Category: Politics

Academia, Media, Politics

Study: Presidential Candidates Speak From Seventh To Tenth Grade Level

495px-Donald_Trump_by_Gage_SkidmoreBernieSandersFor those who believe that candidates engage in little better than baby talk or talk down to voters, a new study may support you. Carnegie Mellon University has studies the speeches of all of the presidential candidates and found that they speak at a low of a seventh grade level for Donald Trump to a high of a tenth grade level for Bernie Sanders. For my part, Sanders scores big time whenever he uses the word “oligarchy” and sends millions online in desperate searches.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Media, Politics, Society

Where Have All The Birthers Gone? Cruz Is Running

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor.

Ted_Cruz,_official_portrait,_113th_CongressI guess I will defer to Pete Seeger’s lyrical talent to explain through verse the disappearance of our friends pejoratively referred to as “birthers”: that is, those who assert President Obama was born in Kenya and as such is ineligible for office due to not being a “natural born citizen” as required by the US Constitution.

Now that Mr. Obama is in the final year of his presidency, one would think that Birthers would be legions to storm forward and attack presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, who by his own admission and clearly established facts, was–are you ready for this–born outside the USA!

It begs of course the question…Where have all the Birthers gone?
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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

“Democracy, Freedom, and the Rule of Law Have Absolutely No Value Any Longer”: Turkish President Seeks To Declare Journalists and Others “Terrorists” Under Proposed Law

220px-Recep_Tayyip_ErdoganTurkey continues its plunge into authoritarianism under President Tayyip Erdogan. So as to leave no doubt about his tyrannical aspirations, our close ally Erdogan is seeking to change the definition of a terrorist to include anyone he deems to be “supporters” of opponents or listed groups, including members of parliament, civil liberties activists and of course journalists. In in a televised speech this week he declared “democracy,, freedom, and the rule of law have absolutely no value any longer.”
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Bizarre, Media, Politics, Society

“We Stand With Our Incumbent Members”: Opponent of Wasserman Schultz in Florida Denied Access To Democratic Voter Data

Wasserman SchultzFlorida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been widely accused of being a key architect of “rigging” the primary in favor of Hillary Clinton. Among the various controversies surrounding Wasserman Schultz was her blocking Bernie Sanders’ campaign from accessing the DNC’s voter data files, which contain email addresses and telephone numbers for constituents. Now Tim Canova, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University who is running against Wasserman Schultz for her seat in Congress, has revealed that found out that he too is blocked from accessing Democratic voter data. Mind you he is a Democrat but the state Democrats confirmed that only incumbents can gain access to the valuable resource in what critics have said is a blatant effort to favor such candidates. Canova has made the denial to the VAN system part of his campaign while various groups and individuals have campaigned for her to be removed as DNC head.
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Bizarre, Politics, Society

Kansas Hispanic Commission Director Faces Calls To Resign For Supporting Donald Trump

afoster245px-Donald_Trump_by_Gage_SkidmoreWe have been discussing the increasing intolerance on the left for conservative and controversial speech. A case in point comes out of Topeka, Kansas where Adrienne Foster, the director of the Kansas Hispanic and Latino American Affairs Commission, is facing calls to resign for simply supporting Donald Trump in comments made to the Kansas City Star.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Environment, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Society

PRESIDENT OBAMA NOMINATES MERRICK GARLAND

Merrick_GarlandPresident Barack Obama today surprised many by nominating the moderate Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Merrick Garland. Garland is unlikely to thrill liberals. He is fairly conservative on criminal cases and tends to favor government interests. Conservatives are not going to like his vote to move to reconsider the case that became the historic Heller decision that recognized the individual right to bear arms under the Second Amendment. However, Garland moves virtually everything off the table for the Republicans. While a moderate, he is as far right as a Democratic president could go.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Media, Politics, Society, Testimony

TURLEY TESTIFIES ON THE CHEVRON DOCTRINE IN HOUSE HEARING

800px-Capitol_Building_Full_ViewI will be testifying Tuesday afternoon before the Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law of the Committee on the Judiciary
in the United States House of Representatives. The hearing is entitled “The Chevron Doctrine: Constitutional and Statutory Questions in Judicial Deference to Agencies”. The hearing will be held in Room 2141 (Rayburn House Office Building) and begin at 1:30 PM. My written testimony is below

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Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion

Blogger Given Three Years In Jail For Discussing Infidelity in Egypt

200px-Facebook.svgWe have another abusive case out of Egypt under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. President al-Sisi has destroyed guarantees of free speech and the free press in country, which once seemed on the road to becoming an exception in the Muslim world as a nation embracing basic civil liberties. In the latest case, an Egyptian court sentenced blogger Taymour el-Sobki to three years in jail with hard labor for “spreading false news.” The “false news”? He simply opined that 45 percent of married Egyptian women have the readiness for “immorality” and to cheat on their husbands. That now gets you three years in Egypt.

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

Conservative Group Targets Judge Jane Kelly In Attack Ad For Serving As Criminal Defense Counsel In Notorious Case

As discussed earlier in my Washington Post column, various names have been floating around town of possible nominees to replace the late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. One of those names is Jane Kelly, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The conservative Judicial Crisis Network has not waited for the nomination and is already running an attack ad targeting Kelly. The ad is deeply troubling because it seeks to bar Kelly’s nomination because she zealously defended a child molester, Casey Frederiksen. The ad seeks to punish an attorney for performing her duty as a criminal defense counsel — suggesting that no attorney should defend those accused of such heinous crimes. While we celebrate the courage of presidents like John Adams (who represented the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre), there is a rising tide of intolerance for those who step forward to fulfill the guarantees of due process and the right to counsel under our Constitution. The attack ad is the judicial version of Willie Horton ad used against Michael Dukakis by President George H. W. Bush.

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Bizarre, Media, Politics

Clinton Demands To Know Where Sanders Was During The Earlier Health Care Fight . . . Sanders Releases Picture of His Standing Right Next To Her

ecd701_f7648a5091aa41c083ac6b199915d2e3This election just seems to get weirder and weirder. On the heels of her praise and then unpraise for Nancy Reagan on AIDS, Hillary Clinton is again being charged with rewriting history in attacking Bernie Sanders for his absence on the health care fight back in 1993-94. New York Times reporter Amy Chozick quoted Hillary Clinton in a tweet saying, “I don’t know where he was when I was trying to get health care in 93 and 94.” The Sanders campaign quickly responded with a picture showing Sanders standing right next to her and then released another signed picture where she commended him for his work in seeking such national health care coverage at the time. CNN and other media outfits already called out Clinton for the “cheap shot” in falsely suggesting that Sanders did not support the auto bailout. This is not going to help those low trustworthiness numbers plaguing Clinton.

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Criminal law, Politics, Society

“Next Time We See Him, We Might Have To Kill Him!”: Trump Supporter Unapologetic After Assault On Protester

rally11n-1-copyWe often discuss how defendants undermine their cases with statements to the press or on social media. The latest example is John McGraw, 78, who assaulted a protester, 26-year-old Rakeem Jones, at a Donald Trump rally in North Carolina. Despite already being in hot water over the disgraceful attack, McGraw told Inside Edition “Next time we see him, we might have to kill him!” That should make for an interesting sentencing hearing.

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Academia, Politics, Religion, Society

Study: Sharp Decline In Americans With Faith Or Religion Affiliations

350px-God2-Sistine_ChapelThere is another study showing the decline of religious beliefs in the United States — and a considerable generational gap. The study published in the American Journal of Sociology shows 68% Americans aged 65 and over said they had no doubt God existed but only 45% of young adults, aged 18-30, agreed with that position. Likewise, 41% of people 70 and older said they attend church services at least once a month, compared to 18% of people 60 and below.

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Bizarre, Free Speech, International, Military, Politics, Society

Egyptian Journalist Criminally Charged After Criticizing Al-Sisi

sisi-mouseWe have another abusive crackdown in Egypt under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Egypt has seen a dramatic rollback on civil liberties under al-Sisi. In Egypt, a teenager was jailed for cartoons of Muhammad and a leading businessman was attacked for a cartoon of Micky Mouse with a beard. Then there was the three-year sentence given Amr Nohan, a 22-year-old law graduate for posting a Facebook image of el-Sisi with Mickey Mouse-style cartoon ears. A leading cartoonist Islam Gawish, 26, was arrested in Egypt by the hyper sensitive al-Sisi government. Now Egypt’s Attorney General Nabil Sadeq ordered an investigation into a TV presenter, Azza Al-Henawy, who simply criticized al-Sisi for not delivering on promise.

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

Clinton Declares That She Will Never Be Indicted And Insists That Her “Predecessors Did The Same Thing” On Emails

Hillary_Clinton_Testimony_to_House_Select_Committee_on_BenghaziI watched last night’s debate with great interest. I thought both Sanders and Clinton had some very strong moments. However, I tend to watch these debates for the legal issues and I was most struck by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s discussion of the email scandal. First, she declared that she will never be indicted — a statement that may irritate federal investigations looking into possible crimes. She certainly has defenses and the odds may indeed favor her. However, defense attorneys usually discourage such statements from potential targets which can enrage prosecutors as presumptuous or suggesting some level of immunity. Second, she insisted that her “predecessors did the same thing” that she did on emails — a statement that is demonstrably untrue but again was left unchallenged by the journalists.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Turkish Government Takes Over Critical Newspaper And Then Immediately Issues Pro-Government Edition

220px-Recep_Tayyip_ErdoganZaman_Front_PageThe rapid decline of civil liberties under the authoritarianism of Turkish president. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been a regular point of discussion on this blog. He has been gradually arresting or threatening the dwindling number of independent journalists in Turkey and this prosecution may succeed in forcing the remaining reporters into silence or living in exile. The latest victim of his abusive rule is Turkey’s largest-circulation newspaper which was seized by the government. The newspaper, Zaman, was one of the most read sources of criticism of Erdogan and this government. The government has now silenced that voice and taken over the newspaper. The very next issue under government control was a markedly pro-government publication.

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