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February 2015

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 04, 2015 41 Comments
It certainly looks that way. NBC News Anchor Brian Williams has long claimed he was on a helicopter forced down by RPG fire while reporting from Iraq in 2003. An exclusive report in Stars and Stripes, a military publication, tells the story of Williams' indiscretion. Williams was forced to recant when a soldier protested Williams' rendition of the story. As recently as Monday, Williams claimed, on national news, that he was under fire on a Chinook. Take a look: It was during this commemoration that those involved in the incident stepped up to correct the record:

Posted by Amy Miller on February 04, 2015 15 Comments
The race relations debate in America has become a caricature of its former self. What was once a serious conversation about ending discrimination and hatred has become a three ring circus of hand-wringing and recriminations over whose office, TV show, or university has the largest representation of minority members. It's not a question of sharing cultural elements, or learning a new language; all that really matters to the race relations brigade these days comes down to hard numbers---how many of you are there?---and regular reminders about the dangers of "cultural appropriation," making it nearly impossible for America to enjoy its status as a world class melting pot. This is why I fully endorse any and all attempts to lampoon the Very Important Concerns© of those who make it their mission in life to question my commitment to love and equality. In his latest edition of "Pedestrian Questions," comedian Jimmy Kimmel did just that---and managed to make his own point about race relations in America (even if it happened by accident.)

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 04, 2015 12 Comments
(This post is just an excuse to gloat over the Patriots' victory, but please read on, there's a point here someplace.) Has there ever been a more exciting Super Bowl final quarter than the one we saw during the Patriots' latest win? First, there was the improbable, amazing, super-stupendous "what the **** just happened" catch to put the Seahawks on the verge of victory: Then, there was Bill Belichek playing mind games with Pete Carroll by not calling a time out, which caused "the call" and "the interception":

Posted by Amy Miller on February 04, 2015 21 Comments
In 2015's America, no one expects greatness from a romantic thriller starring Jennifer Lopez; but every once in a while, something makes its way into the genre that is so incredibly ridiculous we can't help but serve it up for censure and recriminations. Lopez's latest flick, "The Boy Next Door," has all the makings of a movie I'll eventually catch on Netflix after a glass of wine or two:
When a handsome, charming teenager named Noah (Ryan Guzman) moves in next door, newly separated high-school teacher Claire Peterson (Jennifer Lopez) encourages his friendship and engages in a little bit of harmless -- or so she thinks -- flirtation. Although Noah spends much of the time hanging out with Claire's son, the teen's attraction to her is palpable. One night, Claire gives in to temptation and lets Noah seduce her -- but when she tries to end the relationship, he turns violent.
Obviously ridiculous---but internet snarkfest WTFark found something tucked into the many layers of this catastrophe that takes us beyond "ridiculous" and into the realm of "America is over." Behold: First edition "Iliad." First. Editiion. "Iliad." First...no. I can't. Oh my god is right. As in, "oh my God, we are literally doomed."

Posted by Amy Miller on February 04, 2015 7 Comments
From the "are you KIDDING me?!" department, a new development in Obama's plans to grant executive amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Yesterday, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress that under the President's plan, immigrants granted deportation amnesty will be eligible to collect an additional tax refund. They'll do this by backtracking through paperwork and claiming an Earned Income Tax Credit on earnings (read: money made while in the country illegally) from as far back as 2011. The Washington Times explains the loophole:
“This is the problem you get into,” said Sen. Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican who demanded a solution to the loophole. “The IRS’s interpretation of the EITC eligibility requirements undermines congressional policy for not rewarding those working illegally in the United States.” The loophole stems from the way the IRS handles illegal immigrants. While the immigrants are not authorized to work in the U.S. legally, the IRS still wants to be paid taxes on the earnings of those who do work, and so it has issued millions of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, or ITINs, to illegal immigrants, enabling them to pay up. Some tax credits are only eligible to those with a valid Social Security number. Those who get valid numbers, however, can go back and claim them.
Although only those who previously registered for an ITIN and are granted a Social Security number will be able to amend their returns, this could still amount to billions, according to the Times report.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 04, 2015 4 Comments
Last night, Tuesday, February 3, 2015, a fundraiser was held at DePaul University honoring and on behalf of convicted supermarket bomber and immigration fraudster Rasmieh (Rasmea) Odeh. Full details and background on the fundraiser here, and on Rasmea's trials and convictions here. A vigil was held outside the fundraiser in memory of two Israeli students killed in the bombing, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. It was snowing and a heavy snowfall anticipated, which almost led to cancellation of the vigil, but a group of students persevered and stood out in the cold reciting prayers for peace and remembering. The vigil made national news: A Legal Insurrection photographer took photos. Rasmea Odeh Protest Vigil DePaul 2-3-2015 Students Holding Photos Statue

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 04, 2015 5 Comments
The Great Sphinx is safe from destruction and Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is calling for a "Islamic Reformation", so now should be a good time to visit the enchanting "Land of the Nile," right? Not so fast. A new group with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood has just declared holy war on foreigners:
An Islamist organization sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood is warning all foreigners and diplomats to flee Egypt by the end of February or face becoming “a target by the Revolutionary Punishment Movement,” according to a recent warning posted online by a Brotherhood-affiliated site and read live on television by one of its broadcast organs. The statement issues a threat to “all foreign nationals,” “all foreign companies,” and all “embassy foreigners, diplomats, and ambassadors,” ordering them to leave Egypt by the end of the month or face violent attacks, according to an independent translation of the Arabic statement. Foreign travelers also are warned to “cancel their trips” and told “they are not welcome to Egypt during these difficult days.”
The Al Jazeera Center for Studies has some background on these "insurgents," who organized shortly before the 4th anniversary of the "Arab Spring" protests in Tahrir Square.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 04, 2015 20 Comments
The Senate confirmation hearings for Loretta Lynch have been in the news for over a week and for good reason. As Eric Holder prepares to exit the Department of Justice, many people want to be sure America doesn't end up with another Eric Holder. Lynch has many positive qualities but as Professor Jacobson recently pointed out, not being Eric Holder is not enough. Yesterday, Holder held a press conference in which he insisted that he hasn't politicized the Department of Justice. Josh Feldman of Mediaite reported:
Holder Fires Back at GOP: ‘There’s Been No Politicization of This Justice Department’ Last week the Senate held confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch, but a lot of the questions from Republicans centered around the current occupant of that office, with one even going so far as to ask Lynch if she is Eric Holder. Today, Holder himself held a news conference in which he started out by saying, “For the record, I am Eric Holder.” From there, the attorney general went after Republican critics in possibly one of the last (if not the last) press conferences of his tenure leading the DOJ. He said it’s “a little irresponsible for people on the hill to say that policy differences that we have with them… can be characterized as political.” Holder insisted that “there’s been no politicization of this Justice Department” and said such an accusation is “totally inconsistent with the facts.”
Here's a video of Holder's statement:
World News Videos | ABC World News It's good to know Mr. Holder thinks so highly of his stewardship of American Justice.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 03, 2015 16 Comments
For a mere 2500 rubles, you can give your Valentine a gift they'll never forget: their very own figurine of Vladimir Putin riding a bear. Who wouldn't want that? Check it out: Vladimir putin figurine
Luxurious Figurine as the head of state who tamed forest brown bear standing on a segment of a great country, symbolizes the victory, the heroic strength and power. Bear has long been considered a symbol of immense Russia, represents courage, strength, courage and rage directed against enemies - this beast could not be better reflects the position of the nation and its principles.

Posted by Amy Miller on February 03, 2015 8 Comments
Democrats threw up a roadblock today when they filibustered a GOP bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security while neutering years' worth of Obama Administration policies favoring deportation amnesty. As I said earlier today, GOP leadership had to have known this was coming. The Dems have been apoplectic over Republican challenges to executive amnesty ever since they lost the majority, so a challenge to this aggressive change in policy is no surprise. What is surprising is how one of the Senate's most aggressive members addressed the possibility that the House bill would fail to make it to a vote. Via National Review:
Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Senator Susan Collins (R., Maine) argued during a Senate GOP lunch that if Democrats filibuster the Department of Homeland Security funding bill — which blocks implementation of Obama’s 2012 deferred action program and his November 2014 “adult amnesty” — Republicans should respond by blocking only the 2014 orders. The thinking, according to a GOP senator who was in the lunch, is that Senate Democrats will have a harder time staying unified for a filibuster if Republicans have a narrower focus. “What I have said for months now is the central focus of Republicans should be stopping President Obama’s unconstitutional amnesty,” Cruz tells National Review Online when asked to confirm the details of his case. “That’s what Republican candidates promised the voters in November and that’s the promise we need to fulfill.”
That's...new. And huge. Back in January, Senator Cruz released a glowing statement, praising the House bill and its amnesty defunding provisions, saying that it was up to the Senate "to take up the House bill, preserving those key provisions, and send it to the President..." What happened?

Posted by Amy Miller on February 03, 2015 17 Comments
Senate Democrats didn't learn much from their stunning defeat in the midterms, did they? This afternoon, Reid and Durbin led their caucus on an obstructionist crusade to shut down progress on a necessary Homeland Security funding bill; Democrats managed to prevent the bill from reaching the floor for debate, which means that GOP leadership is going to have to circle back on a new attempt to keep the department funded while blocking Obama's 2012 and 2014 plans to grant deportation amnesty. From the Washington Times:
GOP leaders, who have said they will not let the department run out of money, will now have to come up with a Plan B to try to overcome the objections of Democrats, who are trying to defend President Obama’s 2012 and 2014 deportation amnesties. “The only way to finish a bill is to start a bill, and today they voted to refuse to start that process,” said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican. Democrats, though, countered that they won’t debate any bill that tries to undo Mr. Obama’s amnesties, saying the focus should be on giving money to the department, not an effort to try to overturn the president. “They’re mad at President Obama because they want to deport Dreamers,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.
GOP leadership had to have seen this coming from a mile away. During today's media roundup, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) lashed out irrationally against the Republican plans to fund Homeland Security while blocking President Obama's executive immigration actions:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 03, 2015 7 Comments
David previously covered the mysterious death of Alberto Nisman the day before he was to testify before the Argentine Congress regarding an alleged government cover-up of Iran's involvement in the bombing of a Jewish Center in Buenos Aires. There has been speculation that it was not a suicide, that Nisman was murdered by agents of the Argentine government. Now comes a bombshell from the NY Times, Draft of Arrest Warrant for Argentine President Found at Dead Prosecutor’s Home:
Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor whose mysterious death has gripped Argentina, had drafted a warrant for the arrest of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, accusing her of trying to shield Iranian officials from responsibility in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center here, the lead investigator into his death said on Tuesday.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 03, 2015 77 Comments
Remember Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia student who's carrying her mattress around as long as her alleged rapist is allowed to remain on campus? Her alleged rapist is speaking out. Sulkowicz made national headlines with her harrowing tale of a consensual sexual encounter turned rape. After her alleged rapist was cleared by Columbia's internal justice system, Sulkowicz filed a police report with the NYP, but chose not to pursue the matter through the actual justice system saying she'd heard they'd mishandled cases, she didn't feel safe or comfortable chatting with them, and she was displeased by how long it would take for her case to get to court. Her accused rapist, Paul Nungesser, shared his story exclusively with The Daily Beast in what they're describing as, "dramatically at odds with the prevailing media narrative."

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 03, 2015 46 Comments
Back in 2000, the Americas were cited as an example of how to effectively eradicate measles infections by prestigious medical journals; who would have thought that 15 years later, the vaccination for this disease is poised to become a topic in our upcoming presidential race?
A rare moment of clarification occurred Monday morning, in different settings and an ocean apart: President Barack Obama instructed parents to vaccinate their children just as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie seemed to cast doubt upon their requirement. “The science is indisputable,” Obama said*. Parents should have a “measure of choice,” Christie said. ...Christie’s remarks were followed by a report that Iowa Freedom Summit speaker Carly Fiorina had made a similar statement last week, an indication that the GOP 2016 field, even its establishment flank, was beginning to see an incentive in expressing vaccination doubts.
Christie later "clarified" his initial statement; and Senator Rand Paul has also weighed in, expressing concerns about mental disorders as a side effect. As "antivaxxers" becomes a new derogatory term, politicians are evolving faster than bacteria in order to appeal to millennial voters, because 1-in-5 of that golden demographic believes vaccines cause autism. I am an environmental health and occupational safety specialist, so I regularly address risks associated with biohazardous materials. I am a strong believer in the need for vaccinations, especially for measles, which can be fatal. But like most reasonable Americans, I also want to make my medical choices based on the most complete set of information available.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 03, 2015 17 Comments
Greece's new prime minister Alexis Tsipras is finding out that his country's massive debt won't go away just because he wants it to. Maybe that's why Germany has a strong economy and Greece doesn't. Jane Wharton of Express UK reported:
Merkel refuses to write off Greece's debt In her first interview since Syriza won the Greek election last weekend, Angela Merkel has made it clear the debt stands but she hopes they stay in the eurozone. The far-left party stormed to victory last weekend with 36 per cent of the vote, promising to ditch austerity and renegotiate the country's £180billion bailout from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - also known as the troika. Their finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has said this troika of global institutions is "rotten" and has refused to work with them to renegotiate bailout terms. Syriza is now beginning to roll back on the austerity measures imposed by the EU on the previous administration in exchange for the loans. However this morning the German Chancellor said that while Europe will continue to show solidarity with Greece and other nations hit by Europe's debt crisis, the debts must be repaid in full. Speaking to Hamburger Abendblatt, she said: "I do not envisage fresh debt cancellation. "There has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have already slashed billions from Greece's debt."
It's amazing what can happen when a politician is told he can't spend money he doesn't have. The Tsipras administration, which knows it doesn't have the negotiating power (or money) to defy reality has quickly adopted a new position.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 03, 2015 3 Comments
On Tuesday night, February 3, 2015, there will be a fundraiser organized by Chicago-area branches of Students for Justice in Palestine, honoring and supporting Rasmea Odeh. Full details are in our prior post, Upcoming fundraiser for convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh at DePaul Univ. The fundraiser is being held at the student center at DePaul University, the scene of some not-so-pleasant anti-Israel protests in the past. Rasmea was convicted of the SuperSol supermarket bombing in Jerusalem in 1969 that killed two Israeli students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. [caption id="attachment_106161" align="alignnone" width="490"]http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d93_1412329044 (Newspaper headline “The War Came to the Supermarket”)(via Live Leak)[/caption] Rasmea then lied about her conviction and imprisonment when she immigrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.  Rasmea was convicted of immigration fraud in November by a federal jury in Detroit, and is awaiting sentencing. The evidence supporting Rasmea's Israeli and Detroit convictions was overwhelming, as I documented in Rasmea Odeh rightly convicted of Israeli supermarket bombing and U.S. immigration fraud. Nonetheless, Rasmea has become a hero to the anti-Israel activist community, particularly in Chicago where she lived since immigrating.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 02, 2015 7 Comments
If you were hoping to dust the snow off the lawn chair to start working on your tan, you're going to have to wait a few weeks, at least according to Punxsutawney Phil. Phil the groundhog saw his shadow today, so six more weeks of winter it is. Punxsutawney Phil is no stranger to controversy though. According to the Washington Post:
Last year, Phil also saw his shadow — the final nail in the coffin for what was one of the most brutally long winters in the U.S. The unrelenting winter dragged on through March in many places in 2014. Around D.C., many locations accumulated more than 30 inches of snow last winter, and Phil chalked another one up in the “verified” column.
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