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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.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 21, 2013 8 Comments
I don't think I posted this video, when it went semi-viral in late August. A group of Israeli soldiers on patrol in Hebron, a town on the West Bank that had an ancient Jewish community until deadly anti--Jewish riots in 1929, danced with people at a wedding club, JPost.com:
According to the report, the soldiers entered the club while on patrol on Monday, after hearing the song Gangnam Style by Psy coming from the building. IDF soldier filmed dancing with Palestinians after allegedly leaving patrol The footage aired by Channel 2 purportedly shows a soldier in IDF uniform, fully armed, sitting on the shoulders of a Palestinian club-goer, even clasping hands with another man at the club. Channel 2 said that the club was frequented by members of a Palestinian clan known for its pro-Hamas tendencies.
In a better world, this would have been a good thing.  But they were disciplined for it, because Palestinians have been trying to kidnap Israeli soldiers for ransom, and it left them vulnerable. That is no idle threat, as the news today of an Israeli soldier kidnapped by a co-worker for ransom demonstrates: https://twitter.com/LTCPeterLerner/status/381413050139803648 https://twitter.com/LTCPeterLerner/status/381414577671766016 IDF soldier Tomer Hazan, kidnapped and killed in West Bank:
Hazan was lured on Friday to the village of Beit Amin, south of Qalqilya, by a 42-year-old Palestinian resident of the village, Nidal Amar. Amar worked at an Israeli restaurant, in Bat Yam, where Hazan also worked part-time.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 21, 2013 34 Comments
Um, Michelle Malkin's health insurance will not be renewed due to Obamacare. Destruction of the private insurance market is what Obamacare is all about.  We've been saying that since the earliest days of the earliest drafts in the summer of 2009. It's not about expanding coverage to people who need it. Politifact Obamacare It's about leaving nothing left except government care.  And no, you can't keep your doctor or your present insurance. https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/381402534574698496 https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/381403140924243968

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 21, 2013 6 Comments

Tin soldiers and Obama coming, we're finally on our own, this summer I heard the rumbling, four tanks in Ohio: Ohio State’s Public Safety crew now have an armored fighting vehicle [caption id="attachment_65455" align="alignnone" width="567"] (Ohio State is ready)[/caption] We could have used those up in Vermont: Middlebury College Staff...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 21, 2013 8 Comments

You thought the creepy Obamacare videos were creepy? From Brooks, the creepy bumper sticker below was accompanied by the ubiquitous One Big Ass Mistake America full-gate sign: Was getting gas in Euless, TX, and saw this truck at the pumps. The owner was rather pleased that I took...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 20, 2013 18 Comments

Looks like the chance of "comprehensive immigration reform" (a/k/a amnesty) passing the House just got a little less. From Greg Sargent at WaPo, In blow to immigration reform, House `gang of seven’ bill looks dead In a blow to the hopes of passing immigration reform anytime soon, the bipartisan House...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 20, 2013 26 Comments

or more precisely, who they really are. Allan Brauer, Communications Director for the Sacramento Democratic Party wished Amanda Carpenter's children slow painful deaths from incurable diseases (via Twitchy): Amanda Carpenter, by the way, used to be a speech writer for Jim DeMint, and now is a speech writer...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 20, 2013 8 Comments
Yesterday we posted examples of the racist and other posters placed around the Oberlin campus last February as part of The Great Oberlin College Racism Hoax of 2013.  There are many more in the Oberlin police department document production we did not post. On no campus in the United States or elsewhere would the racist posters using the "N" word and so on be acceptable public discourse (even if it is an interesting free speech legal issue). But what about the anti-Israel poster? Oberlin Poster Anti-Israel w out handwriting Unfortunately, such discourse on campuses and elsewhere is par for the course in the anti-Israel movement.  The attempt to single out Israel alone for boycott, and the false equation of Israel with Apartheid, fascism and Nazism, is part of the dialogue and accepted.  Oberlin is one of only a handful of higher education campuses where the student government has endorsed the anti-Israel BDS movement and boycott.  https://twitter.com/SJPNational/status/331473633899864064 In fact, Oberlin has one of the most active anti-Israel movements which spreads historically inaccurate falsehoods about the "occupation" and Israeli "Apartheid" policies: I have to wonder, if only the anti-Israel posters were put up around Oberlin not accompanied by attacks on blacks, Muslims and gays, would anyone have noticed or cared?  Would the campus have erupted in protest? Somehow I doubt it. The specific flag used on the Oberlin poster is akin to a stock image in anti-Israel protests, this one in San Francisco:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 20, 2013 30 Comments
Two videos have been released by Generation Operation as part of a national campus push to convince young people not to sign up for Obamacare. If young people don't sign up, Obamacare become even more unsustainable, because the voodoo-economics behind it depend on the system sucking money out of the young to subsidize the less-young. First, for the ladies: Gentlemen, you're up next -- LEAN FORWARD! This was trolling extraordinaire.  What really inflames the left about these videos is that the group receives funding from a group to which the Koch brothers contribute.  That's enough of a connection to make these videos like flames to moths. The reaction has been severe hyperventilation, and attempts to dismiss it all as nonsense.  Those reactions are trying too hard. In the world of low information voters, these types of video approaches are just what the doctor ordered.  It's the imagery that matters. Here are some of the creepiest reactions:

1. Gawker

So obsessed with the Koch brothers, they even included a gif of David Koch in the same position as Uncle Sam: Creepy Obamacare Ad - Gawker1 Gawker Koch Creepy Obamacare

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 19, 2013 33 Comments

Maybe he should ask Raymond J. Donovan. Until then, all he has is publicity about the overturning of his politically-driven conviction, Tom DeLay money laundering verdict overturned: A Texas Court of Appeals in Austin has overturned the conviction of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, attorney...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 19, 2013 11 Comments

Updated post: Oberlin College blames the blogosphere ---------------------------- The Oberlin College racism hoax of 2013 involved, among other things, a liberal pro-Obama "anti-racist" student activist who decided to "troll" the campus to get a reaction by posting racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and homophobic signs and messages. It worked, as...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 18, 2013 16 Comments

A song from John Elefante formerly of the group Kansas. Ed Morrissey writes: If you’re not choking up by the end of this video — when John and Sami explain the meaning of this video — check your pulse. Yup. It's not often we hear pro-life songs coming from...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 18, 2013 8 Comments

I think the Brazilian President is not so much upset that we spy, but that we spy better than her spies spy....

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