Image 01 Image 03

August 2016

A week before the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in September, the Clinton Global Initiative is holding an event which will be attended by many of Hillary's favorite one percenters. Democrats are concerned because the optics of this will play right into Trump's narrative about Hillary being an entrenched DC insider and influence peddler. Politico reports:
Democrats fret over timing of Clintons’ charity fete Hundreds of corporate executives, foreign dignitaries and celebrities will pile into a Manhattan ballroom to hobnob with Bill and Chelsea Clinton next month at their charity’s keynote annual event — just days before Hillary Clinton defends herself against pay-to-play accusations from Donald Trump in their first debate.

The "Movement for Black Lives," a coalition of approximately 50 Black Lives Matter groups, recently issued a policy platform which raised issues such as mass incarceration, policing, and other issues of importance. Yet in that platform were included deranged libelous accusations against one and only one foreign country - Israel. That section of the platform was not surprising to anyone who has been paying attention to our coverage of how anti-Israel activists methodically and deliberately set out years ago to stoke racial tension against Israel by falsely accusing Israel of being responsible for local police shootings of blacks in the U.S. That effort went into overdrive during the Ferguson riots after the Michael Brown shooting in the summer of 2014. Since then, redirecting the U.S. Black Lives Matters movement to turn it as a weapon against Israel has been a top priority for anti-Israel activists, including those working under the banner of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Bassem Masri Ferguson Resistance is in our blood The platform language against Israel was a milestone in that effort, putting the Black Lives Matter movement in the position of accusing Israel of the Crimes Against Humanity of Genocide and Apartheid. But in order to do that, those terms had to be redefined in ways that are applied to no one else.

As Germany's Angela Merkel faces increasing pressure regarding her nation's security, the German government has issued a civil defense report addressing the role the German people are to play. Reuters reports:
For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the German government plans to tell citizens to stockpile food and water in case of an attack or catastrophe, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported on Sunday. Germany is currently on high alert after two Islamist attacks and a shooting rampage by a mentally unstable teenager last month. Berlin announced measures earlier this month to spend considerably more on its police and security forces and to create a special unit to counter cyber crime and terrorism.

The rise of Donald Trump has divided the GOP more than ever, leading many to worry if the party could maintain their majority in Congress whether he wins or loses the presidency. The Democrats have noticed and now Politico reports that Hillary Clinton plans to raise $1 billion to defeat the vulnerable GOP members of Congress:
The new concern inside the highest levels of Republican politics is that Hillary Clinton will raise $1 billion for Democrats and the party will train some of their efforts -- and that money -- on defeating House and Senate Republicans. Party leaders privately concede that the Senate could be lost either way. But senior House Republicans say they’re in good shape across the country, and see no evidence that the control of the chamber is in play.

Though its certainly not getting the same or even similar coverage as Hurricane Katrina, massive swaths of Southeast Louisiana are under water. To appreciate just how severe the flooding is, take a look at these before and after shots compiled by the BBC:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a suicide bomber aged between 12-14 murdered 51 people at a wedding late Saturday night in Gazientep, which is located only 60 miles north of Aleppo, Syria. He also said the authorities believe the Islamic State was behind the terrorist attack:
"The initial findings of the governor and our police forces indicate the attack has been perpetrated by Daesh," said Erdogan, using another term for the terror group.
Mahmut Tagrul, lawmaker with the Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, said the majority "of the victims that died were children."

Judicial Watch has tried for years to get records of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin's employment outside of the State Department, which has led to questions about Clinton's private email server. The watchdog group has continuously received her emails from her time as Secretary of State, but overall the group does not believe Hillary has ever provided a justified answer as to why she used this server. Now, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Federal District Court in Washington put Judicial Watch a step closer by telling Hillary she must provide written testimony under oath, also known as interrogatories, about her private email server in connection to Judicial Watch's lawsuit.

Students at Germany’s leading academic institution, the University of Leipzig, have passed a resolution rejecting the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and calling it anti-Semitic. According to a copy of the resolution obtained by the Legal Insurrection from the Facebook pages of student groups, Leipzig University’s Student Council declared the BDS movement as being blatantly anti-Semitic, saying “even the basic aim of the BDS movement, the complete boycott of the State of Israel, fits seamlessly with the anti-Semitic campaigns of past centuries, and explicitly with that of the National Socialism; Nazi slogan “Don’t Buy From the Jews” is once again being expressed here.” [lines 109-112] The resolution passed by the Leipzig University’s Student Council earlier this month declares [author's translation]:

We previously wrote about the terrorist shooting attack that killed father of 10 Rabbi Miki Mark, and injured his wife and several of his children who were in the vehicle, Palestinian War of Terror – Israeli father of 10 murdered in front of his family. MichaelMark1 We followed up when the Hamas cell responsible for the attack was captured, and its leader killed when he engaged in a firefight, IDF brings the roof down on Hamas murderer of Rabbi Miki Mark – literally. When the shooting took place the vehicle turned over in the road, and the occupants were left bloody and wounded.

Here at LI, we've been covering the various attempts by the left to use global warming climate change as an excuse for everything from a falsely predicted "bee-pocalypse" to #Brexit to the rise of ISIS (or is that vice versa?). Bored with pointing out how climate change is responsible for everything bad in the world, some progressives have switched over to urging population control in the name of their "settled" science.  This time it's not an intellectual exercise, it's being "taught" by Johns Hopkins' Travis Rieder. NPR reports:
Standing before several dozen students in a college classroom, Travis Rieder tries to convince them not to have children. Or at least not too many. He's at James Madison University in southwest Virginia to talk about a "small-family ethic" — to question the assumptions of a society that sees having children as good, throws parties for expecting parents, and in which parents then pressure their kids to "give them grandchildren." Why question such assumptions? The prospect of climate catastrophe.

My newest assignment at the consulting firm I work for focuses on marketing and client development. My recent reading and experiences have given me many great tips and tricks. However, embarrassing customers because of their politics is not among the recommendations I have seen. Yet, Lady Grey Jewelry thought that it was smart business to send Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald Trump and enthusiastic advocate for her father, a snark-filled "thank you" note along with her web-order.

Last fall, Louisiana State University (LSU) reached out to University of South Carolina (USC) when their state had epic floods, offering them space and transferring their home stadium into USC's home stadium. Now USC has decided to return the favor as Louisiana faces historical flooding that has killed 13 people:
"LSU was so gracious to assist us in our time of need," South Carolina president Harris Pastides said in a statement. "Now it is our turn to help our SEC friends. I encourage all Gamecocks to drop off items needed for the Baton Rouge flood relief."

I reported that the rains that hit Louisiana last week produced a "500 year flood" of epic proportions. This week, the southern part of the state is still reeling from the storm's devastating impact.
Approximately 280,000 people live in the areas that flooded, according to an analysis released Friday by the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. In those flood-affected areas are 110,000 homes worth a combined $20.7 billion and more than 7,000 businesses — about one in every five businesses in the region — that together employ more than 73,000 people.
Now, after giving an inspiring and presidential campaign speech in North Carlonia, GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump flew to the state to offer support, meet with officials, and hand-out supplies.

A young woman who is a Republican apparently tried to infiltrate the Russ Feingold campaign but she was sniffed out through profiling. Aren't Democrats against that sort of thing? Ashe Schow reports at the Washington Examiner:
Feingold campaign outs an infiltrator by profiling her A young Republican attempted to infiltrate the Russ Feingold campaign but was quickly discovered. The reason she first raised suspicion, however, appeared to be due to profiling.

Earlier this week, we highlighted the case of a sailor in the U.S. Navy who was being prosecuted for using his phone to take pictures in a nuclear submarine. His lawyer cited Hillary Clinton as a defense. At the time, I said:
Cases like these highlight the growing feeling among many Americans that there are two sets of rules in this country and that some people are above the law if they have the right connections.
Unfortunately for the sailor, the Clinton defense didn't work. U.S. News and World Report has the story: