There is an interesting survey published this month on mental health and substance use issues for law students. The Bar Examiner report (available here) found that a quarter of all law students had been diagnosed at some point for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, psychosis, personality disorder or substance use disorder. I am not surprised by the figure and speak every year to my classes about dealing the mental health and dependency issues as part of my first year classes. I try to tell them that there is no barrier to practice for students who have these issues. Indeed, the real danger is found among students who ignore these issues in the highly pressured legal profession.
Fantastic Furniture bills itself as home of “Australia’s Best Value Bedding and Furniture.” However, its Worx chairs reportedly have a rather disconcerting design defect: cutting part of toes off customers. The roughly 100,000 Worx chairs have been recalled by the company after two people lost toes.
Continue reading ““Fantastic Chair” Recalled Over Possible Design Defect . . . For Cutting Off Toes”
As the Taliban probes the strength of Afghan forces, they are finding it an easier task than anticipated with a sizable number of the Afghan force constituted of “ghost soldiers.” As much as half of the soldiers in frontline positions are missing. We previously discussed the same problem of “ghost soldiers” in Iraq who are paid soldiers but only exist on paper as part of the widespread corruption of that country. The Taliban are finding forward positions with only half of the troops claimed on paper. Something tells me that these same Afghan officers and officials will claim that, while the real soldiers perished at their under-manned outposts, their “ghost soldiers” somehow miraculously survived and will continue to fight . . . and draw pay.
A new poll shows that the number of citizens who identify with the Democratic or the Republican parties are at a near all time low. Only 29 percent of respondents in a Gallup survey identify as Democrats (the lowest point in 27 years). Only 26 percent defined themselves as Republicans in 2015. Thus, while the number of Americans in either party has fallen to near all-time lows, there remains virtually no choice other than those selected by the two parties as leaders. Another surprising poll, however, says that 20 percent of Democrats might support Trump in the general. Some 14 percent of Republicans said that they might support Clinton in the general election.
Continue reading “Number of Americans Associated With Either Party At Near Historic Lows”
The e-mail scandal involving former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has continued to unfold, as we have been discussing. The number of classified emails have now grown to 1340. While the vast majority have low level classification, a few contained information classified at the secret level. This is not the first such allegation of someone stripping classification headers in scandal. The mishandling of classified information is a crime and the level of gross negligence in the use of the private server by Clinton is staggering. However, there has long been a good-faith debate over whether Clinton is being given a pass on a criminal investigation by the Obama Administration or whether her actions (while negligent) were not criminal in nature. A recent story could change that debate considerably if critics are proven correct. One of the emails released recently reportedly shows Clinton instructing an aide to strip off classification markings from a document and to send by unsecure means. Such an act could be charged as a criminal offense under federal classification laws. However, it is not clear that any email was sent and the Clinton staff could claim that she was referring to clearly unclassified material contained in a document. There has been a suggestion that the material in question were “talking points” that were meant to be public or were clearly unclassified. [Update: Clinton says that the email was never sent and that she trusted her aide to make the right choices on what could be sent.]
There is an interesting proposed law in Missouri where lobbyists who have sex with state lawmakers or their aides would have to disclose that activity to the state ethics commission. Rep. Bart Korman wants such sexual relations to be reported as a “gift” on a monthly basis, though he is not requiring the couples to assign a dollar value on the gift. The measure addresses a real and long-standing concern about the use of sex to influence politicians. History is rife with such scandals. However, the measure would raise serious privacy and other constitutional issues.
Just when you thought that ISIS could not get more twisted in its perverted use of Islam to excuse rape and murder, it does. The BBC and other media outlets are airing a report that an Islamic State militant, Ali Saqr, 21, carried out a public “execution” of his own mother, Lena al-Qasem, 45, after she asked him to leave the group. The reported execution occurred in Raqqa, according to some activists. ISIS has also announced the execution of the first female journalist for reporting from ISIS territory.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
As an example of the perils brought forth in countries having two legal systems, Christian men who intend to divorce their Christian spouse in Jordan receive significant leverage over their wives who remain within their faith.
Under Article 172 of Jordan’s personal status law, a Muslim man automatically receives custody of children aged seven and above when divorcing a Christian woman. This statutory provision provides a husband an attractive advantage in conversion to gain custody where he otherwise could receive an unfavorable determination based upon mitigating factors, such as showing the interests of the children might be better served if they remained within the custody of their mother.
The recent sexual assault in Cologne of women on New Year’s Eve has shocked the nation. As many as 1000 men, allegedly set upon women and made them run a gauntlet as they were grabbed, their clothes ripped, and their bodies groped. Police sources and witnesses have said that many were refugees — triggering renewed objections over a spate of rapes and assaults of women in the country attributed to recent immigrants. To make matters worse for the government, newspapers are reporting that one man told police “I am Syrian. You have to treat me kindly. Mrs Merkel invited me.” The result has been a rising tide of criticism of Merkel for her open-door policy. Yet, that criticism may now be muted by a move by the government to crackdown on anti-immigration comments as a form of “hate speech.” As we discussed today with the effort to ban Donald Trump, free speech is being rolled back in Europe under hate crime and anti-discrimination laws as an alarming rate. It is particularly worrisome when the government is under attack on an issue like immigration and responds by prosecuting people for such criticism. News reports indicate that 18 of the 31 known suspects from Cologne were asylum seekers, including “nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, an Iraqi, a Serbian, an American and two German nationals.
Continue reading “Germany Cracks Down On Anti-Immigration Speech”
We have previously discussed the alarming rollback on free speech rights in the West, particularly in England ( here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). England is now a tragic example of how speech regulation and criminalization becomes insatiable — producing a down spiral as more and more speech is found intolerable or criminal. The most recent example is the call to ban Donald Trump from entry into the United Kingdom as someone guilty of hate speech. While I have criticized Trump’s statements about barring Muslims from entering the country, he is entitled to voice his views on immigration and participate in a debate about how we are going to handle both immigration and national security concerns. The chilling thing about this debate in Parliament is not that it will succeed in barring Trump but that it would not be in any way out of order with prior content-based sanctions.
Continue reading “Parliament To Debate Barring Donald Trump From Entry Into The United Kingdom”
We have previously followed the alarming marginal economic condition of most Americans. Another study offers another glimpse into the reality of the lives for most people struggling in this country. The study by Bankrate suggests that 63 percent of Americans say that they do not have enough money to cover a $500 car repair or $1000 hospital bill.
Now this would make for a terrific case for teaching consent in battery for Torts. Israeli reporter Eitam Lachover donned a special vest made by a body armor company that is designed to protect against the increasing knife attacks of Israelis. Lachover was assured by Yaniv Montakyo, vice president of the manufacturing company, that “You have nothing to worry about, we are very confident in our product.” He then stabbed Lachover and said “I missed.”
There was a curious moment recently in an interview with Hillary Clinton that might interest our political science and philosophy majors. Chris Matthews asked Clinton on MSNBC what a socialist is and the difference between a socialist and a Democrat. Clinton appeared unable or unwilling to answer that question. Given the fact that the Clinton campaign has referred regularly to Bernie Sanders being a socialist and distinguishing Clinton as a “progressive Democrat,” it would seem a fair question. It is not like asking for the difference between a “raven and a writing desk”, but it received the same unclear response.
President Barack Obama has made gun control a priority in 2016 and the latest area of confrontation with Congress. There is clearly a calculation that the public will support another area of conflict between the branches and the assertion of unilateral executive power. That is what makes a recent poll so interesting. Gallup found that “gun/gun control” ranked near the bottom of concerns for most Americans. How low? Try only two percent of those polled.
Continue reading “Gallup Poll: Only Two Percent Of Americans Rank Gun Control As Major Concern”
Skateboarder Shawn Powers has started a firestorm with a video showing him breaking open a lobster tank and throwing the lobsters against a brick wall. Powers comes across as a senseless thug (who by the way cannot tell the difference between a lobster and a crab) as he smashes the tank on videotape, declaring “I’ll break it, and I’ll take the f–kin’ crabs out.”