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April 2016

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 17, 2016 18 Comments
Last week, CBS aired a special report on the missing or redacted 28 pages of the 9/11 Commission's report that might implicate Saudi Arabia in the 9/11 attacks.  In the CBS report, former Senator and former Florida Governor Bob Graham (D-FL) restated his long-held view that these 28 pages should be declassified. From the transcript of the CBS report entitled "28 Pages":
. . . [T]he White House and intelligence officials are reviewing whether to declassify one of the country's most sensitive documents -- known as the "28 pages." They have to do with 9/11 and the possible existence of a Saudi support network for the hijackers while they were in the U.S. For 13 years, the 28 pages have been locked away in a secret vault. Only a small group of people have ever seen them. Tonight, you will hear from some of the people who have read them and believe, along with the families of 9/11 victims that they should be declassified. Bob Graham: I think it is implausible to believe that 19 people, most of whom didn't speak English, most of whom had never been in the United States before, many of whom didn't have a high school education-- could've carried out such a complicated task without some support from within the United States.
Graham, who has seen the 28 pages and has been trying to get the pages declassified since 2003, has to be careful about what he says, but he is confident that there is connection.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 16, 2016 269 Comments
Ted Cruz racked up another big delegate win, this time in Wyoming. CNN reports:
Cruz won 14 of 14 Republican National Convention delegates up for grabs at the Wyoming state convention here Saturday. The crowd here was clearly in Cruz's corner, as the Texas senator was the only candidate to make the trip to Casper -- ahead of a major snowstorm -- and Sarah Palin, scheduled to speak for Trump, previously canceled.

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 16, 2016 20 Comments
President Obama is still pushing for the U.S. to accept more refugees from Syria, and his agenda is now being supported by the U.S. State Department. The Hill reports:
State seeks to pick up pace on bringing Syrian refugees to US The State Department is hoping to bring an average of nearly 1,500 Syrian refugees to the United States per month in order to meet President Obama's target of settling 10,000 refugees in the country by September.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 16, 2016 20 Comments
Here at LI, we've been covering the move to place women in combat positions within the military.  Despite studies that have concluded that this is a bad idea, the military is moving forward.  To that end, the Army has approved  22 female officers for combat training. USA Today reports:
The Army announced Friday the first 22 women to be commissioned as infantry and armor officers under new rules that open all ground combat jobs to females this year. The move is a major step toward integrating women into so-called ground combat jobs, placing them in leadership roles in occupations that were never open to them.
In a move called "pretty historic" by acting Army Secretary Patrick Murphy, the women will eventually serve as infantry or armor officers.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 16, 2016 5 Comments
I loves stories of law enforcement going out of their way to serve and this particular tale has ALL the feels. When none of his 21 classmates showed to up ten-year-old Toxey's birthday party, Arkansas State Trooper's threw him a surprise get together he won't soon forget. They came with gifts, a cookie cake, and an official State Trooper badge.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 16, 2016 44 Comments
I just noted that environmental activists are ramping up a social media campaign against energy giant Exxon Mobil, as the Attorneys General for 17 states are looking to nail that company under racketeering statutes. This attack is the latest in the pseudo-science based thuggery that progressives have directed at those who opt to hold different, data-based views on the nature of climate and weather.  The Koch Brothers, apparently the dark center of all evil in the universe, were singled out by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in an epic rant in 2014:
“Those guys are doing the Koch Brothers bidding and are against all the evidence of the rational mind, saying global warming does not exist,” Mr. Kennedy said, Climate Depot reported. “They are contemptible human beings.”

Posted by Taryn O'Neill on April 16, 2016 38 Comments
In what some might be the next standoff over religious liberty, a high school near Madison, Wisconsin is at odds with an off-campus student lunch group over the right to hold free, Jesus-themed lunches. Fox News explains:
[Middleton] high school allows students to eat lunch off-campus. In 2014 a small group of parents began meeting with their children in a nearby park — providing home cooked meals along with a Christian-themed, inspirational message. The small weekly gatherings in the fall and spring eventually morphed into a popular gathering spot for hungry kids — with nearly 500 turning out for all sorts of goodies — ranging from Chick-fil-A sandwiches and fresh fruit to hundreds of homemade brownies. “We show up every week just to show the love of Jesus,” parent Beth Williams told me. “Our mission statement for Jesus Lunch is ‘food for the body, nutrition for the soul.’”
As students started inviting more friends to attend, the gatherings have brought as many as 400 hundred students to the lunches, which are held at a park directly next to the school campus.

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 16, 2016 12 Comments
The Hillary Clinton campaign might want to reel in Bill Clinton for a little while, as he's starting to do more damage than good. In an obviously unscripted appearance this week, President Clinton suggested that Bernie Sanders supporters might want to shoot people on Wall Street. The Hill reports:
Bill Clinton: Sanders fans would ‘shoot every third person on Wall Street’ Former President Bill Clinton on Friday joked that Bernie Sanders’s supporters would open fire on Wall Street.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 15, 2016 5 Comments
Judicial Watch has been fighting a years-long battle to obtain records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding Huma Abedin's non-State Department employment arrangement. In the course of that fight, issues regarding Hillary Clinton's handling of email and her email server have become central. Judicial Watch has won many key procedural fights, the latest of which was the Court ruling that Judicial Watch could take discovery as to State Department practices with regard to obtaining Hillary's emails. The two sides have submitted their positions to the Court, but the Court may not need to rule because an agreement was just reached (full embed at bottom of post). The agreement, in the form of a Joint Proposed Order, gives Judicial Watch what it was seeking, but puts off limits discovery regarding Hillary's handling of classified information and the FBI investigation, which Judicial Watch was not seeking in any event. Here is the key paragraph:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 15, 2016 36 Comments
It was going to be yuge. There was going to be a march on the Colorado State Capitol the likes of which had not been seen before, reflecting seething anger among voters over Ted Cruz "stealing" Colorado in a "voterless" process. It was pure media manipulation based on a lie spread by Trump and his campaign about how the Colorado process worked. And it was aided and abetted by Trumpmedia, that hyperbolic group of formerly conservative websites and media personalities who are riding the Trump horse. Turns out the massive rally didn't get thousands, not even hundreds. A few dozen showed up.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 15, 2016 7 Comments
Monday is Patriots Day in Massachusetts, the third Monday in April on which the Boston Marathon is run. The holiday commemorates the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. Three Patriots Days ago, on April 15, 2013, Islamic terrorists bombed the Boston Marathon. I don't remember where I was when I first heard of it. But I do remember covering it. Here is a look back. At 3:06 p.m. I turned the first post live.

Explosions at Boston Marathon finish line

Reports coming in of explosions near the finish line at the Boston Marathon. Live coverage at Fox 25 (no embed available) Serious injuries — (warning on link, gruesome) missing arms and legs (warning on link, gruesome) according to eyewitness interviewed on television. (Update — latest reports are two dead, 20+ injured…. NY Post reports 12 dead)

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 15, 2016 27 Comments
Bad news for Pastafarians. A federal court in Nebraska ruled Flying Spaghetti Monster is not actually a god. Stephen Cavanaugh, prisoner of the Nebraska State Penitentiary sued prison officials because, "their refusal to accommodate his religious requests." His request to have Pastafarianism recognized as his official religion was smacked down by a U.S. District Court who wrote, "The FSM Gospel is plainly a work of satire, meant to entertain while making a pointed political statement. To read it as religious doctrine would be little different from grounding a ‘religious exercise’ on any other work of fiction.” According to Religion News:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 15, 2016 13 Comments
"Confirmation," an original film by HBO airs Saturday night. Supposedly, the movie chronicles Justice Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court Confirmation hearings. Many of the writers, producers, and actors in "Confirmation" are Democratic Party donors and loyalists, so the bias isn't entirely shocking, but it is worth noting. A site called Confirmation Biased is out to set the record straight. One of the film's most egregious offenses is the omission of the numerous woman who testified on behalf of Justice Thomas' character following the accusations made by Anita Hill.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 15, 2016 85 Comments
This video really serves as a metaphor for the campaign so far. Michael Cohen, Trump's legal and campaign adviser, is demanding that Republicans unite around "Mr. Trump." Of course, it is revealed near the end of the clip below, after a lengthy harangue of the RNC and Reince Priebus by Cohen, that Cohen is a Democrat and can't even vote for "Mr. Trump." Much like some of "Mr. Trump's" own family members who campaign for him, who also are Democrats.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 15, 2016 0 Comments
A new a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that the Zika virus can cause a rare birth defect called microcephaly, as well as other brain and neurological effcts.
Health officials across the globe have suspected for months a link between the virus and the birth defect, characterized by an abnormally small head and brain. Officials said today the evidence is overwhelming that exposure to virus in utero causes the birth defect. CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden called the news a "turning point" in a fight against the virus that has continued to spread throughout the Americas.
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