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March 2016

Great Britain's Foreign Office and Department for International Development ("DFID") have funneled million of Pounds, at least, to terrorists.  The report from the Daily Mail details how the UK's policy of spending .7% of revenue on foreign aid distorts priorities and leads it to fund terror.  The Daily Mail report builds on a broader investigation from Palestinian Media Watch ("PMW") evidencing the Palestinian Authority's ("PA") attempts to hide banned payments to terrorists from Western donors.

Palestinian Media Watch blows the whistle

In its exposé, The Daily Mail cites PMW's recent report discussing the PA's deception of Western donors.  According to the Daily Mail, "a devastating new report to be released this week by Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli NGO, suggests that Western donors have been duped by assertions that the Authority no longer funds terrorists." Drawing on original Palestinian media, PMW documents the PA's fraud on international donors.  In 2011, PMW exposed that the PA was funneling foreign donations to terrorists and their families.  Following international outcry, in 2014, the PA formally placed funding for convicted terrorists in the hands of the Palestine Liberation Organization - the parent of Fatah and the PA itself.

The Republican candidates made a lot of pledges to the record-breaking pro-Israel crowd at last week’s American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington, D.C. Among them was the promise that they’ll move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. So, if he becomes President, will Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or John Kasich move the American Embassy to Israel’s capital city? Don’t count on it.

Promises, promises

Moving the embassy would break with over two decades of bipartisan White House policy to circumvent the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, a law which mandates its relocation. [caption id="attachment_128948" align="alignnone" width="600"]U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv Beach Satellite [U.S. Embassy location on Tel Aviv Beach][/caption]

At least 69 people have died and 300 injured in a suicide bombing targeting Christians during Easter celebration in Pakistan. Most of the victims are women and children. The attack took place in a public park in the Pakistani city of Lahore. A former Taliban splinter group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, has taken responsibility for the attack -- confirming the target of the suicide bombing were Christians.  In 2014, the splinter group had reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS). According to eyewitnesses the explosion took place at the entrance of the park -- meters away from the children’s swings. Indian-based NDTV reports:
A breakaway Pakistani faction of the militant Taliban group has claimed responsibility for an Easter Sunday bombing in a park in the eastern city of Lahore that killed 65 people. Ahsanullah Ahsan, spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, told the Associated Press that a suicide bomber with the faction deliberately targeted the Christian community.

Despite repeated attacks from Democrats and even assurances from Obama that his campaign was all but over,  Bernie Sanders is more than holding his own against Democrat presidential rival Hillary Clinton.  Having announced last fall that his campaign is "not just electing a president, it is transforming America,” Bernie is content to push forward with his "political revolution." While Democrats mutter that self-proclaimed "democratic socialist" Bernie isn't even really a Democrat, Bernie swept all three of Western Saturday's Democrat caucuses:  Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington. CNN reports:
Saturday was a big day for Bernie Sanders' quest for the Democratic presidential nomination as he swept to resounding victories in the caucus states of Hawaii, Washington and Alaska. But the delegate math is still in Hillary Clinton's favor. "We knew things were going to improve as we headed West," Sanders said at a jubilant rally before 8,000 people in Madison, Wisconsin -- a state that will hold the next major contest in 10 days. "We have a path toward victory."
That path may be an uphill climb, however, because as CNN notes, the delegate math is not in his favor.

Bill Maher is the proverbial broken clock. While I disagree with him on most issues, he's been accurate and articulate on the problems facing the West from Islamism, and particularly as to the dangers Israel faces. The other night he talked about Donald Trump's address to AIPAC in light of the Brussels terror attack, and made the point that given how miserably Europe treats Israel, perhaps the Europeans will finally understand what Israel faces. Israel National News reports:
During a panel discussion on his late-night HBO show Real Time, Maher blasted the UN and scolded Europe for its behavior towards Israel. "Europe has been real a******s about Israel," Maher said. "I mean, in general. The U.N. – as of 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Council had issued more official condemnations of Israel than the rest of the world's nations combined. I wonder now that Europe has been attacked four times now in a little over a year, and they say ISIS has 400 fighters that they are ready to introduce back into Europe, and they're trying to get a dirty bomb - maybe Europe will have a little more sympathy for what Israel goes through."
Video via RCP:

California's elite politicos have long resented our state's system of propositions and ballot measures, which give the voters some measure of control on how Sacramento runs. Famous tax-payer victories include Proposition 13 (capping property taxes). Furthermore, Californians have organized statewide to defeat other issues (e.g., Proposition 1A, a temporary tax increase that California Tea Party Groups fought successfully in 2009). After a ballot measure was recently approved for a proposed, gradually-implemented $15/hour minimum wage law, our state's politicians played a round of "Let's Make a Deal" to bypass the will of the voters.
Lawmakers and labor unions have struck a tentative deal to raise the statewide minimum wage to $10.50 an hour next year and then gradually to $15, averting a costly political campaign this fall and possibly putting California at the forefront of a national movement.

Mason Wells is an American Mormon missionary who has now survived the Boston Marathon attack, the Paris terror attack, and the Brussels attack. For years to come, he'll be featured in listicles about amazing coincidences. The New York Post reports:
American who survived Brussels, Paris and Boston terror says he’s ‘lucky’ A 19-year-old Mormon missionary emerged unscathed from the Boston Marathon bombings and Paris attacks — but wasn’t as lucky in Brussels, where he suffered severe burns and other injuries.

President Obama continued his "Spring Break" from America by undermining the foundations of the country's successful economic system. After dancing the night away, Obama was addressed the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Town Hall at Usina Del Arte in Buenos Aires, Argentina:
I guess to make a broader point, so often in the past there's been a sharp division between left and right, between capitalist and communist or socialist. And especially in the Americas, that's been a big debate, right? Oh, you know, you're a capitalist Yankee dog, and oh, you know, you're some crazy communist that's going to take away everybody's property. And I mean, those are interesting intellectual arguments, but I think for your generation, you should be practical and just choose from what works. You don't have to worry about whether it neatly fits into socialist theory or capitalist theory -- you should just decide what works.

A sad irony is taking place in Brussels this weekend as a planned "March Against Fear" has been cancelled after local officials voiced safety concerns. The AFP reports, via Yahoo News:
Organisers cancel Sunday's Brussels attacks 'March Against Fear' The organisers of a "March Against Fear" planned for Sunday to mark the Brussels terror attacks said they had cancelled the event after the authorities asked them to do so because of security fears.

Elizabeth Warren's false claim to be Indian has been back in the news lately. Donald Trump mockingly referred to her as "the Indian" after Warren had excoriated Trump over recent comments. Contrary to some media portrayals, Trump was not mocking Warren being Indian (she's not), he was mocking her false appropriation of Indian identity. (Full details here) In reaction to Trump's comment, numerous media outlets have falsely portrayed Warren lately as actually being Indian. I requested corrections, but have not received any responses. (Likely to have more on that in the future.) https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/711934915374358528 The tweet above got be blocked by the Raw Story author. I also tweeted to the Raw Story Editor and Publisher. (Please retweet all these tweets if you are so inclined.)

This is getting to be a really, really sick habit. The other day we posted videos of anti-Israel protesters disrupting a makeshift memorial to those killed in the Brussels terror attack, by ripping up, standing on and covering up a small Israeli flag, Of course: Israel haters disrupt Brussels Memorial site: https://twitter.com/afagerbakke/status/713399122510888960 Something similar happened today, as reported by a DW News (Germany) correspondent Dana Regev.

With demand down and red states limiting the amount of taxpayer monies going to fund abortion, abortion clinics are closing across the country.  Friday, Florida became another state to cut abortion funding when Governor Rick Scott signed into law a bill that would cut state funding to clinics that perform abortion. The Orlando Sentinel reports:
Planned Parenthood and other health clinics that provide abortions in Florida will go without taxpayer funds and face increased regulations for the procedure, under a bill signed Friday by Gov. Rick Scott. . . . . The law, which takes effect July 1, requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, requires annual licensure inspections for clinics and bans the purchase, sell or transfer of fetal remains. The law upgrades the failure to properly dispose of fetal tissue from a second-degree misdemeanor to a first-degree misdemeanor.

Last month, the city council in Charlotte, North Carolina passed an ordinance that included allowing transgendered persons to use bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, etc. for the gender with which they identify. This did not sit well with North Carolinians, nor with their state legislature, and in a special session, the state passed a bill that would make it state law--thus over-turning the Charlotte ordinance--that people can use such facilities only for the gender with which they were born, not the one they identify with or claim to be.  North Carolina governor (and former mayor of Charlotte) Pat McCrory signed the bill into law late Wednesday. https://twitter.com/PatMcCroryNC/status/712825004312829952 Watch the report:

In his newest Firewall video, Bill Whittle points out that the disruptions at recent Trump events are part of a much larger issue, namely the left's war on speech and ideas with which they disagree. You don't have to like Trump to appreciate Whittle's argument. He provides numerous examples from recent history involving Milo Yiannopoulos, Ben Shapiro, David Horowitz and more. Here's a partial transcript via Frontpage Mag:
Firewall: American Fascists Well, this election year is getting ugly, and it’s going to get uglier. There have been several massive disruptions both inside and outside of Donald Trump rallies, and more are promised.

Remember when Donald Trump threatened to "spill the beans" on Heidi Cruz? Yesterday Katrina Pierson, Trump's campaign spokesman, "spilled the beans" in an interview. Ironically, as Katrina was spilling the beans on Heidi, Trump SUPPORTERS were spreading wild rumors about Katrina and Ted Cruz (which she denies). Katrina tweeted yesterday about the rumors with an apparent lack of self awareness that the rumors were published by a magazine that has endorsed Trump, and were being spread by supporters of Trump: https://twitter.com/KatrinaPierson/status/713383676931772416