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Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 22, 2016 5 Comments
Regular Legal Insurrection readers may recall that prior to signing the new state minimum wage law, California Governor Jerry Brown was heckled at the Paris Climate Conference. Brown was challenged by a group of protesters opposed to carbon offset programs they said could hurt indigenous people. However, his enthusiasm for imposing draconian rules limiting carbon dioxide emissions has remained quite vigorous.
“This is one skirmish, but I’ll tell you, it’s increasing the intensity of my commitment to do everything I can to make sure we reduce oil consumption in California,” he said. “My zeal has been intensified to a maximum degree, and nothing, nothing is going to stop this state from pushing forward on our low-carbon fuel standard and our cap-and-trade and our ZEV [zero-emission vehicle] mandate.”
Brown's zeal was such that about a year ago he issued an executive order setting a goal for greenhouse gas emissions to be 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. The California Governor's mandate was short on specifics about how his new goal will be achieved, and relied on currently undeveloped or uninvented technology to ultimately achieve the goal.

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Posted by Mike LaChance on April 22, 2016 13 Comments
Hillary Clinton is trying to convince her party, and possibly herself, that Bernie Sanders supporters will ultimately embrace her as the Democratic nominee. Nick Gass reports at Politico:
Clinton: Sanders' young supporters will unite behind me Just as her supporters coalesced behind Barack Obama after she exited the race in 2008, Hillary Clinton expressed optimism Thursday that backers of Bernie Sanders would do the same this year if the choice is between her and either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 21, 2016 181 Comments
I fully appreciate that support for Trump has become a cult of personality. Nothing can sway those who refuse to see that Trump is conning them. He doesn't respect you. He doesn't like you. He is manipulating you to get what he wants. It's all a show. And his new convention manager (and de facto campaign manager) Paul Manafort just admitted to the con in a closed door meeting with the RNC. The Associated Press obtained a recording, and reports, Trump team tells GOP he has been 'projecting an image' (emphasis added):
Trump's newly hired senior aide, Paul Manafort, made the case to Republican National Committee members that Trump has two personalities: one in private and one onstage. "When he's out on the stage, when he's talking about the kinds of things he's talking about on the stump, he's projecting an image that's for that purpose," Manafort said in a private briefing. "You'll start to see more depth of the person, the real person. You'll see a real different guy," he said.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 21, 2016 15 Comments
The FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email account and home-brewed server won't be wrapping up anytime soon. Nor is the Democratic convention a consideration in the timeliness of the investigation. NBC reported FBI Director James Comey's remarks Thursday afternoon:
Asked about the case today at a security conference in London, he said, "Somebody asked me if the Democratic National Convention is a hard stop or a key date for you? Are you doing this aimed at that? And I said, no.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 21, 2016 1 Comment
Last year, Sen. Sassee introduced companion legislation to the House version of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Speaking before the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives Wednesday, Sen. Sasse gave an impassioned speech on the sanctity of life and the necessity of protecting the lives of the unborn.

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Posted by Miriam Elman on April 21, 2016 9 Comments
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a non-Jewish organization that gives cover to the anti-Israel boycott movement (BDS) and its political war on Israel by washing away the stains of anti-Semitism that are central to the BDS movement’s founding, actions and identity. As we noted in a prior post, JVP operates in multiple arenas to exploit Jewish culture and traditions, putting them into service for a vehemently anti-Israel propaganda campaign:
In its written materials and presentations, JVP reinforces that its anti-Israel positions are consistent with Jewish values. Toward this end, it usurps the Jewish life cycle and religious holidays by incorporating anti-Israel themes into traditional celebratory and commemorative events”.
This JVP identity theft of Jewish heritage and narrative is particularly visible at Passover, which begins April 22 this year.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 21, 2016 2 Comments
Germany-based activists linked to the terrorist outfit Hezbollah could be getting large amounts of financial support from the German government, the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reveals. In one instance, city of Berlin is set to grant €100,000 to a 'refugee project' allegedly run by Hezbollah sympathisers. ‘Refugee Impulse Club’, as the group is called, has also been nominated for a €10,000 prize offered by the German Ministry of Culture. The nomination alone brings €2,500 to the group. Hezbollah, the Iran-funded Shia terrorist group, controls most of Lebanon and has made large territorial gains in Syria fighting on behalf of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah also acts as the long arm of Iranian regime, with a long history of involvement in international terrorism under the direction of Tehran. According to a German intelligence report, Berlin is home to some 250 active Hezbollah members. Estimated 950 Hezbollah members and 300 Hamas members are thought to be operating on German soil. Berliner Zeitung reports:

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 21, 2016 14 Comments
Anders Breivik, the mass murderer who killed 77 people during a rampage in 2011, has successfully sued the government of Norway for violating his civil rights by keeping him in solitary confinement and searching him. CNN reported:
Mass killer Anders Breivik's human rights breached in prison, court rules Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has won part of his lawsuit against the state over his solitary confinement in a high-security prison, a court announced Wednesday. The Oslo district court found the 37-year-old's treatment in prison violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, prohibiting "inhuman or degrading treatment," and ruled that his conditions must be eased.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 21, 2016 190 Comments
Donald Trump was asked on the Today Show which bathroom at Trump Tower Caitlyn Jenner should use. Trump didn't limit himself to Caitlyn, and broadly proposed that businesses would be discriminating if they provide a separate (presumably non-gendered) bathroom. Trump also complained that a separate bathroom would be too expensive for businesses. https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/723125136170213376 Here's the full question and answer:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 20, 2016 12 Comments
Harriet Tubman was a badass. And if things go as planned, she'll be gracing the front of our $20 bills in about ten years or so. In honor of Tubman's accension to currency, I present to you Drunk History's recounting of Harriet Tubman, Union spy. If you're not familiar with Drunk History, it's a show where the hosts du jour get plastered, tell a very particular historical tale, and then that tale is acted out by comedians and other well known Hollywood types. Politically correct it is not, because really, who's PC when plastered?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 20, 2016 3 Comments
I guess I knew this case was percolating through the system, but I didn't pay much attention to it. The Supreme Court upheld a law which paved the way for terror victims to recover damages from Iran. The Opinion is here. The legal issue was not terrorism, but whether Congress exceeded its authority. Here's the opening of Justice Ginsburg's majority opinion:
A provision of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, 22 U. S. C. §8772, makes available for postjudgment execution a set of assets held at a New York bank for Bank Markazi, the Central Bank of Iran. The assets would partially satisfy judgments gained in separate actions by over 1,000 victims of terrorist acts sponsored by Iran. The judgments remain unpaid. Section 8772 is an unusual statute: It designates a particular set of assets and renders them available to satisfy the liability and damages judgments underlying a onsolidated enforcement proceeding that the statute identifies by the District Court’s docket number. The question raised by petitioner Bank Markazi: Does §8772 violate the separation of powers by purporting to change the law for, and directing a particular result in, a single pending case? Section 8772, we hold, does not transgress constraints placed on Congress and the President by the Constitution....
The NY Times describes the background, Supreme Court Rules Iran Bank Must Pay for Terrorist Attacks:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 20, 2016 18 Comments
Tuesday, Tennessee's General Assembly passed a bill that would defund the University of Tennesee's Office For Diversity and Inclusion. The bill has been passed to the state Senate. Legislators would divert funds currently allocated to the Office of Diversity, "to minority scholarships for engineering students. It would also bar the university from using state funds to support the annual Sex Week programming or gender-neutral pronouns," reports The Tennessean. This year's Sex Week agenda:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 20, 2016 38 Comments
Earlier this week, I blogged about the ongoing $10 bill saga and what looked to be its conclusion -- the Treasury would leave Alexander Hamilton alone, or at least on the $10 bill. Wednesday, that was confirmed. Tremendous backlash, and the assistance of a widely popular musical about Alexander Hamilton caused the Treasury to reconsider their original plans. Hamilton will stay on the front of the $10, but changes will be made to the back of the bill. While Jackson is getting booted off the front of the $20 bill, he'll likely be sticking around on its flipped.
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