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January 2014

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 19, 2014 2 Comments
Because we focus so much on the Boycott, Divest, Sanction movement on campuses, it's easy to get the impression that such anti-Israeli students are the majority. They are not. They are just the loud mouths, who scream, call people names, and built idiotic mock walls and checkpoints -- for which they never include mock suicide bombers or shrapnel backpack bombs for context. While it is true that anti-Israel sentiment has grown among some sectors of the student body, students remain mostly pro-Israel or -- like students tend to be -- apathetic. A case in point to debunk the myth would be The University of Pennsylvania, which has seen some of the worst of the anti-Israel BDS movement, as detailed in my post in February 2012, Anti-Israel sickness on display at U. Penn:
Israel Matzavand JWeekly have good write-ups of the anti-Israel derangement at the University of Pennsylvania, which hosted a Boycott Divest Sanction conference.  Not Boycott Divest Sanction Syria, or Saudi Arabia, or Iran … just Israel. We have featured these anti-Semitic — yes that’s what they are by their actions – before, but they are far more vicious and devious than most people understand, and one of their primary goals is the indoctrination of college students into the anti-Israel movement. This audio shows a U. Penn. professor discussing how to work anti-Israel agitation into classes that have nothing to do with Israel:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 19, 2014 18 Comments
While the rest of the country has been enjoying the "Polar Vortex", my home state has had a slightly different set of "climate change" issues to address.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency on Friday, citing a need for conservation efforts and a fingers-crossed message that he "hopes it will rain" soon during what looks like it will be the driest year on record in the history of California. This is “perhaps the worst drought California has ever seen since records began being kept about 100 years ago,” Brown said at a news conference on Friday.
A piece in Breitbart notes that the drought may produce a spate of wildfires in the fall, when such disasters usually occur in the Golden State, and increasing tension between regions.
Reservoir levels in the north and central parts of the state were more depleted than in Southern California, but Brown still asked Los Angeles to do its part to conserve _ and gave a nod to the politics of water in the vast state. "The drought accentuates and further displays the conflicts between north and south and between urban and rural parts of the state. So, as governor, I'll be doing my part to bring people together and working through this.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 18, 2014 28 Comments
We have noted before the tensions between white liberal feminists and non-white liberal feminists. Sometimes it breaks out into a Twitter War, as it did when #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen hashtag unleashed bitter intra-feminist racial grievances. Or when Joan Walsh of Salon.com got into a twitter war with some ladies who did not like Walsh's condescending "professional left" attitude towards women of color, Dem Base Fractures Into Twitter War And Charges Of Racism Against Professional Left. This past week, for reasons unknown to me, the eruption used the hashtag #WhiteWomanPrivilege. It was like Festivus, the airing of grievances: There was not enough popcorn growing in the States of Iowa and Nebraska combined to cover this outbreak of intra-feminist racial greivances. Here are some of my favorites, but by all means scroll through the hashtag -- but don't get any butter on the couch please:

Posted by Andrew Branca on January 18, 2014 19 Comments
The Washington Free Beacon did a wonderfully humorous job fisking a post at Gawker regarding Florida's so-called "Warning Shot" law.  I previously have explained and debunked many of the myths about the law, Florida “Warning Shot” Bill Advances. The headline of the WFB piece, written by CJ Ciaramella, captures the gist of the matter succintly:  "Gawker Got Literally Everything Wrong About Florida’s New Warning Shots Bill." In reading the Gawker  article by Adam Weinstein, one can't help but wonder if the piece wasn't the product of a bet challenging Weinstein to achieve utter perfection in getting every facet of the subject matter wrong. From the headline--"The NRA Literally Wrote Florida's New Bill to Legalize Warning Shots"--forward, about the only correct thing contained in the piece is the spelling of individual names.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 18, 2014 25 Comments
I recently was referred to disparagingly as a mere "blogger," by an attorney in a matter I was reporting about, in an email in which "reply to all" was mistakenly selected. It was disappointing at many levels, particularly given the person the attorney was representing, but not really surprising. Well, buddy, I got rights. Via Eugene Volokh, Bloggers = Media for First Amendment Libel Law Purposes:
So holds today’s Obsidian Finance Group v. Cox (9th Cir. Jan. 17, 2014) (in which I represented the defendant). To be precise, the Ninth Circuit concludes that all who speak to the public, whether or not they are members of the institutional press, are equally protected by the First Amendment. To quote the court,
The protections of the First Amendment do not turn on whether the defendant was a trained journalist, formally affiliated with traditional news entities, engaged in conflict-of-interest disclosure, went beyond just assembling others’ writings, or tried to get both sides of a story. As the Supreme Court has accurately warned, a First Amendment distinction between the institutional press and other speakers is unworkable: “With the advent of the Internet and the decline of print and broadcast media … the line between the media and others who wish to comment on political and social issues becomes far more blurred.” Citizens United, 558 U.S. at 352. In defamation cases, the public-figure status of a plaintiff and the public importance of the statement at issue — not the identity of the speaker — provide the First Amendment touchstones.
I think that’s right, not just as a matter of First Amendment principle but also as a matter of history and precedent.... The specific legal issue that the Ninth Circuit was confronting in this passage, by the way, is whether all who speak to the public are equally protected by the Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. rules, which are that

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 18, 2014 6 Comments

Unsustainable: Scary Chart of the Day Recent Grads Struggle to Find Jobs That Require a Bachelor’s Degree Prediction: How the College Bubble Will Burst Loyola University Trims Deficit by $2 Million Through Faculty Buyouts 2014 Law School Applications Plummet Why Law School Can’t be “Fixed” From Within Zionist Entity-Loving Neo-Colonialist Israel Lobbyists: UCLA...

Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 17, 2014 2 Comments

A handful of stories from across the web on Obama's NSA reform speech, Hollywood hypocrisy, Obamacare and more. Something the President's NSA speech today didn't address. From the Wall Street Journal: After Obama's NSA Speech, Tech Companies Wait and See After saying he plans to make a movie...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 17, 2014 13 Comments
We previously have written about the copyright and trademark lawsuit by North Jersey Media Group against Sarah Palin and SarahPAC over a single use by Palin in a 9/11 Facebook post of a photo of fireman raising the U.S. Flag at Ground Zero. We also previously noted that the claim in plaintiff's papers that Palin used the image for fundraising seemed to be a real stretch (at best). There was no evidence attached to the Complaint showing any specific fundraising. Plaintiff's claim appears to be that anything that takes place in Palin's name or at SarahPAC constitutes fundraising. Palin and SarahPAC moved to dismiss the case for faiture to state a legal claim, or alternatively, to transfer the case to Alaska since New York had no connection to the dispute. In an Order filed today, the Judge granted the motion to transfer, but to New Jersey where NJMG is headquartered. Given the transfer, the Judge deferred ruling on the merits of the motion to dismiss to whichever federal judge gets assigned in New Jersey. It will be interesting to see if NJMG continues to fight the lawsuit, which makes no sense given that the photo clearly was not used for fundraising and was taken down quickly. Indeed, as previously noted, there is an issue as to whether Palin and SarahPAC even received actual notice of the takedown demand prior to the filing of the lawsuit just two days after the Facebook post was made. Here is the substantive text of the Order (embedded below):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 17, 2014 11 Comments
I guess this was a surprise to most people, including me, via Fox News:
Sen. Tom Coburn, one of Washington’s leading and most fiscally conservative lawmakers, announced Thursday he would be stepping down at the end of the year. The Republican from Oklahoma had previously announced he would not seek reelection but his latest comments have him leaving Congress two years sooner than he previously planned. Coburn has been suffering from a recurrence of prostate cancer and hinted about his departure during an interview with reporters last week. “Serving as Oklahoma’s senator has been, and continues to be, one of the great privileges and blessings of my life," said Coburn, 65. "But after much prayer and consideration, I have decided that I will leave my Senate seat at the end of this Congress."
He was best known for his Wastebook releases on absurd federal spending:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 17, 2014 25 Comments
Obama just completed his speech on NSA reforms. Below the key video portion of the speech (full text here). I found this part to be a key dose of reality often lacking from the debate:
First, everyone who has looked at these problems, including skeptics of existing programs, recognizes that we have real enemies and threats, and that intelligence serves a vital role in confronting them. We cannot prevent terrorist attacks or cyber-threats without some capability to penetrate digital communications – whether it's to unravel a terrorist plot; to intercept malware that targets a stock exchange; to make sure air traffic control systems are not compromised; or to ensure that hackers do not empty your bank accounts. Moreover, we cannot unilaterally disarm our intelligence agencies. There is a reason why blackberries and I-Phones are not allowed in the White House Situation Room. We know that the intelligence services of other countries – including some who feign surprise over the Snowden disclosures – are constantly probing our government and private sector networks, and accelerating programs to listen to our conversations, intercept our emails, or compromise our systems. Meanwhile, a number of countries, including some who have loudly criticized the NSA, privately acknowledge that America has special responsibilities as the world's only superpower; that our intelligence capabilities are critical to meeting these responsibilities; and that they themselves have relied on the information we obtain to protect their own people.
Whether the "reforms" are meaningful in protecting the privacy of law-abiding Americans is another questions.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 17, 2014 11 Comments
A total of 134 Members of the House of Representatives have signed a letter, organized by the offices of Reps. Peter Roksam (R) and Ted Deutch (D) condeming the academic boycott of Israel passed by the American Studies Assoction. The effort was truly bipartisan, with 65 Republicans and 69 Democrarts signing.  The full list of signatories is at the bottom of this post. As previously reported, the congressional organizers were hoping for 50 signatures, so the response was better than expected. Gathering signatures on short notice was difficult, one of the staffers explained to me, because of the press of House business before members left today on break. In a Press Release by the Office of Rep. Peter Roksam, the background of the letter was explained:
Today, a bipartisan coalition of House lawmakers condemned the American Studies Association’s (ASA) academic boycott of Israel. 134 Members of Congress, led by Reps. Peter Roskam (R-IL), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Doug Collins (R-GA), and Brad Schneider (D-IL), sent a letter to ASA President Curtis Marez opposing ASA’s boycott as bigoted and an affront to academic freedom. “We come together—Democrats and Republicans alike—to strongly condemn the ASA boycott, which undermines academic freedom and exhibits flagrant prejudice against the Jewish State of Israel,” said the House lawmakers. “This boycott doesn’t advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but only reinforces dangerous stereotypes that limit mutual understanding and cooperation—two things that should be at the very heart of our academic endeavors. We therefore cannot tolerate these ignorant smear campaigns to isolate Israel and deteriorate the historic U.S.-Israel relationship.”
The letter reads, in full:

Posted by David Gerstman on January 17, 2014 2 Comments
I never expected Ariel Sharon to be treated fairly by the mainstream media. I'd like to reiterate one point made by Prof. Jacobson in his post memorializing Sharon: Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount was not the cause of the so-called Second Intifada. The New York Times obituary of Ariel Sharon gets it wrong:
Given how he had crushed the Palestinian guerrilla infrastructure in Gaza in the early 1970s, there was logic to his election. But there was a paradox, too. It was Mr. Sharon’s visit, in September 2000, accompanied by hundreds of Israeli police officers, to the holy site in Jerusalem known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, that helped set off the riots that became the second Palestinian uprising.
Similarly, the Washington Post's obituary:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 16, 2014 4 Comments

Several cybersecurity experts warned that security issues still persist on healthcare.gov, according to statements made to news outlets and in testimony provided to a Congressional panel on Thursday. From NBC News: Cybersecurity researchers slammed HealthCare.gov's security during a House hearing on Thursday, saying the site is still...

Posted by A.F. Branco on January 16, 2014 6 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...

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