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Academic

The Yin Blog

Random thoughts on law, politics, game theory, sports, books, television shows, and movies. - From Tung Yin, Associate Professor of Law at Iowa. \r\n

Post Frequency: 0.9/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 17:08:59

A weird accounting of the top 3 domestic terrorists captured since 9/11

Posted on February 02, 2011
In the wake of the news that "Jihad Jane" is pleading guilty to various federal terrorism-related charges, Yahoo!'s Associated Content put together a side bar of the "top three domestic terrorists captured by U.S. officials" after 9/11. The three? John...

Confessions of a faculty committee skeptic

Posted on February 01, 2011
I'd like to make a confession. I'm one of those faculty members who's constantly agitating to reduce the number and size of faculty committees. I tend to think that good administrative staff can take care of a lot of the...

More on action actresses

Posted on January 31, 2011
Steve Bainbridge throws down the gauntlet on my assessment of action actresses: Don't watch Chuck? It's the best scripted show on TV. And you really don't want to mess with Strahovski's Sarah Walker. * * * And then Tung really...

Best action actresses

Posted on January 28, 2011
Tonight marks the return of new episodes of the CW's "Nikita," which I've been dutifully watching mostly out of loyalty to the USA Network's "La Femme Nikita" (1997-2001). I've blogged before about "Nikita's" flaws, but I've come to believe that...

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Hey, didn't I see something like this on "24"?

Posted on January 28, 2011
The title of the news story says it all: Would-Be Suicide Bomber Killed by Unexpected SMS From Mobile Carrier It kind of reminds me of season 4 of "24," when Jack Bauer manages to blow up a suicide bomber by...

Not the best place to "boot" a car. . . .

Posted on January 28, 2011
Okay, we have a small parking lot for faculty & staff here at the law school, so I understand why the parking enforcement people are constantly checking permits and giving tickets. Tickets deter unauthorized parking and generate revenue. But when...

Innumeracy strikes Above the Law

Posted on January 26, 2011
Elie Mystal lauds Canada for having a better legal education system than we do here in the United States: Canada?s key to success seems to be actually regulating its law schools and assuring a basic level of high quality across...

Leaving Portland for Chicago because of . . . air travel?

Posted on January 26, 2011
A local steel company, Evraz Inc., is moving its headquarters from Portland to Chicago because of the lack of adequate air travel from here to Canadian cities where many of its mills are located. Yes, Portland's air travel options are...

Ghailani's life sentence

Posted on January 25, 2011
Embassy bombing conspirator Ahmed Ghailani got a life sentence today on his one count of conviction. The judge rejected defense pleas for leniency, notwithstanding Ghailani's mistreatment during earlier U.S. captivity: The judge said his sentencing decision shouldn't be taken as...

An obnoxious feature of the Affordable Care Act(?)

Posted on January 21, 2011
I went to my hospital today to have my eyes dilated as part of the vision checkup. After looking at my health insurance card and driver's license, the receptionist said, "As part of the health care reform, we have to...

A Reinhardtian victory

Posted on January 20, 2011
In Premo v. Moore (2011), the Supreme Court, as it often does, reversed a Ninth Circuit grant of habeas petition from a state prisoner. Moore had pleaded no contest to felony-murder under Oregon law after he and co-conspirators had kidnapped...

"What could possibly go wrong with that idea?"

Posted on January 18, 2011
Scientists to Clone Woolly Mammoth in Five Years (PC World) When I'm not reading law-related non-fiction books (mostly about terrorism/national security), I have a fondness for adventure thrillers, especially those by Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, and...

Another quick thought about Asian mothers

Posted on January 18, 2011
It occurred to me that the biggest beneficiaries of Amy Chua's parenting memoir, apart from Chua herself, may well be the moms of numerous Asian Generation Xers, who may well be thinking, "Wow, I thought I had a strict childhood,...

Why did TSA spend so much money on the backscatter scanners?

Posted on January 14, 2011
I flew home from LAX to Portland yesterday and approached the security checkpoint with some degree of dread, since LAX employs the backscatter scanners. As between being irradiated or groped, I was going to opt for the latter, but obviously...

The new Los Angeles requirement (?) of providing caloric information on fast food menus

Posted on January 13, 2011
Apparently, Los Angeles has imposed a new requirement on fast food restaurants to post the caloric information of their offerings. When I got off the plane at LAX yesterday, the nearest food place was a Burger King. This one didn't...

Government's response to the Mohamud defense's gag motion

Posted on January 11, 2011
The government has responded to the Mohamed Mohamud defense's motion for an order to gag Attorney General Eric Holder, which I blogged about earlier. Per Reuters, the government has responded: "The Attorney General's comments were entirely appropriate and resulted in...

"Grades are due in when???"

Posted on January 11, 2011
It's not the best feeling in the world to realize that final grades are due to the Registrar a week earlier than you expected . . . .

About Asian mothers. . . .

Posted on January 10, 2011
Amy Chua, a Yale law prof, puts forward her explanation for "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior": A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math...

More dumb things that politicians say: Peter DeFazio's bizarre comment about the Arizona shooting

Posted on January 09, 2011
I guess the most charitable thing that can be said is that maybe Rep. Peter DeFazio was quite shaken up by the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (and the murder of five people, include Chief Judge Roll), but his...

FBI Director Mueller on sting operations

Posted on January 06, 2011
FBI Director Robert Mueller recently spoke out in defense of undercover sting operations: "We have been tremendously successful in thwarting attacks," Mueller said at a news conference. "We are very careful in these investigations. ... They are absolutely essential if...

Judge King's connections to the bombing case

Posted on January 06, 2011
Judge in Mohamed Mohamud case says his family member attended tree-lighting ceremony targeted in alleged bomb plot (Oregonian): U.S. District Judge Garr M. King, addressing lawyers at the beginning of a courtroom status conference, also said that three of his...

More on Kayse Jama's op-ed re alienation among Somali-American youth

Posted on January 06, 2011
A few days ago, I linked to an Oregonian op-ed by Kayse Jama about the potential alienation felt by some Somali-American youth that had the potential to lead to radicalization. That op-ed has generated about two dozen comments on-line, nearly...

Mohamed Mohamud's not so speedy trial

Posted on January 05, 2011
Both the Oregonian and Oregon Public Broadcasting are reporting that lawyers in the Mohamed Mohamud case asked for a trial delay of 13 months, with the trial to start in February 2012. District Judge King didn't sound like he approved...

What happened to California?

Posted on January 05, 2011
I've now lived in four states: California, Oklahoma, Iowa, and Oregon. Two West Coast states, one Midwest, and one South. (I think Oklahomans think of their state as Midwestern, but in my book, if your state seceded during the Civil...

Kayse Jama on Somali-Americans and alienation

Posted on January 04, 2011
Kayse Jama, executive director of the Center for Intercultural Organizing, has a guest editorial in today's Oregonian on some of the potential causes of alienation among Somali-American youth: In the case of Somali-American youths in the United States, there are...

San Diego Zoo elephants

Posted on January 03, 2011
Years ago, back when I was still living in Los Angeles, I visited the San Diego Zoo and felt really bad when I saw that the elephants had a relatively small amount of space. Then I felt really bad when...

Thoughts on the Rose Bowl and the Big Ten's really bad day

Posted on January 03, 2011
"Another rough bowl season for the Big Ten" (Yahoo! Sports): The Big Ten is 2-5 in bowls this season. The first two league teams to play their bowl games won, with a depleted Iowa team upsetting Missouri in the Insight...

Bomb sting case makes Portland Trib's top 5 news list

Posted on December 31, 2010
Not surprisingly, the bomb sting case involving Mohamed Mohamud made the Portland Tribune's top 5 news list for 2010 at #2, just behind the Kyron Horman disappearance. That sounds about right; the bomb sting happened more recently and generated a...

Ex-CIA Pillar on FBI terrorism stings

Posted on December 29, 2010
Paul Pillar, formerly a long-time CIA agent, has a blog post defending FBI terrorism stings: Being willing to kill innocent people in a terrorist attack?even a phony contrived one?makes someone a bad guy in my book. And taking actual steps...

Our other bomb case & death sentences

Posted on December 23, 2010
The other bomb case -- the Woodburn bank bombing -- has ended with the jury recommending death sentences for both Joshua and Bruce Turnidge. This isn't all that surprising, considering that they built a bomb that ultimately killed two police...

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