“The existence of the approximately 14,000 photographs will probably cause yet another delay in the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as attorneys for the defendants demand that all the images be turned over and the government wades through the material to decide what it thinks is relevant to the proceedings.”

This was the Washington Post a few days ago, informing us wearily that the torture thing isn’t dead yet. The bureaucracy convulses, the wheels of justice grind. So much moral relativism to evaluate.

“They did what they were asked to do in the service of our nation,” CIA director John Brennan said at a news conference in December, defending CIA interrogators after a portion of the 6,700-page Senate Intelligence Committee report was made public.

Serving the nation means no more than doing what you’re told.

When he first came to Columbus Crew SC in the 2006 season, Kei Kamara was only a footnote in the Gold & Black’s offense. Kamara, a forward from Kenema, Sierra Leone, scored three goals in 2006 and two in 2007 before being traded to the San Jose Earthquakes in 2008.
  Things are much different in Kamara’s second time around. Starting in 14 of the team’s first 15 games, the forward has doubled in his goal production in those first two seasons and, as of June 17, leads Major League Soccer with 10 goals.
  Kamara’s total, set in the first 12 games of the season, helped him become the fastest player in club history to reach double digits in goals. He also set a MLS record for most shots in a game, blasting 10 shots and failing to score in a 2-1 loss to Montreal on June 6.
  Experience, Kamara says, has made all the difference.

After E3 2014’s overdose of angry scruffy white men, E3 2015 was a marginally more open and diverse affair. More game publishers than usual held their own press conferences this year, including the first-ever E3 press event from Bethesda, best known for their Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls RPG series. Nintendo confirmed a same-sex relationship option for their next Fire Emblem game. And more publishers showed off games featuring women, as well as mobile games, which are played by more women than men. There’s still a decided lack of racial representation, but this year’s E3 showed that most game studios are starting to listen.

  Another first this year was the PC Gaming Show, presented by PC Gamer magazine and PC hardware maker AMD. Presented in the format of a talk show, the PC Gaming Show showed off footage from upcoming PC games and expansions to existing ones. Though this included some bigger publishers, it also gave smaller studios without the clout to host their own events a chance to show off new game footage that otherwise would have been trampled by the Holy Console Trinity of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

In a tremendous show of solidarity, the Bexley City Council has taken a monumental and pioneering step. On June 23, 2015, the Council passed a non-discrimination ordinance. Ordinance 12-15 bans the discrimination in the city of Bexley based upon sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, race, age, familial status or military status. The measure passed by a vote of 6-0. Council President Richard Sharpe abstained from voting.
  Due to this new ordinance, no one can be refused a job, business service or an apartment in the city of Bexley based on the above listed characteristics. Violators can be fined up to $1000 for their first offense. This new law goes into effect in 30 days.
 

Although it does make me question the purpose of a music critic, I am at that point in my life where I am prepared to admit nobody listens to music the same way. There appears to be a general consensus that some music is actually unlistenable (Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, Krzysztof Penderecki’s Threnody For The Victims Of Hiroshima, anything written by Mike Love), but these are extreme cases – beyond this it's all over the map.

  Some people like a certain beat and a good singer – they would be perfectly fine with hearing Erykah Badu recite a grocery list over a good groove (which I think she might actually do). Some prize virtuosity over all things -- I have friends who will watch Youtube clips of Nuno Bettencourt playing “Flight of the Bumblebee” on guitar, or Greg Lake butchering Aaron Copland’s “Hoedown” on keys. God save us. We have poison pills too -- some of us would write off the best band in the world because one of the guitars was slightly out of tune.