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July 2014

Posted by A.F. Branco on July 21, 2014 2 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 Andrew Branca on July 21, 2014 7 Comments
Marissa Alexander has been denied a second shot at a self-defense immunity hearing (often incorrectly referred to as a "Stand-Your-Ground' hearing), reports by First Coast News. Under Florida's self-defense immunity statute (FL 776.032 Immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for justifiable use of force) a person claiming self-defense can seek immunity from criminal prosecution and civil suit.  To do so they generally request a hearing in court in which they present their evidence in support of self-defense. If the hearing judge determines that there is a preponderance of the evidence in support of self-defense, immunity is granted.  Given that a preponderance of the evidence is a vastly greater level of proof than the reasonable doubt required to sustain a claim of self-defense at trial, this approach only makes common sense. Alexander sought and received a self-defense immunity hearing prior to her first trial (since reversed, and she now awaits retrial). Following that hearing, her motion for self-defense immunity was denied--no surprise, as there is scant evidence in support of her claim of self-defense (and that's being exceedingly generous). When Alexander sought a second self-defense immunity hearing leading up to her re-trial, it raised a novel question under Florida law whether a second such hearing was legally required upon demand or even permitted (see Marissa Alexander’s Desperate Efforts for Self-Defense Immunity Hearing Delayed Again and Will Marissa Alexander get second shot at Self-Defense Immunity?). This past Friday the electronic court records of the case were changed to indicate that Alexander's current motion for a self-defense immunity hearing was denied, and the actual order denying the request for a second self-defense immunity hearing was released this morning.  It's embedded below, but here are the highlights:

Posted by David Gerstman on July 21, 2014 5 Comments
Note: There are live Video and Twitter feeds at the bottom of the post ----------------------------- Overnight Hamas attempted two infiltrations through tunnels, one of which opened up near the dining room of Kibbutz in Israel. Both sets of terrorists were eliminated by the IDF. There are unspecified reports of Israeli casualties. The Times of Israel reports:
In open ground near Erez five terrorists come out of a tunnel shortly after six in the morning. They surface near the security fence and only a few hundred yards from the nearest community. An IAF aircraft intercepts them, killing all five, with no Israelis wounded. ... Near Kibbutz Nir Am, a second group of terrorists surface on the Israeli side of the border. It is not clear if they emerge from a different tunnel or a branch of the one that served the other squad, nor is the number of gunmen confirmed. The sizable squad is able to surprise a passing army jeep, ambushing it with an anti-tank missile and inflicting Israeli casualties. But with the help of Nahal troops the force is able to kill the operatives and thwart an infiltration to civilian areas or an abduction attempt.
Ynet has more on this incident as well as other fighting:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on July 21, 2014 6 Comments
The remains of nearly 200 passengers from downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 have been removed from the wreckage and placed in refrigerated rail cars in a rebel-controlled area of eastern Ukraine. From ABC News:
It may be some time before the bodies of the victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 are returned to their families. In an exclusive interview with ABC News today, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic said they would not be turned over until international inspectors come here to inspect them. "We can and we want to give bodies to the relatives but experts have to examine the bodies here. That is international practice," Alexander Borodai said.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 20, 2014 16 Comments
From an Imam in Berlin -- can you tell his words apart from tweets of pro-Boycott Divest and Sanctions professors and campus speakers? From my Twitter feed keeping track of events today:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 20, 2014 12 Comments
I was at summer camp in New Hampshire. They brought us into the rec hall where a couple hundred of us stared, bleary-eyed, at a single black and white monitor. They said we would remember this all our lives. And I do. It's as if it happened yesterday. Today in 1969, the Eagle landed on the moon. (h/t Instapundit) Here are three versions depending on your 2014 attention span, which anecdotally I believe to be much shorter than 1969 attention spans: Really short, medium and long. Short (2 minutes)

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 20, 2014 13 Comments
If you're like most Americans, you may be wondering why the surge of illegal immigrants at the southern border happened all at once. People want to know the cause and what could have been done to prevent it. While answers have been scarce, the Washington Post has published a rather damning piece which claims that the Obama administration was warned ahead of time that this was going to happen. David Nakamura, Jerry Markon and Manuel Roig-Franzia contributed to this report:
Obama aides were warned of brewing border crisis Nearly a year before President Obama declared a humanitarian crisis on the border, a team of experts arrived at the Fort Brown patrol station in Brownsville, Tex., and discovered a makeshift transportation depot for a deluge of foreign children. Thirty Border Patrol agents were assigned in August 2013 to drive the children to off-site showers, wash their clothes and make them sandwiches. As soon as those children were placed in temporary shelters, more arrived. An average of 66 were apprehended each day on the border and more than 24,000 cycled through Texas patrol stations in 2013. In a 41-page report to the Department of Homeland Security, the team from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) raised alarms about the federal government’s capacity to manage a situation that was expected to grow worse.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 20, 2014 14 Comments
With Elizabeth Warren reaching cult status, and momentum growing to convince her to run for President, it's worth keeping in mind that Elizabeth Warren's career is nothing like portrayed. No, I'm not just referring to the Cherokee deal. From her legal representation for large pay of the biggest corporate interests to questions raised by other professors about her academics, there is a story behind Elizabeth Warren which is at risk of going down the memory hole. That's the main reason we created ElizabethWarrenWiki.org -- to preserve the record and the research. It's also why Twitter user @Coondawg68 has created a Storify, Liz Warren #RunLizRun on the occasion of Warrens star appearance at Netroots Nation (the left-wing blogger gathering). It is an accumulation of much of Warren's story via tweets, some of which are pugnacious, but most informative as to the historical record: The full sequence that will not require you to click through is below:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 20, 2014 9 Comments
Reports are beginning to surface from the 300-plus citizen-organized protests on July 18-19 focused on deep concerns about the immigration surge of supposed “refugees” swamping our border control resources, under the banner of the "National Days of Protest against Immigration Reform Amnesty & the Illegal Immigration Surge".
With a coalition of more than 50 groups and organizations of various sizes, protests against illegal immigration and the Obama inspired surge of illegals at America's borders took place in more than 300 locations. The protests were highly visible and some were small with a handful of people on overpasses with others being larger with hundreds of people.
The following report by J.D. Gallop in Florida Today is representative of many of the small-scale, but enthusiastically received, events.
Nearly a week after a social service agency announced it needs foster homes for Central American migrant children seeking asylum in the United States, protesters gathered alongside roadways near the government center to draw attention to the immigration crisis. "We got to stop the invasion of illegals and send them home now," said Connie Smith, one of the organizers of a rally that drew about 30 people to the four-way stop near the Brevard County Government Complex in Viera. ..The protesters – including one woman standing next to an upside down American flag she purchased at a yard sale - braved the noon day sun, holding up homemade signs reading "Path to Destruction" and "Send Them Home" as motorists honked horns and waved in support.
A Newscaller.com video from the Hesperia California event also offers a glimpse as to the style of these protests:

Posted by David Gerstman on July 20, 2014 15 Comments
[WAJ Note: Live Twitter and video feeds added at bottom of post.] Today, Sunday, fighting has intensified. Ynet reports:
The IDF's ground incursion into Gaza has led to a rapid rise in the number of terrorists killed. Since the beginning of the ground operation, IDF soldiers have eliminated more than 130 terrorists, including more than 60 Saturday overnight. During the overnight firefights, a Golani Brigade battalion commander, Colonel Rassan Alian, sustained light-to-moderate injuries. Large infantry forces entered Gaza overnight, as the IDF expanded Operation Protective Edge on Sunday. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced that the ground forces joined the ongoing operations to destroy terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, which began with the ground incursion.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 19, 2014 19 Comments
Well here's something different. As Netroots Nation cries out for income and wealth distribution and props up the class warrior Elizabeth Warren to cult status, some careful economic analysis finds that income inequality is decreasing globally and that redistribution in the U.S. would hurt the developing world. In an Op-Ed in The NY Times, George Mason Univ. economist Tyler Cowan writes, Income Inequality Is Not Rising Globally. It's Falling:
Income inequality has surged as a political and economic issue, but the numbers don’t show that inequality is rising from a global perspective. Yes, the problem has become more acute within most individual nations, yet income inequality for the world as a whole has been falling for most of the last 20 years. It’s a fact that hasn’t been noted often enough. The finding comes from a recent investigation by Christoph Lakner, a consultant at the World Bank, and Branko Milanovic, senior scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study Center. And while such a framing may sound startling at first, it should be intuitive upon reflection. The economic surges of China, India and some other nations have been among the most egalitarian developments in history....

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 19, 2014 25 Comments
In many ways, Elizabeth Warren is the perfect Democratic Party candidate to follow Obama. First term senator? Check. No major accomplishments to speak of? Check. No executive experience? Check. A questionable life story that the media refuses to investigate? Check. She really has it all. The progressive base of the Democratic Party recognizes her potential and just like they did with Obama, they're already creating a cult of personality around her. If you can stomach it, listen to this new song created by the folks at Ready For Warren. Allahpundit of Hot Air provides an apt comparison:
It’s not a presidential campaign in America anymore until someone puts their progressive hero-worship for a Clinton challenger to music. The contrast in styles with “Yes We Can” is revealing. That song was celebrity-heavy and hymnal, both of which fed the idea of Obama as icon. He was an object of veneration, the left’s epitome of cool. Warren doesn’t have one one-thousandth his personal charisma and, unlike him circa 2007, she does seem to care about policy on the merits, beyond whether a given position will help or hurt her nascent presidential campaign.
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