Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

May 2016

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 06, 2016 66 Comments
Friday afternoon, former Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate, Jeb Bush congratulated Donald Trump on becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Bush went on to explain that while he believes Trump successfully tapped into an undercurrent of anger and dissatisfaction, he will not vote for either Trump or Clinton in the upcoming election. Like many on the #NeverTrump bus, Bush committed to supporting Republican candidates down ballot. Bush's entire statement:
I congratulate Donald Trump on securing his place as the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee. There is no doubt that he successfully tapped into the deep sense of anger and frustration so many Americans around the country rightfully feel today. The tremendous anger of the current U.S. electorate – whether Republican, Democrat or independent – is a result of people fearful about the future, concerned with the direction of our country and tremendously frustrated by the abject failure and inability of leaders in Washington, D.C. to make anything better.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 06, 2016 37 Comments
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced he will meet with presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump next week. https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/728651496116633600 https://twitter.com/PRyan/status/728651792918155268

Posted by New Neo on May 06, 2016 43 Comments
Republican Senator Ben Sasse has written an open letter to America. I agree with a great deal of it, but I wanted to take issue with something. Here's an excerpt:
In the history of polling, we’ve basically never had a candidate viewed negatively by half of the electorate. This year, we have two. In fact, we now have the two most unpopular candidates ever – Hillary by a little, and Trump by miles (including now 3 out of 4 women – who vote more and influence more votes than men). There are dumpster fires in my town more popular than these two “leaders.” With Clinton and Trump, the fix is in. Heads, they win; tails, you lose. Why are we confined to these two terrible options? This is America. If both choices stink, we reject them and go bigger. That’s what we do. Remember: our Founders didn’t want entrenched political parties. So why should we accept this terrible choice?
Sasse goes on to suggest a non-Trump non-Hillary candidate (not himself, by the way), but he doesn't say who that person should be.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 06, 2016 6 Comments
Earlier this week, we reported at College Insurrection that Virginia Tech disinvited conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley over concerns about offending students and protests. Riley addressed the situation at the Wall Street Journal:
I Was Disinvited on Campus ‘Progressives rule higher education,” write political scientists Jon Shields and Joshua Dunn Sr. in “Passing on the Right,” a new book on the dearth of conservative professors. “Their rule is not absolute. But conservatives are scarcer in academia than in just about any other major profession.” Profs. Shields and Dunn aren’t exaggerating. In the humanities and social sciences, they note, surveys show that the percentage of self-described Marxist professors is around 18%, or nearly double that of self-described Republicans...

Posted by David Gerstman on May 06, 2016 33 Comments
Perhaps the most famous person on the internet right now is Ben Rhodes, Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser. Rhodes is profiled in a The New York Times Magazine cover stroy that rips to shreds both the story line sold to the American public and the notion that we have independent media in the age of Obama. Rhodes' job was to message and ensure that the White House's narrative of the nuclear deal with Iran was the media's. Rhodes, in the profile written by David Samuels, displays no shame about his job; in fact he seems quite pleased with himself.

Posted by AACONS on May 06, 2016 0 Comments
Dana Perino is a Fox News Contributor and co-host of one of the most popular shows on cable television, The Five. Perino was the first Republican woman to serve as the White House Press Secretary, and served for over seven years in the administration of George W. Bush, including at the Department of Justice after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. She has recently released the paperback edition of her bestselling book, And The Good News Is: Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side. Dr. Sebastian L.v. Gorka is an American expert on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism and teachesirregular warfare. He is Breitbart's National Security Editor, founding member of the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs and member of the Strategic Advisers Group of the Atlantic Council of the United States. His new book is entitled, Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 05, 2016 2 Comments
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad confirmed he will sign a bill that will not allow public companies to do business with firms involved in Israel boycotts. Iowa's Senate passed House File 2331 last week in a 38-9 vote. The legislators hope the bill counters "efforts of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement." Palestinian groups began the movement in 2005 as a way to money and goods from Israel. "I just think it is wrong to be boycotting our friend and ally, Israel," declared Gov. Branstad. "There is a lot of opportunity for us to do business with them, and I don’t believe we ought to be penalizing Israel, of all countries. They are one of our best friends and allies. This is something I strongly support."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 05, 2016 7 Comments
If you spend any time reading propaganda from the anti-Israel movement, you will hear how Israel imprisons Palestinian "children," meaning anyone under the age of 18. Of course, many if not most of those children were participating in attacks on Israelis and are 15, 16 and 17 year olds who have both the power and the will to kill. One of the hallmarks of the so-called Knife Intifada is knife attacks perpetrated by young teens, with devastating effect. If you don't think a 13-year old with a knife is dangerous, than you have never been attacked by a 13-year old with a knife. One of those attacks by a Palestinian "child" killed Israeli mother Dafna Meir, in front of her children. We reported on the attack on January 17, 2016:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 05, 2016 16 Comments
Nanny staters are never content unless they impose their control freakishness on EVERYONE, apparently. Former New York City Mayor Bloomberg has meddled in several other states and municipalities endeavoring to pass soda bans (or coke bans, as we say in Texas where every carbonated beverage is a Coke of some kind). His latest project is Philadelphia. Bloomberg has donated an undisclosed amount of cash to Philadelphians for a Fair Future, a non-profit org dropping a whopping $825,000 into a sugary-drink tax campaign that launched Thursday.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 05, 2016 61 Comments
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Today, white people everywhere will drink generic Mexican beer and have no clue what they're celebrating. Historically, the day is a celebration of the Mexican army's defeat of French forces in the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War in 1862. Over the years the Americanized version is more a celebration of Mexican culture than anything else. Meanwhile in New York, presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, is celebrating the day with a Trump Tower taco bowl. taco time

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 05, 2016 2 Comments
NATO has accepted Israel's request to establish an office at the headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The decision went through because Turkey decided to stop opposing Israel's attempts at opening an office at NATO. A non-NATO country needs unanimous consent from all NATO members in order to collaborate with the organization.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on May 05, 2016 8 Comments
A leading German Islamist Sven Lau is standing trial for creating ‘Sharia Police’. In 2014, a group of young Muslim men under Lau’s commend took to the streets of Wuppertal enforcing Islamic law. The Higher District Court in Düsseldorf will hear the case against 36 year-old German convert Lau, who goes by is Muslim name of Abu Adam, for supporting a terrorist organisation. The group led by Lau is one of the many Islamist outfits presently active across Germany. Some 700 Germans have reportedly joined the ranks of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, including 29 former German army soldiers. The District Court in Wuppertal is also putting Lau and seven of his Sharia enforcers to trial for patrolling the city wearing unauthorised uniforms. If convicted, the Islamists could face fines or a prison sentence up to 2 years. It is doubtful if a proverbial slap on the wrist is going to prompt hardened Islamists of the Sharia Police to mend their ways.

Posted by Taryn O'Neill on May 05, 2016 44 Comments
As we've seen for months, the burning question thrown at Republican candidates around the nation has been, "Will you support Donald Trump if he's the nominee?" Democrats and media alike have worked to tie republican candidates to the newly declared presumptive GOP presidential nominee, who is arguably the most despised political candidate in modern U.S. history. Unfortunately, 24 GOP Senate seats are up for election in November, many of which the Democrats see as ripe for the plucking. Due in part to the Tea Party effect in 2010, the Democrats are only defending 10 seats. Even worse, as the Huffington Post points out, is the fact that 6 of the Republican senators are in states that President Obama won twice. The Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee has wasted little time, launching its "Party of Trump" campaign back in March. The effort seeks to scorn vulnerable Senate Republicans with their prior remarks, including those promising that they would support the Republican presidential nominee, whoever he or she turns out to be.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 05, 2016 26 Comments
A decidedly progressive student group at Cornell University called Black Students United has sent a letter to school administrators saying they want the entire faculty to undergo training in diversity and a host of other garden variety issues in identity politics. The Cornell Daily Sun has the story:
Cornell Black Students United to Submit Faculty Training Resolution to Student Assembly Black Students United will present a resolution prompting the Faculty Senate to examine how Cornell’s faculty members are educated in diversity issues at the Student Assembly’s meeting on Thursday. The resolution originated from one of the demands BSU delivered to Cornell’s administration last semester regarding faculty training, according to a BSU facebook post.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 04, 2016 109 Comments
Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. Presumably he will face off against Hillary Clinton. Given the intense feelings and turmoil resulting from Ted Cruz suspending his campaign, I thought it would be useful to solicit views from all of the Legal Insurrection authors. Most of the authors took me up on the offer. The opinions below, listed in alphabetical order by last name or pseudonym, are the opinions of each individual author. I think you will be surprised at the breadth of opinion, from someone who was for Trump long before it was cool to be for Trump, to diehard #NeverTrump-ers. And many variations in between. As for me. Well, you'll have to find my name in the list. Hopefully I did alphabetical order better than I do math.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 04, 2016 18 Comments
In the wake of Bernie Sanders' shock win in Indiana, and now substantially narrowed GOP field, the center of the Democratic Party's political universe is now California. Since there is currently a mere two point poll gap between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, every vote in this state is critical. So, both Clintons will be in California for various events over the next few weeks. Yesterday, I read that the former President would be in San Diego's Balboa Park Club for a speech. So I donned by Star Wars t-shirt (May the Fourth be with you) and attempted to blend in with Clinton fans for a on-scene report.
MORE POSTS
Accessibility by WAH