Academia, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Society

TURLEY BLOG SELECTED BY ABA JOURNAL FOR HALL OF FAME

HallofFame200pxV3I am very happy to report that our blog has been inducted into the ABA Journal’s Hall of Fame for legal blogs around the world. We just received word this afternoon with the start of this year’s competition for the top News/Analysis blog. This is also our sixth year in being selected as one of the top 100 legal blogs in the world. Of course, this is the closest that an endomorphic law professor can get to any Hall of Fame. I am grateful to the ABA Journal staff not just for this distinction but for holding this competition each year to feature the wide variety of legal blogs. For all of us who were the last to be selected on sports teams growing up, this is our pudgy, wheezing victory lap. While people like Pete Rose may be a hundred times more athletic, we made it into the Hall of Fame (pending any last minute gambling scandals).

The selection for the Hall of Fame is latest distinction given this site which has strived to offer an alternative forum for those interested in passionate but civil discourse over the legal cases and issues of our day. Special thanks go to our talented and popular weekend team of guest bloggers: Mike Appleton, David Drumm, Mark Esposito, Gene Howington, Elaine Magliaro, Larry Rafferty, Darren Smith, Mike Spindell, and Charlton Stanley. I owe them a great debt for their insightful and gifted postings. The greatest thanks however goes to our readers and commenters who have placed this blog in the top ten most visited legal blogs in the world according to AVVO. We have strived to maintain a civility rule while discussing issues that may divide us. We do not want to be another echo chamber for one ideology or viewpoint. There are ample conservative and liberal sites that cater to that desire for reaffirmation. We value dialogue and different views. While we occasionally have some who stray into personal remarks, we have been remarkably successful in maintaining a high level of discourse. We even have some fun with the more bizarre legal and social stories.

We hope that all of our regulars will take the time to go and vote for the blog in the heavily competitive News/Analysis category. You only have to do a quick registration (used only to prevent vote stuffing) and then you can VOTE HERE.

Continue reading “TURLEY BLOG SELECTED BY ABA JOURNAL FOR HALL OF FAME” →

Bizarre, Courts, Lawyering, Politics

Texas Judge Publicly Denounces Jurors For Acquitting Defendant And Acting Like The O.J. Simpson Jury

250px-Jury_box_croppedWe previously discussed an Ohio judge who chastised a jury and threatened a defendant that his acquittal would not end the matter for her. Now Texas visiting Judge Jerry Ray has joined the ranks of judges who express their anger at juries for not ruling as they expect. Ray told a jury that it violated its oath and acted like the jury in the O.J. Simpson case.

Continue reading “Texas Judge Publicly Denounces Jurors For Acquitting Defendant And Acting Like The O.J. Simpson Jury” →

Congress, International, Politics, Society

Obama Administration Pushes New Trade Agreement That Would Further Enrich Pharmaceutical Companies And Discourage Lower Priced Generic Drugs

President_Barack_Obama220px-FlattenedRoundPillsThe Obama Administration has been widely criticized for being captured by the pharmaceutical industry, which has gotten the White House to block efforts to guarantee lower cost drugs and increase profits for these companies. Pharmaceutical lobbyists have in turn given huge amounts of campaign money to President Obama and Democratic members as well as jobs to former members. Even with this record, however, many are shocked by the White House pushing of a trade agreement that would undermine international efforts to reduce the cost of drugs and extend the patents for these companies to further increase their profits. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) allows for techniques like “evergreening” to extend patents for the industry, which in turn has continued its own evergreen record of high-paying jobs for political allies and massive campaign contributions for the White House and Congress. Everyone wins . . . except the tens of millions who cannot afford medicine. While these companies have valid interests in recouping their investment and making profits on new drugs (which are expensive to develop), the secrecy and sweeping impact of the TPP deserves far greater attention in the media.

Continue reading “Obama Administration Pushes New Trade Agreement That Would Further Enrich Pharmaceutical Companies And Discourage Lower Priced Generic Drugs” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Long Island Deli Owner and Son Arrested For Allegedly Ripping Off Lottery Winner

112413_ff_lottery_640We previously saw a father and his son arrested for ripping off a lottery winner at their New York convenience store. Now, we have a second case out of New York where a Long Island deli owner and his son allegedly tried to cheat a millon-dollar lottery winner out of his prize. Where the earlier convenience store family tried to rip off a drug addict, Karim Jaghab, 26, and his father Nabil Jaghab, 57, are accused of trying to tip off a 34-year-old man who did not speak English.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Thin Blue Marital Line: Florida Officer Allegedly Beats Another Officer Over An Affair With A Third Officer

po2u0bxl44There is an interesting case out of St. Cloud, Florida where a woman is charged with hitting another woman who she believed is having an affair with her husband. That is unfortunately not uncommon. However, the attacker is police officer deputy sheriff Edeania Nettles and the victim is another officer, Jennifer Hoyos, and the husband is police sergeant, Elbert John Nettles. It was the charge that I found interesting in this case.

Continue reading “Thin Blue Marital Line: Florida Officer Allegedly Beats Another Officer Over An Affair With A Third Officer” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

Cheeky Children: British Lord Demands Punishment For Children Who Moon

24971.jpg170px-Moon_nearside_LRODavid Noel James, Baron of Blackheath, and his wife were horrified. The conservative Tory peer and his wife (who is a youth justice officer) were driving to Twickenham for a rugby game when they drove past a bus of children mooning them. Lord James wants the government to mete out punishment and not simply turn the other cheek at the little hoodlums.

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Congress, Justice, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Fix Social Security By Expansion

220px-PeterGeorgePeterson

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger

We have all heard the cries that so-called entitlement programs like Social Security need to be cut in order to “save” them from extinction.  Now that I am 62 years of age, I have become more interested in the issue of Social Security’s solvency.

CEO’s have gotten involved in the process through the now infamous Fix the Debt campaign initiated and funded by Billionaire Pete Peterson and the parallel campaign started by the Business Roundtable.  Both of these campaigns are supported by big business and CEO’s of large corporations with no concern where their retirement funds are going to come from. Continue reading “Fix Social Security By Expansion” →

Politics, Society

Rotten to the Common Core?: On the Subject of Education Standards, Arne Duncan, “White Suburban Moms”…and Bad*ss Teachers

ArneDuncanSubmitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

My attention turned toward public schools once again this week when I read reports about Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s apologizing for using “clumsy phrasing” when he made comments about some critics of the Common Core Standards—which he has championed. (Note: Common Core—a set of educational standards developed for public school students in kindergarten through twelfth grade—has been adopted by most of our states.) Duncan was speaking to a group of superintendents recently and just couldn’t help himself—it appears—when he said the following:

“It’s fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were, and that’s pretty scary. You’ve bet your house and where you live and everything on, ‘My child’s going to be prepared.’ That can be a punch in the gut.”

Continue reading “Rotten to the Common Core?: On the Subject of Education Standards, Arne Duncan, “White Suburban Moms”…and Bad*ss Teachers” →

Society

Grace Under Pressure: In Illinois, Champions All

By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Author’s Note: Grace Under Pressure is an ongoing series of posts honoring everyday people who courageously make positive differences in their own lives and consequently in the lives of others. It is my own personal affirmation that unexpected heroes live among us and that their service is quiet but unshakable proof that virtue really is its own reward  – and ours, too.

download“I heard a rumbling,” he says. “I just thought it was thunder and a few minutes — actually a few seconds later — it kept getting louder, and I looked out the front window of my house and I saw the tornado about 300 yards away from me. And I just ran into my basement.” And so began Illinois high schooler, Kevin Scott’s weather borne ordeal that left his home shattered and his dream of a state football championship in about the same shape. Kevin plays for Washington Community High School  who had celebrated an undefeated season on Saturday and qualified for the playoffs starting next weekend. They were looking forward to a match against  perennial football power  Springfield’s Sacred Heart Griffin High School.

Scoot was alone Sunday when the tornado struck but he was not alone in his despair: “Football here is such a community thing,” Washington athletic director Herb Knoblauch said. “Players’ dads played here. For us to get over that hump and reach the semifinals was such a joy. People were so high from that game. People were so happy. Then, by 1 o’clock Sunday, it was the worst devastation that ever could happen. I can’t tell you the emotion.”

Continue reading “Grace Under Pressure: In Illinois, Champions All” →

Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Society

Who’s To Blame For George Zimmerman’s Most Recent Violent Assault Charge? Why It’s You His Former Lawyer Says

By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

“Now if I stop there it sort of sounds like I’m asking you to let my guilty client go,” O’Mara told the jury. “I’m not. He’s not guilty of anything but protecting his own life. But the quote continues, ‘but for guilt and crimes that are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished, but if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizens say whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial. If innocence itself is no protection, and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizens, then it would be the end of security whatsoever.’”
~Mark O’Mara’s closing argument to the jury in State of Florida v. George Zimmerman

Does George and Lawyer Don West Know Something We Don't?
Do George and Lawyer Don West Know Something We Don’t?

Innocence?  You remember George Zimmerman from the last news cycle, right?   He’s the wanna-be Batman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin on a rainy night as the teenager came back from the all-night convenience store. George was that “mellow” and “peaceful” man who just happened to pack a gun for self-defense according to his then-lawyer, Mark O’Mara. Exonerated by a hand-picked jury, one of whom now regrets the acquittal saying he “got away with murder,” Zimmerman, we were told, would just ride off into the sunset with his loving and apparently loyal to the point of perjury wife, chastened by the experience of being wrongly accused of murder. George was a victim in all of this his family said, and threats to his life were comparable to the Aurora Theatre shooting or the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He needs protection shouted his brother, Robert Zimmerman, Jr.,  in an email to St. Mary’s Police Chief Steve Bracknell: “Zimmerman is a Sandy Hook, Aurora waiting to happen.  Your job is to protect the communities you serve and you are failing big time.”

Continue reading “Who’s To Blame For George Zimmerman’s Most Recent Violent Assault Charge? Why It’s You His Former Lawyer Says” →

Justice, Society

Miami Gardens Police Arrest Man For Trespassing At His Place Of Employment 62 Times

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

miami gardensEarl Sampson works as a clerk at a Quickstop convenience store in Miami Gardens, Florida. He’s been arrested 62 times for trespassing, almost every time at that Quickstop where he’s employed.  How can Sampson be trespassing while he working? Sampson is a 28 year-old African-American male.

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Free Speech, International, Justice, Media, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

To Walmart with Contempt

Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger

bins1-15660341jpg-b2a282e054d52e53 walmart

The picture above really says it all. Walmart, our country’s largest retail operation is run by people who are so clueless that they’ve created a culture that doesn’t even understand the massive irony in running a Thanksgiving Food Pantry for its own employees.  The photo comes from a Walmart in Canton, Ohio. The concept of food collections for the poor at retail establishments is widespread in America, even as many Americans deny that anyone in this country goes hungry. The irony of this food drive though is that it is asking Walmart employees, who are already low paid, to donate food to fellow employees who are even worse off than they are. It is also ironic that the food drive is for Thanksgiving Dinner, since almost all Walmart Stores have been open all day for Thanksgiving for many years, so one wonders what type of Thanksgiving Dinner Walmart associates will have at all? What is new this year is that “Black Friday” for Walmart customers will begin at 6:00pm on Thanksgiving Day and run through the night.

The average Walmart Associate makes $8.81 per hour which translates into a yearly income of $15,576 if the Associate works a full time schedule.  Most Associates don’t work full time because working full time would entitle them to benefits that Walmart doesn’t want to pay. Interestingly, the current U.S. poverty level for a three person family in our country is $19,530. So we see that the rare Walmart full time employee, with two dependents, earns about $4,000 per year below the nation’s poverty level. Indeed, Walmart has made it a practice to inform its employees about benefits like Snap and Public Assistance. At the risk of being portrayed as a “bleeding heart” by some of our readers, let me state that I think this company is disgusting in its personnel policies and is an example of what is worst about our country. Let me explain further. Continue reading “To Walmart with Contempt” →

Animals, Bizarre, Criminal law

All Bike, No Brains

RDMDzRGFor those who fear that law is a diminishing profession, fear not. There are still ample numbers of moronic individuals who seem driven to have accidents. This guy is one such person. I am less concerned about his decision to forego a helmet than I am the safety of this dog. What I see is a guy with matching shorts and motorbike and a dog that seem more like an accessory to the outfit than a companion to the biker. I see a very loving dog and an owner who seems to care less about the dog’s welfare.

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