SCANDAL!! The Undisclosed “Two Jews from New York” Connection Between Steve Wilson and Steve Yagman
This is pretty amusing. It’s a cheesy video by something called the “Full Disclosure Network” which alleges that Stephen Yagman had a “long and enduring relationship” with Judge Wilson that should have been disclosed to federal prosecutors.
I found out about the video because the producers cite this web site as the only place that ever reported the fact that Judge Wilson acquitted Yagman of several counts after the trial. According to the video, the acquittals apparently represent some sort of shameful double-dealing by Judge Wilson, due to the fact that he is a longstanding back-slapping buddy of Yagman’s.
The video features an extensive set of quotes from Loyola law professor Stan Goldman, who is clearly hurting for air time since the Glory Days of the O.J. trial. Goldman supposedly thinks the “long and enduring relationship” should have been disclosed.
So what is the actual evidence of the “long and enduring relationship”? The video features an interview with Yagman, and I have transcribed the damning quotes so you can read them in all their damning glory:
I’ve known Steve Wilson for 20 years. He’s a U.S. District Judge. He lives down near me in Venice. I see him on the beach all the time. We’re friendly. I don’t recall ever having a bad word with Steve Wilson. I think he’s a great judge. We’re landsman from New York. Landsman. L-A-N-D-E-S-M-A-N. It’s a Yiddish word for people who come from the same place.
(I don’t mean to school a Jew on how to spell a Yiddish word, but I think it’s “landsman” and not “landesman.” That is, if the Internet knows anything.)
So. Steve Wilson used to see Steve Yagman on the beach occasionally, and they’re both Jews from New York.
Wow.
How serious an issue is this? Well, I’ll put it this way. I was clutching my sides and laughing through the whole stupid thing. If that gives you any idea.
I appreciate the link, guys — and I do think that it’s rather pathetic that the L.A. Times didn’t bother to cover the trial or subsequent proceedings, so that it went unreported by Big Media that Yagman was acquitted on some of the counts.
But your attempts to make some kind of federal case about this alleged “long and enduring relationship” are, quite simply, laughable.
That’s OK. I hadn’t had a good laugh in a while.
UPDATE: Milhouse makes the sound point that the proper spelling of a Yiddish word is kind of a moot point. He has other observations about the word “landsman.” Consult the comments.
“According to the video, the acquittals apparently represent some sort of shameful double-dealing by Judge Wilson, due to the fact that he is a longstanding back-slapping buddy of Judge Wilson’s.”
Is it just me or does that sentence not make sense? 🙂
Lord Nazh (458803) — 11/18/2007 @ 5:29 amActually, it’s לאנדסמאן. How to transliterate it into English is entirely a matter of individual taste, so correcting other people’s renditions or giving one “correct” one, is just ignorant. In this case, however, landsman is an English word, so any discussion of Yiddish is irrelevant.
What did strike me, though, was Yagman’s claim that he and Wilson were “landsman” (or “landesman” if you prefer), rather than “landsmen” or even “landsleit” (“landslayt”, “landsleute”, or however else one might choose to render לאנדסלייט).
Milhouse (f10fb3) — 11/18/2007 @ 10:32 amLord Nazh,
Thanks. I fixed it.
Patterico (bad89b) — 11/18/2007 @ 11:01 amHi, Patrick. This doesn’t have anything to do with anything — sorry to ask — but I have jury duty tomorrow and I was hoping you could tell me: If I have to be in downtown at 7:45, what time do I need to leave the Torrance area? (I’ve never gone to downtown during rush hour, so I have no idea how long it will take.) Sorry again to bug you; you’re just the only one I could think of to ask who might know.
Not Rhetorical (40f407) — 11/18/2007 @ 2:37 pm“Two Jews from New York”
Only two? Who knew?
Another Drew (8018ee) — 11/18/2007 @ 3:11 pmNot Rhetorical,
I dunno. I’m actually going downtown myself tomorrow morning. Why don’t you e-mail me at patterico AT gmail DOT com and we can talk about it?
Patterico (bad89b) — 11/18/2007 @ 3:24 pmJust saw this — you’ve been duly e-mailed. Thanks.
Not Rhetorical (1349f0) — 11/18/2007 @ 7:05 pmActually, “landesman” is a dialectal variation. But I was brought up pronouncing it “lantsmun” or “lansmun”.
And the appropriate Yiddishism for this would be:
kishnevi (bfa68b) — 11/18/2007 @ 7:32 pm“THIS you call a scandal?” followed by a very un-PC evaluation of the video maker’s intellect.