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July 2016

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 22, 2016 5 Comments
It looks like British Prime Minister Theresa May has become the next Margaret Thatcher as she dominated her first Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs). She said:
You refer to me as the second woman Prime Minister, in my years here in this House I've long heard the Labour Party asking what the Conservative Party does for women - well, just keep making us Prime Minister.
Then she railed against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 22, 2016 29 Comments
The Munich police have an 18-year-old German-Iranian male shot and killed eight people today. He killed himself afterwards and they do not have a motive. https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/756646211738828800 https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/756647504335216648

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 22, 2016 10 Comments
Japan's Funai Electronics announced they will stop building VCRs this month. They have trouble finding the parts to build the machines:
"We are the last manufacturer... in all of the world," the company said in a statement, which cited sales of just 750,000 in 2015. That's down by millions from the video cassette player's heyday.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 22, 2016 29 Comments
The NBA has decided to move their February 19 All-Star Game out of North Carolina due to the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Bill. The league stated:
"Since March, when North Carolina enacted HB2 and the issue of legal protections for the LGBT community in Charlotte became prominent, the NBA and the Charlotte Hornets have been working diligently to foster constructive dialogue and try to effect positive change. We have been guided in these discussions by the long-standing core values of our league. These include not only diversity, inclusion, fairness and respect for others but also the willingness to listen and consider opposing points of view.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 22, 2016 74 Comments
Donald Trump's acceptance speech last night was a hit with viewers, as Yahoo News reported:
The majority of viewers who watched Donald Trump's speech to the Republican National Convention on Thursday night said it made them more likely to vote for him in November, according to a CNN/ORC instant poll. The poll found that 56% of speech viewers were more likely to vote for the New York businessman after seeing him formally accept the Republican nomination. 32% of viewers said his speech had little effect on them, and 10% said it made them less likely to cast their vote for Trump in November. Overall, 57% of viewers said they had a "very positive" reaction to Trump's speech. Meanwhile, 18% said they were "somewhat positive" and 24% said it had a "negative effect."

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 22, 2016 15 Comments
Last month, we blogged about a 2-year-old who was killed by an alligator at the man-made Seven Seas Lagoon located across the lake from the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld. The family of the toddler, Lane Graves, has opted to build a foundation in their son's name rather than sue Disney.
"Melissa and I are broken. We will forever struggle to comprehend why this happened to our sweet baby, Lane," Matt and Melissa Graves said in a statement Wednesday. "As each day passes, the pain gets worse, but we truly appreciate the outpouring of sympathy and warm sentiments we have received from around the world."

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 22, 2016 6 Comments
The newest video from Prager University is hosted by Dennis Prager himself and is as entertaining as it is enlightening. For the subject, Prager examines the differences between socialism and capitalism with an eye to the stereotype propagated by many on the left that capitalism makes people selfish.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 21, 2016 154 Comments
I just sent this in for Morning Insurrection. (If you don't subscribe, you should here.) "TRUMP SPEECH - It was very good. Controlled, focused, full of 'red meat' for people left behind in the economy. And it was controlled. Did I say controlled? Of course, I'm writing this as the speech is nearing the end, and he hasn't hit Twitter yet. But in the moment, it's possible to believe that he has a message that may resonate." https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/756336349146382336 Some highlights:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 21, 2016 9 Comments
Immediately after the terrorist attack by Mohamed Bouhlel in Nice, France, we were told he was a lone wolf, a guy "recently radicalized," suffering from depression, with no connection to Islamists or ISIS, a guy who just went crazy and drove his truck through a crowd. It was all BS, meant to deflect from the Islamic motivation and ties to terror networks. The cracks began to show when it was learned Bouhlel was texting with others shortly before the attack and several possible accomplices were arrested several days ago, *Shocked* – Nice truck terrorist maybe wasn’t a “lone wolf” after all. Now we can put all the "lone wolf" stuff to rest, as well as the "recently radicalized" excuses. France 24  reports, Nice truck killer had support, accomplices for carefully planned attack:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 21, 2016 32 Comments
Welcome to our live coverage of the final night of this year's Republican National Convention! Primetime speeches kick off at 7:10 EST. Watch speakers live and see real time commentary from political media and LI authors. I'll be updating throughout the evening as the situation warrants. Full speeches can be found beneath the Twitter feeds as they're available.

The lineup:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 21, 2016 2 Comments
Yesterday I asked the question, in light of the academic purge in Turkey, Will anti-Israel academic boycotters now also boycott Turkish universities? As noted in that post, over 250 university presidents and major university associations have condemned the academic boycott of Israel. In particular, the December 2013 adoption of the academic boycott of Israel by the American Studies Association was condemned as violation of academic freedom. Read the dozens and dozens of statements describing how the ASA has violated academic freedom here.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 21, 2016 9 Comments
Rumors that Roger Ailes was asked to vacate his position as Chairman and Chief Executive of Fox News were confirmed today when Ailes officially resigned. The New York Times reports:
Roger Ailes stepped down on Thursday as chairman and chief executive of Fox News, ending a 20-year reign as head of the cable network he built into a ratings juggernaut and an influential platform for Republican politics.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 21, 2016 6 Comments
The Turkish parliament has formally approved a three month state of emergency after a failed coup last Friday. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promises its needed to protect Turkey's democracy:
“The aim is to rapidly and effectively take all steps needed to eliminate the threat against democracy, the rule of law and the people’s rights and freedoms,” Mr. Erdogan said.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 21, 2016 9 Comments
Baton Rouge shooter Gavin Long described killing cops as a "necessary evil" and talked about taking action against law enforcement in his manifesto:
In the letter, Long said he expected people who knew him wouldn't believe he would commit "such horrendous acts of violence." He wrote that he viewed his actions as necessary to "create substantial change within America's police force."

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 21, 2016 13 Comments
“German problems are rarely German problems alone,” wrote German philosopher Ralf Dahrendorf once. German problems tragically tend to engulf the rest of world as well. The two Great Wars of the 20th century have been no exception. As European civilisation, having overcome Nazism and Communism in the last century, faces another existential threat in form of Radical Islam, this maxim might again holds some truth. The European migrant crisis that started last year was result of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s single-handedly scrapping of the EU asylum laws and the opening of the Schengen Borders. Chancellor Merkel’s actions might have been met with disbelief or even anger in some European capitals, but she got strong backing from Brussels’ bureaucracy, and from Germany's political and cultural elites.
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