

"The BOJ will double the monetary base by purchasing about 7.5 trillion yen of Japanese government bonds per month. It plans to extend the average maturity of its portfolio from three to seven years. And it will continue such actions until it achieves its inflation target. In other words, the BOJ is doing exactly what the Federal Reserve is doing. And for this it gets a warning from the U.S. Treasury 'to refrain from competitive devaluation and targeting its exchange rate for competitive purposes'? The message came in the Treasury's semiannual report on international exchange rates, released on April 12." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Treasury to BOJ: Do As We Say, Not As We Do

Is the Boston Bombing the “Moral Equivalent” of Drone Strikes?

"While Obama demands justice in the Boston bombing, he is silent about his own role in setting off bombs in overseas countries. If the U.S. drones have killed about 4,700 people abroad, then we are talking about something that dwarfs the horror of what happened at Boston. I am not speaking of tit-for-tat. However, I am sure that the horror that people in Muslim countries experience at a drone strike is every bit as awful as what people experienced in Boston yesterday. I do not believe that we are free to denounce the evil at Boston and cheer on the evil our government perpetrates overseas. We must denounce both or risk being the worst hypocrites on the planet." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs the Boston Bombing the “Moral Equivalent” of Drone Strikes?

Destroying the middle ground

"Imagine yourself in an alternate United States where the First Amendment is not as a matter of settled law considered to bar Federal and State governments from almost all interference in free speech. In this alternate America, there are many and bitter arguments about the extent of free-speech rights. The ground of dispute is to what extent the instruments of political and cultural speech (printing presses, radios, telephones, copying machines, computers) should be regulated by government so that use of these instruments does not promote violence, assist criminal enterprises, and disrupt public order." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDestroying the middle ground

Knife Control Lobby Considers Response to Mass Knifings at a Texas College

"The brutal, senseless knifing of a dozen students at a community college in Texas has mobilized the knife control movement. Apparently, authorities expected a series of copy-cat knifings. Knife control advocates are considering whether now is the right time to call for background checks on citizens who buy knives. The possibility of universal knife registration is being considered." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKnife Control Lobby Considers Response to Mass Knifings at a Texas College

Kindergartener Suspended Over Mohawk Hairstyle

"A kindergartner with a new, spiked Mohawk haircut was sent home from a local elementary school this week for violating the district's dress code. Keshia Castle said she was told on Wednesday that her 5-year-old son, Ethan Clos, cannot not to come back to Reid Elementary School until he gets rid of his Mohawk, a haircut in which the head is shaved on the sides and only a strip of hair is left on top and down the middle of the scalp. Superintendent Gregg Morris said the hairstyle was a distraction for students and violates district rules." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKindergartener Suspended Over Mohawk Hairstyle

Europeans slammed by austerity measures now enraged by political corruption

"A wave of corrosive political scandals at a time of economic woe is exacerbating the outrage of European citizens, who are channelling resentment into street protests or at the polls. Italy, Spain and Greece have all been hit by fraud or graft cases allegedly involving the top brass. France joined the ranks of scandal-hit nations this week after its former budget minister was charged with tax fraud. In France, outrage over the budget minister scandal has yet to erupt into popular protests. But in some countries of southern Europe, which for several years have been hit by austerity measures more severe than in France, fury has coiled into potent blowback." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEuropeans slammed by austerity measures now enraged by political corruption

Canadian Senator’s husband’s offshore trusts exposed

"A prominent Canadian lawyer, husband to a Liberal senator, moved nearly $2 million to secretive financial havens while he was locked in battle with the Canada Revenue Agency over his taxes, according to documents in a massive leak of offshore financial data that were shared exclusively in Canada with CBC News. Tony Merchant of Regina transferred money to a tax haven in the South Pacific and then onward to an account in the Caribbean, according to the files. His wife, Senator Pana Merchant, as well as their three sons are named in the documents as beneficiaries of the funds." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCanadian Senator’s husband’s offshore trusts exposed

French foreign minister denies Swiss account ‘rumour’

"France's Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius on Sunday denied a 'rumour' in a newspaper report claiming that he may have a Swiss bank account, as the French government struggles to deal with a scandal over undeclared foreign bank holdings. 'I absolutely deny the rumour, published in the Monday April 8 edition of Libération, claiming I have a bank account in Switzerland,' Fabius wrote in a statement. It was Médiapart that broke the story about former budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac having an undeclared bank account in Switzerland." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrench foreign minister denies Swiss account ‘rumour’