Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

/var/www/vhosts/legalinsurrection.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/bridge-child/readFeeds.incFALSE

Posted by Andrew Branca on October 16, 2014 112 Comments
A black witness who claims to have seen the killing of Mike Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson "from start to finish" and who also purports to have just completed testifying in front of the Grand Jury, has subsequently been interviewed by the local St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper (on condition of anonymity). Key facets of his testimony to the grand jury, as he recounts it, include:
  • Officer Wilson did not fire while Brown was moving away form him, but only when Brown turned back towards him.
  • Brown motioned with his arms out to his sides, but never raised them high.
  • Brown continued to advance on Wilson despite repeated orders to stop.
  • When Wilson fired his last rounds Brown was only ~20 feet away (those of you familiar with the Tueller drill understand the tactical implications of that distance, although this witness almost certainly did not).
  • Brown's friend and criminal cohort Dorian Johnson took off running when the first round was fired inside Wilson's police vehicle (thus casting further doubt on his testimony of later events, as if further doubt was needed).
  • He saw a struggle inside the patrol car, and saw Wilson's hat fly off.
  • A shot was heard, at which point Brown ran, followed by Wilson (thus measurements of Brown's body from Wilson's vehicle are not likely representative of the distance between the men when Wilson fired).
  • Wilson, gun drawn, shouted repeatedly at Brown to stop his flight.
  • Brown stopped, mumbled something inaudible, and began advancing on Wilson, despite Wilson having his gun in hand.
  • Wilson again ordered Brown to stop, and fired three shots.
  • Brown staggered, apparently from being struck by one or more rounds, then continued to advance on Wilson.
  • Wilson fired four more rounds, the last of which discharged as Brown was falling.

LATEST NEWS

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 16, 2014 10 Comments
In a recent debate, Colorado Democrat Mark Udall was asked which of Obama's policies he would oppose if elected. He couldn't name one. Here's a video by the Washington Free Beacon: Udall's campaign has focused on the tired Democratic Party meme of the war on women, earning him the nickname "Mark Uterus." Nia-Malika Henderson of the Washington Post recently reported:
Mark Udall has been dubbed ‘Mark Uterus’ on the campaign trail. That’s a problem. Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall has talked about contraception and abortion more than just about any other 2014 candidate. Roughly half of his ads are about women's issues. The focus has been so intense that Udall has been nicknamed "Mark Uterus," with local reporter Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post joking that if the race were a movie, it would be set in a gynecologist's office. In a debate between Udall and Rep. Cory Gardner last week, Bartels, who moderated, used the moniker to describe him.
Udall's campaign has been so shallow that the editors of the Denver Post have endorsed his Republican challenger, Cory Gardner.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 16, 2014 56 Comments
News has spread on social media that a second Dallas nurse known to be infected with the Ebola virus took a flight to Cleveland while experiencing a low grade fever---an early symptom of the disease. It turns out that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rules lead Amber Vinson to continue with her travel plans.
According to the government spokesperson, when Vinson called in, the staff she talked with looked on the CDC website for guidance. At the time, the category for "uncertain risk" had guidance saying that a person could fly commercially if they did not meet the threshold of a temperature of 100.4
So, she did. This situation underscores the biggest failure of the current response to the American Ebola situation: People are desperately clutching to the "it's not easily transmissible" mantra. The problem is that Ebola's origins, modes of transmission, and rate of infection are not completely understood. Ebola is listed as a Class 4 Pathogen, per the CDC's own site: LI #15 c

Posted by Casey Breznick on October 15, 2014 9 Comments
Late last week sexual harassment accusations against Carl DeMaio, the Republican candidate in California’s 52nd district House race, made national headlines. The “New Generation Republican” who seeks to broaden conservatism’s appeal to typically non-Republican groups has categorically denied the claims, calling them “completely false.” The man making the accusations is Todd Bosnich, DeMaio’s former campaign policy director, who like DeMaio is openly gay. Bosnich described in a CNN interview repeated instances of inappropriate intimate and sexual behavior DeMaio allegedly displayed towards him. These alleged acts included masturbating in front of him and caressing his neck, and according to Bosnich the harassment went on for several months. To make matters worse for DeMaio, this is not the first time he has been accused of sexually inappropriate behavior. He was accused last year by a fellow city councilman of masturbating on two separate occasions in a city hall bathroom. That this is the second accusation against him, and that the more recent accuser Bosnich is willing to so publically describe his harassment, does not bode well for DeMaio. As reported earlier, DeMaio recently clinched a polling lead against incumbent Democrat Scott Peters in this highly competitive race. Even if the allegations are completely false, such an “October Surprise” could derail this otherwise impressive campaign.

LEGAL INSURRECTION QUICK TAKES

Washington State U. Bans Fall Rush for Fraternities, Sororities Starting in 2027

Illinois Teacher Union Boss Gets Substantial Pay Raise Despite Low State Reading Scores

Faculty Senate at Northwestern Calls for Restrictions on ICE Access to Campus

Oregon State Instructor Reports Student for Arguing There are Only Two Sexes

University of San Francisco Ditching Mascot Over Student Complaints

Maine School Administrator Objects to Dogs in the Classroom, Citing Muslim Views

SEE MORE

Posted by Amy Miller on October 15, 2014 11 Comments
Tech giants Facebook and Apple have come up with a plan to keep their female employees happy and on the job---subsidized egg freezing. Both companies have a reputation for offering posh work environments and cadillac health care plans, but the new program seeks to invest up to $20,000 in benefits to help their employees pay for fertility treatments, sperm donation, and most controversially, egg freezing. Reactions have been mixed, and there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus as to is on board with egg freezing as an option for young professional women: Via AP's Big Story:
"Anything that gives women more control over the timing of fertility is going to be helpful to professional women," said Shelley Correll, a sociology professor and director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. "It potentially addresses the conflicts between the biological clock and the clockwork of women's careers: The time that's most important in work, for getting your career established, often coincides with normal fertility time for women. This can potentially help resolve that by pushing women's fertility into the future." ... As more women wait longer to have their first child, the number of women choosing to freeze their eggs has grown "exponentially," said Dr. Alan Copperman, a fertility specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital. They are also doing it at a younger age, which means healthier and more viable eggs.
Interviews conducted by the Daily Mail tell a different story, and raise concerns about the message this could be sending to women who want both a career and a family:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 15, 2014 76 Comments
We previously wrote about the deer sterilization program run by the Village of Cayuga Heights, NY, which borders the Cornell University campus and has large deer and faculty populations. After years of bitter debate, Cayuga Heights decided that the deer population would be controlled through sterilization at enormous expense: The Cayuga Heights deer control was mostly a failure because, you know, deer move around, so sterilizing deer in Cayuga Heights didn't prevent new deer from coming into the area.  And so on. As far as I know, no plans were made to control the faculty population. I was not aware that Cornell had its own sterilization program.  I was aware that deer are all over campus. The Cornell sterilization program combined on-campus sterilization with off-campus/regional hunting. What possibly could go wrong? As the Washington Post reports (via Ithaca Voice), just about everything, Trying to limit the number of deer, with surprising results:

Posted by Casey Breznick on October 15, 2014 1 Comment
Down in Florida’s 26th district, Republican candidate Carlos Curbelo and incumbent Democrat Joe Garcia are waging fierce campaigns in one of the most competitive and important House races this year. Objective polling data is scarce for this race. One commissioned by the Curbelo campaign found the Republican in the lead 44% to 40% with the remaining undecided. The margin of error was 4.9%. Another poll, this one commissioned by the Garcia campaign, found the Democrat in the lead 45% to 40% with the remaining undecided. This poll had a margin of error of 4.8%. Clearly, polling data here is pretty uninformative, except that they show there is a sizeable group of undecided voters who will determine the election’s outcome. A Curbelo victory under these circumstances could have good or bad implications. Good, if it means Curbelo’s conservatism appealed to the undecided and Independent voters in this heavily Hispanic district, but bad if it means Curbelo has to pander in order to win those votes.

Posted by David Gerstman on October 15, 2014 6 Comments
Few publications were more enthusiastic about last year's election of "moderate" Hassan Rouhani as president of Iran than The New York Times. Perhaps some of that enthusiasm stemmed from the possibility of engaging in commercial enterprises with the regime in Tehran. Ira Stoll editor of SmarterTimes noted the other day that The New York Times is promoting a tour of Iran accompanied by one of its journalists, Elaine Sciolino. After noting some of the peculiarities of the deal, Stoll writes:
There's no mention at all in the Times promotional language about the tour of Iran's status as a state supporter of terrorism, of its pursuit of nuclear weapons, or of its human rights abuses. For information about those abuses, anyone considering plunking down nearly $7,000 for the pleasure of accompanying a Times journalist on a "relaxing evening and dinner" after antique shopping in Iran may want to consider, first, browsing the State Department's latest human rights report on Iran. It reports that under Iranian law, "a woman who appears in public without an appropriate headscarf (hijab) may be sentenced to lashings and fined." It also says that "The law criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual activity, which may be punishable by death or flogging."

Posted by Andrew Branca on October 15, 2014 66 Comments
ABC news and many other sources are reporting that Vonderrit Myers -- the St. Louis black man shot dead by a white police officer after he allegedly pointed a gun at them -- tested positive for numerous tests of gunshot residue.  (PDF embedded below.) The shooting reignited racial strife in St. Louis in MO, also ground central for looting and arson after the shooting of black Mike Brown by a white police officer in nearby Ferguson, MO. This would be the same Vonerrit Myers whose mother claimed he was "armed" only with a sandwich when he was shot and killed by police, as reported here:  "Off-Duty Police Officer Kills Sandwich Wielding Teen In Saint Louis" This would be the same Vonerrit Myers who was apparently captured posing with what appears to be a 1911 pistol on the right of the image above (courtesy of Gateway Pundit).

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 15, 2014 36 Comments
A press release issued today by the Texas Department of State Health Services:
Second Health Care Worker Tests Positive for Ebola News Release Oct. 15, 2014 A second health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who provided care for the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States has tested positive for the disease. The health care worker reported a fever Tuesday and was immediately isolated at the hospital. Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored. The type of monitoring depends on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus. The worker was among those who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan after he was diagnosed with Ebola. The preliminary Ebola test was run late Tuesday at the state public health laboratory in Austin, and results were received at about midnight. Confirmatory testing on a separate specimen will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person or exposure to contaminated objects such as needles. People are not contagious before symptoms such as fever develop.
Officials continue to suggest worker error, something the nurses union denies, via CNN:

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 15, 2014 19 Comments
Remember the pink sneakers and progressives promising to stand with Wendy? Remember how sure liberals were that Wendy Davis would turn Texas blue? Remember when people at CNN and MSNBC were falling all over themselves to talk about the exciting candidacy of Wendy Davis? Those days are gone. Once a rising star in the Democratic Party, Wendy Davis is now about as popular as a plane seat next to someone from Liberia. Even Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC was questioning the decision to run the now viral "wheelchair ad" when she interviewed Davis yesterday. If you listen carefully, you'll notice a strange comment from Mitchell at the 4:30 mark. Mitchell refers to Greg Abbott’s "supposed" disability. Supposed? Really? Noah Rothman of Hot Air is calling game over:

Posted by Amy Miller on October 15, 2014 18 Comments
The Supreme Court has issued an unsigned order blocking key provisions of sweeping new health care regulations from being enforced against Texas abortion providers. Via Fox News:
In an unsigned order, the justices sided with abortion rights advocates and health care providers in suspending an Oct. 2 ruling by a panel of the New Orleans-based U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that Texas could immediately apply a rule making abortion clinics statewide spend millions of dollars on hospital-level upgrades. The court also put on hold a separate provision of the law only as it applies to clinics in McAllen and El Paso that requires doctors at the facilities to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The admitting privileges remains in effect elsewhere in Texas. Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas said they would have ruled against the clinics in all respects.
This decision temporarily set aside provisions that require abortion clinics to follow the same health and safety standards as ambulatory surgical centers; this means thirteen abortion clinics that closed after the law took effect will be allowed to reopen. It also exempted practitioners operating clinics in El Paso and McAllen (larger cities in the Rio Grande Valley) from having to gain admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Pro-choice organizations are, of course, gloating; but keep in mind that this was an emergency ruling. Advocates for abortion providers asked for the Supreme Court's ruling because the Fifth Circuit allowed the restrictive new laws to be enforced during the appeals process.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 14, 2014 12 Comments
An en banc ruling of the Fifth Circuit has issued a stay against last Friday's order striking down Texas voter identification laws. The Court looked at four key factors when deciding whether or not to grant a stay pending appeal: (1) whether the stay applicant has made a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits; (2) whether the applicant will be irreparably injured absent a stay; (3) whether issuance of the stay will substantially injure the other parties interested in the proceeding; and (4) where the public interest lies. The first two factors are the most important, and the court focused on them when deciding to issue the stay. First, the court looked to the Supreme Court's tendency to preserve the status quo on the eve of an election in order to protect the process from confusion and misapplication of the rules.
Here, the district court’s decision on October 11, 2014 presents similar logistical problems because it will “be extremely difficult, if not impossible,” for the State to adequately train its 25,000 polling workers at 8,000 polling places about the injunction’s new requirements in time for the start of early voting on October 20 or even election day on November 4. The State represents that it began training poll workers in mid-September, and at least some of them have already completed their training. The State also represents that it will be unable to reprint the “election manuals that poll workers use for guidance,” and so the election laws “will be conveyed by word of mouth alone.”
MORE POSTS
Accessibility by WAH