Echoes of 9/11: Rhetorical Analysis of Presidential Statements in the “War on Terror”

This article examines persuasive statements by Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump involving appeals to national identity as a rhetorical foundation for anti-terrorism policy since 9/11. Their specific rhetorical methods have included the use of memorable catchphrases, alliteration, metaphorical framing, and contrast between values of the United States and those of the terrorists. President Bush focused on rallying the nation’s response against the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks, identifying the U.S. with “freedom itself” and invoking the phrase “War on Terror.” President Obama emphasized the importance of the nation’s values while denouncing the Bush administration’s torture of terrorism suspects and extolling American values when announcing that U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of the terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks. In contrast to his predecessors, who explicitly stated that the U.S. was not at war with Islam, President Trump has tended to invoke anti-Muslim sentiment in his anti-terrorism rhetoric and his immigration policies. The presidential statements presented justifications for the actions of the Chief Executives and reflected their priorities in directing the “War on Terror.

Mirandizing Terrorism Suspects? The Public Safety Exception, the Rescue Doctrine, and Implicit Analogies to Self-Defense, Defense of Others, and Battered Woman Syndrome

In its 1984 decision New York v. Quarles, the Supreme Court announced the public safety exception, under which statements made by un-Mirandized suspects can be admissible when made in response to questions reasonably asked to protect the safety of the arresting officers or the general public. During the investigation of terrorism cases, law enforcement agencies have begun to extend the time of un-Mirandized questioning of suspects, with the hope that courts will find that the public safety exception makes the suspects’ statements admissible in the ensuing prosecutions. This Article argues that in announcing the public safety exception, the Court implicitly analogized the role of police interrogation in situations implicating public safety to the actions of criminal defendants in situations of self-defense and defense of others. Recognizing this implicit analogy can provide guidance on the applicability and limits of the public safety exception and related issues, such as the rescue doctrine, to the investigation of terrorism suspects. The comparison can also draw upon the reasoning involved in recognizing battered woman syndrome, which has been used to broaden the circumstances under which suspects might have reasonably acted in self-defense. The evaluation of the reasonableness of self-defense in the context of battered woman syndrome can be analogized to evaluating the admissibility of terrorism suspects’ un-Mirandized statements, which might be affected by the frequency and severity of terrorist activities that took place in the time leading up to the arrest of the suspects

Mirandizing Terrorism Suspects? The Public Safety Exception, the Rescue Doctrine, and Implicit Analogies to Self-Defense, Defense of Others, and Battered Woman Syndrome

In its 1984 decision New York v. Quarles, the Supreme Court announced the public safety exception, under which statements made by un-Mirandized suspects can be admissible when made in response to questions reasonably asked to protect the safety of the arresting officers or the general public. During the investigation of terrorism cases, law enforcement agencies have begun to extend the time of un-Mirandized questioning of suspects, with the hope that courts will find that the public safety exception makes the suspects’ statements admissible in the ensuing prosecutions. This Article argues that in announcing the public safety exception, the Court implicitly analogized the role of police interrogation in situations implicating public safety to the actions of criminal defendants in situations of self-defense and defense of others. Recognizing this implicit analogy can provide guidance on the applicability and limits of the public safety exception and related issues, such as the rescue doctrine, to the investigation of terrorism suspects. The comparison can also draw upon the reasoning involved in recognizing battered woman syndrome, which has been used to broaden the circumstances under which suspects might have reasonably acted in self-defense. The evaluation of the reasonableness of self-defense in the context of battered woman syndrome can be analogized to evaluating the admissibility of terrorism suspects’ un-Mirandized statements, which might be affected by the frequency and severity of terrorist activities that took place in the time leading up to the arrest of the suspects

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF RICE VARIETY AND WATER MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TEXAS GULF COAST

The welfare benefits from potential rice yield-enhancing and water-saving research programs and their distributional implications under alternative farm program provisions are compared. This is done in an ex ante surplus maximization framework by using a multiregional, price endogenous mathematical programming model of U.S. agriculture. The simulation results indicate that government price support policies have profound impacts on the distribution of research benefits and distort interest group incentives and rankings for allocation of resources to research.Agricultural and Food Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Symposium Introduction: Persuasion in Civil Rights Advocacy

In April of 2015, the Michigan State Law Review and the Research, Writing, and Advocacy program of Michigan State University College of Law collaborated to host a symposium devoted to the topic of Persuasion in Civil Rights Advocacy. This intersection of the fields of law, persuasive strategies, and social justice provided a wide-ranging discussion of topics that should be of interest to practicing lawyers as well as to members of the legal academy

Symposium Introduction

Article published in the Michigan State Law Review

SPATIAL EQUILIBRIUM MODELING WITH IMPERFECTLY COMPETITIVE MARKETS: AN APPLICATION TO RICE TRADE

A general imperfect competition spatial equilibrium model is developed to estimate the trading country behaviors in the international rice market using a conjectural variation approach. Such a model allows the possibility of an imperfect competitive market to exit on both the export and import sides without any assumption of market structure. The empirical results show that the major exporting countries, Thailand, Vietnam, and the U.S. acted as high degree of imperfect competitors(or oligopolies) while Pakistan acted as a lower degree of imperfect competitor. The importing countries such as Japan, the Philippines, Europe, Brazil, and the former USSR behaved as high degree of imperfect competitors (or oligopsonies). The empirical results also show that there are welfare gains of $1,492 million when all trading countries comply with the free trade agreement.Marketing,

Numerical Analyses of Centrifuge Models of the Bart Transbay Tube

Centrifuge model tests were performed to study the stability and uplift mechanisms of the BART Transbay Tube. The tube is a cut-and-cover subway tunnel located in a highly seismic area. The low relative density of the backfill material around the tunnel and the low unit weight of the tunnel might make tunnel suffer uplift movement due to buoyancy forces caused by liquefaction of the backfill material during an earthquake. Three uplift mechanisms were observed in the centrifuge model tests: (1) a cyclic ratcheting mechanism of sand moving under the tunnel associated with cyclic lateral deformations of the tunnel;(2) flow of water under the tunnel; and, (3) heave of the soft trench clay. The FLAC program was used to simulate the centrifuge model tests. A sensitivity study was performed to decide on the final mesh and treatment of interfaces in the numerical model. Results of the sensitivity study, numerical simulations and centrifuge model test results are presented and discussed in this paper

Symposium Introduction

Article published in the Michigan State Law Review

Neuron-Specific HuR-Deficient Mice Spontaneously Develop Motor Neuron Disease

Human Ag R (HuR) is an RNA binding protein in the ELAVL protein family. To study the neuron-specific function of HuR, we generated inducible, neuron-specific HuR-deficient mice of both sexes. After tamoxifen-induced deletion of HuR, these mice developed a phenotype consisting of poor balance, decreased movement, and decreased strength. They performed significantly worse on the rotarod test compared with littermate control mice, indicating coordination deficiency. Using the grip-strength test, it was also determined that the forelimbs of neuron-specific HuR-deficient mice were much weaker than littermate control mice. Immunostaining of the brain and cervical spinal cord showed that HuR-deficient neurons had increased levels of cleaved caspase-3, a hallmark of cell apoptosis. Caspase-3 cleavage was especially strong in pyramidal neurons and α motor neurons of HuR-deficient mice. Genome-wide microarray and real-time PCR analysis further indicated that HuR deficiency in neurons resulted in altered expression of genes in the brain involved in cell growth, including trichoplein keratin filament-binding protein, Cdkn2c, G-protein signaling modulator 2, immediate early response 2, superoxide dismutase 1, and Bcl2. The additional enriched Gene Ontology terms in the brain tissues of neuron-specific HuR-deficient mice were largely related to inflammation, including IFN-induced genes and complement components. Importantly, some of these HuR-regulated genes were also significantly altered in the brain and spinal cord of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Additionally, neuronal HuR deficiency resulted in the redistribution of TDP43 to cytosolic granules, which has been linked to motor neuron disease. Taken together, we propose that this neuron-specific HuR-deficient mouse strain can potentially be used as a motor neuron disease model