Donald Trump has repeatedly described special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into his presidential campaign a “rigged witch hunt.” He’s right about one thing: there is clear evidence of a rigged witch hunt in Washington. But it’s not the one he thinks it is. Here’s a typical Trump tweet, one of many that cite the Rigged…
Should free-speech gun advocate Cody Wilson be able to provide you with shape files and instructions to create a 3D-printed plastic gun? That’s a question that forces freedom-loving people to think hard about which freedoms they support. Wilson and his company Defense Distributed sued the government, which was blocking his plan to put the gun…
Senator Mark R. Warner’s office wrote a paper with 20 legislative ideas on how to restrain the excesses, abuses, and ill effects of internet giants like Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Apple; Axios got a copy and published it. With problems from fake news to data sharing and bullying, these platforms certainly deserve scrutiny. Of course,…
The Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (Mass TLC), a Boston-area trade group, annually presents awards to local leaders for Best CEO, Best CMO, and the like. All of this year’s nominees were men. After some local tech luminaries called them out on it, they re-opened the process and asks for women nominees. Now they have to…
Late last night, Donald Trump threatened Iran with an all-caps tweet. Today, I’ll analyze its effectiveness using the Without Bullshit rubric for all written communication, ROAM. Here’s Trump’s tweet: To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED…
Trump met with Putin in Helsinki, then defended the Russian president. Democrats were outraged, of course, but this time many Republicans chimed in with disapproval as well. What does the language of these Republican protests tell us about the probability of an impeachment? Trump got everyone upset with this response to a reporter’s question: AP…
At the UN’s World Health Assembly, which took place in May, health experts attempted to reach consensus on ways to improve health worldwide. As in any international gathering, there was conflict. But this year’s conference featured strong-arm tactics on the unlikely issue of breastfeeding. If you’ve never had a baby, you probably wonder what all…
EPA head Scott Pruitt resigned yesterday in the wake of a dozen corruption accusations. His resignation letter is puffed up and implies that God backs both Trump and Pruitt, who did nothing wrong. Hmm . . . If you want to know the complete list of what Scott Pruitt did wrong, from spending $43,000 of…
Famous lawyer Alan Dershowitz is all over cable TV defending Trump and talking about why special counsels like Robert Mueller are a bad idea. Now his pals on Martha’s Vineyard won’t invite him to their cocktail parties — and his defense of himself is ripe for ridicule. Who’s behaving badly here? Here’s some of what…