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April 2017

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 14, 2017 42 Comments
It has been a mystery as to why Elizabeth Warren never ran for president in 2016. As I wrote many times, and early on, I believe Warren would have crushed Hillary. Like a sour grape. The decision not to run also stood in contrast to Warren's tough gal act on Twitter and on the stump. She was a flame thrower who claimed not to be afraid to stand up to the bully Trump. So why didn't Warren run?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 13, 2017 15 Comments
Rasmea Odeh was convicted of a 1969 bombing of a supermarket in Jerusalem that killed two Hebrew University students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. She also was convicted in the attempted bombing of the British Consulate. Contrary to what her supporters say, there's overwhelming evidence of her participation in both bombings, including the video statements years later of her co-conspirators. After her 1979 release in a prisoner exchange for an Israeli soldier captured in Lebanon, Rasmea made her way to the U.S. in the mid-1990s. She lied on her visa and naturalization applications, among other ways, by falsely denying ever having been convicted or imprisoned, or being a member of a terrorist group (in her case, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine).

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 13, 2017 6 Comments
Almost one year ago to the day, we told the story of the 2010 stabbing attack on former British (and now Israeli) woman Kay Wilson, who was severely injured, Britain outraged by Palestinian payments to terrorists “who left this British woman for dead”. While Wilson survived, though severely injured, her hiking companion that day, American tourist and Christian missionary Kristine Luken was murdered. Wilson was interviewed two weeks after the attack, and the interview was run in The Jerusalem Post on January 27, 2011, in ‘What a waste, I’m 46 years old and I’m being murdered’:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 13, 2017 25 Comments
During a forum Thursday, CIA Director Mike Pompeo debunked a prevalent myth about Trump's engagement with intelligence briefings. "How do you describe where the relationship is between the White House and the Intelligence Community?" Pompeo was asked. "It's fantastic," he replied to a room full of chuckles. "No, don't laugh, I mean that."

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 13, 2017 18 Comments
The U.S. military has dropped a Massive Ordinance Air Blast (MOAB) for the first time in history on an ISIS tunnel in Afghanistan. The military needs to use an Air Force C-130 cargo plane to drop the bomb. Fox News reported:
President Trump told media Thursday afternoon that "this was another successful mission" and he gave the military total authorization.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 13, 2017 13 Comments
President Donald Trump signed the H.J. Res. 43 bill that allows states to deny funds to clinics like Planned Parenthood that provide abortions. The Senate passed the bill last month when Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 13, 2017 43 Comments
Earlier this week, I blogged about New York's 'free' college tuition initiative. Not only is there no such thing as a free lunch, there's definitely no such thing as a free government offering as The Excelsior Scholarship illustrates. Among the many strings attached to the tuition program, one of the most unrealistic is the requirement that tuition recipients serve state work time after graduation. Those finishing a two-year degree would be required to remain in New York for two years post-college while bachelor degree holders would be required to stay in the Empire State (presumably working) for four years. Leave before the state-mandated time and the scholarship turns into a loan that must be paid back. New York's Director of the Division of Budget in the Governor's office read our post and offered an alternative explanation to the unworkable (as I called it) tuition program. For debate's sake, we've posted his response in full beneath.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 13, 2017 18 Comments
So awful. The Associated Press has uncovered an internal UN investigation into a child sex ring in Haiti by UN peacekeepers. According to the AP report, one individual from Pakistan received jail time while a court in Uruguay convicted four of “private violence." Peacekeepers from places like Sri Lanka and Uruguay came to the island in the recent decades and should have provided help and security to the abandoned children. While the peacekeepers had food, the report stated they made the children pay for it....with sex.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 13, 2017 5 Comments
The probe into Tuesday's triple bomb blasts in the city of Dortmund has led the German police to the refugee circles. Investigators detained a known Islamist holding a German passport and an asylum seeker from Iraq on suspicions of carrying out coordinated bomb attacks on the Borussia Dortmund soccer team bus, injuring one player. Three explosive devices went off near the soccer team's bus as it left the hotel for to the Champions League quarterfinals against AS Monaco. German authorities are treating the incident as a terrorist attack. German Police recovered a note near the site of explosions that began with "the name of Allah, the merciful," German newspapers Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. The note further calls for Germany to close the Ramstein airbase that serves as the headquarters for the U.S. Air Force in Europe:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 13, 2017 18 Comments
I have previously noted that many of California's legal citizens were extremely unhappy with the Democratic super-majority in Sacramento ramming through unpopular legislation, such as the "Sanctuary State" measure or the new gas tax. Now, the first signs of a substantial political fallout are on the horizon as citizens are organizing a Golden State version of the Resistance.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on April 13, 2017 74 Comments
The question of how much taxpayer money is being spent on President Trump's travel to Mar a Lago is worthy of inquiry. But CNN's approach to the subject this morning was a virtual parody of snarky, partisan snideness. Alisyn Camerota trumpeted the fact that President Trump is on a pace to outspend in one year President Obama's travel costs for eight years. But is that so? This AP fact check suggests she might be overstating the cost of presidential trips to Mar a Lago by a factor of three. Moreover, Camerota and guests depicted the Mar a Lago trips as nothing more than Trump golf outings. The reality is that the Palm Beach location has become a working Southern White House—witness its use as the site of President Trump's meeting there with Chinese Premier Xi last week, and with the Japanese Prime Minister in February.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 12, 2017 9 Comments
FINALLY. After seven long years, authorities have arrested the man suspected of pulling the trigger and murdering Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010. The gun he used belonged to Operation Fast and Furious, the gun running scheme set up under then-Attorney General Eric Holder. Fox News reported:
The suspect, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, was apprehended by a joint U.S.-Mexico law enforcement task force that included the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC).

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 12, 2017 20 Comments
According to a report by the Washington Post, the FBI obtained a FISA warrant last summer to monitor former Trump adviser, Carter Page. WaPo's report is based on information provided by anonymous sources not at liberty to discuss the investigation. The FBI and DOJ believed Page may have been acting as a foreign agent. So far, this is the closest public evidence that there may have been Trump camp/Russian collaboration, but even at that, obtaining a warrant is not indicative of collusion, simply a suspicion of.
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