The Other McCain

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

Hugo Awards and Other Stuff

Posted on | August 2, 2015 | 23 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

The deadline for voting on the 2015 Hugo Awards was midnight on Friday, and I got my votes in. The CHORFs and their allies tried to get in some last-minute shots, notably the Grauniad, only to be met with derision and an excellent fisking by the International Lord of Hate.* Also worth noting was the triumphant tweet by Mary Robinette Kowal that they’d succeeded in handing out seventy supporting memberships. Seventy out of over three thousand supporting memberships? Great job there, guys, we’re just shaking in our boots. Oh, wait, no we’re not.

The Empress protects! 🙂

So what did I do with my ballot? Well, for one thing, I read pretty much all the fiction in the voter packet Sasquan sent out, with the exception of samples (screw you, Orbit) and one short story from The Baen Big Book of Monsters, which was an oversight on my part. And this is how I rolled:

BEST NOVEL

  1. 1. Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu
  2.  The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison
  3.  Skin Game, by Jim Butcher

BEST NOVELLA

  1.  Big Boys Don’t Cry, by Tom Kratman
  2. One Bright Star to Guide Them, John C. Wright
  3. The Plural of Helen of Troy, ditto
  4. Flow, Arlan Andrews
  5. Pale Realms of Shade, John C. Wright

BEST NOVELETTE

  1.  The Journeyman: In the Stone House, Michael F. Flynn
  2.  Ashes to Ashes Dust to Dust Earth to Alluvium, by Gray Rinehart
  3.  The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale, by Rajnar Vajra
  4.  Championship B’tok, Edward Lerner

BEST SHORT STORY

  1.  Totaled, Kary English
  2.  Turncoat, Steve Rzasa
  3.  The Parliament of Beasts and Birds, John C. Wright

BEST RELATED WORK

  1.  Wisdom from My Internet, Michael Z. Williamson
  2.  Transhuman and Subhuman, John C. Wright
  3.  The Hot Equations, Ken Burnside
  4.  Why Science Is Never Settled, Tedd Roberts

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (LONG)

  1.  Edge of Tomorrow
  2.  Interstellar
  3.  Guardians of the Galaxy
  4.  Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  5.  The Lego Movie

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (SHORT)

  1.  Game of Thrones, “The Mountain and the Viper”
  2.  Orphan Black, “By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried”

BEST PROFESSIONAL EDITOR (SHORT)

  1.  Vox Day
  2.  Mike Resnick

BEST PROFESSIONAL EDITOR (LONG)

  1.  Toni Weisskopf
  2.  Vox Day

…and you can take it as given that I voted No Award in the rest of the categories or (in the case of Best Fanzine) only voted for one (Tim Bolgeo’s The Revenge of Hump Day). Hopefully there’ll be enough fans like me who want to recapture the Hugos for people who want them to mean something entertaining and good again, so we don’t have to do as Wendell the Manatee suggests:

“Yes, Wendell!”


Aside from all that, I did read some other stuff. James Pylant’s In Morticia’s Shadow: The Life & Career of Carolyn Jones is a very, very detailed biography of the actress most famous for playing Morticia Addams on the original “Addams Family” TV series, but it would have benefited greatly from an editor who would have made sure the photographs didn’t slide off the bottoms of the pages. Pylant obviously did his homework, interviewing a lot of people who worked with Miss Jones throughout her career, and I doubt there’s anything he missed.


I am into the third volume of the Winston Churchill biography, Winston S. Churchill: The Challenge of War, 1914-1916, which is the one uniquely done by both Randolph Churchill and Martin Gilbert, as Randolph died while this volume was in process. It covers WSC’s tenure as First Lord of the Admiralty in the opening years of World War I and his downfall, which was not solely rooted in the Gallipoli disaster – that hadn’t yet turned sour – but rather in vile partisan politics and the treacherous, erratic personality of Admiral “Jackie” Fisher, who Churchill had summoned out of retirement to serve as First Sea Lord. An excellent, excellent book.


Later this week I’ll have something to say about Stanley Payne and Jesus Palacios’ biography of Franco and William Forstchen’s One Second After, both of which were kindly purchased from my wish list by Loyal Commenters.

*Correia and Torgerson really need to collect their essays and fisks into a book. They could call it The Peoples’ History of the Sad Puppy Revolution; wouldn’t it be great to see them and Mad Mike win Best Related Work back to back? 🙂


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Category: Books, Zeitgeist

FMJRA 2.0: Woke Up This Morning

Posted on | August 1, 2015 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Rule 5 Sunday: Fightin’ Words
Animal Magnetism
Regular Right Guy
Ninety Miles from Tyranny
A View from the Beach
Proof Positive

About the #Cuckservative Thing: By Whom Is the ‘New Right’ Being Trolled?
IOTW Report
Tree of Mamre

Hulk Hogan Pulls ‘Bigger Digger Trigger’
Regular Right Guy

FMJRA 2.0: Common People (William Shatner ST:TOS Video Remix)
BlurBrain
The Pirate’s Cove
Regular Right Guy

Conference Teaches Iowa Kids About Diversity, Tolerance and Butt Sex
Constantinople Not Istanbul
Regular Right Guy
A View from the Beach

A Cheap ‘Rape’ Smear on Trump
Blogistan Polytechnic Institute
The Pirate’s Cove
Bits Blog
Regular Right Guy

Late Night With In the Mailbox
Proof Positive

In The Mailbox: Total Windows 10 Takeover Edition
Proof Positive

Sex Scandal Hits Foreign Billionaire Who Gave $5 Million to Clinton Foundation
A View from the Beach

God Bless Kentucky
Bits Blog

Top linker this week:

  1.  Regular Right Guy (5)

Thanks to everyone for their linkagery!


Woke Up This Morning

Category: FMJRA Award

Why Does Obama Hate Your Babies?

Posted on | August 1, 2015 | 104 Comments

 

Obama Will Veto Bill to De-Fund
Planned Parenthood Despite
Selling Aborted Baby Parts
— Steven Ertelt, LifeNews

Obama Appointee And Bundler
Blocks More Video Releases By Group
Behind Planned Parenthood Sting
— Mollie Hemingway, The Federalist

White House threatens to veto bill
blocking Planned Parenthood’s funding
— Jordan Fabian, The Hill

Does a Future Planned Parenthood Video
Contain ‘Prima Facie Evidence
of Born-Alive Infants?’
— David French, National Review

It is important to keep in mind during this controversy that, despite everything the abortion industry will try to tell you, the question is not Planned Parenthood’s existence, but whether federal taxpayer dollars should be used to fund it.

Apologists for the Culture of Death are experts at rhetorical prestidigitation, deflecting criticism and distracting the public’s attention with emotional appeals about “rights” and “women’s health.” They will use character assassination against their critics, trying to “kill the messenger” by demonizing their opponents with accusations of bad faith (mala fides) that are irrelevant to the issue. However, we do not need to engage in metaphysical or existential debates about “rights” in order to say that American taxpayers should not be required to fund an organization that profits from what everyone with a conscience recognizes as a ghastly and abominable business:

We have passed the point where Nazi comparisons are inappropriate. In the latest video about Planned Parenthood, if you want to watch it, you will see an admission that some of the children are born alive before being killed and carved up — their bodies being sold essentially for scrap.
These are children. They entered into the world alive and were killed, chopped up, and sold bit by bit.
“It’s a boy,” one person commented in the latest film. They talk about the commoditization of children’s eyeballs (the ones in the video were not developed enough), hearts that turn to mush they are so small, and reference the legs, feet, and hands of the children.
They are children being killed, butchered, and sold in pieces.

You can read the rest at Red State.

Democrats are the Party of Death, forever stained by their embrace of this hideous evil. No honest person believes their lies.




 

Category: Abortion, Barack Obama, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Planned Parenthood

Guilt As A Binder

Posted on | August 1, 2015 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them–Tolkien

Over at Instapundit, Ed Driscoll points to Fernandez offering a power exposition on what the Center for Medical Progress has done.

I’ve always known that life begins at conception. This truth has been underscored by becoming a father. My two little guys (ages 4 and 1) that have curbed my blogging so severely underscore the preciousness of life. Legal gymnastics aside, what other defensible argument is there? The pursuit of evil, therefore, begins with a rejection both of truth and the need to pursue truth when we (inevitably) find ourselves off course.

And boy are we, culturally, off course! When an author like Fernandez juxtaposes your culture with that of Germany 80 years back, and you’re forced to admit that it’s a fair cop, that is a wrenching, sickening revelation. AND OUR TAX DOLLARS HAVE PAID FOR THIS!

I don’t accept guilt for actions I have not done; nor do I dispense guilt to others. I do encourage others in a positive way. Thus, my prayer is that God restore souls to the Planned Parenthood staff, who are surely as blighted as the human wreckage they purvey. Then, may God have mercy on their souls.

And may we all understand that the evil of Planned Parenthood is of a piece with the rest of the falsehoods in circulation today. For example, global warming.

Let us understand that Progressives are those who would bind, via one lie or another.

Category: Abortion, Planned Parenthood

An Honest Feminist on Tumblr

Posted on | August 1, 2015 | 42 Comments

She describes herself on Tumblr as “a queer radical leftist. Feminist, anti-gun, vegan, body positive, anti-racist, etc.” She wants it to be known that she hates men:

I fucking HATE men I haTE the way they’re socialized I hate the way they talk I hate the way they take off their shirts like the world wants to see their nasty nipples I hate the way they don’t shave the fucking birds nest in their armpits but throw up a fuss if girls have leg hair I hate the way they think they’re the center of everything and how they erase women’s contribution to literally everything and make women believe that they’re worthless and sexualize women’s bodies I hATE men

She posted that five days ago and it’s got 1,200 notes already.

This is what feminism really is — raw hatred toward men. Some feminists manage to conceal the furious intensity of their hatred, but on Tumblr it comes pouring out as incoherent rage. Men “erase women’s contribution to literally everything and make women believe that they’re worthless”? It’s been a busy week. I’ve fallen behind on my erasing.

 

Category: Sex Trouble

Friday Fiction: 100 Word Challenge

Posted on | July 31, 2015 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

The flood abated, and Korban son of Korbill surveyed the ruin by the light of a harvest moon. He and his archers had climbed high in a thick copse of trees on a flanking hill as the orc horde forded River Myzods. The arrival of the flood waters had taken out half of the invasion, as well as the engaged defenders. Father.
The confusion of the deluge had thrown the balance of the orcs into a frenzied retreat, saving the kingdom.
His kingdom.
Father would. . .be picking his way back to the rally point now.
His armor was heavier, somehow.

via Darleen. Also rocking: Jimmy Bise.

Category: Friday Fiction, Protein Wisdom

In The Mailbox: 07.31.15

Posted on | July 31, 2015 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 07.31.15

— compiled by Wombat-socho


Thanks to all the folks who bought stuff through my Amazon links this month, and special thanks to Loyal Commenter RS, who bought Preston & Palacios’ Franco: A Personal and Political Biography off my wish list!


OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: Major Bambi, Also, Mandy Nagy Needs Our Help!
Da Tech Guy: A Tale of Two Emmets
Louder With Crowder: Former Planned Parenthood Director Abby Johnson Leaks All
Michelle Malkin: Desperate Dems Recycle Planned Parenthood’s Mammogram Lie
Twitchy: Senator Boxer’s Lecture About “Legitimate” Health Care Ends With Truth Booms


RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Power: CBS Evening News Covers Release Of Fourth Planned Parenthood Video
American Thinker: Exposed – America’s Enemies Within
Conservatives4Palin: Sarah Palin – Thanks, Senators Deb Fischer And Joni Ernst!
Don Surber: Camille Paglia, Frenemy Of Conservatives
Joe For America: Satanic Temple Raises Money For…Guess Which Party?
JustOneMinute: We Hardly Knew Ye
Pamela Geller: Kerry Claims Iran’s “Death To America” Chants Don’t Mean They Want To Kill Us
Protein Wisdom: Planned Parenthood – Even Worse Than You Thought
Shot In The Dark: Rolling In Glorious Victimhood
STUMP: Public Pension Quicktakes – All About Illinois And Chicago
The Gateway Pundit: DNC Chair Stumped, Can’t Explain Difference Between Democratic Party And Socialism
The Jawa Report: This Is Un-Freaking-American
The Lonely Conservative: US Intel Community Bracing For Security Breaches Thanks To Hillary’s E-Mails
This Ain’t Hell: Marine Corps Gazette Censors LTC Germano
Weasel Zippers: Why Is Planned Parenthood Trying To Suppress Videos? Evidence Of Buyers Getting “Fully Intact Babies”
Megan McArdle: Campus Rape Debate Needs Better Numbers
Mark Steyn: Unnatural Selection


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Category: Linkagery

God Bless Kentucky

Posted on | July 31, 2015 | 73 Comments

“My daughter comes in and says, ‘Dad, there’s a drone out here flying.’”

When your daughter’s sunbathing by your family’s backyard pool and she tells you there’s a drone hovering over her, what are you going to do? Well, if you’re in Bullitt County, Kentucky, you go get your shotgun and blast that dadgum thing out of the sky:

A Hillview man has been arrested after he shot down a drone flying over his property — but he’s not making any apologies for it.
It happened Sunday night at a home on Earlywood Way, just south of the intersection between Smith Lane and Mud Lane in Bullitt County, according to an arrest report.
Hillview Police say they were called to the home of 47-year-old William H. Merideth after someone complained about a firearm.
When they arrived, police say Merideth told them he had shot down a drone that was flying over his house. The drone was hit in mid-air and crashed in a field near Merideth’s home.
Police say the owner of the drone claimed he was flying it to get pictures of a friend’s house — and that the cost of the drone was over $1,800.
Merideth was arrested and charged with first degree criminal mischief and first degree wanton endangerment. He was booked into the Bullitt County Detention Center, and released on Monday.
WDRB News spoke with Merideth Tuesday afternoon, and he gave his side of the story.
“Sunday afternoon, the kids – my girls – were out on the back deck, and the neighbors were out in their yard,” Merideth said. “And they come in and said, ‘Dad, there’s a drone out here, flying over everybody’s yard.'”
Merideth’s neighbors saw it too.
“It was just hovering above our house and it stayed for a few moments and then she finally waved and it took off,” said neighbor Kim VanMeter.
VanMeter has a 16-year-old daughter who lays out at their pool. She says a drone hovering with a camera is creepy and weird.
“I just think you should have privacy in your own backyard,” she said.
Merideth agrees and said he had to go see for himself.
“Well, I came out and it was down by the neighbor’s house, about 10 feet off the ground, looking under their canopy that they’ve got under their back yard,” Merideth said. “I went and got my shotgun and I said, ‘I’m not going to do anything unless it’s directly over my property.’”
That moment soon arrived, he said.
“Within a minute or so, here it came,” he said. “It was hovering over top of my property, and I shot it out of the sky.”
“I didn’t shoot across the road, I didn’t shoot across my neighbor’s fences, I shot directly into the air,” he added.
It wasn’t long before the drone’s owners appeared.
“Four guys came over to confront me about it, and I happened to be armed, so that changed their minds,” Merideth said.
“They asked me, ‘Are you the S-O-B that shot my drone?’ and I said, ‘Yes I am,'” he said. “I had my 40[-caliber] Glock on me and they started toward me and I told them, ‘If you cross my sidewalk, there’s gonna be another shooting.'”

You tell ’em, buddy! Hell, yeah!

An armed society is a polite society, as Robert Heinlein said, and it’s certainly not polite to send your drone out snooping over other people’s property. If a man thinks you’re messing with his daughters in Bullitt County, Kentucky? You had better consider yourself lucky that your drone was the only thing he shot.

(Via Memeorandum.)

 

Category: Crime, Kentucky
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