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Posted by Mandy Nagy on May 26, 2014 5 Comments
Memorial Day is a time for remembering the men and women who died while serving in our nation's armed forces.  Every year, as I pay respect to those fallen, I’m also reminded of my grandfather, who we lovingly called “Poppy.” Poppy served in World War II, and I’ve previously honored him on other occasions with an excerpt from his own diary of his experiences in the war.  Among those experiences, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and endured things I could never even imagine.  And like so many others in his generation, he lost friends to the war, men who made the ultimate sacrifice.  Just as many did in wars before and after this. When I was a child, there were many times I helped Poppy put up the flag on the front porch of my grandparents’ home. It was something he did for specific holidays – Memorial Day, Independence Day, Flag Day, Veterans Day.  For me, those days seemed all about parades and such, and I wasn’t really as much aware as a child of the true importance of such days. But as silly as my grandfather often was with us as kids, I’d always remembered that there was something more solemn in his nature whenever he put up that flag, especially on Memorial Day.  Once the flag was up and flapping in the breeze, he would stand back and seemed to reflect for a moment or two.

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 26, 2014 27 Comments
This video comes a little round-about. It started with a post by Dr. Helen Smith (h/t Instapundit) regarding some feminists trying to blame the Pick-Up Artist community for the mass murder by Elliot Rodger. Revelation No. 1: There's a " Pick-Up Artist community"? Do they have rights? Revelation No. 2: A reference to a 2012 incident in Toronto with which I was not previously familiar:
Perhaps it is the feminists and their supporters who block funding and education going to boys’ and men’s issues that are to blame. Case in point? Warren Farrell tried to give a talk in Toronto about suicide in young men and other topics and was accosted by nasty feminists who did not want him to speak.
The link is to this video about Warren Farrell: Here's some more videos about the protest (Language Warning):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 26, 2014 23 Comments
A reader called to my attention this sentence  in a Washington Post report about the Obama administration outing the identity of the CIA Station Chief in Afghanistan (emphasis added):
The disclosure marked a rare instance in which a CIA officer working overseas had his cover — the secrecy meant to protect his actual identity — pierced by his own government. The only other recent case came under significantly different circumstances, when former CIA operative Valerie Plame was exposed as officials of the George W. Bush administration sought to discredit her husband, a former ambassador and fierce critic of the decision to invade Iraq.
Scooter Libby was convicted for lying to prosecutors and obstruction of justice in the Special Prosecutor's investigation, under a contorted theory that nonetheless prevailed with a jury.  He was sentenced to jail, but the sentence was commuted by George W. Bush. Libby, a close confidant of Dick Cheney, however, was not the leaker. The leaker was an Iraq War critic in the State Department, Richard Armitage. Christopher Hitchens reported at the time:
As most of us have long suspected, the man who told Novak about Valerie Plame was Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's deputy at the State Department and, with his boss, an assiduous underminer of the president's war policy.
The prosecutors knew from the start who the leaker was, but went after those closest to the White House not for leaking, but for covering up a leaker the identity of whom already was known to the investigators.  It was a perjury trap.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 26, 2014 6 Comments
Because of the time difference, I was not able to watch the Pope's visits in Israel today to the Temple Mount, Western Wall, memorial to terror victims and the Yad Vashem. Here are some tweets and video of the events: The Pope's stop at the memorial to terror victims is a good contrast to the Pallywooded stop at the security barrier in Bethelehem yesterday:
“The Vatican officials explained to us that the pope didn’t pray against the separation barrier, but he prayed against the situation that forces such a wall to be built,” diplomat Lior Haiat said. “Therefore, we thought we need to show him why we built the wall. It’s obvious that the barrier is a result of something, it is not the reason.”
It also was significant that this was the first time a Pope has visited the grave of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism:

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 26, 2014 7 Comments
Air Force Lt. Roslyn Schulte of Ladue, Missouri, was buried on Memorial Day, 2009. We have remembered her previously as best we can: I noted in 2012:
I remember seeing this post at Gateway Pundit, on May 26, 2009, which I made Post of the Day, regarding Lt. Schulte’s death, and it has stayed with me for these past three years:
Lt. Roslyn Schulte was the first female Air Force Academy graduate to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. She died last week in Afghanistan after the vehicle she was riding in was struck by a roadside bomb. Lt. Schulte could have attended an Ivy League school. Instead she chose the Air Force Academy. She dreamed of being a fighter pilot since she was 12. At the academy, she was among the top in her class. Her funeral was yesterday at the Congregation Temple Israel in St. Louis. Her boyfriend U.S. Air Force Cpt. Bruce Cohn announced that he was going to propose to Roslyn this summer.
In 2009, Daily Kos had an excellent round up of news and personal reports about Lt. Schulte's life. Lt. Schulte's friend was interviewed on Boston public radio recently:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2014 7 Comments
It's too simple to say that "far right" or "fascist" parties did well in the European Parliament elections. It does seem clear that "Euroskeptic" parties on the right and left did well. Seems to me that what you are seeing is the long-awaited centrifugal forces of the EU showing the inherent instability of trying to unite countries with such disparate interests. Anti-immigrant sentiment also seems to be part of the equation in some countries, particularly France. Here's how The Wall Street Journal describes the outcome:
Anti-European Union and far-right parties posted strong gains in elections to the European Parliament in some countries on Sunday, tapping into voter anger over economic austerity and delivering a blow to institutions in Brussels, national governments and mainstream political parties. Anti-EU parties won the biggest share of the vote in France—where more than a quarter of votes were cast for the far-right National Front—Greece and Denmark. They also made a strong showing in the U.K. and Italy. Overall, centrist, pro-European parties are still expected to hold a broad majority of the 751 seats the new legislature, which decides on EU laws together with national governments. But euroskeptic and anti-EU lawmakers could complicate passing measures on which mainstream parties are divided, including a planned free-trade deal with the U.S.
At the bottom of the post is a widget that reflects official results EU-wide for various parties (go here for results including by country). In certain countries, the "right" certainly did well, most notably France. Here's how The Telegraph describes today's voting results in France:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on May 25, 2014 4 Comments
Sunday was election day in Ukraine, and while turnout appeared heavy at polling stations in Kiev, it was a different scene in portions of the east.  Nonetheless, Petro Poroshenko declared victory after preliminary exit polls signaled he'd won the majority of the votes. From CNN:
Billionaire Petro Poroshenko declared victory Sunday in Ukraine's presidential election, following preliminary exit polls that suggested he got 56% of the vote. His closest challenger, former Ukrainian prime minister and leader of the Batkivshchyna party Yulia Tymoshenko, conceded the election after exit polls showed her with 13% of the vote. Poroshenko, a candy tycoon known as the "Chocolate King," is also a seasoned politician. The election took place Sunday despite a recent wave of deadly violence in the east and threats by pro-Russia separatists to prevent citizens from casting their ballots.
In February, Ukraine’s parliament ousted President Viktor Yanukovich from office and named an interim president, which was followed of course by months of continuing unrest, particularly in the country’s eastern region. Many of the polling stations were closed Sunday in the east, according to the Associated Press via ABC News:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2014 5 Comments
Pope Francis is in Israel this afternoon (Israel time) and tomorrow. The itinerary today, after a trip to Bethlehem, included arrival at Ben Gurion Airport and a trip to the Church of the Holy Sepulcre in Jerusalem. Tomorrow will be visits to the Temple Mount and Western Wall, meetings with Israeli political and religious leaders, and a visit to Yad Vashem. Here are some images I grabbed from the live video feed: [caption id="attachment_87188" align="alignnone" width="609"](Pope Francis speaking at Ben Gurion Airport) (Pope Francis speaking at Ben Gurion Airport)[/caption]

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2014 28 Comments
Whether it's Trigger Warnings, disinviting campus speakers, or the Shut-Up Culture, the closing of the campus mind is a frequent topic here. Among many topics as to which the debate is closed on campus is anything related to LGBT issues. No deviation is allowed. Differ even as to constitutional or other legal analyses, and you will be attacked with the fury visited on non-academics such as Brendan Eich, and before him, the law firm of King & Spalding, Mormons, and Chick-fil-A, among others. And now a University of Virginia Professor is in the cross-hairs for arguing that an Arizona law proposed to accomodate religious objections to performing some types of services was a lawful extension of the existing federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. That caused LGBT students to target the professor and file a FOIA request for his emails, as detailed by UCLA Law Professor Stephen Bainbridge The Purge Arrives at the University of Virginia: PC Thugs versus Douglas Laycock (quoting in part from a local Virginia newspaper report).
Through the activist group Virginia Student Power Network, GetEQUAL found two UVA students willing to take up the cause of calling out Laycock: rising fourth-year Greg Lewis and now-alum Stephanie Montenegro. Last week, the pair sent an open letter to Laycock asking him to consider the “real-world consequences that [his] work is having.” They also submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking e-mails between Laycock and various right-wing and religious liberty groups. Lewis said they’re not trying to smear Laycock, and they’re not trying to undermine academic freedom. They just want a dialogue, he said.
Bullshit. You don't start a dialogue with FOIA requests. This is a blatant effort at deterring public participation by anyone who does not hew 100% to the most radical version of the gay rights movement.

Posted by Mandy Nagy on May 25, 2014 5 Comments
A shooting at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels left three dead and another severely injured on Saturday. (Update: Fourth person has died.) From CNN:
Three people were killed and another was seriously injured in a shooting Saturday at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, Belgian officials said. A person arrived by car at the museum in central Brussels, entered and quickly opened fire before leaving the scene, Belgian Interior Minister Joelle Milquet told CNN affiliate Bel RTL. The circumstances of the shooting have raised suspicions that it may have been an anti-Semitic attack, but no motive has been determined. The shooter remains at large, and the nation's terror alert level was raised. Belgian public broadcaster RTBF quoted Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur as saying those killed were two men and a woman, while a man was seriously injured at the museum, which is near the tourist sites. At a press conference, Milquet said the threat level is highest at locations frequented by the Jewish community. This measure was precautionary, she added.
Other news reports, including a BBC News report, indicated that a possible suspect had been detained, but no additional details had been released at the time of this writing (which was Saturday evening).

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2014 3 Comments

Spotted by the wife at the Home Depot parking lot in Ithaca. The guy said he gets some interesting looks. Really, in Ithaca?...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2014 34 Comments
We previously addressed The dead-end Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ backwards looking road to nowhere:
Coates never gives the answer as to who gets what and how. And that’s ultimately the problem with reparations arguments that are not based upon the people causing the harm paying the people directly harmed by specific conduct soon after the conduct is remedied.
As Coates explained his views to Melissa-Harris Perry this morning, it became clear that there is no sense at all of holding the guilty accountable in the sense we normally do, or compensating actual victims. There is a complete disconnect between cause and effect -- anyone with a particular skin color is presumed to be a victim of policies even from generations earlier. It's a simplistic and non-evidentiary approach which generalizes anecdotes and ignores the myriad of factors that influence success or failure in life. Rather, this is a societal redistribution, in which the not actually guilty pay, and the not actually injured get compensated, via the power of government to redistribute wealth. It's just redistribution with a different justification.
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