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Posted by Amy Miller on October 23, 2015 12 Comments
The Pentagon has identified 39-year-old Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler of Roland, Oklahoma as the first US service member to die in the ground fight against ISIS. Wheeler was part of a mission aimed at rescuing captives held at an Islamic state compound in northern Iraq. Officials received intelligence that led them to believe that the captives faced imminent mass execution, prompting the Kurdish Regional Government to request the raid. US special forces teamed up with the peshmerga (the Kurdish regional militia) and freed 69 hostages during the approximately 2 hour-long mission. According to Reuters, US officials have said that special forces' involvement in the mission was not tied to suspicion that there were any Americans amongst the captives; instead, US forces acting as advisors were "sucked in" to the battle when the Kurds came under heavy fire. More from Fox News:

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 23, 2015 11 Comments
We have seen various levels of incitement in recent weeks, frequently involving false claims of Israeli murder of Palestinians. Palestinian knife-attackers who are shot dead frequently are portrayed as the victim. The most infamous example of such incitement was when Mahmoud Abbas claimed in a televised speech that a 13-year old Arab boy who stabbed a 13-year old Jewish boy was executed by Israel. In fact, the 13-year old Arab boy was alive and being treated (he was not shot, a car hit him during the attack) in an Israeli hospital; he since has been discharged. When Israel showed video of him in the hospital to dispel Abbas' lie and to try to calm the situation, Israel was accused of violating the boy's privacy (seriously). Another incitement took place yesterday, over the death of Hashem Azzeh, a 54-year old Palestinian live in the section of Hebron (H2) which by a 1997 agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is under complete Israeli security control. Hashem is described as a "peace activist" struggling to survive with his family in the Israeli-controlled section of Hebron. That section, as I reported from my trip to Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs last June, is part of what was a several-hundred year old Jewish community which was driven out during 1929 Arab riots, in which 67 Jews in Hebron were massacred. That small section of town has been reclaimed by a few hundred Israeli Jews, causing daily strife and requiring a heavy Israeli military presence. There are tall metal sniper shields to protect people and armed soldiers almost at every corner. There have been attacks on Arabs as well as on Jews, and Hebron is one of the most difficult situations of conflict.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 23, 2015 27 Comments
A report detailing the cause of the Animas River environmental disaster, which resulted in the release of millions of gallons of heavy-metal containing wastewater into a scenic Colorado river, blames the EPA for the incident....contrary to an internal review conducted by the agency itself.
The Environmental Protection Agency botched the clean-up effort at the Gold King Mine by rushing to complete the job instead of taking precautions that would have prevented the disastrous toxic spill into the Animas River. A 132-page report released Thursday by the Interior Department and Bureau of Reclamation found that the Aug. 5 accident was not “inevitable,” as the EPA’s own internal review had concluded, but could have been avoided if the agency had followed engineering practices used at other inactive mines. ...According to the report, the agency committed a pivotal error by failing to gauge the level of wastewater behind the collapsed rock and soil at the mine, which could have been done by using a drill rig to “bore into the mine from above and directly determine the level of the mine pool prior to excavating backfill at the portal.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 23, 2015 13 Comments
Lincoln Davenport Chafee, former U.S. Senator and Governor of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Mayor of Cranston, son of the late U.S. Senator John Chafee, and most importantly, farrier extraordinaire, announced this morning that he is abandoning his quest for the Democratic nomination to be President of the United States of America. His campaign never got off the ground. He did little fundraising, and appeared catatonic during the first Democratic debate. Today he dropped out. Watch:

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 23, 2015 29 Comments
Liberals have so convinced themselves that George W. Bush is to blame for 9/11 that any suggestion Bill Clinton shares responsibility for the attack is inconceivable to them. Donald Trump recently pointed out that 9/11 happened on George W. Bush's watch which turned into a narrative of Trump blaming Bush for 9/11. Marco Rubio appeared on Newsmax TV this week and pointed out that Bush inherited a difficult situation from Bill Clinton. BuzzFeed reported:
Rubio: Trump Lacks Basic “Understanding” Of 9/11, Clinton Not Bush Deserves Blame Florida Sen. Marco Rubio says his opponent Donald Trump is wrong to suggest President George W. Bush bears responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, arguing that the majority of the failures that led to the deadly attacks should be attributed to President Bill Clinton’s administration instead.

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 22, 2015 5 Comments
A storm of controversy erupted when the Ithaca, NY, chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace brought Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi to a third grade class. Tamimi is best known for the viral videos and photos he creates by sending children, including his own, to confront Israeli soldiers. Tamimi, who argues that it is the “duty” of children to engage in acts of resistance, was on a now-concluded U.S. national tour co-sponsored by JVP and the Chicago branch of Amnesty International. [caption id="attachment_146972" align="alignnone" width="600"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1qrE-MRBPs [Image capture Ithaca Week video][/caption]The Superintendent of the Ithaca school district, after an investigation, denounced the visit,finding that Tamimi was not invited by the school and the event was “not developmentally appropriate for third graders, nor aligned with the New York State standards. The statements were politically skewed, inflammatory, and not endorsed by the Ithaca City School District.”

Posted by Amy Miller on October 22, 2015 32 Comments
It's official: Paul Ryan has formally declared his candidacy for Speaker of the House. From CNN:
"I never thought I'd be speaker," Ryan said in a statement. "But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve -- I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as a one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker." The speakership would be a dramatic career twist for the Wisconsin Republican, who was his party's vice presidential nominee in 2012 and has repeatedly turned down pleas from colleagues to run for the post. He thoroughly enjoys his policy-heavy role as the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.
The AP first broke the news on Twitter:

Posted by Amy Miller on October 22, 2015 3 Comments
Today, a controversial cybersecurity bill aimed at making it easier for corporations to prevent hacking attacks advanced in the Senate with bipartisan support. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) in its current form would make it possible for corporations to share information about cyberattacks with each other---or the goverment---without having to worry about fielding privacy-based lawsuits. The bill enjoys bipartisan support in the Senate---and has languished under bipartisan opposition, led by Kentucky Senator and Presidential hopeful Rand Paul. From Reuters:
But many privacy activists and a few lawmakers, including Republican Senator Rand Paul and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, vehemently oppose it. Several big tech companies also have come out against the measure, arguing that it fails to protect users' privacy and does too little to prevent cyber attacks.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 22, 2015 62 Comments
The latest from Quinnipiac has Ben Carson leading Donald Trump in Iowa by eight points. Trump's average Iowa lead has shrunk to a meager .7. Rubio and Cruz are the only other candidates in the double digits. According to the release:
This compares to the results of a September 11 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University showing Trump at 27 percent with Carson at 21 percent. Today, Sen. Rand Paul is at 6 percent, with Carly Fiorina and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 5 percent each. No other candidate tops 3 percent, with 3 percent undecided.
Even more interesting how poorly Trump polls among women and that he's earned 30% of the "no way" vote.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 22, 2015 50 Comments
I think we saw this movie before. It's called Scott Walker. A near total collapse in polling support in a short period of time with no obvious explanation. This time it's happening to Carly Fiorina. She gained a lot of attention after the Fox News undercard debate, making it into the CNN primetime debate. Fiorina was the near unanimous choice for winner of the debate, and she had a surge in the polls into the teens. Her confrontation with Trump was a winner for her. That support is gone now: Carly Fiorina's time near the top of the Republican polls may have come to an end, as another national CNN/ORC poll out Tuesday suggests. Just 4 percent of Republican or Republican-leaning voters said they would cast their votes for her in a primary election, down from 15 percent in September. The CNN poll is similar to other polling, as this Real Clear Politics table of all recent polls shows:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 22, 2015 8 Comments
Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash is publicly supporting Paul Ryan in his bid for Speaker of the House, The Detroit News reported Thursday morning. Following House Majority Leader McCarthy's sudden withdrawal from the race for the gavel, Ryan reluctantly agreed to take on the job as Speaker Boehner's replacement, provided he could be a, "unifying figure." The Detroit News reports:
Rep. Justin Amash of Cascade Township said he is among the Republican conservative hard-liners who have decided to back Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s bid to become the next speaker of the House. A “supermajority” of the 40-member House Freedom Caucus voted to support Ryan for speaker late Wednesday, giving Ryan sufficient support to win the position, should he decide to run. The vote came after meetings with the House Ways and Means committee chairman this week. The caucus did not meet its 80-percent threshold for a formal endorsement, the group said in a statement. The group previously endorsed Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Florida, for speaker.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on October 22, 2015 4 Comments
Rapid industrialisation and population growth of recent years has increasingly put pressure in India’s limited water resources. Earlier this week, China’s announcement to construct a mega-dam on Brahmaputra river, that also runs through the eastern part of India, has revived regional tensions between the two Asian giants -- once again reminding that water could well be the source of future conflicts, just as oil and energy resources today. Securing water demand for a billion-strong population is one of the biggest challenges facing India today. In recent years, Israel has become India’s leading partner in water management and clean technologies. During Indian President Pranab Mukherjee's historic visit to Israel earlier this month, both countries signed series of agreements aimed at expanding this bilateral technological cooperation. Indian news website Boom Live described the extent of water scarcity faced by the country and need for further strengthening the cooperation with Israel in water technology:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 22, 2015 34 Comments
Democratic Presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton will testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi at 10:00 EST. Watch live: [session over] This is the most talked about part of the day -- Hillary admitting video had nothing to do with Benghazi attack and that she told people at the time, but the American public was told otherwise:

Posted by Amy Miller on October 22, 2015 19 Comments
A new Gallup poll released yesterday revealed that 58% of Americans support legal marijuana use. Sentiment peaked at 58% in 2013 as well, before dipping sharply in 2014 and then recovering. This represents a high point in Gallup's 46-year history of polling on legal marijuana use. Back in 1969, only 12% of Americans backed legalization; 1977's polling revealed a 28% peak in support which dipped until 1993. Since then, we've seen a steady increase in support. marijuana use support october 2015

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 21, 2015 41 Comments
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a controversial statement as he was leaving for Germany on the role of Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. Netanyahu's statement suggesting that the idea of genocide against the Jews of Europe originated with the Mufti and not Hitler was overstatement, and quickly walked back by Netanyahu (but not before Netanyahu's political enemies had a field day with it). But there is a silver lining in Netanyahu's political gaffe -- people now are talking about the role of the Grand Mufti in the European genocide. We have discussed the Mufti's Nazi-sympathies and assistance here before, so it's not new to us. But given the current "Knife Intifada," in which the agitation to kill Jews is pervasive in Palestinian culture, it's clear that there is a direct line from the Mufti's Nazi-affiliation to the Jew hatred that motivates the current conflict. Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic tweeted out a link to this study from 2005, National Socialism and Anti-Semitism in the Arab World. It's very lengthy, so read the whole thing. Here is an excerpt:
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