Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Society

Members Denounce Decision To Give Al Qaeda Spokesman Real Trial

BinLadenSoninLaw_20130308_045031Congress is again showing its traditional contempt for the rule of law this week with members crying foul that Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, an Al Qaeda spokesman and son-in-law of Usama bin Laden, would be actually given a fair trial. Senators like Lindsey Graham (who just yesterday condemned a fellow Senator for standing against Obama kill list policy) has denounced the decision not to give Abu Ghaith a military tribunal trial where basic constitutional protections are denied to detainees.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Politics

Speed Trap: Leading Economist and MP Face Jail In Expanding Scandal Over A Speeding Ticket

220px-Chris_Huhne_MP_cropThere is a verdict in the trial of economist Vicky Pryce, 60, the wife of former cabinet minister Chris Huhne (left). Pryce raised a “marital coercion” defense in saying that her husband coerced her to lie and take his speeding points 10 years ago. It is a bizarre case, not only because you have a successful woman claiming that she was coerced into this act, but also the level of prosecution over that taking of speeding points.

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Courts, Politics, Society

Alabama Judge Orders Governor Not To Sign Controversial Education Bill

Price.Charlesbentley_portrait_180There is an interesting case out of Alabama where Circuit Judge Charles Price has issued an extremely rare order blocking a governor from signing a controversial education bill. Price wants to have a mid-March hearing on the legal issues surrounding the education bill and does not want Governor Robert Bentley to sign it until then. The teachers’ group, Alabama Education Association, has argued that the Republicans bypassed state rules in the inclusion of a tax credit measure. Even if they are right, however, Price’s order seems wildly out of line as a constitutional matter.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Politics

Rand Paul Takes Stand Against Obama’s Kill List Policy . . . Virtually Alone

220px-Rand_Paul,_official_portrait,_112th_Congress_alternateSen. Rand Paul has ended his day-long filibuster against President Obama’s claim to be able to kill any U.S. citizen on his own authority without criminal charge or conviction. What was most striking about this principled stand is the virtual total absence of Democrats in speaking out against Obama. Just this week, Attorney General Eric Holder admitted that this policy could include killing citizens on U.S. soil with drones. Yet, the Democrats worked to stop not the kill list policy but Paul’s filibuster. Obama apologists have attacked Rand for some of his other positions to avoid dealing with the fact that Obama is claiming the powers of an Imperial President. I do not agree with Paul on many things, but I commend him for this stand and condemn those who remained silent, again, in the face of this authoritarian policy of Obama.

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Military, Politics, Society

Report: Most of the $60 Billion In Iraqi Aid Wasted

170px-Bush_and_al-Maliki220px-Barack_Obama_&_Jalal_Talabani_in_Baghdad_4-7-09In the last few weeks, the Administration has been pushing hard to show how sequestration has produced dire consequences even though it involved only $85 billion (including the implausible claim that thousands of illegal aliens had to be released due to the cuts). For some of us who have complained about the Administration giving billions to Israel and other countries, it was a hard sell even if you do not agree with sequestration. Now a report has come out showing, as has been discussed for years on this blog and other sites, most of the $60 billion given to Iraq in the last ten years was wasted or lost to open corruption. The long documented waste of billions did not cause either the Bush or Obama Administration (or Congress) to take meaningful steps to stop the funding or, better yet, pull out of the country.

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Academia, Science

Genetic Time Capsule: South Carolina Man’s DNA Shows Male Ancestor 338,000 Years Ago

130305-coslog-ychrom-440p.photoblog600220px-NeanderthalensisA South Carolina man, Albert Perry, recently died and one of his relatives decided to submit a DNA sample to a company called Family Tree DNA to help detail their genealogical tree. The company however was confused because his Y-chromosome did not appear in his family tree. Later analysis by Michael Hammer, a geneticist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, found that Perry’s Y chromosome showed that his male lineage probably separated from all others about 338,000 years ago. Before Perry, all men could be traced to a genetic “Adam” who lived between 60,000 and 140,000 years ago. Now we have a man with a link that goes back almost 200,000 years earlier. Of course, that does not quite fit with creationists who believe the Earth is only 5000 to 6000 years old, but for the rest of humanity it is a pretty interesting discovery.

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Criminal law, Society

New Mexico Man Held 22 Months Without Trial Is Awarded $15.5 Million

120125-dui-hmed-10a.photoblog600Dona Ana County in New Mexico has agreed to pay Stephen Slevin, 59, $15.5 million after it kept Slevin in solitary confinement for 22 months without a trial for a DUI arrest. The horrific case was made worse by years of litigation by the county, which refused to pay a court verdict that was originally $22 million. One of the most disturbing facts of this case however is that not a single county employee was fired over his grotesque treatment, which included the denial of necessary medical attention.

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Courts, Lawyering, Society

New Mexico Judge Resigns Amid Allegations of Sextexting and Misconduct

220px-William_Ballantine_Vanity_Fair_5_March_1870_(crop)It appears some things do not stay in Vegas. State District Judge Eugenio S. Mathis, 58, of Las Vegas, N.M., has resigned from the bench after being accused of sextexting his wife from the bench as well as other alleged misconduct. He has also agreed never to hold a judicial position again.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Holder Tells Senator That Obama Does Have Authority To Kill Citizens With Drones On U.S. Soil Without Criminal Charge or Conviction

300px-MQ-9_Reaper_-_090609-F-0000M-777President_Barack_ObamaAttorney General Eric Holder this week held out the possibility that the President could kill an American citizens with a drone attack on U.S. soil without any criminal charge or trial. After Holder announced President Obama’s kill list policy, many apologists for the Administration insisted that the policy was limited to targets outside of the United States and was subject to a form of due process of the President’s own making. At the time, I wrote that these arguments were nothing but spin by the Administration and its supporters since the underlying claim of authority would have no such limitations. Holder now appears to have confirmed that even they do not believe in such limitations. This follows the release of a memo showing that Holder’s description of the policy at Northwestern University Law School was narrower than the actual policy described within the Administration.

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Criminal law, Society

Key Witness In Zimmerman Accused Of Lying Under Oath

175px-Trayvon_Martin_on_the_backseat_of_a_carZimmermanx-inset-communityThe murder trial of George Zimmerman just got a bit more complicated after an attorney revealed in open court that the girlfriend of teenager Trayvon Martin, known as Witness 8, is believed to have lied about her whereabouts following his death. The girlfriend has supplied a key account that portrayed Zimmerman as the aggressor from a brief telephone call with Martin. However, Mark O’Mara revealed in court that she is believed to have lied in stating under oath that she did not go to Martin’s funeral because she was hospitalized. While that does not change the account of the telephone call, it would be a lie under oath that could be prosecuted and would chip away at her credibility, particularly with another witness saying that Martin was seen on top of Zimmerman shortly before the shooting.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

County Shuts Down Schools After Someone Hears Theme Song Of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

250px-FreshprincelogoSchools in Beaver County, Pennsylvania were shutdown on the basis for a voicemail greeting in which a student sings the theme air of “Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” That’s right, there appears little inquiry that is made between a call of a receptionists who misheard the lyrics of a song and a total police shutdown of a county.

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Academia, Bizarre, Society

Step Away From The Danish: Maryland Seven-Year-Old Boy Suspended For Nibbling Lunch Tart Into Gun Shape

220px-Strawberry-Pop-TartsWe have yet another case of lunacy in our schools as part of the zero tolerance policy regarding guns. We have previously explored how teachers and school administrators are expelling or suspending students for everything from finger guns to stick figures. (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). For a prior column, click here. Now, Josh Welch, 7, was suspended for two days because he nibbled on his strawberry tart and made it look like a gun. He picked up the fearsome Danish and said “bang, bang” and a teacher reported was irate.

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International, Politics, Society

U.N. Investigator Criticizes Obama For Record On Torture

President_Barack_Obamatorture -abu ghraibWe have been criticizing President Barack Obama for years over the failure of his Administration to prosecute officials responsible for torture as well as the intentional destruction of torture tapes at the CIA. Now a high-ranking United Nations official is joining the condemnation of Obama and his Administration. Ben Emmerson, U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights, has condemned the failure to prosecute a single person for the official torture program implemented during the Bush years. The Obama Administration has thrown the books at those who leaked the information on our torture program but Obama himself promised the CIA after his election that CIA personnel would not be prosecuted despite our obligations under international treaty.

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Bizarre, Courts, Politics, Society

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice’s Wife Reportedly Make Fortune In Law Firm Referrals In Addition To Court Salary

image-1855There is an astonishing story coming from Pennsylvania where the wife of Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery appears to not only pull a salary as his chief judicial aide but has reportedly pulled in hundreds of thousands of dollars in referral fees from law firms who appear before her husband. In just one such referral fee, Lise Rapaport, received $821,000.

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Academia, Bizarre, Science

Coming To A Brain Near You: Cerebrum Communicator

Johnny_mnemonic_ver1Researchers at Brown University have developed an extraordinary new device: an implant that is the first wireless, implantable, rechargeable, long-term brain-computer interface. You can now be your own Johnny Mnemonic. Having tried out the implant on pigs and monkeys, the researchers are ready to use it in willing human subjects. For those of us who are fans of the cult classic “The President’s Analyst,” the Brown implant seems vaguely familiar.

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