Roy Moore has been dodging media in his race to finish the Alabama campaign without a minimum of discussion of the allegations from nine women about his pursuit of him as young girls as young as 14 while he was a prosecutor in his 30s. Former neighbors, colleagues, and security staff have also come forward with similar accounts. The allegations in The Post included those of Leigh Corfman, who said she was sexually assault at 14. Moore initially admitted that he knew some of the women and called women like Debbie Wesson Gibson a “good girl.” (He also remembered Gloria Thacker Deason). Then recently he abruptly did a 180 turn and said that he did not know any of the women. Gibson has been quiet since coming forward but has grown tired of the attacks and denials from the Moore camp. Thus, when he suddenly said that he did not know her, she searched her attic and produced a graduation card signed “Happy graduation Debbie. I wanted to give you this card myself. I know that you’ll be a success in anything you do. Roy.” She says that More gave her the card personally at the Etowah High School graduation ceremony in Attalla, Ala.,
Yesterday, the Trump Administration secured two clear victories after the United States Supreme Court issued two orders lifting the lower court injunctions imposed on the travel ban. I have written repeatedly on the travel ban (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here) and my view that the case law supported the Trump Administration. I thought that the appeal that reached the Supreme Court on the second round seemed likely to succeed while the third round was even stronger for the Administration. The Administration had already secured an order with the Ninth Circuit reversing the trial courts in critical respects. Now the Supreme Court restored the travel ban in its entirety pending appeal. The orders issued shortly before appellate arguments on the merits this week is a further indication that the Administration is likely to prevail on the merits. Indeed, while the orders do not dictate an outcome, they send a strong message to the lower courts on the skepticism of the Court.Continue reading “Supreme Court Reinstates The Trump Travel Ban In Full Depending Appeal”
Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has reportedly scuttled his own deal to secure release from home confinement under a deal Manafort with prosecutors. Prosecutors learned (from an unspecified source) that Manafort was working with a ghostwriter on an opinion piece on his case. The second man reportedly had ties to Russian intelligence — hardly ideal for a man at the center of the Russian investigation. The work was deemed to be in violation of a court order for all parties to refrain from “trying the case in the press.” However, the order raises a long-standing question of the need and constitutionality of orders limiting the free speech of defendants and counsel. While once the exception, gag orders have become the rule with many judges. Yet, Manafort is presumed innocent and the order prevents him from responding to those questioning his loyalty and honesty.
There is an interesting criminal case this week in Port St. Joe, Florida where Robert Paul Alexander Edwards, 33, is facing criminal charges for drawing a “disturbing” picture (shown below) on a student’s homework assignment. The interesting thing is that the police acknowledge that they do not believe that Edwards intended to take any violent action but they criminally charged him because the picture was “disturbing.” Of course, his mugshot shows that he is relatively indiscriminate on where he puts random pictures.
Continue reading “Florida Man Arrested For Drawing Violent Picture On Student’s Homework”
Below is my column on the Flynn plea agreement and its potential significance to the Russian investigation. One development is that President Donald Trump is now denying that he ever told Director James Comey to let Flynn go. This follows a highly damaging tweet that a Trump lawyer now says was his sloppy mistake. It is another tweet gone awry for the Trump White House.
Continue reading “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Of The Flynn Plea”
We recently discussed the controversy at Evergreen State College where Biology Professor, Bret Weinstein, was essentially forced off the faculty after objecting to a planned “Day of Absence” in which white people were asked to stay off campus. Despite Weinstein being subject to abuse by students on campus for merely stating his view of the implications of the proposal, the faculty sided with the students and shunned the academic. He and his wife, fellow biology professor Heather Heying, were eventually given a $500,000 settlement. The school preferred not to litigate the issue and pay the settlement rather than defend a point of obvious academic freedom and free speech on campus. Now the student newspaper is under fire for creating an opinion section where white students are excluded. The Cooper Point Journal is funded by all students but its editors have not responded to calls about the segregation of its pages by race.
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Doctors at the Jackson Memorial Hospital faced a novel issue when a 70-year-old man was brought into the emergency room after being found intoxicated and unconscious on the street. (The man lived at a nursing home and had a history of pulmonary disease). The doctors were working to assist the man when someone noticed a large chest tattoo reading “DO NOT RESUSCITATE.” It even had a tattoo signature. After consulting an “ethics expert,” the hospital treated the tattoo as a viable DNR form and allowed the man to die. In my view, the expert was wrong on the law if his decision was based solely on the tattoo.
Continue reading “Miami Doctors Allow Man To Die Because Of “Do Not Resuscitate” Tattoo On Chest”
During the frenzy yesterday over the Flynn plea deal, ABC dropped a bombshell report that Michael Flynn told Special Counsel Bob Mueller that he was prepared to testify that it was Trump who told him to contact the Russians. ABC News later not only retracted that statement but corrected it with information supporting Trump’s account and contacts with Russians. With the story today of an FBI special agent removed from the Russian investigation due to anti-Trump tweets, the “clarification” by ABC plays into the narrative by Trump supporters that the Russian investigation is politically motivated.
Alberta Conservative MLA Ron Orr appears to be planning the remake of Reefer Madness. In the case of Orr, the use of marijuana however does not yield to jazz-fused madness but lock-step communism. Orr is warning that legalizing marijuana could send Canada into the arms of the red army and fellow travelers.
Continue reading “Proletarian Pot? Canadian Politician Warns The Marijuana Will Led To Communism”
Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the case this week before the Supreme Court on cellphones and privacy. As discussed below, the government’s argument in Carpenter v. United States represents one of the greatest threats to privacy in a generation. One promising sign is that Justice Neil Gorsuch seemed to be siding with privacy in his questions during oral argument.
Here is the column:
Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore in Alabama has faced a large and broad spectrum of accusers over his alleged pursuit of girls aged 14-16 while a prosecutor in his 30s. The allegations have come from multiple women, including one who says that she was sexually assaulted at age 14. There are also an array of neighbors, former colleagues, and security officers who have come forward to detail Moore’s reputation as a menace for young girls. The women accusing Moore are Republican and Trump supporters. They describe a similar and chilling pattern of a man who was reportedly on a watch list at the local mall as well as cheerleading events. While denying the sexual assault, Moore avoided any substantive national interview. Now, however, Moore appears to entered a delusional and deranged realm in blaming the allegations on a conspiracy of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender persons, and socialists.
We have been following the vicious knockout game playing by knocking some unsuspecting person on the street (here and here and here). Police were looking for a man who brutally attacked an elderly man in Los Angeles, as captured by the videotape below. Police have now announced that they have arrested Dale Shoner, 43.
Continue reading “Suspect Arrested In Chilling “Knockout Game” Videotape [Updated]”
Texas State University is this week’s ground zero in our campus speech debate. The most recent controversy was triggered by an opinion column by student Rudy Martinez on November 28th in The University Star titled “Your DNA is an abomination.” While insisting that he cannot by definition be racist, Martinez declares that “white death will mean liberation for all.” Martinez is a racist and the column is deeply disturbing. However, as will come as no surprise to regulars on the blog, I still support his write to publish such views. My concern is that universities continue to be selective in affording free speech rights to students. It is doubtful that the university would be so circumspect if the the column called for the death of minorities. UPDATE: The student columnist has been fired by the newspaper.
We recently discussed how the leading Irish university has barred the use of “freshman” in favor of the gender neutral term “fresh.” The French government came to the opposite conclusion this month after French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe rejected the demand to make French more “female-friendly” by dropping masculine words. French, like English, often use the masculine forms as neutral terms. It will continue to do so.
Continue reading “France Rejects Gender Neutral Words As A “Mortal Danger” To The French Language”