Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Res Ipsa Hits 48,000,000

crowd vj dayLast night, we passed the 48,000,000 mark in views on the blog. We just passed 47,000,000 and we are coming off a record year in terms of traffic and postings. The blog continues to grow with new regular commenters and a growing international readership. Again, we thank our loyal readers who return every day to discuss contemporary legal, political, and occasionally bizarre stories. We have used these moments to give thanks for our many regular readers around the world and give you an idea of the current profile of readers on the blog. We continue to rank with the top legal blogs in the world. As always, I want to offer special thanks for Darren Smith who has continued to help manage the blog and help out folks who encounter posting problems.

So here is our current profile: Continue reading “Res Ipsa Hits 48,000,000” →

Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Uncategorized

Washington Post Columnist Calls For Expulsion Of Members Who Challenged Electoral Votes

Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin is calling for the expulsion of Republican members for challenging the electoral votes this week as “sedition.”  From the outset, I opposed this challenge as unfounded.  However, think about this demand (which has been raised by others).  Rubin wants to expel members who joined challenges allowed under a federal law (on the very same grounds that Democrats have made in past elections). Indeed, she declares “Every Republican bears a responsibility for what happened on Wednesday, whether or not they participated in a seditious attempt to overthrow our democracy.” So Republicans who opposed the challenge and denounced the violence should still be punished or blamed?

Continue reading “Washington Post Columnist Calls For Expulsion Of Members Who Challenged Electoral Votes” →

Courts, Lawyering, Society, Uncategorized

“Symbols . . . Of Subtle Oppression”: Virginia Judge Orders Removal Of Portraits Of White Judges

Judge David Bernhard is a jurist in Fairfax County (where I reside) has issued a controversial order that the portraits of white judges must be removed from a courtroom because their presence would deny a black defendant a fair trial. In a decision applauded in the Washington Post, Bernhard declared that a fair trial is threatened in “a courtroom gilded with … white individuals peering down on an African American defendant.”  Continue reading ““Symbols . . . Of Subtle Oppression”: Virginia Judge Orders Removal Of Portraits Of White Judges” →

Uncategorized

STATE OF THE BLOG (2020)

Happy New Year to all of our blog community from around the world. As has been our tradition on this blog, with the start of 2020, I thought I would share our annual “State of The Blog” statistics from the last year. It has been a great year for the blog with the highest traffic in the history of our blog. We continued our expansion internationally. While we post a separate blog when we pass each million mark (and we are close to another such update), we use New Year’s day to take stock — and to celebrate — our blog.  This year was not just the best year in terms of traffic on the blog, it was over twice the traffic of prior years with over 10 million views and tens of thousands of regular readers following us on Twitter and email. It is an astonishing growth for a humble blog with no budget and no revenue. But we still have an abundance passion and apparently an increasing number of other people looking for a civil forum to discuss the legal, political, and social issues of our time. Continue reading “STATE OF THE BLOG (2020)” →

Uncategorized

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New Year to everyone on our blog! We rang in 2021 at home in McLean, Virginia.  New Year’s eve is also my wedding anniversary. Twenty-three years ago,  Leslie and I eloped in Old Town Alexandria after dating eight years. Once again, we will celebrate two anniversary dates. I count the anniversary as our 31th while Leslie insists on counting this year as our 23nd anniversary.  We will toast our anniversary and the New Year (as we did 23 years ago and every year since) with a bottle of Schramsburg Cremant. Continue reading “HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!” →

Uncategorized

“Fox News Got It Exactly Right. Amen”: De Blasio Double Downs On Plan To “Redistribute Wealth”
YouTube/C-Span Screenshot

During the Democratic primary, I wrote about New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and his “eat the rich” pitch for votes. He pledged to “tax the hell out of the rich.”   It did not work. Not only did de Blasio never got to one percent nationally. Worse yet, he polled at zero in his own New York city with a 58 percent unfavorable rating.  Yet, De Blasio later continued his anti-capitalism agenda including using the pandemic to renew calls to curtail capitalism and demonstrating a shocking lack of knowledge of basic economics.  Now de Blasio has declared the purpose of the New York public schools as redistribution of wealth and doubled down on that call after being criticized on Fox News.

Continue reading ““Fox News Got It Exactly Right. Amen”: De Blasio Double Downs On Plan To “Redistribute Wealth”” →

Uncategorized

Sen. Shaheen Calls Out Colleagues Questioning Biden’s Victory As Possible Traitors

My column in the Hill addresses how Democrats are increasingly adopting the rhetoric and tactics of Donald Trump. There is a sense of immunity — or Trumpunity — being exercised by former critics in using language once denounced in Trump. An example is  Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. The Senator went on CNN where Trump was regularly (and correctly) chastised for calling opponents “traitors” and “enemies of the people.” Now however Shaheen is declaring that any members of Congress who continue to question the victory of Joe Biden “are bordering on sedition and treason.”

Continue reading “Sen. Shaheen Calls Out Colleagues Questioning Biden’s Victory As Possible Traitors” →

Columns, Justice, Politics, Uncategorized

Bill Barr’s Family Time: How The Justice Department Has Lost One Of Its Staunchest Defenders

Below is my column in the Hill on the early departure of Attorney General Bill Barr.  The move will give Trump the record on Attorneys General.  That is not good.  A President cannot selected too many Supreme Court justices or too few Attorneys General. Reports indicate that, with Barr leaving, Trump is openly discussing appointing a special counsel for the Hunter Biden investigation.  At this point, that appears entirely unnecessary and would further tarnish the image of Trump as someone who is interfering with the internal decisions of the Justice Department. What is clear is that Barr proved a critical fire wall for the Department at one of its most chaotic and challenging periods. As I have previously said, Barr remains more sinned against than sinner and history will vindicate his tenure at the Justice Department.

Here is the column: Continue reading “Bill Barr’s Family Time: How The Justice Department Has Lost One Of Its Staunchest Defenders” →

Uncategorized

Res Ipsa Hits 47,000,000

crowd vj dayThis morning, we passed the 47,000,000 mark in views on the blog. We only just passed 46,000,000 but November had the greatest traffic for the blog in its history. The blog continues to grow with new regular commenters and a growing international readership. Again, we thank our loyal readers who return every day to discuss contemporary legal, political, and occasionally bizarre stories. We have used these moments to give thanks for our many regular readers around the world and give you an idea of the current profile of readers on the blog. We continue to rank with the top legal blogs in the world. As always, I want to offer special thanks for Darren Smith who has continued to help manage the blog and help out folks who encounter posting problems.

So here is our current profile:

Continue reading “Res Ipsa Hits 47,000,000” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Politics, Supreme Court, Uncategorized

The Barrett Boycott: Democrats Struggle To Get An Empty Sack To Stand Up
I recently wrote about how the Barrett confirmation hearing is proof that Benjamin Franklin was right when he wrote that “it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright.” Now that analogy is becoming reality as Democrats plan to leave actual empty seats in today’s hearing to vote on the nomination. It is all an effort to convince Democrats voters that the senators are really angry over the nomination and fighting like the dickens to stop it. It is, of course, pure theater with no real impact on the nomination but voters seem to demand little more from politicians today than visceral distractions.

Continue reading “The Barrett Boycott: Democrats Struggle To Get An Empty Sack To Stand Up” →

Congress, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

Senate Democrats Push Plan To Cancel Student College Loans Up To $50,000 Per Student

We have been discussing how both parties in Washington have been spending wildly for years in pushing the country to unprecedented and crippling debt levels.  We recently passed the “red line” of 106 percent of our GDP.  The roughly $27 trillion debt has not however deterred members who continue to push proposals to tack on trillions.  That was the case yesterday when Sen. Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren are calling on President Trump to cancel $50,000 in federal student loan debt next year. Some 43 million Americans hold more than $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt.  Such proposals may have merit but my concern is over the lack of any plan on dealing with the debt as well as the fact that this massive increase would be done by executive order.

Continue reading “Senate Democrats Push Plan To Cancel Student College Loans Up To $50,000 Per Student” →

Bizarre, Uncategorized

Adrift Recovering Addict Prays For Rescue . . . Saved By Priests In Floating Tiki Bar

350px-God2-Sistine_ChapelMenu,_Don_the_Beachcomber,_Hollywood_(cover)_(12001506164)I had to share this story. Jimmy MacDonald is a former addict who has been sober for seven years.  He found himself floating away without a paddle in an overturned kayak. He prayed to God for rescue and suddenly saw in disbelief a floating Tiki bar with Catholic priests coming to his aid. If that does not prove the existence of God, I cannot imagine what you are waiting for.

Continue reading “Adrift Recovering Addict Prays For Rescue . . . Saved By Priests In Floating Tiki Bar” →

Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks