There is an interesting decision out of the Iowa Supreme Court in a case brought by former Drake University law student, Nicole Shumate, who sued over the refusal to allow her to bring a service dog in training into the school. The court ruled that, while state law requires such access, the law does not afford a private right of action to enforce the provisions of the law.
Continue reading “A Right Without A Remedy: Former Drake Law Student Loses Lawsuit Against School Over Alleged Ban On Service Animals”
Category: Society
We have previously discussed the increasing use of tasers by police in circumstances where other avenues were available, including cases involving young children (here and here and here and here and here and here) or the elderly (here and here and here and here). Now we have a case where two Indiana police officers tasered a 10-year-old, 94-pound boy at the Tender Teddies Day Care in Martinsville.
Continue reading “Taser Tots: Indiana Police Taser Ten Year Old Boy At Day Care”
We have previously discussed the lack of priority in this country as Congress has spent trillions on wars and corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan while our most basic state and federal public programs and services are cut. Indeed, we spend billions on increasingly hostile countries like Pakistan or affluent countries like Israel while our educational system and infrastructure collapses. There is no greater example of that lack of priority than the decline of our court systems which are woefully underfunded and facing a growing crisis in dealing with civil and criminal cases. I often speak to judges and they all complain that they are overwhelmed and unable to meet the most basic demands of the legal system. In California, one court had to resort of a garage sale while another is imposing a $1 a page charge for people to get copies of needed court records. Our legal system is one of the most basic governmental functions — the very definition of a nation committed to the rule of law. However, California alone shows how dire the situation has become.
We recently discussed the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Schuette v. BAMN that states, like Michigan, can prohibit any use of race in admissions in a “color-blind” state entrance system for colleges and universities. Now, a leading school in one of the states with such a color-blind rule is being accused of violating state law by one of its professors. Tim Groseclose, a political science professor at UCLA, has posted data that he was able to obtain from the school that he argues is proof of “cheating” by school officials who refuse to comply with the state law. The question is whether this will be the basis for a post-Schuette challenge in states like California.
It is now time for another addition of “Things That Tick Me Off” — my opportunity to vent frustrations and petty injuries to a captive audience. Today’s recipient is the Federal Aviation Administration. As some of you might have followed on Twitter, last night was an unmitigated nightmare as I returned from Chicago after a speech. It was bad enough to get a horoscope before a speech telling me to avoid speaking at all costs, but then the fire alarm was triggered at an FAA facility on Tuesday — forcing flights at both O’Hare and Midway to a grinding halt — it triggered a series of events that grew increasingly bizarre. Indeed, yesterday was clearly the result of my ignoring my horoscope and speaking despite the fateful warning. My frequent flyer Odysseus moment.
Continue reading “Things That Tick Me Off: The Federal Aviation Administration”
The Sao Paulo police are distributing a pamphlet for tourists coming to the country for the World Cup next month and presumably those who will be coming for the next Olympics. The police strongly encourage people not to “react, scream or argue” because that will only make robbers angry or nervous and push them to greater acts of violence. It is probably sound advice but the optics are not great for a country accused of rampant corruption and abuse in the police forces as well as runaway crime.
Continue reading “Brazilian Police: Please Don’t Scream When You Are Being Robbed”
If you are one of us who look at those barefoot shoes with skepticism, you are not alone. VIbram, the manufacturer of FiveFinger shoes, has settled a multi-year, class-action lawsuit brought by customers who challenged the company’s claims that barefoot running shoes could improve health. The company will pay some $3.75 million in partial refunds to people who purchased the shoes since March 2009. The settlement is not huge but the basis for the lawsuit is damaging to the company. The company has agreed to change its claims of health benefits from its odd looking footwear.
Continue reading “Manufacturer of Barefoot Shoes Settles Lawsuit Over Health Claims”
US-based Belgian writer Misha Defonseca became an international celebrity after publishing her best seller novel, “Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years” — the incredible story of how a Jewish girl was cared for by a pack of wolves after running off into the forest to escape an abusive household. In 2008, Defonseca admitted that the story was made up, her real name was Monique de Wael, and she was never Jewish. The case is Mt. Ivy Press v. Defonseca, 85 Mass. App. Ct. 241, *; 2014 Mass. App. LEXIS 42.
There is some very exciting news off of the coast of Haiti where archeologists believe that they have located the sunken wreck of the Santa Maria, the flagship of Christopher Columbus. American expedition leader Barry Clifford announced that they believe that it is in fact the ship that has been missing for five centuries.
I just finished speaking at the Seventh Circuit Conference in Chicago on a panel with former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, attorney Kenneth Feinberg, and Wall Street Journal reporter John Emshwiller on the federalization of crime. I had to share one humorous and ominous incident. I stayed with my Mom rather than use the room at the Blu Aqua Hotel and as I was heading to the taxi, my mother gave me my Chicago Tribune horoscope for today. It read: “Watch your words… you could talk too much.” Not exactly what you want to read heading into a public speech. (No I do not believe in horoscopes but I thought it was pretty funny nonetheless).
Continue reading “The Stars Are Not With You: The Perils of Being A Taurus With A Speech Today”
Procter & Gamble has issued an apology after its new campaign for Ariel laundry detergent in Germany does not suggests a powerfully whitening soap as much as a white power soap. The Ariel powder boxes featured a soccer jersey with a prominent “88.” The problem is that neo-Nazis use “88” to get around laws criminalizing the use of such phrases as Heil Hitler.” “H” is the eighth letter in the alphabet. The company has apologized for “any false connotations” and changed the exterior of the product. The number 88 for the company represented the number of loads that you can wash with one package. For others, any promise to make your “whites the whitest” had a more disturbing historical meaning.
Submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Weekend Contributor
I was going to write this last weekend on the actual 44th anniversary of a very sad event. For some reason, I had a hard time focusing on what I wanted to say, in light of the many emotions that were going through my head. I don’t want the anniversary to go by without writing about the personal significance that day in May had on my life, and I believe on the lives of many in my generation. The Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by John Filo, included above from Wikipedia, is one that I have never forgotten. Nor should anyone forget it. Continue reading “May 4th, 1970, The Day My Generation Lost Its Innocence”
Happy Mother’s Day to all of our mothers and to the mothers of our readers and commenters! I think it is no exaggeration to say that we could not have this blog without them and our blog mothers are widely viewed as the smartest, cleverest, and beautiful mothers in all of motherdom.
Continue reading “HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY”
By Mark Esposito, Weekend Contributor
Author’s Note: Grace Under Pressure is an ongoing series of posts honoring everyday people who courageously make positive differences in their own lives and consequently in the lives of others. It is my own personal affirmation that unexpected heroes live among us and that their service is quiet but unshakable proof that virtue really is its own reward – and ours, too.
They buried little eight-year-old Martin Cobb, Jr. here in Richmond (Va.) on Friday afternoon. Rev. Theodore L. Hughey, pastor of Abundant Life Church, praised the youngster for his courage and then went on to condemn the community and the bureaucrats who oversee it for letting crime fester and forgetting about the children who suffer from it. A handmade sign above the tiny coffin read “Pound for pound, year for year, few greater heroes … if any.”
And little Martin, as his neighbors in the Mosby Court public housing project knew him, was a hero. A small stature caused by an open heart surgery while he was just three-months-old hid a fighting spirit. Many neighbors thought he was only three or four years old. One of them, Harry Hunter, recalled that “He was so small, I used to carry him in my book bag.”
But no one “carried” Little Martin on Thursday evening a week ago when he died defending his sister from a sexual attack at the hands of an alleged 16-year-old sexual predator who, at his young age, had already been charged with viciously assaulting another young boy and has suffered mental health issues.
Continue reading “Grace Under Pressure: Little Martin Cobb, Jr. And The Courage of Change”
By Charlton (Chuck) Stanley, Weekend Contributor
The sad case of Cook County (Illinois) Judge Cynthia Brim has been discussed on this blog previously here and here. To sum up, she had a mental breakdown while holding traffic court on March 8, 2012.
She went on a paranoid rant, accusing police of targeting minorities for traffic tickets. For the next 45 minutes, she rambled on about her childhood as well as describing at least five prior hospitalizations for mental illness. During her rambling outburst, she told her audience she was once removed from the courtroom by paramedics after a previous breakdown.
Witnesses reported she said, “Not only men have balls, but women can have balls too. You just have to grow them.”
Continue reading “Mentally Ill Judge Cynthia Brim Removed From the Bench”