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Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 05, 2014 23 Comments

Janet Napolitano, former secretary of Homeland Security, said during a segment on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that she is opposed to the idea of clemency for Edward Snowden. From NBC News/Meet the Press: Former Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano flatly rejected the idea of clemency for Edward...

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Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 05, 2014 28 Comments
On this morning's “Fox News Sunday” program with host Chris Wallace, Mitt Romney took the high road and accepted an apology from Melissa Harris-Perry. (Video after the jump). https://twitter.com/FoxNewsSunday/status/419833877838848000 This came just one day after the MSNBC host apologized again, this time on air, for a recent segment on her program that devolved into ridicule of a photo that featured Governor Romney holding his adopted grandson, Kieran, who is black. "Governor, this must be hurtful and I know you're a classy guy and you don't want to get into it," Wallace prefaced, "but I've got to ask you - honestly, from the heart, how did you, and quite frankly how did Mrs. Romney feel when you heard that your little baby grandson Kieran was the target for political ridicule?" "Well, first let me just note Chris, that we love this little guy a great deal.  He was an answer to prayer, and we love that he is part of our family. He is part of our family," Romney said. "That being said, I recognize that people make mistakes," Romney continued. "And the folks at MSNBC made a big mistake. And they’ve apologized for it. And that’s all you can ask for. I am going to move on from that. I am sure they want to move on from it. Look, I’ve made plenty of mistakes myself. And they’ve apologized for this. You know, I think we can go on from there." Wallace tried to press further:  "You tend to speak from the head. I know Mrs. Romney tends to speak from the heart. I suspect she took this somewhat more personally. The idea that political discourse would include going after a little baby." Romney continued to respond with grace and class, while pointing out that children are beyond the line as political targets.

Posted by New Neo on January 05, 2014 36 Comments

According to a study of the Medicaid expansion program in Oregon, giving people Medicaid appears to increase their ER use, rather than decreasing it as Obamacare proponents had predicted. Why on earth would this be any sort of surprise? I know, I know: the idea was...

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 05, 2014 4 Comments
As Americans are recovering from their New Year's celebrations, it may be time to sober up with a look at some new laws that took effect January 1st. From the Washington Post, some of the more fascinating state rules now in place.
...2. Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana use -- perhaps the most talked-about new law of 2014 -- starting on Jan. 1. While Colorado stores have already begun selling marijuana, it isn't the only state with new drug laws. Washington has also legalized recreational marijuana use, and Illinois has legalized medical marijuana. 3. Illinois passed a law that prohibits drone-use that interferes with hunters or fisherman. This law was passed after PETA called for the use of "Air Angel" drones to monitor "hunters engaging in illegal activity." Another new law in the state prohibits state law enforcement from using drones to gather information without a warrant. 4. There's now a bigger fine for planning violent flash mobs on social media in Illinois. 5. In Oregon, it's now legal for mothers to take their placentas home from the hospital after childbirth. 6. It's now illegal to sell, distribute or possess shark fins in Delaware.
Colorado's rule change has already had some unintended consequences: Colorado 2-Year-Old Tests Positive For Pot (via Tammy Bruce).

Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 04, 2014 63 Comments
It's been a long week for Melissa Harris-Perry. The MSNBC host took a lot of heat for this segment on her show last weekend in which she moderated a panel of comedians in offering a caption to a Romney family photo that featured Governor Romney holding his adopted grandson, Kieran, who is black. The segment devolved into senseless mocking - as Professor Jacobson previously noted, "To the race-obsessed minds at MSNBC, the fact that Mitt Romney’s son and daughter-in-law adopted a black child is something to mock." Mitt Romney family Christmas photo 2013 Backlash ensued and Melissa Harris-Perry later apologized online in a series of tweets. On her program today, Harris-Perry again made an apology for that segment, while fighting back tears.  Below is an excerpt from that apology.  Video is after the jump.
Now given my own family history, I identify with that picture and I intended to say positive and celebratory things about it, but whatever the intent was, the reality is that the segment proceeded in a way that was offensive. And showing the photo in that context, that segment, was poor judgment. So without reservation or qualification, I apologize to the Romney family. Adults who enter into public life implicitly consent to having less privacy. But their families, and especially their children, should not be treated callously or thoughtlessly. My intention was not malicious, but I broke the ground rule that families are off-limits, and for that I am sorry. Also, allow me to apologize to other families formed through transracial adoption, because I am deeply sorry that we suggested that interracial families are in any way funny or deserving of ridicule. On this program we are dedicated to advocating for a wide diversity of families. It is one of our core principles, and I am reminded that when we are doing so, it must always be with the utmost respect.
(h/t to Newsbusters for the transcript; and to TheRightScoop for staying on the story)

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Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 04, 2014 39 Comments
At the start of the New Year, Legal Insurrection reader Nicholas wrote to ask Professor Jacobson the following question: Could 2014 be the year of the Tea Party Democrats? The political climate certainly seems appropriate. As Legal Insurrection's designated "Tea Party Democrat," I would like to answer this: Yes and No. Yes: Democrats are becoming as frustrated with their establishment leaders and failed policies as "Tea Party Republicans" have been with theirs. Exhibit 1: A townhall meeting in Chicago a hosted by Al Sharpton transformed into a "tea party" against “Chicago Machine” politics, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and the aldermen in City Hall.
“This was a historic event,” Paul McKinley of V.O.T.E. (Voices of the Ex-Offender) and former 2nd Congressional District GOP nominee to replace Jesse Jackson, Jr. told Breitbart News..... McKinley told the room, “Stop blaming just anybody for the violence in the city of Chicago. Blame the right people, not just white people, but the right people. Because it’s not just white folks a part of this, but it is on the fifth floor. The fifth floor took your schools, the fifth floor just took your jobs that he said that he gave to the ex-offender… and every single alderman was a part of this criminal process.”
The video will delight fans of schadenfreude:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 04, 2014 2 Comments

Barbara Bush has been released from the hospital after nearly a week of treatment for pneumonia. From CNN: Former first lady Barbara Bush was discharged from Houston Methodist Hospital on Saturday, a family spokesman said. "I cannot thank the doctors and nurses at Houston Methodist enough for making...

Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 04, 2014 0 Comments

It’s hard to keep up with rules pertaining to speech at schools these days. University of West Alabama Wins The FIRE’s Speech Code of the Month FIRE taps Troy U. and Virginia State U. as 2013 Speech Codes of the Year “Winners” Or words that are just tiresome. University...

Posted by Andrew Branca on January 04, 2014 49 Comments
The evening of February 27, 2008, in the Miami area, Gabriel Mobley and a friend were viciously attacked by two men. Using his licensed concealed carry pistol, Mr. Mobley successfully fought off the attack, killing both of the aggressors. He was charged with two counts of second degree murder - murder which, under Florida law, requires "malice". Mobley exercised his rights under Florida's self-defense immunity state, 776.032 Immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for justifiable use of force, to avoid going to trial on the basis that it was more likely than not, based on the evidence, that he acted in lawful self-defense. The trial judge, Thomas Rebull, refused to dismiss the charges. He claimed that Mobley's testimony was not credible, and that Mobley's deadly force was "neither reasonable or necessary." Mobley appealed. On Thursday, the Florida appellate court hearing the matter ruled by 2-1 that the evidence supported Mobley's request for self-defense immunity. (The State prosecutors say they intend to appeal that ruling.) The appellate ruling published Thursday in support of Mobley recounted the facts of the case as follows:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 04, 2014 39 Comments
Price to Americans for helping other countries deal with "climate change":  $7.45 Billion. Price of an international air-sea rescue of 52 passengers (including 4 journalists and 26 paying tourists, and various academic advocates of "global warming"): Millions of dollars, to be paid by the shipping companies and their insurers. Price of the enjoyment brought to millions of "global warming deniers" when reading about the expedition of warmists on a Russian ship trapped in ice: Priceless. A CBS report (video):

Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 03, 2014 5 Comments
Protests in Egypt turned violent on Friday as supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and of ousted President Mohamed Morsi clashed with police forces. From Reuters:
Eleven people [Editor's note: this number is being updated, check the link for latest] were shot dead as supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood clashed with police across Egypt on Friday, defying an ever-widening state crackdown on the movement that ruled the country until six months ago. Islamists opposed to the army's overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi in July have been holding daily demonstrations, even after the army-backed government declared his Brotherhood a terrorist group last week, increasing the penalties for dissent. The government is using the new classification to detain hundreds of Brotherhood supporters. Thousands more, including top leaders of the group, have been in jail for months, arrested in the aftermath of the army takeover.
The new classification of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization prompted the group’s supporters to take to the streets in various locations across Egypt just after the announcement last week. This week, Morsi supporters rallied after calls for demonstrations ahead of a new hearing in the ousted president’s trial. AFP reports that protesters were throwing various items amidst clashes with authorities, including rocks and fireworks.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 03, 2014 7 Comments
Via The Times of Israel, Thwarted Israeli bus blast similar to Boston bombings:
The bomb that tore through a Dan No. 240 bus in the central Israeli city of Bat Yam on December 22 was assembled in a pressure cooker and activated by cellphone, much like the devices that killed three people and wounded hundreds more during the Boston Marathon in April 2013, the Shin Bet investigation has revealed.... The bomb, which exploded at the corner of Mivtza Sinai and Katzenelson streets in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam, caused no injuries because an alert passenger had noticed the bag containing the device left unattended by the bus’s rear door. The driver evacuated the bus, and the device was detonated as an Israeli sapper attempted to defuse it. The bus was wrecked, but there were no injuries.... According to information released by the Shin Bet, the bomb, consisted of two kilograms of improvised explosives surrounded by nails and screws and stuffed into a pressure cooker. This was a method akin to the one used by Boston murderers, brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. It was made popular by an al-Qaeda manual placed online.
More on the plot, via Haaretz:
Israeli security forces carried out a series of arrests in the West Bank city of Bethlehem following the attack, detaining members of the Islamic Jihad militant group. The Shin Bet believes that two of the central suspects in the plot to bomb the bus are former security prisoners in Israel: Shahada Ta'amri, 24, and his 21-year-old brother Hamdi Ta'amri, a former cadet in the Jericho Police officers' course. Another central suspect was named as Yousef Salame, 22.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 03, 2014 52 Comments
New York City voters, what on Earth have you done? De Blasio Vows to Shape a Liberal New York:
Mayor Bill de Blasio was sworn in Wednesday, promising to usher in a sweeping agenda that would remake the nation's largest city as a foundry for liberal ideas. Among the Democrat's early priorities are higher taxes on city residents making more than $500,000 a year, universal prekindergarten, de-emphasizing standardized testing in public schools and reining in aggressive street stops by the police The new mayor, whose campaign theme was ending a "tale of two cities," has made clear that he would like to be a national leader in trying to combat income inequality. Scott Stringer, the city's new comptroller, said the 52-year-old Mr. de Blasio would tackle the income gap "in a way that hasn't been a priority since Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty." The city for the past 20 years has been ruled by mayors who won office as Republicans: Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. During those years, violent crime fell to record lows, mirroring national trends, while high-school graduation rates rose and development moved into neighborhoods once seen as dangerous. The agencies Mr. de Blasio says he wants to change—the New York Police Department and the Department of Education, to name two—were often held up as national models.
It gets worse:

Posted by David Gerstman on January 03, 2014 3 Comments
When I was almost fifty four, it was a very good year It was a very good year for kindly faced clerics Whose Justice Minister was an executioner And Defense Minister waged an anti-American war When I was almost fifty four.
Nearly two years ago Jeffrey Goldberg interviewed President Obama about how he would deal with the threat from Iran. Given Goldberg's support for Israel, the interview was part of an administration campaign to tell Israel and Israel's supporters in the United States that "we've got Israel's back." It's unsettling now, that Goldberg has declared that For Iran, 2013 Was a Very Good Year.
Remember that interim Iranian nuclear agreement forged in Geneva on Nov. 24, the one accompanied by blaring trumpets and soaring doves? Would it surprise you to know that the agreement -- a deal that doesn’t, by the way, neutralize the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, just freezes the program, more or less, in place -- has not yet been implemented? Would it surprise you to learn that this deal might not be implemented for another month, or more? Or that in this long period of non-implementation, Iran is free to do with its nuclear program whatever it wishes? And that one of the things it is doing is building and testing new generations of centrifuges? Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, recently said , “We have two types of second-generation centrifuges. We also have future generations which are going through their tests.” Happy New Year, everyone.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 03, 2014 26 Comments
When I saw this circulating on Twitter, I thought it had to be a hoax. And it still might be. But it's being fairly widely reported, with a Singaporean newspaper the primary English language source. Via The Strait Times, Jang's execution bodes ill for China:
THE execution of Jang Song Thaek, the No. 2 man in North Korea, took Beijing by surprise and will adversely affect bilateral relations. Beijing's displeasure is expressed through the publication of a detailed account of Jang's brutal execution in Wen Wei Po, its official mouthpiece, in Hong Kong, on Dec 12. According to the report, unlike previous executions of political prisoners which were carried out by firing squads with machine guns, Jang was stripped naked and thrown into a cage, along with his five closest aides. Then 120 hounds, starved for three days, were allowed to prey on them until they were completely eaten up. This is called "quan jue", or execution by dogs. The report said the entire process lasted for an hour, with Mr Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader in North Korea, supervising it along with 300 senior officials. The horrifying report vividly depicted the brutality of the young North Korean leader. The fact that it appeared in a Beijing- controlled newspaper showed that China no longer cares about its relations with the Kim regime.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 03, 2014 4 Comments

From a reader in Texas Hi Prof- thought you might like these. On a military base in San Antonio ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 02, 2014 14 Comments

This segment between Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post (my law school classmate) and Glenn Greenwald on Edward Snowden is pretty good. It's being described as Greenwald being rude to Marcus, but I don't see it that way. I think they both did a good job. ...

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