Media, Military, Politics

Biden Denies Ever Opposing Bin Laden Raid

Recently, Joe Biden “clarified” his pledge to defy any Senate subpoena to testify in the Trump impeachment trial but stating the exact opposite in a later interview. Now, in a remarkable contradiction, Biden has denied that he advised against the Bin Laden raid in 2011 despite his statement to the contrary eight years ago. Given the importance of the issue to his views as president, the latest in a long line of contradictions could further undermine Biden’s position in a still competitive Democratic field.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Military

Trump Orders Defense Department To Publicly Confirm Assassination Of Iranian General

In a break from long-standing intelligence practices, President Donald Trump ordered the Defense Department to confirm that the United States was behind the missile strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s secretive Quds Force, and six others, including Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The public acknowledgement of responsibility is a game changer. While Iran (like most of us) assumed it was the United States, the public confirmation of the assassination removes any doubt and forces Iran and Iraq to deal with a direct and official attack. International law treats the targeted killing of a ranking military figure on foreign sovereign soil as a presumptive act of war. As always however there is no shortage of hypocrisy in the condemnations from Capitol Hill.

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Academia, Politics, Society

Is Fake News Hard Wired? Study Finds People Misremember Facts To Fit Their Beliefs

I recently criticized NBC Meet The Press host Chuck Todd for suggesting that Trump supporters are fantasy-prone dimwits who just want to be lied to. A new study may indicate why people across the political spectrum tend to ignore opposing views and rest comfortably with echo-journalism. Researchers at Ohio State University found that people tend to misremember numbers to match their own beliefs. They think that they are basing their views on hard data when they are actually subconsciously tailoring that data to fit their biases.

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Courts, Society

“Trust Me, I’m A Doctor”: Ninth Circuit Rules “Diet” Dr. Pepper Does Not Mean Diet Dr. Pepper

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit may have answered a question for all those who cannot understand why they are not losing weight when drinking diet sodas. The answer is that it is really not a diet drink. That is the ruling of the panel against the claim of Shana Becerra who proffered that the moniker is deceptive advertising in a lawsuit against Diet Dr. Pepper. By the way, remember the slogan “Trust Me I’m A Doctor?” It turns out that he is not even a real doctor. Lies upon lies.

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Academia, Columns, Congress, Constitutional Law

Pelosi’s Half Right Constitutional Claim Leaves The House All Wrong

Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the position of Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe that the blocking the submission of the impeachment to the Senate by Speaker Nancy Pelosi is both constitutional and commendable. He is half right but the House is entirely wrong in its gaming of the system in this fashion.

Here is the column:

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Bizarre, Media, Politics

Moore: Most White People Are “Not Good People” And Are Dangerous If Encountered On The Street

Filmmaker Michael Moore recently showed how polarizing our national dialogue has become over race. Moore declared that the vast majority of whites in this country “are not good people” and that others should “be afraid” of them in an interview on The Rolling Stone podcast “Useful Idiot.”

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Media, Politics

Rep. Green Tells MSNBC That The “Genesis” For Trump’s Impeachment Began Before He Was Elected

Rep. Al Green (D, Tex.) has remained the most quoted Democratic member . . . . by Republicans. Green has given Republicans quotable gems to show a long-standing and unending effort to impeach Trump from his very first day in office. His most popular GOP talking point is “I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get reelected.” However, Green has also said recently that the House may continue to impeach Trump and has called for an array of clearly illegitimate articles of impeachment. Now, Green has given Republicans a quote to reinforce its narrative by declaring that the “genesis” of the impeachment began before Donald Trump was even elected. That is likely to be added to the top Green quotes for the upcoming Senate trial.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Society

Homicidal But Not Homophobic? Mafia Reportedly Embraces Gay Mobsters

I wanted to start the New Year on a positive note and one legal story stood out. The Italian Mafia has reportedly opened its doors to gay men for the first time. However, La Cosa Nostra has adopted a type of organized crime “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy implemented by the Clinton Administration.

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Society

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New Year to everyone on our blog! We rang in 2020 at home in McLean, Virginia.  New Year’s eve is also my wedding anniversary. Twenty-one years ago,  Leslie and I eloped in Old Town Alexandria after dating eight years. Once again, we will celebrate two anniversary dates. I count the anniversary as our 30th while Leslie insists on counting this year as our 22nd anniversary.  We will toast our anniversary and the New Year (as we did 22 years ago) with a bottle of Schramsburg Cremant.

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Media, Society

STATE OF THE BLOG (2019)

Happy New Year to all of our blog community from around the world. As has been our tradition on this blog, with the start of 2020, I thought I would share our annual “State of The Blog” statistics from the last year. It has been a great year for the blog with the highest traffic in the history of our blog. We continued our expansion internationally. While I usually post a separate blog when we passed another million mark, the crush of impeachment meant that our passage of the 38,000,000 view mark went unheralded and we are well on our way to 39,000,000.

Thanks to all of our regulars and particularly Darren Smith who continues to monitor the blog and write on the weekend. We also now have an email following of over 105,0000 and a twitter following of almost 100,000.

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Bizarre, Media, Politics

Chuck Todd Asks Whether Trump Supporters Simply Want To Be Lied To

NBC News anchor Chuck Todd is under fire for an openly derisive comment about Trump supporters as effectively delusional drones who want to be lied to. He even added a dig at belief in biblical accounts like Noah’s Ark. It is the latest example of how open bias has become the norm on mainstream media. Imagine if Todd said Obama supporters are ignorant voters who just want to be lied to. This is precisely why the media is now driving some voters to Trump and reinforcing echo-journalism on both sides.

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Academia, Columns, Congress, Media, Politics

The Eleventh Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Testify For Republicans

Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the perils of professors who agree to testify as Republican witnesses, particularly in an impeachment. It is not the continuing threats against me and my family. That happened when I testified in the Clinton impeachment. No, it is the response of fellow academics and the degree of flagrantly false stories in the media. As a lawyer, I have worked with accused murderers, polygamists, spies, terrorists, and others. However, nothing produces the unhinged rage as appearing as a Republican witness.

Here is the column:

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Justice, Politics, Society

Tax Avoidance: A Moral Duty

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

While it is a truism that in many respects some form of taxation is needed to provide necessities to a society, in practice many government and social detriments arise as either a consequence to or are derivative of tax policy. I’ve found for myself that fostering a personal goal of avoiding specific taxation or in many cases excessive taxation generally comports with a greater advocacy of morality in several beneficial forms.

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