A twelve-year-old video has surfaced showing Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood saying that it is better to kill suspects than wound them because it is a cheaper for the county to just pay off the families for a death. Since Kern County had one of the highest (if not the highest) per capita shooting rates in the country for police departments, the words were particularly chilling. Continue reading “Sheriff Youngblood: Cheaper To Kill Than Wound Suspects”
President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, yesterday sought to elicit a modicum of sympathy for his position after a raid upon his office, home, and hotel room. However, Cohen is not known for such empathy in his treatment of others in his controversial career. Cohen is known as a bully who threatens to ruin anyone who he deems to be a threat or impediment to Trump. A new example of such allegations surfaced this week where a Harvard student said that Cohen threatened to have him expelled from the university over a successful prank orchestrated by the Harvard Lampoon.
I am admittedly a budget hawk when it comes to our burgeoning debt and runaway spending. However, I remain astonished that there was not more of an uproar over the massive budget just passed after lifting debt ceilings by both parties. Now, the Congressional Budget Office is projecting that the combination of the new tax bill and our massive budget will push the national debt to nearly the same size as gross domestic product by 2028. That is with an economic growth rate of 3.3 percent this year.
Continue reading “National Debt Set To Roughly Equal The Gross Domestic Product By 2028”
President Donald Trump renewed his public discussion over firing Robert Mueller after the search of his lawyer’s office, a move that would be the single most destructive act since . . . well . . . Trump fired James Comey. It would not only not stop the investigation but it would expand calls for impeachment. The statement clearly thrilled many of his critics who relished the idea of the largest unforced error in history since New York Giants center fielder Fred Snodgrass blew Game 8 of the 1912 World Series with the Boston Red Sox. Of course, dropping that ball cost New York the World Series. This could cost Trump his presidency. I have a column out this morning in the Hill on this issue.
Andrew Jackson Higdon III may be unique among accused felons. While burglars and thieves have been known to take a variety of novel items, how many are accused of actually carting away the actual roof?
Continue reading “Louisiana Contractor Charged With Carting Away Woman’s Roof”
Florida police apparently did not buy Kennecia Posey’s explanation that the cocaine found in her purse may have been due to the unusually windy day in Fort Pierce. As Bob Dylan sang, “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”
The Joint Committee on Taxation in Congress has issued a new report on tax burdens across the United States. The Committee used data from the Tax Policy Center and divided the public into five income groups. What they found was that the top 20 percent of earners paid 87 percent of the taxes in the country. The remaining 80 percent covered 13 percent of the burden. The data could challenge the common mantra of politicians that the top earners do not pay their fair share. Though the concentration of wealth should be considered (and a recent study found that one percent of the world’s wealthiest individuals control two-thirds of the world’s wealth), the figures in the United States shows an increasing tax burden in the top 20 percent range. We have previously discussed such studies and the disconnect between the rhetorical and the statistical in tax debates.
Continue reading “Study: Top 20 Percent of Income Households Pay 87 Percent Of Taxes”
You have heard of the NRA but how about KRI or KRO? Knife rights organizations could well replace the National Rifle Association on the front of weapon control legislation after London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan moved to impose severe limits on knife possession. It has long been a mantra among NRA supporters that “knives will be next” and Khan has fulfilled that narrative after knife attacks in London pushed the city’s murder rate on par with that of New York City. Now Khan has declared “No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law.”
Continue reading “London Mayor: “No Excuses: There Is Never A Reason To Carry A Knife.””
My son Aidan ran across this item below on the website for Fairfax schools in signing up for its economics course. Aidan has come face to face with, as he noted, “proof that there really is no free lunch.” He has now learned the first central tenet of economics.
Continue reading “No Such Thing As A Free Lunch? Fairfax County Schools Offer $14 “Free Lunch””
According to police in Masury, Ohio, Kenneth Evans, 24, “was highly intoxicated and his mood was rapidly shifting” when he was arrested. His mug-shot might have been taken during the happy mood swing. Evans is charged with hitting his girlfriend in the face with pizza.
Continue reading “Ohio Man Charged With Assault By Pizza On Girlfriend”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the recent disclosure of the investigation of Roger Stone by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his links to WikiLeaks. Whether it is his bizarre rantings on Instagram or continually changing accounts. Despite the recent focus of the media, neither Stone nor his account offer a strong basis for a criminal allegations. Absent more evidence, the curious case of Roger Stone is likely to remain precisely that: a curiosity.
Here is the column:
I recently discussed Stone’s recent posting on Instagram where he warned against anyone “taking him seriously” (in reference to his former protege Sam Nunberg) obviously could apply with equal, if not greater, force to Stone. A long-time associate of President Donald Trump, Stone appears perfectly unhinged at times. Stone appears to relish notoriety to the point that he maintains a notorious persona. That was evident this weekend where Stone first told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that his earlier claims of having prior work of WikiLeaks disclosures were untrue and then, with another reporter, seemed to contradict the contradiction in saying that he did have prior disclosure. I wrote a recently column on why Stone makes for a dubious basis for criminal allegations despite the recent press coverage.
The scandals swirling around EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt continues to get worse by the day. The latest leak reported by Politico says that the lobbyist owners of Pruitt’s condo became frustrated with his continued use of the property after the expiration of their lease arrangement. Not only did they reportedly ask him to leave, but went as far as changing the locks. Pruitt’s deal would be hard for most people to give up: $50 a night for a condo in a prime location where he would only pay for those nights when he used the room. Realtors confirm that obvious that it was a sweetheart deal and the most recent disclosure would indicate that Pruitt was not eager to let it go.
Continue reading “Report: Pruitt’s Lobbyist Landlord Changed Locks When He Failed To Move Out”
I recently posted a column in the Hill on the curious case of Roger Stone who has caused himself and the President endless trouble with prior emails claiming to have had dinner with WikiLeaks’ head Julian Assange. Stone’s best defense is that he is something of a buffoon or political trickster. He is not the most credible source for giving advice to Trump on what to do with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. However, he is back on the news (after a respite following his calling his former protegé Sam Nunberg a “coke head” and “a**shole”) warning Trump that the interview is a perjury trap. Indeed, as shown in his recent video with his grandson smoking giant cigars, Stone seems to specialize in a type of obnoxious theater of the bizarre.
Continue reading “Roger Stone Warns President Not To Speak With Mueller”
In Alabama, Lakeith Smith, now 18, was the subject of a troubling sentencing after declining a 25 year deal in a felony murder case. After being convicted of felony murder, burglary and theft, he was given a 65 year sentence. Smith however did not kill A’Donte Washington, 16. The police shot Washington as one of the men involved in the break ins. The teen surprised many by smirking at the sentence and was reportedly overheard “I don’t have time for this.” It appears however that is the one thing he has an abundance of.
Continue reading “Teenager Rejects 25 Year Deal . . . Judge Gives Him 65 Years”