The Ninth Circuit has held down an interesting ruling that upheld an award of $600,000 for Deanna Freitag, a former guard who alleged that she was sexual harassed by male inmates. The allegations stem from the conduct of inmates in the maximum-security prison at Pelican Bay. Continue reading “Federal Court Upholds Sexual Harassment Award for Female Guard Harassed by Inmates”
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The presidential campaign may come down to Ahi Tuna and what Cindy McCain knew and when she knew it about her warm spinach salad. John McCain’s wife has been accused of including another woman’s recipes in her collection of “McCain Family Recipes.” She joins the wife of Jerry Seinfeld in the expanding field of recipe misappropriation. Continue reading “Tunagate: Cindy McCain Accused of Stealing Recipes”
Gregory Floyd has a curious way to establishing that he would never have threatened to shoot and kill his neighbor: he starting swinging his cane and swearing at everyone in a New Hampshire courthouse. Floyd recently was cleared of wrongdoing in killing a man who shoot a police officer. Continue reading “Nothing Says You’re Non-Violent like a Good Caning: Video Shows Man in Court Attacking Police and Prosecutors After Conviction for Criminal Threat”
This week a Yemeni court granted a divorce to an eight-year-old girl who was given an arranged marriage with 28-year-old Faez Ali Thameur. Nojud Mohammed Ali just wants to go to school, but the husband admits that he consummated the marriage. In an civilized court of law, he would have walked out with a criminal charge of child rape and abuse. Instead, he left with an uncontested divorce. As shown below, this is not unique in this area of the world. Continue reading “Yemeni Court Grants Divorce of 28-Year-old Husband and 8-Year-Old Wife”
Sidney Blumenthal, a top aide to Hillary Clinton and a past aide to Bill Clinton, has pleaded guilty in New Hampshire to drunk driving. The video below shows a polite and sober Blumenthal at booking. Such tapes are now routinely made available despite private information that is sometimes revealed, as here. Continue reading “After Clinton Aide Blumenthal Pleads Guilty to DUI, Police Release Video of Booking”
A store has demonstrated a concept that I try to teach in class.
Continue reading “Brilliant Demonstration of Deterrence Theory”
It seems that police In Camden, Maine have a slightly different idea of a bachelor party, including shooting the groom with a taser and then having him handcuffed, hog-tied, oiled and feathered — and paraded around town on the back of a truck. The video below is now being treated as evidence of a possible crime. Continue reading “You Have a Right to Remain Single: Police Bachelor Party Under Investigation”
For many, State District Judge Bill Harmon made a mockery of the murder trial of Carl Wayne Buntion, who was convicted of killed a motorcycle officer. Harmon was disciplined for his conduct in the trial and found to have a “deep-seated and vocal bias” against Buntion. Yet, that was not enough for overturn the conviction and call for a new trial with a competent judge. The Fifth Circuit has issued an order returning him to death row. Continue reading “Fifth Circuit Returns Man to Death Row Despite Biased Trial Judge”
There is a growing controversy involving an alleged statement by Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, director of the Tsomet Institute in Israel. According to various sites, Rosen stated “All of the Palestinians must be killed; men, women, infants, and even their beasts.” Here. This article is attributed to a publication in Haaretz on March 26, 2008. I cannot find references where Rosen called for such a crime. Instead, Rosen seems to engage in some inflammatory biblical illusions. Rosen may argue that he was merely making a biblical reference to the Amalekites that did not directly call for the killing of Palestinians. Yet, if so, it was a uniquely provocative choice of biblical references. Continue reading “Leading Rabbi Accused of Suggesting that All Palestinians Should Be Killed”
As previously discussed, my students and I hosted three classes of elementary students in groups of 150-160 kids at the law school. These second, third, and sixth graders from Kent Gardens Elementary School in McLean, Virginia were hilarious. They sat through a trial of the three little pigs and a class on forensics led by a detective, our own Inspector Jeffrey Braden. We just finished reading the thank you notes from the sixth graders and they are worth sharing. Continue reading “Kidside View of Court: Its All About The Chairs!”
An interesting lawsuit has been filed in Connecticut at a federal prison for women in Denbury. Prison officials suddenly reduced the number of items that Jewish prisoners can purchase for Passover, which inmate Agnes Kole says was in direct retaliation of her successful challenge to an earlier discriminatory action taken by the prison. Continue reading “Prison Passover Lawsuit: Jewish Inmate Claims Retaliation for Demanding Equal Treatment”
A primary school in Amsterdam had a great idea for its kids aged 7-10 — to expose them to other cultures and religions, including a visit to a Mosque. What they learned, however, at the El Mouchidine mosque was a lesson in hate from its unhinged chairman, Mohamed Guennoun, who allegedly explained to the children that any non-believers were “dogs.” Continue reading “Mosque Field Trip for Children Turns Ugly”
If you find yourself in Carpentersville, Illinois, be careful what you say. Town Trustee and Obama delegate, Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, has been issued a citation for referring to kids in her tree as “monkeys” — a comment found offensive by the African-American family. Continue reading “Free Speech: Constitutional Crisis in Carpentersville”
A major first amendment crisis is emerging from Venezuela. The government of Hugo Chavez has taken “The Simpsons” off the air as inappropriate for children. Until this moment, I did not see how dangerous this man really is to world peace. Continue reading “Doh! Hugo Chavez Cracks Down on the Simpsons”
Recently, this blog has featured a number of states targeting strip clubs for special taxes — raising serious constitutional concerns. Now a federal court has agreed and struck down such a tax in Texas. Travis County District Judge Scott H. Jenkins has ruled that such laws are unconstitutional under the first amendment. Continue reading “State Court Ends Texas “Pole Tax” on Strip Clubs”