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Common Sense Junction
Lawyer-ly Blog Headlines

  1. At the Hosta Hotel...

    → Althouse | 23 May 2013 | 5:06 pm MDT

    Untitled

    ... it's not too early to settle in for the night.

  2. TPM says "Obama Declares End To Global War On Terror."

    → Althouse | 23 May 2013 | 5:02 pm MDT

    That's the headline on the front page, linking to an article with the headline "Obama Defends Drone Strikes But Says No Cure-All."

    So what the hell just happened? A big deal or almost nothing? I assume Obama wanted to appease the doves, but are they appeased and, more important, should they be appeased? I feel like TPM doesn't even know what to think. When I heard Obama's articulation of the drone policy, I thought it sounded like he was trying to say something that the left would like, but that in fact he reserved for himself all the power he needed to do anything he wanted to do, that is, that nothing had changed.

  3. "As frustratingly late as it was — Mr. Obama could and should have said years ago much of what he said today..."

    → Althouse | 23 May 2013 | 4:51 pm MDT

    "... there is no underestimating the importance of that statement."

    So say the editors of The New York Times.

    No underestimating?! What?

    So if I say Obama's speech is the least significant thing ever said in the history of mankind, I'm still not underestimating it?

    The editorial ends:
    There have been times when we wished we could hear the right words from Mr. Obama on issues like these, and times we heard the words but wondered about his commitment. Today was not either of those moments.
    There have been times when I have read the Times and wondered why the Times was putting things in those words and times when I have read the words out loud in an effort to hear whether these words were the right words. Today was both of those moments.

    ADDED: Language Log has a post "Overestimating, underestimating, whatever."
    It started when a friend, in conversation, said something like "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. [pause] Or overestimating. Whatever."


  4. IRS Official Lois Lerner Placed on Administrative Leave as Scandal Grows

    → Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion | 23 May 2013 | 4:51 pm MDT

    This just in tonight, an IRS source in the agency’s Cincinnati office says that Lois Lerner, one of the officials at the center of the IRS scandal, has been placed on administrative leave (with pay). From National Review Online: Lerner on Thursday afternoon sent an e-mail to employees in the exempt-organizations division she oversees stating, [...]

  5. Legalizing Pot

    → JustOneMinute | 23 May 2013 | 4:50 pm MDT

    The NY Times has a round table on legalizing marijuana. Mark Kleiman is one of the contributors. If I may steal a point he makes in his book "Drugs And Drug Policy", folks who think we should simply regulate marijuana...

  6. Nixon's The One, But Obama Is Coming On

    → JustOneMinute | 23 May 2013 | 4:47 pm MDT

    Yesterday, in anticipation of Obama's drone speech, the NY Times ran a guest piece blasting him. The author, James C. Goodale, represented The New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case: The search warrant filed to investigate the Fox News...

  7. Someone Asked Why I Like Ted Cruz

    → Patterico's Pontifications | 23 May 2013 | 4:25 pm MDT

    Watch this to get some idea.

  8. Obama Tries to Change the Subject, but CODE PINK Steals His Show

    → Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion | 23 May 2013 | 3:10 pm MDT

    Obama's Gitmo/Drone Speech In Three Words: Change. The. Subject.

  9. Plantsportation.

    → Althouse | 23 May 2013 | 3:09 pm MDT

    Untitled

    Untitled

    Untitled

    Things we got today, at The Flower Factory.

  10. "I believe we may have reached 'peak bullshit.' And that increasingly, those who push back against the noise and nonsense..."

    → Althouse | 23 May 2013 | 2:51 pm MDT

    "... those who refuse to accept the untruths of politics and commerce and entertainment and government will be rewarded. That we are at the beginning of something important."
    We see it across our culture, with not only popularity but hunger for the intellectual honesty of Jon Stewart or the raw sincerity of performers like Louis CK and Lena Dunham....

    I believe Barack Obama represents this movement, that the rise of his candidacy was in part a consequence of the desire for greater authenticity in our public life.....


  11. WaPo article "On IRS issue, senior White House aides were focused on shielding Obama" seems to be about throwing White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler under the bus.

    → Althouse | 23 May 2013 | 2:37 pm MDT

    Here's the article.
    [White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, and other senior White House aides] agreed that it would be best not to share [news of an upcoming inspector general’s report on the Internal Revenue Service] with President Obama until the independent audit was completed and made public....

    ... Obama’s top aides were trying to shield him from any second-term scandal that might swamp his agenda or, worse, jeopardize his presidency....

    But Ruemmler and McDonough’s careful plan for the IRS was upended on May 10, when Lois Lerner, a senior official at the agency, broke the news.... Senior White House officials were stunned to see the IRS trying to get ahead of its own story...
    I don't know how much of this to believe, but the article strains to portray Ruemmler as narrowly legalistic:

    Ruemmler views her mission strictly as advising Obama on the law and protecting executive branch prerogatives, colleagues and friends said. “She’s a lawyer’s lawyer,” said Neal Katyal, acting solicitor general in Obama’s first term...

    Yet Ruemmler’s lawyerly focus sometimes conflicts with political imperatives....

    In the IRS case, many prominent Washington lawyers say Ruemmler made the sensible legal call. She protected her client — Obama — by distancing him from a politically sensitive problem and ensuring that he could not be accused of meddling in an inquiry.
    How "protected" is he from the criticism that he was out of touch and failing to protect us?
    As counsel, Ruemmler is a regular presence in the Situation Room and the Oval Office, making legal judgments....

    “I think she’s one of the most cool-headed people in the entire White House and does a lot to ensure that nobody gets themselves in trouble,” said [Stephanie] Cutter.... “she did the president a huge service by keeping it away from him until the IG report was final. That’s her modus operandi. . . . It makes everything that much cleaner.”
    Much cleaner! Ruemmler is fastidious about keeping the President clean.
    Associates say the way the IRS situation was handled fits with Ruemmler’s approach to making decisions: wary to act before knowing all the facts, but then decisive once they are clear.

    “She’s very deliberate,” said Akin Gump lawyer John M. Dowd, a friend. “There’s no reason to go busting into it. . . . Even though it’s a hot subject and there’s going to be some political implications, to me you wait until you’ve got a work product in your hands.”
    See how all these compliments are really blaming her for the President's being out of touch?
    Unlike most senior White House aides, Ruemmler has no campaign experience. Although she has worked in Washington for years, as a prosecutor and as a litigation partner at Latham & Watkins, former colleagues said she showed little interest in politics.
    So we're supposed to think that keeping the President insulated from knowledge that could be used against him wasn't political. It was the doings of a nonpolitical, legalistic lawyerly lawyer's lawyer.
    Clinton White House counsel Lanny Davis said Ruemmler lacks political and media savvy. He said she had “an obligation to give the president a heads-up and generally describe what might be coming down the track [on the IRS] so you can do crisis management planning.”
    So now you see, her lack of political savvy led to something that wasn't good for the President politically. She was just so darned law-focused that she failed to meet an obligation. The article ends with 2 seeming defenses of Ruemmler, but they reinforce the theory that Obama knew nothing because Ruemmler was completely legalistic and not at all political:

    1. David Plouffe said others gave political advice, and Obama "needs a top-flight lawyer who’s going to run a good process, and that’s what she’s done."

    2. Beth Wilkinson (Washington lawyer and former Justice Department official) said:  “She stays in her lane, which people appreciate.... She really sees her role as the counsel to the president and to protect the presidency and provide legal advice. She doesn’t try to do other people’s jobs.”

  12. State of Vermont v. Alleged Patent Troll

    → The Volokh Conspiracy | 23 May 2013 | 2:11 pm MDT

    (Eugene Volokh) The case is State v. MPHJ Technology Investments Corp. (Vt. Super. Ct. filed May 8, 2013); GigaOM reports: In a complaint filed in Vermont’s Superior Court, the state accuses MPHJ Technology — which operates 40 shell companies through a UPS store in Delaware — of violating consumer protection law by demanding small businesses buy a [...]

  13. Is Europe Giving Up on “Green” Energy?

    → Power Line | 23 May 2013 | 2:08 pm MDT

    (John Hinderaker) Leaders of the 27 European Union countries met yesterday to discuss energy issues. The meeting, as described by AFP, represents a turning point in European energy policy. Europe’s leaders are ready to join the shale oil and gas revolution to avoid being left behind economically: EU leaders agreed Wednesday to face up to the challenge posed by the shale oil and gas revolution which has slashed US energy prices, undercutting

  14. Future Democratic Supreme Court Picks?

    → The Volokh Conspiracy | 23 May 2013 | 1:35 pm MDT

    (Orin Kerr) Ian Millhiser speculates about future Democratic Supreme Court nominees over at ThinkProgress, naming names. Some of the names Ian mentions strike me as very very plausible; others strike me as very very implausible. But I’m not privy to the thinking of either current or future Democratic administrations, so who knows.

  15. Will Qusayr be Hezbollah’s Stalingrad?

    → Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion | 23 May 2013 | 1:15 pm MDT

    One of the key battles in Syria is for control of Qusayr, currently under rebel control.  Via NY Times, Syrian Forces and Hezbollah Fighters Press Assault on Key City: Official Syrian and Hezbollah news outlets said the government offensive was making rapid headway in retaking Qusayr, a strategically situated city in Homs Province, near the Lebanese border. [...]

  16. Huffington Post Live Discussion on the IRS and Political Profiling

    → The Volokh Conspiracy | 23 May 2013 | 12:45 pm MDT

    (Ilya Somin) Today between 4:30 and 5 PM, I will be participating in a Huffington Post Live discussion on the use of political profiling by the IRS. You can watch it live here. I will also be drawing connections between this issue and the question of racial profiling, a parallel I discussed in this post. UPDATE: You [...]

  17. Louisiana Set to Criminalize Publishing That Someone Has a Concealed Carry Permit

    → The Volokh Conspiracy | 23 May 2013 | 12:10 pm MDT

    (Eugene Volokh) The bill is HB8, though there’s a Senate amendment; apparently, the Legislature plans to enact the bill as amended. The bill bars the government from releasing information about who has applied for or gotten a concealed carry permit, and the Legislature certainly can impose such restrictions on the government itself. But then it also criminalizes [...]

  18. Obama on the verge of becoming one of America’s most successful presidents ever

    → Power Line | 23 May 2013 | 11:54 am MDT

    (Paul Mirengoff) With so many scandals in the picture or looming, it’s easy to miss the fact that President Obama may soon become one of the most successful presidents in American history. I’m defining success as fulfilling Obama’s mission of substantially transforming America. The Obama administration scandals matter because, to one degree or another, they involve scandalous conduct. But step back for moment. In 20 years, very few people will remember any

  19. Issue spotting Lois Lerner and the 5th Amendment

    → Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion | 23 May 2013 | 11:48 am MDT

    Lois Lerner famously purported to invoke the 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination yesterday while appearing before Congress. A number of people have reached out to me to ask me to write about it.  Unfortunately, it’s outside my area of experience and I don’t have time to research it. I’m generally familiar with the issue, as [...]

  20. Challenge to new Connecticut laws

    → Of Arms and the Law | 23 May 2013 | 11:40 am MDT

    Complaint, in pdf, here. The law is quite draconian. Obtaining a "great than ten round" magazine is a felony; continuing to possess one already owned is a misdemeanor on first offense, felony on second. Buying or selling an "assault rifle" is a felony, minimum of two years' imprisonment. "Assault weapon" is defined in a way that may include almost any semiauto with detachable magazine.



  21. Labeling Reporters “Criminals,” or Just Complying With the Privacy Protection Act?

    → The Volokh Conspiracy | 23 May 2013 | 11:28 am MDT

    (Orin Kerr) There has been a lot of outrage expressed recently over the contents of an affidavit filed in support of a search warrant to search the e-mail accounts of reporter James Rosen. The government’s affidavit offered the view that Rosen violated the law by aiding and abetting the alleged violations of laws prohibiting the disclosure of [...]

  22. Noel Canning Recess-Appointments Case: Battle Is Joined

    → The Volokh Conspiracy | 23 May 2013 | 11:25 am MDT

    (John Elwood) Respondent in NLRB v. Noel Canning, 12-1281, the case seeking review of the D.C. Circuit’s judgment invalidating the President’s recess appointments of several NLRB members, has filed its brief respecting certiorari–five days early, no less, probably to ensure the Court has time to consider the case before leaving for summer recess.  As anticipated, respondent does [...]

  23. The Higher Ed Bubble

    → The Volokh Conspiracy | 23 May 2013 | 10:51 am MDT

    (Todd Zywicki) Interesting commentary in The Atlantic Monthly on the rising cost and decreasing quality of higher education: HIGHER education has long been growing more rational. Yet there is a widespread feeling of discontent with the present ideal of academic culture which sometimes degenerates into down- right pessimism. It must be conceded that education costs too much [...]

  24. Good News / Bad News

    → Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion | 23 May 2013 | 10:11 am MDT

    Good news. Thumbs Up for comments are back. Bad news. Thumbs Down for comments are back. It proved to be a formidable challenge, for a variety of reasons, after the plug-in went wild in the wake of the Great Blog Meltdown of March 2013, and After-Meltdown Tremor. You voted to bring it back, and we [...]

  25. Obama's 1979 prom photos.

    → Althouse | 23 May 2013 | 10:06 am MDT

    Here.

    ADDED: At the top of Memeorandum right now, we see this snapshot of what America is paying attention to:



  26. White House counsel met with top treasury lawyer three times last year after learning of IRS audit

    → Power Line | 23 May 2013 | 9:27 am MDT

    (Paul Mirengoff) The Daily Caller reports that White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler had three unprecedented one-on-one meetings last year with the Treasury Department’s chief lawyer, Chistopher Meade. The meetings were in September and December of 2012. Meade had known about the inspector general’s investigation of the IRS’s targeting of conservative nonprofits since at least June 2012. According to the Daily Caller, Ruemmler had never previous met with Meade one-on-one. Meade and Ruemmler

  27. More evidence it’s not about land for peace in Israel

    → Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion | 23 May 2013 | 8:26 am MDT

    An article today at The Tower discloses a rough, handdrawn map allegedly by Mahmoud Abbas, refecting a peace offer extended by Ehud Olmert when he was Prime Minister of Israel, EXCLUSIVE: The Deal the Palestinians Rejected, The History That Was Never Made: In a stunning development that calls into question the basic willingness of Palestinian [...]

  28. They’re Right: Obama Is No Tricky Dick

    → Power Line | 23 May 2013 | 8:00 am MDT

    (Steven Hayward) There’s an old adage in the public relations trade that if you’re on the defensive, you’re losing the PR battle.  And so it is rather delicious to watch Obama’s defenders on the left furiously spinning that no, no—no way is any of this like Nixon!  Scott already took down Steve Chapman’s “false equivalence” column; the Washington Post editorial board—and who is more authoritative on Watergate than them??—thinks the comparison risible. 

  29. Native American Tribe Challenges CFPB CID Based on Illegality of Cordray Non-Recess Appointment

    → The Volokh Conspiracy | 23 May 2013 | 7:55 am MDT

    (Todd Zywicki) According to Bloomberg the Chippewa-Cree tribe in Montana has refused to comply with a CID from the CFPB based on the illegality of the non-recess appointment of Richard Cordray as Bureau director: Under Dodd-Frank, the bulk of the bureau’s authority to supervise banks with assets above $10 billion, a group of about 110 that includesJPMorgan Chase [...]

  30. What Congress Should Ask Lois Lerner

    → Patterico's Pontifications | 23 May 2013 | 7:41 am MDT

    Lois Lerner didn’t just take the Fifth. She gave a little speech first saying she had done nothing wrong. That certainly opens her up to some questions, although the extent to which it does is debatable. Imagine the following sequence of questions: 1) Did you do anything wrong? 2) Do you think that it would [...]

  31. CA’s Senator Boxer follows RI’s Whitehouse in linking OK twister to global warming

    → Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion | 23 May 2013 | 7:40 am MDT

    If there is anything more pathetic than one Senator making political hay out of a natural disaster, it is two. We recently recounted that amidst the reports of the death and destruction caused by the tornado in Oklahoma on Monday, Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) gave a speech that included references to Oklahoma twisters in a rant [...]

  32. Environmentalists for Nuclear Power

    → Power Line | 23 May 2013 | 7:25 am MDT

    (Steven Hayward) I’ve had occasion to write before about my enviro-dissident pals Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute in Oakland (here, here, here, and here, and also in National Review), describing them on one occasion as “my existentially-challenged progressive pals.”  Well, now they’ve really done it: a piece in today’s Wall Street Journal on why environmentalists should support nuclear power. Along the way, they really deliver some well-deserved smack

  33. Wisdom from my 19 year old son on the Obama scandals

    → Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion | 23 May 2013 | 6:20 am MDT

    According to Roger L. Simon, Benghazi is the most damaging scandal plaguing the Obama administration. The White House and the State Department were on the brink of serious humiliation before an election. They had screwed up royally. What were they going to say? They had to figure it out and at some point they decided [...]

  34. Fred Thompson opines that Lois Lerner has waived her 5th Amendment privilege.

    → Althouse | 23 May 2013 | 6:00 am MDT

    "As best I can remember, there is no case on point involving a congressional hearing."
    Although court cases, both criminal and civil, are applicable, though somewhat different standards are applied, the general rule as to waiver is [the same]. Even in the court decisions, however, there is probably no case on point. As I stated, people simply don’t usually get themselves in this position. Also, the cases are very fact-specific.


  35. Ideological Turing Test (mainstream liberal democrat edition)

    → Popehat | 23 May 2013 | 5:57 am MDT

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideological_Turing_Test The Ideological Turing Test is a concept invented by American economist Bryan Caplan to test whether a political or ideological partisan correctly understands the arguments of his or her intellectual adversaries: the partisan is invited to answer questions or write an essay posing as his opposite number. If neutral judges cannot tell the difference [...]

    Ideological Turing Test (mainstream liberal democrat edition) © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.



  36. "Working-class students struggle with 'composite masculinity,' study finds."

    → Althouse | 23 May 2013 | 5:53 am MDT

    "Combine the 'chiselled out of rock' body of actor Ryan Reynolds, the intellectual prowess of writer Christopher Hitchens and the 'funny, quirky' demeanour of film star Joseph Gordon-Levitt and you have the perfect role model for male middle-class undergraduates."
    But while bourgeois students can “seamlessly integrate” many types of masculinity, a study at two universities concludes that their working- class peers find squaring the many demands placed on the modern man more challenging....

    Both groups say that brainpower is a part of masculinity, but as Nicola Ingram, lecturer in sociology at the University of Bath and one of the project leaders, explained, working-class students... "are partially struggling to pull [together] different forms of masculinity,” she said. “The middle-class men on the other hand seamlessly integrate [them]…to create a ‘composite masculinity’. This…allows them to be many different types of men at once, although they emphasise ‘intellectual masculinity.’”

    One middle-class interviewee spoke of admiring how the late Mr Hitchens threw “his weight around intellectually” on debate shows, adding that the way he talked with female panellists showed “intellectual masculinity.” This kind of attitude “belies an assumption of entitlement to dominance,” according to Dr Ingram, and was “arguably a refashioning of traditional male hegemony.”
    Do you know how to be dominant the Christopher Hitchens way?  You have to crush the opposition through the force of your ideas not out of the feeling that you must win because you are the man.

    Has feminism made it much harder for lower class men to do well in life?

  37. "9-year-old slams Rahm over Chicago schools."

    → Althouse | 23 May 2013 | 5:38 am MDT

    Drudge has been linking to this item at Salon:
    "We are not toys, we are not going down without a fight ... This is racism," boy tells mayor over closures
    We're expected to think wow, what a great kid.

    I've watched the video, and my reaction is: Adults taught him a speech. He's being used as a political puppet. I've seen far too much of the use of children in politics — click my "using children in politics" tag — and I don't like it. I think it's especially bad to teach a child to yell angrily at another person and to exhibit hostility, and it's bad for us to express enthusiasm about a child who's good at giving the scripted performance. This is not how children should be taught. Ironically, the topic under discussion is education.

    I've seen this before, in Wisconsin, with children taught to chant or sing the adults' hostility toward Gov. Scott Walker. I don't like when children are used to sing the praises of a politician either. We all know the absurd children's choirs singing about Barack Obama as if he's a divinity. But teaching children to perform hatred is another matter. Children need to learn about policy and politics over time, so that they understand the substance of the issues and can make their own choices.

    It's really awful to see a 9-year-old used as a political mouthpiece and cheered as he yells rudely at an adult authority figure. He's also been taught to believe that he is hated because of his race — "this is racism" — and that the proper reaction is violence — "we are not going down without a fight." What a truly sad appropriation of youth!

  38. British Front Pages — Blood on his hands, hatred in his eyes

    → Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion | 23 May 2013 | 5:00 am MDT

    Here are front pages from British newspapers today regarding the machete terror attack by two Islamic terrorists in London. More at Liberal Conspiracy (h/t @sethmnookin):

  39. Man Killed by FBI Implicated Self, Boston Bomber in 2011 Triple Homicide

    → Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion | 22 May 2013 | 6:53 pm MDT

    The FBI said early Wednesday that it was reviewing a fatal shooting incident in Orlando, Florida in which an individual being questioned by law enforcement in connection with the Boston bombings and an unsolved 2011 triple homicide had engaged in a “violent confrontation” with law enforcement personnel. Just prior to being killed, the man, identified [...]

  40. The Message from Justice Scalia: When You’re Using Unfamiliar Abbreviations in Briefs, Define Them Up Front

    → The Volokh Conspiracy | 22 May 2013 | 6:42 pm MDT

    (Eugene Volokh) David Post faulted Justice Scalia’s footnote 1 in Monday’s City of Arlington v. FCC (see also this follow-up), so I thought I’d mention my own thought on the subject, because I think there’s actually a useful lesson to law students there. The footnote, which accompanied a sentence that began, “In July 2008, CTIA—The Wireless Association,” [...]

  41. Point, Counterpoint

    → Patterico's Pontifications | 22 May 2013 | 5:12 pm MDT



  42. Can A Congressional Witness Deny Guilt and Then Plead the Fifth?

    → The Volokh Conspiracy | 22 May 2013 | 4:15 pm MDT

    (Orin Kerr) Today Lois Lerner was called to testify before a House Committee about the recent scandal involving the IRS targeting conservative groups for extra scrutiny. Before the Committee, Lerner was invited to make an opening statement. Her opening statement included the following: On May 14th, the Treasury inspector general released a report finding that the Exempt [...]

  43. JournoList Part Deux

    → Patterico's Pontifications | 22 May 2013 | 2:13 pm MDT

    [Guest post by JD] Ezra Klein and Joshua Marshall are good little foot soldiers, and shapers of leftist narratives. Yesterday, it was reported that the White House had summoned their ideologically allied bloggers to the White House for a session in shaping the narrative of the multiple scandals enveloping Teh One’s transparent administration. This is [...]

  44. Only In Florida (Ongoing)

    → JustOneMinute | 22 May 2013 | 1:07 pm MDT

    The latest legal hijinks to come out of the Sunshine State involves a classic Juliet and Juliet love story with a bit of an age twist: (CBS) SEBASTIAN, Fla. - A Florida state attorney says the charges against Kaitlyn Hunt,...

  45. The IRS Hearings

    → JustOneMinute | 22 May 2013 | 12:49 pm MDT

    Fox News in Cinncinnati delves into the IRS chain of command.

  46. Ten years ago today

    → Of Arms and the Law | 22 May 2013 | 11:28 am MDT

    May 22, 2003.



  47. Weiner Makes It Official — But I Still Have Some Questions

    → Patterico's Pontifications | 22 May 2013 | 8:39 am MDT

    He is running: NEW YORK Anthony Weiner has tossed his hat into the race for New York City mayor, joining a crowded field and formally beginning an attempt to come back from a scandal that forced him to resign from the House of Representatives. After weeks of speculation, the disgraced former congressman made it official [...]

  48. Sharyl Attkisson: There Has Been an Intrusion on My Computer System

    → Patterico's Pontifications | 21 May 2013 | 4:53 pm MDT

    I’m sure there’s an innocent explanation. I mean, it’s not like the White House is going to target reporters for investigation just because they report stories that embarrass them!

  49. Lois Lerner to Plead the Fifth

    → Patterico's Pontifications | 21 May 2013 | 4:48 pm MDT

    Doesn’t mean that she’s guilty of anything, of course. But it is bound to make voters wonder. Lois Lerner, the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS, won’t answer questions about what she knew about the improper screening – or why she didn’t reveal it to Congress, according to a letter from her [...]

  50. Now Apple Is The Enemy?

    → JustOneMinute | 21 May 2013 | 11:16 am MDT

    Democrats are going to demonize Apple as a non-taxpayer when there are so many US corporations from which to choose? What, did Obama's last fundraising swing through Silicon Valley disappoint? The Times had an amusing and comprehensible example of a...

  51. Scandals

    → JustOneMinute | 21 May 2013 | 11:05 am MDT

    A new ABC News/WaPo poll is out with some reaction to the various scandals. A majority think the Administration is trying to cover up the facts on Benghazi. A majority think the IRS deliberately targeted conservative groups; a [plurality think...

  52. Illegal Immigrant, “Customer” — Potato, Potahto

    → Patterico's Pontifications | 21 May 2013 | 9:02 am MDT

    A correspondent sends a link to this piece quoting a critic of the immigration bill: Additionally, Palinkas argues that the bill does not fix current administration policy that treats immigrants applying for entry into the United States as “customers” of the American government. “A new USCIS computer system to screen applications known as ‘Transformation’ has [...]

  53. Don't Tell The President!

    → JustOneMinute | 21 May 2013 | 8:40 am MDT

    The latest revelation in the IRS debacle is stunning. From Politico: The White House on Monday once again added to the list of people who knew about the IRS investigation into its targeting of conservative groups — saying White House...

  54. Report: More Benghazi Whistleblowers Coming

    → Patterico's Pontifications | 21 May 2013 | 8:26 am MDT

    PJ Media: More whistleblowers will emerge shortly in the escalating Benghazi scandal, according to two former U.S. diplomats who spoke with PJ Media Monday afternoon. . . . . The former diplomats inform PJM the new revelations concentrate in two areas — what Ambassador Chris Stevens was actually doing in Benghazi and the pressure put [...]

  55. Oklahoma

    → JustOneMinute | 21 May 2013 | 8:18 am MDT

    CNN has ongoing coverage of the disaster there.

  56. The Fourth Scandal

    → JustOneMinute | 20 May 2013 | 3:20 pm MDT

    The Times updates us on the fourth scandal of Hell Week: Potential Donors to Enroll America Grow Skittish By ROBERT PEAR WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s efforts to raise private money to carry out the president’s health care law have...

  57. Light It Up

    → JustOneMinute | 20 May 2013 | 3:01 pm MDT

    Bill Keller of the Times on how to legalize pot. he includes an interesting aspiration for the market structure by way of drug policy sage Mark Kleiman: One practical challenge facing the legalization pioneers is how to keep the marijuana...

  58. Inspector General: US Atty leaked memo to retaliate against ATF whistleblower

    → Of Arms and the Law | 20 May 2013 | 1:59 pm MDT

    Story here. Retaliation for having disclosed "Fast and Furious," that is. Probably grounds for a Privacy Act suit here.



  59. Cat's out of the bag and running

    → Of Arms and the Law | 20 May 2013 | 1:19 pm MDT

    Forbes reports that a fellow has created a rifled, durable, handgun with a 3-D printer. He used a different plastic and a different design than that used in the original effort.

    The rifling is vital, because a smoothbore handgun is NFA regulated.



  60. Prenda Law: The Sound of One Shoe Dropping

    → Popehat | 20 May 2013 | 10:39 am MDT

    All of Popehat's Prenda coverage is collected here. There have been many small-to-medium developments in the Prenda Law saga. I'm preparing for trial, so I won't be covering them any time soon. But I will leave you with one: a consequence for a Prenda Law lawyer in the Ninth Circuit. You may recall that Prenda [...]

    Prenda Law: The Sound of One Shoe Dropping © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.



  61. Fox News Reporter Targeted As Criminal Suspect by Obama DoJ for Publishing Leaks

    → Patterico's Pontifications | 20 May 2013 | 10:02 am MDT

    The Washington Post reports that the Obama Justice Department targeted FOX News reporter James Rosen for investigation after Rosen attempted to obtain leaks from the Obama administration. Rosen’s case is different from that of the Associated Press in a notable and quite remarkable way: Rosen was treated as a suspect in the investigation: In the [...]

  62. A Hot Tip on Cue from the Swabbie Hobby Lobby

    → Popehat | 19 May 2013 | 10:42 pm MDT

    An update about the True Authorship of the Pirate Resignation Letter– now with 100% more Angus scrotum: Back in April, in the comment thread of a post about our recondite plans for global dominion, a Popehat visitor using the nick "Will Nobilis" seemed to claim authorship of the well-known Pirate Resignation Letter. In one comment, [...]

    A Hot Tip on Cue from the Swabbie Hobby Lobby © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.



  63. Feinstein's "assault weapon ban" and exceptions

    → Of Arms and the Law | 19 May 2013 | 12:23 pm MDT

    Under her ban, retired LEOs would be allowed to purchase AWs. A perfectly decent non-LEO would be unable to buy one, but this fellow would be able to. As a friend pointed out, when an LEO becomes too mentally unstable to serve, he's given a disability retirement.



  64. Brady sues over mandatory gun law

    → Of Arms and the Law | 17 May 2013 | 1:09 pm MDT

    Nelson, GA has enacted a law requiring every household to be armed, and Brady Campaign has filed a legal challenge. Since apparently there's no penalty for violation (a feature of the earlier Kennesaw ban, due to some advice I gave decades ago), I have trouble seeing "case or controversy." It would, I'd think, be a chance to trot out Framing era militia statutes, tho.

    The Second Amendment's right to arms clause establishes that you may decide how many firearms to own.

    Its militia clause, however, recognizes that "none" may be the wrong answer.



  65. Five reasons the NRA wins

    → Of Arms and the Law | 17 May 2013 | 11:45 am MDT

    An insightful article by Amy Showalter. She notes the conventional media narrative is "NRA has lots of political money with which to scare politicians," but that's not the key. Keys are things like armies of well-informed volunteers, face to face contact, old-fashioned personal persuasion.

    There may be a deeper issue here. NRA has members, Brady Campaign has customers, you might say. They have no voice in the organization, or its policies or leadership. It puts products (bills, messages, and (when it can get any) legislative successes) to them, and they send in contributions.



  66. This Is The Most Wonderful Legal Threat EVER

    → Popehat | 17 May 2013 | 8:02 am MDT

    Various journalists are claiming they have seen a video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack. This led to the most darling legal threat ever from a lawyer named Dennis Morris — who has represented Ford for some time — to Gawker: Update: We've received an email from Dennis Morris, a gentleman with a hotmail.com [...]

    This Is The Most Wonderful Legal Threat EVER © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.



  67. Video entries in the eternal debate

    → Of Arms and the Law | 16 May 2013 | 12:23 pm MDT

    Ammoforsale.com (which seems to actually have ammo for sale, a rare enough occurrence these days) is hosting a video debate:

    9mm: the greatest cartridge ever made.

    .45 ACP: the greatest cartridge ever made.

    (You may have to click on the video tab to run the video in each). As far as I'm concerned, if the Lord had meant the 9mm to be the greatest cartridge ever made, he would have inspired John M. Browning to create it.



  68. Another Bloomberg mayor.....

    → Of Arms and the Law | 15 May 2013 | 10:19 pm MDT

    Jersey City mayor Jerramiah Healy is proud of his membership in Mayors Against Illegal Guns. At least he's escaped indictment so far (he's only been convicted of a misdemeanor after brawling with police), but there has been a ... little flap.

    A while back, he was photographed sitting naked on his porch. Pressed to explain, he said he was drunk. (On 6-8 beers, and he's an attorney... such a lightweight). Now he's advancing a different claim. In it, he claims that he came to the door in a towel, and three young ladies, apparently bent upon taking advantage of him, snatched away the towel. He defended his virtue by repelling their "filthy" advances and driving them off, and while stopping to rest on his porch, was photographed.

    You can't make this stuff up...



  69. David Gregory and the illegal AR-15 magazine

    → Of Arms and the Law | 15 May 2013 | 8:17 pm MDT

    Emily Miller has the story. Gregory is the political reporter who, on NBC Nightly News, pulled out an AR-15 magazine... at a studio inside DC, where such magazines are banned. Of course, nothing ever happened. Ms. Miller and Judicial Watch are pursuing the matter, and DC has fouled up by withholding a document from Judicial Watch that it has already disclosed to Miller.



  70. OMICS Publishing Group Makes A Billion Dollar Threat

    → Popehat | 15 May 2013 | 8:50 am MDT

    I'm in trial preparation mode, so this will be brief. A publisher in India called OMICS Publishing Group has threatened to sue a blogger named Jeffrey Beal, who runs a blog called Scholarly Open Access. Beal critiques open-access publishing venues, and and ran a post asserting that OMICS engages in spamming and bait-and-switch. OMICS' threat [...]

    OMICS Publishing Group Makes A Billion Dollar Threat © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.



  71. Rakofsky Versus The Internet: Advantage, Internet

    → Popehat | 12 May 2013 | 3:32 pm MDT

    Remember Joseph Rakofsky? He's the brand-new lawyer who thought it was prudent and appropriate to attempt, as his first trial, the defense of a man accused of murder. Havoc ensued. A federal judge granted Rakofsky's request to withdraw, which coincided with the defendant's request for a new lawyer, and granted a mistrial. In doing so [...]

    Rakofsky Versus The Internet: Advantage, Internet © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.



  72. Miyoko Shida

    → Popehat | 12 May 2013 | 3:30 pm MDT

    Miyoko Shida © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.

    Miyoko Shida © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.



  73. Hilarious New Team Prenda Argument: Judge Wright's Order Is Irrelevant Because of Gay Marriage

    → Popehat | 9 May 2013 | 11:39 am MDT

    All of Popehat's Prenda coverage is collected here. When last we left the Prenda Law team, it was reeling from a devastating sanctions order and referral for criminal investigation. Now, as predicted, defense attorneys across the country are filing that order in cases brought on behalf of Prenda Law clients. This has already led to [...]

    Hilarious New Team Prenda Argument: Judge Wright's Order Is Irrelevant Because of Gay Marriage © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.



  74. depression

    → Popehat | 9 May 2013 | 9:23 am MDT

    Depression is hard to talk about. I don't mean "there's a social stigma to it", although that's true. I don't mean "modern society calls minor mood swings 'depression' and medicates them with lifestyle drugs, so the depths of true depression are hard to convey to someone", although that's also true. I mean that depression is [...]

    depression © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.



  75. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula Can Be Whomever You Want Him To Be.

    → Popehat | 9 May 2013 | 8:37 am MDT

    Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is in federal prison. He's scheduled to remain there until September. He's held under the name "Nakoula Basseley Nakoula," not as "Sam Bacile" (the name he used make the anti-Islamic film "the Innocence of Muslims,") nor under the name "Mark Bassely Youssef" (which he now claims is his current correct name, notwithstanding [...]

    Nakoula Basseley Nakoula Can Be Whomever You Want Him To Be. © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.



  76. Hugh Hewitt: Interviews R Us: Marco Rubio, Mark Steyn, Fr. Robert Spitzer and Rocco Palmo

    → Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog | 7 Mar 2013 | 3:58 pm MST

    Thursday's show provided enough reading for two weekends: Senator Marco Rubio on Rand Paul's filibuster, the nominee to head the EPA and the coming battle over the CR (transcript here); Mark Steyn on the LollaPaulooza...

  77. Hugh Hewitt: Yesterday's LollaPaulooza

    → Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog | 7 Mar 2013 | 7:55 am MST

    My Townhall.com column on yesterday's LollaPaulooza is here. If only Senator Paul had had Chick-fil-A delivered and read this article from the floor, it would have been a perfect day. As it was, it was the best day the...

  78. Hugh Hewitt: The GOP Debates of 2015-2016

    → Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog | 7 Mar 2013 | 7:49 am MST

    RNC Chair Reince Priebus was my guest yesterday, and after we talked about Rand Paul's filibuster, attention turned to the reform of the debate process that so crippled the GOP race for the White House in 2012. The...

  79. Hugh Hewitt: Thinking Rome

    → Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog | 7 Mar 2013 | 7:38 am MST

    Yesterday's pre-conclave update for my show was provided by Ignatius press founder and president Father Joseph Fessio, S.J. There's a very good chance that whomever emerges from the Conclave as the new pope will...

  80. Hugh Hewitt: Archbishop Chaput on the Conclave and the Church

    → Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog | 6 Mar 2013 | 7:45 am MST

    Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput joined me on Tuesday's program. The transcript of that conversation is here. In the course of the interview, the Archbishop confirmed that the two key sources for commentary on...

  81. Hugh Hewitt: The General's Recommendation

    → Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog | 6 Mar 2013 | 7:41 am MST

    USMC General James Mattis, the 4-star leader of U.S. Central Command and widely and rightly regarded as one of the superstars of the American military over the past quarter-century, is recommending a residual force of...

  82. Hugh Hewitt: The Debates of 2015

    → Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog | 6 Mar 2013 | 7:37 am MST

    Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Nikkie Haley, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio being questioned by panels of conservative journalists and public intellectuals --now that would be fun and potentially...

  83. Hugh Hewitt: "Ask A Jew 2" Dennis Prager and Hugh Hewitt, Together Again

    → Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog | 5 Mar 2013 | 3:44 pm MST

    I'll be back asking Dennis Prager questions about his faith and life at Aska Jew 2, Sunday March 17 at Mariners Church in Irvine, California from 4 to 6. Ticket info here. If you'd like to bring the program to your...

  84. Hugh Hewitt: Covering the Conclave

    → Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog | 5 Mar 2013 | 7:53 am MST

    One listener emails regularly to complain when I cover a story with any Catholic connection. The country is full of anti-religious people, many of them especially anti-Catholic, and the once-or-twice-a-generation...

  85. Hugh Hewitt: "Evangelical Catholicism" by George Weigel

    → Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog | 4 Mar 2013 | 4:16 pm MST

    George Weigel is American's leading lay authority on the Roman Catholic Church, a biographer of John Paull II and benedict XVI, and one of the most sought-after Vatican watchers as the Conclave approaches. Weigel is in...

  86. AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Science Fiction & Fantasy….

    → Instapundit | 13 Aug 2012 | 1:00 pm MDT

    AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Science Fiction & Fantasy.

  87. WORRIED: Email Panic From Democrats: ‘Disturbing Report’ of Overflow Crowds at Romney/Ryan Even…

    → Instapundit | 13 Aug 2012 | 12:51 pm MDT

    WORRIED: Email Panic From Democrats: ‘Disturbing Report’ of Overflow Crowds at Romney/Ryan Events.

  88. UNEXPECTEDLY: Treasury: U.S. to lose $25 billion on auto bailout. “The Treasury Department says in…

    → Instapundit | 13 Aug 2012 | 12:49 pm MDT

    UNEXPECTEDLY: Treasury: U.S. to lose $25 billion on auto bailout. “The Treasury Department says in a new report the government expects to lose more than $25 billion on the $85 billion auto bailout. That’s 15 percent higher than its previous forecast.”

  89. LOWER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Naomi Schaefer Riley: How School Reform Became Cool. In fact, a …

    → Instapundit | 13 Aug 2012 | 12:48 pm MDT

    LOWER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Naomi Schaefer Riley: How School Reform Became Cool. In fact, a whole lot of 20- and 30-somethings across the political spectrum now believe something’s seriously flawed in our public-education system. (You can bet Gyllenhaal wouldn’t have taken the role otherwise.) But why the sea change? Start by “blaming” Teach For America [...]

  90. PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: So the community organizers Obama n’ Axelrod have sent hecklers to Rya…

    → Instapundit | 13 Aug 2012 | 12:45 pm MDT

    PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: So the community organizers Obama n’ Axelrod have sent hecklers to Ryan’s speech in Iowa. Time to mirror them. In a related vein, reader Joe Hall writes: I was on the realclearpolitics.com site today and noticed that Obama is having a contest to win “Dinner with Barack” to try and [...]

  91. COPYCAT? Gunman Taken Into Custody at Texas A&M. “College Station police responding to an ‘active …

    → Instapundit | 13 Aug 2012 | 12:39 pm MDT

    COPYCAT? Gunman Taken Into Custody at Texas A&M. “College Station police responding to an ‘active shooter’ situation near the Texas A&M campus said the suspect is in custody. . . . Police scanner chatter suggests that a suspect was barricaded inside a house.”

  92. JOURNALISM: Reporter Who Bashed Chick-Fil-A Patrons Resigns….

    → Instapundit | 13 Aug 2012 | 12:32 pm MDT

    JOURNALISM: Reporter Who Bashed Chick-Fil-A Patrons Resigns.

  93. THE ART OF DRUDGETAPOSITION: …

    → Instapundit | 13 Aug 2012 | 12:28 pm MDT

    THE ART OF DRUDGETAPOSITION:

  94. FOR A LIMITED TIME, my The Higher Education Bubble is $1.99 on Kindle. The Kindle version has links…

    → Instapundit | 13 Aug 2012 | 12:26 pm MDT

    FOR A LIMITED TIME, my The Higher Education Bubble is $1.99 on Kindle. The Kindle version has links and video, too, which the paper version (naturally) lacks.

  95. MARK KITTO: Why I Am Leaving China. “The Communist Party of China has, from its very inception, en…

    → Instapundit | 13 Aug 2012 | 12:23 pm MDT

    MARK KITTO: Why I Am Leaving China. “The Communist Party of China has, from its very inception, encouraged strong anti-foreign sentiment. Fevered nationalism is one of its cornerstones. . . . The alternative scenario to a world dominated by an aggrieved China is hardly less bleak and illustrates how China already dominates the world and [...]



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