Category: Media

Environment, International, Media, Politics, Science, Society

Rare Earths Mining And Processing Leading To Much Pollution In The East

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Neodymium
Neodymium

The BBC presented an engaging and informative report concerning how the unprecedented demand for rare earth elements is leading to environmental degradation, especially in developing countries. It proposes that one of the ironic tragedies of manufacturing green technologies is that it is leading to concentrations of pollution in specific areas. This also brings forth the importance of having a conversation about advanced, consumer societies needing to engage in much self reflection on the causes of the insatiable appetites consumers have for top of the line electronics.  Of which are designed with quick obsolescence as a business model.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Chicago Prosecutor Fired After Videotape Contradicts His Sworn Testimony On Witness Statement

ct-met-officer-shot-paris-sadler-0322-mh-jpg-20150828mosaic_anita143x176When the case of the shooting of a Chicago police officer in 2012 came to the chambers of Cook County Circuit Judge Thaddeus Wilson, the court saw something that it said was obvious to anyone who has done any practice in the criminal law: the statement of the mother of the suspect Paris Sadler was free of any corrections or edits. Since the mother Talaina Cureton said that she had edited and corrected the statement prepared by Assistant Cook County state’s attorney Joseph Lattanzio, it was a curious fact. However, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, long criticized for her policies such as prosecuting citizens who dare to video police in public, fought to block any effort to reexamine the statement and denied that her office omitted critical information. Now, it appears that one of those videotapes that Alvarez hates, existed showing Cureton editing the statement. Lattanzio has been fired. However, once again, without the videotape, Alvarez’s office would have likely succeeded in blocking the challenge and protecting the prosecutorial misconduct.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law, Media, Society

University of Kentucky Student Arrested After Crashing Drone At Football Game

8775955_GA University of Kentucky law student, Peyton Wilson, 24, has been charged with wanton endangerment after allegedly flying a drone at Commonwealth Stadium just before the season opener game against Louisiana-Lafayette. It is the latest such case of drones harassing or endangering people on beaches, streets, or stadiums.

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Bizarre, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Society

Pennsylvania AG Rails Against Bar Leak . . . In Her Case Alleging Grand Jury Leaks

kathleen_kane_mugshotThere are some cases that produce truly Earth shaking ironies. The prosecution of Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane is one such case. We previously discussed the case where Kane is accused of leaking grand jury information and lying about it to a grand jury. She is accused of using the leaks to attack her opponents or critics. Her team is now objecting to the damage to her case after a leak that confirmed that bar authorities in Pennsylvania are seeking to suspend her law license. They insist that such leaks are clearly designed to hurt Kane.

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Bizarre, Media, Politics

iPresser: Siri Answers Question In White House Press Conference

220px-Josh_Earnest_2011Siri_iOS_7There was a wonderfully ironic moment in the White House as reporters spared with Press Secretary Josh Earnest who has been often criticized for less than forthcoming statements to the media. Now “Siri” is getting in the act as she was heard in the midst of the press conference saying “Sorry, I’m not sure what you want me to change.” It seemed for a moment like Earnest had developed a second persona.

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International, Media

Hungarian Camerawoman Fired After Shown Tripping Refugee Father Carrying His Child

Screen Shot 2015-09-08 at 9.30.05 PMOne of the leading Hungarian broadcasters has fired a camerawoman after she was shown tripping a fleeing refugee man who was carrying his young son in his arms. The broadcaster and many Hungarian news outlets have been accused of highly negative coverage of the influx of refugees. The camerawoman has been identified as Petra László of N1TV.

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Columns, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Kim Davis: Hero or Villain?

kim-davis-mugshotDefiant Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis has appealed the contempt order that has left her languishing in jail. At the same time, her lawyer has argued that marriage licenses issued without her signature are invalid — an interesting question given the state’s requirement that her signature be affixed to every such license. Below is my recent Washington Post column on Davis and how she fits within our collective social and legal iconography. Defiance is a heroic value when it is Martin Luther King violating police orders and standing unbent before biting dogs and swinging batons. It was inspiring to millions when King cited St. Augustine to declare “an unjust law is no law at all”. Such figures stood against not just our prejudice but our laws in their defiance. As Henry David Thoreau stated “Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” Those who transgress upon unjust laws today are often heralded as heroes tomorrow from early American patriots to abolitionists to suffragists to desegregationists. Even today many praise Edward Snowdon for his criminal actions in disclosing a massive surveillance system of U.S. citizens even though those same laws are designed to protect our national security. Yet, Davis is using her public office to impose her religious values on neighbors. That contrast led to the column below.
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Free Speech, Media, Society

Rev. Jesse Jackson Booed Off Stage After Asking For Donations During Ferguson Protest

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

An attempt to solicit revenue for his church, Rev. Jesse Jackson received a strong rebuke. Though this happened last year, it is worth revisiting again.

While attending a protest rally organized by those voicing grievances against police misconduct and racial discrimination, the Rev. Jackson seized upon the moment to ask the crowd for $100.00 donations. Social media and even attendees of the event were vocal in the notion that the Reverend was abusing the moment for his personal, or rather it seems his organization’s, financial gain.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Media, Religion, Society

Israeli Construction Company Irreparably Damaged 1,800 Year Old Sarcophagus In Effort To Hide Discovery Of Antiquities

250px-Ask_SarcopagThe world has stood appalled by the destruction of Muslim extremists in ISIS of ancient Syrian architecture and Christian tombs, including continuing demolitions revealed this week with the destruction of the famed tower tombs. A construction company in Israel however shows that you do not have to be a religious fanatic to show the same ignorance and destruction. In this case it was allegedly a case of blind greed rather than blind hate. The unnamed company was told that it could build in the sensitive area of Ashkelon where antiquities are often found (like this earlier sarcophagus) so long as they proceed carefully and report any findings (and stop work when any findings are made). The company allegedly found the beautiful 1,800 year old sarcophagus but decided to hide it rather than stop work. In the process of yanking it out of the ground with a tractor and hiding it under sheet metal, the invaluable piece was irreparably damaged. (Since the photographer for the Israel Antiquities Authority has copyrighted the photos, a curious claim for a government agency, we cannot post the pictures which can be seen here It is an ironic twist, the IAA is objecting to the damage to a historic piece that belongs to all humanity but then claims copyright to the images to ostensibly require anyone who wants to use the image to get its permission)

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Academia, Bizarre, Media, Military, Politics, Religion, Society

West Point Law Professor Resigns In Wake Of Controversy Over Article On Combatting “Pernicious Pacifism”

635767224944016792-f40d384b-0872-441b-bcf9-4e11d11f8955-bestSizeAvailableThere is a truly bizarre story this week involving a former Indiana University law professor who resigned from West Point Military Academy’s law department as a disturbing article was published where he denounces other scholars who exhibit “pernicious pacifism” as aiding and abetting terrorists. The case raises free speech and academic freedom issues in handling controversial writings of academics. However, it also raises the poor standards for selecting faculty at West Point, a concern that I have had in the past with regard to its legal studies as well as those at other military educational programs. Not only does Bradford have extremist and disturbing views but he has been previously accused of exaggerating his credentials.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Society

Shooting the Messenger: Reporter Forced To Confess To Contributing To Fall of Chinese Market

400px-Chineseart_ExecutionpaintingThe Chinese regime followed its recent market meltdown in true Maoist fashion this week. It dragged out a journalist, Wang Xiaolu, to confess that he helped start the crash. It cannot be the centrally planned, artificially dumped up system itself. No, it was a journalist.

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Constitutional Law, Media, Politics

License Plate Data Mining By Police Partially Curtailed By Red Tape After 80Gb Drive Got Full

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

TRS-80 Model 1Those who strongly advocate for both privacy and efficient government are sure to be perplexed.

Oakland Police, which has a License Plate Recognition system that gathers thousands of its citizens’ license plate data via cameras, decided to reduce their license plate data-mining retention time after the underlying hard drive storing the data filled up, crashing the storage system. The culprit was a desktop computer running Windows XP on an 80 gigabyte hard drive.

If that wasn’t enough the replacement of this hard drive, at least, was curtailed by a firewall of red tape that seems to have prevented the city from buying a replacement drive. A one terabyte hard-drive can easily be found for fifty dollars.

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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering, Media, Society

“Judge” Brown Goes To Jail Over Contemptuous Encounter With Real Judge

082715-celebs-judge-joe-brown-mugshot-e1440765709108Former TV judge Joe Brown, 66, has surrendered to Tennessee deputies to begin serving a five-day jail term for contempt of court. Brown was held in contempt by Magistrate Judge Harold Horne for an outburst in Juvenile Court in March 2014. He took the issue all the way up to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which denied Brown’s application to appeal a Court of Appeals upholding the ruling. Brown called the court a “circus” and a “sorry operation.” Of course real judges do not have producers and set designers. When Horne told him to stop, Brown did not. He gave him a day in jail but Brown continued until he had five days in jail.

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Criminal law, Media, Torts

Former Reporter Guns Down News Crew On Live Television

2BADFE1100000578-3211529-image-a-31_1440598581548We often discuss the “perils of the press” in humorous stories of the unexpected for journalists. However, we are often reminded of the dangers faced by reporters in their daily jobs. Today offered one such tragic example from Moneta, Virginia. Vester Lee Flanagan, who used the name on-air of Bryce Williams, shot and killed WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27. He then posted the filmed event and tweeted about it. It is a bizarre and chilling example of how social media has become intertwined with such crimes in our society. Flanagan later shot himself in a confrontation with police.

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