By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A vital question of social equality was tested recently before the scientific community. Do monkeys accept the social justice issue of equal pay?
We have uncovered an experiment that shows quite conclusively the answer to this question.
Video below the fold…
I was recently interviewed about the highly troubling case involving the killing of German exchange student Diren Dede (left) in a Montana garage. The shooter was Markus Kaarma who has been charged with deliberate homicide after he allegedly set up a trap for Debe with bait, motion cameras . . . and the state’s castle doctrine law.
For those who are tired of the duopoly controlling our nation with ruinous results, the debate this week for the Republican nomination for governor was bizarre but at least a refreshing change from the robotic, pre-written answers given by Republican and Democratic professionals. The Idaho debate organizers allowed two fringe candidates to appear with the Republican and Tea Party candidates: Harley Brown, a biker (in biker regalia) who declared that he is about as politically correct as a “turd in a punch bowl” and Walt Bayes, a guy so anti-government that he says that his wife drove for years without a license after they objected to the concept of an emissions test. Gov. Butch Otter and state Sen. Russ Fulcher were barely noticed in what followed. A clip is posted below.
There is a disturbing report out of San Bernardino County where Sheriff’s deputies claimed that they fired 13 rounds, wounding Keivon Young. Young, 18, had been mistaken for a murder suspect, Robert Pope, yet the police did not identify themselves. However, they said that Young was “sneaking through the people’s front yards and hiding behind bushes” and fired after he reached into his waistband and “withdrew two knives.” Young’s attorney says that police transcripts show that the knives were discovered after the shooting.
We have discussed a long litany of taser controversies including the recent tasering of a 10 year old boy. Now, in University Place in Washington, Ron Hillstrom is dead after he was reportedly tasered by four officers — each tasering the man. Hillstrom died after the encounter with the police.
Continue reading “Police Accused of Tasering Washington Man Four Times Before He Collapsed and Died”
Yesterday, my son Jack and I finally made it to Zion National Park, a hiking dream of mine for many years. I have the honor of being the keynote speaker for the Annual Southern Utah Federal Law Symposium being held in St. George, Utah. It was a wonderful opportunity to hike the Zion, though today proved a bit more exciting than expected. (There are a few iPhone pictures from yesterday)
Raymond Cote, an attorney in New York, has resigned not only from his position as board president but withdrawn from his campaign to be re-elected to the Mahopac Board of Education. The reason? An open mike caught him referring to a parent during a meeting break as a “chubby wubby.”
We have a long list of cases where police have arrested citizens for filming them in public despite repeated court rulings that this is a protected practice. I previously discussed this issue in a column. Massachusetts’s police and prosecutors have been particularly aggressive to pursuing citizens. That record has continued this week with Karen Dziewit, 24, of Chicopee who has been charged with unlawful wiretapping after she recorded her arrest.
There is an interesting decision out of the Iowa Supreme Court in a case brought by former Drake University law student, Nicole Shumate, who sued over the refusal to allow her to bring a service dog in training into the school. The court ruled that, while state law requires such access, the law does not afford a private right of action to enforce the provisions of the law.
Continue reading “A Right Without A Remedy: Former Drake Law Student Loses Lawsuit Against School Over Alleged Ban On Service Animals”
There is a obvious concern this week over the selection of the newest member of the board of directors for Burisma Holdings, Ukraine’s largest private gas producer: Vice President Joe Biden’s youngest son, Hunter Biden. Despite a strong resume, it seems rather coincidental that Ukraine is receiving aid from the United States and recently had a visit from Vice President Joe Biden only to decide that his youngest son was the very best person to sit on its board.
We have previously discussed the increasing use of tasers by police in circumstances where other avenues were available, including cases involving young children (here and here and here and here and here and here) or the elderly (here and here and here and here). Now we have a case where two Indiana police officers tasered a 10-year-old, 94-pound boy at the Tender Teddies Day Care in Martinsville.
Continue reading “Taser Tots: Indiana Police Taser Ten Year Old Boy At Day Care”
We have previously discussed the lack of priority in this country as Congress has spent trillions on wars and corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan while our most basic state and federal public programs and services are cut. Indeed, we spend billions on increasingly hostile countries like Pakistan or affluent countries like Israel while our educational system and infrastructure collapses. There is no greater example of that lack of priority than the decline of our court systems which are woefully underfunded and facing a growing crisis in dealing with civil and criminal cases. I often speak to judges and they all complain that they are overwhelmed and unable to meet the most basic demands of the legal system. In California, one court had to resort of a garage sale while another is imposing a $1 a page charge for people to get copies of needed court records. Our legal system is one of the most basic governmental functions — the very definition of a nation committed to the rule of law. However, California alone shows how dire the situation has become.
We recently discussed the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Schuette v. BAMN that states, like Michigan, can prohibit any use of race in admissions in a “color-blind” state entrance system for colleges and universities. Now, a leading school in one of the states with such a color-blind rule is being accused of violating state law by one of its professors. Tim Groseclose, a political science professor at UCLA, has posted data that he was able to obtain from the school that he argues is proof of “cheating” by school officials who refuse to comply with the state law. The question is whether this will be the basis for a post-Schuette challenge in states like California.
It is now time for another addition of “Things That Tick Me Off” — my opportunity to vent frustrations and petty injuries to a captive audience. Today’s recipient is the Federal Aviation Administration. As some of you might have followed on Twitter, last night was an unmitigated nightmare as I returned from Chicago after a speech. It was bad enough to get a horoscope before a speech telling me to avoid speaking at all costs, but then the fire alarm was triggered at an FAA facility on Tuesday — forcing flights at both O’Hare and Midway to a grinding halt — it triggered a series of events that grew increasingly bizarre. Indeed, yesterday was clearly the result of my ignoring my horoscope and speaking despite the fateful warning. My frequent flyer Odysseus moment.
Continue reading “Things That Tick Me Off: The Federal Aviation Administration”
The Sao Paulo police are distributing a pamphlet for tourists coming to the country for the World Cup next month and presumably those who will be coming for the next Olympics. The police strongly encourage people not to “react, scream or argue” because that will only make robbers angry or nervous and push them to greater acts of violence. It is probably sound advice but the optics are not great for a country accused of rampant corruption and abuse in the police forces as well as runaway crime.
Continue reading “Brazilian Police: Please Don’t Scream When You Are Being Robbed”