Despite national outcry over the blind application of “zero tolerance” rules, school and police officials continue to throw kids into the criminal justice system without any logic or judgment. The latest example is Zach Cassidento, a high school senior at Amity High Regional School who suspended and arrested after simply posted a picture of his birthday gift — an “Airsoft gun,” on Snapchat. He was not charged but was suspended for a day from school.
Category: Society
We have previously discussed the national trend in colleges and universities to require faculty to use an increasing number of different pronouns for students. Faculty questioning such alternative pronouns have been subject to discipline or condemnation. There is even a move in states like California to criminalize the failure to use alternative pronouns. Now, the women’s college Mount Holyoke has ordered faculty to avoid calling its students “women” since some students may identify as non-genders or different genders.
Continue reading “Mount Holyoke Women’s College Orders Professors Not To Call Students “Women””
Below is my column in The Hill Newspaper on the potential legal fallout from the Stormy Daniels interview on CBS 60 Minutes. Notably, yesterday the White House again expressly denied not just the “allegations” but specifically the allegation that President Donald Trump had a sexual tryst with the porn star. That direct denial is precisely what I have warned against in this and other columns. While the Daniels matter is not currently on the table with the Special Counsel, the worsening situation only reinforces why I believe Trump should close the deal on a sit down on the four prior subject matters lead out by Robert Mueller. Notably, my repeatedly stated view that Trump should sever any ties with his radioactive personal counsel Michael Cohen does not appear likely since Trump just arranged a dinner with Cohen at Mar-a-Lago.
Here is the column:
Democratic attorneys general in several states have announced that they will challenge the addition of a citizenship question in the next U.S. Census as hostile to undocumented persons and discriminatory under the 14th Amendment. I do not see the compelling argument against such a question which has been asked in prior years, though not on a decennial survey since 1950.
We have yet another ridiculous example of school officials applying “zero tolerance” policies against a kid for an innocent page of doodling. A 13-year-old boy in the seventh grade drew a stick figure holding a gun and another holding two knives and was promptly suspended from Roseboro-Salemburg Middle School.
There is another horrific report from Pakistan where village elders ordered a “revenge rape” as a punishment. After a man was accused of raping a woman in Pir Mahal in the Toba Tek Singh district of Punjab province, the village council formed and ordered the sister of the accused to be raped by the brother of his victim as justice. They all then reportedly watched the rape.
Abdulah Fahmi Al Hishmawi, 34, and Hamdiyah Saha Al Hishmawi, 33, have been arrested in another appalling case involving an attempted arranged marriage of a young Muslim girl. This case however did not occur in Pakistan or Afghanistan but Texas. They are accused of beating their daughter with a broomstick and the pouring hot cooking oil on her after refusing agree to the the arranged marriage.
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the reported proposal that President Donald Trump sit down with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to address four specific areas of inquiry. Those areas just happen to be the ones where Trump has the strongest and most obvious defenses. If the deal is that this would be a one-time sit down (and any later issues would be addressed in written interrogatories), it is a deal that would be hard to pass up. It is not without considerable risks of course, particularly for any false statement allegations. However, if the President were ready to be properly prepped and listens to counsel, he could thread this needle. It would also avoid a fight over a subpoena. While the law on the question is hardly settled, Mueller could win such a court fight and force Trump into an interview. Both the political and constitutional costs of such a fight should be avoided.
Here is the column:
We recently discussed how University of Illinois math professor Rochelle Gutierrez triggered a national controversy over her work “Building Support for Scholarly Practices in Mathematics Methods” in which she criticized math classes as a “tool of whiteness.” Then we discussed CUNY Professor Laurie Rubel’s publishing of a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Mathematics Education arguing that the concepts of meritocracy and “color-blindness” are ideological precepts that work against minorities. Now four professors denouncing the “hegemony of meritocratic ideology” and the “masculine culture” in engineering courses as hostile to women. University of California (Irvine) Professor Carroll Serron’s March 1 study insists that merit-based advancement in engineering is harming women and fails to consider political factors in recognizing engineers. The professors criticize the focus on “empirical science, technical thinking, merit, and individualism” as the cause for the isolation of female engineers.
The White House announced today that President Trump will not hire Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing as counsel due to conflicts of interest. The announcement of diGenova’s selection led to a chorus of objections from his being a “television lawyer” to a conspiracy theorists. I recently wrote a column that noted that diGenova was the former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and considered one of the most experienced lawyers in the city. However, there was reportedly opposition in the White House including reportedly from John Dowd who resigned around the same time. Dowd has not spoken publicly to confirm or deny that reported position.
Continue reading “White House: diGenova and Toensing Will Not Represent Trump”
The sheer market power of China over American companies was on full display in Nebraska this month where Roy Jones lost his $14-an-hour job with Marriott for “liking” a tweet that referenced Tibet. When the hotel chain was hit with a torrent of complaints from China, Marriott not only fired Jones but assured China that all employees would be sent for retraining.
Below is my column in USA Today on the recent ruling against President Donald Trump in a civil lawsuit where his counsel sought dismissal on constitutional grounds. It was a weak argument that made bad precedent for the Office of the President. With yet another change in his legal team, Trump needs to focus on continuity among his legal team. More lawyers does not necessarily translate to a stronger case. Indeed, it can undermine a case when lawyers are advancing conflicting or reckless arguments.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Bad Cases (and Bad Lawyers) Can Make For Bad Law”
As many on this blog know, I have long been a critic of our sprawling national debt and reckless budgets. I admit to being adverse to our long history of kicking the can down the road with new taxes and higher budgets. Well, we are about to push our kids further into debt with an obscene $1.3 trillion budget bill. The White House and Congress yielded to virtually every temptation in adding to our national debt at a time of tremendous economic uncertainties. We have added $1 trillion to our debt in just the last six months.
Continue reading “Debtor Nation: Congress Approves A Staggering $1,300,000,000,000 Budget”
Municipal Judge Wilfredo Benitez is at the center of a controversy after he reportedly shouted profanities and cited his judicial position after being found passed out by the side of a road. Benitez was later found to be intoxicated. However, his charges were later thrown out by another judge.
At the turn of the last century, surrealists had a parlor game in Paris called “The Exquisite Corpse” where writers would create collective stories by writing lines without knowing what preceded them. The lines were often nonsensical like the line that gave the game its name: “Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau. ” (“The exquisite corpse shall drink the new wine.”) With minutes of his firing, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe became such an exquisite corpse with various politicians adding lines to his story that seemed entirely disconnected to his story. Former FBI Director James Comey used McCabe to pitch his upcoming book while former Attorney General Eric Holder used him to effectively attack career staff at his former agency. The point of the game in both politics and literature is not to advance a coherent narrative but insert your own lines into a collective story.
Continue reading “THE EXQUISITE CORPSE: HOW ANDREW MCCABE IS NOW PART OF THE BODY POLITIC”