SLATE legal experts Dahlia Lithwick and Joseph Stern picked up on a NYT article written about how Chief Justice John Roberts is not the court’s centrist. I am not sure exactly when Roberts came out of the centrist closet. In any case. Angry Bears Beverly Mann (2014) exposed Roberts as being the one waiting on more conservative justices to join the court. Of course, the majority court occurred during the Trump administration. I will not name names;...
Read More »Arizona State Senator got a Speeding Ticket. It does not Make Her a Martyr
Fun in Arizona somewhere in Tucson, AZ. One Senator believes it is ok to do 70 in a posted 35 mph area. While in office, the senator has immunity. Legislative immunity lasts only while the Legislature is in session. So the soon to be Senator was unable to wiggle out of the ticket. Twice the speed limit? Come on . . . Lawfare!’ cries Sen. Justine Wadsack as she heads to court. How dare Tucson try to hold her accountable for doing 71 mph in a 35...
Read More »Violence Against Women Act was signed into law by Bill Clinton 30 years ago September 13
Still an important issue today which never seems to be totally resolved. Some good examples given by Robert Reich. Friends, The Violence Against Women Act was signed into law by Bill Clinton 30 years ago today, on September 13, 1994. At the time, I was secretary of labor in the Clinton administration. The Act seeks to protect women against men who are typically physically stronger and often possess resources and status that women do not. As...
Read More »Covid and US Crime
IN 2020 the US homicide rate increased by 29% the largest percent increase on record. There are different theories of the cause. Some are related to Covid 19 with isolation (not lockdowns there were not lockdowns in the USA) causing increased stress and domestic disputes. The George Floyd associated conflict between police and those they are sworn to protect and serve could have led police to quietly quit (there is evidence of this in the reduced...
Read More »Unforeseen Health Care Bills Coverage Denials by U.S. Insurers
Coverage denials as reported by the Commonwealth Fund today almost never happened in the past and was a rare occurrence. The insurance companies would concede to the findings of the examining doctors. The methodology being used today is to deny, deny, deny until the insured and the doctor give up. I think it was 1997 when a fictional story “The Rainmaker” became a movie, The issue was a bone marrow transplant which was denied by the healthcare...
Read More »“pollution does not discriminate,” and if a regulating authority had to consider race in its enforcement decision making, it will “indeed participate in racism.”
A federal judge in Louisiana declares a state can not use race as a reason to reject a project which may cause pollution. Stating “’Pollution does not discriminate,’ and that if a regulating authority had to consider race in its enforcement decision making, it will ‘indeed participate in racism.’” The new ruling bars Louisiana from considering whether to permit industrial facilities in communities already facing a disparate impact from pollution....
Read More »Enforcing a Supreme Court Ethics Code
It is about time, Congress puts in place an ethics code for judges, Justices, and themselves. If you do not believe this is needed, read this: “Supreme Court Justices Accepted Hundreds of Gifts Worth Millions of Dollars,” Angry Bear. All told, the number of gifts FTC identified that were accepted by the current nine, plus the eight who’ve left the court since 2004 (Justices Rehnquist, Stevens, O’Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg and...
Read More »Colorado crop fraud
Farming is a risky business. Always has been. A federal program to keep farmers in business during droughts seems like a good idea to me. Sadly, it’s also a target for fraud:“On a normal day, the promising storms produced snow or rain that would fall onto a system of official weather stations at airstrips or town halls, into heated “tipping buckets.” When the teeter-totter buckets filled with a thimbleful of water, the seesaw tilted, dropping one...
Read More »Empty Promises, Big Paydays: Kroger and Albertsons CEOs Fail to Justify Largest Supermarket Merger in History
by American Economic Liberties Project Looks like tgings are being said that are no legally enforceable. Let me see . . . Deleted emails, Albertson’s CEO can walk away with a $40-something million bonus if he can close the deal, a special dividend to private equity investors worth $4 billion and paid with borrowed money, the $4 billion came after Albertsons swore to both a judge and to Congress that it was in “excellent financial condition.”...
Read More »FTC and grocery giants debate who real competitors are
More on the FTC investigating Albertsons and Kroger as to whether they are truly competitors. The issue being how much of the market-controlled now by each and what would result after Kroger acquires Albertsons. Both the FTC and Unions argue “FTC argues different stores have different use cases. FTC lead attorney Susan Musser noted “you can’t just get a single avocado at a Costco, while the union pointed out that many stores, unlike Kroger and...
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