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How is Hillary Clinton, in 2020, compelled to sit for a sworn deposition about her email server?I just read an email about this and the details were inside.Here is the contents/ExcerptVictory! Court Orders Hillary Clinton Deposition on Emails and Benghazi Attack DocumentsWe’ve been in court for years over Hillary Clinton’s emails — as you know, we are persistent for justice.The great news is that U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth has granted our request to depose the former secretary of state about her emails and Benghazi attack documents. The court also ordered the deposition of Clinton’s former Chief of Staff, Cheryl Mills, and two other State Department officials.Additionally, the court granted our request to subpoena Google for relevant documents and records associated with Clinton’s emails during her tenure at the State Department.The ruling comes in our lawsuit seeking records concerning “talking points or updates on the Benghazi attack” (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01242)).Remember, it was Judicial Watch that discovered in 2014 that the “talking points” that provided the basis for Susan Rice’s false statements were created by the Obama White House. This FOIA lawsuit led directly to the disclosure of the Clinton email system in 2015.In December 2018, Judge Lamberth first ordered discovery into whether Secretary Clinton’s use of a private email server was intended to stymie FOIA; whether the State Department’s intent to settle this case in late 2014 and early 2015 amounted to bad faith; and whether the State Department has adequately searched for records responsive to our request. The court also authorized discovery into whether the Benghazi controversy motivated the cover-up of Clinton’s email. The court ruled that the Clinton email system was “one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency.” The State and Justice Departments continued to defend Clinton’s and the agency’s email conduct.Judge Lamberth has now overruled Clinton’s and the State and Justice Department’s objections to limited additional discovery by first noting:Discovery up until this point has brought to light a noteworthy amount of relevant information, but Judicial Watch requests an additional round of discovery, and understandably so. With each passing round of discovery, the Court is left with more questions than answers.Additionally, Judge Lamberth said that he is troubled by the fact that both the State Department and Department of Justice want to close discovery in this case:[T]here is still more to learn. Even though many important questions remain unanswered, the Justice Department inexplicably still takes the position that the Court should close discovery and rule on dispositive motions. The Court is especially troubled by this. To argue that the Court now has enough information to determine whether State conducted an adequate search is preposterous, especially when considering State’s deficient representations regarding the existence of additional Clinton emails. Instead, the Court will authorize a new round of discoveryWith respect to Clinton, the court found that her prior testimony, mostly through written sworn answers, was not sufficient:The Court has considered the numerous times in which Secretary Clinton said she could not recall or remember certain details in her prior interrogatory answers. In a deposition, it is more likely that plaintiff’s counsel could use documents and other testimony to attempt to refresh her recollection. And so, to avoid the unsatisfying and inefficient outcome of multiple rounds of fruitless interrogatories and move this almost six-year-old case closer to its conclusion, Judicial Watch will be permitted to clarify and further explore Secretary Clinton’s answers in person and immediately after she gives them. The Court agrees with Judicial Watch – it is time to hear directly from Secretary Clinton.We uncovered the Clinton email scandal and we’re pleased that the court authorized us to depose Mrs. Clinton directly on her email conduct and how it impacted the people’s ‘right to know’ under FOIA. The deposition must take place by May 16, so stay tuned.Government’s Record-Keeping Failures Risks Lives, Costs BillionsThe Clinton email fiasco is but one instance of federal records mismanagement – that costs billions and could risk lives. Here’s a key whistleblower report from our Corruption Chronicles blog.The U.S. government’s failure to properly keep records not only compromises accountability and transparency, it has cost American taxpayers billions of dollars and in some cases their lives. A whistleblower and former federal contractor with firsthand knowledge of the matter told Judicial Watch that the epidemic of poor records management across all federal agencies constitutes the biggest government accountability and transparency scandal of our lifetime. His name is Don Lueders, a computer software engineer who spent 20 years at several top software companies developing costly applications to help the government properly manage records.However, billions of dollars in records management applications that could help solve the problem have never been used and the crisis continues. Government agencies purchase the programs, Lueders says, but never actually utilizes them. “The government buys software because it gives the impression that they’re doing records management,” Lueders told Judicial Watch during a recent interview. “But they don’t use it.” He refers to the government’s longtime record-keeping system as “information chaos” that requires a congressional investigation.Many of the government’s record management failures have been exposed by Judicial Watch in cases that involve key federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), State Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ), among others. In fact, a recent news article on Uncle Sam’s widespread records management deficiencies mentions two cases that Judicial Watch litigated. One involves a scandal in which the Obama IRS selectively audited conservative groups that opposed the administration’s policies. The other involves Hillary Clinton’s now famous illegal use of a private email server while she was Obama’s Secretary of State.For years Judicial Watch’s work has helped uncover the underlying problems associated with the government’s dreadful record-keeping system, which is incredibly handy in coverups. Many of the cases required a dragged-out litigious process to obtain records that should be readily available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A recent example involves the unsecure server Clinton used to transmit classified information as the president’s chief foreign affairs adviser. Judicial Watch has been embroiled in a years-long legal battle with the government for the records and just a few weeks ago, more than a dozen new Clinton emails not previously produced as per a federal court order magically appeared. A DOJ attorney could not explain to a federal judge how the FBI suddenly found the new stash of Clinton emails, which were originally to be provided by the State Department.Some record-keeping failures have more serious consequences as the story mentioned earlier points out. For instance, the man who shot and killed more than two dozen people at a Texas church a few years ago used guns he would not have been able to buy if the Air Force had managed its records efficiently. “On six occasions, military officials failed to send Devin Kelley’s records to the FBI while the Air Force investigated, court-martialed, and imprisoned him for abusing his wife and stepson,” the article states. “Had the FBI received the records, the killer would have been barred from buying the weapons used in the massacre.” Similar records management failures have also received widespread media attention. Remember that in 2015 an astounding 21.5 million records were stolen from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal government’s chief human resources agency and personnel policy manager.This is not a partisan issue, but rather a pervasive government wide emergency that Lueders says has been going on for almost a quarter century regardless of who occupies the White House. “We’re wasting billions and people are dying,” he said, stressing that democracy can’t exist without accountability and transparency.Chicago Leaders Defend Freeing Illegal Alien to Sexually Assault ToddlerJudicial Watch has done much to expose and combat the physical dangers Americans experience at the hands of aliens in this country illegally and protected by lawless sanctuary city policies. Our Corruption Chronicles blog reports:Police and elected officials in Chicago have the audacity to vigorously defend their dangerous sanctuary policy after a previously deported illegal immigrant felon that they released from jail sexually assaulted a 3-year-old girl. The Mexican man, 34-year-old Christopher Puente, has a lengthy criminal history that includes two felony convictions, yet Chicago Police freed him into the community after his latest arrest for theft. It didn’t matter to those in charge of serving and protecting Windy City residents that the violent illegal alien had served time for forced-entry burglary and forgery or that he was recently charged with battery against a woman.To honor Chicago’s outrageous sanctuary measure, authorities ignored an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer and instead released the aggravated felon. A few weeks ago, Puente sexually assaulted a toddler at a Cook County fast-food restaurant. He lured the girl into a bathroom stall of the River North eatery and sexually assaulted her, according to a local newspaper report that attributes the information to Cook County prosecutors. The girl’s father was in an adjacent stall helping her brother use the toilet. When he heard his daughter cry and saw her legs dangling, the father tried to open the locked stall where Puente held her and eventually pulled her out under the door. The illegal immigrant remained locked in the stall, according to prosecutors, but eventually escaped. The next day he was arrested for trespassing nearby and was singled out as the girl’s attacker. Puente confessed and provided authorities with disturbing details of the crime. A judge has ordered him held without bail for predatory sexual criminal assault.Outraged federal authorities have reissued an immigration detainer with Cook County Jail. Had the first detainer been honored by Chicago authorities Puente would have been deported after his last arrest in mid-2019. “How many more victims must there be before lawmakers realize that sanctuary policies do not protect the innocent?” asked Robert Guadian, field office director of ICE’s Chicago Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). “Puente should have been in ICE custody last year and removed to his home country. Instead, irresponsible lawmaking allowed him to walk free and prey on our most vulnerable.” The agency is perpetually frustrated because detainers are continually rejected by Chicago-area law enforcement agencies. In Fiscal Year 2019, Cook County declined more than 1,000 detainers, according to figures provided by ICE.Officials have no intention of changing their sanctuary policy. In fact, they made it a point to publicly defend it after Puente’s latest horrific crime. In the aftermath of the toddler’s sexual assault, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police issued media statements reiterating that they will not cooperate with the feds. Lightfoot trashed ICE, saying “they’re critical because we have said very clearly we are a welcoming city, a sanctuary city. Chicago Police Department will not cooperate with ICE on any immigration-related business. And that’s affected their ability to conduct immigration raids across the city. But that’s exactly our intention. We have to make sure our police department is seen as a legitimate force in all our communities.” In its statement, which was published in various local media outlets, the city’s law enforcement agency wrote this: “The Chicago Police Department remains committed to protecting all Chicago residents regardless of their immigration status. Our pledge to restrict ICE access to our information systems and our refusal to cooperate with ICE immigration enforcement measures has not changed.”Chicago has long protected even the most violent of illegal immigrants. A few years ago, the city even launched a $1.3 million legal defense fund to help illegal aliens facing deportation. When the public fund was created, a Chicago alderman admitted he probably has illegal aliens working in his city office. The lawmaker, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, said this in a local news report: “Donald Trump, we are sending you a message, you will not tear apart our families, we will stay together. We will defend and protect our communities.” The money to defend illegal immigrants for violating the nation’s federal statutes comes from Chicago property tax rebate funds. At the time, an African-American alderman who represents Chicago’s South Side went along with the measure to help the city’s illegal immigrants, but made it clear that the struggling communities she represents should have priority. “I’d like to see the administration put the same amount of effort into creating a legal representation fund for all of those young black boys and black girls that are racially profiled in this city or are shot by the police unnecessarily or to support programs like CeaseFire to quell some of the violence in our community,” said Alderman Pat Dowell. “When the mayor talks about wanting to keep the immigrant communities safe, secure and supported, those are the same needs that other communities have…”Progressive Policy Drives Rising Crime in New YorkIn one of his rulings, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis observed that local jurisdictions can be “laboratories of democracy” by engaging in social experiments to discover what works best.We’re seeing this at play in a perverse way in certain parts of the country, particularly New York City, which has become a petri dish for every Leftist nostrum. Our chief investigative reporter, Micah Morrison, has the details in his Investigative Bulletin.Judicial Watch has been documenting rising social disorder in New York City at the hands of Mayor Bill de Blasio and radical activists in Albany and Washington. Last year, Democrats rammed through the state legislature a reform package that eliminated cash bail for a wide range of offenses—from assault, arson and child abuse to manslaughter, robbery and riot—and removed judicial discretion in holding suspects. Advocates for the measure correctly note that bail often discriminates against the poor—if you can’t afford bail, you sit in jail. But bail also offered a way to hold repeat offenders, including violent ones, behind bars until trial.The reform legislation took effect January 1 and crime rates jumped. Numbers just in for the first two months of 2020 show a 35 percent increase in robberies and a 64 percent increase in stolen cars compared to the same period in 2019, the New York Post reports. Shootings, up 19 percent. Burglaries, up 21 percent.Subway robberies are up sharply, with an increase of more than 100 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. NYPD insiders say subway robberies are largely driven by repeat juvenile offenders targeting other kids. A subway security official tells Judicial Watch that crime underground is widespread. In the city’s school system—the biggest in the country—parents speak with anguish about assaults on their children. And anti-Semitic hate crimes are significantly up in the city with America’s largest Jewish population.All this has contributed to a growing sense of unease in New York. The politics of bail reform pit New York’s rising progressive forces against a cadre of Democrats who recognize a looming disaster when they see it. At a contentious town hall meeting last month in Forest Hills, Queens, de Blasio rejected complaints about links between rising crime and bail reform as “right-wing propaganda,” but he supports fixes to the law being pushed in Albany. Progressive firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is on the other side of the Democrat debate, calling on Albany to “slow down” on any legislative changes. By “slow down,” of course she means do nothing. If Ocasio-Cortez and her allies had their way, prisons would be entirely abolished. The outcome of the bail reform fight will say a lot about progressive power in Albany.Democrats outnumber Republicans by almost seven to one in New York City, so don’t hold your breath waiting for conservative reform. But there are straws in the wind that suggest change might be stirring. One is the surprisingly vigorous campaign of veteran prosecutor Jim Quinn for Queens borough president. Quinn beat his five rivals for the post in the latest fundraising reports and has been making waves with his criticism of liberal excesses such as the bail reform law and the closing of the Rikers Island jail complex. On Twitter, Quinn called out Ocasio-Cortez and her allies for their “dangerous, radical agenda” and for “ignoring double-digit crime spikes & the victims impacted.”Them’s fightin’ words in New York. The election is March 24 in a field crowded with liberal contenders surfing the progressive wave. But Quinn’s conservative message may resonate with a different sort of voter—like the one who told Bill de Blasio at the Forest Hills town hall meeting, “Mr. Mayor, I do not feel safe.Until next week,/ExcerptIt is funny thatHillary Clinton has been a user of Quora but has not answered questions on Quora about this and only used the site as a attempt for Political gain. 22 Answers, 71,277 Followers, and Quora has some very low standards as in 2017 she became a Top Writer with only 22 answers and ZERO Questions, no shares no posts not following anyone, maybe it was the Session Host of May 2016 and Aug 2016? and ZERO activity after that. So for me how would someone that has a profile like that in tune with America.Now she can out the record straight “ON THE RECORD”, every time the court has asked questions into emails Dems bounce back with half truths and claim she did nothing and the recovered emails that were declared Top secret POST recovery did not show a smoking gun. As that was her job to mark emails as Secret being the TOP force and her laughingly commenting about national security, this left more questions then answers for the courts to decide. The FBI does not decide if someone is guilty or innocent and looking at their role so far, should not be the prime investigative department. The FBI is defiantly not the judicial department, and the improper announcement that she was innocent and the deletion of court ordered emails prior to handing over the server to the FBI for investigation in itself is a jail-able offense.More questions for the court and no more answers so far.Lets hope this court ordered 2020 On the Record deposition provides answers to the courts. This has cost Billions to America.

The coolest thing about our state system—and the thing politicians often forget—is that citizens of every state has a distinct personality which can make it hospitable or inhospitable to visitors, based on attitude. I think ‎Rebecca Sealfon (חנה צפון)‎ said it best:It’s actually a really interesting measure of how far you’re willing to go outside your own political echo chamber. Because you have to go to states of very different political leanings to win…. Moral: Get out of your state!What’s encouraging about these answers is the lack of bias towards ‘flyover states’ and the South, which I see a lot on Quora. What I do see here is a lot of shit talk on Pennsylvania. So forgive me for opining on my home state a bit—a state with such geographic and demographic diversity that it’s been swinging for the past century.Pennsylvania is not just an interstate. It’s home to the Gettysburg Address, two hockey, football and baseball teams, the Carnegie Library system, Hershey Chocolate, and our U.S. Constitution. Ever used a computer, read a newspaper, listened to commercial radio, flicked a Zippo lighter, rode a Ferris wheel, visited a zoo or saluted our flag? ALL of those things came from Pennsylvania.[1][1][1][1] Pennsylvania literally built America as we know it.So if you drove through without stopping, you’re kinda missing out.Growing up in the Paris of Appalachia gave me countless historical sites, summer camps at local colleges, a deep intrinsic love of baseball, and an appreciation for smaller, walkable, livable cities.[2][2][2][2] Friends from actual suburbs are always shocked at the personality, beauty, and cultural richness of the onetime City of Champions.It’s called the Keystone State for a reason—living there means boundless access. Most of the states on my list come from my Dad’s interest in history, which he imparted to me from a young age. I’ve been to over fifteen Civil War battlefields and can name 10 generals on each side thanks to him. I can tell stories about people I’ve met and foods I’ve tasted. So the following are not airport hops or gas station bathrooms. Each of them are national treasures with local character. Each has something to offer if you’re willing to look.Alabama—visited Birmingham-Southern College for a scholarship competition. Marveled at how fast everyone talks. Will never forget the admissions counselor who told me in his lovely accent, “looks like you did better than you thought you did!” To this day if I’ve underestimated my abilities, Dad says I “Tyler Peterson’d” Fun Fact: home to an incredible music scene at Muscle Shoals—Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Etta James. The sound of America.Arizona—rode Western here at age 9. Horse cantered down the mountain because of drunk hikers and my Mom went berserk. Probably most fun I’ve ever had. Fun Fact: Sedona is home to Snoopy Rock, which looks like Peanuts’ Snoopy sleeping on his doghouse.Arkansas—my Alma Mater, Hendrix College, where annually a bunch of Southern kids file into a room the most famous student drag show in the country. Where we’d drive all night to eat at Whataburger or see a show across the river in Memphis. Where I learned to pee in meadows, ride a 4-wheeler, unpack relationship woes at the local Waffle House. Fun Fact: speaking of cross-dressing, Petit Jean State Park, pronounced Petty Jeen, was named after a French explorer who disguised herself as a male to join an expedition through the deep South. After a long illness, she died in the care of Native Americans there, and the mountain was named after her.California—sailed San Francisco bay with my cousins, one of which is the first female captain of the sailing team at UC Santa Cruz (go Slugs!) If you’re a twentysomething navigating urban life, definitely read Tales from the City, Armistead Maupin’s timeless series on San Francisco. Fun Fact: it’s been the only state to host the Summer and Winter Olympics.Colorado—home to 21 seasons South Park (and don’t forget Cannibal! the Musical.) Only been here to snowboard—you can’t beat that pow—but would love to visit my best friend in the desert someday. Fun Fact: The New Yorker recently named Grand Junction the most conservative locale in America. Guess where my buddy lives?Connecticut—visited for a field hockey game against Mount Holyoke in college. Below is a photo of us winning that game. I remember being really excited to visit where a season of The Office took place. Even though I’m from Pennsylvania…Fun Fact: women could enter golf tournaments in Connecticut before they could vote. Maybe that’s where Jordan, of Great Gatsby fame, became a champion?Delaware—my all time favorite drive-in, Dilly’s Corner, is right across the river. Been to the beach a couple times. Fun Fact: first—and now most rare—state quarter. Hold onto one if you find it!Florida—vacationed to West Palm a few times with my mom and college teammates. Somehow dressed nice enough to bike to the Breakers, crash their basketball courts, then have a drink at the Aquarium bar. Saw A Raisin in the Sun at Dramaworks, a favorite theater of WSJ critic Terry Teachout (and where he premiered Billy and Me) Fun Fact: Fort Jefferson on Dry Tortugas National Park was never finished, its 520-gun artillery never used.Georgia—many memories of visiting Savannah and Augusta with my parents, eating crab for the first time and looking for used bookstores. Not to mention Atlanta, home to festivals like Music Midtown, Shaky Knees, A3C (been to ’em all) the hit FX show, and one of the best rap duos of our time. Fun Fact: the original Waffle House opened in Avondale Estates in 1955. A museum is run in this location and to this day FEMA judges a state of emergency based on the number of Waffle Houses that have closed in that location.Idaho—a fairly recent visit, for Treefort music festival in 2015 (Boise) and a cross-West road trip with Dad in 2017 (Wallace.) To me, Idaho is a step into the past. The pace seems slower here, the restaurants fewer, as people pursue time with their families and home cooked meals. Here’s Dad with The Statesman, a vintage car from GM. Fun Fact: the state seal is the only tone to be designed by a woman, and it was the fourth state in the Union to grant women the right to vote.Illinois—not, contrary to popular belief, the home of Frank Lloyd Wright (that honor belongs to Wisconsin.) My Dad was a Chicago Maroon, so I’ve been to that city a few times and recently for a bachelorette party. Of course no Civil War education is complete without a trip to Springfield, which I found quaint and lovely even though I was pretty young. As it turns out Dad’s also a huge fan of Ronald Reagan, so I’ve been to his alma mater in Eureka. Fun Fact: Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are working on a movie version of Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City, about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. That’s also where the Ferris Wheel first made its appearance (designed by George Ferris, of Pittsburgh.)Indiana—attended a really fun scholarship competition at Hanover College and was offered really early admission (junior year of high school.) Didn’t take them up on it, but it was tempting to move to this idyllic river town. Driving through I spotted a town called Bland, IN which is funny no matter what state you’re in. Fun Fact: Gary, Indiana isn’t just the Jacksons’ hometown. It’s also a song in The Music Man.Kentucky—met a long-distance boyfriend halfway for an art walk and ice skating in Lexington. Stayed at an adorable historic bed and breakfast. Everyone’s really nice here and man do they like whiskey. Fun Fact: when we played Transylvania University in college their team bus had a huge ‘TRANSY’ flag flying atop it. To this day I don’t know what the LGBT movement had to say about it, but it gave us a chuckle at the time.Louisiana—when I was a music writer, one of the worst interviews of my life took place in Baton Rouge. Still, an exciting river town with brilliant food and lots of gambling options for some reason. Plan to have my bachelorette party in the Big Easy. Fun Fact: the 1st Louisiana Native guard was formed by free people of color in New Orleans during the Civil War. 1500 people signed up to fight for the Confederacy, and just ten percent would defect when the Union took the city. If you’d like to learn more about black Confederates, feel free to ask for my undergrad thesis.Maryland—been to Antietam battlefield and Monocacy. Next on my list is Fort McHenry, where Fun Fact: the Star Spangled Banner was written during the War of 1812!Massachusetts—grandma lives in this forested neck of the woods. I remember visiting her and watching our cardigan corgi splash in the local lakes. Last year I had the opportunity to visit Fenway Park, the Sam Adams brewery (free tour! Don’t miss it!) and a couple National Park sites in Salem. My favorite author, Henry James, had a house in Beacon Hill (though there’s no plaque or anything.) Fun Fact: Boston is home to America’s first subway system, opened in 1987. Can you imagine Henry James or Edith Wharton riding the subway? Because I can’t.Michigan—where my boyfriend, half the employees at Microsoft, and Bell’s beer comes from! Apple cider and doughnuts is a tradition here. Attended Hillsdale College for a semester and received the most hilarious parking ticket of my life when I parked on a rectangular patch of grass and the snow melted. Was also blacklisted at Sigma Chi for “two-timing” a couple pledges, but that’s a story for another answer. Later snuck in and stole their handbook. Scary stuff. Fun Fact: Corn Flakes were invented in Battle Creek, where Kellogg’s is still headquartered today.Minnesota—stayed here for a research conference in college, then drove through on the aforementioned trip with Dad. Safe to say I’ve learned more about this state from A Prairie Home Companion and Laura Ingalls Wilder than my own experience. But I like that they serve popcorn at bars. Fun Fact: Winona Ryder’s namesake is Winona, Minnesota.Mississippi—the food, the literature, Americana Music Triangle, what’s not to love about Mississippi?? Okay, lynchings. Lynchings were definitely a problem in Mississippi. Having bicycled the Natchez Trace and met Tom Franklin at Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi remains one of my all-time favorite states in the Union with some of my favorite people. That said, my experience is likely very different from others. Fun Fact: Mississippi didn’t abolish slavery until 2013.Missouri—played field hockey in St. Louis, saw Phoenix play at the beautiful Uptown Theater in Kansas City. Started the Oregon Trail in Independence (virtually, of course.) I guess the hyperloop is happening here and it’s got a state dinosaur. Fun Fact: Eight different states border Missouri but I’ve only been to half of them.Montana—people do not mess around here. What I mean is if you’re driving on 90 and you see an exit that might have a gas station, maybe, they will alleviate your hopes with a NO SERVICES sign. I just think that’s hilarious. It’s like saying don’t stop here. FOR LOCALS ONLY! Dad and I had a great time naming the visible mountain peaks and visiting Little Bighorn National Battlefield. Billings, Bozeman, Missoula are all cool cities with interesting stories and architecture. Plus the beer scene is hoppin. Fun Fact: according to Mental Floss, “Yellowstone National Park existed 20 years before Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming were officially granted statehood”New Jersey—lived here for the first six years of my life, specifically in Jersey City, when my Dad was Chief of Staff to Mayor Brett Schundler. Have vacationed in Ocean Grove many a time, enjoying the neon signs and roadside burgers, actually, Fun Fact: New Jersey boats the highest volume of diners in the WORLD and neon artist Kellie Talbot considers it her favorite place to paint:New York—the state that shaped me in so many ways, being where my parents met, where I was born, where my first schooling took place (in Greenwich Village) and where I learned to snowboard (Holiday Valley) and underage drink (Buffalo, duh.) But one of my favorite experiences was kayaking the Hudson with my Aunt, Mom, and boyfriend a couple years ago. There’s so many ways and reasons to leave the city. Get after it! Fun Fact: over 250 television shows have been set in New York City, and no, not all of them were created by Dick Wolf.North Carolina—for me it’s Southern-Lite. With lovely walkable towns like Davidson, Winston-Salem and Asheville it boats some hospitality but in between, it’s mostly suburbs, and many here have lost their accent. What’s really great about NC is its proximity to both mountains and ocean. Plus Mount Airy—the Andy Griffith town Mayberry is based off of—has a replica jail cell where you can pretend Barney Fife has locked you up. I guess that counts as a Fun Fact.Ohio—gets a lot of hate it doesn’t deserve. What other state has four respectable metro areas so close to each other, beautiful state parks in between? I’m partial since I went to summer camp at the College of Wooster, where I played violin 9 hours a day and air hockey the other two. Still, the Cleveland Tourism Video will always make me giggle. Fun Fact: Cedar Point’s Millennium Force in Sandusky broke six world records when it opened and reaches speeds of up to 93 miles an hour. It’s the third longest coaster in the nation (behind the Beast and Fury 325 cc: Sai Kiran Bhagavatula) and when I got stuck on it I fainted after riding four times.Oklahoma—home to a really sweet Native art collection in Tulsa and a wildlife preserve called Woolaroc, which was built by oil magnate Frank Philips and designed to preserve Oklahoma frontier culture. You guessed it, I went there with my Dad. Fun Fact: Frank Lloyd Wright’s only skyscraper, Price Tower, is located in Oklahoma. And no, it’s not worth the trip.Oregon—bikes, beers, bookstores. Everyone in Oregon is happy you’re there and can’t wait to feed you various farm-raised deliciousness. If you ever see Jacobsen Salt, Stumptown Coffee or Tillamook Cheese, BUY IT. Portland has some of the best public transit I’ve seen and is very, very friendly to cyclists. Been to Mount St. Helens and Crater Lake is on the list. Fun Fact: despite not being an official “Gold Rush” site, Oregon is home to more ghost towns than any other state. And no, that doesn’t include Rajneeshpuram, which is now a Young Life retreat.Pennsylvania—I highly doubt if you’ve read this far you want more facts on Pennsylvania.South Carolina—ah, South Carolina. Seat of Secession. Home of the Gamecocks. Droopy Spanish Moss trees abound. And of course Charleston, the scene of much of my early twenties shenanigans, including breaking into the Meeting Street Best Western pool at 2am and visiting seven karaoke bars in one week. Thunderstorms that look like Independence Day and balconies that look like exposed hallways. That can be the Fun Fact: what look like sideways balconies were actually a clever way for architects in the 19th century to ventilate outdoor parties in this city by the sea. Full disclosure, I was a park ranger at Fort Sumter National Monument, so my fun fact capacity knows no bounds when it comes to this state. But in many ways my feelings transcend words. So I’ll let the cast of Bravo’s Southern Charm take over:South Dakota—really, really upset I missed the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum here, but our afternoon in the Badlands and evening in Rapid City (plus a subsequent break-in to Mount Rushmore) will lodge South Dakota forever in my memory. Fun Fact: each street corner in Rapid City has a bronze statue of a U.S. President. Dad got real upset when he rushed up to who he thought was Ronald Reagan, only to realize it was Clinton.Tennessee—Shiloh National Battlefield is my favorite Civil War site, as I read Shelby Foote’s account of the battle in sixth grade. But Tennessee is so much more than just music, history, and interstates. There’s no shortage of fried chicken and friendly folks to share it with. The backcountry’s a melting pot of all kinds of people drawn to the forested seclusion—I once met a dude with a Mexican-Tennessee accent. Fun Fact: Elvis Presley may have made his name at Sun Record Studios in Memphis, but he actually hails from the small town of Tupelo, Mississippi, where his Mom bought him his first guitar at a hardware store.Texas—another state whose variant cultures don’t match its national or international perception. If I rattled off a list of my favorite people, most of them would come from Texas. Come for the delicious fusion foods in Austin, stay for the Western horseback riding south of Banderas. Fun Fact: Six Flags theme parks take their name from the six flags which flew over Texas—when it was an independent country, a territory of Spain/Mexico/France, a Confederate State, and finally a state of the Union.Virginia—I was waitlisted at Washington & Lee University after an interesting interview, during which the head of diversity and inclusion revealed to me she’d once held inner-city recruitment day on the weekend of Robert E. Lee’s birthday, which led to a ton of families getting right back in their cars and going home. Following the protests in Charlottesville and removal of Confederate statues, the environment is a little fraught, but I have only good memories of visiting the historic sites in this state. Fun Fact: West Virginia became a state after moving to secede from the seceding Virginia, in 1861.Washington—it’s where I live now! I think Washington has the inverse of the Texas problem. People think of Seattle and extrapolate it to the rest of the state, which is simply not the way things are. People who live here joke that if you cut the state in half the East would be part of Idaho, and it makes a lot of sense in terms of geography and political sensibility. Actually witnessed an active crime scene when we stayed in Walla Walla, somebody was literally murdered in the hotel room next to us. At that same hotel we were admonished for asking a couple little kids what they were going to be for Halloween. So yeah, very different from Seattle. Fun Fact: Washington was originally going to be called Columbia, but legislators didn’t want people to get it mixed up with the District of Columbia. Hmmmmm…West Virginia—if you do nothing else in West Virginia, visit Harper’s Ferry. This tiny town where John Brown led his famous armory raid in 1859 directly led to the Civil War, and his hanging was presided over by none other than Robert E. Lee, acting in his capacity as a Union Colonel. If you’re not a fan of dry history books, read James McBride’s The Good Lord Bird for a thrilling account of the battle. It’s shocking to see the size of the building Brown’s men defended for almost two days. It’s also just a beautiful place, like a mini-Pittsburgh between two rivers. Fun Fact: the concept of Mother’s Day comes from West Virginia.Wisconsin—Dad’s from Whitewater, and his Dad is buried in Madison Cemetery, next to his high school, Madison East. It’s an unexpectedly contentious place politically, and we grabbed happy hour at one bar that showed CNN on one side and Fox News on the other. Fun Fact: aside from Frank Lloyd Wright, Stephen Ambrose was considered Wisconsin’s foremost son, until it was revealed in 2002 he’d copied large passages from another work to complete his own.Wyoming—another home of Yellowstone National Park, John Steinbeck wrote in Travels with Charley his dog went absolutely mental once they entered the park, perhaps because he sighted or sniffed out a bear. My short time in the state was much less exciting, as I left a disposable camera at the Gillette Village Inn and had to send them a SASE to get it back. The Mustang Motel had a pretty cool sign, though. Fun Fact: Wyoming elected the United States’ first female governor in 1925, but hasn’t had one since.Well there you have it, folks. A tidbit of every state I’ve visited, plus reference materials. Speaking of which, the vast majority of the fun facts came either from my brain or Mental Floss, which published 2 awesome state series you all should read. The one about Kentucky is my personal favorite.TL;DR—Hell yeah I’d win the electoral college, thanks in large part to the efforts of my dear old Dad. And I’d connect with voters on a personal level. More than eating at the local McDonald’s ever could.Footnotes[1] Pennsylvania State Facts - 50States.com[1] Pennsylvania State Facts - 50States.com[1] Pennsylvania State Facts - 50States.com[1] Pennsylvania State Facts - 50States.com[2] The Economist names Pittsburgh the Most Livable City (on the mainland) again[2] The Economist names Pittsburgh the Most Livable City (on the mainland) again[2] The Economist names Pittsburgh the Most Livable City (on the mainland) again[2] The Economist names Pittsburgh the Most Livable City (on the mainland) again

It’s been going away for the past few decades. What the next few will bring, God only knows.The fundamental problem is that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are big fans of the First Amendment, they simply want to erode it in different directions. By the time they’re done, there won’t be much left.Speech restrictions. Universities across the country have been leading the way in an effort to restrict the speech of students, professors, and the general public. They’ve barred speakers with unpopular views, created “safe spaces” where only students with particular commonalities can stay, created speech codes, and even restricted what can be served in cafeterias because of “cultural appropriation.” Some local governments, like Philadelphia, have tried to follow suit in the name of creating public order.Many universities have created “bias response units” to investigate incidents that usually involve unintentional slights that offend students — often students who simply overhear others talking. The University of Michigan has taken this to an all-new level by getting the campus police department involved in investigating these bias incidents. Chew on that for a minute: The police are being called upon to investigate minor slights that by their definition involve no illegal behavior.It’s not just students, either. More and more, professors are being told what they can — and cannot — teach in their classes. Or that they have to provide “trigger warnings” for sensitive subjects. A recent study showed that professors who stood up for academic freedom lost 75% of the time."If you look at the trend lines, the speech rights of public employees are narrowing—and, coincidentally, this is occurring when public speech via social media has become so much more prevalent," University of Illinois Law Professor Michael LeRoy said.The situation is so serious that the Dean of Students at the University of Chicago sent a letter to all incoming freshmen warning them that his school supported freedom of speech. It said, in part,“Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called trigger warnings, we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.”What does it tell you when a university has to warn its students that it supports free speech?Police surveillance. Police use a wide variety of high-tech electronic gizmos to spy on citizens: Cellphone hackers, cell tower simulators, GPS trackers, Internet sieves, and now, aerial drones. The city of Baltimore is actually recording everything that happens in the city using military technology designed to spy on terrorists in the Middle East. Inevitably, when the surveillance is challenged in court, the court overrules the surveillance, but it can take years — and years and years — to get the cases into court.Remember all of that high-tech spying the federal government was doing in the name of catching terrorists? Court cases have revealed that information obtained is routinely being shipped back to local police departments for minor criminal matters. So much for “only to combat terrorism.”Social media. The problems are myriad. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter routinely ban folks with viewpoints with whom they disagree, and authorities’ reactions to social media posts can be impossibly over the top. Judges all but ignore the very concept of free speech when evaluating the cases, and case law is so thin (along with our judicial talent pool), that bad decisions are handed down on a regular basis.Consider the case of 15-year-old RL from York County, Pennsylvania. The high school freshman was summarily suspended from school last year after writing a Facebook post commenting on a bomb threat at his school. He didn’t write a bomb threat, he merely commented on one that already had occurred.His parents sued school in the Middle Court District of Pennsylvania, reasonably arguing that the school should not have the authority to sanction their son for writing something outside the school — especially when the writing was clearly protected by the first amendment. The judge disagreed, writing that the school had broad power to control “disruptive” speech and that it was “illogical” to differentiate between speech that was inside school and outside school — a truly chilling standard that reaches inside the home.Even Reddit, the savage garden of Internet chat rooms, doesn’t really support free speech. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman recently admitted he was personally censoring some posts.This is a serious problem. We increasingly rely on social media for critical information (which is idiotic, but unfortunately, true), and the social media giants operate worldwide — which means they face worldwide pressure for censorship, from myriad countries that have vastly different ideas about what is offensive — let alone treasonous or blasphemous. Western ideals won’t always carry the day and several platforms already have made concessions to oppressive governments — China, for example.Hate speech. Hate speech is the secular equivalent of blasphemy. It’s bad. However, in America, it’s also protected. And almost everyone would like to ban other people from saying something they think is particularly bad. Our past election cycle heard numerous calls from folks on both side of the aisle that statements made about both Trump and Clinton and their followers should be banned because they are “hate speech.” The only problem is that there is no “hate speech” exemption to Free Speech in America.Hate speech is banned in socialist democracies all over Europe, part of the legacy of WW II, and proof that the governments there are nowhere near as “liberal” as they pretend.How bad is it?Consider the case of the Archbishop of Valencia, Spain, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares. During a homily, he suggested that "the gay empire" and "radical feminism" were undermining traditional family values. He said, "the family is being stalked today, in our culture, by endlessly grave difficulties. When the family is attacked or is diminished, the most sacred forms of human relationship are perverted." A gay rights group filed a complaint and in a highly publicized move, prosecutors charged him with hate speech, although a judge later cleared him.The problem, of course, is that “hate speech” is all in the eye (or the ear) of the beholder. And it’s expressly not part of the American tradition of public debate. But a surprising number of officials and commentators don’t seem to know that (or perhaps, simply not support that). It’s not that they want a hate speech exemption — they think a hate speech exemption already exists.During the election, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo tweeted that “hate speech is excluded from protection,” an obvious falsehood.The ACLU has been steadfast in its opposition to hate speech restrictions, even though they vociferously defend many groups that are the targets of such speech. “Free speech rights are indivisible. Restricting the speech of one group or individual jeopardizes everyone's rights because the same laws or regulations used to silence bigots can be used to silence you,” the group warns on its website.College campuses, once the bastion of free speech, are now at the bloody cutting edge of efforts to restrict “hate speech,” in episodes so ridiculous that they become self-parodying. Consider the case of tiny Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania, where the college gymnasium is named after the former longtime president – Clyde Lynch Memorial Hall. Students there led a protest to force the renaming of the building – because “lynch” has a hateful context.More than half of America’s colleges now have restrictive speech codes (and it’s worse in Europe), and one group claims that at least 217 schools unambiguously impinge on free speech rights. And while President Obama recently told a college class that the country needs to respect diversity of ideas, his Education Department has been at the forefront of trying to restrict it, defining college speech as “verbal conduct” that should be restricted when it is “hurtful” to protected groups.Protest. One of the primary reasons for the existence of the First Amendment is protest. Over the past 16 years, government officials have begun routinely corralling protesters at public events into First Amendment Zones, barbed-wire enclosures set far away (sometimes miles) from the event they are protesting. In other words, we’re putting protesters in areas where they can’t be heard.Police in cities like Chicago have routinely — and illegally — arrested peacefully protesters, held them in illegal conditions for a day or more, and then released them without charges — often denying them food water or bathrooms for the duration of their arrest.This is where we’re at today. One can reasonably argue that one of the reasons that many people supported Trump is that he railed against restrictions on free speech, while he lambasted gays, women illegal immigrants and Muslims in general.But for all of that, Trump has publicly argued for draconian restrictions on the free speech rights of others, including libel laws designed to prevent criticism of elected leaders, fines for people who criticize him, barring opponents from his rallies, forcing campaign workers to sign non-disclosure agreements that prohibit them for saying anything unflattering about him, shutting down parts of the Internet, punishing those who burn the flag, and suing people who have written unflattering books about him.He even suggested that he’d pay the legal bills for supporters who attacked protesters against him, which is arguably an illegal incitement to violence.Trump doesn’t support free speech: He simply wants to be the only one who is free to speak.Take this as a clarion call: It’s our duty as Americans to see that it doesn’t happen.