CIA nominee Gina Haspel reportedly sought to withdraw her nomination last Friday but was convinced to continue by the White House. I have previously written extensively on my views the torture program implemented under the Bush Administration and why it was a clear violation of international laws and treaties. As I wrote recently, CIA nominee Gina Haspel has featured greatly in that torture program. Nevertheless, various Democrats continues to express a willingness to consider making her the head of the Central Intelligence Agency. In the meantime, Sarah Sanders has echoed the talking point that Senators will be hypocrites if they do not vote for the first woman to be nominated for this post. The problem is that she is also the first person nominated with an admitted history of torture, even though she continues to mislabel the programs as “enhanced interrogation.”
We have previously discussed the thankfully small segment of felons who are arrested in flagrante delicto with helicopters, cars, vacuums, picnic table, mailboxes, and other inanimate objects. Newton, Kansas police added another suspect for sex with a car while Virginia police arrested a man for relations with a fence. Justin James Rutley, 30, (left) however found himself stuck in the act.Continue reading “Men In Kansas And Virginia Arrested For Sex With Car And Fence”
By Mike Appleton, Weekend Contributor
I’ll admit that I had no idea who was serving as Chaplain of the House of Representatives until the recent controversy over the forced resignation of Fr. Patrick Conroy, S.J. But if someone had told me only that a Catholic priest had just been fired as House Chaplain, I would have guessed that he was a Jesuit.
The Society of Jesus has been a thorn in the side of princes and popes for centuries. Jesuits have been periodically banned by kings and suppressed by the Church, but they have always returned to continue speaking truth to power, inspired by a rich tradition of Ignatian spirituality and a fierce intellectual independence. My own alma mater, Jesuit High School in El Paso, Texas, occupied a campus built by Mexican Jesuits during a period of anti-clerical political repression in Mexico.
While I was still contemplating the meaning of the termination, the resulting political outcry resulted in Paul Ryan’s capitulation to political reality and Fr. Conroy’s reinstatement. But the question remains: what was behind the request for his resignation? The explanation initially provided, that he was not meeting the “pastoral needs” of his congressional flock, struck me as contrived. Nor did I buy into the excuse that he was a victim of generalized anti-Catholic attitudes among certain House members. The correct answer, I believe, lies behind Fr. Conroy’s own comments that he had been asked to “stay out of politics” following a prayer before the opening of a House session on the then pending tax overhaul bill. The words of that prayer suggest that Fr. Conroy’s sin was primarily theological.
Below is my column in USA Today on the disastrous interviews given by Rudy Giuliani where he made a series of damaging statements on the Stormy Daniels scandal and other matters related to President Donald Trump. He has since walked back his remarks and President Trump has said that Giuliani needs to “get his facts straight” and said that people had to “learn before you speak. It’s a lot easier.” Giuliani seemed to contradict himself in the same interview and tripped more wires for potential criminal and ethical violations. Giuliani who emphasized that “zero” money for Daniels came from the campaign seemed to fundamentally miscomprehend the law which is designed precisely to catch contributions coming from outside the campaign reporting system. While doing little for the defense, it did create new questions about the failure to report the loan, the use of payments disguised as fees, and the obvious conflict with Cohen’s own recollection and statement — a point that Cohen himself made to the media.
Here is the column:
The BBC is reporting another shocking murder of a victim in a rape case in India. We have followed the dire conditions for girls and women who are often traded away in marriages or subjected to child bride arrangements that are little more than religiously sanctioned rape. The latest case involves a 16-year-old girl who was raped at a wedding and her attackers were then fined $750 and, according to the BBC, ordered to do 100 sit-ups. While most of us are outraged by such light punishment, the attackers were outraged in their own right and beat the parents and then burned the victim alive.
I will appear on Sunday as a guest on CBS Face The Nation with moderator Margaret Brennan . While I have done the show previously, this appearance holds special meaning because it will be the final Sunday for the show at its old location at 2020 M St. N.W. CBS has been moving into its new building next door and then this long-standing CBS bureau will be torn down. Despite being my birthday, I wanted to see the old girl one last time on M St. Update: It turns out that a second former student, Kelly Anne Conway, was also on Face the Nation, making this a thoroughly GW saturated line up. Here is the clip: Face the Nation. Conway was in my class in the first year of my teaching at GW and was always a standout in her class — as was Michael Avenatti in his class.
Continue reading “Turley To Appear On CBS Face The Nation [Updated]”
Educators in the United Kingdom have a curious view of teachable moments. The educators found that many of their students could not tell the time at schools because they could not read analog clocks. The solution? They replaced all of the clocks with digital clocks. Problem solved. Of course, people from other countries may have to help them with reading Big Ben . . . unless it will also go digital.
We recently discussed the bizarre attacks on Utah senior Keziah Daum, 18, for wearing a Chinese Choengsam (also known as a qipao) dress to her prom at Woods Cross High School. Various people responded to her posting as blatant cultural appropriation. Now China has responded and said thank you for appropriating us.
Continue reading “China: Yes, Keziah, Please Appropriate Us”
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has, through counsel, sent a intent to sue letter to New York Magazine over an alleged home invasion by reporter Olivia Nuzzi. Nuzzi in March admitted that she entered his home without permission — an act that certainly would be a crime as well as a tort. Update: There is an interesting twist (and potential defense) to the potential criminal or tort case involving the “home” of Lewandowski, which also happens to be the office of Turnberry Solutions, a lobbying firm started a close Trump campaign associate. Continue reading “Corey Lewandowski Threatens To Sue New York Magazine Over Reported Unlawful Entry By Reporter Olivia Nuzzi [Updated]”
Thomas Tramaglini, 42, was arrested for a particularly vile alleged crime: being a serial pooper on a high school football field. That alone would make him a standout as an alleged felon. Yet, the real surprise for police was to learn of his day job: Superintendent of Schools in Holmdel, New Jersey. He was named superintendent of Kenilworth schools in August 2015. Tramaglini also worked as a lecturer at Rutgers Graduate School of Education. Continue reading “School Superintendent Accused For Being Serial Pooper On High School Football Field”
Rocco Mantella, 34, is accused for being a menace to swans after being allegedly seen in public parks practicing his karate on the birds. He has been banned from two Florida parks and charged with cruelty to animals for what witnesses say is a pattern of kicking swans as well as a sleeping duck. Continue reading “Fowl Crime: Florida Man Accused Of Using Karate On Swans In Public Park”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the leaking of the questions outlined by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for an interview with President Donald Trump. The leak occurred shortly before the resignation of Trump counsel and his replacement with Emmet Flood. The change removed the lawyer who was most eager to cooperate with Mueller to bring an end to the investigation. If the leak was designed to poison the well for an interview, the statements of Trump’s counsel certainly indicated a harder line toward Mueller. Giuliani has stated that Mueller would be given no more than a couple hours on narrow topics — a public statement that could push Mueller toward fulfilling his earlier threat to subpoena Trump. If Trump fights Mueller on the subpoena, he is likely to lose. He could then find himself pulled into a grand jury room without the benefit of counsel (though he could always reverse himself and agreed on a sit down with the Special Counsel).
Here is the column: Continue reading “The Danger To Trump Rests In The Sleeper Questions Of The Special Counsel”
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt seems a virtual perpetual motion machine of scandals. With 11 different federal probes into his conduct, two of his top aides quit their jobs in the middle of the investigations, according to the New York Times. I certainly will not deny my opposition to many of the actions taken by Pruitt, who is widely viewed as one of the most anti-environmental EPA chiefs in history. However, this is not about policy differences. Trump is fulfilling his campaign promise to reduce regulations and he is entitled to take the EPA in a different direction. Rather this is about fundamental values of good government. Pruitt continues to be an embarrassment in his relations with lobbyists and alleged spending of public funds — a sharp and glaring contradiction to the pledge of Donald Trump to “drain the swamp.” Continue reading “Pruitt Goes For An Even Dozen: EPA Chief Is Now Facing 11 Federal Probes Into Excessive Spending, Special Dealing, and Ethical Violations”
One of the great qualities of art is that it can transcend social, political, and ethnic divisions in appealing to the aesthetic and concepts of beauty or meaning. While the backgrounds and periods of artists often inform the viewing of their work, it is the art not the artist that it is focus most people. The Baltimore Museum of Art, however, cannot separate the race of the artist from the art. It is selling masterpieces by white painters to buy art of non-white artists in a move that its own director, Christopher Bedford calls “an unusual and radical act to take.” This will include work by by Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and other masterpieces because the artists are white.
President Nixon’s White House counsel John Dean claimed that if the Trump administration leaked questions from special counsel Robert Mueller it could qualify as obstruction of justice. Once again, I disagree with such sweeping interpretations of the crime of obstruction of justice. Leaking such questions or topics would not be a crime under any case that I am aware of in defining the crime of obstruction.
Continue reading “John Dean Calls Leaking The Questions A Possible Basis For Obstruction Of Justice”