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Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 17, 2014 16 Comments
It looks likes one of the global flashpoints I mentioned earlier this year is heating up. While Iraq descends rapidly into chaos, tensions may be building in another section of the Asian continent. India is poised to double its forces along the border with China.
The new BJP government is keen to send out a strong signal to Beijing regarding border disputes by nearly doubling the deployment of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel on the India-China frontier. Top government sources said the ITBP will very soon have more boots on the ground to effectively guard the border that has witnessed several Chinese incursions in the past few years. The previous UPA government was often criticised for being "soft" on the issue of Chinese incursions. The Home Ministry has approved the construction of 54 new border outposts along the disputed frontier with China. A proposal in this regard was made by the ITBP before the polls but the previous government did not go ahead on it. With the new outposts, the number of troops on the ground too will increase. Currently, there are close to 40 outposts and nearly 15,000 troops guard the sensitive zones. Sources said the number could now go up to 30,000. "There were critical gaps regarding security on the China border that need to be filled up," said a senior Home Ministry official. "The increase in deployment should not be construed as an aggressive approach on our part. We are only securing out territory," a top government official said.
What is most interesting is the new prime minister's inauguration is also sending another message to China -- one I suspect it will not much like:

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Posted by Nathaniel on June 17, 2014 11 Comments
A high speed rail connecting Northern and Southern California has long been in the works: plans were proposed by Governer Jerry Brown back in the 1980s, and the High Speed Rail Authority was founded in 1996. Nevertheless, recent changes in the political landscape could see the project grind to a halt. Most influential is the increasingly likely ascent of Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to House Majority Leadership: after current Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) lost his primary just last week and Pete Sessions (R-TX) dropped out of the race to succeed him, he is the only candidate left standing. McCarthy has been one of California's most vocal critics of the high speed rail, so his rise in influence could be the funeral toll of the project, which currently relies heavily -- nay, almost entirely -- on federal funding (according to Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), California has not received any state or private funding for the project.) McCarthy's rise may also mean more funding and support thrown to Republican challengers in the California House Elections, including Doug Ose (CA-07), Carl DeMaio (CA-52), and Tony Strickland (CA-25), McCarthy's protege and another strong opponent of the almost exclusively Democrat-supported rail. However, Republicans are not the only ones fighting the rail: in a recent vote, four California Democrats -- including Doug Ose's opponent in the 7th District, Ami Bera -- withdrew their support from the project. The vote in question was for an amendment to an appropriations bill which would prevent any of the funds appropriated from going to the rail project. The bill passed with the amendment 227-186.

Posted by Mandy Nagy on June 17, 2014 15 Comments
President Obama notified Congress on Monday that starting Sunday, June 15th, approximately 275 U.S. Armed Forces personnel were deploying to Iraq to provide security for the U.S. Embassy and its staff in Baghdad. (Read the full text of the letter). From USA Today:
President Obama notified Congress on Monday that about 275 U.S. military personnel are deploying to Iraq to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Obama also said the troops are equipped for combat and will remain in Iraq until the security situation becomes such that they are no longer needed. These forces are entering Iraq with the consent of the government there, White House press secretary Jay Carney said. He said the report to Congress is consistent with the War Powers Resolution. The Pentagon said 170 of the troops arrived over the weekend in Baghdad and another 100 were moved into the region to help with embassy security as some of the staff was being relocated in the area. The embassy remains open and operating.
While the US embassy remains operating, the State Department announced on Sunday that additional security personnel would be added to the staff in Baghdad, though some of its other staff would be temporarily relocated. The United Nations also announced Monday that it has relocated nearly 60 of its staff from Baghdad to Amman, Jordan, according to Thomson Reuters.  A spokesman for the UN indicated that additional relocations could be possible in the next few days. The news comes after insurgents have advanced in Iraq in recent days, and on Monday reportedly seized the northern city of Tal Afar, according to the NY Times.

Posted by Andrew Branca on June 16, 2014 64 Comments
[Edit: The title of this post was edited to better reflect the Court's ruling.] This morning the US Supreme Court released it's ruling in Abramski v. United States--the firearm "straw purchase" gun case--in which it affirmed Abramski's convictions.  (The full-length opinion is embedded at the bottom of this post.) In reaching it's decision the majority--led by Kagan, and including Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and the necessary swing-vote, Kennedy--the Court took a very broad interpretation of the government's statutes, regulations, and even mere practice in narrowing the scope of lawful 3rd-party purchases of firearms, arriving at their conclusion less by looking at the actual statutes and regulations and more by looking at their perception of the "context" and intended "purpose" of those statutes and regulations.

Facts

The defendant in this case, Abramski, arranged to purchase a Glock 19 for his uncle, Alvarez.  Abramski had previously been a law enforcement officer, and it is common practice for law enforcement officers to be able to purchase firearms at a discount to the price generally available to the public. Although Abramski had been fired from his LEO job two years prior, he retained his police officer identification, and intended to use that ID to purchase the pistol for his uncle at a favorable price. The Uncle wrote Abramski a check for $400 with "Glock 19" written in the memo field. Two day later Abramski appeared at an FFL (a Federal Firearms Licensee, through which most gun sales are required to occur) and purchased the gun.  In the process of doing so he completed the Federally required Form 4473.  Form 4473 asks for particular personal information, and also asks the buyer to reply to a series of interrogatories. Among the questions asked was 11.a, which asks whether the purchaser is the "actual buyer" of the firearm.  Abramski answered in the affirmative--absent which the sale would not have been processed by the FFL.  He also signed an acknowledgement that a false answer to 11.a constituted a felony. Abramski's purchase cleared the NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) and the FFL sold him the Glock. Abramski then deposited the check from his uncle, transferred the gun to his uncle (lawfully, using an FFL in his uncle's state, which differed from his own), and received a receipt in return.

Posted by Rusty Weiss on June 16, 2014 3 Comments
The story posted here yesterday regarding two allegedly "conservative" Super PACs running false flag attack ads against a conservative candidate, and in support of a liberal Republican has generated quite a bit of chatter.  Claudia Tenney, the Tea Party Marine mother who has had her record distorted by questionable groups, is starting to get national attention. Earlier today, RedState Editor Erick Erickson officially endorsed Tenney, citing the false flag article and referring to these Super PACs as "coin-operated consultants" for the GOP establishment. Via RedState:
... it is worth noting that some supposedly conservative Super PAC’s are pouring money in the 22nd congressional district to defeat Claudia Tenney. These “conservative” groups, really coin operated consultants, are accusing Tenney of being less conservative than the liberal Richard Hanna. Claudia Tenney is actually to the right of Richard Hanna and would be a vast improvement for that district and a better vote in Congress. If you like in the 22nd Congressional District, you absolutely want to vote for Claudia Tenney. Do not let the coin operated consultants tell you differently. Stand up for Marine mom Claudia Tenney. If you can spare some cash, help fund her as she battles the coin operated consultants of people lying about her. She needs all the help she can muster. And those of you who live there need to tell your friends and family to vote for her too.
The news of the disingenuous attacks on Tenney has riled up other conservative pundits as well.  Laura Ingraham took to Twitter to call out 'GOP establishment hacks.' Michelle Malkin has retweeted the article, as well as Erickson's endorsement.

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Posted by A.F. Branco on June 16, 2014 9 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 Mike LaChance on June 15, 2014 14 Comments
Chicago long has been a center of Communist Party USA activity. This video from 2011 shows the CPUSA protesting in support of the Occupy movement in Chicago: Today in Chicago was the 95th Anniversary celebration, as Ron Grossman of the Chicago Tribune reports:
Communist Party USA gathers in Chicago "I finally realized, I didn't believe in the other side," said Gosman, a retired employee of the Los Angeles school system. The Chicago convention will feature three days of speeches, panel discussions and workshops. One session will be devoted to catching up with an online era. Communists, like other radicals, traditionally recruit by hawking the party's paper on street corners. But financial constraints have forced the People's World to abandon its print edition. So one question up for discussion is how can peoplesworld.org put the party in touch with low-paid workers, environmentalists and advocates for social justice?

Posted by Bruce Carroll on June 15, 2014 24 Comments
Defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) hit the Sunday news programs this morning in a curt manner and seemed to lay some blame for his loss on radio talk show host Laura Ingraham cheapening the debate. Laura took it in stride. But is the Republican Party serious about finding answers following the Cantor defeat? Grassroots Republicans and conservatives still express doubt if the party has even learned the right lessons from its 2012 loss. Salena Zito tries to help the Republican Party establishment today with peeling back the onion on what is going on in America. Zito is correct -- there is a rise of populism and Dave Brat tapped into that vein during his campaign against Cantor:

Posted by Casey Breznick on June 15, 2014 4 Comments
What do the Everglades, Key West, and Homestead, Florida have in common? Nothing, except that they are all represented by freshman Democrat Joe Garcia in Florida’s newly created 26th congressional district. While the primaries are not until Aug. 26,  Republican Carlos Curbelo has all but secured the party nomination as the clear GOP front-runner to challenge Garcia in November. Curbelo currently serves on the Miami-Dade County School Board overseeing the nation’s fourth largest school district. Curbelo carries a slew of important Florida Republican endorsements, including those from FL27 Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, FL25 Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, and Speaker of Florida’s House of Representatives Will Weatherford. Curbelo has not had a lot of media exposure, so his positions on national issues are not as well defined to the public as those who have been on the national stage. He did say in a Fox Business interview that the economy is suffering due to “self-inflicted wounds” like the failed Obama stimulus and unreformed pensions. Garcia has taken up clearly leftist ideology in almost all respects. He does not support the repeal of Obamacare (though he voted for its delays and caveats), wants to grant DREAMers in-state tuition, wants to continue government funding of alternative energy, and is the main sponsor of immigration reform bill H.R. 15, which is highly controversial and allegedly a lead up to outright amnesty.
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