I'm still reeling from the presidential elections, and all that nasty mudslinging. So what better time to check up on some offensive news items:
Winner of collegiality award: Daniel Isaacs. I've always thought that people who clerked together are joined at the hip for life. Guess that's not the case with Daniel Isaacs, the chairman of the New York County Republican Party, and New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, who just won reelection to the U.S. Senate.
Although both Isaacs and Gillibrand clerked for the late Judge Roger Miner of the Second Circuit, Isaacs is not exactly congratulating Gillibrand about her win. Here's what Isaacs is saying about his former office mate, according to City & State:
She is so in over her head, to me it’s unfortunate that she’s a U.S. senator. It’s an example of why we are where we are as a country that we don’t have people of substance who really can step up. It’s a joke.
Isaacs didn't stop there. He adds: “She’s Chuck Schumer’s lap dog,” referring to New York’s senior senator.
Gillibrand made the appropriate response: no response. Hat tip: Above the Law.
Winner of judicial dignity award: Sterling Johnson Jr., EDNY. A former dean at St. John's University in New York, Cecilia Chang, had been accused of embezzling more than $1 million from the university and using foreign students as her personal servants by threatening to cut off their scholarships. After a disastrous performance on the stand at her own trial, Chang went home and killed herself by hanging.
So how did the presiding judge, Sterling Johnson of New York's Eastern District, respond to this shocking turn of events? Here's how Johnson explained the news to the jurors, reports The New York Times:
“Sayonara,” Judge Johnson said, adding that Chang had gotten everything off her chest in the previous day’s testimony. “We never know how an individual handles the pressure.” He called the turn of events a “Shakespearean tragedy.”
"Sayonara"? Really? I mean, she wasn't even Japanese.
Winner of the Asian American inclusion award: Citizens Against Government Waste and Americans for Prosperity. If you want to broaden your political base, may I suggest that you start by not demonizing those whose support you need?
I'm talking about a video called "Chinese Professor," a 49-second political ad about the perils of government debt. First produced in 2010, it is now playing all over TV, even postelection. It is so over-the-top offensive and racist that it could be mistaken for parody, except that it's not. I don't know where to start my comments. So click on and judge for yourself.
Do you have topics you'd like to discuss or tips to share? Email chief blogger, Vivia Chen, at vchen@alm.com.
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