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May 2017

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2017 4 Comments
Public executions by Hamas in Gaza are quite common. But some are more equal than others, and the public execution today has received quite a bit of attention, in fact more than Hamas wanted. The execution was livestreamed -- apparently against Hamas wishes -- by the Gaza Now News Agency from a window in a building overlooking the execution site. The background is that the three men executed were allegedly involved in the killing of a senior Hamas terror planner in March, as we reported at the time, Senior Hamas Terror Planner Mazen Faqha Assassinated in Gaza:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 25, 2017 33 Comments
There is simply no excuse for what happened in Montana last night. Prior to a campaign rally held by Republican Congressional candidate Greg Gianforte for today's special election, Gianforte allegedly roughed up Guardian political reporter, Ben Jacobs.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on May 25, 2017 12 Comments
James Taranto's late, lamented Wall Street Journal column had a running tongue-in-cheek rubric, "We Blame George W. Bush," in which the former president was blamed for everything under the sun, despite his utter lack of connection to it. In that spirit, Taranto might have had a field day with a panel discussion on CNN this morning, in which the participants did their best to blame President Trump for an incident in Montana in which the Republican congressional candidate has been accused of manhandling a reporter. Co-host Alisyn Camerota got the ball rolling by asking whether there is "some sort of larger story or message we should take away here . . . growing aggression against the press."

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on May 25, 2017 7 Comments
President Donald Trump seems to have achieved a significant foreign policy aim ahead of his meeting with the leaders of 28 NATO member states. According to the reports in German media, France and Germany have formally agreed to join the US-led coalition against the Islamic State. "After sustained pressure from Washington, NATO will be joining the international coalition," German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung wrote. Other reports suggest that Manchester’s deadly terror attack, for which ISIS claimed responsibility, may have played a role in convincing Germany and France in joining the global alliance to destroy the Islamist terror group. Despite Germany’s consent, there is trouble brewing in Merkel’s camp. Her second-in-command, German Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, has placed conditions on the proposed alliance, telling reporters that "combat operations were not part of NATO agreement. [NATO] is a defense alliance."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2017 42 Comments
If you thought that intelligence community leaks against Donald Trump were okay because Trump was the target, then you don't understand the problem. Such leaks to the NY Times and Washington Post, among others, are not only criminal, they are contagious. If accusations being made by the British are true, the leakers in the U.S. intelligence community have revealed to the NY Times highly sensitive information shared as part of a joint terrorism investigation. It all started when the NY Times ran a lengthy report on the evidence recovered at the scene of the Manchester concert suicide bombing, Found at the Scene in Manchester: Shrapnel, a Backpack and a Battery:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 24, 2017 13 Comments
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released their score of the American Healthcare Act. In their analysis, the CBO indicated 23 more Americans would be uninsured if the Senate were to pass the AHCA.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 24, 2017 13 Comments
On Monday, former national security adviser Michael Flynn refused to honor a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee for documents connected to the investigation into its Russian probe. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right. The committee has tried another way to receive the documents by issuing two subpoenas for two of Flynn's former businesses. From Reuters:
"While we disagree with General Flynn's lawyers' interpretation of taking the Fifth ... it's even more clear that a business does not have a right to take the Fifth," the panel's vice chairman, Democratic Senator Mark Warner, told reporters, referring to Flynn's decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 24, 2017 11 Comments
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) will not let go of a border adjustment tax (BAT) when it comes to tax reform, which will set up a major showdown with the White House and possibly the Senate. Ryan admitted today that the House could pass a tax bill without the BAT, but he's still trying to sell the idea to his fellow lawmakers and the White House.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 24, 2017 14 Comments
Four IT staff for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and other lawmakers lost their jobs in February after suspicions arose that they breached security on the House IT network. The U.S. Capitol Police named Hina Alvi, her husband Imran Awan, and his brothers Abid and Jamal "as subjects of a criminal probe." Now relatives have said that Alvi has fled the United States with her daughters and sought protection from the Pakistani government.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on May 24, 2017 4 Comments
Foreign influence in elections is a long-standing tradition that has ramped up in recent decades with the growing influence of the regressive movement's focus on open borders, a global economy, and global citizenship. Years ago, I saw a story about European leftists demanding the right to vote in American elections, and I was appalled.  The logic was that because America is a—the—world leader, all the world's citizens should have a say in, and cast a countable vote for, who runs our country . . . and the world. U. S. meddling in foreign elections has always been explained as serving our national interests.  Sometimes it did.  Sometimes it didn't. Who can forget Hillary cackling gleefully about the death of Gaddafi?  Or Obama funneling taxpayer money to a left-leaning Israeli campaign infrastructure in an attempt to defeat Prime Minister Netanyahu?
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