Welcome to RantCrush Top 5, where we take you through today’s top five controversial stories in the world of law and policy. Who’s ranting and raving right now? Check it out below:

Egypt Declares a State of Emergency After ISIS Bombings

Yesterday, two Coptic Christian churches were bombed in the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Tanta, and the country’s president has declared a three-month long state of emergency. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the blasts that killed at least 49 people and injured at least 78, according to the latest numbers. Coptic Christians are a targeted minority in Egypt and they often face persecution and discrimination. The explosions happened on Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Easter and the Holy Week in Christianity.

Egypt declares 3-month state of emergency after twin bomb blasts in churches packed for Palm Sunday services. https://t.co/zZWwHInKdX pic.twitter.com/DTVnKdhosg

— ABC News (@ABC) April 10, 2017

But Egyptians of various faiths came together late on Sunday, gathering in big groups in defiance of ISIS. Many used a hashtag saying “your terrorism brings us together” in Arabic on social media. Photos posted on social media showed Muslims donating blood to victims of the attack. And President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi called for unity in his speech following the attacks, saying, “What’s happening now is against all of us.”

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post RantCrush Top 5: April 10, 2017 appeared first on Law Street.

Despite Donald Trump’s comments about Saturday Night Live, its writers are still going after the President-elect…hard. In last night’s cold open, Alec Baldwin reprised his fantastic Trump impression, and was visited by Beck Bennett as Vladimir Putin and John Goodman as Rex Tillerson. The SNL skit was incredibly entertaining, but certainly not subtle:

One highlight from the sketch was Putin’s gift of an “elf on a shelf” to Trump–telling him he should keep it out year-round and put it right next to his internet router. Putin and Tillerson also called each other the pet names “Pootie” and “Rexy,” showed off a secret handshake, and talked about oil while Trump asked if they could take out Vanity Fair. The message was clear: SNL was attacking Trump for his relationship with Russia.

And of course, the writers were just making fun of Trump generally. For example, they referenced Trump’s new word “unpresidented” which he has received plenty of flak for tweeting, given that it’s not an actual word.

It took Trump and his team 87 minutes to fix the word “unpresidented.” pic.twitter.com/Bz7NxSqwlo

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 17, 2016

Trump hasn’t tweeted about the show yet, but that doesn’t mean he won’t. Most of the previous SNL sketches featuring Baldwin’s impression have drawn Trump’s wrath.

SNL hasn’t forgotten about Hillary Clinton either. Kate McKinnon once again reprised her role as Clinton, to star in a timely “Love Actually” sketch that also took some jabs at Trump.

Clinton shows up at an elector’s door to ask her to vote for anyone else on December 19, presenting a very, very long list of reasons why Trump should not be president.

Regardless of Trump’s feelings about the comedy show, it seems likely that SNL will continue to have some good fodder for sketches for the next four years.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post SNL Still Isn’t Pulling Any Punches When it Comes to Donald Trump appeared first on Law Street.

Welcome to RantCrush Top 5, where we take you through today’s top five controversial stories in the world of law and policy. Who’s ranting and raving right now? Check it out below:

Texas Considers Awful Anti-Transgender Student Bill

Last week, Texas Senator Konni Burton filed a bill that would force schools to out transgender students to their parents. Under Bill 242, ironically filed on National Transgender Day of Remembrance, school staff would face disciplinary action if they fail to tell parents about kids’ physical and psychological states. This sounds vague, but Burton wrote that the bill is a response to previous guidelines that DO allow school staff to withhold information about transgender students from parents. When the media started paying attention, Burton decided to attack journalists in general, claiming the reports were all “clickbait” and claiming that the reporters had not contacted her when in fact, they had.

Anger stoking, click bait sites that do not contact sources to write a story depend on ur anger to keep them relevant. Don’t be their puppet

— Konni Burton (@KonniBurton) November 18, 2016

@the_mical People are upset because a few publications ran with a totally false story & never contacted us to understand it. It’s clickbait.

— Konni Burton (@KonniBurton) November 18, 2016

Transgender individuals and activists were quick to respond, claiming that Burton’s bill will put lives at risk.

@KonniBurton awful lot of kids going to get murdered or forced into suicide by their parents because of this bill

— Transgarbo woman (@Herracks) November 17, 2016

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The post RantCrush Top 5: November 21, 2016 appeared first on Law Street.

One of the best things to come out of this year’s ridiculously messy and drawn-out election cycle was Kate McKinnon’s impression of Hillary Clinton on “Saturday Night Live.” (Although, Larry David’s Bernie Sanders and Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump renditions were almost as priceless.) On Saturday night’s episode McKinnon reprised her Clinton character by singing “Hallelujah” and ending her song with “I’m not giving up and neither should you!”

Here’s the full cold open:

It was an interesting move for the show–not clearly a comedic take on Tuesday night’s results, but also Clinton’s campaign juxtaposed with some of the lyrics added a touch of poignant levity. For example, she sang:

I did my best, it wasn’t much, I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch.

I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you. And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the lord of song, with nothing on my tongue but hallelujah.

The scene was also a nice remembrance of the song’s writer, Leonard Cohen, who died earlier this week.

Alec Baldwin didn’t come back as Trump this week; he had previously said he “hoped” he wouldn’t be back, seemingly indicating that he hoped that Trump wouldn’t win the election and require a new skit.

It’s unclear if Baldwin will continue to play Trump throughout the duration of his presidency. While he makes a perfect Trump, he doesn’t seem to enjoy the role very much. Appearing on “The Brian Lehrer Show” recently, he said:

I’m not an impressionist, per se, but if you do any kind of comedy and they ask you to do that, most of the time, there’s some degree of appreciation, I think, involving somebody you like. Trump is somebody who, I don’t hate Trump, but he’s not somebody I admire, so it was more difficult.

So whether this marks the end of McKinnon’s Clinton, Baldwin’s Trump, or both, it’s a sad day for “SNL.”

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton Has a Perfect Election Wrap Up Song appeared first on Law Street.

Scandinavian countries are already among the best in the world when it comes to boasting low levels of carbon emissions, garbage recycling, and sustainable living. Sweden recycles 99 percent of its garbage, and now Norway has pledged to become climate neutral by 2030–20 years earlier than previously planned. Norway currently emits around 53 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.

On Tuesday night the Norwegian parliament agreed to accelerate its CO2 cutting program to try and meet the carbon emission goals that were set for 2050 two decades sooner. But this might be hard to accomplish considering Norway’s major export products are oil and gas. The leader of the Norwegian Green Party Rasmus Hansson said: “This is a direct response to the commitments Norway took on by ratifying the Paris agreement and means that we will have to step up our climate action dramatically.”

The climate talks in Paris took place in December 2015 and resulted in the world’s first legally binding agreement concerning the global climate. In total, 196 countries agreed to keep global warming down and reduce emissions.

#Norway says it will be climate-neutral by 2030, accelerating goal by 20 years https://t.co/QFPSHGr2FT pic.twitter.com/sXpkBSbFYv

— The Local Norway (@TheLocalNorway) June 7, 2016

The ruling Progress and Conservative parties voted no to the proposal on Tuesday, with the argument that overly ambitious reductions today could result in interference with future climate negotiations.

However, the next step is for the government to go back to Parliament to discuss how to implement the change. Some ways to achieve the ambitious goal are to work for the reduction of gas-fueled cars (24 percent of the country’s cars are already electric), increase the use of wind power, and emissions trading.

At the end of May, Norway voted to commit to zero deforestation, making it the first country in the world to do so. This means that no product that has contributed to deforestation will be used or sold in Norway. The country has also donated money to other countries’ rainforest preservation efforts, such as Guyana and Brazil.

Norway’s commitment to zero deforestation led Alec Baldwin to tweet this video greeting:

Watch this clip of my greeting to my friends in Oslo. Thank you, @VidarHelgesen https://t.co/aDL65niVom

— AlecBaldwin (@AlecBaldwin) June 14, 2016

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was also in Oslo on Wednesday signing a deal for a closer cooperation between the nations on protecting the world’s forests.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Norway Vows to Be Carbon Neutral by 2030: 20 Years Earlier Than Planned appeared first on Law Street.

Last night was a big evening for “Saturday Night Live.” Tracy Morgan came back to host for the first time since he was in a serious car accident last summer. But even that celebration was overshadowed by another reappearance–Larry David, a former cast member writer for SNL. David played presidential hopeful and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, showcasing a resemblance that has had many clamoring for David to play Sanders since he started making waves in the Democratic polls.

David was joined by Kate McKinnon, reprising her role as Hillary Clinton. Lincoln Chaffee was played by Kyle Mooney, Taran Killam was Martin O’Malley, and Jon Rudnitsky was the debate moderator, Anderson Cooper. Alec Baldwin, an SNL regular, also showed up to play Jim Webb.

Showing that the best comedy comes from real life, SNL used some of the actual lines from the Democratic debate, including when Sanders informed Clinton that everyone was tired of hearing about her “damn emails.” SNL also incorporated when Clinton decided not to respond to Chafee’s claims that her ethics could use some work with a simple “no.” Some of the satirical lines were also brilliant, including David’s tirade about Super PACs. David, as Sanders, said:

I don’t have a Super PAC, I don’t have a backpack. I carry my stuff around loose in my arms like a professor between classes. I own one pair of underwear. That’s it! Some of these billionaires, they have three, four pairs. And I don’t have a dryer! I have to put my clothes on the radiator. So who do you want as president? One of these Washington insiders, or a guy who has one pair of clean underwear that he dries on a radiator?

David’s similar features, as well as his pretty accurate Brooklyn accent, were a dead ringer for Sanders. Certainly the internet thinks so, as the clip quickly went viral.

Larry David as Bernie Sanders is the Tina Fey as Sarah Palin of this election cycle. #SNL

— Michael Calia (@Michael_Calia) October 18, 2015

 

Larry David is Bernie Sanders on #SNL. As was foretold by the seers of old.

— Matt Fowler (@TheMattFowler) October 18, 2015

As the 2016 primaries continue to (slowly) heat up, there will be a lot of fantastic satirical skits. But SNL just set a very, very high bar.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Late Night Political Clip Win: Larry David is the Perfect Bernie Sanders appeared first on Law Street.

5. Costa Concordia Trial, A Literal Drama

Holding true to the twists and turns of the Costa Concordia shipwreck and its aftermath, a catastrophe that left 32 dead when the massive cruise liner capsized in shallow water off the coast of Italy, the captain’s criminal trial took place in Teatro Moderno, a stage theatre in Grosetto, Italy.  Francesco Schettino was charged with manslaughter for abandoning the ship before the 4,200 passengers had evacuated. This July, family members of the victims, along with witnesses, reporters and lawyers packed into the first rows of the theatre to hear testimony.

[NBC News]

4. Alec Baldwin’s Stalker

Would that God made me a celebrity, I pray to His Grace that it be anybody else but Alec Baldwin. I mean, I’d take Lindsay Lohan over a guy so antagonized by the world, he can’t even give testimony in a court of law before someone jumps in and tries to stoke his notorious temper. Such was the case in November when the “30 Rock” star said in a Manhattan court that Genvieve Sabourin, a small-time Canadian actress, had been stalking him and his fiancee. Sabourin, who claimed she had been a lover of Baldwin’s, repeatedly yelled accusations at him during the proceedings such as, “Wow, you’re lying,” and “I can’t believe your doing that!” Baldwin eventually broke down into tears before the invective of his tormentor. But the classic Jack Donaghy we all know and love was not far from the surface, telling a photographer not shortly after leaving, “I hope you choke to death.”

[Gawker]

3. Chad Ochocinco’s Too-sportsmanlike Conduct

In one of the most poorly thought-out celebrations in recent memory, football star Chad Johnson gave his attorney a gleeful butt-tap after learning of his light sentence for violating his probation. In 2012, Johnson pleaded no contest to a domestic abuse charge of his ex-wife, Evelyn Lozada. Though met by a ripple of giggles throughout the courtroom, judge Kathleen McHugh was far from amused. “Is there something funny about this,” she asked. McHugh reversed her previous community service decision, and sentenced Johnson to 30 days in jail.

[CNN]

2. “Creepy-Ass Cracker:” Racial Epithet or Bizzarre Snackfood?

Rachel Jeantel was the last person to speak to 17-year old Trayvon Martin before he was killed in an altercation with George Zimmerman. In their phone conversation, Martin described Zimmerman, who at the time was following him through a gated Florida neighborhood, as a “creepy-ass cracker”– a fact that came to light while Jeantel was being cross-examined by Defense Attorney Don West. In a pin-drop courtroom, West asked if it was then not Martin who had introduced race as an element in the incident, and not Zimmerman. But all of this quite presumptuously rules out the possibility that Jeantel misinterpreted Martin’s meaning and there was indeed a giant, oddly-shaped Saltine roaming the streets, and Trayvon, a naturally inquisitive young man, was simply commenting on its presence.

[ABC News]

1. Blind Justice

A man who just had his eye punched out in a bar fight was further afflicted when, to the shock and horror of jurors, his new $3,000 blue eye prosthetic spilled out during testimony this February. Whether in jest or just a miscalculation of words, Judge Robert Coleman hit the nail on the head when he called it, “an unfortunate, unforeseen incident.”

[Yahoo! News]

—

Jimmy Hoover

Featured image courtesy of [Rvongher via Wikipedia]

Jimmy Hoover

Jimmy Hoover is a graduate of the University of Maryland College Park and formerly an intern at Law Street Media. Contact Jimmy at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Disorder in the Court! 5 Weird Courtroom Moments From 2013 appeared first on Law Street.