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January 2016

Posted by Taryn O'Neill on January 07, 2016 14 Comments
Employees at Los Angeles' La Brea Tar Pits arrived Monday morning to find three signs hung on an outdoor display of elephants. The elephants stand in and around one of the museum's tar pits that have seeped natural asphalt for tens of thousands of years. The La Brea Tar Pits and Museum is an active excavation site where archeologists have found and continue to find countless fossils dating back to the Pleistocene epoch, or the earth's last ice age. A 'hello my name is JEB' tag hangs from the tusks of an elephant partially immersed in tar as a visibly worried baby elephant draped with 'Rubio 2016' watches on the perimeter. Another elephant labeled 'establishment GOP' observes the scene nearby. The scene is rich with anti-establishment overtones. Whether one agrees with the artist or not, it was a clever move.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 07, 2016 10 Comments
Tardy for a court-ordered document dump deadline, the State Department will release more than 2,000 pages of emails from embattled former Secretary, Hillary Clinton Thursday evening. According to The Hill, forty-five of the newly published emails have been marked classified, bringing the total classified email tally to 1,319:
Thursday’s document dump is likely to be the second-to-last release of Clinton’s emails by the State Department, which has been ordered by a court to have the full 55,000 pages of emails to the public by the end of the month.

Posted by David Gerstman on January 07, 2016 23 Comments
At a time when tensions in the Middle East are rising, it is perhaps a time to once again review President Barack Obama's qualifications for office. To be sure his qualifications were fabricated, or at least oversold. This wasn't just the doing of the Obama campaign. Campaigns are supposed to do present their candidates in the best possible light. The problem  was that America's supposedly independent media boosted the first terms senator's prospects with little or no skepticism. This was certainly the case in reporting where most reporters bought into the historical aspect of Obama's candidacy as well was the rebuke to Republicans for the failings of the Bush presidency. (If not the failings, then the aspects that the liberal media disagreed with.) For the purpose of this exercise let's look at parts of The Washington Post's 2008 endorsement of Obama. I am using the Post as an example of what we saw so frequetly because even though the Post is a liberal paper, its editorial position regarding foreign policy is generally responsible. However in the Post's enthusiasm for Obama, all caution was disregarded and they promoted a man who did not really exist.

Posted by Jonathan Levin on January 07, 2016 87 Comments
Two recent discussions lay out a path to victory for Marcio Rubio in the 2016 Presidential election.  The New York Sun's Conrad Black even writes that the presidential election is Marco Rubio's to lose. According to Black, the Republicans have an advantage in the general election, whoever wins the nomination:
a party has won three consecutive presidential elections only when the incumbent was very popular at the end of the second term or when there were unusual encumbrances to a change.
It is fair to say that Barack Obama is not very popular.  According to Gallup, his approval rating is below average for President entering their eighth year in office.  "Unusual encumbrances to a change" is an awkward formulation, but there is nothing obvious at present.  So Black gives the nod to the Republicans.

Posted by edgeofthesandbox on January 07, 2016 19 Comments
In late December last year East Bay Area regulated utility EBMUD released a list of "water guzzlers", a naming and shaming strategy the utility adopted in response to the drought that hit the state during the last couple of years. The local media had a ball with the release, publishing names of offenders and aerial pictures of their property.  Names of celebrity "water guzzlers" graced the headlines.  Although they obviously tried their best, Bay Area journos are yet to perfect the art of naming and shaming. In the Soviet Union such a list would be accompanied by an expose of how it was really the water criminal Kristi Yamaguchi, not as previously thought Tonya Harding, who plotted to break Nancy Kerrigan's leg.  Seriously, though, one must feel powerless to engage in this kind of behavior. A few days later I drove to Los Angeles and was relieved to see that somebody in California has a different approach to water crisis.

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 07, 2016 24 Comments
Hillary Clinton has a big problem. As a candidate, she wants to be seen as an advocate for women but her husband's past and her defense of it conflicts with that message. She simply can't have it both ways. To make matters worse, some of Bill Clinton's accusers are starting to come forward. Mark Hensch and Jonathan Easley report at The Hill:
Bill Clinton rape accuser: Hillary 'tried to silence' me A woman who publicly accused former President Bill Clinton of raping her in 1978 is resurrecting her claims on social media. “I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me,” Juanita Broaddrick tweeted Wednesday.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on January 07, 2016 14 Comments
As Marco Rubio continues to present himself as the Jeb alternative, he's begun attacking the other "other Jeb," Chris Christie. Claiming that Christie is too close to Obama on Common Core, health care, and gun control (notably absent from the list is illegal immigration, of course), Rubio implies that he is more conservative than Christie in an attempt to appeal to Republican primary voters. The Washington Post reports:
As Chris Christie’s establishment rivals seize on his blue-state governing record, the New Jersey governor punched back here Tuesday with the kind of bluntness that had been his trademark but in this presidential campaign has been the domain of Donald Trump.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 06, 2016 13 Comments
Is Facebook more tolerant of anti-Israel incitement than it is of anti-Palestinian incitement? That's something Shurat HaDin, the Israel Law Center, sought to test. Shurat HaDin is a private Israeli law group that describes itself as follows:
Shurat HaDin is at the forefront of fighting terrorism and safeguarding Jewish rights worldwide. We are dedicated to the protection of the State of Israel. From defending against lawfare suits fighting academic and economic boycotts and challenging those who seek to delegitimize the Jewish State, Shurat HaDin is utilizing court systems around the world to go on the legal offensive against Israel’s enemies.
In 2014, The Tower Magazine profiled Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder and chief executive of Shurat HaDin, The Woman Who Makes the Jihadis Squirm.

Posted by Taryn O'Neill on January 06, 2016 5 Comments

China performed a series of test flights for the first time Saturday on a newly constructed runway in the South China Sea. The 3,000 meter airstrip sits atop a Fiery Cross Reef, an artificial island constructed by the Chinese in the Spratly Islands region. The airstrip is long enough to accommodate a variety of aircraft including 4-engine jets, military transport planes, and the nation's most advanced fighters. A spokesperson with the Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed a civil flight test was performed with civilian aircraft. 

The Spratly Islands are one of the world's most highly contested regions and are claimed by Vietnam, China, and Taiwan. They are also claimed in part by the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia. Responding to China's activities on Saturday, Vietnam launched a formal diplomatic protest and it is expected that the Philippines will follow suit. Vietnam's response comes after an improvement in American-Vietnamese relations as China's presence in this region becomes a shared threat to both America and Vietnam. Defense Secretary Carter's vocal opposition to China's activities has further emboldened countries bordering the South China Sea.

Posted by Andrew Branca on January 06, 2016 86 Comments
Numerous pre-trial rulings were made today by Judge Barry Williams, the trial judge overseeing the "Freddie Gray" trials in Baltimore. Most were unsurprising, but one in particular raised eyebrows: Judge Williams ordered that Officer William Porter, whose case just ended in a mistrial and who is scheduled to be retried in June, can be compelled to testify in the trials of the other five officers charged in Freddie Gray's death. In particular, Porter will be compelled to testify in the next scheduled "Freddie Gray" trial, that of Officer Caesar Goodson, the driver of the van in which Freddie Gray suffered his traumatic neck injury. Jury selection for the Goodson trial begins next Monday. Judge Williams' ruling came in the form of today's denial of a motion by Porter's defense counsel to quash a prosecution subpoena for Porter to testify at Goodson's trial.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 06, 2016 12 Comments
Wednesday, Democrats on the House Select Committee on Benghazi hurled an already debunked accusation at Committee Republicans. They claim the contentious investigation into the terrorist attack on the U.S.'s Benghazi embassy in 2012 has gone on longer than the Congressional investigation into the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001. There's one tiny little problem with their latest claim -- it's not true. Committee Democrats write [emphasis mine]:
Today marks the 609th day since the authorization of the Select Committee on Benghazi, surpassing the length of time the 9/11 Commission took to investigate the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 06, 2016 23 Comments
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has made life difficult for centrist Democrats. Sanders self-identifies as a Democratic Socialist; a label most Democrats avoid like the plague. During and interview airing Tuesday, Hardball's Chris Matthews asked Hillary Clinton to explain the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist. Not once, not twice, but three times Matthews asked Hillary to explain how Democrats and Socialists are different. Clinton refused. Instead she talked about peace, love, and unity. Yes, really.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 06, 2016 8 Comments
Late Tuesday night North Korea claimed to have the 'H-Bomb of Justice.' Under tutelage of Dictator Junior, Kim Jong-un, North Korean state media made the following announcement:

Posted by Occam's Razor on January 06, 2016 1 Comment
We wrote previously about the scheduled anti-Israel resolutions at the seasonal faculty association meetings in 2015-2016. We are now in the midst of this season, with the American Historical Association (AHA) annual meeting in Atlanta this week. Once again, we see an attempt to politicize a reputable scholarly organization by a small group of radicals with an anti-Israel agenda. On the table at the AHA Business Meeting on Saturday, January 9, 2016, is a resolution condemning Israel's alleged mistreatment of Palestinians in education. Under the AHA Constitution, if the resolution passes the Business Meeting, it goes to the AHA Council for approval, non-concurrence or veto. If the Council votes not to concur, it goes to a full membership vote.[*] Unlike resolutions at the American Studies Association in 2013 (which passed) and currently at the American Anthropological Association (pending a membership vote), the AHA resolution does not explicitly call on the AHA to adopt the academic boycott of Israel pushed by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Rather, the AHA resolution is similar to the resolution which previously failed to pass a membership vote at the Moddern Language Association in 2014, denouncing Israel for allegedly violating the academic freedom of Palestinians. But the AHA resolution is just as much a part of the BDS agenda, and would set the stage in later years for a full BDS resolution at AHA. Where BDS supporters think they can pass a full academic boycott they do; where they think they can't, they try interim steps. I analyze the AHA resolution below.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on January 06, 2016 64 Comments
In the wake of Donald Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., the UK saw a huge response to a petition that calls for Trump to be banned from the UK.   While there is a petition against banning Trump, it has, so far, only 39,537 signatures. With 560,000 signatures on the petition for a ban, the UK parliament has tempered its initial stance and is now set to debate the Trump ban after all. The Guardian reports:
MPs are to debate calls for the US presidential candidate Donald Trump to be banned from the UK following his controversial comments about Muslims, after more than half a million people signed a petition.

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 06, 2016 12 Comments
While Obama cried for TV cameras yesterday, his administration was putting the finishing touches on a plan to transfer up to 17 prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. This has been in the works for a while. Catherine Herridge of FOX News reported Monday:
Source: 'Al Qaeda followers' among 17 being transferred from Gitmo The group of 17 detainees expected to be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay as early as this week includes “multiple bad guys” and “Al Qaeda followers,” a source who has reviewed the list told Fox News. Little is known publicly about which prisoners are being prepared for transfer, but the Obama administration has notified Congress it plans to ship out 17 detainees – some of whom could be transferred within days.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 06, 2016 4 Comments
As so many readers reviewed my review of The Big Short, which featured investments, I thought a good follow-up post would focus on the stock market. Obama's "Theater of the Absurd" gun control press conference played well on Wall Street, as stocks of gun makers soared in trading yesterday. Smith and Wesson stocks jumped over 11% in trading. LI #10 Smith and Wesson
Earnings per share is estimated to come in at $0.39 to $0.41, which is way above the previous estimate of $0.27 to $0.29. Analysts were expecting only $0.29.
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