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Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 28, 2015 12 Comments
As embroiled Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel faces a chorus of criticism, the choir just got a little bit louder. MSNBC host and activist about town Al Sharpton called for Emanuel to resign. At the center of the controversy -- police-involved shootings.

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 28, 2015 39 Comments
This is no surprise, particularly given the dismal economic situation in upstate NY. The government under pressure from political activists shut down any hope of fracking even though it works fine elsewhere and has kept parts of Pennsylvania economically alive for years; regulations and taxes are strangling businesses; and almost every day brings a news story about how much more control the state wants over our lives. So people continue to leave. (h/t @michellemalkin) The Albany Times Union reports on the large outflow, offset only by immigrants and immigrant children:
Once again more people are leaving New York State than arriving here, at least when it comes to people moving from one state to another. The Empire Center is out with findings, based on periodic Census updates, that “During the 12 months ending last July 1, 153,921 more residents moved out of New York than moved into it from other states.” ....

Posted by Jonathan Levin on December 28, 2015 1 Comment
Proponents of the Boycott, Divest & Sanction (“BDS”) campaign are faced with growing legislative opposition.  In the US, New York is poised to become the third state to enact binding anti-BDS legislation.  In Britain, new rules will essentially prohibit BDS in local government altogether. Proposed New York Law The New York Senate and General Assembly are considering legislation that would prevent the state from contracting with or investing in companies that boycott Israel.  The stated purpose of Senate Bill S6086 is “To prohibit New York State from contracting with or investing taxpayer money in corporations who have a stated policy of boycotting Israel.”  The Senate’s justification is:
The Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement (BDS) is a harmful discriminatory policy effectuated by a growing number of companies. The BDS movement is nothing more than thinly veiled anti-semitism. This bill would ensure that New York continues its long history of standing up to discrimination by condemning this movement and not doing business with these companies.

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 28, 2015 35 Comments
Virginia had an election in November which Democrats, including governor Terry McAuliffe, hoped would give them control of the state senate. They campaigned in part on gun control and lost, but that hasn't stopped them from pushing their agenda. After failing to achieve their goals through the democratic process, top Democrats are enacting gun control measures at the executive level. The Washington Post reported:
Virginia to stop recognizing concealed carry gun permits from 25 states

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 27, 2015 4 Comments
I was interviewed recently by Legal Insurrection reader Dr. Kenneth Friedman, for the Baltimore Jewish family magazine, Where What When:
The WHERE WHAT WHEN is a monthly family magazine of Jewish information, inspiration, and opinion. Established in 1985, it is Baltimore's liveliest Jewish magazine, approximate readership is 40,000. The Where What When is directed to the wide spectrum of Baltimore's Jewish population and has become a powerful voice in the community.
The topic was the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Here is the full interview, At the Forefront of the Fight against BDS: Eleven Questions for Prof. William A. Jacobson: KF: Talk a little bit about how you got involved as an activist and particularly as it pertains to the fight against BDS.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on December 27, 2015 17 Comments
The Oxford University student behind the demand to remove Cecil Rhodes' name from the Rhodes Scholarship now has another demand -- ban the French flag on campuses. The student, Ntokozo Qwabe, has a history of activism in demanding the removal of "offensive" materials.  His first project was the "Rhodes Must Fall" campaign demanding the removal of a statute of Cecil Rhodes; in an ironic twist, it turned out that he attended Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship which he apparently does not intend on repaying. The Telegraph reports on the new demand to ban the French flag:
The law graduate behind a controversial campaign to remove a statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes from Oxford University’s Oriel College has turned his attention to the French flag, saying he’d support its ban on all university campuses.
Ntokozo Qwabe, co-founder of Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford, says France has committed acts of terror and refused to concede that Isis is worse than the French state.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on December 27, 2015 8 Comments
Jim Webb dropped out of the 2016 Democrat primary in October due to low polling, low fundraising, and low voter enthusiasm, but as Amy noted at the time, his team was even then making noises about an independent run. Those noises have become much more noticeable as Webb has launched direct attacks on Hillary regarding her tenure as Secretary of State and her specific mishandling of Libya (not, however, anything about #Benghazi) and the "Arab Spring" debacle. https://twitter.com/JimWebbUSA/status/680750510236897280 Writing on Facebook, Webb railed against Hillary's "inept" mismanagement and "nonsensical" comments; he even takes a shot at the lapdog media for not holding her to account.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 27, 2015 59 Comments
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio picked up several meaty endorsements over the past few days. Saturday, Townhall's Guy Benson reported South Carolina firebrand, Rep. Trey Gowdy, has endorsed Sen. Rubio.

Posted by Jonathan Levin on December 27, 2015 32 Comments
The renewed attention on media bias since the Washington Post cartoon about Ted Cruz's children reminded me of Kyle Smith's December 14, 2015, review of Bridge of Lies in Commentary. Smith writes that Hollywood loves "based on a true story" scripts for their emotional draw and their putative lessons about our society.  But all too often those lessons really aren't what Leftist Hollywood wants them to be, so movie makers change the facts to comport with their view of the world. Smith describes how several Oscar-hopefuls amended reality to fit the liberal narrative.  Imitation Game is based on the life of Englishman Alan Turing, a genuine hero of the Western world whose decryption work at Bletchley Park was indispensable to winning WWII and the creation of the computer age.

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 27, 2015 32 Comments
Hillary Clinton is already playing the sexism card against Donald Trump but he responded quickly by implying that if she persists in that line of attack, he's going to start bringing up her husband's checkered past. And her treatment of the women. Robert Fowler reports at Opposing Views:
Donald Trump To Hillary Clinton: 'Be Careful' When Playing 'War On Women Card' Hitting back at Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s charge that he is a sexist, Donald Trump has responded with a vague threat, telling her to “be careful!” Trump sparked outrage during a Dec. 21 campaign rally when he mocked Clinton for using the restroom during the Dec. 19 Democratic debate, calling it “too disgusting.” The business mogul then used a slang term that many found to be a crude, derogatory slur against women, saying that President Barack Obama “schlonged” Clinton during the 2008 Democratic primary.

Posted by Mirit Hadar on December 27, 2015 0 Comments
WAJ Intro: Mirit Hadar is our friend in Ithaca. She is Israeli, and is traveling to Greece over winter break as a volunteer with IsraAID. Mirit will post about her journey, at Legal Insurrection and her own website. This is her second post. Part 1 is here. ---------------------------------- Volunteering was mostly about meeting people, seeing new places, and learning from the experience of others who are already here. I must say I felt a little bit misplaced myself, not sure what to do, how I can contribute here and what is my role in all of this. Some people come for few days, some people are here for months and some came to bring supplies for the refugees. People come here to volunteer for different reasons although what unifies them when asked is that they all tell me they feel there was no question in their mind that they must help these refugees. The medical team here is amazing and go out of their way to help people in need. [caption id="attachment_155300" align="alignnone" width="600"]http://mirithadarisraaid.blogspot.gr/2015/12/28-hours-of-intensity-and-susan-sarandon.html [Mirit Hadar with members of IsraAID Medical team, Greece][/caption]

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 26, 2015 1 Comment
We have carried many stories over the years about anti-Israel activists in Europe and the U.S. using the heckler's veto to shut down speeches and events. A recent example was at the University of Texas at Austin, when members of the Palestine Solidarity Committee disrupted an Israel Studies event, then claimed their own speech was suppressed because their protest was not allowed to continue. The UT-Austin students disrupting the event were campus leaders of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Now another example from the University of Haifa, Israel, in which radical Arab students disrupted a speech by a visiting Egyptian scholar who is affiliated with Yale University.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 26, 2015 17 Comments
"Male feminists" have been taking it on the chin lately. They get no respect, not even from female feminists, who view them variously as (a) insincere sheep in wolves clothing, dressing up in feminist garb to score with the ladies, or (b) sincere, but incapable of divesting themselves of all vestiges of the patriarchy no matter how hard they try. In category no. 1, insincerity, there was the column in The Guardian in October which caused quite a stir, Why I won't date another 'male feminist':
.... men looking for feminist-sanctioned romance tend to fall in to one of two categories: those who use our attraction as a sign of approval and seek out trophy feminists to clear their conscience of any inherent patriarchal wrong-doing, and outright predators who employ a bare-bones knowledge of feminist discourse to target any young woman whose politics so much as graze the notion of sex-positivity....

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on December 26, 2015 13 Comments
Bowe Bergdahl, the deserter who tried to join the Taliban only to be taken captive by them, has been sitting down for a series of interviews with filmmaker Mark Boal and that are available via podcast.  In these interviews, Bergdahl describes escape attempts, the Taliban's weakness for sweets, and their curiosity about whether or not Obama is gay. The New York Post reports:
Bergdahl said he saw his first chance at escape soon after his abduction in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, when a water delivery temporarily distracted his captors. He managed to slip off the chains binding his hands and feet and unlatched the flimsy wire holding the door to his cell closed. He was free for only 15 minutes, running barefoot over rocks and climbing onto a roof and covering himself in mud to hide, he said in audio used by the podcast. He was caught in moments and hauled back into his cell, where men beat him with a rubber hose. They then blindfolded him and moved him to a new home, in what he now believes was North Waziristan in Pakistan, he said.
In a later attempt to escape, Bergdahl was longer than fifteen minutes; he managed to evade capture for seven days.

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 26, 2015 4 Comments
Just before Christmas, it was quietly announced that the Obama administration is going to deport a significant number of illegal immigrants after the holidays. That presents a political problem for Hillary Clinton, who will have to choose a side in a no-win scenario. The Washington Post reported:
U.S. plans raids to deport families who surged across border The Department of Homeland Security has begun preparing for a series of raids that would target for deportation hundreds of families who have flocked to the United States since the start of last year, according to people familiar with the operation. The nationwide campaign, to be carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as soon as early January, would be the first large-scale effort to deport families who have fled violence in Central America, those familiar with the plan said. More than 100,000 families with both adults and children have made the journey across the southwest border since last year, though this migration has largely been overshadowed by a related surge of unaccompanied minors.
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