The New York Times is reporting (and the White House has reportedly confirmed) that President Donald Trump made some truly disturbing comments in his controversial meeting with the Russians. Not only did Trump call former FBI Director James Comey “a real nut job” but told the Russians that the firing has taken pressure off of him in terms of Russia. The leaked summary will fuel the allegations that Trump fired Comey to try to shutdown the Russian investigation to relieve pressure on himself. While I have discussed my skepticism over the evidence of an actual crime by the President, Trump appears committed to leaving the greatest incriminating impression possible in such meeting.
Category: Bizarre
Most IT specialists tend to avoid mixing water with computers, but Russia pulled out their biggest gun this week to combat the WannaCry ransomware attack targeted Microsoft Windows systems. Orthodox Church’s Patriarch Kirill went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and sprayed holy water on the computers. It could be a new approach to stopping malware. If you trigger an electrical failure with water, the malware is technically stopped with the now dead computer. Continue reading “The Patriarch Patch: Orthodox Leader Called Into To Combat WannaCry With Holy Water At Russian Ministry”
In what may be the most curious police APB, detectives in Leeds are looking for the witness to an assault. The only description however is that the man was dressed as a giant penis.
Continue reading “Cock of the Walk: English Police Seek Witness Dressed As Large . . .”
I have previously been critical of the stance taken by former acting Attorney General Sally Yates. I remained unconvinced that Yates had the ethical basis to order for the entire Justice Department to stand down and not to assist the president in the defense of his first executive order on immigration. I also questioned Yates’ decision to voluntarily testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She was testifying as someone who was recently in a prosecutorial position about subjects related to an ongoing investigation where no one has yet to be indicted. Now those concerns have been magnified by Yates’ appearance in the media to talk about matters center to the ongoing investigation at the Justice Department and other related subjects.
Continue reading “Yates Goes On CNN To Declare That Russians Had “Real Leverage” Over Flynn”
Televangelist Rick Joyner appears on the brink of ruining Sunday football for all of us. Joyner said that the world needs prophets who will be able to predict the future, including sports scores. More importantly, Joyner revealed that he already has that ability and knew the actual score of the World series games before the games were actually played.
Continue reading “Televangelist: Bob Jones And I Got The Final Score Of World Series From God”
Just when you thought you had heard of everything . . . In Saginaw, Michigan Jordan Haskins, 26, has been sentenced to five years probation and sex offender treatment for “cranking” — a sexual fetish where men engage in rough pedal pumping, a type of foot fetishism characterized by an interest in looking at feet pumping the pedals.
Continue reading “Michigan Man Sentenced In Cranking Fetish Case”
Last night, my son Jack and I went to see the documentary Men of Steel by photographer Chris Zarconi. Zarconi is a graduate student at George Washington University and set out in his to photograph the rust belt and interview those still living in cities like Youngstown, Ohio. He is an amazing photojournalist and filmmaker. These are his pictures (published with his consent). Zarconi was also one of the plaintiffs in Chang v. United States, the mass arrest case stemming from the 2002 protests of the World Bank and the IMF. I had the honor of representing Chris and the other plaintiffs with my co-lead counsel Daniel Schwartz and his colleagues at the Bryan Cave law firm. Chris was arrested while working as a photo journalist for the award-winning Hatchet university newspaper.
Continue reading “Chris Zarconi Shows Documentary Men of Steel at GW’s Corcoran Gallery”
White House principal deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders assured the media yesterday that there was nothing inappropriate with President Donald Trump asking former FBI Director James Comey if he was a target of the ongoing investigation over Russian influence or collusion in the presidential election. She insisted that the White House had reached out to legal experts and “several legal scholars who have weighed in on it and said there’s nothing wrong with it.” She also said that “many legal scholars and others that have been commenting on it for the last hour.” While I cannot speak for all legal scholars, I find it surprising that the White House could find “several” who would sign off on such an inquiry. It was clearly improper for Trump to ask the question and it would have been equally improper for Comey to answer in this fashion.
To make matters worse, Sanders said that, by removing Comey, the White House hoped to bring the investigation to a sooner conclusion. In her defense, I took her comment as meaning that the White House has nothing to fear from the investigation and wants it to come to a conclusion: “We want this to come to its conclusion, we want it to come to its conclusion with integrity. And we think that we’ve actually, by removing Director Comey, taken steps to make that happen.” However, it was another uniquely ham-handed treatment of the controversy from a White House that continues to struggle with maintaining a single coherent message. The overwhelming thrust of the coverage of the Comey termination was that it was meant to bring an end to the Russian investigation. To connect the firing of Comey with the hope for a faster conclusion to the investigation is incredibly daft.
The decision of the White House to host Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak on the day after the termination of FBI Director James Comey ranks as one of the worst political decisions of a White House in years. Kislyak is the very Russian diplomat at the heart of the allegations of influencing peddling and collusion with Trump officials. Just as every network was exploring allegations that Comey was fired to protect Trump was an investigation into his ties with the Russians, the White House guaranteed that the Russians would be shown huddling with Trump followed by grinning photos in the Oval Office. That can be attributed to a long litany of self-inflicted wounds by this White House. However, what was more disturbing was the fact that U.S. photographers were barred from the meeting. Only the photographers from Tass were allowed. Tass is state-run agency. So not only did Trump meet with the Russians at the height of the allegations over Russian influence but the American people only saw pictures given to them by the Russians.
Continue reading “Trump Met With Russians At The Request Of Putin”
I was at CNN the night of the firing of James Comey. Frankly, it was utter chaos as Washington exploded with the news. (The green room was packed with folks waiting to go on. I left rather than wait all night for an uncertain hit. I was far more interested at that point in the Cubs-Rockies game). I was in other words an “eyewitness” in the crowded green room when White House counselor Kellyanne Conway was interviewed by Anderson Cooper who noticeably rolled his eyes. Some in the green room were thrilled by the demonstration. One person who was not thrilled was Conway herself who leveled a charge of sexism the next morning on Fox News. (For the record, Conway is my former student at GW Law School). For the record, having worked with Anderson for years, I do not believe that he has a sexist bone in his body. That does not excuse the lapse of professionalism and it will magnify criticism of the network as openly anti-Trump.
We have previously discussed how some of our closest allies like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt routinely deny both free speech and free exercise of religion to citizens through the application of Sharia law or Islamic moral codes. The latest outrage comes from Indonesia where a court convicted Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the Christian governor of the country’s capital, Jakarta, of blasphemy for challenging Islamic extremists. He was sentenced to two years in prison in a disgraceful assault on basic civil liberties and principles of both religious tolerance and free speech.
Continue reading “Indonesian Court Unanimously Convicts Christian Governor of Jakarta Of Blasphemy”
The news yesterday included images of the Dalai Lama blessing Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at his temple in Dharmsala, India. Pelosi gave a rather rambling statement but denied to criticize China because the Dalai Lama had removed her negativity. My only thought however is why the public continues to pay for these congressional junkets where members go to exotic locations on the public dime. The trip was attended by both Republican and Democratic members.
Continue reading “Pelosi Declines to Criticize China After The Dalai Lama Removed Her “Negativity””
There is another moronic application of the “zero tolerance” policy of public schools out of Ohio at the Edgewood Middle School. Administrators informed the parents of Zachary Bowlin that he was facing suspension because he merely “liked” a picture of an airsoft gun on Instagram. While the school withdrew the suspension after public outcry, there is (again) no indication that anyone will be disciplined for this abusive treatment of a middle schooler.
Houston Judge Hilary Green is the subject of an extraordinary report from the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The Texas Supreme Court was given a detailed account that alleges that the justice of the peace used illegal drugs like ecstasy and marijuana as well as abused the cough syrup Tussionex. Some of the marijuana had been confiscated by the court bailiff. It also alleged that she engaged in extramarital affairs and hired prostitutes. She is also accused of sexting a court employee. Finally, she is accused of ruling in favor of a convicted conman despite her personal relationship with the defendant. There is an interesting technicality being claimed by Green to bar consideration of much of her misconduct.