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Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 28, 2013 13 Comments
Obamacare is ending the year on a very low note. Two states, both deep blue in their politics, are unhappy with the quality of the websites designed for the healthcare insurance exchanges.  Shockingly, they have opted to take a very free market approach to the problem.
Massachusetts -- whose government was one of the staunchest supporters of ObamaCare, and whose health plan arguably was the model for the law -- is refusing to pay any more until a working website is delivered. A spokesman for the Massachusetts exchange told FoxNews.com that CGI's system is "far from where it needs to be" and the state will apply "nonstop pressure" to fix the problems. ...Vermont, too, is withholding $5.1 million to CGI over its failure to meet deadlines, according to a report in the Boston Globe. CGI, though, claims that neither state is fully cutting off its funding.

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 27, 2013 5 Comments
I have been accumulating the list of universities rejecting the anti-Israel academic boycott passed by the American Studies Association and two smaller groups. Many of the statements issued are eloquent and forceful, but this one from Goucher College in Towson, Maryland stands out for its clarity in pointing out the pernicious absurdity of the boycott. Goucher is not an Institutional Member of the ASA. Some of the language is reminiscent of Daniel Patrick Moynihan's denunciation of the notorious "Zionism is Racism" U.N. Resolution. I have to think the similarity of language was intentional. Here is Moynihan's famous line:
The United States rises to declare before the General Assembly of the United Nations, and before the world, that it does not acknowledge, it will not abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act.... There will be time enough to contemplate the harm this act will have done the United Nations.
You be the judge as to whether Goucher was channeling Moyhihan.  The Goucher statement was circulated in an all campus email that was forwarded to me (emphasis added):
December 27, 2013 Dear Members of the Goucher Community: We are writing to express our strong concern about, and outright disapproval of, the recent vote by the American Studies Association to boycott Israeli academic institutions, apparently as a result of some of its members’ disapproval of certain policies of the Israeli government. Goucher College, as we try to make clear by our words and actions daily, stands for open discussion, research, and inquiry about all issues, international or domestic, in every intellectual and political domain. The free exchange of ideas and opinions is essential to liberal arts education and to our very existence as an academic community. We would, of course, be outraged if any such boycott were launched against all American colleges and universities by any association of alleged scholars anywhere in the world, out of disagreement with a US military engagement or other element of American foreign or domestic policy.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 27, 2013 84 Comments
https://twitter.com/ABCWorldNews/status/416694087312359426 https://twitter.com/edhenryTV/status/416694486714966016 Via Hollywood Reporter, A&E Welcomes Phil Robertson Back to 'Duck Dynasty':
An A&E statement to The Hollywood Reporter read: As a global media content company, A+E Networks’ core values are centered around creativity, inclusion and mutual respect. We believe it is a privilege for our brands to be invited into people’s home and we operate with a strong sense of integrity and deep commitment to these principals. That is why we reacted so quickly and strongly to a recent interview with Phil Robertson. While Phil’s comments made in the interview reflect his personal views based on his own beliefs, and his own personal journey, he and his family have publicly stated they regret the “coarse language” he used and the mis-interpretation of his core beliefs based only on the article. He also made it clear he would “never incite or encourage hate.” We at A+E Networks expressed our disappointment with his statements in the article, and reiterate that they are not views we hold.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 27, 2013 3 Comments
It was "just" a Mayor's race, but it's a tale of how unions funnel money to decide elections, often behind the scenes. The Boston Globe has the scoop, American Federation of revealed as funder behind mysterious pro-Walsh PAC during mayoral campaign (h/t @dbernstein):
Organizers of One Boston, the mysterious political action committee that dumped $480,000 into the Boston mayoral campaign during its final days, confirmed to the Globe today that the American Federation of Teachers funded the group’s efforts to swing the race in favor of Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh. In a complicated series of transactions, the AFT — a powerful national teachers union — gave the money to One New Jersey, a teachers union-backed political action committee. That group then donated those funds to One Boston, a local affiliate set up to spend money in the Boston mayoral race.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 27, 2013 11 Comments

We reported last week on how Judge Leon in the District of Columbia ruled against the government, preliminarily, on NSA mass data surveillance. I cautioned against the media assumption that the ruling would survive: The judge issued a preliminary injunction, but stayed his decision pending appeal....

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 27, 2013 10 Comments

The President of Trinity College in Connecticut is one of over 50 University Presidents who have issued a very strong statement rejecting the academic boycott of Israel. The Trinity statement consisted of a letter to the President of the American Studies Association, and reads (emphasis added): To The Immediate Attention...

Posted by New Neo on December 27, 2013 25 Comments

Here are some questions from Victor Davis Hanson on how the precedents Obama has set could result in a changed America even after he leaves office: The nation has grown used to the idea that what the president says is probably either untrue or irrelevant —...

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 27, 2013 5 Comments
Egypt can be a place of miracles. As we have just celebrated Christmas, I am reminded of the flight into Egypt of the Holy Family. More recently, snow hit the streets of Cairo in more than a century. Now, Egypt begins its recovery after a brief visit with political insanity.
Egypt's security authorities launched a sweep of arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members on Thursday and warned that holding a leadership post in the group could now be grounds for the death penalty after it was officially declared a terrorist organization, stepping up the government's confrontation with its top political nemesis. The announcement came as a bomb exploded in a busy intersection in Cairo Thursday morning, hitting a bus and wounding five people. Though small, the blast raised fears that a campaign of violence by Islamic militants that for months has targeted police and the military could turn to civilians in retaliation for the stepped up crackdown. The terrorist labeling of the Brotherhood — an unprecedented step even during past decades when the group was banned — takes to a new level the government's moves to crush the group, which rode on elections to dominate Egypt's politics the past three years until the military removed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July after massive protests against him.
The move was made shortly after officials blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for a suicide bombing at a police headquarters north of Cairo that killed 16 people, as well as a series of other events highlighting increasing political tensions ahead of a key Jan. 14-15 referendum on a revised constitution.

Posted by A.F. Branco on December 27, 2013 5 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 December 26, 2013 12 Comments

I've had my disagreements with Glenn Greenwald as to the term Israel Firsters and the Snowden damage to our foreign intelligence operations, but this is pretty funny. Via Mediaite, Greenwald Snarks at MSNBC: I Defend Snowden Like You Defend Obama ’24 Hours a Day’ (h/t...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 26, 2013 17 Comments
Setting off an academic boycott is something like going nuclear. Once you set it off, it's hard to know where the damage to academia stops. For every action there is a reaction. That is why so many University Presidents so quickly have rejected the American Studies Association anti-Israel academic boycott. If left in place, academic BDS can and will set off a daisy chain of retaliation and demands for counter-BDS. The people behind the ASA anti-Israel academic boycott went nuclear, with great joy and high-fiving. Now there is a reaction and the boycotters are whining that the fierce pushback violates their academic freedom, and they are begging their friends for help. This same group also has threatened to sue fellow professors and administrators who criticize them (in their words "intimidate"), and erroneously characterized vigorous disagreement as harassment. These folks, who easily make false and inflammatory statements against Israel and seek to damage Israeli educational institutions and faculty, seem to feel they are immune from strenuous criticism. They haven't received half of what they have dished out to Israeli academia.  So far, no one has done unto the ASA boycotters what the ASA boycotters did unto Israeli academics. How would these anti-Israel academic boycotters feel if they were subject to boycott, divestment and sanction? We know how they would react, considering how they cannot even stand criticism. We also have an example from Australia where Prof. Jake Lynch, who very publicly would not help an Israeli researcher with a grant application as part of BDS now is complaining when his own grant application possibly (speculatively) was denied by someone who opposed BDS. Jake Lynch is a well-known BDSer:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 26, 2013 6 Comments
While Japan is continues to cope with the economic fallout from the 2011 earthquake/tsunami disaster that led to Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant catastrophe,it looks like members of the U.S. Navy are still struggling with real fallout.
When the USS Ronald Reagan responded to the tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011, Navy sailors including Quartermaster Maurice Enis gladly pitched in with rescue efforts. But months later, while still serving aboard the aircraft carrier, he began to notice strange lumps all over his body. Testing revealed he'd been poisoned with radiation, and his illness would get worse. And his fiance and fellow Reagan quartermaster, Jamie Plym, who also spent several months helping near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, also began to develop frightening symptoms, including chronic bronchitis and hemorrhaging. They and 49 other U.S. Navy members who served aboard the Reagan and sister ship the USS Essex now trace illnesses including thyroid and testicular cancers, leukemia and brain tumors to the time spent aboard the massive ship, whose desalination system pulled in seawater that was used for drinking, cooking and bathing. In a lawsuit filed against Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plaintiffs claim the power company delayed telling the U.S. Navy the tsunami had caused a nuclear meltdown, sending huge amounts of contaminated water into the sea and, ultimately, into the ship's water system.
San Francisco Attorney Charles Bonner subsequently filed a federal suit in the Southern District of on behalf of a dozen sailors...but the number has since expanded to over 50. During a recent interview with Tammy Bruce, Paul Garner (an Encinitas attorney who is also involved with the case) said that number is likely to expand to over 70 claimants in the next few weeks. Though a San Diego judge dismissed the sailors case against the Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, that isn't the end of the legal battle on behalf of the sailors. The judge's ruling was based on a technicality and the case will continue in January.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 25, 2013 75 Comments
The painting above is, or was, available on Ebay, and was catching on after George Zimmerman's famous art success. It portrays George Zimmerman as a hooded Klansman executing Trayvon. At this point, people like that artist are beyond hope. He obviously didn't watch the trial and is unfamiliar with the actual facts of the case.  Or doesn't care about the facts. Via Mediaite, Anti-Zimmerman Artwork Pulled Down by eBay as Zimmerman’s Painting Sells for $100K:
If George Zimmerman can sell his first-ever painting for more than $100,000 on eBay, why shouldn’t another artist be able to sell his anti-Zimmerman piece for a fraction of that price? On the same day that Zimmerman’s auction closed, eBay reportedly yanked a piece by artist Michael D’Antuono .... D’Antuono explained the situation on his blog:
On the same day that George Zimmerman closed his ebay auction of his painting for over $100,000, the online auctioneers removed my anti-racism painting inspired by the Zimmerman case, “A Tale Of Two Hoodies” for being “hateful or discriminatory.” While Zimmerman was allowed to capitalize on his ill-gotten notoriety, I was denied the opportunity to raise funds to help the very foundation named in honor of Zimmerman’s victim.
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