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August 2015

Posted by Amy Miller on August 20, 2015 26 Comments
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the Republican primary candidate causing the most excitement---at least when it comes to media coverage and outspoken grassroots support---is Donald Trump. Love him or hate him, Trump has found his niche in the voter base, and he's playing out his position by going consistently on the offensive against candidates who would prefer to turn focus on their budding policy initiatives for health care or education. While campaigning in New Hampshire this week, Trump took full aim at fellow contender Jeb Bush, who constitutes the prime example of a candidate we'd expect to pivot away from rhetorical attacks. Trump played off of this significant difference in tactics and personality, and the results were devastating.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on August 20, 2015 12 Comments
If you are following mainstream media in the U.S. or Europe, you will get an impression that a thuggish Indian government is shaking down the helpless environmental activist group Greenpeace. The UK-based Guardian newspaper ran a story recently titled “India’s war on Greenpeace”, detailing a long litany of charges alleging India of investigating against “environmental activists”, freezing their funds and restricting their movement. In that article, a leading Greenpeace staffer describes peril of Greenpeace in India to The Guardian:
The weeks (...) had been the hardest Greenpeace India had ever faced. (…) Greenpeace’s registration was newly imperilled. Morale had plummeted. In all likelihood, the shakedown of Greenpeace, and of other civil society groups, will continue. It is in the character of this government to persecute its adversaries, and the convolutions of the law provide many ways for the state to install difficulties in their paths.
However, in reality it is Greenpeace holding India ransom; threatening dire consequences unless the country reviews its stand on coal.

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 20, 2015 15 Comments
Rand Paul is dealing with some tricky rules as he tries to run for president and hold on to his senate seat at the same time. Chris Moody of CNN reports:
Rand Paul's tough choice Rand Paul has a choice: Spend nearly half a million dollars to keep his increasingly longshot presidential ambitions alive in his home state or leave the Senate. For now, he's choosing to pony up. Paul's political future rests partially in the hands of nearly 350 Republican officials in Kentucky, who will decide Saturday whether to approve a costly plan that would allow him to run in Kentucky for president and the U.S. Senate simultaneously—and possibly salvage his chances of staying in electoral politics after 2016. The proposal, which acts as a work-around of a state law that forbids candidates in Kentucky from running for two federal offices at the same time, would establish a presidential caucus in early March in addition to the state primary scheduled two months later.

Posted by Amy Miller on August 20, 2015 10 Comments
A report from the London Times has revealed that a senior employee of Amnesty International failed to disclose ties to Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the greater global Islamist network. Yasmin Hussein, 51, was until recently head of Amnesty's international advocacy division, and played an active role in the charity's advocacy at the United Nations. An investigation into Hussein's connections uncovered ties to "a secretive network of global Islamists" both through her husband, who was investigated for working closely with the Muslim Brotherhood, and via her activities with a UK-based aid agency that was banned from Israel for their alleged support of Hamas terrorism. More from the Times of London (hat tip to UN Watch):
Ms Hussein, who is understood to receive a salary of more than £90,000, told The Times that she had “never had any association whatsoever with . . . the Muslim Brotherhood”. Her husband, Wael Musabbeh, was one of several alleged British Islamists, none of them defendants, named in documents released after a 2013 trial in the UAE that led to the jailing of more than 60 Emirati citizens who were tried for conspiracy and sedition.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 20, 2015 39 Comments

It starts somewhere....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 19, 2015 44 Comments
The Alpha Phi Sorority at the University of Alabama made a recruiting video which has generated a lot of controversy. In fact, the controversy was so severe that the university administration condemned the video and the sorority ended up taking it down. But it was saved by someone: And the problem is? I don't get it. But I'm an empirical, evidence-based type person. So I'm going to keep watching it over and over until I figure it out exactly what the problem is. This does have some serious implications, though. Not the video. The response.

Posted by New Neo on August 19, 2015 26 Comments
We all know that Hillary Clinton is the first female frontrunner candidate of a major party. That is, she's long been the frontrunner, and remains the frontrunner, although who knows how long that will continue. I believe that the only thing that can stop Clinton is an indictment, or the entry of Elizabeth Warren into the race. That's how shallow the Democratic bench is and how much the public (especially Democrats) seems to thirst for another "first," as they did with Obama. The first woman president is the next logical step for them, and Hillary seems (or seemed until recently) to fit the bill. That's one of the reasons Carly Fiorina is an especially good foil for her. I don't doubt, however, that if Carly were to rise in the polls and become a strong possibility for first female president, the attacks on her as "not a real woman" would become the drumbeat of the opposition.

Posted by Amy Miller on August 19, 2015 9 Comments
Put on your trollin' pants, people---it's time to sit down the federal government for an annual review. The federal government has partnered with online review service Yelp to set up official government agency profiles that Americans can drop in on to leave a tip, a review, or a (one star? probably) rating. A message from Yelp's official blog touts this as the government's next big foray into social media:
It’s clear Washington is eager to engage with people directly through social media. Earlier this year a group of 46 lawmakers called for the creation of a “Yelp for Government” in order to boost transparency and accountability, and Representative Ron Kind reiterated this call in a letter to the General Services Administration (GSA). Luckily for them, there’s no need to create a new platform now that government agencies can engage directly on Yelp. As this agreement is fully implemented in the weeks and months ahead, we’re excited to help the federal government more directly interact with and respond to the needs of citizens and to further empower the millions of Americans who use Yelp every day.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 19, 2015 29 Comments
The leak of taxpayer dollars from Washington, D.C. continues unabated with reports that the EPA is investigating itself for the Animas River spill.
The inspector general for the Environmental Protection Agency is investigating the cause of a massive spill from an abandoned Colorado gold mine that unleashed 3 million gallons of contaminated wastewater into rivers that supply water to at least three states. The inspector general's office said the investigation also will focus on the EPA's response to the Aug. 5 spill from the defunct Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colo.
I suspect that the results will be similar to those achieved for these gems of federal investigations, which we have all come to enjoy during the Obama Administration!
  • Fast and Furious:  After dramatic investigations, the only fallout was that Attorney General Eric Holder became the first sitting member of the Cabinet of the United States to be held in contempt of Congress.  It didn't seem to phase him much.

Posted by Amy Miller on August 19, 2015 13 Comments
Just when you thought you couldn't be more ashamed of the past six years of American foreign policy...here comes the onslaught. The AP has gotten its hands on draft documents suggesting that, as part of the controversial Iran nuclear agreement, Tehran will be able to use its own inspectors---as opposed to a neutral IAEA-based team---to keep tabs on the Parchin nuclear site in Iran. This is a separate, side agreement that the Obama Administration endorsed as part of the whole package currently awaiting judgment in Congress. The AP explains what is contained in the draft:
The document seen by the AP is a draft that one official familiar with its contents said doesn't differ substantially from the final version. He demanded anonymity because he isn't authorized to discuss the issue. It is labeled "separate arrangement II," indicating there is another confidential agreement between Iran and the IAEA governing the agency's probe of the nuclear weapons allegations. The document suggests that instead of carrying out their own probe, IAEA staff will be reduced to monitoring Iranian personnel as these inspect the Parchin site.

Posted by Amy Miller on August 19, 2015 32 Comments
Today the Center for Medical Progress released another video containing damning testimony about the Planned Parenthood body parts-for-profit scandal. The 10 minute video contains more testimony from Holly O'Donnell, a former StemExpress procurement tech whose previous testimony threw into full relief just how far Planned Parenthood was willing to sink to turn a profit. The newly released footage features details about how Planned Parenthood customizes the procedure to ensure that late-term abortions produce intact fetal remains---which are much more valuable than the sum of parts taken piece by piece. It also includes outside images (which are graphic and heartbreaking, so be prepared) showing what a 19-20 week fetus looks like outside the womb. Watch the whole thing. (Things get incredibly graphic at the 6 minute mark.)

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 19, 2015 6 Comments
We wrote the other day about how the Boycott, Divestment and Movement pressured the Spanish Rototom Reggae festival to ban American Jewish musician Matisyahu because he refused to sign a pledge supporting a Palestinian state. Matishayu's position was that he's just a musician and shouldn't have to take a political pledge, particularly since he was singled out because he's Jewish. No non-Jewish musicians were pressured to sign any pledges. He wrote on his Facebook page:
"The festival organizers contacted me because they were getting pressure from the BDS movement. They wanted me to write a letter, or make a video, stating my positions on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to pacify the BDS people. I support peace and compassion for all people. My music speaks for itself, and I do not insert politics into my music. Music has the power to transcend the intellect, ideas, and politics, and it can unite people in the process. The festival kept insisting that I clarify my personal views; which felt like clear pressure to agree with the BDS political agenda. Honestly it was appalling and offensive, that as the one publicly Jewish-American artist scheduled for the festival they were trying to coerce me into political statements. Were any of the other artists scheduled to perform asked to make political statements in order to perform? No artist deserves to be put in such a situation simply to perform his or her art. Regardless of race, creed, country, cultural background, etc, my goal is to play music for all people. As musicians that is what we seek. - Blessed Love, Matis"

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 19, 2015 31 Comments
In the race for the 2016 Republican nomination, John Kasich is being taken seriously because he's been a popular governor for Ohio, and because...well...Ohio. As you may recall, his biggest applause lines in the first GOP debate were for his stance on caring for the mentally ill and for citing God's unconditional love on the question of gay marriage. Kasich seems to be running on compassionate conservatism 2.0, but don't take my word for it. NBC News reports:
John Kasich Pitches Compassion at Iowa State Fair Ohio Gov. John Kasich sought to portray himself as compassionate conservative and touted his gains in the polls in New Hampshire when he visited the Iowa State Fair on Tuesday. His soapbox speech, which had to be moved indoors because of rain, contained little of the red meat typically doled out when Republican presidential candidates address Iowa crowds. Instead, his speech hit on topics ranging from aid to Africa, treating Alzheimer's disease and expanding Medicaid in Ohio.

Posted by Amy Miller on August 19, 2015 22 Comments
If you've been craving red meat health care policy from the Republican candidates, hopefuls Scott Walker and Marco Rubio have something they'd like you to take a look at. This week both candidates introduced voters to their plans to repeal and replace Barack Obama's controversial health care reforms with policies they claim will roll back government intervention while still protecting Americans from the effects of another health care overhaul. Rubio's plan is anchored by three primary components:
  • "Advanceable, refundable tax credits"---according to Rubio, he envisions these credits increasing in value, and would also include relief for employers who provide insurance.
  • Regulatory reform---Rubio wants to enable purchases across state lines, expand and encourage the use of HSAs, and implement protections for people with preexisting conditions.
  • Medicare and Medicaid reform---Rubio plans to implement a block-grant system for Medicaid funding, and craft policies that will transition future Medicare recipients into a system based on choice and free market competition.
Rubio announced this plan in an editorial for Politico:

Posted by David Gerstman on August 19, 2015 25 Comments
By now, Sen. Jeff Flake's (R - Ariz.) announcement that he will oppose the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been overshadowed by Sen. Robert Menendez' (D - N.J.) Tuesday announcement of his opposition. Still, I'd like to revisit Flake's announcement because he was viewed by the administration, in the words of one report, as a "gettable" Republican. With Flake's announcement it now appears that President Barack Obama will not be able to claim bipartisan support for the JCPOA. I don't know how "gettable," Flake was. To be sure, at the July 23 Senate Foreign Relations hearing Flake was much less adversarial than most other Republicans on the committee, and that played a role in maintaining the impression that he perhaps looked favorably upon the deal. He also was less adversarial than Menendez. However, he asked Kerry some very solid questions and Kerry's responses were awful. How awful? Early in his question and answer session Flake asked Kerry about language in the JCPOA that allowed Iran to opt out if sanctions were re-imposed.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 18, 2015 29 Comments
New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez announced his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal today in a speech at Seton Hall University. Menendez laid out his reasons why the deal not only was bad, but also worse than the alternatative. Hope, he said, is not a strategy. “Whether or not the supporters of the agreement admit it, this deal is based on ‘hope’– hope that when the nuclear sunset clause expires Iran will have succumbed to the benefits of commerce and global integration. Hope that the hardliners will have lost their power and the revolution will end its hegemonic goals. And hope that the regime will allow the Iranian people to decide their fate. “Hope is part of human nature, but unfortunately it is not a national security strategy.... “I know that, in many respects, it would be far easier to support this deal, as it would have been to vote for the war in Iraq at the time. But I didn’t choose the easier path then, and I’m not going to now. I know that the editorial pages that support the agreement would be far kinder, if I voted yes, but they largely also supported the agreement that brought us a nuclear North Korea. (Full text here)(full video at bottom of post) Menendez addressed Obama's claim that people opposing the Iran deal are the same people who called for the invasion of Iraq:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 18, 2015 54 Comments
This is bad. Really bad. While some are reporting this as Hillary refusing to say if she wiped the server clean, the language is pretty clear she is denying knowledge:
"Did you try to wipe the hard drive?" "I have no idea... that's why we turned it over ... "You were in charge of it, did you wipe the server?" "What, with a cloth or something? .... No"
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