Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

/var/www/vhosts/legalinsurrection.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/bridge-child/readFeeds.incFALSE

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 12, 2014 6 Comments
In the propaganda war against Israel, fakery is key. Pallywood is the longest running series in the history of fiction. This video is from the November 2012 Gaza conflict: In the July 2014 Gaza conflict, even the BBC -- notoriously hostile to Israel -- has reported that many of the photos circulating in social media are fake, old, or based on conflicts elsewhere, or all of the above:

LATEST NEWS

Posted by Mandy Nagy on July 12, 2014 2 Comments

Stories about social media mobs, Twitter account that tweets anonymous Wikipedia edits from Congress, and a Congresswoman who 'misspoke'...

LEGAL INSURRECTION QUICK TAKES

University of Providence in Great Falls, Montana, Declares Financial Exigency

Local Officials Crack Down on Annual 'St. Fratty’s Day' Party at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

U. Oregon to Start Handing Out Abortion Drugs Next Fall

Northwestern U. Gets 'C' Grade on Campus Antisemitism Report Card

Duke University Employees Donated $1.6 Million to Democrats

Opposition to Epic Fury on Twitter/X Being Led by Non-American Accounts

SEE MORE

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 11, 2014 14 Comments
This is a little spooky. Here's a blog post I wrote in November 2012, the last time Israel had to deal with the terrorist alliance in Gaza and its rocket fire: Our Blog Friends in Israel - November 2012 Since then, we have added more Israeli blog friends, many of whom I met on my trip to Israel last summer. So once again pay a visit to and say a prayer for our blog friends in Israel. Let them know we stand with them. Bloggers I've met: Israel Matzav — also known as Carl in Jerusalem (Featured Image). Anne’s Opinions — also known as Anne in Petah Tikva. IsraellyCool — also known as Aussie Dave and others. CiF Watch -- also known as Adam Levick. BBC Watch -- also known as Hadar Sela. NGO Monitor -- also known as Prof. Gerald Steinberg and others. Bloggers I haven't met: The Muqata — also known as Jameel, “Wherever I may be, my blog turns toward Eretz Yisrael ” His Facebook page is the go-to place for updates. An Israeli Soldier’s Mother –  Also known as Paula. Backspin David suggested these blogs as well: My Right Word (Yisrael Medad) Shilo Musings (Batya Medad) This Ongoing War (Arnold and Frimet Roth - Their daughter Malki was killed in Sbarro's in 2001) Dry Bones (Yaakov Kirschen) If there is anyone else who should be on the list, post in comments and I will add. Updates::

Posted by Bruce Carroll on July 11, 2014 24 Comments
One of the most powerful political and financial supporters of progressive politics and Barack Obama's campaigns over the last decade has been the public sector union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). On Thursday, AFSCME made a remarkable announcement -- that it would will end its support for the United Negro College Fund after the group accepted $25 million from the conservative Koch Brothers. In June, Charles and David Koch made a big $25 million donation to the College Fund (UNCF). The UNCF is the largest provider of scholarships to black college students in the U.S. and also supports historically black colleges and universities. The $25 million donation is one of the highest donations ever received by the UNCF.
In a letter made public Thursday, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said it will no longer partner with or raise funds for the fund, known for its iconic motto, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." AFSCME President Lee Saunders said the actions of the college fund's president "are not only deeply hostile to the rights and dignity of public employees, but also a profound betrayal of the ideals of the civil rights movement."
AFSCME's President made no specific allegations against the Koch Brothers but instead adopted the broad attack and smear approach that Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has taken to attacking the Kochs.

Posted by David Gerstman on July 11, 2014 10 Comments
Last month the Editorial Board of The Washington Post endorsed the Obama administration's support of the unity deal between Hamas and Fatah. After reading, Restore trust to douse the fire in Gaza, the Post's take on Operation Protective Edge, it's clear that the editors are still stuck in an intellectual rut. One paragraph in the editorial stuck out as hopelessly uninformed and illogical (emphasis added):
Those goals hardly seem worth the bloodshed — nearly 50 people reportedly had been killed in Gaza by late Wednesday, including civilians — or the economic losses to both Palestinians and Israelis. In fact, neither side wanted war. Hamas had just agreed to back a united Palestinian government with the West Bank-based Fatah movement, while Israel quietly offered a truce before the escalation of hostilities on Sunday. As so often happens in the Middle East, acts by extremists forced these events: the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers allegedly by Hamas militants apparently acting on their own; the revenge murder of a Palestinian by Israeli thugs; the initial firing of rockets from Gaza by small militant groups challenging Hamas’s authority.
First of all how is Hamas's participation in the unity government a sign that "it didn't want war?" In a similar vein former Washington Post blogger, Max Fisher, now at Vox.com, wrote earlier this month:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 11, 2014 0 Comments
Bloomberg reports that the executives of Aereo, Inc., are exploring ways to continue offering their streaming service by operating more like a cable TV provider. The startup's owners say that, by behaving more like a Comcast or a Time Warner, they will be able to reinstate their service. There is, of course, a catch to any plan aimed at reviving Aereo--the cost:
To operate as a cable company, Aereo would have to get and pay fees for a compulsory copyright license, which gives permission to transmit broadcast channels. Then the startup would have to negotiate with broadcast companies over retransmission fees, which are paid to broadcasters for the right to air their content. This would almost guarantee that Aereo would have to charge customers more to gain access to programming, said Neil Begley, an analyst at Moody’s Investors Service. For one, Aereo would most likely have to buy entire channel bundles to gain access to broadcast channels, he said. Content companies haven’t been keen on selling the rights to transmit individual channels to cable companies, instead favoring bundling offerings like Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s ABC broadcast network with ESPN. Companies like Apple Inc. (AAPL) have tried and failed to persuade cable networks to let it sell their channels a la carte.
The beauty of Aereo is that its streaming service provided basic channels at an extremely low cost--$8 per month, versus $70-$80 per month with a mainstream subscription service like those offered by major cable companies. Aereo's selection was limited, but at under $10 per month, it was a good option for subscribers who weren't interested in scrolling through 300 channels. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that Aereo's streaming service violated copyright law because the near-real time delivery of the television show amounted to a public performance of private material. (Aereo had previously claimed that they were merely "equipment providers," and were thus exempt from paying for copyright licenses and retransmission of the copyrighted material.) Now, lawyers on both sides are scrambling to respond to the Supreme Court's ruling:

Posted by Bruce Carroll on July 10, 2014 32 Comments
The breaking news via Twitter on Wednesday night was quite alarming. The United Nations seems to be playing down the significance of the threat, but the Iraqi government's warning was specific that this material could be used in creating weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq has notified the United Nations that Sunni militants seized nuclear material from a university in the northern city of Mosul last month as they advanced toward Baghdad, the nuclear regulatory body of the United Nations said on Thursday. Gill Tudor, a spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is based in Vienna, said in a statement that the organization’s experts believed the material — thought to be uranium — was “low-grade and would not present a significant safety, security or nuclear proliferation risk.” Word of the seizure first emerged in a letter to the United Nations dated July 8 and seen by reporters from Reuters, which quoted it as saying that “terrorists” from the insurgent Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, known as ISIS, had taken control of the materials. The letter said that almost 90 pounds of uranium compounds had been kept at the university and that the materials “can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction,” Reuters said.
The first question that comes to many Americans' minds is: How can there be uranium material left in Iraq? After all, the Bush Administration was skewered by the media (and continues to be) when they presented the "yellowcake" evidence at the United Nations prior to the 2003 Iraq War. And, as that TIME article pointed out, even the Bush Administration admitted in 2003 that they messed up on the yellowcake evidence.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 10, 2014 2 Comments
We have previously reported Six Israeli Jews arrested in murder of Palestinian teen. Police now have determined that three of the six were not involved in the murder, and have been released on home confinement since they may be implicated indirectly to a group to which the actual murderers belonged. The Times of Israel reports:
Three of the six people arrested Sunday in connection with the murder of East Jerusalem teen Muhammed Abu Khdeir were released to house arrest Thursday after police determined they had not taken part in the killing, despite being linked to those suspected in the crime. The three remaining suspects, one adult from the West Bank settlement of Adam and two minors from Jerusalem, were certainly behind the deadly assault of the Arab teen, police asserted. The three prime suspects in the killing confessed to the crime and reenacted it after they were brought by police to the spot in the Jerusalem Forest where Khdeir’s beaten and burned body was found, officials said.
Needless to say, the usual suspects are falsely reporting the story as the murderers being released:

Posted by David Gerstman on July 10, 2014 10 Comments
As Operation Protective Edge it's worth anticipating the likely response to Israel's latest war against Hamas. Israel will be accused of a disproportionate response and of not taking care to avoid collateral damage. Already there's been at least one incident in which a number of civilians were injured and and 7 were killed. Israel has a policy of letting civilians know when they are about to bomb a target to give them a chance to get of the way. One would assume that observers would be impressed that Israel gives up the element of surprise in order to reduce collateral damage. But that assumption would be wrong, if one judges by the reporting and analysis from the New York Times and Washington Post. Here's how the New York Times reports the incident:
The call came to the cellphone of his brother’s wife, Salah Kaware said on Tuesday. Mr. Kaware lives in Khan Younis, in southeast Gaza, and the caller said that everyone in the house must leave in five minutes, because it was going to be bombed. A further warning came as they were leaving, he said in a telephone interview, when an Israeli drone apparently fired a flare at the roof of the three-story home. “Our neighbors came in to form a human shield,” he said, with some even going to the roof to try to prevent a bombing. Others were in the stairway when the house was bombed not long afterward.
Israel warned the residents and people went into the building. The casualties here occurred because Gaza residents because people intentionally put themselves in danger. The New York Times then informs us:
The Israeli military said that targeted houses belonged to Hamas members involved in launching rockets or other military activity, and that they had been used as operations rooms.
As the Washington Post also reported the story we have an indication that in this case, the Israeli military was 100% correct. After describing the warning call, the "knock on the roof," and the entry of neighbors into the building, the Post reports:
Ahmed Kawarea said he ran home when he heard about the first rocket. The second missile hit when he was in the stairwell on his way to the roof.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 10, 2014 6 Comments

TaxProf has released the rankings of blogs run by law professors, for the 12 months ending June 30, 2014. Go to Law Prof Blog Traffic Rankings for the full list, including percentage changes from the prior year.  The Top 7 are in the featured image.  [Note 10:25 a.m. - after...

MORE POSTS
Accessibility by WAH