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November 2015

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 03, 2015 72 Comments
This is the next battlefield, which already has arrived. As far as the feds are concerned, it is unlawful discrimination if a school provides anything less than full, unrestricted access for male transgender students to areas previously deemed private girls-only areas, such as showers and locker rooms. The NY Times reports, Illinois District Violated Transgender Student’s Rights, U.S. Says:
Federal education authorities, staking out their firmest position yet on an increasingly contentious issue, found Monday that an Illinois school district violated anti-discrimination laws when it did not allow a transgender student who identifies as a girl and participates on a girls’ sports team to change and shower in the girls’ locker room without restrictions.
These threats are being made by the same Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Education whose threats of action against universities led to the current kangaroo court situation on campuses, where accused students (almost always male) have few procedural protections. In the letter, the feds made clear that the limitation of access to the showers and locker room was the only issue. In all other respects, the feds acknowledged, the District "has honored" the student's "request to be treated as female," including access to girls' restrooms. The school even allowed the student -- who has not undergone a sex change operation -- to change in the girls locker room, but behind a curtain, the Times reported:

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 03, 2015 12 Comments
The CNBC debate has sparked a number of conversations on the very real issue of liberal bias in the media. As Professor Jacobson pointed out last night, this is an opportunity for Republicans. When the issue is being discussed seriously on MSNBC, you know we've reached a turning point. Yesterday on Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough challenged his panelists to answer a simple question. Mark Finkelstein of NewsBusters has the story:
Scarborough: No Republican Has Hosted Network Sunday Show or Newscast in 50 Years In the wake of the CNBC debate debacle, Joe Scarborough went on an epic rant on liberal media bias on today's Morning Joe. He summed things up this way, in challenging the panel: "you can't do it and nobody here can do it: name the single Republican that has hosted a Sunday show, that has been an anchor of a news network for the big three networks over the past 50 years: you can not do it."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 03, 2015 19 Comments
Jesse Watters of the O'Reilly Factor on Fox News visited Cornell late last month to interview students about a Cornell Daily Sun report that over 96% of faculty donations went to Democrats. And then a funny thing happened. Cornell Media Relations shut Watters down. Which created -- as I predicted -- a Streisand Effect. There was widespread criticism of Cornell's handling of the event, including by mainstream media.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 02, 2015 12 Comments
Back in June, the anti-Democratic Erdogan regime fielded a major blow when Turkish voters, led by the Kurds, denied the Justice and Development Party (or A.K.P.) a parliamentary majority. It was a victory for not only the Kurds, but for liberal and/or secular Turks who had spent years protesting the power creep advocated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the A.K.P., as well as the administration's crackdown against dissidents. After that election, we wondered, could this be the beginning of the end of Erdogan's hold on power? It would have been a long time coming for the man who was behind the 2010 Gaza "Flotilla," and who turned to paranoid Jew-baiting to whip his base into an anti-Israel frenzy. Unfortunately, that victory was short lived; yesterday, Erdogan and the Islamist-rooted A.K.P. fielded enough votes to return the Turkish government to single-party rule and continue their push to drastically alter the Turkish constitution to be more receptive to executive-centered rule. From the New York Times:
“There is a president with de facto power in the country, not a symbolic one,” Mr. Erdogan told the crowd in his hometown, the Black Sea city of Rize. “The president should conduct his duties for the nation directly, but within his authority. Whether one accepts it or not, Turkey’s administrative system has changed. Now, what should be done is update this de facto situation in the legal framework of the Constitution.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 02, 2015 33 Comments
On Saturday night, I wrote that the GOP needs to make an example of NBC News after the CNBC moderating debacle. The point was not that NBC News is the worst offender, it's that it was the wrong place at the wrong time for NBC News, and the right place at the right time for the GOP to pick a fight with the media. The RNC decision to pull NBC News (and its affiliate, Telemundo) from the debate to be co-moderated with National Review was a first step. But it is not enough. The GOP needs to reset the narrative of the networks being in control. For too long GOP presidential candidates have been subjected to Democrat-agenda journalists during Republican primary debates. George Stephanopoulos' grilling of Mitt Romney in the 2012 Republican debate was a classic of the genre:

Posted by Amy Miller on November 02, 2015 24 Comments
October's CNBC-hosted Republican debate threw into full relief the bias inherent in the mainstream media's handling of electoral politics. In the wake of the broadcast, both the MSM and RNC leadership fielded comments and accusations from candidates (and conservative bloggers...) rendered beyond frustrated at the CNBC moderators' questions, tone, and approach to a slate of candidates they treated like a lineup of hostile witnesses. Donald Trump has spent a great deal of time since that debate lashing out at the media over its treatment of conservatives, and his latest move is one that his supporters hope will set him further apart from the pack. Republican campaign reps gathered together this weekend in a meeting organized by GOP attorney Ben Ginsberg to craft a list of demands the entire slate of GOP candidates could present to network executives before the next debate. Representatives from Trump's campaign attended this meeting---then promptly announced their intention to independently negotiate with the networks apart from Ginsberg's efforts.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 02, 2015 21 Comments
Tone deaf? How does it work? This. This is how it works. Monday, the RNC sent a round of fundraising emails addressed from failed Presidential Candidate, Senator McCain. Screen Shot 2015-11-02 at 1.50.04 PM

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 02, 2015 13 Comments
Monday afternoon, President Obama signed a two-year budget deal saying it was, "a signal of how Washington should work." Avoiding an election-year budget showdown, the bill suspends the debt limit until March of 2017 and brings the national debt total to a staggering $20 trillion. According to USA Today:
Some House Republicans had proposed the former debt limit — which was set to expire Tuesday — to leverage more spending cuts from the administration. Outgoing House speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, put together a plan to avoid breaching the debt limit, saying that doing so would threaten the nation's credit rating. The bill sets the federal budget for fiscal years 2016 and 2017, with an end to spending caps that had affected both national defense and domestic programs. "By locking in two years of funding," Obama said, "it should finally free us from the cycle of shutdown threats and last-minute fixes. It allows us to, therefore, plan for the future."
The two-year budget deal was passed by the Senate Friday with a vote of 64-35. All 35 dissenting votes were Republican. Several Senate Republicans vocally opposed the budget deal which essentially robs the Social Security Trust Fund of about $150 billion. Senator Lee referred to the bill as, "the last gasping breath of a disgraced bipartisan Beltway establishment on the verge of collapse."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 02, 2015 4 Comments
Last we reported, eight non-profit co-ops created by the Affordable Care Act announced they were closing. Two weeks later, that number is now eleven. State and federal regulators have suspended Arizona's Meritus Health Partners and Meritus Health Mutual Partners. Like the ten non-profit tax-payer funded co-op closures before, regulators cited financial troubles as the reason for the co-op closure. The Washington Examiner reported:
State regulators have suspended the company that operates as Meritus Health Partners and Meritus Health Mutual Partners to ability to sell or renew plans to Obamacare customers for 2016. The federal government kicked the co-op out from offering plans on the Obamacare marketplaces. The Arizona Department of Insurance had issued an order of supervision against the company, requiring that the insurer no longer offer plans after the end of the year.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 02, 2015 14 Comments
Kate Steinle's murder by an illegal immigrant with a violent criminal past and several deportations under his belt resulted in public outcry against sanctuary cities.  While the left-leaning media worked overtime trying to show there is no link between violent crime and illegal immigration (one even going so far as to argue that illegal immigration decreases crime rates), the state legislature in North Carolina decided to take action. North Carolina governor Pat McCrory has signed a bill into law that effectively bans sanctuary cities in his state. The Washington Examiner reports:
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill into law Wednesday that bans any policy that interferes with the enforcement of federal immigration laws. The Protect N.C. Workers Act, HB 318, reins in local and municipal policies that disregarded federal law by providing sanctuary or "safe" cities, and public benefits like food stamps, for individuals illegally in the U.S.

Posted by Andrew Branca on November 02, 2015 24 Comments
I imagine we've all chuckled at the mindlessness which the New York Times provides opportunities to observe the Murray Gell-Mann amnesia effect in action. From my own perspective as an expert in use-of-force law I fail to recall a single instance in which the NYT has so much as approached factual accuracy or displayed contextual understanding in a piece on self-defense laws in general or "stand-your-ground" in particular. This morning's editorial, "More Stand Your Ground Mischief in Florida" is no exception. What has the NYT Editorial Board all in a tizzy this time is a proposed change to Florida's self-defense immunity law. We covered this proposed change in detail previously here at Legal Insurrection: "Major Change Proposed for Florida Self-defense Immunity Law."   In a nutshell, currently a person claiming self-defense immunity has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that they acted in self-defense.  The proposed modification would instead require that the State bear the burden of disproving self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt in order for self-defense immunity to be denied. Generally, these arguments would be made at a pre-trial hearing, before the trial proper itself.

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 02, 2015 46 Comments
Ever since it became clear that Paul Ryan would be the next Speaker of the House, there have been mixed feelings on the right about his ascension. Some worried that he isn't conservative enough; others worried that he'd be too much like Boehner. Now that he's in the role and talking about his plans, he sounds like he might be the perfect choice. This report from David Jackson of USA Today is encouraging:
With honeymoon over, Paul Ryan vows 'to go on offense' New House Speaker Paul Ryan figures his honeymoon is already over. It lasted "about 35 minutes," he said on Fox News Sunday in one of a string of interviews he gave following his election to succeed John Boehner as House speaker on Thursday. Not only will Ryan go up against congressional Democrats and the Obama administration, he faces suspicious conservative House members who question his commitment to their cause.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 01, 2015 9 Comments
Sometimes the most interesting and moving stories are the ones I stumble upon. Like the Bus No. 37 bombing memorial in Haifa, Israel, that I wrote up last May. A similar thing happened to me last Friday, when I was in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I wanted to see the Park Slope Co-op, the scene of a well-known unsuccessful anti-Israel boycott attempt a few years ago. (The efforts continue.) Next to the Co-Op, is a memorial to NY Fire Department Squad 1 members who died in the 9/11 attack. FDNY Squad 1 Station and Food Coop I knew that hundreds of firemen died that day, but I didn't know about Squad 1, a Special Operations Unit that responds to emergencies throughout NYC.  According to its Facebook page:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 01, 2015 21 Comments
Unfortunately, Palestinian propaganda promises those "martyred" while killing or attempting to kill Jews an after-life of glory and paradise. This, of course, perpetuates the conflict and death on all sides. In a twist on that theme, two Palestinians shot and killed while carrying out knifing attacks were posthumously married at a funeral of one of them in Hebron. The video was posted on Facebook by the Palestinian Information Center which also tweeted the link. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=912887278747348 The Times of Israel provides more details:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 01, 2015 23 Comments
In the 48 hours immediately following the GOP debate, Ted Cruz's presidential campaign raised over a million dollars.  His performance during the debate included some significant comments directed at the moderators that resulted in the highest score pollster Frank Luntz has seen in his career conducting debate focus groups. The Business Insider reports:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had arguably the most memorable moment from Wednesday night's Republican primary debate on CNBC when he slammed the moderators. But for Frank Luntz, the veteran GOP pollster who ran a focus group during the debate, the results were clear. "I have been doing this since 1996 and tonight is a special moment. I've never tested — in any primary debate — a line that scored as well as this," Luntz said after the debate on Fox News' "The Kelly File."
screen shot 2015-10-29 at 9.14.44 am.png

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 01, 2015 7 Comments
A Russian airliner "broke up in mid-air," according to the head of Russia's Air Transport Agency, Aleksandr Neradko, who stated that "all signs attest to the fact that the aircraft disintegrated in the air at a high altitude."  All 224 people on board were killed. CNN reports:
A Russian passenger plane crashed early Saturday in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people aboard, officials said. Russian state media reported that many of the 217 passengers on Kogalymavia Flight 9268 were Russians returning from vacation. The passenger manifest included 17 children but Russian officials said there were 25 aboard. There were seven crew members. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin tweeted that four victims were Ukrainian nationals. The cause of the crash still is unknown, but it is most likely due to a technical failure, and there is no evidence of any terrorist action, Egyptian Airports Co. chief Adel Al-Mahjoob told CNN Arabic.
Early reports indicated that an ISIS-affiliated terrorist group claimed responsibility for the crash on Twitter, but Russian and Egyptian officials dismissed these claims, stating there is no evidence of terrorism, but there are questions about whether or not the pilot indicated any problems prior to the plane breaking apart.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 01, 2015 2 Comments
As much as I love electoral politics, every once in a while it's good to flip the switch, stop taking things so seriously, and enjoy a heartfelt laugh at the expense of the politicians working their tails off to convince me that I should support their campaigns. Let's not kid ourselves---this business is a circus, and we're in the stands with slurpees and big pretzels, waiting for the animals to eat each other. Fortunately, I'm not the only who likes to take out my mid-cycle high spirits on the candidates. The people at Bad Lip Reading took some highlights from the recent Democratic debate and did their worst with it. Watch:
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