In academia, one of the greatest concerns with statistical studies is the danger of “confirmation bias” or “myside bias.” A desire to prove a point can lead to a blindness to opposing data or information. This week, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) repeatedly demonstrated the scourge of statistical studies with spectacular and embarrassing success. Continue reading “Amy Klobuchar Holds Embarrassing Demonstration of Confirmation Bias in Attack that Goes Wildly Wrong” 
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We started the day with our annual Turley Turkey Bowl, which has been running for over 50 years. We then returned to prepare our big family feast. We are serving traditional fare, including turkey, stuffing, cranberries, Waldorf salad, pumpkin pies, and all the rest. Continue reading “Happy Thanksgiving!!!”
In her sometimes bizarre and often combative testimony, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis explained, “I just think men and women think differently.” At least when it comes to Pete Skandalakis, she is demonstrably correct. Serving as Willis’s replacement after her removal from the Trump case for personal misconduct in hiring her former lover as lead prosecutor, Skandalakis found the case against Trump and his associates worthy of dismissal. In so doing, he suggested (as did many of us) that the entire foundation for the case was flawed from the outset. Continue reading “Willis Circus Ends as “Reasonable Minds” Prevail in the Final Dismissal of the Trump Case”
The Harvard Club of New York is being accused of censorship after abruptly cancelling a book event featuring famed Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz. In a statement, Dershowitz says that invitations were sent out and the event was approaching when he was suddenly told that the Harvard Club would have none of it. He blamed his representation of President Donald Trump for the cancellation. Continue reading ““Fight Fiercely Harvard”: Harvard Club of New York Cancels Dershowitz Book Event”
If we are living in an age of lawfare, this is fast becoming a war of attrition. The dismissal of the indictment of James Comey and Letitia James is the latest twist in the controversial prosecutions of Trump antagonists.
Letitia James immediately posted her own message celebrating the decision, but she may want to focus on the prepositional phrase after the word dismissal: without prejudice. The Administration may still be able to resuscitate these cases. Continue reading “Try Again: Federal Court Dismisses Comey and James Indictments”
The City College of New York campus began the latest example of anti-Semitic and extremist speech this week after Abdullah Mady, a student and self-proclaimed Imam, refused to sit next to a Jewish speaker and called for the tips of the fingers of “the filthy rich” to be cut off in accordance with Sharia law. Continue reading “Imam at CUNY Reportedly Calls for the Fingertips of the “Filthy Rich” to be Cut Off Under Sharia Law”
Below is my column in The Hill on two controversies involving Chief Judge James Boasberg this week in Washington, D.C. Both involve claims that branches undermined or intruded on the authority of another branch. However, these separation-of-powers conflicts produced strikingly different responses from Judge Boasberg. It seemed that the court’s concerns depended greatly on whose ox was being gored in a tripartite contest.
Here is the column: Continue reading “The Selective Outrage of Judge James Boasberg”
Scandinavian countries are moving to suspend the mandated use of Bovaer, a methane-reducing additive designed to reduce bovine flatulence. A contributor to methane pollution, cow farts were supposed to be reduced by the additive to reduce climate-harming pollutant. However, there are widespread reports of collapse, lethargy, reduced feed intake, fever, diarrhea, and significant drops in milk production. There are also reports of cow miscarriages and deaths, though most involve discomfort and farmers reported that the cows improved after cessation of the supplement. What could follow is a colossal product liability lawsuit.
California is facing a perfect storm in finances, with a crippling deficit and a declining tax base. Now, a study of IRS data by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation found that California is losing a taxpayer roughly every minute, as states like Florida, Texas, and North Carolina attract new residents due to lower taxes and higher standards of living.Continue reading “Tick, Tick , Tick: Study Shows California is Losing a Taxpayer Every Minute”
There is an interesting ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on the COVID-19 closures in April 2020. The panel found that the closures of private beaches in Walton County, Florida, constituted a taking under the Fifth Amendment. Continue reading “The Eleventh Circuit Finds that COVID Beach Closures Constituted Unconstitutional Taking”
We have been discussing the deepening scandal over former Special Counsel Jack Smith securing the phone records of members of Congress, including former Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy. Now, Fox News is reporting that the Justice Department subpoenaed the personal phone records of House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan in 2022 for a two-year period. The report may be the most serious disclosure in the controversy, given the direct oversight exercised by Jordan’s committee over Smith and the Justice Department. Continue reading “Arctic Frost: Justice Department Obtained the Personal Phone Records of House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan”
We have previously discussed the alarming demands of former Special Counsel Jack Smith for the phone records of members of Congress. Despite the efforts of members like Rep. Dan Goldman (D, NY) to downplay the gravity of such demands, they represent a serious intrusion into the confidentiality of legislators’ communications, including the potential disclosure of journalists, whistleblowers, and others. Now, it appears that AT&T did supply the records of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the second in line of succession to the presidency of the United States.
I have previously expressed skepticism over some defamation cases against the media brought by President Donald Trump under existing case law. However, comedian Rosie O’Donnell may have supplied the President with a another defamation case if she cannot back up sensational claims made against the President to her 2.9 million TikTok followers. She states as a fact that the President is an “adjudicated rapist” and settled child abuse cases.
The Venezuelan socialist regime has just sentenced a 65-year-old doctor, Marggie Orozco, to 30 years in prison for criticizing the regime of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in a WhatsApp voice note in 2024. Orozco was reportedly found guilty of “treason to the fatherland, incitement to hatred, and conspiracy” in complaining about the regime’s distribution of the often hard-to-find domestic gas cylinders in her community. She has already suffered two heart attacks in the last two years, including one while in prison.
Continue reading “Venezuela Sentences Doctor to 30 Years for WhatsApp Message”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called for Harvard and other institutions to sever all ties with Larry Summers, who was Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, after the disclosure of his private communications with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. As in the past, however, Warren seems strikingly selective in her outrage with those “cozying up” to Epstein, given the communications revealed with other Democrats, including Del. Stacey Plaskett, Virgin Islands’ congressional representative.
Continue reading “Warren Calls for Larry Summers to be Fired at Harvard”