Juries are almost always told that it is their job to judge the facts of the case before them and it is only up to the judge to interpret the law. But that is wrong. Juries can judge both the facts and the law and have the right to acquit someone of a crime if they feel that the law under which the person was convicted is an unjust one, even if the facts of the case clearly show that the person is guilty. Such a result is known as ‘jury nullification’. [Read more…]

For Americans, July 4th is a big celebration with picnics, fireworks, parades and so on. Given all the annual hoopla, it is surprising that the number of people who know that 1776 was the year of American independence is so low. [Read more…]

On this independence day holiday, I am repeating a post on what to me is one of the most intriguing phrases in the US Declaration of Independence. It is contained in the famous sentence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

I have always found the inclusion of “the pursuit of happiness” as an inalienable right to be appealing. One does not expect to see such a quaint sentiment in a revolutionary political document, and its presence sheds an interesting and positive light on the minds and aspirations of the people who drafted it. [Read more…]

On this day in 1988, a US warship in the Strait of Hormuz shot down a civilian Iranian passenger airliner, killing all 290 people on board. After being found culpable by the International Court of Justice, the US paid reparations but never apologized for the shooting, with then vice-president and later president George H. W. Bush famously saying, “I’ll never apologize for the United States of America. Ever. I don’t care what the facts are.” Because as god’s chosen people and nation, we are never wrong. [Read more…]

Once again, war rhetoric against Iran is being ramped up. That reliable warmonger Tom Gjelten of NPR had a report this morning about Iran threatening to blockade the Straits of Hormuz in retaliation for the increased economic sanctions that are being applied by the US and its allies in order to force Iran to give up its nuclear program, which the US and Israel claim is aimed at developing nuclear weapons and which Iran denies. As usual, Gjelten framed his report on whether the sanctions would be effective in forcing Iran to bend to the will of the US and Israel. [Read more…]

As if the betrayal by Nabisco (and by extension its parent Kraft Foods) in creating a gay Oreo cookie was not bad enough, another food giant General Mills has come out in opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot in Minnesota that would ban same sex marriage, saying that such a ban would be bad for business. [Read more…]