The Other McCain

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

‘Our Recreational Drug Use Began About a Year Ago … It Increased Recently.’

Posted on | June 5, 2023 | Comments Off on ‘Our Recreational Drug Use Began About a Year Ago … It Increased Recently.’

Michael Griffin (left) and Meghan Griffin (right)

The Understatement of the Year competition just got tougher thanks to Meghan Griffin, who offered the quote above in a statement to police after an April incident at a QFC grocery story in Redmond, Washington, where her husband was found in a state of paranoia with “visible white powder on his lips” and carrying a loaded pistol. Did I forget to mention that both of the Griffins were employed as elementary school principals?

High on cocaine with a loaded gun – that’s what Redmond police say they saw when they confronted a local elementary school principal at a QFC.
The incident has now led to two elementary school principals in the Northshore School District – husband and wife, Michael and Meghan Griffin – to be placed on administrative leave.
Michael Griffin is the principal at Sunrise Elementary, while Meghan Griffin is the principal at Moorlands Elementary.
“It gives me goosebumps to kind of think that this stuff is happening,” said Aaron Gazes, a parent of a seven-year-old at Moorlands. “You have people looking up to you, it hurts bad. Because we’re down here and we’re trusting you. But the trust is just shot,” he said.
The district’s action is in response to the QFC incident that happened on April 30th.
Police documents say Mr. Griffin was “in a paranoid state likely under the influence of cocaine”. A responding corporal said Griffin had “dilated pupils”, and “visible white powder on his lips”, and was making “delusional statements.”
Griffin also “took his pistol to QFC chambered and unsecured in his front sweatshirt pocket”.
Documents say his eyes were darting around the parking lot, that Griffin at one point yelled at a stranger before his wife intervened, pointed to “uninvolved people,” and “believed his wife was in danger possibly being trafficked”. The police narrative also said Griffin had two bags filled with valuables and documents from his home that he tried to give to the Corporal to hold.
Police say Griffin was involuntarily taken to the hospital.
The district says it put Griffin on leave May 9th after learning about the incident.
Then on May 30, the district also placed his wife, Meghan Griffin, on leave. The principal at Moorlands Elementary sent out a letter to families, saying it did so because the district “became aware of statements made by Principal Meghan Griffin in a police report.”
The district doesn’t specify the content, but KIRO7 obtained the handwritten statement Meghan Griffin gave to Redmond police.
She wrote in her opening line, “Our recreational drug use began about a year ago while on vacation. It increased recently.” She went on to detail her husband’s worsening paranoia.
“Michael and I went to see our primary care doctor on March 22, 2023. The doctor told us we needed to stop the use of cocaine and that at the next check-up, the doctor would do a full workup to check for anything else that could be causing the delusions,” Meghan Griffin wrote.
Gazes says as a parent, he hopes the Northshore School District will learn from the experience.
“I leave my kid, and I trust he’s safe for the whole day. Right now I don’t,” Gazes said. “One school is enough. Two schools? I don’t want to believe something is broken within the district. I want to think it’s a one-off and someone just made a mistake and they will do whatever it takes to make right,” he said.
He’s appalled that students were under the Griffins’ leadership, while trouble — apparently involving drugs and firearms — was unfolding behind the scenes.
“If you have a problem, get help. That’s it. Until then, you cannot be around kids,” Gazes said.
Redmond police said no criminal charges were filed, but officers did apply for an Extreme Risk Protection Order, and now Griffin’s firearms are in police custody.
“The Redmond Police Department fears that Griffin’s paranoia will only continue to increase and could cause him to end up in an altercation with an uninvolved party.
Moreover, ‘Griffin’s mental state and access to firearms are made even more concerning as he is the principal at a local elementary school,” court documents said.
The school district said it can’t comment further on the incident because it’s a personnel matter, but said it will “continue investigating and take appropriate action.”

The school district can’t comment, but I can. More than a month before police found Michael Griffin ranting delusionally at the local grocery store, they went to their doctor because he was already suffering with delusional beliefs caused by his cocaine habit. Here’s a question: How much cocaine does it take to induce paranoid psychosis? And how could two public school employees afford such an expensive addiction?

A cocaine habit is not cheap, and you’ve got to be doing it pretty heavily — like, the Eagles on tour in 1977 — to reach the point where you’re in a grocery store parking lot babbling paranoid gibberish with a pistol in your pocket. How were the Griffins able to do this much coke while functioning as elementary school principals and nobody even noticed?

In conclusion: Crazy People Are Dangerous.



 

 

Category: Crime, Education, Washington State

Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: Double-Scoop Swimsuit Edition!

Posted on | June 5, 2023 | Comments Off on Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: Double-Scoop Swimsuit Edition!

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Why are you not following @kbdabear on the Twitters? HAVE YOU THE BRAINWORMS? The man is a public benefactor, regularly posting dozens of pics in obeisance to Rule 5, and you spuds can’t be bothered to drop by and give his posts one measly like. Shame, I say! Shame! Still, you deserve an appetizer for this double-scoop Sunday, and here’s a couple of lovely ladies from his Swimsuit Sunday tweets.

By way of belated explanation, last week’s Rule 5 Sunday was preempted by an awesome dinner at Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, well-known in Baltimore for their awesome seafood and world-wide for sticking it to PETA. (They have a “People Eating Tasty Animals” shirt for sale.) Vast quantities of excellent aquatic protein were consumed, and after I got back to the hotel I went straight to bed and passed out. Worth it. 
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

NINETY MILES FROM TYRANNY: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #2090, Morning Mistress, Girls With Guns, Hot Pick of the Late Night (2), The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #2097, Morning Mistress (2), and Girls With Guns (2). 

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule Five Nuclear Threshold Friday, Saturday Gingermageddon #435, Rule Five Civil War Friday, and Saturday Gingermageddon #436. 

EBL: MAGA Big Red Button, Dolly Parton, Jean Trent, Tina Turner, Glen Or Glenda?, Tina Turner RIP, 50 Celebrities Part I & Part II, The Best Of Eva Vlaardingerbroek, Another Reason Epstein Didn’t Hang Himself, Cocaine Bear, The Firm, Noelle Dunphy & Rudy Giuliani, Saturday Night Girls With Guns, MAGA Alina Habba, In Bruges, Noor Alfallah, Catherine Herridge, June Is Bustin’ Out All Over, Kayleigh McEnany, Mahlagha Jaberi, Francoise Hardy, Taking Chance, and Memorial Day 2012.

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Amy-Jane Brand – There Was a Young Lady from Perth, Fish Pic Friday – Mia’s Adventures, RIP: Tina Turner, Tattoo Thursday, The Wednesday Wetness, The Debt Ceiling Approaches, Scott Throws Hat In Ring, Dates in Pickup Trucks, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Sunday Sunrise, The Lindsay Hancock, Be Careful Out There, Senate Passed Debt Ceiling Bill, New Hunter Pics Posted, The Old Man Takes Another Fall, Fish Pic Friday – Stacy Lynn, Going in Circles, Debt Ceiling Vote on the Edge, The Wednesday Wetness, Monterey Bay Aquarium Puts a Hit Out on Chesapeake Bay Oysters, Those Newfangled Chesapeake Blues,  Debt Deal Published, Tuesday Tanlines, Memorial Day Flotsam and Jetsam, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Debt Ceiling Deal Reached and Palm Sunday

FLAPPR: T.I.T.S for June 2

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

Amazon Warehouse Deals

Visit Amazon’s Intimate Apparel Shop
Shop Sex & Sensuality Gifts




Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: Das Herz Von Groenland

Posted on | June 5, 2023 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Das Herz Von Groenland

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Well, the long agony of the draft is over, and play begins Tuesday. I’m thinking with this lineup I should do fine, especially in a division that includes Pete’s Mariners (oops, Brewers), the Oakland A’s, and expansion teams in Boston & Minneapolis.
C: Duke Sims/Dick Billings
1b: Mike “Super Jew” Epstein
2b: Cookie Rojas/Mike Andrews
ss: Ed Brinkman
3b: Ken McMullen/Toby Harrah
rf: Del Unser/Jeff Burroughs
cf: Willie Mays
lf: Rick Reichardt/Larry Biitner
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

The beer is cold, the hot dogs hot – let’s go, Senators!

From the ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ to the Bulls–t Age of Wokeness: A Brief History
The DaleyGator
Animal Magnetism
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum



Chicago Group Hired Gangsters to Be ‘Peacekeepers’ and It’s Working Out Just About the Way You Might Expect
Instapundit
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum
Flappr

CNN Warns of Weather ‘Misinformation’
The DaleyGator
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

FMJRA 2.0: Take It Away, Harry
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

How White Is @TizzyEnt?
EBL
357 Magnum
Flappr

Visit Exciting Lowndes County!
The DaleyGator
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 05.31.23 (Concentrated Punditry Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

What ‘Diversity’ Really Means
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.01.23
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

CBS News (Barely) Lets Catherine Herridge Report About the Biden Scandal
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.02.23 (Afternoon Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.02.23 (Evening Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Top linkers for the week ending June 3:

  1.  (tied) 35 Magnum and EBL (12)
  2.  A View From The Beach (9)

Honorable mention to The DaleyGator, who would have made the board this week but for a double-linked post and one on a June 3 post. 

Amazon Warehouse Deals




Category: FMJRA Award

Is the Left Breaking Apart?

Posted on | June 4, 2023 | Comments Off on Is the Left Breaking Apart?

Red Guards in China’s Cultural Revolution

Before getting into the issue addressed by the headline, would you mind if I tell you a bit of a personal story? Because I was a witness to the birth of the so-called “Alt-Right” circa 2007, and was directly acquainted with many of the personalities involved. When I had first come to Washington, D.C., a decade earlier, I was very much aligned more with the paleoconservatives than with the neocons, owing to the way I’d entered the conservative movement while working as a journalist in north Georgia. I joined the staff of The Washington Times, in the fall of 1997, about two years after the paleocon intellectual Sam Francis had been fired from the paper’s editorial page in what was widely perceived as a purge instigated by the neocons. Whether that perception is accurate is something of a question; Pruden fired Francis for insubordination, not ideological heterodoxy, and Pruden himself was about as “far right” as anyone might wish. Nevertheless, the firing of Francis reminded many observers of prior conflicts in the longstanding paleocon/neocon split, including the Mel Bradford/NEH controversy of 1981.

After his firing from the Times, Sam became an “unperson” as far as the paper was concerned, but I regularly saw him at various events that I covered around D.C., including the biennial American Renaissance (AR) conferences. Once, when some liberal writer sought to “expose” me as a racist, one of the accusations was that I was the only journalist to have covered four consecutive AR conferences (1998-2004), to which my reply might have been, “So? What’s your point?” Plenty of liberals also covered those conferences, and the only difference is that my coverage didn’t use the alarmist “OMG! RAAAAACISTS!” tone that characterized liberal journalists’ coverage. Jared Taylor was demonized for giving people a forum to discuss Things You’re Not Supposed to Talk About, and if some of those involved in these discussions held opinions that would frighten most people — well, it comes with the terrority.

My idea generally is that all the really interesting action in politics occurs on the fringe, which is where radical ideas begin before making their way into the mainstream, and this is true on both left and right. If you study Hunter S. Thompson’s career, for example, he never gave a damn about the Tweedleedee-vs.-Tweedledum arguments in D.C. that consume so much of the journalistic oxygen in America. No, Thompson was always poking around the fringes — biker gangs in Oakland, Chicano radicalism in L.A., drug culture and then a no-chance antiwar candidate named George McGovern in the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries.

At any rate, to cut to the chase, by 2007 I had made the acquaintance of Marcus Epstein, who was putting together a panel discussion about the Duke lacrosse team rape hoax, and I was invited to speak about the topic in terms of media bias in the coverage of the controversy. Presenting the campus perspective on the controversy was a Duke graduate student named Richard Spencer, who became the notorious poster boy of the “alt right” about 10 years later. Another “alt right” activist I got to know about the same time was a campus organizer for the Leadership Institute named Kevin DeAnna. Think about what was happening in 2007.

The war in Iraq was becoming a catastrophe (just as many palecons had predicted it would be), and the sentiment on college campuses was very much anti-Bush and antiwar. These young men in their 20s didn’t want to shoulder the obligation of defending Bush’s unpopular policies, with which they disagreed, and were sick and tired of the whole post-9/11 Global War on Terror mindset. Democrats had just taken back Congress in the 2006 midterms, and meanwhile the GOP establishment was lining up behind Sen. John McCain as their chosen standard-bearer for the 2008 presidential election. What would later become the “alt right” was, at that time, organizing to back Sen. Ron Paul’s Republican primary campaign, and I distinctly remember the night in late 2007 when I accompanied an intern to cover a Ron Paul event in Arlington. Looking around the crowd in that packed room, I not only recognized many of my libertarian friends — whom I knew from attending Reason magazine happy hour parties — but also quite a few faces I recognized from covering American Renaissance conferences. There was a strange convergence going on, and you could arguably trace a direct line from that Ron Paul event in late 2007 to the rise of Trump eight years later.

All of this I relate in order to demonstrate my direct familiarity with how coalitions fracture and reconstitute themselves in our two-party system, as preamble to dicussing this headline:

Please Just F–king Tell Me What Term
I Am Allowed to Use for the Sweeping
Social and Political Changes You Demand

That’s the liberal writer Freddie deBoer (hat-tip: Instapundit) complaining that his fellow liberals won’t allow him to name the problem he’s talking about, whether it’s called “woke” or “identity politics” or “political correctness” or “critical race theory.” His comrades insist that any name for this “social justice” obsession must be some kind of racist “dogwhistle,” and Freddie seems to be reaching the end of his rope.

This is the third time I’ve called attention to Freddie’s complaints (see “It’s Almost as If Freddie deBoer Never Read ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’,” March 3, and “Freddie deBoer, ‘Elite Overproduction’ and the Inevitability of Competition,” March 12). Although he is a socialist, more or less, Freddie doesn’t like being told what to think, or told what he’s allowed to say, and he is thus running head-on into a familiar problem, i.e., the totalitarian tendency implicit in socialism.

This is exactly what Hayek was addressing in The Road to Serfdom and, in another way, what Eric Hoffer was talking about in The True Believer. Economic liberty cannot be separated from other types of liberty, including freedom of speech, so that advocates of a government-controlled economy must eventually demand government control of everything (to summarize briefly one of Hayek’s major points). And radical causes, which Hoffer called “mass movements,” always attract certain personality types, who bring with them characteristic problems, including the intellectual bullying and demand for conformity about which deBoer is now complaining. Sic semper hoc.

Is it possible that Freddie’s discontents might lead him to abandon the Left altogether? Well, he wouldn’t be the first to follow such a path. Lots of those who were Communists in the 1930s became anti-Communists in the 1940s, notable among them Whittaker Chambers. The conservative movement has recently benefited from the departure of the #NeverTrump crowd — is anyone on the right saddened by the exit of, e.g., Rick Wilson? — and if Freddie deBoer is sick and tired of being bossed around by intellectual midgets like Adam Serwer, certainly I’d be happy to extend him an invitation to switch his allegiances. A fed-up ex-lefty would be as welcome an addition as the departure of the #NeverTrump crew was a welcome subtraction to the movement.

You can call me “The Paleocon Whisperer.” Back around the time I was consorting with Richard Spencer and Kevin DeAnna, I received an email from a graduate student in political philosophy who applauded my success in defying the SPLC Thought Police. “Say nothing to anyone about this,” I wrote in reply. “Keep your opinions to yourself. Stay under the radar. Don’t wreck your career by being too obvious.”

There are stealth paleocons out there, you see. The young man who enthusiastically emailed me some 15 years ago is now an eminently respectable person, associated with a prestigious organization which of course I won’t name, but trust me when I say that not every “alt right” person is known as such. Screw the SPLC. Deo Vindice.



 

 

Category: Intellectuals

‘Comprehensive Gun Safety Measures’

Posted on | June 3, 2023 | Comments Off on ‘Comprehensive Gun Safety Measures’

When the only tool you’ve got is a hammer, it is said, every problem looks like a nail. When you’re a Democrat, every problem looks like an opportunity for government regulation:

Advocates took a stand against gun violence Friday at the Chester County Courthouse. Cease Fire PA wore orange as they held a rally to kick off Gun Violence Awareness Month.
Survivors and gun control advocates came together to honor those lost and pushing for the state legislature to pass more comprehensive gun safety measures.
Many hospitals in Philadelphia feel like a war zone with so many gunshot victims. The team at Jefferson’s Einstein Medical Center is working hard to save lives in the hospital and the community.
“I didn’t know if I was ever going to walk again,” said Thomas Hunter.
Hunter was temporarily paralyzed after being shot in the abdomen three years ago.
“It can happen to anybody,” he said.
Knowing the agony of gun violence, the 26-year-old now works at Jefferson’s Einstein Medical Center, helping other victims and their families.
“I meet them where they’re at. I instill them with hope, resiliency and empowerment,” Hunter said.
Einstein’s trauma center is ground zero for gun carnage. Hundreds of victims end up there and it’s taking an emotional toll on the staff.
“Every single shift, they feel that burden of the constant gun violence in our city,” said Sarah Misuro, who is a nurse. “It weighs very heavily on you – everybody.”
Orange flowers are planted in front of the hospital for Gun Violence Awareness Day and people are being encouraged to wear orange to honor victims and their families.
“Our healthcare team struggles with this every day,” said Juanita Way, with Jefferson Einstein Medical Center.
Desperate to do something, the team at Einstein sold t-shirts and raised $10,000 to buy gun locks that they’re giving away in the hospital.
“We aren’t making a dent in it, so we gotta figure out something to do,” Way said.
Way, along with Einstein’s gun violence prevention task force, thinks the gun locks can help protect children and reduce accidental shootings, as well as make gun owners more responsible.

(Hat-tip: Instapundit.)

Has Ms. Way taken a close look at the kind of “gun owners” who are actually perpetrating the violence in Philadelphia? Has she examined the statistics or analyzed the various cases that make headlines in the city that has been dubbed “Killadelphia”? Grant that the city’s homicide rate is not as high as Memphis, St. Louis, Baltimore or New Orleans, but it’s high enough to be in the deadly category of Worse Than Chicago.

But the people who are committing the shootings in Philadelphia are not going to be deterred by any “gun safety measures” that the Pennsylvania legislature might conceivably pass, and they certainly aren’t going to become “responsible” by giving them free gun locks.

Crime is a people problem, and the only way to deal with it is to (a) identify the criminals and (b) put them in prison.

What has gone wrong in “Killadelphia,” as in so many other American cities, is that Democrats have elected a “progressive” district attorney, Larry Krasner, who doesn’t want to put criminals in prison. As a result, you have convicted felons running amok in a climate of lawlessness where criminals do not fear the police. This problem cannot be solved by passing new laws, when the existing laws are not being enforced.

Car theft? Against the law. Assault? Against the law. Narcotics trafficking? Against the law. Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon? Against the law. Each of these laws present an opportunity to put criminals behind bars, where they can no longer endanger the public and yet, because Democrats in Philadelphia elected Larry Krasner as their D.A., the criminals who commit such felonies are being turned loose in the name of “social justice,” with the deadly results bemoaned by the kind of liberal idiots who think they can stop criminals by selling T-shirts and giving away free gun locks. A couple of years ago, I dubbed Philadelphia “Carjack City, U.S.A.” This was related to a case in which a convicted felon named Stanley Cochran went on a rampage that ended after he shot a 19-year-old woman in the head while he was trying to steal her car. The important question was, why was Cochran not behind bars? Why was he turned loose? And the simplest answer is, “social justice.”

The carjacking problem in Philadelphia hasn’t gone away. Instead, it’s gotten worse — more than 1,300 last year, a rate of more than three carjackings per day in the city — and Krasner’s response? He announced the formation of a new “task force” to deal with the cases.

How about this, Larry? PUT CRIMINALS IN PRISON.

Never hear that at “Gun Violence Awareness” rallies, I bet.



 

 

Category: Crime, Pennsylvania

In The Mailbox: 06.02.23 (Evening Edition)

Posted on | June 3, 2023 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 06.02.23 (Evening Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Usual weekend deadlines for the usual weekend posts, including a massive double-scoop Rule 5 Sunday.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: The FBI Lied – Now He Gets To Sue
EBL: Christie and Pence 2024
Twitchy: “Biology Hasn’t Changed”, also, Civil Rights Lawyer Informs Elon Musk That Misgendering Someone Is, In Fact, “Absolutely Illegal”
Louder With Crowder: Reporters track down disgraced Bud Light exec as her blunder sends stock into bear territory, Porch Pirate Tries Being Slick, Winds Up Eating Fists When Homeowner Comes Home at Wrong Time, and Ron DeSantis gives a masterclass in shutting down heckler
Vox Popoli: Be Kind to Machines, also, The Great Coincidence of Clown World
According To Hoyt: The Evil of Lies, Staying Alive, and Through Their Fingers
Monster Hunter Nation: WriterDojo S4 Ep17: High Tide/Low Tide, WriterDojo S4 Ep18: Supporter Spectacular IX, WriterDojo S4 Ep19: Beginnings, and WriterDojo S4 Ep 20: Greatest Hits (Vol. 1)

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in Ukraine, also, Cops and Popes and Latin Mass
American Greatness: FBI Finally Caves, Agrees to Hand Over Documents on Biden Bribery Allegations, IMDb Is Rigging Reviews for ‘The Little Mermaid’, and Trump Still Has the Magic
American Thinker: Jesse Morgan and the 200k Missing Ballots — an Update, The Party’s Over, and ‘Pride’ is Nothing to Celebrate
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Civil War Friday
Babalu Blog: Castro dictatorship exporting building materials as homes in Cuba crumble and remain in disrepair, Castro regime building a 500 room, high-rise apartheid hotel while Cubans suffer food and fuel shortages, and Cuba buys European baseballs from friend of Fidel Castro’s son at twice the price MLB teams pay
Baldilocks: Is California Really Red?
BattleSwarm: The League of the Boned: Turkey, No. And No, Kicking The Debt Can Down The Road To 2024, and LinkSwarm for June 2
Behind The Black: Newly discovered Starliner issues delay launch again, Shadowcam on South Korea’s Danuri lunar orbiter sees no obvious ice in the permanently shadowed interior of Spudis crater, and Avalanche to the east of Gale Crater on Mars
Cafe Hayek: A Speculative Thought, also, Industrial Policy Would Ensure Failure
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday
Chicago Boyz: What Things Cost, Then and Now, also, History Friday – A Visit to Fort Sam Houston
Da Tech Guy: Why Are You Surprised?, Reality Check on the Debt Ceiling, One tiny Christian college is fighting the good fight against  Biden’s transgender insanity, It’s No Coincidence that the Capital Police Stopped this Children’s Choir at this Point in the National Anthem, and New YouTube, same as the old YouTube
Don Surber: Mock Them Until They Cry
First Street Journal: Oops! Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Vinny Vella might be about to get called on the carpet!, The deceased was trying diligently to get his life back on track, and No matter how low you bow, you cannot bow low enough for the left!
Gates Of Vienna: ‘Love Jihad’ — Global Conquest by Any Means Necessary, Saturday Night’s All Right For Fighting, When Rape is a Group Activity, The European Union Will Shut Your Mouth For You, and Paying For Their Own Demise
The Geller Report: Biden’s Hate-America-First Regime Closes Off More US Lands to Oil and Gas Drilling, also, ‘Totally Fine’: Far-Left, America-Hating Enemedia Cover for Biden After Fall
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, also, What’s Up for June, 2023
Hollywood In Toto: ‘Boycott Target’ Hits No. 1 on iTunes, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as Bloated as It Is Glorious, Conservatives Adopt Cancel Culture Tactics Against The Chosen, and MSNBC.com Calls for Comedians to Censor Themselves (Indefinitely)
The Lid: Did The Durham Report Just Expose The Magic Behind DOE’s Smart Energy?
Legal Insurrection: U.S. Department of Energy Directs $46 million in Funds to 8 Nuclear Fusion Companies, Networks Offering RNC Sweet Deals to Host Republican Primary Debates, Ousted Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Will Teach at Harvard, ‘Jews Against Soros’ Launches, and Vermont School Settles With Family Punished for Criticizing Trans Student in Girls’ Sports
Nebraska Energy Observer: Way back when, also, Scattershot Friday
Outkick: Jemele Hill Is Out At Spotify After Daring Company To Pay A Black Host $100 Million, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Thrashed By Wrexham Men’s Team Made Up Of Older Players, Just Two SEC Teams Will Play 10 Power 5 Opponents In 2023, NCAA Baseball Postseason: LSU Has Top 2 MLB Draft Picks, So It Better Make It To Omaha – TV Times, and Big 12 Conference Looking To Further Expand, As $440 Million Shared With Member Schools. Will Colorado-Deion Sanders Make The Jump?
Power Line: We Live In a World Gone Trans-Mad, Thoughts from the ammo line, and Sex Change Operations Do No Good
Shark Tank: Mast Provides Rationale For Voting Against Debt Ceiling Agreement
Shot In The Dark: Open Letter To MPR’s Jon Collins -Year 3, also, Urban Planning
STUMP: 2023 Summer Warning: Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning, also, Podcast: the Museum of Failure
The Political Hat: For The Crime Of Misgendering-  Prohibited From Teaching, Unpersoning Monty Python, & Prosecuted For Objecting To A Male Breastfeeding, also, Transgendering The Fetus
This Ain’t Hell: Friday short takes – AF Grad Miss Colorado, hunters win, more Hunter whistleblowers, USAF unleashes AI, AI then kills human operator, Valor Friday, and Two militiamen planned to kill illegal aliens and border agents
Transterrestrial Musings: Living In The Danger Zone, also, On The Crusades
Victory Girls: Chick-fil-A is Not Going to Hell
Volokh Conspiracy: On Religious Divisiveness and the Judicial Role
Watts Up With That: More Amtrak High-Speed Train Delays, New York Senator Is Taking Legislative Action to Stop The “Transition” Until A Fossil Fuel Replacement Is Identified, and The Actual Levelized Cost Of Energy
Weasel Zippers: California School District Stands By Anti-Israel Curriculum, WH Staffer Physically Pushes Biden Onto Field At Air Force Graduation Ceremony, and CNBC: Increase In Unemployment Rate “MUCH Worse Than Expected” As Biden Economy Reels
The Federalist: Biden Interior Department Cuts Off Navajo Nation From Oil And Gas Development, An Unapologetic Defense Of The Crusades, More Suspected Terrorists Found Illegally Crossing Southern Border In April Than In Four Trump Years Combined, Leading GOP Election Officials: Feds’ ‘Treasonous’ Interference Is A ‘Direct Attack’ On U.S. Elections, and Pride Month Is About Activism, Not Acceptance
Mark Steyn: Stating the Obvious, Hooligans and Homelessness, and Live Around the Planet: Friday June 2nd

Amazon Warehouse Deals




Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 06.02.23 (Afternoon Edition)

Posted on | June 2, 2023 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 06.02.23 (Afternoon Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

I think if I try really hard, I can get caught up on the links tonight, so look for another late-night link dump to follow this one.
Narrowly missed having my Kia jacked in the ramp at the Stratosphere, but apparently the thieves were clumsy and succeeded only in breaking off the part of the driver’s door handle that covers the lock. Inconvenient, but better than having the car stolen and used in some sort of criminal activity.
Silicon Valley delenda est.

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: Kayleigh McEnany is Awesome, also, Sojourner Truth’s “Aint I A Woman”
Twitchy: DAMNING FOIA Request Shows Just How Much The CDC Worked With Teachers Unions To Keep Schools Closed, also, Joe Scarborough Claims Biden Has Gotten More Done Than Any President Since Reagan, Gets Rekt
Louder With Crowder: Teacher leads teens in-depth discussion why anal sex is pleasurable, tells students to shop at Target, also, Fastest girl in Connecticut suing state after losing to trans runners: “Two athletes took so many opportunities”
Vox Popoli: Stormy Seas Ahead, SpongeBob PedoPants, and Self-Immolation Redux
Stoic Observations: The Black Diversity Experience

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Ukraine is Leftism on Steroids
American Conservative: Rishi Sunak’s Seance, also, Returning to Public Beauty
American Greatness: J6 Footage Shows Camera Rolling as Pelosi Made Her ‘Insurrection’ Exit, also, National Archives Refuses to Hand Over Emails Between Hunter Biden and Joe Biden’s Staff
American Thinker: Why the White House Wants War, also, Five Questions for Prospective Republican Candidates
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Cultural Arrogance News
Babalu Blog: Shocking! Cubans finally allowed to vote in a genuine multi-party election, also, Cuban priest says the 64 years of Cuba’s socialist revolution is proof it doesn’t work
BattleSwarm: The Initial Case For DeSantis Over Trump: Smiter of Social Justice, 8 Californians Who Left For Texas Say Why, The Tank Museum On The T-14 Armata, and Memorial Day: Honoring George D. Keathley
Behind The Black: Sunspot update: May activity once again far above prediction, also, Pushback: Christian adoption agency wins against NY’s attempt to force it to send kids to queer families
Cafe Hayek: Continuing to Get Straight the Facts About the American Economy
CDR Salamander: Diversity Thursday
Chicago Boyz: Education, AI, and Narcissism, also, Dumb Company Tricks
Da Tech Guy: Picking real beer, real razors and real clothing stores, The mainstream media was wrong about Bud Light: Boycotts work, and Tell Me Your Target Audience is…Interesting Without Saying Your Target Audience is…Interesting
Don Surber: Pride? It’s Accordion Awareness Month!
First Street Journal: The real way to keep your kids out of trouble, At what point does it have to be asked: “Jim Kenney, Larry Krasner, Danielle Outlaw, have you no shame?”, and Some people still have a sad that the COVID ‘state of emergency’ is over.
Gates Of Vienna: Alessandra Mussolini: The EU Should Be Rescuing the Migrants, The Bud Light Moment, Another Great Prisoner Swap, Piglets on the Wing, and This is What a Real Hate Crime Looks Like
The Geller Report: ‘Missing’ Biden Family Corruption Probe Witness Living as Fugitive in Undisclosed Location, also, Joe Biden Takes MAJOR FALL on Stage at U.S. Air Force Academy Graduation
Glenn Reynolds: Actual Malice
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of the Day, IR to UV, and What’s Confusing You is Just the Nature of It’s Game
Hollywood In Toto: Blaze TV’s Re-Opening Skewers Lockdowns to Hilarious Effect, Why About My Father Missed a Golden Opportunity, Influencer Captures Horror of Our Instagram Age, and Progressive Little Mermaid Not Woke Enough (UPDATED)
The Lid: Parents Enraged As Migrants Enroll In Their Schools Without Health Records After Years Of COVID Rules, More than 350 Companies have Fled California since 2018, and Fox Prime Down One Million Viewers Per Night Since Booting Tucker: OUCH! That’s Gonna Leave A Mark
Legal Insurrection: Hospital Official Bemoans “Heart-Wrenching” Decision to Discontinue Child Gender Transition Services, Lefty Lunatic and Former San Francisco D.A. Chesa Boudin Hired by U.C. Berkeley Law, and NYC Mayor Eric Adams Slammed for Spouting “Body Positivity” Nonsense
Nebraska Energy Observer: Pentecost, Whitsunday, Decoration Day, Where is America headed?, and Leadership v Managerialism
Outkick: Toronto Blue Jays’ Anthony Bass Gets Mercilessly Booed After Bowing To Woke Mob, Jay Cutler Bags Massive Bear On Successful Hunting Trip, and Rams DC Saves Drowning Child In Las Vegas
Power Line: “Break the Wheel,” or something, part 3, also, Trump/Cuomo In 2024?
Shark Tank: Rick Scott Introduces Bill To Make Colleges More Responsible For Student Debt
Shot In The Dark: There Isn’t Much, also, Mitch Edits Hollywood For Accuracy
STUMP: Podcast: Walking Around Cemeteries, also, Sunday Sumo: May Tournament Wrap-Up — Who Was Most Unique?
The Political Hat: Teaching Racial Hate In California, The Orwellian Erasure Of Women, and Leviathan’s School Meals
This Ain’t Hell: Retired Officers Urge Congress to End DoD’s Toxic ‘Diversity’ and ‘Equity’ Programs, SECDEF CANS Gay Pride Drag Show, Red Chinese ship detained for looting WWII shipwrecks, and Candidate Who Lied About Military Record Drops Out of Race
Transterrestrial Musings: The Republicans’ Choice, The Kids Are All Right, Russia’s Brain Drain, and Space-Based Solar Power
Victory Girls: Ronna McDaniel Had Better Start Leading, also, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. For President? No.
Volokh Conspiracy: “Could Hunter Biden Be the Next Poster Child for Second Amendment Rights?”, also, Ex-San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin Appointed Director of Berkeley Law’s new Criminal Law & Justice Center
Watts Up With That: Bureaucrats Completely Incapable of Making Reasonable Trade-Offs, also, Climate Lockdowns Begin: France bans short-haul flights in favor of train travel ‘to cut carbon emissions’
Weasel Zippers: University Program Linking Christians And Republicans To Nazis Granted DHS Funding By Biden Admin, Glamour Magazine Features “Pregnant Trans Man” On Cover, and Biden Struggles To Read From Script
The Federalist: Corporate Media Hack Interrupts DeSantis While He’s Talking To Voters To Ask Why He Won’t Talk To Voters, The Campaign To Destroy SCOTUS Is Getting Increasingly Stupid, Biden HHS Denies Oklahomans Health Care Funding Because The State Won’t Spend It On Abortions, and Meet The Violent Anarchist Behind DHS’s ‘Pyramid Of Far-Right Radicalization’ Scandal
Mark Steyn: Tal Bachman: Two Centuries of Rugby, Part III, also, Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport

Amazon Warehouse Deals




Category: Linkagery

CBS News (Barely) Lets Catherine Herridge Report About the Biden Scandal

Posted on | June 2, 2023 | Comments Off on CBS News (Barely) Lets Catherine Herridge Report About the Biden Scandal

Having witnessed a few newsroom shouting matches in my day, I can see Catherine Herridge hurling her coffee cup and yelling expletives at whatever editor was responsible for this headline on her article:

Comer says Wray confirmed existence of record
reporting alleged Biden bribery scheme,
which the White House strongly refutes

Oh, they refuted it, did they? Words have meanings, and the word “refute” is synonymous with disprove. The White House has done no such thing; what they have done is to deny any accusation of wrongdoing and to smear the congressional investigators attempting to get access to a document (an FD-1023 form) which has been subpoenaed, but which the FBI director has refused to turn over to them. Denials and smears are certainly not a refutation of anything, and I imagine Herridge would very much like to strangle whoever wrote that headline. And I also imagine she had some pretty heated back-and-forth with her bosses over the story itself. Herridge is one of two known conservative sympathizers (the other being Major Garrett) at CBS News, but providing some semblance of balance in the network’s reporting must require a constant battle to report stories that the Biden administration wants to bury. Anyway . . .

Here is the story, with a few of my comments:

GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said in a statement Wednesday that FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed “the existence of an unclassified record that contains reporting of an alleged bribery scheme related to then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national.”
Comer believes the FBI record contains “a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose,” he and Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley said in a letter to Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland in early May. The GOP lawmakers also said at the time, they believed the form “describes an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.”
While Comer and Grassley said in Wednesday’s statement that the record includes “very serious and detailed allegations implicating the current President of the United States,” they did not provide further evidence to support the claim.
Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, said: “This silly charade by Chairman Comer is yet another reminder that his so-called ‘investigations’ are political stunts not meant to get information but to spread thin innuendo and falsehoods to attack the President. He has already admitted this isn’t about uncovering facts but about trying to hurt the President’s poll numbers, so the only question left is how long he will waste time, energy, and taxpayer dollars to support a fact-free politically-motivated goose chase simply to get media attention and the Fox News spotlight.”

(Do you see anything — anything at all — in that White House statement that could be considered a “refutation”? No. What you see is a lot of mockery and deflection, but nothing directly addressing the real substance of the investigation.)

According to Comer, Wray offered in a phone call Wednesday to allow lawmakers to view it at FBI headquarters. Comer issued the subpoena earlier this month after a whistleblower had provided GOP lawmakers with information about an alleged bribery scheme involving Mr. Biden.
Grassley and Comer spoke with Wray by phone Wednesday after the FBI director did not provide the document by the May 30 deadline. The two Republicans are seeking evidence of any FBI probe into the allegation, and whether it was substantiated or deemed not credible.
Comer has said he would hold Wray in contempt of Congress if he did not turn over the document, and he reiterated Wednesday that he remains committed to initiating contempt proceedings.
“Today, FBI Director Wray confirmed the existence of the FD-1023 form alleging then-Vice President Biden engaged in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national,” Comer said in his statement.
In a statement to CBS News, the FBI described the FD-1023 form as a document “used by FBI agents to record unverified reporting by a confidential human source.” The bureau noted that “[d]ocumenting the information does not validate it, establish its credibility, or weigh it against other information verified by the FBI.”

(When did liberals become such fans of the FBI? As someone old enough to remember when the Church Committee era, I’m shocked by this development.)

Comer said that in their conversation, “Director Wray did not commit to producing the documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee.”
“While Director Wray — after a month of refusing to even acknowledge that the form existed — has offered to allow us to see the documents in person at FBI headquarters, we have been clear that anything short of producing these documents to the House Oversight Committee is not in compliance with the subpoena,” Comer said, adding that if the FBI failed to submit the document to the committee, he would begin contempt of Congress proceedings.

(Imagine the headlines if the FBI had treated a Democrat-controlled investigation this way: “FBI Director Defies Subpoena; Congress Threatens Contempt Charge.” But the media only seeks to manufacture public outrage when it involves demonizing Republicans or trying to provoke race riots.) 

In a statement, Grassley said, “While the FBI has apparently leaked classified information to the news media in recent weeks, jeopardizing its own human sources, it continues to treat Congress like second class citizens by refusing to provide a specific unclassified record. Director Wray confirmed what my whistleblowers have told me pursuant to legally protected disclosures: the FBI-generated document is real, but the bureau has yet to provide it to Congress in defiance of a legitimate congressional subpoena. This failure comes with consequences.”
In describing the FD 1023, Christopher Dunham, acting assistant director for the Bureau’s Office of Congressional Affairs, wrote in a May 10 letter that the FBI avoids “revealing information — including unverified or incomplete information — that could harm investigations, prejudice prosecutions or judicial proceedings, unfairly violate privacy or reputational interests, or create misimpressions in the public. Often, even confirming the fact of the existence (or nonexistence) of an investigation or a particular piece of investigative information can risk these serious harms.”
The FBI confirmed the phone call, but didn’t discuss the alleged document.
“During today’s call, Director Wray offered to provide the committee’s chairman and ranking member an opportunity to review information responsive to the subpoena in a secure manner to accommodate the committee, while protecting the confidentiality and safety of sources and important investigative sensitivities,” the FBI said in a statement. “The FBI has continually demonstrated its commitment to working with the committee to accommodate its request, from scheduling briefings and calls to now allowing the chair to review information in person. The FBI remains committed to cooperating with the committee in good faith.”
When Comer and Grassley first announced the subpoena to obtain the document, Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, said: “For going on five years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded, unproven, politically-motivated attacks against the president and his family without offering evidence for their claims or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. interests.”

(Again, the White House “refutes” nothing.)

Earlier this month, the House Oversight Committee released a report alleging that Biden family members and associates received over $10 million from foreign entities, but the White House noted that Republican investigators could not point to “a single Joe Biden policy” that was unduly influenced.

Thanks to Catherine Herridge for whatever angry shouting matches were necessary to get CBS News to actually let her report this story, which the rest of the mainstream media are trying to ignore altogether.

Permit me to suggest that what’s going on here — I mean, with the Biden scandal, not the shouting matches at CBS News — is that there is now a cover-up of the cover-up. That is to say, Christopher Wray and other corrupt officials atop the FBI hierarchy deliberately sabotaged the investigation of the Biden family’s foreign influence-peddling (a scandal that includes such crimes as tax evasion, wire fraud and money laundering), and that what they’re trying to do now is to sabotage the congressional investigation of their previous sabotage.

If Catherine Herridge’s bosses at CBS News had any integrity, they’d dig in on this story and lead the nightly news with it five days a week.



 

 

Category: CBS, Joe Biden, Scandal
« go back — keep looking »