Soledad O’Brien, responding to Michael Bloomberg’s hesitant, equivocating answer to a question about the wrongful convictions of the Central Park Five, explains why Bloomberg will never be president. She’s right that black voters will not accept him, but then no one of any race should support a man who does not – indeed, will not…
Law
America, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Politics, Putin, Russia, Trump, Trump-Russia, Unfit
Rep. Adam Schiff’s Closing During Wednesday’s Impeachment Debate
by JOHN ADAMS •
Drug War, Health, Law, Opioids
Treatment Should Always Be a First, Readily-Available Option
by JOHN ADAMS •
At the Asbury Park Press, Shannon Mullen, Lisa Robyn Kruse, Austin Bogues, and Andrew J. Goudsward report on the unfair disparity in the treatment of Crack v. Heroin use: Dannis Billups’ addiction nightmare began with an actual nightmare when he was about 4 years old. His daddy sat him on his knee and gave him a half-can…
America, Authoritarianism, Education, Law, Trump
More Dangerous Than More Dangerous
by JOHN ADAMS •
At the Washington Post’s Plum Line, Greg Sargent writes that William Barr’s deceptions are more dangerous than you think. It’s an excellent post about Barr’s attempt to validate Trump’s lies (about Russia, Ukraine, election interference). Sargent’s assessment is even less favorable for the future – and so more ominous – than he writes. Sargent is right…
Congress, Impeachment, Law, Trump
Articles of Impeachment of Donald Trump for High Crimes and Misdemeanors
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Authoritarianism, Babbittry, Bigotry, Boosterism, City, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Mendacity, Never Trump, Politics, Resistance, Trump
Forget the Tender Feelings of a Pernicious Faction
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Journal Sentinel, Craig Gilbert writes about the political divide in For voters in this purple part of Wisconsin [Richland Center], the impeachment fight is a symbol of broken politics. The story establishes a false equivalence between those who support impeachment and those who oppose it, as though the conflict between these views…
America, Authoritarianism, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump, Putin, Trump-Russia
Statement and Testimony of Dr. Fiona Hill
by JOHN ADAMS •
These many years, across generations, many (including libertarians) have wanted peaceful relations abroad, but have found instead a relentless, scheming dictatorship under the Soviets and, not longer after, under Putin. This question in foreign policy confronted us: what is to be said, what is to be done, about imperialistic dictatorships? Some (including sadly some isolationist…
America, City, Impeachment, Law, Liberty
Statement and Testimony of Gordon Sondland, American Ambassador to the European Union
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s an oft-repeated saying that all politics is local. It’s false, at least in our time: in hamlets, villages, towns, and cities our politics is national (and constitutional). In fairness, I’ve always inclined to this view, but it would be better to be wrong than to be proved right under these conditions. It should be…
America, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Trump
House Resolution on Impeachment and Fact Sheet
by JOHN ADAMS •
Molly E. Reynolds and Margaret Taylor offer a useful description of What’s in the House Resolution on Impeachment?: First, the resolution directs all six committees instructed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to participate in the inquiry—Intelligence, Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, Oversight and Reform, and Ways and Means—to “continue their ongoing investigations as…
Candidate Fitzgerald, Congress, Gerrymandering, Law
Candidate Fitzgerald: On Guns
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s often the case that bad goes to worse, and that’s true for the WISGOP. The Fifth Congressional District, now represented by Thurston Howell III F. James Sensenbrenner, a gerrymandered, septuagenarian multi-millionaire who votes with Trump almost all the time, may have a new and worse Republican congressman. State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, who in 2016…
America, Federal Government, Law, Trump
Hear or Read the Whistleblower Complaint
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Trump
Right & Necessary
by JOHN ADAMS •
Education, Law, Open Government, Public Records, School District, Wisconsin
School Board Applicants’ Letters of Interest
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last week, I posted on the applicant interviews with the Whitewater Unified School Board for a vacancy (following the resignation of board member Jean Linos). See School Board, 9.16.19: Applicant Interviews and Reporting. Seeing that the agenda for the meeting lacked key information, and a local newspaper’s reporting (Gazette; Beleckis) was deficient, I submitted a…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Ethics, Law
‘Keeping Harvey Weinstein’s Secrets’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Harvey Weinstein is responsible – directly and personally – for his actions. Others, however, assisted him in concealing his violent coercion. Astonishingly, as the New York Times reports, some of those who aided Weinstein were – of all people – attorneys who made public careers as victims’ rights advocates. The two podcasts embedded below detail…