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February 2015

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 08, 2015 19 Comments
Hey, remember when Hamas was lobbing thousands of missiles at Israeli cities, trying to kidnap people, and killing when they got lucky? Of course you remember it. It has happened every couple of years since Hamas took over Gaza. And before that, the Palestinians strapped bombs on their loved ones and sent them to blow up restaurants, supermarkets, buses, and anything else they could sneak into. And before that .... But always the question is whether Israel's response is proportionate, like pointed out in this Al Jazeera column:
... on June 26, [2014] the UN Human Rights Council deliberated on the situation in Palestine and other Arab-occupied territories. During the deliberations, the council issued a warning to Israel that there may be serious repercussions as a result of its campaign against the Palestinian people, which constituted a continuing violation of international humanitarian law, following the abduction of three Israeli teenagers.
EU leaders on Gaza: 'Israel has right to protect itself but it must act proportionately':

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 08, 2015 20 Comments
We have covered anti-Israel student government divestment votes the past couple of years. Groups, typically led by Students for Justice in Palestine assisted by Jewish Voice for Peace, try to get student governments to vote to divest from specified companies doing business in Israel, such as Caterpillar and HP. Sometimes they succeed, mostly they fail. In the end, it's purely symbolic, since student governments have no such power. Symbolism matters, though, because the campus movement is part of a larger goal of demonizing and dehumanizing Jewish Israelis.  Even when they lose a vote, the BDS crowd claims victory because they forced people to talk about their issue. Last academic year there were a series of divestment initiatives that failed, but recently in the U. California system, several have passed. The anti-Israel groups are very strategic, taking the time to elect their supporters to student councils, and that long-term strategy has paid off in places like UCLA, which rejected divestment last spring, only to see it pass this fall after a change of board membership. One thing that slowly is coming to light, however, is that the anti-Israel movement is not the grassroots, student-led movement it purports to be. In fact, it has a highly coordinated, well-funded action plan assisted and coordinated by outside groups. A column in the UCLA Bruin newspaper details what is happening, Co-author of UCSA resolution needs to disclose affiliations:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 08, 2015 18 Comments
What is going on in the Left Coast? Reader and frequent commenter LukeHandCool, a resident of Santa Monica, sends along this note and link:
What happens when the blackboard jungle comes to two of the most progressive high schools in America? How could this possibly happen in Utopia when all the kids are taught they are unbelievably special just for breathing? I'll tell you what happens. You get long, long hand-wringing emails from the principal on an almost daily basis.
Here's the link, Video Emerges Of Nasty Brawl Between Rival High Schools:
Video of a nasty fight between rival high schools last month — touched off by basketball games — has now emerged.... The teams involved were Santa Monica High and Beverly Hills High. The fight broke out at Santa Monica High on Jan. 23 following a sweep of the JV and varsity boys’ and girls’ basketball teams by Beverly Hills....

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 08, 2015 53 Comments
BuzzFeed News has announced that it's been granted an interview with President Obama on Tuesday. In their heart of hearts, Buzzfeed readers want to know what type of cat Obama was in a prior or will be in a future life. Or at least, which 80's sitcom character Obama most easily identifies with or which animated cat GIF he finds most endearing. But since Buzzfeed News has been transformed under Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith from pussy cat (Meow) to King of the Internet Jungle (hear them Roar), Smith is seeking reader input as to questions to ask:
What Should We Ask President Obama? BuzzFeed News will interview President Barack Obama Tuesday as the president works to sign Americans up for his signature health care policy, prepares for a final chance to push through other elements of his agenda, and balances an economic recovery with crises around the world. BuzzFeed News has had our share of big stories and big interviews, but this will be our first interview with a sitting president of the United States. (President Bush missed his chance back in the day.) It’s a nice tribute to the work my colleagues have done to take this place from an ambitious, zany experiment to one of the most ambitious new news and media organizations in the world. Separately, and also exciting, our inspired cousins at BuzzFeed Motion Pictures will be shooting a video with President Obama. The BuzzFeed News interview is also an opportunity for our readers, here and across the social web, to give us some ideas. Since its inception, BuzzFeed News has covered everything from the marriage wars to the shooting war in Eastern Ukraine, and our reporters have filed searing dispatches from Ferguson to Freetown. I’m hoping to ask the president about what’s next — and what you think is next. So tell us your toughest questions — in whatever form you think that question is best asked.
The reaction on Twitter was swift.

Posted by Amy Miller on February 08, 2015 4 Comments
Over the past several months, we've watched the situation in Yemen devolve to the point of chaos. In September, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels took informal control of the capital city of Sanaa; then, in mid-January, Yemen's active al-Qaeda cell took credit for the terror attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, and threatened similar acts of violence. Around the same time, American officials in Yemen began to question the security of State Department and other officials stationed at the embassy in Sanaa, and on January 20, were poised to evacuate. Houthi rebels had amped up the violence in the city, and laid siege to the presidential palace and personal residence of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. A compromise was reached between the rebels and the now-hostage government, but negotiations quickly broke down; President Hadi and his government resigned, and the Houdi maintained comfortable control of key areas of the capital. Now, the Houthi have dissolved parliament, and for all intents and purposes taken formal control of the country. Via NPR:
A televised statement read by an unidentified Houthi member called the takeover "a new era that will take Yemen to safe shores." He said the group was forming a 151-member presidential council that would act as a government for two years. Revolutionary Committees would be in charge of forming a new parliament, the statement said. The Associated Press adds:
"The development also plunges the impoverished country deeper into turmoil and threatens to turn the crisis into a full-blown sectarian conflict, pitting the Iran-backed Houthi Shiites against Sunni tribesmen and secessionists in the south."

Posted by David Gerstman on February 08, 2015 8 Comments
Is the Palestinian Authority interested in peace? Although you probably knew the answer, we now have more proof that the PA directly rewards terrorism against Israel, and has developed a process to determine how much to reward terrorists based upon how serious the terror act was. Edwin Black reported Friday that unsealed documents not only show that the Palestinian Authority (PA) paid terrorists, but had a formula for rewarding terrorist acts against Israel.
Thousands of documents, newly obtained by this reporter through a lawsuit to unseal court-protected files, demonstrate that these payouts are not blind automated payments. Rather, senior Palestinian Authority officials as high as President Mahmoud Abbas scrutinize the details of each case, the specific carnage caused, and the personal details of each terrorist act before approving salaries and awarding honorary ranks in either the PA government or the military. Ministry of Prisoners spokesman Amr Nasser has explained, “We are very proud of this program and we have nothing to hide.” Nonetheless, in response to the international furor over the payments, the Palestinian Authority announced last year it would replace the Ministry of Prisoners with an outside PLO commission known as the Higher National Commission for Prisoners and Detainees Affairs.
Black provided an example of this system:

Posted by Amy Miller on February 08, 2015 8 Comments
Every once in a while, fortune favors those who work hard enough to earn it. This is one of those times. Last week, the Detroit Free Press ran a story about a man named James Robertson. For the past ten years, 56 year-old James has dealt with a 21 mile commute back and forth between Detroit, Michigan and a factory in Rochester Hills. 21 miles doesn't seem like such a big deal---unless, of course, you don't have a car or available public transportation. When James' car died a decade ago, he kept going to work; only now, he had to walk. James' situation began to catch the attention of the community after the Free Press went to print; since then, his story has taken on a life of its own. A complete stranger started a GoFundMe account with the intent of raising a couple thousand dollars towards a "beater" car to help lessen James' burden. As of about 6 am on February 8, this is the balance of that account: Screen Shot 2015-02-08 at 5.54.09 AM

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 07, 2015 23 Comments
Progressives love the idea of raising the minimum wage and the City of San Francisco is taking the issue to new heights. Unfortunately, the success and survival of small businesses rarely figure into these decisions. One small but successful independent book store in San Francisco is now closing. The owner recently appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe to discuss the situation. The Washington Free Beacon reported:
Bookstore Owner Describes How San Francisco’s Minimum Wage Increase Killed His Small Business What happens when the minimum wage is raised to double the current federal level? San Francisco is providing a perfect example–and the results are not all that surprising. Alan Beets, founder of independent bookstore Borderland’s Books, is closing his doors because the city raised the minimum wage to $15. The bookstore, which employs five people, has weathered challenges such as bigger bookstores and online shopping, but the minimum wage hike proved too much to overcome. “It’s not that I can’t afford to pay higher than minimum wage, but I can’t afford to pay minimum wage that gets that high,” Beets said. Raising the minimum wage is a challenge for all small businesses, but the increased cost for owners is especially troublesome for bookstores. Beets said that while other businesses mark up their prices, shifting the cost to consumers, his product, books, has a price labeled on it so he cannot do the same. “The long-term costs just end up getting too high,” Beets said. “About two years from now, I will be running in the red. It will get worse from there.”
Here's the video segment: People who support raising the minimum wage never seem to appreciate the effect it has on jobs.

Posted by Amy Miller on February 07, 2015 6 Comments
Last night's Real Time with Bill Maher was a mixed bag of weird and weirder. The brutal burning death of a Jordanian fighter pilot, and Jordan's scorched-earth response, has sparked debate about the best way to respond to the continuing threat of ISIS, as well as the United States' proper role in the conflict. This, of course, has led to an uptick in talking heads gathering together to blame coalition forces for ISIS' brutal retaliation against hostages---and last night, they were out in full force: Via Mediaite:
Johann Hari brought up the brutality from nations supported by the United States and said lots of jihadist actions result from U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. And, he said, “the more we show ourselves to be good or loving or decent people,” the less there will be. Maher didn’t think showing the ISIS video is necessary, and then remarked upon how “America has also burned people alive from the air.” And while he acknowledged that collateral damage from drone strikes is different from deliberately burning a man alive and “we’re not the moral equivalent of ISIS,” Maher said the U.S. isn’t “guilt-free” when it comes to horrible acts.
Watch:

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 07, 2015 28 Comments
As all hell breaks loose across the Middle East, another member of the Obama administration is focusing on the important issues. Fred Lucas of The Blaze reported:
Susan Rice Calls for Climate Action, LGBT Equality in National Security Plan National Security Advisor Susan Rice said the United States must take a longer view on national security, in a speech that focused as much on gender and LGBT equality and climate change as Islamic State terrorism and Russian aggression. “The issues is not simply about when we should have started arming the Syrian rebels or whether we should provide lethal assistance to Ukraine,” Rice said in a speech to the Brookings Institution when introducing President Barack Obama’s 2015 National Security Strategy. “It’s about the nature of U.S. leadership for the future. With this national security strategy, we stake out a much larger role for America in shaping the world while anticipating the challenges to come.”... She went on to frame the national security aspects of climate change, which she said the administration is addressing with its “groundbreaking climate commitment with China.” “American leadership is addressing the very real threat of climate change. The science is clear,” she said. “The impacts of climate change will only worsen over time. Even longer droughts, more severe storms, more forced migration.”...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 07, 2015 4 Comments
Going through some old bookmarks I never wrote about, I found Israel’s Fair-Weather Fans, an August 7, 2014, NY Times Op-Ed by Shmuel Rosner. The column is a rebuttal to liberal Jewish American critics worrying about the alienation of liberal American Jews from Israel. It seems relevant today, as some Democrats put Barack Obama's alleged hurt feelings ahead of the legitimate security concerns of our friends, from Israel to the Gulf Arab states, over Iranian nuclear and regional ambitions:
Two prominent black Democrats in the House of Representatives are vowing to skip Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress next month, a move that a White House insider says was put in motion by the Obama administration. John Lewis of Georgia and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina both said Friday that they disapproved when House Speaker John Boehner invited the Israeli leader to address a joint session of Congress on March 3 without consulting President Barack Obama first.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 07, 2015 17 Comments
Newly elected Republican Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) has no problem stating how he really feels about Gitmo detainees. In a hearing on the administration's recent decision to close the Guantanamo Bay facilities, (something Senator Obama promised to do when he was running for President in 2008), Senator Cotton grilled Brian McKeon, the Deputy Undersecretary for Defense Policy. Cotton hammered the point that the administration's decision to close Gitmo was not one based on national security, but one born of politicking.
Senator Cotton: Ok now I want to explore the so-called risk balance between recidivism of released terrorists and the propaganda value that terrorists get from Guantanamo Bay. How many recidivists are there at Guantanamo Bay right now? Secretary McKeon: I'm not sure I follow the question... Senator Cotton: How many detainees at Guantanamo Bay are engaged in terrorism or anti-American incitement? Secretary McKeon: There are none. Senator Cotton: Because theyre detained. Because they only engage in that kind of recidivism overseas. Now let's look at the propaganda value: How many detainees were at Guantanamo Bay on September 11, 2001?
After a few more questions and feeble answers, Senator Cotton goes in for the kill.

Posted by Amy Miller on February 07, 2015 9 Comments
After five years of lobbying, lawmakers and activists have ensured that the victims of the 2009 terror attack on Fort Hood will receive the Purple Heart. After the attack, lawyers for the victims of Major Nidal Hasan's massacre began to put pressure on the Army to declare the attack an act of terrorism (as opposed to "workplace violence,") so that victims and their families could receive the medals and associated benefits. Congress changed the game when they altered the National Defense Authorization Act to expand eligibility for the Purple Heart to include those wounded by a perpetrator in communication with or inspired by a foreign terrorist. From the Austin American-Statesman:
Army Secretary John M. McHugh has directed Army officials to identify soldiers and civilians eligible for the Purple Heart, and its civilian equivalent the Defense of Freedom medal, “as soon as possible and to contact them about presentation of the awards,” the Army said today. McHugh said the Purple Heart’s “strict eligibility criteria” had prevented victims from receiving the awards earlier. “Now that Congress has changed the criteria, we believe there is sufficient reason to allow these men and women to be awarded and recognized with either the Purple Heart or, in the case of civilians, the Defense of Freedom Medal,” McHugh said in a statement. “It’s an appropriate recognition of their service and sacrifice.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 06, 2015 37 Comments
In the past day, things seem to have changed in the Brian Williams story. The investigation of possible lies about being in a helicopter taking fire crossed two rubicons. First, the scope expanded to reports about his claims during Hurricane Katrina. Second, and more important, the mainstream media took up the call, with the NY Times and other outlets doing investigations, including NBC itself. From Twitter to Facebook to blogs to The Grey Lady, everybody seems to want a piece of Brian Williams. It has become internet sport at this point, a piñata onto which everyone is letting go their unrelated frustrations. Under other circumstances, I'd say he'd weather the storm. But this time it's different. Williams now is hurting his peers in the mainstream media, calling into question the honesty and integrity of the mainstream news industry. Brian Williams now is a liability to those who still manage to control so much of the narrative. Will he stay or will he go? UPDATE 2-7-2015 4:20 p.m. Eastern -- Williams announced he is removing himself from the daily broadcast for a few days. Not sure this changes our poll question. He hasn't resigned or been fired. Could just be strategic, hoping a week from now this has all blown over, like the vapor trails from the rocket fired, er, at his helicopter. (Poll open until Midnight Pacific Time, Saturday, February 7)
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