The Other McCain

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

Shrew Culture Update

Posted on | August 9, 2014 | 26 Comments

This week, First Lady Michelle Obama said something weird:

“We can’t waste the spotlight. Time is short. Change is needed. And women are smarter than men,” Obama said during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit to a laughing audience, according to White House press pool reports.
She continued, “And the men can’t complain because they are outnumbered today.”
Obama and former first lady Laura Bush spoke on Wednesday at the summit’s “spousal program.” The daylong event took place at the Kennedy Center, where the first ladies addressed spouses of African leaders visiting the capital this week for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.

What was this about? What prompted the First Lady’s remark? Why did the audience laugh? Why was this funny? Nobody has been able to explain. However, feminist Jessica Valenti felt a need to interpret the “joke” (and reaction to it) as a critique of sexism:

Michelle Obama told a joke about men
they didn’t find funny. That’s hilarious
When I saw that Michelle Obama joked at the US-Africa Leaders Summit this week that “women are smarter than men”, I prepared myself for backlash. And — what do you know? — Politico wrote that the First Lady had “engaged in a battle of the sexes”, anti-feminist author and Fox News contributor Suzanne Venker called it a “sexist and elitist display”, and the headline at Business Standard read “Michelle Obama claims women are smarter than men”. As if it were a serious assertion rather than a joking aside!
This isn’t the very first time Michelle Obama has taken flak for, well, just about anything. Her tenure in the White House has been marked by nasty racist and sexist attacks (in fact, they started before President Obama took office) on her body, her feminism — even her love of Beyoncé.
But when the First Lady made the quip — at an event with former first lady Laura Bush, while addressing the spouses of African leaders — it wasn’t a humorless dig at men. It was a light-hearted moment of girl-power on the outskirts of a conference for heads of state that is incredibly male-dominated.
Actually, I wish she’d said it with the intention of mocking men — with all that political, economic and social power they’ve cornered by marginalizing women, I think they can take a light ribbing. (I’d prefer a total overthrow of the patriarchy, but I’ve always had champagne tastes.)
Besides, laughter is the best medicine, especially when it’s a guffaw redirected right in the face of sexists.

So, according to Jessica Valenti, this was a “joking aside,” “a light-hearted moment of girl-power,” “a quip,” “a guffaw redirected right in the face of sexists.” Except it wasn’t. What the First Lady said was not a “quip.” This was not clever wordplay, a pithy aphorism worthy of Dorothy Parker. No, it was a non sequitur. And it was neither directed nor redirected in the face of sexists.

Rather than defend this nonsensical “joke,” however, Jessica Valenti goes on the offense, claiming that the reaction to Mrs. Obama’s opaque attempt at humor proves . . . well, something about how stupid men are: “Hahaha, men don’t get the joke!”

What Jessica Valenti is displaying here is an example of what Professor Glenn Reynolds has called “shrew culture,”  i.e., feminism as a perverse and sadistic desire to humiliate males. There is a sort of gender narcissism at work — a self-flattery in which feminists praise themselves merely for being women — as well as an exaggerated version of the typical insecure person’s attempt to build themselves up by tearing down others: “I’m awesome because I’m a woman and, hey, all men are stupid sexists. Praise me!”

Somehow, to the Jessica Valentis of the world, this is actually supposed to be funny. And if you don’t laugh at such “quips,” that just proves what a stupid sexist you are. Q.E.D. But the humor-impaired Valenti, having failed to make an argument or to say anything funny herself, continues onward to a conclusion of ideological rigidity:

In all fairness, joking about men’s (supposed) inferiority doesn’t change the systemic power system through which they benefit. But so long as it irritates the misogynists in our midst – and gives women some much-needed moments of levity – I’ll keep encouraging women to laugh at ridiculous men who just want them to stop already. Signaling that women will do whatever they damn please regardless of what men think is a winning strategy.

Notice how she repeats dogmatic assertions. Men have monopolized “political, economic and social power . . . by marginalizing women” through a “systemic power system.” (Do you think Valenti could explain what a non-systemic power system looks like?) The repetition of ideological dogma is not funny. People are not laughing with you, Jessica Valenti. They’re laughing at you.

 

Category: Feminism

FMJRA 2.0: My TV And You

Posted on | August 9, 2014 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Rule 5 Monday

The Pro-Hamas Mob in L.A.

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.05.14

Kentucky Democrat Race-Baits McConnell’s Wife; Deletes ‘Asian’ Tweets

How to Become a Lesbian, Step One: Watch Cable TV While Depressed

FMJRA 2.0: Disappointed

Sex Trouble: #DearFeministMen Illustrates a Fundamental Problem

Neal Rauhauser’s ‘Lubed Up’ Criminal Pervert Buddy, Thomas Retzlaff

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.04.14

Can Mitch McConnell Survive?

Brett Kimberlin Gets Spanked

TRUTH ON TRIAL

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.06.14

Hey, Moms: Feminists Think They Know What’s Wrong With Your Children

Pageant Judge Was Lesbian Predator; Sexually Assaulted Pre-Teen Girl

‘They Found a Rape Kit in His Car’

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.07.14

Brain Candy, Coyote, a Dragon and Zombies

#ObamaCare River of Lies Rolls On

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.08.14

Jay Cost, At Least, Agrees With Me

Top linkers this week:

  1. Batshit Crazy News (16)
  2. That Mr. G Guy (15)
  3. EBL (13)
  4. Regular Right Guy (7)

Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Deadline to submit links for next week’s FMJRA will be noon on Saturday, August 16.


Music For People

Category: FMJRA Award

Alabama Teacher, 39, Gets Five-Year Sentence for Sex With Boy, 14

Posted on | August 9, 2014 | 27 Comments

Summer is the slow season for teacher sex scandals. For obvious reasons, there are fewer teachers arrested for having sex with students during vacation months when kids aren’t in school. Yet the courts are still in session, and the trials and hearings continue:

A former Alabama high school teacher and cheerleading coach accused of having an affair with a teenage boy was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison.
In May, Jennifer McNeill, 39, pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree rape and one count of second-degree sodomy.
McNeill said in court that she was sorry for what she had done, adding, ’I’ve lost so much… I’ve learned my lesson.’ . . .
Judge John Bush, who handed down the sentence this morning, called the defendant’s actions ‘absolutely abhorrent,’ adding that as a figure of authority she had betrayed the trust of the community, Al.com reported.
The victim’s mother also spoke in court, saying that not a day goes by that her son does not pay for what happened between him and McNeill — a long-time family friend and a Sunday school teacher. . . .
McNeill, a married sixth-grade teacher from Thorsby, was arrested last year and originally charged with six counts of rape and two counts of sodomy of a juvenile male — some of the alleged encounters took place on school grounds.
McNeill’s illicit romance with her friend’s son lasted from April 2012 to June 2013, during which time the lovers had sexual intercourse at least six times and on two occasions engaged in oral sex.

Let’s ask a few questions. In recent years, we have read case after case like this, in which female teachers are accused of illegal sex with underage students. At the same time, however, feminists have spent decades promoting theories in which male sexuality is condemned as inherently oppressive to women, where even heterosexual relationships between consenting adults are impugned as oppressive because of “male domination” and “male supremacy” within a partiarchal society. But where are the feminists addressing these sex crimes involving female predators like Jennifer McNeill?

How is it that popular feminist columnists like Jessica Valenti and Amanda Marcotte, who have been often willing to claim that there is “rape culture” which implicates all men in sexual violence against women, have nothing to say about predatory sex crimes when the perpetrators are women? Why aren’t the Women’s Studies professors and academic proponents of “gender theory” publishing journal articles and books that explain female sexual predators from the perspective of feminist ideology?

Isn’t it a reasonable suspicion that the reason feminists have noting to say about deviant sex crimes committed by women is that these crimes contradict everything feminism teaches about men, women and sex? Isn’t this collective silence from feminists really a guilty expression of shameful embarrassment, a tacit admission that feminism’s ideology of sex — i.e., anti-male theories that theorize women as victims whose oppression is rooted in collective inequalities of power — does not comport with reality?

There are facts which cannot be explained by feminist theory. When forced to choose between facts and theory, feminists will ignore the facts. They aren’t merely anti-male. They’re anti-truth.

 

Category: Crime, Education, Feminism, Sex

What To Think Of Kevin Drum

Posted on | August 9, 2014 | 42 Comments

by Smitty

He ends his Mother Jones piece on abortion with:

So don’t tell me that all the conservative Christians in DesJarlais’ district believe that abortion is murder. They may say they believe it. They may even sincerely think they believe it. But they don’t.

I wouldn’t want to get all arrogant and presume to know what people in Tennessee think. Nor would I care to sound so certain about Drum himself: this is the internet, and people make all kinds of strong assertions due to sincere belief, to stir the pot, to vent, to laugh, to drive traffic.

For me, abortion is murder because there is no logically consistent point (as opposed to legally consistent) after a human’s DNA is complete at which to declare them “life”. The motives for allowing some legal fiction to creep in seem kinda fishy.

via HotAir headlines

Category: Abortion

Jay Cost, At Least, Agrees With Me

Posted on | August 8, 2014 | 26 Comments

by Smitty

Emphasis mine:

What, then, is the best response for the GOP? It is simply this: The party must wrap itself unabashedly in the garb of reform. If Hillary Clinton offers herself as the wise and learned hand who will rely upon her decades of experience to guide the ship of state, Republicans have to argue that her experience is exactly what the country doesn’t need at this moment. They need to convince the public that, by being in Washington for the last quarter-century, she is too committed to a broken status quo that is in desperate need of change. The party then needs to lay out a credible and salable agenda for that change.

This should sound familiar, for it is how Barack Obama defeated Hillary Clinton in 2008. A message of reform resonated six years ago, and it could very well resonate again (so long as it is carried by somebody other than Obama!). Now as then, the country is tired and frustrated with the status quo. The people appear to want a change in course.

The GOP will have two years to preview that reform agenda. The Republicans should saturate the media with news of Benghazi, the IRS, and ObamaCare between Labor Day and Election Day.

Make the election a pre-impeachment vote. Tell the voters: “Look, if you want to throw #OccupyResoluteDesk under the bus, you know how to vote.” If there isn’t a sizable GOP wave election, then such an undertaking is a dead letter.

Irrespective of that question, the GOP should be (a) confessing that Progressivism has run its course, (b) articulating how it intends to rebuild public confidence in our soiled institutions, and (c) charting the domestic/foreign aspects of what a new course would look like.

tl;dr: we’re baked. There is no way under the sun that the party of ancient warhorses like Roberts, Cochran, and J.S. McCain is going to re-orient their collective iron lung in any new direction. My hope is in the Convention of States.

via HotAir headlines.

Category: Democrats, Hillary Clinton

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.08.14

Posted on | August 8, 2014 | 9 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Jihadis Rout Kurds, Take Mosul Dam

Iraqi security forces and Shiite volunteers face Islamic State jihadis north of Baghdad

Intrigue continues in Baghdad as acting PM Maliki refuses to step aside
Obama authorizes “possible” airstrikes in Iraq
UN says Islamic State persecution of Yazidis is genocide
Iraqi Christians flee as Islamic State takes Karakosh

Liberia, Sierra Leone Take Drastic Steps Against Ebola
Soldiers deployed to seal off affected areas

Hamas Says No Deal With Israel On Extending Truce
Rockets fired from Gaza hours before expiration of cease-fire



POLITICS
Sen. John Walsh (D-MT) Drops Out Of Race After Plagiarism Scandal

File photo showing the senator and his son Michael

Montana Democrats to hold nominating convention, select new candidate

Lamar Alexander Fends Off Tea Party Challenger In TN Senate Primary


President Signs VA Health Care Overhaul

Records Show Obama Met Exactly Once With Secretary Shinseki During VA Scandal

Ringleader Of Crew Who Slew Border Patrol Officer Had Prior Immigration Violations

Key Obamacare Official Likely Deleted E-Mails Now Sought By House Investigators



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Asian Crude Jumps After Obama Authorizes Airstrikes In Iraq: WTI $98.45, Brent $106.63
Red China July Exports Jump; Domestic Economy Still Problematic
Stocks Flop – Dow Hits Lowest Level Since May 20
CBS Profit Tops Estimates On Buybacks; Dividend Boosted
Fed Survey: One In Four Households “Just Getting By”
Market Basket Cuts Hours For Hundreds Of Part-Timers
Zynga Cuts 2014 Forecast, Delays Various Gaming Titles
Google Using Its Clout To Widen Use Of Encryption
Microsoft May Open First Store In NYC
For Sprint And T-Mobile, Separate Equals Better
IBM Unveils “Brain-Like” Chip



SPORTS
Howard’s Slam Caps Phillies’ Sweep Of Astros

Howard gets the star treatment from teammates after his game-winning, eighth-inning grand slam

Astros fall 6-5

NCAA’s New Rules Give More Autonomy To Big 5

ESPN Suspends Dan LeBatard For Billboard Stunt

MLB Whines About Dodgers’ Dugout Bubble Machine

Timbermutts Trade Kevin Love To Cleveland

Polanco, Volquez Lead Pirates Over Fish, 7-2

Guthrie Goes The Distance As Royals Crush Snakes 6-2 For The Sweep

O’s Edge Jays 2-1, Hold Five-Game Lead In AL East

Kevin Durant Pulls Out Of Team USA

Harper’s Sayonara Homer In 13th Quashes Talk Of Minors As Nats Beat Mets 5-3



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Kristen Stewart Isn’t Smiling For The Paparazzi

September’s cover girl for Elle looking hot amidst the produce

Poses for glam fashion shots inside Fields Market

San Fran Man Busted For Insider Trading In Disney/Marvel Deal

Melanie Griffith’s Daughter Refuses To Let Her Watch “Fifty Shades Of Grey”

Everyone, Chrissy. Chrissy, Everyone. Have Fun.

“Real Housewives Of NYC” Star Ramona Singer Divorcing Husband Mario

Larry David Making Broadway Debut In “Fish In The Dark”

Lindsay Lohan Ignoring Texts From Sober Friends

Robert Downey Jr.’s Son Indio Busted For Felony Drug Possession

Jamie Pressly Opens Up About Mastectomy On “The Talk”

Two More “Lego” Movies Get Release Dates



FOREIGNERS
Will Russia’s Western Sanctions Hit Shoppers?
Kerry Visits Kabul To Push For Fast Recount In Disputed Presidential Election
Prince William To Fly Again, This Time For UK Air Ambulance Service
Snowden Gets Three-Year Residence Permit From Russia
SecDef Hagel In India; Focus On Technology Transfer
Colombia President Starts New Term With Warning To Marxist FARC Rebels
Islamic State Occupies Churches, Sends Christians “Fleeing With Nothing But Their Clothes”
Chicoms Release Rights Activist Gao Zhisheng
In Wake Of Gaza Incursion, Anti-Semitic Attacks On The Rise In Europe
Chicom Police Investigate American Running Non-Profit Near Nork Border



BLOGS & STUFF
The Camp of the Saints: On Vigilance And Means Of Redress
Doug Powers: FLOTUS Gives Up Self-Awareness For The Greater Good
Twitchy: James Woods Retweets Liberal Followers – “An Unending Stream Of Mindless Bile”
American Power: Almost 90% Of Uninsured Won’t Pay Penalty As White House Obamacare Waivers Surge
American Thinker: More Bad News For The Middle Class And Their Health Care
BLACKFIVE: White House Press Brief – Mr. Hanson In Charge
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: Who’s Being Naive, Kay?
Conservatives4Palin: Why Did Our “Genius” President Screw Up So Many Things So Badly?
Don Surber: Political Scoreboard, August 7
Joe For America: Cops – If Obama Doesn’t Follow The Constitution, We Don’t Have To
JustOneMinute: The Next Crisis In Iraq
Protein Wisdom: Dear UN War Crimes Commission
Shot In The Dark: Saturday Breakfast
STUMP: Public Pensions Watch – Chicago Still Faces Doom
The Gateway Pundit: FLASHBACK – Obama Pledges Preventing Genocide Is “Core National Security Interest”
The Jawa Report: Meanwhile Near Mosul
The Lonely Conservative: Homeland Security Spends $450K On “State Of The Art” Gym Memberships
This Ain’t Hell: Limousine Liberal Sightings
Weasel Zippers: State Dept. Spokeswoman Marie Harf Says Iraqis “Have To Pull Themselves Together” And Stop Being Genocide Victims
Megan McArdle: A Streetcar Named Progress


Join Amazon Prime – Duck Dynasty Season 3 – Available on Amazon Prime Instant Video

Category: Live at Five

Brain Candy, Coyote, a Dragon and Zombies

Posted on | August 7, 2014 | 24 Comments

— by Wombat-socho


This week I want to talk about books that don’t necessarily have a Deep Message or Big Idea – or if they do, are well-written enough that the author and his characters aren’t beating you over the head with it every few paragraphs. One series of these books is Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet series, which begins with The Lost Fleet: Dauntless and has since split into two spinoff series, Beyond The Frontier and The Lost Stars. I spent a few days this week with Beyond the Frontier: Invincible and Beyond the Frontier: Guardian, in which the legendary Admiral “Black Jack” Geary leads his weary fleet home through systems full of hostile aliens and Syndics seemingly determined to carry on the war with plausible deniability, only to find Alliance politics may prove at least as deadly as the genocidal aliens. I don’t want to give the impression that these are simple space operas; there are a mess of subplots and complications that in the hands of a lesser author (or lazier editor) could have bloated these books into doorstop size. As it is, they’re tightly written tales that will keep you engaged, yet at the same time qualify as fairly light reading.


Allen Steele’s Coyote Rising, on the other hand…not so much. This is a novel that wears its libertarian colors on its sleeve, which was pretty much guaranteed from the get-go since the struggle between the socialist rulers of Coyote’s biggest colony and the refugees from the Alabama who fled into the forests to escape them takes up most of the book. Steele does a good job allowing his characters to tell the story from their own, individual perspectives, and does a better job of it than in the original Coyote, for what my opinion is worth.


Long before Frank Herbert gained fame and fortune (and set upon us a seemingly endless parade of sequels, thanks to his son) with Dune, he wrote a chilling little Cold War psychological thriller, The Dragon in the Sea. In a different future from ours, the Cold War has turned hot, and to keep the war machine running, the US Navy has taken to stealing oil from the Eastern Bloc with submarine tugs – but the last twenty subtugs have all been lost. Ensign John Ramsey of BuPsych is put aboard the Fenian Ram as the electronics officer to find out if there’s an East Bloc sleeper agent in the crew, or something else betraying the subtugs. Herbert does an outstanding job conveying the claustrophobic nature of submarine operations, played out in an environment where not only the enemy, but the sea itself is trying to kill you. Most of Herbert’s novels I can take or leave, but I think The Dragon in the Sea is every bit as good as Dune – and a damn sight shorter. 🙂


As much as I liked its predecessor, John Ringo’s Islands of Rage and Hope is EVEN BETTER, and I say this as someone who, as you know, has a complete distaste for the whole zombie apocalypse genre. Perhaps this is because Islands of Rage and Hope, like its predecessors Under a Graveyard Sky and To Sail a Darkling Sea aren’t so much about the zombies as they are about how a ragged band of survivors, stiffened by a handful of military personnel, adapt, react and overcome despite the problems presented by the ad hoc nature of the “Navy” and “Marine” forces, and the arguably deranged teenage women leading those forces. Contains extremely graphic descriptions of zombie (and human) deaths, royalty, horrible ethical dilemmas, porn stars (well, the next best thing), spec ops legends in deep cover, royalty, massive maternity issues, ballistic missile submarines, Gurkhas, and Dutch Marines. Does not contain: dull moments, frothing about GLBTWTFBBQ issues, or anything else likely to get this book a Nebula nomination. Highly recommended if you like zombie stories, carnage a la John Ringo, or just plain good action.


Amazon.com – Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices

Category: Books

#ObamaCare River of Lies Rolls On

Posted on | August 7, 2014 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

So, after all the Individual Mandate faffing about, Hot Air reports that as many as 90% may not get nicked with a penalty (for now):

The Obama administration has provided 14 ways people can avoid the fine based on hardships, including suffering domestic violence, experiencing substantial property damage from a fire or flood, and having a canceled insurance plan. Those come on top of exemptions carved out under the 2010 law for groups including illegal immigrants, members of Native American tribes and certain religious sects…
. . .
Critics have assailed one exemption for people who “experienced another hardship obtaining health insurance” as too broad. That exemption asks for documentation if possible but doesn’t require it.

To summarize, Obama is taking your liberty and training you to accept being spared the whip as an ersatz liberty substitute.
In defense of Obama, if the American people are retarded enough to stand for this, then DOOM ON US.

Category: Barack Obama, Democrats, Health Care
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