The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a decision by a US District Court judge that the tax-free housing rental allowances given to clergy were unconstitutional since the heads of atheist organizations did not get a similar benefit. The lawsuit had been brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. You can read the opinion here.
[Read more…]
Last night we had the first major snowfall of the season and I woke up this morning to find several inches of snow on the ground. I turned on the radio and heard what I expected to hear: traffic reports saying that there were accidents all over the place and urging drivers to exercise caution and leave more time to get to their destinations. In other words slow down!
[Read more…]
The Hill reports with surprise something that could have been easily predicted. Under the headline “Obama veers left after red wave”, it says:
President Obama has taken significant steps to the left since his party’s devastating losses in the midterm elections.
In a surprise, he announced a major deal on climate change with China during a trip to Beijing Tuesday. That followed another unanticipated move — a Monday statement pressuring the Federal Communications Commission to adopt new net neutrality rules for the Internet.
The moves are helping to rally a dispirited Democratic base while re-establishing Obama’s political leadership after he was sidelined during the midterms.
So the great freak-out about Ebola in the US has now subsided with the last person who had the disease, the doctor in New York, being cleared and released from hospital. There are a few encouraging signs that the rate of spread of the infection in West Africa, at least in Liberia, is slowing down and that containment of this deadly disease may be on the horizon though it must be emphasized that the dangers are still very real and Sierra Leone in particular still faces major problems.
[Read more…]
The likelihood of the report on torture being released by the US Senate, even in a limited and highly redacted form, is becoming increasingly unlikely. The main (but small) hope for transparency and accountability advocates is that outgoing senator Mark Udall uses his immunity as a member of Congress to put it into the Congressional record.
[Read more…]
As part of the promotional efforts for his film Rosewater, Stewart is giving interviews where he talks about a wide range of things. He thinks that Stephen Colbert will elevate the late night talk show format when he takes over from David Letterman.
[Read more…]
The Associated Press reports that president Obama feels ‘liberated’ by losing the senate to the Republicans.
White House officials say Obama’s optimism reflects a president who feels liberated by even the limited prospects for striking deals with a Republican Congress and relieved about shedding the narrow Democratic majority that would have guaranteed Washington stayed locked in a stalemate.
[Read more…]
In watching the film A Most Wanted Man, the issue of accents in films once again entered my mind. The film takes place in Germany and almost all the main characters are supposed to be German. Germans taking to other Germans in Germany would naturally speak German. So the natural thing would be to have the film in German with English subtitles.
[Read more…]
It used to be that in the Catholic Church, one could buy indulgences to provide absolution for one’s sins, giving an advantage to rich people trying to get to heaven. Although the church has discontinued that deplorable practice, the US government still seems to believe in it. Cora Currier writes that the US government makes secret payments to the relatives of civilian victims of its drone strikes while publicly maintaining that the dead are militants.
[Read more…]
Harry Belafonte was given an honorary Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, at a ceremony last week. The 87-year old actor and singer took the opportunity to deliver a powerful speech on racism and justice and human rights.
[Read more…]