Davenport (FL.) Mayor Darlene Bradley, 60, faces an allegation this week that is politically and legally devastating. Police allege that she has been using the placards of dead people to park in handicapped spots at city hall. This is the type of allegation that would be radioactive before either jurors or voters. Unless there is a serious misunderstanding (and police have videotapes), a plea would seem a wise move.
This week the National Football League (NFL) owners finally confirmed what was long understood but never concretely confirmed: their utter contempt for football fans. Despite the open hatred shown by fans for Commissioner Roger Goodell for years, the owners agreed to a five-year contract extension worth nearly $40 million a year. It has long been assumed that Goodell was a handy shill for the owners in taking actions that were distinctly anti-fan. Goodell has taken the criticism while the owners kept their distance. Now however they have established that they were behind Goodell’s unpopular actions all along and cemented the NFL as the most hostile business toward its own customers in the world. As a lifelong football (Bears) fan, I have been torn between my growing dissatisfaction with the NFL and my love for the game. Like many fans, this move at least brings clarity to the position of the owners.
Continue reading “Goodell Gets His Contract And NFL Owners Give Fans The One-Finger Salute”
Below is my column in USA Today on the ethical and practical implications of the controversial tweet sent out by Trump counsel John Dowd. In my view, Dowd should now remove himself from the litigation. Notably, the failure to remove or fail Dowd will likely fuel theories that he is covering for Trump. If Trump did not know that Flynn had lied to the FBI before speaking with Comey, the Dowd tweet would usually result in a quick and rather angry response to a lawyer compromising his client in this fashion. However, various media sources are reporting that White House Counsel Don McGahn did inform Trump that Flynn likely misled the FBI in his interview before Trump spoke with Comey. Whatever the truth of the matter, the Dowd tweet could not be worse in its timing and content.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Death By Tweet: Questions Linger Over Flynn Tweet and the Role of Trump Counsel”
We recently discussed the bizarre defense of Roy Moore earlier this month from Orthodox Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter. Leiter declared that “Democratic and Republican homosexualists” were attacking Moore because he is standing up to “homosexualist gay terrorists” and “the LGBT transgender mafia.” It appears however that Leiter would fare little better in the Moore world of self-righteous bigotry. In a new released statement, Moore is shown denouncing George Soros, who is Jewish and noting that Jewish people will all go to Hell: “He’s still going to the same place that people who don’t recognize God and morality and accept his salvation are going. And that’s not a good place.” No that is not a nice place but would be the destination (in Moore’s view) of everyone from Leiter to Jared Kushner to Ivanka Trump to conservative donor Sheldon Gary Adelson.
Below is my column in the Hill on the latest twitter controversy. While Trump counsel John Dowd has insisted that he merely used “sloppy” drafting, news organizations are reporting that White House Counsel Don McGahn told Trump (before the firing of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn) that Flynn had misled FBI agents in his interview. In yesterday’s press conference, Sarah Sanders refused to say when Trump first learned that Flynn had lied to the FBI. That brings us back to Dowd and the breathtakingly dumb mistake in sending out a tweet to millions with an admission against interest under the President’s name.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “TwitterGate: What Did Trump Tweet And When Did He Tweet It?”
As spokesperson for Roy Moore, Janey Porter may have hit on a brilliant strategy to distract people from the bizarre statements of your candidates . . . make even more bizarre statements. Porter was on CNN this week when she told pregnant anchor Poppy Harlow that Moore’s opponent Doug Jones basically wanted to kill her eight-month old unborn baby. Now there’s a catchy campaign slogan: Vote Moore Or Jones Will Kill Your Baby.
She also shocked many by calling all of the women accusing Moore “criminals.” That’s right, criminals for alleging sexual assault or molestation.
Continue reading “Moore Spokesperson To CNN Anchor: Jones Support Killing Your Unborn Baby”
It is not clear what Justin Thompson, 29, has struggled with more: guilt or gravity. When police came to his girlfriend’s house on a warrant for assault and harassment, Thompson hid in the ceiling . . . only to fall in front of the officer in his kitchen. What was notable (beyond the means of apprehension) was one of the crimes charged against Thompson.
Continue reading “Scranton Man Hides From Police In Ceiling Before Falling In Front Of Officer”
Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has reportedly scuttled his own deal to secure release from home confinement under a deal Manafort with prosecutors. Prosecutors learned (from an unspecified source) that Manafort was working with a ghostwriter on an opinion piece on his case. The second man reportedly had ties to Russian intelligence — hardly ideal for a man at the center of the Russian investigation. The work was deemed to be in violation of a court order for all parties to refrain from “trying the case in the press.” However, the order raises a long-standing question of the need and constitutionality of orders limiting the free speech of defendants and counsel. While once the exception, gag orders have become the rule with many judges. Yet, Manafort is presumed innocent and the order prevents him from responding to those questioning his loyalty and honesty.
There is an interesting criminal case this week in Port St. Joe, Florida where Robert Paul Alexander Edwards, 33, is facing criminal charges for drawing a “disturbing” picture (shown below) on a student’s homework assignment. The interesting thing is that the police acknowledge that they do not believe that Edwards intended to take any violent action but they criminally charged him because the picture was “disturbing.” Of course, his mugshot shows that he is relatively indiscriminate on where he puts random pictures.
Continue reading “Florida Man Arrested For Drawing Violent Picture On Student’s Homework”
Doctors at the Jackson Memorial Hospital faced a novel issue when a 70-year-old man was brought into the emergency room after being found intoxicated and unconscious on the street. (The man lived at a nursing home and had a history of pulmonary disease). The doctors were working to assist the man when someone noticed a large chest tattoo reading “DO NOT RESUSCITATE.” It even had a tattoo signature. After consulting an “ethics expert,” the hospital treated the tattoo as a viable DNR form and allowed the man to die. In my view, the expert was wrong on the law if his decision was based solely on the tattoo.
Continue reading “Miami Doctors Allow Man To Die Because Of “Do Not Resuscitate” Tattoo On Chest”
Alberta Conservative MLA Ron Orr appears to be planning the remake of Reefer Madness. In the case of Orr, the use of marijuana however does not yield to jazz-fused madness but lock-step communism. Orr is warning that legalizing marijuana could send Canada into the arms of the red army and fellow travelers.
Continue reading “Proletarian Pot? Canadian Politician Warns The Marijuana Will Led To Communism”
Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore in Alabama has faced a large and broad spectrum of accusers over his alleged pursuit of girls aged 14-16 while a prosecutor in his 30s. The allegations have come from multiple women, including one who says that she was sexually assaulted at age 14. There are also an array of neighbors, former colleagues, and security officers who have come forward to detail Moore’s reputation as a menace for young girls. The women accusing Moore are Republican and Trump supporters. They describe a similar and chilling pattern of a man who was reportedly on a watch list at the local mall as well as cheerleading events. While denying the sexual assault, Moore avoided any substantive national interview. Now, however, Moore appears to entered a delusional and deranged realm in blaming the allegations on a conspiracy of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender persons, and socialists.
We have been following the vicious knockout game playing by knocking some unsuspecting person on the street (here and here and here). Police were looking for a man who brutally attacked an elderly man in Los Angeles, as captured by the videotape below. Police have now announced that they have arrested Dale Shoner, 43.
Continue reading “Suspect Arrested In Chilling “Knockout Game” Videotape [Updated]”
Americans Joseph Dasilva, 38, and Travis Dasilva, 36, are facing well-deserved criminal prosecution in Thailand after taking “belfies” where they expose their butts in pictures at famous sites. This juvenile and disgraceful practice is viewed as funny by the Dasilvas, but it was hardly humorous for the Thais who saw the pictures at Bangkok’s Wat Arun, or Temple of the Dawn, as demeaning and insulting.
Continue reading “American Couple Arrested In Thailand After Taking “Belfies” At Sacred Temple”
Trinity College Dublin has dropped the word “Freshman” as sexist and offensive for women as well as people who do not identify with male or female genders. From now on, the 425-year-old institution will refer to students as “Fresh.” While that makes students sound that produce, it is meant to avoid term deemed by the “Equality Committee” to be a “concrete expression of the university’s commitment to gender equality.”
Continue reading “Trinity College Dublin Drops Use Of Freshman As Sexist”