Mark has his B.S. from Cornell, an Ed.M. and J.D. from SUNY Buffalo, and an LL.M. from Harvard law. He practiced law in NYC, Mexico City and Paris.
After a stint in professional tennis management, he returned to Ithaca, NY where he got involved in real estate development and politics. He held senior positions in the administration of NY Gov. George Pataki, was the chairman of the local Republican party, and was a candidate for mayor.
In 2011, Mark fled the liberal haven of Ithaca and secured political refugee status in Pecan Plantation, TX. He flies small planes, enjoys golf and tennis, and as of the beginning of 2016 has a Vizsla puppy that keeps him busy. He also provides a home for a Congo African Grey parrot.
Mark blogged at NewsBusters for over ten years, and is delighted to now be at Legal Insurrection. Contact Mark at mark.finkelstein@gmail.com
Not even Hillary Clinton, acclaimed author of What Happened, went this far. On Wednesday’s Hardball, Dem Rep. Jackie Speier called Russian “hacking” of the presidential election an “act of war.” Taking things a significant step further, Speier said:
“I’m not convinced that they didn’t get into the [voting] machines.”
That was too much even...
They can get you now, or get you later . . .
Fifteen senators, including 2020 hopefuls like Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, are co-sponsoring Bernie Sanders’ single-payer health care bill. But even some of those not signing on have plans to eventually convert the country to single payer.
On today’s Morning Joe,...
For months Morning Joe has offered up a steady stream of apocalyptic condemnation of President Trump: his mental health has been explicitly questioned and comments on Charlottesville were blistered, with one panelist...
Naples was expected to be Irma’s bullseye, but first reports suggest the storm may not have caused the damage everyone expected.
On CNN this morning, Chris Cuomo interviewed Naples city manager Bill Moss. After the introduction, Cuomo said, “we didn’t expect what happened yesterday, making history in the wrong kind of way,...
Joe Scarborough took an I-told-you-so victory lap on today’s Morning Joe. In the wake of President Trump cutting a deal with Pelosi and Schumer, the show aired a prepared montage of Joe, going back almost a year, predicting that Trump would wind up working with Dems, with whom, according to Scarborough,...
Paging the PC police!
On CNN this morning, when Republican congressman Chris Collins light-heartedly suggested that Dreamers should be free to pursue whatever career they like, including “CNN host,” Chris Cuomo responded:
“That’s a low bar, Congressman. You should have higher hopes for people th...
On CNN this morning, Daily Beast editor-in-chief and CNN political analyst John Avlon painted a very dark picture of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his potential use of data provided to the federal government by “Dreamers.” Said Avlon:
“They are facing deportation after they gave their information and their addresses to the...
There was an extended conversation on today’s Morning Joe as to whether Kim Jong Un could be deterred.
The discussion centered around the question of whether Kim is a rational actor. There was absolutely no ambiguity. The panel was discussing Kim’s rationality or lack thereof. Sample statement: John Heilemann asked what Mattis,...
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has declined to make a Shermanesque statement that would flatly rule out the possibility that he would appoint himself to fill the Senate seat of Democrat Senator Bob Menendez. Sen. Menendez is currently under federal trial, facing bribery and corruption charges. Should Menendez be removed from...
And here we thought that saving lives and rebuilding a devastated area should be the focus . . . Proving that when you wield an anti-racism hammer, everything looks like a nail, a guest on Al Sharpton’s MSNBC show this morning declared that “race and class . . are the most...
Appearing on today’s Morning Joe, Rep. Joe Crowley, the fourth-ranking member of the Dem House leadership, stated that President Obama is “leading the charge” on efforts in state legislative races.
Crowley was responding to Joe Scarborough’s question as to what Dems will do differently from what they did in November, when they...
On today’s Morning Joe, MSNBC senior political analyst Mark Halperin said that special counsel Robert Mueller “is a cyborg.” Joe Scarborough was so tickled by the description that he had Halperin repeat it.
Calling Mueller “a relentless opponent,” Halperin said that “there is a strategy here, there’s a fearlessness, and there’s a level...
On today’s Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski trashed President Trump in the wake of his visit to Texas yesterday. As Joe Scarborough was describing the positive impact a president’s visit to a disaster area will have, Brzezinski butted in to say it was not in Trump’s nature...
Just as the MSM demands more “gun control” after every mass shooting, so every severe weather event causes the MSM to start beating the “climate change” drum.
And so it began on CNN this morning. CNN’s Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein gave the standard disclaimer about not attributing any one storm to...
On today’s Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski and Mike Barnicle fretted over the personal impact the investigations surrounding the Trump administration are having on aides to the president. Each wondered, “what do you tell your children?”
Evan Siegfried is the sort of Republican MSNBC prefers as panelists: One who supported Hillary Clinton, and later Evan McMullin, and is happy to condemn President Trump.
Appearing on today’s AM Joy,...
On today’s Morning Joe, after accusing President Trump of “impairment,” Howard Dean said that “people keep talking about” the 25th Amendment as a means to remove the president from office. But Dean immediately poured cold water on the notion, saying “I personally think that’s probably hooey.”
Law professor Jonathan Turley agreed with Dean: “Yes,...
