The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

In The Mailbox: 06.19.23

Posted on | June 19, 2023 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 06.19.23

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

OVER THE TRANSOM
Director Blue: The Legendary Ivan Koloff On The state Of Affairs In Washington
357 Magnum: No Place For Christians At Bitwarden
EBL: The Punisher, Killed By Cancel Culture, June Brides, Pinup Noir, and Biden Family Values: Deadbeat Dad Hunter Biden and Bad Grandpa Joe Biden
Twitchy: HRC Flames Out With Epically Bad Juneteenth Tweet, Sen. Kennedy Schools Durbin The Turban On Biden Bribery Allegations, and The U.S. Military Is Monitoring Your Tweets, So Be Nice To Gen. Milley Or Else
Louder With Crowder: Anheuser-Busch executive forced to admit Dylan Mulvaney fiasco “has been a wake-up call”, Maryland’s Democrat Governor claims restricting what books are available in school libraries is “castrating” our kids, and LA Dodgers honor anti-Catholic drag nuns in empty stadium as thousands of Catholics patriotically protest outside
Vox Popoli: Of truth and Truth, They TRIED to do That, Vaccines Almost Certainly Cause Autism, and I Do Not Support Free Speech
Stoic Observations: The Great Grand Boss
Gab News: Our Duty To Produce Christian Culture

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Chastity and Lust and Possession
American Conservative: Front Royal on the Front Lines, Leave Trump Alone, Re-Education Camp, and The Dollar at the End of History
American Greatness: Michigan City Bans Display of LGBTQ Flags from City Property, Homeland Committee Chairman: Red China Likely Sending Military Personnel Into U.S, Joe Biden Announces Ambitious Plan to Build a Railroad ‘All the Way Across the Indian Ocean’, and Amazon Shuts Man Out of Own Smart Home After Racism Allegations
American Power: The Radical Strategy Behind Trump’s Promise to ‘Go After’ Biden, Alternative for Germany Party Gains Ground Ahead of Elections, and Why the U.S. Electric Grid Isn’t Ready for the Energy Transition
American Thinker: The quiet riot against insanity in America is gaining strength, It’s Not Just the FBI – The IRS goes into ‘Beast Mode’, Trump Indictment a Violation of Federal Law, and The FBI is Now a Democrat SuperPAC
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
Babalu Blog: Ungrateful Cubans complain about awful food in hospitals and poor medical care, NBC’s Chuck Todd FURIOUS that those UPPITY Cuban-Americans don’t know their place in the ‘Hispanic’ quarters of the liberal plantation!, Dissent is not tolerated in Cuba, no matter who you are, and China’s decades-long military presence in Cuba goes beyond espionage
BattleSwarm: I’m Really Satisfied With My Maytag MVWP575GW Washer, Federal Court To Biden: “No, You Can’t Have A National Guard Vax Mandate. Not Yours.”, and LinkSwarm for June 16
Behind The Black: NASA official in charge of its manned program denigrates the idea of fixed-price contracts, SpaceX successfully launches Indonesian broadband satellite, Rocket Lab completes first suborbital test launch of its Electron rocket, PLD’s first suborbital test launch aborted just prior to launch, and Pushback: Judge blocks race-based program of Biden administration
Cafe Hayek: Oh, And Naturally He Also Calls for Industrial Policy, Why Do Genius Angels Need Government Power?, and “Shoddy, Shoddy, Shoddy”
CDR Salamander: Build The Yards Now
Chicago Boyz: Enemies of the People, also, Faustian Ambition (updated)
Da Tech Guy: Five Quick Sports Thoughts Under the Fedora, The Democrats are dismantling America’s ballot box and jury box, A Good Investment vs a Bad One, and Is America resembling the French Revolution?
Don Surber: Here’s Your Apology, Guardian
First Street Journal: Crime, like any other cancer, left untreated, metastasizes, also, Molly McGhee and student loan forgiveness
Gates Of Vienna: The Deindustrialization of Germany?, Geert Wilders – Send in the Army if Necessary, Let Them Take the Bus!, Collateral Damage in the Great Replacement, and Russian Sanctions Bingo
The Geller Report: Networks Devote ZERO Seconds to Biden Bombshell of Million Dollar Bribery Phone-Calls, But Run 291 Minutes of Trump Classified (Hoax), NEWLY DISCOVERED: Ukraine Opened Biden Bank Account In Malta For Alleged $10 Million Bribery Payment, and Donald Trump Cannot Get a Top-Tier Lawyer Because of Threats of Legal and Career Reprisals
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, A Neutron Star Dances with a Black Hole, and Rule Five and Politics
Hollywood In Toto: How Cliffhanger Brought Stallone Back from the Comedy Brink, Hollywood Wouldn’t Cancel Ezra Miller (But Audiences Just Did), and Dominion Is Ready to Rumble with Mainstream Comics
The Lid: WANNABE DICTATOR Controversy: Was This SCATHING Tucker Monologue His Best So Far?, also, Missing My Dad On Father’s Day
Legal Insurrection: Ex-Teammate of Lia Thomas Says UPenn Told Swim Team ‘Don’t Talk to the Media’, Thousands of Catholics and Others Turn Out to Protest L.A. Dodgers’ Honoring of LGBTQ ‘Nun’ Group, Joe Rogan Challenges Vaccine Scientist Peter Hotez to Debate Presidential Candidate RFK Jr., UN Chief Goes on Delusional Tirade Against Fossil Fuels, Saying They Are “Incompatible with Human Survival”, and Sheldon Whitehouse: Dianne Feinstein Should Not Resign No Matter What Because We Need Judges Confirmed
Nebraska Energy Observer: Saturday – just for you, Second Sunday After Trinity, and The American Way of War
Outkick: Ja Morant Reportedly Believes NBA Is ‘Out To Get’ Him With His 25-Game Suspension, The Athletic, Which Just Had Another Round Of Layoffs, Is Mad That Only 29 Of 30 MLB Teams Host ‘Pride Night’, Bill Walton ‘Shocked’ At The Way Scottie Pippen Talks So Poorly Of Michael Jordan, Awkward! Atlanta Braves DFA Charlie Culberson On Father’s Day Morning With Dad Scheduled To Throw Out First Pitch, Sex Workers In Nevada Offer Free Orgy To Golden Knights Players After Stanley Cup Win, and The Dodgers Lost Tens Of Thousands In Revenue And Embarrassed Themselves To Appease The Far Left
Power Line: Thoughts from the ammo line, Illegal Gun Sales Are Now Illegal?, Garland of thorns for MPD [With Comment by John], and Why Our Electric Grid Is Threatened
Shark Tank: Democrat Says DeSantis “Got It Right More Than Anyone” During COVID
Shot In The Dark: Compare & Contrast, Ghastly, and Off Script
STUMP: Other People’s Money: ESG, Public Pensions, and the Principal-Agent Problem
The Political Hat: Children In Academia: Naked Men With Schoolgirls; Sexually Assaulting A Six Year Old; But Muh Capitalism
This Ain’t Hell: When a politician tries to give proper journalism hints to a reporter regarding classified documents, Chinese troops infiltrating through U.S. southern border?, Forest fires! Climate change chaos! We’re DOOMED!!!, and Army Protective Services Battalion Is Watching!
Transterrestrial Musings: Lunacy, The Wuhan Institute Of Virology, Why Did Trump Do It?, and Space-Based Solar Power
Victory Girls: No Gun Free Zones-Texas Leads The Way, Rand Paul Goes Full Pitbull On Fauci, and Vote Joe And Inaugurate Kamala Harris As President
Volokh Conspiracy: Smart Home System = Home System That Amazon Can Mess With If It Doesn’t Like What You Say?, Study Finds Bar Exam Requirements Greatly Reduce the Number of Lawyers, and Restoring the Name of Fort Bragg is Nothing to Brag About
Watts Up With That: German Princess Gloria On Green New Deal: “Going to Be Worse Than Communist East Germany”!, Epic Fail in America’s Heartland: Climate Models Greatly Overestimate Corn Belt Warming, Grid asks factories to use less energy next winter under blackout prevention plan, and ‘The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves’ Should Not Be a Template for Energy Policy
Weasel Zippers: Biden Says U.S. Has “Plans To Build A Railroad From The Pacific…Across The Indian Ocean”, U.S. General Admits She’d Prioritize Gender Surgery Access Over Qualified Officers, Kamala Harris Takes Stage At Juneteenth Celebration, Immediately Starts Laughing Uncontrollably, and 181 House Democrats Vote To BAN Gas Stoves In America
The Federalist: How Did Biden Really Make His Millions? It’s Time For A Special Counsel To Find Out, How Reddit Radicalizes The Left And Encourages Political Violence, Southern Baptists Vote To Remain Faithful To Biblical Teaching, How This Legal Group Plans To Halt Democrats’ Jihad Against Election Integrity Laws Ahead Of 2024, Foul Ball: L.A. Catholics Declare Victory Over The Perpetually Indulged, and From Virginia To Texas, Air Force Throws ‘Pride’ Parties While Our Readiness Crumbles
Mark Steyn: If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be This Week’s Trump Arrest, Sad Sack Sadism, and Hot and Bothered: Elizabeth Taylor, the Production Code and BUtterfield 8

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Rule 5 Sunday: Natalya Neidhart

Posted on | June 19, 2023 | Comments Off on Rule 5 Sunday: Natalya Neidhart

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Not to be confused with the Russian tennis player/actress Natalya Nemchinova, even if Bing and Google can’t keep them straight…This Natalya is a third-generation professional wrestler, part of WWE’s Hart Dynasty.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule Five Minnesoda Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon

EBL: “Fall of Troy”, Elizabeth Schuyler, The Great War of Archimedes, Anime Girl, “You’re A Grand Old Flag”, “Magna Carta”, Nurses Of Normandy, Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful, “Finnegans Wake”, Black Mirror Season Six, MAGA – Mar-A-Lago Indictment, The Punisher Killed By Cancel Culture, and Saturday Night Girls With Guns

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Liza KovalenkoFish Pic Friday – Love LeighMaryland Oyster Mining to Continue UnabatedTattoo ThursdayTrump ArraignedThe Wednesday WetnessAlas, Poor Silvio!Burisma’s Biden Bribes Recorded? Topless Trans at White HouseShoufMonday in the SwampThe Monday Morning Stimulus and Palm Sunday

FLAPPR: T.I.T.S. For June 16

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

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FMJRA 2.0: Back To Earth

Posted on | June 18, 2023 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Back To Earth

— compiled by Wombat-socho

And that’s the way it was. Fresh off a sweep of the Giants at Candlestick, the Senators came home and lost three close games to the Angels at RFK. Coleman and Marichal both took tough losses, and Jim Kaat only gave up four in 8 2/3, but even with Willie Mays coming off the DL the offense just couldn’t make it happen. Well, it was still a .500 week, and we’re only a game behind Oakland, so I’m not complaining too loudly.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

“Maybe we should have stayed on the road.” – R. Scheinblum, outfielder

Five — Count ’Em, FIVE — Flaming Skulls for FBI Whistleblower Report on Biden
The DaleyGator
Flopping Aces
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

Approaching the Nadir of Wokeness
The DaleyGator
Flappr
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

No Heroes for You, Whitey: Albany, N.Y., Has ‘Cancelled’ Gen. Philip Schuyler
EBL

FMJRA 2.0: Road Warriors
A View From The Beach
EBL

Rule 5 Sunday: Frank Kelly Freas
Animal Magnetism
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 06.12.23
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

Chaos in NYPD as Commissioner Resigns
The DaleyGator
357 Magnum
EBL

Another Day, Another Deadline
The DaleyGator
Flappr
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 06.14.23
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

‘All I Wanted Was a Pepsi’
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL

Do Ghouls and Witches Count for ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ at Harvard?
EBL

In The Mailbox: 06.16.23 (Punditocracy Edition)
357 Magnum
A View From The Beach
EBL

Top linkers for the week ending June 16:

  1.  EBL (12)
  2.  357 Magnum (8)
  3.  A View From The Beach (7)

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

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Liberals: ‘There Is No Cancel Culture’; Also Liberals: ‘Let’s Cancel This Comic’

Posted on | June 17, 2023 | Comments Off on Liberals: ‘There Is No Cancel Culture’; Also Liberals: ‘Let’s Cancel This Comic’

Marvel Comics now imitates Mao’s Red Guards:

A year ago progressive news outlets were calling the idea of the culture war a “right-wing conspiracy theory” that had no basis in reality. . . .
Why would leftists target something as frivolous as comic book heroes? Because pop-culture is first and foremost a playground where children grow up, and by rewriting heroes as social justice crusaders and communists they hope to indoctrinate the next generation.
However, one hero figure in particular is seen as so egregious and so triggering that leftists want him memory-holed altogether – The Punisher.
The Punisher character (Frank Castle), originally created by writer Gerry Conway in 1974 with artists Ross Andru and John Romita, was a product of a chaotic era; a reaction to the rise of war, stagflation, instability and exploding crime rates in the US. The Punisher’s story is a tragedy of a returning military veteran whose family is killed during what seems to be a gangland hit. With federal agencies doing little to arrest the perpetrators, Castle takes matters into his own hands and begins systematically assassinating the criminals. . . .
The Punisher as an icon has been highly popular among conservatives, military veterans and law enforcement officers in recent years. The trademark skull symbol can be found everywhere, with patches, gear and flags sporting the image, often as a representation of citizens taking matters into their own hands. The symbol was also seen at the January 6th protests.
This has made leftists at Marvel Comics livid. . . .
Marvel writers, including original Punisher creator Gerry Conway, specifically cite the popularity of the character among conservatives as the reason for his virtual elimination. As Newsweek noted, the Punisher was “problematic” for Marvel because conservatives liked him too much. . . .
Much like the Cultural Revolution in China, leftist movements in America are systematically tearing down all opposing beliefs from our cultural catalog, and this includes any positive representations of vigilantism. They openly admit why they are doing it; conservatives aren’t allowed to be the good guys. They aren’t allowed to have heroes.

(Hat-tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)



 

 

The Ontological Error of ‘Gun Violence’

Posted on | June 17, 2023 | Comments Off on The Ontological Error of ‘Gun Violence’

Gloria: “Daddy, did you know that sixty-five percent of the people murdered in this country in the last ten years were killed by handguns?”
Archie Bunker: “Would it make you feel any better, little girl, if they was pushed out of windows?”

That exchange from a 1972 episode of All in the Family always comes to mind when I here politicians and the media discussing “gun violence.” My guns have never perpetrated any violence, and probably your guns are equally innocent, but liberals have a quasi-religious belief that criminals are not responsible for crime. No, it would be wrong to blame the criminals and put them in prison, according to Our Moral and Intellectual Superiors™ in the Democratic Party.

At the root of this mentality is an unwillingness to accept that some people are just bad — irredeemable, a net detriment to society, genetically inferior, social failures, a waste of oxygen. In this, the attitude of liberals toward the criminal class is something akin to the attitude of abused women toward the violent men they love: “I can save him!” Or perhaps we might compare it to Victor Frankenstein who, when the enraged villagers show up, tries to defend the murderous monster he has created. Liberals who lament “mass incarceration” seem willing to ignore the victims of the crimes perpetrated by prison inmates.

Liberals do not want to deal with the reality of recidivism. Most crime is committed by repeat offenders — career criminals who, unless they are put behind bars, will continue perpetrating crime more or less continually. The consequences of the “turn ’em loose” mentality are repeatedly demonstrated in news accounts of murders committed by repeat felons, like 16-year-old Dawnta Harris of Baltimore, who killed a cop by running over her after he was caught during a spree of home invasions. When Harris was arraigned, District Court Judge Sally Chester denied bond and put the teenager in adult jail, telling his lawyer: “In the last six months, no offense, but your client is a one-man crime wave. I’m not certain any juvenile facility is secure enough to hold him.”

Protest marches against “gun violence” are not going to solve the problem, unless the protests are aimed at impeaching Soros-funded “progressive” district attorneys whose turn-’em-loose approach results in dangerous felons roaming the streets of Democrat-controlled cities.

Consider the case of Chicago. One of the tools that police use to “stop gun violence” — because that’s what liberals claim to want, right? — is ShotSpotter, a network of audio sensors that automatically alert police to locations where gunfire happens. Would it surprise you to learn that Our Moral and Intellectual Superiors™ are against this?

In July 2022, the MacArthur Justice Center brought a class action lawsuit against the City of Chicago, the Chicago Police Department, and several individual police officers for constitutional violations in connection with the use of ShotSpotter. The lawsuit alleges that more than 90% of the time police respond to a ShotSpotter alert they find no indication of a gun-related incident and instead use the alerts to justify scores of illegal stops and arrests. The lawsuit also alleges that Chicago’s ShotSpotter policy is racially discriminatory because the system was only implemented in areas with the highest concentration of Black and Latino residents.

The “racially discriminatory” location of ShotSpotter sensors might have something to do with THIS IS WHERE ALL THE SHOOTINGS KEEP HAPPENING, but Our Moral and Intellectual Superiors™ don’t care.

Meanwhile, recently-elected Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson “commemorated the milestone [of his first month in office] on Twitter with a thread detailing what he has focused on thus far”:

Notably, there was only one mention of public safety — and it did not even reference a specific policy. This is significant because new data show Mayor Johnson has presided over a 38% crime spike over his first month in office when comparing it to the same period last year.
Vehicle thefts spiked by 153%, aggravated battery is up 17%, burglary jumped by 12%, and even shootings rose 5%. A few weeks ago, carjackings got so bad the Chicago Police Department had to issue a “community alert urging residents to be more vigilant about their surroundings and to always be on the lookout for suspicious activity when entering or leaving vehicles.”

Mayor Willie Wonka is living in “a world of pure imagination”:

Johnson is a man in serious denial bordering on delusion. He says there needs to be a better “characterization” of Chicago’s young people.
“There has been a lot of mischaracterization of our young people in the city of Chicago,” Johnson said. “Do we have individuals who have lived out their pain in the most violent ways? Of course, but the vast majority of our young people need and want opportunity.”

(Hat-tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.) We must note Mayor Johnson’s expression of the long-held liberal belief that criminals are really victims of society, so that murderers can be said to “have lived out their pain in the most violent ways.” Again I think of Repo Man:

Toward the end of the movie, Otto is in a convenience store when one of his punk buddies, Duke, bursts through the door and tries to rob the place.
The store clerk pulls a pistol and fatally shoots Duke. As Duke is bleeding out, Otto goes to comfort him, and hears Duke speak his last words: “I know a life of crime has led me to this sorry fate, and yet, I blame society. Society made me what I am.”

Some people just can’t deal with reality.



 

 

In The Mailbox: 06.16.23 (Punditocracy Edition)

Posted on | June 17, 2023 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 06.16.23 (Punditocracy Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Sick and busy is not a good combination, but the usual weekend deadlines will be in effect for the usual weekend posts.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

See if you can find all the cats in the fourth frame.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Comics Aren’t Dead, DC/Marvel Are Dead – Isom #2
EBL: Hero Marine Daniel Perry Railroaded By NYC Persecutors, Penn State Professor Themis Matsoukas, Alleged Dog Molester, Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful, and Biden’s Response to Difficult Questions
Twitchy: LA Dodgers Face Protests From Christians For Honoring Phony Drag Nuns, LGBT Clown Tries Picking A Fight With MI Muslims Who Banned Pride Flags And YIKES, and Tweep Schools Pramila Jayapal On “Fair Share” With Crayons & Puppets
Louder With Crowder: “Doing awful things to The Cross”: MLB pitcher obliterates Los Angeles Dodgers for honoring anti-Catholic drag nuns, South Korean dude rejects being called racist for hating Little Mermaid: “You keep asking us to watch sh*tty movies”, and Fox News producer responsible for Biden “wannabe dictator” chryon speaks out: “Today was my last day at FOX”
Vox Popoli: Not Even Hot Girls, Disney Adopts Zero History, A Purge, Long Overdue, A General’s Prediction, and Sorry Not Sorry
According To Hoyt: Sniffing The Air, Divide and Conquer, and Paying the Piper
Monster Hunter Nation: Gun School Fun: Pistol Shooting Solutions from Gabe White
Gab News: Embracing Truth & Defying Fear

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
CDR Salamander: How To Make The West Coast USNR A War Winner, Diversity Thursday, and Fullbore Friday
Don Surber: End Trade With Red China, Victory Over Pollution Parade Needed, and Should We Trust The Polls?
Protein Wisdom Reborn: Another Hump Day Shrapnel Post

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Do Ghouls and Witches Count for ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ at Harvard?

Posted on | June 16, 2023 | Comments Off on Do Ghouls and Witches Count for ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ at Harvard?

Clockwise from top left: Cedric Lodge, Jeremy Pauley, Katrina Maclean

The manager of the morgue at Harvard Medical School somehow got involved with a macabre collection of death-obsessed weirdos, and now all of them are facing multiple felony charges:

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Cedric Lodge, age 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, Katrina Maclean, age 44, of Salem, Massachusetts, Joshua Taylor, age 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania, Denise Lodge, age 63, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, and Mathew Lampi, age 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota, were indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods charges. Additionally, Jeremy Pauley, age 41, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, was charged by Criminal Information, and Candace Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Arkansas, was previously indicted in the Eastern District of Arkansas.
According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, the indictments and information allege that a nationwide network of individuals bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary. The charges allege that from 2018 through 2022, Cedric Lodge, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School, located in Boston, Massachusetts, stole organs and other parts of cadavers donated for medical research and education before their scheduled cremations. Lodge at times transported stolen remains from Boston to his residence in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Denise Lodge, sold the remains to Katrina Maclean, Joshua Taylor, and others, making arrangements via cellular telephone and social media websites. At times, Cedric Lodge allowed Maclean and Taylor to enter the morgue at Harvard Medical School and examine cadavers to choose what to purchase. On some occasions, Taylor transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania. On other occasions, the Lodges shipped stolen remains to Taylor and others out of state.
Maclean and Taylor resold the stolen remains for profit, including to Jeremy Pauley in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Jeremy Pauley also purchased stolen human remains from Candace Chapman Scott, who stole remains from her employer, a Little Rock, Arkansas mortuary and crematorium. Scott stole parts of cadavers she was supposed to have cremated, many of which had been donated to and used for research and educational purposes by an area medical school, as well as the corpses of two stillborn babies who were supposed to be cremated and returned as cremains to their families. Scott sold the stolen remains to Pauley and shipped them to Pauley in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Pauley sold many of the stolen remains he purchased to other individuals, including Matthew Lampi. Lampi and Pauley bought and sold from each other over an extended period of time and exchanged over $100,000 in online payments.
“Some crimes defy understanding,” said United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam. “The theft and trafficking of human remains strikes at the very essence of what makes us human. It is particularly egregious that so many of the victims here volunteered to allow their remains to be used to educate medical professionals and advance the interests of science and healing. For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling. With these charges, we are seeking to secure some measure of justice for all these victims.” . . .
“The defendants violated the trust of the deceased and their families all in the name of greed,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire. “While today’s charges cannot undo the unfathomable pain this heinous crime has caused, the FBI will continue to work tirelessly to see that justice is served.”

Maclean owned a business in Salem — yes, that’s right, Salem, Massachusetts — which appealed to morbid obsessions:

An artist from Salem who has been accused of buying and selling stolen body parts had posted on Instagram about having a “real human skull” and offering to sell human body parts to the public, in a picture with one of her creations from February 2020.
Katrina MacLean, the bone art, doll-creating and oddity-collecting artist behind Kat’s Creepy Creations, was named in an indictment against Cedric Lodge, who officials said supplied MacLean and others with the body parts, according to court documents. . . .
Officials stated Lodge allowed MacLean and another named in the indictment, Pennsylvania man Joshua Taylor, to enter the morgue and choose the body parts MacLean and Taylor wanted, or that Lodge would ship them parts by mail.
MacLean was vocal about her artwork on social media and especially on Instagram, where she routinely sold the baby dolls she reworked, according to a comment she responded to on her account.
The Salem artist also sold her art at “oddities markets and expos,” she had said, and had “two cases at Witch City Consignment and Thrift” in the city. Additionally, she is the curator of Freaks Antiques Uniques, a pop-up dark art and oddities market located in Salem, according to her account. . . .
In a post on Feb. 9, 2020, during the time MacLean was believed by officials to be receiving and selling human body parts from Lodge, the Salem woman posted an image of a reworked, “killer clown”-style doll with a skull between its fingers.
The caption on her post read, “Throwback to the set of Hubie Halloween. This doll has been sold and yes that is a real human skull. If you’re in the market for human bones hit me up!
Even after the FBI searched MacLean’s home in March, according to multiple reports, MacLean continued to post on her Instagram about her reworked dolls and bone art with no apparent signs of issues happening in her personal life. Her most recent post was May 28.
In several other posts, MacLean gave insight into who she is as a person.
From a March 23, 2020 post, MacLean said, “Meet the maker! I’m Kat, I like to turn regular porcelain dolls into nightmare fuel. I started painting horror dolls back in September of 2018 in an attempt to decorate the store windows @witchcitythrift.
“Everyone wanted to buy the dolls so I began selling them….. I have sold 239 dolls since then! I also make dark art, bone art, human bone jewelry and shadowboxes,” the post went on.
“I joke with my friends and say that my super power is ‘the ability to creepify’ Art and creating is my passion and my therapy. I am also the curator of Freaks Antiques and Uniques dark art and oddity market in Salem MA. Please give my page a follow @freaksantiquesuniques to check out our talented crafters, vendors, artists and creators,” MacLean said.

Think maybe those Salem witch-hunters had the right idea?



 

 

‘All I Wanted Was a Pepsi’

Posted on | June 15, 2023 | Comments Off on ‘All I Wanted Was a Pepsi’

Former Biden administration official Sam Brinton

So you’re gonna be institutionalized.
You’ll come out brainwashed with bloodshot eyes.
You won’t have any say.
They’ll brainwash you until you see their way.

For many years, I’ve complained about the “Compulsory Approval Doctrine” of the gay-rights movement, which seeks to forbid anyone from expressing disapproval of homosexual behavior or, for that matter, criticizing any public policy favored by LGBT activists. This is a lot of what “cancel culture” is really about — the coercive enforcement of a false consensus in public opinion. News flash: People don’t like being told what they’re permitted to say. And another news flash: Forcing people to shut up (by threatening to get them fired from their jobs, for example) is not an acceptable substitute for persuasion. Most people have a “live and let live” attitude toward homosexuality, but this is not the same as approval, and when they find themselves being bullied on the subject, they’re apt to resent it, resulting in a backlash.

Why have Bud Lite sales plummeted? Why is Target being boycotted? Why are all these lousy “woke” movies bombing at the box office?

Because STOP TELLING US WHAT TO THINK, that’s why.

Educated, responsible, taxpaying adults do not enjoy being lectured as if they’re misbehaving third-graders, which is what we’ve been getting from the Tolerance Mafia lately, and we’re long past sick and tired of it.

So anyway, I was pondering this early Wednesday morning when I was reminded of a song that used to crack me up:

Many years ago, when I was just out of college, my friend George Hall introduced me to a punk rock song from the soundtrack of the 1984 film Repo Man. “Institutionalized,” by the group Suicidal Tendencies, is the darkly comic saga of a teenager named Mike who finds himself committed to a psychiatric facility merely because he asked his mother for a Pepsi. The chorus of the song contains this frantic refrain:

I’m not crazy. (Institutionalized!)
You’re the one that’s crazy. (Institutionalized!)

Lots of Americans are feeling that way these days. We live in an increasingly crazy world, and yet it is we — those of us still stubbornly clinging to reality — who find ourselves accused of mental disorders by the maniacs who are now running the asylum. This madness is everywhere, including the White House, which saw fit to celebrate “Pride” month by inviting a transgender social media personality, Rose Montoya (who boasts more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 800,000 on TikTok), to an event where Rose exposed his/“her” surgically enhanced breasts on the South Lawn. When this stunt provoked widespread criticism, the Biden administration quickly issued a statement condemning Montoya’s “inappropriate and disrespectful” behavior, promising that Montoya would “not be invited to future events.” Unspoken was the question every sane person must have been asking: Who in the administration thought this event — with its guest list of assorted weirdos — was a good idea to begin with? . . .

Read the rest of my latest column at The American Spectator.



 

 

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