We have previously seen protests on colleges to end yoga classes as “cultural appropriation.” Now Michigan State University professor Shreena Gandhi has written a long critique of white people who practice yoga as promulgating a “system of power, privilege, and oppression.” Gandhi insists that yoga is an extension of white supremacy and the “yoga industrial complex.” Ganhdi co-authored the piece with Lillie Wolff who describes herself as “an antiracist white Jewish organizer, facilitator, and healer.” Wolff has called for “decolonizing” yoga.
Category: Society
A privately owned, New Zealand-based space company in under fire after after it secretively put a satellite that will function like a giant disco ball in orbit. Critics have likened the act to “space graffiti” and the launching should trigger an international conference on preventing such unilateral actions in the future.
Continue reading “New Zealand Company Under Fire For “Space Graffiti””
Carrie Underwood achieved great success with her hit “Jesus Take The Wheel” (“Jesus, take the wheel; Take it from my hands; ‘Cause I can’t do this on my own; I’m letting go “) It didn’t quite work that way for Chad England, 33, who was arrested after flipping his car over five times — an accident preceded by his letting Jesus drive him home.
The New York Times has posted a blockbuster story that President Donald Trump ordered that Special Counsel Robert Mueller be fired last June but White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn II prevented the order from being carried out by threatening to resign. If true, it is a chilling disclosure that such a clearly self-defeating and unwarranted act was not just considered but ordered. The firing would have magnified calls for possible impeachment and would have led Congress to move on such options as the renewal of the Independent Counsel Act. While I have written extensively (here and here and here) on Mueller’s conflicts of interest and why he should never have been considered for such a post, I have also stressed that any firing of Mueller would be an act of utter lunacy in the midst of this investigation.
Several sources are being cited for a story this morning that President Donald Trump asked Andrew McCabe, then the acting Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation, who he had voted for in the presidential election. If true, it would be another highly inappropriate question for a president to ask an FBI official. Such questions undermine the apolitical status of our law enforcement officials. Indeed, for those concerned about
“Deep State” political bias, the last thing that we want is for officials to be actively questioned about their voting in elections — compromising the sanctity of the voting booth for all citizens. In the meantime, media outlets are also reporting that Attorney General Jeff Sessions pushed FBI Director Christopher Wray to fire McCabe. While the White House denies that Wray threatened to resign, such an effort would show a remarkably long learning curve for this Administration. Update: President Trump says that he does not recall asking McCabe who he voted for in the presidential election.
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the new California law that the state Attorney General is pledging to enforce against employers who are cooperating with federal immigration authorities. There are ample grounds for either businesses or the federal government or both to bring a legal action. The arguments of California in Arizona v. United States — and the holding in that case — could prove damaging to the position of the state.
The watchdog group Common Cause on filed a complaint on Monday with the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department alleging that Donald Trump violated federal law with his secret payment of $130,000 to a porn star known as Stormy Daniels. Daniels gave a long interview to In Touch magazine detailing a yearlong affair with Trump but later accepted the money and signed a statement denying such a sexual relationship. Common Cause argues that the payment was “an unreported in-kind contribution to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., and an unreported expenditure by the committee — because the funds were paid for the purpose of influencing the 2016 president general election — in violation of the campaign finance reporting requirements.”
The personal lawyer of President Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, reportedly threatened to sue a tabloid magazine if it published an interview with the former adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2011. Daniels told In Touch that she had an affair with Trump that started shortly after Melania Trump gave birth to her son Barron. The threat appeared to work and the story never ran. During the presidential campaign, Cohen used a fake name and shell company to give $130,000 to the porn star to deny any sexual relationship. The publication sets up an interesting legal question of whether Trump will sue as threatened and how this might play out under the standard set out in New York Times v. Sullivan. You have a porn star who does have two clearly opposing statements on the affairs as the main source for the article. However, a lawsuit would present risks that few lawyers would consider worth taking in a legal action.
There remains an intense debate over the legal and ethical implications of former FBI Director James Comey removing FBI memos and leaking the information to the press. Despite serious allegations of unethical conduct, Comey has been chosen to teach a course on “ethical leadership” at William and Mary in the Fall.
Continue reading “Comey To Teach Course On “Ethical Leadership””
One of the elements to the recent tax bill that drew considerable opposition was the move to a neutral tax system that no longer allowed for the writing off of state taxes. However, there is a valid argument for such an approach since many citizens in low tax states do not benefit to the same degree. Indeed, those taxpayers have complained that they are effectively subsidizing taxpayers in states like New York and California even though they often make considerably less. I have come to support the approach for a different reason. It forces local politicians to bear the true costs of tax hikes since they can no longer dismiss objections by saying that their increases will simply be recovered as a deduction on federal taxes. Now, however, California legislators have pushed legislation to force businesses to give back half of their federal tax savings.
Continue reading “California Moves To Force Businesses To Give Half Of Tax Cut To The State”
As the proud owner of a goldendoodle (Luna), I could not resist posting this story about two hero labradoodles named Adam and Eva. While St. Bernards get all of the rescue press, these two canine superheroes just saved an elderly woman from freezing to death in Michigan.
Continue reading “Meet Adam and Eva: America’s New Canine Heroes”
Below is an expanded version of my column that ran in USA Today on the approaching expiration of the statute of limitations for prosecuting former National Intelligence Director James Clapper for perjury. This is a city that protects its own and Clapper is the Beltway equivalent of a made man. People like Clapper do not get prosecuted. We do not call them criminal; just complicated.
Here is the column:
Judge Jack Robison appears to be channeling a higher authority recently in Comal County, Texas. Robison interrupted jurors during deliberations to inform the panel that God told him to acquit Gloria Romero-Perez of trafficking a teenage girl for sex. It appears that divine judgment did not track well with the jury, which proceeded to find Perez guilty as charged.
President Trump‘s personal lawyer Michael Cohen is under fire this week after The Wall Street Journal reported that Cohen used what appear to be shell companies and fake names to pay a porn star called Stormy Daniels $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement. Daniels states in a prior but unpublished interview that she had an affair with Trump that began shortly after Trump married Melania Trump and had their son Baron. She said that the affair lasted roughly a year and the money was paid during the campaign around the time of the release of the disturbing Access Hollywood tape. Cohen has previously denied any affair and insisted that both Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford) and Trump deny any sexual relationship. The new information has led some to question Cohen’s veracity and the role of an attorney in maintaining such a denial if the representation is untrue. I am less confident that a clear ethical line was crossed by Cohen simply because he used such companies or has maintained the denial of any relationship.