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Author: William A. Jacobson

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William A. Jacobson

William A. Jacobson is a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell Law School.

He is a 1981 graduate of Hamilton College and a 1984 graduate of Harvard Law School. At Harvard he was Senior Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal and Director of Litigation for the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project.

Prior to joining the Cornell law faculty in 2007, Professor Jacobson had a highly successful civil litigation and arbitration practice in Providence, Rhode Island, concentrating in investment, employment, and business disputes in the securities industry, including many high profile cases reported in leading newspapers and magazines.

Professor Jacobson has argued cases in numerous federal and state courts, including the Courts of Appeal for the First, Fifth and Sixth Circuits, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Professor Jacobson has a national reputation as a leading practitioner in securities arbitration. He was Treasurer, and is a former member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, a professional organization of attorneys dedicated to protecting public investors. He frequently is quoted in national media on issues related to investment fraud and investor protection, and in the past has served as one of a small number of private practice attorneys who trained new arbitrators for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Professor Jacobson is co-author of the Securities Arbitration Desk Reference (Thomson-Reuters), updated annually.

Professor Jacobson is frequently quoted in the media on political and legal topics, has authored many Op-Eds in major publications, and appears on television and radio to discuss politics and the law.

A more complete listing of Professor Jacobson's professional background is available at the Cornell Law School website. The views expressed here are his own and not those of any employer or organization,

The best way to reach Prof. Jacobson is by e-mail here.

As the sham sales pitch and flummoxed policy behind Obamacare are exposed the attempts to portray opposition as a reaction to Obama's race are ramping up with renewed vigor. Yet the evidence is becoming more clear that it is not race that is the problem, it's Obama. Fouad Adjami has a perceptive column (h/t Hot Air), When the Obama Magic Died:
A nemesis awaited the promise of this new presidency: Mr. Obama would turn out to be among the most polarizing of American leaders. No, it wasn't his race, as Harry Reid would contend, that stirred up the opposition to him. It was his exalted views of himself, and his mission. The sharp lines were sharp between those who raised his banners and those who objected to his policies. America holds presidential elections, we know. But Mr. Obama took his victory as a plebiscite on his reading of the American social contract. A president who constantly reminded his critics that he had won at the ballot box was bound to deepen the opposition of his critics. A leader who set out to remake the health-care system in the country, a sixth of the national economy, on a razor-thin majority with no support whatsoever from the opposition party, misunderstood the nature of democratic politics. An election victory is the beginning of things, not the culmination.
It started long before Obamacare.  It started at the earliest point in Obama's presidency, the Stimulus.

The students who shouted down Ray Kelly at Brown University have received some support on campus, most notably from three faculty members, Linda Quiquivix, Naoko Shibusawa, William Keach. The Brown administration, however, was not at all pleased and is convening a panel to examine whether to commence disciplinary action against the shout-downers for violating campus policy. There also has been widespread condemnation of the shout-down from students, who according to one poll, overwhelmingly were against the shout-down, but not against a protest outside the lecture hall. Brown Daily Herald poll Ray Kelly protest The majority of students at Brown appear able to distinguish that which Profs. Quiquivix, Shibusawa and Keach, and the student protesters themselves are unable to do: It's one thing to protest, it's another thing to shout-down. The shout-downers are in a hole, so they have decided to keep digging, with an "anonymous" column in The Brown Daily Herald, Organizers and supporters of the demonstration against Ray Kelly: Standing for racial justice: A public statement . It is a model of how grievance politics and loopy leftist social power theories pervert campus politics.  There was nothing that prevented the students from presenting their own views; they could have held a counter-lecture, protested outside (which they also did), or done any number of things to get their view across and present counter-arguments.  Instead, they opted to prevent Kelly from speaking, and thereby crossed a line which apparently is invisible to them. Read the whole thing, here's an excerpt:

A brutal 12 hour drive yesterday round trip from Ithaca to JFK including wait/circle time has left me pretty much blitzed.  It was a Saturday, and we still needed to spend the trip fighting traffic jams in the NYC vicinity.  Why anyone would want to live that way is beyond me. So I'm out of touch on what's been happening the past 24 hours. I did notice a few things this a.m. Israel is rolling out the red carpet for French President Hollande, who saved the world from a really bad Iran deal, so far. Let's see if it holds up. https://twitter.com/einfal/status/402086267317653504 This is possibly the most stupid article I've ever read, 12 Reasons Why Obama Is One of the Best Presidents Ever . In a make-believe fantasy world, the article is spot on:
3. He is for one race -the human race. In just a few short years, Obama's professional achievements and continued demonstration of equality and integrity have done wonders for race relations. America has never been more unified as a people than it has been under the direct leadership of Barack Obama. Finally, the racial lines that have divided blacks and whites for decades seem to be narrowing.
Here's a good example of reality, something I had hoped to write about for the Saturday Night Card Game last night but was not able to get to, via Fire Andrea Mitchell, San Francisco BatKid Miles Scott gets grief because he’s white. The user for the featured image/tweet has taken her account private, but it lives on in Google Cache

Wouldn't want to exclude veterans of foreign armies from Veterans Day honors, now would we? Harvard Law internationalizes Veterans Day (Update – Harvard responds) At least something is booming: Student Loan Debt has Increased 463% Under Obama Just try it, go ahead, make my day: Chicago State Tries to Close...

Hawaii did not submit its Obamacare enrollment numbers in time for the release on Wednesday. Hawaii just released its numbers, Pacific Business News reports, Hawaii Health Connector says only 257 have enrolled so far:
Only 257 individuals in Hawaii have enrolled in health-insurance plans through the Hawaii Health Connector as of Friday, a spokesman confirmed to Pacific Business News. That figure comes two days after the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services released an updated enrollment report that found only 106,185 Americans have selected health insurance plans through the online health insurance exchanges out of 846,184 completed applications. Hawaii was one of three states that did not submit enrollment numbers in time for that report. But the state did share in that report that there have been more than 1,750 completed applications, more than 2,370 individuals applying for coverage and 1,156 eligible to enroll.... The Hawaii Health Connector held a meeting with its board of directors Friday afternoon that was aired live on the Hawaii Health Connector’s YouTube channel. Some concerns and suggestions mentioned at the beginning of the meeting included a complex, long application process averaging 40 minutes, as well as needed improvements to the website to improve navigation and make it more user-friendly.
The Honolulu Star further reports (emphasis added):

We previously covered the plight of two Gonzaga University students who were threatened with expulsion for brandishing a licensed handgun in an off-campus, university-owned residence when a convicted felon tried to break into their apartment. Eventually they were placed on probation. Legal Insurrection reader Mike, who is from Washington State, forwarded me a Letter to the Editor of the Gonzaga Bulletin written by Fr. Patrick Hartin. Fr. Hartin is Professor of Religious Studies at Gonzaga, and an ordained priest of the Diocese of Spokane, Washington.  Prior to 1994 he was affiliated with the Diocese of Johannesburg, South Africa:
“Since grade school, I have been struck with concern about solidarity with the poor and less fortunate,” he said. “I was 10 when apartheid took over Anglican and Catholic schools so the education system would keep blacks subservient. Our bishop refused to hand over the Catholic schools and ran them on collections from parishes until 1994.
[caption id="attachment_70905" align="alignnone" width="350"](Father Patrick Hartin) (Father Patrick Hartin)[/caption] In the Letter to the Editor, Fr. Hartin supported the student's inherent right to defend themselves and harshly criticized the Gonzaga administration's treatment of the students (emphasis added):
After reading the Bulletin Friday morning, I’m convinced that I’m living in Alice’s Wonderland! Instead, it’s no “Wonderland” – more like Dante’s “Hell”! ....

Not sure I agree with the linkage of Obama's broken promise that you can keep your insurance plan and his promise that Iran will not get nukes. One he knew was false at the time he made the promise, the other was, um, ...

I haven't followed the Upton Bill very carefully. It seems that it is similar to Obama's "fix" except that it also allows insurance companies to sell non-Obamacare compliant policies, not just keep them in force (assuming that even is possible, which it probably is not). The Upton Bill is viewed as a mortal threat by Obamacare defenders (aka Democrats), via The Hill:
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), is coming up for a vote on Friday.... Under the administrative fix, insurance companies are permitted to continue offering existing plans to current enrollees — regardless of when they signed up for coverage, or if that coverage was recently altered. But unlike the Upton bill, insurance companies can’t offer the bare-bones plans to new enrollees.

I'll have more in the morning about the non-fix fix. I've been out of pocket all afternoon and evening. So for now, just sit back and enjoy some move Obamacare navigator fraud via James O'Keefe's Project Veritas: Project Veritas caught Obamacare Navigators counseling applicants to lie on...

While everyone has been focused on the Obamacare and Iranian-nuke debacles, the Kurdish region of Syria declared itself autonomous, which combined with the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq and the large Kurdish region in Turkey, may mark a significant step towards the establishment of a Kurdish state. Since the Kurds are not in conflict with Jews (and generally are quite friendly towards Israel), Kurdish national aspirations don't get much attention at the U.N. or elsewhere. No one much cares that Kurds, a truly distinctive cultural identity who number several times the "Palestinians," do not have a nation of their own. As reported by Al Arabiya:
Following a series of military gains, Syrian Kurds in the northeast of the country announced on Tuesday the formation of a transitional autonomous government. The latest declaration comes amid a general strengthening of Kurdish rights in neighboring Turkey, and increasing moves towards independence by Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region. Long oppressed under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his father before him, Kurds view the civil war as an opportunity to gain the kind of autonomy enjoyed by their ethnic kin in neighboring Iraq. The announcement was made after talks in the mostly-Kurdish town of Qamishli, and comes after Kurdish leaders announced plans to create the temporary government in July.
Intra-Kurdish rivalries pose a major danger to the autonomy holding. Turkey, which repeatedly has taken military action against Kurdish separatists (resulting in world silence, unlike when Israel defends itself against outside attack), is not pleased:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Humpty together again
Barack Obama just announced a "fix" for the private individual health insurance market broken by Obamacare. After an estimated 5 million and growing policies were cancelled due to Obamacare, Obama said "never mind" and told insurance companies to just keep selling the cancelled policies. "Insurers can extend plans" into 2014. (Transcipt here.) This does nothing to fix the problem, which is a war on plans people like but the Obama administration dislikes. Democrats -- alone and over vigorous objections from Republicans -- broke the individual health care insurance market. It can't just be put back together again under Obamacare. https://twitter.com/JohnJHarwood/status/401015479198052352 Not only that, but Obamas is doing this unilaterally as an administrative matter, without changing the law. So much for Democrats objections to prior proposals from Republicans that Obamacare was "settled law."

Immigration reform could pass easily if Democrats did not insist on holding the entire enterprise hostage to their demand for amnesty and  citizenship even for adults who knowingly and deliberately broke our immigration laws to get here.  (Does that make Democrats hostage takers and immigration reform arsonists?) Rationalizing the system by which people legally enter the U.S. so as to accomodate a variety of national objectives, including agricultural and high-tech workforce needs, is the equivalent of a 25-yard field goal. Not a gimme, but pretty close. Enforcement mechanisms are the potential gusts of wind that could throw the ball off course, but those could be overcome. The problem is that Democrats don't want reform, they want amnesty and more Democrat voters. Fundamentally transforming the electorate, not immigration reform, is the Democratic objective. John Boehner just said no to mixing reform and amnesty in one massive bill which mixes good reforms with bad amnesty provisions. The Washington Times reports:
House Speaker John A. Boehner on Wednesday flatly ruled out even entering into negotiations with the Senate on that chamber’s immigration bill, signaling that the issue is dead for this year — and setting up major hurdles for any action before the midterm elections. Emerging from a meeting with fellow Republicans, Mr. Boehner said he won’t be bound by President Obama’s timeline on action this year, and firmly rejected the Senate’s approach, which would legalize most illegal immigrants and rewrite the legal immigration system.

Martha Robertson is the Democratic candidate challenging Republican incumbent Tom Reed in NY-23, my home district. We have highlighted Robertson many times before regarding her unsubstantiated fundraising claim that "GOP ops" tried to take down her website. Robertson's campaign never has provided proof of that claim, leading to a fair amount of negative local television coverage and even national press attention. The fundraising scandal, which I doubt is over, likely will be overshadowed by a much bigger problem: Robertson is a long-time and vocal supporter of mandates with the ultimate goal of single-payer. In light of the Obamacare debacle, and the inability of the federal government even to set up a website portal, a complete federal government takeover of the health care system is a hard sell. Some of Robertson's speeches were captured on video. Here are some excerpts where Robertson discussed her support for mandates, a government option and ultimately single payer: Nationally, Democrats are being hurt badly by the Obamacare debacle. Not surprisingly, Reed already has started to make Robertson's support for single payer an issue:

The "official" numbers have been released by HHS:
Some 106,185 people signed up for Obamacare in its first month of operation, a period marred by major technological problems with both the federal and state enrollment websites. Fewer than 27,000 Americans selected an insurance plan through the federal healthcare.gov site, which is handling enrollment for 36 states, according to figures released Wednesday by the Obama administration. The site is still far from fully operational, leaving tech experts racing to get it working by month’s end, as the administration promised. Nearly 79,400 people signed up for coverage through state-based exchanges, with California leading the way with nearly 35,400 selecting a plan. States have also been battling system errors, with Oregon having yet to accept online applications. These figures reflect people who have selected insurance plans through the exchanges, but not necessarily paid for them. Americans have until Dec. 15 to pay if they want coverage to begin on Jan. 1. Open enrollment lasts through March 31.

Hillary supporters are trying to distance her from the Obamcare debacle. Don't talk about it, she is told.  Meanwhile, Bill is stabbing Obama in the back by telling him to honor his promise to the American people that they could keep their health plan. It's all about the mandate.  Forcing people "into the system" no matter what.  Even when that means they cannot keep their health plan. Democrats who are up for reelection are running from the mandate. But remember, Hillary was more pro-mandate than Obama. Here's more: