Hasan a Muslim First, American Second?
In hindsight, it appears that Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the mass murderer who killed 14 (one of the soldiers killed, Francheska Velez, was six weeks pregnant) and wounded another 30 at Fort Hood, had long made it known that he sympathized with the enemy. Bloomberg's Justin Blum: Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of a shooting spree that killed ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 7, 2009 12:57
Do You Have the Right Not To Be Framed?
The Supreme Court hears oral argument today in Pottawattamie County v McGee, wherein they will have to decide if prosecutors have immunity from lawsuits even if they frame someone for murder. On one side of the case being argued are Iowa prosecutors who contend "there is no freestanding right not to be framed." They are backed by the Obama administration, 28 ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 4, 2009 12:59
Martians Can’t Sue
Eugene Volokh brings to our attention, rather belatedly, the case of Joly v. Pelletier, in which Rene Joly brought a suit some ten years ago alleging that Pelletier and others had conspired to suppress evidence that he was a Martian. The judge dismissed the case on two grounds: 1. Neither pleading discloses a cause of action. While conspiracy to do harm ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 30, 2009 11:13
Late Night Sexual Harrassment
Nell Scovell, one of a handful of women who has ever worked as a comedy writer for David Letterman -- or any of the late night comic talk shows -- contends that an atmosphere of sexual harassment routinely exists on those shows: Without naming names or digging up decades-old dirt, let’s address the pertinent questions. Did Dave hit on me? No. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 28, 2009 09:00
Prosecutors Investigate Innocence Project Students
A rather bizarre case in Illinois -- even by the standards of that state. For more than a decade, classes of students at Northwestern University’s journalism school have been scrutinizing the work of prosecutors and the police. The investigations into old crimes, as part of the Medill Innocence Project, have helped lead to the release of 11 inmates, the project’s director ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 26, 2009 08:51
Naked Coffee Guy Truth Exposed
Yesterday, Radley Balko passed on the story of Eric Williamson, the Springfield, Virginia man who has been charged with indecent exposure for being naked in his own house. According to Williamson's version of events, he was making coffee at 5:30 in the morning when a woman and her 7-year-old cut across his yard and spied him through a window ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 22, 2009 08:05
Sex Offenders Chased by Day Care Center
It seems that some Orlando area sex offenders, unable to find housing elsewhere after being released from prison, wound up living at a trailer park. Said trailer park was near a school bus stop. Local parents, quite reasonably concerned, tried but failed to have the bus stop moved. Apparently, "According to the release conditions placed on sex ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 21, 2009 15:07
Marijuana Legalization Support at Record High
While a majority still supports criminalization, more Americans than ever think marijuana should be legal, according the latest Gallup survey. Lydia Saad (a family friend) provides the analysis: Gallup's October Crime poll finds 44% of Americans in favor of making marijuana legal and 54% opposed. U.S. public support for legalizing marijuana was fixed in the 25% range from the late ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 20, 2009 09:30
Three Felonies a Day
Radley Balko argues we are now seeing the fruition of Ayn Rand's fear that government would eventually declare "so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws" in order to extend its power. Part of the drop can of course be explained by mass incarceration—America leads the world in the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 20, 2009 09:10
Obama’s Federalist Approach to Medical Marijuana
In new guidelines announced today, the Obama Administration has decided that it will deferring to the states on enforcing marijuana laws when those states have laws allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes.The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 19, 2009 13:36
Fairey Admits Obama Hope Poster Based on AP Photo
Stephen Fairey, the author behind the iconic "HOPE" poster that symbolized Barack Obama during much of the campaign and since, now admits it was based on an AP photo. On Friday night, Fairey's attorneys -- led by Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University -- said they intend to withdraw from the case and said the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 18, 2009 08:37
Obama’s Nobel Unconstitutional?
Ron Rotunda and Peter Pham argue in today's WaPo that it would violate the Constitution for President Obama to accept the Nobel Peace Prize while in office. Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution, the emolument clause, clearly stipulates: "And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 16, 2009 10:31
Letterman Reveals Affairs, Extortion Attempt
David Letterman was the victim of an extortion attempt and took a novel approach: going public. Michael Schneider for Variety: On the show, Letterman sat down behind his desk and asked his audience whether they wanted to hear a story -- and the crowd enthusiastically cheered, not knowing what they were about to hear. According to the host first received a package three ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 2, 2009 08:38
Funkentelechy vs. the Option Syndrome
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry has coined the phrase "Option Syndrome" to describe the destructive effects of undecipherable legalese on society. [T]he overwhelming majority of legal documents involve redundant, unnecessary, overwrought, undecipherable legalese. Just try to read the terms of service to the next website you subscribe to. You’re never quite sure if they’re going to be able to buy your newborn from you. This is ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 29, 2009 09:45
Roman Polanski Arrested, Fighting Extradition
Roman Polanski, who fled the United States in 1977 after conviction for raping a 13-year-old, has been arrested in Switzerland and is fighting extradition to Los Angeles. Polanski, who fled the United States in 1978, was detained Saturday after arriving to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. It was not clear why U.S. authorities had chosen this ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 28, 2009 07:50
