Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on how critics of Donald Trump have been calling for radical extensions or interpretations of criminal provisions against core figures. The implications for such interpretations of crimes like treason need to be considered by critics.
The Chinese Government Moves To Ban The Pooh
The Chinese government is searching for a plump counter-revolutionary with a taste for honey and irony. Yes, the Communist regime has banned Winnie the Pooh who is apparently a running dog exploiter bent on turning workers against the one and true Party. The regime learned that the image of Pooh was being used as a surrogate for Xi Jinping as a way of getting around censorship laws (Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo is portrayed as Eeyore). As a result, Pooh and presumably his capitalist overlord Christopher Robin are no longer welcomed in China.
Trump: I Would Not Have Appointed Sessions If I Knew He Would Recuse Himself From Russian Investigation
President Donald Trump gave a bombshell interview with the New York Times on Wednesday in which he said that he would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general had he known Sessions would recuse himself from the Russian investigation. It was a highly disturbing interview since Sessions recused on the advice of ethics experts at the Justice Department and the overwhelming view of the bar.
Rosenstein: Comey Memos Were Confidential and Improperly Leaked
Fox News’ Martha MacCallum aired an interesting interview with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein this week in which the Rosenstein reaffirmed something that I have previously said: the memos leaked by James Comey were FBI documents and their release violated FBI rules and regulations. The media has largely ignored indications that some of the memos were indeed classified and that Comey broke FBI rules by leaking material to his friend (with the intent of his giving the information to the media). Rosenstein however did not address one glaring issue of his own: his own conflict of interest in continuing to oversee the Special Counsel investigation while being an obvious and important witness in that investigation.North Korea: Come For The Surfing, Stay For The Beatings
North Korea’s tourism agency is launching a campaign to attract tourists with promises of surfing (and curiously rice planting) despite its murder of Otto Warmbier, 22, who was enticed to North Korea as a tourist and then arrested when he stole a hotel propaganda poster. He was tortured and return to his family years later in a coma (only to die shortly after his return).
Ending “White Heteromasculinism”: Professors Call For Less Reliance On White, Male, Heterosexual, and “Cisgendered” Academics
A new study has called for a concerted effort to cite academics of color and greater diversity to make from the hold of “white heteromasculism” on research. Geographers Carrie Mott (professor at Rutgers University) and Daniel Cockayne (professor at University of Waterloo in Ontario) has identified the reliance on research by white males as a “system of oppression” benefitting “white, male, able-bodied, economically privileged, heterosexual, and cisgendered.” Cisgendered refers people whose gender identity matches their birth sex.
Seattle Court Request For Clean Up Leads To Controversy Over Race and Resources
The judges and court staff at Seattle’s King County Courthouse have been fighting to get something done about the disgusting conditions around the outside door. Homeless people left excrement and urine around the door — a stench that is deterring jurors and others from coming into the building. Judges have asked for the city to take action and clean up the unsanitary conditions with a simple power washing and better policing. That would seem a no brainer but objections were heard from city council members, including one who reportedly said that the use of hoses might be racially insensitive or traumatic.