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May 2013

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2013 19 Comments

Newer readers may not know about the Tip Line.  It's not just a Tip Line, it just is named Tip Line.  It's a place, um, to leave tips, but it's also a place where readers can have a conversation on topics not really covered by...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2013 21 Comments

I've been accumulating these links, but there has been so much race-card playing, I haven't had time to post the videos below. Given it's a slow news holiday weekend, now seems as good a time as any to post them: Chris Matthews -- Only Whites can be racist: Julian...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2013 6 Comments
I mentioned the other day how the fight in Syria wasn't going quite as easily as many predicted for Hezbollah, with it suffering heavy losses even trying to take a modestly-sized border city, Will Qusayr be Hezbollah’s Stalingrad? As of the latest reports, rebels are still in control of parts of al-Qusayr, but the situation is very murky with pro-Assad sources proclaiming victory and anti-Assad forces denying.  Hezbollah officials are quoted as admitting the fight is much tougher than expected, and today saw round-the-clock shelling of the city. (video added) Against that backdrop, Hezbollah's leader proclaimed that it was in the fight in Syria to the bitter end, as reported by The NY Times, Hezbollah Leader Orders Full Fight to Save Assad:
The leader of the powerful Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Saturday decisively committed his followers to an all-out battle in Syria to salvage the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, saying that Hezbollah was fighting abroad to “immunize” Lebanon from an Israeli invasion he said would surely follow if Syrian rebels prevailed. “It is our battle, and we are up to it,” the leader, Hassan Nasrallah, declared, in his most direct embrace yet of a fight in Syria that Hezbollah can no longer hide now that dozens of its fighters have fallen recently in and around the strategic Syrian town of Qusayr. Outgunned Syrian rebels have held on for a week there against a frontal assault by Hezbollah and Syrian forces.

The speech was delivered via videotape on the 13th anniversary of the end of Israel’s 15-year occupation of southern Lebanon after years of battling Hezbollah’s guerrillas, which the group considers its greatest victory. Mr. Nasrallah seemed to be preparing his followers for the heavy price in lives and political capital that the organization could pay as it embarks on an unprecedented intervention in a neighboring country, a move that could deeply destabilize Lebanon.

The Lebanese website Naharnet reports:
On his party's involvement in the battles alongside Assad's forces, he said: “A political and economic world war was launched on Syria and thousands of fighters were sent without anyone complaining.” “Meanwhile, Hizbullah's involvement was considered a foreign interference,” he noted. Nasrallah explained that Syria is the resistance's backbone: “We cannot stand still and let the break the resistance's main supporter.” Nasrallah said Hizbullah fighters joining the war in Syria are not forced “go willingly and aspire to take part in the resistance.” “You will find tens of thousands of fighters that are ready to take all fronts and participate in the battles. No one is forced into the war,” he assured.
The leader of the Lebanese Sunni opposition, Saad Hariri, mocked Nasrallah's speech,

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2013 7 Comments
On April 25 we wrote about a federal court case which held Obama's DREAM policy unlawful, but reserved decision on whether to issue an injunction,Federal Court finds Obama DREAM policy illegal, but may not require actual deportations:
There are many news reports about the preliminary decision issued by Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas in a lawsuit brought by ICE agents challenging the Obama administration’s administrative DREAM provisions which direct Homeland Security not to commence removal proceedings as to people who meet the criteria. A copy of the decision is embedded at the bottom of this post. Copies of the Amended Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction are at the links. The news accounts tend to overstate the breadth of the opinion. The ruling related only to the initiation of removal proceedings, and would not require any particular prosecutorial diligence once initiated, since that issue was not before the Court. Thus, assuming the Judge finalizes the ruling, the Obama administration would be required to commence removal proceedings, but absent further challenges, could allow Obama to delay actual deportations. The Judge reserved decision on the issue of whether injunctive relief was the proper remedy, and requested further briefing.
Since that time, both the plaintiffs and the government have submitted supplemental briefs arguing for and against, respectively, the issuance of an injunction prohibiting the Obama administration from further implementing the policy. Two private groups have sought to intervene in the case on the side of the government. The U. Texas-Austin student group University Leadership Institute is devoted to supporting "DREAM" policies allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the country, get in-state tuition, and defer deportation.  ULI also seeks changes in the law to support these goals:
ULI has received extensive training from experienced political consultants on effective communication and messaging.  Our thorough knowledge and new training on messaging and communication has permitted us to more effectively reach out to different communities, including religious groups, businesses, students, activists, and politicians.  Our newly formatted messages have proven to be more effective with the mainstream public and have also allowed us to form coalitions with unlikely allies.
The ULI not only seeks to submit a brief supporting the government position, it and certain individual students who have benefitted from the DREAM policy seek to become defendants in the case, which would allow them a

Posted by Mandy Nagy on May 25, 2013 1 Comment
A group of hackers attempted to break into the city of Haifa's water system computer network, according to an Israeli security expert. From the AP via ABC News:
Speaking at a lecture on Saturday in the southern city of Beersheba, Yitzhak Ben Yisrael, Israel's former cyber security adviser, said that a group calling itself "The Syrian Electronic Army" had launched the failed attack two weeks ago.
The Syrian Electronic Army however, maintains that it succeeded in infiltrating the network, in response to recent Israeli strikes. In an email to Softpedia, the group stated:
“We would like to announce that in response to the unfair and illegal attacks, taken place by Israel on DATE, SEA has penetrated one of the main infrastructural systems (SCADA) in Haifa and managed to gain access to some sensitive data. Also SEA is now able to cause irrecoverable damages to the Israeli's infrastructural systems,” the hackers said. The breach comes in response to the recent Israeli strike on a Damascus research center. “This message carries a serious caution to the Israeli statesmen. They should know that not receiving a quick reaction to such childish ventures, does not show the Syrian inability in doing so, but it is based on wisdom and humanity considerations. We do not approve of killing civilians and innocent people as this is an Israeli type of solution instead,” they added. “Also an advise to those who left their homelands for many years, dreaming a happy and safe life, deceived by politicians whose deed is much far than their slogans; Do the best to express your objections to Israeli policies, since we do not like to see innocent people getting killed in Texas, US, but this time in Haifa.” To demonstrate their attack, the hackers published a PDF file that contains screenshots of what appear to be SCADA control panels.
This news also comes on the heels of yet another #OpIsrael campaign, in which a variety of hackers claiming association to the Anonymous collective targeted various Israeli government websites.  Like its predecessor, the recent campaign also largely failed, with little damage to any major websites and only some minor defacements to a number of seemingly random small businesses and organizations. A group of pro-Israel hackers claimed to have recently unmasked several of the individuals behind the latest #OpIsrael attacks.  Given that Anonymous is a leaderless movement, it is entirely possible that the actions of that particular group were a rogue operation conducted while hiding behind the banner of Anonymous.  There is no known association of any of those to the Syrian Electronic Army. Meanwhile, the Syrian Electronic Army has also been busy hijacking the accounts of news outlets, most recently that of ITV News on Friday. While the SEA's selection of targets and its messaging, which usually consists of odd jokes mixed in with pro-Assad political propaganda, may seem like nothing more than "lulz" to some, there is a more serious side to the group's actions.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 25, 2013 6 Comments
At the end of March, wealthy depositors with banks on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus had their accounts "levied" as part of a bailout deal for Cypriot financial institutions by other European Union members. I delved into the news for an update on how the bribe plan worked. Admirably, as Cyprus receives EU-IMF bailout funds!

Cyprus has received the first installment of a 10bn-euro bailout package from international creditors, which was agreed earlier this year.

Cyprus received 2bn euros (£1.6bn; $2.6bn) in loans, said a statement by the European Stability Mechanism. Another 1bn euros will be transferred before 30 June, the ESM said.
It's a veritable bailout bonanza!!!  While the repercussions of the Cypriot bailout are still not clear, it is worthwhile taking a look at the recipient of another bailout deal: Greece.  Three years after their "rescue", the Greek economy is still full of fail.  In Mindful Money, economist Shuan Richards has this analysis:
It is now over three years since the bailout of Greece which if we recall was supposed to provoke “shock and awe”. Ironically it has followed the path of the original shock and awe claims of the attack on Baghdad where initial claims and boasts then became bogged down in an insurgency. In both instances reality proved inconvenient and we now see that Greece is bogged down in an economic decline rather than seeing the fruits of a “rescue” that was supposed to see her growing at 2.8% per annum right now. If that now sounds insane well it was supposed to rise to 3.1% next year on its way to 3.8% in 2015. Or we note it was put this way.
Richards actually has some information on Cyprus as well, and it is none too good:
You might think that something at least would have been learnt from this and yet what is beginning in Cyprus looks even worse.
For the period January-February 2013, the (Retail Sales) Index is provisionally estimated to have a decrease of 8,5% compared to the corresponding period of 2012. Based on the seasonally adjusted data that shows the trend of unemployment, the number of registered unemployed for April 2013 increased to 44.043 persons in comparison to 41.413 in the previous month…….In comparison with April 2012, an increase of 9.803 persons or 27,7% was recorded
Sound familiar?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2013 2 Comments

Pushing back against the narratives: CAMERA launches new website for pro-Israel college students “Affirmative Action Baby” … Or Survivor? Prager U. Video – The Separation of Church and State FIRE works overtime for targeted Syracuse U. students College Fix Editor: Porn is a weapon in the real campus ‘war on women’ Thomas...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2013 10 Comments

I couldn't have said it better myself. From John in Richmond, VA, who spotted this in the rear window of the vehicle in front of him: With all the scandal news breaking it may be hard to get to bumper stickers but these are timely. I have...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2013 38 Comments

I had read headlines about this speech by Ted Cruz, but watching it finally was even better. As background, Sean Sullivan at WaPo's The Fix points out our house is divided, Ted Cruz vs. John McCain: Welcome to the new normal in the Senate: Sen. Ted Cruz...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2013 9 Comments

Via The Boston Globe: Republican candidate Gabriel E. Gomez ignited controversy on Thursday by calling his  Democratic opponent for US Senate, a sitting congressman, “pond scum,” in an interview with a National Public Radio reporter on Thursday. Asked whether his candidate regretted his remarks, spokesman Will Ritter...

Posted by David Gerstman on May 24, 2013 2 Comments

Do you remember the Saturday Night Live skit The Adventures of Miles Cowperthwaite? Captain Ned: [ interrupting ] That's enough, Miles.. [ Miles sits ] Now, men, I run a mans' ship. I will run it in a manful and masculine way! I will tolerate no...

Posted by Mandy Nagy on May 24, 2013 5 Comments

The Syrian Electronic Army has hacked yet another media outlet’s Twitter account. A Twitter account belonging to ITV News, which was one of the first outlets to broadcast video of one of the killers in Wednesday’s grisly London terror attack, was compromised Friday by the pro-Assad...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2013 20 Comments

Kimberley Strassel makes in important point today at The Wall Street Journal, taking apart the defense that the IRS was warranted in targeting conservative groups seeking 501(c)(4) status because of the Citizens United decision.  Strassel documents how people close to and involved in the Obama campaign sought...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2013 28 Comments

George Zimmerman's lawyers released photos from Trayvon Martin's cell phone, including the two below. Zimmerman's team says they will seek to introduce the photos and others to show that he was not as portrayed in the media and by the family's attorneys: The evidence that George Zimmerman's attorneys...

Posted by David Gerstman on May 24, 2013 2 Comments

1) Missing another opportunity to miss an opportunity Yesterday, Prof Jacobson posted about an exclusive story at The Tower by Avi Issacharoff about the peace deal that Ehud Olmert offered Mahmoud Abbas in 2008 but that Abbas never accepted. Today Isacharoff follows up with more detail in...

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