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September 2014

Posted by Amy Miller on September 07, 2014 10 Comments
Members of the Islamic terrorist group al-Shabaab have named new leader Abu Ubeid Ahmed Omar to replace Ahmed Abdi Godane, the organization's former spiritual leader who was killed last week in a U.S.-led drone strike in southern Somalia. Ubeyd has some big shoes to fill. The late Godane was instrumental in transforming al-Shabaab from a fractured regional threat into a well-organized machine whose membership orchestrated attacks in Kenya and Uganda as well as in Somalia. In a statement released yesterday, an al-Shabaab spokesman stated that the group intends to maintain its well-cultivated relationship with al-Qaeda. Somali national security minister Gen. Khalif Ahmed Ereg, as well as others in the region, have expressed gratitude for the United States military's part in shaking the foundations Godane worked for years to cultivate:
The killing of Godane was a "delightful victory", said Ereg. He called on militants still fighting for al-Shabaab to surrender to get a "brighter" life from the government. Uhuru Kenyatta, the Kenyan president, thanked the US for killing Godane, saying his death provides "a small measure of closure" for victims of the Westgate Mall attack. Kenyatta's nephew and his fiancée died in that attack. Godane, who used a number of other aliases, led the planning and was responsible for the perpetration of the attack on Westgate, Kenyatta said.

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 07, 2014 43 Comments
When you consider the disturbing number of Americans allegedly working with ISIS already, this sounds like a solid idea. Senator Cruz is going to introduce legislation next week. Mario Trujillo of The Hill reported:
Cruz: Strip citizenship from Americans in ISIS Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is slated to introduce legislation next week that would revoke the U.S. citizenship of anyone fighting or providing support to terrorist groups working to attack the United States. Cruz said he is filing the Expatriate Terrorist Act in reaction to the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It would provide another level of protection to prevent foreign fighters from re-entering the United States, he said. “Americans who choose to go to Syria or Iraq to fight with vicious ISIS terrorists are party to a terrorist organization committing horrific acts of violence, including beheading innocent American journalists who they have captured,” Cruz said in a statement. “There can be no clearer renunciation of their citizenship in the United States, and we need to do everything we can to preempt any attempt on their part to re-enter our country and carry out further attacks on American civilians.”
This is a very interesting development considering what's happening in the UK.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 07, 2014 2 Comments

Support the troops, or get out of the way....

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 06, 2014 71 Comments
This is a thing that's actually happening at Columbia University in New York City. Rather than taking her allegations of rape to local law enforcement, Emma Sulkowicz has decided to carry around her mattress as long as her alleged rapist remains on campus. Sulkowicz didn't report the rape immediately after it happened, but was convinced to report the alleged incident months later. The case was ultimately dismissed by university authorities. According to the Columbia Spectator:

As long as her alleged rapist goes to Columbia, Emma Sulkowicz, CC ’15, plans on carrying a navy blue, extra-long twin-sized mattress wherever she goes.

Entitled “Carry That Weight,” the mattress is both the visual art major’s senior thesis and a step in her journey to come to terms with her experience. Over the past year, Sulkowicz has become a prominent critic of the University’s sexual assault adjudication policies, retelling her story to various administrators and media organizations to raise awareness.

“The past year of my life has been really marked by telling people what happened in that most intimate and private space,” Sulkowicz said, referring to the dorm bed where she was allegedly raped on the second night of her sophomore year.

“I was raped in my own dorm bed and since then, that space has become fraught for me. I feel like I’ve carried the weight of what happened there since then,” she added.

Months after her alleged rape, Emma reported the incident to the school. Her case, one of three individual complaints filed against the same student, was closed, and her rapist found “not responsible.” She appealed, but it was denied and the decision was upheld.

Sulkowicz has turned what she says was a horrible tragedy into performance art.

Performance art that will suffice as her senior thesis. A fact I'll just leave there without commenting on further:

Sulkowicz plead her case to the university. But why didn't she go to the police?

Posted by Amy Miller on September 06, 2014 11 Comments
Today, Barack Obama formally declined to commit electoral suicide on behalf of every democrat running for higher office in a "leans Republican" state. Speaking under the condition of anonymity, a White House official told the Associated Press today that President Obama has abandoned his pledge to implement immigration reform by the end of the summer. Via Fox News Latino:
"Because of the Republicans' extreme politicization of this issue, the president believes it would be harmful to the policy itself and to the long-term prospects for comprehensive immigration reform to announce administrative action before the elections," a White House official said, asking for anonymity. Nonetheless, he added that Obama wants reform carried out in a "sustainable" way, and for that reason will take action "before the end of the year." ... "The president is confident in his authority to act, and he will before the end of the year. But again, nothing will replace Congress acting on comprehensive immigration reform and the president will keep pressing Congress to act," the official said.
As one blogger in Texas put it,, President Obama allowed this leak "early on a Saturday morning, ripe with the possibility of the least amount of Americans noticing." He claims that he's putting off comprehensive reform to save future efforts, but with 60 days to go until the election, we know that "not wanting to politicize the issue" is really code for "not wanting to lose the Senate to Republicans in 6 swing states."

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 06, 2014 31 Comments
Despite the high number of still unanswered questions about what happened in Benghazi, most of the media has been all too willing to ignore the story. Last night on FOX News, Bret Baier presented a special investigation called 13 Hours: The Inside Story. The title is taken from a book about what happened that night which was written by men who were there. Bret provided a preview on his blog this week:
Behind the Scenes: 13 Hours--The Inside Story I  wanted to share a few photos from my 4.5 hour interview with the men behind our special--13 Hours: The Inside Story. For the documentary, Fox News was granted exclusive access to the yet to be published book "13 HOURS: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi"  by New York Times bestselling author Mitchell Zuckoff with the Annex Security Team. The book is available September 9th-- It was a pleasure getting to know these men and to hear their story--this is a firsthand account of what the annex security team witnessed and experienced in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. Their story is one you won't want to miss--they have been through a lot and say they are now as close as brothers.
Here's a promo video:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 06, 2014 14 Comments
Stay awake on Fridays if you want to follow the IRS targeting scandal. First, via The Hill, IRS: Five more staffers lost emails:
The IRS told lawmakers Friday that five staffers connected to the agency’s Tea Party controversy besides Lois Lerner probably lost emails due to computer problems. Those five staffers include officials key to the various investigations into the IRS’s improper scrutiny of Tea Party groups – including Judith Kindell, who was a senior adviser to Lerner, the former agency official at the center of the controversy.... Issa said Friday's letter showed once more that the IRS wasn't being straight with Congress, and pushed again for the Obama administration to appoint a special prosecutor. "The so-called 'most transparent administration in history' has given Congress inconsistent information since the beginning of the targeting scandal," Issa said. "The IRS's ever-changing story is practically impossible to follow at this point, as they modify it each time to accommodate new facts." Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration is currently investigating the missing emails, while conservative groups are suing the IRS in federal court over Lerner’s emails as well. As Lerner’s senior adviser, Kindell was a key figure in dealing with tax-exempt applications. In a February 2011 email, Lerner insisted that Kindell be looped in on Tea Party cases, calling them “very dangerous.”
Sharyl Attkisson reports that the IRS has not been straightforward as to missing emails, Missing emails: What is the IRS not telling Congress?:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 06, 2014 0 Comments
I guess it is not really surprising that Israel is doing well in Chinese social media. Israel and China have signed a series of new trade agreements in recent months, including academic cooperation, as we detailed in Israel-China tech deal another blow to BDS. Those expanding trade connections, based in large part on Chinese desire for Israeli technology and know-how, have continued uninterrupted during the Gaza hostilities:
China is now Israel's second- largest trading partner, with exports of US$2.88 billion and imports of US$7.99 billion last year. Chinese companies are eyeing several high-profile investment deals in Israel. These include tendering for construction of a railway linking Eilat on the Red Sea and Ashdod on the Mediterranean, and purchasing a more than US$1 billion controlling stake in Tnuva, Israel's dairy giant.
Peter Cai at the China Spectator writes on September 2, How Israel is winning the social media war in China:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 05, 2014 46 Comments
Well, this is interesting. I knew Wendy Davis was selling her new book while campaigning -- usually that's done before or after the campaign -- but we now know why. Davis' book reveals she had two abortions, something sure to shake up the race at a time when taking risks is worth it for her since otherwise she's going to lose. Via AP:
Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis reveals in a new campaign memoir that she terminated two pregnancies for medical reasons in the 1990s, including one where the fetus had developed a severe brain abnormality. Davis writes in "Forgetting to be Afraid" that she had an abortion in 1996 after an exam revealed that the brain of the fetus had developed in complete separation on the right and left sides. She also describes ending an earlier ectopic pregnancy, in which an embryo implants outside the uterus. Davis disclosed the terminated pregnancies for the first time since her nearly 13-hour filibuster last year over a tough new Texas abortion law. Both pregnancies happened before Davis, a state senator from Fort Worth, began her political career and after she was already a mother to two young girls.

Posted by Amy Miller on September 05, 2014 8 Comments
Our "boots on the ground" troops in Iraq are receiving mixed messages, and it's causing more than just a morale problem. Officials overseas are calling out the Obama Administration on their jumbled approach to current actions being taken against the Islamic State in Iraq. The current mission against ISIS calls for diplomatic protection in addition to airborne and humanitarian missions, and military leadership can't get a clear read on just how far President Obama is willing to go to destroy (or shrink, he can't decide) Islamic extremism. Via Fox News:
Biden on Wednesday delivered what was probably the toughest statement to date from the administration, declaring, after another U.S. journalist was beheaded by the Islamic State, "we will follow them to the gates of Hell until they are brought to justice." But his tough talk was at odds with a message delivered earlier in the day by President Obama, who said that while his administration's goal is to "destroy" ISIS -- it also is to "shrink" it to a "manageable problem." Amid the mixed messages, a source in contact with special operators in Iraq told Fox News that "frustration and confusion reign" among Americans on the ground there. The source relayed the complaint of an unnamed special operator: "Chase them to the Gates of Hell? How the [f---] are we going to do that when we can't even leave the front gate of our base!?"
President Obama recently agreed to send 350 additional troops to Baghdad to protect our diplomatic mission, bringing our troop total on the ground to just over 1200. According to the White House, those troops were meant to relieve previously deployed units while "providing a more robust, sustainable security force for our personnel and facilities in Baghdad.” Now, it seems even the President and the Vice President can't get their messaging straight.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 05, 2014 8 Comments
I know readers probably are skeptical when I constantly tell you how pathological the hatred of Israel is among many Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) supporters on campus. I am not exaggerating. At all. Israel hatred consumes their lives such that everything is politicized and used as an excuse to attack Israel. Even ordinary foodstuffs like hummus, coffee or couscous, are turned into political weapons. It's all about their politics -- they feel no compunction about dominating student government and trying to turn assembly and senate meetings into tools in the war against Israel, and to dominate campus discussion to the exclusion of all other issues. (language warning) (Related Post) They proudly proclaim that even when they lose a divestment vote, they won because they forced student government to spend hours or days talking about how bad Israel supposedly is. One of the most egregious examples was the student senate President -- yes, President -- at Ohio University, Megan Marzec, who used the ALS ice bucket challenge to bash Israel.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 05, 2014 14 Comments
I don't know how I missed this yesterday. Actually, I do know. I was off the internets for most of the day, and the world kept turning without me. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals granted (Order embedded at bottom of post) en banc (full court) hearing in the Halbig case, in which an appeals court panel found that the IRS had no authority to grant people who signed up for Obamacare on the federal exchange tax subsidies which, under the statute, were only for those who signed up on state exchanges. The same day as the original Halbig decision was released, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals reached a different conclusion. The split in Circuits convinced just about everyone that the case was on the fast track to the Supreme Court. But many speculated at the time that the D.C. Circuit, packed with Obama appointees, would take the case en banc, uphold the IRS regs, and avoid a Circuit split. I didn't think that would happen, but I was wrong. Via Prof. Jonathan Adler at Volokh Conspiracy:

Posted by Amy Miller on September 05, 2014 2 Comments
Defense Department officials have confirmed that a weekend drone strike in the Sablale district of southern Somalia has lead to the death of Al-Shabaab co-founder Ahmed Abdi Godane. From the White House Office of the Press Secretary:
Today, the Department of Defense confirmed that Ahmed Godane, the leader of al-Shabaab, is dead as a result of a U.S. military targeted airstrike in Somalia undertaken over the weekend. Godane’s removal is a major symbolic and operational loss to the largest al-Qaida affiliate in Africa and reflects years of painstaking work by our intelligence, military and law enforcement professionals. Even as this is an important step forward in the fight against al-Shabaab, the United States will continue to use the tools at our disposal – financial, diplomatic, intelligence and military –to address the threat that al-Shabaab and other terrorist groups pose to the United States and the American people. We will also continue to support our international partners, particularly the African Union Mission in Somalia, that are working to support the Federal Government of Somalia build a secure and stable future for the Somali people.
The strike took out five other members of the Islamic militant group who recently took responsibility for an attack on a Mogadishu prison that occurred just prior to the drone strikes. The prison is believed to house some of the region's most dangerous militants. According to analysts, Godane was the glue holding the al-Shabaab together. Acting as al-Shabaab's spiritual leader, he was instrumental in forging the group's relationship with al Qaeda, and played a large part in helping the group focus its efforts via a better organized secret police force. Although experts disagree as to whether or not the death of Godane will mean the end of a well-organized movement, the evolution and dynamics of al-Shabaab are proving to be a sobering reminder of just how difficult it is to oust entrenched paramilitary movements, and how long it may take to control and eliminate the influence of ISIS in the Middle East:

Posted by Bryan Jacoutot on September 05, 2014 2 Comments
“His check only votes once.” That’s what Dan Bongino, congressional candidate in Maryland’s 6th district said of his opponent, who also happens to be the sixth wealthiest member of Congress. In between campaign stops yesterday, I was able to catch up with Bongino on the phone to discuss his progress as we rapidly approach election day in just under two months. Naturally, I first asked him about what is too often the primary driver in politics: Money. Despite the economic disparity between the two candidates, Bongino seemed comfortable with how the finances have played out during the campaign.
He can write himself a check for ten million dollars but it only votes once. We have tens of thousands of donors, many of which are within the district in Maryland… Those are people who I know are not only going to show up, but they’re gonna get 10 friends as well. If you look at individual donors — take out the PAC stuff — we are just wiping the floor with him in fundraising… At one point we even quadrupled what he was bringing in, in individual donations. He’s in a lot of trouble, and he knows it now.
Bongino has drawn national attention to a race that might have been considered a lock for the Democrats had anyone else's name been next the (R) on the ballot. But Bongino, a former Secret Service Agent and NYPD Officer with a background in boxing and mixed-martial arts (MMA), brings a fighter’s mentality to the race, along with a profile that is refreshingly unique when compared with his wealthy Democrat opponent.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 05, 2014 12 Comments
Yesterday, we wrote about Senator Paul's apparent departure from isolationism.  Last night, the Kentucky Senator chatted with Sean Hannity about his foreign policy stance:
"I've been trying to say that for the last four years of public life that I'm I'm neither an isolationist nor an interventionist. I'm someone who believes in the Constitution and believes America should have a strong national defense and believes that we should defend ourselves. But when we do it, we should do it the way the Constitution intended. That's the President should come before Congress and make the case for war." "There's a big difference between that and between doing it unilaterally. And I think the example of Libya, with both Hillary's support and President Obama's support shows all the unintended consequences when they around the Constitution."
I don't disagree we should respect Constitutional channels, but objectively speaking, this is just political posturing and an attempt to define his position as diametrically opposed to that of both Mrs. Clinton and the administration. Which is smart. But his argument seems to hinge on the fact that we would not be in this nightmare of a foreign policy situation had President Obama gone to Congress. Perhaps he's right. He continued:
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