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May 2016

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 27, 2016 18 Comments
In case you're one of the holdouts not yet convinced the Idiocracy is upon is, here's a little story for you. Seventeen-Year-Old TJ Khayatan placed a pair of glasses on the gallery floor of San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art to test patron's responses. And well... yeah...

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 27, 2016 12 Comments
Supporters of Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders hopes the FBI swoops in and takes out front runner Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server. An inspector general report found that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broke State Department rules when she opted to use a private email server for work. The FBI has an open investigation against Clinton, which has puzzled some supporters of Sanders like Julie Crowell:
Like many of Mr. Sanders’s supporters, Ms. Crowell, 37, said she hoped that Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state would eventually yield an indictment, and she described it as the kind of transgression that would disqualify another politician seeking high office. “She should be removed,” said Ms. Crowell, of Tustin, Calif., who attended a Sanders rally here on Tuesday and said she planned to vote for a third-party candidate if Mr. Sanders failed to overtake Mrs. Clinton and capture the Democratic nomination. “I don’t know why she’s not already being told, ‘You can’t run because you’re being investigated.’ I don’t know how that’s not a thing.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 27, 2016 2 Comments
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) continues to take advantage of the migrant issue by blending their fighters and shipping them through Europe. Smuggler Abu Walid told CNN that ISIS has contacted people in his business in Libya in the past two months, offering up to $40,000 for 25 people. Libyan officials told the new outlet they have found ISIS members attempting to sneak into Europe disguised as migrants seeking a better life:
A senior Libyan military intelligence official in Misrata, Ismail Shukri, said that ISIS militants sought to disguise themselves by traveling with "their families, without weapons, as normal illegal immigrants." "They will wear American dress and have English language papers so they cause no suspicion."

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 27, 2016 17 Comments
Last fall, Yale sent out an email which encouraged students to show sensitivity in their choice of Halloween costumes. Erika Christakis, Associate Master of Silliman College responded to the email by reminding students of the importance of free expression. Her husband Nicholas Christakis, Master of Silliman College, defended his wife's email. My colleague Fuzzy Slippers covered the story at the time. Angry Yale students confronted Nicholas Christakis on campus and screamed at him, demanding that Yale must make them feel comfortable and safe on campus.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 27, 2016 20 Comments
Massachusetts Senator and progressive darling Elizabeth Warren has been very vocal in her criticisms of Donald Trump lately. Her latest line of attack was to accuse Trump of being an insecure money grubber. CBS News reported:
Elizabeth Warren trashes Trump as a "small, insecure money-grubber" Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, trashed Donald Trump Tuesday night, calling him a "small, insecure money-grubber" in light of his recently resurfaced comments where he "hoped" for a housing market crash.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 27, 2016 7 Comments
I have long sensed that the 2016 California primary would be very memorable. Kemberlee Kaye just reported that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders may debate ahead of the California primary, as Hillary Clinton declined to debate Sanders recently. Hillary Clinton may want to rethink the non-engagement approach that led to this development, as Sanders is now closing the gap in recent polling.
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll, conducted May 13 – 22 and released Wednesday, found: “Among Democratic primary likely voters, 46 percent support Clinton and 44 percent support Sanders. These voters include Democrats and independents who say they will vote in the Democratic primary. Clinton has a slight lead over Sanders among registered Democrats (49% to 41%)."

Posted by AACONS on May 27, 2016 0 Comments
Bryan Caplan is a professor of economics at George Mason University, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center, an adjust scholar at the Cato Institute, and a blogger for EconLog. He is the author of Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids and The Myth of the Rational Voter. George Gilder is the author of 18 books including the classic Wealth and Poverty which lead him to be called President Reagan’s most quoted living author. He is a founding fellow of the Discovery Institute and a senior fellow at the American Principles Project. His latest book is entitled, The Scandal of Money: Why Wall Street Recovers But the Economy Never Does.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 26, 2016 18 Comments
Will there be any person less missed than Harry Reid? As much as anyone else, he is responsible for the poisonous politics in D.C., and he has caused generational damage to the country. Tom Cotton gave him a proper send off in this, Reid's last term in the Senate. More from our Harry Reid archives.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 26, 2016 62 Comments
My husband Jeff and I are thrilled to announce that our family will have a new addition this fall. Sometime around October 4th our family will have another baby girl. Just in time for the election!

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 26, 2016 8 Comments
Canadian Ambassador to Ireland Kevin Vickers to the rescue again! He tackled a protestor who attempted to interrupt a memorial service in Dublin. The name should ring a bell since Vickers shot gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau in 2014 when he ambushed Parliament Hill. Vickers served as the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms at the time.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 26, 2016 1 Comment
Portuguese intelligence officers have decided to search for other moles after they discovered one of their own passed NATO secrets to Russia. Italian police arrested Frederico Carvalhão, a senior officer in Portugal's SIS intelligence service, along with an alleged Russian SVR intelligence agent. However, SIS believe others helped Carvalhão extract confidential and sensitive information. The Telegraph reports:
Augusto Santos Silva, the Portuguese foreign minister, confirmed on Wednesday that there was “an ongoing judicial investigation” into the case. The focus is believed to be on discovering who helped Mr Carvalhão extract top-secret documents from Ameixoeira Fort, the SIS headquarters in Lisbon. The use of USB sticks is prohibited inside Ameixoeira, access to all printed documents is registered and those classified as secret have an invisible watermark to allow for the detection of anyone who has removed them. Yet Mr Carvalhão was allegedly caught while handing over six "top secret" documents covering Nato defence systems, the communication infrastructure between member countries and military bases.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 26, 2016 18 Comments
Bernie Sanders agreed to debate his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, in a Fox News-hosted debate. Not surprisingly, Hillary declined. But what about a Sanders/Trump debate? On Jimmy Kimmel Live Wednesday night, Trump said he was open to the idea of debating Sanders, provided a network paid them for their time and those remunerations went to charity. "If I debated him [Sanders] we would have such high ratings and I think we should take that money and give it to some worthy charity," said Trump.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on May 26, 2016 25 Comments
What could be seen as the final act in Venezuela’s worsening economic crisis, the Latin American country has begun selling its remaining gold reserves. Just three year after the death of its socialist leader, Venezuela -- once a leading oil producer -- is on the verge of bankruptcy. It is yet another 'miracle of socialism' that a country with the world's largest oil reserves can go almost broke. Venezuela's total oil reserves stand at an estimated 296.5 billion barrels, which is higher than Saudi Arabia’s 265.4 billion barrels. But the cash-strapped country is struggling to get investments and technical expertise to convert its oil reserves into revenue. Socialist leader Hugo Chávez got elected as country’s President in 1999 and introduced the ideology of “Socialism of the 21st Century”. Chávez enacted a new constitution, taking control of the state and the economy to carry out his “socialist revolution”.

Posted by Andrew Branca on May 26, 2016 44 Comments
It looks like at least two of the Freddie Gray defendants have decided to go on the offensive. According to reporting by the Baltimore Sun, Sergeant Alicia White and Officer William Porter have each filed suit against State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby for defamation and invasion of privacy.  Also named in the suit is Major Sam Cogen with the Baltimore Sheriff's Office and the State of Maryland itself. The Baltimore Sun report notes:
Mosby, who announced the charges one day after receiving the official police investigation into the incident, said that she had conducted her own independent investigation with the help of the sheriff's office. Cogen signed and filed the initial charging documents in the case, outlining the state's probable cause.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 26, 2016 40 Comments
This Friday, I had planned to take my teen son to the Donald Trump rally at our Convention Center. I am now mulling over a change of plans, due to the level of organized leftist violence that has targeted the presumptive Republican presidential candidate and his campaign. The anger, derision, and chaos directed at Trump supporters and the security teams at the event in Albuquerque was absolutely astounding. Four arrests have been made (with more likely to occur soon), and the city cleaning crews are still mopping destruction left in the wake of Wednesday night’s protests.
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