Despite the depressing news domestically and internationally, there is proof that there is still hope for the world. Gavel has found a home. Gavel flunked out of police canine academy in Queensland, Australia, for being too friendly. It was a disappointment because Gavel came from are “family bloodline” of top German Shepard police dogs. The problem is that Gavel just wanted to be friends . . . with everyone.
Continue reading “Meet Gavel: The World’s Greatest Hope For Salvation”
We have previously discussed how woman magically disappear in Saudi Arabia, including ads for companies like IKEA. (We have seen the same vanishing in Orthodox Jewish publication). Now Saudi Arabia is accused of replacing a picture of a mother with a beach ball in this advertisement to protect Muslim sensibilities. At least these kids can say “Mom was a real ball on vacation.”
A Philadelphia reporter, Colleen Campbell, 28, is not only out of job but perhaps a profession after a video of her berating police officers went viral. Campbell is shown below in cuffs after being removed from the Helium Comedy Club on Sunday night. She was asked to leave for disrupting comedian Craig Robinson by her loud whispering. It then went from bad to worse (Warning: the video below contains foul language)
Continue reading “Philadelphia Reporter Fired After Caught On Videotape Abusing Police”
It appears that President Donald Trump’s instilled a virtually phobic reaction in former FBI Director James Comey after his allegedly inappropriate pitch to terminate the investigation of former National Security Advisor Micheal Flynn. According to the New York Times, Comey asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to leave him alone with Trump. If true, the request for a type of chaperone in the Oval Office would represent a new low for the White House. In the meantime (and equally embarrassing if true), ABC reports that Sessions actually asked Trump if he should resign due to his own deteriorating relationship with the President (who was reportedly still angry at Sessions for recusing himself from the Russian investigation). Notably, the White House declined to say whether Trump still has faith in Sessions at the White House press conference.
Continue reading “Report: Comey Asked Sessions Not To Leave Him Alone With Trump”
One can certainly understand if the media is a tad confused. This week, Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway chided media for taking President Donald Trump’s tweets so seriously and denied that tweets are one of his preferred methods of communication. Shortly thereafter White House press secretary Sean Spicer reminded media that Trump’s tweets are “official statements” and thus serious articulations of policy.
The NYPD has arrested Saul Nunez, 19, in a brutal and bizarre unprovoked attack. The videotapes show Nunez suddenly attacked Juan Llorens, 90, as the elderly man pushed a cart. The ease and sponteniety of the attack on the video is chilling. Nunez also assaulted a man who bravely stepped forward to stop the attack. Nunez has been charged with two counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
Continue reading “NYPD Arrests Man Shown Beating 90-Year-Old Man”
Susanna Dawn Burhans, 47, allegedly took the whole mailman versus dog rivalry to a highly disturbing extreme. She is accused of feeding meatballs filled with nails to a dog in Madison County, Alabama.
Continue reading “Alabama Postal Worker Charged With Feeding Dogs Nail-Laden Meatballs”
This weekend I discussed how President Donald Trump’s own words had been the primary problem for lawyers seeking to advance his agenda. Trump’s comment and tweets have routinely undermined defenses and alienated allies. The column was prompted by Trump’s London tweets. While discussed for their triggering outrage across the political spectrum in Great Britain, one of the most controversial tweets also contained references to the immigration order as a “travel ban.” It was a remarkably ill-considered tweet. However, on Monday morning, President Trump doubled down and actually attacked his own lawyers at the Justice Department and directly contradicted their position in court. As I mentioned earlier, government counsel must feel like they have a daily Perry Mason moment with their client jumping up in court screaming incriminating things. The only logical conclusion that can be reached is that Trump really does not care if he wins the case. The problem is that there is a large and talented team at the Justice Department that is still laboring under the assumption that the President does want to prevail before the Supreme Court.
We have been discussing the opiate crisis that is destroying this country and countless families. A vivid display of the hold of these drugs can be found in the arrest of Chadwick Smith in Muncie, Indiana. Smith was arrested after an auto accident where he shot up with heroin while driving — leading to predictably tragic results. It is truly chilling to think of a person actually shooting up while traveling at high speed down a road.
Continue reading “Indiana Man Arrested After Shooting Heroin While Driving and Causing Accident”
One of the strangest aspects of the troubled start to the Trump Administration has been the role played by Trump’s own words in tweets and interviews. In both litigation and political settings, Trump’s own words have become the greatest liability for the Administration — undercutting allies and unraveling defenses. In the immigration order litigation, his controversial campaign statements have been repeatedly used as the determinative factor against his Administration in both the first and second rounds of litigation. His statements to the Russians and then his rather odd denial in Israel threw his Administration into downward spirals. Now we may see the creation of new precedent entirely due to Trump’s continued unguarded and unwise statements. Trump’s statements in interviews are the primary reason for the appointment of the Special Counsel after he directly contradicted his own staff on the reasons for the Comey termination. Recently, after the London attack, his Twitter statements caused an understandable outcry in Britain after he first tried to use the attack to argue for his immigration order and then attacked London’s mayor by misconstruing the mayor’s statement to the public. It is an incredible record. Absent these unguarded and ill-considered statements, Trump’s Administration would be in a far better legal and political position.
While the London tweets have been discussed primarily for their highly negative impact on people in Great Britain (of all parties), one tweet is equally problematic from a legal perspective. In his controversial tweet, Trump referred to his immigration order as a “Travel ban” — precisely what his lawyers have worked so hard to avoid before the Ninth and Fourth Circuits. As with his Comey comments, he is using the very language that his critics most wanted him to use. It is another example of sending months and hundreds of pages of argument only to be stymied by a mere 140 words.
I have been writing about how President Donald Trump has brought out the worst in his critics in the media as well as the courts. Ironically, some in these institutions appear to be rushing to confirm the stereotypes that he has painted of them. The latest example is CNN host Reza Aslan. CNN has been criticized by many for its coverage of Trump and alleged bias against his Administration. The loudest critic is of course Trump himself. Recently, CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria declared that Trump attained the White House through “bulls–t.” Now Aslan, who hosts CNN’s program “Believer” has called President Trump “a piece of sh–” and “an embarrassment to humankind” after Trump used the latest massacre to his call for U.S. courts to approve his executive order banning travel from six Muslim-majority countries. Aslan seemed intent to establish that he is a “true believer” in the anti-Trump cause but he also represents a media organization. His attack is the latest evidence of media personalities losing any sense of professionalism and dispassion. As I said yesterday, media must decide if they still want to report or merely rave at the new and newsmakers. Aslan may be as “spiritually curious” as advertised but he is now professionally dubious as a journalist. At the same time, as discussed below, President Trump is again causing an international outcry with his tweets after the attack.
Continue reading “True Believer: CNN Host Calls President Trump A “Piece of S–T””
We recently discussed the controversy surrounding Kathy Griffin and her disgusting image of a bloody severed head of President Donald Trump. Griffin held an equally bizarre press conference on Friday that first took responsibility for the scandal and then insisted that she is being set up by white men and blatant sexism. If this was an effort by attorney Lisa Bloom to repackage the scandal, it was a miserable failure. Indeed, the press conference could be a lesson for all lawyers in high-profile controversies of how not to respond to a scandal. There seemed to be not preparation of Griffin and no development of a single coherent narrative (rather surprising for an entertainer). The set up for the press conference at the law firm was awkward and made the client look like a caged animal. Bloom’s lead in remarks seemed more like a stump speech than a legal defense. Griffin was the object of the exercise rather than a human being in distress. Bloom’s effort to blame Trump for her client’s conduct contradicted one of a number of different narratives being advanced at the same time. The result was a Jackson Pollock press conference of paint splatters. The problem is that they did not make for a pleasing final image. I am not sure what Bloom sought to achieve, but it could not have been what actually occurred. In a rambling press conference, she insisted “Cut the crap, this wouldn’t be happening to a guy.” Indeed, it would. If Anderson Cooper held up the bloody severed head of Donald Trump on CNN, he would also be looking at the end of his journalistic career as would other comedians like Jerry Seinfeld.
Continue reading “Griffin: “This Wouldn’t Be Happening To A Guy.””
We have yet another example of how free speech is being eviscerated in Europe through an assortment of different legal standards. An unnamed 45-year-old Swiss man is an example of how the defamation laws can have the same impact on free speech. He was convicted of defamation after simply “liking” posts on Facebook that said bad things about Erwin Kessler, the leader of Swiss vegan group Vereins gegen Tierfabriken.
Continue reading “Swiss Man Found Guilty Of Defamation For “Liking” Facebook Postings”
We have previously discussed how Clinton has blamed self-hating women, the Russians, and a long list of reasons for her loss . . . except for herself. Despite losing the virtually unloseable election to Donald Trump, Clinton continues to be celebrated by Democratic insiders in speeches and continues to blame others for her historic loss. That campaign was in full view this week with Clinton’s appearance at the annual Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Clinton continues to evade tough questions about her own conduct while giving the false impression of taking responsibility. This week she crafted a truly Clintonesque line: “I take responsibility for every decision I made, but that’s not why I lost.” In other words, I take no responsibility. As many on this blog know, I have been very critical of Trump but I have no more patience with Clinton or the establishment figures who brought about this historic loss. All of these groups celebrating Clinton ignore the fact that Trump could not possibly have succeeded without her — and the effort of virtually every national Democratic leader to guarantee her nomination.
Ted Wheeler, mayor of Portland, Oregon, has joined a growing list of liberals curtailing free speech and seeking exceptions for speech that they deem to be hateful or offensive. We saw recently Howard Dean espousing the false premise that there is a hate speech exception to the First Amendment. We also saw politicians in California seeking to curtail anything that they deem to be “fake news.” Now Wheeler is espousing the same anti-speech nonsense in seeking to ban a conservative demonstration by a group called Patriot Prayer.
Continue reading “Portland Mayor Demands Feds Bar Conservative Group From Speaking”