Articles in section: 'News'

And the snake shall lie down with the hamster …

JawsA snake has (allegedly) befriended a hamster that was put in its enclosure for it to eat, according to reports from a Tokyo zoo. [Update: I just noticed that this story is from 2006; somehow I came across it today and took it to be new. No matter!]

Their relationship began in October last year, when zookeepers presented the hamster to the snake as a meal.

The rat snake, however, refused to eat the rodent. The two now share a cage, and the hamster sometimes falls asleep sitting on top of his natural foe.

[...]

The hamster was initially offered to Aochan, the two-year-old rat snake, because it was refusing to eat frozen mice.

[...]

The apparent friendship between the snake and hamster is one of many reported bonds spanning the divide between predator and prey.

Really? [Read more →]

From section: News by Sean Curnyn
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What if it hadn’t been Sgt. Crowley (who met Professor Gates that fateful day)?

The ProfessorAt this point, we have the following narrative on the events of last July 16th in Cambridge, Massachusetts — one which appears to have won majority acceptance by the public (and I think rightly so): A neighbor called the police on seeing two men forcing their way into a house on her street; a house which had been broken into just weeks earlier. (Obviously she failed to recognize Professor Gates as the legitimate resident — but this is hardly a huge surprise these days, in an urban environment, when so few people really know their neighbors.)

Sgt. Jim Crowley, who happened to be very nearby, attended to the scene. Professor Gates, seeing a white police officer in his doorway and hearing a request to step outside of his home to talk, took deep umbrage on an immediate basis. The encounter progressed with Gates yelling accusations and demands, and Sgt. Crowley attempting to ascertain the facts of the situation. It ended with Gates pursuing Sgt. Crowley out of the house, still yelling and carrying-on, in the presence of other police officers and the general public, and with the arrest of Gates for disorderly conduct.

In the days following, competing narratives attempted to hold sway [Read more →]

From section: Commentary, News by Sean Curnyn
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President Barack Obama and the Right to Trial

PrisonPresident Obama’s policy (as of today) with regard to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility seems to me to be summarizable in the following way:

The use of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay has damaged the reputation of the United States around the world. The U.S. has compromised its principles by detaining people there. We can do better. We will try those who we can in the U.S. court system. We will use military tribunals to decide the fate of a select few. We will repatriate certain others, or persuade other nations to detain them in some manner. In the end, I know we will still be left with some individuals who cannot be dealt with in these ways. These are individuals who cannot be tried in our courts due to a lack of conventional evidence and charges, but who we know all the same to be dangerous men. I, as President, will not under any circumstances risk the security of Americans by letting these individuals go free, given their potential to cause great harm. Therefore we will find a way to legally detain them, here in the U.S., in maximum security prisons, for as long as may be necessary.

The above is no attempt to caricature or to mock the president’s policy, but simply an attempt to state it briefly and fairly based on his own recent remarks and those of members of his administration.

I wonder, however, at what point all those who have been calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay (some since late in 2001) will realize the implications of President Obama’s policy, if and when it is fully realized. [Read more →]

From section: Commentary, News, Politics by Sean Curnyn
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Manuel Emilio Mejia: the 1624th name

Brooklyn Bridge, Twin TowersYesterday, it was reported that a victim of the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center by Islamic jihadists was positively identified, seven and a half years after his death:

The city medical examiner’s office says 54-year-old Manuel Emilio Mejia has been identified from remains found at the World Trade Center site in the months after the 2001 terrorist attack.

Mejia was a kitchen worker at Windows on the World, the restaurant on top of the trade center’s north tower.

Manuel Emilio Mejia was the 1,624th victim to be identified. More than 1,100 others still have not been positively identified.

It’s not easy to find information on Mr. Mejia, other than that he [Read more →]

From section: Commentary, News by Sean Curnyn
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