A former prosecutor in Ohio, Jason Phillabaum of Cincinnati, has had his law license suspended for a year after pleading guilty to adding a charge to a criminal indictment and then signing the document. Frankly, I am astonished that the Ohio bar considers this misconduct as warranting only a year suspensions as opposed to disbarment. This constituted not only the creation of a false indictment and false filing but the denial of basic constitutional rights and protections in our system. It is hard to image a more serious form of prosecutorial misconduct and yet he will be practicing again in Ohio in a matter of 12 months?
Category: Society
The Palestinian Authority appears to have too many streets named Elm or Main street. Instead, it has decided to name a street after a murderous terrorist, Muhammad Halabi, 19, on the outskirts of Ramallah. Halabi stabbed to death two Israelis, Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi and Aharon Bennett, in the Old City of Jerusalem on Oct. 3 and also injured Bennett’s wife Adele and their 2-year-old son in the attack. Now Palestinians can live on Halabi street to honor these infamous acts.
There is an interesting controversy brewing between academics and Jewish groups in Germany as the deadline approaches for the end of the copyright over Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”, the book that laid the foundation for the Nazi takeover and ultimately the genocidal crimes of World War II. For seven decades, the copyright has rested with with Bravarian officials who have prevented the publication of the work. Now, academics are arguing that the book should be reprinted due to its obvious historical significance. However, Jewish and other groups are demanding a continuation of the ban on reprints.
Continue reading “Mein Copyright: Controversy Erupts Over The Reprinting Of Hitler’s Infamous Work”
In an unbelievably tragic story, the widow of a slain runner in Texas has committed suicide. Patti Stevens, 54, a physical therapist, was found dead of suspected suicide at her home in Sunnyvale after her husband, Dave, was slain by Thomas Linze Johnson, 21, a mentally ill former Texas A&M football player. The case is likely to raise serious mental capacity questions for Johnson who is reportedly schizophrenic as well as questions of whether the impact on Stevens (and her suicide) should be considered in any sentencing.
Continue reading “Widow Of Murder Victim Commits Suicide In Texas”
I am finally back in Washington after a wonderful trip to my old stomping grounds in New Orleans. I fell in love with New Orleans during my clerkship on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and lived in the city as a faculty member at Tulane Law School. The city has bounced back after Katrina. Indeed, there are major improvements with a plethora of new shops and an ever-expanding World War II museum and other attractions. Hotels appear near capacity and the city is bustling.
We recently discussed the sentencing of a political dissident in Saudi Arabia to being crucified and beheaded under the Kingdom’s medieval Sharia-based legal system. Now, as if to reaffirm the Kingdom’s opposition to basic human rights and freedoms, the Kingdom has reportedly sentenced a professor and activist to to 10 years in prison and barred him from traveling abroad for another decade. Abdel-Karim al-Khadar, a professor of Islamic studies from conservative Qassim Province, has been under arrest for over two years (since April 2013) for criticizing religious extremism and fighting for women’s rights. That is enough to jail you in the Kingdom, a country that remains one of our closest allies.
Real Communists don’t golf. That appears the message this month from those brilliant Chinese Communist Party functionaries. The latest edict from the Party has banned all 88 million of its members from joining golf clubs or gyms. The move appears part of the latest anti-corruption campaign in China, which is targeting these clubs as common places for bribes and special dealing. Of course, it is little problem to achieve that same corruption deals at a restaurant or a Mah Jong parlor. However, the way that central planners think is that you can fight corruption by attacking a common place for corrupt discussions. It is akin to fighting insider trading by barring limousines.
Continue reading “Real Communists Don’t Golf: Chinese Party Bars Members From Joining Golf Clubs”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We previously featured an article on how the practice of private organizations charging predatory tolls on inmate telephone calls. Now, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), a regulatory agency of the U.S. Government, voted to enact guidelines limiting these tolls to be more in-line with reasonable costs that the agency believes will balance inmate needs with legitimate rates of return required by carriers to remain viable in their business venture.
The ruling by the FCC should come not only as welcome news to inmates, their friends and families, but it will also provide a means of comfort for most inmates and might to a limited degree also lead to lower problems affecting staff caused by inmate misbehavior.
Continue reading “FCC Votes To End Predatory Pricing Of Inmate Telephone Calls”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
An outrageous statement, if proven to be true, was made by embattled Pierce County Washington Prosecutor Mark Lindquist following the assassination of four Lakewood Police Officers in 2009.
These four officers were murdered while at a local coffee shop in Parkland. Their deaths were marked by great mourning in the law enforcement community and among Washington State’s citizens.
Showing almost sociopathic indifference, Prosecutor Mark Lindquist was quoted by his former Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Mary Robnett (who is now an Assistant Attorney General) as saying he,
“was going to have to run for re-election and would get $100K of free publicity from the murders.”
Of course, publically he was right there to show his great “remorse” for the officers and their families. His statement was confirmed by other witnesses.
Our close ally, Egypt, continues to lay waste to free speech this month with the absurd sentencing of a Facebook user to three years in jail for simply putting Mickey Mouse ears on a picture of president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Amr Nohan was charged with an “attempt to overthrow the regime” for the comical Facebook posting and tried in a military court.
Albuquerque police have announced that they have arrested the man responsible for the killing of Lilly Garcia, 4, in a road rage incident. Tony Torrez, 32, reportedly confessed to the crime and the police hit him with a long list of charges that should guarantee that he remains in jail most if not all of his life. Indeed, even a plea agreement at this point would likely place the sentence near the maximum level but, if Torrez confessed, there is little in terms of a defense to present without striking the confession on some grounds.
It is a common lament these days that we seem a hopelessly divided country on virtual every major issue from immigration to health care to climate change. The exception appears to be marijuana. Not only are record numbers of citizens reporting that they use pot, but a new Gallup poll puts support for legalization at 58%. That is up seven points from just one year ago. In addition to the public support, there appears increasing investments and tax revenues associated with marijuana sales. That combination could make it difficult for Congress or the next Administration to reverse this trend toward legalization.
Continue reading “Gallup Poll: 58% Of Americans Want Marijuana Legalized”
Ibn Hunter, 25, is one person that Atlantic City could do without. Hunter was arrested after he starred in a vicious video posted on YouTube where he taunts and then knocks out a 45-year-old homeless woman. The videotape below is disgusting and all the more disturbing by the utter lack of reaction of people around them.
Everett Middle School in San Francisco’s Mission District is teaching its students a thing or two about democracy . . . or the lack of it. Parents were informed by Principal Lena Van Haren (left) that the winners of the recent student elections would not be announced (or possibly honored) after the election failed to produce a sufficiently diverse selection. The school is composed of 80 percent students of color and 20 percent white students. The students however appeared to pick their representatives based on their individual qualifications rather than their race and that was a problem for Van Haren who told parents that the results were “concerning to me because as principal I want to make sure all voices are heard from all backgrounds.”
Michael Santiago, 25, is under arrest for felony child endangerment after his 6-year-old son accidentally shot and killed his 3-year-old brother. Santiago kept the .32-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver fully loaded on top of the refrigerator.