Year: 2010

Unintentional Hilarity: Feminists Ask If Julian Assange Committed ‘Rape-Rape’

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Exactly why this showed up on Memeorandum, I don’t know, but with a headline like “Some thoughts on ‘sex by surprise,'” I had to click and it’s Jill Filipovic at Feministing:

There’s a lot going around in bloglandia and on the interwebs about WikiLeaks honcho Julian Assange’s sexual assault charge in Sweden; commentators are saying that Assange didn’t really rape anyone, and these are trumped-up charges of “sex by surprise,” which basically means that Assange didn’t wear a condom and so days later the women he slept with are claiming rape. . . .
It also sounds like in one case, condom use was negotiated for and Assange agreed to wear a condom but didn’t, and the woman didn’t realize it until after they had sex; in the second case, it sounds like the condom broke and the woman told Assange to stop, which he did not. . . .

Yadda, yadda, now the unadulterated nonsense:

It’s an obvious enough concept for feminist thinkers who have spent more than 10 minutes considering the realities of sex and sexual assault: If you consent to sex but then at some point during sex withdraw that consent by telling your partner to stop, your partner should stop, and if your partner doesn’t stop then that’s assault. . . .
Whether withdrawal of consent is what actually happened here is impossible to tell, so I’m not suggesting that Assange is a rapist or that these charges are 100% definitely on-point; I have no idea. But neither do the commentators who are saying that Assange did nothing more than have sex without a condom. And it’s important to counter the “haha sex by surprise those crazy Swedes” media narrative with the fact that actually, non-consensual sex is assault and should be recognized as such by law. Consenting to one kind of sexual act doesn’t mean that you consent to anything else your partner wants to do; if it’s agreed that the only kind of sex we’re having is with a condom, then it does remove an element of consent to have sex without a condom with only one partner’s knowledge. To use another example, if you and your partner agree that you can penetrate her, it doesn’t necessarily follow that she has the green light to penetrate you whenever and however. . . .

Go read the whole silly thing, but I warn you: That’s three minutes of your life you’ll never get back.

Having already said that the proper response to Julian Assange can be summarized in four words — Predator drone. Hellfire missile. — I certainly have no interest in defending that disgusting scumbag. But I think many people who look at life from a practical, common-sense perspective will react to Jill’s fine scruples about the process of ensuring mutual consent much like I did: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Is this what all that ’60s “sexual liberation” rhetoric has wrought?

In an era when some 40% of U.S. births are to unmarried women, in a culture where “Girls Gone Wild” and “hook-ups” are normative, where threesomes, bisexual experimentation and amateur video-porn orgies have become a virtual rite of passage for many young Americans, where chlamydia and herpes are pandemic — in this era of rampant sexual decadence, I say, does Jill Filipovic (J.D., NYU) seriously expect horny strangers to negotiate consent calmly on an act-by-act basis while they’re knocking boots, making the beast with two backs, in flagrante delicto?

Listen up, sweetheart: You buy the ticket, you take the ride.

You made your choice when you picked the guy, who is going to run his standard modus operandi on you, just like he ran it on the last three-dozen hoes he played. Continue reading Unintentional Hilarity: Feminists Ask If Julian Assange Committed ‘Rape-Rape’ →

VIDEO: Helen Thomas Controversy

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I’m kinda thinking: What were the qualifications to receive a “Helen Thomas Diversity Award”? Applicants must write an essay explaining why all the evils of the world should be blamed on Zionists . . .

Great video report from Emily Spain at Newsy:

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Yesterday’s post, “Helen Thomas: Blood on Her Hands,” was linked by Da Tech Guy, the Rhetorican and James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal.

Further commentary from Classical Values, The Blogprof, Israel Matzav and Tammy Bruce.

Bristol Palin, Margaret Cho, Kathy Griffin and the Politics of Sexual Destruction

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“Everyone was trying to pit me against Bristol, but the truth is, we got along well. She never asked me to babysit Tripp or anything like that, but I consider her a friend. . . . I really like Bristol as a person. . . . I am proud of her for shaking her ass!”
— Margaret Cho

You might think Hollywood liberals would embrace it as a feminist Cinderella success story: The teen mom, seduced and abandoned by a two-faced cheater, gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance at a nationally televised dance competition. (Plot complication: She’s never danced in her life!) And yet, despite all odds, overcoming her own awkwardness and the disparagement of critics who call her “fat,” the small-town girl makes it all the way to the finals, becoming the object of worldwide admiration and a role model for young mothers everywhere.

But there have been no reports of bigtime producers bidding for the rights to make The Bristol Palin Story, and instead the heroine is predicably scorned and mocked, used as yet another weapon to attack Sarah Palin because . . . well, Sarah Palin is a conservative Republican, and therefore deserves to be attacked — by any means necessary.

(Quick aside: Note how accurately liberals identify their targets. If they wanted to mock chubby daughters of famous GOP politicians . . . uh, no, that won’t mock that one, because she’s a liberal, just like them.)

So here’s Margaret Cho, claiming to be Bristol’s friend and being “proud” of Bristol’s performance. Bristol had never said anything negative about Cho, and yet Cho could not resist the opportunity to use Bristol as a weapon against Governor Palin:

I heard from someone who really should know . . . that the only reason Bristol was on the show was because Sarah Palin forced her to do it. Sarah supposedly blames Bristol harshly and openly . . . for not winning the election, and so she told Bristol she “owed” it to her to do DWTS so that “America would fall in love with her again” and make it possible for Sarah Palin to run in 2012 with America behind her all the way. Instead of being supposedly “handicapped” by the presence of her teen mom daughter, now Bristol is going to be an “asset” – a celebrity beloved for her dancing.

And don’t miss the viciousness of Cho’s let-me-call-her-fat-while-I-pretend-to-be-sympathetic shot:

It’s heartbreaking that people are so awful to her about her weight. I think she looks fantastic, and why does everybody think they have a right to comment on our bodies? . . . If people call her fat what kind of impact does that have on women who have similar body types – which is most of us?

Can we talk bluntly here? Continue reading Bristol Palin, Margaret Cho, Kathy Griffin and the Politics of Sexual Destruction →

NY-1 UPDATE: Judge Reviewing Ballots, GOP Suspects Illegal Voting by Dems

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New York’s 1st District, encompassing eastern Long Island, remains the nation’s last undecided congressional race of 2010. Supporters of Republican challenger Randy Altschuler contend that incumbent Democrat Rep. Tim Bishop was the beneficiary of illegal votes:

Absentee ballot counting ground to a halt at 11 a.m. Friday in the only still-undecided congressional race in the nation, as lawyers and strategists for both candidates continued preparation for a showdown in State Supreme Court next week [i.e., starting today].
Republican challenger Randy Altschuler gained six votes on incumbent Democrat Tim Bishop in the count yesterday, narrowing the difference between the two candidates to 271 votes or 264 votes, depending on which side is doing the tally. (Bishop’s camp has his lead at 271 but the difference is only 264 according to Altschuler’s people.)
But more than 1,400 paper ballots remain uncounted — two-thirds of them because of objections raised by Altschuler — and the decision to count them or not will be made by Supreme Court Justice Peter H. Mayer . . .
Mayer will rule on the validity of an assortment of objections to the remaining absentee ballots . . . .
Of Altschuler’s approximately 1,000 outstanding ballot objections, about 650 of them are based on residency challenges. Altschuler’s lawyers are preparing to argue that the voters in question were improperly registered to vote in Suffolk County, according to Altschuler spokesman Rob Ryan.
Ryan said the Altschuler team’s investigation of those 650 challenged absentee ballots has turned up “hundreds” of voters that he contends should not have been allowed by the Board of Elections to register and vote in Suffolk County. He declined to give a specific number. The research is still continuing, he said.
The voters in question include people who own homes in New York City, have a New York City address on their drivers’ licences and, in numerous instances, voted in New York City multiple — even dozens of — times over the past decade or so. Some of them have gotten STAR tax relief — available only on one’s principal dwelling — on homes outside the 1st CD. Ryan said the Altschuler team has also turned up recorded mortgage documents in which some of the voters affirmed their NYC residences were their primary residences — and then voted in Suffolk County.
“That’s either voter fraud or bank fraud,” Ryan said.
Ryan accuses New York City Democrats of scheming to influence elections outside of the city. “They have taken proactive measures to encourage people to vote from their vacation homes,” Ryan said. He pointed to CountryVote.org, a website he said was established by a group of Democratic lawyers to encourage wealthy New York City Democrats who have second homes in the country to register at their country address — where their vote in an election will have more influence.
“It’s a move to stack the deck. The Democrats win in NYC by such wide margins, they don’t need the votes there, so why not put people in other places where their votes will count,” Ryan said. . . .

Read the whole thing. Sources close to the Altschuler campaign provided me with this timeline of the post-election events:

ELECTION DAY: New voting machines (scanners with retained paper ballots) are used for the first time in a statewide General Election. When the polls close returns are unusually slow coming in, not only in the 1st District, but across the state. The following morning Altschuler is presumed to have lost by over 3,400 votes.

FRIDAY, 11/5: The voting machines have been returned to the Board of Elections warehouse and the memory chips in the machines are downloaded and a swing of 3,800+ takes place. Altschuler ends the day up by 383. It appears that the reported vote on Election Night was riddled with human error caused by election workers who are unfamiliar with the workings of the new machines. (This same type of situation arose in November 2009 when the new machines were used in 7 of 11 counties that make up New York’s 23rd Congressional District. In this case one candidate gained over 2,500 votes when the memory chips were downloaded.) Almost immediately, the Bishop campaign starts calling for a hand-count of all ballots scanned by machines on Election Day; approximately 184,000 ballots. This came a day after they had ridiculed the Altschuler campaign for wanting a count of the absentee ballots.

TUESDAY, 11/8: Bishop goes to State Supreme Court wanting hand count of all 184,000 scanned ballots judge requests legal basis for the count. The Suffolk County Board of Elections starts a NY State mandated audit of 3% of all machines in the County. This is a statewide mandate to make sure that the new machines are working properly. The BOE finds no problems with the machines when the audit is completed 10 days later.

WEDNESDAY, 11/9: Suffolk County Board of Elections starts count of over 11,000 absentee, military and affidavit (emergency) ballots. This is includes a challenge process by which each campaign challenges ballots prior to them being opened and counted. These challenges can be based on a variety of issues ranging from late postmark to handwriting or residency issues. Challenged ballots are set aside by type of challenge and will not be opened or counted until the challenge is resolved.

TUESDAY, 11/23: Count of approximately 9,000 of the above referenced 11,000+ ballots is completed. Altschuler now trails by 230 votes with over 2,200 challenged ballots remaining to be counted.

MONDAY, 11/29: FOX NEWS runs story citing incidents of fraud in numerous absentee ballots that have been challenged. Under NY State law these are felonies and if convicted the voter can be sentenced to a year in jail. The ballots challenged on a residency basis revolve around individuals with residences in New York City or Florida with multi-million dollar vacation homes vacation homes in the Hamptons and Shelter Island.

WEDNESDAY, 12/1: At close of business Altschuler is behind by 259 votes.

THURSDAY, 12/2: Judge is review all challenges based on technical issues.

MONDAY, 12/6: Judge will start to review remaining challenges based on handwriting or residency issues.

Flashback: My CPAC interview with Randy Altschuler.

Democrats Reward Failure

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Of course, that’s the principle of their social-welfare policies, but who thought they’d apply it to politics?

Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.) promoted an internal candidate to be the new executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Israel, the new DCCC chairman, announced Monday that Robby Mook would be the committee’s next top staffer.
Mook led the DCCC’s Independent Expenditure effort in the 2010 cycle, during which the party lost more than 60 seats and its majority. . . .
“Robby has the right combination of experience, political know-how and leadership savvy to help make this the shortest Republican majority in history,” Israel said in a statement.

Translation: He’s an experienced loser! Note that Republicans, despite their huge victory in the mid-term elections, are staging a mutiny against RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who is being blamed generally for the GOP having failed to win more.  

In their dissatisfaction with a less-than-complete victory, Republicans remind me of the ancient Athenians, as described in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War: “And what they have planned but not carried out, they think that in this they lose something already their own; what they have attempted and gained, that in this they have achieved but little in comparison with what they mean to do.”

Related: Tea Party Nation promoter wants Sarah Palin to seek the RNC chairmanship.

‘A Communicational Schematic That Is Superior to Anything Else in Existence’

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On April 7, 2002, a university professor in Tennessee posted this:

I keep hearing from people that they started a weblog because of InstaPundit. About a month ago, I asked everyone who did so to email me. I got so many that it took me a while to find the time — and energy — to compile them into a list.

You can go look at that list, which includes such well-known names in the blogosphere as Stephen Green, Ed Driscoll and (believe it or not) Matthew Yglesias. The list of Instapundit-inspired blogs was subsequently collected by Jeff Wolfe with hotlink URLs and an addendum.

What is interesting, in looking at all those blogs, is how many of them have faded into oblivion, even as blogs that started much later — including this one, which became a full-time project in March 2008 — have endured and flourished.

Blogs come and go, but Instapundit still dominates. Imitated, but never excelled. And while that success continues to inspire emulation, it also excites envy. (Such are the perils of success.) Who is this guy, whose mere “heh” can mean so much? Why should his enigmatic interests, his particular likes and dislikes, have such overwhelming influence in Blogland? Continue reading ‘A Communicational Schematic That Is Superior to Anything Else in Existence’ →

Teacher Convicted of Sex With Teen Asks Judge for Castration Instead of Prison

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Weird story from Connecticut:

A teacher convicted of sexually assaulting one of his students had an odd request for the judge at his sentencing Thursday.
Adam Friedman, 46, offered to be castrated in an effort to avoid prison time.
Friedman was an instructor at the Arts at the Capitol Theater magnet school in Willimantic when he was arrested in December 2008.
Prosecutors say Friedman had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl between July and November 2008. . . .
Thursday at his formal sentencing . . . Friedman asked Judge Elliot Solomon to allow him to be castrated instead of going to prison.
Solomon didn’t take the offer, sentencing Friedman to 13 years.

Beyond the weird factor, did you notice that this took place at a “magnet school”? In other words, getting to attend this school was like a real special honor or something. Maybe they need to take that concept back to the drawing board.

Ruh-Roh: Bernanke Says Unemployment Won’t Be Back to ‘Normal’ for Five Years

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On “60 Minutes” last night:

The nation’s unemployment rate, which has been over 9 percent for a record 19 months, is not likely to return to “a more normal unemployment rate” of about 5 percent or 6 percent for four or five years, the Federal Reserve chairman said in an interview with the CBS News program “60 Minutes” broadcast on Sunday night. . . .
Bernanke said: “Between the peak and the end of last year, we lost eight and a half million jobs. We’ve only gotten about a million of them back so far. And that doesn’t even account the new people coming into the labor force. At the rate we’re going, it could be four, five years before we are back to a more normal unemployment rate. Somewhere in the vicinity of say 5 or 6 percent.”

You know what the weird thing is? You can expect the stock market to go up because of this bad-news remark by Bernanke. Why? Because if Bernanke believes the economy’s in the toilet, it probably means the Fed will keep pumping currency, which means low interest rates for financial institutions, etc.

“They’re trying to re-inflate the bubble,” as an economist buddy remarked to me in May 2009. But it’s not working and at some point, they’re going to have to admit that it’s not working. And he’s your kick-in-the-head economic news of the day:

Gold imports into China have soared this year, turning the country, already the largest bullion miner, into a major overseas buyer for the first time in recent memory.
The surge . . . comes as Chinese investors look for insurance against rising inflation and currency appreciation . . .

Guess they’ve been listening to Glenn Beck.