{"id":10285,"date":"2013-04-18T01:46:28","date_gmt":"2013-04-18T08:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=10285"},"modified":"2013-04-18T01:46:28","modified_gmt":"2013-04-18T08:46:28","slug":"open-thread4182013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/18\/open-thread4182013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–4\/18\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m still sick in bed, but today\u2019s other article was just too important not to write..<\/font><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s took me 5:07 (average 5:50).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>The Supreme Court\u2019s conservatives dealt a major blow Wednesday to the ability of American federal courts to hold violators of international human rights accountable. The court declared<\/a> that a 1789 law called the Alien Tort Statute does not allow foreigners to sue in American courts to seek redress \u201cfor violations of the law of nations occurring outside the United States.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the case at issue, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum<\/a>, Nigerian citizens alleged that, from 1992 to 1995, multinational oil companies working in Nigeria aided the military dictatorship that tortured and killed protesters who fought the environmental damage caused by the oil operations. These companies did business in the United States. But Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, said that even where claims of atrocities \u201ctouch and concern the territory of the United States, they must do so with sufficient force\u201d to overcome a presumption that the statute does not apply to actions outside this country. <\/p>\n

That presumption radically revises and undermines the way the statute has been applied for a generation. It has been limited by the types of human rights abuses it covers \u2014 but not by where they take place. The effect is to greatly narrow the statute\u2019s reach…<\/p>\n

The vote was 5-4 with the activist fascist five, Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy goose-stepping for international criminal corporations against basic human rights.<\/font><\/p>\n

From Think Progress<\/a>: <\/font>The Tucson, Arizona Police Department held a gun buyback on the anniversary of the 2011 Tucson mass shooting, with the intention of melting down the 200-plus firearms they received. But now the National Rifle Association, which vowed to put a stop to it<\/a>, appears poised to get its wish. The Arizona Senate approved a measure 18-12 that prevents local municipalities from destroying the firearms, following the House\u2019s action earlier this year. <\/p>\n

State Sen. Rick Murphy (R) said gun buybacks \u201caccomplish nothing other than make people feel good,\u201d and the measure is about \u201cprotecting taxpayers.\u201d [Reich Wingers delinked] NRA board member and lobbyist Todd Rathner made a similar claim<\/a> in January that local government must sell seized or abandoned property according to state law…<\/p>\n

What next? Will Arizona Republicans require that the weapons be sold to people who cannot pass background checks?<\/font><\/p>\n

From Raw Story<\/a>: <\/font>Minnesota radio host Bob Davis last week said last Friday<\/a> he would like to personally tell the families in Newtown, Connecticut whose children were murdered to \u201cgo to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his show Davis & Emmer, which is broadcast by Twin Cities News Talk AM 1130, he attacked the families of those killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School for speaking in support of stricter gun laws. <\/p>\n

I bet a buck that this asshole champions Batshit Bachmann! There is only one word to describe such vile lack of decency: Republican!<\/font><\/p>\n

Cartoon<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"18Cartoon\"<\/font><\/p>\n

Folk history seems to have forgotten the latter two.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m still sick in bed, but today\u2019s other article was just too important not to write.. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 5:07 (average 5:50).  To do it, click here.  How did you do? Short Takes: From NY Times: The Supreme Court\u2019s conservatives dealt a major blow Wednesday to the ability of American federal courts […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-personal","category-politics","category-35-id","category-3-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}