This week represented a milestone for California in the criminal justice system when Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed legislation eliminating cash bail in the state. Starting in October 2019, a system of risk assessment will replace cash bail — a move deemed more fair to defendants with little ability to pay bail.
There is an interesting study on pollution out of China. Normally, any study out of China would be a tad suspect, but this one only magnifies the costs of pollution choking Chinese and other citizens. Researchers found that pollution has a pronounced impact on reducing cognitive abilities. In other words, if lax pollution standards is dumb, pollution itself will actually make you dumber — making it more likely that you will allow more pollution in an environmental and intellectual downward spiral. With 90 percent of humanity breathing bad air, that is a truly frightening thought. Continue reading “Study: Pollution Makes You Dumber”
Musk appears to be withdrawing his earlier apology and doubling down on his bizarre personal attack on Vernon Unsworth, who helped rescue the young soccer players and their coach from the Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand. Musk suggested Unsworth was a pedophile after Unsworth criticized Musk’s rescue submarine. Now Musk is asking why Unsworth did not sue him and why reporters never investigated the allegation — a suggestion that “truth is a defense” defamation. Update: Unsworth counsel has now confirmed that a lawsuit is being prepared.
Elon 
There is an interesting C-SPAN survey out this week where ninety-one percent of citizens agreed that decisions on the Supreme Court impacted the lives of every American but a majority lack the ability to name a single justice.
Continue reading “Supremely Forgettable: A Majority Of Americans Cannot Name A Single Justice”
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort sought a plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller while the jury was deliberating in Virginia. The report indicates that Manafort understood the likelihood of conviction and also could be willing to follow other Trump insiders with a deal. Why such a deal broke down is an intriguing question.
Continue reading “Wall Street Journal Reports Manafort Sought Deal With Mueller”
Veteran Los Angeles County Prosecutor Michael Pettersen is facing a very serious charge after he rear-ended a car in Calabasas and then remained in his wrecked BMW drinking alcohol out of a bottle as various people videotaped him. He then exited the car and collapsed in a stupor. Adding to the notoriety was the fact that he hit the car of a local radio celebrity called Big Boy, aka Kurt Alexander,
Below is my column in The Hill on the curious role that Gofundme is playing in the ongoing controversies surrounding the Trump Administration. There is an emerging type of market for witnesses on both sides where they compete for donors based on their potential value attacking or defending President Donald Trump.
Here is the column: Continue reading “The Great American Witness Auction: How Michael Cohen And Others Are Making Millions In A Testimony Market”
While the world was preparing for the devastating news of the passing of Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican Kelli Ward was seeing the announcement of his suspending further treatment in an entirely different and personal light. Ward, who has long opposed McCain and supported President Donald Trump, insisted the statements (coming just twenty-four hours before his death) were meant to run a “negative narrative” about her. It appears that she was about to kick off her bus tour and was convinced that McCain was obsessed with derailing her media coverage.Continue reading “GOP Senate Candidate: McCain Was Dying To Undermine Me”
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on Michael Cohen’s emergence as a witness against President Donald Trump. The man who declared that he would take a bullet for the President just took a plea. In the meantime, Trump friend David Pecker has been given immunity and reportedly implicated Trump in knowing about the hush money payments before they were made. In what could well be the worst development, Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, has been granted immunity. Weisselberg is referred in the tapes Cohen secretly recorded with Trump and could offer highly damaging and detailed evidence of any criminal conduct.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Michael Cohen’s New Role As The “Liberated” Liar “Speaking Truth To Power””
During the recent national debate over net neutrality, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai insisted that companies would not engage in unfair throttling of customers and would act reasonably and fairly in using their control over wireless service. The CC, Pai, and Verizon are under withering attack this week after Verizon throttled the wireless service of the Santa Clara Fire Department in the middle of fighting a massive fire emergency — putting both first responders and citizens alike at risk. The fire fighters were told by Verizon in the middle of their emergency that they might want to upgrade their plans with Verizon and the company would be happy to help them with a new plan. Continue reading “Critics Attack Verizon and the FCC After Company Throttles The Santa ClaraFire Department During Emergency”
This is not your usual campaign pitch. Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera is running for the House of Representatives but most wants you to know that her long-standing account of being abducted by aliens really doesn’t define her. It appears that the discussion of aliens in the campaign will remain in this solar system.
Continue reading “Florida Candidate: My Alien Abduction Does Not Define Me”
I have previously written about Michael Cohen’s allegation that President Donald Trump knew and approved the meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower in 2016. It was a bombshell story from an anonymous source and has reverberated in the news for weeks. Some of us questioned the account after no one came forward to corroborate Cohen despite his saying that Trump was briefed in a room with multiple people. Now, Davis (who some have claimed was the source for CNN) is admitting it is untrue.
Continue reading “Davis Denies Prior Allegations That Trump Knew In Advance About Russian Meeting”
When the jury sent four questions to the judge after a day of deliberations, the defense team of Paul Manafort was buoyant. It was viewed as a sign of skepticism over the case. At the time, I took a different view and suggested that such questions can often reflect a single hold out juror and a desire to enlist the court to clarify standards. After all, Manafort did not appear to be following an acquittal strategy rather than a hung jury strategy. It was always more likely that he would face convictions across the board than a hung jury on all counts. It is also interesting that the jury basically discounted anything Rick Gates gave them at trial. It seems that there was unanimity from the outset that Gates is a dirt bag with no credibility.
It now appears that it was a single hold out on the jury that prolonged the case and resulted in ten hung counts. In the meantime, a juror who must have been viewed as a defense asset on the jury spoke out in surprising terms regarding the guilt of Paul Manafort. Continue reading ““A Special Place In Hell”: A Single Juror Prevented Manafort’s Conviction On All Counts”
Below is my column in USA Today on the increasingly dire situation for Paul Manafort who is looking at roughly a decade of potential jail time after the convictions in Alexandria — and substantially more jail time if convicted in the upcoming trial in Washington, D.C. In the meantime, yesterday, White House said that no decision has been made yet on a possible pardon for Manafort.
Manafort once said, while he listens to everyone, Trump’s voice was louder than others. That voice must be uncomfortably quiet in the aftermath of the verdict.
Here is the column: Continue reading “One Voice Louder Than Others: Manafort’s Diminishing Options”
There was a truly bizarre scene in Houston this week when a police officer was on the ground struggling with a man who he said was trying to grab his gun. A security officer circled the scene filming with her cellphone until the officer screamed “Stop f***ing filming and help me!” Instead, she continued to videotape the scene as the officer screamed that the man was trying to kill him. The security guard was later fired.