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Posted by RedDawn on June 26, 2014 11 Comments
A group of terrorism victims is seeking unsatisfied court judgements. How do they plan to obtain the cash they were awarded? By taking over Iran's internet. At the helm are Israeli civil rights attorney, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and Robert Tolchin of New York. Darshan-Leitner has won over  $1-billion in judgments, frozen more than $600-million in terrorist assets and collected $120 million in payments, according to the National Post. She hopes to replicate her success in her latest effort. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is an agency of the US Department of Commerce in Washington, DC, which administrator the World Wide Web. ICANN licenses domain names like ".gov" ".ca" and in this case, ".ir". Countries are then able to allocate the domain names, effectively making ".ir" an asset.  Court papers have been served to ICANN and seek ownership of top-level domain names like .ir TLD, the ایران TLD and all Internet Protocol (IP) addresses being utilized by the Iranian government and its agencies. Darshan-Leitner believes these domains are worth the over $1-billion required to satisfy the outstanding debts owed by the Iranian government to the families participating in the civil suit.

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 26, 2014 13 Comments
After a week of complete media malpractice, in which scurrilous accusations that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker participated in a "criminal scheme" were plastered all over the headlines, a lead prosecutor has completely backed off. The Wisconsin State Journal reports, Scott Walker not a target, John Doe special prosecutor says:
Randall Crocker, the lawyer for special prosecutor Francis Schmitz, noted the investigation has been halted, saying, "At the time the investigation was halted, Governor Walker was not a target of the investigation. At no time has he been served with a subpoena." Crocker issued the statement a week after a court document Schmitz wrote late last year and made public late last week identified Walker as being part of an alleged "criminal scheme" to coordinate with outside groups and violate campaign finance laws. Crocker said no conclusions have been made about whether there is enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime. "Contained in these documents is a reference to the request for production of documents that relates to an alleged criminal scheme. Gov. Walker's name was included in this reference," Crocker said. "While these documents outlined the prosecutor's legal theory, they did not establish the existence of a crime; rather, they were arguments in support of further investigation to determine if criminal charges against any person or entity are warranted." Crocker added, "Mr. Schmitz has made no conclusions as to whether there is sufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime."
With impeccable timing, Democratic challenger Mary Burke just released a TV ad focusing on the accusations of "criminal scheme" from which prosecutors have just walked away:

Posted by A.F. Branco on June 26, 2014 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...

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 26, 2014 4 Comments
WAJ intro:  We featured Hen Mazzig previously, Israeli soldier shocked to see ugly side of U.S. campus life.  I have also followed his work helping to defeat anti-Israel BDS resolutions on campus. When I saw an extensive write up of his time in the U.S. at The Mike Report, I asked if we could run it here, and Mike kindly agreed.  Here is the report. -------------------------------------

HEN MAZZIG: I HOPE I MADE A DIFFERENCE

November 21st of 2012, Hen Mazzig was walking down Shaul HaMelech street in the heart of Tel Aviv when an ear splitting explosion ripped through the air. The gut wrenching sound echoed across the apartment and office buildings for several seconds soon to be replaced by sounds of agony, then sirens.  A Dan commuter bus, No. 142,  was  running its usual route when at twelve noon Muhammad Mafarji used his cell phone to detonate an explosive device packed with nails and shrapnel. Hen was a block away. Hen knows the value of peace. At the time Hen’s day job was as a liaison officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), he worked as an intermediary between the IDF and the Palestinian Authority (the PA), the UN, and the many non-governmental organizations. Fluent in Arabic and English in addition to his native Hebrew, Hen was the  ideal man for the job. While always the consummate professional, those with whom he worked praised Hen for his compassion and dedication to conflict resolution. Honorably discharged in June of 2012 Hen was not ready to settle down just yet, so when he was offered a job to serve as a Seattle based Shaliach for the Israel advocacy group StandWithUs, he jumped at the opportunity. This new assignment was an eye opener for a self described left of center Israeli. In just the first few months on the job Hen had been called every name imaginable, had been verbally assaulted, physically threatenedand was asked by the sponsors of an event to leave a venue out of fear for his safety. Hen details some of these experiences in his viral Times of Israel (over 22,000 shares) “An Israeli Soldier to American Jews: Wake up!”.

Posted by RedDawn on June 25, 2014 45 Comments
I never see an immigration conversation on the right that doesn't include some form of, "but we must secure the border first!" And only once the border is secure are we free to discuss immigration reform in opaque generalities. To be clear, I don't disagree that border security is the paramount issue, where I deviate though, is that I don't believe border security should be conditional for immigration reform. The border should be secured at all times -- period. To be sure, the issues are somewhat related. Border security strengthens our ability to mitigate would be illegal crossers, but I'd argue secure borders are predominantly a function of national security, protection of national sovereignty, and Constitutional obligation, none of which should be used as a bargaining chip for eVerify (or any other piece of immigration reform). Reality doesn't provide a scenario where in the context of immigration reform talks, troops are sent to secure the border and then comprehensive immigration reform is implemented. This will never happen. Not in this manner, anyway. Of course it's worth mentioning such a promise was made as part of Reagan's 1986 reform package and we all know how that panned out. Yet the right collectively includes border security as a prerequisite to make other immigration concessions. I understand the logic, but why handicap ourselves right out of the gate? Reform without secure borders isn't fixing every problem we have and certainly doesn't address the influx of illegal immigration filtering through our southern border. However, using border security as a means to come to the immigration table seems short sighted and ineffective.

Posted by Bruce Carroll on June 25, 2014 22 Comments
FOX News' Chad Pergram tweeted some breaking developments late this afternoon regarding a new email dump from the ever-interesting Lois Lerner file.

Posted by Amy Miller on June 25, 2014 9 Comments
Aereo is a video streaming service that allows subscribers (at around $8/month) to view live, over-the-air programming via the internet. The service also includes DVR-like capabilities, allowing for the recording of live programming to be watched later. Shortly after Aereo's launch last year, other television providers (think major networks) sued, claiming that the service violates the networks' right to publicly perform their copyrighted material. The Court rejected Aereo's argument that the company is merely an "equipment provider" and sided with the television providers (with Justices Scalia, Alito, and Thomas dissenting,) saying that the heart of Aereo's service involves a public performance of copyrighted material.

Posted by Bruce Carroll on June 25, 2014 17 Comments
The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled this morning that police may not search the cellphones of criminal suspects upon arrest without a separate warrant. This ruling is a huge boost for individual privacy rights advocates. Some of the decision is excerpted below, and we will update this post with analysis throughout the day.
By a 9-0 vote, the justices said smart phones and other electronic devices were not in the same category as wallets, briefcases, and vehicles -- all currently subject to limited initial examination by law enforcement. Generally such searches are permitted if there is "probable cause" that a crime has been committed, to ensure officers' safety and prevent destruction of evidence.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion in Riley v. California and Justice Antonin Scalia agreed with the majority but wrote a concurring opinion. In the ruling Roberts strongly cited the Fourth Amendment's protection of an individual rights and the advances of technology that the cellphone represents.
We cannot deny that our decision today will have an impact on the ability of law enforcement to combat crime. Cell phones have become important tools in facilitating coordination and communication among members of criminal enterprises, and can provide valuable incriminating information about dangerous criminals. Privacy comes at a cost. Our cases have recognized that the Fourth Amendment was the founding generation’s response to the reviled “general warrants” and “writs of assistance” of the colonial era, which allowed British officers to rummage through homes in an unrestrained search for evidence of criminal activity. Opposition to such searches was in fact one of the driving forces behind the Revolution itself. In 1761, the patriot James Otis delivered a speech in Boston denouncing the use of writs of assistance. A young John Adams was there, and he would later write that “[e]very man of a crowded audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance.” According to Adams, Otis’s speech was “the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there the child Independence was born.”

Posted by Mandy Nagy on June 25, 2014 2 Comments
A report from an independent federal agency on Monday sharply criticized the Department of Veterans Affairs for failing to adequately respond to information from whistleblowers to “address systemic concerns that impact patient care” at VA facilities. The report from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel blasted the VA for downplaying the severity of various identified problems at some of its facilities. It also outlined a number of examples of what it called “part of a troubling pattern of deficient patient care at VA facilities nationwide.” From CNN:
Two veterans in a Veterans Affairs psychiatric facility languished for years without proper treatment, according to a scathing letter and report sent Monday to the White House by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, or OSC. In one case, a veteran with a service-connected psychiatric condition was in the facility for eight years before he received a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation; in another case, a veteran only had one psychiatric note in his medical chart in seven years as an inpatient at the Brockton, Massachusetts, facility. Examples such as those are the core of the report released Monday by the OSC, an independent government agency that protects whistleblowers.
The OSC letter/report references issues at a number of VA facilities, including several previously reported problems at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi that were noted in a September 17, 2013 letter. The OSC concluded in that earlier letter that “[T]he Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has consistently failed to take responsibility for identified problems. Even in cases of substantiated misconduct, including acknowledged violations of state and federal law, the VA routinely suggests that the problems do not affect patient care.” The report also goes on to note that OSC currently has over 50 pending cases of whistleblower disclosures from VA employees that “allege threats to patient health or safety,” 29 of which have been referred to the VA for investigation.
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