Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

December 2015

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 16, 2015 58 Comments
For all the good the joy, one-click shopping, and cat videos the Internet provides, its underbelly is racked with loons of all shapes and sizes. Among them are the 9/11 truthers. Fed up by the "jet fuel can't melt steel" mantra, metalworker Trenton Tye of Purgatory Ironworks finally had enough. So he took to YouTube. "For the undying 9/11 MORONIC JET FUEL ARGUMENT" is a beautiful thing to behold.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 16, 2015 115 Comments
The trial of Baltimore Police Officer William Porter ended in a mistrial today, with Judge Williams accepting that the jury was hung on all four criminal charges brought against Porter in the aftermath of the in custody death of Freddie Gray. Update: For those curious about what the jury vote breakdown might have been, don't get your hopes up. The court definitely won't release an official breakdown (Judge Williams said so explicitly), and the jurors themselves might be inclined to leak the info but they're technically under a gag order issued by Williams.  So, even if one of the jurors does leak they won't want to be publicly associated with the leak for fear of being held in contempt, so the leaked information can't be validated. Officer Porter is, of course, subject to re-trial on all four charges: involuntary manslaughter, second degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office. (Update: It's being reported that the parties will meet before an administrative judge tomorrow to set a date for the retrial of Officer Porter.) The mistrial must be seen as a stinging rebuke to State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who rushed to charge Porter and six other officers before the police investigation into the matter had even completed.  Many legal experts, including myself, have been of the opinion that not only were the prospects for a conviction slight, but that the charges should never have been brought in the first place. http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2015/11/19/officer-william-porter-to-take-stand-in-freddie-gray-trial/ Page Crowder, a Baltimore State's Attorney for 21 years before retiring, has been perhaps the best-informed critic of Mosby's impetuous conduct in this case, noting at her blog during the trial:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 16, 2015 11 Comments
William F. Buckley Jr. had a great disdain for entrenched, self-perpetuating elites epitomized by thefaculty of Harvard:
I am obliged to confess I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University.
In light of our prior reporting on the "Demands" and protests at Yale, and considering this new video, I'd like to expand on Buckley's theme:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 16, 2015 23 Comments
There hasn't been much talk of Hillary's multi-level email problem because of the media attention to all things Trump. But here's a reminder that Hillary's email scandal may be in a Trump-induced hibernation, but it has not gone away. The Hill reports:
A pair of emails on Hillary Clinton’s private server was indeed “top secret” when they passed through her machine, intelligence officials have concluded, according to a pair of reports. The tentative finding comes despite opposition from the State Department, which had disputed the initial classification level handed down by the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General. According to Fox News, one official called the decision to classify the messages at the highest level a “settled matter.”

Posted by New Neo on December 16, 2015 26 Comments
The number of Syrian Christian refugees the United States has taken in is extremely small. And yet this is a group that ought logically to be first in line because members face the most obvious danger and persecution---not only in Syria, but in several Arab or Muslim countries to which they might have fled. Syrian Christians would also have little chance of being terrorists. We already have seen how little Obama has said or done about the plight of Christians in the Middle East today, both rhetorically and in terms of action. So it's no stretch to imagine that the lack of Syrian Christian refugees may be the result of a deliberate policy of this administration. However, at least some of the lack of Christians among the Middle Eastern refugees to the US is a reflection of the way the system works vis-a-vis the UN, which usually does the initial vetting for us---a system that, by the way, desperately needs changing:

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 16, 2015 95 Comments
UPDATE: (12/16/15, 3:16PM):  MISTRIAL, JURY HUNG ON ALL FOUR CHARGES.
UPDATE: (12/16/15, 3:01PM):  Told that both Porter and Mosby are in the courtroom.
UPDATE: (12/16/15, 2:43PM):  State's Attorney Mosby is in the courtroom, first time since deliberations began.
UPDATE: (12/16/15, 2:34PM):  Another buzz from the jury.
UPDATE: (12/16/15, 12:38PM): Jury breaking for lunch.
UPDATE: (12/16/15, Noon): Jury requested a transcript of witness testimony. This request was denied. The identity of the particular witness was not released.
UPDATE: (12/16/15, 11:54AM): Prosecution arrives at courthouse to hear what jury note is all about.
UPDATE: (12/16/15, 11:38AM): There are reports of a "buzz" from the jury, and CNN is reporting that the jury has a message for Judge Williams.  WBAL TV reports the jurors have a question. Might be merely a lunch-related matter.
Today begins the third day of deliberations in the "Freddie Gray" trial of Baltimore Police Officer William Porter. Porter is on trial for involuntary manslaughter (10 year penalty), second-degree assault (10 year penalty), reckless endangerment (5 year penalty), and misconduct in office (undefined penalty). These charges stem from the in-custody spinal injury of Freddie Gray in a police van following his arrest on April 12. Gray would die some days later. We've covered the "Freddie Gray" matter extensively from its inception, here at Legal Insurrection. We'll keep you updated here as news emerges over the course of the day. In the meantime, you can follow along with the day's developments in the Twitter feed embedded below.

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 16, 2015 5 Comments
It's funny to watch Hillary Clinton attack empty slogans when her party is built on them. In a campaign stop in Minnesota, she thought she was going after Republicans but as Daniel Bassali of the Washington Free Beacon notes, some people heard it differently:
Hillary Clinton Inadvertently Hits Obama: ‘Shallow Slogans Don’t Add Up To A Strategy’ Meant to be a subtle jab at her Republican rivals, Hillary Clinton inadvertently took a dig at President Barack Obama’s current strategy in fighting the Islamic State during her national security speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Tuesday. The Democratic frontrunner directly rebuked the concept of containing ISIS, something Obama claimed to have accomplished just hours before the coordinated terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 15, 2015 103 Comments
The CNN Debate just ended, and I have only one clear impression -- Donald Trump has so completely emasculated Jeb Bush that this may be Jeb's last hurrah. Before getting to that, I don't think there was a clear winner. Trump was Trump; I don't think he gained or lost support based on this performance. He reiterated his pledge not to run independent, clearly and unequivocally. Rubio was very good ... except that for the first time people (particularly Rand Paul) hit him over the head hard on the Gang of 8 bill. I thought Cruz had some strong moments, but I just don't know that this will catapult him. Of the others, the only one who made any impression was Carly Fiorina, when she went after Hillary; but she played the gender card pretty hard, so I don't know if that turned people off. Now the big impression. Donald Trump has mastered the art of making Jeb look small. Even when Jeb scores a substantive point about Trump, Jeb lessens his own stature for the fight after Trump mocks him.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 15, 2015 13 Comments
Howdy and thanks so much for joining us tonight! CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIVE REACTIONS FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE CNN, host of tonight's Republican debate, has a lifestream available to here. If you'd prefer to listen, Salem Radio Network is airing the debate here. Welcome to the main stage! Tonight’s debate will feature…
  • Carly Fiorina
  • Jeb Bush
  • Donald Trump
  • Ben Carson
  • Marco Rubio
  • Ted Cruz
  • Rand Paul
  • John Kasich
  • Chris Christie

Watch real time debate reaction:

To providing a wide array of real time reactions, we've included a few different Twitter feeds for your entertainment. You'll find those beneath.

Posted by Jonathan Levin on December 15, 2015 10 Comments
President Obama and the Defense Department are warning of the dangers of deploying ground troops to Syria without first answering whether ISIS can be defeated without them. Critics say the status quo is not doing the job.  Max Boot wrote in the Wall Street Journal on December 8 that air power alone cannot defeat ISIS.  The same morning, former Army Chief of Staff retired General Ray Odierno likewise told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that air power has never won any war in history, and added that “[y]ou can't defeat ISIS without having people on the ground.” On the other hand, Gen. Paul Selva, Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee the next day that, “[i]t's clear from ISIL's strategy that their objective is to cause us to engage in what they believe is an apocalyptic war with the West.”  Selva added, “anything that we do to feed that particular frame of thinking counters our national security.”

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 15, 2015 79 Comments

UPDATE (5:37PM, 12/15/15): That's it for today, folks. No verdict, and jury sent home for the night. Deliberations start up again in the morning.

UPDATE (4:01PM, 12/15/15): In a shocking statement, trial Judge William Barry told the hung jury to "Compromise if you can do so without violence to your own moral judgement," according to reporting by ABC News.

Such a statement coming from a trial judge is shocking because "compromise verdicts" in criminal cases are anathema to American concepts of jurisprudence and due process.

Each juror is sworn to vote for a guilty verdict on a charge only if they honestly believe that each and every element of that charge has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

If they do not so honestly believe this to be the case for a given charge, they are sworn to vote not guilty on that charge. Period.

This lies at the core of the legal mandate that the defendant has the presumption of innocence.

There is no proper room for compromise in such a judicial framework.

While it is true that criminal trial jurors do from time to time arrive at so-called compromise verdicts, such instances are considered defects in the judicial system, not legitimate outcomes.

If ever there were grounds for reversal of any conviction, this is it.

At 3:40PM the jury in the "Freddie Gray" trial of Baltimore Police Officer William Porter sent out a note to Judge Williams that they were deadlocked.

As is normal in such cases the Judge essentially just told them to try again. It's reported that he re-read the jury charges to them prior to sending them back into deliberations, also normal. There was no word on whether he also read them an Allen charge, named after the 1896 Supreme Court case in which they first approved the instruction (Allen v. United States, 164 US 492). The Allen charge is a jury instruction used specifically in such circumstances in which the jury reports they cannot arrive at a unanimous verdict. It essentially reminds the jury of all the resources and time that have been put into this trial, notes that another jury is unlikely to be better suited to reaching a verdict than they are, and tells them to get their act together, get back into the jury room, and come back with a verdict, darn it!

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 15, 2015 27 Comments
Last month we reported that the DNC was going into debt while the RNC was raising millions. In a new but related development, the cash poor Democrats want taxpayers to help pay for their national convention. Stephen Dinan reported at the Washington Times:
Struggling DNC craves tax dollars for convention Already struggling with finances, the Democratic Party has drafted a plan to have taxpayers help pay about $20 million for next summer’s nominating convention, reversing a change Congress approved just a year ago. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is also a congresswoman from Florida, has drafted a bill to restore money that both parties used to receive from the federal government to help defray the costs of running their quadrennial conventions.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 15, 2015 14 Comments
Last week, we reported that one of the San Bernardino killers, Syed Rizwan Farook, had pictures of educational institutions on his camera, indicating that high school and college campuses were potentially being targeted for future terror acts. Tuesday, the entire Los Angeles Unified School District has been shut down because of credible threats involving bombs and packages:
All Los Angeles Unified School District schools were closed Tuesday until further notice after LAUSD received a "credible threat," according to school district officials and police.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 15, 2015 22 Comments
What would you do if your old truck adorned with your business name and phone number became part of a viral photo? Assumed to be a "terrorist sympathizer" by many viewing the photo, this Texan plumber sued the dealership.

Posted by Andrew Branca on December 15, 2015 59 Comments
The defense counsel for Officer William Porter has moved for a mistrial after discovering that the Baltimore City Public Schools sent home a letter with students cautioning parents in which the CEO of the school system wrote:
I am very concerned about the possibility of civil disorders following announcements of the verdict.
Baltimore school letter 12-14-15 That full letter is embedded below.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 15, 2015 35 Comments
Many college campuses are seeing sets of “Demands” issued by students to administrations, often seeking to suppress speech the students deem offensive and to increase faculty and student affirmative action policies and programs. Hamilton College students using the name "The Movement" recently set what was believed to be a record 83 Demands. At least one of the Demands, for a "President of Color," was promptly ignored by the college when it named its new President recently. Oberlin College students, however, may be about to set a new record for length if not number of Demands. Oberlin, a self-proclaimed progressive institution, has seen racial strife on campus in recent years, including The Great Oberlin College Racism Hoax of 2013 perpetrated primarily by a progressive white student trying to get the campus talking about race. Even after the hoax was exposed, the resulting campus conflict was exploited to advance “even more extreme policies.” (You can listen to my explanation of the hoax and result here.) More recent strife on campus involved protests by the Black Student Union over the quality of food in the Afrikan Heritage House. Oberlin also is known for non-racial activism, such at the "trigger warning" protests against the appearance of Christina Hoff Sommers. A student tipped us off that starting last night students began circulating and signing a 14-page list of 50 separate demands, in the name of the Black Students Union (BSU).
MORE POSTS
Accessibility by WAH