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Author: Mike LaChance

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Mike LaChance

Mike LaChance has been covering higher education and politics for Legal Insurrection since 2012. He has also written for American Lookout, Townhall, and Twitchy.

Since 2008 he has contributed work to the Daily Caller, Breitbart, Gateway Pundit, the Center for Security Policy, the Washington Free Beacon, and Ricochet.

Mike is a Generation X, New England lifer who describes his political views as conservative and libertarian.

You can find him on Twitter @MikeLaChance33

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 23, 2015 39 Comments
Now that the White House has concluded its summit on violent extremism, the State Department is soliciting the public for ideas on how to combat extremism. Via The Right Scoop: This is what national security looks like when a community organizer is in charge.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 22, 2015 13 Comments
This morning on FOX and Friends, Ann Coulter responded to buzz over Rudy Giuliani's recent comments calling into question Obama's love for America. Calling the issue non-controversial, Coulter pointed out that if critics think Giuliani can't see into Obama's heart, then why are Democrats always calling conservatives racist? Can they see into our hearts? She then goes on to point out reasons why one might arrive at such a conclusion about Obama. This is classic Coulter. Watch the entire exchange below.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 21, 2015 17 Comments
Following huge 2014 midterms losses, Democratic Party leaders did some soul searching, analyzed their problems, and made recommendations for winning in the future. The results were published in the Democratic Victory Task Force Preliminary Findings. Most notably, Democrats want more "narrative" to help them win back the southern whites they hate. You can read the document here. I'll share a few short excerpts:
As Democrats, we believe in an economy where hard work is rewarded, where everyone pays his or her fair share and plays by the rules. We believe in a government that’s focused on building a stronger and more secure middle class, with good-paying jobs, affordable higher education, and a secure retirement... The national Democratic Party must never allow itself to become a party of Beltway consultants who routinely recommend cookie-cutter campaigns that are detached from the concerns of the people we hope to represent, at the city, state, and federal level. In order to consistently win on every level, we have to reconnect with the reason we want to win—and that reason is the people. The national party must work with and help grow state and local parties, to empower the people to participate in politics, while recruiting and training the next generation of office holders.... We know that our message is powerful because our opponents are trying to steal it. Income inequality and the resulting middleclass economic stagnation have become so extreme that even the Republicans are giving lip service to economic fairness—even as they advocate policies that would undermine it...

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 21, 2015 12 Comments
In the new edition of Firewall, Bill Whittle provides a glimpse into how far we've come on immigration. Not only is Obama now saying he can grant executive amnesty, a position he claimed was illegal for years, some people in government leadership positions think illegal immigrants have special rights. Very special rights. Transcript and video via Truth Revolt:
First, if there are no such things as illegal aliens, as the advocates for open borders proclaim – then where does it stop? If seven million people can sneak across the border at night and be granted the same status, and the same benefits as US Citizens – social security, medicare, and the right to vote – then where do we stop? Why only seven million? Why not all seven billion people currently on planet Earth? If three hundred and twenty million Americans are having money taken from them at gunpoint through taxation in order to GUARANTEE the RIGHT of one transgendered illegal alien to hormone therapy once they cross the border, then there is no line – none. None! – between that and them having to pay through their hard work and taxes the health care of any one of the seven billion people on planet earth who can manage to cross a two thousand mile long line on a map. Second, if the candidate for the chief law enforcement position in the land says that someone entering the country by breaking the law is not only not going to be arrested and deported, but rather has the same right to take a job from US citizen or a legal immigrant on a work visa and condemning them to unemployment and dependency on the government, then what does that tell you about the person who nominated her to that office?
Watch the whole thing:

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 20, 2015 27 Comments
According to recent reports, the Clinton Foundation is accepting large donations from foreign governments. Accusations of influence peddling are already being made. James V. Grimaldi and Rebecca Ballhaus of the Wall Street Journal:
Foreign Government Gifts to Clinton Foundation on the Rise The Clinton Foundation has dropped its self-imposed ban on collecting funds from foreign governments and is winning contributions at an accelerating rate, raising ethical questions as Hillary Clinton ramps up her expected bid for the presidency. Recent donors include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Australia, Germany and a Canadian government agency promoting the Keystone XL pipeline. In 2009, the Clinton Foundation stopped raising money from foreign governments after Mrs. Clinton became secretary of state. Former President Bill Clinton, who ran the foundation while his wife was at the State Department, agreed to the gift ban at the behest of the Obama administration, which worried about a secretary of state’s husband raising millions while she represented U.S. interests abroad. The ban wasn’t absolute; some foreign government donations were permitted for ongoing programs approved by State Department ethics officials.
The panel on Special Report with Bret Baier addressed the issue last night: Considering their prior position on this issue, the Democratic Party's silence is surprising.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 19, 2015 14 Comments
A train carrying crude oil derailed in West Virginia Monday, causing a massive fires and forcing evacuations. Here's a report from the Associated Press via the New York Times:
West Virginia Train Derails, Sending Oil Tanker Into River Oil from North Dakota's shale fields was still burning in West Virginia a day after a train carrying more than 3 million gallons of crude derailed in a snowstorm, shooting fireballs into the sky. Hundreds of families were evacuated and nearby water treatment plants were temporarily shut down after 19 tanker cars left the tracks and caught fire, leaking oil into a Kanawha River tributary and burning a nearby house down to its foundation. "There's nothing there," said Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, who toured the scene. "All you can see is a couple of blocks sticking out of the ground. There's some pickup trucks out front completely burned to the ground."
The flames caused by the crash were unbelievable: The accident has revived the debate over the Keystone XL Pipeline, a mode of fuel transport proponents claim is much safer.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 18, 2015 13 Comments
Outgoing attorney general Eric Holder made a stunning assertion at the National Press Club yesterday by suggesting that America isn't at a time of war. The American people, who see the Islamic radicals of ISIS beheading Christians and burning people alive probably think differently. Tim Mak of The Daily Beast reported:
Eric Holder: ‘We’re Not at a Time of War’ U.S. and coalition forces have conducted nearly 2,300 airstrikes hitting more than 4,800 targets in Iraq and Syria since August 2014, as part of the ongoing campaign to defeat the so-called Islamic State. Three service members have already perished in these ongoing operations against ISIS. But according to Attorney General Eric Holder, “we're not at a time of war.” The comments, during a luncheon at the National Press Club, came just days after the White House sent Congressional leaders a draft bill that would authorize the continuation of the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. President Obama declared an end to the ‘Global War on Terror’ in 2013, but that was before the emergence of the so-called Islamic State and the operation the president launched to fight them. Last week, the White House proposed a war authorization that set out no geographical limits on the use against ISIS and its affiliated groups, which was criticized by some of the left who said it allowed the president too much leeway to conduct military action. Holder made the remarks Tuesday while responding to a question about the Department of Justice's prosecution of journalists over national security matters.
Here's a clip of Holder's appearance. You'll notice that while Holder was agitated over questions about the administration's refusal to say radical Islam, he was quite comfortable naming their biggest perceived threat: FOX News.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 17, 2015 6 Comments
By now, you've heard that ISIS released a video featuring the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya. The White House has released a statement but you might notice some missing words:
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Murder of Egyptian Citizens The United States condemns the despicable and cowardly murder of twenty-one Egyptian citizens in Libya by ISIL-affiliated terrorists. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and our support to the Egyptian government and people as they grieve for their fellow citizens. ISIL’s barbarity knows no bounds. It is unconstrained by faith, sect, or ethnicity. This wanton killing of innocents is just the most recent of the many vicious acts perpetrated by ISIL-affiliated terrorists against the people of the region, including the murders of dozens of Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai, which only further galvanizes the international community to unite against ISIL. This heinous act once again underscores the urgent need for a political resolution to the conflict in Libya, the continuation of which only benefits terrorist groups, including ISIL. We call on all Libyans to strongly reject this and all acts of terrorism and to unite in the face of this shared and growing threat. We continue to strongly support the efforts of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General Bernardino Leon to facilitate formation of a national unity government and help foster a political solution in Libya.
It's astonishing how far the Obama administration will go to avoid saying those certain words: not only do they refuse to identify the attackers as Muslims, they won't identify the victims as Christians. Funny how he had no problem specifically mentioning Christians when he was talking about the crusades.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 15, 2015 9 Comments
A recent outbreak of Measles at Disneyland is the inspiration for the new edition of Afterburner with Bill Whittle. After addressing the false, media-stoked idea that Republicans are anti-vaccine and therefore anti-science, Bill explores the subject of progressive parenting. He points out that kids who are brought up in the constant safety of the everyone-gets-a-trophy school of child rearing are more vulnerable to disease not only of body but of mind. Watch it all below: Watching this video reminded me of a very funny story.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 14, 2015 3 Comments
A North Carolina man named Craig Hicks murdered three young Muslims last week over what appears to be a parking dispute. Some liberals in the media have consulted the Southern Poverty Law Center on the subject---but have failed to point out that Mr. Hicks is an apparent fan of SPLC. Jesse Walker of Reason reported. H/t to Instapundit.
The Killer, the Reporter, and the Southern Poverty Law Center Craig Hicks, the man who murdered three Muslims in North Carolina this week, had a Facebook page. One of the groups he liked on it is the Southern Poverty Law Center. An AlterNet article about Hicks—reprinted today in both Raw Story and Salon—includes several long quotes from Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Guess what subject never comes up? No, I don't think the SPLC deserves any blame for the crime. That would be ridiculous. But the SPLC itself has a long history of throwing around blame in precisely that ridiculous way, so it would have been nice to hear how Potok reacts when an event like this lands in his own backyard. Double standards deserve to be challenged, right? By the way: While the AlterNet piece doesn't mention Hicks' apparent fondness for the SPLC, it does mention the fact that his Facebook likes lean liberal. But it dismisses this as unimportant, telling us the significant thing is that Hicks "appears to fit the psychological profile of violent extremists—regardless of their ideological stripes."
Patrick Poole of PJ Media recently made this observation:

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 14, 2015 6 Comments
Some Democrats are planning to boycott Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress next month because they view John Boehner's invitation to Netanyahu as an insult to Obama. Senator Marco Rubio spoke out on Thursday, urging Democrats not to boycott the speech. The Washington Free Beacon reported:
Rubio Urges Democrats to Not Boycott Netanyahu Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) strongly urged his Democratic colleagues to stand with Israel during his floor speech Thursday, stating they should not boycott Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s March 3 address to Congress.
“Don’t do this to a people that are in the crosshairs of multiple terrorist groups with the capability of attacking them,” Rubio said. “Don’t do this to a nation whose civilians are terrorized by thousands of rockets launched against them at a moment’s notice. Don’t do this to a country that’s facing down the threat of a nuclear weapon annihilating them off the face of the Earth. Don’t do this to a people that are being stigmatized all over the world, even as we speak, who are being oppressed. Don’t do this to a country that in forum after forum has become the subject of de-legitimatization as people argue that somehow Israel’s right to exist is not real."
Here's the video: Rubio's sentiment has been echoed by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 13, 2015 20 Comments
Back in December of 2013, a woman named Justine Sacco boarded a plane in New York that was bound for South Africa. She was planning to visit family for the holidays. She tweeted what was perceived as a politically incorrect message to her tiny Twitter following and by the time she landed, she was national news. While she was in the air, her tweets were discovered and promoted by writers at Gawker and BuzzFeed and then the rest of the Twittersphere went into a fury. Professor Jacobson addressed the issue:
Yesterday was the worst Twitter day of all time. Or at least the worst that I remember. Some lady no one had ever heard of and who had about 100 followers at the time sent the Tweet above. The tweet went viral.... Whoever started it, plenty of websites picked up on it and ran with it to feed the mob and not miss out on clicks and eyeballs. By the time I saw it, long after she became a hunted woman, my first impression was similar to that of John Nolte at Breitbart.com: Looks like the type of “white privilege” claptrap we read almost weekly at Salon.com or Slate.com. Some liberal white person coming to grips with her privilege and wanting the whole world to know about it.... Racist? You’d need to know a lot more. Maybe shoot her a tweet back and ask what she meant, or look her up and send her an email before proclaiming her to be a racist. But no one could do that. She was on an airplane to visit her native South Africa. For 11 hours. And in those 11 hours she became a hated and hunted woman.... Greg Gutfeld summed it up best:
Ms. Sacco was fired from her job as a result. Here's a video report ABC News provided at the time:

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 12, 2015 87 Comments
The same mainstream media that refused to demand Obama's (still undisclosed) Columbia University records in 2008 (while reassuring us that he was brilliant) has taken a keen interest in the academic pedigree of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Professor Jacobson repeatedly reminds us that the MSM always tries to kill Republican candidacies in the cradle. The Washington Post did it with Rick Perry's hunting property rock. Jeb Bush's high school antics are fair game, as were Mitt Romney's. Now they're trying to play the same game with Scott Walker's unfinished college degree. David A. Fahrenthold of the Washington Post wrote this yesterday:
As Scott Walker mulls White House bid, questions linger over college exit Scott Walker was gone. Dropped out. And in the spring of his senior year. In 1990, that news stunned his friends at Marquette University. Walker, the campus’s suit-wearing, Reagan-loving politico — who enjoyed the place so much that he had run for student body president — had left without graduating. To most of the Class of 1990 — and, later, to Wisconsin’s political establishment — Walker’s decision to quit college has been a lingering mystery. Not even his friends at Marquette were entirely sure why he never finished. Some had heard that a parent had fallen ill, or maybe there was some financial strain. Others thought he had simply had enough of school. Walker clearly liked college politics more than college itself. He had managed to line up 47 campaign endorsements, including ones from the ski team and the varsity chorus, but he had trouble showing up on time for French. And, after four years, he had faltered on both fronts. He’d lost an ugly race for president. And he apparently had far too few credits to graduate.
Allahpundit of Hot Air notes that journalists are already playing the requisite "gotcha" games with Scott Walker from which Democrats are always exempt.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 11, 2015 20 Comments
One year ago, Barack Obama told Bill O'Reilly that there wasn't even a smidgeon of corruption at the IRS. If that statement was true, why is the Obama administration refusing to share documents related to the IRS targeting scandal? Bob Cusack of The Hill reported yesterday:
Obama administration won’t release IRS targeting documents The Obama administration is refusing to publicly release more than 500 documents on the IRS’s targeting of Tea Party groups. Twenty months after the IRS scandal broke, there are still many unanswered questions about who was spearheading the agency’s scrutiny of conservative-leaning organizations. The Hill sought access to government documents that might provide a glimpse of the decision-making through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The Hill asked for 2013 emails and other correspondence between the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The request specifically sought emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner and Treasury officials, including Secretary Jack Lew, while the inspector general was working on its explosive May 2013 report that the IRS used “inappropriate criteria” to review the political activities of tax-exempt groups. TIGTA opted not to release any of the 512 documents covered by the request, citing various exemptions in the law. The Hill recently appealed the FOIA decision, but TIGTA denied the appeal. TIGTA also declined to comment for this article.
The Department of Justice, which hasn't been politicized in any way, may be partially to blame for the slowness of the investigation.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 10, 2015 41 Comments
Due to regulations imposed by Obamacare, some businesses are cutting the work hours of their employees. This was a known, predicted consequence of the Affordable Care Act. Staples is just the latest newsworthy example. Remember, businesses can only try to survive under the given set of rules---but some employees are having a hard time keeping that in mind when they see their pay stubs. Ashley Lutz of Business Insider:
Staples threatens to fire employees who work more than 25 hours a week Part-time Staples workers are furious that they could be fired for working more than 25 hours a week. The company implemented the policy to avoid paying benefits under the Affordable Care Act, reports Sapna Maheshwari at Buzzfeed. The healthcare law mandates that workers with more than 30 hours a week receive healthcare. If Staples doesn't offer benefits, it could be fined $3,000 in penalties per person. Buzzfeed spoke with several Staples workers who revealed their hours have been drastically cut over the past year. Many reported working as few as 20 hours. The workers started a petition on Change.org asking the company not to "cut part-time hours because of Obamacare."
It's terrible that these folks are losing work hours, but it's not unexpected, and it's not the fault of Staples---that's just as far as an employee wants to look when it's suddenly gotten harder to pay the bills and feed their families. You think it's bad now, wait until people start dealing with their tax returns.
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