Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed faces charges of "lack of respect for the prophet" for an article criticizing Mohammed.

What else would you expect from a man whose name parodies "Mohammed" twice ;-).

Mauritania is not alone in this sort of injustice: most countries that identify themselves as Muslim trample religious freedom and freedom of expression. It is one of the standard injustices of Islam.

Exposure Chris Christie's underlings' disguised retribution scheme has called attention to bad decisions that are clearly the responsibility of Christie himself.

I won't claim that Christie must have known about this particular scheme. I would not expect a governor to personally pay attention each specific action taken, whether ethical or not. However, he may have told, or led, his underlings over the years to plan various kinds of political pressure and retaliation and not bother him with the details. That would still make him responsible overall.

Nauru, where Australia stores unwanted asylum seekers, now demands $7000 dollars for a journalist's visa, effectively saying Australia's dirty deeds are off limits to journalism.

It is an injustice to require special visas for journalists. The US should set a good example by abolishing the practice.

The US has replaced checks and balances and rule of law with the national security jihad.

Study: Polarization and Gridlock Work Well for the Wealthiest Americans.

The idea that Congress is "not functioning" represents a fundamental misunderstanding, comparable to saying that a football game is "not functioning" because the score is 0-0. What it means is that neither side can overcome the other side to score.

However, that analogy goes only so far. In Congress, it's not a mere game. The two sides are "totally for the rich" and "mostly for the rich but with some concern for the rest", and the points that are occasionally scored against the poor do tremendous harm.