There is an interesting case of judicial ethics out of North Carolina where District Court Judge B. Carlton Terry Jr. was given a public reprimand for becoming “friends” on Facebook with the attorney for the defendant, Charles A. Shieck, in a child custody disputes. Terry was also reprimanded for not just posting statements about the case but googling the plaintiff in the case (and referencing what he had found).
Continue reading “North Carolina Judge Reprimanded for Facebook “Friend” and Googling Information on Litigant”
Category: Media
There has been a long controversy over “legacy” admissions and the politically well connected applicants in law schools. The University of Illinois law school has been entangled in this controversy with the release of an embarrassing email exchange between former Dean Heidi Hurd, Chancellor Richard Herman, and Illinois State Sen. Chris Lauzen on a student Hurd believed was unworthy of admission — but then accepted.
The United Nations has released a new report on human rights that has found the record of the United states to be “deplorable.” With the continuing refusal of the Obama Administration to investigate war crimes and to support the Bush policies in court, we have lost an opportunity to show the country has committed itself to change these policies and demand accountability for those who implemented them.
Continue reading “United Nations: U.S. Human Rights Record “Deplorable” — Including the Continuing Failure to Investigate Torture By the Obama Administration”
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has previously threatened to crackdown on the media for reporting his regular gaffes and notorious conduct. Now, the media mogul is reportedly trying to block publication of pictures with young women after the media pursues allegations of affairs. His wife, Veronica Lario, sought a divorce due to Berlusconi’s, 72, alleged fondness for girls, including a particular 18-year-old Neapolitan Noemi Letizia.
Continue reading “Italian Premier Accused For Trying to Suppress Photos With Young Girls”
Scientology may believe that they can achieve control of time and space, but they are being denied control over Wikipedia entries. Wikipedia has blocked edits from Scientology computers due to a history of what it says are deceptive and abusive edits. They also banned individual Scientologists.
Continue reading “Wikipedia Blocks Edits by Church of Scientology”
The debate over Judge Sonia Sotomayor continues to rage this week. What is remarkable is how much is being said and how little substance can be found in the coverage. One would think that the law of averages alone would guarantee that some substantive points would be hit, if only by accident. It is becoming increasingly clear that, once again, we will not have a substantive and civil review of the qualifications of a Supreme Court nominee. Neither conservatives nor liberals seem to want (or are willing to tolerate) objective discussion of Sotomayor’s qualifications or opinions. For what it is worth, I would like to discard some of the most often heard arguments in the vain hope that we might still achieve some level of reasonable discourse in this debate.
Continue reading “Confirming Nonsense: Both Liberals and Conservatives Distort Debate Over Sotomayor”
Legislators in the Knesset gave initial approval to a law that would make it a crime to deny the right of Israel to exist — mandating a year in prison for such an exercise of free speech.
Continue reading “Israel Moves To Criminalize Statements Against Israel’s Right to Exist”
President Obama has selected Judge Sonia Sotomayor of United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She has an inspiring life story and gave a moving speech at the White House. She is not the intellectual powerhouse that many academics had hoped for. However, many nominees did not find their voices until after years of service on the Court. I discussed the nomination on this segment of Countdown. [For an update on debunking conservative and liberal attacks in this debate, click here]
Continue reading “The President’s Pick: A Review of Sonia Sotomator’s Rulings”
While the start was a bit shaky, Susan Boyle handed in another remarkable performance this week. While we do not often follow shows (and I have yet to see one of these shows), the video below may be of interest to our bloggers.
Continue reading “Susan Boyle Triumphs with Cats Performance”
After the recent disclosure of how Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used biblical passages as part of the war briefings for President George W. Bush, GQ magazine has an even more disturbing account: Bush lobbied French President Chirac that the war in Iraq was foretold in the bible and told that it was the final struggle with Gog and Magog.
The United States has been vocal in its denouncing of the recent arrests of journalists by North Korea and Iran. These countries refuse to comply with American values and legal process, particularly in the treatment of journalists. The biggest difference thus far: North Korea and Iran gave the journalists trials. Reuters cameraman Ibrahim Jassam has been held since September by the U.S. military in Iraq without charges or evidence.
Continue reading “U.S. Holds Journalist For Almost a Year Without Charges or Evidence”
There is a very interesting torts case out of Los Angeles where one of the writer for the CBS show “CSI” has been sued by two real estate agents for allegedly using the show to trash them after a disagreement. Writer and producer Sarah Goldfinger allegedly put the characters of Melinda and Scott Tamkin into a script and even helped select actors who looked like them. The facts do not make this look like a coincidence and, if not, both Goldfinger and the show have much to answer for.
Continue reading “CSI Real Estate: Producer and Writer Sued Over Use of Realtors as Characters in Show”
Conservative radio host Erich “Mancow” Muller has been one of the loudest voices denying that waterboading is torture. Like Sean Hannity (who said that he would allow himself to be waterboarded), Muller volunteered for a session to prove the point. Unlike Hannity, Muller fulfilled his commitment. As shown on the video below, in a few seconds, Muller went through the full range of Kübler-Ross of torture from denial to acceptance.
Continue reading “Yep, It’s Torture: Video Shows Conservative Radio Host Moving From Torture Denial to Torture Acceptance”
The Star Tribune is reporting that within hours of state officials announcing an investigation into the Metro Gang Force. Officials released a report about missing money and lack of records at the Metro Gang Force, someone turned off a computer showing who enters the building and began shredding documents.
Continue reading “Officials Announce Investigation Into Minnesota Police Unit — Within Hours Computer Trackers are Shutoff and Documents Shredded”
Recently, we discussed the forthcoming book by former Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, the leading cleric who was accused of date rape and covering up the abuse of children by other priests. The church paid $450,000 in 1998 to a man who had accused him of assault. Now, Weakland insists that he and other priests did not know it was a crime to have sex with children and thought they would not remember or they would “grow out of it.”
Continue reading “Weakland: I Did Not Know Sex With Child Was a Crime and Thought Kids Would “Grow Out of It””