Author: jonathanturley

Forget Tiger Moms, Make Way For the Tiffany Moms: NY Woman Sues Preschool For Failing To Prepare 4-Year-Old for Ivy League

As entrance in top schools has become more and more competitive, parents are becoming more aggressive in seeking to guarantee every advantage for their children. In the case of Nicole Imprescia, this means going to court to sue a school over its failure to prepare her daughter for the Ivy League. Her daughter, Lucia, is four. The school is the York Avenue Preschool. It seems that there are “Tiger Moms” but then there are “Tiffany Moms.”

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U.S. News and World Report Rankings For Law Schools Released

This year’s ranking of law schools by U.S. News & World Report have been released for 2011. The rankings have become increasingly important for law schools in steering applicants and encouraging alumni support. Most professors are highly critical of the rankings. For example, in responding to the drop of Missouri law school again in the ranking,Dean Larry Dessem stated “This is magazine marketing masquerading as social science.” I certainly understand such frustration but I have always viewed these ratings in a more positive way. While flawed in some respects, this is a far better resource that I had in applying to law schools. Back then, you had to ask your undergraduate advisers about the best law schools — a highly imperfect source of such information. GW is ranked 20th. The rankings of the top twenty-five schools and their tuition rates are below:
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UCLA Students Triggers Firestorm With Anti-Asian Video

Alexandra Wallace has caused a firestorm of controversy and recrimination after she posted a Youtube video denouncing “Asians in the library.” The original video is below. The tirade attacks Asian students for talking on cellphones and even having their elderly parents show up on weekends to do their clothes and cook their food. The question is whether Wallace should be punished by UCLA, which is looking into the matter.

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NPR Fires Back: Analysis of O’Keefe Video Shows Highly Distorting Edits

In a little discussed release, National Public Radio has identified some alarming edits in the video footage released by James O’Keefe III — purportedly capturing NPR officials slamming conservatives and seemingly agreeing with radical Islamic funders. The analysis linked here shows a series of edits that produce a highly distorted picture, including the removal of statements defending conservatives and expressly warning that NPR’s coverage could never be influenced by financial support.
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Dropping the Hammer: Obama Administration Forces Out State Department Spokesman After Criticizing Treatment of Manning

The Obama Administration has finally responded to the international outcry over the abuse of Bradley Manning. After State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley acknowledged the abuse, the Administration fired him with the apparent approval of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Now, everyone is in agreement: there is no problem in how Bradley Manning is being abused. That is particularly the case with former White House aide Mike Hammer who will replace Crowley. There’s a nice way to start a job — the replacement for the guy who dared to admit concerns over a human rights case.

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Obama Administration Forces Dayton To Lower Standards For Police Officers To Guarantee More Minority Officers

There is a controversy in Dayton over the decision of the police department to lower its testing standards under pressure from the Obama Administration to allow for more minority officers.

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Afghan President Begs U.S. To Halt All Operations in His Country — Obama Administration Refuses To End Operations

I have often used these pages to complain about the billions of dollars and countless lives that we continue to lose in Afghanistan and Iraq – while our states and schools shutdown vital programs for lack of funds. This is particularly annoying with a president of Afghanistan who has repeatedly stated that he wished he had gone with the Taliban and views the United States as an equal threat to his country. Now, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has actually begged the United States to halt all further operations on its soil. One would have thought that U.S. officials would have expressed relief and ordered a rapid pullout. Instead, we are saying that the desire of the Afghan people to have us stop operations is of no import — we will continue to protect them whether they want protection or not.
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Iran Reportedly Recruits Children To Beat Protesters in Tehran

Even those people used to the unhinged diatribes of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were left in stunned silence when he denounced the use of force against demonstrators in Libya as “grotesque” — adding “it is unimaginable that there is someone who kills and bombards his own people.” Now, in addition to Iran’s shooting and killing protesters, the International Campaign for Human Rights says that the Iranian government is trucking in children between 14 and 16 to beat protesters in violation of international law.
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Spanish Judges Rule That U.S. Torture Case Can Proceed

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

We have previously discussed the Obama administration’s attempt to derail a Spanish judicial investigation into torture, here. Spanish law recognizes the principle of universal jurisdiction. Universal jurisdiction (UJ) is a doctrine of international law that holds that certain crimes are so terrible that the duty to prosecute them transcends all borders.

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The Koch Energy and Commerce Committee

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

The Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee is paying off a debt. The debt is financial and campaign support from some of the nation’s worst polluters. The payoff is the “Energy Tax Prevention Act“, which, with an audacity that only Republicans seem to pull off, simply and blatantly redefines what constitutes an “air pollutant.”

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On Scott Walker, Wisconsin, and the Budget Repair Bill: Is the Story Over Yet?

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

I have already written three posts about Governor Scott Walker, his budget repair bill, and the protesters in Wisconsin. People have been interested in the Wisconsin story and have left nearly 1,800 comments at my three posts. I’ve even received requests to write up another post so that we could continue the discussion on the subject. I think there are others like me who believe the Wisconsin/Walker story is not over yet.

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Talley v. California (1960) and Anonymous Blogging

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Thanks to the internet, free speech has never been more in evidence. Blogs and their comments sections enable anyone with internet access to speak their mind. The anonymity provided by the IP address encourages people to write what they think. The Supreme Court held that the First Amendment protects the right to speak anonymously in a case that bears the name of Manuel Tulley, who founded the Los Angeles chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality.

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When Judges Become Linebackers

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Poster’s Note: Today’s  will be my last set of posts for a couple of weeks. Suzanne and I will be traveling to her family’s homeland for a pint and song or two. I’ll try to send JT a picture from Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day. Erin Go Braugh !

America's Version of a Football Judge, Hon. David Doty, Embroiled in His Own Contest

The usual skills of judgeship like prudence, patience, neutrality, and gravitas pale sometimes to good tackling form. His honor Judge Marks Moore,60, learned that fact the hard way immediately following a jury trial in his London courtroom.

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