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December 2013

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 16, 2013 14 Comments

Sorry, but I have too many other things on my plate right now to dig into this, even though it's clearly an important decision which may eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. A federal judge in D.C. has found parts of the NSA...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 16, 2013 28 Comments
An announcement just was posted on the American Studies Association website, and reads in part:
ASA Members Vote To Endorse Academic Boycott of Israel The members of the American Studies Association have endorsed the Association’s participation in a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. In an election that attracted 1252 voters, the largest number of participants in the organization’s history, 66.05% of voters endorsed the resolution, while 30.5% of voters voted no and 3.43% abstained. The election was a response to the ASA National Council’s announcement on December 4 that it supported the academic boycott and, in an unprecedented action to ensure a democratic process, asked its membership for their approval....
Of note, the total number of votes equals only about one-quarter of the total ASA membership of 5000. Those voting Yes represent approximately 16% of the total membership, yet it will be a vote that will stain the ASA for years to come. As I announced prior to the vote result, the Tax-Exempt Status of American Studies Association to be challenged if Israel boycott resolution passes. More to follow: So what's my take-away from this? I'm most shocked at the low turnout for the vote.  Given the time and energy devoted by the anti-Israel backers of the boycott, only 825 or so votes were in favor.  At the same time, opponents (who were ambushed by the proposal) only managed to get about 375 people interested.  Effectively, most people didn't care.  Apathy is perhaps the saddest lesson from this given the odious nature of the proposal, and it's how anti-Israel zealots are able to drive issues far out of proportion to their actual numbers.

Posted by David Gerstman on December 16, 2013 5 Comments
I was right. I wrote that the previous agreement between the West and Iran should be used as a model for predicting how the ongoing P5 + 1 negotiations will go. Specifically, I wrote:
In the coming months when Iran and the West have a dispute over the meaning of terms of the Geneva deal or the discovery of something suspicious in Iran, Iran knows that it can bluff its way out of suffering any consequences for its bad faith.
Last week the Treasury Department designated a number of companies and individuals for their illegal trade with Iran.
“The Joint Plan of Action reached in Geneva does not, and will not, interfere with our continued efforts to expose and disrupt those supporting Iran’s nuclear program or seeking to evade our sanctions. These sanctions have isolated Iran from the international financial system, imposed enormous pressure on the Iranian economy, and motivated the Iranian leadership to make the first meaningful concessions on its nuclear program in over a decade,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen. “Today’s actions should be a stark reminder to businesses, banks, and brokers everywhere that we will continue relentlessly to enforce our sanctions, even as we explore the possibility of a long-term, comprehensive resolution of our concerns with Iran’s nuclear program.”
The Iranian reaction was predictable.
Iranian negotiators in Vienna halted nuclear talks with major powers to return to Tehran for consultations Thursday after Washington blacklisted a dozen companies and individuals for evading US sanctions, Islamic Republic state media reported.
Iran's deputy nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi added:

Posted by A.F. Branco on December 16, 2013 14 Comments

Note: You may reprint this cartoon provided you link back to this source.  To see more Legal Insurrection Branco cartoons, click here. Branco’s page is Cartoonist A.F.Branco ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 15, 2013 24 Comments

As I have previously indicated, I believe the anti-Israel academic boycott resolution of the American Studies Association calls into question ASA's 501(c)(3) tax exemption. Voting on the resolution ends at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, December 15.  If the resolution passes, I intend on challenging ASA's 501(c)(3) status through...

Posted by Mandy Nagy on December 15, 2013 4 Comments
Anti-government protests again continued in Ukraine over the weekend after nearly four weeks of demonstrations, sparked by President Viktor Yanukovych’s refusal to sign an association agreement with the European Union. But after talks over the agreement had resumed earlier in the week, it seems work has been placed "on hold," according to remarks made on social media by an EU official on Sunday. From CNN, EU puts Ukraine deal on hold, McCain addresses protesters:
The European Union has halted work on a trade agreement with Ukraine, an official said Sunday, after Kiev failed to show "clear commitment" to signing the deal. Stefan Fule, European commissioner for enlargement and European neighborhood policy, said on Twitter that the words and deeds of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his government on the proposed pact were "further & further apart. Their arguments have no grounds in reality."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 15, 2013 14 Comments
Prior to the 2012 election there were claims that the Obama administration was concealing its intentions by deliberately not moving proposed regulations forward so as to avoid campaign controversy. Needless to say, the Obama campaign denied the charges then and now. We reported on how delay of regulations damaged the rollout of Obamacare, Re-election 2012: HHS went quiet on Obamacare regs leading to healthcare.gov tech failure The Washington Post reports on how organized the concealment and delay effort was, White House delayed enacting rules ahead of 2012 election to avoid controversy:
The White House systematically delayed enacting a series of rules on the environment, worker safety and health care to prevent them from becoming points of contention before the 2012 election, according to documents and interviews with current and former administration officials.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 15, 2013 15 Comments
The U.N. General Assembly in 1975 passed the odious Zionism is Racism resolution, which has since been rescinded. Voting closes today at the American Studies Association on an equally odious resolution singling out Israel, and Israel alone, for academic boycott. It is, as former Harvard President Lawrence Summers notes, "anti-Semitic" in its effect "if not in intent." The resolution has been harshly criticized by the American Association of University Professors and eight Past Presidents of the ASA as an abominable attack on academic freedom, among many other denunciations:
In no other context does the ASA discriminate on the basis of national origin—and for good reason. This is discrimination pure and simple. Worse, it is also discrimination that inevitably diminishes the pursuit of knowledge, by discarding knowledge simply because it is produced by a certain group of people.
Nonetheless, the anti-Israel venom is so strong among the leadership and membership of the ASA, that there is a strong possibility the resolution will pass. Reading the comments and arguments of those favoring the anti-Israel academic boycott, there is little doubt that they view Zionism as Racism and would equally support the now discredited 1975 U.N. Resolution if put to a vote at the ASA. (full speech embedded at bottom of post)

Posted by David Gerstman on December 15, 2013 7 Comments
Shortly after the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran was announced, Max Fisher of the Washington Post trumpeted Americans support an Iran nuclear deal 2 to 1. That’s a big deal.
But those polls dealt in generalities. It's easy to support negotiations in principle; it's much harder to support a specific deal, which would necessarily require U.S. concessions as well as placing a degree of trust in the Iranian government, which is not exactly popular here in the United States. The reason this latest poll merits special attention is that it asked Americans whether they would support the deal currently under discussion between Iran and the major world powers at Geneva.
But in subsequent weeks, a funny thing has happened, support the deal has eroded as Shmuel Rosner shows in a recent column tracking polls on the topic.
While the first polls following the the recent interim agreement with Iran all showed that the deal was met with a generally positive reaction by the American public, the latest Pew survey puts this view in question (according to Pew, there are more Americans who disapprove of the deal than Americans who support it). Is this a result of some of the public criticism the deal has received- or is it a matter of phrasing the question and of methodology?
Even a Reuters poll from the end of November that shows support for the deal by a ratio of two to one (44 percent to 22 percent) found 34 percent had no opinion on the deal. (Rosner supplied the "no opinion" number.)

Posted by New Neo on December 15, 2013 30 Comments
Once-privileged New Yorkers who supported Obamacare are discovering that Obamacare means they'll be losing some of their privileges:
Many in New York’s professional and cultural elite have long supported President Obama’s health care plan...They are part of an unusual, informal health insurance system that has developed in New York, in which independent practitioners were able to get lower insurance rates through group plans, typically set up by their professional associations or chambers of commerce... But under the Affordable Care Act, they will be treated as individuals, responsible for their own insurance policies. For many of them, that is likely to mean they will no longer have access to a wide network of doctors and a range of plans tailored to their needs. And many of them are finding that if they want to keep their premiums from rising, they will have to accept higher deductible and co-pay costs or inferior coverage.
For this group, will the experience constitute the proverbial being "mugged by reality" and cause them to change their political affiliation? Perhaps for some, but probably not for most, since it takes a great deal to effect political change on a more permanent basis. Soon many doctors will be getting the same bad news, too:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on December 15, 2013 5 Comments
Two teens from Illinois want to teach others that you can save someone’s day through simple random acts of kindness. From HLN:
High school juniors Zade Abdullah and Kyle Nutt have been posting hilarious videos to their YouTube channel for a year and a half, but their latest creation has the duo providing acts of kindness instead of comedy. "My parents always wanted me to do good and 16-year-olds are stereotyped for being rotten kids," Abdullah told HLN. "We wanted to show people that all 16-year-olds are not like that. We can be good and do good in the community and make the world a better place." The Dixon, Illinois, teens did what they had to do to spread the word about small acts of kindness. They put on tights.
The duo dressed up as superheroes and proceeded to surprise unsuspecting strangers by paying for a meal at a drive-thru window, handing out poinsettias, paying for the movies one shopper couldn’t afford, and various other acts of kindness.  A friend helped to capture it all on video.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 14, 2013 29 Comments
No, not of me. Of Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt yucking it up at Nelson Mandela's memorial service. The allegation was that the reaction was racist. From the ever-reliable Salon.com, The media’s Michelle Obama problem: What a selfie says about our biases
More than anything, the response to these latest images of Michelle Obama speaks volumes about the expectations placed on black women in the public eye and how a black women’s default emotional state is perceived as angry. The black woman is ever at the ready to aggressively defend her territory. She is making her disapproval known. She never gets to simply be. Maybe the first lady is irritated with her husband or someone else, maybe she’s indifferent, maybe she’s thinking about the long plane ride home, maybe, just maybe, she’s recalling Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy. We will never know. Meanwhile, the Internet is speculating about Michelle Obama’s mind-set, her motivations and the state of her marriage because if a married black man, always on the prowl even if he is the commander in chief, is seen smiling next to an attractive white woman, well, that’s curtains for the marriage. The white she-devil strikes again! The first lady can’t win. Last month, Michelle Obama was a “feminist nightmare.” Today she is angry and on the verge of losing her marriage.
From Oliver Willis of Media Matters (tweeting his own opinion, of course):

Posted by Mandy Nagy on December 14, 2013 3 Comments
The National Security Agency director and Commander of the United States Cyber Command will continue to be served as a single position with dual responsibilities, rather than splitting the roles into two separate positions. From the NY Times:
President Obama has decided to keep the National Security Agency and the Pentagon’s cyberwarfare branch under the same command despite concerns that it concentrates too much power in the hands of a single military official responsible for both surveillance and directing a growing arsenal of cyberweapons.

As a practical matter, the decision means that Mr. Obama must appoint a four-star military officer to succeed Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the first person to simultaneously run the two organizations, when he retires early next year. Only a military commander can run Cyber Command, which is responsible for defending the military’s computer and sensor systems and carrying out offensive computer-network attacks.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 14, 2013 5 Comments

This is how a People self-destructs: Swarthmore Hillel Opens Door to Anti-Zionist Speakers With a little help from their "friends": Anti-Israel Activists at U. Michigan Serve Dorm Eviction Notices First they came for the couch burners: Michigan State. U. Police to Throw Book at Student Couch Burners Then the snow hooligans: U....

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