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March 2016

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 23, 2016 33 Comments
Walt Disney and Marvel, a Disney subsidiary, are threatening to boycott Georgia if Governor Nathan Deal signs into law a religious freedom bill that recently passed the Georgia state legislature. The bill, HB 575, had already undergone significant revisions in response to pressure from SJWs.  The bill was initially designed to protect businesses and non-profits whose owners had religious objections to providing services for and participating in gay "marriages"; however, the new version is less accommodating to religious freedom. The Washington Times reports:
The bill initially would have allowed Georgians to decline service for same-sex weddings if doing so violated their religious beliefs. But, sensing the coming storm, Mr. Deal urged lawmakers to make substantial changes to the legislation before passing it.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 23, 2016 13 Comments
It doesn't sound quite as good as "on the cover of The Rolling Stone." A reader emailed me a photo of a NY Times front page story today in which I am quoted. Thing is, the Times article suggests I opposed the proposal:
Ever since Mr. Myrick, 29, unveiled a plan last month for what he called a “supervised injection facility,” critics have pounced on it as a harebrained idea that would just enable more drug abuse. A Republican state legislator, Tom O’Mara, called it “preposterous” and “asinine,” and a Cornell law professor, William A. Jacobson, said it would be a “government-run heroin shooting gallery.”
In fact, in my blog post from which the quote was taken, to which The Times links in the online version, I was ambivalent:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 23, 2016 3 Comments
In a post on Monday I noted a Report (pdf.) suggesting "Principles Against Intolerance" and containing a condemnation of anti-Semitism, was coming up for vote today at the University of California Board of Regents, UC Regents should seize its Moynihan moment on anti-Zionism. The key language in controversy was both the general condemnation of anti-Semitism, but most specifically a mention of anti-Zionism in a "contextual statement" that was not part of the Principles themselves (emphasis added):
"During the 2014-15 academic year, the Regents received correspondence and public comment from a variety of sources expressing concern that there has been an increase in incidents reflecting anti-Semitism on UC campuses. These reported incidents included vandalism targeting property associated with Jewish people or Judaism; challenges to the candidacies of Jewish students seeking to assume representative positions within student government; political, intellectual and social dialogue that is anti-Semitic; and social exclusion and stereotyping. Fundamentally, commenters noted that historic manifestations of anti-Semitism have changed and that expressions of anti-Semitism are more coded and difficult to identify. In particular, opposition to Zionism  often is expressed in ways that are not simply statements of disagreement over politics and policy, but also assertions of prejudice and intolerance toward Jewish people and culture. Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and other forms of discrimination have no place at the University of California...."
In that post, I noted the arguments for and against the Report. Those arguments played out today before the Regents in a public comment period.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 23, 2016 28 Comments
Professor Jacobson recently wrote about how Donald Trump's rise is driving countless people into the offices of mental health professionals. The latest example of Trump induced psychosis is unfolding at Emory University where students were horrified this week to find someone took a piece of chalk and wrote pro-Trump messages on campus sidewalks. The horror! Rather than simply ignoring this like any normal person would do, certain activists within the student body are demanding that the university president denounce this message of hate. Yes, really. The Emory Wheel reports:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 23, 2016 272 Comments
This may now officially be a series, "Can you imagine Trump in control of ...." Prior posts on topic: Current entry in the series: A small SuperPAC founded and run by Liz Mair did a mailer in Utah showing a public photo of Melania Trump from a magazine shoot 15 or so years ago. I have to say, Melania looked marvelous in the shoot. It's almost -- almost -- enough to make some anti-Trumpers reconsider. But it was a completely sleazy tactic attempting to "slut shame" Melania.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 23, 2016 2 Comments
Communist North Korea is heavily involved in training and arming the Islamic Republic of Iran and its Islamist allies in the Middle East. According to recent revelations by former US intelligence officer Dr. Bruce Bechtol, North Korea has a more extensive military partnership with Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and even Hamas -- than previously thought. In the past, North Korea has supplied Scud missiles to Iran and is currently playing a key role Iran’s domestic missile program. According to Bechtol, who is also president of the International Council on Korean Studies, Islamic Republic’s missile program would be “non-existent” without the help of the Communist Regime of North Korea. Nuclear proliferation and illegal arms trade makes up to 40 percent of North Korea’s economy. Iran has been paying impoverished North Korea in much needed hard cash and oil supplies. The Obama-Kerry Nuclear Deal that gives Iran $100 billion in previously frozen funds as well as greater access to international banking system, will inevitably boost this clandestine relationship.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 23, 2016 2 Comments
Californians are being treated to a rare opportunity to actually make a difference during a presidential primary season...at least if they are Republican. Senator Bernie Sanders is behind in the delegate count, and the "Super Duper" election results confirm Hillary is the likely nominee at this point. However, he is gamely continuing his campaign with a stop in my home town.
Thousands of supporters packed the San Diego Convention Center Tuesday evening to attend a Bernie Sanders rally. The Democratic Presidential Candidate stopped in San Diego for the rally more than two months ahead of the winner-take-all California primary in June. ...He said his campaign listened to the concerns of youths, military veterans and the elderly.

Posted by Taryn O'Neill on March 23, 2016 7 Comments
One day before Apple and prosecutors were to face off in court, the U.S. Department of Justice was granted a request to cancel the Tuesday hearing on whether Apple should assist the FBI in bypassing security measures in a locked iPhone used by a San Bernardino terrorist. The hearing was cancelled by U.S. Magistrate Sheri Pym at 5:30P.M. PDT. The earlier order requiring Apple to assist the FBI unlocking the phone was temporarily stayed. "On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook's iPhone. Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook's iPhone," the government said in court documents filed on Monday. "If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. ("Apple") set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case." Department of Justice spokeswoman Melanie Newman said in a statement that the government only learned of the unlocking method this past weekend. "We must first test this method to ensure it doesn't destroy the data on the phone, but we remain cautiously optimistic. That is why we have asked the court to give us some time to explore this option," Newman said to Ars Tecnica.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 23, 2016 20 Comments
Didn't feel like staying up until 3:00 in the morning to watch election returns? Have no fear. I was dutifully eating gelato and cross-stitching, keeping tabs on the state of the union WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING. So here's what happened in no particular order:

On the Republican side:

Cruz won big in Utah, likely securing all 40 delegates there. Trump took Arizona where he won the state's 58 delegates. All 9 of America Samoa's delegates will go the the convention uncommitted.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 22, 2016 2 Comments
The anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement at Vassar College has been unusually ugly and aggressive in the two-plus years I've been covering developments there. In my first post on March 27, 2014, Anti-Israel academic boycott turns ugly at Vassar, I detailed -- based on interviews with professors who witnessed the events first-hand and documents provided to me -- the picketing of a course because it involved travel to Israel, and the vitriol directed not only at the professors at a campus-wide Open Fourm, but also at Jewish students who spoke out in defense of Israel:
What transpired was anti-Israel vitriol directed at Professors and students taking a course that involved travel to Israel and the West Bank, an intimidating protest outside a classroom, and a campus forum in which the Professors and Jewish students were belittled, heckled and mocked in such crude ways that it left even critics of Israel shaken.
The two professors targeted, Jill Schneiderman and Rachel Friedman, later wrote in the Vassar student newspaper about the "climate of fear" that had descended on campus:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 22, 2016 6 Comments
On March 1, 2016, the Australian Broadcast Corp. reported that a '60 Minutes' crew from Australian was attacked while interviewing migrants in Sweden:
Masked men attack 60 Minutes crew in Sweden Veteran reporter Liz Hayes and a small Australian crew were travelling through the Rinkeby district of Västerort, Stockholm, one of the poorer neighbourhoods in which 89.1 per cent are first or second generation migrants, when a group of unnamed assailants turned on the television crew. Channel Nine last night confirmed early reports out of Stockholm that the group was confronted by a group of locals, some reportedly masked, who had objections to 60 Minutes filming in the region. “Liz Hayes and a 60 Minutes crew are currently on assignment in Europe where they are reporting a story about the migrant crisis,” a Nine spokesman said. “In a suburb of Stockholm yesterday (Monday) they were confronted by a group who objected to them filming. There was a series of scuffles and the police were called.”

Posted by Jonathan Levin on March 22, 2016 18 Comments
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a blistering rebuke of the IRS today in Tea Party groups' suit against IRS targeting. The opinion by Chief Judge Raymond Kethledge on behalf of a three-judge panel opens:
Among the most serious allegations a federal court can address are that an Executive agency has targeted citizens for mistreatment based on their political views. No citizen—Republican or Democrat, socialist or libertarian—should be targeted or even have to fear being targeted on those grounds. Yet those are the grounds on which the plaintiffs allege they were mistreated by the IRS here. The allegations are substantial: most are drawn from findings made by the Treasury Department’s own Inspector General for Tax Administration. Those findings include that the IRS used political criteria to round up applications for tax-exempt status filed by so-called tea-party groups; that the IRS often took four times as long to process tea-party applications as other applications; and that the IRS served tea-party applicants with crushing demands for what the Inspector General called “unnecessary information.”

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 22, 2016 11 Comments
Meet Amelia Hamilton -- dear friend, gifted children's authoress, and education advocate. Amelia Hamilton is a blogger and author of the Growing Patriots children's books. A lifelong writer and patriot, she also loves hockey, old cars, old movies and apple juice. Amelia has a master’s degree in both English and 18th-century history from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Her dog Virgil is her co-pilot. With two books under her belt in the Growing Patriots series, Hamilton's latest project has encouraged the wrath of just about every left-leaning media outlet on the internet. Taking our favorite fairy tales, Hamilton is reimagining these well-loved stories with one tiny little change -- the would-be victims are armed. Her first installment, Little Red Riding Hood (Has a Gun), was published on NRA Family mid-January. Last week her latest, Hansel and Gretel (Have Guns), hit the internet. They're great reads and highly recommended (if I do say so myself).

First, a little about you:

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 22, 2016 14 Comments
At a campaign event in Washington State yesterday, the former president encouraged the audience to support his wife's candidacy while bashing the "awful legacy of the last eight years." Is Bill Clinton's advanced age catching up to him? The American Mirror reported:
VIDEO: Bill Clinton slams ‘awful legacy of last 8 years’ Bill Clinton is either losing it, or he’s ramping up his attacks on President Obama. Neither is good news for Hillary Clinton.
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