After an Asiana Airlines passenger jet crashed and burned at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, 2013, a Bay Area TV station published what it claims were the names of the pilots, including Captain Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Low, Ho Lee Fuk, and Band Ding Ow. Unbelievably, as shown below, no one at KTVU-TV picked up on the joke and the anchor read the names in all seriousness. It turns out that a summer intern with the National Transportation Safety Board was the culprit in passing along the names. Now, Asiana is suing the station for injury to its reputation, a novel claim that could raise questions over not just the fact of injury but the degree of injury in such a prank.
Some New York drivers were startled when they saw a man waving his arms, honking his horn and flashing a silver badge in a frantic effort to get them to pull over in traffic.
Even more surprising was the person suspected of doing it: a respected New York City and Westchester rabbi.
Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski, 49, clearly does not like people driving slow or cutting him off. Unlike other road rages, however, Borodowski has been arrested for allegedly impersonating a police officer to pull over offending drivers in his Camry. He would allegedly flash a badge and scream “Police! Police! Pull Over! in order to scream at drivers. To his credit, he appears to pulled over Goyum (non-Jewish) and non-Goyum drivers alike without prejudice in what could be a new reality series, “Road Rabbi: Life In The Fast Lane.”
It was not that long ago that we passed the 16,000,000 view mark but we have now done one million better, according to WordPress. Congratulations everyone.
As I mentioned in today’s column, the prosecution team of Angela Corey in the Zimmerman case have been accused of repeated prosecutorial abuse in the withholding of evidence from the defense. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson seemed intent on the most recent charge of withholding text messages to want to avoid the issue, but she earlier held a sanctions hearing with the testimony of the man who brought the violation to the attention of the defense: IT director Ben Kruidbos. Corey has been widely criticized for over-charging the case by experts, including an article out today, and her team was widely criticized for putting on a weak case for prosecution. Now, before Nelson has ruled on her office’s withholding of evidence, Corey has fired Kruidbos. His termination before a ruling on the alleged prosecutorial abuse only strengthens his claims as a whistleblower and throws the ethics of Corey and her office in great question.
Elizabeth Coker, 258th Judicial District Judge in Texas, appears to want to be both judge and prosecutor at trial, but clearly not the defendant. Coker has admitted to sending text messages to a prosecutor to suggest examination questions during a trial. What is astonishing is that the prosecutor Kaycee L. Jones, was later made herself a judge despite the misconduct. The case reflects what defense attorneys have often complained is the close relationship of judges and prosecutors as well as the overwhelming preference for making prosecutors judges across the country.
Kimberly Dawn Bynum, 31, has found not just love but a criminal defense according to her lawyers. Bynum was facing charges of having a sexual relations with a former student from November 2011. The student was 17 at the time. However, her counsel recently told the court that she had married the student and was now living outside the country. The charges were promptly dropped.
Remember the case of the Iowa Supreme Court upholding the firing of a dental assistant because she was too attractive for her boss to resist? The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in December that a dentist did not commit gender discrimination in firing an attractive female employee, Melissa Nelson, at the request of a jealous wife. After a national outcry, the Court surprised many by suddenly vacating its earlier decision and taking back the case. Many hoped the court would discard its prior opinion. Think again. The Court has issued a new opinion with the same conclusion and ramping up its prior holding.
India continues to experience an epidemic of rape — and a continued alleged passivity of the police in dealing with rapes. The latest case occurred in Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s home district Etawah where a 20-year-od college student was allegedly gang raped and then lit on fire by her rapists. The men came from a wealthy area of the district and the police refused to register the charges according to her family.
MSNBC has been criticized for becoming as an extension of the Obama White House in the way that Fox News was criticized as being an extension of the Bush White House. Recently, however, many have been alarmed by the degree of blind loyalty shown the president with hosts siding with the White House against press rights and attacking figures like Snowden. This open letter to Snowden by Melissa Harris-Perry however surprises as the host assures him that the Obama Administration will guarantee his rights if only he will return. This follows such scenes as a MSNBC commentator defending the Administration’s attack on press freedom but calling Holder the “Moses of Our Time.”
Below is today’s column on the Zimmerman trial, which is a close follow-up to the web column from the night of the acquittal. As expected, it appears that we have lost a few regulars upset with my opinion of the case. I am always sorry to lose people on our blog. However, this has never been an echo-chamber blog that maintains a party line or ideological view. While we remain fervently pro-free speech and civil liberties at this blog, we often disagree about the outcome of trials or the merits of cases or policies. We try to maintain a site where civil but passionate disagreements and debate can occur. As an academic and a legal commentator and columnist, I have always tried to be fair and call these cases as I see them regardless of how unpopular those views may be. At the same time, I have enjoyed reading the opposing views of others on this blog who often make fast and lethal work of my opinions. I realize that the killing of Trayvon Martin is loaded with social and racial meaning. Yet, this site is dedicated to tolerance and diversity of views in discussing the legal and policy issues of our times. I hope that those who stated that they would leave the site will return and rejoin our discussion. This is a blog that values differing opinions and free thought. This is a chorus not a solo performance and it is the variety of voices and views that makes this blog so unique.
Here is today’s print column:
Continue reading “Law and Legend: How The Zimmerman Case Was Lost By The Prosecution”
By Mike Appleton, Guest Blogger
“So let us be blunt about it: we must use the doctrine of religious liberty to gain independence for Christian schools until we train up a generation of people who know that there is no religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education, and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God.”
-Gary North, “The Intellectual Schizophrenia of the New Christian Right,” (Christianity and Civilization: The Failure of the American Baptist Culture, Number 1, Spring, 1982)
In Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S 1 (1967), the Supreme Court held that Virginia’s prohibition of interracial marriage violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. “The freedom to marry,” wrote Chief Justice Warren, “has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.” 366 U.S. at 12. Many people were hoping that the Court would formally accord that status to same-sex marriage last month. But it did not happen. Edith Windsor will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax refunds from the federal government, but the Court did not find it necessary to address the issue of same-sex marriage as a constitutional right, and elected not to do so. United States v. Windsor, No. 12-307 (June 26, 2013).
While that central constitutional issue remains unresolved, opponents of same-sex marriage are on the move. The Freedom Federation, a coalition of civil and religious right-wing organizations ranging from Americans for Prosperity to Wallbuilders, has issued a pre-emptive strike in the form of a signed letter declaring that “the Supreme Court has no authority to redefine marriage… .” The letter, which can be found on the Freedom Federation website, asserts that should the Court grant legal recognition to same-sex marriage, it “will be acting beyond its proper constitutional role,” and concludes with the vaguely ominous warning that “this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross.” Continue reading “Same-sex Marriage and the New Dominionist Manifesto”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Last week, Charles Koch—chairman and CEO of Koch Industries based in Wichita, Kansas—launched a new media campaign “to laud economic freedom and warn the public about government overreach.” This media campaign, which will run in Wichita for four weeks, will cost the Charles Koch Foundation approximately $200,000. Charles Koch, whose estimated net worth is reported to be more than $30 billion, said that if his media effort is successful, it may be expanded to other cities.
Here is the video produced by Koch’s foundation that has been airing in Wichita:
Economic Freedom in 60 Seconds
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
It has been discussed for years how expensive the privatization of military support programs can be. It is also not news that the privatization by the military has dramatically increased since 2001. What you might consider news is just how much one large military contractor received on its decade long contract and how much more they are demanding in a Federal Claims Court from the Army just to close out the contract! Continue reading “Stop Funding KBR’s Excesses”
Below is a slightly expanded version of today’s column in USA Today on the Zimmerman verdict. As I wrote before the case was sent to the jury, I saw no alternative to acquittal even on manslaughter and expected the jury to render a full acquittal. I respect the conflicting views of many on this blog on the case and how it was charged and handled. We will now have to wait to see if the Justice Department will re-try Zimmerman as a civil rights matter. I have serious reservations about such an effort, but that can be for a later discussion. For now, a few observations on the verdict can serve to as a foundation for our own discussion.
Continue reading “SEPARATING LAW AND LEGEND IN THE ZIMMERMAN VERDICT”
Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Would a future administration entertain the idea of making a fundamental break from some of the misdeeds of administrations past? That it would be substantial, or not, remains to be seen. One such topic for discussion can be the issue of Bradley Manning.
As most of the readers here are aware, Bradley Manning is a soldier who is imprisoned for his alleged leaking of vast numbers of diplomatic cables concerning the United States diplomatic service’s sensitive correspondence along with equally vast numbers of logs relating to the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has plead guilty to ten of these charges and is awaiting a verdict on several others having severe penalties such as Aiding the Enemy. Those documents found way to the website WikiLeaks and then to the public in various avenues, causing much embarrassment and alarm on behalf of the US Government and military.
A full spectrum of thought encompasses the reaction of this, with very vocal groups labeling him from a hero to a whistleblower to a traitor, often using the same information as supporting evidence. But with regard to a Greater Good, should Bradley Manning receive a pardon?