Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Justice

The Unholy Marriage Between the CIA and NYPD

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

If you think the Government is allowed to spy on Americans too much already, this next story will increase your blood pressure.  It was recently disclosed by the Associated Press that a CIA undercover operative has been directly advising the New York Police Department for at least 3 months.  I could have sworn that it was illegal for the CIA to spy on Americans, but nothing has been done to curb this possible violation and abuse of American’s privacy. Continue reading “The Unholy Marriage Between the CIA and NYPD” →

Religion, Society

Spain’s Stolen Babies

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Up to 300,000 Spanish newborn babies were stolen from their parents and sold for adoption over a five decade period. The mothers, often young and unmarried, were told their babies had died and were not allowed to see the body or attend the funeral. A secret network of doctors, nurses, priests, and nuns trafficked the babies beginning during the reign of General Franco and continuing into the early 1990’s.

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Bizarre, Things That Tick Me Off, Torts

Sorry, Not My Examination Room: 82-Year-Old Told To Call For Ambulance After Fall In Hospital!

Submitted By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

In yet another sign of the Apocalypse, an 82-year-old grandmother was denied medical attention for 30 minutes and told to call an ambulance after she fell and broke her hip. That’s bad enough, but what is particularly infuriating is that she was told this by staff at Greater Niagara General Hospital where she’d fallen.

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Criminal law, International, Media, Politics, Society

The Gadhafi Video: Where Is The Outrage?

New video evidence below shows Maummar Gadhafi was alive after being seized in the operation that led to his capture. What I find rather disconcerting is the treatment of this video by the media, which covered the “joy” and “celebration” of the event while ignoring the shocking abuse of a wounded man and then the parading and stripping of this corpse. We were appalled when militants paraded the bodies of Americans in Somalia and Iraq. Yet, when it is someone we hate, it barely draws mention while newspapers taunt the dead man as being pulled “from a stinking drain.”

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Bizarre, Religion, Society

Amity-ville Horror: Is Halloween A Cry For Help?

Every year, Halloween gets scarier and scarier. I am not talking about the costumes but religious writers and activists who denounce the holiday as a pagan attack on God and faith. The creepies started early this year. Bloomberg columnist Amity Shlaes has written to denounce “the pull of the pagan” and ask people to think about how Halloween fills the vacuum left from the absence of faith.
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Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

Parents Demand California School Board Member Resign After Disclosure of “Confidential Marriage” To Murderer

The Fontana Unified School District board is not generally a hot bed of controversy, but it is the focus of a novel controversy after member Leticia Garcia revealed that she has a “confidential marriage” to a convicted murderer who was recently released. The existence of such confidential marriages is a surprise to most citizens, but not as much as the existence of a former convict husband for a recently elected board member who reportedly had said she was divorced.
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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Lawyering, Military, Politics

Federal Judge Dismisses War Powers Challenge By Members of Congress

Soon after the news that Gadhafi had been shot, Judge Reggie Walton issued an opinion dismiss the lawsuit by members of Congress challenging the war powers claim underlying the intervention in the Libyan war without a declaration of Congress. I represent the members in that litigation. The Court declined to rule on the merits of the constitutional claims and instead held that the court does not have jurisdiction to rule on such questions. Despite the timing, the opinion did not turn on the removal of Gadhafi. The opinion is below.
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Society, Torts

Does D.C. United’s Charlie Davis Have A Valid Dram Shop Claim?

In my torts class, we discuss the scope and purposes of dram shop laws, which expose bars and other businesses to liability for “over serving” customers who get into car crashes or other types of accidents. Washington now has such a case involving D.C. United’s Charlie Davies who is suing the owners of a local nightclub and the company Red Bull for $20 million. He is claiming that they are responsible for his injuries from a fatal car crash that dashed his hopes for joining the 2010 U.S. World Cup team.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Society

French “Terrorists” Break Into Texas Court, Wear Sombreros, and Play With Gavel

French terrorists have landed . . . in San Antonio, Texas. That is apparently the concern of local police after arresting French teenagers who broke into a courthouse, put on a judge’s robe, played with a gavel, and ran around the hallways wearing sombreros and drinking beer. The FBI and Homeland Security have been called in to determine whether this could be an act of terrorism.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Renaissance Man and County Inmate: Father Arrested After Forcing Daughter Into Armored Battle

Freemon Everett Seay, 38, like to punish his child the old-fashioned way . . . around the 15th Century old-fashioned. After Seay’s daughter ran away, he donned armor from the Renaissance period and forced her to do the same. He then forced her into a battle for hours until she was covered in bruises and could barely stand. Vanquished, he let his foe leave the field of battle and she promptly recorded evidence of the alleged abuse for that band of not-so-merry men in the Yelm police department.
Continue reading “Renaissance Man and County Inmate: Father Arrested After Forcing Daughter Into Armored Battle” →

Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Society

The Truth Police: The Supreme Court Takes Up Stolen Valor

Below is today’s column in The Los Angeles Times on the Supreme Court granting certiorari in the Alvarez case and the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act. I have long been a critic of the Stolen Valor Act and supported the decision of the Ninth Circuit to strike down the law. Civil libertarians have good reason to worry.
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Courts, Religion, Torts

Church Under Fire After Three People Die After Being Allegedly Told To Stop AIDS Drugs In Favor Of Prayer

Now, this could make for an interesting torts lawsuit. The Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), a Nigerian-led Evangelical Christian church in London, has claimed to have the cure of people with HIV that involves their stopping all medications and praying for a cure. The results, critics say, has been not the promised “miracle” but three deaths.
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Congress, Society, Torts

Can The “Adult Baby” Sue Senator Coburn?

There is an interesting controversy in Washington where Stanley Thornton Jr., aka “Adult Baby,” has demanded an apology from Sen. Tom Coburn, who Thorton says effectively accused him of fraud when Coburn called for the Social Security Administration to review his qualification for benefits. Thornton was featured on the National Geographic channel reality television show “Taboo.” Thorton lives part of his life as an “adult baby” and collects Social Security disability payments.

Continue reading “Can The “Adult Baby” Sue Senator Coburn?” →