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Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 20, 2015 14 Comments
Earlier today, Colorado's chapter of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, or NARAL, tweeted a disturbing admission in response to a bill currently rattling around in the state house. I read this over and and over again, hoping NARAL Colorado wasn't advocating against penalties for those who end a pregnancy against a mother's wishes. But there's simply no way around it -- NARAL is anti-personhood. They went on to say: And then kept digging:

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Posted by Amy Miller on April 20, 2015 11 Comments
Earlier today, I wrote about how tensions escalated in Yemen after a Saudi airstrike allegedly hit targets close to the Iranian embassy in Sana'a, causing damage to the embassy itself, but no casualties. Houthi-controlled (read: Iranian-controlled) news outlets peddled the line that the airstrike had missed its intended target---a Sana'a arms depot---but photos and reports from the area have largely refuted that claim. Moral of the story? Things are tense in the Arabian Peninsula today---and it's about to get much worse, to the tune of an increased U.S. naval presence in the region.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 20, 2015 31 Comments
We have been covering the "John Doe" investigations of Scott Walker and Wisconsin conservatives since January 2014, when it came on our radar after a state court judge quashed certain subpoenas. Since then, we've had over 25 posts, detailing the depths to which Democratic prosecutors sank in the effort to get Walker and his supporters, as well as related litigation. John Doe No. 1 targeted Walker's time as Milwaukee County Executive. That probe failed to find any misconduct by Walker. John Doe No. 2 targeted alleged illegal coordination during the Recall Election between Walker's campaign and conservative groups. A state court judge already has ruled that even if there was such coordination, it was not illegal; that ruling is on appeal in the state courts. A federal District Court ruled the same way, but was reversed by the federal appeals court primarily on procedural grounds as to whether a federal court should interfere in a state investigation; a request is pending for the U.S. Supreme Court to take that case. In a second federal case, the same District Judge ordered Wisconsin not to enforce its coordination law as relates to issue advocacy. We’ll see if that holds up on appeal. While the legal proceedings are interesting, it is the physical and emotional abuse visited up innocent conservative activists by John Doe investigators that is particularly outrageous. We've focused on the home raids before, including this description by George Will, The nastiest political tactic this year:

Posted by Amy Miller on April 20, 2015 4 Comments
Over the past four weeks, Saudi Arabia has led a series of airstrikes aimed at quashing the spread and rise to power of Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen. Backed by the Iranian government, the Houthi have risen from obscurity to prominence. Once a regional threat, the group began late last year to branch out on more aggressive missions aimed at securing strategically important sites around the country. They moved into the capital city of Sana'a, and earlier this year managed to stage a violent and successful coup against the western-backed Hadi government. Iran's involvement---which they deny, of course---has been the subject of contention for coalition partners in the region, who argue that the Iranians are using the Houthi rebels as a proxy occupation force and means to greater control over the increasingly volatile Arabian Peninsula. Similarly, Saudi's airstrikes against Houthi advancement have been painted not as strategic, but as an unnecessary attack on civilians caught in the crossfire. Today, Iran released a statement alleging that one Saudi Airstrike hit too close to the Iranian embassy in Sana'a, shattering windows and causing damage but fortunately not injuring anyone inside.

Posted by Amy Miller on April 20, 2015 17 Comments
Two years ago, over 1,000 people died in Syria after sarin gas was unleashed on civilian neighborhoods in Damascus. No one has ever been held accountable for ordering the attack, but among those who have followed the violence in Syria there is little doubt that all the evidence points to President Bashar al-Assad. 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley's "A Crime Against Humanity" aired on 60 Minutes yesterday evening alongside never-before-seen footage of the 2013 sarin gas massacre. The segment throws into full relief what words like "extermination" really mean in a modern context. Pelley spoke to a man named Kassem Eid, who was in Damascus when the rockets hit the ground:
Nobody knew what was going on. People were just praying for God to have mercy on them. Sir, I've seen things you only would dream about in your worst nightmares. ... I felt like my chest was set on fire. My eyes were burning like hell. I wasn't able even to scream, or to do anything, so I started to beat my chest really hard...trying to take a breath, just to be able to take a single breath. It was so painful. It felt like someone was tearing up my chest with a knife made of fire.
Watch:

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Posted by Amy Miller on April 20, 2015 29 Comments
The book is called Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich---and it could be the undoing of a woman much of the country assumed would one day hold the presidency. Peter Schweizer's latest work won't officially hit stores until May 5, but the buzz generated by the release of advance copies already has Team Clinton on defense, and Republican heavy-hitters running offense against the financial history of the Clinton Foundation. The basic premise of the book is that during the time Clinton served as secretary of state, the Department would grant favors to foreign entities in exchange for high-dollar speaking fees paid directly to the Clinton Foundation.
“We will see a pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds,” Mr. Schweizer writes.

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 19, 2015 11 Comments
Debbie Wasserman Schultz has done such a tremendous job of defining the Democratic Party's central beliefs lately, especially in her response to Rand Paul's challenges on abortion. We're so impressed that we think Wasserman Schultz has become a possible, um, Plan B for Democrats should Hillary faulter. As evidence for our argument, here are some of Debbie's greatest hits. Here she is asserting that Obama hardly does his job at all:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 19, 2015 44 Comments
Breitbart News caused a stink when it reported on presidential candidate Marco Rubio's alleged comments on Obama's unilateral executive immigration programs. The headline inaccurately suggested that Rubio supported President Obama's executive immigration overreach. As we will discuss, this was only one of numerous mistranslations. Screen Shot 2015-04-19 at 5.55.35 PM The latest offense involves Senator Rubio's recent interview about immigration policy with Univision. Senator Rubio reiterated his well documented position on the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs. Rubio clearly says the programs will have to end. Interestingly enough, Sen. Cruz shares Sen. Rubio's opinions on DAPA and DACA.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 19, 2015 14 Comments
Scott Walker was the latest in the line of Republican candidates and potential candidates to address the New Hampshire Leadership Forum, in the nation's first primary (Iowa is a caucus). Walker's speech was well received. Stephen F. Hayes at The Weekly Standard reports:
Walker guided the crowd through a brief history of his tenure as Wisconsin governor, punctuating the story with suggestions about what his reforms in back home might mean if he were to attempt something similar as president. “Washington is 68 square miles surrounded by reality,” he said, adapting a popular conservative appraisal of Madison. Walker expanded the stump speech he had given in Iowa back in January, a coming out party of sorts, that propelled him to co-frontrunner status in national and early-state polling. The new content made clear that Walker is a hawk and that in a Walker presidency the United States would not only reengage with the world but would project its power without reservation. He called the war on radical Islam and “generational” war and scorched Barack Obama for his ambivalence on the threat. “We’re going to bring the fight to them and fight on their soil and not ours."
Todd Beamon at NewsMax provides some highlights from the speech:

Posted by Amy Miller on April 19, 2015 23 Comments
I was only 10 years old on the day that Timothy McVeigh parked his fertilizer bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. At the time, I didn't know what it meant to have witnessed the "deadliest terror attack to date" on U.S. soil; all I knew was that 168 people had died, and from my ten year-old perspective, that seemed like everyone in the world. Twenty years later, my perspective has matured. I've seen skyscrapers explode and fall down, and high school students run screaming from armed gunmen. I've seen videos of beheadings and shootings and massacres, and yet there's something still very raw associated with my memories of of the Oklahoma City bombing. Today marks the 20 year anniversary of the attack, and hundreds of people gathered together at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum on the former site of the Murrah building to pay tribute to those lost.
President Bill Clinton, attending the annual ceremony for the sixth time, thanked the people of Oklahoma for their resilience and outpouring of compassion that followed the bombing — a reaction to the tragedy that became known as the "Oklahoma standard."

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 19, 2015 14 Comments
There was a concert for Earth Day on the National Mall this weekend. It's good to have events like this to remind us that we need to be responsible stewards of the environment. Christine Rousselle of Townhall:
National Mall Trashed After Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day Concert Oh, the delicious, delicious irony. Yesterday was Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day, which was celebrated with a concert and other festivities on the National Mall. While the concert itself was powered by solar energy, the attendees could have learned a lesson or two about taking care of planet Earth. For instance, check out these trash and recycling cans I spotted near the National Mall, close to the Washington Monument:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 19, 2015 12 Comments
About thee months have passed since I first reported that the latest attraction offered at Disneyland, "the happiest place on Earth", was measles. It appears that particular infection has burnt itself out.
The measles outbreak that affected more than 130 Californians since December is over, the California Department of Public Health declared Friday. It has been 42 days since the last known case of B3 strain of measles, the equivalent of two successive incubation periods, said Dr. Karen Smith, director of the health department. The department said in its latest update that 131 people came down with the B3 strain, and five who had a different genotype than the outbreak strain. Of the 131 cases, the state was able to obtain the vaccination status for 81 patients. Of the 81, 70% were unvaccinated.
I will stress that 30% of those infections were among those who had received MMR immunizations, so I will urge Legal Insurrection readers to review their vaccination profiles with their health care providers to determine if booster shots are necessary.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 19, 2015 23 Comments
Army morale is at an all-time low, according to USA Today, and the Army is left scratching its head:
More than half of some 770,000 soldiers are pessimistic about their future in the military and nearly as many are unhappy in their jobs, despite a six-year, $287 million campaign to make troops more optimistic and resilient, findings obtained by USA TODAY show. Twelve months of data through early 2015 show that 403,564 soldiers, or 52%, scored badly in the area of optimism, agreeing with statements such as "I rarely count on good things happening to me." Forty-eight percent have little satisfaction in or commitment to their jobs. [snip] The Army offered contradictory responses to the findings obtained by USA TODAY. Sharyn Saunders, chief of the Army Resiliency Directorate that produced the data, initially disavowed the results. "I've sat and looked at your numbers for quite some time and our team can't figure out how your numbers came about," she said in an interview in March. However, when USA TODAY provided her the supporting Army documents this week, her office acknowledged the data but said the formulas used to produce them were obsolete. "We stand by our previous responses," it said in a statement.
So over the past six years, the time that Obama has been in office, the taxpayer has forked out $287 million in an "optimism" program for the army.  This is the same army that ignored dangerous warning signs that Nidal Hasan was a terrorist-in-waiting, the same army that then declared the Fort Hood terror attack "workplace violence," and the same army that also refused--for six years--to pay benefits to those injured or to the families of those lost?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 18, 2015 23 Comments
One of my early posts at Legal Insurrection, on November 11, 2008, was Is It Time For Conservatives To Sit Down In The Snow?. The post analogized what conservatives were about to experience in the aftermath of Obama's first victory to the experience of Soviet Jewish Refusenik Anatoly (Nathan) Sharansky. I related the story of Sharansky's release from the Soviet gulag, and how he resisted to the very last moment of his release:
Sharansky spend almost a decade in Soviet prison because of his activities on behalf of Jews who wanted to emigrate to Israel. Sharansky was subjected to torture and other indignities, but never lost his spirit.Sharansky notoriously refused to obey even the most mundane orders from his captors. Sharansky understood that to compromise even a little would lead to compromising a lot. Throughout his ordeal, Sharansky kept his spirits alive by reading a small book of psalms. As Sharansky was being led to the airplane that would take him from the Soviet Union to East Germany for the exchange, the Soviets confiscated his book of psalms.It would have been easy for Sharansky simply to keep walking towards the plane and freedom. But Sharansky understood that the Soviets confiscated his book of psalms not because they wanted the book, but because they wanted to show that even in this last moment, they were in control.
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