Decision over ‘reasonable’ spanking stirs debate

SPANKA Massachusetts court ruled Thursday that parents cannot be held criminally liable for spanking their children as long as they use “reasonable” force and don’t cause kids physical harm or mental distress. Still, experts say that even though spanking may be permissible, it’s not advisable.

In its ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court overturned the conviction of a dad who publicly spanked his daughter in 2011. At the time, the little girl was almost 3 years old. In their decision, the justices said that spanking “remains firmly woven into our nation’s social fabric” and “it follows that we must guard against the imposition of criminal sanctions for the use of parenting techniques still widely regarded as permissible and warranted.” MORE

Who’s burning black churches? Arsonists hit at least 3 Southern congregations in the last 7 days

church-fireAt least five black churches burned overnight this week, and three have been attributed to arson.

Last week’s shooting at Charleston’s Emanuel AME was perhaps the deadliest attack on a black church since the 1963 church bombing by the Klan in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four children. Since then, another specter from America’s violent racist history is again rearing its head – setting black churches ablaze. MORE

Egypt sees sandstorm and earthquake on the same day

SANDEgypt faced treacherous weather conditions Saturday as a sandstorm blanketed the north of the country and a magnitude-5.2 earthquake centered in the Sinai peninsula shook buildings more than 200 miles away in the capital, Cairo.

The epicenter of the quake was 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) southeast of the beachside town of Nuweiba in the Sinai, and about 75 kilometers (46 miles) south of Egypt’s border with Israel, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. MORE

New Research Surfaces Spelling Bad News For Tylenol: It Doesn’t Just Kill Pain… it kills positive emotions.

tyl-728x400Researchers from Ohio State University have discovered that the commonly used pain reliever, acetaminophen, has a previously unknown side effect: it kills positive emotions. In the study, participants who took acetaminophen reported feeling fewer strong emotions when they were shown very pleasant or very disturbing photos, compared to those who took placebos. You might be thinking correlation doesn’t mean causation, but when you use the Bradford Hill criteria, and examine all of the other studies done regarding the psychological effects of over the counter pain killers, the picture becomes clearer. MORE