Author Archive | David Bernstein

Ha’aretz: Asa Linderborg, an editor of the newspaper’s culture section which printed the story, told Haaretz that the publication “stands behind the demand for an international inquiry [regarding Israel’s alleged body-snatching].” “We had many discussions on whether to publish the article or not, and to the best of my knowledge, there are no facts there […]

Ha’aretz: A leading Swedish newspaper reported this week that Israeli soldiers are abducting Palestinians in order to steal their organs, a claim that prompted furious condemnation and accusations of anti-Semitic blood libel from a rival publication. “They plunder the organs of our sons,” read the headline in Sweden’s largest daily newspaper, the left-leaning Aftonbladet, which […]

Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for the Middle East, has been attacked in the blogosphere for his anti-Israel views. Much of the attack is justified. Stork has spent much of his career attacking Israel, has made some rather vicious and inaccurate statements that he seems to have never recanted, is a current supporter […]

The Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv has published an article about Joe Stork, deputy director for the Middle East of Human Rights Watch. As Noah Pollack summarizes, Stork has “written in explicit support of terrorism against Israel, who lauded the murder of Israeli athletes at Munich in 1972 as providing ‘an important boost in morale among Palestinians,’ […]

Various articles, such as this one, accuse conservatives of “paranoia” for thinking that health care “reform” will lead, for example, to Trig Palin being denied medical care. I agree that it’s a bit paranoid, but not nearly as irrational as the critics suggest. Eugenics enforced by government dictate once had strong support on the Progressive […]

From a letter by Nancy Rubin, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, praising President Obama’s controversial decision to award Mary Robinson the Presidential Medal of Freedom: “As a Jewish American who affirms that defending the human rights of all is a basic tenant of my faith, I wholeheartedly endorse your recognition of […]

In Kazemzadeh v. U.S. Attorney General (11th Cir. Aug. 6), Kazemzadeh — an Iranian citizen — claimed asylum because he had converted to Christianity, and said he faced persecution in Iran. The Board of Immigration Appeals rejected the claim, largely because it concluded that Iranian persecution of converts away from Islam was in fact very […]

Instead of yellin’ and shoutin’, how about pressing your Representative for the following commitment: you will not vote for any final health care bill until its been published on-line and available to the public for debate (and for you to read!) for at least one month. I’d love to see a Congressman try to explain […]

Roger Kimball (via Instapundit) properly mocks Krugman’s claim that angry opposition to the Democrats’ health care “reforms” is a product of racism. But Krugman also includes a logical fallacy, to wit: There was a telling incident at a town hall held by Representative Gene Green, D-Tex. An activist turned to his fellow attendees and asked […]

N.Y. Times: With the Senate’s approval of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court on Thursday, the new justice will soon take on one of the most demanding jobs in the land. Let’s see. Each Justice has to write eight or nine opinions a year, plus several dissents or concurrences, with the assistance of […]

Is Sarah Palin America’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? The two differ in many key respects, of course, but it is remarkable how similar they are. There are uncanny parallels in their biographies, their domestic politics and the way they present themselves — even in their rocky relationships with party elders. Both are former governors of a northwest […]

That’s what State v. Hynes, decided by the New Hampshire Supreme Court yesterday, basically holds. N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 637.5 provides, in relevant part, that “A person is guilty of theft” if he gets money by threatening to do any “act which would not in itself substantially benefit him but which would harm substantially […]

An interesting trial court opinion I just ran across, though it was decided in May 2006. [UPDATE: Link fixed.] It doesn’t break any new legal ground, but it does provide an interesting perspective, I think, on a particular kind of problem, and how some courts approach it. From the facts: 1. Plaintiff is C__ C. […]

is here.