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Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

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So far, we've had numerous terrorist attacks on our soil since 9/11, and several stand out as particularly horrific:  the Fort Hood terror attack, the Boston bombing, San Bernardino, and Orlando.  As a result of the felt increase in terror attacks on our own soil, Americans feel less safe from terrorism. According to Pew Research, a full 40% of the American public now feel that the ability of terrorists to launch a major attack is greater than it was on 9/11.  This is the highest this number has been in 14 years.
Currently, 40% of the public says that the ability of terrorists to launch another major attack on the United States is greater than it was at the time of the 9/11 attacks, which is the highest share expressing this view over the past 14 years. About a third (31%) say terrorists’ abilities to attack are the same as at the time of 9/11, while just 25% say their ability to initiate a major attack is less than at that time.
Pew attributes this growth to . . . Republicans.
The latest national survey by Pew Research Center, conducted Aug. 23-Sept. 2 among 1,201 adults, finds that the growth in the belief that terrorists are now better able to launch a major strike on the U.S. has come almost entirely among Republicans. Today, 58% of Republicans view the ability of terrorists to attack as greater than at the time of 9/11, up 18 percentage points since November 2013.

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As Hillary's numbers drop and Democrats scratch their heads as they try to figure out why she's not miles ahead of Trump, Hillary demonstrates one of the many qualities that make her unpalatable to American voters:  her contempt for them. Like Kerry and Obama before her, Hillary just cannot contain her distaste for a large number of Americans.  At a fundraiser, she declared that half of Trump's supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables." NBC News reports:
Hillary Clinton urged supporters late Friday not to be complacent about Donald Trump's chances of winning the election, saying half of his backers were "desperate for change" but the other half belonged in a "basket of deplorables." Appearing at an LGBT gala fundraiser where Barbra Streisand performed, she said many of the GOP candidate's voters were "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it."
Watch:

We covered how anti-Israel activists promoting the boycott of Israel infiltrated the Black Lives Matters movement from the get-go, and have used their influence to turn the movement against Israel. That infiltration most recently showed up with absurd and defamatory accusations against Israel in the platform of the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of 50 groups, If you are surprised #BlackLivesMatter joined war on Israel, you haven’t been paying attention. There has been pushback not only from Jewish groups, but also from black groups, Coalition of Missouri black church leaders rejects #BlackLivesMatter anti-Israel platform. Now, one cabaret owner has mounted his own mini-boycott against Black Lives Matters, refusing to allow a Broadway fundraiser for the group at his business. http://www.playbill.com/article/broadway-supports-black-lives-matter-concert-cancelled

Vanderbilt University has picked up the idea of preferred gender pronouns and run away with it. There are charts on campus to explain the proper usage of gender pronouns and name plates are providing individual pronoun preferences. KLEW TV News reports:
Pronoun chart at Vanderbilt to 'provide education, awareness about gender identity' A pronoun chart at Vanderbilt University is to "provide awareness and education about gender identity," according to the school. Fox 17 inquired about the above poster reportedly at Vanderbilt. The school said the poster is part of a grassroots, student-led partnership with the faculty. The school said it's there to provide education and awareness, "rather than establish a formal university policy," the school said in a statement to Fox 17. Vanderbilt said the poster was made in response to a student interest in "promoting inclusivity on campus."

On August 24, I noted that Hillary's strategy was to run out the clock, in light of her massive lead in the polls since the conventions, Hibernating Hillary Running Out the Clock:
The current polling gives little rational reason to think Donald Trump will win in November. No matter how you slice it — national 4-way, national head-to-head, battleground states, electoral college, unfavorability — Trump is deeply underwater, as this polling average chart at Real Clear Politics today shows: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/
That was then. Before Hillary's hibernation combined with more email problems, and Trump's staying out of trouble, caused something approaching a collapse. Here's what that same chart looks like now. Hillary is still leading, but in every category her lead has shrunk dramatically.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu released a new video Friday. In his latest YouTube chat, Netanyahu challenges the idea that ethnic cleansing of Jews in Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") will lead to peace. According to Israel National News:
"The Palestinian Authority leadership’s demand that a Palestinian state be free of Jews is ethnic cleansing, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Friday, and the concept of ethnic cleansing for peace is absurd. Netanyahu’s comments came in a video he released in Hebrew and English and which was also released in a version with Arabic subtitles."

The House of Representatives passed a bill allowing families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. The Senate drafted legislation in April. Saudi Arabia threatened economic retaliation if the U.S. passed this bill and the Obama Administration pressured both parties not to proceed with the bill, even though families and victims from 9/11 voiced their approval for the legislation.

The Supreme Court refused to consider Michigan's emergency appeal that would eliminate its 125 year-old straight-ticket voting option. The justices gave no reason:
“The application for stay presented to Justice (Elena) Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied. Justice (Clarence) Thomas and Justice (Samuel) Alito would grant the application.”
In 2015, the state leadership decided to remove the straight ticket option so, "that a voter would not overlook nonpartisan issues on the ballot and also make a 'more informed vote by examining the credentials and values of each candidate.'"

President Obama is a weak leader, but then most textbook narcissists are. I get that. But Putin? A strong leader? At Wednesdays's Commander-in-Chief forum, Donald Trump cited Putin's approval ratings (because I'm sure Russian polls aren't cooked) as evidence of Putin's "strong" leadership; leadership that Trump suggested is stronger than President Obama's. While that might be true technically, are we really looking to compare the once free-world with a communist dictatorial foe? Apparently so.

Progressive students at the University of Oklahoma are unhappy about the current level of diversity at the school, which just won an award for promoting diversity. In response, some students have taken to Twitter to complain about the problem. Fox News reports, Oklahoma University students mount protest over 'otherization,' use of gender pronouns:
Students at Oklahoma University have taken to Twitter to share what they are describing as incidents of discrimination and harassment and draw attention to the university’s failed efforts to promote diversity and inclusion.
The school newspaper, OU Daily, has the story:

The opening segment of today's Morning Joe was a Niagara of negativity deluging Donald Trump, focused on his comments at the Commander-in-Chief Forum. No discussion of Hillary Clinton's newest lies about her email, and the fact that, in order to create a veil of secrecy for her Foundation malfeasance, she subverted our national security. Two examples of the extreme hostility toward Trump, coupled with a dose of Hillary-worship. Ad man Donny Deutsch detected "envy" of Putin by Trump, saying "I think he wants to be a dictator." A bit later, Mika Brzezinski sympathized with poor Hillary: she's so "incredibly prepared" to be president that she has to "dumb herself down to deal with this idiot on the other side."

When Senator Cornyn ran for re-election in 2014 he received a bevy of endorsements, but one was missing -- that of Texas' Junior Senator Cruz. Cornyn easily won the primary and went on to win the general election handily, maintaining his status as the number two ranking Senate Republican. On CNN Thursday, Cornyn indicated he has zero plans to endorse his Senate companion. Sure, it's only 2016, but Cornyn's numerous attempts to bring Cruz into the fold were repeatedly rebuffed. Their relationship was further strained when Cornyn killed a would-be Cruz filibuster over the debt ceiling.

Wow! Veteran political strategist Mary Matalin is not just "confident" that Donald Trump is going to win, she thinks he has an 85-90% chance of winning. And even that is conservative compared to the 100% chance she originally claimed during her appearance on today's With All Due Respect. Note that Matalin is not a rabid Trump partisan. To the contrary, she quit the Republican party in May, and says that rather than having a dog in the race, she has, in Trump, merely a "mini-puppy." Matalin took an amusing shot at her husband, Dem strategist James Carville. When John Heilemann said he could only imagine the fights she was having with him, Mary mockingly answered "who? Who? Is he my . . . go-to guy in politics? I don't think so."

I continue to keep an eye on the vulnerable Republicans in the Senate because the Democrats only need four seats to retake the majority. Not helpful is that Hillary and her campaign hope to raise $1 billion to help unseat vulnerable GOP senators. Their efforts may not come to fruition as Sen. Jon Tester (MT), the campaign chairman for the Senate Democrats, sounded the alarm on Wednesday. He claimed the party could only regain three seats if they held elections today.

President Obama has TOTUS (Telepromter of the United States) and his wife has Michelle Obama's Mirror. After the Commander In Chief Forum hosted by NBC and moderated by Matt Lauer, a new social media star has been born: Hillary's Ear Piece. It became a trending topic on Twitter last night: