Spirit Airlines has been long criticized for its treatment of passengers and added charges for even carry on luggage. However, Texas State University student Belen Aldecosea, 21, has raised a truly shocking allegation by any measure. She is thinking of suing the airline for allegedly forcing her to flush her emotional support hamster down the toilet after Spirit Airlines refused to let the pet on the flight despite her doctor’s letter. The conflicting accounts could lead to cross filings. Update: her lawyer says that Aldecosea now has a new comfort hamster. Presumably, she did not tell it what happened to the prior comfort animal.Spirit Airlines has been long criticized for its treatment of passengers and added charges for even carry on luggage. However, Texas State University student Belen Aldecosea, 21, has raised a truly shocking allegation by any measure. She is thinking of suing the airline for allegedly forcing her to flush her emotional support hamster down the toilet after Spirit Airlines refused to let the pet on the flight despite her doctor’s letter. The conflicting accounts could lead to cross filings. Update: her lawyer says that Aldecosea now has a new comfort hamster. Presumably, she did not tell it what happened to the prior comfort animal.
Below is my column in USA Today on the increasing talk of treason by both Democrats and Trump in recent weeks. 
The University of Washington has been sued by the schools College Republicans after it demanded the payment of $17,000 in security fees for the planned speech of Oregon activist Joey Gibson of the Patriot Prayer group. The lawsuit raises an important free speech question in whether schools can effectively bar conservative speakers by insisting that free speech is not free in a financial sense. The imposition of prohibitive costs on groups like the College Republicans is facially neutral but potentially discriminatory in practice based on the content of speech. It also creates a system that indirectly supports “the heckler’s veto.”
Pakistan continues to show the world that it remains on the course of Islamic extremism and increasingly intolerant of free exercise and free speech. Now the Pakistani government is warning media not to cover the increasingly popular Valentine’s Day celebrations. Islamic clerics have declared the Western holiday to be an offense to Islam. None of these clerics or government officials appear concerned that there is a far greater danger to Islam if it is threatened by people wanting to exchange Valentines or throwing parties.
The United States has long rejected the holding of military parades featuring tanks, missiles and other heavy weapons as a symbol of authoritarian regimes like the Soviet Union, North Korea and other countries. We commonly have parades with marching military and military bands in Washington. What we generally have not done is add heavy weaponry — the signature display of so many of the history authoritarian enemies of this country (though, as some have pointed out on this blog, there have been exceptions where tanks or missiles were present in inaugurations). Trump’s desire for military equipment at the presidential inauguration was 
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the recent tweets from former Director James Comey attacking allegations that he (and others) abused the secret FISA surveillance system. It is an ironic twist for Comey who is now acting in the same fashion as Trump in commenting on pending investigations and compromising himself as a potential witness or even target in future investigations.
Gloria Copeland is the co-founder of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (with her husband) in Texas and cited as a spiritual advisor to President Donald Trump. She and her husband serve on Trump’s 
The Ithaca City School District announced this week that the production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” at Ithaca High School is cancelled. The reason is not funding or lack of interest or lack of talent. It is due to the fact that the student who won the right to perform the role of Esmeralda happens to be white. Her selection based on talent was denounced as racially insensitive and even cultural appropriation. 
The Philippines is viewed as having 
The Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University in Canada has a 
We have been discussing the identification of words as “microaggressions” on college campuses 
We have previously discussed the courage of women in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Muslim nations in fighting sexist rules that prevent them from engaging in basic acts or pursuing their own futures. As I have said before, these women are the most inspiring civil libertarians of our generation — risking jail and beatings to fight for equality. That struggle is evident in the dozens of arrests of women in Iran who are pulling off their headscarves in public in Iran to fight for the individual choice in wearing the religious cover. One activist Masih Alinejab has gone further to denounce Western feminists and reporters who celebrate the selling of a Barbie doll with a veil while giving minimal attention to actual women fighting the mandatory wearing of such items.
History has shown that if you want to find new land, ask a Sooner to find it.
Donald Towns, 41, may be good at any number of things but he is clearly a work-in-progress when it comes to bank robbery. Towns not only was filmed without a mask robbing a bank but handed the bank manager his photo id as part of the pretense of opening a new account.
I have previously criticized the President for his use of Twitter to attack those conducting the Russian investigation and various critics. Many of these tweets are in my view clearly inappropriate and distinctly unhelpful to his legal team. Indeed, today the Hill posted