statism

In cash-strapped Detroit, few critics question new sports arena funding

"The Tigers’ home stadium Comerica Park, which opened in 2000, was built at a cost of $300 million, 38 percent of which was publicly financed. Ford Field, the Lions’ domed stadium, was built next door to Comerica and opened in 2002 at a cost of $430 million, 36 percent of which was publicly financed. A state board recently approved issuing bonds to help pay for a new arena for the Red Wings at the heart of a proposed 45-block entertainment district just north of downtown. The total project is slated to cost $650 million. About 44 percent of the project would be financed through public sources." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIn cash-strapped Detroit, few critics question new sports arena funding

Teenaged entrepreneur denounces business-limiting French laws in Quebec

"17-year-old graphic designer Xavier Menard tried to register his company but was told by the Quebec business registry that he couldn't because the company's name--Wellarc--is too English. 'My first reaction was: you must be kidding,' Menard said. The bureaucrats were serious, so the mild-mannered teenager took his anger to YouTube. In a short video Menard attacks Pauline Marois's government, not for its desire to protect the French language, but for its 'idiotic' methods. In his video Menard points out Quebec's 7.5 percent unemployment rate, which is higher than the national average, and says it is even worse for youth." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTeenaged entrepreneur denounces business-limiting French laws in Quebec

Chicago Firearms Confiscation Begins

"There’s a good reason that law abiding gun owners don’t want their names on a national gun registry — namely, registration leads to confiscation. Gun control advocates immediately spout that “no one wants to take your guns” and other assorted platitudes. In Illinois, gun owners are required to get a Firearms Owners ID card, or FOID. Cook County police officers have become increasingly worried that when someone’s FOID card is revoked, their guns aren’t instantly confiscated. So they’re doing exactly what gun control advocates have said that registration would never result in — door to door confiscation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChicago Firearms Confiscation Begins

Judge fires 34-year court employee for providing document that helped free innocent man

"A longtime judge's assistant in Jackson County says she was fired for providing a public document that helped a wrongfully convicted inmate win his freedom. But court officials say 70-year-old Sharon Snyder was sent packing four weeks ago because she violated court rules against inappropriately providing advice and discussing court matters with outsiders. Snyder says she gave Robert Nelson's sister a copy of a motion last year from a different case in which a defendant successfully requested DNA testing. Nelson was freed June 12 after DNA tests ruled him out as one of the rapists in the 1983 attack." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJudge fires 34-year court employee for providing document that helped free innocent man

Is Nicotine Really Any Different Than Caffeine?

"E-cigarette users are developing their own 'café culture,' encouraged by e-cigarette manufacturers. The Lorillard label blu offers e-cigarette cases that emit a signal and notify users when other blu cases are nearby—a kind of Tinder for the vaping set. The odds of finding a match are growing: Roughly one-fifth of adults who smoke conventional cigarettes have tried their electronic counterparts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in February. Six percent of all adults have tried them, almost double the percentage in 2010. Looming regulations could dampen some of these developments." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs Nicotine Really Any Different Than Caffeine?

Cannabis Kills MRSA, Disrupts Prion Diseases

"Marijuana is a potent antibiotic that can kill methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and disrupt the progression of prion diseases such as Mad Cow disease and Creutzfeld-Jakob disease — just don't expect the federal government to tell you any of this. The factoids come from TheAnswerPage.com - a medical information resource for doctors sponsored by The Massachusetts Medical Society, publisher of the New England Journal of Medicine. The federal government, as directed by Congress, still maintains that cannabis is a dangerous 'schedule 1' drug with no medical use and high potential for abuse." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCannabis Kills MRSA, Disrupts Prion Diseases

Abuse at Ecuadorian ‘gay conversion’ drug rehabs shocks authorities

"The country of 15.8 million people has at least 80 unlicensed drug and alcohol rehab clinics, many that are also used for anti-gay conversion therapy, Health Minister Carina Vance, who is openly gay, said. Two people died last year at the clandestine centers, she told foreign reporters. Authorities say the inhumane practice is a wide-ranging problem that has ensnared even government officials — such as the health ministry official who was recently the subject of a criminal complaint after it emerged she owned a clandestine clinic offering therapy against homosexuality. Ecuadoran law authorizes forced treatment for addicts with approval from a judge." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAbuse at Ecuadorian ‘gay conversion’ drug rehabs shocks authorities

Refugees detail widespread abuse at Australian asylum camp

"Australian Immigration Minister Tony Burke described as 'horrific' explosive claims that asylum-seekers at one of its processing camps in Papua New Guinea are being raped and tortured. A former senior official at the Manus Island facility also detailed 'almost daily' self-harm and attempted suicides while warning weapons were being accumulated in readiness for a break-out attempt. The allegations come just days after Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that the facility would be massively expanded to accommodate 3,000 people, from the original 600, as part of a new hardline plan to send all asylum-seeker arrivals to Papua New Guinea." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRefugees detail widespread abuse at Australian asylum camp

A Nation of Rules: The US Justice System

"Edward Lamar Young knew he should not be committing crimes of burglary, especially after he already had served time in Tennessee prison more than 15 years earlier for the same thing. He had promised to 'go straight' after his 1996 release and had done so until 2011, when he 'fell off the wagon' and stole some items from cars and a business warehouse. However, he sits in federal prison for 15 years and never was prosecuted for burglary. Why? He had some shotgun shells in his possession (he did not have a shotgun in which to use them) and according to federal law, a person with any criminal conviction cannot own either firearms or ammunition." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Nation of Rules: The US Justice System

European Court Backs Journalist Harassed Over Speed Camera Criticism

"Ilze Nagla's prime-time Sunday television news program infuriated the Ministry of the Interior with coverage of the bungled photo enforcement procurement that became a national scandal. The government wanted details of the contract to operate 160 speed cameras to be kept secret. The deal was handed to the German firm Vitronic, which would take a 35 percent cut of the tickets. At 9:30pm on May 11, 2010, Nagla's home was ransacked by a plain-clothes police officer who pushed his way through her door. Two other officers joined in the search of her residence, taking her laptop, hard drives, memory cards and flash drives." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEuropean Court Backs Journalist Harassed Over Speed Camera Criticism