2010 : Page 43 : The Other McCain

U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz conceded late Monday to Congressman-elect Blake Farenthold.
Noting that the recount of more than 106,000 votes had been completed in the district, Ortiz said: “Therefore, with great respect and admiration in the Democratic process, I congratulate my opponent, Mr. R. Blake Farenthold, in his election to the 27th Congressional District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives.” . . .
During the recounts, Farenthold, the Republican challenger, continued his lead over Ortiz by nearly 800 votes.
For his part, Farenthold said that, “it’s a great relief to have the uncertainty gone.”
Farenthold also told The Brownsville Herald that he is “very happy” and that Ortiz had been “very gracious.”

Politico writes: “Republicans have now won at least 62 House seats. The GOP leads in one of four unresolved races.” Meanwhile, in NY-25, where Republican Ann Marie Buerkle leads by 567 votes after the absentees were counted, the chairman of the Onondaga County GOP called on Democrat incumbent Rep. Dan Maffei to concede:

“It’s over. Dan Maffei has no chance to win the 25th congressional seat and it’s time for him to stop wasting taxpayer dollars and do the honorable thing and right thing for the residents of the 25th District and concede.”

A court hearing originally scheduled for Tuesday on Maffei’s request for a hand recount has been postponed to Wednesday. Over on Long Island, meanwhile, the count in NY-1 continues seesawing back and forth, as Jim Geraghty points out, linking our friends at Left Coast Rebel. The latest count seems to have Democrat Rep. Tim Bishop leading GOP challenger Randy Altschuler by about 200 votes and, pending “challenged” ballots, that one might not be decided until after Thanksgiving.

So the GOP has scored a net gain of at least 62 seats and possibly as many as 64. Yet with the Republican victory in TX-27, Republicans have now crossed the threshold to 241 House seats — the most they’ve held in more than 60 years.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE II: Welcome, Gateway Pundit readers! Up near Syracuse, N.Y., the Lonely Conservative is angry:

Rep. Dan Maffei (D) continues to deny the obvious. I suppose he’s thinking that perhaps a few voting machines or bags of ballots will magically appear so he can continue with his Keynesian fantasy. . . . No matter how you slice it, Ann Marie Buerkle has won the election. Yet Dan Maffei still refuses to concede.

Dan’s clinging. Bitterly.

UPDATE III: Guy Benson at Townhall has been riding the NY-1 roller coaster. If Altschuler wins there — and if Maffei ever concedes — Republicans will have gained an impressive seven House seats in New York alone. Not like there’s any kind of “mandate” there or anything.

UPDATE IV: One of the most-overlooked results of the national GOP landslide was that the state legislature in Alabama, which had been controlled by Democrats since . . . . well, since forever, was swept by Republicans. And now four Democrat incumbents who managed to get re-elected Nov. 2 have switched parties to join the GOP majority.

Charlie Sheen Countersues Porn Star for ‘Shakedown,’ Calls Her ‘Scam Artist’

Posted on November 22, 2010November 22, 2010Comments

Hey, can I spot the hot stories or what?

Charlie Sheen filed a lawsuit Monday for extortion and two other counts against the porn star who claims he tried to choke her during a bizarre meltdown in a New York hotel last month.
In the lawsuit . . . Sheen alleges that Christina Walsh, aka Capri Anderson, demanded $1 million from the Two and a Half Men star to keep quiet. The suit also alleges that Walsh works as a prostitute.
Sheen’s lawsuit was filed by L.A. power attorney Marty Singer and says Walsh engaged in “an attempted shakedown and extortion of the internationally known actor and celebrity Charlie Sheen.”
She is described as “an opportunistic pornographic film star and publicity hungry scam artist”.

Best quotes from the court filing (PDF):

After a consensual encounter . . . Walsh decided that this was her chance to become rich and famous. To that end, she fabricated a story about being assaulted, battered and held against her will. . . .
Walsh, a young and relatively unknown pornographic film actor . . . has an unrelenting desire and goal to be wealthy and to appear on television and achieve her fifteen minutes of fame. . . .
Shortly after they had gotten into the room [at the Plaza Hotel], Sheen discovered that a very expensive Patek Philippe watch which he had purchased in May 2010 for $165,000 was missing. Sheen asked Walsh to return the watch, and when Walsh refused and falsely denied she had taken the watch, Sheen became extremely upset.

(Via TweetDrudge.) So this guy with the $165,000 watch (allegedly) decided it was a smart idea to hire this “young and relatively unknown” woman as his dinner date for $3,500 and bring her up to his hotel room for a “consensual encounter.” And when the situation spins out of control, Mr. Patek Philippe hires a big-shot lawyer to bully her into shutting up.

Exit Questions: If Charlie was so sure this chick stole his watch, why didn’t he report the theft to the cops when they showed up at his hotel room? Does Charlie expect the court to uphold his right to commit a crime — e.g., solicitation of prostitution — without risk of embarrassment?

PREVIOUSLY:

Shrieking Outrage in 3, 2, 1 . . .

Posted on November 22, 2010November 22, 2010Comments

“The women’s movement used to be about honoring for women the same God-given rights that our country honored for men. It used to be about dignity and hope. It used to be about respecting women by respecting their choices — whether it is to be a nuclear engineer or a stay-at-home mom — not denigrating them when they aren’t sufficiently like men. And it used to be about respecting women’s unique role in creating and sustaining life.”
— Sarah Palin, America by Heart

FBI Report: Remember That Predicted Wave of Tea Party Hate Crimes?

Posted on November 22, 2010November 23, 2010Comments

Despite warnings about “right wing extremists” from the Department of Homeland Security, the Great Hate Tsunami of 2009 failed to materialize:

The number of hate crime incidents in the United States reported for 2009 came down from 2008, according to data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday.
“While the number of law enforcement agencies submitting data to us increased — topping off at 14,222 — the number of hate crime incidents reported for 2009 (6,604) was down from 2008,” the agency reported.

The Southern Poverty Law Center — which has spent the past two years shrieking about an alleged proliferation of anti-Latino, anti-Muslim and anti-black hate groups — today expanded its list of anti-gay hate groups to include both the American Family Association and the Family Research Council.

Something about a little boy who cried wolf . . .

UPDATE: Longtime readers will probably not be surprised to see Charles Johnson use the SPLC list (which applies its “hate” label to the Massachusetts conservative group MassResistance) as an excuse to take a cheap shot at Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit:

Let’s pause to consider this typically stupid ad hominem — i.e., Jim/”Dim” — before moving on to examine how utterly false is Johnson’s characterization of MassResistance.

The “teach school kids to fist” remark relates to the role of MassResistance in publicizing a 2000 conference at Tufts University, sponsored by the Boston chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). What transpired at that event — with state officials telling an audience of high school and middle school students about the practice of “fisting” — was described in a Weekly Standard article by Rod Dreher.

The 2000 Tufts conference became newsworthy in 2009 after Obama named as his “safe schools czar” Kevin Jennings, who had been keynote speaker at that event.

So you see that Johnson’s characterization of MassResistance as “the ‘gays teach school kids how to fist’ bunch” — as if the group were demonizing all homosexuals for the actions of GLSEN activists — is completely inaccurate. MassResistance is a parent-sponsored organization arguing (as they have every right to do) about educational policy in Massachusetts public schools.

Surely parents ought to be able to object to teaching school kids about “fisting” without being accused of “hate.” And surely Jim Hoft ought to be able to blog about the controversy surrounding the czardom of Kevin Jennings without being derogated as “Dim.”

UPDATE II: Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch notes this from another story about the FBI report: “Anti-Muslim crimes were a distant second to crimes against Jews, making up just eight percent of the hate crimes driven by religious intolerance.” Dan Blatt at Gay Patriot awaits MSM headlines about “the rising tide of anti-Semitism.”

PREVIOUSLY:

March 2: How SPLC Hypes the Hate
March 19: Report: How Southern Poverty Law Center Smeared Immigration Group
April 19: Mark Potok and the Hijacking of ‘Hate’

VIDEO: Whoopi Goldberg Mocks Victim of Charlie Sheen Rampage on ‘View’

Posted on November 22, 2010November 22, 2010Comments

In-freaking-credible!

It’s not really surprising that Whoopi defends Charlie Sheen for abusing women — she sided with Charlie against his ex-wife Denise Richards — but is Whoopi not even the least bit curious about the accusation that Sheen “started yelling racial slurs” at Capri Anderson?

Whoopi seems to believe that, in any conflict between a woman and a wealthy, famous, powerful man, the woman has no rights whatsoever — and that the woman’s side of the story should never be taken seriously by her fellow women.

That kind of enabling attitude toward a man who clearly has chronic substance-abuse problems — to say nothing of his well-documented history of sexual misconduct — is extremely dangerous. Sheen acts the way he acts because his enablers prevent him from ever having to suffer the full consequences of his actions.

Is Charlie Sheen going to have to kill somebody before his celebrity enablers stop making excuses for him?

UPDATE: Let’s imagine that Charlie Sheen continues his downward trajectory of intoxication and violent misogyny. What will the headlines be? And what will Whoopi Goldberg’s reaction be on The View?

March 4, 2011

SHEEN ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT
Prostitute Hospitalized After Beating

Whoopi Goldberg, The View, March 7, 2011:

“Hey, boys will be boys, y’know what I’m saying? You can’t believe a word these street-walkers say . . . Probably fell down the steps and now she’s just trying to hustle some money out the deal.”

July 19, 2011

CAR CRASH SIDELINES CBS STAR
Sheen Injuries ‘Minor’ After Wrong-Way Collision;
Passenger, 3 Others in Critical Condition at Hospital

Whoopi Goldberg, The View, July 21, 2011

“Look at the police report, Joy. It clearly says this stupid hooker spilled her drink on Charlie’s leather seats. Do you have any idea what it costs to clean leather seats on a Benz? So this slut spills her whiskey and Charlie took the wrong ramp — it could happen to anybody!”

January 2, 2012

POLICE END STRIP-CLUB STANDOFF
Sheen Releases Hostages, Arrested Following
SWAT Raid on Scene of Star’s New Year’s Party

Whoopi Goldberg, The View, January 3, 2012

“You’re not being fair, Barbara. When Charlie Sheen pays for a lap dance, he has every right to expect what they call a ‘happy ending,’ OK? So maybe Charlie overreacted a little bit, but all the hostages got out alive, didn’t they? No harm, no foul, I say.”

October 22, 2012

POLICE QUESTION SHEEN
IN MISSING STARLET CASE
Family Asks Public’s Assistance
in Finding 19-Year-Old Actress

Whoopi Goldberg, The View, October 25, 2012:

“He’s innocent until proven guilty, Elizabeth. They had a little date and Charlie said he dropped her off at her apartment, and we haven’t seen any evidence that contradicts Charlie’s story. Besides, how do we know anything actually happened to that dumb bimbo, huh? Maybe she just ran off to Cabo to party with one of her other boyfriends and didn’t think to tell anybody she was leaving.”

November 7, 2012

SHEEN INVESTIGATION CONTINUES
Detectives Say Evidence Connects Actor
To Disappearances of Three Other Women

Whoopi Goldberg, The View, November 9, 2012:

“Oh, give me a break! We’re talking about circumstantial evidence here. And what’s the big deal about duct tape and a ski mask, anyway? Puh-leeze!”

December 5, 2012

BODIES FOUND IN REMOTE CANYON
Hikers Stumble Onto Skeletal Remains
Near Vacation Cabin Owned by Charlie Sheen

Whoopi Goldberg, The View, December 6, 2012:

“Bones turn up in these hills all the time, is all I’m saying. They don’t even know that these remains are human, OK?”

August 24, 2013

JURY CONVICTS SHEEN
IN SERIAL MURDERS
After Weeks of Gruesome Testimony,
Actor Convicted of Killing Four Women

Whoopi Goldberg, The View, August 26, 2013:

“Those no-good bitches deserved to die.”

Lame-Duck Democrats Trying to Pass Amnesty for Illegal Aliens Like the Killer of Democratic Intern Chandra Levy

Posted on November 22, 2010November 22, 2010

OK, I’m not sure Ingmar Guandique would qualify under the DREAM Act, but you get the point. And if you don’t get the point, Michelle Malkin will explain it to you — and she reminds you that the media are still “whitewashing the illegal immigration angle from the story.”

Liberals — including Republican open-borders advocates who try to claim they’re “conservative” — refuse to recognize the common-sense logic here: Illegal aliens have, by the act of illegally entering the country, demonstrated their contempt for U.S. law. It is therefore not surprising that illegal aliens, as a group, have higher rates of every serious crime — from DUI to assault to rape to murder — than do native-born citizens or legal immigrants. Yet by blurring the distinction between illegal aliens and legal immigrants, and by relentlessly playing the race card, liberals promote the falsehood that those who advocate stronger enforcement of immigration laws are xenophobic bigots. Continue reading Lame-Duck Democrats Trying to Pass Amnesty for Illegal Aliens Like the Killer of Democratic Intern Chandra Levy →

Maxine and Barney, Sitting in a Tree . . .

Posted on November 22, 2010November 22, 2010Comments

. . . K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

A newly discovered exchange of e-mails led the House ethics committee on Friday to delay its trial of Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat accused of helping steer bailout money to a bank in which her husband owned shares.
The e-mails are between Mikael Moore, Ms. Waters’s chief of staff, and members of the House Financial Services Committee, on which Ms. Waters serves. The e-mails show that Mr. Moore was actively engaged in discussing with committee members details of a bank bailout bill apparently after Ms. Waters agreed to refrain from advocating on the bank’s behalf. The bailout bill had provisions that ultimately benefited OneUnited, a minority-owned bank in which her husband, Sidney Williams, owned about $350,000 in shares. . . .
The subcommittee’s original report found that in early September 2008, Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts and the committee’s chairman, told Ms. Waters not to get involved with any issues involving OneUnited and that Ms. Waters agreed to refrain from advocating on the bank’s behalf. . . .
A person directly involved in the investigation said the new e-mails could show that members of her staff continued to work on the bank’s behalf.
“It may directly contradict a bit of Maxine’s story, if not the actual facts, the way she has told it,” said the person, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the trial.

So if Barney told Maxine to stay away from the OneUnited “issues,” yet Maxine’s chief-of-staff kept “discussing [the bank] with committee members” — of which Barney was the chairman — will Barney be called to testify against Maxine? And what else might be included in the e-mails that will be made public in the course of this investigation?

Ed Morrissey has much, much more at Hot Air. There’s also a Memeorandum thread with additional blog commentary from YID With LID, Weasel Zippers, Moe Lane and Alana Goodman.