Lal Singh Arya, 53, is the minister for happiness in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. He is also a suspect in a murder and is now believed to be on the lam as police search for him. The victim is an opposition politician who was killed in 2009.
Continue reading “Indian Minister of Happiness Sought As Murder Suspect”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has rightfully filed a police complaint over a fake sexual harassment complaint against him, including the forged signature of a former aide. This is a vicious attack on Schumer that vividly illustrates the hatefilled madness that has taken so many citizens on both the left and the right in today’s poisonous political environment. I am heartened by the filing. Finding the culprit or culprits behind this fake complaint would take a small but meaningful step to bringing a element of responsibility back to our political discourse.
Continue reading “Schumer Files Real Complaint Over False Sexual Harassment Complaint”
Doctor Simon Bramhall, 53, was in a Birmingham Crown Court admitting a truly heinous act this week: burning his initials on the livers of two unconscious patients during transplant operations. While denying assault involving actual bodily harm, he pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by beating.
We have previously discussed the alarming rollback on free speech rights in the West, particularly in France (here and here and here and here and here and here) and England ( here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). Much of this trend is tied to the expansion of hate speech and non-discrimination laws. Once allowed to criminalize speech, individuals and groups demand more and more prohibitions. England is in a free fall over free speech and this week is yet another example. The police have indicated that they are considering making wolf whistles the latest category of hate speech.
Continue reading “UK Moves To Make Wolf Whistles and Misogynistic Speech A Hate Crime”
After an appalling performance during the election that handed Roy Moore a desperately needed claim of misrepresentation by an alleged victim, attorney Gloria Allred appeared on CNN for a victory lap — an interview that only briefly touched on the debacle over her press conference with Beverly Young Nelson. Allred ignored the fact that Jones won despite her blundering during the campaign. Putting aside the obvious lack of responsibility, Allred did agree with Nelson that this is not over because there is still the matter of defamation to address on behalf of Nelson. That sounds like a threat of a Nelson defamation action, which is precisely what my column today is calling for. Let’s find out who is lying in Alabama. Both Moore and Nelson should stop threatening lawsuit and actually sue.
Continue reading “Allred Appears To Threaten Defamation Action In Moore Controversy”
Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the surprising move of the Republican House of Representatives toward a contempt action against officials in the Trump Administration. While some have called for the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate the dossier controversy, I continue to question the necessity of such an appointment even though I believe that there is a need for an investigation. I believe that Congress can fully investigate the allegations of political influence in the federal investigation into the matter. However, that will only be the case if congressional committees can secure the information that they require (and are entitled to) as part of their oversight authority. Any such effort will have to deal with a long history of contempt by the Justice Department for congressional oversight investigations.
Here is the column:
There is an interesting lawsuit in Ohio against Oberlin College by a small family-owned bakery over a racially charged case of shoplifting. Gibson’s Bakery alleges that school officials encouraged a boycott over false accusations of racism after three Oberlin students were arrested at the business. What is curious is that the students pleaded guilty to the charges and the Oberlin police found no evidence of racism, but the bakery is still be accused of racial profiling and running a “racist establishment.”
To the relief of many (including many Republicans), Roy Moore was defeated tonight in a very close election. Almost 2 percent of voters elected to vote for write-in candidates. That margin may have been the determinative factor for Doug Jones to prevail. I have been a critic of Moore for many years and obviously did not hide my view that he represented both a legal and moral hazard. In my view, his defeat was far better for the GOP than his victory. His presence in the Senate would have presented a constantly corrosive and divisive element for the GOP in seeking to defend the Senate majority in 2018.
There is a brewing controversy at Fordham University where students were thrown out of a coffee shop called Rodrigue’s Coffee House simply because they were wearing pro-Trump “Make America Great Again” hats. The manager of the shop insisted that the hats violated its “safe space” policy as if being conservative is now a de facto threat to other students. We recently discussed an increase in such conflicts in coffee shops targeting conservatives and Trump supporters. In this case, the encounter was captured on tape (below) and raises serious questions about the function of some “safe spaces” and whether it is code for an area protected from conservative views or voices.
The GW Hatchet, our award-winning student newspaper, has another interesting article this week on the establishment of a new group on campus, the Internationalist Students’ Front, an anti-fascist, anti-nationalist organization. They are advocates of internationalism, a position similar to the prior world socialist movement. The addition of such groups are a good thing for our university in bringing diverse and passionate views to our campus debates. However, it is worrisome that the first organized effort of the group is reportedly to ban a book on campus.
Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on a little known case involving Trump attorney John Dowd and the broader issue of conflicts among key players in the Russian investigation.
Here is the column:
I recently criticized Gloria Allred for giving Roy Moore a badly needed boost in her belated admission that her client wrote some of the words that she attributed to Moore in the now infamous yearbook press controversy. Now CNN and other media outlets have given critics the most compelling evidence that they are seeking to allege that our media is rife with “fake news.” Trump himself pounced on the false report. CNN went all in on a report from Congressional reporter Manu Raju that Wikileaks gave the Trumps early access to undisclosed hacked emails before they were made public. The story was wrong on the key date and failed to note that the source was just some unknown character encouraging the campaign to look at the publicly available material. Brookings Institution’s Ben Wittes and others joined in the spasm of “bombshell” reporting, as detailed by Glenn Greenwald. This follows the Washington Post reporter David Weigel tweeting a false image of empty seats at a recent rally to contradict Trump’s latest crowd assertions — a picture that was found before Trump spoke. Trump called for Weigel’s firing, which I have said would be excessive (even though Weigel has made past controversial statements against conservatives before the Post hired him). Weigel withdrew the tweet and apologized. I think that that is sufficient and the Trump Administration should be the most sympathetic with wayward tweets. The more serious issue is the CNN coverage of the Wikileaks story and the eagerness to pounce on any story damaging to the Trump Administration. That is a legitimate basis for criticism and review. If this were not Trump, would CNN have run with the “bombshell” without more scrutiny? The alleged lack of circumspection and caution on the story has been raised as characteristic of much of the Trump coverage. (Notably, Fox was also criticized for a headline on the yearbook disclosure, though the objection was to the use of “forgery” in the headline not the content of the reporting).
Continue reading “Boom or Bust: How The Media Fulfilled Trump Narrative On “Fake News””
I have been critical of the representation afforded by Gloria Allred and her daughter Lisa Bloom in past cases, including the rapid calling of press conferences at the height of news cycles. Most recently I was critical of Allred’s handling of Roy Moore accuser Beverly Nelson, the press conference has not only resulted in her being nationally ridiculed but she was accused of falsifying Moore’s signature on a yearbook. Allred’s defense of her client on the charge has been so anemic and uncertain that many have taken it as a concession. Allred’s eagerness to hold press conferences gave Moore exactly what he hoped to find: a basis for challenging the veracity of his accusers. After numerous evasive interviews that played into Moore’s hand, Allred called another press event and admitted that Nelson did indeed write some of the words attributed to Moore in the yearbook. Now Moore can go into the final stretch of the election claiming that the victim’s evidence was not what she had claimed. It would have been better to have admitted this weeks ago, but Allred waited for the Friday before the election to bury her own gross negligence in the news cycle. This does not alter my view that the allegations against Moore are credible and disqualifying (including another witness who came forward this week), but rather than the blunder played into the hands of those who are struggling to ignore the moral hazard that is Roy Moore.
Continue reading “Allred Admits That Client Wrote Some Of The Words Attributed To Moore In Yearbook”
Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn) will resign in light of the increasing number of women alleging sexual harassment and assault. It is the end of a remarkable career that took Franken from Saturday Night Live to the most exclusive club in Washington.
The resignation reminded me of a column that I wrote when Franken first ran. I wrote about the striking difference between Franken and Peter Agre, a nobel prize winning humanitarian respected around the world. As I discussed in the column, the result seemed inevitable in American politics as voters decided between the cheap shot celebrity and the world renown scientist. Franken would respond to my column and went on to trounce Agre who would have doubled the IQ of the Senate by simply joining it.
As the governor of Minnesota looks for a replacement, it is worth noting that Agre is still available and still the more qualified candidate. In case Gov. Mark Dayton has lost his number, here is his academic email and site.
The 2007 column is below: