For many years, I have written columns denouncing faith-based politics of both Republican and Democratic Presidents. None however have gone quite as far as President Donald Trump yesterday when he declared that Joe Biden is “against God.” It sounds a bit like a constructive divine endorsement. It is certainly the ultimate expression of the faith-based politics that I have long opposed. Continue reading “Got God? Trump Claims Biden Opposes The Almighty”
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I was recently called by the Philadelphia Inquirer on a fact check of Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) claim that officers in Portland of “kidnapping and holding citizens without charges.” I explained that the common hyperbolic claim of kidnapping is legally unfounded. The newspaper still found that Casey was “mostly right.” This is why I believe he was wrong. He was not alone however in his judgment.Continue reading “No, Sen. Casey Calling Police Kidnappers Is Not “Mostly Right””
Another professor is under fire for a tweet this week. In a now-deleted post on Twitter, Auburn University professor Jesse Goldberg declared “f*ck every cop. Every single one.” He then added, “the only ethical choice for any cop to make at this point is to refuse to do their job and quit.” The university is reportedly considering actions against Goldberg. As will likely come as no surprise to many on this blog, I do not agree that Goldberg should be subject to termination for the tweet which was the expression of his social and political views outside of the classroom. As I stated in my testimony in the Senate this week, faculty across the country are being subjected to campaigns for their termination due to controversial statements on the current protests and their underlying causes. While most of these cases involve professors who question the Black Lives Matter organizations or claims of systemic racism, it does not matter from a free speech perspective.
Continue reading “Auburn Professor Under Fire For Profane Anti-Police Tweet”
Today I am testifying in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution on the anti-free-speech movement in the United States. The hearing is entitled “The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble: Protecting Speech by Stopping Anarchist Violence.” The hearing will be held at 2:30 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and will be broadcast on C-Span and available on the Internet through the Committee. My testimony is below.
According to police, Douglas Marks, 29, has a curious method for reinforcing social distancing. After he spotted people without masks, he allegedly fired “four warning shots” at the Crystal Beach Suites Hotel. The criminal charges contained one interesting element. While Marks did not reportedly aim at anyone, he was still charged with assault. This follows an incident in California where a woman maced a couple who was eating with their child at a park without masks.
We previously discussed a conspiracy theory from Vice President Joe Biden that President Donald Trump could unilaterally cancel or delay the election day. We then dealt with a baffling statement by Jared Kushner that it was too soon to tell if the election day would be delayed — a statement that was as politically unwise as it was legally unsound. Now, President Donald Trump is fueling this controversy with a bizarre tweet that we may need to delay the election day. He is not suggesting that he can do it unilaterally, but it is another statement at odds with the constitutional and statutory foundation for the election day schedule. Even if Congress agreed to a different day, it would only move voting a few weeks later. Anything more would require pulling up our controlling law root and branch. Continue reading ““Delay the Election”: Trump Fuels New Questions Over The Holding Of The Presidential Election”
For many years, we have discussed disciplinary actions taken against teachers for social media postings. As a free speech blog, the trend has been alarming as teachers are fired for taking dissenting or controversial views. Now, an incoming Winthrop University Professor, April Mustian, is openly threatening K-12 teachers that they are being watched for any “rhetoric” deemed pro-police or antiBlack. A conservative group has objected to the now deleted Facebook posting from April 26th. This is a small such controversy but it is not isolated. It is indicative of thousands of such postings against free speech from academics across the country. This threatening posting was notable because it reflects a conscious effort to intimidate other teachers in their exercise of free speech. The whole purpose is to chill free speech by threatening their jobs and livelihood if they dare to voice opposing views. This latest controversy highlights the unresolved question of what speech rights teachers still have in participating in the national debate over police abuse and systemic racism.
Tattoos appear a real liability for rioters these days. We recently discussed the arson cases of the “Joker” case in Chicago of Timothy O’Donnell as well as a Tacoma woman arrested after an ink match. Now, police have arrested Edward Thomas Schinzing, 32, on perhaps the easiest tattoo match in history: he had SCHINZING written across his back as he torched Portland’s Justice Center (which includes the jail) and the Portland Police Bureau.
Police allege that Schinzing was part of a group of 30 protesters who broke into the building and trashed the building while starting fires. The surveillance camera however captured both his image and his ink job.
Continue reading “Another Protester Arrested After Being Identified By Distinctive Tattoo”
We have been discussing the controversy of the use of unmarked cars by federal officers to arrest people in Portland. As I have written, the use of unmarked cars and (even those these officers worn police markings) plain clothes is a common practice and not unconstitutional. Now an arrest by the NYPD using an unmarked carhas led to similar objections. MSNBC host Chris Hayes even declared that the view below constitutes a “kidnapping.” It isn’t. It is not even illegal or improper to use an unmarked vehicle. The basis for the arrest can be challenged but the rhetoric of the coverage is outstripping the reality of the law. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has declared the video to be evidence of an authoritarian takeover.
The City of Portland has demanded that the federal government take down a fence that has separated both protesters and rioters from the federal courthouse, including those who have repeatedly tried to burn down the courthouse. Now Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly is imposing a $500 fine every 15 minutes until the fence is removed even though the federal officers believe the removal would cause far greater damage and injuries on both sides. The question is whether a city can impose such a fine against the federal government.
Below is my column in The Hill on the recent disclosure of a document showing that the FBI used an agent to gather information for Crossfire Hurricane during campaign briefings of Trump during 2016. The document directly contradicted the long-standing denial that the investigation to Russian collusion was ever used to gather intelligence on Trump or his campaign. At the same time, the credibility of the Steele Dossier was further undermined this weekend with the release of new information that Steele misrepresented the sources and information used as the basis for this report, which was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The source for the most alarming allegations was revealed as Igor Danchenko, 42, as confirmed to The New York Times, He was not the “Russian-based” source claimed by Steele and the FBI learned that Steele took third-hard rumors and presented them as hard intelligence in the report used to help justify the Russian collusion investigation. This source was used in the last two renewal applications to the FISA court as a “truthful and cooperative” and “Russian-based,” according to the Justice Department Inspector General report found. So it turns out that the primary “source” of Steele’s dossier was “not a well-connected current or former Russian official, but a non-Russian-based contract employee of Steele’s firm.”
None of this has made any difference to the coverage. On ABC Sunday, George Stephanopoulos had Chris Christie as a guest but his involvement in the very meeting discussed in the document did not merit a single question from the host. In the meantime, Democratic leaders, who once mocked the idea of any investigation of Trump or targeting of the campaign, now say that it really doesn’t matter. Rep. Eric Swalwell says that it was actually “the right thing to do.”
Here is the column: Continue reading “Willful Blindness: New Damaging Information On The Russian Investigation Is Promptly Unseen By The Media”
Like many, I have criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi for calling federal officers in places like Portland “stormtroopers.” It is highly offensive on a myriad of different levels and serves to fuel attacks on federal officers who have suffered significant levels of injuries in the rioting. However, the recent statement from Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security, on the possibility of libel lawsuits is unsustainable under current tort law.
Continue reading “No, Pelosi’s “Stormtrooper”Attack On Federal Officers Is Not Libel”
U.S. District Judge James Robart issued an order Friday night that blocked a Seattle law prohibiting police from using pepper spray and other anti-riot weapons. While described by the court as “very temporary,” it is also very dubious from a constitutional standpoint. I do not see the authority of a federal judge to stop the City of Seattle from determining what gear and devices may be used by its own officers, particularly in response to the federal government objecting to the state policy. The court in my view does not have the authority to make such a policy decision, even on a “very temporary” basis. Update: A different federal judge issued a more credible ruling in rejecting the demand of the Oregon Attorney General to put limits on the federal officers. The Oregon Attorney General’s filing was long on rhetoric and short on the law.
Philadelphia police officer Richard Nicoletti, 35, has been charged with three counts of simple assault after a video showed him spraying peaceful, kneeling protesters with pepper spray during recent protests. The case could present some challenging elements for prosecutors, but I was particularly appalled to see Nicoletti pull down the goggles of one protester to spray her in the face. Such a close saturation of pepper spray is in my view excessive and unwarranted, particularly when none of these protesters were threatening officers. Continue reading “Philly Police Officer Charged With Multiple Counts Of Assault”
We have been discussing efforts to fire professors who voice dissenting views of the basis or demands of recent protests including an effort to oust a leading economist from the University of Chicago as well as a leading linguistics professor at Harvard. It is part of a wave of intolerance sweeping over our colleges and our newsrooms. Now, an effort has been launched to fire University of Pennsylvania Professor Carlin Romano and to kick him off a prestigious literary group because Romano questioned the language of a proposed statement on racism in the publishing industry and even spotted an embarrassing typo.