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Posted by Amy Miller on June 14, 2015 17 Comments
On Saturday, CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield slipped in a puddle of gaffe when she described the man who shot up the Dallas police department headquarters as "very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well." I wrote about her initial comments here: CNN Anchor Power-Gaffes Dallas PD Shooting Story The reaction was swift and vicious. (My own comments, linked above, weren't exactly gentle.) Even the Houston and Fort Worth police officers' associations jumped on the pile, demanding an apology from CNN and Whitfield:

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Posted by Mike LaChance on June 14, 2015 34 Comments
Jeb Bush is expected to announce his run for president tomorrow, and his team has already released their first video and are touting it as Bush introducing himself to the American people. The spot focuses on Bush's time as governor of Florida and hits specific notes on women, minorities, the disabled, education, and jobs. Take a look below, hat tip to The Shark Tank: We decided to use the campaign logo as the featured image of this post because there's been some buzz about it on Twitter.

Posted by New Neo on June 14, 2015 25 Comments
As discussed earlier, the Obama administration seeks to transform neighborhoods of privilege by tinkering with their makeup and introducing more diversity, otherwise known as Section 8 housing. The way the federal camel gets its nose inside the tent is, as usual, through money. What seems like a largess at first almost never is. Not only does the money have to come from somewhere, but the inevitable price is an increase in federal government regulation of our lives. This particular directive would apply to communities that get HUD funds, which is an awful lot of communities (about 1250):
The agency is also looking to root out more subtle forms of discrimination that take shape in local government policies that unintentionally harm minority communities, known as “disparate impact.”... To qualify for certain funds under the regulations, cities would be required to examine patterns of segregation in neighborhoods and develop plans to address it. Those that don’t could see the funds they use to improve blighted neighborhoods disappear, critics of the rule say... Critics of the rule say it would allow HUD to assert authority over local zoning laws. The agency could dictate what types of homes are built where and who can live in those homes, said Gosar, who believes local communities should make those decisions for themselves rather than relying on the federal government.

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 14, 2015 14 Comments
Bob Woodward appeared on CNN's State of the Union program with Jake Tapper today and claimed that one of Hillary's favorite sayings is "fake it until you make it." He also pointed out the fact that she has a trust deficit issue and that she hasn't been forthcoming enough with the emails from her time at the State Department. Here's more from Blake Seitz of the Washington Free Beacon:
Woodward: Clinton Email, Donor Disclosure ‘Not Enough’ The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward laughed off Hillary Clinton’s reluctant disclosure of emails and foundation donors as “not enough” on Sunday’s State of the Union. Democratic National Committee Vice-Chairwoman Donna Brazile mounted a peculiar defense of Clinton, claiming that she has “never seen a politician who has laid out more information about herself. We have read her emails, we have seen all the donors—” “Not enough! Not enough!” Woodward interjected, as panelists S.E. Cupp and Dana Bash laughed.
Watch the video:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 14, 2015 18 Comments
Love him, hate him, or feel ambivalent toward him, Mitt Romney was "right about everything," and that is standing him in good stead with the GOP.  Indeed, Politico is reporting that Romney is "working to rid the GOP presidential primary of the mayhem that marked his own race":
Mitt Romney is working with an unlikely collaborator — Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino mogul who bankrolled Newt Gingrich’s 2012 campaign — in the hopes of ensuring that the GOP primary produces a mainstream conservative without any of the mayhem that marked his own race. The two, who speak monthly, aim to convince the wealthy contributors bankrolling various candidates to work together to avoid the kind of primary election chaos that Romney believes laid the seeds for his defeat in 2012. The former Massachusetts governor is also considering endorsing a candidate to achieve his goal. They’re unmistakable signs of Romney’s newly assertive role in the Republican Party but also of his determination to guarantee the GOP an unbloodied nominee with broad-based appeal.

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Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 14, 2015 17 Comments
As conservatives, we have a wide selection of candidates to consider in the 2016 Republican primary, and sometimes, these candidates say things that either they (and we) wish they hadn't said or that leave us scratching our head in wonder.  I thought I'd post a few of the things that I've read about over the past week or so that made me go "hmmm." Lindsey Graham, noted bachelor, promises a "rotating First Lady."  From the Daily Mail interview with Graham:

There's an important question nagging Lindsey Graham as [he] tries to become the first bachelor in White House since Woodrow Wilson.

Who would be his first lady?

Thinking it over, the Republican senator told Daily Mail Online: 'Well, I've got a sister, she could play that role if necessary.'

Chuckling, he added: 'I've got a lot of friends. We'll have a rotating first lady.'

According to Politico, Graham further claims that he is "not defective" before (rightly) noting that marriage is not a Constitutional prerequisite to the presidency.

Posted by Amy Miller on June 14, 2015 14 Comments
Early Saturday morning, a man planted explosives outside of, and fired an automatic weapon at, the Dallas police headquarters. Fortunately no one was injured, but the ensuing chase lasted for hours and put both the police and the community in danger. The ordeal ended in a standoff, which ended in a dead perpetrator, which has led to the requisite barrage of commentary. This wasn't a little thing, or a "statement"-type crime. He did major damage: The media, of course, can always be counted upon to twist an emergency into a knot and make it a laughingstock. CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield even went so far as to call the shooter "courageous and brave." Yes, really. Behold:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 14, 2015 5 Comments
On Saturday, June 13, 2015, I was fortunate to take a tour of the Reagan ranch, high in the hills above Santa Barbara, California. The 688-acre ranch is now owned and maintained by the Young America's Foundation, which also has a Reagan Ranch Center in downtown Santa Barbara where there are exhibits regarding his life. The tour was part of a two-day conference for a small group of faculty to talk about issue of being conservative on campus. We took the 45 minute ride which culminates in a white-knuckle drive up a road winding along the side of the mountain. Reagan Ranch Satellite Map Region As you can imagine, maintaining the full secret service and military presence at the location when President Reagan was there was quite an undertaking given the difficult access and surrounding woods and hills. The ranch was an amazing place to visit.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 13, 2015 43 Comments
In July 2013, Obama's "Department of Housing and Urban Development [created a] regulation broadening the obligation of recipients of federal aid to 'affirmatively further fair housing'."  Translation: in order for cities and states to continue receiving federal aid, they must begin diversification of their wealthier suburbs and neighborhoods by building Section 8 government housing in these areas.
Stanley Kurtz at The Corner compared the HUD regulation proposal to San Francisco's "Plan Bay Area" initiative:
In the face of heated public protest, on July 18, two local agencies in metropolitan San Francisco approved “Plan Bay Area,” a region-wide blueprint designed to control development in the nine-county, 101-town region around San Francisco for the next 30 years. The creation of a region-wide development plan–although it flies in the face of America’s core democratic commitment to local control–is mandated by California’s SB 375, the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008. The ostensible purpose of this law is to combat global warming through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. That is supposedly why California’s legislature empowered regional planning commissions to override local governments and press development away from suburbs into densely-packed urban areas. In fact, the reduction of greenhouse gases (which Plan Bay Area does little to secure) largely serves as a pretext for undercutting the political and economic independence of California suburbs.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 13, 2015 9 Comments
As a direct result of Obama's amateurish, quasi-idealistic, and completely ideological failings in Iraq, we will almost certainly end up sending ground troops back in order to undo the damage wrought by the failed Obama doctrine. Obama knows this, of course, and his plan is to run out the clock rather than make the decision that needs to be—and will be—made by the next president.  The National Journal reports:
On using U.S. combat troops? In a detailed interview with The Atlantic, Obama made his view clear. "If they are not willing to fight for the security of their country, we cannot do that for them," he said, but added that he's committed to training Iraqis over a "multi-year" period. How many, exactly, is "multi?" State Department official and ISIS expert Brett McGurk laid that out on NPR: "It's a three-year campaign to degrade the organization." Three years marked from mid-2014, of course, falls after Jan. 20, 2017, the date Obama leaves office. Translation: The strategy is to avoid sending ground troops for the remainder of his term. So stop asking.

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 13, 2015 18 Comments
Hillary Clinton announced her intention to run for president back in April with the release of a video but apparently, that wasn't the real launch of her campaign. The second and all-new launch happened today on New York's Roosevelt Island which, ironically, used to be called Welfare Island. Attendees were told to expect 'airport style security' for the event. Luckily for Mrs. Clinton's staff, it doesn't look like they had to worry about crowd overflow:

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 13, 2015 22 Comments
Carly Fiorina sat in the "Center Seat" Thursday night on Special Report with Bret Baier. They ought to call the segment the "Hot Seat" as it offers viewers and the pundits on the panel a chance to ask the candidate tough questions in a close setting. Fiorina took questions about herself, her career, the campaign and a host of other issues every candidate is facing for 2016. Topics include jobs, healthcare, government surveillance, foreign policy, and reclaiming feminism. It's worth pointing out that Fiorina took more questions in this 17 minute segment than Hillary Clinton has taken in the last two months. If you watched the video to the end, you heard Fiorina talk about the left's monopoly on the term "feminism" and its meaning. She gave a speech Thursday night where she expanded on this point.

Posted by Andrew Branca on June 13, 2015 37 Comments
Prosecutors in the case of six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray continue their farcical efforts to deny evidence to the officers' defense counsel, according to a report yesterday in the Baltimore Sun. The deadline for Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby's office to meet its discovery obligations to the defense is Friday, June 26, now less than two weeks away. Granted, it is possible that some discovery is still being gathered.  Other evidence, however, is explicitly available right now, such as Gray's knife, his autopsy results, and surveillance video of the scene. There seems no rational basis for delaying the sharing of such evidence with the defense for another two weeks, except that the sharing will expose that the prosecution utterly lacks the evidence needed to support the charges it has brought against the officers. Indeed, the notion that the State simply lacks the evidence to support its charges is not an unusual one.  The Baltimore Sun just ran a poll asking people that exact question:
Do you believe the Baltimore prosecutors have the evidence to support the harshest charges against the officers who interacted with Freddie Gray?
The results as of the writing of this post? Over 88% responded "No," as shown in the featured image, above. Inspires confidence, no?  No.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 13, 2015 22 Comments
I returned to La La Land. Just before taking the drive up to Santa Barbara for a small get together of faculty sponsored by the Young America's Foundation. We're taking a tour of the Reagan Ranch on Saturday. Spotted the bumper sticker in the Featured Image while still in L.A. As I said three years ago, OMG, it really is La La Land. Bumper Sticker - Los Angeles - Obama Biden 2008 and 2012_Redacted Takes a special kind of person to keep both '08 and '12 Obama-Biden bumper stickers on the car. I take that back. It takes a completely not-special person The good news is that I had a chance to reunite with frequent Legal Insurrection commenter LukeHandCool.

Posted by Amy Miller on June 12, 2015 13 Comments
Convicted killers Richard Matt and David Sweat are still on the run after escaping a maximum security prison in upstate New York late last week, but investigators have since revealed that they suspect a prison employee aided in the convicts' flight. Joyce Mitchell, 51, was arrested yesterday and charged with Promoting Prison Contraband in the 1st Degree and Criminal Facilitation in the 4th Degree. If convicted, she could face up to eight years in prison. Via Fox News:
Earlier, [District Attorney Andrew] Wylie said Mitchell, a supervisor in the prison's tailoring shop, brought "contraband" into the prison but he declined to elaborate on what, specifically, she gave the men. The Albany Times-Union reported late Thursday that Mitchell told New York State Police she gave Matt, 48, and Sweat, 34, access to a cell phone and smuggled tools into the prison.
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