Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

February 2016

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 13, 2016 10 Comments
FOX News is running a special program this weekend called Voter Revolt which focuses on the rejection of establishment politicians in the 2016 election. Bret Baier hosts and covers both sides of the race in the balanced style anyone who watches him on Special Report has come to expect.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 13, 2016 7 Comments
In this edition of Today in Political Attack Ads, "Hillary Clinton" goes gangster on a printer, the PAC wars heat up to melt a life-sized Donald Trump, and the Club for Growth doesn't mess around.

It feels good to be a Clinton

Attackee: Hillary Clinton Attacker: Ted Cruz A spoof from a relatively famous scene in the movie Office Space, Hillary and gang whoop up on a server. Pls print.

Posted by Taryn O'Neill on February 13, 2016 1 Comment
With the help of the FBI, British officials arrested a teen they believe may have ties to a series of hacks targeting the U.S. government and high level officials. The 16-year-old was arrested in the East Midlands, U.K. on Tuesday and has been accused of having connections to the hack of CIA Director John Brennan's personal email account in October of last year, along others. The identity of the teen has not been released, but he is believed to be the pro-Palestinian hacker known as "Cracka" that leads the hacktivist group known as "Crackas With Attitude," or CWA. Officials with the Thames Valley Police confirmed the arrest in a statement, saying that it had arrested a 16-year-old boy, "on suspicion of conspiracy to commit unauthorised access to computer material contrary to Section 1 Computer Misuse Act 1990, conspiracy to commit Unauthorised access with intent to commit further offenses contrary to Section 2 Computer Misuse Act 1990 and conspiracy to commit unauthorised acts with intent to impair, or with recklessness as to impairing operation of a computer contrary to Section 3 Computer Misuse Act 1990."

Posted by New Neo on February 13, 2016 9 Comments
James Traub writes in Foreign Policy on the situation facing Sweden in its attempt to absorb the recent wave of Syrian/Iraqi/Afghan newcomers. At the outset of the article, the author may seem to be leaning towards blaming Europe for not being more magnanimous, and to be making a false analogy to WWII refugees---who may indeed have been from other countries, but who nevertheless were part of the same basic Judeo-Christian culture as the Swedes and held pretty much the same values. But that's actually not at all the direction in which the article ultimately goes, nor is it the way a lot of people in Sweden seem to be going at this point. And the trend may continue. But it's hard to talk about it in Sweden:
Diana Janse, a former diplomat and now the senior foreign policy advisor to the Moderate Party (which Swedes view as “conservative”), pointed out to me that some recent generations of Swedish refugees, including Somalis, had been notably unsuccessful joining the job market. How, she wondered, will the 10,000-20,000 young Afghan men who had entered Sweden as “unaccompanied minors” fare? How would they behave in the virtual absence of young Afghan women? But she could barely raise these questions in political debate. “We have this expression in Swedish, asiktskorridor,” she said. “It means ‘opinion corridor’ — the views you can’t move outside of.” Merely to ask whether Sweden could integrate Afghans today as it had Bosnians two decades before was to risk accusations of racism.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 12, 2016 13 Comments
Thursday night, Mohammad Barry injured four at an Israeli-owned restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. According to witnesses, Barry began stabbing patrons with a machete, going booth by booth. Barry fled the scene but police were able to locate him. When Barry lunged at police wielding a knife and machete, police opened fire, killing him. The FBI is now investigating, but they're not saying why. No reports indicate whether or not the counterterrorism unit is involved.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 12, 2016 166 Comments
It's Friday afternoon. This should get the holiday weekend off to a nice, quiet start. Donald Trump, angry that negative ads are being run against him, is threatening to sue to keep Ted Cruz out of the race based on the claim that Cruz is not a "natural born Citizen" and not eligible. (h/t Hot Air) My view is here. I *thank* the people who have emailed me to call me a traitor and fraud and hack because of my view on the subject. Here is Trump's Friday Twitter Trumpertantrum: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/698231571594276866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Trump also is retweeting some some hoorahs for his threat:

Posted by Jonathan Levin on February 12, 2016 2 Comments
There has been quite a bit of BDS-related legislative activity in the several weeks, with two anti-BDS measures moving through Congress, and activity in several state legislatures.  While the legislatures universally oppose BDS, President Obama has weighed in in opposition to Congress's pro-Israel legislation.

Federal Anti-BDS Legislation

First, Wednesday afternoon Senators Mark Kirk (R. - IL) and Joe Manchin (D. - WV) and Representatives Bob Dold (R. - IL) and Juan Vargas (D. - CA) filed a bill to help states divest from BDS-supporting companies.  According to Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon:
The new bill, which was filed Wednesday afternoon, marks an aggressive push by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to combat the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, otherwise known as BDS, which advocates in favor of economic war against the Jewish state. The bill would provide legal shelter to states seeking to divest taxpayer funds from any company that has backed the BDS movement. It also would set a legal precedent granting safe harbor for private investment companies to do the same.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 12, 2016 8 Comments
So, this is awkward. Awkward because everyone knows it's true. Prior to introducing Hillary at a campaign event earlier this week, former President Bill Clinton said, "the hotter this election gets, the more I wish I were just a former President and just for a few months, not the spouse of the next one, because you know, I have to be careful what I say." Perfectly understandable. Buuuut, that's not where he stopped:

Posted by edgeofthesandbox on February 12, 2016 16 Comments
Funny: conservative commentator Monica Crowley recently called Bernie Sanders Lenin of Brooklyn. I don't think Bernie has Lenin's cunning and brutality.  Vladimir Lenin managed to seize the day in 1917, leading his extreme minority party to overthrow the very tenuous government of the largest country on Earth and then held on to the power, consolidating the majority of the crumbling empire. Clown-haired Bernie doesn't leave an impression of an individual capable of such feat. The way I see Sanders, the reason I think he's popular among the college campuses or those under 30 in general, is very similar to the reasons why Ralph Nader was popular sixteen years ago.  Both men leave a similar impression on the impressionable.  They're very much alike in appearance: Nader, like Sanders, had rather imperfect hair; his suits were ill-fitted, his face -- asymmetrical.  This was all part of his appeal.  Although Nader received loads of favorable attention from the media, his imperfections lent him an aura of authenticity. After eight years of Clinton, a candidate who didn't seem overly media-produced was refreshing.

Posted by Jonathan Levin on February 12, 2016 43 Comments
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."  That was Ronald Reagan in his first inaugural address, January 20, 1981, and in the years since it has become a rallying cry for small government conservatives. Last week Senator Mike Lee (R. Utah) struck the same notes in an op-ed in Forbes.  Lee writes:

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 12, 2016 15 Comments
Bernie Sanders supporters who were excited about his big win in New Hampshire were surprised to learn Sanders and Clinton would leave the Granite State with an equal number of delegates due to the DNC's use of so-called Superdelegates. Yesterday on CNN, Jake Tapper confronted DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz on this topic. Josh Feldman of Mediaite has the details:
Tapper Confronts Wasserman Schultz on the Charge Dem Superdelegates ‘Rig’ the Process One of the biggest controversies coming out of New Hampshire is the Democratic superdelegates helping boost Hillary Clinton from an over-20-point-loss to a tie. CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz about this today, asking her what she would say to people who believe “it’s all rigged” against Sanders.

Posted by AACONS on February 12, 2016 0 Comments
Allen West served as an US Representative representing Florida's 22nd and 18th District. He is a 22 year veteran of the military where he earned the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as well as a Bronze Star and a Meritorious Service Medal. He is a Fox News contributor, founder of AllenBWest.com, the author of the bestseller Guardian of the Republic: An American Ronin’s Journey to Faith, Family and Freedom, and CEO of the National Center for Policy Analysis. Robert S. Levine is Professor of English and a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. His past works include Dislocating Race and Nation; Martin Delany, Frederick Douglass, and the Politics of Representative Identity; and Conspiracy and Romance: Studies in Brockden Brown, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Melville. His latest work is entitled, The Lives of Frederick Douglass.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 11, 2016 21 Comments
Welcome to our live debate coverage! Watch the debate live: [debate over, clips below] https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/697990980398546944 https://twitter.com/whpresscorps/status/697991185768574976

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 11, 2016 12 Comments
We're pleased to present what will be a reoccurring election feature here at Legal Insurrection -- Today in Political Attack Ads. As long as the mud is flying, you'll find it here. Political attack ads are as old and colorful as America. To our cultural credit, negative ads are far less personal these days. "John Adams is a hideous hermaphroditicly character with neither the force or firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman," claimed Thomas Jefferson (one of my personal favorites). "Do you want to see your dwelling in flames?! Female chastity violated?! Children writhing on a pike!! Well that's what will happen if you vote for Thomas Jefferson!" warned John Adams. Back in 2010, Reason put together a video chronicling some of the best campaign rhetoric from the election of 1800.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 11, 2016 22 Comments
I would not want to be Hillary Clinton this week (or any week for that matter). First, she's trounced by more than 20 points in New Hampshire's primary, then it's revealed that at least a dozen email accounts tossed top secret classified intel around her home-brewed email server, and now the Washington Post dished out this little scoop in all its glory. Whether the intel leaker is part of Team Hillary or the State Department, the WaPo does not make clear. Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea all received subpoenas from State Department investigators last fall requesting Clinton Foundation documents, "that may have required approval from the federal government during Hillary Clinton’s term as secretary of state."
MORE POSTS
Accessibility by WAH