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May 2016

Posted by Miriam Elman on May 29, 2016 3 Comments
Scheduled from May 25th through June 3rd, Tel Aviv Pride is a week-long series of events that celebrate gay life. For over nearly two decades, it’s become one of the city’s most popular annual festivals. Tens of thousands of gay Israelis and LGBTQ tourists from around the world enjoy the extravaganza, which seems to get bigger and better each year with new events added and more people taking part. But for anti-Israel gay activists, Tel Aviv Pride is a means for discrediting the one state in the Middle East which actually treats its gay community with dignity and respect. Below I highlight the latest campaign to put Tel Aviv Pride Week into service for BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions).

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 29, 2016 9 Comments
Here at LI, we've been covering the current Hillary Clinton email scandal, but it seems this is not the first time she has engaged in hiding sensitive high level email communications.  As First Lady, Hillary was embroiled in an email controversy that was known as "Project X." The New York Post reports:
As first lady, Hillary was embroiled in another scheme to bury sensitive White House e-mails, known internally as “Project X.” In 1999, as investigators looked into Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate and other scandals involving the then-first lady, it was discovered that more than 1 million subpoenaed e-mails were mysteriously “lost” due to a “glitch” in a West Wing computer server. The massive hole in White House archives covered a critical two-year period — 1996 to 1998 — when Republicans and special prosecutor Ken Starr were subpoenaing White House e-mails.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 29, 2016 30 Comments
Newspapers face a range of problems from loss of public trust to loss of print readership to bankruptcy and collapse to transitioning to digital journalism.  The newspaper industry has lumbered, sometimes grudgingly, into the digital age and is still experimenting with ways to remain financially viable: web subscriptions (i.e. pay walls) and advertising are among the primary sources of online revenue. Online advertising, however, is not as viable as it might be for the newspaper industry due, they argue, to ad-blockers, and the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) has taken note.  The NAA, according to its website, is "a nonprofit organization representing nearly 2,000 newspapers and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and Canada. NAA members include daily newspapers, as well as nondailies, other print publications and online products." The Washington Post reports that the NAA has filed a federal suit against the ad blocking industry, "alleging that software companies which enable users to block ads are misleading the public."
The complaint asks the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the government agency that oversees trade practices, to investigate ad blockers that offer “paid whitelisting,” – a service which charges advertisers to bypass ad-blocking software – along with services that substitute ad blockers’ own advertising for blocked ads or get around publishers’ subscription pages.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 29, 2016 11 Comments
As Americans across the nation begin Memorial Day weekend with thoughts and prayers honoring our nation's fallen heroes, vandals defaced veteran memorials in California, Kentucky, and Virginia. ABC News reports:
Memorials to veterans in a Los Angeles neighborhood and a town in Kentucky, as well as a Civil War veterans cemetery in Virginia, were damaged as the nation prepares to mark Memorial Day, officials said. A Vietnam War memorial in the Venice area of Los Angeles has been extensively defaced by graffiti. The vandalism occurred sometime during the past week, KCAL/KCBS-TV (http://cbsloc.al/1RAa3mg) reported. The homespun memorial painted on a block-long wall on Pacific Avenue lists the names of American service members missing in action or otherwise unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. News of the vandalism came as another veterans-related memorial was reported damaged in Henderson, Kentucky. Police say a Memorial Day cross display there that honors the names of 5,000 veterans of conflicts dating back to the Revolutionary War has been damaged by a driver who plowed through the crosses early Saturday.

Posted by New Neo on May 29, 2016 97 Comments
Ever since it became obvious that Trump would win the GOP nomination (and even before that), we've had the phenomenon of GOP officeholders and/or former rival candidates jumping on the Trump train. Ben Carson was one of the first, but he certainly isn't the last, and the list includes people whose previous criticism of Trump had been remarkably bitter. The latest to support Trump is Marco Rubio, and many people are excoriating him for it (for example, see this from Allahpundit and this by Philip Klein; there are others). Here's an excerpt from the Klein piece, so you can get the flavor of it:
It’s one thing to begrudgingly argue that as dangerous as he thinks a Trump presidency would be, that he thinks a Clinton presidency would be even worse. But to actually say that he would be “honored” by the chance to speak on Trump’s behalf at the GOP convention, and to downplay his previously stated problems with Trump as mere “policy differences,” is to prove the Rubio skeptics right.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 29, 2016 18 Comments
Amid the cries of #NeverTrump on the right, some conservatives are saying they'll vote Libertarian in 2016. Even conservative pundit Mary Matalin has endorsed Libertarian candidate Austin Petersen. The favorite to win the nomination however, is former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson who made big news last week by selecting former Massachusetts Governor William Weld as his running mate. Having two successful Republican governors on the Libertarian ticket raised expectations in political media circles and the duo was immediately labeled a Libertarian dream ticket, yet a funny thing happened on the way to the nomination.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 28, 2016 7 Comments
As of now, I'm still planning on heading to Israel at the end of next week, though that could always change last minute. Family health issues seem under control at the moment, and I'm going with one of my daughters so I really didn't want to cancel if at all possible. I think I'll have some interesting perspectives, based on what's currently planned. As before, there will be an emphasis on security-related issues. I found this video, tweeted out by Becky Griffin, of interest. https://twitter.com/dorothyofisrael/status/736564981995606016 Here's the video:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 28, 2016 68 Comments
Earlier this week, I was mulling over whether to go to Donald Trump's rally with my teen son. Based on suggestions from friends and readers (thank you Valerie), I arranged for a security detail in the form of my fellow San Diego blogging group friend and former Green Beret, Barry C. Jacobsen. We headed down to the Convention Center to enjoy the full Donald Trump Experience! IMG_2576 One of the most intriguing aspects of my adventure is comparing what I actually saw to how the mainstream media is reporting it. Questing for some information about the rally, I noticed all the headlines focused on the protesters who assembled outside as if this were the only story:

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 28, 2016 8 Comments
The U.S. has investigated numerous naval officers over possible connections to a Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn "Fat Leonard" Francis, who bribed leaders with whiskey, prostitutes, and cash. A California court unsealed three indictments on Friday against three Naval soldiers to face charges of working with Fat Leonard. The courts already charged Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khiem Misiewicz, 48, with bribery and conspiracy. From The Los Angeles Times:
Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khiem Misiewicz, 48, pleaded guilty earlier to one charge of conspiracy and one charge of bribery. Prosecutors said that for nearly two years, he accepted gifts, travel, stays at fancy hotels and the services of prostitutes — all paid for by Leonard Glenn “Fat Leonard” Francis, the owner of a port servicing company that supplied Navy ships across the Pacific. In exchange, Misiewicz gave Francis confidential information on ship schedules for the U.S. 7th Fleet, for which he served as deputy operations officer in 2011 and 2012. He also used his influence to try to steer ships to ports in Asia that were controlled by Francis’ company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, prosecutors said.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 28, 2016 11 Comments
We've been covering the Hillary Clinton email scandal here at LI, and now it seems that the Obama administration is actively working to prevent her deposition. The Hill reports:
The Obama administration is trying to prevent former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from being deposed in an ongoing open records case connected to her use of a private email server. Late Thursday evening, the Justice Department filed a court motion opposing the Clinton deposition request from conservative legal watchdog Judicial Watch, claiming that the organization was trying to dramatically expand the scope of the lawsuit.
Judicial Watch is “seeking instead to transform these proceedings into a wide-ranging inquiry into matters beyond the scope of the court’s order and unrelated to the FOIA request at issue in this case,” government lawyers wrote in their filing, referring to the Freedom of Information Act. The Hill continues:
The lawyers wrote that the request to interview Clinton “is wholly inappropriate” before depositions are finished in a separate case also concerning the email server.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 28, 2016 19 Comments
In 2015, Kate Steile was killed by an illegal alien who had been deported five times prior to this crime and had a lengthy criminal record; San Francisco's status as a well-known sanctuary city is believed to have contributed to the senseless murder. Kate's relatives are now filing suit. Fox News reports:
Relatives of the woman shot to death on a San Francisco pier last year filed a lawsuit Friday saying the illegal immigrant accused in the killing should have been in custody if not for a series of mistakes by city and federal workers. . . . .  The sheriff at the time of the killing, Ross Mirkarimi, is named in the lawsuit, along with ICE and the Bureau of Land Management. Mirkarimi previously defended the release of the suspect, a repeat drug offender and habitual border-crosser. Frank Pitre, the lawyer for Steinle's family, said the lawsuit points out "failures at every level." "We're approaching the one year anniversary of Katie's death and it is a particularly difficult time for the family."

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 28, 2016 9 Comments
The socialist paradise of Venezuela is falling apart as panicked citizens suffer through shortages of food, toilet paper, electricity and other necessities. Bernie Sanders was recently interviewed on Univision and the host asked Bernie for his thoughts on the situation. Once again, leave it to someone in foreign media to ask a question no one in American journalism has thought to ask. Sanders clearly didn't like where the interview was going. NewsBusters reported:
Bernie Hits Bump on Univision: Speechless on Socialism’s Failures The Democrats’ socialist candidate for President of the United States, Bernie Sanders, was seriously tripped up this week in an interview with Univision’s León Krauze.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 28, 2016 9 Comments
If you've been watching Twitter for the last few days, you may have seen an ad floating around which features a bearded hipster asking if you're man enough to vote for Hillary. Unfortunately, the ad is fake. The Hill reports:
‘Man enough to vote for Hillary’ ad is fake An ad that asks voters whether they're "man enough" to vote for Hillary Clinton is not from Clinton's campaign, Jezebel reported Thursday. The ad — featuring the slogan “I am man enough to vote for a woman … Are you?” — has been shared on Twitter with the hashtag #ManEnough4Hillary. It also features one of the Democratic presidential candidate’s slogans, “I’m with her.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 27, 2016 8 Comments
Because I have been traveling, I'm late to this important development. In early April we reported how a State court judge throws out Wisconsin Right to Work Law in an absurd decision:
When conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley won the Wisconsin Supreme Court election last Tuesday, we pointed out how important that court has been in upholding union reforms. That may be tested again as Dane County Judge William Foust in Madison just threw out the state’s Right to Work law signed by Governor Walker a year ago. The decision was under the “takings” clause of the Wisconsin Constitution. As in an eminent domain case, the court found that the union’s interest in compulsory dues payments was property, that the property was taken by the right to work law for a public purpose, but without just compensation....

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 27, 2016 7 Comments
WARNING: You will need the Kleenex for this Kleenex ad, but it was too good not to share. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse, Renee, spends her shifts with babies that aren't expected to make it through the day, much less on to live full, happy, healthy lives. "These parents, they don't get to take their babies home," she says tearing up. "I feel like if I treat the babies like I would want somebody to treat my baby when I'm not there, that's the most important thing." Not all NICU stories end in loss. Renee's full heart and willingness to love on the frailest among us has impacted the lives of many families and children.
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