Penelope Trunk, an entrepreneur and “geek feminist” who blogs about careers and business, has speculated openly that the sudden death of Dave Goldberg, CEO of SurveyMonkey and husband of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, was a suicide.
JERUSALEM, Israel — Security officers shot and wounded a 35-year-old Arab man who attempted to carry out a terror attack at a light rail station steps away from where international legal experts had gathered for a conference on terrorism.
JERUSALEM, Israel — Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told a legal conference that the Western media have encouraged terrorists to use human shields in war by focusing attention on civilian casualties in such a way that Western military forces were effectively deterred from responding to terrorist attacks. He suggested that legal doctrines might need to be adjusted in order to remove the operational advantage human shields provide terrorists.
JERUSALEM, Israel — As police scrambled to contain a possible terror attack on a Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas, legal scholars and activists gathered in Jerusalem for a conference on terrorism and its implications for the laws of war.
JERUSALEM, Israel — Thousands of Ethiopian immigrants to Israel continued their nationwide protest against police brutality on Sunday evening, shutting down a major highway for three hours and demonstrating in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square. As in protests last Thursday in Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv protest turned violent, and 27 law enforcement officers were injured, according to Ynet. The protests were sparked by video of two policemen beating an Ethiopian soldier in uniform.
Dave Goldberg, the CEO of SurveyMonkey and husband of Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, died suddenly on Friday evening, according to a Facebook post by his brother Robert. Goldberg passed away while on vacation with his family. The cause of death was not disclosed.
TEL AVIV, Jerusalem — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visited Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas this weekend at his headquarters in Ramallah, and declared that Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is not a “terrorist.” Carter said that he would not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because it was a “waste of time,” and that Meshaal not only wanted a “peace process,” but would commit to recognizing Israel as part of a deal brokered by Saudi Arabia.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Secretary of State John Kerry appeared on Israeli television over the weekend, telling seven-million-plus Israelis that critics of the emerging Iran deal were guilty of “hysteria.” Israel, which sits a short missile flight away from potentially nuclear-armed Iranian warheads, and which has seen Iranian soldiers along its borders with Syria and Lebanon, has loudly protested the negotiations that the Obama administration has pursued with the Iranian regime.
TEL AVIV — May 1 is still a significant day in Israel. There are marches through the center of Tel Aviv celebrating May Day and the solidarity of the international working class. (The international working class has shown considerably less interest in solidarity with Israel, but never mind.) Today, Israel is more “start-up nation” than workers’ paradise, known more for the entrepreneurship of its Internet millionaires than for the power of its labor unions or the collectivism of the kibbutz.
In an echo of protests this week in Baltimore, demonstrators in Jerusalem, Israel have taken to the streets to oppose police brutality against Ethiopian Israelis. The immediate trigger for the protest, which drew hundreds of people to the streets near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, was a surveillance video showing two policemen beating a black Israeli soldier in uniform. Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat rushed to the scene to listen to the demonstrators’ concerns.
Late last week, former San Francisco mayor–and Hillary Clinton supporter–Willie Brown said that the “Clinton Cash” scandal could prove “fatal” to her candidacy. Sanders, who warned in the past that Clinton would not fight the “billionaire class,” seems to agree–but could be too radical for voters. Jerry Brown’s opportunity may have come.
As the Supreme Court takes up oral arguments on whether there is a fundamental right to gay marriage, Californians will be watching closely.
Numerous reports, based on second-hand accounts, have alleged that former President George W. Bush “bashed” President Barack Obama in his remarks at the gala dinner of the Republican Jewish Coalition spring leadership meeting in Las Vegas on Saturday. Bloomberg View bases its report on notes provided by an attendee; so does the New York Times–although, to his credit, the Times’ Jason Horowitz actually sought other quotes from exiting attendees as he stalked outside the event.
Stanford University president John Hennessy is condemning the vandalism of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house at the university, which was daubed with swastikas that were discovered on Sunday morning, the Stanford Review reports.
Former California Republican Party chair Thomas Del Beccaro announced Sunday that he will seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by incumbent liberal Democrat Barbara Boxer upon her retirement in 2017. Del Beccaro is the second major Republican running for the seat, which is also being contested by Assemblymember Rocky Chavez (R-Oceanside).
LAS VEGAS –The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) wrapped up its spring meeting in this weekend on an enthusiastic note. Several presidential contenders, declared and potential, addressed the meeting in on-the-record sessions. Former President George W. Bush addressed the gala dinner Saturday, in a rare (and off the record) public appearance.
Journalists are supposed to ask tough questions. On Sunday morning’s edition of ABC News’ This Week, however, host George Stephanopoulos pursued Clinton Cash author (and Breitbart News editor) Peter Schweizer with a vehemence that suggested he had reverted to his 1990s incarnation as a spokesman for the Clinton administration. Stephanopoulos looked past the Clintons’ glaring conflicts of interest and focused narrowly on whether the book met a criminal standard of proof.
Federal law enforcement and homeland security officials are reportedly stepping up security due to an ISIS-related terror threat, according to CNN. The boosted security was reportedly prompted by “intercepted chatter and other intelligence information” that suggested parts of the state could be in danger.
California’s controversial high-speed rail project is barely under way, but it’s already been beaten by other options. Under the best of assumptions, the (subsidized) cost of a trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles when the bullet train is complete will be $86, plus “last mile” costs of traveling to and from the train station. The journey, door to door, will take about four hours–that is, if the high-speed rail makes the journey in under three hours as originally advertised, which it will not.
This weekend, leaders of the Republican Jewish Coalition hold their annual spring meeting in Las Vegas–and, as in prior years, many Republican presidential hopefuls will be in attendance. The conference is hosted by Sheldon Adelson, casino magnate, philanthropist and Republican mega-donor.
With Hillary Clinton reeling from a major ethics scandal, true-blue Democrats are looking for alternatives to their party’s presumptive presidential nominee. The bench is rather weak. There’s Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor who couldn’t build an Obamacare exchange and provoked a Republican sweep. There’s Elizabeth Warren, the fake Indian and genuine real estate speculator who has learned to parrot the “progressive” talking points. And then there’s Jerry Brown.
On Friday, the lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal–often a mainstream conservative bellwether–castigated Hillary Clinton for the conflicts of interest exposed by Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer’s forthcoming book, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich. And, in a moment of rare bipartisan unity, the lead editorial of the New York Times–a liberal mouthpiece–largely agreed.
In the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003, New York Times columnist began to reconsider his support for the military option, as he became convinced that the Bush administration was going to mishandle the war and its aftermath. Fast-forward 12 years, and Friedman is making similar moves ahead of the final talks on a nuclear deal with Iran. In his Apr. 23 column, Friedman says that while a nuclear deal is desirable, the structure and context of the deal means “it will not be easy.”
The revelation that four left-wing MSNBC hosts have failed to pay their taxes (Al Sharpton, plus Melissa Harris-Perry, Joy-Add Reid, and Touré Nesbitt) recalls an episode in 2011, when Andrew Breitbart raised the issue of MSNBC’s tax-dodging.
TechCrunch’s Kat Zakrzewski has an odd argument against Republican bills to curb the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) recent decision to impose Net Neutrality: we don’t really need transparency, after all. Zakrzewski’s stance shows how far Silicon Valley’s “progressive” activists have come after years of pushing for the maximum transparency possible in public affairs. When the feds are doing what they want, the public is better off in the dark.
Sharyl Atkisson of the Daily Signal reports that Covered California deliberately tried to hide its operations from public scrutiny, including the number of enrollees, the close ties of many contractors to executive director Peter Lee, and general mismanagement. Her investigative report, based on whistleblower accounts, is the second in a two-part series on Covered California, which has been touted by Obamacare supporters as the model for how other states should run their programs.
As the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt heads to Yemen to confront a convoy of Iranian ships, including destroyers, it is worth asking why President Barack Obama is still talking to the Iranian regime about its nuclear program. The Iranians, who used the Houthi militia to knock over the American-aligned Yemeni government, clearly has no fear that Obama will suspend negotiations. If anything, Iranian tactics are winning more concessions.
Investigative reporter Sharly Atkisson, who uncovered key details of Operation Fast and Furious and the Benghazi scandal, now reports at the Daily Signal that Covered California, the Obamacare health care exchange established by the State of California, is not the success story that boosters claim, but is rather rife with fraud, chaos, and failure.
President Barack Obama’s decision to abandon Iraq remains the most significant strategic blunder in a generation. Putting politics ahead of strategy, Obama sought to win an argument with history rather than to win the struggle against terror and tyranny in the Middle East. His presidential ambitions depended on his opposition to the Iraq War–which, he decided, also meant opposing the “surge.” He could barely admit the surge worked–and, in office, reversed it as soon as possible.
New research suggests that a fault underneath the city of Ventura, roughly one hour northwest of L.A., could produce an 8.0-magnitude earthquake, as well as “severe” tsunamis previously thought impossible in Southern California, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Continuing its tradition of providing a propaganda platform for America’s enemies, the New York Times has published an op-ed by Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif in which he demands that the United States choose “between cooperation and confrontation, between negotiations and grandstanding, and between agreement and coercion.” Enjoying the freedom of expression his government denies to its opponents, Zarif argues that the West should work with it toward regional peace.
For some in California, April 20th marks the 35th anniversary of Earth Day, a day to celebrate the environment and raise ecological awareness. For others. 4/20 is simply a day to get high on pot. The date–which is said to originate from a tradition among high school students in San Rafael of smoking marijuana at 4:20 in the afternoon– marks an unofficial day of appreciation for all things marijuana- and hemp-related–and a day of activism for legalization of the drug.
Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist organization, has threatened to kill all South Africans in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and the surrounding region, according to media reports based on a video allegedly released by the group. The threat came as a response to a wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, in which ordinary South Africans, primarily blacks, have killed, maimed, abused and expelled other Africans throughout the country, killing seven thus far and displacing thousands.
Joel Kotkin, the noted liberal critic of California’s far-left government, says that Gov. Jerry Brown is leading California to ruin–and that the state’s business leaders share the blame by failing to speak out. In a new essay at the Daily Beast that summarizes much of his recent criticism, Kotkin says that while Brown’s father Pat brought the state progress and prosperity as governor (1959-1967), Jerry Brown “has waged a kind of Oedipal struggle against his father’s legacy.”
Three new dangers have emerged in the last few days alone that should scuttle any nuclear deal with the Iranian regime. If President Barack Obama were truly concerned about American security, he would have ended negotiations, told Congress to pass new sanctions, and prepared the armed forces for military action as a last resort. Instead, out of narcissism and a fear of war at all costs, he is pursuing a peace at any price–one that guarantees war in the future on unfavorable terms.
Desalinization has emerged as an answer to the state’s chronic water shortages. As the Orange County Register notes, desalinization would provide a near-infinite supply of water at only twice the price. The main objection of environmentalists is that desalinization uses up to 50% more electricity, meaning more fossil fuels might be burned to make water, setting back efforts to fight climate change. It is an objection that is looking less and less serious.
President Barack Obama appeared to yield Friday to Iran’s insistence that sanctions be removed immediately when a nuclear deal goes into effect, rather than over time. Rather than lifting sanctions only when Iran is shown to be complying with the agreement, Obama now wants sanctions to be able to “snap back” when Iran is found to be in violation of the deal.
Adm. Mike Mullen, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has offered what he admits is a rather weak defense of the Iran deal: he hopes it will lead to regime change by strengthening reformists within the Tehran government. In an op-ed for Politico Magazine, Mullen claims that “Iranian reformists…support a nuclear deal because it would be a first step in the evolution they would like to see.” He also rules out a military option and says that Obama’s deal is the best deal possible.
I can’t pretend to have read all 64 of the amicus briefs filed by outside parties in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court’s upcoming case on whether there is a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage. But I have read one brief closely–the one filed by “same-sex attracted men and their wives” against federalizing gay marriage. The logic is compelling, the stories riveting–and that is why the left is terrified of it, calling it “the worst” of “terrible” arguments against gay marriage.
Syndicated columnist George Will told the inaugural “Disinvitation Dinner” of the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale that “93 members of the California legislature have never had sex.” Will was referring to the fact that 93 legislators in the California Senate and Assembly voted to pass last year’s SB 967, the so-called “yes means yes” or affirmative consent law, which requires students at state-funded colleges to obtain permission from each other for every stage of sexual contact.
