Assorted Stupidity #75
by Kevin from Lowering the Bar on (#8S6R)
- What's your favorite government program? Mine's the one where the government takes your truck without asking, uses it in a drug sting, botches the operation, refuses to pay for the damage caused by drug dealers filling it (and your driver) full of lead, and then a judge says you can't sue the government because that would interfere with this very important program. This may seem unfair, but it's the price we have to pay. Otherwise, people would be able to buy and smoke marijuana in this country.
- Speaking of marijuana, it is still illegal in Connecticut, at least, and so "courthouse" should still be on any attorney's list of places not to drop bags of it. Assuming you could get hold of any, that is (see above).
- Speaking of favorite government programs, CNN reminded us recently that "[j]ust about everyone outside the TSA who has reviewed the SPOT [Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques] program has decided that it's unscientific and a waste of money." Hypothesis: When the ACLU, Republican members of Congress, the Government Accountability Office and legal-humor bloggers all agree that something is stupid, it's probably stupid.
- Speaking of people who have more money than they should, King Salman of Saudi Arabia announced this week that he was naming a new successor, so if you had Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz in your fantasy monarch league, better luck next time. Those who had Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, congratulations.
- To make that a legal topic, until recently succession was determined by fraternal agnatic seniority-the throne went to the current king's oldest brother, even if the king had a son (that's agnatic primogeniture). That wasn't going to work forever, though, because ibn Saud had at least 43 legitimate sons (reports vary). At this point, they are all either old or dead. The new crown prince would be the first grandson to take over.
- How many daughters did ibn Saud have? Ha! You are very funny to suggest anyone would have bothered to count them. Oho. Ha. Count the daughters. Yes. Very good.
- Even today the legal status of Saudi women is, let's say, controversial, although things did seem to be looking up in 2011 when King Abdullah pardoned a woman who had been sentenced to 10 lashes for driving without permission. He may have been trying to emulate his father's progressive attitude; according to one scholar, ibn Saud's "opinion of women's education was encouraging," given that he actually told a British advisor that "[i]t is permissible for women to read."
- Okay, last one: that same scholar also points out (in a footnote) that Mohammed's first wife owned her own business at the time they were married (in fact, he worked for her, and she proposed to him), and he did not make her stop working after the marriage. Yes, that Mohammed. Peace be upon him.
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