Tag: hypocrisy

Wealthy BLM Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors Builds a Wall Around Her Posh Estate

Patrisse Cullors, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter and self-described Marxist recently purchased an estate in California worth over a million dollars. She reportedly surrounded her property with a fence, including an electric gate.

In other words, a wall. You could not make this up.

My Legal Insurrection colleague Samantha Mandeles wrote a comprehensive report on Cullors. It is a must-read.

Cullors resigned her position after her wealth surfaced in the media. She declared that any notice of her riches was essentially racist.

This new development is just as fascinating. Walls are no longer racist or xenophobic.

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Trump DOJ Obtained Data on Schiff and Swalwell, Two Long-Time Champions of Domestic Spying

The Trump Justice Department in 2017 and early 2018 issued subpoenas to Apple to obtain the communications records of at least two Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee, Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA). According to The New York Times, DOJ prosecutors attempting to determine who leaked classified information to the media about Russiagate suspected the two House Democrats were the culprits, and to prove that, they obtained their communications records as well as those of family members, including minor children.

A DOJ leak investigation aimed at sitting members of Congress is highly unusual. Both the Obama and Trump administrations, in a hunt for leakers, created controversy by obtaining the communications records of journalists, including — in the case of the Obama DOJ — the family members of those journalists. But investigating members of the House Intelligence Committee for leaking crimes — as opposed to corruption or other standard criminal charges — can present different dangers. Neither Congressman was charged with any crimes and the investigation reportedly bore no fruit.

The two House Democrats, among the most fanatical disseminators of baseless Russiagate conspiracies and long known to serve as anonymous sources of leaks to liberal media outlets, reacted with predictable outrage. “This baseless investigation, while now closed, is yet another example of Trump’s corrupt weaponization of justice,” Schiff intoned on Thursday night. As difficult as it is, Swalwell, as he often does, found a way to be even more melodramatic than Schiff: “Like many of the world’s most despicable dictators, former President Trump showed an utter disdain for our democracy and the rule of law.”

Investigating possible crimes — such as leaking classified information — is the job of the Justice Department. To accomplish that, FBI agents and prosecutors often obtain personal communications records about their suspects. But invading the communications records of journalists, as both the Obama and Trump DOJ did, can create serious threats to press freedom and the possibility of abuse and retaliation. The same is true for invading the communications records of members of the legislative branch, particularly ones hostile to the president. An investigation is certainly warranted to determine the propriety of these subpoenas.

But like so many politicians before them, Schiff and Swalwell have zero credibility to object to this targeting. When it comes to ordinary Americans, both have been long-time champions of expanding domestic spying powers and blocking efforts at reform designed to curb abuses of the type they claim took place here.

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Biden Minimum Wage Czar Demands Federal $15 Wage, But Students Under Him As Dean Make $13.50

While President Joe Biden’s nominee for Wage and Hour Administrator at the Department of Labor frequently calls for a $15 an hour minimum wage, the nominee has not called for students at the university he works at to receive the same.

David Weil, who Biden announced as a federal nominee last week, has backed a $15 an hour wage while not instituting such a policy at Brandeis, where he is a dean and professor. The group that alerted The Federalist to this contradiction is the American Accountability Foundation.

According to the Office of Student Financial Services, the minimum wage at the private school in Massachusetts is $13.50 an hour, the same minimum wage set by the state. Given the dean’s influence and position as a staunch progressive, it is curious why he would work at a school that does not provide the same compensation he seemingly determines is necessary.

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