Author Archives: SHG

Fear And Loathing In The Jury Box

For many years, regular people would ask a common question: How do I get out of jury duty? My pat response was to explain to them how they, if they were on trial, would sincerely hope for regular people to be willing to sit as jurors so they, if they were on trial, would have a shot at a jury chosen from a cross-section of the community. People didn’t like my answer, because jury duty is intrusive, inconvenient and, well, boring, but they generally accepted the premise. Yeah, sucky as jury duty may be, it’s necessary to get as fair a panel as possible.

But much as they may have loathed this civic “right,” they didn’t sign up to be afraid that someone would beat them or protest outside their home or threaten their children on the way to school. Loathing is part of the gig. Fear is not. Continue reading →

It’s Not The Endorsement, Stupid

The Washington Post announced that it will not make an endorsement in this, and perhaps future, presidential campaigns. An endorsement of Kamala Harris has already been drafted by the editorial board, but upon demand of the paper’s owner, Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, it was killed.

So what?

From those on the left supporting Harris, this was an outrage as if this could thwart Democrats’ winning the election, which remains neck in neck despite the fact that the Harris campaign was far better funded than Trump’s and that Harris was running against Trump, a vulgar, lying, narcissistic ignoramus. Continue reading →

California’s Racial Justice Act Backfires

There are times when the race of a criminal defendant matters, and can be used as an effective argument in his defense. Unfortunately, race can also come off as a ham-handed and offensive cudgel that backfires badly because of a public defender’s ideological blindness, as was the case when a San Bernardino County public defender engaged a prosecutor in plea negotiations on behalf of his Hispanic client.

According to the deputy district attorney’s declaration, when the deputy public defender failed to obtain a better offer, he “exclaimed ‘I really don’t care.’ [The deputy district attorney] proceeded to ask him what he meant by that statement and [he] stated, ‘read between the lines …, I am a white man, what do I care? It’s not my people we are incarcerating.’ [¶] Continue reading →

The Nightmare of NY Prop 1

When New York voters go to the polls, they will see propositions in addition to candidates for elective office. The first of these props will be presented on the ballot as follows.

This proposal would protect against unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity and pregnancy. It also protects against unequal treatment based on reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”

A “YES” vote puts these protections in the New York State Constitution.

A “NO” vote leaves these protections out of the State Constitution.

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Tuesday Talk*: Why Try Daniel Penny?

In other times, Daniel Penny would likely be celebrated as a hero. There would be a movie about him and children would dress as Penny for Halloween. But not at this time, as Penny stands trial for the killing of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway. As Andrew Fleischman explains, the law in New York leaves Penny exposed to conviction as the law regarding the use of force, and deadly force, makes clear.

Daniel Penny killed Jordan Neely with a chokehold. Some feel that this was not a crime, or that it was so heavily mitigated by the circumstances that we should not treat it as a crime. But it looks like the law applied to the facts is clear. Under New York law you’re not justified using force unless it’s to prevent the imminent unlawful use of force against you or someone else. “Imminent” is an important word here. Somebody who has pulled back their hand to punch you in the face is threatening imminent force.

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Specious Comparisons and The Tu Quoque Fallacy

Some of you may have noticed that I trash your comments on a post about Harris when your point is that Trump is worse, or a post about Trump when your point is Harris is worse. I appreciate that it’s popular to do so, and most people who agree with you also agree with your comparison. I do not. Nor, apparently, does David French.

If you think the left is uniquely intolerant, how do you process right-wing censorship? Or if you think the right is uniquely prone to political violence, how do you process far-left riots? When faced with similar behavior from one side or the other, hard-core partisans retreat to specious comparisons. They comfort themselves with the idea that no matter how bad their own tribe might be, the other side is worse.

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Musk’s Million Dollar Gambit

Is it wrong to offer people who are registered to vote and sign a petition at a Musk rally the chance to a cool mil? Election law prof Rick Hasen says you bet it is.

Hugo Lowell: “Elon Musk says on stage at a town hall that America PAC will be awarding $1 million every day until the election to a registered Pennsylvania voter who has signed his petition. Musk awarded the first $1 million this evening to someone at the town hall, bringing the guy onto the stage and handing him a jumbo check, lotto-style. Musk is essentially incentivizing likely Trump voters in PA to register to vote: Petition is to support for 1A and 2A, so basically R voters. But they also have to be registered to vote, so if they weren’t already, they would do it now.”

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Sinwar Is Dead, So What Happens Next?

The mastermind of the October 7th tragedy, Yahya Sinwar, was fortuitously killed. Other than the terminally ignorant, this is recognized as both a great thing and a necessity for the future of the middle east. Of course, it wasn’t necessary before, as so many clamored for a ceasefire while Sinwar remained alive and ready to do it again and again, a detail that didn’t seem to prevent fantasies of peace. But hey, now that he’s dead, it’s over, right?

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the death of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. It creates the possibility not only of ending the Gaza war, returning Israeli hostages and bringing relief to the people of Gaza. It creates the possibility for the biggest step toward a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians since Oslo, as well as normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia — which means pretty much the entire Muslim world. Continue reading →

Short Take: Interrupting The Filibuster

According to Bret Baier, the Harris team would allow a 25 interview of Vice President Kamala. It turned out to be only 20 minutes, and it started late such that the turnaround presented a logistical problem of airing a live to tape interview unedited.

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