Nancy Grace took time away from her dancing stint on Dancing With The Stars to rally the mob in condemning an acquitted person. Grace called the acquittal of Amanda Knox a “miscarriage of justice” despite the few of many (including myself) that the case was riddled by mistakes, false statements by the police or prosecutors, and open speculation. Nevertheless, in Grace’s preference for “sentence first — verdict afterwards,” the Italian jury was the outrage by looking at the evidence and standard of proof.
Category: Media
Earlier today, I posted another case out of Illinois where an officer arrested a citizen for recording him in public — only to have the charges later dropped without any disciplining of the officer. Now in New York city we have another alleged case where an officer detains a citizen over public videotaping — not of him, mind you, but of ground zero. Meredith Dodson of Georgia says that Officer Mark DeSimone not only detained her but became threatening with her and other citizens who objected to his arbitrary action over her taking a photo of the famous site.
Continue reading “Georgia Woman Reportedly Detained For Taking Photo Of Ground Zero”
We have yet another person arrested for recording a police officer in public. Louis Frobe felt he was wrongly stopped for speeding and decided to use his phone to videotape and record the stop and its surroundings. When he held the phone outside of the window to videotape the surrounding area, the officer proceeded to arrest him and charge him with a felony in Illinois. The arresting officer is identified in a lawsuit as Ralph H. Goar of the Village of Lindenhurst.
Continue reading “Police Arrest Illinois Man For Videotaping Traffic Stop”
Below is today’s column in The Los Angeles Times on the record of Barack Obama on civil liberties and his impact on the civil liberties movement in the United States.
Continue reading “Obama and the Decline of the American Civil Liberties Movement”
When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expressed doubt over the official account of the 911 attacks and accused the U.S. government, he has been condemned by other leaders and countries. However, it turns out that the most aggrieved party may be . . . al Qaeda and its allies and sympathizers. Inspire Magazine, a publication founded by Anwar al-Awlaki and often tied by the U.S. to Al Qaeda figures, has come out with a cover story attacking Ahmadinejad for suggesting that al Qaeda was not responsible or someone used in the attacks by U.S. intelligence. It appears that al Qaeda views this “truther” account as nothing short of defamation or at least product disparagement.
Continue reading “Does Al Qaeda Have A Case For Defamation Against Ahmadinejad?”
A Kuwaiti court on Sunday sentenced a Sunni Islamist activist to three months in jail for tweeting comments that were deemed derogatory to Shiite Muslims. I have previously written about the increase in such blasphemy prosecutions, including a trend in the West, as well as President Obama’s decision to support a U.N. resolution embracing the concept of blasphemy prosecutions – an abandonment of our long opposition to such laws. As previously discussed in a column and a line of blog stories (here and here and here and here), various Western governments have been curtailing free speech by prosecuting blasphemy and speech against various groups. In this case, Mubarak al-Bathali was convicted over his use of Twitter. It appears that you can blaspheme in 140 words or less.
Continue reading “U R BdBy: Kuwait Jails Blogger For Tweet Critical of Shiites”
Former Circuit Judge Mary Ann Gunn of Fayetteville has added her name to the expanding number of lawyers who are degrading the legal profession with faux court shows that mete out justice as a form of entertainment. I have previously denounced these shows and the types of lawyers who reduce their profession to the level of farce and freak shows (here). In Gunn’s case, the state bar informed her in 2010 that she was violating ethical rules by arranging to have her hearings filmed and released to shows. Rather than give up her desire for fame, Gunn resigned from the court and created a fake court called “Last Shot with Judge Gunn,” a show criticized by drug law experts as harmful and misleading. The problem with people like Gunn is that these shows are the product by unrestrained and self-consuming egotism built on the ruins of such professional values.
Continue reading “Arkansas Judge Barred From Using Her Court For Show . . . Resigns And Rents Courtroom For New Reality Court Show”
Respectfully Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
When it comes to the Second Amendment and guns, it seems that President Obama can’t make anyone happy. Ever since Obama announced his candidacy for the Presidency, the NRA has screamed that Obama will be taking away the guns. This scare tactic continued when Obama defeated John McCain for the Presidency. Just what has Barack Obama done to make the NRA and gun owners frightened for their guns? The simple answer to this question is nothing. Continue reading “Second Amendment Boogey Man”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Porn king Larry Flynt has issued a new bounty. On Thursday, the Hustler magazine publisher, offered $1 million to anyone with proof of “an illicit sexual liaison” involving Republican presidential candidate, Rick Perry. Flynt is not too particular either, he’ll accept both gay and straight encounters.
Councilman Lewis Fidler (D-Brooklyn) is calling for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to pull down ads critical of funding for Israel. Fidler is demanding that MTA President Thomas Prendergast put an end to billboards calling for an end to funding for Israel as “a highly political campaign with a controversial underlying anti-Israel message.” Apparently, amid all of the graffiti and ads and pamphlets in the MTA there is no room for messages critical of Israel. Fidler wrote I would urge you to disallow and/or remove these advertisements.”
Continue reading “Fidler in the Subway: New York Council Member Calls For Censorship of Pro-Palestinian Ads in Subway”
The New York Times is reporting that the U.S. has fallen to 25th in a global ranking of Internet speeds. Feel not for the future, however, we are still one spot ahead of Romania. Take that Bucharest cyber cafes!
Continue reading “U.S. Now 25th In The World in Internet Speed — Just Ahead of Romania”
There is an interesting censorship allegation this week after Alec Baldwin walked out on the Emmy telecast in response to the decision by News Corp to cut a joke about CEO Rupert Murdoch and the expanding phone-hacking scandal. Comedians have always been a central part of political speech in the United States as have cartoonists and others who use art or prose to address matters of public interest. The alleged censorship of the material by Fox or News Corp shows, at very best, a lack of judgment by company officials and attorneys.
Continue reading “Baldwin Accuses News Corp of Censoring Joke on Murdoch”
There is a disturbing story out this week that four-star Air Force Gen. William Shelton testified under oath that the White House tried to pressure him into changing his testimony on a new wireless project in a way that would benefit a large Democratic donor. There is also an allegation that someone in the Administration leaked the intended testimony to the company.
Continue reading “General Accuses White House of Pressuring Him To Change Testimony To Favor Company Run By Democratic Donor”
The marriage vows may say “for better or for worse” and “in sickness and in health,” but Rev. Pat Robertson told his “700 Club” viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer’s is just fine. Robertson says that the vows say “until death do us part” and Alzheimer’s should be viewed as a type of death.
Continue reading “Until Death [or Dementia] Do Us Part? Robertson Says It Is OK To Divorce Spouses With Alzheimer’s”
CBS News correspondent Priya David and her husband Alex Clemens got a look at a news story in progress from a unique angle this week — the FBI mistakenly raided their home with eight heavily armed and armored officers. They had the wrong family and appeared to dial down a bit when they were told that the woman upstairs nursing a baby was a CBS correspondent.
Continue reading “FBI Raids Home Of CBS Correspondent By Mistake”