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6 December: 20 years on

      Twenty years ago today I came home from my first year Film Studies evening class. We'd had a mid-term that night and were let out early, so I was home by 10:00. I went into the basement, turned on the TV and saw the images of ambulances in the reddish light of night time live video. It took a while for me to figure out what was going on, in part at least because the reporter on the scene did not quite know yet.
      The story, as it unfolded that night, struck close to home. These were women my age doing the same thing that night I was doing: sitting in class. I wondered what I would have done, had someone come into my class and tried to divide us by gender. I wanted to think I would resist, but I also knew deep in my gut that I probably would not.
      At the time I probably did not have much of an opinion or much knowledge about many of the issues raised by the Massacre. I thought feminists were wrong or overstating things or something like that. I do not know what, if anything, I thought about guns.
      But as this day comes by every year I can track changes in my opinions.
      Twenty years on, I am a feminist, and proud of it. I am opposed to all private gun ownership, and proud of that too. But on 6 December every year, I am simply sad. Sad because those 14 women died this day 20 years ago; sad because so many more have died since; and sad because even more will die after today.

Blowing the (Admission) Whistle

Usually the debates are about discriminatory entrance requirements keeping people out. But here is a case where a lawsuit alleges discriminatory practices for allowing minority students in.

Harper in 2020

Monday marks the beginning of another UN Climate Change Conference (the one Al Gore has backed out of due to 'unforeseen circumstances') and Greenpeace has chosen to scare the world leaders by apologizing from the future with some bad photoshop. 

More ads of the aged leaders here (h/t Creative Review)

Florida's Madoff

Another day, another ponzi scheme.  This time it's " once high-flying attorney", Scott Rothstein, "who was arrested Tuesday on federal racketeering and fraud charges alleging he operated a $1 billion investment scheme involving phony legal settlements."

"This case is a glaring example of greed run amok," acting Miami U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman said. "He sought to buy power and influence at the expense of his clients, and instead has potentially bought himself a lengthy prison sentence."

....

Meanwhile, the once fast-growing law firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler is defunct and Rothstein has been disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court. Several investors have already filed lawsuits seeking their money back, including one case demanding more than $100 million in damages.

Rothstein promised huge returns on investments in legal settlements he said would pay out over time. Prosecutors say most of the settlements never existed and that Rothstein operated a Ponzi scheme, using money from new investors to pay older ones.

Tiger and the law

Apparently Tiger Woods has to keep quiet about what really happened.

Days are Days

For Civ. Pro. buffs, all 3 of you out there, Howard bashman details the new American rules of apellate procedure on how to count days.

No Tarasoff in IL

Tarasoff, the famous Supreme Court of California torts case on the liability of psychiatrists for failure to warn third-parties of dangers posed by their patients, is in every Torts textbook in the United States, and I am not sure if it is taught here in Canada. Nontheless, it is always interesting when a court decides the issue one way or the other, as did the Supreme Court of Illinois, which did not follow Tarasoff. (h/t PoL)

Posner and the Shock Jock

What do the newly elected governor of New Jersey, Richard Posner, and Frank Easterbrook have in common? For one, they may be testifying in the trial of shock jock Hal Turner,who is accused of inciting violence against federal judges.