This is the rather bizarre mugshot of Jared Loughner that was released yesterday afternoon. He has been assigned lawyer Judy Clarke, who defended the Unabomber.
Continue reading “Meet Jared Loughner”
Category: Society
Unfortunately, one of the most predictable things to follow a madman’s attack in this country is a slew of new laws proposed by politicians — often laws that threaten first amendment or fourth amendment rights. In the first of what may be a slew of such measures following the Arizona massacre, Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) has indicated that he now plans to introduce legislation that would make it a federal crime to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a federal official or member of Congress. The law will be designed on the model of the law criminalizing threats against the President. That law has long been controversial with civil libertarians and Rep. Brady’s law will only magnify the constitutional concerns.
There is an interesting case involving the team doctor to the San Diego Chargers, Dr. David Chao. Kathleen Adams, a former patient, was awarded $2.2 million by an arbitration panel due to Chao botched hip surgery in 2007 in which he lacerated her femoral artery, vein and nerve. What is most interesting is that Chao, 46, has a long history of malpractice despite his high-profile position with the Chargers.
Continue reading “Chargers Doctor Loses Malpractice Case And Investigated By Federal Authorities”
There is an amazing (and startling) statistic out of Iraq and Afghanistan: the United States has fired an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed. The U.S. is going through so much ammo that manufacturers are struggling to keep up. In another milestone, U.S. troops in Afghanistan now surpass the number in Iraq.
Continue reading “GAO: U.S. Has Fired 250,000 Rounds For Every Insurgent Killed”
The video below is the quintessential warning for a host of human endeavors from law school exams to marriage: stay on the path and don’t make unplanned turns. In a heartbreaking moment, Natsuki Terada had pulled ahead in a marathon and was just about to win when he made the wrong turn. You can watch what happened.
Continue reading “Japanese Marathoner Takes Wrong Turn Just Before Finish Line”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Pet owners may be getting new rights if Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signs the new pet trust bill into law. Under the statute, a pet owner will be able to designate a guardian for their animals in their will and to provide funds for their upkeep. The trust provision is now mandatory and will alleviate the current practice of permitting the executor to dispose of the pet set-aside funds as he/she sees fit. The measure is also expected to alleviate the financial burden on towns who must care for pets abandoned after the death of their masters.
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
In his speech Restoring British Liberties (dated January 7, 2011), Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg talked about the freedom and the “hard-won liberties” that people in Britain have held dear. He talked about the standards of a nation that have been the hallmarks of a civilized society to which people who are victims of oppression in other places around the world have looked to as a beacon of hope…as an example of a better way of life.
Clegg claimed that in recent times under Labour many of Britain’s best traditions have suffered—and that many of its civil liberties “have been undermined, eroded, lost.”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, preparing for a run for President, has granted clemency to two African-American sisters serving life sentences for an armed robbery 17 years ago. The sisters were convicted of robbing at gunpoint two men who were driving them to a nightclub in northern Mississippi in 1993. They had no prior criminal record and got $11.00. Each was sentenced to two life terms. Civil Rights activists have lobbied for their release arguing the sentences were too long.
Continue reading “Miss. Governor Frees Sisters Who Robbed $11 – But With A Catch”
Submitted by Mark M. Esposito, Guest Blogger
Dr. Zahi Hawass is none too happy with New York Mayor Bloomberg. The Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council on Antiquities has sent the Mayor a letter demanding the City preserve a 3500 year old obelisk known as “Cleopatra’s Needle” or send it back. Since 1881, the red granite monument has stood in Central Park near the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is nearly 68 feet high.
Continue reading “Egypt Demands Return of “Cleopatra’s Needle.””
The chief rabbi in the city of Holon, Avraham Yosef, has issued a religious decree banning women from driving — again bringing extremists in both Islam and Judaism to a mutually agreeable position with regard to women’s rights.
Continue reading “Driving Miss Delilah: Leading Israeli Rabbi Bans Women From Driving”
The Vatican is teaming up with the Discovery Channel in a reality show based on the Vatican’s case files and interviews with its top exorcists. While Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon might have had to wait for a Vatican murder to get access to the Vatican files, Discovery can do so with the promise of a reality show. It just shows that even the Pope cannot resist the temptation of a reality show any more than Sarah Palin.
Continue reading “The Exorcist Files: Catholic Church Agrees To Reality Show With the Discovery Channel”
In the video below, police appear to shoot a man in a wheelchair who was armed with knives and may have stabbed an officer. There are a number of questions raised by this video over the use of lethal force.
Continue reading “Video: San Francisco Police Shoot Man in Wheelchair”
While the legal profession debates the propriety of his decision to participate in the educational sessions for conservative new members of Congress, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia is also causing a stir over his public statement that the 14th Amendment does not prohibit discrimination against women or gays.
Continue reading “Scalia Publicly Rejects the Use of the 14th Amendment to Bar Discrimination Against Women and Gays”
While academics and commentators line up to denounce the plan of New South publishers to edit out the n-word from Huckleberry Finn, a federal jury is set to decide whether there is a different standard for a white person as opposed to a black person in using the n-word in the work place. Former Fox29 reporter-anchor Tom Burlington has sued his former station alleging that he was the victim of racial discrimination and a hostile work environment over the use of the n-word.
Continue reading “Federal Court Clears Way For Jury Trial on Whether There Is A Different Standard for Blacks and Whites In The Use of the N-Word”
The mainstream Islamic organizations have rallied in response to the assassination of of Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab province by one of his bodyguards. However, they are not rallying to denounce the killing but to celebrate it because Taseer had stood up against the country’s notorious blasphemy laws. Islamic leaders warned people not to mourn his death and warned other politicians that they could face the same fate if they tried to curtail blasphemy prosecutions. In the meantime, his killer, Mumtaz Qadri was showered with rose petals and kisses by supporters in court.
Continue reading “Mainstream Pakistani Islamic Groups Praise Assassin of Governor and Warn Others That They Would Be Killed For Opposing Blasphemy Prosecutions”