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

LATEST NEWS

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 13, 2014 22 Comments
Martha Robertson is the Emily's List-backed, "Red to Blue" designated challenger to Republican Tom Reed in my home NY-23 District. She is a Democratic star candidate, and money is pouring into the somewhat competitive District at a furious pace. But is Robertson just another Alex Sink? Someone destined to break Democrats' hearts because, in Robertson's case, she is just too left-wing for the centrist, Republican-leaning district? We have covered the race extensively, including Robertson's misleading (if not outright false) fundraising claim that GOP operatives tried to take down her website, her strong support for Obamacare as a stepping stone to single payer, and questionable history with regard to rejecting the unpopular NY SAFE Act. In a region starving for jobs and losing our young people, Robertson has staked her candidacy on preventing the fracking job boom which has added over a quarter million jobs in Pennsylvania, which borders the NY-23 District. Heaven forbid the struggling Southern Tier of NY State should get to participate in that. The Reed campaign recently posted a video that sums up the Robertson agenda:
"In my heart of hearts, the very most important issue is climate change."
) If so, Robertson is almost alone in that sentiment. This Pew Research chart lists the priorities of the electorate as of late January 2014 -- be sure to scroll really, really far down so you can find "Dealing with Global Warming":
"The American public routinely ranks dealing with global warming low on its list of priorities for the president and Congress. This year, it ranked second to last among 20 issues tested."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 13, 2014 11 Comments

That's what Ted Cruz tweeted about this Branco cartoon that ran at Legal Insurrection in October, Branco Cartoon – Delay and Conquer. How far we've come...

Posted by A.F. Branco on March 13, 2014 3 Comments

Note: You may reprint this cartoon provided you link back to this source.  To see more Legal Insurrection Branco cartoons, click here. Branco’s page is Cartoonist A.F.Branco...

LEGAL INSURRECTION QUICK TAKES

Glossary at Boston U. Teaching Hospital Says ‘Biology’ Doesn’t Define Sex

Women’s and Gender Studies Programs are Part of Trump's DEI Purge in Higher Ed

Ohio State U. Professor Faces Charges for Allegedly Assaulting Filmmaker

Students at UT-Austin Protest Consolidation of Departments

Former Student President at UC-Santa Barbara Sues School, Alleging Antisemitic Harassment

Drake University Mandates Coursework in Equity and Inclusion

SEE MORE

Posted by Andrew Branca on March 12, 2014 29 Comments
Robert Zimmerman Sr. and Gladys Zimmerman have filed suit against comedienne Roseanne Barr, nearly two years after Barr published their home address on Twitter in the aftermath of their son George Zimmerman Jr.'s killing of Trayvon Martin in self-defense.   (Zimmerman successfully argued at trial that he shot Martin in necessary self-defense,  and he was acquitted by a unanimous jury.) The Orlando Sentinel reports that the suit, filed in a Florida circuit court, accuses Barr of attempting to incite "a lynch mob to descend" on their home and carry out "vigilante justice." Zimmerman's parents say that Barr's tweet of their home address compelled them to flee their home in the middle of the night, and they remain unable to return and in hiding for fear of violence. They also point out that their son George did not live with them, and they had nothing whatever to do with his shooting of Trayvon Martin in self-defense.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 12, 2014 49 Comments
Yeah, me too. Donald Trump. But I don't think that's what the Ban Bossy campaign is about. The #BanBossy movement pretends to protect little girls from the humiliation of being called "bossy," and thereby will empower a generation of strong, powerful female leaders (so long as you don't call them bossy, because that would crush them). The movement is backed by "Lean In" Sheryl Sandberg and The Girl Scouts, for whom every girl is a potential victim. (Put aside all the objective evidence that girls are outperforming boys in almost every measure.) A slew of major corporations and celebrities have lined up behind the banning of bossy. ) There nothing wrong, and much good, at encouraging young girls to lead. But this campaign has a strong victimization narrative. This teaches young girls that they are victims and need the emotional protections that little boys don't. At best that is a mixed message. And why now? Why have the word police suddenly descended on us to shape our speech? Can't boys and men be bossy too? Has there been some epidemic of bossy such that now is the time to act. A follower on Twitter made the connection to prepping the battlefield for Hillary:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 12, 2014 16 Comments
Reports began circulating last night about a hidden individual mandate delay buried in some recent regulations:
ObamaCare's implementers continue to roam the battlefield and shoot their own wounded, and the latest casualty is the core of the Affordable Care Act—the individual mandate. To wit, last week the Administration quietly excused millions of people from the requirement to purchase health insurance or else pay a tax penalty. This latest political reconstruction has received zero media notice, and the Health and Human Services Department didn't think the details were worth discussing in a conference call, press materials or fact sheet. Instead, the mandate suspension was buried in an unrelated rule that was meant to preserve some health plans that don't comply with ObamaCare benefit and redistribution mandates. Our sources only noticed the change this week. That seven-page technical bulletin includes a paragraph and footnote that casually mention that a rule in a separate December 2013 bulletin would be extended for two more years, until 2016. Lo and behold, it turns out this second rule, which was supposed to last for only a year, allows Americans whose coverage was cancelled to opt out of the mandate altogether.
In testimony today, Kathleen Sebelius said it ain't so, as reported by The Hill:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 12, 2014 5 Comments
We previously reported on the profanity-laced shout-down of Professor Alan Johnson at National University of Ireland at Galway by anti-Israel activist Joseph Loughnane. If you haven't seen the video yet, watch it. It's a microcosm of the culture of anti-Israel intimidation on many campuses, fostered by anti-Israel faculty propagandists pushing their policial agenda at places such as conferences run by NYU and the American Studies Assocation. (Language Warning) ) Professor Johnson, the subject of this abuse, has written a blog post about the incident and what he believes was behind it, BDS bullies at Galway University:
Third, ‘Israel’ and ‘Palestine’ have become tied up with the performance of political identity in the West in a most dangerous way. ‘The Palestinians’ are a stage on which the BDS activists act out their identity. To make that possible, ‘The Palestinians’ must be reduced to pure victims of the evil Nazi-Israelis. For only those kind of Palestinians can enable feelings of moral superiority, purity, quest, meaning, even transcendence of sorts. Palestinians being starved by Assad hold no interest. Palestinians being thrown from rooftops by Hamas members hold no interest. When Salam Fayyad is building up the Palestinian Nation the BDS activists just yawn, or denounce him as a collaborator. Only as agency-less pure victims can the Palestinians play their allotted role as a screen onto which the individual projects his or her identity of the righteous activist. It is the Palestinians misfortune that they have become this.
[caption id="attachment_80976" align="alignnone" width="488"](Professor Alan Johnson being shouted down at NUIG-Galway) (Professor Alan Johnson being shouted down at NUIG-Galway)[/caption] As I previously reported, NUIG-Galway has promised an investigation and condemned the conduct. In my follow-up, however, NUIG-Galway declined to provide details or even to commit to making the result public, although it did clarify its prior statement by adding that the investigation will include violations of the student code, as follows (in part):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 12, 2014 18 Comments
Last night we covered Republican David Jolly's surprise win over Democrat Alex Sink. Sink supposedly had it all -- no contentious primary, more money, an unpopular Republican Governor and national Democratic support. But even the best of Democratic candidates went down under the weight of Obamacare and big government.  Jolly hit those themes throughout his campaign. ) Why do I call it an Earthquake? Because that's what I called Scott Brown's unexpected victory in Massachusetts in January 2010. Brown caught lightning in a bottle, and that lightning was opposition to Obamacare in an off-year special election. It portended huge Republican and Tea Party gains the following November. Adam Smith, Tampa Bay Times, David Jolly's victory spells trouble for Democrats nationwide:
If I'm a Democratic House member in any competitive district in America or a Democratic incumbent senator up for re-election this year in a moderate-to-conservative state like North Carolina, Arkansas, Colorado, Alaska or Louisiana, I'm waking up more than a little anxious about what happened in Pinellas County on Tuesday. In Alex Sink, Democrats had a better-funded, well-known nominee who ran a strong campaign against a little-known, second- or third-tier Republican who ran an often wobbly race in a district Barack Obama won twice. Outside Republican groups — much more so than the under-funded Jolly campaign — hung the Affordable Care Act and President Obama on Sink. It worked.
Josh Kraushaar, National Journal, Why a Republican Wave in 2014 is Looking More Likely Now:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on March 11, 2014 12 Comments
UPDATE: Republican David Jolly wins. Current results here. Chances are this statement from Dem Alex Sink didn't help: )

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 11, 2014 16 Comments
From Philip Klein at The Washington Examiner, Obamacare signups slow down in February, youth enrollment well below target:
The pace of Americans signing up for privately administered insurance through President Obama's health care law slowed down in February, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services, and youth enrollment is well below target levels set before the program's launch. Weeks before the health care law's exchanges launched Oct. 1, an HHS memo projected that 5.7 million individuals would enroll in a plan through one of Obamacare's exchanges by the end of February. In reality, HHS said Tuesday, just 4.2 million Americans had signed up in the first five months. HHS still hasn’t disclosed how many Americans who have signed up for a plan through the website have consistently paid their premiums, which is how enrollment is typically measured. Thus, HHS figures could overstate enrollment by around 20 percent to 25 percent.
WaPo notes the disappointing numbers:
About 4.2 million people have signed up for health plans on Obamacare exchanges through the end of February, making it unlikely that the Obama administration will hit the estimate of 6 million enrollees by a key deadline at the end of March. Whatever momentum appeared to be building in January dropped off in February, as the number of sign ups fell below the administration's expectations.
The report is here. How many paid? Don't know. Reactions are coming in fast and furiously:

Posted by Bryan Jacoutot on March 11, 2014 7 Comments
Recent fundraising figures show the RNC faring better than its DNC counterpart in just about all areas. Notably, the RNC has no debt and nearly $10 Million in cash on hand. The same, however, cannot be said for the DNC, thanks in part to some clever money shuffling among kindred spirits. In the final two months of the 2012 election cycle, the DNC was strapped for cash, and opted to take out two low interest loans totaling $15 Million. The loans were provided by Amalgamated Bank, which uses the tagline, “America’s Labor Bank” and promises to continue “the progressive traditions of its founders as the only majority owned union bank in the United States." [Emphasis Added] Established in 1923, Amalgamated Bank nearly went under following the 2009 housing crisis, but was bailed out by a $100 Million investment from two billionaires (irony?). The two billionaires together received 40% ownership in the bank following their timely contributions. That stake, however, wasn’t enough to unseat the majority owner, Workers United. Workers United is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the well known 2 million member labor union. As membership has declined of late, unions are increasingly looking to find other ways to exercise prominent influence over the political process, apart from traditional contributions. The SEIU and Workers United may have found such a way through low interest loans from their financial institution, Amalgamated Bank. To date, the DNC has yet to pay back even half of the short-term loan, which is due in full by the end of June this year, according to the Federal Election Commission. Of course, loans aren’t the only way unions keep the DNC afloat.
The DNC’s special relationship with the SEIU goes beyond the loans. The union is also one of the largest financial backers of the Democratic Party. The SEIU has given at least $200 million to Democratic candidates and committees since 1990. The SEIU spent over $30 million on elections in the 2012 election alone, spending about $16 million to attack Republican candidates and about $18 million to express advocacy for Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
So, not only do a large contingent of Democrats owe their political careers to unions, their national committee also owes them more cash than they actually have on hand. And let's not forget the President's words, "[the SEIU's] agenda has been my agenda..."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 11, 2014 10 Comments
The announcement recently by Mahmoud Abbas that the Palestinians never, ever would recognize a Jewish state garnered plenty of headlines. It quickly was followed up by a similar announcement from the Arab League and Fatah party. Watch this speech by Abbas, which led to the headlines, and read the text. It appears that the peace negotiations were a farce from the get-go. Abbas is in favor of the 1 1/2 state solution -- one for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and another half a Palestinian state within Israel itself through the unfettered and unrestricted "return" of 1948 refugess in the war started by the Arab plus their descendents. It is clear that any peace deal only is a first step. Abbas, the supposedly most moderate Palestinian leader Israel is likely to see (according to Obama-Kerry), does not accept a Jewish national entity. That's the bottom line. Transcript via MEMRI:
Mahmoud Abbas: "Our position is that the settlements – from start to finish – are illegal. They talk about settlement blocs, or about settlements here and there, but we say that every house and every stone that were placed in the West Bank since 1967 and to this day are illegal and we do not recognize them." […] "No resolution that we agree upon with the others will be passed unless it is confirmed by popular referendum of all the Palestinians worldwide." Applause […]
MORE POSTS
Accessibility by WAH