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July 2017

The State of Hawaii sought an emergency ruling from the Hawaii federal judge whose original injunction against Trump Travel Order No. 2 was mostly overturned by the Supreme Court. We covered the emergency request in our post, Hawaii seeks injunction against Trump admin interpretation of SCOTUS Travel Order ruling. The main issue was how the Trump administration was applying the test the Supreme Court established for who would be exempt from the blanket country-wide prohibition on visa entry. The Supreme Court reinstated substantially all of Trump’s Travel Order No. 2, but the Supreme Court carved out an exception for people who have a “bona fide” relationship to the U.S. Such persons could not be subjected to a blanket, country-wide prohibition from entering the U.S. (emphasis added):

Ayala Shapira was the 11 year old Israeli girl who was terribly injured in December 2014 by a Molotov cocktail (i.e., a firebomb) thrown by Palestinian terrorists at the family car. She suffered horrific burns to her face and upper body, and was more dead than alive for a while. I covered the details of the attack and recovery in my prior post here at Legal Insurrection, This child #WasBurnedAlive in West Bank, but you probably never heard of her:

The Illinois House voted to override Republican Governor Bruce Rauner's veto of the income tax hike and budget bill. This is the first budget Illinois has passed in two years. The House voted 71-42, which is the bare minimum House Speaker Mike Madigan needed, after a security incident delayed the vote for two hours.

There has been new rioting in Venezuela of an extremely disturbing sort:
A mob stormed Venezuela’s opposition-dominated National Assembly on Wednesday with the apparent acquiescence of government troops and carried out a startling attack on lawmakers and journalists. Bloodied lawmakers were treated for broken ribs and head injuries, and journalists said the attackers had stolen their equipment. The episode in Caracas, which coincided with Venezuela’s Independence Day, was a sharp escalation of lawlessness in a country roiled by a failing economy and daily street demonstrations.

A misleading video clip of Donald Trump supposedly being passed over for a handshake by the First Lady of Poland is sweeping the internet. In fact, there was a handshake a couple of seconds later, but the clip is cut so tightly that it appears that this was a sign of disrespect. If it were just another misleading internet meme, it would be bad enough. But it is being pushed by the Washington Post on Twitter and on its website, as well as by other major media. Here is WaPo's tweet:

Attorney generals in eighteen states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit against Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos over the delay of implementing regulations sculpted to protect any federal student loan borrowers defrauded by for-profit colleges. The attorney generals state that DeVos has illegaly delayed these regulations, which should have gone into affect on July 1. From Politico:
The rules, known as “borrower defense to repayment,” sought to make it easier for defrauded student loan borrowers to seek debt forgiveness. They also prohibit colleges from requiring students to resolve complaints against their school through arbitration rather than in court.

The NHS recorded more than 9,000 incidents of female genital mutilation (FGM) in England between April 2016 and March 2017. The NHS Digital noted the data comes from NHS trusts and general practitioner officers. The Guardian reported:
The findings show that in the last year there were 9,179 attendances in which FGM was either identified, treatment was given, or a woman with FGM had given birth to a baby girl.

In a stunning display, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel received favourable coverage from across the Indian media landscape. The Indian Prime Minister was in Israel on a 3-day visit, first ever by an Indian premier. Prime Minister Modi’s visit lays “the foundation of a new chapter in relations with Israel," commented the country's leading business daily Economic Times. Both countries took "historic steps towards a new engagement," wrote newspaper Hindustan Times. Like many Indian newspapers, The Hindu described the visit as "ground-breaking" and noted the "extraordinary welcome" Indian leader received in "the Jewish nation."

The Senate GOP's latest effort to fix Obamacare failed to garner support from the conservative wing of the party. The fractured caucus led Sen. Sasse (R-NE) to call for the complete repeal of Obamacare followed by a completely separate replacement. Sasse suggested leaving Obamacare intact as is for one year to protect its current consumers while the Senate hashes out a replacement.

President Donald Trump began his second overseas trip in Poland, a country that has been battered and torn throughout history. But Poland has taken a stance against the European Union when it comes to migrants and those they fear can damage the country. Trump addressed Poles in Warsaw's Krasinski Square, stating that "nations must have the will to protect borders and preserve civilization from those who would destroy it."

In late November 2008, 10 Pakistani terrorists launched one of the most brazen terrorist attacks ever, in the Indian city of Mumbai. By the time it was over, 164 people were killed in multiple locations, including Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, Leopold Café, Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel, Metro Cinema, Cama and Albless Hospital and Nariman House. Sending teams of terrorists to multiple locations to effectively paralyze a city was a model that would be repeated, including in Paris 2015:

James O'Keefe's Project Veritas released another undercover video featuring CNN's New Day associate producer Jimmy Carr, who doubles down on his comments from a previous video from Project Veritas and criticizes New Day host Chris Cuomo. "I mean granted, anything I've said to you I would defend on the record," he told the Project Veritas investigator. "I don't think I said anything wrong." Carr was captured in previous videos calling President Trump a clown, calling American voters stupid as shit, and saying Kellyanne Conway looks like she got hit by a shovel.

CNN is having a rough time, albeit completely self-inflicted. The network with a penchant for making itself and its reporters the story is now the subject of universal internet ridicule and rightly so. Andrew Kaczynski, CNN reporter (formerly of Buzzfeed) who loves to dig through Trump appointee books and academic thesis in search of improper citation, penned a post describing how CNN was able to track down an anonymous Reddit user who claimed responsibility for CNN gif President Trump tweeted. The gif showed Trump punching a figure with a CNN logo affixed in place of a face.