Dire predictions . . .

IF YOU VISIT SAUDI, LEAVE THE MAGIC 8-BALL AT HOME. According to Robert Mackey, on the NYT The Lede news blog, the Saudis get really chuffed over that sort of thing. "Saudi Arabia Delays Execution of TV ‘Sorcerer,’ Lawyer Says" is an article about a Lebanese television psychic sentenced to death for “sorcery”. No foolin'.

Until he was arrested in 2008 while on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, Ali Sabat was the host of a satellite television program in which he promised to give “advice and predictions about the future,” to callers from around the Arab world to his studio in Beirut.

According to Amnesty International, Mr. Sabat was sentenced to death in Medina in November, “after secret court hearings where he had no legal representation or assistance.” The human rights group also reported that “on March 10, a court in Medina upheld the death sentence. The judges said that he deserved to be sentenced to death because he had practiced ’sorcery’ publicly for several years before millions of viewers.” The court added that his execution would act as a deterrent to what it called the increasing number of “foreign magicians” coming to Saudi Arabia.

And there's politics, too:

Ms. Lutz added that the legal expert suggested that Mr. Sabat might have been given the harshest possible sentence because he is a Shiite Muslim.

Burqas, hijabs, niqabs, female mutilation, amputation, public beheadings. And our politically-correct think they should be allowed to impose their warpage on our culture? Sometimes, bad is bad.