There is an interesting case out of Opelousas, Louisiana, where Madeline Bourgeois, 67, is charged with shooting her pet llama, Earl. She has claimed self-defense but prosecutors insist that the passage of time between the attack and the shooting negated the defense.
Continue reading “The Intriguing Legal Case Of The Louisiana Llama: Woman Charged With Shooting Her Pet”
“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with one count of felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. Smollett claimed that white men wearing Trump’s signature MAGA hats jumped out of a car and screamed “This is MAGA country, n****r” and beat him and put a noose around his neck. Various networks and cable stations like CNN ran with the story as a horrific attack and an example of rising hate crimes during the Trump Administration.
Continue reading “Smollett Charged With Reporting False Hate Crime [Updated]”
There are various arguments for the death penalty from deterrence to retribution to efficiency to morality. However, Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, offered a particularly unique defense: if it was good enough for Jesus, the death penalty is good enough for everyone else.
Read morE
A father left his daughter with a memory of her Sweet Sixteenth Birthday that she is unlikely to forget. Police say that the father was spinning the gun on his finger when it went off — shooting himself in the stomach.
Continue reading “Texas Dad Shoots Himself By Accident At Daughter’s 16th Birthday”
I recently wrote about the constitutional questions raised by the wealth tax proposed by Elizabeth Warren given countervailing constitutional dictates and standing precedent. One of the early advocates of such a tax has been Yale Professor Bruce Ackerman who assured Warren that such a tax would be constitutional. In a Slate column entitled “Constitutional Critiques of Elizabeth Warren’s Wealth Tax Proposal Are Absurd,” Ackerman dismisses any possible constitutional challenge as not “serious” and “absurd.” Putting the hyperbole aside, I wanted to respond to the substance of the column since it makes reference to my earlier Washington Post column. As I have previously said, there are good-faith arguments on both sides of this issue and the outcome is likely to be a close vote. However, Ackerman’s reduction of countervailing arguments to absurdity not only omits key arguments but creates an incomplete account of the case against such a wealth tax.
Continue reading “The Warren Wealth Tax: A Response To Professor Bruce Ackerman”
Below is my column in the Washington Post on Elizabeth Warren’s signature wealth tax. As I noted in the column, the constitutionality of the Warren tax would likely be a close question. Yet, the issuance of such a “direct tax” based on wealth rather than income would be presumptively unconstitutional under the existing court precedent and, more importantly, the text of the Constitution.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Is The Warren Tax Unconstitutional?”
One of my favorite scenes from the comedy “The President’s Analyst” was when actor James Coburn (the overly cerebral, new-age psychiatrist) grabs an M-16 and sprays approaching lines of telephone company security guards while screaming “Take that you hostile son of a . . . ” The scene came to mind this week with the arrest of James Phillips, 57, of Cottontown, Tennessee, who reacted to a couple wearing “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hats at a Sam’s Club by pulling out a gun and threatening, “It’s a good day for you to die.” That will show those unhinged MAGA people.
Continue reading ““It’s A Good Day For You To Die”: Tennessee Man Allegedly Pulls Gun On Couple Wearing MAGA Hats”
Below is my column for the BBC on the controversy over President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration. Sixteen states, led by California’s Attorney General, are now suing. Others lawsuits have been filed on behalf of landowners and others. The lawsuits appear to challenge both the basis for an emergency declaration and the funding. I still expect Trump to prevail in the long-run if this goes to the Supreme Court. Ironically, House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff said this weekend that this controversy would be the “test” of his colleagues integrity and principles. Yet, Republicans could easily point out that Schiff never objected or took action when President Barack Obama circumvented Congress, including ordering the payment of potentially billions out of the Treasury after Congress refused to fund part of the Affordable Care Act. He was also silent when Obama not only refused to get authorization for the Libyan War but used undedicated funds to pay for it without an appropriation from Congress.
As this column discusses, there was at one time a much easier way to resolve the most bitter differences among political figures.
Continue reading “Open Windows and Open Borders: A Lesson From The Founders On Conflict Resolution”
“I don’t care. I believe Putin.” Those six words could be the focus of serious congressional oversight in the coming weeks. Former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe stated that President Donald Trump refused to accept intelligence on North Korea’s missile program and instead that he would rely on what Putin told him. It is a shocking claim, but what makes this claim so notable is that McCabe is suggesting that it was made before witnesses other than himself. That means that it should be capable to confirmation or refutation. However, this could have the makings of a massive privilege fight between the legislative and executive branches.
Read moreM
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has deleted her tweet demanding justice while Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) is now “withholding judgment” after previously calling it an “attempted modern-day lynching.” After politicians, pundits, and the press spent days calling for swift justice and denouncing the Trump Administration for the rise in hate crimes, Washington figures are running for cover as reports grew that Chicago police have evidence of a stage hate crime by “Empire” actor and singer Jussie Smollett. The case again raises the problem of leaders in politics and the media reaching immediate conclusions on such allegations before the evidence has been gathered.
Continue reading “Politicians and the Press Scramble As Evidence Builds Of A Possible Hoax In Alleged Hate Crime”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the litigation against the declaration of a national emergency by President Donald Trump in order to build his long-promised wall. Some members of Congress has said that they expect the House of Representatives to sue while private litigants have already filed challenges. Regardless of the litigants (and there are likely to be a mix of parties), they face similar barriers in convincing a federal judge to rescinded a declaration that Congress has not rescinded. This is a straight statutory interpretation case, not the “constitutional crisis” widely described by critics. There are possible claims against the funding conditions, but Congress gave the President not just the unfettered authority to declare such emergencies but the largely unconditioned appropriations that he may use to build the wall.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Why Trump Will Win The Wall Fight”
Various reports indicate that Chicago Police may be building a case against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett for a staged and false reported hate crime that attracted widespread condemnation and outcry. Smollett claimed that white men wearing Trump’s signature MAGA hats jumped out of a car and screamed “This is MAGA country, n****r” and beat him and put a noose around his neck. Various networks and cable stations like CNN ran with the story as a horrific attack and an example of rising hate crimes during the Trump Administration. Presidential candidate Cory Booker called the attack an “attempted modern-day lynching” though he now is saying that he is “withholding his judgment.” Two Nigerian brothers have been arrested and reportedly implicated Smollett in the hoax. If true, Smollett could be looking at years in jail.
Continue reading “Two Nigerian Brothers Reportedly Implicated “Empire” Actor Smollett In Hoax Hate Crime”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
If there was ever a “nation” in the ordinary meaning comprising the Islamic State it is unquestionably moribund. The area reportedly controlled by the terrorist organization remains for the time down to one square kilometer, according to some reports less than six hundred meters square in Baghuz.
What actually has so far saved the jihadists from annihilation was that they interspersed themselves among civilian human-shields while Kurdish forces and allies exercise pause to protect the innocent. Thus remains the glory of the Caliphate, hiding among women and children to save itself.
Continue reading “Kurds: Islamic State Defeat To Be Announced “In A Few Days” But Is ISIS Truly Vanquished?”By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We have another example of a parliament facilitating another eternal presidency. Egypt’s Parliament acted this week to amend the nation’s constitution to allow its current president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to remain in power to 2034. Much of the pretext lies in the familiar call of a need for greater control and monopolization of the presidency to secure promised “reforms” and “progress”.
Continue reading “Egypt’s Parliamentary Bill Legislates Ability For al-Sisi To Hold Power Until 2034”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the known basis for an obstruction case against President Donald Trump. While much more has been learned since the appointment of the Special Counsel, there remains considerable doubt about a prosecutable case for obstruction.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Fight or Flight: Why An Obstruction Case Against Trump Is Likely To Fail”