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July 2015

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 09, 2015 54 Comments
Donald Trump thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with former Texas Governor Rick Perry, apparently. "Failed at the border" is a pretty serious charge, and one that the good Gov decided to address. "Hey Donald, I saw your tweet the other day but I think you might need to borrow my glasses to get a good look at the steps I took to secure the border while I was the Governor of Texas. I cant support what you said, but no one knows the concern Americans have about our porous border than I do."

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 09, 2015 33 Comments
It's probably safe to say that there aren't many liberals in media who were impressed by Hillary Clinton's recent interview on CNN. Chuck Todd of NBC, Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, Mike Barnicle of MSNBC and others had little praise. David Rutz of the Washington Free Beacon put together a highlight reel of media reactions:
The Media Thought Hillary’s CNN Interview Was Terrible Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s first wide-ranging, sit-down interview of the 2016 election cycle was a dud, according to mainstream media observers. MSNBC’s Morning Joe panelists thought she was evasive, fearful, and gave off an annoyed vibe. On immigration, she made untrue claims about her Republican opponents and CNN’s Jake Tapper warned her about overplaying her hand. CNN’s Alisyn Camerota called her out for blaming right-wing attacks for her sinking poll numbers, reminiscent of her accusations of a “vast right-wing conspiracy“ when she was first lady. Meet the Press‘s Chuck Todd, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, and BBC’s Katty Kay all said, separately, she looked “defensive” on questions about her private email server.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 08, 2015 4 Comments
Rasmea Odeh is the supermarket bomber who killed Hebrew University students Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner in 1969, served 10 years in Israeli prison before being released in a prisoner exchange, and then made her way to the U.S. in the mid-1990s. Rasmea then lied on her visa and naturalization applications, among other ways, by denying that she ever had been charged, convicted or imprisoned. Rasmea was convicted in federal court in Detroit in November 2014 of immigration fraud, sentenced to 18 months in prison, and ordered deported. Rasmea danced in the aisle of the bus back to Chicago after sentencing. Rasmea is out on bond pending appeal. We have covered many times how Rasmea is being treated as a hero by the anti-Israel activist community, based in part on her claim that her Israeli conviction was solely because she falsely confessed after 25 days of sexual torture. In fact, she confessed just one day after arrest, there was substantial independent evidence, and even a Red Cross observer said she received a fair trial. Decades later, after they all were out of prison, Rasmea's key co-conspirator credited Rasmea with being the mastermind of the supermarket bombing. http://youtu.be/v0Va7-cNxf8 The fêting of Rasmea has picked up steam. She appeared at a fundraiser attended by 500 or so people at the University of Illinois - Chicago, in a joint appearance with Angela Davis:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 08, 2015 35 Comments
Following the release of a scathing report, Baltimore's Police Commissioner Anthony Batts is now jobless. Among other issues, the report alleges police officers were ordered not to engage protestors.


Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 08, 2015 14 Comments
In a train wreck of an interview with CNN Tuesday, Hillary Clinton made some colorful claims. CNN's Brianna Keilar asked Hillary what lead her to delete 33,000 emails. Avoiding the question, Mrs. Clinton rambled on about how technology is hard and was finally redirected by the softball coach Keilar. “But you said that they [former Secretaries of State] did the same thing. That they used a personal server, and while facing a subpoena, deleted emails from them,” interjected Keiler, engaging Hillary Death Stare Sequence Phase II. “You know you’re starting with so many assumptions that are, I’ve never had a subpoena, there is no, again, let’s take a deep breath here,” said Mrs. Clinton, obviously rattled and speaking to herself. No subpoena?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 08, 2015 2 Comments
On June 12, 2014, three Israeli teens were kidnapped and murdered in the West Bank by a Hamas-affiliated group. The bodies would be found on June 30. During June, an intensive search was conducted for the teens and the murderers, including the arrest of many Hamas members in the West Bank and a crackdown on its operations. Militants in Gaza fired a total of 62 rockets into Israel during June (even before the kidnapping), and Israel retaliated by targeting rocket crews and militants in Gaza: On June 30, 2014, 16 rockets were fired into Israel by Hamas, leading to more Israeli targeting and a massive Hamas rocket offensive. Hamas or other militants fired over a dozen rockets a day the first few days of July, and then on July 7 as Israel retaliated with airstrikes, the daily count grew to 80 rockets on July 7 and 156 on July 8.

Posted by Amy Miller on July 08, 2015 7 Comments
Yes, that headline is for real. Judging by what happened this week during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, I'm almost positive that the Obama Administration is ready to negotiate with Edward Snowden. From the Wall Street Journal:
Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, asked Ms. Yates about recent reports that the U.S. government was in talks with Mr. Snowden and his attorneys over a possible deal that would give him minimal prison time in exchange for returning to the United States and cooperating with U.S. officials. Mr. Snowden leaked large amounts of records about secret U.S. spy programs beginning in 2013, sparking a large public debate about whether there should be curbs on government surveillance. “Mr. Snowden needs to return to the United States and face justice,” Ms. Yates said in response to Mr. Cornyn’s question. She didn’t indicate whether or not the Justice Department was in talks with Mr. Snowden over a plea agreement, though it would have been unusual for her to make such an admission before Congress.
The Committee is right to push on this. A few days ago, former AG Eric Holder (miss him yet?) said in an interview with Yahoo! News that the possibility of a plea bargain is more realistic than you would think:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 08, 2015 28 Comments
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court (am I allowed to call it the "Kennedy Court" yet? That would be fun...) made serious waves in the administrative law world when it handed down a ruling that will make it much easier for activists to prove local-level discrimination against minority candidates for low income housing. Even Justice Kennedy, who led the majority's charge in favor of an expanded disparate impact analysis, was forced to admit that the ruling could cause an eventual return to racial quota systems. We're not quite there yet, but rest assured---the crack team at Housing and Urban Development, led by San Antonio golden boy Julian Castro, is keeping an eye on things. A new rule, floated by HUD and released today by the Obama Administration, will require cities and towns to to look for patterns of racial bias in local housing. Officials will then be forced to report every 3 to 5 years on the state of the housing market, and self-set goals for reducing segregation in their jurisdictions. This information won't just go into a bureaucratic vacuum; instead, it'll head straight for---you guessed it---another government database. WaPo explains:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 08, 2015 14 Comments
I remember my first unfriending-by-way-of-politics. I was 25; I'd made it all the way to my second year of law school without alienating a single person in the digital space---give me a medal. I had posted something negative about nuclear proliferation in Iran, drawing the ire of one of my best friends who also happened to be 100% Persian. Over the course of three or four heated comments, it was friendship over, both online and in the real world. 7 years of friendship, down the drain in an off-cycle. It deserved better. I like to think I've grown out of the kinds of superficial political arguments that end relationships, but there's something about an election cycle that brings out the worst in all of us. Semi-anonymity is a truth serum, and sites like Facebook and Twitter are handing it out for free. Does our addiction to social media mean that our relationships will forever wallow in an extra layer of tension? Probably; and now there's a new app called Who Deleted Me that will show you just how big of an impact your online posts are having on your friends, family and colleagues. Buzzfeed spotted it:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 08, 2015 22 Comments
We have been covering the absurdity of the "Yes Means Yes" movement, and the violation of fundamental due process rights under the banner of "rape culture," for quite some time: In our coverage, we frequently have posted this parody video from 2007. Now life is imitating parody, as reported in The Washington Examiner (via Instapundit), Advocacy group distributes sexual 'consent contracts' to college students:

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 08, 2015 3 Comments
Time has really flown by, hasn't it? Would you believe the famous recall election that Scott Walker won in Wisconsin was three years ago? As you may recall, it was a big night at Legal Insurrection with fireworks and music on the site. Our Wisconsin Recall Tag has the history. Wisconsin first lady Tonette Walker tweeted out this reminder yesterday: Here's a great video from the Walker team to commemorate the event:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 08, 2015 26 Comments
Mrs. Clinton joined CNN Tuesday night for an interview that was stranger than fiction. In fact, I'm honestly not sure if the awkward conversation was meant to be self-parody or an earnest attempt at a prime time interview. The pants suit, the seemingly botoxed brow and resultant crazy eyes, and the passionate dedication to fibbery made for fascinating television. Following the Clinton Campaign Press Play Pen-Gate, Camp Clinton presumable decided to prove the scoffers, mockers, and justifiably incensed members of the press corps wrong. "We don't think so little of press that we actually, like, rope them off! See?! We're like, totes about press access. We chat it up with the press alllllllll the time, like we're doing right now with CNN!" - the Clinton Campaign (not an exact quote). We'll start with one of the interview's best moments:

"People should and do trust me"

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 07, 2015 6 Comments
During my family’s visit of Berlin, Germany yesterday, an American president was prominently featured as part of the tour we took. Our guide spoke glowingly of a speech that he heard, and one which still resonates with him to this day. As we passed the Bradenburg Gate, he quoted Ronald Reagan's 1987 speech by saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Our guide lived 3 blocks away from the infamous Berlin Wall, the remnants of which are covered in art and graffiti or which are boxed up as souvenirs of a seemingly distant era. While the entire speech is iconic, reviewing Reagan's words again, I was struck by this passage:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 07, 2015 8 Comments
Monday, Carly Fiorina's campaign announced they'd raised a total of $1.4 million dollars since their early May launch. But $1.4 million is a drop in the bucket compared the fundraising of a few other Republican presidential contenders. According to the Wall Street Journal, "In an email entitled “Momentum,” Frank Sadler, her campaign manager, reminded supporters Mrs. Fiorina’s campaign “launched from a standing start,” and took a glancing shot at Republican front runner Jeb Bush, the son and brother of presidents."
“Until she announced her candidacy, Carly was leading two highly effective charitable organizations,” he wrote. “She was not building the political infrastructure that other presidential candidates spend years (or generations) to cultivate.” He doesn’t mention the fundraising number—which covers money raised through June 30, the end of the second quarter—until the second page of his memo. Mrs. Fiorina, who is considered a longshot candidate for the GOP nomination, is winning 2% of Republican primary voters’ support, according to a RealClearPolitics average of five recent national polls.
Sadler isn't wrong. Baring the ground game Fiorina built in her failed Senate run, her campaign started without much of a foundation. Now that Fiorina is fully invested in the race, the wisdom of jumping in cold is a discussion for another time.

Posted by Mirabelle Ward on July 07, 2015 2 Comments
Yesterday the Washington Free Beacon reported that that the Obama administration is willing to do whatever it takes to prevent a veto override when Congress votes on the Iran deal. This morning, CNN hosted a veritable White House press conference about the subject. Former State Department Iran negotiator Hillary Mann Leverett and Obama shill and Haaretz contributor Peter Beinart were anchor Chris Cuomo's entire panel. One point that Beinart made that deserves examination is his assertion that “Iranian dissidents want this deal to go through,” on the theory that opening up Iran will lessen the regime’s human rights abuses. He’s made the same argument here, and we're likely to hear it again in the coming weeks. It's worth asking, then, whether the human rights situation in Iran stands to improve. To begin with, Beinart is being disingenuous when he says that dissidents support the deal. Eli Lake documented in 2013 that, while some support it, many others do not.

Posted by Jay Caruso on July 07, 2015 6 Comments
Things are bad in both of China's big exchanges; both the Shanghai and Shenzen are seeing companies halting their trading on both:
Over 700 Chinese companies have halted trading to "self preserve," according to the state media. That means about a quarter of the companies listed on China's two big exchanges -- the Shanghai and Shenzhen -- are no longer trading. China's stock markets are in trouble. The Shanghai Composite Index has fallen over 25% since mid-June. The Shenzhen, which has more tech companies and is often compared to America's Nasdaq Index, is down even more.
Government intervention has not helped:
Chinese stocks fell on Tuesday, taking little comfort from a slew of support measures unleashed by Beijing in recent days, and unnerved by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's failure to mention the market chaos in a statement on the economy. Before the market opened, Li said in comments posted on a government website that China had the confidence and ability to deal with challenges faced by its economy, but had nothing to say on the three-week plunge that has knocked around 30 percent off Chinese shares since mid-June.
Morgan Stanley Asia Chairman Stephen Roach said some of China's problems can be traced back to issues related to the debt-to-GDP ratio:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 07, 2015 8 Comments
Another day, another deadline busted. Officials attending nuclear policy talks in Vienna announced today that the deadline set by negotiators has been extended three days to July 10. This is the third time in a year that officials have blown past a deadline, but spokespeople from various parties blame this failure to agree on several "thorny" issues that appear to be hanging in the balance between total failure and...well, whatever level of "failure" will be represented by whatever terrible deal eventually emerges from this mess. Via the Wall Street Journal:
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters the two sides weren’t formally extending the deadline but would effectively stop the clock on the talks. “The news is, we are continuing the negotiations in these hours. You might see some ministers leaving in the next hours and then ready to come back in the coming hours and days,” said Ms. Mogherini, who chairs the six-power group. “We are continuing to negotiate for the next couple of days. That does not mean we are extending our deadlines,” she said, adding that “we are interpreting” the July 7 end-date “in a flexible way.” Ms. Mogherini said the negotiations have hit the most difficult and sensitive final issues, but that sealing a nuclear agreement “is still possible.”
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