A prominent real estate lawyer who once described himself in a column as “jungle street skills and a passion for justice” has been suspended for bizarre and abusive conduct. Adam Leitman Bailey told a tenant that he should commit suicide as a worthless human being and even declared “now you’re my bitch.” The problem is that the tenant recorded the call.
Michael Cohen seemed to morph into J. Wellington Wimpy this week when he asked for yet another delay in going to jail. Wimpy famously promised “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Cohen is promising the same after declaring that he has suddenly discovered 14 million new files with evidence, including the promise of possible damaging information on President Trump. However, he explains, it will take him time to work through the material. Notably, the discovery seems to have occurred one month before he was to report to prison — one month almost to the day.
Read more
We have previously discussed the issue of when it is appropriate to punishment people for conduct outside of the work place. We have followed cases where people have been fired after boorish or insulting conduct once their names and employers are made known. (here andhere and here and here and here). There is another such case out of California with a twist. Rebecca Mankey created a scene at a Starbucks by screaming at s 74-year-old man wearing a “Make American Great Again” hat in support of President Trump. Mankey posted the instant and said that she wanted to get him kicked out of every club and make his life a living hell. Instead, she was fired by her own employer for her rude and intolerant conduct.
Read more
President Donald Trump left many scratching their heads again this week with the repeated claim that his father was born in Germany (he was born in the Bronx). However, the most curious moment came with this statement to the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual spring dinner: “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer.” The basis for this claim remains a mystery.
Continue reading “Trump: Windmills Cause Cancer”
There was a chilling moment on CNN this week in an interview of former FBI Director James Comey, by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. In the middle of the interview, Amanpour asked Comey if he had wished the FBI “shut down” President Donald Trump’s “hate speech” during the 2016 presidential election. Next week I will be debating an advocate of such speech codes and the criminalization of hate speech at Rice University. This was a particularly revealing moment as one of the top personalities at CNN pressed the former head of the FBI on why he did not simply shutdown Trump’s speeches as hate speech. Amanpour has been an outspoken critic of Trump but this reflect more of the diminishing European view of free speech.
Continue reading “CNN Host Presses Comey On Why He Failed To “Shut Down” Trump’s Campaign Statements As Hate Speech”
Catholic priests in northern Poland have shown this week that ignorance and intolerance is the not sole domain of any religion or region. The priests showed children how to burn books that they declared as sacrilegious, including Harry Potter novels. Given the Pope’s recent speeches against hate and wall building, he might want to take a closer look at his Polish priests who participated or supported this disgraceful event to take place.
Continue reading “Catholic Priests Burn Books In Poland”
Like most Americans, my family continues to be deluged with robo calls despite being on the “no call list” for years. The most reason annoying repeat offender has been an “Affordable Healthcare” number that calls repeatedly each day. I have previously written that I fail to see how the federal government cannot stop such companies. The fact is that they can and a recent report explains why they are not. According to the Wall Street Journal, it turns out that under Telephone Consumer Protection Act the Federal Communications Commission has imposed $208.4 million in fines. How much has the government collected? $6,790. You read that right. $6,790. That is just 0.003 percent of the fines.
Continue reading “Government Imposes Over $208 Million In Fines For Robocalls . . . And Collects $6,790.”
This beautiful picture of a hot air balloon was posted recently by the Marion County Sheriff’s office on Facebook in an effort to solve a crime. The huge balloon was stolen from Indiana and the sheriff asked people to keep an eye out for it at the The Villages Hot Air Balloon Festival being held at the Florida Horse Park. It worked. Raising into the air, the hot hot-air balloon was spotted and eventually recovered.
Continue reading “Putting The Hot Back Into Hot Air Balloons: Sheriff Nabs High-Flying Felons”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the dropping of charges against Jussie Smollett. The decision to give Smollett community service and an insulting $10,000 fine has outraged people around the world. Indeed, the City estimates that it spent $130,000 in pursuing the hoax. The costs belie the claim of the Chicago District Attorney that it was merely trying to save badly needed resources. Those resources were already spent in finding the hoax and securing 16 charges from a grand jury. The result is a travesty of justice that shocks the conscience.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Smollett and the Scourge of Celebrity Justice”
The nation of Brunei has taken the final plunge into extreme Islamic laws with the adoption of the medieval Sharia law. As a result, the kingdom will stone to death homosexuals and adulterers. The expansion of Sharia law into Asia is a troubling development for human rights and civil liberties.
Continue reading “Brunei Adopts Islamic Sharia Law To Stone Homosexuals and Adulterers To Death”
The release of the summary of findings by the Special Counsel has left much of the country in stunned silence. For two years, millions of voters have kept hope alive that the term of Donald Trump would be cut short by a type of avenging angel in Robert Mueller. They are now left with a reality that is still difficult to process: Donald Trump is likely to finish his term as President of the United States. There I said it.
Continue reading “Mueller and The Stages Of Grieving”
The Chinese government maintains one of the most extensive censorship operations in history — an effort to hold the world at its physical and virtual borders. It is not only an effort to prevent citizens from reading of civil liberties or government abuses. It is also a ban on such subjects as homosexuality. That effort has taken a ridiculous term with the censoring of gay language and plots from the hit movie “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The cuts have left audiences reportedly confused by the disjointed dialogue and story.
Continue reading “Chinese Censors Leave Audiences Confused After Cutting All Gay References From Bohemian Rhapsody”
Below is my column in BBC on the Mueller findings.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Mueller’s Cat: How The Special Counsel Left Obstruction On the Roof”
I am in New York today so this story just seemed to jump out at me. The city, it appears, is taking a stand against people who expose themselves or masturbate on the subway. You will now be banned . . . after your second offense. That is a rather curious approach to this form of sexual offense but it appears that New York is adopting a variation of the “one-free-bite rule” of common law torts when it comes to sexual offenders.
Continue reading “New York Moves To Ban Subway Sex Offenders . . . After A Second Offense”
If President Donald Trump has had a couple of lousy weeks, it is still considerably better than the experience of his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Not only has the media reported (and the White House has not denied) that Trump overruled his security and legal advisers in ordering a clearance for Kushner, but Kushner is the subject of a new book and confirms earlier accounts that he was the mastermind behind the disastrous decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey. What is striking about the account in Vicky Ward’s new book, Kushner, Inc. is how clueless Kushner (and by extension the President) seemed about the likely response to the firing. With every other advisor, including Steve Bannon, warning of the inevitable backlash and disaster, Trump went with Kushner and fired Comey. The result was the Special Counsel appointment. Had Trump let Comey finish the investigation and then fired him, the Russian investigation would have likely ended many months ago.
In addition Kushner has been accused this week of using private or personal email for official business despite years of controversies over such use and his own father-in-law’s campaign on the issue against Hillary Clinton.
Continue reading “Kushner in the Crosshairs: New Book Ties Kushner To Comey Firing”