Search Results for: 2017-04-06

The State of Alaska sued over thirty chemical compound manufacturers Wednesday after it was discovered that the state’s groundwater was being contaminated by toxic chemicals. The 38-page complaint alleges that the defendant companies knowingly produced highly toxic chemicals known as PFAS (which include PFOS and PFOA) and released the compounds into the environment through their [...]

“Theory is a net. Only those who cast, can catch.” – Karl R. Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1934) During his March 25, 2021 press conference, US President Joe Biden declared “denuclearization” as America’s ultimate strategic goal for North Korea. Though such a declaration might first appear reasonable, it misrepresents what is plausible in [...]

The Sapporo District Court found Wednesday that the government’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage is unconstitutional because it violates the right to equality. As a member of the Group of Seven, an intergovernmental organization including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US, Japan was the only country that did not recognize same-sex marriage. [...]

The UK Supreme Court on Friday allowed a case filed by 42,335 Nigerian claimants against Shell‘s parent company and a Nigerian subsidiary to proceed in UK courts. The claimants first sued Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary in 2015 over allegedly leaking oil from pipelines in the Niger Delta that resulted in the destruction of farmland, the [...]

On January 23, 2021, Chief Petty Officer Tony DeDolph of the U.S. Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) was sentenced to ten years in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of Staff Sergeant Logan Melgar of the U.S. Army Green Berets. DeDolph, “pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit assault, involuntary manslaughter, hazing, and obstruction of justice,” [...]

US President Joe Biden issued a memorandum Thursday directing US federal agencies that are engaged abroad to “promote and protect the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons.” The memorandum states that it is building on a similar memorandum issued by President Obama in 2011, when Biden was serving as his vice-president. The Biden memorandum directs agencies [...]

I. Introduction Much of U.S. governance is held together by goodwill, unwritten norms, and the ideals that “that would never happen” and “no one would ever do that.” Every hope of continued reliance on these norms was “shattered” on January 6, 2021, when armed insurrectionists invaded the U.S. Capitol. Under the direction of the President, [...]

A US federal district court judge in New York on Friday ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reinstate the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The DACA program allows people who immigrated to the United States illegally as children to apply for a forbearance of removal, and permits them authorization to [...]

The Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court of Poland Wednesday deprived a Warsaw District Court judge known to be critical of controversial judicial reforms implemented by the ruling rightwing Law and Justice Party (PiS) of his institutional immunity from prosecution. Judge Igor Tuleya was formerly charged with failing to comply with his judicial duties after [...]

“The goal is to dominate the street.” – US President Donald J. Trump, June 1, 2020 There are disturbing connections. Before openly embracing the “Proud Boys” during his first debate with Democrat opponent Joe Biden, Donald J. Trump praised the value of “good genes” in Minnesota. Though such a seemingly “positive” evocation might not normally [...]