Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Politics, Society

Perry: First Amendment Does Not Protect You From Religion

perrythumb_christmas_santa_fakePoliticians love popularly named bills like the PATRIOT Act and DREAM ACT, an art in itself to name the most compelling acronyms and names. Texas Gov. Rick Perry and state Senator Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) therefore can be credited with coming up with the “Merry Christmas Bill” — just try voting against that in Texas. However, the purpose of the bill is far from benign if you are a secularist, atheist, or agnostic. Perry explained the purpose of the bill in a way that put anyone on the other side of a Merry Christmas: “I’m proud we are standing up for religious freedom in our state.” He then added this legal interpretation of the First Amendment: “Freedom of religion doesn’t mean freedom from religion.”

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Courts, Science, Society

Supreme Court Rules Against Patenting Of Human Genes

220px-Clarence_ThomasDNA_orbit_animated_static_thumbI previously wrote a column opposing the claim of Myriad Genetics over patenting human genes in the case of Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, No. 12-398. The Supreme Court appears to have the same concerns. The Court unanimously ruled this afternoon against the Utah company and by extension of the Federal Circuit in claiming such property rights.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Society

Criminal Defense Attorney Demands Evidence of Missing Call in Car Robbery Case . . . From The NSA

200px-national_security_agencysvgI was interviewed yesterday in an extraordinary case out of South Florida where Attorney Marshall Dore Louis faced a problem that phone records material to his defense of a car robbery suspect have disappeared. Accordingly, he is seeking the records from one resource that has stored every call from every citizen: the National Security Agency (NSA). After all, the Administration has admitted the existence of the storage and program. After that, Dore is arguing that it is just another government agency with material evidence. Indeed, the NSA wanted a complete record of all calls to store and it is now being called upon to hand over material evidence in its possession.

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Bizarre, Lawyering, Society

Prospective Law Student Posts Vile Video Attacking Dunkin’ Donuts Employees

receipt12n-2-webabid2Taylor Chapman, 27, has been preparing for law school after graduating from Nova Southeastern University. That may not be the most promising career choice after Chapman posted a video (below) that has now gone viral showing her abusing workers at a Dunkin’ Donuts as she taunts them with racist and unhinged insults. Few law schools would welcome an application from such a person and even fewer bars would welcome such a person as a bar member. [Warning: both the video and the transcript below contains racist and profane language]

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Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering

Former Georgia Judge Sued By Woman Who Says Drugs Were Planted On Her After Accusing The Judge Of Sexual Wrongdoing

imagesThere is an extraordinary story coming out of Georgia this week where two Murray County sheriff’s deputies pleaded guilty in federal court for their part in a scheme to frame a woman, Angela Garmley (left), after she accused Chief Magistrate Judge Bryant Cochran of soliciting sex from her in return to favorable treatment in her pending divorce case. Three other women have accused Cochran of such abuse.

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Animals, Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Just A Failure To Communicate: Ohio Police Clear Officer Who Shot Five Kittens in Family’s Backyard

130612101428_kittens-shotIn Ohio, animal rights activists (and others) are calling for the termination of Humane Officer Barry Accorti after he allegedly shot five kittens on Monday because the shelter was already too full. He reportedly told the family with children that the cats would be going to “kitty heaven.” Accorti is a retired North Ridgeville Police Department sergeant and I am only glad he retired before the county jail became overcrowded.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Nevada Woman Arrested After Being Reportedly Assaulted By Marshal As Judge Ignores Her Pleas

Screen-Shot-2013-04-29-at-11.18.19-AM2260_doninger_patricia_703The video below is a highly disturbing scene from the courtroom of Clark County Hearings Master Patricia Doninger (right) in a family court case. The video shows Monica Contreras, 28, who complains that she was assaulted by a marshal in the room next to the courtroom under a pretext of a spontaneous drug search. Doninger entirely ignores her and does nothing as the marshals arrest her on the clearly abusive charge of “making false allegations about a police officer.” Doninger is shown playing with Contreras’ daughter. Internal Affairs is reportedly investigating a host of such allegations in the courthouse. Contreras is now suing the officer Ron Fox, a second officer, James Kenyon, and Doninger in a civil rights action. She has also named Clark County, Nevada, as a defendant.

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Congress, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

An Inconvenient Truth: Members of Congress Go Silent Over Prior False Testimony On Surveillance

16-28The Republican and Democratic parties have achieved a bipartisan purpose in uniting against the public’s need to know about massive surveillance programs and the need to redefine privacy in a more surveillance friendly image. They have also united in attacking Snowden as a traitor and seeking his prosecution for telling the public about the program. In the midst of this full-court press to lull the public back into sleep over civil liberties, the members will face a slightly inconvenient problem: possible perjury. These members have repeatedly called for perjury and contempt prosecutions of officials who have given false or misleading testimony like Eric Holder. However, they have a little problem with Obama officials who seem to have given false or intentionally misleading testimony over the surveillance of citizens. The problem is that these members want the scandal (and the public) to go away. Many of them knew at the time that the public was being told untrue things in these hearings. It will only be embarrassing to now address the falsehoods fed to the public in their presence and with their knowledge. In other words, they were all lying to the public and, under our new relativistic world, a lie told by everyone is treated as the truth.

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Academia, Animals

California School Launches Buy Back Program For Toy Guns

250px-Spud_GunStrobridge Elementary Principal Charles Hill has implemented what he considers a key public safety effort: a toy gun buy back program. A child who turns in “their guns” will be given a book and a raffle ticket to win one of four bicycles. I fail to see why such programs are worthy of such effort. Not only will it have no likely impact on the natural tendency of children to play such games, I fail to see the the value of such programs. Continue reading “California School Launches Buy Back Program For Toy Guns” →

Academia, Media, Politics, Society

Bus Driver Fired For Expressing Concern Over Child Going Without School Lunches

brettstantonJohnny Cook is not just a Georgia bus driver but a father. It was perhaps the later status that led Cook to voice a concern on Facebook over children who were going hungry at Haralson County Schools. He posted a comment on Facebook after learning that a sixth-grade student was denied lunch because he was 40 cents short to buy lunch. Cook wrote on Facebook “This child is already on reduced lunch and we can’t let him eat. Are you kidding me? … The next time we can’t feed a kid for forty cent, please call me. We will scrape up the money.” That was posted on May 21. On May 23 he was fired by Superintendent Brett Stanton (left).

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Lawyering, Politics, Religion, Society

Turkish Police Caught Staging Fake Riot By Protesters

300px-Gezi_Park_protests220px-Erdogan_croppedThe Guardian is reporting a scene that is both chilling and comical in Istanbul. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been warning protesters that his patience is running out and his police force are using gas and water cannons to clear areas of the city. As discussed earlier, the media has been virtually silent about the media in final proof of the death of a free press in the country. However, Western reporters were surprised by Turkish reporters and cameras were seen at the park and then learned why: the government was about to stage a fake riot.

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Bizarre, Congress, Criminal law, Media, Politics

Traitor or Whistleblower? Attacks on Snowden Mount From Political and Media Figures

228px-Picture_of_Edward_SnowdenThe attacks on Edward Snowden have increased today. CNN’s Jeff Toobin who previously denounced Snowden as a “clown” has added that he is a “a grandiose narcissist who deserves to be in prison”. In the meantime, Senator Dianne Feinstein and House Speaker John Boehner have denounced Snowden as a “traitor.” Other media organizations have barred their reporters from referring to him as a “whistleblower” in what has become a deluge of negative stereotyping of Snowden -even before we know the whole story. Indeed, the attacks began with folks like Toobin almost immediately after he came forward.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Dr. Obamalove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love a Police State

220px-Drstrangelove1sheet-Below is my column in this week’s U.S. News & World Report, which is part of a debate over the question: Should Americans Be Worried About the National Security Agency’s Data Collection? On the other side was former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Professor John Yoo who answered the question in a predictable no. I suppose my answer was equally predictable.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Lawyering, Society

Ohio Prosecutor Fired After Posing As Former Girlfriend Of Defendant To Change Testimony Of Alibi Witnesses

40128_166854760001658_6970515_nThere is an extraordinary case of prosecutorial abuse out of Ohio where former Assistant County Prosecutor Aaron Brockler, 35, is mystified why he has been fired. Let’s see if you can spot the reason. Brockler was given a murder case in which he was told that the accused had two girlfriends as alibi witnesses. Brockler then proceeded to pose as a woman on Facebook and engage the women in chats about the accused. He told the women that he was the former girlfriend of the accused and had an child by him. After enraging the women, he then spoke to them in his real capacity as a prosecutor and they refused to serve as alibi witnesses at the trial. Brockler is astonished that he would be fired for such dishonesty and insists that he was wrongfully terminated.

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