Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the Gates plea deal and what Special Counsel Robert Mueller could be hoping to achieve beyond sealing the fate of Paul Manafort. In guaranteeing the testimony of Manafort’s close associate, Mueller may have practically limited the options to a plea or a pardon for Manafort. For the moment, Manafort seems more likely to wait for the latter than the former. He chastised his former aide as lacking “the strength to continue the battle to prove our innocence.” Perhaps, but Mueller clearly believes that whatever strength is lacking in Gates as a person will be made up as a witness facing 48-71 months in prison.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “The Gates Plea: Manafort’s Options May Now Run From Plea to Pardon To Prison”
Pakistan continues to show the world that it remains on the course of Islamic extremism and increasingly intolerant of free exercise and free speech. Now the Pakistani government is warning media not to cover the increasingly popular Valentine’s Day celebrations. Islamic clerics have declared the Western holiday to be an offense to Islam. None of these clerics or government officials appear concerned that there is a far greater danger to Islam if it is threatened by people wanting to exchange Valentines or throwing parties.
Gloria 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 
We 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.
A leading Muslim cleric in India has issued a decree barring females from attending soccer matches. Why? Mufti Athar Kasmi, head of a strict Indian seminary, has declared that the exposed knees of players is an unIslamic influence on females.
A feminist activist from the extremist group Femen ran onto the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Monday and tried to steal the baby Jesus. The woman screaming “God is woman” was tackled by Vatican gendarme. 
We have hit another milestone today with over 33,000,000 views. We are also expected to reach 35,000 followers on Twitter. That hardly makes us competition for the largest sites but it is still an impressive collection of people seeking a place for civil but passionate discourse on legal and policy issues of our time (and perhaps a few wacky stories). We often use these milestones to look at the current profile of the blog and its supporters around the world.
Jim Bakker was last seen by most people after his sex scandal and then sentencing for fraud. Now he is back and he will totting pancake mix. Bakker is shilling for people to call a 1-888 phone number to give him $60 (plus shipping) for a bucket of pancake mix. The alternative appears to be starving your children and handing them over to the Biblical Beast.
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Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore has long been controversial and I will readily admit to being one of his most vocal critics over his defiance of legal authority and extremist views. However, he is now perfectly radioactive after 
I have often criticized Saudi Arabia for its application of a medieval Sharia system of law and its intolerance for both free speech and freedom of religion. It is important however to recognize improvements in the Kingdom, such as the recent decision to allow women to drive and the expanding political rights of women. This week brought another such positive development. Saudi Arabia’s next king, Mohammed bin Salman, gave a 
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Pakistan’s Senate has struck down legislation last week that would have increased the minimum age girls to marry from age from 16 to 18. We have previously discussed various cases of child brides being forced into marriage under the medieval Islamic traditions and laws governing much of Pakistan. However, there was hope that the legislature would be more supportive of the basic rights of these girls. That hope was dashed when the