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Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 18, 2015 21 Comments
Brian Williams flamed out at NBC Nightly News when it was revealed he exaggerated or invented parts of his life story. Williams was put on leave, and now will be on MSNBC:
In its investigation of embattled “Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, NBC found that the majority of his tall tales about his reporting took place on late night talk shows and in public appearances rather than while he was on the network. That distinction appears to have been a major factor in NBC’s decision to keep Mr. Williams, albeit in a diminished role at the network’s sister cable news channel MSNBC. Lester Holt, who has been filling in for Mr. Williams on “Nightly News” since February, was named the permanent anchor.... In his new role, Mr. Williams will anchor breaking news stories and special reports for MSNBC and primarily appear in the daytime. MSNBC’s evening schedule is mostly political talk shows. “Brian now has the chance to earn back everyone’s trust,” said NBC News Chairman Andy Lack. “His excellent work over 22 years at NBC News has earned him that opportunity.”
The move is being seen as saving Williams' career, but the real beneficiary might be MSNBC, which is in freefall:

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Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 18, 2015 20 Comments
Sid Blumenthal's testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi created even more questions about former Secretary Clinton's private email usage. Blumenthal provided the committee with 60 new emails; emails the committee says the State Department did not provide. The State Department kicked the can back to Mrs. Clinton saying they didn't turn over the Blumenthal emails because Mrs. Clinton never passed them on to the State Department. This revelation only confirms suspicions that emails relevant to the Benghazi investigation exist, but have not been handed over to either the State Department or the House Select Committee. Fox News reports:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 18, 2015 59 Comments
Up until Wednesday night, I figured the push to have a woman's mug gracing American currency was nothing more than internet fun. Apparently, this is a thing that's actually happening. Late Wednesday evening, Benny Johnson and Justin Green of IJ Review reported the new $10 could be available as soon as 2020:
The Treasury Department is preparing to announce that they are putting a woman on the $10 bill, as a source has confirmed what appears to be a premature tweet. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will announce Thursday that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will put a woman on the bill as soon as 2020.
The Treasury attempted to be female friendly in 1978 when they printed $1 coins featuring Susan B. Anthony's face. Only 1/3 of the coins were circulated though. Despite the convenience of the $1 coin, the fad never really caught on. When it comes to having a woman's face on the cash I use to buy shoes, books, and americanos, I'm indifferent. It all spends the same. If anything, I loathe the idea that because I'm a woman I'm supposed to applaud or champion all women firsts a la "it's time a woman _____!" Being a woman and doing something a man did years before is not in itself an accomplishment. Likewise, slapping a woman's face on a $10 bill isn't a cause to celebrate.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 18, 2015 22 Comments
A leaked version of the climate change encyclical written by Pope Francis ignited a storm of controversy earlier this week.
The unexpected leak of Pope Francis’ much-anticipated environmental encyclical has meant the return of something that not long ago was fairly common around the Vatican but had become often dormant during the two-plus years of Francis’ mostly charmed papacy: intrigue. Who leaked it and why? Was this the work of frustrated conservatives in the Vatican, as some experts have speculated? Does it portend big fights at a pivotal October meeting in which church officials are expected to grapple with homosexuality and divorce? Or is it just a tempest in a teapot? “Somebody inside the Vatican leaked the document with the obvious intention of embarrassing the pope,” said Robert Mickens, a longtime Vatican expert and editor of Global Pulse, an online Catholic magazine.
In the wake of this incident, the Vatican revoked the credentials of Sandro Magister, the Italian journalist who has been reporting on the behind-the-scenes development of the papal document.

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 18, 2015 10 Comments
You may recall the horrific story of Colleen Hufford, a 54 year-old Oklahoma woman who was beheaded in 2014 by a co-worker who was a recent convert to Islam. The story shocked the nation and reminded many of the Fort Hood attack; some people insisted it wasn't terrorism but just an act of workplace violence. Holly Bailey of Yahoo News reported at the time:
A beheading in Oklahoma: Was it terrorism or workplace violence? She never saw him coming, according to police. Just after 4 p.m. on Sept. 25, Colleen Hufford, a 54-year-old grandmother and worker at Vaughan Foods in Moore, Okla., was standing in the doorway of the front office in the food processing facility's main building when Alton Nolen, a co-worker who had just been suspended over an argument with another colleague, violently grabbed her from behind. As horrified employees watched, Nolen, a 30-year-old production line worker with a criminal history, savagely sawed at Hufford's throat with a large kitchen knife he had gone home to retrieve, severing her head.

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 18, 2015 65 Comments
AP reports on the church shooting last night in Charleston, South Carolina:
A white man opened fire during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in downtown Charleston, killing nine people, including the pastor, in an assault authorities described as a hate crime. The suspect attended the meeting at the church Wednesday night and stayed for nearly an hour before the deaths, police Chief Greg Mullen said. The shooter remained at large Thursday morning and police released photographs from surveillance video of a suspect and a possible getaway vehicle. Mullen said he could not offer a make and model on the dark colored sedan because investigators were not certain about what is shown in the video. The victims were six females and three males, Mullen said Thursday morning. He did not give other details and said names would be released after families were notified. But State House Minority leader Todd Rutherford told The Associated Press that the Emanuel AME Church's pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, was among those killed.

Posted by Andrew Branca on June 18, 2015 14 Comments
This past Tuesday, the federal 9th Circuit held oral arguments on a re-hearing en banc on two consolidated gun control cases, Peruta v. County of San Diego and Richards v. County of Yolo. Both Peruta and Richards involve a provision of California gun control law that allows county Sheriffs to deny the issuance of a concealed carry permit unless the applicant can demonstrate “good cause” for the permit—typically a showing of some extraordinary risk of danger to the applicant, rather than a mere generalized interest in self-defense. Most California county Sheriffs define “good cause” broadly, such that a mere generalized interest in self-defense is sufficient to qualify an otherwise qualified applicant for a concealed carry permit. The Sheriffs for the Counties of San Diego and Yolo, however, define “good cause” so narrowly as to effectively preclude nearly all applicants from receiving a concealed carry license. The video of the entirety of the hearing, from gavel to gavel, below.  A rough transcript of the portion of the hearing in which the appellants attorneys, Paul Clement and Alan Gura, argue for their clients’ Second Amendment rights also is embedded below.  Both do an outstanding job, but I expect that won't help much before this Circuit.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 17, 2015 22 Comments
Don't ever change, Internet. Otherwise how else would we be able to enjoy the simple pleasures in life, like this hillbilly banjo band hilariously heckling marathon runners? From a local Fox News affiliate in Franklin, TN:
Marathon runners in Leiper’s Fork were greeted with an unexpected surprise along their route in Franklin Half Marathon a few weeks ago. Runners usually expect to see friends and family as they run, but it’s not often that they see a hillbilly band parked along the side of the path to heckle them.
Serenading runners with "Dueling Banjos", the hillbilly band set up on the back of a truck, under the cover of a patio umbrella. Hollering things like, "where ya going?" "where y'all running from?" "what's your hurry?" and "slow down young man!" one gentleman beat a trash can lid on the side of a water trough and another bare-chested, overall-clad man danced a jig and chased runners around. Yet another man, who was lounging atop a five gallon paint drum in cut off cammo pants, joined his overalled companion in dancing a jig while brandishing an ax. It's a perfect slice of internet heaven:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 17, 2015 19 Comments
Governor Bush joined Jimmy Fallon and The Roots to "Slow Jam The News" Tuesday night. The sketch geared towards newsy, political types, has featured Chris Christie, Mitt Romney, Brian Williams, and even President Obama. Real news, or more accurately -- talking points, are sandwiched between Jimmy Fallon's pun-y innuendo and The Roots' slow jams. Typically, the extra figure in the equation is mostly pedantic, but finds a way to have a little bit of fun with the schtick. When Fallon made a 47% joke, Romney retorted, "that's a low blow, but it's pretty funny." So how did Jeb do?

Posted by Amy Miller on June 17, 2015 38 Comments
Real talk: Uber is a fantastic service. Living in Washington, D.C., I've come to appreciate the availability of drivers who know the city well enough to not get me stuck in a quagmire when I'm making a quick trip across town. It's a rare thing, and 9 times out of 10, a true D.C. cabbie will do the job (at 50 miles an hour through Chinatown in the bike lane, but who's complaining?)---but what if there's no cabbie in sight? Call an Uber, silly. The Uber ride share service has taken America by storm, and for good reason; the unmitigated hassle of calling a cab company, finding an available car, and arranging a ride has been re-privatized using a single app and a network of drivers who are itching to take you where you need to go. It's usually cheaper than a cab (at least in my experience) and less dicey with regards to routes and payment. Everything is handled through the app, and if your driver takes you home via Timbuktu, you can complain and earn yourself a refund. (Try complaining to a cabbie---you're likely to get the cops called.) It's easy! It's wonderful! It's under fire from California bureaucrats! Of course.

Posted by Amy Miller on June 17, 2015 26 Comments
There's a simple explanation for why civil asset forfeiture laws are coming under fire---they ruin lives. Not in the way a hefty speeding ticket or 7 am-on-the-dot tow "ruins lives," but in a real, "my life savings are gone and I don't know how I'm going to pay for my next meal" kind of way. Take Philadelphia, for example. From 2002 to 2012, the City of Philadelphia raked in $64 million in forfeiture funds. Licensed marijuana growers in Michigan have had their homes, property, and assets seized, contributing to a 10 year, $250 million payout to law enforcement. New Mexico took in $4 million in one year based on single sniff tests by drug dogs. The kicker? Much of what is seized by law enforcement is held without any evidence that the property owner has committed a crime. Last year, 24 year-old Charles Clark became just one more victim of a system that benefits law enforcement at the expense of everyday citizens. He lost $11,000 after officials decided that carrying cash in an airport should be treated as a crime---even though there's nothing unlawful about it. The Institute for Justice has the details:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 17, 2015 18 Comments
Hillary might have her work cut out for her after all. A new poll shows Sen. Sanders narrowing Hillary's gap in the sparsely populated Democratic presidential primary field... at least in New Hampshire. According to a poll released by Morning Consult, Hillary's lead in New Hampshire has dwindled to 12 points over the Vermont's socialist hero. The same percentage of respondents indicated they're currently undecided. Bernie Sanders gaining on Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire polling 2016 presidential election

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 17, 2015 67 Comments
If Rachel Dolezal didn't exist, someone would have had to invent her because she so embodies everything that is wrong with race-based politics and theories so prevalent in Higher Ed. Dolezal is white. Elizabeth Warren white. As Mark Steyn once put it with regard to Warren, "the whitest white since Frosty the Snowman fell in a vat of Wite-Out." Warren passed herself off as Native American, but mostly in secret so she could get put on a list of Minority Law Teachers in a 1980s directory used for hiring. Dolezal was very public in her adoption of a black identity. And she's standing by it. Because Dolezal feels black, she says she is. It's what is called among the campus activist class "lived experience." It is a well-worn script:

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 17, 2015 22 Comments
We interrupt your regular programming about Jeb Bush and Donald Trump to bring you this report about the Republican nomination for 2016. Scott Walker now leads the field. Jonathan Easley of The Hill:
Walker leads nationally in new poll Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads a tight field of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling. Walker is alone in first place in the poll with 17 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 15 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) at 13 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 12 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 11 percent. That’s a big jump for Bush, who was at 11 percent support in the same poll last month. However, Bush will begin his quest for the GOP nomination with a negative favorability rating among Republicans, according to the poll. Only 37 percent said they have a positive view of Bush, against 40 percent who have a negative view. Bush is dragged down by those who identify as “very conservative,” with only 32 percent of those saying they have a positive view of Bush. Bush is the top choice among self-described “moderate” Republican primary voters.

Posted by New Neo on June 17, 2015 15 Comments
Who are the escaped murderers in New York, and why oh why were they given the prison privileges they appear to have been given? The answer to the first question is: they are probably among the most psychopathic, cold-blooded killers in the prison population, and that's saying something. Both of them became criminals in their adolescence, and have never looked back. What's more, the report of those who knew them is of relentless exploitation of other people and hardly a glimmer of anything you might call a conscience. Here's Sweat's story. It's not a pretty one. And Matt's is, if anything, worse:
Age: 48 Early life: He grew up in the small city of Tonawanda, New York, near Buffalo. Classmates told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that Matt was often in trouble as a child. "He would terrorise kids on the (school) bus," Randy Szukala told the newspaper. As a teenager, he ran away from home on a stolen horse. Eventually, Tonawanda police Capt Frederic Foels told the Democrat and Chronicle, he became a "small-time thug".
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