Month: March 2006
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Duke lacrosse: More timeline issues
This morning, the News and Observer and Herald Sun both have stories providing new details about the confusing, contradictory timeline of the 911 calls on the night of the alleged Duke lacrosse rape. Here’s the N&O: When police visited a house near Duke University on March 14 to investigate a 911 call about racial slurs,
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Richard Cohen on “Bush lied”
Today, the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen writes: So common is the statement “Bush lied” that it seems sometimes that I am the only blue-state person who does not think it is true. Then, last week, the indomitable Helen Thomas changed all that with a single question. She asked George Bush why he wanted “to go
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More Duke lacrosse inconsistencies
Today’s Duke Chronicle features an article on the lacrosse rape investigation that raises further questions. First, the (alleged) victim’s claim that the dancers returned to the house and were separated before the assault does not match the account of the second dancer, who says she remained outside. In addition, the second dancer turns out to
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Duke lacrosse search warrant
Via Deadspin, the Smoking Gun website has posted the search warrant for the infamous Duke lacrosse house at 610 North Buchanan Blvd in Durham.
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Questions about Duke lacrosse 911 call
Today’s Durham Herald Sun includes a report on apparent inconsistencies in a 911 call to police the night of the alleged Duke lacrosse rape: A defense attorney is questioning the phone call from an anonymous woman to 911 dispatchers in which she claimed someone yelled racial epithets at her and her friend outside the house
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Duke lacrosse rape case in New York Times
This morning, a front page New York Times story took the Duke lacrosse rape allegations to the national level: Duke University suspended the season of its nationally ranked men’s lacrosse team Tuesday while the authorities investigated allegations that a woman from a nearby college who had agreed to dance at a private party attended by
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The presidential approval externality
Last September, I noted this graphic from Barry Burden at Harvard, which suggests approval of President Bush drives the approval ratings of Congress: The latest issue of Time includes details from a leaked memo suggesting that Republicans agree: In an internal Republican Party memo provided to Time, Jan van Lohuizen, a longtime Bush pollster, warns
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Disturbing Duke lacrosse rape case
[Update 2/4/11: This post was written immediately after the allegations emerged and does not reflect my views on the case. I raised questions early about inconsistencies in the accuser’s account and became a vocal critic of Mike Nifong’s prosecution. The charges were later dropped and Nifong was eventually disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct.] Here in Durham,
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What is Cass Sunstein talking about?
I respect Cass Sunstein a great deal, but this statement by the Chicago law prof is just objectively wrong: “The Clinton impeachment was plainly unconstitutional, and a Bush impeachment would be nearly as bad,” said Cass R. Sunstein, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago. “There is a very good argument that
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Conservatives: Media wants US to fail in Iraq
As part of an offensive against media coverage in Iraq, several conservative commentators are claiming that the media is trying to undermine the US war effort, as Media Matters documents: O’Reilly, in turn, expressed his belief that “there is a segment of the media trying to undermine the policy in Iraq for their own ideological