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Author: Kemberlee Kaye

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Kemberlee Kaye

Kemberlee Kaye is the Senior Contributing Editor of Legal Insurrection, where she has worked since 2014 and is the Director of Operations and Editorial Development for the Legal Insurrection Foundation. She also serves as the Managing Editor for CriticalRace.org, a research project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation.

She has a background working in immigration law, and as a grassroots organizer, digital media strategist, campaign lackey, and muckraker. Over the years Kemberlee has worked with FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, James O'Keefe's Project Veritas, and US Senate re-election campaigns, among others. 

Kemberlee, her daughter, and her son live a lovely taco-filled life in their native Texas.

You can reach her anytime via email at kk @ legalinsurrection.com.

You gotta love the Oscars. It's one of the best nights to watch Hollywood revel in its self-importance. As customary, at least one award recipient had to wax poetic about something political. Winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in Boyhood, Patricia Arquette took the opportunity to make a pitch for wage equality. "To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States." Arquette's pitch for equal rights may have been relevant in 1869, but hardly seems to resonate in 2015 -- the age of the stay at home father. Not to mention that when celebrities complain about wage equality, they're squabbling over a discrepancy of millions when most Americans won't see that much cash in a lifetime. At least Arquette got a rise out of Meryl Streep (who looked fabulous, by the way).

Today, a decade long court battled ended when two Palestinian organizations were found liable for knowingly supporting terrorist attacks which resulted in the death of American citizens. Benjamin Weiser reports for the New York Times:
The Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization were found liable on Monday by a jury in Manhattan for their role in knowingly supporting six terrorist attacks in Israel between 2002 and 2004 in which Americans were killed and injured. The jury in Federal District Court in Manhattan awarded $218.5 million in damages, a number that is automatically tripled to $655.5 million under the special terrorism law under which the case was brought. The verdict ended a decade-long legal battle to hold the Palestinian organizations responsible for the terrorist acts. And while the decision was a huge victory for the dozens of plaintiffs, it also could serve to strengthen the Israeli claim that the supposedly more moderate Palestinian forces are directly tied to terrorism. The financial implications of the verdict for the defendants were not immediately clear. The Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas, had serious financial troubles even before Israel, as punishment for the Palestinians’ move in December to join the International Criminal Court, began withholding more than $100 million a month in tax revenue it collects on the Palestinians’ behalf. The verdict came in the seventh week of a civil trial in which the jury had heard emotional testimony from survivors of suicide bombings and other attacks in Jerusalem, in which a total of 33 people were killed and more than 450 were injured.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Washington Post's Robert Costa and Dan Balz interviewed Scott Walker yesterday. Of everything they had opportunity to ask, they chose to ask Walker whether he thought Obama was a Christian. How Walker's opinion on the matter is remotely relevant or newsworthy is unclear to normal people, who expect the press to do that whole "truth to power" thing. Walker, seemingly unamused by the obscure religion question, responded appropriately, saying he "didn't know."
Wisconsin Gov. Scott K. Walker, a prospective Republican presidential contender, said Saturday he does not know whether President Obama is a Christian. “I don’t know,” Walker said in an interview at the JW Marriott hotel in Washington, where he was attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Association. Told that Obama has frequently spoken publicly about his Christian faith, Walker maintained that he was not aware of the president’s religion. “I’ve actually never talked about it or I haven’t read about that,” Walker said, his voice calm and firm. “I’ve never asked him that,” he added. “You’ve asked me to make statements about people that I haven’t had a conversation with about that. How [could] I say if I know either of you are a Christian?”

Brian Williams' tragic exit meant that a right-leaning media behemoth must too, suffer the same fate, according to the leftist code of retribution. Last week, David Corn and Daniel Schulman of Mother Jones set their crosshairs on Fox New's Bill O'Reilly attempting to settle the score. MJ and crew accused O'Reilly of lying about his reporting of The Falklands War in 1982. As we discussed:
Their ‘scoop’ seems to revolve around how Mother Jones is defining, “war action” and other semantics they themselves haven’t yet pieced together. Namely that to cover The Falklands War and reporting directly from The Falklands are not mutually exclusive.
O'Reilly responded callng, David Corn a “despicable guttersnipe” and “a liar.” He denied any discrepancy, and called the entire Mother Jones reprt “a piece of garbage.” Yesterday, O'Reilly directly addressed Corn's accusations. He produced memos and letters from 33 years ago. He also addressed the issues that we pointed out above, as well as the obvious Brian Williams retributive angle.

O RLY? Wednesday, while speaking at a White House Conference on countering violent extremism, Obama claimed, "Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding." "Generations of Muslim immigrants came here and went to work as farmers and merchants and factory workers, helped to lay railroads and to build up America. The first Islamic center was founded in the 1890s. America's first mosque, this is an interesting fact, was in North Dakota."

The over-vilification of the Democrats' favorite boogeymen may have cost them the Senate last year. Turns out that crying "Koch" is not what voters want to hear. Who knew? Oh that's right, everyone who was not Harry Reid. Who can forget Harry Reid's exceptional case of Koch Derangement Syndrome? Among the many missteps in Democratic strategy, the perpetual whining about the Koch brothers was listed as a contributing factor to the Democrats' subpar performance in last year's midterm elections.

Knocking off a seminal left-leaning media figure was bound to incur backlash. And so it seems we have our response; Mother Jones is out to off Bill O'Reilly. Late this afternoon, David Corn and Daniel Schulman of Mother Jones released a report suggesting Bill O'Reilly has a, "Brian Williams Problem." They then accuse O'Reilly of saying, "he was in a "war zone" that apparently no American correspondent reached." The intrepid reporting duo began their damning tale by explaining (in a roundabout way, anyway) why they targeted O'Reilly:
After NBC News suspended anchor Brian Williams for erroneously claiming that he was nearly shot down in a helicopter while covering the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly went on a tear. On his television show, the top-rated cable news anchor declared that the American press isn't "half as responsible as the men who forged the nation." He bemoaned the supposed culture of deception within the liberal media, and he proclaimed that the Williams controversy should prompt questioning of other "distortions" by left-leaning outlets. Yet for years, O'Reilly has recounted dramatic stories about his own war reporting that don't withstand scrutiny—even claiming he acted heroically in a war zone that he apparently never set foot in. O'Reilly has repeatedly told his audience that he was a war correspondent during the Falklands war and that he experienced combat during that 1982 conflict between England and Argentina. He has often invoked this experience to emphasize that he understands war as only someone who has witnessed it could. As he once put it, "I've been there. That's really what separates me from most of these other bloviators. I bloviate, but I bloviate about stuff I've seen. They bloviate about stuff that they haven't."
Of course they neglect the various other discrepancies between Brian Williams' claims and reality. Then they go on to make their case.

Joe Biden made headlines Tuesday when he publicly canoodled the wife of newly appointed Secretary of Defense Carter. Our friends over at the Washington Free Beacon compiled this epic super cut of Biden's handsy habit: Nia-Malika Henderson of the Washington Post wrote, "Some tipping point has been reached with Biden, it seems. While it used to be chalked up to Biden being "Uncle Joe," it's increasingly being described as "creepy."" On this point, I wholly agree because it is creepy.

You gotta love The Imperial City -- everyone is an obstructionist and no one is ever responsible. In this particular tale of drama and woe, the previous Congress passed appropriations bills lasting one fiscal year for every major government entity save the Department of Homeland Security. The idea being that once the newly elected Republican majorities took their seats in January, they'd have a strategic advantage in pushing reforms and curbing President Obama's executive immigration overreach as conditions for continued agency funding. Currently, DHS is only funded through the end of February. The House passed an appropriations bill that was heavy on the enforcement (well done, House Republicans). Senate Democrats keep filibustering the House Bill so the Senate hasn't even had a chance to duke it out. Back at the House, Speaker Boehner told Senate Democrats to "get off their asses" and stop obstructing (there's that magic word again) the bill the House passed. All the while, Senate Democrats continue to cry "unfair!" Meanwhile, down in Texas, a judge was all, "yeah, no Obama." Meaning that the fit the Senate Democrats are pitching is over an Executive Order that cannot be legally implemented. Or as Senator Sessions put it, "Congress cannot fund the very action which dissolves its own powers." And DHS is tweeting on their own behalf: Which brings us to now.

On Monday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf insisted that the only way we'll be able to defeat ISIS is by ensuring the terrorists have jobs and opportunities---a statement that would be hilarious if it were on SNL and not an actual thing that Administration officials believe in real life. Contrary to civilization upon civilization's worth of wisdom, Harf also said, "we cannot win this war by killing" ISIS. The internet, having seen the idiocy in action, responded accordingly. Ms. Harf responded by grabbing the biggest shovel she could find and dug with the fury of 1,000 waffling diplomats. She went so far as to quote... George W. Bush? First, she blasted a link that touts the UN sanctions against ISIL---and we all know how effective sanctions are... Right, Iran? Then, she tweeted where she lifted her talking points; a CNN article from 2008.

Uncle Joe was spotted publicly creeping on women again wielding his charm earlier today. This time, the victim was the wife of newly appointed Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter. Carter was sworn in by Vice President Biden today.

State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf is at it again. Last night, Harf sat down with Chris Matthews who had several straightforward questions about how the U.S. plans to deal with ISIS. It was one of those wonderful moments where Matthews was absolutely right. "How do we stop this? ... If I were ISIS, I wouldn't be afraid right now... nothing we're doing right now seems to be directed at stopping this [ISIS]." Matthews said. Harf: Well, I think there's a few stages here. Right now what we're is trying to take their leaders and their fighters off the battlefield in Iraq and in Syria; that's really where they flourish. Matthews: Are we killing enough of them? Harf: We're killing a lot of them and we're going to keep killing more of them. So are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians. They're in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war. 'So how do we defeat ISIS' you might be wondering? Don't worry, the State Department is like, totally on top of this: Harf: We need, in the medium and longer term, to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups. Fair enough. Cut out the root; kill the plant. But, somehow I don't think this is exactly the root we're looking for... Harf: Whether it's lack of opportunity for jobs... JOBS. WE'RE GOING TO DEFEAT ISIS BY ENSURING THEY HAVE JOBS, YOU GUYS. And to ensure ISIS remains occupied enough to forget their sacred past time of lopping off heads, we must provide unrestricted access to basic human rights like free heath care, and wifi. Probably, anyway. Because at this point, why not?

Chicago's Mayor can't be bothered with first person pronouns. At least not when it comes to his Twitter account. Not all politicians have social media pros running their accounts for them. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn runs his own Twitter account. And former Texas Governor, Rick Perry, also personally tweets from his account. And who can forget Senator Grassley's infamous tweets? Like most elected officials, Emanuel probably has someone running his account for him. But for some unknown, yet hilarious reason, whomever is managing the good Mayor's account has opted to go third person. Chris Ziegler from The Verge pointed out:
I'm especially amused by the Twitter feed of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, for some reason. Maybe it's the frequency of third-person tweets; maybe it's the fact that he usually refers to himself simply as "Rahm," not something more formal like "Mayor Emanuel." It's just Rahm talkin' about Rahm. Rahm on Rahm.
Rahm, Rahm, and more Rahm:

Earlier this week, President Obama sat down to promote Obamacare interview with Buzzfeed and Vox.
That the President chose listacles, cat memes, and explainer 'journalism' was not unnoticed by Right leaning media, and thus outrage ensued. Many, like Fox New's Greta Van Susteren simply want our president to be SERIOUS. ISIS is crucifying and beheading their way across the Middle East, Yemen is in shambles, thanks to Senate Democrats, DHS could potentially start the month of March unfunded, Montana is trying to ban yoga pants, Jon Stewart is leaving The Daily Show, and the whole world is going to hell. And here's our President turned gif, wielding a Selfie Stick, striking his best Tom Cruise in a dirty mirror.

Canada's equivalent of Fox News shut down early this morning. In a land where the state run Human Rights Commission works tirelessly to squash free speech, Sun News Network will be missed. Sun News' closing leave the network's commentators like Ezra Levant, who've consistently spoken out against Canada's penchant for political correctness are now without network home, and Free Speech, largely without a national voice. Citing difficulty obtaining a buyer, the network was left with no viable way to remain operational. In August of 2013, federal regulators denied Sun News a mandatory cable spot, making it difficult for the network to attract viewers. CBC News reports:

In a 93-5 vote, the Senate voted to confirm Ash Carter as the new Secretary of Defense. Carter will replace Chuck Hagel who was fired resigned in November of last year. Hagel took his licks as President Obama's perpetual fall guy, a concern Senator McCain shares for Mr. Carter as well. If you were unable to watch the confirmation hearings, this is a great wrap up: CNN Reports:
The Senate easily confirmed Ashton Carter, a former number two at the Pentagon, to be the new Secretary of Defense. The vote was 93 to 5. He will take the helm at DOD as the United States is immersed in several complex national security challenges across the globe, including the widening military campaign against ISIS.

This story hits a little too close to home. Yesterday, Republican state Rep. David Moore introduced House Bill 365 in the House Judiciary Committee. The bill would redefine "provocative clothing" in such a way that the wearing of yoga pants in public would be outlawed. According to the Billings Gazette:
A Montana legislative panel has moved to kill a bill that would tighten the state's indecent exposure law and consequently ban some provocative clothing. Members of the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to table House Bill 365 Wednesday. Republican Rep. David Moore introduced it on Tuesday. The proposal would have expanded the definition of indecent exposure to include garments that give the appearance of a person's buttocks, genitals, pelvis or female nipple. Moore said the bill could outlaw some provocative clothing, and later said he thinks yoga pants should be illegal in public.

Senate Democrats continue to block the Department of Homeland Security funding bill passed by the House. As we've reported, the House DHS appropriations bill is enforcement-heavy and seeks to squash President Obama's executive overreach. Not amused, Speaker Boehner held a press conference and minced no words:
“The House did its job. We won the fight to fund the Department of Homeland Security and to stop the President’s unconstitutional actions. Now, it’s time for the Senate to do their work. You know, in the gift shop out here [in the Capitol], they’ve got these little booklets on how a bill becomes a law. Alright? The House has done its job. Why don’t you go ask the Senate Democrats when they’re going to get off their ass and do something other than to vote ‘no.’