A new CBS poll shows considerable opposition to the Trump Administration’s approach to immigration. The poll confirms that immigration is the top issue in the minds of voters. However, it also shows 60 percent of voters support the right of illegal immigrants being allowed to stay and achieve citizenship. Some 58 percent oppose the building of the wall.
An assault case in New York has been upgraded into homicide after the elderly victim of a vicious punch to the face died months after an alleged attack by Richard Springer, 29, outside of a Queens deli. Eve Gentillon of Jamaica died Saturday, four months after the assault.
For many years, I have been writing about the threat of an international blasphemy standard and the continuing rollback on free speech in the West. For recent columns, click here and here and here. Now, Denmark has opened up its first blasphemy prosecution in 46 years. It is chilling evidence that the West is yielding to the pressure to curtail free speech in a crackdown on those who criticize or mock religion. In this case, a 42-year-old man protested what he viewed as the growing influence of Islam by setting a Quran on fire. The result is now a criminal charge for blasphemy as Denmark joins this worrisome trend.
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Terry Benard (no not that Bernard) Ball Jr., 29, has the distinction of being charged with battery with a pork chop.
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Artist Tracey Emin said that she had an idea after a long bout in bed during a stressful relationship period. After four days, she looked at the bed and discarded vodka bottles and cigarette butts and decided that she had created art. Many would say that her work is not art but an unmade bed. However, the work was put on the shortlist in 1999 for the prestigious Turner Prize and it has now been auctioned off for £2.546 million. That is over three million dollars for Emin’s unmade and stained bed.
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There is an appeal filed in Dallas by a teacher, Resa Woodward, 38, who was fired because of her prior work in the adult film industry almost two decades ago. We have previously discussed such cases, which I find troubling because these are people who worked in a lawful industry. It is even more concerning when, as here, the individual claims that she was forced into the industry as a form of “sex slavery.”
Continue reading “Texas Teacher Fired Due To Prior Work In Adult Films”
There is an interesting poll out this week by Harvard-Harris for The Hill newspaper that shows an incredible eighty percent of Americans oppose so-called sanctuary cities and that cities should be required to turn over illegal immigrants to federal authorities. It is a striking contrast with Democrats who have gone “all in” on opposing immigration policies of the Trump Administration, including support for sanctuary cities. There are opposing polls showing support for cities and there are always legitimate questions raised by some polls that rely entirely on Internet polling. This may be such a case.
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Well his name is Bernard Muscadin . . . but do not call him that . . .
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Today the Supreme Court will hear Hernandez v. Mesa, a case with potentially significant impact on the current immigration debate. The case involves the shooting and killing of Sergio A. Hernandez Guereca, 15, at the border on June 7, 2010. The family argues that Hernandez was simply playing a game with his friends in running to touch the U.S. border fence when Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa, Jr. shot and killed him. The agents insist that Hernandez was a known illegal alien smuggler with two prior arrests and was throwing rocks at the agents. Since the government prevailed below before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Court will only consider the facts asserted by the family in determining if dismissal was appropriate. At issue will be the right of a foreign national to assert constitutional rights — an issue that could have bearing on the ongoing debate over the Trump immigration executive order.
We previously discussed the controversy over a painting by a constituent of Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay that depicted police as pigs in Ferguson, Missouri. As we discussed, the House had a right to remove the art and eventually did precisely that. However, before that decision from the House, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R., Cal.) took down the painting. Clay called for criminal charges. When the painting was rehung, another Republican member removed it. At the time, Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said “We may just have to kick somebody’s ass and stop them. Then the architect stepped in and barred the hanging of the picture. Now Clay has announced that he will file a lawsuit challenging the actions of the House of Representatives. It is hard to see a strong legal basis for such a challenge. The odds heavily favor the House of Representatives in the action.
Iran is again showing the world the face of religious extremism. Previously, we discussed how chess officials were under fire for cooperating in the championship in Iran, which imposes dress codes and religious restrictions on visitors (particularly women). Now Iran has barred Dorsa Derakhshani, 18, from competing at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2017, because she appeared without an Islamic head scarf. Her brother, Borna Derakhshani, 15, was the banned for playing against an Israeli opponent. This follows a horrific account of a girl beaten by religious police for simply wearing jeans with holes in them. The brother and sister were also barred from the national team for their transgressions.
Word on the street is that the Trump Administration is prepared to issue a new executive order on immigration. While I have maintained that the law favors President Trump on this issue and I have been critical of the decision by the Ninth Circuit, I have also maintained that the original executive order was poorly written, poorly executed, and poorly defended. A second executive order could reset the litigation and cut away a key (and in my view questionable) component of the Ninth Circuit opinion in expressly exempting green card holders. The new order reportedly does precisely what many of us have suggested while keeping the majority of the prior order. By retaining the same countries and imposing the same conditions, the new order would protect the Administration politically from allegations that the President has backtracked. It would also leave the core basis for challenges on the merits of such travel limitations. I will be speaking on Capitol Hill on Tuesday about the President’s executive order authority at the US Capitol Visitors Center at noon.
Continue reading “Executive Redux: Administration Set To Issue New Order On Immigration”
Much of law can be dry and mundane. However, there are moments when the law reaches a transcendent truth. There was the acceptance of war crimes in the Nuremberg trials. The recognition that separate is not equal in Brown. This week another milestone has been reached with a decision by Judge Mark Barnett of the United States Court of International Trade. Barnett has ruled that Snuggies are blankets and not apparel. The case is Allstar Mktg. Grp., LLC v. United States , Ct. Int’l Trade, 13-00395, 2/10/17.
If you said wedding crasher, you would be literally correct. In what may be the alleged worst maid of honor in history, Amanda Willis not only almost ran into the best man but allegedly tore up the wedding of her former best friend Jennifer Jones. I emphasize former.
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By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
What so far has proven to be a long ordeal for two men originally wanting only to be provided with a floral arrangement for this upcoming wedding, and also for florist Barronelle Stutzman who asserts her right to religious freedom by denying this service, has now come to another milestone in Washington.
A unanimous ruling by the Washington Supreme Court, the court denied Stutzman and her business, Arlene’s Flowers, INC’s assertions, ruling:
“…Discrimination based on same-sex marriage constitutes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.” and therefore held that “the conduct for which Stutzman was cited and fined in this case-refusing her commercially marketed wedding floral services to Ingersoll and Freed because theirs would be a same-sex wedding-constitutes sexual orientation discrimination under the WLAD.” (Washington Law Against Discrimination)
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