I do not know if Al Gore’s claims that the world’s climate is in crisis are true. I also do not know if the world’s coal, oil and gas companies have conspired to develop misleading propaganda that carbon polluters have in hand the answers to any negative effects of carbon emissions. Continue reading “Al Gore: Hypocrite”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Should Be In An American Hospital
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez could be forgiven if on New Year’s Eve he is lamenting his previous allegations against the American government supporting a failed coup attempt against his government in 2002 and his subsequent breaking of diplomatic relations with the US in September 2008. Why? Because tonight is at a hospital in Havana Cuba fighting for his life with what Venezuelan government officials describe as “his bout with cancer taking a turn for the worse”. Contrary to filmmaker Michael Moore’s claims that Cuban hospitals deliver far better health care for much less money than those in America, the truth is that they do not. Even with the favored treatment that Chavez will receive in Cuba as a foreign leader who has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the coffers of that country, their health professionals and their medical equipment are no match for what would be available in the United States, or in Canada for that matter. Continue reading “Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Should Be In An American Hospital”
Subway Murders
Two murders in New York city do not an epidemic make. The brazen nature of these 2 killings that left victims helplessly anticipating a terrifying, painful death, and, the sheer stark horror of each victim’s final moments, will remain hauntingly with all of us, whether we utilize subways or not. For regular users of the subway, however, the thought of such an occurrence is likely their worst nightmare.
Continue reading “Subway Murders”
Frank Calabrese Sr. (a.k.a. Frankie Breeze) is Dead
The Chicago mobster and hit man who allegedly strangled his victims and then slashed their throats
35 years as a criminal defense attorney causes one to have a special interest in crime and those that commit crime. For many years now I have followed the exploits of Frankie Breeze, the Chicago mobster and hit man, who allegedly strangled his victims and then slashed their throats. He died on Christmas Day 2012 in a federal prison in North Carolina. While authorities are not releasing the cause of death, during his own testimony in September 2007 at the Family Secrets trial he portrayed himself as a man dying with a “sloppy” enlarged heart. He definitely did not die of a broken heart. Continue reading “Frank Calabrese Sr. (a.k.a. Frankie Breeze) is Dead”
The National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre presented a paradigm for controlling gun-toting killers in the United States that affirms an unstable, asymmetric, disproportionate and treacherous approach certain to exacerbate rather than ameliorate the epidemic of wanton violence involved in mass random shootings. Continue reading “The National Rifle Association”
How To Distinguish A ‘Good Guy With a Gun’ From A ‘Bad Guy With a Gun’
Since National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s nationally publicized comments after the tragic circumstances of the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders in Connecticut I have been thinking about how any one could distinguish extemporaneously a good guy with a gun from a bad guy with the gun. I envision 2 guys, each believing fervently to be ‘good’, shooting at the other, of course, believing the other to be bad. Impromptu gunfights have that inherent aura about them, a ready, shoot, aim mentality. The other aspect about them is that they tend to be final, or should I say, fatal. Continue reading “How To Distinguish A ‘Good Guy With a Gun’ From A ‘Bad Guy With a Gun’”
Disgusting Bedfellows: Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad
The world’s genuine “axis of evil.”
Disgusting Bedfellows: Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad
No need to search too long for evidence that Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Sryria’s Bashar al-Assad personify the world’s genuine “axis of evil.” Indicia are everywhere. Continue reading “Disgusting Bedfellows: Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad”
The Art of the In-Trial Objection
Objections Generally
No great art is achieved without sacrifice. The best actors, writers and painters labour over their materials, honing and refining them day after day, until they seem “natural” or “spontaneous”. The work of the artist is the work of the trial lawyer. Good advocacy is acquired when the lawyer has the persistence, the patience and the humility to practice and re-practice until the skill she exhibits at trial seems as if it were naturally imparted.
The Art and Plan of Cross-Examination
Cross-examination is a treacherous process, loaded with danger, as so many others have already eloquently stated.2 Indeed, we hear, read and see so much about what decisive effect cross-examination can have in a borderline case that perhaps we create, quite unintentionally, a most undesirable effect: the paralyzing fear of failure. I hope you will humour me a while today; I want to try to alleviate the fear.
Continue reading “The Art and Plan of Cross-Examination”