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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 March 29, 2015 23 Comments
It looks as though senator Marco Rubio is preparing to announce a 2016 run for president in two weeks and his choice of venue may hold some symbolism. Alex Isenstadt and Marc Caputo of Politico:
Marco Rubio looks to April 13 Miami launch Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is strongly considering launching his presidential campaign April 13 at the Freedom Tower, a historic Miami landmark known as the “Ellis Island of the South,” according to Republicans familiar with his thinking. From its name to its history – it once served as a U.S. clearinghouse for Cuban exiles fleeing Fidel Castro – Miami’s Mediterranean-style Freedom Tower underscores the themes of Rubio’s political career and his likely campaign. He’s a first-generation son of immigrants who has sought to make the American Dream synonymous with his biography. Rubio’s possible April 13 launch date was first reported by The Tampa Bay Times. However, the Miami Heat plays against the Orlando Magic that evening at the American Airlines Arena, which sits right across Biscayne Boulevard — raising the prospect of a traffic nightmare. And the Freedom Tower hasn’t yet been secured by Rubio’s Washington-based team, which will inspect it this week to see if it’s the right venue.
Rubio faces the same challenge as Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. Will America get behind another first term senator?

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 28, 2015 48 Comments
Back in 2012, gay marriage activists targeted Chick-fil-A for the company owner's traditional stance on the issue. One such protester was Adam Smith, who decided to make a video of himself berating an innocent Chick-fil-A drive through employee who responded to his attack with grace and respect. The stunt backfired on Smith, who was quickly fired from his job and now finds himself on food stamps. FOX News reported:
Ex-CFO who criticized Chick-fil-A reportedly now on food stamps after outcry A CFO who drew widespread condemnation after berating a Chick-fil-A employee in a video that went viral three years ago is out of work and on food stamps, according to a published report. Adam Smith, 37, was the CFO of a medical device manufacturer in Arizona until the summer of 2012, when he started protested Chick-fil-A's stance on gay marriage to an employee at a drive-thru. “Chick-fil-A is a hateful company,” Smith told the employee. "I don’t know how you sleep at night,” Smith adds at another point. This is a horrible corporation with horrible values.” After the employee, who never loses her composure, wished Smith a nice day, he responded, “I will. I just did something really good. I feel purposeful.” Since then, Smith was fired from his job, and his wife and four children lost their home. The family was forced to sell and give away their possessions and move into an RV. He is now on food stamps, he says. “I don’t regret the stand I took, but I regret… the way I talked to her,” he told ABC News' “20/20.”
Last night, the panel on Red Eye discussed the issue: Smith has written a book about the experience which has been panned on Amazon.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 28, 2015 20 Comments
As if things in the Middle East couldn't get any worse, we're now at a point where our allies don't trust us. It's becoming quite clear that the only person who thinks Obama's pursuit of a deal with Iran is a good idea, is Obama. Daniel Bassali of the Washington Free Beacon:
Richard Engel: Military Officials Say Allies No Longer Trust Us, Fear Intel Might Leak to Iran NBC’s Richard Engel reported Friday that U.S. officials were stunned they were not given any notice before Saudi Arabia launched attacks against Houthi rebels. According to Engel, military leaders were finding out about the developments on the Yemen border in real time. Engel said officials from both the military and members of Congress believe they were not given advanced warning because the Arab nations do not trust the Obama administration after they befriended Iran. “Saudi Arabia and other countries simply don’t trust the United States any more, don’t trust this administration, think the administration is working to befriend Iran to try to make a deal in Switzerland, and therefore didn’t feel the intelligence frankly would be secure. And I think that’s a situation that is quite troubling for U.S. foreign policy,” Engel said.
Watch the segment: Ed Morrissey of Hot Air commented:
Engel’s report strongly suggests that it’s not just incompetence that has the Saudis and other US allies rattled, but a suspicion that they’re being purposefully sold out by Obama to get a deal with Iran that will unleash their ambitions to dominate the region.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 26, 2015 36 Comments
Ayaan Hirsi Ali just published a new book which calls for reforms in Islam and she's been making media appearances to promote it. This week she appeared on the Daily Show and came off as intelligent and well informed despite Jon Stewart's repeated disrespectful attempts to take her off topic. As you'll see if you watch the video below, it's as if Hirsi Ali was being interviewed by a member of the Obama administration. I kept waiting for Stewart to bring up the Crusades. This is a woman who is risking her life by speaking out against Islam's treatment of women, a subject that a liberal like Stewart should care about and yet his every response was: yes, but Christianity. If you think I'm exaggerating, just watch: I wasn't the only one who noticed Stewart's bizarre approach to the interview. Peter Malcolm of Truth Revolt:

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 25, 2015 10 Comments
As you can probably imagine, Ted Cruz's announcement about his plans to run for president in 2016 brought out a whole new level of crazy from liberals in media and most of it was very ugly. The fine folks at Newsbusters have done a tremendous job chronicling the MSM reaction in words and video. Here are a few choice examples. From Jeffrey Meyer:
Donny Deutsch Attacks ‘Scary…Dangerous…Slimy’ Ted Cruz Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday, Donny Deutsch viciously attacked Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) following his announcement that he will be running for president, calling the Tea Party favorite “scary” and “dangerous.” After co-host Mika Brzezinski asked Erica Grieder of Texas Monthly about Cruz’s presidential prospects, Deutsch tore into the Republican senator and declared him “completely unelectable, obviously an interesting character and obviously he’ll have a place at the table but unelectable for a host of reasons.”
Here's the video: But wait, there's more....

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 24, 2015 38 Comments
Indiana business owner Scott Womack knows firsthand how Obamacare affects the economy and jobs. He just sold 16 of his IHOP restaurants because of the rules imposed by the law. We recently reported that some restaurants in Seattle are having trouble with a new minimum wage policy. Progressives seem to believe that any issue they care about can be solved through legislation and there's no greater example of that than the Affordable Care Act. Rob Bluey of The Daily Signal reported:
This Longtime IHOP Owner Sold His 16 Restaurants Because of Obamacare It was a brisk March morning, nearly a year after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, and I had trekked to the Midwest with a camera crew to meet Scott Womack, owner of about a dozen IHOP restaurants in Indiana and Ohio. Womack’s testimony before Congress earlier in 2011 caught my attention and I wanted to visit him at one of his restaurants to see firsthand how Washington’s policymaking had impacted his work. The IHOP in Terre Haute is located on South 3rd Street, just a few minutes from the Interstate 70 interchange and a short drive from the Holiday Inn where we had stayed the night before. As we sat in the back of the bustling restaurant waiting for Womack to arrive, we ordered french toast, omelettes and other IHOP specialities. At the time, Womack employed about 1,000 people at his 12 restaurants. When the Affordable Care Act became law on March 23, 2010, he had big plans for his franchise. He had purchased a development agreement in 2006 that would expand the company to 14 new IHOP locations in Ohio... Four Years Later Facing the prospect of Obamacare’s employer mandate on Jan. 1, 2015, Womack opted to sell his 16 IHOP restaurants last year to Romulus Restaurant Group.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 22, 2015 10 Comments
In an appearance on ABC News, House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul made a disturbing announcement. Joel Gehrke of National Review:
Homeland Security Chair: ISIS Terrorists Are ‘Here In The United States’ ISIS terrorists are “here in the United States,” according to House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas), who believes it “would not be so difficult” for them to stage an attack. “Well, we have the foreign fighters. There are about 30,000 of them, 5,000 with Western passports according to the DNI, Clapper, 180 have returned or gone to the region. And we have a — a number that I can’t disclose publicly,” McCaul said on ABC. “They’re here in the United States,” he continued.
Watch the exchange:

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 22, 2015 10 Comments
We have documented the rise of anti-Semitism throughout Europe, including the problem of Walking While Jewish, No Jew Go Zones, and the attacks on Jewish institutions, such as a Paris Synagogue. Add another incident to the list. London police responded to an attack on a synagogue last night as a mob of drunk people smashed windows and tried to force their way inside, with shouts of "kill the Jews" heard. The Telegraph reports:
A drunken mob of more than 20 thugs shouted "kill the Jews" as they stormed into a north London synagogue while young worshippers celebrated the end of the sabbath. The anti-Semitic abuse was hurled by the group of men and women as they first beat up a young man outside before chasing him inside, breaking windows and attacking others.
The Times of Israel reports:
Six men were arrested in London early Sunday morning after a large crowd of party revelers attacked a synagogue, breaking windows and trying to forcing their way inside According to The Mirror tabloid, trouble started after an intoxicated gang of around 20 young men and women, who had been at a party in a nearby house, tried to enter the synagogue on Craven Park Road in the heart of London’s Stamford Hill area, home to Europe’s largest ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. One Jewish man suffered light injuries to his face as he tried to prevent the gang from entering the premises. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 21, 2015 14 Comments
Since Netanyahu's victory last week, the Obama administration has offered little more than a cold shoulder to Israel, and seems more interested in talking to Iran. The fact that Israel is our best ally in the region is overlooked while Obama continues working on his so-called "non-binding agreement." This morning on FOX and Friends, Tucker Carlson discussed the issue with Ann Coulter: Obama and others on the left seem to harbor a belief that things would be different if someone other than Netanyahu was the prime minister of Israel.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 21, 2015 8 Comments
The story of Hillary Clinton's email server is already getting lost in spin and talking points. It's easy to forget the fundamental fact at the center of the issue. Hilary Clinton violated the law. Bill Whittle gets right to the heart of it in the new edition of Firewall and frankly calls it criminal. Via Truth Revolt:
Hillary Rodham Clinton decided to conduct, for four years, the office of Secretary of State using her own private email server. Because these emails were not transacted and recorded through the official State Department servers, Mrs. Clinton “willfully concealed and removed” these critical documents from the records and archives of the United States Government. You can further argue that by electing to not have these records placed onto government servers – which are secure, routinely backed up, and most importantly subject to Freedom Of Information Act requests, that she has, by any reasonable interpretation, “mutilated, obliterated and destroyed” these essential records, which belong not to Hillary Rodham Clinton but rather to the Secretary of State of the United States of America, and her employers, the people of that nation. The penalty for this is a fine or up to three years imprisonment, or both. That’s paragraph (a) of the law.
Watch it all below:

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 20, 2015 15 Comments
Senator Marco Rubio gave one of the best speeches of his career yesterday when he took to the floor in defense of Israel while calling out its critics, including President Obama. Alyssa Canobbio of the Washington Free Beacon reported:
Rubio Delivers Blistering Speech on Obama’s Assault on Israel It has taken two days for Obama to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and congratulate him on his reelection. Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have taken part in very sensitive talks with Iran about its nuclear program. Rubio began speaking on how Obama has always been among the first to call controversial leaders and congratulate them on winning their elections but has remained silent when it came to congratulating on the United States’ biggest ally in the Middle East. Rubio continued, making multiple points that the Obama administration has not stood with Israel.
Rubio cites a litany of examples of the unfair treatment of Israel by the Obama administration and its regional enemies such as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. This video is 15 minutes long and well worth your time.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 19, 2015 19 Comments
Last night on Special Report with Bret Baier, Charles Krauthammer offered a frank assessment of how Obama views Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. From National Review:
Krauthammer’s Take: ‘It’s Clear that Obama Loathes Netanyahu More than Any Other World Leader’ “This was an election between Bibi and Obama — that was on the ballot,” he said on Wednesday’s Special Report. “He did everything he could to unseat him, but he failed.” Krauthammer criticized “the pettiness and the petulance” from the Obama administration regarding Netanyahu’s victory, which included a backhanded congratulatory statement and a delayed phone call from secretary of state John Kerry rather than President Obama. “I think the reaction of the administration is now reaching levels where it’s become unseemingly,” he said... “It’s clear that Obama loathes Netanyahu more than any other world leader, meaning more than the ayatollah in Iran or Putin in Russia.”
Watch the video:

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 18, 2015 10 Comments
Vice President Dick Cheney has now passed into a realm of popular culture that will surely make his many liberal detractors seethe with disdain. The interviewer is James Rosen of FOX News, the outlet is Playboy Magazine:
Playboy Interview: Dick Cheney Dick Cheney likes lattes. Seated in his favorite brown-leather chair in the sunlit study of his home in McLean, Virginia, the former vice president of the United States can toss back two of the warm java blasts in an hour... At different points, President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have suggested that racism is a factor in criticism of them. Is there any truth in that? I think they’re playing the race card, in my view. Certainly we haven’t given up—nor should we give up—the right to criticize an administration and public officials. To say that we criticize, or that I criticize, Barack Obama or Eric Holder because of race, I just think it’s obviously not true. My view of it is the criticism is merited because of performance—or lack of performance, because of incompetence. It hasn’t got anything to do with race. Do you feel Obama, either intentionally or inadvertently, has undone your and President Bush’s work? Oh absolutely. Where do you start? I think with respect to the situation in Iraq, his precipitous withdrawal and refusal to leave any stay-behind forces, to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqis, was a huge mistake; we are paying a price for it now. He’s having to go back in now, and the guy who campaigned on the basis of bring the boys home and get out of Iraq is now redeploying forces to Iraq. I think his apology tour, when he went to Cairo in the summer of 2009 and said the U.S. overreacted to the events of 9/11, was a huge mistake. I don’t think he ever bought into the notion that we’re at war, in terms of a war on terrorism; I think he always wanted to treat it as a law-enforcement problem.
Read it all. For someone who's been out of office for six years, Cheney has stayed remarkably relevant.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 17, 2015 16 Comments
I would imagine the toughest thing about doing business with Al Sharpton is asking him for a lost receipt, but the National Legal and Policy Center is asking NASCAR to end its relationship with him over Ferguson. Alana Goodman of the Washington Free Beacon has the story:
Watchdog Calls on NASCAR to End Funding to Al Sharpton A government watchdog group is calling on NASCAR to cut ties with Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in response to the cable news host’s comments about police in the wake of the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and the questionable financial activities at his nonprofit groups. The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) asked NASCAR to “end its financial support of Al Sharpton and his organization” in a letter to CEO Brian France on Monday. NASCAR has previously been a sponsor of NAN’s annual conference, a key fundraising event for Sharpton’s group, according to the NLPC. “The cold-blooded murder of two New York City police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, followed weeks of Sharpton’s vilification of law enforcement personnel. Now two police officers have been gunned down in Ferguson, Missouri,” wrote NLPC president Peter Flaherty in the letter. “Mr. France, police lives matter. You can demonstrate your support for law enforcement by ending your support for Sharpton without delay.”
Sharpton has been a regular presence in Ferguson. He even held a press conference after the grand jury decision in November.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 15, 2015 7 Comments
As we recently noted, every problem for Democrats is ultimately spun as the fault of Republicans and Obama's policy on Iran is no exception. The panel on today's edition of Face the Nation began laying the groundwork for talking points which will soon become all too familiar. Ryan Lovelace of National Review:
CBS Panel Is Ready to Blame GOP Sen. Tom Cotton If Obama’s Foreign Policy Toward Iran Fails The panel on CBS’ Face the Nation appears ready to blame Arkansas senator Tom Cotton if the Obama administration’s negotiations with Iran fall through. Cotton, along with 46 other Senators, penned a letter warning the Iranian regime not to rely on any agreement with President Obama that did not have the approval of Congress. “Yes, Cotton is well intentioned in doing this, but it’s backfiring,” said Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. “If the Ayatollah is going to give out the Ayatollah’s Medal of Honor this year, I think Cotton’s going to be a finalist because it gives them an excuse if they pull away from the agreement now.”
Watch the exchange below:

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 15, 2015 38 Comments
James Carville has returned to his role of defender of all things Clinton. Appearing on ABC's this week, hosted by his former fellow Clinton staffer George Stephanopoulos, Carville sought to dismiss the email scandal as a non-story. His defense was more revealing than he intended. Daniel Halper of the Weekly Standard:
Carville: I 'Suspect' Hillary Used Private Email to Avoid Congressional Oversight "What this is, is the latest in a continuation, and if you take it all and put it together, and you subtract 3.1415 from pi, you're left with not very much. And that's -- at the end of the day, so the Republicans can't pass a budget, alright, we got another investigation, just like we had the Whitewater, just like you go through the filegate, you go through travelgate, you go through seven or eight different congressional committees. And you wonder why the public is not following this? Because they know what it is. "It was something she did. It was legal. I suspect she didn't want [Republican congressman] Louie Gohmert rifling through her emails, which seems to me to be a kind of reasonable position for someone to take. It amounts to -- just like everything else before it, it amounts to nothing but a bunch of people flapping their jaws about nothing." The comment about Gohmert going through emails suggests Carville thinks Hillary Clinton set up the private email server to avoid congressional oversight.
Here's the video:
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