We have been discussing the Court’s ruling in the Michigan affirmative action case, Schuette v. BAMN. This included a recent column in CNN with two of my George Washington law students. This Sunday, civil rights attorney Shanta Driver went on Fox News Sunday to denounce the decision as “racist” and presumably anyone supporting the result. The comments caused quite a stir and highlights the continuing difficulty in discussing such issues — and the fear of some that they will be labeled racists if they support a color-blind admissions process.
Year: 2014
While the government continues to arrest those who protest its policies, Iran has been faced with a novel form of protest by citizens who are shaving their heads in solidarity with prisoners being killed and brutalized in the nation’s prison complex. These include political detainees at the infamous Evin Prison who were shown on a recent video being beaten by Revolutionary Guards. At the center of the controversy is Gholam Hossein Esmaili, a true fanatic who went on television to deny all such allegations, say that his guards have been uniformly “polite” to detainees, and that the videotape is a conspiracy of the West to overthrow the government. While most countries would investigate him for possible criminal acts and certainly fire him for abuse, the Islamic Republic promoted him to head Tehran Province’s courts. That’s right, the mullahs felt that he was perfect to be put into the court system. In the meantime, the government shut down the Ebtekar Newspaper , which reported on aspects of the controversy. By the way, Evin Prison (left) under the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi held a reported 1,500 detainees. Under Iran’s Islamic government, it hold a reportedly 15,000. While it holds conventional prisoners, it holds so many dissident intellectuals and professors that it is now nicknamed “Evin University.”
We might not need to honor the right to confront one’s witness in the case of the scattered grass clippings.
by Charlton (Chuck) Stanley, weekend contributor
One year ago this month, I posted my first blog as a weekend guest blogger. You can read it here. That story involved a major oil spill when the Exxon Pegasus pipeline ruptured at Mayflower. That pipeline was carrying tar sands oil. Thousands of gallons of raw oil spilled from the rupture into the south end of Lake Conway and parts of Mayflower. Oil ran down the streets of the small town.
A small geography lesson. Little Rock is located in almost the exact center of the state. Little Rock and North Little Rock are bisected by the Arkansas River. Conway is about thirty miles northwest of Little Rock. Mayflower is between Conway and Little Rock and considered by local people to be a suburb of both cities.
At about 7:00 PM Central Time, a massive tornado hit Mayflower. The total number of dead and injured is not known yet, but an early breaking news story says a body was found near I-40. Cars, trucks and recreational vehicles are shown piled up like jackstraws in some of the photos posted to social media and news sites. The twister was reported by storm chasers to be a half-mile wide.
Continue reading “Mayflower, Arkansas hit again. This time the weather.”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
There is an interesting ruling from U.S. Magistrate Judge James Francis in New York. The case stems from a search warrant sought by the government for the contents of an individual’s e-Mail account that was hosted by Microsoft but stored on a server located in Dublin, Ireland.
Magistrate Francis stated that internet service providers such as Microsoft or Google cannot refuse to turn over customer information and emails stored in other countries when issued a valid search warrant from U.S. law enforcement agencies.
In a statement, Microsoft said it challenged the warrant because the U.S. government should not be able to search the content of email held overseas.
“A U.S. prosecutor cannot obtain a U.S. warrant to search someone’s home located in another country, just as another country’s prosecutor cannot obtain a court order in her home country to conduct a search in the United States,” the company said. “We think the same rules should apply in the online world, but the government disagrees.”
Continue reading “US Magistrate Judge Rules Search Warrant May Include Email Account Hosted Overseas”
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty-(rafflaw)- Weekend Contributor
If you were like me, you may never have heard the term “Communications Management Units” before. They are basically a section of a prison where certain prisoners are housed with limited or no access to communications or family visitations. The reason very little was known about the CMU’s is that when they first were initiated at prisons in Indiana and Illinois, their existence was kept from the public.
“The units opened almost in secret in 2006 and 2008. Critics say they flouted federal law by not publishing the proposed rule and opening up a period for public comment.” Readers Supported News If a lawsuit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights had not been filed in 2010, we may never have known much about these abusive tactics in our domestic prison system. Maybe the harshest aspect of being sent to the CMU was the realization that you may never know why you were sent there or how you could get out of it. Continue reading “Communications Management Units and Prisoners Rights”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
BBC News is reporting legislation is now going into effect that would expand the authority of secret police agencies and offer further immunities to its agents while at the same time proscribing punishments of up to ten years imprisonment for journalists who publish what the government considers secret information.
Opponents to Prime Minister Recep Erdogan charge that the measures were enacted to boost his authority and power and to facilitate his will to stifle evidence of his various acts of corruption.
The new law extends the ability of secret service agents to conduct foreign operations, tap phone conversations and to access data held by private and public institutions
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, has said the law has effectively turned Turkey into an “intelligence state”.
Continue reading “New Law In Turkey Expands Surveillance State And Cracks Down On Journalists”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Weekend Contributor
Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher and scofflaw, was hailed by some people as a folk hero and patriot recently when he—and his followers–engaged in a standoff with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Caty Enders (Esquire) described the scene in Bunkerville, Nevada, as pundits and politicians descended on the Bundy camp last week “to throw in their American flag hats with the BLM protestors.” She said that a FOX News van had been parked by the side of the road for days—and that “militia snipers kept a trained watch” up on a ridge “as Bundy held court.” She added that disciples of Bundy came from far and wide “to share their personal theories as to why the government was enforcing a court order.”
Bundy has had a number of advocates who have spoken in support of his militant stance against the BLM. Those advocates included some prominent politicians and members of the media. Sean Hannity was one of Bundy’s biggest boosters and helped to make him into a folk hero. Hannity talked with Bundy on a number of occasions on his Fox News show. Joan Walsh (Salon) asked a pertinent question about Bundy on Friday: “How does a guy who declared early on ‘I don’t recognize the United States government as even existing’ become a folk hero in the first place?” She said that both Hannity and Fox News should have realized that the Nevada rancher was “too toxic” prior to his “ongoing self-exposure as a racist.” She added that the extremism of Bundy’s statement about the US government “should have been warning enough that Bundy was not only crazy but dangerous…”
Enders posed a question that was in the same vein as Walsh’s: “Exactly how difficult was it, though, to determine pretty early on that Bundy and his followers were using the threat of force to back up some terrifyingly misguided beliefs?” Enders provided some insight into the thinking and beliefs of Bundy and disciples of his with whom she talked.
Continue reading “God’s Messenger Cliven Bundy, His Wacko Disciples, and Uncivil Disobedience”
By Mark Esposito, Weekend Contributor
Author’s Note: Grace Under Pressure is an ongoing series of posts honoring everyday people who courageously make positive differences in their own lives and consequently in the lives of others. It is my own personal affirmation that unexpected heroes live among us and that their service is quiet but unshakable proof that virtue really is its own reward – and ours, too.
A Pittsburgh area teen thought he was doing the right thing to end his bullying but his audio recording of the abuse only resulted in criminal charges for wiretapping. Sophomore Christian Stanfield had endured a miserable school year at the hands of two classmates who tripped, shoved and even attempted to burn the 15-year-old with a cigarette lighter. Pleas for help to his teacher went unheeded for the teenager who suffers from comprehension delay disorder ( a brain disorder involving slower processing speed for information than is normal) ADHD, and an anxiety disorder. So last month Christian decided to get the proof he needed to make school officials listen. Sitting in his math class, he activated his Ipad as his tormentors launched another verbal fusillade. “”They were talking about pulling his pants down, and some things I can’t repeat, and laughing and cutting up like it was a big joke, it was not a joke, not at all funny,” said Christian’s mother, Shea Love, who heard the recording at her kitchen table that afternoon.
Continue reading “Grace Under Pressure: Bullied Teen Christian Stanfield Fights Back”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The Group of Seven Nations (G7) agreed to impose new sanctions and move more swiftly against Russia for the state’s actions in The Ukraine. The group accused Moscow of violating the de-escalation measures mutually agreed to during the Geneva Accord designed to reduce tensions in the region.
The powers in North America, Europe, and Japan agreed Saturday to impose new targeted sanctions. In an official statement, the G7 announced:
“Given the urgency of securing the opportunity for a successful and peaceful democratic vote next month in Ukraine’s presidential elections, we have committed to act urgently to intensify targeted sanctions.”
The market is also beginning to deal blows to Russia’s increasingly perilous economy. Standard and Poors, a benchmark rating service for sovereign debt and other investments, announced that it was cutting the insurance rating due to the risk of Russia defaulting on its debt; lowering its rating to BBB- making it just one step above a junk rating. This is certain to affect large Russian government owned businesses such as Gasprom that supply the nation with hard currency. The reduction of this rating carries an 18% probably of default within the next three years. Russia defaulted on its sovereign domestic debt in 1998 and plunged the nation into a financial chrisis forstering a devaluation of the Rouble and an 84% rise in inflation.
Could Russia later be an example of hard sanctions working as opposed to a much more costly direct action by both sides militarily?
Continue reading “Russian Economy Could Face Strong Shocks In Market Resulting From Actions In The Ukraine”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The spillover costs of a booming oil bonanza seem to be bubbling up in North Dakota. History has shown when the race to acquire or control a new, lucrative product occurs, often safety, or environmental concerns lessen in importance, hazardous shortcuts are taken and laws sometimes ignored.
Officials in North Dakota reportedly discovered an unregistered radioactive waste dumpsite and another that reportedly had twice the material as was previously reported to a Canadian remediation company contracted for waste removal. Moreover, there have been several accounts of radioactive material being discarded as litter.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, radionuclides are often present in petroleum extraction. Normally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) often include isotopes of Uranium, Thorium, and Radium (along with their decay products) as well as Lead-210. These elements have been known since the 1930’s and were in fact used as tracers to locate oil deposits, but it wasn’t until the mid 1980’s that the significance of these waste products were fully recognized and addressed. But it seems some of the regulatory mandates are being ignored, or in some cases inadequate to mediate hazardous practices of the some in the petroleum industry in North Dakota. Surprisingly federal regulation in this area is lacking.
Continue reading “Radioactive Waste From ND Oil Production Shows A Pattern Of Hazardous Disposal Practices”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We previously discussed a disturbing report of a family pet shot by Rains County Sheriff’s Deputy Jerrod Dooley, HERE. The incident stemmed when homeowner Cole Middleton arrived home about 11:00 AM and discovered his residence had been burglarized and several items, including all his firearms were stolen. Several hours later, while Cole was working in a field harvesting grass, Deputy Dooley arrived. The deputy then claimed he was threatened by Cole Middleton’s cow dog Candy when she darted out from a pickup truck and was shot. Despite being begged by Cole to put down Candy to end her suffering, Deputy Dooley instead calls for help and pulls back in his patrol car to wait for “backup”. Cole, having no firearms to perform a coup de grâce, suffered the terror of having to drown Candy in a bucket to end it for her.
Newly released dash cam video capturing much of the incident shows Deputy Dooley arriving at the residence and pulling behind a pickup truck. Candy is lying down in the bed of the truck and when the patrol vehicle pulls up she stands and begins barking with tail wagging. Candy continues to bark and then jumps out of the bed and is subsequently shot by Deputy Dooley. Shortly thereafter, Cole walks up and Deputy Dooley informs him that he had to shoot his dog. Cole is understandably distressed yet the deputy calls for backup saying he needs “help” and is shown backing out of the driveway.
Sheriff David Traylor fired Deputy Dooley and later stated to a KLTV reporter that it was for Dooley’s safety because of numerous threats made against him and the department. He added that it is the safest move for the department and the deputy.
Continue reading “Sheriff Fires Texas Deputy Who Shot Dog During Burglary Call”
Ontario police have made an arrest in the grave robbing case in Ohio discussed earlier. The police had succeeded in capturing the image of a woman stealing a toy off the grave of a dead infant. A number of such toys had been stolen off the grave of Hayden “Tank” Cole Sheridan. As expected, various people came forward and identified Frieda Kay Shade, 54, of Mansfield. She turned herself into police.
Clearly, when Otto von Bismarck said “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made” he apparently not never watched a surgery in progress. There is a fascinating case out of Virginia where a colonoscopy patient is suing over allegedly abusive comments made about him by his doctors . . . while he was under anesthesia. While this may sound like a torts version of the tree falling in a forest question, there was someone to hear these comments beyond the medical staff: “DB” had failed to turn off his cellphone which continued to record comments of the doctors ridiculing him, his body, and his character. [UPDATE: A Virginia jury awarded the patient $500,000]
We have recently discussed attacks on lawyers for simply doing their jobs in representing accused individuals. It is truly vile and McCarthyist trend that seeks to punish professional working within our criminal justice system. It is particularly offensive therefore when a large, presumably respectable organization unleashed such an attack. However, that is precisely what the Republican Governors Association has done in the attack ad below against State Senator Vincent Sheheen (left) who is being opposed because he represented people accused of crimes. To its credit, the South Carolina Bar Association has stepped forward to denounce the ad as containing “uncivil, misleading political rhetoric.” It is a shameful and shocking ad that attacks the very notion of due process guaranteed by our Constitution. The ad is designed to help Gov. Nikki Haley in her reelection campaign.