Gerald Posner's Blog, page 7
November 24, 2015
Gerald Posner: The Vatican should stop stifling freedom of the press
Two Italian authors of recent books about Vatican financial corruption and mismanagement were put on trial inside the Vatican on Tuesday.
Pope Francis has ignored calls from press associations and human rights watchdog groups who charge the church's prosecution violates freedom of the press.
The Vatican relies on an antiquated 19th-century legal code no longer used in Italy.
No jury trials are permitted in the Vatican.
Maybe, just maybe, instead of trying to muzzle freedom of the press, the Vatic...
Pope Francis has ignored calls from press associations and human rights watchdog groups who charge the church's prosecution violates freedom of the press.
The Vatican relies on an antiquated 19th-century legal code no longer used in Italy.
No jury trials are permitted in the Vatican.
Maybe, just maybe, instead of trying to muzzle freedom of the press, the Vatic...
October 25, 2015
October 19, 2015
Lee Harvey Oswald backyard photos are authentic, new scientific study confirms
Another round of mainstream media 'news' today that might seem a little stale for Case Closed fans:
Researchers at Dartmouth College have published the results of a new examination of the famous 'Oswald brandishing his rifle' backyard photos in the Journal of Digital Forensics. Relying on the latest forensics techniques and a 3D model of Oswald, the unequivocal conclusion "refutes the argument of photo tampering." Read the full report.
This conclusion should not come as a...
Researchers at Dartmouth College have published the results of a new examination of the famous 'Oswald brandishing his rifle' backyard photos in the Journal of Digital Forensics. Relying on the latest forensics techniques and a 3D model of Oswald, the unequivocal conclusion "refutes the argument of photo tampering." Read the full report.
This conclusion should not come as a...
October 2, 2015
September 30, 2015
Gerald Posner on Pope Francis and Kim Davis. No surprise.
So many are surprises that Pope Francis met with Kim Davis.
In God’s Bankers I wrote that Francis was essentially a Rorschach ink blot, people saw in him what they wanted. Or maybe what they hoped. I wrote that his “difference in style instilled in many a belief that a change in substance was imminent.”
And once he became Pope, Francis deliberately toned down the reactionary language that was often his trademark while he was the cardinal of Buenos Aires.
For those who kn...
In God’s Bankers I wrote that Francis was essentially a Rorschach ink blot, people saw in him what they wanted. Or maybe what they hoped. I wrote that his “difference in style instilled in many a belief that a change in substance was imminent.”
And once he became Pope, Francis deliberately toned down the reactionary language that was often his trademark while he was the cardinal of Buenos Aires.
For those who kn...
September 26, 2015
September 18, 2015
Pope Francis: Open the Vatican's Holocaust-Era Files - Gerald Posner Opinion Editorial in The Washington Post
For more than two months I have had an OpEd embargoed at the Washington Post. Tonight the Post released it, and it will run in Sunday's newspaper, just in time for Pope Francis's arrival in D.C. next week. It is my plea to U.S. officials and 2016 presidential hopefuls to ask the Pope to release the church's Holocaust-era files. The Pope is a reformer, no doubt. But will he end the Vatican's outlier stance as the only nation in Europe still refusing to allow access to its World War II files?
Re...
Re...
September 16, 2015
Psychiatric Records of 'Arsenic and Old Lace' serial murderer to stay sealed forever, rules court
A disheartening journalism precedent in Connecticut when it comes to obtaining access to historical files. Its Supreme Court, in a split opinion, rejected a request to open the medical records of the state’s most infamous female serial killer, Amy Archer Gilligan, who died more than 50 years ago in a state psychiatric hospital.
Most of you will know Gilligan better from “Arsenic and Old Lace,” the 1941 fictionalized movie about her murders, starring Cary Grant.
A writer, Ron Robillard, w...
Most of you will know Gilligan better from “Arsenic and Old Lace,” the 1941 fictionalized movie about her murders, starring Cary Grant.
A writer, Ron Robillard, w...
September 14, 2015
"Dollar Signs of the Cross" Hasting College of Law - Gerald Posner
A short profile/article of me in the Fall issue of my law school, UC Hastings. It's a special issue about money, and I'm part of "Dollar Signs of the Cross." My conversation is mostly on "God's Bankers - A History of Money and Power at the Vatican," a fellow Hastings alum, James Stang, talks about his breakthrough representation of hundreds of plaintiffs in the church's sex abuse crisis......
Here is a link to the digital magazine, the article starts at page 40...
http://www.flipsna...
Here is a link to the digital magazine, the article starts at page 40...
http://www.flipsna...
