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Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 20, 2016 45 Comments
The video below was released last night on Facebook by former Clinton Secretary of Labor and noted liberal Robert Reich. Reich's argument is that Cruz actually believes his conservatism. Reich is right on a big picture basis, even if he exaggerates or distorts a couple of Cruz's positions. Trump, by contrast, is someone Reich feels will make deals and has no ideological foundation so while he's a bully, there's actually less to fear. Basically, Reich is telling liberals to be afraid, very afraid of Ted Cruz. This Facebook comment reflects the general sentiment:

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Posted by New Neo on February 20, 2016 36 Comments
[See the UPDATE at the end of this post, which indicates that the information published in the Time article was most likely incorrect.] Donald Trump has said repeatedly that on the morning of 9/11 he watched the burning World Trade Center towers from his midtown Manhattan apartment. One controversial aspect of his claim is that he could see people jumping from the WTC as he watched from his apartment, which is four miles away. Some experts doubt that is feasible. But no one has disputed that Trump was in NY that morning. Here is Trump talking about 9/11, and mentioning that he was in his apartment at the time:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 19, 2016 10 Comments
There were many moving images today as Justice Antonin Scalia's body was brought to and placed in repose in the Supreme Court. The Featured Image was one of the most moving. His former law clerks lined up outside the Supreme Court awaiting arrival of his body. (h/t @amandacarpenter) They continued to stand guard as the casket was carried up the steps: Scalia Law Clerks Casket Steps

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 19, 2016 7 Comments
Non-partisan organization, PoliTech, a student organization from Texas Tech University in Lubbock ventured out to George Mason University with a very basic man on the street test: Can students identify three public figures? To their credit, PoliTech appears to sample student from various majors, including an international politics major who had no clue who Joe Biden was, at least not when looking at a photo.

LEGAL INSURRECTION QUICK TAKES

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Occidental College Hosts Transgender Event That Mocks Trump

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Posted by Mike LaChance on February 19, 2016 21 Comments
Wisconsin is trying to take measures to deal with illegal immigration and sanctuary cities. Naturally, detractors are describing the initiatives as racist and anti-immigrant. As a result, thousands of protesters showed up at the Wisconsin capitol yesterday, reminiscent of the anti-Walker protests of several years ago. Here's what it looked like in 2011, in case you've forgotten:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 19, 2016 37 Comments
Let's play, Progressive or Parody. Some students at Brown University devote so much of their time to activism they are getting stressed out, and it's creating mental health problems. (h/t @JeffreyGoldberg) From the Brown University Daily Herald, Schoolwork, advocacy place strain on student activists:
Two weeks ago, the University released the final version of its diversity and inclusion action plan, which could not have been compiled without the exhaustive efforts of students throughout last semester. “There are people breaking down, dropping out of classes and failing classes because of the activism work they are taking on,” said David, an undergraduate whose name has been changed to preserve anonymity. Throughout the year, he has worked to confront issues of racism and diversity on campus.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 19, 2016 13 Comments
While Pope Francis' remarks about Donald Trump were off target, a laser attack during his flight to Mexico was not.
The airline that carried Pope Francis to Mexico says the plane carrying the pontiff was hit by a laser light from the ground as it arrived on Friday. Alitalia says no one was hurt and the aircraft landed safely. It said Wednesday that the crew notified the Mexico City airport's control tower of the incident. Officials around the world have been increasingly concerned about people training laser pointers on jetliners. In some cases, crewmembers have suffered eye damage.
There is no indication Trump was involved.  (Joke) The number of attacks have dramatically increased, hitting 5,300 last year. However, as demonstrated by a recent flight from London that was mere days before the papal trip, the boldness of the attacks has escalated.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 19, 2016 9 Comments
On February 18, 2016, Tuvia Yanai Weissman, 21, was stabbed to death in a supermarket while he was shopping with his wife and baby daughter. Tuvia Yanai Weissman and family Another Israeli, 35, was wounded and is being treated in the hospital. The Palestinian attackers were 14 years old. They were shot by a private citizen during the assault. One died and the other is an Israeli hospital where he will receive as complete medical treatment as the person he stabbed.* These stabbing attacks by Palestinian minors, of which there have been many, don't happen in a vacuum. There is widespread incitement both officially from the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and also in social media. This video was released just days ago:

Posted by Andrew Branca on February 19, 2016 22 Comments
Maryland's Court of Appeals (the state's highest-level "supreme court") ruled yesterday that the trials of the Baltimore police officers charged in the Freddie Gray incident will be postponed while they decide whether one of those officers, William Porter, can be compelled to testify against the others. We covered the legal issues in a prior posts: The next officer to be tried was scheduled to be Officer Edward Nero, in whose case jury selection was to have begun this coming Monday. The difficulty in this case, and an area of law without precedent in Maryland, arises because Porter remains vulnerable to criminal prosecution. Porter was the first of the officers to be tried, last fall, but the trial resulted in a hung jury without verdict, and prosecutors immediately stated they would retry the case.

Posted by AACONS on February 19, 2016 0 Comments
Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, and editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review." Dan Bongino served in the Secret Service during the administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. He is also a former candidate for both the House and the Senate, and currently hosts a radio show on WMAL, and ConservativeReview.com. His first book, Life Inside the Bubble, was a New York Timesbestseller. And his latest book is titled “The Fight: A Secret Service Agent's Inside Account of Security Failings and the Political Machine.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 18, 2016 39 Comments
Between the anti-Israel activity on campus that has generated enormous media attention, and the protest against a feminist Professor who allegedly used improper transgender pronouns, there is plenty of turmoil on the Vassar College campus. Now there is another point of conflict, a demand by students that all bathrooms be converted to "all-gender." Vassar College already has undertaken a Gender Neutral Bathroom Initiative:
The Gender Neutral Bathrooms Initiative is a project to address the lack of gender neutral bathrooms in Vassar’s academic and administrative buildings. In order to ensure that all students have a place where they feel safe using the bathroom, we want to make sure that there is at least one accessible gender neutral bathroom in each academic and administrative building. Currently, there are 13 buildings on campus have no gender neutral bathroom option. The goal is not to turn every bathroom gender neutral, but make sure that everybody has a choice in each building.
This effort, however, is inadequate to a student group identifying as the Vassar Queer Health Initiative, which has opened a drive to compel that all bathrooms on campus be "all-gender." The effort was announced in Boilerplate magazine, Taking Vassar's “LGBT Friendliness” To Task: The Case for All Gender Bathrooms:

Posted by Taryn O'Neill on February 18, 2016 6 Comments
China has deployed an advanced anti-aircraft missile system to a contested island in the South China Sea, Pentagon officials confirmed on Tuesday. The news came as President Obama concluded a two-day conference at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Sunnylands, California. Satellite images from February 14 show several HQ-9 missile launchers lined along the beach of Woody Island of the Paracel Island chain. The HQ-9 is a medium to long-range surface-to-air missile system with advanced radar homing capabilities. It can shoot down missiles as well as aircraft up to 125 miles away. That the missiles were discovered at the same time President Obama met with ten other ASEAN world leaders is likely no coincidence. Obama said the leaders convened to "discuss the need for tangible steps in the South China Sea to lower tensions, including a halt to further reclamation, new construction, and militarization of disputed areas."

Posted by Katy Grimes on February 18, 2016 12 Comments
California truck and business owners initiated a lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board because of exploding trucks and roadside fires, due to the CARB’s mandatory, faulty diesel particulate filters, they say. Ironically, the filters even fail at cleaning the air. The Alliance for California Business, a voluntary group whose purpose is to protect and promote business interests throughout California, says Diesel Particulate Filters have started more than 31 fires in the last two years, including several in areas of the state parched by the drought. The Diesel Particulate Filters are the result of environmental regulations created by the California Air Resources Board, and were based on a deeply flawed study led by a researcher accused of faking his Ph.D. credential. The CARB was aware of employee Hien Tran and his phony Ph.D. credentials and flawed research, yet instead, rushed head-on to meet its self-imposed schedule in creating the diesel regulations on truckers.

Trucking Companies Devastated

Bud Caldwell, Alliance for California Business president and owner of 11 trucks, says the truck fires are started below the truck’s engine compartment. The primary issue is whether properly maintained Diesel Particulate Filters can become clogged when the filter system fails to regenerate and burn larger diesel particulates into ultrafine particulate ash, Caldwell says.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 18, 2016 106 Comments
Asked about Donald Trump Thursday, Pope Francis responded to a reporter saying, "“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” Pope Francis' full remarks are here: pope francis full remarks The news reached Trump shortly before a press conference. He responded by calling Pope Francis, "disgraceful."

Posted by Sarah Rumpf on February 18, 2016 42 Comments
A legal fight between Apple and the FBI is highlighting some critically important issues in the debate between privacy and security. After the San Bernardino attacks, an iPhone 5C belonging to one of the two shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook, was among the evidence gathered by the FBI. The FBI obtained a warrant to search the contents of the iPhone, but Farook's iPhone, like most people's, is protected by a passcode that encrypts the data on the phone and prevents anyone without the code from accessing it. Apple's security systems are designed to prevent hacking attempts like "brute-force attacks" by requiring delays after wrong passcode guesses and an auto-delete function that is activated after ten incorrect attempts. The FBI went to court to obtain an order to get Apple to help them get around these security features and access the data on Farook's phone. Court orders Apple to help the FBI; Apple refuses to comply
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