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June 2017

Posted by Miriam Elman on June 07, 2017 1 Comment
Note: This is the third in our daily re-created coverage of the Six-Day War, which will run through Saturday, June 10. Prior posts: 50th Anniversary of Six-Day War: The Eve of War; Six-Day War Day 1 — War Begins; Six-Day War Day 2: At the Gates of Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel’s armed forces are emerging triumphant in a lightning war which today saw the Egyptians defeated and forced back to the banks of the Suez Canal. The blockade of the Gulf of Aqaba has also been broken with the Israel’s Navy now holding Sharm el-Sheikh and reopening the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. This afternoon, Egypt’s President Nasser also surrendered Gaza.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 07, 2017 4 Comments
After three years of constant problems at Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, the Senate passed a bill that will make it easier to fire offending VA employees currently protected by layers of bureaucracy. Fox News reported:
The bill would lower the burden of proof needed to fire employees -- from a "preponderance" to "substantial evidence," allowing a dismissal even if most evidence is in a worker's favor.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 07, 2017 10 Comments
90s rock legend Courtney Love Cobain took Linda Sarsour, co-chair of the Women's March to the woodshed Wednesday. We've documented Sarsour's history of anti-Zionism, her love of Sharia law, and her attack on Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a victim of female genital mutilation. Love's disgust for Sarsour seems to stem from Sarsour's involvement with a Somali woman named Rahma Warsame. Sarsour, along with CAIR, allege Warsame was violently assaulted by a white man Saturday. They allege the man said, "you all will be shipped back to Africa" before beating Warsame, further claiming the man they believe responsible has a long history of making racially charged statements. Sarsour and CAIR have encouraged the investigation of the incident as a hate crime and are working to raise $100,000 for Warsame.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 07, 2017 21 Comments
The official statement (pdf.) from James Comey, to be read during the hearing tomorrow, has bombshells -- but they are helpful to Donald Trump. The statement is embedded in full at the bottom of this post. Comey confirms -- contrary to media reports -- that he told Trump that Trump was not personally under investigation. That's a pretty big concession considering speculation that Trump himself was under investigation. Comey also paints a picture of Trump trying to put in a good word for Michael Flynn, but there is no suggestion that anything rising to the level of obstruction of justice was said. Also, Comey made clear that those comments did not relate to the general investigation of Russian interference in the election. We will have additional analysis shortly.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 07, 2017 5 Comments
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dan Coats and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday. During the hearing, Sen. Warner (D-VA) asked, "would be in any way typical for a President to ask questions or bring up an ongoing FBI investigation, particularly if that investigation concerns associates or indivduals that might be associated with the PResident's campaign or his activities?" A clearly unimpressed Rogers set the record straight and indicated he would not entertain hypotheticals.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 07, 2017 19 Comments
Progressive media outlets have been feeding the "resist we much" mobs since President Trump's election, and one of their favorite lines of attack has been hammering the Russia "collusion" / "hacking" non-story.  Recently, however, progressive sites have been warning against pursuing it . . . even as Democrat politicians stay focused on it, seemingly to the exclusion of all else.  As Comey gets ready to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Among those calling for Democrats to pivot away from "the Russia story" are the editor and publisher of The Nation, the Daily Kos, the Young Turks.  What is not entirely clear is why they are urging this shift after spending so much devoted, almost single-mindedly, to it.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 07, 2017 11 Comments
President Donald Trump announced on Twitter this morning that he will nominate former assistant attorney general Christopher Wray for FBI director. The announcement comes one day before former FBI director James Comey testifies in front of a Senate committee.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 07, 2017 12 Comments
Gunmen launched two attacks in Iran, one at the parliament building and at the tomb of the country's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollak Khomeini. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack. From Reuters:
The raids took place at a particularly charged time, after Iran's main regional rival Saudi Arabia and other Sunni powers cut ties with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of backing Tehran and militant groups. Attackers dressed as women burst through parliament's main entrance in central Tehran, deputy interior minister Mohammad Hossein Zolfaghari said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 07, 2017 31 Comments
We get it. Joe Scarborough doesn't approve of Donald Trump. Two weeks ago, we noted the Morning Joe host calling the president a "jackass." Things are escalating, and there appears to be no sense of decorum left on Morning Joe. This morning, Scarborough called Trump a "schmuck" - a term that literally means penis in Yiddish, and is used as a pejorative to express contempt for a person.

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 07, 2017 35 Comments
Despite claiming to want to end racism, members of the Black Lives Matter movement held a Memorial Day event which was open only to black people. Amber Randall reported at the Daily Caller:
Black Lives Matter Throws ‘Exclusively Black’ Memorial Day Weekend Party The New York City chapter of Black Lives Matter hosted an “exclusively black” party over Memorial Day weekend.

Posted by Miriam Elman on June 06, 2017 0 Comments
Note: This is the second in our daily re-created coverage of the Six-Day War, which will run through Saturday, June 10. Prior posts: 50th Anniversary of Six-Day War: The Eve of War; Six-Day War Day 1 — War Begins. Yesterday, a surprise aerial attack on the Egyptian Air Force set the stage for some impressive military gains by Israel against her enemies in this second day of fighting. The Egyptian armed forces are now in retreat as the IDF continues to “smash deeply into the Sinai.” Gaza has also been captured by the 7th Armored Brigade led by Major General Yisrael Tal, and shells from there have now stopped falling on the beleaguered Jewish settlements lining that border. Over the last 24 hours the IDF has fought its way to the gates of the Jordanian-held Old City in Jerusalem.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 06, 2017 28 Comments
On Thursday James Comey will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. It will be the Greatest Show on Earth that day, broadcast live by every major network:
“The Young and the Restless” will be preempted by a different soap opera on Thursday. The star will be former FBI director James B. Comey. In a rare move, CBS is scrapping its daytime lineup to carry live coverage of Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, and NBC and ABC are doing the same. This is a big deal that places the Comey session on a shortlist of congressional hearings deemed worthy of live airings on broadcast television — a list that includes the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954, Watergate hearings in 1973, Iran-contra hearings in 1987, Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991 and President Bill Clinton impeachment hearings in 1998.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 06, 2017 12 Comments
Anthem Inc, a prominent national health insurance company, has decided to leave Ohio's health insurance exchange citing a volatile market. It's another example of Obamacare's collapse, especially since Anthem became "a major player in the individual insurance market created by the federal health care law." From The New York Times:
Ohio state insurance officials said they were reviewing their options but put the blame squarely on the federal health care law. “For the past few years we have seen a weakening in the federal insurance marketplace as a number of companies have withdrawn from the exchange,” the state agency said in a statement. “We have always argued the private insurance market is the most severely impacted by the federal law and that is where Congressional action is needed to restore stability.”
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