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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..."

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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 […]

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 11, 2014 8 Comments

Legal Insurrection's first Operation Counterweight 2014 Senate candidate....

Posted by Mandy Nagy on March 10, 2014 19 Comments
Sharyl Attkisson, investigative correspondent for CBS News, has resigned from the network.

From Politico (emphasis added):
CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has reached an agreement to resign from CBS News ahead of contract, bringing an end to months of hard-fought negotiations, sources familiar with her departure told POLITICO on Monday. Attkisson, who has been with CBS News for two decades, had grown frustrated with what she saw as the network's liberal bias, an outsized influence by the network's corporate partners and a lack of dedication to investigative reporting, several sources said. She increasingly felt like her work was no longer supported and that it was a struggle to get her reporting on air. At the same time, Attkisson's own reporting on the Obama administration, which some staffers characterized as agenda-driven, had led network executives to doubt the impartiality of her reporting. She is currently at work on a book -- tentatively titled "Stonewalled: One Reporter's Fight for Truth in Obama's Washington" -- which addresses the challenges of reporting critically on the Obama administration. Feeling increasingly stymied and marginalized at the network, Attkisson began talking to CBS News President David Rhodes as early as last April about getting out of her contract. Those negotiations intensified in recent weeks, and her request was finally honored on Monday.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 10, 2014 12 Comments
Alan Grayson will not be charged with wife-beating after an incident in which his wife Lolita claimed he hit her. When first reported, I cautioned that Grayson was entitled to the same presumption of innocence as George Zimmeran. And like George Zimmerman, both in the shooting of Trayvon Martin and Zimmerman's alleged domestic violence against his ex-wife and girlfriend, the evidence supported that presumption of innocence. The video of the incident did not support her story and neither did the 911 call: First Coast News reports:
"Investigators have interviewed Lolita Carson-Grayson, Alan Grayson, and others and reviewed the evidence. In this instance probable cause does not exist to effect an arrest on Alan Grayson," said a release from the Orange County Sheriff's Office. The Graysons, who were married 24 years, are divorcing and are living apart. Grayson's staffer Juan Lopez said the congressman went home to pick up his mail, his medication and see his children when he had a confrontation with his wife. The incident was captured on video and witnessed by several people. Grayson's attorney Mark NeJame says she video shows Lolita as the aggressor. Deputies released a 911 call from after incident. "Please come down and arrest him. He's disturbing my peace and he's threatening me," Carson-Grayson said. Carson-Grayson told the dispatcher during the call that Grayson did not hit her. "I pushed him because he's been coming to the house and he's been disturbing my peace. Now he's leaving," she said. Carson-Grayson then told the dispatcher that she didn't need assistance, but on Sunday, she showed up at the Dr. Phillips Hospital Emergency Room saying her husband pushed her up against a door and she had bruises.
In other news, Grayson is still a loudmouth jerk. Update: Unlike Zimmerman, the public will accept Grayson's innocence. But it's worth revisiting the Zimmerman case evidence, just because:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 10, 2014 34 Comments
We have written many times about the Shirley Sherrod case against Andrew Breitbart (now his wife is substituted as defendant) and Larry O'Connor over an "edited" video which Sherrod alleges unfairly depicted her as racist leading to her firing by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Sherrod's claim, repeated mindlessly by the media, is that the full video showed that Sherrod was not racist, but merely relating a story about how her initial ill-will towards a white farmer decades ago was overcome by the realization that race should not be a factor. I have analyzed the video frame by frame, and in fact Sherrod's alleged revelation that she overcame those racial feelings was in the "edited" video, as this screen capture shows: http://youtu.be/t_xCeItxbQY Sherrod was fired precipitously by the USDA, despite her telling USDA that she felt the "edited" video was misleading. In emails produced in the case, USDA pretty much took the position that it didn't care, the political blowback was too strong not to fire her.  (These emails were obtained from the public court docket via PACER.) Shirley Sherrod Email July 15 2010 1143 am re full video Sherrod Case - Email Chris Mather July 19 2010 re video at Hot Air

Posted by Hans Bader on March 10, 2014 51 Comments
How does classifying most consensual sex as rape help rape victims? As a lawyer who has handled rape and sexual harassment cases, I can't imagine how. But this radical result is what some want to happen in California. In endorsing a bill in the California legislature that would require "affirmative consent" before sex can occur on campus, the editorial boards of the Sacramento and Fresno Bee and the Daily Californian advocated that sex be treated as "sexual assault" unless the participants discuss it "out loud" before sex, and “demonstrate they obtained verbal 'affirmative consent' before engaging in sexual activity." Never mind that consent to most sex is non-verbal, and that rape has historically been understood to be an act against someone's will, rather than simply a non-violent act that they did not consent to in advance. Perhaps in response to the bill, the University of California, on February 25, adopted a policy requiring affirmative consent not just to sex, but to every form of "physical sexual activity" engaged in. The affirmative-consent bill, Senate Bill 967, does not expressly require verbal permission to demonstrate consent, although it warns that "relying solely on nonverbal communication can lead to misunderstanding." But supporters of the bill are very clear about their desire to require verbal discussion or haggling prior to sex. The Fresno Bee praised the bill because “it adopts in campus disciplinary cases the 'affirmative consent standard,' which means that 'yes' only means 'yes' if it is said out loud." The Daily Californian declared that “the proposal’s requirement that defendants in a sexual assault case demonstrate they obtained verbal 'affirmative consent' before engaging in sexual activity makes SB 967 a step in the right direction."

Posted by A.F. Branco on March 10, 2014 4 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...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 09, 2014 25 Comments
Ezra Klein's new venture has a name. Vox.com. And a slick promo video about how Ezra and, ahem, Matthew Yglesias, have reinvented journalism. Has there ever been a more vapid promo video in the history of humankind? Vox 9 Questions Highlighted Explanation To show how new and edgy they are, the damn video fills up the entire screen when viewed on the website. Because large and filling up the entire page shows that one is edgy. I had to adjust the 892x1585px embed code size manually so it didn't screw up my page. And they use an embed code that disappears when viewed in html version on WordPress, which is annoying. Tech gurus, the bunch. Sponsored by General Electric. Just like in the old days, when GE had a spokesman we could be proud of:
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