Two welcome decisions by the US Supreme Court

The foes of the right to abortions have used the heavily and misleadingly edited videos produced by a group called the Center for Medical Progress to fuel anger at Planned Parenthood and other women’s health groups that conduct abortions as part of their services. Carly Fiorina was one of those who further embellished what she had purportedly seen on the videos, claiming to have seen things that were not there. These actions have led to a spike in threats of violent actions against abortion providers.
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The heckler’s veto

As the election season gets into full gear, we are seeing more and more hecklers at rallies and meetings. How to deal with hecklers poses a tricky issue for democracies that value free speech and the right to demonstrate. If a person is speaking at a public event, to what extent does that person have a right to be allowed to speak undisturbed? To what extent do those who disagree with the speaker have the right to make their protest heard?
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The abuse of the elections process

The Citizens United ruling by the US Supreme Court opened the floodgates to big money playing a huge role in US elections through groups known as SuperPACs that could collect unlimited amounts and spend it is support of candidates. There were supposed to be some limits still remaining, such as that the SuperPACs were not supposed to coordinate with the campaigns. But Stephen Colbert on his old show brilliantly demonstrated how easy it was to get around that, winning an EMMY award for his expose.
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Iceland’s rise in popularity of ancient Sumerian religion

The fastest growing religion group in Iceland is Zuism, that has already outstripped the number of Muslims in that country. What is Zuism?

Zuism is based on ancient Sumeran texts and the Sumeran religion is one of the world’s oldest religions, believed to be the basis of the world’s religions. It survived for instance in the mythologies and religions of ancient cultures such as the Babylonians, Assyrians, Hurrians, Akkadians, Egyptians, Romans and other culture groups.

According to Sumerian mythology, the primordial union of An and Ki produced Enlil, who became leader of the Sumerian pantheon. After the deities banished Enlil from the home of the Gods, Dilmun for raping the goddess Ninlil, she had a child, Nanna, god of the moon, Nanna and Ningal gave birth to Inanna, the goddess of war and fertility and to Utu, the god of the sun.

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The racism is strong in this one

What do these refugees from regions of turmoil really want? Peace? Stability? A better life for their children? No, they want our women, that’s what they want. Or so it seems to this woman who asked Donald Trump at one of his rallies the following question: “Do you think the refugees that are coming here, trying to come here, that are trying to go to Germany and all over Europe, do you think they are going to become priests and become celibate? If not, what is going to happen to the women in the world, the countries they are going to?”
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Mass shootings? Just another day in America

The recent spate of mass shootings has been shocking no doubt but the sad reality is that this is just another day in America. The focus on mass shootings to some extent hides the fact that daily gun violence has become endemic and routine. As Lois Beckett writes for ProPublica, the definition of mass shootings as only those that involve four or more people killed may obscure the real picture, and the definition should be expanded to include four or more people shot, though even that does not capture the full reality of gun violence.
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The sun setting on Ben Carson?

Along with the steady rise of Donald Trump, the other recent noteworthy feature in the Republican presidential race is the steady decline of Ben Carson. Whereas Trump seems to thrive despite saying and doing things that would sink anyone else’s candidacy. with every supposed gaffe simply adding to his appeal, Carson is finding that his support is less solid and has been on a steady slide for the last month.
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Star Wars mania and the powerful desire to be first

I just do not understand the desire that some people have to be the first to get or do something that seems so trivial, and even if that lead is so fleeting and intangible. For example, the people lining up for days in advance, or paying others to do so, just for the privilege of getting a new iPhone on the day it is released, when you could wait a few days and get it at your leisure. But it seems to matter greatly to some to be the first.
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Donald Trump challenges Adelson supporters

Yesterday, all the Republican candidates for president showed up at yet another audition for Sheldon Adelson, the casino billionaire who has been teasing all of them with the promise of major financial support. The venue was the organization Republican Jewish Coalition that is sponsored by Adelson. The main (if not only) criterion used by Adelson and his wife is enthusiastic support for the most extreme right-wing expansionist and anti-Palestinian policies of Israel and almost all the candidates dutifully went down that road, trying to outdo one another in proclaiming their loyalty to his agenda, to the extent of some going overboard.
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