Former high school dean Shaun Harrison, 58, has been found guilty in one of the most bizarre and disturbing criminal cases in Boston. Harrison was an anti-violence advocate that the students called “the Rev.” He turned out to be a drug dealer who shot a student who was selling pot for him.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Carmen Puliafito, 67, the former Dean at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, was pushed into drug use by a 21-year-old former prostitute named Sarah Warren. His counsel argued that the Harvard-trained ophthalmologist is bipolar and became “addicted” to the young woman who led him into perdition.
The recent disclosure of a memo from former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe on a conversation with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on an alleged “cover story” demanded by President Donald Trump for his memo on the firing of McCabe’s boss James Comey: I have already said that the memo may shed more light on the mindset of McCabe than Trump. It is most likely that Trump was asking (as he did with everyone of these individuals) for a statement that he was not a target of the Russian investigation. That is not a cover story. However, the memo does raise the question of why Rosenstein has not recused himself. In August 2017 , I wrote a column calling for Rosenstein to recuse himself. This memo only highlights that obvious need.
Now, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is demanding to know why Rosenstein is not in an obvious conflict of interest.
Continue reading “Lindsey Graham Demands Explanation Of Rosenstein’s Failure To Recuse”
I have been a long critic of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen for over a year for his thuggish and often incompetent practice of law. He has matched his lack of legal skills with an abundance of greed, including blatant efforts to sell access to Trump to foreigners and private companies. Now people can listen to Cohen in his own voice as he performed his signature function for Trump: threatening a reporter for the Daily Beast and his acquaintances with ruin if he ran a negative story about a 1993 Trump biography.
The resignation of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is little surprise given the myriad of criminal charges brought against him for sexual misconduct and campaign violations. This resignation comes after St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner dismissed a felony charge accusing Greitens for allegedly tampering with computer data involving the donor list of a veterans’ charity he founded. What stood out in the agreement with Gardner was a condition that I have always found problematic and should be barred under state law: a promise not to sue Gardner or her office. Greitens offered to resign as a condition for the settlement. Continue reading “Missouri Prosecutors Condition Dropping Of Charges Against Greitens On His Promising Not To Sue Them”
The ACLU has an interesting free speech case in Missouri where Kylan Scheele, 18, was banned from his graduation by the Truman High School in Independence, Missouri. The high school appeared a bit ticked after Scheele post a Craigslist ad to sell the school for $12,725. The ACLU contends that the ban violates Scheele’s first amendment rights.
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the decision to investigate the alleged informant targeting Trump associations and the criticism from former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates. As noted below, I believe that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did the right thing in referring this issue to the Inspector General for investigation. That does not mean that a finding of wrongdoing is likely. To the contrary, my expectation is that the use of the informant will be viewed as appropriate absent additional unknown facts. However, as this piece discusses, there is a strong public interest in resolving this question either way.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “The Third Option: Rather Than Pick Sides, The Public Can Pick The Truth”
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously decided to disbar attorney Anthony Wayne Blackburn this week and the result would seem inevitable given the accusations against Blackburn of trading lower fees for sex with two incarcerated women. What is surprising is that the Florida bar actually wanted only to suspend Blackburn for the misconduct, a shockingly low penalty for an attorney accused of a shocking abuse of the attorney-client relationship. Continue reading “Florida Lawyer Disbarred After Offering Lower Fees For Sexual Relations”
We recently discussed the disruption of a speaker at a university that was led in part by a professor who believed that she had a right to prevent other faculty or students from hearing the views of speaker Dave Rubin, a Democrat online talk show host who has called for free speech protections on campuses. University of New Hampshire Professor Dr. Joelle Ruby Ryan screamed profanities and refused to respond to Rubin’s invitation to have a dialogue. She is part of a growing number of faculty who rally their students against free speech values and seek to prevent those with opposing views from being heard.
We have previously discussed the divine logic used by televangelists to justify their use of private luxury jets. Louisiana televangelist Jesse Duplantis, 68, not only believes that God wants him to have a jet but a fourth jet . . . and for the faithful to pay for it. Continue reading ““[Jesus] Wouldn’t Be Riding A Donkey”: Televangelist Calls On Followers To Buy Him A Fourth Private Jet For $54 Million”
George Washington University is embroiled in a federal challenge against its handling of a case by one of our students accused of sexual assault. The case raises troubling questions of the school’s actions following the disclosure of alleged false statements by an accuser. Many years ago, I wrote a letter to the GW faculty objecting to changes in our rules governing the investigation and adjudication of sexual harassment and assault cases. Like many universities during the Obama Administration, GW was reducing protections for students accused of such misconduct under pressure from the Department of Education (here and here), Now, a “John Doe” has raised some of those very concerns in the alleged refusal of the school to allow an appeal in his case following the discovery of potentially exculpatory evidence. Continue reading “GWU Sued For Refusing Appeal In Sexual Assault Case Despite Allegations of False Testimony”
It is a familiar pattern. It has happened before. Around 10am on Memorial Day, my iPhone can be vibrating with email signals as I was driving one of my children and her friends. Soon they were coming in fast succession and then I knew: The President has tweeted out a quote. The two tweets were followed by a torrent of threats, insults, and profane suggestions involving physical acts that would have been challenging in my teens. In today’s rage-filled environment, the mere fact that Trump quotes you unleashes a tsunami of anger. It seems cathartic for people who cannot tolerate the slightest hint of agreement with Trump. The same is often true on the opposite end of the political spectrum if you challenge or question a position of Trump.
What is interesting is that people who seek out your email almost uniformly do not take the time to actually read your comments. Yet, what is most disturbing is not the endless cranks but the coverage by news sites that show the same lack of interest in the actual comments or even the tweets themselves.
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the calls for a constitutional challenge to the new NFL policy against protests during the National Anthem. While many have claimed that the policy violates free speech rights of the players, there is actually little support for such a challenge under constitutional law. The best shot might be procedural in nature in arguing that the collective bargaining agreement requires conferral on such rules with the players. Putting aside the strong defenses to this claim, it would likely only require consultation and not a change in the ultimate policy.
Here is the column: Continue reading “No, NFL Players Do Not Have A Constitutional Right To Protest During The National Anthem”
To quote the Sesame Street theme song, characters in Melissa McCarthy’s new movie “Come and play” but everything is certainly not “A-OK.” McCarthy is about to release her movie The Happytime Murders, a R-rated production that reportedly depicts puppets engaging in lewd acts. The movie proclaims “No Sesame. All Street.” Sesame Street’s parent company objects that its brand will be tarnished by “explicit, profane, drug-using, misogynistic, violent, copulating, and even ejaculating puppets.”