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July 2016

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 11, 2016 14 Comments
What America really needs is move over-criminalization of the innocuous, or at least that's what the 9th Circuit seems to think. Though this is nothing new, the 9th Circuit's latest opinion reiterated the awful bastardization of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Meant to be an anti-hacking act, the CFAA could be broadly interpreted to view all unauthorized database access as prosecutable.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 11, 2016 25 Comments
Facts don't matter in the Black Lives Matter movement. Trayvon Martin's shooting planted the seeds for the movement. Contrary to popular myth, Trayvon was not unlawfully shot and killed by George Zimmerman. The trial evidence was overwhelming that Trayvon attacked Zimmerman with a punch to the nose and when shot was on top of Zimmerman beating him Mixed Martial Arts style, having smashed his head into concrete. Moreover, the racial narrative was false, a perception caused by a deceptive NBC audio edit and false interpretation of audio in which Zimmerman supposedly uttered a racial slur, and amplified by activists and family lawyers. Michael Brown's death directly launched the movement and took it national. Brown, however, wasn't shot "hands up, don't shoot" but because he sucker punched a cop sitting in his vehicle and tried to steal the cop's gun. [Ferguson PO Darren Wilson injuries caused when Michael Brown sucker punched him while trying to grab gun] [Ferguson PO Darren Wilson injuries caused when Michael Brown sucker punched him while trying to grab gun] These seminal events of the Black Lives Matter narrative were lies.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 11, 2016 6 Comments
Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom dropped out of the race for prime minister on Monday morning, leaving Home Secretary Theresa May as the only candidate left standing. Current Prime Minister David Cameron said he will leave on Wednesday since there is no need for an election. The Conservative Party officially named May as his successor:
"Obviously, with these changes, we now don't need to have a prolonged period of transition. And so tomorrow I will chair my last cabinet meeting. On Wednesday I will attend the House of Commons for prime minister's questions. And then after that I expect to go to the palace and offer my resignation. So we will have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening," Cameron told reporters outside 10 Downing Street on Monday.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 11, 2016 3 Comments
Five Dallas cops lost their lives protecting citizens in Dallas during a Black Lives Matter protest. The victims included veterans, husbands, and fathers. The killings were the deadliest attack on police since September 11, 2001. Their coworkers and family members remember them as "caring, dedicated and professional." https://twitter.com/9NEWS/status/751523111288315905

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 11, 2016 17 Comments
A leaked police document shows that 2,000 men assaulted over 1,200 women across Germany on New Year's Eve. The police have only caught 120 suspects. Foreigners make up the majority of suspects, which shows that the increase of refugees and migrants is linked to the rising sexual assault and rape cases across the European Union. Germany added stricter rape laws due to the influx.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 11, 2016 31 Comments
It's the Donald Trump veep sweepstakes! Step right up and take your pick . . . The Morning Joe crew had fun playing the game this morning. Mark Halperin pushed Indiana governor Mike Pence, saying he was someone that people would look at and say he was a responsible choice. Harold Ford, Jr. suggested a general, to shore up Trump's military credentials—and retired General Mike Flynn's name has been floated. Mika Brzezinski, without naming names, pushed hard for someone with foreign policy experience. Finally, Joe Scarborough made the case for Chris Christie as a tough, reliable campaigner: someone who is "not going to embarrass you and chances are pretty good he's going to embarrass the other side."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 10, 2016 17 Comments
Long ago, I foresaw that Hillary Clinton eventually would have to come to grips with her Max Blumenthal problem. That problem was that Max's toxic anti-Israel politics would become a political liability Hillary could not ignore despite her affection for and affliction with Max's father, Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal. On May 19, 2015, I wrote that Hillary has a Blumenthal Problem – Two of Them:
I knew that Hillary was going to have a Blumenthal problem for her 2016 campaign. But I expected that the problem would be Max Blumenthal, son of close Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal. Max, the virulently anti-Israel activist, has been the subject of much controversy because of his penchant for vituperative and outlandish attacks on Israel, not the least of which was his call for Israeli Jews to be indigenized after the end of the Jewish state. See our Max Blumenthal Tag for some background.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on July 10, 2016 20 Comments
Given what we know about the Dallas sniper, it's clear to most of us what his motive was in shooting and killing five officers.  As Mary noted, not only did he tell the police negotiator that he wanted to kill "white people, especially white police officers," but he was also inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and had a long history of not respecting authority.  He was also noted to have gone "all Black Panther" and to have been hording bomb-making materials and an assortment of weapons, presumably for some future plans he may have had. Nonetheless, one prominent progressive with a history of promoting the Black Lives Matter movement is completely confused by and uncertain about the sniper's motives.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on July 10, 2016 12 Comments
As I've previously noted, Hillary's current email scandal echoes the '90's Project X scandal in which she was also involved in hiding sensitive high level email communications.  That's not the only echo from the past:  prosecutors during the Clinton presidency weighed whether or not to charge Hillary with a crime.  They even went so far as to draw up an indictment. The Washington Post reports:
While history remembers the 1990s probe led by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr for its pursuit of President Bill Clinton over the possibility he had lied under oath about his relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky, internal documents from the inquiry show how close prosecutors came to filing charges at that time against Hillary Clinton. They even drew up a draft indictment for Clinton, which has never been made public. At issue then was legal work Clinton had performed in the 1980s while an attorney at Little Rock’s Rose Law Firm on behalf of Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan, which was owned by a business partner of the Clintons who was later convicted of fraud in connection with bad loans made by the thrift. Clinton said that her legal work was minimal and that she was unaware of the wrongdoing at Madison Guaranty.
Prosecutors, according to WaPo, weighed the likelihood of a conviction based on Hillary's then-status as First Lady.
The released records include a memo, written by Starr’s team, summarizing the evidence against Clinton. The prosecutors noted that she made numerous sworn statements between January 1994 and February 1996 that they thought “reflected and embodied materially inaccurate stories.”

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on July 10, 2016 39 Comments
Retired Lt. General Michael Flynn and the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency is reported to be on Trump's short list for the vice presidential slot. General Flynn was forced out of the DIA in 2014 amid rumors that his "management style" was "chaotic." The Washington Post reported at the time:
Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn is expected to end his tenure as DIA director this summer, about a year before he was scheduled to depart, according to officials who said Flynn faced pressure from Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. and others in recent months . . . . . . . . Flynn, who served as a top intelligence adviser to Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Iraq and Afghanistan, arrived at the DIA in July 2012 vowing to accelerate the agency’s overhaul. Asked after a public speech how he would treat employees reluctant to embrace his agenda, Flynn said he would “move them or fire them.” He drafted a blueprint that called for sending more employees overseas, being more responsive to regional U.S. military commanders, and turning analysts’ attention from the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan to a broader array of emerging national security threats.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 10, 2016 23 Comments
In January 2016, I reported how an Ithaca (NY) Black Lives Matter rally over the death of Sandra Bland and others set up a procedure to segregate speakers by race, with "people of color" being given priority over whites, At anti-racism rally, Whites allowed to speak only after People of Color:
We ask that people of color who would like to bring written statements/speeches to address the ralley [sic] please let us know below so that we can add you to the list of schedueled speakers. There will be an open speak-out afterwards for those who just want to speak. Please be sure to bring warm clothing. Please also be sure to bring any signs or pictures of thoes affected by police brutality. We will meet at the center of the commons at 1pm. Disclaimer: If you are a reporter at this event we will not be answering any questions. Disclaimer: If you are a white person at this event note that the voices of people of color will take precedence in rally space.
Ithaca Protest Sandra Bland FB Page comment white people welcome

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 09, 2016 4 Comments
I originally set out to write this post two weeks ago. June 25, to be precise, as part of my ongoing chronicling of the lives and deaths of Israeli victims of Palestinian terror. But then there were two high profile terror attacks, the stabbing death of 13-year old Hallel Yaffa Ariel as she slept in her bed; and the shooting attack on a family car, killing father-of-ten children Michael "Miki" Mark in front of his wife and some of his children. Writing about those attacks and others, and the fall out -- including how the mother of the murderer of the 13-year old said she was proud of her son -- kept me from finishing this post, the first draft of which was June 23. It's a sad sign of the times. I can't keep up with the number and pace of deadly Palestinian attacks, one more horrible than the next. This post is about victims of Palestinian terror Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin, who were shot to death in front of their children on October 1, 2015:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 09, 2016 128 Comments
Suspension of disbelief is the term that came to mind when I watched FBI Director James Comey's decision to recommend no charges against Hillary. As Comey went through the litany of Hillary's misdeeds, lies, defalcations of duty, extreme carelessness, cunning and risks to national security, Comey made the case for any of a series of charges against Hillary. Then, with the reputation of the FBI about to be vindicated, Comey dropped the dreaded "however." In House testimony, Comey again confirmed every factual point demanding prosecution, yet defended his decision not to recommend charges because he was treating Hillary just like he would any other citizen. Can anyone seriously claim, as Comey has, that Hillary was treated as any other citizen would? It's laughable and requires the suspension of disbelief. Either Comey is the dumbest person on earth, or he thinks we are.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 09, 2016 15 Comments
Officials have revealed that Micah Johnson, who shot five cops in Dallas, sexually harassed a female soldier in Afghanistan. Before dying, Johnson told the cops he wanted to kill white officers. Johnson served as a private first class in the Army Reserve for six years. But while serving in Afghanistan in 2014, a female soldier accused him of sexual harassment when he allegedly bought her items from Victoria's Secret. She asked her superiors for a restraining order:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on July 09, 2016 35 Comments
In the wake of the horrifying and incomprehensible shootings in Dallas that left four police officers and one rapid transit officer dead and another seven people wounded, Heather MacDonald appeared on Rush's radio show. She shared statistics and asserted that the entire Black Lives Matter movement is "based on a lie." MacDonald, you may recall, made similar points on a radio podcast interview that we posted at Legal Insurrection about the Black Lives Matter movement and the threat they pose to our nation’s police officers. In that interview, MacDonald "spoke out against the crippling influence that the “Black Lives Matter” movement is having on the quality of life in the very neighborhoods where the protests are taking place":
I think this is an even more extreme example of the way this country deals with race and policing, which is to talk fanatically about police in order not to talk about the far more difficult problem of black crime.
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