Wind and solar energy technologies, which eco-religionists claim will save the planet from the ravages of capitalism and the destruction it supposedly causes, are culling endangered animals and wiping out their habitats. Michael Shellenberger pinpointed the problem with renewable energy in a May 2018 Forbes article: “If solar and wind farms are needed to protect the natural environment, why do they so often destroy it?” It’s a fair question. Researchers looked at 23 endangered bird species killed at wind and solar outfits in California, according to “Vulnerability of avian populations to renewable energy production,” published March 30 in Royal Society Open Science. The study of the impact on wildlife … Continue reading ‘Green energy’ unsafe for birds and other living things

The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that a deaf and blind woman may not claim damages for emotional distress for a physical therapy clinic’s decision to deny her an American Sign Language interpreter. The court’s opinion in Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller PPLC, court file 20–219, came on April 28 after the case was argued on Nov. 30, 2021. The petitioner is Jane Cummings, who has been deaf since birth, is legally blind, and has albinism. The respondent is Premier Rehab Keller PLLC, which operates physical therapy clinics around Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Legal blindness, a term used by governments to determine eligibility … Continue reading Supreme Court rebuffs Biden admin, rules deaf-blind woman can’t seek damages for denial of interpreter

States should be allowed to prosecute non-Indians for crimes committed on Native American land, an attorney representing the state of Oklahoma told the Supreme Court on April 27, after a court ruling two years ago threw the state’s judicial system into disarray by changing jurisdictional rules. The case is Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, court file 21-429. The Supreme Court agreed on Jan. 21 to take the case. Scheduled for 70 minutes, the hearing ran for 131 minutes. The case comes after McGirt v. Oklahoma, in which the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 on July 9, 2020, that most of eastern and some of central Oklahoma … Continue reading Supreme Court considers if states can prosecute non-Indians for crimes on Indian land: Chief Justice Roberts bids farewell to Justice Breyer at his final hearing

Wisconsin’s Walworth County has become the first local government in the state to ban the acceptance of private monies or grants for use in the administration of elections. Approval of the measure came after 16 states enacted legislation to ban or regulate the acceptance and use of private funds by public election officials. Good-government advocates have been incensed that a Mark Zuckerberg-funded activist group, the left-wing Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), flooded election offices in Democratic Party strongholds with millions of dollars in an apparent effort to drive up voter turnout for that party in 2020. In 2016, then-candidate … Continue reading Wisconsin county takes the lead in banning private funding of elections

The Biden administration told the Supreme Court on April 26 that it should not have to continue operating the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program that required non-Mexican asylum-seekers arriving at the southern border to wait in Mexico for processing. The case at hand is Biden v. Texas, court file 21-954. The high court agreed on February 18 to hear the case, an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. One hour was set aside for the hearing, but it ran 1 hour and 47 minutes. Upon assuming office, Biden halted enrollments in the program, part of the Migrant Protection … Continue reading Biden administration urges Supreme Court to let it drop ‘Remain in Mexico’ program

The Supreme Court seemed to be generally sympathetic toward a high school football coach who claims he was fired for kneeling to pray at the 50-yard line after football games. Coach Joseph A. “Joe” Kennedy, who no longer works for the taxpayer-funded Bremerton School District in Washington state, says his rights were violated when the school district forbade him from praying in view of the public after games. Some of the facts, such as whether his prayers were silent and how he came to not be employed by the district, are in dispute. The case is Kennedy v. Bremerton School … Continue reading SCOTUS hears case of high school football coach banned from praying on field

The Supreme Court agreed on April 25 to hear the appeal of Rodney Reed, who was convicted of murder and rape, and who now wants evidence found at the scene of the crime years ago to be tested for DNA, even though a Texas law forbids it because he took too long to raise the issue. Justice Sonia Sotomayor foreshadowed the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2020 when she questioned the strength of the scientific evidence used to convict Reed. The case is Reed v. Goertz, court file 21-442. Respondent Bryan Goertz, a Republican, is the district attorney for Bastrop County, Texas. The court … Continue reading SCOTUS takes appeal of Texas death row inmate claiming scientific evidence was flawed

The city clerk of Green Bay, Wisconsin, participated in illegal absentee ballot harvesting in the April 5 local election, a new legal complaint filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission claims. Several voters reported seeing City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys accepting multiple absentee ballots from the hand of a single person several times, according to Erick Kaardal, special counsel with the Thomas More Society, a nonprofit public interest law firm. Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich, a Democrat, appointed Jeffreys to her current post. “This is ballot harvesting, and it is illegal,” Kaardal said in a statement. The complaint against Jeffreys (pdf), cited as Roeser … Continue reading Wisconsin city clerk sued in alleged illegal ballot harvesting scheme

I’m quoted in five more books. I’ll update the official list later, but here they are: The Global Politics of Jesus: A Christian Case for Church-State Separation, by Nilay Saiya, Oxford University Press, 2022, endnote 80 The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros, by Matt Palumbo, Liberatio Protocol, 2022, page citation unknown Comprehending Antisemitism Through the Ages: A Historical Perspective, edited by Armin Lange, Dina Porat, Kerstin Mayerhofer, Lawrence H. Schiffman, De Gruyter, 2021, endnote 26 Critical Legal Studies and the Campaign for American Law Schools: A Revolution to Break the Liberal Consensus, by Paul Baumgartner, Springer Nature, 2021, … Continue reading Matthew Vadum quoted in 5 new books

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a descendant of a German Jewish family whose valuable French Impressionist painting was confiscated by the Nazis during the Holocaust and is now on display at a government-owned art museum in Madrid. The gist of the unanimous decision made public on April 21 is that in property cases, foreign governments and the entities they control should be placed in the same position as private parties. The high court also found that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit erred in finding that federal—not state—law should apply in such disputes, and in … Continue reading Unanimous SCOTUS overturns 9th Circuit, rules against Spanish museum in Nazi-looted painting case

The Supreme Court revisited its 56-year-old precedent, Miranda v. Arizona, at an April 20 hearing as justices and attorneys sparred over the extent to which the landmark decision protects criminal defendants and provides a basis for post-trial litigation by acquitted defendants. The specific issue in Vega v. Tekoh, court file 21-499, an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, is the following question: When an arresting officer fails to provide a criminal defendant with the warnings required by the Miranda decision, can that defendant file a federal civil rights lawsuit based solely on the failure to provide … Continue reading Supreme Court revisits decades-old Miranda rights precedent