Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, Lawyering, Media, Politics

When The Best Is Not Good Enough: Scarborough Recounts Clearly Bad Advice On Suing Trump
NBC News

I have long-criticized President Donald Trump for his tweets suggestions that MSNBC Joe Scarborough murdered a former aide when he was a Republican congressman two decades ago and suggested on Twitter that the two had an “affair.” The tweets are cruel for the family of Lori Klausutis but make scurrilous unproven allegations against Scarborough. Scarborough is saying that he may now sue Trump for defamation. The problem remains that Scarborough is a public figure and, as such, is subject to a high burden for defamation.  What is most striking however is what Scarborough said his lawyers told him about suing earlier.  The “best lawyer in New York” and the “best lawyer in New York” told him that he could not sue a sitting president. That is clearly untrue.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Military, Politics

The Big Sleep: CEO Mike Lindell’s Notes Reference Imposition of Martial Law

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has long been a diehard supporter of President Donald Trump. Indeed, on the day of the infamous speech preceding the riot in the Capitol, Lindell told media that he was confident that the day would bring vindication for the President. The statement left many of us scratching our heads since the certification of the victory of Joe Biden was only hours away. Now, the Washington Post has blown up the notes of Lindell leaving the Oval Office, which appear to refer to the Insurrection Act and the imposition of martial law. Media reports state that President Trump “cut short his meeting with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell within minutes, after the entrepreneur was spotted at the White House brandishing notes referencing martial law.”

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Media, Politics

Democratic Member Accuses Colleagues Of Conducting “Surveillance” For Capitol Rioters

As reported by Newsweek, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D., N.J.) has gone public with an extraordinary allegation against some of her colleagues that they conducted secret surveillance in a conspiracy with rioters at the Capitol. If true, those members could be criminally charged and expelled from the House. Conversely, if Sherrill has no such evidence, she could (and should) face a resolution of censure or resolution.

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law

Pelosi Names Eric Swalwell As House Impeachment Manager

Speaker Nancy Pelosi shocked many in Washington by appointing Eric Swalwell as a house managers in the impeachment of President Donald Trump as he continues to face calls for his removal from the House Intelligence Committee due to his alleged intimate relationship with a Chinese spy.  Swalwell has been bunkered down to avoid questions from the media and the public, but he will now be one of those prosecuting the case against the President.

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Bizarre, Media, Politics

Lock’Em Up: MSNBC Host Scarborough Demands The Arrest Of Trump, Giuliani, and Trump Jr. For Insurrection

In a profanity laced diatribe, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough demanded the arrest of President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and Donald Trump Jr. for insurrection.  Scarborough declared “If Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump are not arrested today for insurrection and taken to jail and booked . . . then we are no longer a nation of laws and we only tell people they can do this again.” What he is suggesting would be the very antithesis for the rule of law.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Media, Politics

“Treason Is A Matter Of Dates”: Democrats Denounce Republicans For The Same Challenge They Previously Made To Republican Presidents

Napoleon once said “treason is a matter of dates.” The Democrats seem to have taken Napoleon’s words to heart in declaring Republicans traitors or anti-Democratic in their planned challenge the certification of electoral votes next week. Both the media and Democratic members have advanced this narrative despite Democratic members repeatedly raising such challenges in the past. In the few acknowledgments of that history, Democrats seem to be advancing a simple and familiar defense: Trump. Once again, open hypocrisy is negated by Trumpunity. After all, they cannot be anti-Democratic because they are Democrats. That conclusory position was evident in the spin this week on CNN by former California Sen. Barbara Boxer who led such a challenge to the 2004 election results. Continue reading ““Treason Is A Matter Of Dates”: Democrats Denounce Republicans For The Same Challenge They Previously Made To Republican Presidents” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, Torts

FBI Investigating The Destruction of 500 Doses Of The Moderna Vaccine

We have been discussing curious Covid-related offenses this year, but a Wisconsin controversy raises a particularly challenging such question.  Advocate Aurora Health has admitted that an employee intentionally removed 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine from refrigeration.  The intentional act, originally claimed to be accidental, resulted in the destruction of 500 doses of the potentially life-saying vaccine. Advocate Aurora Health said the employee was fired. However, an intentional destruction of the doses would seem the ultimate product tampering case: either compromised vaccines would be given patients or 500 people will have to wait longer for the protection from Covid-19.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Media, Politics

Just “Meatballs”: Michael Cohen Still Grifting Anyone Who Will Listen In Latest MSNBC Interview
C-Span/YouTube Screenshot

Michael Cohen is now a prisoner rights advocate.  As someone who has run a prisoner project for decades, it came as something of a surprise to me but Cohen is now a reformer . . . just ask Tony Meatballs.  The reference came up in an interview with MSNBC’s Ari Melber in which Cohen explained that he only filed for early release under the First Step Act (Trump’s much touted criminal justice reform bill) because he promised “my buddies Tony Meatballs and Big Minty, that I wasn’t going to stop once I got out” in seeking to reform our prisons.  You see, it is really not for Mike Cohen. It is for Tony Meatballs.

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Bizarre, Society, Torts

Christmas Torts: The 2020 Listing Of Holiday Mishaps and Madness

’Tis the season for the Christmas tort. For lawyers, Christmas remains a horn-of-plenty for the practice of law. Indeed, mayhem and madness have been part of Christmas since its very founding. Thus, each year we gather for the posting of the annual list of Christmas torts and crimes. Fortunately, the holiday is much more than the entries on the criminal or civil dockets. However, these cases remind us all that, even when chaos lurks around holiday gatherings, we somehow survive and return year in and year out. So Happy Holidays to everyone. Continue reading “Christmas Torts: The 2020 Listing Of Holiday Mishaps and Madness” →

Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Media, Politics

Unlearning The Constitution: University President Declares That Biden Can “Unpardon” Trump

We have repeatedly discussed how legal experts over the last four years have adopted ever expansive interpretations of statutory and constitutional provisions to argue that President Donald Trump could be indicted or impeached on a myriad of different grounds. This includes the reliance on interpretations long rejected by the Supreme Court.  Some issues are manifestly closer like the long-standing question of presidential self-pardons. While I have long maintained (before the Trump Administration) that a president can self-pardon, I have always said that this is a question with good-faith arguments on both sides. Recently, however, experts have brought the same claims of clarity on this question to assure the public that the argument for self-pardons is “incoherent and incompatible” with the Constitution. Ken Gormley, president of Duquesne University, is one of those who supported impeachment and rejected any basis for self-pardons. He has now however gone one better and claimed that Joe Biden can “unpardon” Trump if he does grant himself a self-pardon.

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Bizarre, Media, Military, Politics, Society

“How Scared Should We Be?”: CNN’s Jake Tapper Leads Show With “Conspiracy In the Oval Office” On Possible Declaration Of Martial Law

Yesterday, the media erupted with the latest bombshell stories of how President Donald Trump is discussing plans for martial law and the appointment of former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell as a Special Counsel. It was a familiar bomb and bust pattern. A fair basis for coverage on the meeting quickly mutated into what bordered on panic coverage on the threat of a military takeover. This morning Jake Tapper headlined his show with “Conspiracy in the Oval Office” on how Trump discussed imposing martial law. He asked “How scared should we be?”  The answer is not very on either count. President Trump publicly denied the report as “fake news.”

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Bizarre, Columns, Media, Politics

Comedic Relief: Biden Declares Hunter Investigation Just More “Foul Play” By Political Operatives

We had breaking news Thursday night: Joe Biden is proud of his son Hunter. After a blackout on the Hunter Biden scandal before the election, it often seems as if the media is struggling to offer the appearance of coverage without actually asking questions that could be damaging for the president-elect.

That view of many was reinforced in the first interview with Biden about his son since the November election. It was conducted by CBS’ Stephen Colbert, host of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Biden has refused to answer questions on the expanding scandal surrounding his son’s China connections so this was a big deal. However, the president-elect’s team arranged for the all-important question to be asked by a comedian on a late-night show. Continue reading “Comedic Relief: Biden Declares Hunter Investigation Just More “Foul Play” By Political Operatives” →

Bizarre, Lawyering, Media, Politics

Rudy Goes Full Shlomi? Video of Giuliani Shilling For Cigars and Gold Coins Raises New Representation Concerns
YouTube Screenshot

I will admit to being highly critical of Rudy Giuliani’s representation of President Donald Trump for many years (here and here and here and here and here and here and here). He has consistently made statements in interviews that seem diametrically at odds with the interests of his client and his comments have repeatedly forced later corrections or clarifications by the White House or himself. This history led to his prior firm severing ties with him. However, despite that history, nothing prepared me for the video posted by the Recount showing Giuliani breaking off from detailing allegations against Hunter Biden to shill for cigars and gold coins. To be honest, the video comes across as Lionel Hutz of the Simpsons meets Offer Shlomi of ShamWow.  Some have raised renewed questions of whether he is helping or hurting his legal team.  I do not view this commercial as a bar violation though it raises an increasing issue over the ethical rules governing dual roles of counsel.

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Bizarre, Media, Military, Politics

Former DNC Official: “We Should Give Eric Swalwell The Congressional Medal Of Honor For His Conduct”

There continues to be a virtual news blackout on coverage of the scandal involving House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Eric Swalwell reportedly having a long intimate relationship with a Chinese spy named Fang Fang.  Some however were not content to simply ignore the story.  In a more worthy of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brad Woodhouse, the former DNC Communications Director, went on Fox News not to bury Swalwell but to praise him.  Asked whether Swalwell should have been left on the House Intelligence Committee after an alleged intimate relationship with a Chinese spy, Woodhouse declared Swalwell did everything right after being notified by the FBI. He then added “we should give Eric Swalwell the congressional medal of honor his conduct.” As a military history buff, the comparison did not sit well with me, but it was particularly odd coming from Woodhouse. Continue reading “Former DNC Official: “We Should Give Eric Swalwell The Congressional Medal Of Honor For His Conduct”” →

Academia, Bizarre, Politics, Society

“We Did Not Belabor The Point”: San Fran Committee Calls For Renaming Abraham Lincoln High School

“We did not belabor the point.” No words better capture the lack of intellectual and historical content of much of the cancel culture sweeping the nation. It was the response of Jeremiah Jeffries, the Chair of the San Francisco School Names Advisory Committee. The Committee has recommended the renaming of Abraham Lincoln High School as well as targeting the George Washington High School, Herbert Hoover Middle School and Paul Revere K-8.  Even an elementary school named after Dianne Feinstein is being targeted. This is not the first such effort around the country that focused on Lincoln. We recently discussed the effort of University of Wisconsin college students to remove the prominent statue of Lincoln on campus as not sufficiently “pro black”and a single-handed symbol of white supremacy.” 

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Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks