Russians are very upset with the EU bailout of Cyprus which involved tapping larger bank accounts to pony up the money needed to secure the loan. Russians use banks on the island and could lose billions. I happen to agree that the plan is grossly unfair and penalizes those who have saved their money in a responsible fashion. Yet, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev seems to be channeling not just Lenin but Joe Biden in a recent bizarre public statement that in Cyprus “the stealing of what has already been stolen continues.” The comment left many scratching their heads on precisely what the Russian leader was saying about wealthy Russians.
Category: Politics
Below is today’s column in USA Today. It is a follow up to my speech at the National Press Club on the 4oth anniversary of Watergate. The event included a number of Watergate figures from Daniel Ellsberg to Liz Holtzman to Alexander Butterfield and others. It was an extraordinary event organized by Common Cause.
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Stung by the historic defeat in last year’s presidential election, the GOP has embarked upon a relaunch of its ideology. RNC chair Reince Priebus has approved a strategy paper (click to read) composed by Republican bigwigs Henry Barbour (Haley’s nephew) and Ari Fleischer that makes a remarkable discovery:
The Republican Party must be the champion of those who seek to climb the economic ladder of life. Low-income Americans are hard-working people who want to become hard-working middle-income Americans. Middle-income Americans want to become upper-middle-income, and so on. We need to help everyone make it in America.
We previously discussed how the number of dead pigs in Chinese rivers leading to Shanghai has increased from a few hundred to just under 1000. The number is now 16,000 and counting. Yet, Chinese officials insist they have no idea who dumped over 16,000 pigs into the water but that the rivers, used for drinking water, is completely safe.
Continue reading “16,000 and Counting: Chinese Continue To Pull Out Dead Pigs From River Used By Shanghai Residents”
We have been following (here and here and here and here and here) the worsening situation in England concerning free speech. As noted in a recent column, free speech appears to be dying in the West with the increasing criminalization of speech under discrimination, hate, and blasphemy laws. Now, a French Jewish student group is adding its name to the movement to curtail free speech rights. The Union of Jewish Students (UEJF) is demanding 38.5 million euros after Twitter has declined to turn over the identity of people responsible for comments deemed anti-Semitic by the group. The students appear to have no concept or at least concern for the loss of anonymity in free speech. Like others, they are focused only on their insular grievance with no appreciation for the harm caused by such court orders.
It appears that, while Saudi Arabia will kill citizens for blasphemy, they do not appear to have much respect for Islamic history or preservation. Photos snuck out of Mecca show wholesale destruction of ancient sections of holy sites as part of an expansion project. What is astonishing is the lack of any effort of preservation due to . . . you guessed it, Wahabi clerics who declared that the sections are better destroyed in the name of Islamic principles. It is ironic that, as a non-Muslim, I am outraged by the loss of such historical areas. Photos of the destruction were published here by The Independent.
The New Jersey delegation clearly likes to travel . . . on someone else’s tab. Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) is reportedly under grand jury investigation for those trips to the Dominican Republic. WIth or without prostitutes, as we discussed earlier, the trips are highly problematic. Now, there is an ethics investigation of Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) who once vowed to “drain the swamp” of corruption in the House. It appears that Andrews needed to get out of the swamp for expensive trips that were allegedly paid for by campaign funds.
This weekend, Caleb Gordley, 16, was shot and killed in a home that he mistook for his own after sneaking out for a party. The homeowner confronted Gordley on the stairs inside the home and said that the teenager ignored a warning shot. The shooting occurred after the failure of a “Castle Doctrine” law in Virginia’s General Assembly — a law that we have discussed previously on this blog that gives homeowners protections in the use of lethal force with anyone illegally entering their domicile. Ironically, the bill was shot down by gun groups that felt that the common law offered more protection.
Continue reading “Homeowner Shoots and Kills Teen Who Entered Wrong Home After Party”
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has pulled prosecutors out of all traffic court and domestic violence cases after her office laid off 22 prosecutors due to budget cuts. Now, with Detroit cutting its police force to a dangerous level, the chances of getting caught in a crime is much lower in the city and, if that does occur, the case may be dismissed due to a lack of a prosecutor. Defendants are finding themselves cleared without even having to raise a defense. It is not clear whether police will continue to make arrests in these areas if Worthy is not going to prosecute. Detroit has not only been hit with a falling population and the loss of the auto industry but a political system that has retained incompetent and corrupt politicians — many of whom have been under criminal investigation. As for Worthy, we have previously discussed her controversial prosecutorial decisions and her own scandal over a foreclosed home. I presume that among the cases that will not be prosecuted is Worthy’s prior controversial demand to prosecute parents who miss teacher-parent meetings at public schools.
An Adjunct Law Professor from the University of Oregon has been removed from teaching responsibilities after a confrontation with students that was partially filmed. James Olmsted had a confrontation with students protesting immigration policies on March 14th in which he and students exchange foul language and at one point Olmsted advises them to “start a war, get a gun, shoot me first.”
Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder left no question about the Administration’s support of the abusive treatment of Aaron Swartz by US Attorney Carmen Ortiz and Deputy US Attorney Stephen Heymann. Heymann was previously linked to a suicide in another prosecution. We have discussed the abusive prosecution earlier and Swartz’s suicide after months of unrelenting threats and coercion. Holder heralded the treatment of Swartz as an example of the “good use of prosecutorial discretion.” Swartz’s girlfriend has come forward to denounce Holder and the Obama Administration for its misrepresentations in the case.
Continue reading “Holder Defends Swartz Abuse As Example Of Good Prosecutorial Discretion”
AEK Athens midfielder Giorgos Katidis is the latest celebrity to embrace that “I’m a moron” defense in the wake of a scandal. In celebration of a goal against Veria last week, Katidis did a Nazi salute. It would be an outrage in any country but the Germans in World War II killed as many as 800,000 of his countrymen — though the precise number has been recently debated. He has now been banned from the national team.
Continue reading “Greek Soccer Star Banned Over Nazi Salute”
Just when you thought that blasphemy laws could not get any worse, the Muslim Brotherhood has come up with a new idea: citizen arrests of tourists for blasphemy. The Middle East is replete with cases of mobs killing people accused of the slightest offense toward Islam. Now, according to Internet reporting, the Egyptian prosecutor general for the Muslim Brotherhood has pushed through a new law permitting ordinary Egyptians to arrest those who offend Islamic law.
Continue reading “Egypt’s Government Moves Toward Blasphemy Citizen Arrests”
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
My representative, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, has been doing a lot of talking recently about public schools. Criticized for “softening” his tough stand on social issues, Cantor has taken to the lectern to buff up his right-wing street cred. And what better whipping boy than public education?
Take for instance this little dittie in February while speaking to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) about budget priorities even as he diverted attention from the impending sequestration mess that he helped bring about. Lamenting the lack of progress on curing diseases such as brain cancer, Cantor remarked, “There is an appropriate and necessary role for the federal government to ensure funding for basic medical research. Doing all we can to facilitate medical breakthroughs for people … should be a priority. We can and must do better …. Funds currently spent by the government on social science – including on politics of all things – would be better spent helping find cures to diseases.” As if one must exclude the other, you know.
Continue reading “Eric Cantor And The GOP’s Assault On Public Schools”
by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
In what may be good news for civil libertarians in a decision released on Friday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston (District Court of Northern California, 9th Circuit, San Francisco) ordered the government to stop issuing National Security Letters (NSL) across the board, holding that issuing the NSLs violate the 1st Amendment Right to Free Speech and Right of Free Association. For those of you not familiar with NSLs, they are written demands from the FBI that compel phone companies, internet service providers, credit companies, financial institutions and others to hand over confidential records about their customers. This information includes subscriber information, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, websites visited, physical local of mobile phones, etc. NSLs have been controversial from the start as they did not require court approval and they come with a built-in gag order that prevents recipients from disclosing to anyone that they have even received an NSL. FBI agents essentially self-issue an NSL with only the only oversight being a sign-off from the Special Agent in Charge of their office. There is no judicial oversight, no proof required, just the mere assertion by the Executive controlled FBI that the information is “relevant” to an investigation into international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities and their own Executive generated approval.
The words “unchecked rubber stamp” come to mind.
This stunning defeat for the Obama administration’s surveillance practices as carried over from the Bush Administration in a power that was created by Congress in 1986 but greatly expanded by the controversial Patriot Act is good news, but not great news. Judge Illston concurrently issued a 90-day stay on her orders to allow the government to appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the ruling is narrow in scope (see below). This case is not, however, the first swing at this question before the court(s) and it is unlikely to be the last.
Continue reading “National Security Letters Ruled Unconstitutional”