NewsTrust - Law - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

With unemployment still high, H1-B visa requests rise again

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Jon Talton - Apr. 10 (Opinion) - Nearly every week, I get an email from a skilled American worker who can't find work in the technology industries. Now comes a report, via the Wall Street Journal, that the government has received 25,600 petitions for H-1B skilled-worker visas since April 2. That's a rate twice as high as that for all of April last year.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Op-Ed Columnist: Broccoli and Bad Faith

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - Mar. 29 (Opinion) - This week’s Supreme Court hearings on the health care law seemed to suggest that some justices were embracing any argument they could use to kill reform.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Outsourced Party

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Kevin Baker - Mar. 25 (Opinion) - Who speaks for the Republican party? The answer is that everyone does — and therefore, no one does. Much air time and many trees have been wasted trying to explain the division, rancor and lethargy that have beset the Republican nominating campaign, now into its second year and threatening to run all the way to the party’s national convention in late August. But it’s no great mystery. Republicans have fallen prey to one of the favorite tactics of just the sort of heedless, improvident, twenty-first century capitalism they revere. Their party has been outsourced.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

GOP War on Voting Targets Swing States

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Rolling Stone - By Ari Berman, Rolling Stone - Mar. 10 (Opinion) - 'Since the 2010 election, Republicans have waged an unprecedented war on voting, with the unspoken but unmistakable goal of preventing millions of mostly Democratic voters, including students, minorities, immigrants, ex-convicts and the elderly, from casting ballots in 2012.' Ari Berman, Rolling Stone

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Foreclosure settlement a failure of law, a triumph for bank attorneys

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Barry Ritholtz - Feb. 27 (Opinion) - After many months of wrangling, a foreclosure settlement has been reached between 49 state attorneys general and a consortium of banks. It is an epic failure of law and a triumph for bank attorneys.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Editorial: An Assault on Democracy

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Iht Editorial - Jan. 23 (Opinion) - President Rafael Correa of Ecuador is trying to stifle a free press in his country and across the region.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Op-Ed Contributors: Don’t Tax the Rich. Tax Inequality Itself.

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Ian Ayres, Aaron S. Edlin - Dec. 18 (Opinion) - To keep inequality in check, tax the wealthiest 1 percent when their income gets out of proportion with median income.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

In Campaign Financing, More Money Can Beat Big Money

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Lawrence Lessig - Nov. 17 (Opinion) - A public funding system would stop the influence of big money in politics.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

UK riots: political classes see what they want to see

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Aditya Chakrabortty - Aug. 10 (Opinion) - Like everyone else, I've spent most of the past week glued to news of the riots. In my case though, many reports have carried a tingle of nostalgia. You see, I grew up not far from the ground zero of the disturbances – in Edmonton, just north of where this week's violence began in Tottenham – and so the updates on looting and destruction have also summoned up memories of school trips, bus rides and teenage work experience. "Ah, yes," I would think while the radio burbled away over the weekend, "I know that (now burnt-out) carpet shop." Or: "Aren't there always boarded-up shops on Fore Street?"

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

For lesson in shared sacrifice, send Congress to boot camp

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

CNN - By Russel L Honore - Aug. 02 (Editorial) - Like most veterans, the men and women who have worn our nation's uniform to defend this country, I am furious with and disappointed in the state of indecision that plagued Washington these past few weeks. Whether or not to raise the debt ceiling so our country can continue to pay our bills and maintain our global credit rating didn't seem like such a difficult decision.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A Rosa Parks Moment: Climate Activist Tim DeChristopher Sentenced to Prison

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Rolling Stone - By Jeff Goodell - Jul. 28 (Opinion) - Once in a while, the moral insanity of the world we live in reveals itself to anyone who cares to look. One such moment came yesterday afternoon, when 27-year-old Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to two years in prison for disrupting a federal auction of oil and gas leases in 2008.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Congress should reject proposed trade agreements and insist on better policies

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Lynne Dodson, Kathleen Ridihalgh - Jul. 27 (Opinion) - The proposed U.S. trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama would continue to undermine the American economy, write guest columnists Lynne Dodson and Kathleen Ridihalgh. Washington's congressional delegation should reject them in favor of better policies.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Supreme Court closes the door to justice

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Erwin Chemerinsky - Jul. 06 (Opinion) - Has the Supreme Court lost faith in the American court system? That is a strange question to ask about the justices who sit at the top of the country's judicial hierarchy. But in case after case in the just-completed term, the court, usually in 5-4 decisions with the conservatives in the majority, denied access to the courts.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Violent video games, California and the ambiguity of freedom

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Keith Stuart - Jun. 28 (Opinion) - The US Supreme Court has ruled that an attempt by California to ban the sale of violent games to children was unconstitutional. We look at the factors involved and why this isn't a clear-cut victory for free speech.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How states are rigging the 2012 election

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By E.J. Dionne Jr. - Jun. 20 (Opinion) - An attack on the right to vote is underway across the country through laws designed to make it more difficult to cast a ballot. If this were happening in an emerging democracy, we’d condemn it as election-rigging. But it’s happening here, so there’s barely a whimper.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 9 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Call Off the Global Drug War

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Jimmy Carter - Jun. 17 (Opinion) - To make drug policies more humane and more effective, the U.S. should rehabilitate non-violent, casual drug users, and undermine the power of organized crime.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 10 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Obama Fails to Justify the Legality of War in Libya

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Atlantic Monthly - By Conor Friedersdorf - Jun. 17 (Opinion) - Is the U.S. at war in Libya, putting President Obama in violation of the War Powers Resolution? Or does our mission against Muammar Qaddafi fall short of triggering the statute that requires withdrawal within 60 to 90 days unless Congress approves military action? The White House took up those questions Wednesday in response to House Speaker John Boehner, who demanded to know why we're still involved in the NATO-led conflict despite those bygone deadlines.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Crime Victims United of California: A powerful voice in state politics

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Joshua Page - Jun. 04 (Opinion) - If policymakers continue to follow the voices of expressly punitive victims rights advocates and ignore the opinions of those who promote alternative, less punitive conceptions of justice, California will not shrink its $9-billion prison system or alleviate its correctional crisis. The status quo will prevail. Let's hope this harrowing prediction doesn't come true.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Goldman Sachs Executives Lied To Their Customers And Congress

Tue, 17 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Rolling Stone - By Henry Blodget, Matt Taibbi - May. 17 (Interview) - Taibbi argues that Goldman Sachs executives lied when they testified in front of Congress in the aftermath of the crisis. Unlike other commentators who grouse about how Wall Street execs should be tossed in jail, Taibbi actually provides specifics. He takes quotes from some of the Goldman execs who testified, including CEO Lloyd Blankfein and CFO David Viniar, and then juxtaposes them with what he believes to be the truth at the time.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Where next for Brazil's gay rights? | Toni Reis

Wed, 11 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Toni Reis - May. 11 (Opinion) - Same-sex unions have been legalised in Brazil, but work still needs to be done to improve tolerance of sexual diversity The 5 May 2011 was an historic day for the rights of lesbians and gay men in Brazil. The country's supreme court ruled unanimously that partnerships between same-sex couples must be recognised as being equal in every legal aspect to partnerships between unmarried heterosexual couples. Prior to the ruling some, but not all, public notaries would register a document stating that the couple lived together. Such documents did not, however, have guaranteed legal value, were subject to interpretation and could be disregarded. Same-sex couples could also take their claim to court, requiring legal recognition of their partnerships. For the most part, such cases were judged by the civil courts and not the family courts, and were regarded as a business partnership – only protecting assets, rather than a relationship of love and affection, with its ensuing rights and obligations. ...

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Libel law makes web hosts the Achilles heel of online journalism

Tue, 03 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Martin Robbins - May. 03 (Opinion) - Much attention has been focused on the chilling effects of Britain's libel laws on writers, but standing up to threats counts for little when websites can be shut down on a whim In January 2008, web hosting firm Netcetera received an e-mail from the legal representative of Joseph Obi , a fantasist who describes himself as an "alternative medicine visionary" and "The World's Most Controversial Doctor!" Obi was struck off by the GMC and claimed to head a college which doesn't really exist , and was therefore a ripe target for a spot of debunking on Andy Lewis' popular (and excellent) Quackometer blog, then hosted by Netcetera. This attracted the ire of Obi, who instructed his representative to send the following bizarre threat: "In case the defamation continues beyond 12 noon on Monday the 21st of January 2008, we are instructed to hold you fully liable to the tune of £1 Million (One Million Pounds) per day, together with additional punitive damages relating to the many months during ...

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Osama bin Laden: US responds to questions about killing's legality

Tue, 03 May 2011 08:34:33 -0700

The Guardian - By Owen Bowcott - May. 03 - Doubts remain over manner in which al-Qaida figurehead died but US officials defend Barack Obama's actionThe chorus of official applause from international leaders over the death of Osama bin Laden has failed to silence doubts about the killing's legality.Despite widespread backing for the raid, there is a growing demand for the precise legal basis of the US operation to be explained, particularly given the absence of prior debate in the UN security council.Some are asking was it an "execution" or an "assassination"?The immediate justification for the killing was that the head of al-Qaida had long ago declared war on the US and other nations."In war you are allowed to attack your enemy," a US embassy spokesman in London said.Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, echoed Barack Obama's assertion, stating: "Osama bin Laden is dead and justice has been done."A more thorough explanation of the legal basis was given last year by Harold Hongju Koh, legal adviser at the US state department.He told a meeting of the American Society of International Law: "Some have argued that the use of lethal force against specific individuals fails to provide adequate process and thus constitutes unlawful extrajudicial killing."But a state that is engaged in an armed conflict or in legitimate self-defence is not required to provide targets with legal process before the state may use lethal force."The principles of distinction and proportionality that the US applies are …implemented rigorously throughout the planning and execution of lethal operations to ensure that such operations are conducted in accordance with all applicable law."He added: "Some have argued that our targeting practices violate domestic law, in particular, the longstanding domestic ban on assassinations."But under domestic law, the use of lawful weapons systems – consistent with the applicable laws of war – for precision targeting of specific high-level belligerent leaders when acting in self-defence or during an armed conflict is not unlawful, and hence does not constitute 'assassination'."John Bellinger III, who served as the state department's senior lawyer during George W Bush's second term as president, also insisted the strike was legitimate."The killing is not prohibited by the longstanding assassination prohibition in executive order 12333 [signed in 1981] because the action was a military action in the ongoing US armed conflict with al-Qaida and it is not prohibited to kill specific leaders of an opposing force," he wrote."The assassination prohibition also does not apply to killings in self-defence."The executive branch will also argue that the action was permissible under international law both as a permissible use of force in the US armed conflict with al-Qaida and as a legitimate action in self-defence, given that Bin Laden was clearly planning additional attacks."Human rights groups have reacted with caution. "Osama bin Laden took credit for and supported acts around the world which amounted to crimes against humanity," said Claudio Cordone, senior director at Amnesty International."He also inspired others to commit grave human rights abuses. His death will put an end to his role in organising or inspiring such criminal acts."We do not know the full circumstances of his killing and the others with him and we are looking into that."One area of anxiety is the suggestion that the intelligence needed to locate Bin Laden's refuge might have been obtained through torture of suspects detained at Guantánamo Bay or other secret holding centres.Whether or not the Pakistan government authorised the assault on its territory might technically affect the legality of the operation under international law.But the enthusiastic support of the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, for the killing is likely to silence any critical voices in the security council."The death of Osama bin Laden … is a watershed moment in our common global fight against terrorism," Ban said. "Personally, I am very much relieved by the news that justice has been done."Osama bin Ladenal-QaidaPakistanHillary ClintonUS politicsUnited StatesUnited NationsAmnesty InternationalBan Ki-moonGlobal terrorismInternational criminal justiceObama administrationUS foreign policyUS militaryOwen Bowcottguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Manning and Mohammed cases: Tilting the scales of justice

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Morris Davis - Apr. 27 (Opinion) - President Obama and Atty. Gen. Holder are improperly putting pressure on those who will judge the Bradley Manning and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed cases."Command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice."

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Fixes: A Scorecard for Companies With a Conscience

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Tina Rosenberg - Apr. 12 (Opinion) - The law states that the duty of a business’s directors is to maximize profits for shareholders. Obviously, there are many ways to maximize profits; even costly socially responsible activities can do just that in the long term. But when a business is on the block, there is often no more long term for shareholders. The difference in the prices offered by Hot Fudge Partners and Unilever offered was too great. The directors of Ben and Jerry’s felt that if they had accepted the lower offer, they could have expected a lawsuit from shareholders — which they would likely have lost. The company was acquired by Unilever in April 2000. Ben and Jerry’s is far from alone. The typical pattern for a new, successful, triple-bottom-line company is that it quickly gets gobbled up by a major corporation

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Cowardly, Stupid, and Tragically Wrong

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Slate - By Dahlia Lithwick - Apr. 06 (Opinion) - In reversing one of its last principled positions—that American courts are sufficiently nimble, fair, and transparent to try Mohammed and his confederates—the administration surrendered to the bullying, fear-mongering, and demagoguery of those seeking to create two separate kinds of American law.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer