Law and Legitimacy

Norm is joined in the second hour by a young Connecticut attorney with whom he's been impressed for several years, James 'Jim' Hardy.

Jim begins by endorsing Norm as a candidate for President of the United States and Norm responds by nominating Jim to join the cabinet as Vice President.

It is upon that mutual respect and admiration that Norm and Jim indulge a thoughtful yet frank discussion of race relations in America today, complete with alternating perspectives regarding key cultural events over the last several years.

The two address the concept of reparations and share their starting assumptions in order to build a deeper discussion of what America's current and growing preoccupation with race is missing.

Norm takes a couple of listener calls and invites Jim back on for a future visit to continue giving sunlight to one of the most important topics in America today.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm is joined at the top of the week as he always is by W. Michael Boyer, producer of Law and Legitimacy and attorney somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Norm opens the show by asking whether anyone is paying attention to the House Select Committee on January 6's ongoing hearings, and asks whether the outcome of the hearings will have any material, positive effect on the deepening political divisions in the United States.

Michael shares his opinion reinforcing Norm's observations that the hearings only serve to solidify the existing polarity. He uses an example of a political ad he saw in which a hard right of the republican party advocates hunting down R.I.N.O.'s, Republicans In Name Only, to illustrate the parity of the worsening political extremes.

Norm then takes a couple of calls, one perhaps as honest as we've heard in weeks.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Paul Bass is the founder and EIC of the New Haven Independent, one of the nation's first online-only, nonprofit multimedia newspapers. He is also the author of one of Norm's favorite books, "Murder in the Model City: the Black Panthers, Yale, and the Redemption of a Killer," a recount of the trial of 8 Black Panthers members accused of murdering a spy among them.

Similar to the magic of Norm's discussions with Ron Coleman, Paul Bass is an undeniable spirit, committed to the first amendment protections for the press.

Paul is a lifer in the newspaper business. And if you ask us? He is the essence of American journalism.

Paul joined Norm on a daily live show just a couple of weeks back. As you will hear, radio's advertising constraints simply did not do a service to the nature of Norm and Paul's intellectual journey. So Paul agreed to join Law and Legitimacy for a Fathers Day edition of the pod.

Norm and Paul discuss what Paul calls the "big lobotomy" that has occurred in journalism, one that has seen hedge funds and highly capitalized corporate interest neutralize the independent voice in news and reporting. Paul also shares why he believes that such a dumbing down and whitewashing of reporting has cultivated "the Golden Age of Journalism" through the hundreds of experiments taking place today outside the walled garden of major corporate news.

Preoccupied with how newspapers remain viable, Norm asks Paul to talk about the business model that has worked for Paul with the New Haven Independent, to unpack the limitations of advertising revenue as a model for scaling quality reporting, and how search engine optimization has replaced truth in the most basic sense of the word when it comes to sources of news and reporting upon which most Americans still today rely.

Paul is an opponent of all hate speech laws, but is able to parse the nuance of message board management and the role of each outlet in deploying a realistic approach to platform censorship. In his own words, Paul is able to "embrace [his] inner China" when it comes to discerning between normal discourse and potentially slanderous personal attacks. Have we found a different door through which the likes of Twitter should walk?

The two talk broadly about American media as the mirror of its current society, analyze whether there has been a true loss of legitimacy in American institutions, and explore the proposition that working as a journalist is an inherently spiritual vocation.

Perhaps one of Paul's most compelling qualities is his how politely he asks Norm whether he may disagree with him. This episode went a bit over time, but you will hear why. Enjoy Paul Bass.

Like, share and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the second segment by reminding listeners of the several cases that the Supreme Court is set to rule on as its session comes to a close. In particular, Norm highlights the Dobbs case and its imminent impact on Roe v. Wade. What of the leaks? Justice Clarence Thomas has stated publicly that the Court has become something less than a collegial exercise of power and that as a result the Court is beginning to appear like the rest of our country, divided on issues that are extremely difficult to overcome.

Norm then welcomes Dr. Michael Goldstein, candidate for Congress in Connecitcut's 4th Congressional District (https://goldsteinforcongress.com/). Goldstein has lived in Connecticut for 35 years and has been an opthamologist for most of his life. Goldstein went to Pace Law School later in life and an active medical physician. He recounts going to law school at night after spending all day in medical practice.

Norm asks what has attracted Goldstein to running for Congress. Goldstein shares his background in advocacy at the administrative level from his early career in medicine and his realizations of what may be broken in healthcare that mimics the larger symptoms of American life today.

Goldstein discusses his belief that Connecticut is still struggling to recover in earnest from the recession of 2008, and how the local political structure has failed to take advantage of Connecticut's natural assets in pushing it forward into economic and social prosperity.

Dr. Michael Goldstein is challenging the incumbent, Jim Himes. Goldstein answers Norms questions as to the Himes political strategy, Himes' long tenure in Congress, and what Goldstein would deploy as a political agenda to be favorable contrast to Himes' time in Congress.

One of Dr. Goldstein's primary competencies is the regulatory environment attendant to healthcare, and so he thus motivated to examine patient choice as a way to remedy declining outcomes and rising costs.

The primary is August 9th.

Like, share, and subscribe. Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/.

Norm opens the show with an update on the New Fairfield Fire Department's announcement of an internal investigation and the lack of transparency in how it was reported by the Hearst-owned, local print newspaper. Why report the tease and not the story? What was so inflammatory?

It turns out, the inflammatory comments from a firefighter are alleged related to Juneteenth and the Confederate Flag. Norm speculates on the type of comment that might have formed the basis of the internal investigation, silly or not. Norm references the recent civil lawsuit stemming from crowd chants at a high school sports event and analyzes the legal merits of such an emotional distress claim.

The main event of this segment is Norm's analysis of the legal evidentiary standards attendant to hearsay evidence. Why? Well, the New York Times has reported that the J6 Select Committee is relying on hearsay testimony of a confidential witness. Norm queries: how is this the best quality evidence the House Select Committee has amassed after such a prolonged and resource-intensive investigation?

Moreover, is the Select Committee's preoccupation with the J6 investigation—one that has turned out to be lackluster and undisciplined—is now threatening to have a disproportionate negative effect on the due process required for the lawful prosecution of the J6 defendants, including Proud Boy Joe Biggs. Norm gives listeners a crash course on the evidentiary concept of hearsay, how it functions, and what is not hearsay either by definition or by exception.

How is Joe Biggs to reasonably expect a fair and impartial jury, and thus due process, in an environment where an announcement has been made that the President of the United States organized an attempted coup based on the unsworn testimony of an unnamed witness?

Norm updates on a recent Rasmussen Poll of everday Americans' concerns, including immigration, inflation, rising crime, and more.

He then closes with remarks about Steven Bannon's predicament now that he has ignored the subpoena power of the Select Committee pursuant to its investigation.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm is joined in the second hour by Republican candidate for US Senator for Connecticut, Mr. Peter Lumaj.

Mr. Lumaj has a fascinating story with respect to his family's arrival in the United States more than 30 years ago. Put simply, Mr. Lamaj and his brothers fleed the communist regime in Albania—a decision so serious that his father sacrificed his own life at the hands of the Albanian government to guard the knowledge of his sons' departure from the country in defiance of the laws of the regime.

Mr. Lumaj is an attorney by trade and has thrown his hat into the ring to challenge the incumbent US Senator for Connectict, Richard Blumenthal.

This, of course, is what Norm has advocated for generally when he's said that this election cycle should be centered on removing all incumbents.

We must give tremendous credit to Mr. Lumaj for hanging in there and subjecting himself to a vintage Norm Pattis cross-examination on his platform and the tenets of his campaign.

Norm presses Mr. Lumaj on all of the issues that are top of mind with American citizens these days: law and order, the second amendment, mental health, climate change, immigration, and crony capitalism.

As prior guests have learned, when one steps to the Norm Pattis Show and Law and Legitimacy, one must necessarily step correct. We cannot help but to respect the fight and no-quit attitude Mr. Lumaj displays in withstanding the seemingly unrelenting barrage of questions from Norm. Perhaps that resilience is the type of character that has largely been lost in the American psyche. Leave it to a man who escaped the grips of communism to inject that back into our memory.

Regardless of where you stand on the issues presented or Mr. Lumaj's platform as articulated, this is the very discourse and accountability that needs to find its way home in American politics.

Thank you, Mr. Lumaj, for joining us. You may find his website and platform here: https://peterlumaj.com/

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the first hour imploring citizens to vote for and to demand a return to common sense, citing the obvious upside-down character of the United States' governing structures across the country.

He then asks listeners to call in and help him understand what the Connecticut Post reported on with respect to the New Fairfield Volunteer Fire Department's announcement of an internal investigation pursuant to alleged "offensive" posts to social media by one of the department's firefighters.

But what were the posts? What was the content of the speech? And how condescending can the Connecticut Post be? Publish the content of the posts! Allow the readers to determine for themselves whether the speech in question was indeed offensive, or whether the story itself is yet another mere reflection of woke culture run amok.

Norm then whines about CNN and how unlikely it is to course correct in any meaningful way after its termination of Chris Cuomo and the rumored looming exit of Mr. Potato aka Brian Stelter, and of course after the deafeningly quiet exit of former President of CNN, Jeff Zucker. Will the new overlord make good on his promise to eliminate the comingling of news reporting and ideological biases? Best wishes, Chris Licht. We'll wait for CNN to show and prove.

A caller from earlier this week posed a question about the role of the Federal Reserve and posited that the overwhelming majority of Americans have no idea what it is, what it does, not to mention that it is not a formal body of our federal government. So, Norm takes an opportunity to shed light on the federal reserve, its role in regulating the American economy, the partisan divide on economic policy in America today, and the staying power of those appointed to the Board of the Federal Reserve. Is it time for an overhaul?

Norm then takes a moment to applaud Law and Legitimacy for breaking a story that Forbes finally picked up regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission and its apparently corrupt behavior with respect to the regulation of digital assets and cryptocurrency.

Specifically, Law and Legitimacy hosted Jimmy Vallee—Managing Partner of Valhil Capital and proponent of Ripple and XRP—to discuss the disparate treatment between Etherium and Ripple by the SEC to the latter's extreme detriment. How detrimental? Bigger than Enron in terms of the financial loss to Ripple investors.

Like, share, and subscribe. Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the second segment inviting a discussion of whether computers have minds, and the distinctions between narrow intelligence, general intelligence, and super intelligence within the context of artificial intelligence.

However, W. Michael Boyer—producer of LAL and weekly call-in guest to the NPS—simply cannot contain himself and calls in to keep the conversation going about Happy the Elephant. We finally get him kicked off so Norm might continue the discussion of artificial intelligence in earnest.

Michael does point out, however, for Norm's consideration the strange failure of the law to acknowledge the in-between space between basic chattel/personal property value and that of human life. That is, humans have extremely deep bonds with their pets and tend to make irrational economic decisions with respect to medical care. Is there room in the law for this? It is a surprisingly big question.

Norm shares a deeply moving story of one of his pet's passing.

Then, he takes a call from someone who wants to talk about the Federal Reserve. Yes, it was a non-sequitor.

Norm finally draws out what is inside of us when we contemplate the intermediate position pets occupy and discusses critically the notion that machines might ever be able to do what humans do. By that, Norm does not mean simply mimic or predict behavior. Will computers ever have a sense of wonder? Will computers ever sincerely mourn the loss of an intermediate soul, like a pet?

Like, share, and subscribe. Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the show with an announcement: he has entered an appearance on behalf of Joe Biggs and will stand between the incarcerated and persecuted Proud Boys member and the federal government in its pursuit of a seditious conspiracy conviction behind the events of January 6. More on this as it develops.

Norm then criticizes the January 6 Committee for its unexpected request for "more time" to prepare for its own hearings. Rome is burning and the Committee doesn't have a fire extinguisher? Get a grip!

The next few minutes of the opening segment are Norm's appeal to the citizens of Connecticut. Republican frontrunner in primary to challenge Richard Blumenthal this November in Connecticut's U.S. Senate race is Themis Klarides. What does she have in common with the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz?

The main topic of today's show, however, is the story of Happy the Elephant. Happy has made headlines in recent days for something really incredible. The case brought before New York's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals, by the Nonhuman Rights Project, finally hit a wall. No, Happy the Elephant is not a human.

Norm spends time discussing the absurdity that this case even made it as far as it did and exploring the boundaries of personhood in his analysis of Happy's case.

He gets a call from Lisa Wexler and they volley back and forth about the merits of the Happy case. Of course, Norm invites the discussion in an effort to transition the conversation to that about Artificial Intelligence and our declining appreciation for what it is about humanity that cannot be obtained in a lab or by a computer.

Like, share, and subscribe. Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream the Norm Pattis Show at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm is joined in this rewind version of LAL Live by esteemed D.C.-based lawyer, Dan Hull. This week, Norm entered an appearance on behalf of Dan Hull's client and J6 defendant, Joe Biggs, J6 defendant and member of the Proud Boys who on the eve of the J6 Commission hearings was charged through a superseding indictment with seditious conspiracy in connection with the events of January 6, 2021.

Norm asks Dan to shed light on the facets of the J6 prosecutions that are simply not making their way to the mainstream conversation, such as the nature of the Proud Boys, a profile on Joe Biggs, and what these prosecutions represent as we can best picture at this moment in American history.

What is a superseding indictment? Is the Proud Boys a white nationalist organization? What in the world were the members of the Proud Boys doing in D.C. on January 6th? And what of the disparity in treatment of the Proud Boys and Antifa in American media, politics, and our system of justice?

We have hosted Dan Hull on LAL multiple times before. His courage is nothing short of admirable, but indeed in short supply. Listen to this episode. Consider the courage Dan has displayed and the immense sacrifices he has made in defending a member of the Damned Class, and why Norm would so risk the same reputational and social recoils in pursuit of justice for Joe Biggs.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday on WICC 600AM/107.3FM from 12pm ET to 2pm ET. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.