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

Posted by Mandy Nagy on December 17, 2013 13 Comments
We've all likely encountered people who talk on their cell phones in public, or (gasp) done it ourselves at some point.  Admittedly, sometimes it's almost unavoidable at a place like an airport where you might be trying to coordinate the other details of your travel.  But other times, it's probably avoidable. One prankster had a funny lesson for reminding cell-phone talkers that others around them can hear their conversations. "Don't you hate when people talk loudly on their phones in public? Why not have some fun with it and "crash" their calls!" he posted on his YouTube channel alongside the following video. From the LA Times:
Greg Benson, actor and funnyman, has a new prank video climbing the YouTube charts. "Cell Phone Crashing at the Airport" has Benson and his hidden camera (operated by wife Kim Evey) crowding people at an airport as they talk on their phones. Benson, on his MediocreFilms, has crashed cellphone conversations before -- at a park, a soccer game, on the streets of San Francisco. He responds to others' conversations into his own phone. It takes a moment for people to register the pleasant-looking man invading their space.

LATEST NEWS

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 17, 2013 16 Comments
As detailed in numerous posts over the past weeks, the American Studies Association has passed an academic boycott of Israeli universities. Although the resolution does not make this distinction, ASA asserts in its explanation that the boycott applies only to the institutions and "not individual scholars, students, or cultural workers who will be able to participate in the ASA conference or give public lectures at campuses, provided they are not expressly serving as representatives or ambassadors of those institutions, or of the Israeli government." The explanation continues that the boycott also applies to "participation in conferences or events officially sponsored by Israeli universities." This would mean the boycott applies to programs and projects jointly sponsored by U.S. and Israeli academic institutions, like the Cornell-Technion campus under construction in New York City, the Brandeis-Middlebury Program at Ben Gurion University, dozens of other programs for terms abroad in Israel run by U.S. universities but hosted at Israeli universities, and many other joint university programs. In the talking points ASA provided to its members on how to address criticism from University Administrators, Deans and Faculty, ASA states that "U.S. scholars are not discouraged under the terms of the boycott from traveling to Israel for academic purposes, provided they are not engaged in a formal partnership with or sponsorship by Israeli academic institutions." Now you can see how pernicious the ASA academic boycott becomes. ASA's boycott requires monitoring of individual Israeli scholars interacting with ASA and having such scholars disavow representation of their institutions.  No scholar from any other nation is required to disavow representation of their institutions.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 17, 2013 16 Comments

Jim Matheson has been the Harry Houdini of modern politics, a Democrat surviving in a heavily Republican Utah district which became even more Republican after the 2010 redistricting. But he still beat Mia Love in 2012. By a few hundred votes. In Utah. With Romney at...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 17, 2013 20 Comments

Whether you should like it is a different question, but it will be law soon. Via USA Today, Senate vote clears budget deal for passage this week: The Senate on Tuesday cleared a key procedural hurdle for final passage of a two-year, bipartisan budget deal before the...

LEGAL INSURRECTION QUICK TAKES

Iowa House Bill Targets Private Universities With DEI Offices

Students and Alumni at Smith College Protest for Divestment From Israel

Flyer Found at Penn State U. Says ‘Dead ICE Agents Can’t Kill’

Franklin & Marshall College Economic Department Features Marxist Curriculum

Students for Justice in Palestine at U. Chicago Cheer for Iranian Missiles Hitting U.S. Navy Base

Dearborn Henry Ford Community College Prof Says Trump Made a Huge 'Mistake' in Iran

SEE MORE

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 16, 2013 18 Comments
Upworthy is the wildly popular low-information-by-design website which has fine-tuned the ability to turn 2-3 sentence (at most) liberal memes viral.  Often, the meme consists entirely of the title, with some seemingly obvious liberal talking point that is only superficially obvious, but actually cannot withstand scrutiny. Which is why no scrutiny is given in the posts. You may recall my posts: Upworthy has turned a section of its website over the the AFL-CIO, presumably for a hefty payment.  The section is called Workonomics. This post and the video have been around for a while, but just came to my attention, 2 Monkeys Were Paid Unequally; See What Happens Next.  There is no text after that, just a note to watch starting at the 1:34 mark. Spoiler Alert:  One monkey gets grapes after giving lab technician a rock, other monkey gets slices of cucumber.  Monkey which gets cucumbers is jealous and throws cucumber at lab technician.  Therefore?

Posted by Mandy Nagy on December 16, 2013 13 Comments

The White House does not appear to be interested at this time in the possibility of an offer of amnesty for former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, according to comments Monday from a National Security Council spokeswoman. From The Hill: The White House on Monday said there had...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 16, 2013 14 Comments

Sorry, but I have too many other things on my plate right now to dig into this, even though it's clearly an important decision which may eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. A federal judge in D.C. has found parts of the NSA...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 16, 2013 28 Comments
An announcement just was posted on the American Studies Association website, and reads in part:
ASA Members Vote To Endorse Academic Boycott of Israel The members of the American Studies Association have endorsed the Association’s participation in a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. In an election that attracted 1252 voters, the largest number of participants in the organization’s history, 66.05% of voters endorsed the resolution, while 30.5% of voters voted no and 3.43% abstained. The election was a response to the ASA National Council’s announcement on December 4 that it supported the academic boycott and, in an unprecedented action to ensure a democratic process, asked its membership for their approval....
Of note, the total number of votes equals only about one-quarter of the total ASA membership of 5000. Those voting Yes represent approximately 16% of the total membership, yet it will be a vote that will stain the ASA for years to come. As I announced prior to the vote result, the Tax-Exempt Status of American Studies Association to be challenged if Israel boycott resolution passes. More to follow: So what's my take-away from this? I'm most shocked at the low turnout for the vote.  Given the time and energy devoted by the anti-Israel backers of the boycott, only 825 or so votes were in favor.  At the same time, opponents (who were ambushed by the proposal) only managed to get about 375 people interested.  Effectively, most people didn't care.  Apathy is perhaps the saddest lesson from this given the odious nature of the proposal, and it's how anti-Israel zealots are able to drive issues far out of proportion to their actual numbers.

Posted by David Gerstman on December 16, 2013 5 Comments
I was right. I wrote that the previous agreement between the West and Iran should be used as a model for predicting how the ongoing P5 + 1 negotiations will go. Specifically, I wrote:
In the coming months when Iran and the West have a dispute over the meaning of terms of the Geneva deal or the discovery of something suspicious in Iran, Iran knows that it can bluff its way out of suffering any consequences for its bad faith.
Last week the Treasury Department designated a number of companies and individuals for their illegal trade with Iran.
“The Joint Plan of Action reached in Geneva does not, and will not, interfere with our continued efforts to expose and disrupt those supporting Iran’s nuclear program or seeking to evade our sanctions. These sanctions have isolated Iran from the international financial system, imposed enormous pressure on the Iranian economy, and motivated the Iranian leadership to make the first meaningful concessions on its nuclear program in over a decade,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen. “Today’s actions should be a stark reminder to businesses, banks, and brokers everywhere that we will continue relentlessly to enforce our sanctions, even as we explore the possibility of a long-term, comprehensive resolution of our concerns with Iran’s nuclear program.”
The Iranian reaction was predictable.
Iranian negotiators in Vienna halted nuclear talks with major powers to return to Tehran for consultations Thursday after Washington blacklisted a dozen companies and individuals for evading US sanctions, Islamic Republic state media reported.
Iran's deputy nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi added:

Posted by A.F. Branco on December 16, 2013 14 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 15, 2013 24 Comments

As I have previously indicated, I believe the anti-Israel academic boycott resolution of the American Studies Association calls into question ASA's 501(c)(3) tax exemption. Voting on the resolution ends at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, December 15.  If the resolution passes, I intend on challenging ASA's 501(c)(3) status through...

Posted by Mandy Nagy on December 15, 2013 4 Comments
Anti-government protests again continued in Ukraine over the weekend after nearly four weeks of demonstrations, sparked by President Viktor Yanukovych’s refusal to sign an association agreement with the European Union. But after talks over the agreement had resumed earlier in the week, it seems work has been placed "on hold," according to remarks made on social media by an EU official on Sunday. From CNN, EU puts Ukraine deal on hold, McCain addresses protesters:
The European Union has halted work on a trade agreement with Ukraine, an official said Sunday, after Kiev failed to show "clear commitment" to signing the deal. Stefan Fule, European commissioner for enlargement and European neighborhood policy, said on Twitter that the words and deeds of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his government on the proposed pact were "further & further apart. Their arguments have no grounds in reality."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 15, 2013 14 Comments
Prior to the 2012 election there were claims that the Obama administration was concealing its intentions by deliberately not moving proposed regulations forward so as to avoid campaign controversy. Needless to say, the Obama campaign denied the charges then and now. We reported on how delay of regulations damaged the rollout of Obamacare, Re-election 2012: HHS went quiet on Obamacare regs leading to healthcare.gov tech failure The Washington Post reports on how organized the concealment and delay effort was, White House delayed enacting rules ahead of 2012 election to avoid controversy:
The White House systematically delayed enacting a series of rules on the environment, worker safety and health care to prevent them from becoming points of contention before the 2012 election, according to documents and interviews with current and former administration officials.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 15, 2013 15 Comments
The U.N. General Assembly in 1975 passed the odious Zionism is Racism resolution, which has since been rescinded. Voting closes today at the American Studies Association on an equally odious resolution singling out Israel, and Israel alone, for academic boycott. It is, as former Harvard President Lawrence Summers notes, "anti-Semitic" in its effect "if not in intent." The resolution has been harshly criticized by the American Association of University Professors and eight Past Presidents of the ASA as an abominable attack on academic freedom, among many other denunciations:
In no other context does the ASA discriminate on the basis of national origin—and for good reason. This is discrimination pure and simple. Worse, it is also discrimination that inevitably diminishes the pursuit of knowledge, by discarding knowledge simply because it is produced by a certain group of people.
Nonetheless, the anti-Israel venom is so strong among the leadership and membership of the ASA, that there is a strong possibility the resolution will pass. Reading the comments and arguments of those favoring the anti-Israel academic boycott, there is little doubt that they view Zionism as Racism and would equally support the now discredited 1975 U.N. Resolution if put to a vote at the ASA. (full speech embedded at bottom of post)
MORE POSTS
Accessibility by WAH