Archive | September, 2007

In Reviews in American History the country’s leading historian of homicide, Randolph Roth (OSU) has an article that deals with two recent disputes in American history: how many guns were listed in early American probate records and whether the Old West was violent (I dealt with the latter issue in an earlier post). On these […]

So reports the AP: Fed up with the threats, tired of natural disasters, the state’s longest-serving state senator is using his legal muscle against who he says is the culprit — God. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued the Almighty in Douglas County District Court last week. Chambers, who skips morning prayers during the […]

reasoning that these days you want to draw in eyeballs and sell ads rather than keep them away and sell content. (Hat tip: Instapundit) The story also notes that changes may be coming over at the Wall Street Journal’s website: The Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones & Company, is the only major newspaper […]

This is two weeks old but still pretty interesting: a Washington Post story on the impact of the human brain’s tendency to think that “easily recalled things are true.” Hat tip: Frank Pasquale.   UPDATE: I should point out that the title of this post, “You Owe Me A Beer,” is not accurate. If you’re thinking, […]

Answer here.

Both of the comment threads dealing with the case have featured comments suggesting that conservatives rushed to judgment as well — only on the opposite side because the accuser was a black woman and the accused were white males who were perceived as wealthy. This seems to misrepresent the pattern of early dissent in the […]

Over at Balkinization, Scott Horton has a post urging the Senate to confirm Michael Mukasey. He makes it seem like Mukasey is James Comey without the baggage. Sounds awfully good to me.

The America’s Future Foundation is sponsoring a search for the nation’s best college-age conservative or libertarian blogger. The contest is open to undergraduate and graduate student bloggers, ages 25 and younger. The winner will receive a grand prize of $10,000. The judges are Radley Balko (The Agitator), Robert Bluey (RobertBluey.com), Jonah Goldberg (NRO), Mary Katherine […]

Brian Leiter’s post with the news is here; U.C. Irvine’s press release is here.

After learning of Crystal Mangum’s far-from-credible rape allegation, Mike Nifong moved on Friday, March 24, 2006 to take direct command of the eight-days-old police investigation, in a gross departure from standard procedures that avoided oversight of the investigation by any police official above the rank of sergeant. Meanwhile, the police and local papers dramatized the […]

The AP reports: O.J. Simpson was arrested Sunday and faces multiple felony charges in an alleged armed robbery of collectors involving the former football great’s sports memorabilia, authorities said…. The charges against Simpson will include robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a firearm, all felonies, Dillon said…. Simpson, 60, […]

Although a couple of weeks ago the limited run on Nationwide Banks in the US was quickly stemmed, the run on Northern Rock in the UK continues for at least the third straight business day on Monday (via the Guardian): Thousands of anxious savers besieged branches of Northern Rock this morning [Monday] as the run […]

This move was widely rumored over the weekend, and now is official. I don’t know very much about Mukasey; by reputation he was a very good district court judge, but he has a lower profile than the other candidates. Press reports over the weekend seem to be presenting him as a relatively moderate conservative who […]

The basic tale of Mike Nifong — the disbarred, disgraced, jailed-for-a-day former Durham DA who may yet face a felony prosecution — is widely known. But news reports have barely begun to plumb the depths of what may be the worst prosecutorial misconduct ever exposed while it was happening. Desperate to win an election against […]

This spring, the DC Court of Appeals ruled in the case of Parker v. District of Columbia. The case had three important legal holdings: 1. Five of the six plaintiffs did not have standing to sue, because the mere threat of criminal prosecution for exercising their constitutional rights was not sufficient to confer standing. The […]