PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: A special Senate committee Wednesday recommended the full Senate consider removing Pennsylvania’s attorney general, who faces criminal charges and holds the office without a valid law license. Attorney General Kathleen Kane responded that any such attempt would be unconstitutional. She vowed to choose prosecutors to comb public computers for potentially offensive emails, as […]
Month: November 2015
AG Kathleen Kane says removal attempt is ‘unconstitutional,’ plans to appoint special prosecutors
In her statement, Kane said she intends to “vigorously defend the Office of Attorney General against any and all future efforts by this committee or the Senate as a whole.”…
Chicago releases video of cop shooting black teen
THE HILL: … The video shows McDonald jogging towards a police vehicle stopped in the middle of a Chicago highway. Two officers — one of them allegedly [James] Van Dyke — pull up in a separate car, leaping out with weapons drawn. Van Dyke then appears to shoot [ Laquan} McDonald, who rotates in nearly […]
How Washington created some of the worst schools in America
POLITICO: It took 50 years for the federal government to admit officially that the education it had promised to provide Indian children was so bad it qualified as abuse. “Grossly inadequate,” wrote the authors of a scathing 1928 report. Forty years later, the feds were taking themselves to task again, in a report by Sen. […]
KEISLING: PA Attorney General’s Office must soon go to court to oppose Senate’s unconstitutional removal of Kane and her law license suspension
Both these issues — Kane’s law license suspension and the Senate’s threatened attempt to unlawfully impeach her — should now be fought vigorously in court.
Racist emails could impact pending criminal cases against two black legislators
[Defense attorney, A. Charles Peruto Jr.] soon would learn of accusations that top prosecutors on Bishop’s case had instructed the lead investigator to “target” black politicians, even though a confidential informant, Tyron Ali, initially had pointed them in the direction of at least four white state lawmakers, according to a May 2013 memo written by First Deputy Bruce Beemer to his new boss, Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
Penn State’s alumni-elected trustees will have access to Freeh documents
A statement Thursday evening from the seven trustees called the ruling “thoughtful, thorough and correct,” adding they had maintained that it wasn’t in Penn State’s best interest to withhold documents.
Candidate Sestak’s second fall from Dem party grace
…In early 2010, Sestak obtained nothing but approvals and pledges of financial support when he announced he would take on Specter. Then a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Specter announced he would change parties and run as a Democrat to hold his Senate seat.
Walking While Black
This is not my neighborhood, not my state and not my home. I am an outsider. I am in a middle class neighborhood in Hamden, Ct. 
Pa. Supreme Court’s tarnished rep tough on sole female justice
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: … “It breaks my heart that the public’s view of our court is based on what happens in isolated cases,” [Justice Debra] Todd, a Democrat from Cranberry, told the Tribune-Review in an exclusive interview. “It bothers me greatly. It has been a troubled time for the court.” The Supreme Court, the oldest appellate […]
Poll: Trump leads, Carson drops and Cruz moves up
POLITICO: Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican presidential race grew tighter on Friday as the standing of Ben Carson fell in the latest NBC News/Survey Monkey online poll of Republican and Republican-leaning voters nationwide. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, is moving closer to the top. The Manhattan business mogul picked up 28 percent, followed by […]
After 30 Years in Prison, Jonathan Pollard to Be Freed — but Not to Israel
NEW YORK TIMES: Jonathan J. Pollard, the American convicted of spying on behalf of Israel, will walk out of prison on Friday after 30 years, but the Obama administration has no plans to let him leave the country and move to Israel as he has requested. Mr. Pollard, who as a Navy intelligence analyst […]
KEISLING: In social flip, men forced to run office for a woman in state AG’s office
More Mexican Immigrants Leaving U.S. Than Entering, Report Finds
NEW YORK TIMES:… The shift marks the first time since immigration from the neighboring nation began to rise in the 1970s that fewer Mexicans came into America than returned home, the Pew report found. The reversal is primarily the result of a steep drop in Mexicans coming into the country. While the border debate, especially […]