Source: NBC News

Death by stoning for convicted adulterers is being written into Afghan law, a senior official said on Monday, the latest sign that human rights won at great cost since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 are rolling back as foreign troops withdraw.

"We are working on the draft of a sharia penal code where the punishment for adultery, if there are four eyewitnesses, is stoning," said Rohullah Qarizada, who is part of the sharia Islamic law committee working on the draft and head of the Afghan Independent Bar Association.

Billions have been invested on promoting human rights in Afghanistan over more than 12 years of war and donors fear that hard won progress, particularly for women, may be eroding.

Human Rights Watch reports that they saw a draft provision of the law which states that if a court finds that a couple engaged in sexual intercourse outside of legal marriage, both the man and the woman would be sentenced to “stoning to death if the adulterer or adulteress is married.” And if the “adulterer or adulteress is unmarried” the sentence shall be “whipping 100 lashes.”

Read more: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/25/21609525-stoning-for-adulterers-may-become-legal-again-in-afghanistan?lite

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Why are we in this country again?

Oh, yeah... Freedoms

Source: Salon.com

A mysterious illness has killed nearly 600 pets, mostly dogs, and sickened over 3,600 others. And the only thing investigators know about it, according to an FDA update released today, is that it has something to do with jerky treats imported from China.

The FDA hasn’t issued a formal recall, so they aren’t able to name the affected brands. They are reminding people that jerky treats aren’t essential to pets’ diets. Until they can figure out what’s killing the animals, it might be best to seek out a different way of rewarding your dog.

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/10/22/deaths_of_almost_600_pets_tied_to_jerky_treats/

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I am at a loss for any logical reason to NOT issue a recall and BAN all foodstuffs, human or animal, which have caused illness in humans or animals.

The only reason I can see is GREED.

Seriously? We have women all over the world who can barely find enough food for themselves, never mind the baby they are delivering in squalor, and people in this country are making vagina cakes?

Somebody PLEASE tell me this is a hoax.

http://www.mommyish.com/2013/10/14/vagina-cakes/

The right-wing crazies were dead certain they were going to win last November and were almost incoherent when they lost. Even Karl Rove believed they were going to win, while those of us in the "Reality-based Community" knew we were going to win. The Fox News crowd reminded me of people who followed a doomsday cult the day after the world did not end and Jesus did not show up.

And now they are saying that defaulting on the debt will not cause economic calamity. In fact, it will "firm up the markets".

There is a growing likelihood of default and an economic meltdown on par with the Great Depression.

Averting that cataclysm rests in the hands of a handful of GOP "leaders" and whether they will have the courage to turn back, or whether they will put on the track suit, drink the Kool-Aid, and wait on the Hale-Bopp comet to return.

Boehner is in a "no win" situation.

If he drives off the cliff he is out next election, if not sooner, when the villagers show up with torches and farm implements.

If he does the sane thing, he will be crucified by the Koch Brothers and their ilk who will fund a primary challenger to defeat him in 2014. Also, he will likely be deposed as Speaker before then.

Their war cry will be "It would have all worked out if it hadn't been for the meddling orange guy".

From the story in the Toronto Star:

Burkhardt, chairman of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, said Sunday night that the train’s sole engineer shut down four of the five locomotive units on the train, as is standard procedure, in the neighbouring community of Nantes before heading to Lac-Mégantic to sleep. Burkhardt said the next engineer was probably due to arrive at daybreak.

But someone managed to shut down the fifth locomotive unit, he said. The railroad alleges someone tampered with the controls of the fifth engine, the one maintaining brake pressure to keep the train stopped.

“If the operating locomotive is shut down, there’s nothing left to keep the brakes charged up, and the brake pressure will drop finally to the point where they can’t be held in place any longer,” Burkhardt said.

Am I missing something here? My understanding is that is NOT how "airbrakes" work. When an airbrake loses pressure, the brakes engage. Airbrakes were the first example of a "fail safe" system in every course and article I have read. Pressure in the line keeps the breaks disengaged, or open. Loss of pressure causes them to engage. I had a recent example of this when a truck driver couldn't get a trailer away from our dock after a pressure line broke. The brakes locked tight and he would have had to literally DRAG the trailer to get it out of the way. After the line was replaced, the brakes disengaged and the the trailer could move.

What am I missing here? The description above is the exact opposite of how an air brake works. If someone shut down the engine causing the pressure to fall in the lines, then EVERY locomotive and car's brakes would have locked.

Is there are new kind of air brake designed by an idiot that functions as Burkhardt describes?

Why do they always leave just as I get used to them?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22741493

This and Sherlock are the only damned things I can watch and take my mind off the dismal conditions of American politics.

Want a drink?

You need to be eleven.

Want to smoke?

You need to be eleven.

Want to join the Marines?

You need to be eleven.

Want to vote?

You need to be eleven.

Want to have sex or get married?

You need to be eleven.

Want to drive a car?

You need to be eleven.

Want to hold state/federal office?

You need to be eleven.

Why eleven you ask?

Because since we have insisted on trying children as young as eleven as "adults", children as young as eleven should be entitled to all the perks of adults.

I am freakin' tired of the age of consent being whatever is convenient for adults. So either set the "legal age" to eleven, or set it to twenty-one.

Yes, I realize that there are arguments for certain responsibilities at certain ages due to differing maturity levels, but when we can seek the death penalty, life imprisonment, and 15 years sentences for crimes committed for ages ranging from 11 to 17, then the age needs to be either 11 or 21.

Children in our society are precious jewels in utero, yet fair game once ex utero. Society allows then to be slaughtered once out of the womb, with little ramifications if it involves a gun, yet when a child commits a crime with a gun, American society goes medieval on their ass.

Child physical and sexual abuse is institutionalized and accepted, but when children strike back, severe punishment is demanded.

What am I so angry about?

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-kentucky-boy-accidental-fatal-shooting-sister-20130501,0,2768797.story

http://www.politicususa.com/bill-donohue-church-abuse-victims-were-active-participants.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/sex-abuse-scandal-did-archbishop-ratzinger-help-shield-perpetrator-from-prosecution-a-684970.html

http://www.thenation.com/blog/172841/media-play-down-pope-benedicts-role-sex-abuse-scandals#

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/worst_horrifying_new_trend_posting_rapes_to_facebook/

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/21/aclu-condemns-prosecution-of-florida-teen-over-lesbian-relationship/

And the list goes on...

The age of consent should be eleven until such time as society's adults stop acting like two year-olds.

Source: Yahoo News

The creator of what's being called the world's first 3-D-printed handgun is coming under fire from lawmakers concerned that anyone with a 3-D printer and an Internet connection will be able to print an untraceable arsenal.

Cody Wilson, the 25-year-old founder of Defense Distributed, is expected to release his controversial blueprint for the gun—called the "Liberator"—online this week, according to Forbes.

“Security checkpoints, background checks and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print plastic firearms at home and bring those firearms through metal detectors with no one the wiser," Israel said in a statement on Friday. "When I started talking about the issue of plastic firearms months ago, I was told the idea of a plastic gun is science-fiction. Now that this technology is proven, we need to act now."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/3d-printable-gun-153109290.html

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Oops, forgot the link, fixed.

So far the media seems to be missing a key aspect of this story: Once a person can print their own gun, they don't need to buy one from the gun manufacturers. This means that the NRA will soon have to shift gears and come out against 3-D guns at the behest of their masters, Colt, Armalite, et al. Coming out AGAINST guns is something the NRA has never done, and I don't see the average 2nd Amendment extremist being very forgiving about any nuanced argument the NRA will offer up.

In order to protect its profits, gun makers will have to forcefully and vocally oppose 3-D guns.

Then there are all the other troubling aspects of this technology:

1) Guns will have no serial numbers.

2) Guns will be easy to destroy, thus eliminating ballistics comparisons. Print your gun, kill your target, melt the gun down.

3) Guns will be able to pass through metal detectors easily (though you will still have to get the bullets through).

4) Plastic bullets are next on the list (though I don't think it is possible, at least not now, to make usable plastic casing) further reducing the weapons magnetic signature. (Taggants in the gun powder would seem the only possible way of tracing such a weapon).

5) How reliable will these weapons be? A "misprint" could mean the safety does not work.

These are just a few of the ramifications, I am sure I am overlooking quite a few others.

Shut Up or Get Out: PA City Punishes Domestic Violence Victims Who Call the Police
ACLU

Last year in Norristown, Pa., Lakisha Briggs' boyfriend physically assaulted her, and the police arrested him. But in a cruel turn of events, a police officer then told Ms. Briggs, "You are on three strikes. We're gonna have your landlord evict you."

Yes, that's right. The police threatened Ms. Briggs with eviction because she had received their assistance for domestic violence. Under Norristown's "disorderly behavior ordinance," the city penalizes landlords and tenants when the police respond to three instances of "disorderly behavior" within a four-month period. The ordinance specifically includes "domestic disturbances" as disorderly behavior that triggers enforcement of the law.

After her first "strike," Ms. Briggs was terrified of calling the police. She did not want to do anything to risk losing her home. So even when her now ex-boyfriend attacked her with a brick, she did not call. And later, when he stabbed her in the neck, she was still too afraid to reach out. But both times, someone else did call the police. Based on these "strikes," the city pressured her landlord to evict. After a housing court refused to order an eviction, the city said it planned to condemn the property and forcibly remove Ms. Briggs from her home. The ACLU intervened, and the city did not carry out its threats, and even agreed to repeal the ordinance. But just two weeks later, Norristown quietly passed a virtually identical ordinance that imposes fines on landlords unless they evict tenants who obtain police assistance, including for domestic violence.

So, why stop at domestic violence? Child physical and sexual abuse should also be cause for eviction. After all, you are causing a nuisance when you report people beating and raping your kids.

Does he release the 300+ page "secret" report detailing corruption, blackmail, and the existence of a "Velvet Mafia" at the Vatican?

If he does, and releases it with little or no redaction, then this signals that Francis is serious about cleaning up the Church.

If he doesn't, or issues a heavily redacted version, then he is signaling business as usual in Rome.