MORE STUPID FROM THE CLAREMONT INSTITUTE

This is from the National Review and was written by Edward J. Erler:

It was in 1868 that a definition of citizenship entered the Constitution with the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. Here is the familiar language: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Thus there are two components to American citizenship: birth or naturalization in the U.S. and being subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Today, we somehow have come to believe that anyone born within the geographical limits of the U.S. is automatically subject to its jurisdiction; but this renders the jurisdiction clause utterly superfluous.

It's not superfluous because it applies for foreign ambassadors and others who are not under U.S. jurisdiction because they have diplomatic immunity.

ONE OF PRES. OBAMA'S BEST STATEMENTS

Prison rape is so widespread that it has been a standard joke in popular culture for decades and few national leaders have spoken out against this barbarity.  Pres. Obama is now one of them:

President Obama: Prison rape is no joke
Dylan Stableford
Senior editor
Yahoo Politics
July 15, 2015

President Obama is calling for sweeping reforms to fix a criminal justice system he says is “skewed by race and wealth” and plagued with problems in its prisons. Among them: overcrowding, gang activity and rape.

“We should not tolerate conditions in prison that have no place in any civilized country,” Obama said in a speech at the NAACP National Convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday. “We should not be tolerating overcrowding in prison. We should not be tolerating gang activity in prison.

“We should not be tolerating rape in prison, and we shouldn’t be making jokes about it in our popular culture,” Obama added. “That is no joke. These things are unacceptable.”

I didn't know until right now that there was a law passed about prison rape in 2003 (from the same Yahoo article):

In 2003, Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, calling for the creation of a national commission to study the causes and consequences of sexual abuse in correctional and detention facilities nationwide. In 2009, the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission released a report detailing widespread sexual abuse in federal prisons, where an estimated 60,000 prisoners annually are victims.

In 2012, the Department of Justice adopted national standards — including better screening of inmates and staffers, training and education — to “prevent, detect and respond to prison rape.”

EARLY MORNING TIDBITS

- National Cynical Network has a great collection of political humor, satire and cynicism on Right Wing Radio Hell.

- Here are 2 short & informative pieces on the late historian Tony Judt, one in the New Yorker, the other in NYRB.

IS HUCKABEE ABOUT TO VIOLATE U.S. CAMPAIGN LAW?

According to a report by the AP in a Seattle paper,

ATLANTA (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee heads to Israel this week to raise money and meet "with a number of officials" to discuss the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran.

The FEC site claims this is a no-no:

Foreign nationals are prohibited from making any contributions or expenditures in connection with any election in the U.S. Please note, however, that "green card" holders (i.e., individuals lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the U.S.) are not considered foreign nationals and, as a result, may contribute. For additional information, consult our "Foreign Nationals" brochure.

This restriction was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012.

POLITIFACT CATCHES BERNIE SANDERS

Bernie has been claiming for years that the US spends twice as much on health care as other countries and that's not true as you can see from the chart below: