Just One Thing: Just Say No (to novel legal theories)
Most good lawyers, or at least good judges, are not fond of novel legal theories, meaning trying to use a law in a way it’s never been used before or was not intended to be used to try to get a conviction. Such is arguably the situation with the federal government charging multiple participants in the January 6th, 2021 riots with violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, famous for being a major piece of corporate and financial regulation, for obstructing an official proceeding. The law appears to be referencing evidence tampering in corporate law. If the accused rioter wins his case which was heard at the Supreme Court yesterday, many others may have their felony convictions overturned, leaving only misdemeanors or no convictions at all for the rioters. That may or may not be justice, but I don’t like novel legal theories either.
Justices divided over Jan. 6 participant’s call to throw out obstruction charge - SCOTUSblog
-
One More Thing: Caitlin Clark's (meager) salary
Caitlin Clark's WNBA salary is less than 1% what an NBA No. 1 pick makes (usatoday.com)
A lot of folks are pissed off about this. I get it, but the market is the market. Maybe Ms. Clark will help the WNBA generate more revenue and profit and maybe players will then be in a position to demand bigger salaries.
In the meantime, I'd actually feel a little more sorry for the #2 pick in the WNBA draft (whom I can't name, which I suppose is kinda the point.) After all, Caitlin will be making millions from endorsements. Nobody else in the league will, I suspect.
-
Today's Guests
Andy McCarthy is a former federal prosecutor, a current contributing editor at National Review and a Fox News contributor. We'll discuss the Supreme Court case mentioned in "Just One Thing" this morning:
Written before the arguments on Monday: Fischer v. U.S.: Supremes to Hear Argument Today on Obstruction Statute Key to J6 Cases | National Review
--------
Roger Pielke Jr is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a professor at the University of Colorado, and the proprietor of a Substack called The Honest Broker which you can read for free but I am a paying subscriber because I want to support his work. He works at the intersection of public policy and science (with a side gig of studying sports governance, also a fascinating topic.)
Today we'll talk about two topics that have a connection: experts whom we should trust lying to us about scientific issues for their own purposes:
Proximal Origins, Scientific Integrity, and "Shadow" Science Advice (substack.com)
Climate Cooking - by Roger Pielke Jr. - The Honest Broker (substack.com)
--------
George Brauchler is a former district attorney now seeking to become the DA for the newly created 23rd Judicial District, comprised of Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln Counties. We'll discuss his insights and memories from the Columbine High School shooting which occurred 25 years ago this week.
-
Other Stuff
Jury selection is going a little faster than I expected: First 7 jurors seated in Trump trial as judge warns former president (msn.com) At this pace they might even finish this week, and the judge seems to think so, saying that opening arguments should begin Monday: Trump trial gets seven jurors seated in New York (cnbc.com)
--------
Folks on the left always say that the tax code is unfair. It is, but in the opposite way from what they think. The "rich" pay too much. Did you know that the top 1% of taxpayers pays more in federal income tax than the bottom 95%, and FAR more than their share of national income? (It's always annoying how far behind the data is but there's nothin' I can do about it.) Who Pays Federal Income Taxes? Latest Federal Income Tax Data (taxfoundation.org)
--------
A truly terrible idea: Biden may triple tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum (axios.com)
--------
I hesitate to ask, but is there a particular location that does this to you? Why going shopping, visiting coffee shops makes you poop: expert (nypost.com)
--------
I didn't talk about this yesterday and now DJT stock is even worse...a lot worse...than just 24 hours earlier:
Trump’s Truth Social to launch live TV service, but ‘DJT’ stock keeps sinking (msn.com)
DJT: Trump Media & Technology Group Corp - Stock Price, Quote and News - CNBC
The previous day: Trump Media falls 18% after filing plans to issue more DJT stock (cnbc.com)
Why I've said this stock is a terrible investment:
Truth Social investing is about faith in Trump, not business fundamentals - The Washington Post
The ‘short’ story behind Donald Trump's Truth Social platform (nypost.com)
Did you know that when this stock was at its high, it represented more than half of Trump's net worth? Now it's less than half, and his net worth, which was always a mirage when it included this thing at that high valuation, is much reduced (but still way above mine.)
Trump’s Net Worth Hits $6.5 Billion, Making Him One of World’s 500 Richest People (yahoo.com)
--------
A little mushy but better than I expected: Columbia University President: What I Plan to Tell Congress Tomorrow - WSJ
--------
Interesting move, though probably not as noble or helpful as it sounds: Colorado lawmakers advance measure to bar vacancy appointees from immediately running for seats | News | denvergazette.com
--------
Can we PLEASE stop wasting taxpayer money, our children's future earnings, on subsidizing this nonsense? If this stuff is worth doing, it'll be worth doing without a trillion dollars of other people's money: Renewable energy funds see outflows on concerns over growth, policies | Reuters
--------
This is a terrible story: Family of man struck by car on I-25 after being shocked with Taser sues Larimer County sheriff’s deputy (msn.com)
--------
Meanwhile, in the UK, the Conservative aka "Tory" Party just passed a smoking ban such that anyone who turns 15 by a specific date will never again (and I do mean EVER) be able to legally buy tobacco in that country. Many members of the party voted against the bill which came from their squishy mostly-not-conservative leader Rishi Sunak, who is about the lead the party to one of the most massive electoral defeats EVER.
--------
Weird how so many young people and Democrats want the good people of Israel to lose: 'I shot down drones over Israel and was back in my office sending emails by 4pm' (telegraph.co.uk)
-
Today's Videos
This is cool...a kid talked his dad into letting him adopt a pet octopus. Their TikTok channel has become a huge hit with videos getting hundreds of thousand of views:
This is from 5 years earlier, the same inquisitive (and funny) young man, albeit about a different sea creature:
He didn't fool her!