Just Whose Side Are They On?

Posted on 22 June 2017 by eehines

The New York City Council is at it this time.

A new bill would require the New York Police Department to disclose and describe all “surveillance technology,” which it defines as “equipment, software, or system capable of, or used or designed for, collecting, retaining, processing, or sharing audio, video, location, thermal, biometric, or similar information.” The cops would have to post this information online annually and respond to public comments.

Naturally, the ACLU thinks this is a good idea, too.

Yeah. It is a good idea to tell criminals and terrorists just how they’re being identified and might be preempted. Sure.

This is a preview of Just Whose Side Are They On?. Read the full post (135 words, estimated 32 secs reading time)

The Mueller Investigation

Posted on 22 June 2017 by eehines

Is Robert Mueller running a legitimate investigation into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign or officials in it and Russia?

Robert Mueller hasn’t decided whether to actually investigate Trump: Report

Special counsel is investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice, officials say

Mueller Seeks to Talk to Intelligence Officials, Hinting at Inquiry of Trump

Special counsel is investigating Jared Kushner’s business dealings

It isn’t possible for the Mueller investigation to be legitimate with all of these leaks about his investigation and its status and findings that he’s permitting to occur. Or that, Comey-esque, he’s doing himself.

This is a preview of The Mueller Investigation. Read the full post (144 words, estimated 35 secs reading time)

Pseudo-Science

Posted on 19 June 2017 by eehines

I got an email ad over the weekend, inviting me to join the American Association for the Advancement of Science—AAAS, which used to be a respectable organization. The ad said in part,

Organizations that have propelled us forward—NIH, NOAA, and the EPA, just to name a few—are facing major funding cuts.

Because fraud, waste, and abuse are important only when it’s the other guy’s FWA. We wouldn’t been involved with any of that. Not us.

No, even were these organizations sound, their spending can be tightened, and they can absorb budget cuts. They can do the same amount of work, or more, did they only spend with efficiency rather than profligacy.

This is a preview of Pseudo-Science. Read the full post (388 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Foolish

Posted on 18 June 2017 by eehines

The Justice Department is clashing with career site Glassdoor Inc over the company’s refusal to identify users who posted anonymous employee reviews of a veterans health-care company under federal investigation.

That’s been fought over in civil courts, but this is a first for a potentially criminal matter. The Federal government is the one making the demand this time because the Feds want witnesses for a grand jury investigation into Glassdoor.

Whatever the parameters of any possible criminal case involved here, there are some questions that need careful consideration. Leave aside 1^st Amendment questions regarding a right, especially but not necessarily limited to political discourse, to discourse anonymously.

This is a preview of Foolish. Read the full post (258 words, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)

Leaks, Again

Posted on 17 June 2017 by eehines

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on leaks about ongoing investigations:

Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories any stories attributed to anonymous “officials,” particularly when they do not identify the country—let alone the branch or agency of government—with which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated.

Indeed. And here’s Peter Carr, a Robert Mueller spokesman, assuring us that Mueller’s special counsel operation

has undertaken stringent controls to prohibit unauthorized disclosures that deal severely with any member who engages in this conduct.

Then, I have to ask, why is Mueller still allowing these leaks to occur? Why hasn’t he hailed his leakers into court, civil or criminal?

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Another “Leak,” Another Rumor

Posted on 16 June 2017 by eehines

President Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey is now a subject of the federal probe being headed by special counsel Robert Mueller, which has expanded to include whether the president obstructed justice, a person familiar with the matter said.

The rest of the article continued in that vein: no real-world sources cited, only this deliberately unidentified one. The Wall Street Journal‘s article at the link also cited a Washington Post article on the same subject; that bit also only cited “sources”—five of them in WaPo‘s case—whose identities were carefully withheld.

This is a preview of Another “Leak,” Another Rumor. Read the full post (365 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Obstruction of Justice

Posted on 10 June 2017 by eehines

Ex-FBI Director James Comey testified earlier this week before the Senate Intelligence Committee that he was the one who orchestrated the leak of his MFR purportedly describing a one-on-one meeting with President Donald Trump. Comey said he asked a friend (Daniel Richman, a law professor at Columbia University, and a man who should have known better himself) to leak the document and the friend subsequently read it over the phone to a New York Times writer.

This is a preview of Obstruction of Justice. Read the full post (367 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Really!?

Posted on 3 June 2017 by eehines

The CTL-Left Mayor of Portland, OR, is at it now. He wants the Feds and organizers of a couple of Trump rallies to shut down those rallies.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said Monday that the “alt-right demonstrations” would only fuel hatred and fear during a time of tragedy.

Never mind that these are pro-Trump rallies that have nothing to do with the NLMSM’s imaginary alt-right.

Never mind that Wheeler clearly wants to impose his concept of free speech: feel free to speak what Wheeler personally approves. And no other word.

Wheeler is claiming

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Constituents

Posted on 1 June 2017 by eehines

Who are a Federal judge’s—at any level of the judicial hierarchy—constituents? I asked this question of a number of folks, and the most cogent answer I got was this: “in order, the law and justice.” Even that answer, though, is only about one-third right IMNSHO.

Here is the first oath of office Federal judge and Justice must take; it’s the same as any Congressman must take.

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Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

Posted on 30 May 2017 by eehines

Heather Mac Donald, in an opinion piece in a recent Wall Street Journal argued that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is getting a bad rap over his decision to reinstate emphasis on mandatory minimum sentencing and that those minimum sentencing requirements themselves get a bad rap. She’s right on both counts.

This is a preview of Mandatory Minimum Sentencing. Read the full post (490 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

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Category Archives: ethics