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November 2015

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 24, 2015 17 Comments
The Obama's Administration's whitewashing of language might have played well with the social justice warrior brigade, but voters aren't buying it. A survey released by Rasmussen found 60% of likely voters believe America is at war with Radical Islam. Rasmussen reported:
President Obama, Hillary Clinton and other senior Democrats refuse to say America is at war with “radical Islamic terrorism” for fear of insulting all Muslims, but voters beg to disagree. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the United States is at war with radical Islamic terrorism. Just 24% share the president’s position and disagree. Sixteen percent (16%) are undecided.
Pouring salt in the social justice wound, a whopping 56% of self-identifying Democrats also believe radical Islamist terrorists are our foe compared to 70% of those identifying as Republican. And the data just gets more interesting:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 24, 2015 3 Comments
Mohammed Nabulsi is the UT-Austin law student who led the disruption of an Israel Studies event hosted by Prof. Ami Pedahzur. Both Pedahzur and the invited speaker from Stanford University are Israeli. Nabulsi was part of a group of almost a dozen members of UT-Austin Palestine Solidarity Committee who participated in the disruption. Nabulsi is on video yelling over people, shouting that he has no intention of listening to them and that they have no right to speak as former Israeli soldiers, and demanding the right to perform an "intervention" at the event. Despite repeated requests to leave or to participate, Nabulsi and the others then chanted "Free Free Palestine" and "Long Live the Intifada" to drown out others. The chant for an Intifada, directed at Israelis at a time when the Knife Intifada has claimed dozens of Israeli lives, was particularly troubling. Nabulsi appears to have used the name of a known terrorist ("Georges Abdallah) as an online alias and also has written of the need for the anti-Israel boycott movement to support Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other “resistance” groups. In the following video, taken from down the hallway, you can hear how loud the chanting was in the room where the event was being held. It is loud even from dozens of yards down the hallway.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 24, 2015 37 Comments
Today U.S. officials confirmed that the Turkish military fired upon a Russian jet when it repeatedly violated Turkish airspace near the Turkey-Syria border. The jet crash landed in the Jabal Turkmen area of the coastal Syrian province of Latakia, and it is now believed that both pilots have died under fire from rebel Turkmen forces. More via Fox News:
U.S. defense official said that two Turkish F-16s fired heat-seeking air-to-air missiles at the Russian aircraft. “This will get complicated,” the official said. Tuesday's incident is the first time since the 1950s that a Russian or Soviet military aircraft has been publicly acknowledged to have been shot down by a NATO country, according to Reuters. Russia's main stock index dropped more than 2 percent after the incident, while Turkish stocks fell 1.3 percent amid fears of an escalation between the two countries. Russia said the Su-24 was downed by artillery fire, but Turkey claimed that its F-16s fired on the Russian plane after it ignored the warnings.
Fox has posted amateur video claiming to show the crash:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 24, 2015 38 Comments
A post by Ed Lasky over at the American Thinker is making its way around the internet. Lasky suggests a little known bill introduced by Senator Rubio may have killed Obamacare. Naturally, we had to dig in. Rubio first introduced similar legislation in 2013. Lumped into the 2014 Omnibus bill, the act passed. Because it was globbed into an appropriations bill, it has an expiration date. The Obamacare Taxpayer Bailout Prevention Act was re-introduced by Rubio in January, the first piece of legislation he introduced in 2015, with companion legislation introduced by Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland. The current version would eliminate tax-payer funded bailouts completely. The Obamacare Taxpayer Bailout Prevention Act's premise is simple -- amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by striking out section 1342. Sen. Rubio's office explained in January:
The bill would repeal section 1342 of ObamaCare, which establishes a risk corridor program to distribute money from exchange plans that earned profits to exchange plans that suffered losses. However, the risk corridor program was not designed to be budget neutral, and section 1342 of ObamaCare puts the American taxpayer at risk of a taxpayer bailout if insurers systematically lose money on exchange plans. By repealing Section 1342, the legislation would force the administration to come back to Congress to request appropriations to cover any losses in the program. ...“Under December’s omnibus spending bill, taxpayers are protected from bailing out insurance companies until September 30, but now Congress has the opportunity to take the possibility of a bailout off the table for good,” added Rubio. “By passing this bill, Congress will ensure that no bailout will occur, in 2016 or ever.”

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 24, 2015 3 Comments
The Bernie Sanders campaign has launched a pointless attack on Hillary Clinton by calling her tax plans Republican Lite. This brings two thoughts to mind. First, the Sanders camp should have thought of this before he surrendered the nomination to Hillary by saying no one cares about her damn emails. Second, if you're so far left that Bernie Sanders seems reasonable, everyone is going to look like a Republican to you. John Wagner reported at the Washington Post:
Sanders camp calls Clinton tax proposals ‘Republican lite’ SAVANNAH, Ga. — A senior aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday characterized Hillary Clinton’s latest tax plans as “tentative half-steps that sound Republican-lite,” escalating the sparring between the Democratic presidential campaigns over their respective commitments to helping the middle class.

Posted by New Neo on November 24, 2015 9 Comments
Canada joins the liberal leaders of the US and much of Europe and plans to go ahead with the admission of many thousands of Syrian refugees:
Canada plans to fly in 900 Syrian refugees a day as of next month, according to media reports, as the defense minister said showing compassion for these people sends a message to Islamic State extremists. Canadian officials said details of a plan to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees by year's end would be announced Tuesday. The Canadian media reports come amid fears that IS jihadists could slip into the country posing as refugees, in the wake of last week's attacks in Paris that killed at least 130 people.
The bill is projected to be 1.2 billion Canadian dollars. Canada has come up with a stupendous rationale for what they're doing. The liberal Canadian Minister of Defence (who is a Sikh, by the way, with what appears to be a pretty strong resume) has made some statements that are similar to the reasoning of liberals in this country as well:
This crisis is not just about a humanitarian project," he said in his opening remarks to military commanders and defense ministers from around the world. "This also sends a great message to ISIS that you might create this environment for us, but we will not let you take advantage of this," he said, using an alternate acronym for the IS group. "By doing our part for this, we are actually hitting ISIS in a different way as well."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 23, 2015 26 Comments
I suppose this is one way to look at things, but it's certainly not the slightest bit accurate. Sunday, President Obama accused Republicans of helping ISIS (though he always uses 'ISIL') by attacking Syrian refugees. Unsurprisingly, not one Republican has attacked any Syrian refugee. What Republicans have done is vocalize the same concerns articulated by U.S. intelligence agencies on the refugee vetting process. Namely, that because our intelligence ground game in Syria has been so weak, we have no data with which to vet an influx of refugee status seekers properly, at least not for the time being. However, that little factoid didn't stop President Obama from continuing his verbal assault on Republicans and a bevy of Democrats who've vowed to halt the president's refugee plan. Politico reported:
ISIL’s still not the varsity team, President Barack Obama said Sunday, but if Republicans running for president and in Congress continue to respond to attacks by playing off fears, they’re doing the terrorists’ work for them.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 23, 2015 5 Comments
On November 13, 2015, the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) at UT-Austin disrupted an event hosted by Israel Studies Professor Ami Pedahzur at which a guest speaker (who also was Israeli) from Stanford University was to lead a discussion. The PSC protesters, led by law student Mohammed Nabulsi and former Middle East Studies grad student Patrick Higgins, refused to leave when asked, shouted arguably threatening demands for an Intifada, and for the destruction of Israel. Prof. Pedahzur's concerns were heightened when he learned, after the disruption, that Nabulsi and Higgins appeared to have had online aliases using the names of known terrorists. Nabulsi has written of the need for the anti-Israel boycott movement to support Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other “resistance” groups.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 23, 2015 6 Comments
10 days after a series of terrorist attacks rocked Paris, the city is still in the process of regaining its footing and tracking down the team of extremists who killed 130 people and injured hundreds more. Officials are still attempting to identify a third terrorist involved in the Stade de France bombing, keeping a spotlight on the risks associated with large gatherings. U2 has rescheduled 2 performances cancelled in the wake of the attacks for early December. Today officials found a suspected explosive belt and a phone associated with the group that allegedly planned the November 13 attacks, and in Brussels, officials are still "on high alert" as law enforcement executes a series of anti-terror raids in a broadened search for suspects. As the search across Europe continues, the French military has launched its first airstrikes against ISIS from an aircraft carrier. The strikes targeted strategic sites in Iraq, and come as part of French President Francois Hollande's vow to intensify military action against ISIS in Syria in Iraq. Via CNN:
Warplanes took off from the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean and attacked ISIS targets in Iraq, the French Defense Ministry said.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 23, 2015 6 Comments
This post has been updated. Earlier this week, Brandeis University became the latest in a long line of academic institutions to receive a "list of demands" from its allegedly beleaguered student body. Saying that "we [Brandeis has] failed our black students," "Concerned Students 2015" released a laundry list of demands to the administration that included a minimum wage increase for student employees, and the appointment of a VP of "Diversity and Inclusion." Students have since marched on various buildings, and are currently occupying (at some level) the public areas of the administration building. Since this is college, I feel free to assume that this has caused a certain amount of uproar when it comes to attendance policies. Never fear---Brandeis has the situation under control. Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Irving R. Epstein sent an email to the faculty last night giving them "discretion in regard to class attendance and completion of academic work." Here's a screenshot of the email (I've blacked out email addresses):

Posted by Amy Miller on November 23, 2015 68 Comments
Remember Ahmed Mohamed? He’s the Texas teen who sailed into his (extended) 15 minutes of fame after one of his teachers mistook a “homemade clock” for a homemade bomb. This week, Ahmed's family is attempting to turn those 15 minutes into a 15 million dollar settlement with both the City of Irving and the Irving school district. They're claiming civil rights violations, as well as both physical and mental anguish. Demand letters went out today, and the city has 60 days to respond, or risk facing a high-profile lawsuit. More from WFAA:
The letters claim Ahmed was singled out "because of his race, national origin, and religion." "Ahmed never threatened anyone, never caused harm to anyone, and never intended to," read the letter to the city. "The only one who was hurt that day was Ahmed, and the damages he suffered were not because of oversight or incompetence. The school and city officials involved knew what they needed to do to protect Ahmed's rights. They just decided not to do it." The letters demand $10 million be paid to the family by the city of Irving, and $5 million from the school district.
WFAA has the letters of demand the family sent to both the city and the school district. In addition to the $15 million dollar fiscal safe space, the family is also demanding apologies from Irving mayor Beth Van Duyne, the school district, and the police chief making it clear that Ahmed never planned on hurting anyone, wasn't suspected of being part of some sort of science fair jihad, and that the ensuing detention, interrogation, and arrest was wrongful and not the product of reasonable suspicion.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 23, 2015 8 Comments
The ladies of The View have a lot of problems with you people---and most of them center around the problems that you people have with The View. The panel is no stranger to controversy, which makes sense considering they spend a great deal of time launching bunker busters at people who don't even have daytime talk shows on their radar. The show has caused its share of freakouts---and they've become increasingly adept at apologizing for them. Last week, Joy Behar waxed innocent on outrage culture when she said, “One of my friends said to me yesterday, ‘The View’ has become, ‘We didn’t really mean it! We’re sorry! We didn’t mean to say it like that!' We need to stop saying that.” Co-host Raven Symone lamented that it feels like we have freedom of speech "until you say something that offends somebody.” The funny thing with The View is, their own viewer demographic tends to turn on them at every opportunity. See here. And here. And who could forget this this piece of insanity? So sure, ladies---you have a lot to worry about, and it's mostly your fault. Case in point: during the same episode last week, new host Candace Cameron Bure tripped over her own tongue in a panic to evacuate a minefield of political correctness. I'd say the panic was needless, but this is a nationally-distributed talk show in 2015, so her reaction was actually pretty mindful of the times. Watch:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 23, 2015 6 Comments
This week California's State Treasurer Johnny Chiang announced that the Golden State's finances are completely tarnished:
State Treasurer John Chiang unveiled a new open data website today, providing important details about $1.5 trillion in debt issued by state and local government entities as part of his ongoing efforts to promote transparency in government. The site, debtwatch.treasurer.ca.gov, makes it easier for taxpayers to track proposed and issued debt, cost of issuance, and bond and tax election results. “The state and its local governments have borrowed more than $1.5 trillion from Wall Street over the past three decades to build roads, schools, and other critical public works,” said Chiang. “Bonds are not free money and, indeed, obligate the public to repay them through higher taxes and fees. DebtWatch aspires to empower Californians to hold government accountable for its borrowing decisions.”
Meanwhile, our state's Chief Executive seems to have added to that debt, after requesting a state deparment complete a gas and oil survey of his property at taxpayer expense.
Gov. Jerry Brown last year directed state oil and gas regulators to research, map and report back on any mining and oil drilling history and "potential for future oil and gas activity" at the Brown family's private land in Northern California, state records show.

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 23, 2015 9 Comments
California senator Dianne Feinstein has been one of the few Democrats willing to voice concern over the Obama administration's handling of ISIS. Yesterday on Face the Nation, she continued to express doubt. David Rutz of the Washington Free Beacon:
Feinstein: Obama Approach to Islamic State Not ‘Sufficient to the Job’ Face The Nation host John Dickerson asked whether her earlier concerns about the administration’s strategy had been alleviated by a briefing from Secretary of State John Kerry. “No, I don’t think the approach is sufficient to the job,“ Feinstein said on Face The Nation. “I think their general principles and their general principles in terms of the administration’s strategy, too, but I’m concerned that we don’t have the time, and we don’t have years. We need to be aggressive now, because ISIL is a quasi-state.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 22, 2015 8 Comments
Important Update: Artistic freedom showdown as BDS protests Matisyahu appearance in Ithaca, NY ---------------------- Matisyahu, whose real name is Matthew Paul Miller, is the American Jewish reggae musician who rocketed to fame with his combination Hasidic Jewish and Reggae anthems such as One Day, a call for peace: Matisyahu has been targeted by the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. In the summer of 2015 an international firestorm of controversy erupted after BDS succeeded in getting Matisyahu banned at the Spanish Rototom Reggae festival after Matisyahu refused to denounce Israel. That political litmus test was applied to no other musician and to no other nation. The ban was reversed only after an international outcry, including denunciations by the Spanish government and a leading Spanish newspaper that the action amounted to religious discrimination. Matisyahu appeared at the festival where "pro-Palestinian" protesters tried to disrupt his performance. Now Matisyahu is under attack again, this time by an anti-Israel BDS group in Ithaca, NY. The group, calling itself The Ithaca Committee for Justice in Palestine, has a controversial history of inflammatory statements and actions.
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