Category: Politics

Academia, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Environment, International, Media, Politics, Science, Society, Testimony

TURLEY TESTIFIES IN HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE ON CLIMATE CHANGE CONTROVERSY

800px-Capitol_Building_Full_ViewI will testify this morning before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on the controversy over dueling state and federal investigations involving the climate change debate. After various state attorneys general announced investigations of Exxon Company over its opposition to climate change theories (including subpoenas either to or concerning conservation public interest groups), the Committee issued its own subpoenas to the prosecutors and environmental public interest groups involved in the campaign. That has triggered a confrontation as the prosecutors and environmental groups raised constitutional objections to the House subpoenas. The full committee hearing will start at 10 am in 2318 Rayburn House Office Building.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Former Clinton Aide Defies House Subpoena While Other Former Aides Invoke The Fifth Amendment Right To Remain Silent

logo-mainjason_chaffetz_official_portrait_111th_congressI recently discussed the questions raised over the Justice Department giving the two former aides to Hillary Clinton immunity — and thereby removing any serious threat of prosecution while seeking information on their superiors. As part of that discussion, I posed the question of whether these previously immunized witnesses would defy Congress. That confrontation appears to be brewing after the former State Department IT specialist who set up Hillary Clinton’s private server Bryan Pagliano simply ignored a subpoena to appear this week before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Ironically, I will be testifying this morning on the congressional authority to enforce subpoenas in the House of Representatives. House oversight committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (right) will now have to decide whether to move to hold Pagliano and other defiant former Clinton aides in contempt for refusing to appear or respond to the Committee.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Religion, Society, Supreme Court

BROWN FAMILY FILES APPEAL WITH SUPREME COURT IN SISTER WIVES CASE

Supreme CourtThis afternoon, the Brown family filed its appeal with the United States Supreme Court in the “Sister Wives” case. The case is Brown v. Buhman, No. 14-4117. As lead counsel for the Browns, I am joined on the petition by co-counsel Thomas Huff and we benefited from the input of our long-time co-counsel in Utah, Adam Alba. The petition asks the Court to resolve a longstanding conflict among the courts of appeals concerning the extent to which the government can strategically moot a constitutional challenge to a statute by announcing a new non-enforcement policy during the pendency of litigation. The petition is attached below.

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Bizarre, Politics

County Commissioner Accused Of Removing Campaign Signs Of Opponent

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor.

Frank Gordon
Frank Gordon

It seems incumbent Grays Harbor County, Washington Commission Candidate Frank Gordon has some ‘splainin’ to do.

His election opponent, Randy Ross, noticed that his campaign signs began disappearing at an intersection near the residence of, no pun intended, “Commissioner Gordon”. The defaced signs were reposted, but soon were pulled out and thrown into a weeded area. Unfortunately for the commissioner, a wildlife camera recorded a big surprise for the county.
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Congress, Criminal law, Media, Politics

Clinton Contractor Who Reportedly Destroyed Emails After Preservation Order Was Given Immunity By FBI

Hillary_Clinton_Testimony_to_House_Select_Committee_on_BenghaziWe previously discussed the controversy over the FBI granting immunity to former State Department staffer, Bryan Pagliano, who set up a server in Mrs. Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, N.Y., and worked for her at the State Department. Pagliano had refused to cooperate after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. He was an obvious target of potential criminal charges if he knew that the server was meant to circumvent federal laws, including the mishandling of classified information. The granting of immunity removed the threat for his cooperation, a leverage often used to implication others who may be higher up in the chain of command. Now, as the record appears to confirm that email records were knowingly destroyed after the issuing of a congressional subpoena to preserve such record, it also appears that the Justice Department gave immunity to the other person most at risk of a criminal charge — and the person some are likely to argue would have been the most likely to be able to implicate others. He is computer specialist, Paul Combetta.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Planned Parenthood Law Criticized As Major Rollback on Free Speech and Press Freedoms

200px-Logo_plannedparenthoodCalifornia flagWe have often discussed how free speech is rapidly being curtailed on college campuses in the name of fighting intolerance and ill-defined “microaggressions.” California lawmakers are showing the same dismissive attitude in legislation that is a response to the recent scandal over secretly taped statements by Planned Parenthood officials. The videotapes by activists caused a national backlash against Planned Parenthood so liberal politicians are moving to stamp out future “gotcha” films by sharply curtailing free speech and press freedoms. Democratic state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, and other Democrats dismissed vehement objections from the ACLU, civil liberties, and press freedom groups. I understand the objections to the videotape of Planned Parenthood and the alleged unfairness in editing. However, the solution is not to further criminalize this area of free speech and press freedoms.

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Congress, Criminal law, Politics

Newly Released FBI Records Raise Questions of Intentional Destruction of Evidence By Clinton Contractor

Hillary_Clinton_Testimony_to_House_Select_Committee_on_BenghaziOne of the most troubling aspects of the recently released documents from the FBI is a timeline established for when Clinton staffers used BleachBit to try to eradicate emails and prevent them from ever being recovered. It appears that staff may have deleted the email archive after the staff received a subpoena to preserve all such evidence. The staffer working for Platte River Networks (PRN) in Denver, Colorado reportedly had what was described as an “Oh Shit” moment when they realized that the archive could be used to uncover what the Clinton staff deleted.
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Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Egyptian Member of Parliament Encourages Women To Undergo Female Genital Mutilation To “Reduce Their Sexual Desires” To Match “Sexually Weak” Egyptian Men

441px-Coat_of_arms_of_Egypt_(Official).svgWe have yet another story highlighting the horrific abuse faced by women in many Muslim countries. Egyptian member of parliament Elhamy Agina this month has reportedly encouraged women to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) to “reduce their sexual desires.” His rationale for this primitive abuse is particularly bizarre: women must mutilate themselves to lower sexual desires to match that of Egypt’s “sexually weak” men.

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Environment, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society, Torts

Native Americans Protesting Pipeline Attacked By “Goon Squad” Using Dogs And Pepper Spray

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor.

attack-dog-democ-now
Attack Dogs, Native American Blood

In a shameful and terrible scene reminiscent of police attacks against civil rights advocates and union busting of the 1920’s, the Dakota Access pipeline company dispatched its “goon squad” which unleashed attack dogs and pepper spray, injuring several Native American protesters. What began as a peaceful protest deteriorated into a new and shameful moment in today’s America, symbolized quite fittingly with images of Native Americans’ blood in the teeth of Corporate America’s attack dogs.
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Academia, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Politics, Society

Purdue Follows University of Chicago In Standing Ground In Favor Of Free Speech

Purdue_University_Seal.svgWe recently discussed the courageous stand of the University of Chicago against the growing speech codes and “safe spaces” in campuses around the country. Now, Purdue University has taken its own stand in favor of free speech in adopting “the Chicago principles.”

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Bizarre, Media, Politics, Society

CNN Blurs Out Trump Tee-Shirt In Interview With Hero Former Police Officer

Unknown-1CNN has become the leading target of conservatives objecting to a bias in the media in both attacking Donald Trump and giving Hillary Clinton a pass on her own controversies. Now Headline News has blurred the name “Trump” on the tee-shirt of a hero former police officer being interviewed for saving a baby. It appears that someone viewed his shirt as unacceptable to be shown as if it were profanity. This followed a controversy at CNN where a Trump tweet was edited to remove the word “Crooked” in front of Hillary Clinton’s name.
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Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion

Saudi Arabian Atheist Sent to Jail For 10 Years and 2000 Lashes For Discussing His Lack of Faith On Social Media

125px-Coat_of_arms_of_Saudi_Arabia.svgSaudi Arabia has long been an exporter of extremist Islamic values as part of its Wahhabi sect. Despite our close alliance with the Kingdom, it imposes radical Islamic Sharia principles and denies basic rights to women, non-Muslims, and dissidents. In the latest outrage from Saudi Arabia, a court has sentenced a man to ten years in prison and 2,000 lashes for merely expressing his atheism on Twitter. It appears that the Saudi and Sharia courts are terrified that people could actually inform other Saudis of alternatives to Islam or different values.  The fear and anger only appeared to grow when the Kingdom could not coerce the 28-year-old who refused to repent and stood by his human right to express his faith.  We previously discussed this case, but Saudi Arabia is proceeding with the whippings as this man remains defiant.

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Politics

New Mexico Attorney Sues Senate To Force Garland Vote

Merrick_GarlandSupreme Court nominee Merrick Garland is in the unenviable position of having everyone in Washington saying nice things about him. There are two occasions when that is common: a judicial nomination going no where and eulogy. For Garland, it may be both. The Senate Republicans have already said that Garland will not receive a hearing, let alone a vote, before the inauguration of the next president. For attorney Steven Michel, that is too long. Michel has filed an action in federal court demanding a judicial order to force the Senate to take up the Garland nomination. Despite my agreement that Garland should receive a vote, the lawsuit is meritless in my view. The Senate clearly has the authority to withhold consent by refusing a hearing or a vote to a nominee.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Islamic Politicians Who Advocated Chastity Arrested For Allegedly Having Sex In Car On Public Beach

160823-islamist-couple-caught-in-car-featureMoulay Omar Benhammad, 63, and Fatima Nejjar, 62, have long been figures in the Islamic community calling for chastity and advocating Islamic justice. The two Islamic politicians are now under fire after being found allegedly having sex on a Moroccan beach.

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Congress, Politics, Society

The Farce That Is FOIA: The State Department Stonewalled The Associated Press For Three Years On Foundation Donor Story

StateDepartmentI recently discussed the implications of Associated Press story on access given to donors to the Clinton Foundation. However, what is not getting much attention is that the Obama Administration delayed these journalist investigators for THREE YEARS in seeking this information from the State Department. Three years and the AP had to go to court to secure what is clearly public information. The Obama Administration is not unique in its resistance to disclosures, even in what President Obama once pledged would be the “most transparent” government in history. FOIA has long been reduced to a farce by bureaucrats who force public interest, journalistic, and legal groups to go to court to secure information. The lack of outrage over what the AP was put through is ample proof that the government has won in harassing efforts to use FOIA. Only the most organized groups tend to persist in such efforts.

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