Scandal has rocked Saudi beauty competition with allegations of prohibited use of Botox and face “work” done of the contestants. What is a bit different is that this pageant is for camels and the annual Saudi “camel beauty contest” where owners have been accused of giving Botox to the dromedary.
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The watchdog group Common Cause on filed a complaint on Monday with the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department alleging that Donald Trump violated federal law with his secret payment of $130,000 to a porn star known as Stormy Daniels. Daniels gave a long interview to In Touch magazine detailing a yearlong affair with Trump but later accepted the money and signed a statement denying such a sexual relationship. Common Cause argues that the payment was “an unreported in-kind contribution to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., and an unreported expenditure by the committee — because the funds were paid for the purpose of influencing the 2016 president general election — in violation of the campaign finance reporting requirements.”
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The personal lawyer of President Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, reportedly threatened to sue a tabloid magazine if it published an interview with the former adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2011. Daniels told In Touch that she had an affair with Trump that started shortly after Melania Trump gave birth to her son Barron. The threat appeared to work and the story never ran. During the presidential campaign, Cohen used a fake name and shell company to give $130,000 to the porn star to deny any sexual relationship. The publication sets up an interesting legal question of whether Trump will sue as threatened and how this might play out under the standard set out in New York Times v. Sullivan. You have a porn star who does have two clearly opposing statements on the affairs as the main source for the article. However, a lawsuit would present risks that few lawyers would consider worth taking in a legal action.
Below is an expanded version of my column that ran in USA Today on the approaching expiration of the statute of limitations for prosecuting former National Intelligence Director James Clapper for perjury. This is a city that protects its own and Clapper is the Beltway equivalent of a made man. People like Clapper do not get prosecuted. We do not call them criminal; just complicated.
Here is the column:
Judge Jack Robison appears to be channeling a higher authority recently in Comal County, Texas. Robison interrupted jurors during deliberations to inform the panel that God told him to acquit Gloria Romero-Perez of trafficking a teenage girl for sex. It appears that divine judgment did not track well with the jury, which proceeded to find Perez guilty as charged.
There is nothing so frustrating as pulling up to a Taco Bell only to have the drive thru person repeatedly refuse to take your order . . . unless of course it is a bank. That was the dilemma of Douglas Francisco, 28, who is accused of being drunk when he pulled into the Bank of America in Tampa and demanded a burrito. If Francisco wants to fulfill the chain’s slogan of “Live Mas,” he might want to drive less.
Lawrence Lessig, the Roy L. Furman professor of law and leadership at Harvard Law School, offered hope recently for those still in denial over the 2017 presidential election. Lessig, seriously, argued in Newsweek that it is not too late. Hillary Clinton could still be president if things break in the right way. It would only require the removal of both Trump and Pence as well as a cooperation and resignation of a President Speaker Paul Ryan. That is all it would take to make for those who believe that there is no price too great to get the Clintons back into power. Even Lessig’s Rube Goldberg machine of presidential succession.
Continue reading “Harvard Professor: Hillary Clinton Could Still Be President”
I have previously written about the endless calls for impeachment from Democratic members for everything from Trump criticizing NFL players to comments made about protesters. The Framers saw the great abuses caused not only by tyranny of nobility, but tyranny of the majority. They sought to insulate our government from the transient impulses of politics. The danger has been repeatedly shown by members who see virtually any act or comment by Donald Trump as a case for impeachment. The latest such example comes from Texas Representative Al Green, who declared that Trump’s alleged reference to “shithole countries” is sufficient grounds for impeachment. The last time I checked, pottymouth was not included in Article II with “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
There are various techniques to evading sobriety tests from burping to vomiting to claiming medications. Brian Fogg however had a more hands on approach. According to police in Belfast, Maine, Fogg repeatedly punched himself in the face to force the officers to attend to his injuries rather than administer the breathalyzer. It did not work.
The famous proverb stated that “the wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” That appears born out in a recent athlete competition in Siberia. Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) showed up unannounced at the regional competition in the Siberian city of Irkutsk and dozens of athletes immediately withdrew to avoid testing.
The day after the dubious refusal of Steve Bannon to answer questions before the House Intelligence Committee, Corey Lewandowski refused to answer lawmakers’ questions after pledging to answer any and all questions. Lewandowski said that he was not prepared to answer questions concerning the period following his campaign tenure. That is not a recognized basis to refuse to answer congressional questions. It ranks with “my dog ate my notes” as a basis for remaining silent. He can always answer questions by saying that he does not recall but the basis for refusing to answer is highly problematic.
We have previously discussed the harsh limitations on free speech and free press in Thailand. Now, a leader scholar, Sulak Sivaraksa, 85, has been arrested for simply questioning the factual accuracy of the famed “elephant battle” held over 400 years ago. He merely responded to questions from fellow academics by cautioning “not to easily believe in things. Otherwise, you will fall prey to propaganda.” For that, he was charged with “lèse-majesté,” or defaming the monarchy — a ludicrous charge that could bring a 15-year prison sentence.
Steve Bannon is now under subpoena by both House investigators and the Special Counsel after he refused to answer questions before Congress. Following a problematic pattern of current and former Administration figures, Bannon reportedly did not invoke executive privilege (which must be asserted by the White House) but refused to answer questions about his work on the transition team and White House. There is no basis for such a broad assertion of executive privilege and, unless Bannon changes course, he could be looking at contempt sanctions down the road. Despite his refusal to cooperate with the committee, he has reached a deal to speak with the Special Counsel investigators outside of a grand jury.
Update: The White House is now asserting that there were prior discussions with the Committee and the Committee violated the agreement on scope. Notably however the agreement was to discuss only matters from the campaign and not the transition or White House periods. That would be an astonishingly limited scope for the Committee staff to agree to given the material events after the campaign, including the time periods covered by statements made by Bannon in the Wolff book.
It appears that muggles in Canada are finally lifting the criminal sanction against all of the witches and wizards who have been hiding in Canadian counterparts to the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley. Our neighbors are moving to rescind Section 365 of Canada’s criminal code, which made it crime to pretend to practice witchcraft, sorcery and fortune telling. Soon the streets of Canadian cities will be full of muggles and magicfolk alike.
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