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Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 30, 2014 28 Comments
Scarlett Johhansson has been under attack by the anti-Israel Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement because she became a "Global Brand Ambassador" for SodaStream, the Israeli company that has factories around the world, including one in the "West Bank." See yesterday's post,  SodaStream wins French court case against boycott group, for more about how SodaStream's factory has become a model of cooperation, employing over 500 Palestinians on the same terms and conditions as Israelis, and providing a boost for the moribund and corrupt Palestinian economy. BDS doesn't care. Palestinians literally are starving to death in Syria, yet BDS is obsessed with SodaStream. Even supporters of the anti-Israel group Anonymous saw the absurdity: Anonymous Israel Johansson Yarmouk As readers know, BDS is not about supporting Palestinians, it's about hating Israel's existence. Johansson also has been a global ambassador for Oxfam International.  Oxfam has an image of a neutral, non-political humanitarian organization that only cares about feeding the poor and improving living conditions. That's a false image.  Oxfam is a BDS supporter as to the disputed West Bank, you just didn't know it.  BDS started harassing Oxfam demanding it cut its ties to Johansson.  When Oxfam announced that it was reviewing her role, Johansson beat them to the punch and resigned last night. Johansson didn't just resign, though, she unmasked Oxfam's support for BDS as incompatible with growing peaceful relations between Israelis and Palestinians, as AP reported:

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Posted by New Neo on January 30, 2014 13 Comments
When I was solidly engaged in not watching Obama's SOTU speech, I thought of the antidote: Winston Churchill. I have long cringed when anyone refers to Obama as a great orator. To me he seems like a terrible one: flat, repetitive delivery; devoid of content (that is, when he's not engaged in flagrant lying, or errors); and cliché upon cliché. But why single Obama out? The US hasn't had a president who's a great orator in a long, long time. Kennedy had some good moments, and Reagan was very good indeed, but I can't think of anyone of Churchillian quality since Lincoln. But "Churchillian quality" is a tall, tall order. Martin Luther King perhaps, but he wasn't a president. It helped that Churchill was a writer who wrote his own speeches. Actually, if you read the William Manchester biographies of Churchill, you'll learn that Churchill actually dictated most of his speeches in the wee hours of the morning to a bevy of night-owl secretaries. Churchill carefully plotted out his delivery, too, and he was a master at it:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 29, 2014 9 Comments
This is a small win, but a win is a win. We need a lot more such legal challenges to anti-Israel boycott groups, who  are propagandists and have no compunctions about lying and making up accusations in the worst tradition of Pallywood. Whether it's hummus, coffee cafes, or academic scholars, there is nothing Israeli that the deranged Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement will not attack. SodaStream has been under attack for years, with BDS groups trying to keep the product out of stores and commercials off the airwaves. The BDS movement is so obsessed with SodaStream that it even uses a term, Greenwashing, to complain about SodaStream touting the environmental benefits of its product. SodaStream has a compelling story to tell, however, as a bridge for peace, one we have focused on before: SodaStream just won a case against a French BDS group, getting a small amount of damages but also an order that the group stop claiming that it is illegal for stores to sell SodaStream products. As reported by Haaretz:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 29, 2014 0 Comments

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Posted by Andrew Branca on January 29, 2014 23 Comments
Just when we thought the discovery evidence kerfuffle in Florida's "loud music" murder trial couldn't get any crazier, Circuit Judge Russell Healey has introduced another twist that denies the media access to Michael Dunn's jailhouse phone recordings. Dunn is charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of Jordan Davis, and is claiming he acted in lawful self-defense. For more background on the case, see “Loud Music” Murder Trial: Discovery Held Hostage, or Media Being Stingy? It seemed yesterday that the only remaining impasse to the media accessing the 185 hours of phone recordings was their conceding to pay the State ~$6,300 to cover the costs of redacting them, a process the State expects to take as long as 10 weeks. Dunn's trial, however, is scheduled to begin on February 3, only two working days from today. The mathematics of the dilemma was, of course, already known. Yesterday, however, Judge Healey threw another wrench into the works.  (Dunn's legal counsel has repeatedly asked for delays in the start of the trial, and in fact the trial had originally been scheduled to take place last September.) The new issue? Judge Healey essentially shrugged off responsibility for ruling on the issue at all. Instead, he said, whether the recordings should be released was really an administrative matter that ought to be decided by a civil judge. [caption id="attachment_77154" align="alignnone" width="450"]Circuit Judge Russell Healey, presiding over Florida "loud music" murder trial Circuit Judge Russell Healey, presiding over Florida "loud music" murder trial[/caption] The media intervenors, represented by Attorney Jennifer Mansfield, argued that the various orders of the 1st District Court of Appeals, which oversees Healey's court, compelled him to order the release of the recordings. Healey disagreed, arguing that a careful reading of the DCA's orders required merely that he vacate his own previous orders suppressing the recordings, not that he himself order their release. The precise language of the DCA order is worth considering:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 29, 2014 26 Comments
Wendy Davis' core political narrative was one of overcoming victimhood -- an abandoned single teenage mom  who struggled to raise her family in a trailer park and overcame the odds to work her way through college and Harvard Law School, and on to a successful law career, through grit and determination. Only problem was, the narrative was misleading, at best. Davis was a single mom of a single child for only a short time (from ages 21-23), had family to help, only lived in a trailer park for a short transition period, and quickly married a wealthy older man who paid her way way through college and law school and brought her into his business after she graduated. She had another child with that man, Jeff Davis, and he was the primary custodial parent, so much so that when they divorced he was awarded custody of their minor child, and even Wendy's first child from her prior marriage, then in college, chose to live with her step-father.  Jeff Davis was quoted, as to Wendy Davis leaving her 9th grade daughter in his custody:
“She did the right thing,” he said. “She said, ‘I think you’re right; you’ll make a good, nurturing father. While I’ve been a good mother, it’s not a good time for me right now.’”
Wendy moved out the day after Jeff paid her last student loan bill. The firestorm of controversy has set Davis back on her heels.

Posted by David Gerstman on January 29, 2014 10 Comments
On American TV, a show called "Lovers' Tales," would likely be a romantic comedy. On Ma'an, the independent Palestinian television network, it is a weekly show interviewing freed prisoners. This week Palestinian Media Watch reports on the interview of one Issa Abd Rabbo.
Until his release, Issa Abd Rabbo was serving two life sentences for killing two Israeli university students, Ron Levi and Revital Seri, who were hiking south of Jerusalem on Oct. 22, 1984. At gun point he tied them up, put bags over their heads and then shot and murdered both. Abbas' "hero" has now given an interview to the independent Palestinian news agency Ma'an on its weekly TV program Lovers' Tales, which interviews released prisoners. There he calmly describes how he initiated the killing, spotted the two hiking university students and waited until they sat down to rest under a tree. He then recounts how he tied them up and murdered them in cold blood.
Here's the clip. Note how he betrays absolutely no remorse.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 29, 2014 3 Comments
We previously have mentioned that the Speaker of the NY State Assembly, Sheldon Silver, is backing an Assembly bill barring use of state funds to support participation in organizations -- such as the American Studies Association -- that conduct academic boycotts, and cutting off state funding for higher education institutions that violate the prohibition. Silver's backing virtually guarantees it will pass the Assembly. Now the NY State Senate has passed a similar, but not identical, bill, as reported by Capitol Confidential:
The state Senate by an overwhelming majority voted for a bill introduced by Sen. Jeff Klein that would prohibit any public or private college or university from using state funds to support through funding any academic entity “if that academic entity has undertaken an official action boycotting certain countries or their higher education institutions.” The bill is in reaction to the American Studies Association’s controversial boycott of Israel over that nation’s treatment of Palestinians. While almost entirely symbolic, the ASA’s action is viewed by Israel’s supporters as a potential camel’s nose under the tent (if you can say that about a controversy involving the Middle East) for broader divestment efforts. Klein amended his original bill, which would have used the bazooka-vs.-fly approach of denying all state funds to any school that supported such an organization. The revised bill includes several carveouts:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on January 28, 2014 7 Comments
The prime minister of Ukraine resigned on Tuesday in an attempt to help ease tensions after two months of protests and recent violent clashes there. From CNN:
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his government Tuesday, amid a political crisis fired by violent protests on the country's streets. Azarov and his Cabinet will continue in their roles until a new government is formed, a notice on the presidential website said. Yanukovych's announcement comes only hours after Azarov submitted his resignation and as the national parliament meets in a special session aimed at ending the crisis.
With the resignation of the prime minister also means the resignation of his entire cabinet, in accordance with the Ukrainian Constitution, reported UPI.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 28, 2014 20 Comments
As have many people, Bristol Palin weighed in on the Wendy Davis narrative, and took issue with what she called the "Made-for-TV-Movie-Type-Tale." When Davis was asked about it, she took the bait (video at bottom of post), generating headlines that must make seasoned political types and progressive Davis supporters in the media cringe, such as: NBC Wendy Davis Bristol Palin Palin was less harsh towards Davis than many have been.  But really, why is Davis responding to any individual's criticism? Those who hate the Palins already are voting for Davis. Bristol Palin is not Wendy Davis' problem, Wendy Davis' narrative is Wendy Davis' problem. Here's the video:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 28, 2014 11 Comments
Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is suing Gawker Media and related entities based on Gawker allegedly assisting in the distribution of a stolen film script:
Director Quentin Tarantino has filed a lawsuit against Gawker Media for copyright infringement. A week after declaring he would no longer make his next film "The Hateful Eight" because someone in his small circle had leaked the screenplay, director Quentin Tarantino has taken legal action against Gawker Media alleging copyright infringement for disseminating the script Tarantino's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Monday, alleges that the web site Gawker disseminated "unauthorized downloadable copies of the leaked unreleased complete screenplay" and "expressly refused to remove their directions to and URL links to get the infringing materials." The director is demanding actual and statutory damages as well as Gawker's profits in the amount of at least $1 million. "Gawker Media has made a business of predatory journalism, violating people’s rights to make a buck," the complaint states. "This time, they went too far. Rather than merely publishing a news story reporting that Plaintiff’s screenplay may have been circulating in Hollywood without his permission, Gawker Media crossed the journalistic line by promoting itself to the public as the first source to read the entire screenplay illegally."
Not being a fan either of Tarantino's films, or of Gawker, I consider myself neutral. I read the Complaint. All Gawker did was promote the fact that it had links to others on the internet who had the script. That seems like a tough claim of copyright liability, but hey, presumably the plaintiffs' lawyers did the reasearch and think they have a legal claim. But still, just linking to others creates a copyright liability? Yikes, if that's true. Gawker is promising a fight:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 28, 2014 11 Comments
On Saturday, January 24, I appeared on the syndicated radio show of our friend Pete "Da Tech Guy" Ingemi. I had a chance to talk about the backround and nature of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement, most specifically the American Studies Association academic boycott of Israel. See our BDS and ASA tags for background. I discussed how the pushback against the academic boycott has been overwhelming, with over 200 university presidents, the major academic organizations, and 134 Congressmen denouncing the boycott. This fast rejection of the boycott by American civil and political society has made a pariah of the ASA and the supporters of academic boycotts. That is a significant achievement. But it's not enough. I also had a chance to announce the next phase of the opposition to the academic boycott movement (at 9:30)(full audio embedded at bottom of post):
"We're going to continue to push back, and you'll be hearing about those in coming months, we're not stopping now.... [T]he boycott is discrimination on the basis of national origin. While they don't boycott all Israeli academics, they only boycott Israeli academics, and that's national origin discrimination. And we're going to be, you know it hasn't really been publicly announced 'till now, but we're going to be going around the country, and wherever they meet, we're going to insist that universities and that municipalities apply their local anti-discrimination laws to these events. That if they're going to hold an event that's going to discriminate on the basis of national origin, we want the laws enforced as to them just as they would be to any other group. So it's going to be an active year, like I mentioned Legal Insurrection tends to take a fairly active approach to issues, we don't just write about them, we actually pursue them, and we're going to be pursuing them for the coming months and maybe the coming years."
This will be a joint project with Anne Sorock's Capitol City Project. At Legal Insurrection we are chronically short of time, manpower and resources, so CCP's help is greatly appreciated.
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