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October 2015

Posted by Amy Miller on October 16, 2015 3 Comments
On Tuesday, former Florida governor Charlie Crist will announce his next foray into politics---a run for Congress. Officially, Crist has not indicated specifically what this announcement will address; Kevin Cate, who served as an advisor to Crist's failed 2014 bid for governor, has only said that Crist is set to make a "major announcement"---but Crist tipped everyone off on his plans earlier in the year. Via Politico:
Crist, a Democrat, has already said he would run for the St. Petersburg-based 13th Congressional District, which was made favorable for a Democratic candidate as the result of a legal challenge to the state’s current congressional lines. The district almost certain to be approved by the Florida Supreme Court was won by president Obama by 54 percent, and is widely considered a safe pickup for Democrats.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 16, 2015 7 Comments
Today, top-level Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin sat down for a closed-door hearing with Trey Gowdy's (R-SC) Benghazi Committee. Her testimony is just a warm-up act, though---next Thursday, Clinton herself will testify before the panel in a public hearing. (Be prepared for fireworks---covered right here at Legal Insurrection.) The Clinton campaign---on which Huma is a senior advisor---said they are "unclear" as to why the committee wishes to question their latest witness. This next series of hearings is important for Gowdy and the committee; ever since House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) dropped his massive Benghazi gaffe late last month, the Democrats, led by Hillary Clinton, have been on a mission to shut the committee down. They claim that McCarthy's gaffe proves that Gowdy and other Republicans set the committee up as a shell operation, and that their real purpose is to attack and ruin Clinton's chances at the presidency. Gowdy has had to fire back at a barrage of accusations not only from the Clinton camp, but from Democrats and even members of his own party that Huma's testimony, and the overall mission of the committee, is not politically motivated.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 16, 2015 14 Comments
In the recent spate of knifings, firebombings and rock attacks, the international press has done a masterful job of portraying the Palestinian attackers as the victims through misleading headlines. This is consistent with the international media bias seen during the 2014 Gaza conflict. The international press plays a critical role in instigating attacks for the cameras. This video posted in 2012 shows how the theater takes place: Nonetheless, the international press is free to roam in areas controlled by Israel. So this should come as a shock to the international press -- a Palestinian wearing the type of clothing (including a large "PRESS" sign) worn by reporters stabbed an Israeli soldier:

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 16, 2015 24 Comments
Last night on The Kelly File, Megyn Kelly aired an exclusive interview with Charles Koch, who is one half of the Democratic Party's favorite evil scapegoat, the Koch brothers. You can watch the full interview in the two videos below. Despite the fact that the Kochs provide tens of thousands of people with jobs and contribute millions of dollars to causes which are supported by liberals, the left's attacks on the Kochs have been relentless in recent years. Harry Reid has singled out the Kochs on the senate floor hundreds of times. Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and many liberals in media have piled on as well. The first interview segment gives viewers some background on the Koch family and the successful business they built as well as their company practices which are actually quite forward-thinking.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 15, 2015 33 Comments
GOP Presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson raised more money than any other Republican candidate between July and October of this year. His 3Q fundraising hit $20 million; Jeb Bush skidded in at second place with a respectable $13.4 million, narrowly edging out Ted Cruz, who boasted a $12.2 million take. The rest of the candidates came in below the $10 million mark, but still managed to pad their war chests: Q3 GOP fundraising october 2015 Who does Carson thank for all these donations? The average American voter:

Posted by Amy Miller on October 15, 2015 22 Comments
When Donald Trump first launched his presidential campaign, he looked like a man who was on a mission to become King of the Media Circus. He was boisterous, bold, and didn't hesitate to take his opponents and detractors to the cleaners on a daily basis. Surely, this was some sort of stunt or vanity campaign, right? Then, of course, the poll numbers started hitting the airwaves, proving that what he was saying and doing was resonating with voters and the American people at large. Now, a new report from NBC News shows that the Trump campaign has decided to put its money where its candidate's mouth is, and launch a "formidable" ground game in the cycle's most crucial primary state. Other candidates shied away from Iowa, not wanting to peak too early; Trump, on the other hand, made multiple, high-profile and highly-attended appearances in the state, and has now embedded 12 paid staffers---more than any other candidate currently campaigning in Iowa---to put boots on the ground and start doing the grunt work that actually wins elections.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 15, 2015 24 Comments
Enunciation saves lives. Ok, maybe not. But it probably prevents needless miscommunications like this one in Kyle, Texas. According to KVUE:
When a Lehman High School student asked for some chewing gum, another person misheard and thought the student said the word "gun," causing a scare on campus. School officials investigated the concern while students were held in their extended class periods. Later, Hays County CISD sent a letter out to parents stating: "The safety of our students is always foremost on our list of priorities, so we take these concerns seriously," the letter read in part. "We continue to encourage students to report anything they see or hear that causes them concern. Fortunately, in this case, it was a misunderstanding and there was no threat to our school or need to conduct a lock down." The investigation had little to no disruption to students' schedules, officials said.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 15, 2015 12 Comments
Incitement on social media is fueling the current epidemic of knifings, firebombings and stonings against Israeli Jews. That incitement comes from the highest levels of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, as well as people on social media. The incitement involves not only fabricated claims of Israeli intentions as to the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa Mosque, but also false claims which portray Palestinian attackers as random innocent victims of Israeli aggression. The cumulative effect is to so inflame young Palestinians, including children, that they attack Jews for being Jews. Now a famous Palestinian activist has joined in. Bassem Tamimi is the internationally-famous Palestinian activist from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh who is best known for the viral videos and photos he creates by sending children, including his own, to confront Israeli soldiers.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 15, 2015 14 Comments
Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson has temporarily suspended his campaign to spend two weeks selling books. National Review's Jim Geraghty pointed to an ABC News article explaining Dr. Carson's decision:
Republican presidential contender Dr. Ben Carson has put his public campaign events on hold for two more weeks to go on book tour for his new tome “A More Perfect Union” and catch up on fundraising events. The campaign has been careful to separate campaign events and the book tour, and doesn’t want to classify the tour as related to the campaign in any way. This week he is catching up on fundraising events and will be back on his book tour next week making stops in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. So for the next two weeks, Carson won't be appearing at any public "campaign events." Carson will be going back and forth between campaign fundraising events and book tour events over the next two weeks. His campaign says he has over 20 campaign fundraising events scheduled over that time period. The campaign says the next time they will appear publicly with Carson will be the day of the next GOP debate on Oct. 28. His last public campaign event was Oct. 2. Carson's campaign staff will not travel with him while on tour, noting that it’s better to stay off the trail for fear of being accused of using campaign assets to sell books.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on October 15, 2015 5 Comments
As Indian President Pranab Mukherjee's 3-day historic visit to Israel comes to an end, Israel’s foreign policy is being redefined. During the first ever visit by an Indian head of state, both countries signed a series of agreements aimed at improving cooperation in commerce, technology and education. India, traditionally seen as a strong backer of the “Palestinian cause” at the world stage, has sharply changed its diplomatic position since Prime Minister Modi took office 17 months ago. Since his election, India has consistently voted against or abstained from anti-Israel resolutions tabled by Arab countries at UN and other international fora.  India’s recent pro-Israel stance has angered many Palestinians. During Indian President’s brief visit to the Al Quds University in Ramallah angry Palestinian demonstrators occupied the campus to register their protest. India, under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, wants to further intensify cooperation with Israel, despite continued objections by the Palestinian Authority as well as Muslim and left-wing groups in India. Prime Minister Modi is also expected to visit Israel next year. Indian Prime Minister sees Israel as a key global partner in his drive towards a modern and prosperous India. Addressing the Israeli Knesset on Wednesday, October 14, the Indian President emphasised the need for closer cooperation between both the countries in the field of technology, research and higher education [Jerusalem Post, October 15, 2015]:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 15, 2015 42 Comments
How politically diverse is the Cornell University faculty? Not very, according to a study done by The Cornell Daily Sun, the student newspaper. By dollar volume, 96.62% of political donations during 2011-2014 went to Democratic candidates or related PACs, and just 2.76% to Republicans or related PACs. By number of donors, rather than dollar amount, the contrast is equally stark. There were only 15 faculty members who donated to Republicans, out of a total of 323 faculty donors, or 5 percent. There were a total of 1628 faculty at the university as of 2013, but there is not reason to suspect that the 323 donors are not representative of the total. I was one of the 15, which might make me part of the smallest minority on campus. The Daily Sun reports, Cornell Faculty Donations Flood Left, Filings Show:
Of the nearly $600,000 Cornell’s faculty donated to political candidates or parties in the past four years, over 96 percent has gone to fund Democratic campaigns, while only 15 of the 323 donors gave to conservative causes.

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 15, 2015 10 Comments
There was plenty of talk about gun control and the NRA at the Democratic Party debate Tuesday night. These talking points make great fodder for a progressive audience but ignore the truth. Good people need to be able to defend themselves from bad people. A new ad from the NRA features a man who lived through the horror of World War II and ultimately made it to America. He reminds us of the importance of the Second Amendment in this new ad from the NRA. Transcript via the NRA News website:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 15, 2015 7 Comments
Kentucky's nonprofit health insurer cooperative established under Obamacare announced it will be shutting down due to financial troubles. As a result, 51,000 individuals will lose their health insurance plans at the end of the year. It turns out, not everyone enrolled in health insurance plans through state-level co-ops pay their premiums. Gee, it's almost like Republicans predicted this might be an issue. The fifth such co-op to close, the remaining 18 are all on equally unstable footing. 21 of the 23 co-ops were losing money at the end of 2014, and 11 have received warning letters. According to The Hill:
Kentucky Health Cooperative, a nonprofit insurer known as a co-op, explained that it could not stay financially afloat after learning of a low payment from an ObamaCare program called “risk corridors.” That program was intended to protect insurers from heavy losses in the early years of the health law by taking money from better-performing insurers and giving it to worse-performing ones. ...However, the Obama administration announced on Oct. 1 that the program would pay out far less than requested, because the payments coming in were not enough to match what insurers requested to be paid. Therefore, insurers only will receive 12.6 percent of the $2.87 billion they requested. “It is with sadness that we announce this decision," the insurer’s CEO, Glenn Jennings, said in a statement. "This very difficult choice was made after much deliberation. If there were a way to avoid it and simultaneously do right by the members, providers and all others that we serve, we would do so.” The Department of Health and Human Services says that it recognizes that the low payments to insurers could have raised financial concerns for some insurers, and that as start-ups, not all co-ops would succeed. ...Twenty-one of 23 co-ops nationwide were losing money as of Dec. 31, the HHS inspector general report found in July. Furthermore, enrollment was falling below projections for 13 of the 23 plans.
The Kentucky co-op closure announcement comes only a few weeks after the nations largest co-op in New York announced it would be shutting down.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 14, 2015 31 Comments
Ithaca College is pretty sensitive to "microaggressions." What is a microaggression? Where have you been, under a rock? (I hope that didn't offend you.) One of the inventors of the terminology and theory describes it this way:
Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment.
For some background, see our prior posts: At Ithaca College, in what may have been a first, last spring the student government voted to set up a microaggression reporting system. (I don't know if they actually ended up setting it up.) This semester started at Ithaca College with accusations of campus security insensitivity:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 14, 2015 7 Comments
In a word -- horrific. Two weeks ago, abortionist Michael Roth hit a special needs child while driving. "14 containers of human tissue, possibly fetuses, medical equipment and large amounts of Fentanyl," were found in his car according to Detroit local news. It was this discovery that lead to the police raid of Roth's home Wednesday afternoon.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 14, 2015 16 Comments
Wednesday morning, Senator Rubio joined Fox and Friends to discuss Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate. Bold, fresh ideas? Not so much. The debate was more like an 80's flashback, according to Rubio. "The biggest threat to her [Hillary Clinton‘s] candidacy is her outdated ideas. If you watched that debate last night it looked like something from the early ’80s. It was basically a liberal vs. liberal debate about who was going to give away the most free stuff,” said Rubio.
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