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Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 22, 2016 6 Comments
Recently, I noted that climate change skeptics who also acted as their states' attorneys general warned their environmental activist counterparts that plans were being made to "fight fire with fire." Afterall, if the government's environmental activists begin targeting businesses and private organizations under racketeering statutes for denying progressive environmental science theories, then skeptics surely can go after eco-activists for their climate exaggerations and alarmist tactics. Goose, meet gander! In a way, the pushback has already begun. About one month ago, thirteen Republican members of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee Republicans sent letters to 17 state attorneys general and eight environmental groups requesting documents related to the groups’ coordinated efforts to deprive companies, nonprofit organizations, scientists and scholars of their First Amendment rights and their ability to fund and conduct scientific research free from intimidation and threats of prosecution. This congressional committee has turned up the heat even more. It is now delving into eco-activism at the federal level by requesting records of the communications between employees for the state attorneys general and the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, or the White House.

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Posted by Mary Chastain on June 22, 2016 19 Comments
Members inside GOP presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign said that Paul Manafort has taken over as campaign manager:
Three people close to the campaign said some of Trump's staff viewed Lewandowski as opposing strategic changes and staff hires urged for the general election campaign by Paul Manafort, a strategist hired in April partly for his experience on presidential campaigns that Lewandowski lacked. The three, a campaign staffer and two people in regular contact with Trump advisers, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by Trump to discuss the firing. Manafort will take over as campaign manager, said Carl Paladino, co-chairman of the campaign's operations in New York state. "Paul's in charge," Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee's communications director, said in an interview.
Trump brought in Manafort in late March as an advisor. People may not know Manafort, but those like me who have covered Ukraine since 2013 know the name all too well since he once advised ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. The man who advised the Moscow-backed president of Ukraine is now managing the campaign of the GOP candidate. While Manafort has consulted numerous unsavory individuals, Yanukovych remains fresh since his downfall has led to the worst tensions between the West and Russia since the Cold War.

Posted by Sarah Rumpf on June 22, 2016 28 Comments
Florida Senator Marco Rubio has decided to run for reelection, he confirmed to Fox News' Chris Wallace on Wednesday. Fox News posted a short clip on Twitter; the full interview will air at 6 pm Eastern Time. https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/745621612163039237 “People in politics don’t like to admit that they’ve changed their mind, but I changed my mind, and the people in Florida deserve to know why,” Rubio said, explaining that there were "a lot of reasons."

Posted by Andrew Branca on June 22, 2016 30 Comments
Thursday morning trial Judge Barry Williams is expected to release his bench verdict in the “Freddie Gray” trial of van driver Officer Caesar Goodson. Officer Goodson is charged with murder, multiple counts of manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Goodson is the third of six charged officers to be tried in the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. The jury trial of Officer William Porter ended in a hung jury, and Porter is scheduled to be re-tried. The bench trial of Officer Edward Nero ended in an acquittal. As was the case with Nero, Goodson also elected to have a bench trial. The prosecution in all these cases has put forth three distinct theories of criminal liability for the charged officers: (1) Murder by failure to seatbelt; (2) Murder by failure to provide prompt medical care; (3) Murder by “rough ride.”

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 22, 2016 43 Comments
Nicolle Wallace nailed it: "voters are so smart! And whenever we scratch our heads here in New York City or anywhere along the Acela corridor, you really just have to get out for a day or an hour and talk to people. They see everything." Wallace was reacting to clips from a focus group of working-class Pennsylvania voters aired on today's Morning Joe. Trump boosters and critics alike offered fresh, authentic, insightful takes on the candidate. As something of a political junkie, I found myself feeling envious of the clear and uncluttered way they cut to the heart of things. Have a look: if your faith in your fellow Americans has at times been flagging, these folks will restore it.

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Posted by Mike LaChance on June 22, 2016 26 Comments
It should come as a surprise to no one that under Obama, the nation's top law enforcement officer sounds more like a high school guidance counselor than a prosecutor. The victims of a terror attack certainly deserve love and compassion but for an attorney general to say this is the best response to terror doesn't inspire much confidence. David Rutz of the Washington Free Beacon reported:
Lynch: Best Response to Terrorism Is Love and Compassion Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that love and compassion are the best responses to terrorism during remarks to the media in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday. Lynch said the Department of Justice stood in solidarity with the LGBT community “in the light” following a Muslim terrorist’s massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub last week.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 21, 2016 4 Comments
The group we commonly refer to as the Council on American Islamic Affairs (CAIR) actually operates through a web of local and regional affiliates, and includes the CAIR Action Newtork. The CAIR Action Network has been embroiled in litigation relating to alleged fraud in the handling of client cases by a "lawyer" working with the CAIR Action Network. The allegation in the lawsuit is that the lawyer wasn't a lawyer, and misrepresented the services being provided to clients. CAIR Action Networked defended, among other ways, by claiming it was not responsible for the "lawyer's" conduct. The lawsuit initially was dismissed by the trial court, but the federal appeals court in the D.C. Circuit just dismissed and reinstated the lawsuit, which now should proceed to trial. (The Opinion is embedded below). The Appeals Court summarized the nature of the case:

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 21, 2016 10 Comments
The Social Democrat minority government proposed legislation in Sweden to limit the number of refugees since the asylum seekers have stretched the country thin. They allowed in 160,000 people last year. From The New York Times:
The government said that under the new rules, individuals who want to bring over family members but do not apply to do so within three months of arriving in Sweden, would have to prove they can financially support them; current regulations require sponsors to demonstrate only that they can support themselves. Permanent residency for asylum-seekers under the age of 25 would be restricted to those who have completed high school and can support themselves. People who are formally granted refugee status would be able to bring over family members from abroad, but the legislation would circumscribe the family members who are eligible.
The asylum seekers have overwhelmed the public system since only 494 found employment. That's the tricky thing with socialism. You need people to fund it, but too many people can cause a collapse.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 21, 2016 12 Comments
Mexican flags will greet GOP presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump when he visits.....Scotland. Yes, the residents around Trump's Aberdeenshire golf course have raised the flag to "show solidarity" with the country since Trump wants to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Donald ticked off these people when he built his golf course because he wanted to buy their lands. https://twitter.com/STVNews/status/745230658214170624 David Milne raised one of the Mexican flags:
Mr Milne said: "I am currently flying a Mexican flag along with my usual Saltire just for solidarity along with those worldwide who Trump has decried, insulted and threatened over the years, and will continue to decry, insult and threaten."

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 21, 2016 69 Comments
On Memorial Day weekend, we covered the accident with Harambe that led to the shooting of a rare gorilla to protect a boy who fell into the Cincinnati's zoo enclosure. Now, in time for Father's Day, there is troubling news related to the awful death of Lane Graves. The 2-year old was attacked by an alligator at the man-made Seven Seas Lagoon located across the lake from the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 21, 2016 16 Comments
Four gun control measures—two sponsored by Democrats, two by Republicans—failed in the Senate on Monday. USA Today provides a brief overview of each amendment (to a DOJ spending bill):
► An amendment by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would allow the attorney general to deny a gun sale to anyone if she has a "reasonable belief" — a lesser standard than "probable cause" — that the buyer was likely to engage in terrorism. The proposal is popularly known as the "no-fly, no-buy" amendment, but wouldn't just apply to people on the "no fly" terrorist watch list. ► An Republican alternative by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, which would require that law enforcement be alerted when anyone on the terror watch list attempts to buy a weapon from a licensed dealer. If the buyer has been investigated for terrorism within the past five years, the attorney general could block a sale for up to three days while a court reviews the sale. ► An amendment by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, would make it more difficult to add mentally ill people to the background check database, giving people suspected of serious mental illness a process to challenge that determination.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 21, 2016 17 Comments
A Floridian woman shot and wounded a naked, poop-covered home invader Sunday night. 27-year-old Victor Etherington, who, according to deputies was intoxicated, demanded entry to an Ocala residence. The homeowner (name still unknown), not recognizing him, told him to leave. The poopetrator kicked in the door, prompting the woman to take refuge in her bedroom, grab a .22, and call 911. Etherington chased her upstairs, removed his soiled shorts and forced his way into the closet, and that's when the homeowner shot him once in the gut. When police arrived on the scene, they found Etherington in his birthday suit, bleeding, covered in poop, hiding behind the bedroom door.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on June 21, 2016 6 Comments
As the U.S. disengages from Latin America as part of President Obama’s broader policy of reducing American presence in the world, Iran is moving in fill parts of that geopolitical vacuum, says a report published by Washington D.C. based Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS). The report used documents and legal wiretaps related to the circumstance surrounding the death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman who died of a bullet shot on January 19, 2015, a day before he was going to testify before Argentina’s Congress about Buenos Aires Jewish community center bombing carried out by Iranian terrorists. The report cited by the Wall Street Journal shows how the death of Argentine prosecutor “paved the way for [Iran] to move into a new phase of its information and intelligence operations in Latin America.” WSJ concluded that unfettered access for international financial system and assets worth $150 billion given to Iran as the result of Obama-Kerry Nuclear Deal “will increase Iran’s penetration of the Western Hemisphere.” The revelation comes just days after a senior Israeli diplomat in New Delhi warned of a concrete threat of Iran-sponsored terrorism targeting Israelis in India and abroad. In February 2012, Iranian terrorists carried out a bomb attack targeting Israeli mission in New Delhi.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on June 21, 2016 15 Comments
Imagine you're a real reporter—not a thinly-disguised member of the Dem cheerleading squad—and you had the opportunity to question President Obama's spokesman this morning. Wouldn't you have wanted to know the degree to which President Obama and his minions were complicit in the fiasco of the redaction of the Omar Mateern tapes, removing most of his proclamations of allegiance to ISIS, Allah, etc? But when the Morning Joe crew interviewed Josh Earnest, not a word about the Mateen tapes, or anything else that might have jostled Josh's feathers. To the contrary, the interview was one long set-up, giving Earnest the chance to sanctimonously wring his hands over the rejection by the Republican Senate of various gun control measures. Most bathetic of all was Mike Barnicle. Barnicle prefaced his question by saying "I'm going to ask you to do something that's probably difficult given your role as White House spokesperson." For a fleeting second one imagined Barnicle was about to challenge Earnest with an uncomfortable question. Hah! "Give us a feel for the president as a human being, okay? As a father, as a parent, as a citizen because we all know what happened in Orlando." Hard-hitting stuff, Mike!

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 21, 2016 31 Comments
A 19 year old man was arrested at a Trump rally in Las Vegas over the weekend when he tried to grab a gun from a police officer. The man, now identified as Michael Sandford, is originally from the UK and has admitted to authorities that his intention was to kill Donald Trump. The Daily Mail reports:
Protester, 20, grabbed a policeman's firearm at Las Vegas rally and said he wanted to KILL Donald Trump, after driving from California and learning how to shoot on a gun range the day before A British man arrested at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas told authorities he tried to grab an officer's gun so he could kill the billionaire Republican presidential candidate. Anti-Trump protester Michael Steven Sandford, 19, who appeared in court on Monday, even went to a gun range on Friday so he could learn how to shoot.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 21, 2016 3 Comments
Earlier this year, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs released a report on the so-called Knife Uprising (Intifada), The Knife and the Message: The Roots of the New Palestinian Uprising (pdf. version here). The report explored various aspects behind the Palestinian violence, which included shooting and car rammings, among other tactics, with a focus on knife stabbings. Children and young adults were both the target of incitement, and predictably therefore, the main participants in violence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qqyyM2R5Ms Here is an excerpt from the Executive Summary:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 20, 2016 22 Comments
There were two big developments today in the attempt to shut down debate about Islamic terrorism. First, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch fulfilled her promise to excise from the transcript of the Orlando terrorist's 911 police tape all references to Islam and ISIS. After intense and near universal criticism and mockery from across the political spectrum, DOJ relented and included the references. Second, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which the United Arab Emirites declared a terror group, released a report titled Confronting Fear: Islamophobia and its Impact on the U.S. 2013-2015. The Report, produced jointly with the U.C. Berkeley Center for Race and Gender, was published on a website run by CAIR called Islamophobia Monitor, with the url islamophobia.org. A pdf. of the report is here The report has a laundry list of groups that CAIR claims spread hate of Muslims, then combines their budgets for 20113-2015, and declares that $205,000,000 was spend promoting Islamophobia (emphasis mine):
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