By Bruce Fein – – Wednesday, October 8, 2014 Both the U.S. Constitution and experience dictate a monumental downsizing of the Office of the Presidency. It has grown from a tiny acorn into a towering oak since President George Washington. Taking a page from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the Founding Fathers would ask today, “Upon what…
DetailsBy Bruce Fein – – Tuesday, October 7, 2014 Leon Panetta’s new book, “Worthy Fights,” confirms the adage that ignorance and arrogance are the parents of foreign policy hallucinations. According to the fact-resistant former secretary of defense and CIA director, Iraq and Syria today would be flourishing in peace and stability and the Islamic State…
DetailsA recent poll showed that almost 80% of Americans are in favor of getting rid of mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent offenders. These are found in the federal government and a number of states, mostly for drug offenses. Perhaps the most famous of these mandatory minimum sentencing laws is California’s “Three Strikes” law that resulted in 25 years-to-life for stealing golf clubs and a slice of pizza, respectively.
DetailsBy Bruce Fein – – Monday, October 6, 2014 In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Falstaff defends his cowardice by lecturing, “‘The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.” Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court correctly followed Falstaff’s instruction by avoiding a ruling on whether the Constitution…
DetailsBy Bruce Fein – – Monday, October 6, 2014 The Supreme Court of the United States is an Ursa Minor not an Ursa Major of constitutional law. Its jurisprudence more follows than opposes the election returns. As Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo lectured, “The greatest tides and currents which engulf the rest of men, do…
DetailsBy Bruce Fein – – Sunday, October 5, 2014 As Secretary of State and national security adviser, Henry Kissinger was a heartless and erring imperialist worthy of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden.” Kipling’s famous poem fueled the 3-year Philippines-American war. More than 20,000 Filipino combatants were killed, and 200,000 civilians died from violence, famine…
DetailsBy Bruce Fein – – Saturday, October 4, 2014 If the United States is not an empire, the word has lost all meaning. No sparrow falls in the forest that does not provoke a national security assessment and response. At present, we are employing military force in six countries — Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen,…
Details
Bruce Fein - All Rights reserved 2016