I have previously criticized U.S. laws barring public contracts or employment with people who support the boycott or boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Those laws raise troubling questions under the First Amendment and various courts have pushed back on the constitutionality of such laws. Now Israel is holding an American university student for a week because she supported the BDS movement. Lara Alqasem, 22, was held depending appeal at Ben-Gurion Airport. She has Palestinian grandparents and was told that she could be released if she apologizes and disavows any boycotting of Israel. Continue reading “Israel’s Denies Entry and Jails American Student on Suspicion Of Supporting The BDS Movement”
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Dr. Carol Christine Fair, an associate professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown, has created a firestorm of controversy after she called for the castration and “miserable death” of Republican senators. This is not her first such controversy in profanely attacking Republicans.
We previously discussed Fair tirades against Republicans. Continue reading “Georgetown Professor Again Triggers A Firestorm of Controversy With Hateful Anti-Republican Comments”
Below is my column in USA Today on the upcoming hearing on the allegations of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford against Judge Bret Kavanaugh. There has been a strange disconnect as Democrats denounce Republicans for prejudging Ford or denying her an impartial hearing while they announced in advance that they believe her — and by extension they do not believe Kavanaugh. While the Senate is not a court of law, both sides recognize that they are supposed to afford witnesses a fair and unbiased hearing, particularly when the subject is such a serious allegation as attempted rape.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Blind Justice or Blind Rage: The Kavanaugh-Ford Hearing and the Politics Of Belief”
There has remained considerable debate over the number of illegal immigrants in the country — a figure that obviously has great import in our ongoing debate over immigration policy. Now, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have completed a study that that doubles the prior estimate of 11 million. That figure was used to argue for the passage of amnesty legislation. However, the study finds that the actual number is roughly 22 million. Continue reading “Twenty-Two Million: Yale/MIT Study Doubles Prior Estimate of Illegal Immigrants In The United States”
After the Senate agreed to extend the last deadline on Friday to 2:30 today, Christine Blasey Ford has agreed to testify while seeking to continue to negotiate on some details with the Senate. It is not clear how much progress has been made since Ford previously said she would testify but would not agree on the date or conditions. Then she pulled back from that commitment while seeking conditions. Now she is saying again that she would testify but again asking for conditions and negotiations.
Continue reading “Ford Agrees To Testify Next Week But Seeks Further Negotiation On Conditions”
We have often discussed the ridiculous measures taken in Islamic countries to protect their citizens from temptations from banning Zumba to renaming “hot dogs.” The BBC is now reporting that Iran’s state broadcaster has been busy making television Islamically correct, like removing images of women eating cucumbers on television. However, one particular standout is censoring images of rear ends of water buffalos.
Continue reading “Iran Censors Bar Images Of “Provocative” Buffalo Butts”
During the recent national debate over net neutrality, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai insisted that companies would not engage in unfair throttling of customers and would act reasonably and fairly in using their control over wireless service. The CC, Pai, and Verizon are under withering attack this week after Verizon throttled the wireless service of the Santa Clara Fire Department in the middle of fighting a massive fire emergency — putting both first responders and citizens alike at risk. The fire fighters were told by Verizon in the middle of their emergency that they might want to upgrade their plans with Verizon and the company would be happy to help them with a new plan. Continue reading “Critics Attack Verizon and the FCC After Company Throttles The Santa ClaraFire Department During Emergency”
The appearance of Michael Cohen in court as a self-confessed felon was as riveting as predictable as scene in this unfolding drama. Indeed, if this is ever made into a movie, it would seem all too formulaic. Cohen is the ultimate red-shirt defendant. In the film industry, “red shirts” are characters in a movie plot that inevitably die (like those red shirted security officers in Star Trek that always seem to face demise by the end of an episode). You can often spot a red shirt in that character who is so over-the-top in reading letters from home or over compensating in the face of a pending battles. They are dead men walking. If you play back the last year, there is one guy who stands out in the red shirt, the guy who has to implode and flip. It is Michael Cohen. Continue reading “Michael Cohen, The Ultimate Red Shirt Defendant Takes A Plea”
It is not clear what is worse: having your wife fall off your sailboat or not noticing for four hours that she is gone. That is the situation of a couple in Newport, Rhode Island where a woman fell of her husband’s 39-foot sailboat while sailing from Newport to East Greenwich.
We have been following the unfolding disaster in Venezuela where the socialist dream of Hugo Chavez and his dim-witted successor Nicolas Maduro has reduced a major nation to virtual starvation. The central planning of Maduro’s nation has destroyed the oil-based economy and triggered inflation that is projected to reach 1 million percent within the year. Maduro however continues to follow the absurd economic model of Chavez and his chief ally, Cuba (another economic basket case). Now in a move that will worsen an already horrific situation, Maduro has ordered five zeros to be simply erased on the inflated currency while increasing the minimum wage by over 3000 percent. Continue reading “Faced With One Million Percent Inflation, Venezuela’s Socialist Government Strikes Five Zeros Off Its Currency”
I have been critical of the decision of President Donald Trump to rescind the clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan and to release a list of other officials to be reviewed — officials who are uniformly critics of the President. Despite my criticism of everyone on the list, I viewed the unprecedented action to be unwarranted and retaliatory. However, Brennan himself does not help the case for those of us opposing the action. This weekend Brennan walked back his earlier reckless statement that Trump press conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin was treasonous. Now Brennan insists that when he called Trump treasonous he did not mean that he actually committed treason. Continue reading “Brennan: I Did Not Mean Trump Was Treasonous When I Said His Actions Are “Nothing Short Of Treason””
We often discuss the people who refuse to adhere to park signs or barriers at the risk to themselves and wildlife. The latest march of the morons was captured on a series of selfies by a man who waded into a river full of bears in a closed section of the Katmai National Park with two other people. The National Park Service is now preparing charges against this group after various people contacted them with the evidence from a webcam.
The end of the trial of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort today proved controversial after the defense counsel made reference to the alleged selective prosecution by the Special Counsel. If accounts are accurate, it would seem a direct violation of the prior understanding with the court that no party was to make reference to selective prosecution and the Special Counsel investigation of President Donald Trump.
Controversial FBI official Peter Strzok has been fired by the FBI — joining former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe in the ignoble distinction of being terminated by an agency that rarely jettisons its own. The firing creates an obvious dissonant element to the Democratic defense of Strzok as someone unfairly hounded by the Republicans. The terminations of McCabe and Strzok are based on the view of officials who viewed their conduct as unacceptable and, in McCabe’s case, potentially criminal.
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One notable controversy was raised by Strzok attorney Aitan Goelman, who maintained that Deputy Director David Bowdich “overruled” the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility to remove him. The suggestion is that career officials did not view Strzok’s conduct as warranting such action.
Strzok was with the FBI for 21 years. It did not take time for Trump to tweet out the news:
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI – finally. The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer. Based on the fact that Strzok was in charge of the Witch Hunt, will it be dropped? It is a total Hoax. No Collusion, No Obstruction – I just fight back!
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
Just fired Agent Strzok, formerly of the FBI, was in charge of the Crooked Hillary Clinton sham investigation. It was a total fraud on the American public and should be properly redone!
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
…..Will the FBI ever recover it’s once stellar reputation, so badly damaged by Comey, McCabe, Peter S and his lover, the lovely Lisa Page, and other top officials now dismissed or fired? So many of the great men and women of the FBI have been hurt by these clowns and losers!
Strzok was removed from the special counsel probe last year after the discovery that his incendiary text messages with FBI lawyer, who had an affair with Strzok.
I am interested in the basis for Strzok’s attorney claiming that the deputy director “reversed the decision of the career FBI official responsible for employee discipline who concluded, through an independent review process, that a 60-day suspension and demotion from supervisory duties was the appropriate punishment.” There should be some explanation from Goelman as to whether that is true and, if so, the basis for such a reversal. Generally, the recommendation of the OPR carries considerable weight in such matters. However, the ultimate decisions rests with officials like Goelman on whether the findings warrant more serious sanctions.
Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. issued an alarming tweet that suggested that critics of President Donald Trump including James Comey, Rod Rosenstein, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Jeff Sessions, and Loretta Lynch should be arrested. While we are living in an age of rage, such statements from a university president is deeply disconcerting. This follows a disturbing poll showing a surprisingly large percentage of Republicans believe that the President should be able to shutdown media organizations. It seems like the rising distemper in this country is turning us against the foundations of our system from due process to the free press. Continue reading “Liberty University President Calls For Trump Critics To Be Arrested”