It is that time of the year for our annual blawgletting — the ABA top blog competition. We have once again been selected as one of the top 100 legal blogs (of over 3000) and nominated for the IMHO (opinion) category and it is time to release our minions upon the field of blog battle. Vote here to defend our way of life and the future of the planet.
Category: Politics
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has called for WikiLeaks to be officially designated as a terrorist organization. This would, of course, allow the same designation for The New York Times and other organizations to be declared terrorists for publishing leaked stories on torture, secret prisons, or the Pentagon Papers.
While the world is reacting to leaks indicating that Saudi Arabia is funding Al Qaeda and Clinton ordered diplomats to engage in espionage, Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have called for the prosecution of those responsible for the leaks.
Continue reading “McCaskill and Graham Call For Prosecution in Wikileaks Case”
Author’s note: Last week’s entry on American History was so well-received, I thought another might be of interest:
During the cold night of December 16, 1773, several dozen radicals, face-painted to resemble Mohawk Indians, stole aboard three American vessels moored in Boston Harbor christened the Dartmouth, Beaver, and Eleanor. There, the band broke open 340 chests of Chinese tea belonging to the East India Company and tossed the contents overboard. Popular myth has it that the act was widely celebrated in the colonies as an act of defiance and that it was all about higher taxes on tea. Both myths are decidedly … well, mythical.
Continue reading “How A “Corporate Bailout” Cost Britain A Nation: The Real Boston Tea Party”
England has continued its move toward comprehensive blasphemy prosecution with the arrest of a 15-year-old girl for inciting religious hatred by allegedly burning a copy of the Koran (Qur’an) — and showing the act on Facebook. I have written in columns and blog entries (here and here and here) about this dangerous trend in the West as citizens are arrested for blasphemy laws.
Continue reading “England Arrests 15-Year-Old Girl For Allegedly Burning Koran”
You know those high-level negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan that have been touted by both the Afghan and U.S. governments? Well, it turns out that they are not so high level. In fact, the negotiator may not be with the Taliban at all. The man with whom we have been negotiated as “Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour,” one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement, turns out to be a nutter from Pakistan who probably could not believe everyone was negotiating with him to design the new Afghanistan. To make this FUBAR complete, one Western official admits “we gave him a lot of money.”
Continue reading “Fubar in Kandahar: Afghan and American Officials Discover That They Have Been Negotiating With Imposter for Months”
To the delight of civil libertarians and libertarians alike, the Canadian courts have been leading the world in dealing with conflicts between privacy principles and morality legislation. I am serving as an expert in the review of Canadian polygamy laws in British Columbia. In the meantime, the Ontario Superior Court may allow three prostitution laws to die this Saturday.
Continue reading “Prostitution May Become Legal This Saturday in Ontario”
The Afghan leaders have been struggling to throw off the impression that they are merely lackeys to the American government or worse. Vice President Joe Biden did not exactly help that image by describing them on Larry King as like children to the American parentage. Biden told Larry King “Daddy is going to start to take the training wheels off in October — I mean in next July, so you’d better practice riding.” That should go over well with the kiddies in Kandahar.
Continue reading “Biden: The Kiddies in Kandahar Are Getting Soooo Big”
In this video, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) suggests that he would like to see both FOX and MSNBC taken off the air so that people felt better about Congress and their government. This is coming from a Senator who led the effort to kill dozens of public interest lawsuits suing telecommunication companies for violations of their privacy and supported the effort to bar any investigation into the torture program. The problem, it seems, is the new coverage.
The trial of alleged Al Qaeda accomplice Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani has resulted in an acquittal on all major terrorism charges in New York. Ghailani was charged with crimes related to the 1998 suicide bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. I will be discussing the verdict tonight on Hardball.
An independent prosecutor has found Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas had no basis for their public-corruption charges against critics and judges who sought to curtail their abuse of their offices. Navajo County Attorney Brad Carlyon reached the same conclusion as virtually all outside observers, including this blog. In the meantime, Arpaio continues his use of this office to pander to public sentiments and legitimize vigilantism. He announced this week that he had added “Hulk” star Lou Ferrigno and actor Steven Seagal to his anti-immigration posse.
As expected, outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has prevailed in retaining the top leadership position — a surprise move after many, if not most, pundits expected she would resign after the devastating loss of at least 61 seats and record low popularity ratings for both herself and Congress.
Parents in San Jose, California are upset over an astonishing decision made by a high school principal to stop an ambulance from driving onto a football field to help an injured player at Del Mar High School on October 29th. The principal Liz Seabury reportedly says she was following district orders to protect the school’s recently remodeled field from motorized vehicles.
Continue reading “California Principal Blocks Ambulance Sent to Help Student To Protect Recently Remodeled Field”
Last night on Rachel Maddow, I discussed the controversy over Supreme Court justices attending political fundraisers. Specifically, Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito have been criticized for their participation in such events. Most recently, Justice Samuel Alito was identified by Think Progress at a fundraiser for American Spectator. Alito reportedly said that “it’s not important” that he attends such events. I disagree.
Continue reading “Alito Criticized For Participation In Another Conservative Fundraiser”
We have long followed trend toward “Make My Day” and “Make My Day Better” laws (also known as “Castle Doctrine” laws) allowing homeowners to kill anyone who invades their homes (here). Some of us have been very critical of these laws as unnecessary and based on a misrepresentation of both the criminal and common law. Citizens are being told that they could be sued for defending their homes from invaders. Now politicians in Pennsylvania have latched on a new gimmick: a law called “stand your ground” that allows people to use lethal force to defend their homes from the outside.
Continue reading “Pennsylvania Passes New Castle Doctrine Law”