In a surprising admission, the author of the controversial dossier used to secure the secret surveillance on Trump officials admitted that it was paid for by Clinton campaign as a type of insurance to challenge the election. At the same time, the reporter who helped break the story, Michael Isikoff now says that many of the specific allegations remain unproven and are likely false.
Continue reading “Steele: Dossier Was Funded By Democrats To Challenge Election”
There is an interesting decision out of the San Francisco Planning Commission after an owner demolished a famous house without approval. The Commission clearly believes that Ross Johnston decided it was better to ask forgiveness than permission in tearing down the home known at the Largent House after securing only a permit for renovation. The response of the Commission is poetic justice: Johnston has been ordered to build the exact house that he tore down and put up a plaque giving the history of the house and its demolition.
Continue reading “San Fran Commission Requires Owner To Rebuild Historic Home That He Demolished Without Approval”
I have been critical of the widening charges of cultural appropriation and microaggressions on our campuses as statements and even programs are targeted with little resistance from faculty or administrators. We previously discussed how yoga classes were denounced in Ottawa as cultural appropriation. Now American University in Washington has become embroiled in the same charge after a single student objected to white individuals performing an Indian epic as part of university’s Bhakti yoga group. American University student Maya Krishnan seems to believe that the school should limit performances on the basis of race and national origin — and that objection appears to have succeeded with the dissolution of the group as well as the resignation of the group’s faculty adviser, student president and vice president.
Continue reading “American University’s Yoga Group Disbanded After Cultural Appropriation Charge”
Below is my column in The Hill Newspaper on the recent admission by James Comey that he intentionally circumvented the White House Counsel and Justice Department protocol to send two agents to interview then National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. It is a subject that will hopefully be raised this week when Comey appears again before Congress on Monday. Comey describes his sudden realization that he could “get away with” sending “a couple guys over” to the White House. Comey’s epiphany could be his epitaph.
Here is the column:
Continue reading ““Let’s Just Send A Couple Of Guys Over”: Comey Admits Another Violation Of Department Protocol and Policy”
I have previously criticized President Donald Trump for his calls for greater liability of the media for its coverage of the controversies surrounding his Administration. This weekend, Trump was again suggesting the need for legal review as he was excoriated by Saturday Night Live in a skit based on the classic Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Fortunately, the courts have maintained core free speech and free press protections from such assaults, particularly in the realm of comedy and parody.
Continue reading “It’s A Wonderful Libel? Trump Suggests Legal Action Against SNL For Latest Skit”
For an authoritarian leader like President Vladimir Putin, this may seem like the height of liberalism. Putin told cultural advisers that the rising popularity of rap music will, not be banned by rather “we must lead it and direct it.” It is not clear what Putin rap might sound like but it is clearly going to be something Stalin rather than Solzhenitsyn would dance to. We all know what Soviet central planning did to the economy. We can now watch the same magic of centrally planned rap music.
Continue reading “Putin On The Rap: Russian President Says Rap Will Not Be Banned But “Directed” By The State”
For both Democrats and Republicans, the recent deportation numbers may come as something of an unpleasant surprise. It turns out the President Barack Obama deported more illegal immigrants than Trump even after two years of Trump’s controversial immigration policies.
Continue reading “Deporter in Chief: Deportations Under Obama Still Higher Than Under Trump”
I am sorry but it really seems like Father Ilia Semiletov has some issues and it is really not a little Satanic girl. The Russian orthodox priest is under review after the shocking videotape below where he is shown violently pushing a little girl into a baptismal font to remove the Satan within her.
Continue reading ““Satan Is Sitting Inside Them”: Russian Orthodox Priest Under Review After Violent Baptism”
One could imagine a number of things that might draw the attention, if not the ire, of aspiring censors in Quebec in the performance of Conversations avec mon pénis, starting with the woman dressed as a giant penis. However, the $500 fine levied against the theater was for Marc-André Thibault sitting next to the giant penis while he smoked a fake cigarette on stage.
Continue reading “Quebec Theater Fined In For Actor Lighting Fake Cigarette On Stage”
I will have the pleasure of joining an esteemed panel today in a special event held at the Newseum. We will discussing the Special Counsel investigation and related issues from indicting a sitting president to possible impeachment proceedings. The event is organized by the Freedom Forum Institute and the panel will also include Stuart E. Eizenstat, American diplomat and attorney (and author of the new book, “President Carter: The White House Years”) and Kenneth W. Starr, former federal judge, U.S. Solicitor General, and independent counsel for the Whitewater investigation. The moderator will be Greta Van Susteren, broadcast journalist and host of legal and political affairs programs on Fox News and MSNBC.
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We have yet another court ruling that a university denied the most basic due process protections to a student accused of sexual assault. For example, the University of Southern California appeared entirely unmotivated and uninterested in determining if stains on clothing of the victim was blood or red paint from a party where “students splattered paint on each other.” What is astonishing is that, while spending little time to guarantee a fair process, the university has continued to litigate this case to try to protect its right to summarily convict accused students. Claremont McKenna College and the University of California-Santa Barbara were previously cited for such due process violations.
Continue reading “California Appellate Court Slams USC For Denying Basic Due Process To Accused Student”
We have previously discussed how Great Britain has embraced the “nanny state” in regulating speech and conduct that are deemed unhealthy or inimical to good social policy. The latest example are new rules to take effect in 2019 the will ban sexist or gender stereotypes from advertising. This includes showing men or women in gender stereotypical activities because such images are deemed to contribute to pay inequality or psychological harm.
Continue reading “British Ads Barred in 2019 From Showing Any Form Of Gender Stereotype”
In St Ives, Cambridgeshire, the children at the Christmas grotto with Santa were justifiably traumatized when the normally jolly elf came out, ripped off his beard and screamed at them to “get the f**k out.”
Continue reading “Bad Santa: Children Left Traumatized When Santa Screams At Them To “Get The F**K Out””
In a surprising move, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered Mueller late Wednesday to turn over all of the government’s documents and “memoranda” related to Flynn’s questioning. This follows a Flynn filing that described an effective trap set by agents who encouraged him not to bring a lawyer and left inconsistencies unaddressed in what has been described by critics as a “perjury trap.” I have practiced in front of Judge Sullivan for years and he is a respected judge who has a keen eye for prosecutorial and investigative abuse. That does not mean that he will find such abuse here and could ultimately make a finding that nothing improper occurred. Yet, despite a recommendation of no jail time, Sullivan wants to review the entire record before deciding on the issue.
Continue reading “Federal Judge Orders Mueller To Turn Over Flynn Material”
The Egyptian government has reason to be nervous. After cracking down on civil liberties, free speech, free exercise, and the free press, the government has watched with growing alarm over the protests engulfing France by thousands of yellow vested citizens. So Egypt is rethinking its denial of basic liberties, right? No, the government is preventing the sale of yellow vests and prosecutors are seeking jail time for a lawyer who was merely pictured in yellow vest.
Continue reading “French Protesters Take To The Streets Wearing Yellow Vests . . . So Egypt Cracks Down On Yellow Vest Sales”