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Common sense prevails: New York court rules cities may pass own laws to ban fracking


RT.com
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 14:36 UTC
fracking
© AFP Photo / David Mcnew
Municipalities within New York can pass local laws to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the state's top appeals court affirmed Monday.

The 5-2 decision this week out of the New York Court of Appeals now means that cities and towns across the Empire State can pass local zoning rules prohibiting the controversial natural gas-extraction process, much to the chagrin of energy companies that accused those restrictions of being illegal.

Dryden and Middlefield - two upstate New York towns - became the target of litigation after fracking operations planned within their borders were preemptively aborted as a result of recently-enacted drilling bans.

The plaintiffs - Norse Energy Corp. and a rural dairy farmer - responded to the bans in Dryden and Middlefield by asking the courts to acknowledge that towns can't enact local laws imposing restrictions on the oil and gas industry.

Agreeing with three lower courts, the majority of the state's appellate panel said local officials legally passed the anti-fracking bills.

Comment: As the evidence mounts that fracking contaminates ground water and causes earthquakes, more brave individuals are taking a stance against the practice in spite of the oil industry's massive propaganda campaign.

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Heart - Black

Blaming the victim: Mexican woman charged with murder for self-defense against rapist

Will Hagle
Opposing Views
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 00:00 UTC
Yakiri Rubí Rubio
Yakiri Rubí Rubio
A Mexican woman is currently on trial for killing her rapist in self-defense.

The woman, 21-year-old Yakiri Rubí Rubio, was abducted at knifepoint by two men on December 9, 2013 in her hometown of Mexico City, Mexico. According to Upside Down World, 37-year-old attacker Miguel Angel Anaya began raping her at a nearby hotel. Rubio fought back against Anaya, ultimately stabbing him in the abdomen and neck with the knife he had been carrying. Anaya and his accomplice, brother Luis Omar Anaya, both fled on their motorcycles. Rubio was able to make her way to the nearby Public Prosecutor's Office to report the crime.

While Rubio was in the office, Luis Anaya arrived and accused Rubio of murdering her brother. The man claimed that Rubio had known and been lovers with his brother, a claim which Rubio denies because she is homosexual.

Still, the woman was charged with homicide. Although her charges were reduced to "legitimate self-defense with excessive violence" and she was released on $10,000 bail, she still faces fines to be paid to Anaya's family and ten years of possible jail time.

Comment: Mexico is not the only country where women are ill-treated after experiencing something as traumatic as rape. The culture has been so ponerized that even women engage in this heinous treatment.

Men who hate women: Punishing rape victims with jail time
A Needed Revolution: Rape and U.S. Justice
Sexual Predators in the Police Targeting Victims They are Supposed to be Helping
Would-be judge in hot water for suggesting rape victims enjoy it

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Heart

Trapped motorist saved from burning SUV by heroic man who pried door open with bare hands

Jonathan Kaminsky
The Raw Story
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 18:02 UTC
Bob Renning
A Minnesota man used his bare hands to pry open a passenger-side door of a burning sport utility vehicle and save a trapped motorist from near-certain death, police said Tuesday.

The incident has left police marveling at the actions of Bob Renning, 52, who - apparently fueled by a burst of adrenaline - pried open the door of Minneapolis resident Michael Johannes's 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer on Sunday evening.

"To say his actions were heroic would be putting it lightly," said Lieutenant Eric Roeske, spokesman for the Minnesota State Patrol. "He almost certainly saved Mr. Johannes from a horrible death."
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Book 2

Federal judge rejects Kentucky's same-sex marriage ban based illogically on stable birth rate and economic stability

Travis Gettys
The Raw Story
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 13:24 UTC
kentucky decision gay marriage
© AP Photo/Timothy D. EasleyLuke Barlowe, front left, his partner, Jim Meade, rear left, Randy Johnson, front right, and his partner Paul Campion answer questions from reporters following the announcement from U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn striking down Kentucky's same-sex marriage ban Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014, in Louisville, Ky. Heyburn stated that the state's law approved by voters in 2004 treated "gay and lesbian persons differently in a way that demeans them."
Kentucky could become the first southern state to allow same-sex marriage after a federal judge determined arguments supporting a ban on such relationships were bewildering and irrational.

U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled in favor of two gay Louisville couples who challenged the state's 2004 constitutional amendment and a similar 1998 law violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law.

"In America, even sincere and long-hold religious beliefs do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been out-voted," Heyburn wrote in his ruling.

The judge sharply rejected the only justification for the ban offered by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear's lawyers - who argued that traditional marriage contributed to a stable birth rate and the state's long-term economic stability.

"These arguments are not those of serious people," Heyburn said.

"Though it seems almost unnecessary to explain, here are the reasons why," Heyburn continued. "Even assuming the state has a legitimate interest in promoting procreation, the Court fails to see, and Defendant never explains, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage has any effect whatsoever on procreation among heterosexual spouses. Excluding same-sex couples from marriage does not change the number of heterosexual couples who choose to get married, the number who choose to have children, or the number of children they have."
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Binoculars

Electronic Frontier Foundation flies airship over NSA data center to protest mass surveillance


EFFector
Sun, 29 Jun 2014 14:56 UTC
EFF airship
© Unknown
EFF, Greenpeace, and the Tenth Amendment Center flew an airship over the NSA's Utah data center on Friday. Heralded as "the first-ever anti-surveillance air force," the 135-foot-long thermal airship carried activists from EFF and Greenpeace with the message: "NSA Illegal Spying Below."
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Stock Down

Americans fed up with all branches of U.S. gov't

Justin McCarthy
Gallup
Mon, 30 Jun 2014 12:03 UTC
gallup poll
© Gallup
Americans' confidence in all three branches of the U.S. government has fallen, reaching record lows for the Supreme Court (30%) and Congress (7%), and a six-year low for the presidency (29%). The presidency had the largest drop of the three branches this year, down seven percentage points from its previous rating of 36%.

These data come from a June 5-8 Gallup poll asking Americans about their confidence in 16 U.S. institutions -- within government, business, and society -- that they either read about or interact with.

While Gallup recently reported a historically low rating of Congress, Americans have always had less confidence in Congress than in the other two branches of government. The Supreme Court and the presidency have alternated being the most trusted branch of government since 1991, the first year Gallup began asking regularly about all three branches.

But on a relative basis, Americans' confidence in all three is eroding. Since June 2013, confidence has fallen seven points for the presidency, four points for the Supreme Court, and three points for Congress. Confidence in each of the three branches of government had already fallen from 2012 to 2013.

Confidence in the presidency is now the lowest it has been under President Barack Obama, as is confidence in Congress and the Supreme Court, given their historical lows. When Obama first took office in 2009, each of the three branches saw a jump in confidence from their dismally low ratings in George W. Bush's final two years in the White House.
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Sheriff

Arizona State University professor assaulted by campus police for jaywalking


CBS News - Las Vegas
Mon, 30 Jun 2014 08:43 UTC
Image
© NYDailynews
An Arizona State University English professor is claiming self-defense against a campus police officer who slammed her to the front of a police car last month.

Dr. Ersula Ore was walking near campus when she was stopped by an officer while crossing College Avenue near Fifth Street.

"The reason I'm talking to you right now is because you are walking in the middle of the street," Officer Stewart Ferrin said in a video recording obtained by KTVK. "Let me see your ID or you will be arrested for failing to provide ID."

"Are you serious?" Ore asked.

"Yes, I am serious. That is the law," Ferrin replied.

The professor stated that she was trying to cross College Avenue like several other people around her in an attempt to avoid construction, a police report explained.

Comment: Officer Ferrin is likely an authoritarian follower. Professor Bob Altemeyer wrote about them in his book The Authoritarians. It is available online free here. The U.S. and the world are full of these types of gullible people. Authoritarians followers have 3 core traits that define them according to Altemeyer:

1. Submission to authority. "These people accept almost without question the statements and actions of established authorities, and comply with such instructions without further ado" writes Dean. "[They] are intolerant of criticism of their authorities, because they believe the authority is unassailably correct. Rather than feeling vulnerable in the presence of powerful authorities, they feel safer. For example, they are not troubled by government surveillance of citizens because they think only wrongdoers need to be concerned by such intrusions... "

2. Aggressive support of authority. Right-wing followers do not hesitate to inflict physical, psychological, financial, social, or other forms of harm on those they see as threatening the legitimacy of their belief system and their chosen authority figure. This includes anyone they see as being too different from their norm (like gays or racial minorities). It's also what drives their extremely punitive attitude toward discipline and justice...

3. Conventionality. Right-wing authoritarian followers prefer to see the world in stark black-and-white. They conform closely with the rules defined for them by their authorities, and do not stray far from their own communities. This extreme, unquestioning conformity makes them insular, fearful, hostile to new information, uncritical of received wisdom, and able to accept vast contradictions without perceiving the inherent hypocrisy... Conformity also feeds their sense of themselves as more moral and righteous than others.

Authoritarianism and Psychopathy

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Airplane Paper

3 dead in fiery plane crash at Colorado ski area


AP
Mon, 30 Jun 2014 19:11 UTC
Image
© ksdk.co
Georgetown - Three people are dead after their small plane crashed into a slope at the Loveland Ski Area in Colorado.

The single-engine plane burst into flames when it crashed Monday morning, setting off a small wildfire that was quickly contained.

Capt. Randy Long of the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office says a witness told authorities the plane was trying to cross the Continental Divide. The plane attempted to turn around when it appeared it didn't have enough power to clear the mountains. It then crashed near a ski lift at the ski area about 55 miles west of Denver.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the Piper aircraft had taken off from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport near Broomfield en route to Moab, Utah.
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Red Flag

79-year old Orthodox Jew knocked down, beaten by two young women in Brooklyn, NY

Robert Wilde
Breitbart.com
Mon, 30 Jun 2014 09:35 UTC
Image
Scene of incident
The knockout punches came without warning, as 79-year-old Orthodox Jew Natfali Lebovits fell to the ground from the blows.

The Daily News reported that Raven Small, 20, and Tatyana Bone, 18, were arrested as suspects shortly after the incident that occurred on Sunday at 1:10 a.m. in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

An epidemic of these kinds of senseless attacks on unsuspecting victims have surfaced in cities across the nation. Many of the victims of the so called "knockout game" have been seriously injured and in some cases have suffered fatalities.

Police at the scene said that the motive for the attack was unclear and that Lebovits was taken to NYU Langone Medical Center by the Jewish first responder group Hatzolah. According to the Jewish political news website JP-UPDATES, Lebovits is a well-known member of the local Jewish community and was walking on Taylor Street when he was allegedly struck by the two women.
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Star of David

Israeli supreme court rules against child's forced circumcision


RT
Mon, 30 Jun 2014 00:00 UTC
child circumcision
© Reuters / Ronen Zvulun
Israel's Supreme Court has overturned a ruling by a court of rabbis, which stipulated that a new mother was required to have her son circumcised under the terms of her divorce, and despite the potential ill-effects on the child's health.

The court decreed that "the rabbinical court was unauthorized to discuss the dispute over the circumcision issue, and there is room to annul any decisions made on the matter."

The decision was reached by a group of seven justices. Six voted in favour. It stated that only civil family courts can impose the measure.

While circumcision is not a legal necessity for Jews in Israel, a rabbi court had previously ruled that the woman must carry out her husband's wish for the child to be circumcised in the 'brit milah' as it is known in Hebrew.

"A decision with regard to circumcision is a complex and sensitive one," High Court justice Miriam Naor wrote in the decision. "It involves, apart from the irreversible physical act on the body of a child who is not a party in the divorce, questions related to basic rights of freedom of religion and freedom from religion as well as social and cultural considerations."
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