Discussion on Sexual Assault, Recent Judgments & #MeToo – how the Legal System is all too often more friendly to the ‘alleged’ perpetrator than the victim. Attorney Murphy discusses cases she has been involved where Judge’s trample on the rights of victims, censoring the words they use to describe their assault, making it impossible to describe their ordeal. She describes real cases litigated, including against a judge who ordered the victim to not use ‘certain words’ to describe her brutal unrelenting rape. Clearly, judicial overreach to stifle a victim’s First Amendment Right to choose her words, her speech in a public forum – a court of law. Justice itself is bare if a victim can be ordered to only speak of her ordeal in palatable terms – and not describe what the perpetrator had actually done to her. It is axiomatic, that to get a just result – the ability of the victim to tell her story without judicial censorship and bias is critical for a jury to reach a just result.
A fascinating story that unfortunately, is not out of character with the US judicial system – treating women as second-class citizens, and elevating abusers, and minimizing the effect upon the victim.
Attorney Wendy Murphy. She is a former prosecutor now working as a “victim advocate” and “impact litigator” to assist abused women and children – bringing change to how the courts, legislators, and the public view violence against women and children. She has written numerous briefs in both federal and state courts on Sexual Assault, to violations of Civil & Constitutional Rights – taking place on College Campuses & in the Workplace. Many of her cases and issues are of first impression (never before litigated) in MA and around the nation. She is an adjunct professor of sexual violence law at New England Law – Boston, and often appears as a legal analyst for a variety of news outlets including CNN, PBS & Fox News.
Her book, And Justice for Some is a riveting compendium of insights as a prosecutor as well as a victim advocate – on how lawyers and judges let dangerous criminals go free.
Continue reading
June 19, 2018 – The US Supreme Court just announced their decision in two high-profile, highly-charged voter redistricting cases, Gill v. Whitford and Benisek v. Lamone. To the amazement of many pundits, the Court virtually dismissed them both! So what does this all mean? Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the…
Continue reading
Guest: Dr. Daniel Breen, J.D., PhD,
Professor Breen is a Lecturer of Legal Studies at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts. He holds a J.D. in Law from the University of Georgia, and a Ph.D. in American History from Boston College.
Continue reading
January 24, 2018-Recently, both the US Supreme Court and state courts have been taking up the highly controversial and highly politicized issue of political gerrymandering–that is the artificial manipulation of voting districts by those in state legislatures to favor the party in power–their own. It’s accomplished by these legislatures creating…
Continue reading
Discussion on the developing brain and how water-borne contaminants, namely lead can affect the developing brains of children. Whether it’s in Flint, MI or your own lead pipes, parents of young children must be vigilant as well as pregnant women. Dr. Bellinger discusses his research into the neurotoxic effects of lead from contaminated water as well as consuming fish. He provides helpful guidance to consumers to lessen the harm to their children – and advice to pregnant women, and those wishing to start a family.
Guest: Dr. David Bellinger, PhD – Professor of Neurology & Psychology at Harvard Medical School, and a Sr. Research Associate in Neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA.
Continue reading
Guest: Dr. Terry Mollner, PhD. He is the Co-Founder of the Calvert Social Investment Funds–the first family of investment funds focusing on social responsibility; he is also an active & vocal Board Member of Ben & Jerry’s–helping to negotiate a buyout with international conglomerate Unilever–a successful negotiation that would not only leave the social mission of Ben & Jerry’s intact, but so successful, that it would be adopted by Unilever worldwide. Dr. Mollner is the author of numerous books on promoting the ‘Common Good’, social justice, cooperation by agreement, and working to ‘reverse’ the traditional bottom-line of profits over people.
Continue reading
June 18, 2017 – While Judge Gorsuch was recently sitting in confirmation hearings before the US Senate, his US Supreme Court peers were handing down a rebuke of a precedent he had set in motion in 2008–in the case of Thompson R2-J School District v. Luke P.. Thompson is now infamous case after a recent US Supreme court ruling in Endrew v Douglas County School District RE-1. As a result of this 2017 ruling, the “precedent” set by Gorsuch and his bench in Thompson, and subsequently applied to Endrew by Gorsuch and his bench was “vacated” by the US Supreme Court. What followed was a unanimous rebuke of his opinion from the Supreme Court Justices–and more pointedly Chief Justice Roberts writing for the Court.
April 23, 2017 – Just as Earth Day got unprecedented viewership with marches all over the US and the world, where scientists marched in droves to protect our planet, demand money not be cut by Drumpf administration for EPA and science exploration and research, a group of children may be in the best position to made adults squirm as so many callously disregard the next generation’s right to “inherit” a habitable planet as all previous generations have done.
Continue reading
March 25, 2017 – Recently the Senate Judiciary Committee embarked upon confirmation hearings for the open position on the US Supreme Court vacated by the late Justice Antonin Scalia in February of 2016. The candidate chosen by President Trump is Judge Neil Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Federal Appeals Court…
Continue reading
March 18, 2017 – Just recently President Trump was upset that rapper, Snoop Dogg published a video with a male mannequin referred to in the video as Ronald Klump sporting a clown face, wearing a blonde wig, dressed in a suit and tie, and smoking marijuana,–obviously to mock Mr. Trump…
Continue reading
