You’re watching a soccer game: It’s USA versus Germany, World Cup knockout round. It’s early in the match, about 13 or so minutes in, and Germany are awarded a corner kick. Pretty normal stuff. Well, there’s some tussling and janking around in the box, a pretty normal big mess. But the referee blows his whistle—normal enough, and then the stadium announces that VAR is going to take a look. VAR, or Video Assistant Referee, is the name of a technology and procedure for looking at contested calls on the field. In a box, several referees look over...
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SCOTUS lifts ban on animal snuff films
The U.S. Supreme Court today handed down its ruling on U.S. v. Stevens, 08-769, and by an 8-1 decision, upheld the decision of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, nullifying a federal law banning the practice of filming cruelty against animals, citing First Amendment speech protection. The case centered around Robert Stevens of Pittsville, Virginia, who ran a business and website selling videos of pit bull fights. He was caught in an F.B.I. sting and was consequently sentenced to three years in prison for violating a 1999 law banning the sale of videos portraying...
Continue reading...This isn't over
With the Senate passing the House’s bill with fixes to the health care reform package, and the House ready to take it up tonight (and likely pass it tonight as well), it almost feels like this long, national nightmare is over. It’s not. Not by a long shot. You see, while this health care bill does not take over one-sixth of the economy, as its critics may speciously claim, it is gigantic, and it does touch a great number of sections of the U.S. budget. If you remember your civics correctly, you\’ll note that the Congress votes...
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