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September 2016

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 02, 2016 39 Comments
The FBI has released its notes from the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server after numerous media outlets put in Freedom of Information Act requests. Everyone became curious over the fact that the FBI did not recommend charges against Hillary. The FBI interviewed Hillary for 3.5 hours on July 2 at its headquarters in DC. Three days later, Comey announced his shocking decision, despite listing all the ways Clinton and her aides were careless with classified materials on her private email server. For example, she had NO IDEA how to classify information. https://twitter.com/mchastain81/status/771780184038969344

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 02, 2016 18 Comments
As a Jesuit institution, Georgetown may technically be a Catholic school but it is decidedly progressive in its politics. The school also has a slavery related stain in its past for which it is now trying to atone. CBS News in Washington, DC reports:
Georgetown to Give Slave Descendants Priority for Admission Georgetown University will give preference in admissions to the descendants of slaves owned by the Maryland Jesuits as part of its effort to atone for profiting from the sale of enslaved people.

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 02, 2016 8 Comments
Dang, Hillary. No matter how hard you try a lie cannot become the truth because Judicial Watch keeps producing emails that shows deep ties between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department during your tenure as secretary of state. This time, the Hillary emails show that Clinton Foundation donors and officials sought diplomatic passports from her, Hillary talking about a foundation meeting in Ireland, and a major donor setting up an interview with a journalist friend. The watchdog group reported this batch included 37 emails that the State Department never received. So far Judicial Watch has uncovered 228 new emails not part of the 55,000 Clinton sent to the department.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 02, 2016 5 Comments
Shimon Dotan, a prominent Israeli filmmaker who also is on the faculty of New York University, was disinvited from a conference on "The Place of Religion in Film" to be held at Syracuse University next year. The conference is co-sponsored by the University of Nebraska, which extended an invitation to Dotan to show his film, "The Settlers," at the conference. The invitation was nixed in an email from Syracuse University Professor Gail Hamner. You can read the full email in our prior post, Israeli filmmaker disinvited at Syracuse U: “BDS faction on campus will make matters very unpleasant”. Here is the key wording for the email (emphasis added):
I now am embarrassed to share that my SU colleagues, on hearing about my attempt to secure your presentation, have warned me that the BDS faction on campus will make matters very unpleasant for you and for me if you come. In particular my film colleague in English who granted me affiliated faculty in the film and screen studies program and who supported my proposal to the Humanities Council for this conference told me point blank that if I have not myself seen your film and cannot myself vouch for it to the Council, I will lose credibility with a number of film and Women/Gender studies colleagues. Sadly, I have not had the chance to see your film and can only vouch for it through my friend and through published reviews.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 02, 2016 28 Comments
I lived and worked in Mexico at the beginning of my career. Loved the country, the people, the culture. Was offered a permanent position. Tempting, but couldn't do it for one key reason: the absolutely endemic corruption. From the "policeman" on the corner shaking you down for an illusory infraction right up to the president, corruption and deceit were ingrained. A person would have to be dangerously naive to take as gospel the word of the Mexican president. Enter Hillary Clinton. Morning Joe today aired her latest ad in which she claims that Donald Trump was caught "lying" when he said he didn't discuss payment for the wall during his meeting with Mexican President Peña Nieto. Hillary's proof? A subsequent statement by the Mex prez that he was "clear and emphatic" that Mexico won't pay for the wall. What other statements by what other Third World leaders will Hillary—naively and uncritically—take at face value?

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 01, 2016 44 Comments
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has a reputation of leveraging legal force against anyone who speaks detrimentally of himself or his family. The Daily Mail posted an article about Melania Trump's racy photoshoots, visa issues, and posited her scantily clad photo spreads might have a bearing on the upcoming November election. In response, Melania Trump filed a hefty $150 million defamation suit against The Daily Mail and threatened suit against Maryland-based blog, Tarply for allegedly suggesting she was once employed by an escort service.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 01, 2016 13 Comments
One of the more disturbing popular political theories is the notion that Congress Must Do Something!™ Not only is reactionary governance unwise, it also runs contrary to the founders' intentions. Our government was designed specifically to mitigate the hair ablaze reactivity that inevitably leads to horrible policy and infringement of rights. Progressives typically carry the reactionary banner though no segment of the political spectrum is immune. Everyone wants change and looks to the government and by extension, their elected officials, to give them what they want. Often our elected officials are the worst offenders of this politically driven extra-Constitutional reactivity. Rather than work within the confines of our Constitutional framework, Democrats (who here, are worse than their Republican counterparts) routinely look to skirt boundaries to achieve short-term political gains.

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 01, 2016 17 Comments
Sorry, Hillary. But your email scandal will not go away, especially as more batches of emails and reports show strong connections between mega Clinton Foundation donors and the State Department. In fact, as more evidence piles up, 50 House Republicans have asked the Justice Department for a new probe into the Clinton Foundation over alleged "pay to play" from donors gain access to Hillary when she served as Secretary of State.

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 01, 2016 18 Comments
The University of North Dakota is offering progressive social justice warriors the opportunity to live in special housing where their views will never be challenged by those who disagree with them. Imagine a dorm which functions as one big safe space. Can you imagine what a fun living environment this will be? Heat Street reports:
University of North Dakota to Offer ‘Social Justice’ Themed Student Housing The newly established Social Justice Living-Learning Community will endeavor to provide social justice-oriented students with opportunities for “creating and leading positive social change,” according to its website.

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 01, 2016 50 Comments
North Carolina wanted to reinstate its voter ID law in time for the elections, but a deadlocked Supreme Court denied them this opportunity. From The Wall Street Journal:
The high court, in a brief written order, declined to stay an appeals court ruling from July that struck down North Carolina’s Republican-backed voting rules. The appeals court found state lawmakers enacted the rules with the intent to discriminate against black voters.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on September 01, 2016 12 Comments
If opinion polls are any indication, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is heading for a humiliating electoral defeat in own home state. On Sunday, the voters in the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which includes Chancellor Merkel’s home constituency of Rügen, will be electing a new state assembly. The result of the state election could seal the political fate of Chancellor Merkel who has not given up her hopes of running for a 4th term. Having been at the helm of affairs in Germany for over 12 years, Merkel has not ruled out running for yet another term, but has been ducking questions about her political future in recent weeks. A devastating defeat, like the one being predicted by the pollsters, could finally put an end to her ambitions.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 01, 2016 10 Comments
I was aware of this situation of faculty supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement getting an Israeli filmmaker removed from a campus conference at Syracuse University, but had to wait for The Atlantic to report on it. It's one of the most outrageous examples I have seen of how the BDS movement has poisoned academia. It also proves that BDS is lying when it says it only boycotts institutions not individuals. It also reflects the so-called "silent boycott" where Israelis face discrimination below the radar even when contrary to university policy. It involved Israeli filmmaker Shimon Dotan, who was going to screen his film "The Settlers," which had been shown at the Sundance Festival, at a joint U. Nebraska - Syracuse University conference next March, “The Place of Religion in Film” (pdf.) Dotan also teaches at NY University.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on September 01, 2016 58 Comments
UPDATE: Looks like Scarborough was parroting a Clinton campaign talking point. John Podesta, chair of the Hillary for America PAC, had put out a press release entitled "Trump Choked," and repeating that c-word a couple of times in the release. Maybe Morning Joe can cut out the middleman, dispense with hosts, and just run a looping feed of Clinton campaign press releases. Like Bulgarian and Ukrainian Olympic judges back in Soviet Union days who gave American ice skaters a crummy score after a strong performance, on today's Morning Joe Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough totally trashed Donald Trump on his visit with the Mexican president. For not raising the issue of who would pay for the wall, Scarborough screamed "he choked! I can't stand people that choke under pressure!" Brzezinski was reluctant to discuss the trip at all, dismissing Trump as a "fringe, alt-right Republican candidate . . . let's not pretend this is some sort of foreign policy discussion."
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