When Pope John Paul II visited Damascus in May 2001, Bashar used his welcoming speech to denounce the Jews, saying, “They tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad.”   read more

A high-pressure dome over the Middle East resulted in “what may be one of the most extreme heat indices ever recorded in the world on July 31st,” according to NCEI. The Iranian port city of Bandar Mahshahr weathered an unprecedented temperature of 165°F. The record-breaking scorcher prompted the government to declare a four-day national holiday so people would stay indoors rather than step out into the heat to go to work.   read more

The decision has already been cited as precedent in an anti-robocall case, an anti-panhandling ordinance and a case involving a voter who took a selfie with their ballot. Justice Elena Kagan joined in the result of Thomas’ opinion, but in a concurrence took issue with the strict scrutiny standard, writing that it might mean that the Supreme Court “may soon find itself a veritable Supreme Board of Sign Review.”   read more

Traders are accused of using electronic chat rooms and instant messaging to drive up the price that secondary customers pay for Treasury bonds, then conspiring to drop the price banks pay the government for the bonds, increasing the spread, or profit, for the banks. This also ends up costing taxpayers more to borrow money.   read more

A three-judge panel voted 2-1 Tuesday to strike down a law requiring companies to disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when their products contain minerals from conflict areas in central Africa in and surrounding the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The opinion was written by George H.W. Bush appointee Raymond Randolph and joined by David Sentelle, a Ronald Reagan appointee. A 29-page dissent was written by Barack Obama appointee Sri Srinivasan.   read more

Some of the five schools ended up with fewer counselors than other schools with lower numbers of at-risk students. As a result, violence skyrocketed at Campbell Park, Fairmount Park, Lakewood, Maximo and Melrose elementary schools, averaging eight incidents a day for the five years starting in 2010. In 2014 there were more violent incidents at those five schools than there were at the county’s 17 high schools.   read more

The U.S. government did its best to support the ouster of Zelaya. It blocked a resolution by the Organization of American States that would have required Zelaya’s return as a pre-condition for staging an election. The United States also refused to call the change in government a military coup, which would have meant a cutoff in aid to Honduras.   read more

The Pentagon turned to General Atomics because it wants to “boost its drone presence by 50 percent in four years,” Tucker wrote. The Air Force says it needs help from contractors because although it brings in 180 new pilots every year, it needs about 300 of them and loses about 240 because of attrition, according to Military.com. Predator drones have been used to kill about 3,000 people, according to some estimates.   read more

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is refusing to release an internal study of its vulnerable computer network, which Chinese hackers infiltrated two years ago. The Chinese cyberattack reportedly crippled the commission’s systems that inform the public about the billions of dollars raised and spent each election cycle by candidates, parties and political action committees.   read more

The six board members who voted against the proposal said it was because there’s not enough evidence that marijuana is a safe and effective treatment for the condition. So, victims of PTSD, many of them veterans, will continue to be treated with opioid drugs that can lead to addition, overdose and many other unpleasant side effects.   read more

Home health care workers had been exempt from such protections since 1974, when it was found that they mostly provide “companionship” and as such were exempted from wage and hour laws. President Barack Obama’s Labor Department proposed to change this in 2013, but was blocked by a trial-court judge who ruled the department didn’t have the authority to make the change.   read more

A Nebraska school district is asking its teachers to sign a loyalty oath created during the McCarthy Red Scare era that was declared unconstitutional more than 50 years ago. Nebraska Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt, spurred by requests from a right-wing Lincoln salesman, wrote a letter to the state’s school districts reminding them of the oath, and another law that requires school districts to create an “Americanism” committee.   read more

Up to 100,000 young people, even those charged with non-violent offenses, walk into courtrooms handcuffed or in leg irons, or both. “Children as young as 9 have been shackled, as have children who have been abused by their parents,” said Christian Science Monitor. Critics say use of the restraints is contrary to the rehabilitative purpose of juvenile court, and can hurt, humiliate and traumatize children. Once sent to prison, they can be subject to another form of abuse--solitary confinement.   read more

Judge Rogers ordered Bundy to copy Proverbs 26:26: “If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it.” Rogers also required Bundy to marry Jaynes within 30 days as a condition of his probation. Otherwise, the deal was off, and Bundy would spend 15 days behind bars. Bundy chose probation and its conditions because he was afraid he’d lose his job if he missed work. An ethics complaint was filed against the judge accusing him of illegal conduct for which “he should face serious consequences.”   read more

The Oregon appeals court heard Lang’s case, and threw out his convictions. The court also said it wouldn’t declare the odor of marijuana smoke offensive. It depends on the “intensity, duration, or frequency” of the smoke, according to the court. “We are not prepared to declare that the odor of marijuana smoke is equivalent to the odor of garbage. Indeed, some people undoubtedly find the scent pleasing,” the court wrote.   read more

PITCHf/x drew some praise from players and even the umpires whose jobs it might take. They said the system—which leaves them free to watch for foul balls and checked swings, and act as review officials—helped speed the game along. To make its calls, PITCHf/x uses three cameras to look at the strike zone for each batter. In the two Pacifics games, the computer balked only once, when it overheated.   read more

Galt returned to Washington in 2008 as deputy director of the Office of Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. She was sent to North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, in 2010, first as public affairs advisor and the following year as senior public affairs advisor. Galt went back to China in 2012 as the consul general in Guangzhou, supervising the 400-person office there.   read more