Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, Politics

Cook County Passes High Tax Increase On Sugary Drinks

110px-Big_gulp6480250px-municipal_flag_of_chicagosvgMichael Bloomberg is back with his Big Gulp obsession. Years ago, I wrote a series of columns contesting the legality and the logic of his ban on sugary drinks, which were later struck down by the courts. Now he has successfully targeted my home city of Chicago with a $1 million contribution to pass a heavy tax on sugary beverages in Cook County and it appears that it may pass. While I agree with the sentiment (and we try to keep sugary drinks away from our kids except on rare occasions), I view these laws as ineffective, regressive, and paternalistic. The tax passed yesterday by a close vote.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics

Grubhub CEO Issues Email Warning Employees That Trump Rhetoric or Support Would Not Be Tolerated

grubhub_corporate_logo_from_s-1_6_dated_april_2_2014The CEO and co-Founder of Grubhub Matt Maloney has added his voice to the rising anger over the election. The question is whether he went too far in a recent email to all of employees at the food delivery service that some interpreted as meaning that they should resign if they agree with Trump’s campaign statements or positions. He states “I absolutely reject the nationalist, anti-immigrant and hateful politics of Donald Trump and will work to shield our community from this movement as best as I can.” Maloney’s response is why so many Trump voters kept their views secret, including from pollsters. There is a palpable and rising backlash against tens of millions of citizens who exercised their votes in electing Trump. I heard today from a GW student who said that she has been treated as a pariah by other students who were once her friends. However, this backlash is far more serious when coming from the head of a large company in the imposition of what is effectively a political litmus test. The question is where is the outrage? Remember the hue and cry over the owners of the Chick-fil-A chain? That was triggered by a controversial interview given by Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy. Yet, when another company actually threatens to fire anyone who agrees with Trump, there is relatively little response.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Lafayette College Student Arrested For Faking Attack By Trump Supporter

magaThere is a story out of my old stomping grounds of Lafayette, Louisiana (where I lived during my judicial clerkship on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for Judge W. Eugene Davis). A female student at the University of Louisiana reported that she was attacked by a man in a white Donald Trump cap and another men. She said that the men hit her with a metal object, ripped off her hijab and took both her wallet and the traditional Muslim head-covering. The incident caused a national outrage but it now turns out that she made up the entire incident after police became suspicious of her accounts.

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Academia, Bizarre, Media, Politics, Society

Professors Excuse Students From Classes and Exams To Deal With The “Trauma” Of The Trump Election

old_guitarist_chicagoAs discussed last night with Megyn Kelly (below), there are stories out this week of professors excusing students from classes or even exams due to the trauma caused by the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. It is the same response that we saw to the Ferguson, Missouri riots, which I also criticized at schools like Columbia. I cancelled class so that everyone could participate in this historic election. Many of my students were poll watchers and campaign workers. However, we all returned the next day and, even my students upset with the results, directed that energy told their education and moving forward. I was proud of them. We do our students a disservice by reinforcing this modern version of the vapors, where students emotionally collapse when legal or political events do not go their way. Ironically, one of the things I most respect about Hillary Clinton is her fighting spirit. She tended to stand her ground and, when knocked down, to pick herself up immediately and fight again.

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Bizarre, Media

Brazile Insists That She Did Nothing Wrong In Leaking Debate Questions To the Clinton Campaign

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While CNN and others in the media belatedly expressed anger and shock over former CNN contributor Donna Brazile secretly feeding questions to the Clinton campaign for CNN debates, the interim chair of the Democratic National Committee is entirely unapologetic and, if anything, seems to regret only that she got caught if a recent interview is any indication.  CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker called Brazile’s actions “disgusting” but Brazile is claiming that she would do it again.

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Bizarre, Free Speech, Media, Politics

American University Students Protest Election By Burning American Flag

american_university_seal-svgProtesters around the country have taken to the street in opposition to the decision of millions of their fellow Americans to elect Donald Trump. While his was a fair and free election, the results are clearly unacceptable to the protesters who seem to advocate democratic choice so long as it is their choice.
Some shouted “F–k white America!” I discussed the issue last night on Megyn Kelly on Fox News. (For interview, click here)

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics

Something Borrowed, Something Classified? Leaked Emails Raise Allegations Over Role Of Chelsea Clinton

WikileaksWe previously discussed the emails of Doug Band, founder of global strategies company Teneo and Bill Clinton’s personal assistant since the 1990s. Band was previously shown discussing what he called “For-Profit Activity of President Clinton (i.e., Bill Clinton, Inc.).” in securing personal wealth and gifts from donors. Now, Band is back in newly released Wikileaks emails from 2012 that suggest that Chelsea Clinton used Clinton Foundation resources “for her wedding and life for a decade.” Various sites have exploded with the news.   Another report stated that Hillary Clinton sent Chelsea classified emails. To make matter worse, a new report states that Clinton also forwarded classified emails to her maid to print out.  What I find fascinating in all of this controversy is the role of this person, Band, who appears at times cautionary and at times self-serving in his warnings to Podesta.  This allegation however is quite specific and, as discussed below, hard to believe without additional support to show foundation assets used for the Clinton wedding. I have to give the presumption to Chelsea Clinton absent some real proof of intermingling of funds and resources.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Media, Politics

President Obama Triggers Election Eve Controversy With Interview That Suggests “Undocumented Citizens” Can Vote

unknown-1One of the controversies that has been raging in this election is the allegation of Republicans, including Donald Trump, that illegal immigrants have been voting around the country. An interview with Hispanic activist group “Mitú” has now magnified this controversy after President Barack Obama appeared to say that non-citizens could vote and that there is no way that they would be investigated. Fox News’ Neil Cavuto and dozens of sites cried foul at what they saw as an explicit encouragement of such voting.  The statement came in an interview with Mitú’s Gina Rodriguez who asked the President is “undocumented citizens” are at risk if they vote. The President assured them that they have nothing to fear. It is a extremely poorly crafted question from what appears an amateur interviewer. I do not believe that President Obama was trying to encourage illegal voting but both the question and answer left many incensed.

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Bizarre, Politics, Society

Podesta Warned: “I Hope Hillary Truly Understands Now How Batshit Crazy David Brock Is”

WikileaksHillary_Clinton_Testimony_to_House_Select_Committee_on_BenghaziOne of the issues that was raised repeatedly by Bernie Sanders and later by Donald Trump is the alliance between Hillary Clinton and David Brock, the founder of Media Matters. Brock has been widely attacked for what critics view as sleazy and vicious work on behalf of Hillary Clinton. You may recall Bernie Sanders denouncing Clinton for her continued alliance with Brock and use of his controversial PAC organizations. Sanders referred to Brock as simple “scum” but Clinton refused to denounced Brock or to discourage Democrats from working with or contributing to his PACs. It turns out that even Clinton aides were disgusted by Clinton’s refusal to cut off Brock or to denounced his work. In the latest batch of Wikileaks, Neera Tanden, the President of Center for American Progress, allegedly emailed John Podesta that “I hope Hillary truly understands now how batshit crazy David Brock is.”

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

Same-Sex Couples Seek Fees and Costs For Suing County Clerk Kim Davis

150903-kim-davis-mug-535p_83260bf402e446e833c206a6bde84a21-nbcnews-ux-2880-1000-768x524Four same sex couples are seeking more than $233,058 in legal costs from Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County last year. The demand raises some interesting questions over the right to recover fees and costs in such a case.

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Bizarre

Mississippi Lawyer Sues Popeyes After Choking On Chicken Meal

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Attorney Paul Newton Jr. clearly no longer joins the mantra of “Love that chicken from popeyes.” Newton is suing Popeyes Louisiana Chicken after he choked and required an emergency surgery.  He had taken to great of a bite of his chicken and blames the chain for only supplying him with a combination spoon and fork, or “spork,” rather than a knife.  I find the lawsuit dubious at best.

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Bizarre, Society

Florida Woman Has Baby In Car . . . Hospital Charges Her The Full Delivery Costs

unknownOne can understand why Paula D’Amore is a tad confused. The South Florida mother gave birth in a car in a hospital parking lot. When the bill from the hospital came in, she was charged the full cost for a hospital delivery of $7,000. It is a story that sums up what many of us view is the inherent dishonesty in hospital charges.

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Bizarre, Politics

BleachBit Spoofs Clinton In New Product Campaign

cloth_or_something3One of the few beneficiaries of this presidential election has been the virtually unknown company before made a household name by the Clinton aides in attempting to not only delete emails but guarantee that no one could retrieve them. Suddenly everyone was saying “BleachBit” as a virtually self-contained term-of-art. Now the company has used Hillary Clinton’s infamous quip about whether she would use a “cloth” to clean a server as the basis of a new product.

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