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 panel of judges with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Republican consultant Robert Cahaly, who ran afoul of the state’s 1991 anti-robocall law. The law banned computerized cold calls “of a political nature including, but not limited to, calls relating to political campaigns,” according to Courthouse News Service. Violators were subject to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.   read more

When a $42 million deal was agreed to, it was faxed to Mexico City, signed by Puig and forwarded to Puig’s putative agent, Jaime Torres, for his signature. All that money wasn’t going to Puig though—smugglers are paid for their work by taking a percentage of a player’s first contract, often a 20% to 30% cut. Some of the smugglers are connected with Mexican drug gangs and other criminals.   read more

An unnamed grand juror in the Ferguson case sued in federal court (pdf) for the right to speak out about the decision not to indict Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. And St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch even admitted that he allowed false testimony to be presented before that grand jury, revealing after the fact that he knew that alleged eyewitness Sandra McElroy wasn’t actually present at the shooting and based her testimony instead on news reports.   read more

Lead researcher Willem Verstraeten said “the dominant westerly winds blew this air pollution straight across to the United States. In a manner of speaking, China is exporting its air pollution to the West Coast of America." The study relied on satellite observations and computer models of airborne molecules traveling in the lower atmosphere. This research revealed that China expanded its ozone levels by about 7% from 2005 to 2010--enough to counter the 20% reductions in the U.S.   read more

According to the manual, a correspondent who engages in “relaying of information” can be considered as “engaging in hostilities” and may be punished appropriately. The manual also says “reporting on military operations can be very similar to collecting intelligence or even spying." American journalists have been reporting from war zones for years with none found to have given away information to an enemy.   read more

Among the ships is the Waesche, which normally patrols the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico looking for drug traffickers. The Coast Guard was forced to make these moves in support of Shell, which is conducting exploratory oil drilling. Admiral Zukunft said the ship deployments represented an “opportunity cost” for his agency. Of course, it’s not merely an opportunity cost, but actual taxpayers’ funds subsidizing Shell’s oil exploration via money spent on Coast Guard operations.   read more

OSHA is trying to lower the exposure level to 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The proposed rule would also require additional protections. The regulation would apply to about 35,000 workers in the U.S. whose jobs involve exposure to the metal, which is used in the manufacture of aircraft, electronics components, dental implants and nuclear weapons, among other things. The agency estimates the metal causes nearly 250 new cases of beryllium lung disease each year.   read more

Those laws make it likelier that a former inmate will end up back in prison. “This increases the odds they will commit new crimes by virtue of the fact that you’re creating a significant financial obstacle,” said Mark Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project. Since 1996, 19 states have lifted restrictions on food stamps, and 24 have allowed people with certain types of drug felonies to get those benefits.   read more

“It’s a national embarrassment,” said criminology professor Geoffrey P. Alpert. “Right now, all you know is what gets on YouTube.” The problem is police departments don’t use the same reporting standards. Some have combined the accounts of officers punching someone with the times they have shot someone. Some big-city departments claim they don’t collect data on the use of force, while others balked at sharing it. “Those that do keep track are under no obligation to release it,” said the Times.   read more

Demand for paper products has dropped by about 5% annually over the past five years and to keep it from losing more revenues, the industry is trying to maintain a paper status quo with federal agencies. So far it has not been very successful. The paper lobby, under the name Consumers for Paper Options, tried to keep the Social Security Administration from dumping paper earnings statements to 150 million Americans in favor of electronic files, which save $72 million a year.   read more

Their attorneys say the explosion was caused by methane gas that leaked into the well from nearby fracking operations. “This is a tragic case arising from the flash explosion of a private water well that had been contaminated with methane as a result of the defendants’ drilling and extraction activities,” the complaint states. The Murrays are seeking actual and punitive damages including negligence, trespass, lost wages, pain and suffering, continuing medical care, and disfigurement.   read more

GE led the way with 60% of the market, followed by Siemens (26%) and Vestas (12%). Vestas leads the international market, followed by Siemens, GE, and Goldwind. There are several Chinese companies among the market leaders, but they primarily sell their products in their home country. The good times for wind may not last much longer, however. A federal subsidy for wind investment is scheduled to expire in 2017, and that may curb growth in this sector.   read more

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a “general rule” saying agencies could not spend taxpayer dollars to purchase disposable plates, cups and cutlery after the Department of Commerce and a union representing its workers had spent five years fighting over the issue of the agency providing paper plates and plastic utensils The fight began within the National Weather Service (NWS).   read more

Americans were responsible for 613, or 77%, of the 794 recorded African lions killed for trophies in 2013. About 50% of those lions killed by Americans were wild, while the remaining ones were bred in captivity and shot in “canned hunts.” The African lion population has dropped significantly since 1980, when there were 75,000. Today, their numbers are between 20,000 and 32,000. Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have proposed listing the species as threatened.   read more

According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, from 1999 to 2011, Native Americans comprise 1.9% of police killings—legal interventions in official terms—but only 0.8% of the U.S. population. The same set of statistics, analyzed by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, showed that African Americans, 26% of the population, accounted for 13% of the people killed by police.   read more

As of June 30, the agency had issued 397,000 licenses to undocumented applicants out of a total of 759,000 people this year. By the end of July, the numbers were 443,000 licenses to undocumented immigrants out of a total of 883,000 licenses issued in 2015. The DMV expects to issue 1.5 million licenses to undocumented immigrants within three years. California is home to more undocumented immigrants than any other state, with approximately 3 million of them.   read more