Happy Easter to all of our bloggers and readers that are celebrating today. The bunny came to the Turley house and left baskets overflowing with chocolates and candies, including a doggie basket for Luna. Leslie made incredible French Toast that was addictive and the kids engaged in the annual trade negotiations over candy assets.
After a year of blaming sexism for her defeat, Hillary Clinton argued this week that people begging her to stop her public appearances are themselves sexist despite former supporters among those objecting to the negative impact that she is having on efforts to regain power. Even her most passionate supporters like Sen. Claire McCaskill have publicly rebuked her. Clinton refuses to acknowledge polls from before her nomination showing that she was the most unpopular candidate to run for president in history. Nevertheless, Democratic members and power brokers forced through the nomination — ultimately losing to the second most unpopular candidate to ever run, Donald Trump. Virtually any other leading Democrat would have likely won the election but Clinton has struggled to blame others — including self-hating women — for her loss.
Continue reading “Clinton: People Calling For Me “To Go Away” Are Sexist”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on why a separate and independent investigation of the FBI’s conduct is warranted. My support for the investigation is not because I believe that criminal charges will likely be brought. Rather, I have never seen our country more divided and I cannot imagine any way for us to get beyond this poisonous political environment without full and complete investigations with public disclosure of the findings. As I have stated in interviews, I comment Attorney General Jeff Sessions in not only giving this matter to the Inspector General but ordered U.S. Attorney John Huber to assist in the investigation. The combination of the U.S. Attorney and the Inspector General is likely to expedite the investigation and maximize the options for the Justice Department — including the option reserved by Sessions to eventually order the appointment of a Special Counsel. Critics of Sessions are missing the import of the joint investigation. He has selected a line prosecutor from outside of the Beltway to review the conduct of FBI officials, including James Comey and Andrew McCabe. Huber adds prosecutorial experience and powers to the ongoing IG investigation.
In Long Island, District court judge Robert Cicale is facing a bizarre case . . . as the defendant. Cicale is accused of breaking into homes to steal women’s underwear. Indeed, police report that the judge has confessed to the felonious fetish.
Continue reading “Long Island Judge Accused Of Stealing Women’s Underwear”
Faith Linthicum, a labor and delivery nurse at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center in California, has been forced on leave for writing on Facebook that Stephon Clark, the unarmed black man who was fatally shot by police, “deserved it for being stupid.” This is the latest example of employees being fired for expressing their views outside of work, including prior controversies involving nurses. Update: the hospital has fired Linthicum.
Bates College is one of the oldest colleges in New England (and the first to grant a degree to a woman). It has a great legacy and reputation. As is unlikely to surprise many on this blog, one of my favorite things about Bates is its annual AESOP experience, or the Annual Entering Student Outdoor Program. The Outing Club takes first-year students into the gorgeous Maine wilderness for a 4-day, 3-night trip. I was saddened therefore to see an editorial by Justice Geddes in The Bates Student, where he attacked the tradition as an exercise of “white privilege. The article has caused a backlash among conservatives.
Continue reading “Nature Outings At Bates College Are Denounced As “White Privilege””
Below is my column in USA Today on the call of former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens for the repeal of the Second Amendment. It was a moment of honestly that young protesters should heed in fighting for real change. So long as this is a protected individual right, there are serious limits on how much that right can be curtailed. It is time for an honest debate in this country. Stevens called the right a “relic of the 18th Century.” Of course, one person’s relic is another person’s rifle.
Here is the column:
Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe has launched an online fundraiser on GoFundMe to raise $150,000 to cover the legal costs for McCabe. Money has poured in with adjustment of the “goal” upward to $250,000. It has now surpassed that goal. What is interesting is that McCabe is moving to tap into the contributions before the public learns what caused career Justice officials to seek the unprecedented termination of the former acting FBI Director.
Continue reading “GoFundMe: McCabe launches Online Drive For Donations For A Legal Defense”
Former Sen. Al D’Amato (R. N.Y.) has demonstrated a single clear rule for anyone going through a nasty divorce or custody fight: do not use your estranged wife’s hospital room to vent your anger as she begs you to stop. A video was released by D’Amato’s wife Katuria Smith that showed D’Amato raving at her as she laid in bed recovering from neck surgery. Warning: the video and discussion involves foul language.
Continue reading “Former Senator Al D’Amato Caught on Videotape In Heated Hospital Scene”
President Donald Trump’s struggle with the Stormy Daniels scandal has become Washington’s version of A Streetcar Named Desire . . . without the gritty charm. Rather than shutdown this litigation over a sordid alleged affair, the President has been left looking like Stanley Kowalski declaring to Blanche DuBois that he has “a lawyer acquaintance” who can “study these out.” For Trump, that “lawyer acquaintance” was Michael Cohen, a fix it lawyer who has become infamous for threatening women connected with Trump with financial and legal ruin. Until, that is, former porn star Stormy Daniels (the Blanche DeBois of this drama) called his bluff. Now, Trump’s fix it man has a fix it man, David Schwartz, who proclaimed that he also has “studied things out” and has threatening both Daniels and her lawyer with ruin. The problem is that Schwartz may have just cratered the case for both his client, Cohen, and Cohen’s client, Trump. Schwartz has finally declared that Trump was never aware of the agreement negotiated for him by Cohen. That could spell serious trouble not only for Cohen but also Trump. Instead of a final scene screaming “Stella!,” it may be “Schwartz!” that is heard throughout Foggy Bottom.
A federal judge issued a surprising decision that allowed part of an emoluments challenge to proceed toward trial. The opinion has been widely misreported, but still represents a rare win for those arguing that President Donald Trump is accepting prohibited payments from foreign governments at the various Trump properties. However, the decision is only on the threshold standing question and did not address the merits of the constitutional claim. Moreover, United States District Judge Peter Messitte dramatically narrowed the action to only claims related to the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. These is considerable debate over the meaning of the Constitution’s “emoluments” clause. There are clearly good-faith arguments that such payments fall within the meaning of the language, but I remain highly skeptical. Even with the much reduced action, I think Messitte is wrong and that the action should have been dismissed in its entirety. Previous actions have been dismissed.
Continue reading “Federal Court Permits Emoluments Challenge To Move Forward”
Despite national outcry over the blind application of “zero tolerance” rules, school and police officials continue to throw kids into the criminal justice system without any logic or judgment. The latest example is Zach Cassidento, a high school senior at Amity High Regional School who suspended and arrested after simply posted a picture of his birthday gift — an “Airsoft gun,” on Snapchat. He was not charged but was suspended for a day from school.
We have previously discussed the national trend in colleges and universities to require faculty to use an increasing number of different pronouns for students. Faculty questioning such alternative pronouns have been subject to discipline or condemnation. There is even a move in states like California to criminalize the failure to use alternative pronouns. Now, the women’s college Mount Holyoke has ordered faculty to avoid calling its students “women” since some students may identify as non-genders or different genders.
Continue reading “Mount Holyoke Women’s College Orders Professors Not To Call Students “Women””
Below is my column in The Hill Newspaper on the potential legal fallout from the Stormy Daniels interview on CBS 60 Minutes. Notably, yesterday the White House again expressly denied not just the “allegations” but specifically the allegation that President Donald Trump had a sexual tryst with the porn star. That direct denial is precisely what I have warned against in this and other columns. While the Daniels matter is not currently on the table with the Special Counsel, the worsening situation only reinforces why I believe Trump should close the deal on a sit down on the four prior subject matters lead out by Robert Mueller. Notably, my repeatedly stated view that Trump should sever any ties with his radioactive personal counsel Michael Cohen does not appear likely since Trump just arranged a dinner with Cohen at Mar-a-Lago.
Here is the column:
Democratic attorneys general in several states have announced that they will challenge the addition of a citizenship question in the next U.S. Census as hostile to undocumented persons and discriminatory under the 14th Amendment. I do not see the compelling argument against such a question which has been asked in prior years, though not on a decennial survey since 1950.