New Mexico Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R) has introduced House Bill 206, a bill that would make it a crime a rape victim to get an abortion as destruction of evidence of a crime. Brown is a lawyer and a member of the judiciary committee. She is also an ardent pro-life legislator who has made eliminating abortion (and “debunking” global warming) a mission. and, after a national outcry, says that the bill was poorly drafted will be changed to address the public concerns.
Category: Society
We have previously discussed how Congress and the White House have yielded to demand for increasing copyright and trademark restrictions, including criminal prosecutions of ordinary citizens. One of my longest complaints is how people and businesses now claim ownership of common symbols and phrases. (here and here). This week we have two parties in a fight to claim trademark over a common expression. Roy Fox of Pendleton, Indiana secured a copyright to the term “Harbowl” last year to make money off of a Superbowl with the Baltimore Ravens under coach John Harbaugh and San Francisco 49ers under coach Jim Harbaugh. He was then muscled out of his trademark by NFL lawyers claiming to own the term “Superbowl.”
Continue reading “NFL Crushes Indiana Man Who Claimed Ownership Of “Harbowl””
We previously discussed the insulting decision of Beyoncé to lip sync the national anthem at the Inauguration. The story has only gotten worse with time. First, it turns out that the Marine band also faked playing to match her fake singing. Second, and more recently, we have learned that Beyoncé decided to lip sync the day before after showing up late and not rehearsing. It appears that gig was not important enough to her to either show up on time or work a bit later. It is not the Superbowl after all.
Continue reading “What So Proudly We Hailed at Beyoncé’s Lip Syncing . . . (Part II)”
After the Inauguration, I shared my thoughts on President Barack Obama’s address. I liked the speech but, as with many civil libertarians, I do not share the faith in his commitment to principle — at least not the principles behind civil liberties. Below is today’s print column that touches on some of the same themes with a few additional observations.
Journalist Mark Hales is facing bankruptcy after he blew the engine of a £1.3million replica Porsche 917 during a test drive. Hales says that the owner, veteran Formula One ace David Piper, told him that he would cover any damage. However, Piper denied the oral agreement occurred and a court ordered Hale to pay $76,000 to cover repairs to the car, plus $100,000 in legal costs.
Gun Appreciation Day across the country was marked by various gun shot wounds. At the Dixie Gun and Knife Show in Raleigh, North Carolina, the owner of a 12-gauge shotgun was asked to remove his gun from its case at a security check point and accidentally discharged the weapon — wounding three people.
We previously discussed the scandal surrounding Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway who was accused of an array of misconduct leading to her resignation from the Court. Many of us wondered why she had not been hit with a criminal indictment. Now she has. Only a few days before leaving the court, Hathaway is now officially indicted of fraud.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty(rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
On the eve of President Obama’s Inauguration for his second term, I thought it might be useful to look more closely at one of his policies that is not working for students or parents. I am referring to his educational policy, better know by its marketing name, Race to the Top. This “quaint” title for his corporate backed privatizing plan hides the negative impact it has had in the schools themselves. It is has led to school closings and teacher firings for the sole purpose of school districts being eligible for the Race to the Top grants from the Federal government! Continue reading “Obama’s Race to the Bottom”
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Manti Te’o may not be the last of the true romantics. The Heisman Trophy runner-up and supposed victim of an on-line girlfriend hoax wrought by an acquaintance stands a distant second in the wine and chocolates line. Meet Manatee County (FL)’s own James Flenniken, unpolished thief (allegedly) and dedicated romantic. Beneficiary of an impending date with a lady, Flenniken hopped on over to the local Wal-Mart and helped himself to $80.00 worth of beef steak, wine and beer according to a report in the Bradenton Herald. Nabbed by an alert loss prevention worker, our love struck grifter told police he did the deed to “impress a lady.” The officers –obviously no fans of best-selling author Nora Roberts — were unimpressed and charged Flenniken with petty theft. He was held later without bond in the local hoosegow and thus frustrating any chance at true love. No word on the lucky lady. I’m betting on Winona Ryder. The couple seems to have a lot in common.
Source: Bradenton.com
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
I am still in Salt Lake City, but we have had a great number of inquiries on yesterday’s hearing in the Sister Wives case. The two motions for summary judgment were argued with the state presenting its case through lead counsel Jerry Jenson and my presenting the case for the Brown family. Judge Clark Waddoups was obviously well-versed in the record and asked probing and fair questions to both sides. He has now taken the case under review for a final decision on the merits. I prefer not repeat or comment on statements in court from either myself or the judge. A few articles from the hearing are linked below.
Continue reading “Sister Wives Case Now Set For Final Ruling”
Carmen Ortiz, the US Attorney in Massachusetts, appears to be feeling some of the heat of the global anger over her prosecution of Aaron Swartz — an unrelenting prosecution that many (including the family) blame for his suicide. Ortiz is attempting to portray this abusive and unnecessary prosecution as prosecutors merely enforcing the law in compliance with their oath. They were, according to Ortiz, something akin to a legal version of Inspector Javert — committed to the enforcement of the federal law without discretion or judgment. Ortiz, who had remained silent, appears to have accepted that the case is presenting a serious problem for her and begins with a statement of sympathy that was entirely absent in the treatment of Swartz by her office and Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Heymann who has been linked to another suicide of a defendant.
I have previously written about the trend in our schools to use arrests as substitutes for school discipline for students. A new report highlights this trend and leaves a particularly shocking account of the situation in the Mississippi school system which remains 50th on teacher salaries but leads the nation in putting its students in jail.
Continue reading “Mississippi’s Policy of Matriculation Through Incarceration”
Notre Dame’s athletic director Jack Swarbrick has given a tearful account of how he has determined that his football star Manti Te’o was a victim of being “catfishes” in mourning the death of a girlfriend who never in fact existed. I must confess an insurmountable level of skepticism regarding Te’o’s account, but I am more concerned not with his veracity (which seem entirely gone) but with the ethics of Notre Dame. Even without considering the Catholic values of the university, the response of the University to this matter is predictable and depressing given the known facts. We have previously discussed how football programs warp the academic mission and ethics of universities. This appears to be a towering example of the corrosive effect of such programs. Notre Dame admitted that it was made aware of the hoax but said nothing as reporters gushed over the bravery of Te’o in facing the death of the “love of his life.” Yet, the university insists that it had no obligation to tell the truth during the season while Te’o was being considered for the Heisman Trophy. Moreover, it concluded that Te’o had no ethical obligation to come forward immediately with the truth — even if we accept that he did not know that the “love of his life” did not exist.
We previously discussed the tort action filed by John Coomer against the Kansas City Royals and its mascot Sluggerrr after he was hit in the eye by a hot dog thrown into the crowd. Coomer suffered a detached retina and other injures. A jury ruled against him in favor of their popular mascot in a verdict that I previously questioned since it seems to be clearly negligent to fire these projectiles into the crowd. It appears that the Missouri appellate court agrees and reversed the verdict. The case is Coomer v. Kansas City Royals, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 46.
There is an interesting case out of San Antonio where a car owner shot and killed one alleged car thief and wounded another outside of a home of a friend. What is interesting is that response of the police that, since he was defending property, he was in the right.
Continue reading “Texas Man Cleared Of Wrongdoing In Killing One Car Thief And Wounding Another”