Category: Society

Bizarre, Politics, Religion, Society

“University of Jihad”: Pakistan Gives Millions To Maintain Extremist Madrassa

200px-Jameah_Darul_Uloom_DeobandTwo of the closest allies to the United States have long been primary sources for terrorists: Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Both maintain Islamic schools or madrassas that espouse extreme views of Islam that justify the killing of homosexuals, blasphemers and others. While both countries continually insist that they are not supporting such groups, terrorists have been traced back to both countries in terms of support and education. Indeed, Pakistan continues to jail a doctor who helped the United States find Bin Laden but still receives massive U.S. aid. Now, it has been disclosed that Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has allocated Rs 300 million to a madrassa known as the “University of Jihad” because of its infamous alumni of terrorists and extremists, including top Afghan Taliban leaders like the late Mullah Omar.

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Criminal law, Society

Police Give New Bicycle To Boy Struck By Hit And Run Driver

mlpd-bike-hnr-victim

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

A nine-year-old Moses Lake, Washington boy who fell victim to a hit and run driver found some new friends in the city police department.

Last Tuesday Christian Brokke was walking his bicycle in a crosswalk when he was allegedly struck by a 2004 Ford Escape driven by Suzette Brown. Brown reportedly ran a stop sign and struck the boy with enough force to tear the license plate from the vehicle.

Witnesses to the collision reported that Christian remained sprawled on the hood of the car while Brown attempted to flee the scene, falling to the street after fifteen to thirty feet. She then dragged the bicycle under the car for a block before leaving the area.

EMS transported Christian to a local hospital. He suffered head trauma and was later transferred to Sacred Heart Medical center in Spokane for additional treatment.

Fortunately, Christian recovered from his injuries. Officers from Moses Lake decided to go a step further than simply investigating the collision and together bought Christian a new helmet and something every nine-year-old boy wants–a new bicycle.

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Constitutional Law, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

New York Senate Approves Sweeping Ban On Funding of Student Groups Supporting Israeli Boycott and Other Forms of “Intolerance”

Seal_of_New_York_svgWe have been discussing the arrest of people in other countries for participating in protests to boycott Israel and other measures. These actions raise serious free speech issues. Some states have created laws barring contracts with companies that join the boycott of Israel. Now, a controversial measure has passed the New York Senate that bars the funding of any student groups that encourage boycotts of Israel and other allies as well as those groups involved in “hate speech” and “intolerance.” However, the bill introduced by New York state Senator Jack M. Martins (R-Nassau County) is so ambiguously worded as to defy definition of the underlying violations — a critical flaw under first amendment analysis. However, over the objections of various groups, the bill has garnered growing support among politicians.

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Academia, Society

University of New Mexico Seal Triggers Protests Over “Colonization” Imagery

University_of_New_Mexico_221455I am in Albuquerque, New Mexico today to speak to the 2016 Conclave of state, tribal, and federal judges and lawyers.  There is an interesting forum being held nearby at the University of New Mexico where students and faculty are debating the change to the school’s seal which features a Spanish conquistador and a frontiersman. The Native American group The Red Nation have declared the seal to be offensive.  Critics are calling the seal a celebration of colonization.  The seal is approaching its 50th anniversary at the school.  It was adopted in 1969.

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Academia, Free Speech, Politics, Society

New Controversy Erupts At Mizzou At Orlando Vigil

The University of Missouri (MU) has been struggling in the aftermath of its Black Lives Matter protests, including the reported plunge in students and applications.  It appears that even a vigil for the dead in Orlando at Mizzou inevitably leads to a confrontation over race.  The conflict arose in a vigil held in front of Boone County Courthouse in Columbia, Missouri.  MU graduate Tiffany Melecio appeared and expressed discomfort over speaking before a group with so many white people.  When a gay couple objected to introducing divisive race issues,  MU Multicultural Center Coordinator Stephanie Hernandez Rivera defended the comments and denounced the gay couple objecting to the introduction of race into the vigil.

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Society

RES IPSA HITS 29,000,000

Early this morning, we hit 29,000,000 views. It is an impressive milestone for our blog and its achievement is due to this entire virtual community at RIL. We continue to rank in the top legal blogs in the world and we are continuing to see a growing international readership. We often use these milestones to look at the current profile of the blog and its supporters around the world.

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Criminal law, Free Speech, Lawyering, Society

Ninth Circuit Upholds Sanctions Against Attorneys Who Ran Abusive Copyright Operation Over Downloaded Porn Movies

200px-US-CourtOfAppeals-9thCircuit-Seal.svgI have previously written about a large number of law firms on retainer to bring these actions and artists and companies that do little to limit them. The greatest problem is the success of this lobby in getting Congress and the Obama Administration to push through virtually any legislation that they demand — criminalizing violations, approving warrantless searches, and allowing for obscene awards. Every year it gets worse as companies claim ownership over common phrases and images — reinforced by these legal factory operations of bullying lawyers. We recently discussed the claim of Citigroup to ownership of “ThankYou.” Now in an all-too-rare ruling, The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld an $81,000 sanction against three lawyers — John Steele, Paul Hansmeier and the late Paul Duffy — for being little more than legal trolls in harassing and threatening people into giving them money for downloading pornography. These three lawyers operated “Prenda law” which was little more than a disgraceful shakedown operation.

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Bizarre, Lawyering, Society

ThankYou For Suing: Citigroup Claims Ownership of the Use of “ThankYou”

150px-Citi.svgAT&T-logo_2016We have had a running discussion of how copyright and trademark laws have continued to grow to encompass common terms and images. The latest insanity comes from Banking giant Citigroup, which is suing AT&T for its use of “Thank You” in ads to its customers. That’s right, Citigroup claims to own the trademark on “THANKYOU.” So now even the most common expression of civility is claimed as “unlawful conduct” amounting to wanton trademark infringement.
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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

London Mayor Announces Ban On “Body Shaming” Advertisements With Skinny Models

220px-Sadiq_Khan170px-Fitness_Model_Britt_2007London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, has signaled early in his term that he will continue the state regulation of speech and images that have ravaged free speech in England. He announced an end to the appearance of what he calls “body shaming” advertisements in London’s public transport, advertisements featuring skinny bodies viewed as unrealistic for most women. While some publications have suggested the that move reflects Khan’s Muslim background (he is the first Muslim mayor of London), in my view it reflects a long and disturbing trend in Europe (and particularly England) to regulate and criminalize speech. What some people may view as unrealistic or even demeaning for women, others view as artistic expression in advertising. While this may be the only way I could end up a Benetton model, I have long opposed such rules, which puts the government in the position of policing images to determine what is not demeaning for women.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

Oregon Judge Approves First Known “Non-Binary” Gender Classification While Georgia Judge Rejects Name Change For Transgender Male

Transgender_Pride_flag.svgThere were two decisions last week that show the current legal tensions over transgender rights. In Oregon, Jamie Shupe, 52, who identifies as neither a male or female was allowed to change from a “female” to a non-binary classification. This is believed to be the first such order in the country. Across the country, Rowan Feldhaus, 24, (who was born a female but identifies as a male) was denied a name change by a judge. These cases follow a decision last month Haque said her organization increasingly hears from non-binary people. Last month, the Gresham-Barlow School District in Oregon paid an elementary school teacher $60,000 after the non-binary teacher complained of no gender neutral bathrooms and colleagues continuing to refer to “he” or “she” rather than using “they” in reference to the teacher.

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Criminal law, Religion, Society

Orlando Killer Identified As Muslim Extremist Who Pledged Allegiance To ISIS

352EF38500000578-3637414-image-a-131_1465749094436As the country mourns the massacre in Orlando, the police have identified the murderer as Omar Mateen, 29, from Port St. Lucie in Florida. He was born to Afghan parents who came to this country in the 1980s. He is responsible for the largest massacre of people in U.S. history after killed at least 50 people at a gay nightclub called Pulse in Orlando. Mateen reportedly called 911 shortly before the shooting and swore allegiance to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Embracing Mob Rule: Columnist Calls For Violence Against Trump Supporters

800px-1891_New_Orleans_Italian_lynchingAs many on this blog know, I have been highly critical of Donald Trump. However, there has been a campaign of violence against Trump supporters that is highly unnerving and dangerous. While there were a few incidents of Trump supporters acting violently, there has not been the same level of outrage at the widespread violence against Trump supporters and police at these events. Now, a liberal Huffington Post columnist Jesse Benn has defended the “violent response” to Trump — a reckless and provocative column that seeks to legitimate mob justice. What Benn is describing is not democracy but ochlocracy — a sad statement of the state of affairs in our country. While I recently wrote about liberals finding “their inner Nixon,” this seems to be a case of finding Benn’s inner Mao.  Benn insists “Violent resistance matters. Riots can led to major change.”  Perhaps but what is certain is that violent resistance always leads to violence.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Environment, Society

Warrants Issued For Members of “Full of Life” Who Have Videotaped Their Damaging National Park Areas

Screen Shot 2016-06-08 at 11.09.30 PMWe have been discussing the growing number of idiots who are leaving graffiti and destroying national and state parks. now, a group of infamous Canadian juveniles who called themselves “High on Life” are under investigation after videotaping themselves water skiing behind an RV on the Booneville Salt Flats. This is an area that strictly prohibits vehicles during periods when the area is wet because of the damage to the area. What is particularly disturbing is that this group has repeatedly violated such rules at national parks with little punishment or sign of reform. We previously discussed how our rules protecting national parks are meaningless due to the lack of enforcement or serious punishment. We need to pursue a formal banishment law for our parks to apply to such individuals.

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Academia, Bizarre, Media, Politics, Society

The Clinton University Problem: Laureate Education Lawsuits Present Problem For Clintons [Updated]

225px-Laureate_International_Universities_Logo220px-Clinton_and_jiangWhile largely ignored by the media, the Clintons have their own university scandal. Donald Trump has been rightfully criticized and sued over his defunct Trump University. There is ample support for claiming that the Trump University was fraudulent in its advertisements and operations. However, the national media has been accused of again sidestepping a scandal involving the Clintons that involves the same type of fraud allegations. The scandal involves a dubious Laureate Education for-profit online college (Walden) and entails many of the common elements with other Clinton scandals: huge sums given to the Clintons and questions of conflicts with Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State. There are distinctions to draw between the two stories, but the virtual radio silence on the Clinton/Laureate story is surprising. [I have updated the original column with some additional thoughts, links, and clarifications for readers].

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Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

Nigerian Senate President Has Millions in Cash Disappear From His Bedroom . . . Again

Bukola-Saraki-700x357The corruption of Nigeria has long been breathtaking. Indeed, what would normally be alarming (like a politician with millions in cash in his room) is treated as perfectly understandable in Nigeria. Take the recent theft reported by Senate President Bukola Saraki, who said that ₦300 million(about $1.6 million) disappeared from his room. Police are questioning aides as well as some members of the security detail but not pressing on the fact that Saraki had huge amounts of cash sent to his hotel room.

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