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March 2016

The Left’s Plan to Cut Loose a Million Prisoners The radicals’ assault on the rule of law — and on the institutions that keep Americans safe. Matthew Vadum

Radical left-wingers want to free half the nation’s prisoners –including many violent offenders– a move that would cause an upsurge in crime rates for decades to come.

To many of today’s leftists criminality itself is an illegitimate concept. The mindless chanting of the slogan “no one is illegal” at open-borders rallies is part of the same school of thought.

Spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union and bankrolled by radical speculator George Soros, the “end mass incarceration” movement wants to reduce the U.S. prison population by 50 percent within the next 10 to 15 years.

This specific push is called the “Cut50” project.

“We have the largest incarcerated population in the world despite the fact that we’re a democracy and that we value individual freedoms,” Alison Holcomb, national director of the ACLU Campaign to End Mass Incarceration told public radio station KUOW in Puget Sound, Wash.

“The overuse of our criminal justice system has resulted in expanding a caste, a second class of citizens that lose their right to vote, that won’t be able to get loans to go to school, that will probably have difficulty renting an apartment and that is not healthy for our society and it’s actually compromising our safety.”

Like Black Lives Matter supporter and Baltimore riot organizer DeRay Mckesson, Holcomb doesn’t care about property rights.

She doesn’t want thieves and robbers jailed even briefly. If someone steals property, “why is the response to put that person in a cage?” she said.

Holcomb’s comrades want to unleash more than a million inmates –including violent offenders– on American society.

Former Israeli Spy Chief Meir Dagan Dies The former head of Israel’s Mossad led operations that disrupted Iran’s nuclear weapons development By Rory Jones and Orr Hirschauge

TEL AVIV—Meir Dagan, who as chief of Israel’s intelligence agency was widely credited with disrupting Iran’s nuclear program, died Thursday, the Israeli government said. He was 71.

Mr. Dagan served as director of the agency, the Mossad, from 2002 until his retirement in 2011. During that time, Israel is believed to have carried out deadly assaults on Iran’s nuclear scientists and cyberattacks against its nuclear enrichment facilities. As a matter of policy, Israel neither confirms nor denies such operations.

In retirement, Mr. Dagan became a vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ultimately unsuccessful efforts to stop the nuclear deal between Tehran and the U.S. and five other world powers. He said Mr. Netanyahu exaggerated the threat of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons for political gain.

In a statement, Mr. Netanyahu called the former spy director a “great fighter” who had devoted his life to Israel and the Jewish people.

“He led the organization in daring, pioneering and groundbreaking operations,” the Israeli premier said.

Mr. Dagan’s died from complications of cancer, said a spokesman for the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. He underwent a liver transplant in Belarus in 2012.

Mr. Dagan was appointed to head the Mossad by Ariel Sharon, then prime minister. When he stepped down nine years later, in 2011, he was praised by Israeli officials for restoring the daring image of the spy agency. CONTINUE AT SITE

Fight Over CUNY Funding Takes Unforeseen Turn In budget proposal, New York state Senate criticizes school’s response to alleged anti-Semitism By Mike Vilensky

It came as no surprise this week when New York’s Senate backed Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to cut state funding to the City University of New York.

Few in Albany were prepared, however, when the Senate, in its own budget proposal, criticized CUNY’s handling of alleged anti-Semitism.

In light of the issue, the Senate said it is denying funding until it is satisfied with the school’s response “and this difficult and atrocious situation is adequately addressed.”

That budget proposal, issued Monday from the Senate’s Republican majority, has seemed to draw every imaginable reaction: an anxious response from CUNY, outrage from Democrats, praise from a Zionist group, concern from First Amendment attorneys and even dissent from within the GOP’s ranks.

“It was breathtakingly shocking to me,” said Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat opposed to the cuts. “This was one giant ‘what the heck?’ moment.”

The anti-Semitism allegations surfaced in a letter from the Zionist Organization of America, an Israeli advocacy group, sent in February to CUNY Chancellor James Milliken.

It alleges numerous anti-Semitic incidents at CUNY over the past three years, from cries of “Zionists go home!” to a swastika found on one of the school’s campuses. The letter blames a university group, Students for Justice in Palestine, for many of the alleged incidents, and urges CUNY to condemn it. CONTINUE AT SITE

North Korea Launches Ballistic Missile Into Sea Pyongyang ratchets up pressure in face of U.S. sanctions and South Korea military drills By Alastair Gale and Kwanwoo Jun

KERRY’S RESPONSE ““We call again on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.” That’ll learn em…..rsk
SEOUL—North Korea fired a midrange ballistic missile into the sea early Friday as it continues annual military exercises and protests new U.S.-led sanctions.

The missile was launched from an area northwest of Pyongyang at 5:55 a.m. local time and flew about 800 kilometers (500 miles) before crashing off the Korean Peninsula’s eastern coast, a spokesman for Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Military officials said that the projectile was likely one of North Korea’s Rodong-type missiles and appeared to have been fired from a mobile launcher. The last test firing of a Rodong missile was in 2014, they said.

North Korea fired another projectile from the same area around 20 minutes later but it disappeared from radar screens shortly after launch, the officials said. Further analysis is needed to conclude whether it broke up or there was an error in the radar system, they said.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement condemning the launches.

“We call again on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international commitments and obligations,” he said.

North Korea is barred from testing ballistic missiles and nuclear explosives under United Nations’ resolutions, but leader Kim Jong Un recently pledged to continue testing both. CONTINUE AT SITE

A Trump Reality Check He is the least commanding GOP front-runner since Ford.

Donald Trump won’t debate his Republican rivals again but he will continue to argue on Twitter. On Thursday the businessman demanded an apology after we—“the dummies at the @WSJ Editorial Board”—accurately noted that Hillary Clinton has received about a million more votes than he has. The truth hurts, though Mr. Trump would rather walk down Fifth Avenue shooting the messenger.

Mr. Trump says his numbers can’t be compared to Mrs. Clinton’s because “she had only 3 opponents—I had 16.” Actually his rise has been cleared by the large and fractured GOP field. Of the 20.35 million GOP primary votes cast so far, he has received 7.54 million, or a mere 37%. Despite the media desire to call him unstoppable, Mr. Trump is the weakest Republican front-runner since Gerald Ford in 1976.
After Reagan, George H.W. Bush in 1988, Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000 romped to nomination victories with only minor early setbacks. Mitt Romney and John McCain faced protracted challenges beyond Super Tuesday like Mr. Trump. The primary calendar and delegate allocation methods change from cycle to cycle, but at roughly the same stage of the campaign, both were performing far better.

In 2012 Mr. Romney was in a three-way race with Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, with Ron Paul also nabbing votes. Yet by mid-March Mr. Romney had carried the popular vote in 21 states and won 57% of the allocated delegates, according to our calculation. Mr. Trump has 18 wins and 47% of allocated delegates. Mr. Romney swept the remaining primaries by convincing margins. Mr. Trump hasn’t won 50% in any state. CONTINUE AT SITE

The EPA’s Flint Abdication The agency tries to rewrite its history in the lead-water debacle.

This week’s Congressional hearings have shown that a series of government errors—local, state and federal—caused Flint’s lead-contaminated water. The state is fessing up, but the Environmental Protection Agency is trying to pretend it had nothing to do with it.

“Looking back on Flint, from day one, the state provided our regional office with confusing, incomplete and incorrect information,” EPA chief Gina McCarthy told Congress on Thursday. “As a result, EPA staff were unable to understand the potential scope of the lead problem until a year after the switch.” Far from being an innocent bystander in Flint, the EPA obfuscated and played down the scope of the lead problem.

As Ms. McCarthy noted, federal law gives states primary responsibility for enforcing drinking water rules, “but the EPA has oversight authority,” which includes setting maximum limits on contaminants and monitoring compliance. After a change in Washington, D.C.’s water treatment in 2001 resulted in dangerously high lead levels, Congress keelhauled the EPA for lax oversight.

In 2006 the Government Accountability Office concluded that “EPA’s data on water systems’ violations of testing and treatment requirements are questionable” and flagged “weaknesses in the regulatory framework” for the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule. Virginia Tech researcher Marc Edwards told Congress on Tuesday that the EPA for a decade has ignored recommendations to revise its lead rule to reflect best scientific practices.

The EPA also ignored warnings from its own staff. On Feb. 25, 2015—about 10 months after the city switched its water source to the corrosive Flint River—a parent called EPA Region 5 complaining about high lead levels. On March 19, an EPA official called the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality “expressing concern.” CONTINUE AT SITE

U.S. Ties Bring No Quick Relief to Cuba’s Dissidents As Obama prepares to arrive in Havana on Monday, dissidents say repression by Raúl Castro’s government hasn’t let up for those daring to speak out By Sara Schaefer Muñoz

HAVANA, Cuba—About 30 antigovernment protesters gathered at this city’s Mahatma Gandhi Park on Sunday and unfurled a banner in anticipation of President Barack Obama’s groundbreaking visit next week. “Obama, Cuba has a dream,” it read. “Cuba without Castros.”

They were soon surrounded by an angry crowd, followed by Cuban security officers who tore the banner from their hands, hustled them into police cars and took them away.

Some arrested demonstrators said they were kicked, hit, pushed to the ground and stripped naked before being released hours later. Their treatment was part of a more general crackdown on dissidents as the U.S. president prepares to arrive in Havana on Monday.

‘The Cuban government keeps trying to stop us, to demonize us, and we all live in fear.’
—Berta Soler of the dissident group Ladies in White

Since the U.S. began normalizing relations with its long-standing political foe in December 2014, tourism here has flourished, making central Havana bustle with new restaurants, hotels and gift shops. But in crumbling neighborhoods outside the elegant tourist areas, residents say the repression by President Raúl Castro’s government hasn’t let up for those daring to speak out.

“Here in Cuba nothing has changed,” said Berta Soler, a member of a dissident group calling itself the Ladies in White, moments before she was arrested with those carrying the banner. “The Cuban government keeps trying to stop us, to demonize us, and we all live in fear.”

Ladies in White, whose members wear white to symbolize peace, are among the dissidents targeted in a wave of arrests around the island in recent days, say human-rights activists here and abroad. That comes in part because the dissidents have stepped up their activities as they strive to be noticed ahead of Mr. Obama’s visit. CONTINUE AT SITE

A Guide to Disinvitation: My Conversation with Williams College President Adam Falk by Peter Wood

On February 18, Adam Falk, president of Williams College, sent an email to the Williams community announcing “the extraordinary step” he was taking by “cancelling a speech by John Derbyshire.” The email was sent on a Thursday, cancelling an event that had been scheduled for the following Monday. I have corresponded with President Falk about his decision, and with his permission, I will present his full, unedited answer.
You can skip to that below, but I hope you will stay with me as I review the broader situation.

A DISINVITED DECADE
The Derbyshire disinvitation was, of course, only one more in a growing list of disinvitations on college campuses, as well as other snubs, actions prompting invited speakers to cancel their own appearances, and speakers showing up only to be drowned out by protesters. In 2014, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) published a “List of Campus Disinvitation Attempts, 2000-2014,” which captured nearly 200 cases. That was before George Will was disinvited by Scripps College in October 2014, and before Suzanne Venker was disinvited from Williams College in October 2015. Venker is the author of several anti-feminist books and a frequent guest on Fox News programs.
As it happens, Venker wasn’t disinvited by President Falk. Her red card came from the students who originally invited her. They disinvited her after they came under intense pressure from fellow students. President Falk at the time defended Venker’s right to speak. In a column (“How to Disagree”) in the student newspaper he wrote, “Whatever our own views may be, we should be active in bringing to campus speakers whose opinions are different from our own.”

The campus disinvitation phenomenon has been widely discussed—and deplored. It represents a failure on the part of colleges and universities to uphold the cardinal principles of intellectual freedom and freedom of expression. Cry-bully students and Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists primed to take “offense” at anything that troubles them; faculty members frantically eager to engage in virtue signaling; and college presidents determined to stay ahead of the wave of political correctness have contributed to this odd form of censorship.
The beginnings of campus protest are often traced to Berkeley Free Speech Movement (FSM) of 1964-1965. As though the protesters had set out to prove Hegel right, the movement gave birth to its own antithesis fifty years later: a movement that flat out rejects the ideals of free expression in favor of “safe spaces.” The distance between FSM and BLM turns out to be much smaller than anyone could have dreamed.

CHANGING SCRIPPS
Among the members of the National Association of Scholars are many who view the disinvitations as a singularly bad development. I share some of that outrage, but the task of NAS is to seek to repair American higher education, and merely declaring that a college here or a university there has behaved in an egregious way does limited good. In the case of the decision by Lori Bettison-Varga, president of Scripps College, disinviting George Will, I wrote her a letter urging her to reconsider. I wrote separately to the Scripps board of trustees and yet again to the editors of the student newspaper. Rather disconcertingly, President Bettison-Varga did not reply, nor did any trustee, any representative of the trustees, or any student editor.

The decisions by all involved to ignore my letters is, I believe, part of the larger phenomenon. Not answering a letter is another way of closing the door on the exchange of ideas. It is a less visible form of silencing but important in its own way. In 1987, when I went to work in the John Silber administration at Boston University, one of my first tasks was to answer the letters of complaint that were part of an organized campaign. The hundreds of letters stemmed from the non-reappointment of a faculty member who had a base of support outside the university. Answering them was not a matter of sending the same canned response to everyone. My instructions were to take each letter on its merits and explain as fully as needed the university’s position.

The Stiff Price of Social Justice By “Adam Mission”

Adam Mission is the pseudonym of someone who works in the admissions office of a well-known public research university.

“As you might expect, her father and I are concerned with the financials,” she said, “We’ve been diligent about saving through a 529 plan. Despite this, our shortfall would still be in the $70,000 range.”
The applicant’s parents sat across from my desk in the admission department. They seemed sheepish that they didn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting in their account. I could tell from the moment they walked into my office that this was their first child going to college.
“Frankly, we’re old school,” the mother continued, “Besides our mortgage, we’ve never had any debt, lived within our means and saved for the future. We hope for our child to graduate with as little debt as possible.”
She paused, and finally straightened as if to brace for what she was going to say next.
“We’re both from humble, hardworking Midwest households and we’ve earned every penny we have. We’re even prepared to move here if it means getting our daughter in-state tuition.”
Her story wasn’t unusual. In fact, the high cost of college tuition is one of the most common things I deal with as an admissions counselor for a well-known public research university. College tuition is outrageously high; and it’s only getting higher every year. When my father went to college, tuition at my current institution was around $300 a year. Even accounting for inflation, the average American family a generation ago could afford going to college without breaking the bank. Now tuition at my university is 30 times as expensive. Students and their families pay for college by taking on second mortgages, working four jobs, or moving to another state. Most often they take on crippling debt that will haunt them the rest of their life.
There are a lot of theories about why the cost of tuition is so high and just as many about how to get those costs under control. Politicians, unsurprisingly, promise increased federal funding to make it “free.” Academics criticize the increased expenditure on massive collegiate athletic programs. All sorts of people disapprove of uncontrolled spending on expansive building projects and the all-inclusive resort amenities that students now seem to expect at college. What really costs money, though, is salaries. As with most businesses, the highest expenditure of a university is payroll—and that cost has been skyrocketing. The reason is the growth in administrative jobs. In the past 25 years, the number of non-academic administrative employees has doubled nationwide, growing at more than double the rate of increase in the number of students.

“Muslim Jerusalem”: Turkey’s Message of “Peace” to Israel by Uzay Bulut

Turkey’s attempts at “normalizing relations with Israel” apparently do not actually aim to normalize the relations.

“We do not forget Gaza and Palestine even in our dreams, let alone in negotiations. … Whatever is wrong for Palestine is also wrong for us. We discussed these issues in detail during our meetings with my dear friend, Khaled Mashaal [leader of Hamas]. This is the main objective behind the talks of normalizing ties with Israel.” – Ahmet Davutoglu, Prime Minister of Turkey.

Do Turkish government representatives also tell their Israeli colleagues that Khaled Mashaal is their “dear friend”? Do they also divulge that the only aim of the negotiations is to get compensation for the Mavi Marmara incident and to remove the “blockade” on Gaza, possibly again so that weapons to be used against Israel can come in?

Turkey’s attempts at “normalizing relations with Israel” apparently do not actually aim to normalize the relations.

As often happens in the Middle East, there are two sound-tracks going on — one perhaps in English to Israel, and one in Turkish to Turkey’s citizens. Both sound-tracks cannot be right.

On July 1, 2010, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu addressed his parliament:

“Jerusalem is our issue. Contrary to what you assume, it is not a territory of Israel. According to the international law, East Jerusalem is a part of the state of Palestine and is one of the territories under occupation. Al-Aqsa Mosque is in East Jerusalem, too. Al-Aqsa Mosque is not Israeli territory and will not be. If peace happens one day, — and that is what I mean — East Jerusalem will be the capital of Palestine and a meeting of the Arab league will be held there, as well. We are giving a message of peace here. Yes, there will be peace and East Jerusalem will be the capital of Palestine.”