“China Was Right”: Academics and Democratic Leaders Call For Censorship Of Social Media and The Internet

130px-Mao_Zedong_portraitBelow is my column in The Hill on calls for increased censorship on the Internet and social media due to the pandemic.  While academics are writing that “China was . . . right”, China was celebrating World Press Day by sentencing journalist Chen Jieren to 15 years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble, extortion, illegal business operations and bribery.”  It is an ironic moment to herald China’s censorship of the media when the evidence mounts that China concealed and censored information on the virus outbreak in January.

Here is the column:

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“That’s All I’m Going To Say About It”: Whitmer Declares Biden Innocent Without A Search Of Senate Records

Screen Shot 2020-05-03 at 7.15.59 PMWe have been discussing how Democrats are struggling to defend former Vice President Joe Biden despite his refusal to open up his papers being held at the University of Delaware.  The disconnect with how the same politicians addressed the allegations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh is glaring but few have adopted the categorical position of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Sunday with Jake Tapper. Whitmer’s answer (like the poor image in the remote interview) was obscure but no less conflicted than the later interview given by DNC Chair Tom Perez.  The key is that there is still no review of the Biden papers that has been completed yet MSNBC host Nicole Wallace has called the coverage a “smear campaign” against Biden.

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“Prison Doesn’t Kill, Loneliness Does”: Filmmaker Dies In Prison For Video Mocking Egyptian President Al Sisi

Screen Shot 2020-05-04 at 7.33.18 AMAs the United States has continued to give the regime billions and President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has been showered with praise from President Donald Trump, the Egyptian regime continues to wipe out free of speech, the free press, and other civil liberties.  The latest outrage is the death of Egyptian filmmaker Shady Habash, 24, who was incarcerated for two years without trial for a music video entitled “Balaha” mocking Sisi.  The American people has supported this lethally insecure authoritarian leader and a regime at war with the very founding principles of this country.  In a letter published by his supporters, Habash wrote “Prison doesn’t kill, loneliness does.”

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No, Obama Cannot Be Part Of A Dream Clinton/Obama Ticket

President_Barack_ObamaThere is a new bizarre theory lighting up the Internet that, with Biden continuing to struggle as a presumptive nominee, Democrats are considering the prospect of a DNC engineered ticket of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. We have previously discussed the rumbling over months about Clinton allies pulling off a convention swap to make her the nominee. However, the story has brought back to life a dubious theory put forward a couple years ago by Michael Dorf, a professor at Cornell Law School, that Obama could constitutionally join a ticket as Vice President and even return as president.  I found Dorf’s argument interesting, but this theory has taken flight in the imaginations of many on the Internet. The Washington Post column shows how the media seems to have endless space for any theory that fills a void for liberal fantasies whether it is unsupportable criminal interpretations against Trump or returning a president to power despite clear constitutional prohibitions on such a move.  There is no constitutional foundation for this constitutional urban legend of Obama’s return.  However this is the version of Fantasy Football for liberals. The problem is that many are taking this seriously.

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The Flynn Case Should Be Dismissed In The Name Of Justice

440px-Michael_T_FlynnBelow is my column in The Hill newspaper on the new evidence released in the case of Michael Flynn.  As I said two years ago, it is unlikely the Judge Emmet Sullivan will dismiss this case regardless of such abuses, but he should.  As we discussed, there has been a concerted effort by media and legal experts to shrug away these highly disturbing documents by saying that such abuses happen all the time.  Journalist Ben Wittes, one of James Comey’s most vocal defenders, went even seemed to make such abuse of Flynn into a victory for racial justice:

“If you’re outraged by the FBI’s tactics with Flynn, keep in mind that they do these things every day against drug dealers, gang members, and terrorists. Except those people are black, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern—not “lock ‘er up” lily white.”

Many of us have spent our careers fighting such abuses for people who are not “lily white.”  That does not excuse abuses of people There was a time when MSNBC, CNN, the Washington Post and other outlets were voices against such prosecutorial abuse. However, in this age of rage, even this record is dismissed as “routine” to avoid undermining a crushingly consistent narrative that the Russian investigation was based on real crimes, albeit collateral crimes.  The “nothing to see here” coverage sacrifices both legal and journalistic values to to maintain a transparently biased narrative.

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The New York Times Calls For Biden To Open Up His Papers As Two Additional Witnesses Come Forward To Support Reade

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Biden Issues Another Artificially Narrow Waiver In Search On Sexual Assault Evidence

220px-Biden_2013We discussed yesterday how former Vice President Joe Biden issued a request to release material from the National Archives related to the allegation of sexual assault made by former Biden staff member Tara Reade. There was less than met the eye however.  Biden adamantly refused to open up the records held by the University of Delaware and has steadfastly limited any searches to Reade’s complaint rather than any such allegations.  Now Biden is adopting the same artificially narrow approach in his letter to the United States Senate.  While CNN has been running glowing interviews about the letter, it is clearly drafted to limit the search.  Once again, I fail to understand this reluctance to simply end all discussion with total transparency.  Biden, in my view, has the stronger case here given the limited evidence and witnesses supporting Reade.  The fact of any recollection of this allegation by various staff members is highly compelling evidence. Yet, he continues to issue strangely curtailed requests while proclaiming that he is being totally transparent. It is not clear if this is just a reflexive resistance to full disclosure, over-lawyered language, or actually an effort to conceal information.

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Biden Offers Limited Release From The Archives While Refusing To Open His Delaware Records

220px-Biden_2013The long-awaited response by former Vice President Joe Biden to the allegation of sexual assault by former staff member Tara Reade occurred this morning on MSNBC Morning Joe.  Biden likely viewed this as a most favorable possible forum but host Mika Brzezinski did an excellent job in questioning Biden who, shortly before the interview, publicly called for the release of any complaint by Reade.  Biden’s release was artificially narrow and, while he started strong, he quickly disassembled under questioning as to why he would not allow the release of material from the University of Delaware, which we discussed yesterday.  The refusal drew objections from advocates for victims of sexual assault. Biden also had missteps like calling the allegation “irrelevant.” The one thing that I will again raise is that this controversy should spark a debate over the privatization or control over what should be public documents by politicians.

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New Documents Show Strzok Countermanded Closure Of Flynn Case For Lack Of Crime

peter-strzok-and-lisa-pageYesterday, I discussed the release of new FBI documents in a column and on the blog.  Much of the discussion yesterday concerned the disclosure of documents showing FBI officials debating how they could trap Flynn in a crime.  They focused on the Logan Act, a flagrantly unconstitutional law that has never been used to convict a single U.S. citizen.  These documents do not show prosecutors finding a way to arrest someone suspecting of a crime. They show prosecutors trying to create a crime.  However, there is also other evidence that is equally troubling over the role of one of the most controversial figures in the Russian investigation, fired former Special Agent Peter Strzok.  It now seems that it was Strzok who reached out to stop investigators from closing the Flynn case for lack of a crime. He then manufactured a crime. The response of media and legal experts to excuse this thuggish and abusive record is nothing short of breathtaking.

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“A Gross Necropolitical Calculation”: Rutgers Professor Charges Trump and White Conservatives With Using The Virus To Kill Black People

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C-Span Screenshot

Brittney Cooper, an associate professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Rutgers University, is doubling down on her prior public comments denouncing Trump supporters and alleging a conspiracy to kill black people.  She notably has invoked her tenure status with the latest tweet attacks: “I have tenure. Rutgers won’t be firing me for tweets.”  As many of you know, I have long taken the same position on the free speech rights of faculty on social media and public comments. However, schools have been less than consistent in punishing or investigating faculty based on the content of their views.  Cooper declaring “F— each and every Trump supporter” obviously would include many students in the university.  She blames “white depravity” and claims “when whiteness has a death wish, we are all in for a serious problem.”  As previously discussed, it is doubtful that these same attacks directed against African-Americans or other groups would be treated in the same fashion.

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“I Don’t Need A Lecture”: Pelosi Praises Biden For His Response To Sexual Assault Allegations Despite Biden Not Responding

220px-nancy_pelosiSpeaker Nancy Pelosi went on CNN to praise former Vice President Joe Biden for his response to the sexual assault allegations by former Biden staffer Tara Reade.  Biden however has not personally responded to the allegations and continues to refuse to release his Senate documents being kept under key by the University of Delaware.  We previously disclosed the glaring disconnect in the positions of Democrats like Pelosi in prior demands that women “must be believed” when the allegations were directed by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.  Pelosi also supported Bill Clinton through his various allegations by multiple women ranging from sexual harassment to rape. Update: When confronted on the story, Pelosi snapped “I don’t need a lecture.”

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“Far More Troubling”: Flynn Document Release Could Foreshadow Blockbuster Report

440px-Michael_T_FlynnLast night, many of us were digesting the highly disturbing documents released in the case of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.  As I discussed this morning in a Hill column, the documents reveal an effort to entrap Flynn, including the use of a blatantly unconstitutional statute to achieve that “goal.” However, there appears far more than has not been released, according to various sources.  The release of the Flynn documents highlight what  Attorney General William Barr said on “The Ingraham Angle” on April 10th and stated that “far more troubling” material will be released as a result of the investigation of U.S. Attorney John Durham. I believe it is a mistake for Barr to give such foreshadowing interviews before the release of the Durham report. While I agree with Barr ordering these reviews (and his view of the evidence so far), these interviews only undermine the credibility and that of the eventual report. (For full disclosure, I testified in favor of Barr’s confirmation before the Senate Judiciary Committee).  Putting that aside, the evidence strongly supports Barr’s effort to force the disclosure of material that has been buried despite the claims of full investigations by Congress and the Inspector General.  Bizarrely, the media and many liberal commentators are struggling to ignore these troubling disclosures and the obvious abuses that they reflect within the Justice Department.

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The University of Delaware Finds Itself At Ground Zero Of Biden Sexual Assault Controversy

imagesIt is rare for a university to find itself at the center of a national political scandal but the  University of Delaware is being pummeled over its refusal to release possible documents related to allegation of sexual assault against former Vice President Joe Biden.  Biden, who graduated from the school and served as Delaware’s senator, gave his paper from the Senate to the university in 2011.  Among the papers may be the formal complaint filed by former Biden Senate staffer, Tara Reade. However, the university is refusing to release the papers.  Papers like the Washington Post have called on Biden to release all of the personnel papers. Years ago, I wrote an academic paper criticizing this control of presidential and official papers – contesting the view of politicians that these papers are personal property. I also testified in Congress against this classification of official papers as personal property. As discussed in earlier columns, this is an example of how abusive this approach can be.

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MSNBC Attacks Trump For Using The DPA After Criticizing Trump For Not Using The DPA

500px-MSNBC_2015_logo.svgPresident Donald Trump has used the Defense Production Act to ensure beef, pork, poultry and egg plants keep operating to avoid a food shortage.  That did not sit well with MsNBC Chris Hayes who objected to Trump using the DPA after blasting Trump for not using the DPA.  For weeks, I have been raising what I view as a widespread misconception of the DPA and its function.  This is an example of how the DPA has become part of a media mantra to suggest that the Administration refused to use the Act when it could have addressed shortfalls.  This spin redirects the primary responsibility for the failure to prepare for a pandemic from governors, who ignored years of warnings of shortfalls and lack of stored material.  There are legitimate questions about mistakes made in this pandemic but the DPA has increasingly been used in a way disconnected from factual and legal foundations. Continue reading “MSNBC Attacks Trump For Using The DPA After Criticizing Trump For Not Using The DPA”

Tennessee Man In Gorilla Suit Arrested After Running Into Wrong House And Scaring Child

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Joliet Police Department

There is a bizarre case out of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee where Richard Muzick, 31, reportedly went into the wrong home to play a prank.  Instead, he scared a six-year-old child. It likely had to do with the fact that Muzick was wearing a gorilla costume at the time. What is curious is that he is now charged with aggravated burglary despite the police concluding he was mistaken about the house. Continue reading “Tennessee Man In Gorilla Suit Arrested After Running Into Wrong House And Scaring Child”