Bizarre, International, Media, Religion

“There Will Be Blood Up To Your Knees”: Returning “ISIS Brides” Attack Female Reporters And Pledge New Fighting

The dilemma posed to the West by the returning “ISIS brides” was on display this week as the last group of die-hard women were transported by anti-ISIS forces to safe areas away from the final holdout in Syria, Baghouz. The burka-wearing women were shown in a video shouting abuse at female reporters and even grabbing them by their hair in anger of the failure to comply with Islamic strictures. One woman yells at a female reporter “Have you not read the Koran, are you not ashamed?” Another simply says “We will seek vengeance, there will be blood up your knees.” The scene is unfolding in Syria as we brace for litigation in the United States over the return of Hoda Muthana, an ISIS bride who once supported the terrorist organization but now wants to return. Muthana has an intriguing claim to citizenship.

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Bizarre, International

Fit To Be Tied: Fitness Coach Under Fire For Workout Video In Kenya
Instagram photo

Well-known fitness coach and Vogue contributor Russell Bateman is under fire this week after videos on his Instagram show his fitness group Skinny Bitch Collective using tribal Maasai people as props for a work out video. It is truly a disgrace as these affluent white women do lunges and squats around tribal women like they are mannequins. It is hard to image that neither Bateman nor his SBC women saw the scene as troubling and jarring.

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Columns, Congress, Criminal law, Politics

Crucifixion or Freedom? Cohen Forces Cummings Into A Most Unwelcomed Choice

Below is my column in The Hill on alleged perjury committed by Michael Cohen before the House Oversight Committee after being warned that any repeat of his earlier perjury would trigger an immediate referral for prosecution. This week, a leading Democrat said that she thought a referral was likely given the conflicts in Cohen’s testimony. For Cohen, it could be the greatest miscalculation seen on Capitol Hill since William J. Jefferson thought his freezer was a good repository for bribes. Cohen did what he has always done. He found a way to be useful to people who could do him some good. That is what he did for Trump as a legal thug. He then did it for Mueller as a cooperating witness and now he is trying to do it again as a turncoat for Congress. The problem is that Cohen remains unencumbered by truth or ethics. Cohen viewed his interest in being indispensable in giving Democrats what they wanted the most: Trump. The problem is that he has now put the Democrats, and particularly Chairman Elijah Cummings, in a glaringly hypocritical position if they do not refer the matter for prosecution.

Here is the column:

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Environment, Politics

Poll: Sixty-Eight Percent of Americans Would Not Be Willing To Pay $10 a Month To Combat Climate Change

For those of us worried about climate change and the Administration’s environmental policies, there is a disheartening poll this month about the disconnect between environmental aspirations and the willingness to sacrifice to achieve the needed progress. An AP-NORC survey found that 68% of Americans wouldn’t be willing to pay even $10 more a month in higher electric bills to combat climate change. It reflects the calculus of President Donald Trump that voters still prioritize jobs and financial concerns over countervailing environmental values.

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Environment, Free Speech

Beach To The Rescue

By Daren Smith, Weekend Contributor

© 2019 Darren Smith

There are times in operating any business when one needs to walk away else levy a deafening rebuke against a vendor.  After one just likely cost me a grand in lost income due to their incompetence and making promises they could not keep, I found myself at a bit of a crossroads.  I could either drive East read him the riot act or I could drive West and take in some photos and save my heart the aggravation.

Here is the result: (click to enlarge)

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Travel Blog

The Bon Ton Of New Orleans

On Friday, I came to New Orleans to speak at the American Bar Association’s 33rd Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime . That’s right, I waited until Marti Gras was over and came to New Orleans for Lent. As many on the blog know, I used to call this city home when I taught at Tulane Law School. I have never lost my deep affection and connection for the city. As is my custom, I wanted to share some notes and pictures on the trip. I started with one of my favorite spots for lunch: The Bon Ton restaurant.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Judge: Manafort Refused to Apologize and Stole Millions in “Very Serious Crimes” . . . But Deserves Only 47 Months

In what could well be the greatest disconnect in the history of sentencing hearings, Judge T.S. Ellis III noted that Paul Manafort had refused to apologize for “very serious crimes” worth millions but then gave Manafort a fraction of what Special Counsel Robert Mueller had requested. Rather than the 19-24 years requested (and allowed under the guidelines), Manafort received 47 months with nine months cut off for time served. Thus, he will serve just 38 months for eight serious felonies. Manafort will receive three years of supervised release, and pay a $50,000 fine and $24 million in restitution.

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Courts, Criminal law

Turley To Speak At ABA Conference in New Orleans

I have the honor of speaking on a distinguished panel at the American Bar Association’s 33rd Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime in New Orleans. The panel is the final event for the conference entitled “Ethical Challenges Raised by the Conduct of Prosecutors, Defense Counsel, and Legal Commentators During High Profile Cases.” The panel will start on Friday from 9:45 – 11:45 at the Hilton Riverside.

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Politics

Former Judge Paul Cassell Levels Sex Abuse Allegation Against Alan Dershowitz Before Second Circuit

We previously discussed the media objections to a move by Harvard Professor Alan Dershowtiz to bar media from part of the upcoming hearing in the Second Circuit hearing concerning the plea deal given to Jeffrey Epstein.  A convicted sex offender who regularly entertained powerful men like Bill Clinton on his infamous “Lolita Express” and island estate, Epstein also secured seals to bar a review of material in the case. I previously wrote about the case and the disgraceful deal cut by now Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta which not only gave Epstein little jail time but effectively protected all of his high-powered friends. The hearing was held this week and it was reportedly heated with counsel for the victims, former federal judge Paul Cassell, openly asserting that sealed documents establish that Dershowitz (who represented Epstein and helped negotiate the deal) did have relations with the underaged girls that Epstein reportedly made available to his powerful friends.  Dershowitz vehemently denies the allegations and says that three documents, if released, would show that the victims are lying.

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Animals, Environment

Airborne Wolves Drop Into The United States
U.S. Army photo

No, this is not the lead to the new “Snakes on a Plane” cult movie. However, it is a Canadian invasion of sorts. Four Canadian wolves were air-dropped into Lake Superior’s Isle Royale National Park in Michigan to augment the island’s dwindling wolf population and to control the resulting rising Moose population. That might seem an unfair advantage when the perspective of the moose but the park long had a wonderful balance between the populations of wolves and moose. I have a particularly interest in Isle Royale because I have spent many weeks backpacking around the island when I lived in Chicago.

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Courts, Lawyering

“When God Tells Me I Gotta Do Something, I Gotta Do It”: Texas Judge Tells Jury To Reconsider Guilty Verdict After Divine Intervention

Comal County Judge Jack Robison has caused a considerable controversy in Texas after he told a jury to go back after it reached a guilty verdict in a sex trafficking case because God told him the defendant was innocent. There have been long debates over what a court can use as a matter of “judicial notice” but divine intervention is not one of them.

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Justice, Lawyering, Politics

Trump Selects Jessie Liu As Associate Attorney General

While President Donald Trump has been criticized for his pressuring of Justice officials like former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and others, he has actually selected highly qualified people for vacancies in the Department. That was the case with Attorney Bill Barr and that is the case with the nomination this week of U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu as Associate Attorney General of the United States. Liu, 46, is an exceptionally well qualified nominee and, just as Trump has been rightfully criticized for some of his actions, he should be praised for this nomination. (For full disclosure, Liu is married to one of my colleagues, Michael Abramowicz.)

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