The Senator Robert Menendez case won’t be the first time in recent memory where numismatics or bullion played an important role.
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New Jersey
In honor of the premiere of Starz’s Watergate drama “Gaslit,” please enjoy an excerpt from “Nixon in New York” about John Mitchell.
How Richard Nixon joined Mudge Rose and kickstarted his political comeback.
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Battleground State: The Fight to Legalize MMA in New York (Part 4)
The Politician
In Ratner’s eyes, the man holding the people of New York hostage is State Assemblyman Bob Reilly, a Democrat from Colonie. Reilly has been a steadfast opponent of legalizing MMA in New York and believes it is his responsibility to make sure MMA remains an illegal, outlaw sport. “First and foremost, it is a violent sport,” said Reilly. “It’s like pornography. Like the Supreme Court says, you know it when you see it. For example, I watched an event recently because I felt obligated to. One fellow was sitting on another’s chest and hit him in the head at least 14 times.”
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Battleground State: The Fight to Legalize MMA in New York (Part 3)
The Lobbyist
Marc Ratner spent 21 years with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, including 14 as its executive director. In the mid-1990s, when MMA was in its infancy, Ratner spoke out against it, saying that it would never be allowed in Las Vegas. In 2006, however, Ratner accepted a job with the UFC as its vice president of regulatory affairs. “I had the best regulatory job in the world,” said Ratner. “But what intrigued me about the UFC was that it was a brand new sport. I wanted to be on the ground floor, to be a pioneer and try to get it legalized. You can’t do that in basketball or boxing, since those sports have been around so long.”
Want to watch sports while on the job and not get in trouble? The “boss button” is your answer!
The American Medical Association more or less tanked health care reform in the 90s. Now they’re supporting Obamacare? Huh?
I love Take That. But I didn’t love “Wonderland.” Then again, that doesn’t really matter anymore.
Columbia J-SchoolLawNew YorkPoliticsSports
Battleground State: The Fight to Legalize MMA in New York (Part 2)
The Evolution
In many ways, the biggest knockout punch in MMA history didn’t come from Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, or any other of the sport’s biggest names, but from a United States senator. In 1996, Senator John McCain condemned the sport as “human cock-fighting” and sent letters to all 50 governors, urging them to ban MMA events in their states. McCain’s plea worked to a considerable degree as 36 states enacted bans, and the UFC nearly went out of business. However, in a 2007 interview with National Public Radio, McCain changed his tune, offering reserved praise for MMA. “They have cleaned up the sport to the point, at least in my view, where it is not human cockfighting any more. I think they’ve made significant progress. They haven’t made me a fan, but they have made progress,” said McCain.
The time I interviewed Mets and Yankees great Dwight Gooden.