Netcitizenship: addressing cyberevenge and sexbullying

This article discusses the phenomena of Cyberevenge, sexbullying, and sextortion, especially among young people. The discussion, based on extensive review of books, research reports, newspapers, journal articles and pertinent websites, analyzes these challenges. The article suggests some remedies to counter these online social ills which pertain to promoting responsibility of netcitizens, schools, governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and social networking sites

Funding Era Free Speech Theory: Applying Traditional Speech Protection to the Regulation of Anonymous Cyberspace

Abstract Background Blunt trauma is the most frequent mechanism of injury in multiple trauma, commonly resulting from road traffic collisions or falls. Two of the most frequent injuries in patients with multiple trauma are chest trauma and extremity fracture. Several trauma mouse models combine chest trauma and head injury, but no trauma mouse model to date includes the combination of long bone fractures and chest trauma. Outcome is essentially determined by the combination of these injuries. In this study, we attempted to establish a reproducible novel multiple trauma model in mice that combines blunt trauma, major injuries and simple practicability. Methods Ninety-six male C57BL/6 N mice (n = 8/group) were subjected to trauma for isolated femur fracture and a combination of femur fracture and chest injury. Serum samples of mice were obtained by heart puncture at defined time points of 0 h (hour), 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 3 d (days), and 7 d. Results A tendency toward reduced weight and temperature was observed at 24 h after chest trauma and femur fracture. Blood analyses revealed a decrease in hemoglobin during the first 24 h after trauma. Some animals were killed by heart puncture immediately after chest contusion; these animals showed the most severe lung contusion and hemorrhage. The extent of structural lung injury varied in different mice but was evident in all animals. Representative H&E-stained (Haematoxylin and Eosin-stained) paraffin lung sections of mice with multiple trauma revealed hemorrhage and an inflammatory immune response. Plasma samples of mice with chest trauma and femur fracture showed an up-regulation of IL-1β (Interleukin-1β), IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70 and TNF-α (Tumor necrosis factor- α) compared with the control group. Mice with femur fracture and chest trauma showed a significant up-regulation of IL-6 compared to group with isolated femur fracture. Conclusions The multiple trauma mouse model comprising chest trauma and femur fracture enables many analogies to clinical cases of multiple trauma in humans and demonstrates associated characteristic clinical and pathophysiological changes. This model is easy to perform, is economical and can be used for further research examining specific immunological questions

You Are Living in a Gold Rush

This article argues that our times, characterized as they are by dreams of vast wealth, environmental destruction, and growing social inequality, resemble nothing so much as earlier get-rich-quick periods like the Gilded Age and the California gold rush. I put forward a number of parallels between those earlier periods and now and suggest that the current fever is likely to end soon. This will come as a relief to those of you who, like me, deplore the regressive social policies, bellicose foreign relations, and coarsening of public taste that we have been living through—even if some of our more libertarian friends found the times invigorating

Citizenship as Accumulated Racial Capital

Despite persistent racial and economic inequality, many believe the United States is becoming a post-racial and classless society where race and class analysis are anachronisms. This Essay will contest that claim by way of a critical reading of citizenship as reflected in American law and culture and demonstrate the continuing relevance of race theory and Marxian analysis, notwithstanding their somewhat uneasy relationship. It examines how law and culture construct and reflect, on the one hand, xenophobic and racist popular images of aliens—particularly refugees and undocumented aliens—and, on the other hand, enable and assure the accumulation of racial capital and value in the notion of deserving, legitimate, and racialized (white) citizenship

United States v. Windsor and the Future of Civil Unions and Other Marriage Alternatives

This essay is the fourth in a series exploring the implications of the recent landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Windsor. Specifically, this essay focuses on the future of civil unions. This discussion was inspired by Meg Penrose’s article, UNBREAKABLE VOWS: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO DIVORCE, published in Volume 58:1. The series is meant to serve as an open forum for scholars and practitioners to weigh in on one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the 21st century

Hearing Women: From Professor Hill to Dr. Ford

(Excerpt) One of the recent traumas, another skirmish in today’s civilian conflict over what kind of society America will be, arose from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony about sexual assault she had endured. Her composed, measured statement during the nowJustice Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing exemplified bravery in the face of adversity. The Senate and the nation’s response to her testimony underscored the high stakes in the ongoing ideological conflict, beyond the obvious prize of a Supreme Court seat. Constituents in the current ideological battle had differing reactions to Ford’s testimony and to this hearing, reflecting a range of views about a number of topics, including civility, sexual assault, and the criminal justice system

The Garden

An essay about the importance of human rights in American foreign policy, framed through the work of Thomas Jefferson. Inspired by the author’s visit to the Jefferson Memorial and the American garden in Washington D.C

Death by Bullying: A Comparative Culpability Proposal

This article explores the possibility and advisability of imposing homicide charges against bullies, a controversial approach because of the serious causation questions it poses. Nonetheless, there is precedent for holding a person criminally culpable for a victim’s suicide. A notorious case involved the head of the Ku Klux Klan who was convicted of murder after the woman he raped killed herself by swallowing poison, “distracted by pain and shame so inflicted upon her.” Some may see her shame as analogous to gay teens who commit suicide after being bullied about their sexual orientation. But perhaps the law should not demand that free will be completely lacking before a person is charged for another’s suicide. In other instances such as provocation, the criminal law recognizes that the relationship between victim and defendant shapes culpability. This article explores whether it is feasible and desirable to do so with suicides. Part I provides background on cyber-bullying with a focus on two highly-publicized cases. Causation rules and their application in suicide-by-victim cases are laid out in Part II. Part III assesses whether homicides charges would be possible against a bully. It suggests the all-or-nothing approach to causation, and its exceptions are based on artificial and outmoded reasoning. For example, using the Stephenson reasoning, a prosecutor would have to paint a bullying victim as mentally unstable and irresponsible. For victims of bullying who are considering suicide, these prosecutions reinforce their sense of hopelessness and helplessness because they blame the bully for the victims’ suicidal acts. The goal, instead, should be to empower bullying victims to seek other avenues to escape their bullies, to feel that they have choices; and that suicide is not an option. The bully should be punished, but the focus should be on his actions, not on the victim’s response. Using a comparative causation analysis, as some scholars propose, we look to a person’s role in another’s death and punish according to the amount he contributed to the death. Factors such as the imbalance of power between the bully and his victim, and the nature and severity of the bullying should be considered in determining whether a person who has a role in another’s suicide should be punished

The Garden

An essay about the importance of human rights in American foreign policy, framed through the work of Thomas Jefferson. Inspired by the author’s visit to the Jefferson Memorial and the American garden in Washington D.C