Category: Politics

Defamation or Damage Control? Trump Praises Rod Porter While Porter Claims Innocence

Rob Porter's ex-wife Colbie Holderness is pictured in a photo from 2005, when she says Porter gave her a black eye on an Italy trip.It is like a broken record in politics. A powerful man is accused of a despicable and criminal act toward women.  He emphatically denies the allegation and then . . . crickets.  President Donald Trump cited Rod Porter’s claim of innocence and praised him and is now facing criticism over his failure to express concern for the women in the scandal.

In the meantime, Porter has not done the obvious thing if his two prior wives are indeed lying about his being a vile abuser of women . . . he has not threatened, let alone promised, a defamation action.

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“It’s Not Going To Be OK”: Omarosa Dishes On Trump On Reality Show [Updated]

Screen Shot 2018-02-08 at 8.32.29 PMPresident Donald Trump’s successful career on reality television has been much discussed during his presidency.  The controversial inclusion of Omarosa Manigault Newman on his staff was a reminder of that history.  Newman was fired on The Apprentice but later became a supporter of Trump for president. She was then made the director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison. Her rocky tenure in the White House came to an end when she was fired. She immediately went on the air to heavily imply that she had damaging information on the Administration.  Now she is back on reality television and dishing on how the Trump White House was a nightmare. As an example, Omarosa has declared, when asked if she would vote again for Trump, “God no. Never. Not in a million years, never.”

 

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The Politics of Treason: Both Trump and The Democrats Are Reckless In Calling Each Other Traitors

Degradation_alfred_dreyfusBelow is my column in USA Today on the increasing talk of treason by both Democrats and Trump in recent weeks.  President Donald Trump has indicated that his comments about Democrats being traitors was only a joke.  That is hardly compelling in a speech that also denounced the Democrats as “unAmerican.”  Clearly, many in the audience do not take such comments as a joke.  At the same time, many Democrats have been calling Trump or his family traitors in the actual rather than rhetorical sense. There is no basis on the existing evidence to charge Trump with treason. These comments are equally reckless and unfounded.  The Framers sought to remove this charge from the political discourse by not just adopting a narrow definition but incorporating that definition into the Constitution.

Here is the column:

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University of Washington Sued Under Policy For Demanding $17,000 In “Security Fees” For Conservative Speaker

download-7The University of Washington  has been sued by the schools College Republicans after it demanded the payment of $17,000 in security fees for the planned speech of Oregon activist Joey Gibson of the Patriot Prayer group. The lawsuit raises an important free speech question in whether schools can effectively bar conservative speakers by insisting that free speech is not free in a financial sense.  The imposition of prohibitive costs on groups like the College Republicans is facially neutral but potentially discriminatory in practice based on the content of speech. It also creates a system that indirectly supports “the heckler’s veto.”

 

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Poll: Do You Think We Should Have A Military Parade In Washington?

images-3The United States has long rejected the holding of military parades featuring tanks, missiles and other heavy weapons as a symbol of authoritarian regimes like the Soviet Union, North Korea and other countries.  We commonly have parades with marching military and military bands in Washington.  What we generally have not done is add heavy weaponry — the signature display of so many of the history authoritarian enemies of this country (though, as some have pointed out on this blog, there have been exceptions where tanks or missiles were present in inaugurations).  Trump’s desire for military equipment at the presidential inauguration was reportedly rejected by the Pentagon as running counter to the long traditions of the country.  Now Trump appears to be close to getting such a parade, modeled on the Bastille Day parade. A military official told The Washington Post is quoted as saying“The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France.” (The current results show 77 percent against such parades with around 800 polled.  The Army-Navy Times is reported opposition at 89 percent).  Opposition is also coming from Republicans who are calling it “cheesy” and “wasteful.”  The Navy Seal who killed Osama Bin Laden has called it “third world bulls**t.”

Ironically, as many on this blog know, I am a military history buff and love to review both vintage and modern weaponry.  However, I like our tradition in not holding such military parades. Our military has long maintained its apolitical and professional distance in our system. We celebrate and honor our military but do not use heavy weapons as props.  We also avoid the high costs associated with such parades.  However, people of good faith can disagree and I wanted to ask the blog about the consensus (if any) on this issue below.

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Twitter War: Comey Drops Pseudonym and Judgment In Social Media Attacks

440px-Comey-FBI-PortraitBelow is my column in the Hill newspaper on the recent tweets from former Director James Comey attacking allegations that he (and others) abused the secret FISA surveillance system. It is an ironic twist for Comey who is now acting in the same fashion as Trump in commenting on pending investigations and compromising himself as a potential witness or even target in future investigations.

Here is the column:

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“We Don’t Have A Flu Season”: Televangelist and Trump Adviser Gloria Copeland Criticized For Calling For Faith Not Shots In Combating The Flu

Screen Shot 2018-02-06 at 7.56.32 PMGloria Copeland is the co-founder of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (with her husband) in Texas and cited as a spiritual advisor to President Donald Trump. She and her husband serve on Trump’s evangelical advisory board.  This week Copeland is in the center of a firestorm after telling her followers that you may not need flu shots if you “inoculate yourself with the word of God.”

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Duterte Government Destroys Dozens of Luxury Cars In Photo Op

rodrigo_duterte_and_laotian_president_bounnhang_vorachith_croppedThe Philippines is viewed as having the most persistent poverty in Southeast Asia.  Schools are underfunded and social programs spotty in many areas.  For that reason, it is maddening to see the government of President Rodrigo Duterte pull a gratuitous publicity stunt by crushing two dozen valuable classic and luxury cars worth over $1.2 million.  Rather than sell the cars and fund schools or hospitals, the Duterte officials stages a show in which a bulldozer destroyed the cars to send a message against tax evasion.

 

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O Canada: Trudeau Corrects Woman In Public Forum For Using The Term “Mankind”

Screen Shot 2018-02-06 at 8.43.14 AM.pngWe have been discussing the identification of words as “microaggressions” on college campuses including the now suspect use of the word “mankind.” It appears that the word is moving from micro to macro aggression in Canada where a women was told by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that she should not use the word in her question to him.  He is not alone in correcting such usage.  Recently, a female student was given a lower grade for using “mankind” in a paper.

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Iranian Activist Challenges Western “Barbie” Feminism As Veil Protests Continue In Iran

 

download-5We have previously discussed the courage of women in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Muslim nations in fighting sexist rules that prevent them from engaging in basic acts or pursuing their own futures.  As I have said before, these women are the most inspiring civil libertarians of our generation — risking jail and beatings to fight for equality.  That struggle is evident in the dozens of arrests of women in Iran who are pulling off their headscarves in public in Iran to fight for the individual choice in wearing the religious cover.  One activist Masih Alinejab has gone further to denounce Western feminists and reporters who celebrate the selling of a Barbie doll with a veil while giving minimal attention to actual women fighting the mandatory wearing of such items.

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Schiff “Must Be Stopped”: Trump Attacks Schiff As “Liar” and “Leaker”

donald_trump_president-elect_portrait_cropped440px-Adam_Schiff_115th_official_photoI have previously criticized the President for his use of Twitter to attack those conducting the Russian investigation and various critics.  Many of these tweets are in my view clearly inappropriate and distinctly unhelpful to his legal team.  Indeed, today the Hill posted a column where I criticize James Comey for adopting the same use of social media in lashing out at critics.  Now, Trump is attacking Ranking Member Adam Schiff as a “liar and leaker.”  I have recently criticized Schiff for his claims about the highly classified content of the recently released four-page memo.  However, these attacks on social media — and name calling — only serve to undermine the President in this controversy.  Presidents have long strived to maintain a dignified and deliberative position in addressing opposing allegations or critics.  These attacks have not worked well for the President  and fuel allegations that he is defensive and alarmed by these investigations.  For those of us who have questioned the evidence of criminal conduct, the attacks are curious since they fit a narrative put forward by the President’s critics.  I served as lead defense counsel in the impeachment of Judge Thomas Porteous — the last impeachment trial heard by the Senate. My opposing lead counsel was Rep. Adam Schiff, who I found to be a remarkably competent prosecutor and able opponent.

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Stanford Debates Free Speech After Flyers Supporting Law Enforcement Are Torn Down As Hate Speech

ANTI-ICEPRO-ICEAccording to Stanford University students, one of these flyers is a public service and one is hate speech.  There is a controversy at Stanford University reported by College Fix over the distribution of the flyer on the right — a satirical jab at posters encouraging students and faculty to report any ICE activity.  It is clearly satirical and political, but some Stanford students declared it to be hate speech and filed complaints with the university that they now felt unsafe and threatened on campus. The flyers were removed by residential staff. 

 

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The Voice From The “Grave”: How The FBI and Democrats Over-Played The Classification Card On The Nunes Memo

downloadBelow is my column in the Hill newspaper on the controversy over the four-page memo continues to simmer in Washington.  The memo will not change the course of the Mueller investigation.  It may lead however to new investigations. Indeed, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has referred the matter to internal investigators while members have called for a new special counsel.  There remains considerable questions over representations on both sides in the dispute. For example, various Democrats have publicly stated that Deputy Director Andrew McCabe did not say that, absent the dossier, the FBI would probably not have received approval of its FISA application.  What is clear is that someone is lying to the American people.  Indeed, as the column below discusses, the public was already misled on the classified content of the memo.
Here is the column:

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Reed College Pledges To Revise “Western Canon” Course After Protests Over Its “Caucasoid” and “Eurocentric” Focus

images-21Reed College has reached an agreement to  revise a mandatory freshman humanities course focused on the Western Canon after protests that the course was . . . . well  . . .  to Western.  Students denounced the curriculum as “Caucasoid” and “Eurocentric.”  The decision of Reed College comes after the respected academic journal, American Historical Review announced that it was going to “decolonize” the publication.   In a new column, Alex Lichtenstein, professor of history at Indiana University at Bloomington and editor of American Historical Review declared “I have come to believe that the AHR should take the risk of confronting its own potential complicity in the inability of the profession to divest itself fully of its past lack of openness to scholars and scholarship due to race, color, creed, gender, sexuality, nationality and a host of other assigned characteristics.”

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House Intelligence Committee Releases Full Memo Alleging Serious Breaches By FBI In Russian Investigation

HouseofRepSealI will be discussing the memo today in a column in the Hill as well as in the segment with Tucker Carlson.   I fail to see the “grave” classified information that would put the national security at risk.  Indeed, my column addresses the disconnect between the objections made by the FBI and Democratic members and the actual memo. The use of classification laws to prevent disclosure of embarrassing information is itself an abuse of federal law and standards.

The Republicans may have undermined their case by building up this memo as a smoking gun document. Portrayals seems to make this memo the virtual combination of the Pentagon Papers and the Zimmerman telegram. After all of the build up, anything short of a depiction of Hillary Clinton forcing a judge to sign a secret warrant at gunpoint would disappoint most readers. However, there is plenty in this memo that should deeply concern people.

Civil libertarians have complained for years about the tactical use of classification authority by the federal agencies.  This seems a rare and important example of that problem. As to the specific factual representations, they raise clearly troubling questions that need to be addressed on the failure to disclosure information to the FISA court and the alleged heavy reliance on this dossier.

Below is the full memo:

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Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks