Perhaps you've heard this story by now: A young Oklahoma mother shot and killed an intruder to protect her 3-month-old baby on New Year's Eve, less than a week after the baby's father died of cancer. Sarah McKinley says that a week earlier a man named Justin Martin dropped by on the day of her husband's funeral, claiming that he … Read More
Short Takes
* Britney Spears – who used to be famous – is engaged. Uh, to be married. Uh, again. She's 16 years old still. * Naughty Republicans — the mayor of Grandaven, Mississippi for 14 years — a guy named Greg Davis — re-ran for mayor in 2008 on a family values platform. You know where this is going, right? He's in … Read More
A Judge Uses Common Sense
The New York Times is reporting that federal judge Jed Rakoff has thrown out a proposed settlement between Citigroup and the SEC. The SEC had agreed to $285 million in exchange for no admission of wrongdoing in a complaint about Citigroup defrauding investors in a 2007 residential mortgage backed security. Citigroup had told the investors a third party was picking what assets … Read More
The Reason For The Season
The Scottsdale (AZ) Gun Club is inviting people to enjoy Santa and Machine Guns.The family event allows people to take a holiday card picture with St. Nick — and a high-powered fire arm.Santa poses against a backdrop of an $80,000 Garwood minigun.Families can choose to pose with other firearms, ranging from pistols to modified AR15s. They also get a chance … Read More
More Lies At Patterico
Aaron Worthing again, making things up as he goes along, writes: And the founders clearly always contemplated corporations and similar business organizations having an outsized say in the political process. Whaaaa?!? This is demonstrably untrue. First, let’s state the obvious. In the Constitution, it says “We the people…”, not “We the corporations…”. The founding fathers never addressed corporations in the … Read More
Baum Law Firm Closes
Never heard of the law firm of Steven J. Baum? Well, that law firm, located near Buffalo, represents banks and mortgage servicers when they attempt to foreclose on homeowners and evict them from their homes. It is the biggest law firm of its type in the State of New York. The firm has been denounced by consumers and consumer advocates for participating … Read More
CA Supreme Court: Prop 8 Supporters Have Standing
It's been a while since Prop 8 has been in the news, but here it is: The California Supreme Court on Thursday handed supporters of Proposition 8 the legal right to defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage, sending the case back to a federal appeals court to resolve the broader questions at the heart of the constitutional showdown. In … Read More
The Supreme Court Healthcare Challenge… in Plain English
Kudos to Amy Howe at SCOTUSBLOG, for summarizing "in plain English" where we stand with the legal challenges to Obamacare. Saved me a whole afternoon. I reprint it here in full. The health care grants: In Plain English On Monday morning, at exactly ten o’clock, the Court released its list of orders resulting from the Justices’ private Conference at the … Read More
Ultraconservative DC Circuit Judge Upholds Obamacare
Opinion here. Very well reasoned, and does a great job shooting down the legal arguments of those who think the individual mandate is unconstitutional. UPDATE: Obviously, other circuit courts have adjudicated on the merits of Obamacare and this will all go to the U.S. Supreme Court. But this means that three appellate courts have now considered the health care … Read More
Breaking: MJ Doc Found Guilty Of Manslaughter
Breaking. That's involulntary manslaughter, to be accurate.
Shame
There are many sad aspects to the story I wrote about yesterday regarding the exotic animal farm owner in Ohio who killed himself after setting his animals free. The saddest, of course, is that so many animals running out in the wild had to be killed. This, for example, is a Regal Tiger. Only 1400 of these magnificent creatures exist … Read More
Bad Things Are Not Supposed To Happen Where There Are Pancakes
… but it did: At least eight people have been shot at a Carson City, Nev., IHOP restaurant by a suspect believed to be carrying a semi-automatic weapon, the Nevada Appeal is reporting. The shooting happened just before 9 a.m. local time and at least four helicopters have been called to the scene, the Appeal reports. Bet you the guns were legal, too.
Callous
It was only eight months ago when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head by a deranged Jared Lee Loughner. She survived, but six other people, including a nine year old girl and a federal judge, were killed in the same shooting. That took place in Tuscon, Arizona. Tucson is in Pima County. On August 26 the Pima County Republican … Read More
Why The Eleventh Circuit is Wrong on Obamacare
Larry Tribe says it in plain (well, plain-ish) English: According to the Eleventh Circuit, decisions not to purchase health insurance are not economic activities subject to the aggregation principle of Wickard v. Filburn but are instead non-economic activities indistinguishable from the possession of a gun or a violent attack on a woman. This bizarre conclusion neglects the fact that a decision to forgo health insurance … Read More
11th Circuit Rules That Obamacare is Unconstitutional
A three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the individual mandate exceeded congressional authority under Article I of the Constitution because it was not enacted pursuant to Congress's tax power and it exceeded Congress' power under the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause. It was a split decision, with one judge dissenting. This, of … Read More