What does it mean to be a "cooperating witness" in an FBI investigation, especially one looking into potential collusion between a campaign and the Russian government? Michael Flynn is finding that out. Clark Neily comments.
Bob Saget has long been known as the cuddly, sitcom dad with a surprisingly raunchy side. The comedian talks about the two shows that launched his career and the very first jokes he wrote as a teenager. Bob Saget’s comedy special is Zero to Sixty.
In the Spiel, Mike pays an overdue visit to mail from listeners, and awards a Lobstar.
What's the best way to handle the continuing attempts by foreign governments to destabilize American institutions with social media and mere advertising? Flemming Rose discusses the importance of not taking the wrong lessons.
On November 7, 2017, the Supreme Court heard argument in Ayestas v. Davis, a case involving the extent to which 18 U.S.C. § 3599, which allows indigent defendants to obtain “reasonably necessary” investigative services in connection with issues relating to guilt or sentencing, applies in the context of procedurally defaulted habeas claims. Manuel Ayestas was sentenced to death for murder, and his conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1998. Ayestas then sought state habeas relief, claiming ineffective assistance of trial counsel because his attorney had failed to bring Honduras-based family members to Texas in order to testify to Ayestas’s good character and lack of criminal record in Honduras. The Texas state district court found that Ayestas’s trial counsel, though ultimately unsuccessful, had acted with reasonable diligence, and therefore denied habeas relief. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed in 2008. In 2009 Ayestas sought federal habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, claiming that his trial counsel had acted ineffectively by failing to properly investigate all potentially mitigating evidence. An effective investigation, Ayestas argued, would have uncovered his lack of a criminal record in Honduras, his schizophrenia, and his addiction to drugs and alcohol. The district court determined that Ayestas had procedurally defaulted this claim by failing to raise it in state habeas proceedings, and found no cause to excuse that default. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied a certificate of appealability. In 2012, however, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Martinez v. Ryan that the ineffectiveness of state habeas counsel in failing to claim ineffective assistance of trial counsel may provide cause to excuse a procedural default. Although the Fifth Circuit denied Ayestas’s motion for a rehearing based on the Martinez ruling, the Supreme Court vacated that judgment and remanded Ayestas’s case for further consideration in light of the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Trevino v. Thaler, which made clear that Martinez applied in the context of Texas state procedures. The Fifth Circuit in turn remanded Ayestas’s case to the district court to reconsider his procedurally defaulted ineffective assistance claim in the first instance. On remand Ayestas filed a motion for investigative assistance under 18 U.S.C. § 3599(f), requesting a mitigation specialist in order to develop his broader ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim. In 2014 the district court denied habeas relief, concluding that neither Ayestas’s trial nor state habeas counsel had been constitutionally ineffective, and that a mitigation specialist was therefore not “reasonably necessary.” Ayestas thereafter moved to amend his federal habeas petition to add claims relating to a recently discovered prosecution memorandum suggesting that the push for capital punishment in Ayestas’s case was improperly motivated by his national origin. He also sought a stay in federal court until he exhausted these new claims in state court. The district court denied all relief and denied a certificate of appealability. The Fifth Circuit affirmed in all respects. The Supreme Court granted Ayestas’s subsequent certiorari petition to address whether the Fifth Circuit erred in concluding that 18 U.S.C. § 3599(f) withholds “reasonably necessary” resources to investigate and develop an ineffective assistance of counsel claim that state habeas counsel forfeited, where the claimant's existing evidence does not meet the ultimate burden of proof at the time the Section 3599(f) motion is made. To discuss the case, we have Dominic Draye, Solicitor General of the State of Arizona.
Dodos are dead, but are they gone forever?
Reviving extinct species is a trope of science fiction, but real-life scientists are working on every stage of the problem today. Meeting scientists focused on uncovering ancient animal genomes, or reviving individual cells to conserve species still around, Marnie Chesterton seeks out whether new technologies might, just possibly, bring back the iconic dodo.
But what would it take to bring back that most iconic of extinct species? Following listener Rachel’s question, CrowdScience gets to grips with the dodo’s past, and finds out what’s left of this iconic bird, meeting the scientists inadvertently piecing it back together.
“Most people,” says Goldsmiths sociologist Bev Skeggs, “think they’re using Facebook to communicate with friends. Basically they’re using it to reveal how much they can be sold for, now and in the future, and how much their friends can be sold for.”
That was an almost accidental lesson she learned during research on how social networks were structuring, or restructuring, friendships, she explains to interviewer David Edmonds in this Social Science Bites podcast. After receiving a monstrous data dump – with permission – of individual’s social media usage, Skeggs and her colleagues were “completely diverted” as it dawned on them that Facebook was trawling its users’ habits to collect information on people’s general browsing habits.
The potentially disturbing but legal practice was only the first step in Facebook’s efforts to monetize social media – and in what Skeggs argues calcifies inequality.
“They probably have the greatest capacity to experiment with social data to see who we’re communicating with, how we’re communicating with them,” Skeggs says, “but basically 90 percent of Facebook profit is made from advertising -- selling your data to advertising companies so that they can place an advert on your browser.” And in turn, algorithmically segregating web denizens – well, their composite data profiles, at any rate -- based on their perceived wealth and influence. This “subprime silo-ing” pushes sketchy advertising, in particular for high-interest loans, at people who can least afford to take on more debt.
That, she explains, is why “we really, really need to have some strict regulation” when it comes to the trading of personal data, targeting, advertising and similar practices that flow from social media.
Skeggs, who has led the sociology departments at Manchester University and Goldsmiths, University of London, has long looked at less explored vectors of inequality, as demonstrated by her breakthrough 1997 book, Formations of Class & Gender: Becoming Respectable. She was the joint managing editor of the The Sociological Review for five years starting in 2011, a period that saw the esteemed journal transition into an independent foundation “dedicated to the advancement and study of sociology in everyday life.” (She remains an editor at large for the Review.)
Today's episode breaks down the recent kerfuffle over the simultaneous claims of Leandra English and Mick Mulvaney to be Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). First, we begin with an "Andrew Was Wrong (?)" segment that gives voice to an anti-Net Neutrality argument, a clarification on the Obama administration's antitrust policies, and a factual clarification on the Anheuser-Busch/InBev merger. After the main segment, Andrew and Thomas answer a fun question about speeding and evidence AND tease the upcoming Law'd Awful Movies #13. Finally, we end with an all-new Thomas Takes the Bar Exam Question #52 about the constitutionality of a cigarette tax and accompanying program. Remember that you can play along with #TTTBE by retweeting our episode on Twitter or sharing it on Facebook along with your guess. We'll release the answer on next Tuesday's episode along with our favorite entry! Recent Appearances None! Have us on your show! Show Notes & Links
