PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS & INSTALLMENT ONE OF HYPOCRISY IN THE CRIMINAL LAW
Suppose that I approach a man to request that he commit a criminal act. Suppose that I hand him money sufficient to win his cooperation considering the value of his services and the risks involved. When the man does my bidding he surely commits a crime, but what about me and my culpability? I, too, […]
DRED SCOTT REMEMBERED
I write this short article on March 7, 2016, the first business day after the March 6, 2016 anniversary of Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857). This morning I revisited the overwrought Opinion of the Court and the concurring and dissenting Opinions covering 240 pages. The Scott case included a controversy as to whether […]
THE CONSTITUTION AND SUPREME COURT VACANCIES
The recent passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has fostered understandable controversy about his replacement. Republicans have been vocal in their resistance to allowing President Obama to select a successor in this, the last year of his administration. Much attention has been given to the Constitutional requirement that a Supreme Court nomination be confirmed […]
HOW DEEP THE BLOOD? Part Three: Moslem Immigration and the 28th Amendment
Nationhood, Manhood, & Refugees One doesn’t need to think too deeply to reason out some of the fundamental characteristics that define nationhood. A nation requires a name and a territory drawn by borders. A nation has a right to defend itself and its borders. A nation has the right to regulate currency, trade, and immigration […]
HOW DEEP THE BLOOD? Part Two: “C´est Guerre.”
In Part One I attempted to describe the inherent enmity between moslems on one side and jews (plus their Christian supporters) over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. But any list of sources of “inherent” enmity between moslems and Christians has to include end times theology. Neither faith holds that things will end well between moslems […]
HOW DEEP THE BLOOD? Part One: A Religious and Historical Perspective
I gave fair warning that I might write about religion and/or global politics. I write now in the wake of the Paris massacre of November 13, 2015. The following Part One examines the religious and historical background of the foundational circumstances whereby moslems wage holy war against the West. I fear that the carnage of […]
LEAVE YOUR GUN IN THE CAR
Here’s another sign from the grounds of the Lake County Government Complex. The sign’s location is just inside the East entrance from Main Street/SR 55. The bit of roofline visible in the background is from the Administration Building. “Leave your gun in the car.” That caveat is part of the standard advice that I give […]
THE ELEGANCE OF RETURN FIRE
When I was admitted to the practice of law, Indiana’s self-defense statute permitted the use of force to defend one’s property, one’s home, and one’s self. The statute permitted the use of force for the defense of “others” only when such “others” were immediate family to their defender. The statute was asinine, and I knew […]
THE TROUBLE WITH CIVILITY PART TWO
Part One of “The Trouble with Civility” centered on the fictional Atticus Finch and the fictional trial of the fictional Tom Robinson. There is much opinion in Part Two but no fiction. The term “civility” is curiously absent from the Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct, perhaps because the concept of civility defies that degree of […]
ATTICUS FINCH AND PART ONE OF THE TROUBLE WITH CIVILITY
I mean to write at least two Articles about professional civility. Until a few months ago there was no better example of civility than Atticus Finch of Maycomb, Alabama as we knew him from To Kill a Mockingbird. Then came the recently released Go Set a Watchman and its cruel “exposure” of Atticus as a […]