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July 2016

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 19, 2016 51 Comments
John Heilemann came up with a strange way to defend Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and to attack Melania Trump, for the plagiarism in speeches each of them gave. On today's Morning Joe, Heilemann argued that Biden and Obama's plagiarism wasn't as bad, because they ripped off fellow liberals: Neil Kinnock and Deval Patrick, respectively. In contrast, passages in Melania's speech came from a 2008 Michelle Obama speech. Per Heilemann, that made Melania, or the person who prepared those passages for her, a "moronic plagiarist." Heilemann omits one important thing: Melania is the wife of the candidate, for whom English is not even her second language. In contrast, at the time they gave their plagiarized speeches, Biden and Obama were presidential candidates themselves. They were almost certainly directly involved in the plagiarism.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 19, 2016 15 Comments
Barely 4 days after the deadly attack in Nice, France that killed 84 people and left more than 300 injured, Germany has been hit by a terrorist attack. A 17 year-old Afghan ‘refugee’ went on a stabbing spree inside a commuter train near the southern German city of Würzburg. According to eyewitnesses, the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he attacked passengers with knife and axe -- critically injuring four people. The attacker was killed by Special Forces just 500 meters from the crime scene, as he tried to flee. German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reports:
On Monday evening, a 17 year-old man injured 4 people critically and another one slightly in a commuter train. A man attacked passengers in the train, armed with a knife and an axe. After the train was stopped by the passengers in Heidingsfeld [near Würzburg], the 17 year-old escaped on foot. He was shot down by Special Forces as he tried to attack a police officer.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 19, 2016 21 Comments
Due to a tremendous need for security at the Republican convention this week, policemen from all over the country came to Cleveland to work the event. An arrangement was made to house many of these police at Case Western University, but students complained that they wouldn't feel safe with all those cops on campus. So the school cancelled all activity for the week. Campus Reform reported last week:
Cleveland students protest 'mere presence' of cops on campus for RNC Students at a Cleveland, Ohio college are petitioning to halt the billeting of riot police officers on campus during the Republican National Convention (RNC) next week.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on July 19, 2016 8 Comments
This could go down as the most egregious example of an MSM "anchor" groveling at the feet of a liberal activist . . . During MSNBC's coverage of the opening night of the Republican convention, Tavis Smiley complained that, unlike cop killers, "killer cops" are not called "vicious and despicable and cowardly and reprehensible." Brian Williams immediately piped up: "Tavis, if I appointed you president and you still refused to run we would have to appoint you." I'm guessing Williams meant to say "if I nominated you for president you and you refused to run we would have to appoint you." But in his obsequious excitement, poor Brian stumbled on his words. But we get it, Williams: there's nobody you'd rather see as president, even if it means overturning democracy and appointing him, than someone willing to call cops "vicious, despicable, cowardly and reprehensible."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 18, 2016 8 Comments
At group calling itself Atlanta is Ready (#ATLisREADY), aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement, recently issued a set of demands to the Mayor of Atlanta, including:
We demand a termination to APD’s involvement in the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program, that trains our officers in Apartheid Israel
The Mayor rejected the demand, finding that counter-terrorism training benefits the Atlanta Police Department's ability to protect Americans: You could chalk this incident up to just some isolated ploy by local activists, but that would be a mistake. Rather, there has been a multi-year effort by left-wing and Islamist anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and openly anti-Semitic activists to hijack racial tensions in the United States and redirect that anger towards Israel.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 18, 2016 22 Comments
Welcome to our live coverage of the the first night of this year's Republican National Convention! Primetime speeches kick off at 8:00 EST. Watch speakers live and see real time commentary from political media and LI authors.

The lineup:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 18, 2016 133 Comments
Chaos erupted on the Republican National Committee Floor Monday afternoon when a request for a roll call vote was denied by the party chair. The vote, which likely would've failed, would've unbound delegates, freeing them to vote their conscience. But the vote never happened. On the roll call vote's first introduction, the chair took a verbal vote, quickly decided the measure had failed, and attempted to move the convention forward. Delegates on the floor loudly protested. Well-known figures like Sen. Mike Lee and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli were involved in the floor fight. Meanwhile, the chairman and his compadres vacated the podium.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 18, 2016 4 Comments
The Louisiana State Police have confirmed that Gavin Long, 29, wanted to ambush and target law enforcement. He killed three cops on Sunday, leaving three injured:
“Our preliminary investigation shows that he definitely ambushed those officers,” Lt. J.B. Slaton, a public affairs commander for the Louisiana State Police, said Monday. “We are still trying to find out what his motive was, and that’s going to be part of our investigation. But we believe he was targeting those officers.”
https://twitter.com/Sabrinafox8news/status/755119787592691712

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 18, 2016 14 Comments
European Union commissioner Johannes Hahn told the media he believes President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made his purge list before the coup:
"It looks at least as if something has been prepared. The lists are available, which indicates it was prepared and to be used at a certain stage," Hahn said. "I'm very concerned. It is exactly what we feared."
The government has arrested more than 6,000 people, some who did not even know they participated in the coup. They claimed their commanders told them "they were taking part in military manoeuvres."

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 18, 2016 13 Comments
Instead of a protest, Black Lives Matter activists in Wichita, KS, joined their local police department for the First Steps Cookout to open dialogue and bring together the community. Both sides decided this was a better option, especially after police shootings in Dallas, TX, and Baton Rouge, LA. https://twitter.com/TrooperChadKHP/status/754832830287405056

Posted by Andrew Branca on July 18, 2016 96 Comments
[UPDATE: The official transcript of Judge Williams' decision has been embedded below. Thanks to commenter amwick.] Like a Baltimore State's Attorney version of the movie "Groundhog Day," the fourth of the Freddie Gray trials has once again failed to achieve a conviction on even a single charge, according to Baltimore Sun reporters Kevin Rector and Justin Fenton: Screen Shot 2016-07-18 at 10.37.54 AM This time Lt. Brian Rice was acquitted of charges involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. An assault-related charge of misconduct-in-office was dropped by prosecutors at the start of the trial and a charge of second-degree assault was dropped by Circuit Judge Barry Williams after the state rested. Previous Freddie Gray trials have resulted in one hung jury in the trial of Officer William Porter, and two bench trial acquittals in the cases of Officers Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson.  Still awaiting trial are Officer Garrett Miller and Sergeant Alicia White.  State prosecutors have also scheduled a re-trial of Officer Porter.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 18, 2016 12 Comments
Remember when the media told us the Nice, France, truck terrorist was just a lone wolf, a psycho with no allegiance to or motivation by either Islam or ISIS? Just a wild and crazy guy who happened to load up a truck with weapons and drive it through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day, killing several dozen people? Well, it's not turning out that way. The media's "lone wolf" appears to be part of a wolf pack. https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/754706681754447872 Even CNN can't hide the "radicalized" part of Mohamed Bouhlel, though it still presents him as being a depressed loser:

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 18, 2016 7 Comments
On Sunday, at 8:40AM, Gavin Long from Kansas City, MO, opened fire in Baton Rouge, LA, killing three officers and injuring three more. https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/754864528375029760

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on July 17, 2016 11 Comments
The Brexit vote that resulted in David Cameron stepping down has also prompted a range of apocolyptic fear-mongering that British trade would collapse. In fact, numerous countries are beginning to explore free trade deals with Britain after its EU exit.  With the 2019 date for Britain's exit from the EU looming, the United States and Australia have emerged "at the front of queue" to line up trade deals.  Such deals with just these two countries "alone could be worth billions of pounds to the British economy." Australia, in particular, sees the opportunity to open up trading with Britain as a "matter of urgency." The Guardian reports:
Australia has called for a free-trade deal with Britain as soon as possible, in a boost for the newly appointed prime minister, Theresa May. In a phone call on Saturday, May spoke to her Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, who expressed his desire to open up trading between the two countries as a matter of urgency.
For her part, May states her belief that these talks are important in terms of showing that Brexit can work out well for Britons.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on July 17, 2016 7 Comments
David Wolfe, a California resident, has created a video on his Facebook page showing the results of the Syrian civil war in "before" and "after" images has gone viral. Haaertz reports:

A video produced by Los Angeles resident David Wolfe showing the vast destruction since the outbreak of the civil war in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, has gone viral. Posted on Wolfe's Facebook fan page, it has been viewed more than 11 million times and shared around a quarter million times on Facebook.

The photos used to put the video together are from the Bored Panda website, which noted that vast toll in human lives and the physical damage in Aleppo since 2012, including the city's Old City, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 17, 2016 81 Comments
When the 2016 election cycle started, I had no dog in the GOP primary fight—I had already decided on #NeverHillary. However, as the primary season unfolded, I was very surprised that business tycoon and showman Donald Trump was decimating the field of very experienced politicos and conservative icons. I eventually became a supporter of Donald Trump after regularly reading the posts of Don Surber, who has been covering the truly inept reporting we have been treated to during the 2016 election cycle on his wonderfully entertaining blog. Surber, a recovering journalist with over 30 years of experience, was recently inspired to consolidate his many posts on the woefully inaccurate punditry concerning Trump's campaign for his new book: Trump the Press.

Posted by AACONS on July 17, 2016 0 Comments
Eric Bolling is a Fox News Channel personality and co-host of the highly rated show The Five and his own weekend program Cashin' In. He frequently appears on other Fox programs, including as substitute host for Bill O’Reilly on The O’Reilly Factor. His new book is entitled, Wake Up America: The Nine Virtues That Made Our Nation Great - And Why We Need Them More Than Ever. Phil Kerpen is the president of American Commitment and a leading free-market policy analyst and advocate in Washington. Prior to joining American Commitment, he was the principal policy and legislative strategist at Americans for Prosperity, and has worked at the Free Enterprise Fund, the Club for Growth, and the Cato Institute. Mr. Kerpen is also a nationally syndicated columnist, chairman of the Internet Freedom Coalition, and author of the 2011 book, Democracy Denied.
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