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Posted by Amy Miller on July 17, 2015 13 Comments
Yesterday's murders in Chattanooga unleashed a hailstorm of speculation about the origins of the shooter, his motives, and whether or not he was affiliated with ISIS, al-Qaida, or another network of Islamic extremists. Even before the authorities released the shooter's name---Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez---reasonable speculation ensued. Throughout the course of the day, we learned that he was 24 years old, was a naturalized citizen from Kuwait, and that he was "religious," but not the type of person any of his friends would peg as a budding terrorist. The U.S. Attorney's office has said that the attacks are being treated as an instance of domestic terrorism; the FBI, while not contradicting the U.S. Attorney, has cautioned against speculation as to Abdulazeez's motives.

We know the names of the murdered Marines

Technicalities aside, the Marines have released the names of the four men he slaughtered in cold blood:
  • Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Sullivan of Hampden, Massachusetts;
  • Staff Sgt. David A. Wyatt of Burke, North Carolina;
  • Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist of Polk, Wisconsin;
  • Lance Cpl. Squire K. Wells of Cobb County, Georgia, who went by "Skip"

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 17, 2015 20 Comments
We are fans of Carly Fiorina. She should be on the stage at the debates, though it's not clear she will be. Fiorina has shown an ability to take on hostile questioners with a smile, as she slices and dices liberal talking points. That's why we have featured videos of her appearances several times. And it's why we were so disappointed in her Buzzfeed video. In this video, via Steven Crowder, Fiorina is at the top of her game. The interview is from late May, but it's a prime example of why Fiorina should be on the national stage:
“The scientists that tell us that climate change is real and caused by man made activity, also tell us that a single nation acting alone can make no difference at all. So, when I see a state like California destroy lives and livelihoods with environmental regulations that will make no difference at all to climate change, when I see the Obama administration take that same regulation and apply it nationally – it will make not difference at all, yet we’re destroying people’s lives and livelihoods – I wonder, why are we doing this? Why are we doing this when it won’t have any impact?

Posted by Amy Miller on July 17, 2015 40 Comments
Last night, a writer at Gawker outed and gay-shamed someone at the behest of an unnamed (for his safety!) source. It was a story steeped in sex, fame, cash, and blackmail, which made it a perfect target for today's salacious clickbait culture. Today, Gawker's managing partners voted 5-1 (with the lone dissenter being the editor who approved the story) to take the story down---but the damage has already been done. Sorry, Nick Denton---you don't get to take this one back. (The link above is a web archive link; if you wish to read their hit job, you can click knowing that you won't be giving Gawker any traffic.) Long story short, Gawker allegedly received a series of text messages and photos showing a planned liaison between Condé Nast CFO David Geithner (his name sounds familiar because he's Tim Geithner's brother) and a gay porn star and escort. Gawker claims that the escort, whose story is told under the pseudonym "Ryan," sent them the photos and text messages after Geithner (who is married to a woman) was unable to meet him as planned during a Chicago business trip. Major money was involved: $2500 plus airfare for "Ryan's" plane ticket from Texas to Chicago. Geithner forwarded a chunk of the cash to "Ryan" in advance, and sent his photo and lodging plans to "Ryan" via text:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 17, 2015 29 Comments
Ryan Grim (Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post) and Danny Shea (Editorial Director, The Huffington Post), have announced that because Donald Trump in their eyes is a sideshow, any news about Trump will be banished from the "Politics" section of HuffPo News to the Entertainment section, A Note About Our Coverage Of Donald Trump's 'Campaign':
After watching and listening to Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president, we have decided we won't report on Trump's campaign as part of The Huffington Post's political coverage. Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section. Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-note-about-our-coverage-of-donald-trumps-campaign_55a8fc9ce4b0896514d0fd66 This was a political decision by the higher-ups at HuffPo to tell the electorate how to view a candidate not as part of the editorial process, but as part of the news process. Because HuffPo News has become a powerful force in news coverage, this will have a ripple effect beyond HuffPo readership. Here's how HuffPo it pitching the story on its homepage:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 17, 2015 14 Comments
The Obama administration and its supporters try to paint opposition to the Iran nuke deal as a Bibi Netanyahu problem. That's a convenient excuse, because it allows Obama to play the Democrat loyalty card among members still upset about Bibi's appearance in Congress. It also plays into "Israel Lobby" demonization, the bogeyman of the left. The opposition to the Iran nuke deal, however, is bringing together usual political enemies. Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic interviews Isaac Herzog, Bibi's primary domestic political opponent, Israeli Opposition Leader: Iran Deal Will Bring Chaos to the Middle East:
Last December, when I interviewed the leader of Israel’s left-leaning Labor Party, Isaac “Bougie” Herzog, at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum, he said, in reference to nuclear negotiations with Iran: “I trust the Obama administration to get a good deal.” In a telephone call with me late last night, Herzog’s message was very different. The deal just finalized in Vienna, he said, “will unleash a lion from the cage, it will have a direct influence over the balance of power in our region, it’s going to affect our borders, and it will affect the safety of my children.”

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 17, 2015 8 Comments
There is a reason many nations, including the United States and Israel, refused to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). The fear was that ICC, created by the 1998 Rome Treaty, would go the way of entities like the UN Human Rights Council, and turn into a political operation directed at the West, the U.S. military, and Israel in particular. The ICC just proved that these fears were warranted, with an outrageous decision overruling an ICC prosecutor's decision not to investigate the Maarvi Mari incident, and requiring reconsideration because of international political concerns. In the Mavi Marmara incident, covered here many times (see Featured Image), Israeli commandos boarded a ship part of the 2010 Gaza flotilla organized by Turkish Islamists. The Israeli troops were attacked and responded with gunfire which killed 9 Turkish citizens. The incident caused a political rift between Israel and the already anti-Israel, anti-Semitic Islamist Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A UN panel determined that Israel's naval blockade of Hamas-run Gaza complied with international law, and that Israel faced "organized and violent resistance" when it legally boarded the Mavi Marmara. The ICC prosecutor decided not to open a formal investigation (.pdf) of the Mavi Marmara incident as a war crime, given the limited scope of the incident. The ICC judges just ordered otherwise, requiring reconsideration as reports Law Professor Avi Bell in The Times of Israel, The ICC declares war on Israel:

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 17, 2015 14 Comments
EPA Chief Gina McCarthy recently testified before Congress; when questioned by Chairman Lamar Smith over ineffective regulations that raise the cost of energy and thereby punish low income Americans, she admitted the regulations would have virtually no impact on climate. All that effort, basically for nothing. Transcript and video via Marc Morano of the Climate Depot (emphasis added):
CHAIRMAN LAMAR SMITH: “On the Clean Power Plan, former Obama Administration Assistant Secretary Charles McConnell said at best it will reduce global temperature by only one one-hundredth of a degree Celsius. At the same time it’s going to increase the cost of electricity. That’s going to hurt the lowest income Americans the most. How do you justify such an expensive, burdensome, onerous rule that’s really not going to do much good and isn’t this all pain and no gain. ADMINISTRATOR GINA MCCARTHY: “No sir, I don’t agree with you. If you look at the RIA we did, the Regulatory Impact Analysis you would see it’s enormously beneficial. CHAIRMAN SMITH: “Do you consider one one-hundredth of a degree to be enormously beneficial?” ADMINISTRATOR MCCARTHY: “The value of this rule is not measured in that way. It is measured in showing strong domestic action which can actually trigger global action to address what’s a necessary action to protect…”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 16, 2015 23 Comments
The video below was posted by Ed Driscoll at Instapundit, with the comment:
THIS CHILLING VIDEO MIGHT MAKE YOU KICK YOUR KIDS OUT OF THE HOUSE — TO PLAY OUTSIDE
It's one of the more depressing statements about what has happened to childhood. I don't want to turn this into one of those "When I was a kid, I had to walk 4 hours to school..." type of things. It's just the opposite. It's about the freedom we had. To fall. To bump our heads. To compete. To get physical. "Just be home by dinner" used to be the norm, now it could get a parent arrested or get child services involved. Something very important was lost along the way.

Posted by Amy Miller on July 16, 2015 12 Comments
Carly Fiorina has joined the Buzzfeed Video cast of players in a new promo spot Buzzfeed is flogging as an effort "to show the men of BuzzFeed what it’s like to be a woman in the workplace." I'm sure you know what's coming. Watch: I sat at my desk for a good ten minutes working through my feelings about this one. For years, I have encouraged Republicans to be bold with their messaging, to branch out to different markets, and to stop taking themselves so damn seriously all the time.

Posted by Amy Miller on July 16, 2015 45 Comments
Horror in Chattanooga today---four Marines dead, a soldier and police officer wounded, and a city in chaos. Five people have died after a lone attacker unleashed a spray of gunfire at two separate military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee. CNN (as well as every other mainstream media outlet) are running live updates:
Four Marines were killed in Thursday's shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a senior defense official told CNN's Barbara Starr. The families of those killed are being notified of their deaths, the official said. The suspected shooter is also dead, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said Investigators "have not determined whether it was an act of terrorism or whether it was a criminal act," FBI special agent in charge Ed Reinhold told reporters. "We are looking at every possible avenue, whether it was terrorism -- whether it was domestic, international -- or whether it was a simple, criminal act." U.S. Attorney Bill Killian earlier told reporters that authorities were treating the shooting as an "act of domestic terrorism."
The identity of the shooter has been confirmed:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 16, 2015 10 Comments
Indian newspapers generally echoed Western sentiments by welcoming the Iran deal and India's Foreign Office also took a line similar to the one taken by the EU and other Western powers. But behind the scenes, India is  getting ready for the coming nuclear arms race in their Arab neighbourhood. Far from buying President Obama's optimism over the 'peace dividend', Indian defence establishment is building up its nuclear defence capabilities. In recent months, India has invested heavily in ramping up missile defences. With Israeli expertise, India will soon be able to detect and intercept missiles within the range of 5,000 km – double the aerial distance between New Delhi and Tehran. As President Obama was announcing the Iran deal to the world, Indian government was busy clearing new defence deals worth billions. Indian News website Firstpost reports:

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 16, 2015 7 Comments
After a full month of drama, Greece and its creditors finally agreed on a multi-billion dollar bailout package. One of the bailout's most controversial conditions is a list of new austerity measures, and we all know how many Greeks feel about those. Anti-austerity violence broke out on the streets of Athens last night. Megan Specia of Mashable reported:
Tensions were high on Wednesday night outside the Greek parliament building on Athens' Syntagma Square, which was the center of violent anti-austerity protests in years past. And while the streets of Athens were largely calm for much of the day, despite thousands marching against austerity measures tied to the country's new bailout agreement, the night took a more violent turn. As night fell, clashes broke out between protesters waiting to hear the fate of their country's economic future and the police sent to keep them calm.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 16, 2015 19 Comments
Long ago and far away I predicted that the effect on Hillary's presidential campaign of the multiple scandals would be cumulative. Since a large portion of the electorate, the younger generation, didn't know the real Hillary of the 1990s, Hillary's vulnerability was that the manufactured "nice grandma" and glass-ceiling breaker image of her would be supplanted by the controlling, paranoid figure of the 1990s. There is increasing evidence that the scandals, particularly the email scandal, is having an effect. You can see from the HuffPo Pollster chart that Hillary has been on a horrible favorability trajectory for the past two years: http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/hillary-clinton-favorable-rating There is more evidence today, in an AP-Gfk Poll that shows Hillary's favorability dropping to 39% among all voters, and even dropped among Democrats (though still high):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 16, 2015 69 Comments
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has effectively killed the "John Doe" case which led to home raids and intimidation of a wide range of Wisconsin conservative activists. The decision is embedded at the bottom of this post. Here is the key finding, which completely shreds both the legal theories and motives of the prosecutors, completely vindicates the targets, and praises those who fought back legally against prosecutorial misconduct (emphasis added):
¶133 Our lengthy discussion of these three cases can be distilled into a few simple, but important, points. It is utterly clear that the special prosecutor has employed theories of law that do not exist in order to investigate citizens who were wholly innocent of any wrongdoing. In other words, the special prosecutor was the instigator of a "perfect storm" of wrongs that was visited upon the innocent Unnamed Movants and those who dared to associate with them. It is fortunate, indeed, for every other citizen of this great State who is interested in the protection of fundamental liberties that the special prosecutor chose as his targets innocent citizens who had both the will and the means to fight the unlimited resources of an unjust prosecution. Further, these brave individuals played a crucial role in presenting this court with an opportunity to re-endorse its commitment to upholding the fundamental right of each and every citizen to engage in lawful political activity and to do so free from the fear of the tyrannical retribution of arbitrary or capricious governmental prosecution. Let one point be clear: our conclusion today ends this unconstitutional John Doe investigation.
Andrew Grossman, who filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case and who has served as counsel to Eric O'Keefe and the Wisconsin Club for Growth (two of the targets of the investigation) in various federal civil rights litigation against the prosecutors, provided me with the following statement:
Today's decision puts an end to one of the worst abuses of power ever seen in Wisconsin law enforcement. The next step will be holding those responsible accountable for their actions. The Court's recognition that the John Doe was a politically motivated "dragnet" of Gov. Walker's allies provides strong support for Cindy Archer's civil rights action against the Milwaukee prosecutors and lawsuits by potentially any of the other John Doe targets.

Posted by New Neo on July 16, 2015 11 Comments
A quote from Lenin that's been running through my head, post Iran deal: "The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." There are economic ramifications of the Iran deal, particularly to Europe. Europe was chomping at the bit to get access to trade with Iran, and for many Europeans sticking it to Israel into the bargain would be a feature rather than a bug. Russia was already about to trade with Iran, as announced in April. But the reason Russia was going to do this was that the Iran deal was already in the offing, and Russia knew sanctions would be lifted and wanted to get the jump on the action before the West did. The missiles Russia proposed to sell Iran are defensive in nature only, but:
...[T]he Kremlin is lifting a ban on selling a powerful air defense system to Iran that would render an airstrike on Tehran’s nuclear weapons facilities nearly impossible. The delivery of the new weapon, called the Almaz-Antei S-300PMU-1—known as the SA-20 Gargoyle in NATO parlance—would effectively force the U.S. to rely on its small fleet of stealth aircraft to strike targets inside Iran in case the mullahs make a dash for the bomb. But even those aircraft might have a difficult time.
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