Sheriff David Clarke, accused of allowing inmates to be tortured to death, hit by plagiarism charge

Brett T. | 11:10 PM on May 20, 2017

After reports that President Trump would like to see Michael Flynn eventually rejoin the White House in some capacity, it’s pretty clear by now that he’s going to surround himself with whomever he chooses, ignoring the advice of Democrats and often Republicans as well.

Still, it was a shock to many this week when Milwaukee Co. Sheriff David Clarke told WISN he was accepting an appointment to the Department of Homeland Security. Clarke’s office is being investigated after an inmate died of dehydration, and the man’s sons have filed suit, claiming their father was “subjected to a form of torture” while in solitary confinement.

It wouldn’t seem as though the case against Clarke could be more damning, and yet …

https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/866072491051163648

Please, not another “bombshell” this week.

Sheriff David Clarke, who says he’s joining Homeland Security, plagiarized part of his master's thesis, KFile finds https://t.co/5w5pn4qQAV pic.twitter.com/XZbKbrYkTf

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) May 21, 2017

https://twitter.com/RobProvince/status/866097154523353089

https://twitter.com/justinjm1/status/866075994104487936

I genuinely want to meet the person who sees this news and says "my heavens, this time he's gone too far!" https://t.co/N3CX2h3ajz

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 20, 2017

The repercussions were swift, with Trump in an emergency conference call with reporters immediately disavowing any connection to Clarke. No, wait, that didn’t happen, but the library did remove Clarke’s thesis for review of the charges, even though it appears to be an open and shut case.

Honestly, we’re not trying to dismiss plagiarism: it’s theft and a violation of the most basic academic standards. Journalists of all people are aware of how serious plagiarism is; that why any serious reporter does some minimal rewording of each new press release from liberal advocacy groups and think tanks before typing it up for publication.

The week really was front-loaded with bombshells, wasn’t it?

to be fair isn't this what Fareed Zakaria did?

Stelter said his plagiarism amounted to "attribution mistakes" ?https://t.co/MYOwhPlel5

— Raven (@KazeSkyz) May 21, 2017

Before the news broke, Clarke gave a heads up to his followers.

This @CNN hack @KFILE oppo research MO is to accuse plagiarism. I'm next. Did it to Rand Paul, Monica Crowley et al. https://t.co/KgoHKermpe

— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) May 20, 2017

Uh oh; the news is spreading.

Sheriff David Clarke's thesis deleted from school's website after plagiarism accusation https://t.co/ZIbcrY3gmj pic.twitter.com/vTMLzqyNos

— The Hill (@thehill) May 21, 2017

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