An Indiana House government committee voted unanimously to allow police departments to withhold video from police body cameras. Unanimously. These videotapes have resulted in arguably the single most effective deterrent of police abuse in the history of this country. However, Rep. Kevin Mahan (left) (R., Hartford City) wants to leave the release of the evidence at the discretion of the very department that often faces the greatest criticism and costs over such evidence.
Category: Society
With the increasing discomfort of voters over the huge speaking fees that Hillary Clinton received from Wall Street and other business groups, it was astonishing to see Clinton leave the tough Iowa campaign to go to Philadelphia to meet with financial industry wealthy to collect more donations. The campaign decided to do the fundraiser just a week before the Iowa caucuses despite Clinton’s personal and campaign money from lobbyists and industry executives growing as a key issue for undecided voters. The decision is baffling for a campaign that is famous for controlling the message and image of Clinton. It did not go unnoticed by Bernie Sanders who hit Clinton last night with this zinger: “My opponent is not in Iowa tonight. She is raising money from a Philadelphia investment firm. Frankly, I’d rather be here with you.” Ouch.
There is a disturbing proceeding unfolding before the the District of Columbia Office of Disciplinary Counsel where Thomas Tamm, a former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer who leaked information to the press about warrantless domestic spying under President George W. Bush, is facing legal ethics charges in Washington. Tamm is viewed as a hero by many in exposing the program, but even among his detractors there are those who view him as a whistleblower. The intervention of the DC Bar into the case is troubling given the various policy and legal questions over his status in exposing the program.
There was a very disturbing scene at Rome’s famous Capitoline Museum recently during a joint press conference between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Italian Premeir Matteo Renzi. The museum had nude sculptures covered up so not to insult the Islamic sensibilities of Rouhani and his staff. One of the statues was the “Capitoline Venus,” a Roman copy of a legendary fourth century B.C. work by Praxiteles. Ironically, it is piece that symbolized the modesty of Venus in covering up after a bath. Not modest enough, it appears, for the Iranians.
Continue reading “Roman Museum Covers Up Nude Works To Avoid Insulting Iranian President”
Just last September, we passed the 27,000,000 mark and we just hit 28,000,000 views. As our site motto states, “the thing speaks for itself” and that is certainly true of our success. The success of this site 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. It is a great privilege to host this forum with so many interesting and passionate voices on contemporary issues. While we often disagree, the vast majority of comments remain civil and substantive. While we just did our end of the year wrap up, we often use these milestones to look at the current profile of the blog and its supporters around the world.
Police are dealing with a somewhat unique crime in Turlock, California where thieves stolen tanks from a truck. Since they also stole gasoline from the truck, the thieves might not have been aware of what was in the tanks but had succeeded in stealing $50,000 of bull semen.
There is a surprising development out of Texas in the investigation of into Planned Parenthood and the scandal over the selling of fetal tissue and body parts. The Center for Medical Progress had gone undercover to record officials with the organization speaking about the sales in ways that outraged the public and triggered a backlash against Planned Parenthood. However, the grand jury opted not to indict anyone at Planned Parenthood and instead charged David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt with the Center of Medical Progress for tampering with a governmental record, a second-degree felony. Perhaps the most interesting charge was the indictment of Daleiden with the purchase and sale of human organs, a class A misdemeanor. The group has insisted that it was using standard journalistic practices in showing that Planned Parenthood was illegally profiting from the sale of fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood has been cleared of any wrongdoing in various states. However, Planned Parenthood was forced to apologize for the casual tone of its officials and changed its policy on reimbursements for tissue and body parts.
Continue reading “Video Makers In Planned Parenthood Scandal Indicted By Texas Grand Jury”
There is a truly disgraceful story out of Lakewood, New Jersey where homeless man Ronald Leggatt, 65, was offered $5 by a stranger to pour a hot cup of coffee over his own head — twice. Carlos Mejia, 22, of Jackson, posted a video of Leggatt discussing the demeaning act. Mejia witnessed the scene and at first thought the man was going to help Leggatt and was horrified as Leggatt poured the coffee over his own head. The coffee reportedly left burn marks on Leggatt’s face. Mejia confronted the man who paid for the act. Mejia said that the culprit was an Orthodox Jew, who allegedly told Mejia that nothing would happen to him because “we run the town.” (Lakewood has a large Orthodox population). The police located the sadist but decided that there was no crime to charge because the act by Leggatt was voluntary. Others in the Orthodox Jewish community were ashamed by the conduct of the culprit and came forward to help Leggatt.
Stories of this kind leave me baffled. With all of the money and harsh measures imposed on the public by the Transportation Security Administration, the TSA itself seems barely accountable for continual stories of bungling and gross negligence. Recently, it was revealed that an international flight was allowed to simply go directly from the aircraft to the streets without passing through customs. People were horrified. Now it has happened again with American Airlines Flight 1223 from Cancun, Mexico and one passenger even alerted the TSA at the time and was told to just leave with the rest of the passengers from Mexico. The only reassuring thought is that any drug mule or terrorist would have assumed that this was a trick since no one is this dumb.
Continue reading “Kennedy Airport Allows Another International Flight To Skip Customs”
I have long admired Bill Gates for his incredible philanthropy around the world. It is for that reason that I was astonished by the news that Gates had sold the rights to a huge number of photos to the Visual China Group. The sale will now placed images from Tiananmen Square, including the iconic Tank Man photo, in the hands of the Chinese who hope to bury them and any memory of the uprising. The sale of Gates’ Corbis likely made a tidy profit but it is a political bonanza for the censors of the Chinese government.
We have been following the controversy surrounding the outrageous conduct of University of Missouri Mass communications professor Melissa Click attacking the media covering a “Black Lives Matter” protest.” She has now been charged with third-degree assault — an offense that is criminal but likely to result in only a fine.
Continue reading “University of Missouri Communications Professor To Be Charged With Assault”
We have been reporting on the protests occurring on college campuses and the troubling demands sometimes made by the “Black Lives Matter” movement in terms of academic components and programs, including college newspapers. Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov finally had enough after receiving a list of rambling demands from black students — demands declared to be nonnegotiable for the Administration. Krislov correctly refused to concede core control over the academic mission and yield to such demands which included things like the firing of certain employees and enrolling recently released prisoners.
Continue reading “Oberlin President Rejects List of Rambling Demands From Black Students”
New York city has reportedly agreed to pay two Occupy Wall Street protesters $52,000 for their arrest in 2013 after flipping off two New York City police officers on a Queens subway train. The arrests of Nicholas Thommen, 21, and Channing Creage, 26, clearly violated the first amendment and lacked probable cause of any crime. The question is not the settlement but, again, the absence of any indication of discipline of these officers for knowingly violating the constitutional rights of citizens.
Continue reading “New York Settles Case Of The Arrest Of Two Protesters For Insulting Police”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The weather here was cool and sunny. As an act of mercy for youse guys in the Northeast I thought I would help warm your spirits and stomachs with a recipe. I made this for dinner tonight. Of course, your stores are depleted from the pandemonium inherent with some folks facing two or three days of snow. But if you can scrape a few things together, you might enjoy some Salmon & Sweet Potato Soup.
Continue reading “Snow Soup For You! Something for the DC Shut-ins”
We are all hunkered down in our house with two feet of snow outside with drifts of around five feet. My Chicago upbringing however is hardwired. I cannot stay inside the house with a snow covered driveway. I just can’t. So I have cleared my driveway and can now drive to the wall of about three feet of snow on the street. In Virginia, they call snow removal “Spring.” However, I can drive up and down my driveway in a personal triumph against winter.
Continue reading “Man v. Snow: The Eternal Struggle Continues . . .”