A troubling videotape of a King County sheriff’s detective holding a gun on a motorcyclist has resulted in his being placed on administrative leave. Alex Randall, the motorcyclist, posted the videotape that shows him pulling up to a stop line at a red light. The detective then walks up and points the gun at him. The King County Sheriff has apologized to Randall but the department is still refusing to release the name of the detective.
When I teach the reasonable person and the rational actors standards in torts and economics, I often remind my students that they will be shocked how many people fall well below such standards in their daily activities. This is a case in point. According to Forbes and other sites, hospitals report that they are treating people for eye damage after they put sun screen directly into their eyes to allow them to look at the recent solar eclipse. They said that they could not find special glasses.
I recently wrote about the dangerous calls to treat protesters as “domestic terrorists.” Most these calls focused on the neo-Nazis but the recent move by German authorities against Antifa shows that groups on the left can also be targeted by such actions. The Antifa website has been barred due to the violent role played by their members at the G20 summit in Hamburg. The Interior Ministry accused Antifa of seeking to “legitimize violence against police officers. which he described as an “expression of an attitude that tramples human dignity.”
Continue reading “Germany Bans Antifa Website As An Extremist Forum”
University of Iowa Assistant Professor Jodi Linley is under fire for an article in a “peer-reviewed academic journal” in which she pledged to expose her students to “their own white ignorance.” She says that she used her “identities as a queer, able-bodied, cisgender woman” to offer a “teaching paradigm” that strips away white privilege. She segregates by race and works toward “interrupting oppression” that occurs in classroom settings. Continue reading “Iowa Professor Under Fire Over Proposal For Exposing Her Students “White Ignorance””
Below is my column in the Washington Post on the increasing calls for impeachment. The latest poll shows 43 percent favoring impeachment. In the meantime, former Trump adviser Roger Stone has warned that impeachment could trigger an actual civil war. Even more bizarre is the addition of the Arpaio pardon as a basis for impeachment. It is all part of our life in this age of rage. However, there are serious constitutional values at stake as discussed in the column below:
We have been discussing the disciplining of professors for their statements on social media and the concern that there are different standards being applied in such cases. As many of you know, I take a robust view of free speech rights and have been critical of the monitoring and punishment of teachers for expressing their political and social views outside of campus. The latest such controversy comes from Clemson University where Assistant Professor Bart Knijnenburg went on Facebook to call Trump supporters and Republicans generally “racist scum.”
Continue reading “Clemson Professor Under Fire For Calling All Republicans “Racist Scum””
If you guessed biting the fishing line and stealing the bait of a fisherman, you are a criminal savant. Alexandria Turner, 22, was charged with being the large catch that got away . . . but only briefly.
Continue reading “Can You Guess What This Person Was Arrested For?”
We previously discussed how the coverage of President Donald Trump’s low polling numbers often omits that Bill Clinton had similar numbers and more importantly media darling French President Emmanuel Macron has similarly low numbers and those numbers are dropping. That does not change the fact that this White House is rapidly alienating allies both domestic and foreign. However, a new poll confirms that Macron shows the same dropping popularity over the same period of time with only 40 percent now in favor of the job that he is doing. If you think, it is time for a Macron makeover . . . think again.
Continue reading “Macron Makeover: Fifty-Seven Percent Now Dissatisfied With French Leader”
I have long been a critic of the concerted efforts of Democratic politicians and the establishment to rig the primary for Hillary Clinton. It worked. They selected perhaps the only person who could lose to Donald Trump. For that reason, I immediately took note of articles claiming that a federal court have made a finding of rigging by former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman. The Observer, for example, had an headline of “Court Admits DNC and Wasserman Schultz Rigged Primary Against Sanders.” That seemed like a particularly important news development but on closer examination it is based on a misunderstanding of the federal procedural rules governing such decisions.
Continue reading “Not Quite: Media Reports Court Finding That DNC Rigged Primary For Clinton”
There was an incredible videotape taken in Houston, Texas as a dump truck took out a highway signal on Interstate 610. The truck was moving with a raised bed and struck the sign, as shown below.
Continue reading “Video: Dump Truck Takes Out Highway Sign In Houston”
Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the call from both the right and the left for protesters to be declared domestic terrorists. With rising anger over protests and counter protests, politicians are rushing to join calls for the government to not simply investigate these groups for hate speech but actually terrorism.
Here is the column:
I have been writing and speaking about the movement to remove statues that range from confederate leaders to Columbus to Supreme Court justices to Founders (here and here and here and here). CNN political commentator and former Congressional Black Caucus director Angela Rye (right) is the latest to expand the call for the removal of monuments. Rye stated on CNN that the country must tear down all memorials and likenesses of George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. I recently wrote about the call for the removal of monuments to George Washington.
Continue reading “CNN Analyst Calls For All Washington and Jefferson Memorials To Be Taken Down”
The American Civil Liberties Union is apologizing for featuring the picture of this child at part of is promotional campaign after outraged supporters said that the image rekindled fears of Charlottesville and represented “white privilege.” Rather than stand by a beautiful picture of a child in an ACLU shirt with and American flag, the ACLU effectively confessed to being guilty of white privilege in allowing such an image on its site. I have been lifetime supporter of the work of the ACLU but the organization has been losing its once tight grip on core principles. Members have been demanding that the organization drop its color-blind approach to free speech and refuse to represent some unpopular groups. The ACLU conceded that it would decline to help groups like those in Charlottesville because they were seen with guns — despite the fact that those guns were entirely legal.
The NAACP’s interim president Derrick Johnson is requesting a formal meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to the failure of any team to pick up Colin Kaepernick and how the NFL will honor his “constitutional rights” and those of other NFL players. I have said previously that I strongly disagree with the decision of Kaepernick and others to refuse to stand during the national anthem. However, I fully accept the first amendment right to carry out such protests. However, the question is far more complex when moved into the realm of employment and demonstrations at work. The question becomes less a constitutional matter than an employment matter.
Continue reading “NAACP Calls On NFL To Protect Kaepernick’s Constitutional Right To Protest”
We have previously discussed tourists who damage art and artifacts by their thoughtless conduct (here and here and here and here). Unfortunately, we have yet another such example.According to Southend Echo visitors to the Prittlewell Priory Museum in Southend, Essex, visitors damaged a unique 800-year-old stone coffin to snap a picture.
Continue reading “Family Breaks 800-Year-Old Coffin After Putting Child Into It For Photo”