We have been discussing efforts to fire professors who voice dissenting views on various issues including an effort to oust a leading economist from the University of Chicago as well as a leading linguistics professor at Harvard and a literature professor at Penn. The cancel culture has also extended to museums, book publishers, and other forums for intellectual exchanges. Now the esteemed Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has fired podcast host and deputy editor Dr. Edward Livingston, who raised his own concerns and doubts in a podcast over claims of structural racism. Continue reading “JAMA Editor Fired After Questioning Structural Racism”
We recently discussed how the media has made Hunter Biden a type of collective reclamation project — ignoring evidence of a new possible federal crime while not challenging glaring omissions and contradictions in his interviews. That includes avoiding a gun controversy even as his father calls for a new law to address the very issue raised by Hunter. This collective willful blindness was evident in the interview conducted last night by Jimmy Kimmel where the two joked about Hunter’s convenient lack of memory. Hunter goes blank on incriminating issues even though he can remember other details going back to when he was eight years old. Continue reading “The Hunter Biden Reclamation Project: Jimmy Kimmel Is The Latest To Embrace Hunter’s Scandal Spin”
I previously wrote about the defamation claims filed by former Rep. Katie Hill has lost a lawsuit against her husband and a variety of other people, including the Daily Mail for reporting on her sex scandal involving a former aide. I stated that the legal basis for the lawsuit against the media was highly dubious and that the underlying stories were protected under the First Amendment as matters of public interest. As expected, the case against the Daily Mail was thrown out by Los Angeles Judge Yolanda Orozco on First Amendment grounds.
The University of Miami Law School is facing a controversy over how to handle racist comments directed against white students — with objections over a double standard at the university. It is increasingly common to read anti-white commentary in the media, including a column recently from Elie Mystal writer for Above the Law and The Nation’s justice correspondent who lashed out at “white society” and how he strived to maintain a “whiteness free” life in the pandemic. Miami Law School has been silent in the face of complaints filed against student Jordan Gary after she posted her comments publicly on Instagram. Continue reading “Law Student’s Instagram Posting Triggers Debate Over Anti-White Speech”
The New York Times is reporting that Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz asked President Donald Trump for a preemptive pardon at the end of his term. Gaetz is reportedly facing sex trafficking charges and the report would indicate that he was sufficiently concerned back at the end of 2020 to seek the extraordinary protection. Gaetz has not responded to the report. Continue reading “NYT: Gaetz Sought Preemptive Pardon From Trump”
It appears that President Joe Biden did not repeatedly “misspeak” as suggested on CNN. Yesterday, Biden not only did not correct his false claims about the Georgia election law but doubled down that the law is a “Jim Crow law.” Indeed, he has repeatedly said it is worse, “Jim Crow on steroids.” That is why yesterday’s press conference (with only three questions) moved from the inaccurate to the incoherent. Biden is now saying that Georgia is a Jim Crow state with laws worse than the segregationist laws following the Civil War. However, he is saying that it is ok to play the Masters in the state (and for CBS to carry the Masters) after supporting a boycott of baseball. In deciding whether to do business in what Biden calls a “Jim Crow” state, Biden declared “That’s up to the Masters.”
The White House is not the only outfit struggling to explain the false statements repeatedly made by President Joe Biden about Georgia’s election law. Biden’s false claims have been widely refuted, including by the Washington Post. Yet, CNN’s host Don Lemon mocked those raising the false statements and insisted that Biden merely misspoke. The problem is that he repeated the false claims after they were refuted and White House Press Secretary Jan Psaki has insisted that Biden was speaking truthfully in the Biden version of “alternative facts.” What was also not explained on CNN was how the Georgia law is “Jim Crow on steroids” if these two objections are untrue and states like New York and Delaware (and Colorado where the MLB is sending the All-Star game) have stricter provisions. CNN ran the slogan “Facts First” throughout the Trump Administration, but it seems that facts are more fluid in 2021.
We have been discussing the false statements made by President Joe Biden and White House Press Secretary Jan Psaki to support the boycott of Georgia over its new voting law. Yet, the White House is not the only ones seemingly doubling down on that narrative. The MLB refused to reconsider its controversial decision to move the gam from Atlanta. It is now sending the game to Denver. It is a move that will only heighten objections. Colorado also requires identification for voting — one of the key points of objection to Georgia. New polling shows that, even after this campaign, Americans continue to overwhelmingly support such mandatory identification rules with almost 75 percent in favor of such rules. Indeed, over 50 percent of Democrats support such voter identification rules. Some polling shows 63 percent of Democrats supporting such mandatory rules. Continue reading “MLB Moves All-Star Game To Colorado Despite The State’s Mandatory Voter Identification Rule”
Michael Smerconish scored a major hit on his Sirius radio program when he hosted Bob Kent, an ex-Air Force officer, who has been named as one of the individuals allegedly involved in seeking $25 million from the Gaetz family — a demand that the family alleges was an extortion effort. On the program, Kent confirmed that he did ask for $25 million while insisting that there was no extortion or threat.Continue reading “Key Figure in Gaetz Scandal Admits Asking For $25 Million”
I previously wrote that the key to conviction in the Derek Chauvin trial (and avoiding a cascading failure in all four cases) is the autopsy findings and the role of drugs (including fentanyl) in the body of George Floyd. Prosecutors are now asking the jury to effectively dismiss the findings of the only official autopsy in the case and insist, contrary to those findings, that Floyd died from asphyxia, or, lack of oxygen. Some new disclosures may make that claim more difficult for the prosecution. Continue reading “Prosecutors Ask Jurors To Dismiss George Floyd Autopsy Findings”
Below is my column in The Hill on recent interviews by Hunter Biden, which appear to incriminate him in a possible federal felony. What is most striking from a journalistic perspective is that Biden’s book is a target rich environment for reporters with references to his alleged influence peddling, abandoned laptop, and drug abuses. Yet every major network and newspaper that interviewed Biden skillfully avoided any damaging questions. It was no small feat to delicately avoid obvious problems in his account while seemingly interviewing him on those subjects. Reporters would raise the laptop of Burisma contract and then just shrug and move on without any serious followup. The glaring contradictions were left unaddressed like admitting that he was a crack addict during the time he was receiving massive contracts from foreign companies due to his unestablished “expertise” on energy issues. The conflicts with his own father’s accounts were entirely ignored. The protective press cocoon around Hunter and his father remained intact.
In the end, it is not the possible crime by Biden but the demonstrable collusion by the media that is more of the story from these interviews.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Did Hunter Biden Incriminate Himself In A Federal Crime?”
I wanted to send my best wishes everyone celebrating the holiday today. Last year, I wrote about “having the best Easter in the worst of times” due to the pandemic. Notably, today the family is getting vaccinated with the first open vaccine site in Fairfax. Like the holiday itself, it is a sign of hope and renewal. Last year, I had not seen my eldest son Ben (working at a hospital) for weeks at the height of the pandemic and I spent the holiday with caregivers and my mother in hospice in Chicago. I spent weeks with my Mom in my hometown. She then rallied and I am home with my family in McLean for this holiday.
For years, the media shredded Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway for a statement on Meet The Press interview on January 22, 2017, in which she defended White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on attendance numbers at the inauguration. Conway insisted that, while Chuck Todd was citing one set of numbers, Spicer was giving “alternative facts”. The statement produced a firestorm of ridicule that the Trump White House was constructing an alternate reality. That is not the response however to the repeated misrepresentations of the Georgia election law by President Joe Biden — false statements criticized even by the Washington Post. Likewise, there was little response this week when Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended the alternative facts presented the White House and some media outlets, even after another major newspaper called out the same false statements about the law.
We have been discussing a slew of defamation actions this year. Indeed, for a torts professor, this could prove the golden age of defamation. Recently, new such cases were filed against Fox News, CNN, and various public figures. Those cases join various cases against figures like Donald Trump, who recently lost a major ruling. It now seems likely that Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz will be sued in the ongoing scandal involving allegations of sex trafficking. Like many, I was surprised to watch Tucker Carlson’s interview with Gaetz on the first night of the scandal and hear Gaetz identify by name (and law firm) the lawyer who he claims was extorting him. That lawyer is former Justice Department lawyer David McGee, who presumably will be filing a libel action against the congressman. This could prove a “double tap” for Gaetz, 38, who could face a criminal charge and a civil lawsuit as a result of the scandal. Continue reading “Gaetz Could Be Washington’s Latest High-Profile Defamation Defendant”