[guest post by Dana]

A controversial video of a young Saudi woman walking around in a miniskirt is making the rounds:

A young Saudi woman sparked a sensation online over the weekend by posting a video of herself in a miniskirt and crop top walking around in public, with some Saudis calling for her arrest and others rushing to her defense.

State-linked news websites reported Monday that officials in the deeply conservative Muslim country are looking into possibly taking action against the woman, who violated the kingdom’s rules of dress. Women in Saudi Arabia must wear long, loose robes known as abayas in public. Most also cover their hair and face with a black veil, though exceptions are made for visiting dignitaries.

The video, first shared on Snapchat, shows her walking around an empty historic fort in Ushaiager, a village north of the capital, Riyadh, in the desert region of Najd, where many of Saudi Arabia’s most conservative tribes and families are from.

…

The Saudi Okaz news website reported that officials in Ushaiager called on the region’s governor and police to take action against the woman in response to the video, without elaborating. Saudi news website Sabq reported that the kingdom’s morality police had corresponded with other agencies to investigate further after the video was brought to their attention.

According to updated reports by Saudia Arabian state TV, the young woman has been arrested for wearing “suggestive clothing”.

This reminds me of co-chariman of the Women’s March and self- described “Palestinian-American-Muslim, civil rights activist” Linda Sarsour’s infamous comment, in which she favorably compared the status of women in Saudia Arabia to those in the United States:

“10 weeks of paid maternity leave in Saudi Arabia and you are worried about women driving. Yes, 10 weeks puts us to shame.”

Given that the young woman in the video appears to be of childbearing age, don’t you just know that in spite of having been arrested and facing God knows what, she is this moment taking great comfort in knowing that she is in Saudi Arabia where she can at least get 10 weeks of paid maternity leave?

Anyway, this is the same Linda Sarsour who wants you to believe she is all about women’s rights, but with a few exceptions :

You can read about an angry Sarsour calling out CNN’s Jake Tapper for criticizing the Women’s March (remember, she’s co-chairman), which tweeted birthday wishes to Assata Shakur, who was convicted for killing a police officer. Shakur fled to Cuba to avoid serving a life sentence. Not taking Tapper’s criticism too well, Sarsour lobbed a sick burn at him:

Yep, that’s right: Jake Tapper is a member of the alt-right. And Sarsour is a put-upon woman of minority status, who is being publicly made to endure some ugly misogyny from the patriarchy. What a plight. Nobody knows the trouble she’s seen – not even a courageous young Saudi woman wearing a short skirt.

Anyway, you can also read about why Sarsour’s recent comments about “jihad” made during a speech at the annual Islamic Society of North America convention should not necessarily be seen as “advocating solely for peaceful, nonviolent dissent” as she claims.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

First, let’s start by talking about who won’t be to blame: Senators Mike Lee or Rand Paul. Last night Brit Hume of Fox News tweeted this:

Mike Lee now says he'll vote no on the Senate GOP Healthcare bill, joining Rand Paul in in acting to let Obamacare stand.

— Brit Hume (@brithume) July 18, 2017

I have been a fan of Brit Hume’s for years. But I find it astounding that Hume criticized only people like Senators Lee and Paul, who actually would repeal ObamaCare entirely if given the opportunity. If there were 535 Mike Lees in Congress, ObamaCare would have been repealed in January. Where, I wondered, was the criticism of those who voted to repeal in 2015 — but won’t now? Why blame the fiercest opponents of ObamaCare, and give a total pass to people who hypocritically voted for repeal in 2015 only because they knew Obama would veto it?

Let’s review: in 2015, there was a bill sent to Obama’s desk called the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015. It didn’t repeal every aspect of ObamaCare, but it did a lot. Exchanges: gone. Subsidies: phased out. Penalty for not getting health insurance or providing it to your employees: gone. “Cadillac tax”: gone. Medicaid expansion: phased out.

Rather than the tinkering we have seen recently, this was a real move towards repeal. It passed the Senate 52-47. But, of course, it was vetoed by Obama — and the people who voted for it knew it would be.

Now, we have a President in office who has said he would sign such a bill. Rand Paul introduced a version in January. But his bill has been stalled in committee for half a year, while Republicans have spun their wheels trying to install a big-government replacement. For the most part, their efforts have resulted in bills that would put the GOP stamp of approval on the basic structure of ObamaCare.

Why hasn’t the GOP passed the 2015 bill? Clearly, because there are people who voted for a repeal bill in 2015 who never intended that bill to become law. Yet nobody in the media has been asking who these people are. And (until now), leadership has not forced the issue.

So when the news first broke last night that the latest repeal effort was dead, I raged at the leadership and the media, for hiding the identities of those people. If I had a full-time job in Big Media (ugh), I would track down everyone who voted for the 2015 ObamaCare repeal bill to see if they’ll still vote for it.

But it seems Big Media may not have to do the work. Mitch McConnell may do it for them. Events have move quickly since Mike Lee made his announcement last night — and as reported by Joe Cunningham, Mitch McConnell has announced that some version of the 2015 bill is going to be put to a vote:

My statement on an upcoming vote to repeal #Obamacare pic.twitter.com/RdyDiUJfMD

— Leader McConnell (@SenateMajLdr) July 18, 2017

Hallelujah! This is fantastic.

If the GOP is not full of hypocrites, the bill will pass. Of the 52 people who voted for the 2015 bill, 48 are still in the Senate. (Susan Collins voted against it.) Of the four Republicans who voted for that bill in 2015 and are now gone from the Senate, three have been replaced by Republicans — Sen. Coats (replaced by Republican Todd Young), Sen. Sessions (replaced by Republican Luther Strange), and Sen. Vitter (replaced by Republican John Kennedy).

As long as those three are on board — and long as none of the 48 change their vote, the 2015 bill will easily pass again, with 51 votes.

Now, I heard you laugh when you read that phrase “[i]f the GOP is not full of hypocrites.” That’s OK. I laughed while writing it. I am frankly stunned that McConnell is bringing some version of the 2015 bill to a vote, because I think the GOP is indeed full of hypocrites. And those hypocrites don’t want to be put in the position of voting against a bill they don’t like, but voted for in 2015 because they knew it would never become law. I predict there will be a lot of pressure on McConnell to reverse course and not put the 2015 bill to a vote.

But if he does, we’ll know exactly whom to blame.

Here’s my question: if Mike Lee and Rand Paul vote for repeal, and some other senator or senators change their vote from 2015 and vote against ObamaCare repeal . . .

. . . will Brit Hume still blame Mike Lee and Rand Paul?

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]