Judge Says Federal Law Against Female Genital Mutilation Violates U.S. Constitution

The Federal government should protect the inherent right of individuals to control what is done with/to their own bodies.  Including children who should not be forced into something that will affect the rest of their lives.  That goes beyond which government entity has jurisdiction over crimes.  The remaining 26 states who have not yet criminalized this disgusting practice need to do so NOW. 

It is estimated that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation in the countries where the practice is concentrated.  There are an estimated 3 million girls at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation every year.  We should not be part of this.

 https://www.npr.org/2018/11/21/669945997/judge-says-federal-law-against-female-genital-mutilation-violates-u-s-constituti

Greatly recommend Radley Balko's blog and books.

This one is an excellent indictment of both the moral hazard and perverse incentives of privatizing the criminal justice system - an area of governance that is a true responsibility of government.

About this website

washingtonpost.com|By Radley Balko

Opinion | Georgia’s privatized probation and parole system isn’t working

Stills from Ira Wolf's Sunscreen

From the Ira Wolfe music video Sunscreen:

New photo

Investigation Discovery

Here are some photos from A Doe in the Woods, an episode of the television series "Who Killed Jane Doe?"  I played real life murderer Ralph Penrod.

 

 

The Eyes of Van Gogh: Director's Statement

My film, The Eyes of Van Gogh, is a story, never told before, about the 12 months Vincent van Gogh spent in the insane asylum at St. Remy.  It is a film about his brother, Theo van Gogh (Gordon Joseph Weiss) and about Vincent and Paul Gauguin (Lee Godart) in the Yellow House in Arles.  It is a film about painters and artists, Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.  Most important, it is a film about madness; a film of obsession. 

After the disastrous months spent with Gauguin in the yellow house in Arles, Vincent van Gogh, in desperate search of a cure from attacks that increasingly plague him, voluntarily enters an insane asylum in the town of St. Remy 10 miles from the Yellow House. Van Gogh, portrayed by Alexander Barnett, entrusts himself to the care of Dr. Peyron, played by Roy Thinnes.   

On the anniversary of Van Gogh's death

Vincent van Gogh: "I want to paint action. I want to paint life. I want to show the soul in nature - - the nobility in man.  But no one will ever know.  It's all wasted. Wasted. Wasted."