They were all death penalty cases, and against the longest of odds Clarke found a way to save her clients from execution each time. It is a legal feat unmatched in the annals of death row cases. An avowed opponent of capital punishment, Clarke’s skill is finding the humanity in defendants accused of inhumane crimes and using it not necessarily to win acquittal but to seek a degree of mercy that helps them avoid a death sentence.
.. “Judy’s gift is that she sees the people she represents as human beings when they are monsters to everyone else,” said David Kaczynski, whose older brother, Ted, is serving a life sentence for crimes he committed as the Unabomber. “She was able to see the humanity in my brother, to find it in spite of the horrible, horrible things he’d done, and it helped to save his life.”
.. But it’s not just Tsarnaev she will humanize. “She’ll bring out the humanity in the jury,” Denvir said. “She’s very good at making people consider their own values and what they believe. Twelve people have to say let’s kill him, and that’s not the easiest thing to do.”
Why French Law Treats Dieudonné and Charlie Hebdo Differently
This complex distinction reflects modern France’s anti-clerical roots: individuals are protected, but churches and their doctrines are not. There was a powerful desire among the French Republicans to destroy the hegemony of the Catholic Church after the Republic was definitively reëstablished in 1871. This desire did not, however, extend to the creation of something akin to a First Amendment in France.
.. There is a law, for example, passed in 1881, against insulting the head of state. In 2008, when Nicolas Sarkozy was President, a man in a crowd refused to shake his hand. Sarkozy said angrily,“Casse-toi, pauv’con!,” which means something like “Get lost, stupid jerk.” But when a protester later brought a sign reading “Casse-toi, pauv’con!” to a public meeting attended by Sarkozy, the man was arrested and brought up on charges. According to French law, the President of the Republic can insult you, but you can’t insult him—even with his own words.
.. Although the French are in no mood for compromise at the moment, they might want to reflect on the fact that America’s Muslim minority, which is free to wear headscarves or not, is far more integrated into American life than France’s. The immediate response in France to the recent massacre has been more forcefully to push its “our way or the highway” form of assimilation, which has, frankly, not been working.
.. Entire radio and TV programs debate daily the merits and demerits of Islam in France, without much effort to include the views of those in the Muslim community.
Senate Session: Dec 12, 2014: Elizabeth Warren Opposes Citigroup Bailout Bill
09:18:31 Clip
There Is No Effective Fiduciary Duty to Maximize Profits
the board does not have to cater to the wishes of a subset of the shareholders, or even a majority of the shareholders. Instead, directors are supposed to use their own independent judgment to determine what is best for the corporation.
.. But when have you seen a corporate board really stick up for the little guy? By contrast, I tend to think of corporate directors as cronies chosen by the CEO to maximize his already excessive compensation package; to overlook questionable and illegal practices that lead to, say, a global financial crisis; and, increasingly, to acquiesce in his contributions of the corporation’s money to pet charities and political causes.