Police are treating a recent escape by a handcuffed suspect as “Houdiniesque” after Bryan McMenamin, 38, was able to drive away with a police cruiser. He had been handcuffed behind his back and placed in the back of the car with another suspect. Of course, there is the possibility that it was not as much “Houdiniesque” as “Keystone Copian” if there an alternative explanation like the cuffs were not entirely closed.
Year: 2014
North Korea remains a fascinating, if disturbing, preoccupation in the world like a country that “time forgot” out of a 1950s film. That image was on display this week when Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un visited the pride of his submarine force — a Romeo class submarine that was abandoned over 50 years ago. As someone who like to follow military history and technology, the sight of a leader on a Romeo class sub is like President Obama riding on Civil War spotter balloon as a demonstration of our continued surveillance capabilities. What is also bizarre is that, after last week giving instructions the North Korean meteorologists on how to make more accurate predictions, the Supreme Leader reportedly taught submariners “new tactics.”
We have been discussing the trend toward suspending and expelling students (and teachers) for comments that they make on social media (here and here and here and here and here and here) Minnesota high school student Reid Sagehorn has the added problem of not just suspension but a police investigation after posting two words in a tweet. He is now suing both the Elk River District and the local police.
Republicans and rape comments appear to have an almost cyclic regularity with election periods. If you recall, the Republicans were in a strong position last elections when candidates started making bizarre and at times creepy comments — alienating voters and tipping the balance in the Senate.
Now, Republican Maine state Representative Lawrence Lockman appears to have lined up early in the rape theme line (as early as 1995) in addition to extreme statements regarding abortion and homosexuality is under fire for comments he’s made in the media regarding rape, abortion, and homosexuality.
There is an interesting case out of Texas where Candice Anderson is suing General Motors over its defective ignition switches. Anderson, however, has more than the usual damages. She is a convicted felon in the death of her fiancé, Mikale Erickson, in November 2004 when she lost control of her 2004 Saturn Ion in Canton, Texas. While she was not drunk or on drugs, the police could not find a reason for the crash so prosecutors charged her with manslaughter. To avoid a longer sentence, she pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years probation as a felon. Later, however, she learned that her case was on GM’s list of accidents caused by their defective cars – no one bothered to tell her.
There is an exciting discovery by British scientists that could significantly decrease tooth surgeries and extractions. The technique is known as Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralization and it has been found to repair tooth decay by using electrical current to boost the tooth’s natural repair process. It is being called a “time warp” for teeth.
Continue reading “Tooth “Time Warp”: British Researchers Discover Method To Reverse Tooth Decay”
A substance-abuse counselor, Sherri Lynn Wilkins, 53, has been sentenced to 55 years to life in prison for second-degree murder after hitting and killing 31-year-old Phillip Moreno in November 2012 — and then driving away with him dying on her windshield.
We have been discussing the case of Sarah Jones, former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader who sued a gossip site, TheDirty.com, after comments appeared from third parties that said that she had sex with half of the football team’s players and had contracted sexually transmitted diseases. (Strangely, the site did not argue that the statement was facially implausible and thus not defamatory since it did not appear in 2010 that anyone could catch anything from the Bengals). Jones, a high school teacher, won a rare $338,000 libel verdict against the site for third party postings. However, the United States for the Third Circuit has reversed the verdict and found that the site is protected under under the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996.
Continue reading “Give me a C – D – A: Sixth Circuit Tosses Cheerleader’s Defamation Lawsuit”
The Supreme Court has handed down a unanimous decision in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus. This is an important case for the free speech community. It involved poorly written Ohio laws that SBA prohibit the use of false statements in campaign advertisements. It allows politicians to harass public interest groups and force them into costly administrative litigation. The case was brought by the pro-life organization, the Susan B. Anthony List (“SBA List”). Associate Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion for the Court in finding that SBA had sufficient injury to bring the challenge, another victory this term for standing this term after years of disastrous rollbacks by the Court that have barred groups from the courts. The SBA case was one of those considered by my Supreme Court class and once again the class got the prediction right and also mirrored the Court on the merits. We voted 8-2 to reverse the Sixth Circuit. We then voted 9-1 in predicting a reversal.
When I first met Mark Shurtleff, he was Utah Attorney General leading the case against my clients, the Brown family in the Sister Wives case. After years of abusive investigations and public statements, we challenged the state criminalization of polygamy and Shurtleff fought to defend the law. Shurtleff is now on the opposite side of the line and has decried the treatment of his own family in the investigation of his own alleged wrongdoing. Shurtleff angrily denounced the Utah law enforcement as basically thugs engaging “Dirty Harry” tactics in a raid on his home.
Continue reading “Former Utah Attorney General Denounces Police For “Dirty Harry” Tactics”
We have been discussing the disconnect between the parties and the voters this year. The voters have made clear that they (1) detest the ruling elite and (2) want real change. The two parties controlling our duopoly have thus far responded with the Democrats virtually pre-nominating Hillary Clinton (with Joe Biden as a contender and the Republican leaders pushing for Jeb Bush. The process of reinvention has begun. Clinton has been a fascinating case study. Recently, she came out and said that her Iraq War vote was a “mistake” but that she has learned the truth over the years (despite refusing to listen to many who opposed the war at the time). Now, she is claiming the same gradual realization that gays and lesbians deserve equal rights in marriage. Usually in Washington media, politicians are allowed to make a spin, refuse to answer a question, that the media simply meekly fades away. As shown in the video below, however, this time Clinton was facing NPR icon Terry Gross who persisted in trying to unravel what she viewed as spin. While unfailingly polite, Gross kept returning to question of why Clinton for so many years did not support same-sex marriage. Eventually, Hillary expressed discomfort if not anger at the continued questioning. Putting aside the merits, most of us were shocked for another reason. There was a reporter who actually refused to let a politician duck and spin in an interview. It was like seeing a Phoenix rise in Washington journalism.
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Weekend Contributor
I fell in love with the poetry of Li-Young Lee when I read his debut collection Rose. Published in 1986, the book won the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award. In the foreword that he wrote for Rose, Gerald Stern said that when he first came across Li-Young Lee’s poetry, he “was amazed by the large vision, the deep seriousness and the almost heroic ideal “reminiscent more of John Keats, Rainer Maria Rilke and perhaps Theodore Roethke than William Carlos Williams on the one hand or T.S. Eliot on the other.” Stern added that what characterizes Lee’s poetry “Is a certain humility, a kind of cunning, a love of plain speech, a search for wisdom and understanding…”
Stern also wrote in his foreword that the “father” in contemporary poetry “tends to be a pathetic soul or bungler or a sweet loser, overwhelmed by the demands of family and culture and workplace.” He said that the father in Lee’s poems isn’t anything like that. He said the “father” in Lee’s poetry is “more godlike”–and that the poet’s job “becomes not to benignly or tenderly forgive him, but to withstand him and comprehend him, and variously fear and love him.”
Happy Father’s Day to all on the Turley Blog. I am spending a quiet day with the family (my Sunday morning dawn hike on Billy Goat trail was cut short by a barrier put up by the Park Service due to flooding).
Continue reading “HAPPY FATHER’S DAY”
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)- Weekend contributor
This is a personal story that I need to share with you. For many years before I became a Dad, Fathers Day always gave me mixed emotions. Growing up without knowing my Father always made me uncomfortable on this special day. While I always considered that my Mother did a masterful job handling being both a Mother and a Father to me and my siblings, there was still something missing. My Dad would have turned 93 this past week and his birthday went by with only a few Facebook posts and comments from my siblings and relatives. I am sure that my Mother was thinking about him on that day, but when I was young, Fathers Day was not a holiday in our house.
My Dad was born in 1921 and was one of 11 children born to Alex and Min Rafferty. He grew up in Northern Lake County, Illinois and his father and my Grandfather, ran a moving and storage business that kept the entire family busy. My Dad was named Lawrence, but was called Sonny by his Mother and Father and his siblings because he was born after a few girls in a row so my Grandfather was happy to have another Son. I was never able to personally wish him a Happy Fathers Day because he was killed in the Service in March of 1951, just a few short weeks before I was born. However, in the last several years I have thought about him often and written about him and his life, but I still have never wished him a Happy Fathers Day. Continue reading “Happy Fathers Day Sonny”