We have previously discussed the increasing trend toward monitoring and disciplining private and public employees for comments on social media. These cases raise difficult questions of free speech in our society. The most recent such case involves Leslie Anderson, a law clerk for a New Jersey judge who resigned after being suspended after she made comments on Facebook criticizing a state trooper who was killed in a crash with a deer. While some praised 24-year-old Anthony Raspa (left) as a hero, Anderson also expressed sympathy for the dead animal, saying “I agree that it is sad and heart-wrenching for the family members left to suffer the consequences of the trooper’s recklessness—especially for the deer family who lost a mommy or daddy or baby deer.”
Category: Society
We have been discussing the expanding number of terms and phrases deemed racist or, in the new lexicon, a form of “microagression” against minority groups. An example this week is found in the decision of the Port Authority in Pittsburgh stripping buses of its new ad campaign after complaints that “Ziggin Zaggin” is racially offensive because it reminds riders of the n-word when read backwards.
We have followed the horrific environmental problems in China after decades of the communist putting industrial production above every health and environmental priority. That is beginning to change as cancer rates continue to soar and the country becomes increasingly unliveable in parts, including Beijing. When stories come out, the pollution and health dangers are often on a scale that is literally breathtaking. This week had another report from the environmental ministry itself — long viewed as hiding data and underplaying environmental damage. The report says that roughly two-thirds of China’s underground water, and a third of its surface water, were rated as unsuitable for direct human contact in 2014.
Continue reading “Report: Two-Thirds of China’s Underwater Resources Unfit For Human Use”
LawDragon has released the results of its increasingly popular survey of the top lawyers in America. I was fortunate to again make the list this year. This year is the 10th anniversary of the annual report which has become very popular in the profession. I have been honored to be on the list in prior years and it is always gladdening to see so many friends and GW graduates on the list.
Continue reading “Turley Selected Among The Top 500 Lawyers in Annual Ranking”
Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz is now the plaintiff in slip and fall against TD Garden for an injury that he suffered in an arena bathroom during a Celtics game. Dershowitz blames the lack of paper towels for the wet floor that caused him to slip and injure his right knee and leg.
Continue reading “Alan Dershowitz Sues TD Garden Over Slip And Fall In Bathroom”
With the exception of the controversies involving involving Christine O’Donnell and Sarah Palin, witchcraft has not been a persistent problem in this country’s elections. The same cannot be said for Tanzania. Indeed, the problem is so great that the government has released a warning to candidates in the October elections not to engage in witchcraft in an attempt to improve their odds. The warning is primarily meant to protect the country’s 30,000 albinos who are often murdered so that people can use their body parts in witchcraft.
Continue reading “Tanzanian Election Warning: No Witchcraft”
The English court system is considering a controversial new report by Dame Elish Angiolini that would establish a rule that women cannot be viewed as consenting to sex if they are found to be intoxicated. The report is pushing an amendment of the Sexual Offences Act to establish the rule.
The problem with ISIS and many Islamic extremists is that it is increasingly hard to tell what is a real story and what is an absurd Onion story. However, this appears a real story. When ISIS is not sledgehammering priceless artifacts and bulldozing ancient cities, it is arresting pigeon breeders and unIslamic. Why? Most articles report that the reason is that the breeding takes away time from worshipping Allah while some have reported that ISIS fanatics have also complaint that the sight of the birds’ genitals as they fly overhead is offensive to Islam. The latter rationale would seem to require exceptionally good eyesight or exceptionally well-endowed pigeons.
Continue reading “ISIS Reportedly Executes Three Teenagers and Arrests Others For Raising Pigeons”
The religious orthodoxy of some Israeli laws have long been a point of contention in the country, particularly with the large secular Jewish population over everything from dietary limitations to segregated buses. A U.S. born Israeli soldier found out about these pervasive laws when he was brought up on charges after being spotted eating a pork sandwich in uniform. His secular grandmother had made him the sandwich and it initially landed him in jail with a 11-day sentence. Continue reading “Baloney: Israeli Soldier Brought Up On Charges For Eating a Pork Sandwich In Uniform”
Facing an expanding scandal (including new information tracing an $10 million to one of his closest aides) FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Tuesday he will resign from FIFA. It is a long overdue action by Blatter that only took decades of corruption and scandal as well as international arrests. Many critics are still hopeful that Blatter (who has recently repeated his contempt for reformers and the investigation of corruption) will be the next to be indicted. Blatter however insists that he will remain in his position pending a new election that might not occur until December. Continue reading “Un-Made Man: Blatter to Resign From FIFA”
Below is my column today in USA Today on the decision of the Supreme Court to reject the Obama Administation’s argument for a low standard in criminalizing speech on the Internet and other forums. The Court did not have to directly deal with the free speech implications of the case since it ruled on the standard for criminalization. The Court rejected the lowest standard of a reasonable person in establishing a criminal threat. However, with the remand, the issue may come back to the Court under another effort to adopt an alternative standard of recklessness.
Continue reading “ELONIS AND THE NEAR MISS FOR INTERNET FREE SPEECH”
It is no secret on this blog that I am a critic of efforts to ban fatty foods and sugary drinks as with former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ill-considered campaign in New York. San Francisco attempted the same paternalistic legislation in imposing a tax on such drinks — only to have voters reject the measure. Undeterred, the Land Use Committee in San Francisco is considering a host of proposals to label sodas or bar advertisements. I remain opposed to such measures as punishing people for lifestyle choices. While the city would not oppose any number of life style choices, it will not tolerate citizens who disregard the city’s view of healthy living.
Welcome to Painesville. In this aptly named Ohio town, Painesville Municipal Court Judge Michael Cicconetti ordered Diamond Gaston, an assault suspect who pepper-sprayed someone in the face at a fast-food restaurant, that she could choose between 30 days in jail or be pepper-sprayed by her victim. Cicconetti then had the pepper-spray replaced with harmless saline spray without telling Gaston.
As we discussed earlier, FIFA has responded to the arrests of soccer officials in its latest corruption scandal with open contempt for the public and prosecutors. Sepp Blatter, 79, was reelected as FIFA’s president for a fifth term by the world governing body’s 209 member associations. FIFA officials were still be processed as arrestees in the corruption investigation in the United States, but Blatter was reelected by a group that seems little more than made men in an international criminal organization. Now, Blatter has gone public with a mocking public rebuke of everyone who has tried to reform his organization and fight corruption.
In parts of Pakistan, women are now banned from voting after an local politicians and religious elders came to an agreement. Obviously, they were all men in Hangu and parts of Malakand, districts of the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is all part of the Purdah traditions of the deeply conservative Islamic Pastun tribes in the area. Local mosques recently placed men with batons to beat any women who tried to vote in parliamentary elections. Now, all women are simply banned from voting.
Continue reading “Women Banned From Voting in Parts of Pakistan Under New Agreement”