Happy New Year to all of our blog community from around the world. I get to celebrate both New Years and my anniversary on the 31st. Leslie and I eloped in Alexandria Virginia on New Year’s Eve in 1997. (We disagree on the number for celebrating since I count the 8 years that we dated — making this our 27th. Leslie takes a more technical approach in counting only those years after our marriage). As has been our tradition, with the start of 2017, I thought I would share a few of our annual statistics and successes on the blog.
We previously discussed the demise of my favorite New York deli, Carnegie. After roughly 80 years, the deli closed despite a huge following of supporters. It was a New York icon ruined by the daughter of its late owner and her truly repellent husband. The result is that the now divorced couple ran one of the most successful restaurants into the ground — and with it the vision of her father (and arguably the best Matzo Ball Boup in the city).
There was an interesting ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court this month on the interpretation of a 1979 state law governing slip-and-fall lawsuits. It is commonly understood that homeowners are legally required to clear their walks of snow and ice. As a native Chicagoan, this lesson was engrained into me to the point that my kids mock me for shoveling the driveway even when the roads are impassable. I was raised that an uncleared driveway was a matter of public shame. Now, however, couch potatoes can rejoice. The Court has held that the Snow and Ice Removal Act shields property owners from liability if someone gets hurt. Of course, the snow or ice must be due to natural conditions. The case is Murphy-Hylton v. Lieberman Mgmt. Servs., 2016 IL 120394.
There is an interesting case out of Austin Texas that raises the now defunct “coming to the nuisance” doctrine. There was a time that a defendant could move to dismiss a nuisance case on the basis that the plaintiff moved to the existing nuisance only to challenge it in court. That doctrine fell into disfavor, but there continue to be cases where the underlying rationale seems compelling. Take the Westin in Austin. The company built a large hotel right next to the Nook Amphitheater — a huge draw in the city for music. The hotel then objected to . . . you guessed it . . . the music. The hotel is seeking to enjoin the music as harming their business.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has handed down a major ruling that will likely shock many dog owners. Judge Eric Clay wrote the opinion that police can legally shoot and kill any dog that is barking at them during a raid. Since this is a common response to intruders, it would mean that police have virtually complete discretion to kill dogs during raids. The case is Brown v. Battle Creek Police Dep’t, 2016 FED App. 0293P (6th Cir.).
As Afghanistan continues to reach accommodations with Taliban forces, another case illustrates vividly the extremist Islamic values advanced by the group. In the village in the Northern province of Sar-e pul, a 30-year-old woman was reportedly beheaded in the market by Taliban fighters. Her crime? She “went to the city alone without her husband.” Of course, as we discussed in another story today, our long-time ally Saudi Arabia continues to maintain the same medieval Islamic abuses in the treatment of women.
Continue reading “Woman Reportedly Beheaded In Afghan Market For Shopping Without Husband”
Our close ally Saudi Arabia has again proven that it imposes the same type of extreme and arbitrary justice as nations like Iran. The latest outrage out of the Kingdom was the jailing of a man for campaigning against the nation’s repressive state control over women. For merely speaking up for women, the man is now reportedly in jail for a year.
We have previously discussed the total meltdown in the Philippine’s with the election of Rodrigo Duterte, a man whose hostility toward civil liberties is match only by the uncertainty over his sanity. 
We have previously discussed Duterte’s foul-mouthed tenure in office, including profanities directed at the Pope, President Obama, and anyone else objecting to his evisceration of human rights and the rule of law. Recently Duterte bragged about how he personally murdered suspects as an example for police who were a bit more reluctant to engage in extrajudicial murders. Now, Duterte has bragged that he personally threw suspect to his death from a helicopter. Duterte continues to brag about his extrajudicial murders but there remains no action taken against him.
Continue reading “Duterte Brags About Throwing Criminal Suspect From A Helicopter”
I recently wrote about the growing threat of government regulation of speech on the Internet under the guise of combatting “fake news.” Germany has been ground zero for civil libertarians for the rollback of free speech. 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel long ago established herself as a menace to free speech, particularly in her decision to first apologize to authoritarian Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for a satirical poem and then approve the prosecution of the comedian is a shocking and chilling disgrace. Now, Germany is considering imposing a legal regime that would allow fining social networks such as Facebook up to 500,000 euros ($522,000) for each day the platform leaves a “fake news” story up without deleting it. Governments have finally found a vehicle to get citizens to allow them to curtail or chill speech — ironically in the name of facilitating “real news” or “truth.” It is perfectly Orwellian and Merkel’s latest contribution to the erosion of free speech in the West. I recently discussed the issue as part of an interesting segment with Ted Koppel.
Continue reading “Germany Moves To Impose Crippling Fines On Social Networks For “Fake News””
Honolulu’s Café 8 ½ appears to be serving dishes with an anti-democratic relish after the election. To the delight of many of its customers, it has barred anyone who supports President-elect Donald Trump from eating at the Hawaiian restaurant. The sign on the front door reads “If you voted for Trump you cannot eat here! No Nazis.” The sign has caused a firestorm of controversy for the relatively small restaurant.
We recently discussed how rabbis have issued warnings to hotels and other businesses not to display Christmas trees as offensive to Jewish values, even threatening to pull the kosher certification from businesses. Now, a leading Muslim authority has declared that even wishing neighbors a “Merry Christmas is worse than murder. It is “haram” or forbidden. The view of Dr. Zakir Naik is not new (and he stated this view years earlier), but there is an interesting alternative take on the issue in The New York Times by a Muslim writer on the shared traditions between Christianity and Islam.
Drexel University professor George Ciccariello-Maher has caused a firestorm of controversy by tweeting how “All I Want for Christmas is White Genocide.” He then followed up with a taunting clarification that “To clarify: when the whites were massacred during the Haitian revolution, that was a good thing indeed.” Drexel has said that it respects the professor’s right to free speech but has called him into for a meeting. Ciccariello-Maher maintains that he was using satire to taunt white supremacists.
There are certain signature seasonal crimes and the alleged crimes of Karen Elaine Harrelson, 52, in Red Lion, Pa would certainly qualify. Harrelson is accused of assaulting Kayla Renne Still with the family Christmas tree. In light of our recent discussion of the trend of prosecutors to tack on terrorism charges, this appears another such case.
Continue reading “Pennsylvania Woman Charged With Assault With Christmas Tree”
We have long discussed the rapid decline of free speech protections in the West. I have long argued that the West appears to have fallen out of love with free speech, which is more often viewed as a rising scourge rather than a defining value in some countries. That trend was reinforced by Israel this week, which became the latest country to criminalize some statements on social media. A new law would give the government the ability to move against any speech deemed as threatening or encouraging violence to be “removed immediately.” The law would cover the dangerously ambiguous category of language deemed “incitement.”
Continue reading “Israel Moves Crackdown On More Speech On Social Media”
The Obama Administration and many Democratic leaders have made “fake news” a rallying cry for more government and private regulation of the Internet — as well as a rationale for the devastating loss of Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump. Below is a column exploring the dangers of this new justification for speech regulation, which are already becoming evident in various countries around the world. I recently discussed the issue as part of an interesting segment with Ted Koppel.
Continue reading “THE REAL DANGER OF FAKE NEWS”