Academia, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Society

“It’s Okay To Be White”: Oklahoma Law School At The Center Of New Hate Crime Controversy

The Oklahoma City University School of Law is the focus of the latest controversy over campus speech deemed hateful. Fliers were put up around school that read “it is okay to be white.” The police were called to investigate the potential hate crime and Law school Dean Jim Roth declared that such hatred and exclusion “will not be tolerated.” The controversy however reignites concerns in the free speech community over the use of hate crime laws as a surrogate for hate speech laws. Hate speech remains protected under the First Amendment despite recent calls for the adoption of European-style hate speech laws by various Democratic leaders and figures. Indeed, that is the subject of my most recent USA Today column this week.

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Animals, Bizarre

North Carolina Hunter Injured After Shooting Bear Out Of Tree
Dept. of Interior

I still do not get the thrill of big game hunters, but a case in North Carolina shows that even the most one-sided hunts can take a bizarre twist.

Two hunters used dogs to force a black bear into a tree so they could stand below and shoot it. The bear tumbled out of the tree but was still alive and chased one hunter off a small cliff in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The hunter suffered bites and other injuries.

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Academia, Animals, Torts

Professor Luna Teaches Animal Liability At GW Law

Professor Luna returned to my Torts class last night to teach animal liability under the common law and various state statutes. This is a picture with a few of her academic devotees during the break. The students did not seem to mind that the Professor would occasionally doze in front of class. Such is the life of a tenured canine academic.

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Columns, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering, Media, Politics

If Trump is Guilty Of Bribery, The Democrats Are Guilty Of Solicitation

Below is my column on the latest alleged crime by President Donald Trump: “Felony bribery.” The allegation shows not only a fundamental misunderstanding of legal standards but a fundamental failure in legal analysis.

Here is the column:

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Bizarre, Media, Military

“Something He Made Up”: Military Denies Trump’s Claim About Al-Baghdadi Death

The New York Times and various media outlets are reporting universal denials of the military that there was any evidence to support President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, died “whimpering and crying and screaming all the way” to his death. The embarrassing denials comes after a videotape contradicted Trump’s claim that “almost all” of farmers who attended his signing of an executive order were crying. The videotape shows no one crying. The statement on al-Baghdadi is particularly curious because al-Baghdadi ran down an alley and blew himself up with a suicide vest. Military sources say that there is no evidence of the whimpering and crying described by Trump.

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Uncategorized

Louisiana Clerk Arrested For Selling False Doctor’s Notes To High School Students
Belina Fondren, 52, allegedly sold fake medical excuse notes to students at Evans High School in Louisiana, according to officials.

There is an interesting case out of Louisiana where Belina Fondren, 52, has been criminally charged for writing high school students fake doctor’s notes to get them out of school for $20 each. Two students alone purchased 14 such notes to use at Evans High School.

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Bizarre, Society, Torts

Connecticut Man Arrested For Allegedly Putting Razor Blades In Halloween Candy Bags

I recently presented my annual “Spooky Torts” powerpoint to my Torts class of the latest holiday litigation cases. At the time, I noted that the whole fear of razor blades in apples appears an urban legend. Well, give it enough time and someone will prove you wrong. That is the allegation of Waterbury, Connecticut police who say that Jason A. Racz, 37, put razor blades in candy bags of at least two trick-or-treaters.

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Bizarre, Politics

Children Reportedly Asked To Help Build The Wall At White House Halloween Event

As many of you know, I love Halloween and we put on an embarrassingly excessive display each year at our house. It may be for that reason that I found a story in  Yahoo News so disturbing. Children who came to the White House for the annual Halloween party were reportedly asked
to help “build the wall” by placing their own paper bricks onto a mural. If true, it was a remarkably low-grade move. Children should not be pulled into our politics or used for a prop.

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Bizarre, Media, Politics

Ha, Ha . . . Trump: Hillary Laughs About Conspiracy Theories Surrounding Epstein’s Death

Recently, a leading coroner declared that the autopsy of child abuser Jeffrey Epstein (who died in prison) was more consistent with strangulation than suicide. That proved material for jokes by Trevor Noah, the host of the Daily Show, with his guests Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. asked Hillary Clinton in an interview about conspiracies that suggest the Clintons have murdered people.  Noah asked Clinton “I have to ask you a question that has been plaguing me for a while, how did you kill Jeffrey Epstein?” That led to a great laugh. However, it was a tad off-putting because they were discussing a child rapist and abuser who entertained Clinton’s husband repeatedly and reportedly flew him on Epstein’s infamous “Lolita Express” private jet. Ha, Ha . . . Thump. Or more accurately “Ha, Ha, . . . Trump.” The point was that the Clintons are the subject of wild conspiracy theories by Trump and his supporters — a fair point. However, when it comes to a sexual predator who was friends with your husband, Bill Clinton, there might be another source for late night humor.

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Lawyering, Media, Politics

Painter: Trump Cannot Do Fundraisers For Senators Without Committing “Felony Bribery”

I have previously disagreed with the overextended and unsupported claims of critics on allegedly clear criminal violations by President Donald Trump, including past statements by Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer for George W. Bush and is a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. I am no fan of President Trump and have repeatedly criticized him for his language and actions in office. However, legal analysis continues to erode as analysts assure viewers that well-established crimes have been committed. The latest such example by Painter is that Trump continues to fundraise for Senators, a common practice of all presidents in election years. Painter insists that any such fundraising can constitute “felony bribery” since these senators will likely sit in judgment in any impeachment trial.

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Academia, Criminal law, Free Speech, Society

“I Don’t Have A Problem With It”: Professor Declares Support For Violent Attacks On Journalists and Others Holding Opposing Views

For years, I have written about the violent, anti-free speech agenda of Antifa and its academic enablers. For that reason, a recent interview in the Seattle Times Pacific Lutheran University Professor of Nordic Studies Troy Storfjell caught my attention. While there are a rising number of faculty supporting the curtailment of free speech on campuses, most avoid openly participating in physical violence or supporting such violence. Not the case with Storjell who declaring that he is entirely comfortable with the use of violence to silence those who hold opposing views.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Oklahoma Woman Finds Stolen Jacket Being Sold On Internet By Airport Baggage Handler

Kinley Rice is a woman in Oklahoma with a remarkable account of how an American Airlines contractor stole her Patagonia jacket then put it on the Internet for sale.   She came across her own jacket and reported it to authorities. The story once again raises the failure of the TSA and airlines to take basic steps to prevent continued thefts from luggage. Despite billions in subsidies and profits, airlines continue to refuse to take relatively low cost measures to stop thefts, particularly continual and active surveillance of all baggage handling areas.

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Bizarre, Torts

Spooky Torts: The 2019 List Of Halloween Litigation Horrors

Here is our annual list of Halloween torts and crimes. Halloween of course remains a holiday seemingly designed for personal injury lawyers around the world and this year’s additions show why. Halloween has everything for a torts-filled holiday: battery, trespass, defamation, nuisance, product liability and more. 

So, with no further ado, here is this year’s updated list of actual cases related to Halloween.

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Columns, Congress, Criminal law

Democrats Doth Protest Too Much Against The Durham Investigation

Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on growing and preemptive criticism of the Durham investigation by Democrats. Given the acknowledgment that United States Attorney John Durham is a widely respected and apolitical prosecutor, the rising criticism of his investigation seems suspiciously premature. For those of us who support full and transparent investigations of both sides of the 2016 election controversy, the campaign against Durham is reminiscent of the attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Here is the column:

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Bizarre, Free Speech, Society

Halloween Triggers Renewed Calls For Punishing Offensive Or Culturally Appropriating Costumes

The crackdown on offensive and culturally appropriating Halloween costumes continues across the country. Some of us have objected over the free speech concerns raised by these actions. However, those concerns appear lost on most students. According to a recent poll by The College Pulse, most students reject the free speech concerns over costumes and support punishment for students who wear “highly offensive” Halloween costumes.

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