2,700-Year-Old Private Toilet
Archaeologists To Examine Pottery, Animal Bones, And Human Waste Found Inside
Also on today’s menu:
Bending The Plain Language Of The Law
Draft Plan Has PSTC Vetting Police Misconduct Claims
It’s a sh—y job but someone has to do it. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) Archaeologists have discovered a private toilet dating from the seventh century before Christ at an estate in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem, commanding a view over the Temple Mount. Yaakov Billig, who directed the dig for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), said it may have been a residence of a king of Judah.
At that time, such an amenity would have been a rare luxury. “Only the rich could afford toilets,” Billig said, noting that “a thousand years later, the Mishnah and the Talmud discuss the various criteria that define a rich person, and Rabbi Yossi [suggests that] to be rich is [to have] a toilet near his table.”
Archaeologists have previously found a number of other toilets in Jerusalem, including one at a building known as the House of Ahiel. In 2016, experts announced the discovery of a separate commode in the ancient city of Tel Lachish, about 40 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
Inside the septic tank of this latest discovery, archaeologists found remnants of pottery and animal bones and human waste, Rossella Tercatin reported for the Jerusalem Post. The archaeologists plan to analyze the discoveries to find out more about dietary habits in the ancient city.
Bending The Plain Language Of The Law
The Superior Court for Southern Hillsborough County certainly bent the “plain language” of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to uphold Governor Chris Sununu’s decision to end Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which Congress provided as a supplement to standard unemployment benefits in order to keep families in their homes and food in their mouths — as well as to stimulate the economy — in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Congress ordered the aid to continue until September 6, but Sununu cut it off nearly three months early, on June 19.
The decision signed by Presiding Justice Jacalyn Colburn strains credibility by asserting that, although the PUA funds were to be distributed through an account established under the Social Security Act, “it does not follow that the PUA benefits themselves are ‘advantages available under the Social Security Act,’” and, therefore, there is no legal obligation to provide those benefits.
Colburn goes on to say that the Secretary of Labor is the party responsible for making PUA assistance available to eligible individuals. “Thus, if anyone has ‘defied the plain language of 15 U.S.C. 9021(c)’ by not making PUA benefits available … it is the Secretary of Labor, not the defendants.” That, even though Sununu prevented the Secretary of Labor from issuing the benefits.
Draft Plan Has PSTC Vetting Police Misconduct Claims
Draft recommendations call for a new state entity, the Law Enforcement Conduct Review Committee, to be administratively attached to the Police Standards and Training Council, rather than operating as an independent body.
A committee charged with making recommendations to the governor and Legislature on how to handle complaints of officer misconduct will be reviewing the draft plan, and proposed definitions of what constitutes police misconduct, next week.
Thursday’s meeting was cut short because a key member of the committee, Attorney Julian Jefferson, could not be present. Jefferson had wanted to see the new body operate outside Police Standards and Training to help emphasize that it is not tied to law enforcement and would be able to make impartial decisions on the merits of the complaints.
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