“House Democrats passed sweeping voting and ethics legislation over unanimous Republican opposition” Wednesday night, sending to the Senate “what would be the largest overhaul of the U.S. election law in at least a generation,” AOL News said. (Read story here.) The bill takes[...]
Archive for the ‘Law and Courts’ Category
March 3rd, 2021 - 2:42 pm § in Law and Courts
Prosecutors accuse tax swindler of faking dementia
Software tycoon Robert Brockman, 79, possesses the usual billionaire accoutrements: Mansion, yacht, private jet, and Aspen ski cabin. He’s also an accused tax crook. Federal prosecutors have charged him with 39 counts of tax evasion, wire fraud, and money laundering. Brockman (blank stare at l[...]
March 3rd, 2021 - 11:27 am § in Law and Courts
Crime news: Canadian car attacker found guilty
A Canadian man who drove a rented van on a crowded Toronto sidewalk in 2018, mowing down pedestrians, is criminally responsible for his actions despite suffering from autism spectrum disorder, a judge ruled on Wednesday, February 3, 2021. She found him guilty of 10 counts of murder, for the people w[...]
The Supreme Court’s next big voting rights case
In 2013, when the Supreme Court struck down the pre-clearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act by a 5-4 vote along ideological lines, Chief Justice Roberts, who wrote the opinion, said the VRA could prevent racially discriminatory voting laws through the act’s Section 2, which laws that pla[...]
Should a president’s nuclear launch decision be subject to approval?
Several dozen House Democrats, undoubtedly with Trump in mind, want nuclear war to be a committee decision. (Read story here.) They argue that “other officials, including the vice president and speaker of the House, should concur with a launch order before it can be issued.” Stephen Youn[...]
How not to improve a relationship
Richard Michetti of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, is charged with federal crimes for participating in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. During the assault on the Capitol, Michetti (photo, right) texted his girlfriend, “It’s going down here we stormed the building …. Gotta stop the vo[...]
February 22nd, 2021 - 3:15 pm § in Donald Trump, Law and Courts
Should Bowe Bergdahl get a new trial?
Bowe Bergdahl (photo, left) wants his guilty plea thrown out. It’s a tough call, as shown by a military appeals court’s 3-2 vote to uphold his conviction. The commander-in-chief’s conduct was egregious. President Trump argued Bergdahl should be “executed by firing squad or [...]
February 22nd, 2021 - 1:09 pm § in Law and Courts, Racism
This person shouldn’t be a Navy officer
A federal judge denied Midshipman Chase Standage’s request for an injunction that would prevent the U.S. Naval Academy from expelling him while his lawsuit against the Academy is pending, but stayed his expulsion while he appeals her ruling. Standage was kicked out of the Academy for tweeting,[...]
February 21st, 2021 - 12:20 pm § in Law and Courts, Racism
Was Malcolm X murdered by cops?
“Members of Malcolm X’s family have made public what they described as a letter written by a deceased police officer stating that the New York Police Department and FBI were behind the 1965 killing of the famed Black activist and civil rights advocate,” AOL News reported on Sunday,[...]
February 15th, 2021 - 2:35 pm § in Law and Courts, Politics
How to get away with corruption in New Mexico
Simple: Be a judge, mayor, or school board member. “Lawmakers in New Mexico have introduced a bill that would force public officials convicted of corruption-related offenses to give up any benefits they had accrued in via the state’s retirement plan for public employees,” The Hill [...]