'Noah's Ark' tours
Noah's Ark Holidays, which bills itself as an "ethical travel referral website" was behind the offer, with a pitch for the location in Dogubayazit, Turkey, reading:
You will be awe-inspired, whether you have a personal faith or not, when you visit the National Park of Noah's Ark. Many experts have examined, tested, researched, taken radar scans and recorded lengths of this incredible boat-shaped object that many people, both non-experts and scientists, believe to be the fossilized remains of Noah's Ark. Read what others have said about it and make your own mind up. It really is a mind boggling story! If it is not Noah's Ark, then what are, what look like the fossilized remains of a boat, the same lengths as the lengths detailed in the Book of Genesis for Noah's Ark doing in the "Mountains of Ararat"?
"You can literally stand and smell the history around you in your nostrils," the site maintained.
Illegals making U.S. a leper colony?
"Americans should be told that diseases long eradicated in this country – tuberculosis, leprosy, polio, for example – and other extremely contagious diseases have been linked directly to illegals," said Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz. "For example, in 40 years, only 900 persons were afflicted by leprosy in the U.S.; in the past three years, more than 7,000 cases have been presented."
"This emerging crisis exposes the upside-down thinking of federal immigration policy," he continued. "While legal immigrants must undergo health screening prior to entering the U.S., illegal immigrants far more likely to be carrying contagious diseases are crawling under that safeguard and going undetected until they infect extraordinary numbers of American residents."
"It's creeping into the U.S.," said Dr. William Levis, head of the New York Hansen's Disease Clinic. "This is a real phenomenon. It's a public health threat. New York is endemic now, and nobody's noticed."
That's hot! Paris Hilton ad crashes server
"It was a mixed blessing," said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Carl's Jr. "We wanted to create a Paris Hilton site that would attract visitors, and we certainly achieved that objective. Unfortunately, we just weren't prepared for the influx of traffic, and disappointed a number of visitors. It turned out that Paris was too hot for our servers."
"This commercial is basically soft-core porn," said Melissa Caldwell, research director for the Parents Television Council. "It's inappropriate for television."
Bill Gates of hell: Windows 10 hijacks computers
May 24, 2016: WND reported when Microsoft turned "nasty" in its campaign to coerce hundreds of millions of customers to upgrade to its Windows 10 operating system, a program critics condemn as privacy-invading, data-swiping and "brimming with freemium services and ads."
Microsoft had been trying to lure computer users into its new operating system for months, bombarding them with unending pop-up screens. But many users were comfortable with the systems they have, have no interest in learning new operations and have simply clicked the "X" to get rid of the unwanted solicitation. But they soon found they couldn't do that anymore.
Microsoft changed the coding on the "X" so that clicking it instructed MS to "upgrade" computers to Windows 10. Yes, really. In fact, the two options on the page, "OK" and "Upgrade Now," do the same thing as the "X."
To avoid the forced "upgrade," a user has to go into the fine print. Inside a logo box in the ad is a scheduled date for a mandatory upgrade. The user must look in the tiny type just below that line and find where it says "here" and click on that to avoid the upgrade.
Tech world reaction has been strongly negative to what one analyst called a "deceptive" action.
But is Microsoft concerned? Not really.
Multiple requests from WND for answers to pertinent questions were met with links to company promotions for Windows 10.
Catholics threaten to 'wage war' over Antichrist sign
May 24, 2002: Catholics opposed to a controversial billboard proclaiming the pope is the Antichrist were angry to discover the sign's owner – Outdoor Media Dimensions – failed to remove it after an Oregon man's yearlong contract ended.
The New York-based Catholic League said it was told by a company spokesman the sign would be taken down upon expiration of the contract.
"He's double-crossed us," said Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League. "I'm going to give him an ultimatum – one more month [that the sign remains] and we'll wage war on him. The jig is up!"
Larry Weathers, the Oregon barber behind the placard reading, "The POPE Is The ANTICHRIST, Free Proof," wasn't backing down and hoped to continue broadcasting his message to those driving along Interstate 5 near Medford, Ore., for a few months longer.
"The only way that it's coming down is if it's forced down," Weathers said. "Rome is gonna get enflamed again."
Newsweek clams up on U.S. flag in trash
May 25, 2005: While Newsweek was featuring Hollywood actors on its Feb. 2, 2005, cover and hyping the upcoming Oscars, readers of the Japanese edition were treated to a cover showing the U.S. flag in a garbage can and a headline reading "Dream On, America."
The feature on "the world's rejection of the American way of life" didn't appear in U.S. editions and, despite multiple calls from WND, did not appear to be something Newsweek was anxious to explain.
According to a translation on a blog site, a precede to the story read: "Although Bush calls for an 'expansion of freedom,' the world is not yearning after the 'country of freedom,' the United States, any longer. New evidence of a decline of the United States in every sphere has been confirmed."
"It's one thing for Newsweek to actively promote the notion that America is a 'dead,' 'rotting' country overseas," wrote another blogsite. "But it's quite another thing indeed to hide those efforts from its American readers. If Newsweek really think America is dead, and our flag belongs in the trash, why won't it tell us?"
Rosie, get your gun
May 26, 2000: Comedienne Rosie O'Donnell gave gun-rights advocates ammo with which to criticize her staunch opposition to the National Rifle Association when it was revealed her personal bodyguard had applied for a concealed gun permit, possibly to allow him to carry a weapon when accompanying one of her children to public school.
O'Donnell said that because of threats – which she attributed ironically to her tough gun-control rhetoric – she and her family needed protection.
While it was denied that the bodyguard would carry a gun to school – a prospect that upset many parents – a superintendent confirmed that the school's principal had been approached about whether an armed guard for O'Donnell's son would be welcome at the school when he entered kindergarten the following September.
"I don't personally own a gun," said O'Donnell, who had earlier berated actor Tom Selleck on her TV show over his appearances in NRA-sponsored commercials and promotions. "But if you are qualified, licensed and registered, I have no problem."
Fumbling abortionist jailed for killing patient
May 27, 2000: Despite a long record of injuring women – resulting in his being placed on probation for eight years before finally losing his license – the sentencing of one of Northern California's most notorious abortionists to a year in the county jail for killing one of his patients came as a shock to his supporters.
Dr. Bruce Steir, 68, was immediately taken into custody for the involuntary manslaughter of Sharon Hamptlon, a 27-year-old Medi-Cal patient who bled to death in front of her three-year-old son while being driven home by her mother after an abortion in December 1996.
According to the prosecutor, Steir knew he had punctured Hamptlon's uterus during the procedure, but failed to call emergency personnel because his medical license was already on probation for previous allegations of negligence.
"We're devastated," said Shauna Heckert, executive director of the Feminist Women's Health Center in Chico.
Christians look to form 'new nation'
May 28, 2004: In the wake of a WND exclusive report, hundreds of American citizens contacted a group of Christian activists looking to secede from the United States to form a republic based on Christian principles.
"It's unleashed a barrage," said Cory Burnell, president of Texas-based ChristianExodus.org. "It's been an incredible response, it's nothing I'm used to and is fairly gut-wrenching for me."
Burnell and like-minded believers were looking to encourage thousands of U.S. citizens to migrate to South Carolina, run for state office, and eventually prompt South Carolina to peacefully secede from the union to create a new country where "government derives its power from the consent of the governed."
He said since WND's story was first posted, the number of those actively interested has jumped from a few dozen people to hundreds.
"We had to expand our website's bandwidth due to so much traffic," he said. "We're gonna need some kind of respite."
CBS thrusts 'married gays' on public
"Yes, they are a married, gay couple," a CBS spokeswoman said. "They're married and they're gay. Is there an issue?"
The online write-up on the "married" male couple included:
Twenty-eight-year-old Reichen is a pilot and teaches at a flight school in Los Angeles. A former U.S. Air Force officer and a graduate of the U.S. Air Force academy, he is married to his teammate Chip. He loves skiing and flying and is very into being physically fit. He describes himself as "detail-oriented, caring and thrill-seeking." He speaks French and has traveled internationally quite a bit. Reichen's views on relationships are much more liberal than Chip's – He enjoys flirting with other guys, but that makes Chip upset.
Student refuses to change art
He initially responded to critics who said his mural looked too much like heaven and blurred the boundary between church and state by agreeing to change it. However, he decided that wasn't the right course. His lawyer told the school he should be allowed to finish the work, because requiring a change would constitute discrimination, given the existing painting of the Virgin Mary already on the same wall.
"Kyle is incapable of violating the Establishment Clause because he is not an employee or agent of Napa High School," the attorney wrote.
Kyle hopes he gets to add the finishing touches before graduation.
Clinton-rape accuser fights IRS audit
May 31, 2000: Maybe it was just coincidence.
You go on national television and tell a secret you've kept for 22 years – that you were raped by the most-powerful man in the world, the current president of the United States – and you get a notice form the IRS that your business is going to be audited.
Maybe. But Juanita Broaddrick wasn't buying it and she decided to fight back by suing the Clinton White House and the Justice Department for conducting a campaign to "smear and destroy her reputation."
She was not alone – other Clinton critics had found themselves targeted by the IRS.
Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, former White House Travel Office Director Billy Dale and Elizabeth Ward Gracen have all accused the president of assault or harassment and were audited following their complaints. Dozens of Clinton's political "enemies" also were audited during the 1990s, including the National Rifle Association, Citizens Against Government Waste, the Heritage Foundation, American Spectator, National Review and the Western Journalism Center, founded by WorldNetDaily Editor and CEO Joseph Farah.
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Gun background checks exclude known terrorists
June 1, 2003: While nine out of 10 gun purchases are now subject to instant FBI criminal checks to filter out convicted felons, fugitives and a handful of others, the State Department's list of known foreign terrorists – used by airport security personnel and border patrols – is not included in the database used by dealers to check a buyer's eligibility.
Even the names of suspected al-Qaida cell members in the U.S. would not show up in a background check by a gun store.
"As long as they have evaded detection by law enforcement authorities and are not identified as prohibited persons, they could purchase firearms from licensed dealers," a report prepared by the Congressional Research Service said. "They could also purchase firearms at gun shows from either licensed or unlicensed persons."
Muslim woman attacks flag-waving American family
June 2, 2016: WND reported when a family in Lawrenceville, a suburb of Atlanta, said they were attacked by an unknown Muslim woman wearing a full burqa simply because they were flying an American flag for Memorial Day.
Amina Ali Ahra, 30, was arrested on two counts of simple battery after being accused of attacking a mother and daughter at their home, reported Fox 5 News in Atlanta. Dami Arno told police she was in the garage talking with her daughter when Ahra emerged from the woods wearing a burqa, grabbed the flag from off the mailbox and charged at them. She told Fox 5 she still can’t believe it all happened on American soil.
The alleged attacker told police she is “from Africa,” but would give them no other information about her identity, not even a local address. The U.S. government has imported more than 132,000 Somali refugees, and thousands more from Sudan, over the past 25 years. Atlanta has a large Somali refugee community.
“A lady walked out of our woods in a full burqa, full attire, stares at us for a minute, then grabs my American flag off of my mailbox and charges towards us with it, just swinging it with all her might,” the wife and mother told the news outlet.
Some neighbors in the area said they were upset that the Muslim woman was only charged with simple battery and not a hate crime.
Kerry, 'Lurch' – twins separated at birth?
June 2, 2004: On this day 3 years ago, the John Kerry for President campaign took a giant 'lurch' backwards.
Howell Raines, former editor of the New York Times, expressed his doubts about the Democratic candidate in a Guardian newspaper commentary, comparing Kerry to Lurch from television's "Addams Family."
"The TV camera is an X-ray for picking up attitudinal truths, and Kerry's lantern jaw and 'Addams Family' face somehow reinforce the message that this guy has passed from ponderous to pompous and is so accustomed to privilege that he doesn't have to worry about looking goofy. It's as if Lurch had gone to Choate."
"I personally find him easier to talk to than Al Gore," wrote Raines, "but there's no denying that he's ponderous. And he's pompous in a way that Gore is not. With Gore, you feel that if he could choose, he would have been born poor and cool. Kerry radiates the feeling that he is entitled to his sense of entitlement. Probably that comes from spending too much time with Teddy Kennedy, but it's a problem."
Was Jesus Christ really a woman?
June 3, 2005: A publisher of a new version of the Gospels, based on Thomas Jefferson's selective editing of the New Testament, went one step further and changed the gender of the Messiah to female and named her Judith Christ.
The new version, according to the publisher, revised familiar stories, tranforming the "Prodigal Son" into the "Prodigal Daughter" and the "Lord's Prayer" into the "Lady's Prayer." The familiar passage on the crucifixion, from John 19:17-18, was changed to read: "And She bearing her cross went forth. There they crucified Judith."
Amazon.com readers, posting their reviews of the new Gospel, were not amused. One read:
"A friend with a Hebrew doctorate noted to me: 'There is no feminine form of the name Jesus (or Joshua). Judith is the feminine form of the name Juda - or Judas.' How perfectly fitting!"
Clinton for-profit education scandal dwarfs Trump U
June 3, 2016: WND reported that Bill and Hillary Clinton’s attack on Donald Trump over Trump University invited increased scrutiny of the Clintons’ involvement in a for-profit education scandal in which a company that runs shell colleges paid Bill Clinton $16.5 million to be its pitchman.
While the Clintons were collecting millions, Hillary Clinton’s State Department funneled at least $55 million to a group run by the college company, Laureate Education Inc., according to Peter Schweizer’s book “Clinton Cash.”
Clinton abruptly resigned from his post as “honorary chancellor” in April 2015 when the disclosure was publicized. Documents uncovered by Washington-based watchdog Judicial Watch show Laureate Education paid the former president through a “shell corporation” pass-through account that evidently passed State Department scrutiny while Hillary was secretary of state.
Further, in a story showing how for-profit colleges encourage huge student debt, Forbes found the biggest borrower on the for-profit college list is Laureate Education’s Walden University, whose grad students borrowed $756 million in 2014.
Bill Clinton’s hiring in 2004 as “honorary chancellor” sent the former president scurrying around the globe to make promotional appearances at Laureate campuses in countries such as Malaysia, Peru and Spain.
The company, created in 2004 on the base of the tutoring chain Sylvan Learning Centers, already owned 75 schools in 30 countries and was poised for a massive expansion as Bill Clinton’s name drew top-name, left-leaning investors, including George Soros, Henry Kravis of Wall Street investment banking firm KKR and Paul Allen of Microsoft fame.
Parrot witnesses murder, screams: 'Don't f---ing shoot!'
June 3, 2016: He may be a beautiful African grey parrot, but the bird apparently has the mouth of a sailor – because he wouldn't stop shouting, "Don't f---ing shoot!"
The parrot, named Bud, could have been giving clues in a murder-mystery case after he witnessed the slaying of his owner in Ensley Township, Michigan.
In May 2015, Michigan resident Martin Duram, 45, was shot and killed in his home. Martin's wife, Glenna, was found with a gunshot wound to her head, but she survived.
Michigan State Police say she left three suicide notes, and she's now considered a suspect. Officials believed Glenna may have shot Martin five times before turning a gun on herself.
"I know for a fact I didn't kill my husband," Glenna told police, according to WOOD-TV 8, a station in Grand Rapids.
Meanwhile, after the slaying, Bud continued repeating the disturbing phrase in Martin's voice: "Don't f---ing shoot!"
"That bird picks up everything and anything, and it's got the filthiest mouth around," Martin Duram's mother, Lillian, told the station.
Duram's father, Charles, added, "I personally think he was there and he remembers it, and he was saying it."
Dr. Dobson takes defiant stand on Obamacare
June 4, 2012: WND broke the news when Dr. James Dobson took a defiant stand on Obamacare and issued a loud and clear message to President Obama: "I WILL NOT pay the surcharge for abortion services. ... So come and get me if you must, Mr. President. I will not bow before your wicked regulation."
Malibu Babs, the eco-hypocrite
June 4, 2003: People who live in 10,000-square-foot oceanfront mansions shouldn't throw stones.
That reminder came from WND columnist Michelle Malkin in a strange case involving singer/actress Barbra Streisand.
Wrote Malkin of Barbra: This multiple home-owning, custom-built SUV-riding, California coastline-hogging diva has lobbed a $50 million lawsuit at an eco-activist who posted photos of her massive estate on the Internet.
Malibu Babs says the litigation is about protecting her privacy. She claims that the aerial pictures ... violate anti-paparazzi laws and "provide a road map into her residence."
Mourning in America
June 5, 2004: At the age of 93, Ronald Wilson Reagan, America's 40th president and the nation's longest-living ex-president, died.
One of the most beloved presidents in American history, Reagan passed away at his home in California.
Nancy Reagan told reporters the end was near when she said, poignantly, "This is it."
President George W. Bush said of "the Gipper":
"He always told us that for America, the best was yet to come. We comfort ourselves in the knowledge that this is true for him, too. His work is done. And now a shining city awaits him."
Saudi executioner has knack for whack
June 6, 2003: Muhammad Saad al-Beshi is every employer's dream employee – a guy who loves his job.
Like most new employees, al-Beshi admitted, he was nervous when he started his job in 1998, but after a few beheadings, he got into the swing of things, so to speak.
"The criminal was tied and blindfolded. With one stroke of the sword I severed his head. It rolled meters away," he said.
The "contented" father of seven said his unusual occupation causes "no drawbacks" for his social life."
"It doesn't matter to me," he said. "Two, four, 10 – as long as I'm doing God's will, it doesn't matter how many people I execute."
Scientology shifts into NASCAR
June 7, 2006: When most people think of NASCAR, they think of fast, flashy cars highly decorated with the markings of their sponsors.
The kinds of sponsors have varied greatly over the years, from cigarette and beer companies, to food products and even Viagra. But a new entrant to the circuit raised a few eyebrows: Scientology.
Driver Kenton Gray, of La Verne, Calif., piloted the No. 27 "DIANETICS" car, featuring the erupting volcano from the cover the 1950 book by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology.
Gray says he's proud to have Dianetics as a sponsor, saying techniques he's learned from Scientology have helped him.
"It's markedly improved my focus and my consistency," he said. "Through Dianetics I've handled stress and increased my performance and ability to compete – both on the track and in life."
2004: Reaganites in Soviet gulags
June 8, 2004: While the certainty with which Ronald Reagan distilled the complexities of the Cold War down to a matter of good versus evil embarrassed and infuriated U.S. liberals, the former president had one group of fans in the evil empire who were "ecstatic" over his willingness to tell the truth – Russian dissidents locked away in the USSR's gulags.
Natan Sharansky, once a Jewish Russian prisoner and later an Israeli cabinet member, recalled the thrill of reading in his prison cell Reagan's 1983 "evil empire" speech.
"We dissidents were ecstatic," he said. "Finally, the leader of the free world had spoken the truth – a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us."
"Reagan may have confused names and dates, but his moral compass was always good," Sharansky said.
When the Gipper got his gun
June 9, 2004: It was inevitable the passing of Ronald Reagan would stir memories of those knew him.
One of those memories that came to light was shared by long-time Iowa resident Melba King who told of the hot, humid autumn night in 1933, when a mugger slipped behind her and shoved a gun into her back, demanding her money, as she strolled home in downtown Des Moines.
The next thing she heard came from the window of a second-story room facing the street: "Leave her alone or I'll shoot you right between the shoulders."
It was a young Des Moines radio sportscaster named Ronald Wilson Reagan who had overheard the confrontation and was now pointing a .45-caliber revolver at the would-be robber.
It worked. The mugger fled, not knowing the secret Reagan waited 50 years to reveal.
'Red Army' behind Occupy Wall Street?
June 9, 2011: WND's former Jerusalem bureau chief, Aaron Klein, was the first reporter to predict the “spontaneous” movement known as Occupy Wall Street and expose its well-orchestrated efforts to destroy capitalism.
WND was the first news agency to unmask the Saul Alinsky-style radicals whose organizational tactics date back to the 1960s and who comprised a major part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Klein’s reporting documented how the Occupy Wall Street movement was well planned by seasoned extremists and not the spontaneous uprising it claimed to be, while alleging the radicals behind the movement maintained White House connections.
WND revealed how the movement was orchestrated at the highest levels of American power – with the goal of expediting a coup that had been under way, in earnest, since Obama took the oath of office.
Hawaii elections official: Obama not born here
June 10, 2010: WND stunned the world when it publicized the assertions of former Honolulu Senior Elections Clerk Tim Adams, who made the astonishing claim Barack Obama was definitely not born in Hawaii as the White House maintains, and that a long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate for Obama does not even exist in the Aloha State.
"There is no birth certificate," said Tim Adams. "It's like an open secret. There isn't one. Everyone in the government there knows this."
Adams told WND, "I managed the absentee-ballot office. It was my job to verify the voters' identity."
"I had direct access to the Social Security database, the national crime computer, state driver's license information, international passport information, basically just about anything you can imagine to get someone's identity," Adams explained. "I could look up what bank your home mortgage was in. I was informed by my boss that we did not have a birth record [for Obama]."
At the time, there were conflicting reports that Obama had been born at the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, as well as the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children across town. So Adams says his office checked with both facilities.
"They told us, 'We don't have a birth certificate for him,'" he said. "They told my supervisor, either by phone or by e-mail, neither one has a document that a doctor signed off on saying they were present at this man's birth."
Another WND leap forward – Farah syndicated
June 10, 2002: WND announced the next leap forward for WorldNetDaily – the syndication of WND founder and editor Joseph Farah's "Between the Lines" column.
The deal with Creators Syndicate puts Farah's columns in newspapers across the U.S. and around the world.
Creators is the same syndication partner that launched Bill O'Reilly's "No Spin Zone" column for WorldNetDaily into the fastest-growing opinion page feature in the country. Creators also took on the marketing of Ilana Mercer's weekly WorldNetDaily column. David Limbaugh's weekly column, originating in WorldNetDaily, was the first commentary developed for the Internet to achieve newspaper syndication status through Creators.
Interested in seeing Farah's column in your hometown paper? Contact your local newspaper editor.
Disabled unwelcome on California beaches?
June 11, 2000: With the stroke of a pen, federal officials closed off half the beach access for many disabled people by shutting down to motorized vehicles a long-used, 3-mile stretch of beach in remote Northern California.
Bureau of Land Management officials were clear that the closure had nothing to do with protecting endangered species or near misses with pedestrians by wreckless drivers. The decision essentially came down to aesthetics – hikers wanted a primitive experience and didn't want to see vehicles on the beach.
With the exception of 3 miles of beach in Pismo Beach on California's central coast, hikers have 1,100 miles of sand where vehicles are excluded in the state.
"The BLM has effectively told everyone with a physical disability that they're excluded from a public beach," said one of the lawyers who unsuccessfully fought the closure. "For some people, the only way they can get out there is with a motorized vehicle. They've been excluded. That's the bottom line."
CNN's deceitful Vietnam report
Ultimately, CNN and Time apologized for the documentary and fired the producers.
Ban Ann
June 13, 2006: Best-sellers were once made by being banned in Boston.
But a pair of New Jersey state legislators tried to ban a book already atop the best-sellers list.
Two Democrats – Assemblywomen Joan Quigley and Linda Stender – pushed to ban "Godless" from all bookstores in the Garden State because of Coulter's biting criticism of four 9-11 widows known as "the Jersey Girls," who demanded investigations into President Bush's role in allowing the terrorist attacks.
"No one in New Jersey should buy this book and allow Ann Coulter to profit from her hate-mongering," the two said in a joint statement. "We are asking New Jersey retailers statewide to stand with us and express their outrage by refusing to carry or sell copies of Coulter's book. Her hate-filled attacks on our 9-11 widows has no place on New Jersey bookshelves."
Southerners not whistling Dixie over flag flap
June 14, 2001: Any doubts Southern pride still beats in the breasts of the great-great-grandsons of the Confederacy were put to rest when heritage groups came to the defense of a Florida man told he could not park his pick-up truck in the parking lot of a public utility because it had a Confederate flag license plate.
Officials with the Orlando Utilities Commission reportedly told Randy Jones, a former OUC employee of 28 years and now a subcontractor for a private firm doing business with OUC, that he had to either remove the plate, cover it up or park his truck across the street. If he failed to take any of those steps, reports said, OUC officials threatened to have his truck towed.
"Jones has had the Confederate flag plate on the front of his pick-up truck for 13 years. It was a Father's Day gift from his son," said Ron Holland, editor of the Dixie Daily News. "Southerners are outraged about this attack on Southern heritage, free speech and the First Amendment."
"We're behind this case a thousand percent," added a spokesman for the Southern Legal Resource Center.