Here’s the latest installment of my John Durham series published by The American Spectator. Like the previous articles, this one made Real Clear Politic‘s “Most Read” list and has gone viral. Later today I will be a guest on Chicago’s Morning Answer AM560 to discuss the Durham investigation. When I receive the audio download, I will post it on Knowledge is Good. In the meantime, get out your Ovaltine secret decoder, sit back and enjoy this latest cliff-hanger episode of “John Durham Blows Up Washington”. Note: For those of you who never had the privilege of growing up in the...
Webster’s dictionary defines “Potemkin village” as “an impressive façade or show designed to hide an undesirable fact or condition.” So it is that the adjective “Potemkin” is used to characterize any artifice contrived to deceive others into thinking that things are better than they really are. As set forth below, I pose the question as to whether or not, based on its operations and recent events, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”) can fairly be described as a Potemkin institution which in reality serves only to give the false impression that it is protecting U.S. citizens by imposing constitutional limits on...
Not too long ago, I was privileged to represent a former big city police officer who had been charged with raping two young women of questionable virtue. He had met one of them through an online site where, among other things, prostitutes advertised their services. That purported victim had introduced him to her friend who became the second complainant. It was no secret – and the prosecution was well aware – that the two young women were hookers. Nevertheless, despite the fact that my client had retired after being grievously wounded in the line of duty, he was arrested in...
“Tickling the wire.” That’s the slang expression used by law enforcement personnel to describe the process of trying to breathe life into a moribund or unproductive wiretap. When the subjects of such surveillance fail to discuss their criminal activities over the monitored telephones or at the bugged premises, surreptitious steps can be taken to induce them to do so. For example, in the case of a federal wiretap on a drug dealer’s telephone, if few incriminating communications have been intercepted, the local police can be enlisted to conduct an apparently unrelated car stop, interrogation and search of the subject. This...
It’s been a busy time here. Today The American Spectator published my piece refuting the New York Times’ claim that the FBI started investigating President Trump after he fired FBI Director James Comey. Titled The FBI Prostituted Itself, you can link to it at the TAS website here or you can read it below. Also today, the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s website, Philly.com, published my commentary regarding the negative impact of Philadelphia’s sweetened beverage tax on supermarket sales in the city. You can link to it here or read it below after the TAS article. One Inky reader had a strong reaction...