The Other McCain

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

Our Decadent Elite: Rich Liberals and the Progressive Politics of Daddy’s Money

Posted on | June 23, 2014 | 25 Comments

“Turbulent, discontented men of quality, in proportion as they are puffed up with personal pride and arrogance, generally despise their own order. One of the first symptoms they discover of a selfish and mischievous ambition, is a profligate disregard of a dignity which they partake with others. To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country, and to mankind. The interest of that portion of social arrangement is a trust in the hands of all those who compose it; and as none but bad men would justify it in abuse, none but traitors would barter it away for their own personal advantage.”
— Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

That passage of Burke has become famous for the phrase “little platoon,” but is not usually quoted in context. Certain neoconservatives have made the “little platoon” a synonym for the family, whereas Burke was explaining a particular phenomenon, i.e., decadent French aristocrats who supported a revolutionary movement that was clearly hostile to the interests of the aristocracy. The clearest analog in our own era is rich liberals whose wealth is derived from the system of free market capitalism, a system toward which their political activism is profoundly hostile. Resisting the temptation to write an entire essay on the topic, let me show its relevance to today’s headlines.

Hillary Clinton says she’s
unlike the ‘truly well off’

This is astonishing to most people. The Clintons are millionaires many times over, and yet they’re not “truly well off”?

In an interview with Britain’s Guardian newspaper, Clinton was asked whether she could be a credible champion for fighting income inequality in the United States despite her wealth.
“But they don’t see me as part of the problem,” she told the paper, “because we pay ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well off, not to name names; and we’ve done it through dint of hard work.” The Guardian wrote that Clinton let off “another burst of laughter” in answering the question, suggesting that she found the question “painful.”
Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have earned well over $100 million giving paid speeches and writing books since leaving the White House in 2001.

What’s going on here is that Hillary is caught between her lifelong allegiance to the Democrat Party — with its propaganda mythos of being for “the little guy” — and the reality of her own success. Politics can be a very lucrative business, and she and her husband have parlayed their investment in liberal politics into a fortune, or at least, what most people would consider a fortune.

The typical Democrat voter looks at a number like $100 million and can only think of hitting the lottery as a way to get it. But the Clintons haven’t gotten where they are in life by hanging around typical Democrat voters. Successful politicians spend most of their time in the company of the rich and powerful and, quite naturally, view their own financial situation in comparison to the power brokers and big-money donors whose support they must routinely solicit.

How many fund-raisers has Hillary Clinton attended at the homes of the ultra-rich? How often has she visited the palatial mansions of billionaire moguls and those who inherited their wealth? She has seen first-hand the Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless and, comparing her lifestyle to theirs, she knows that collecting $100 million since 2001 — “through dint of hard work,” you see — is chump change compared to the vast fortunes some Democrat Party donors have.

If you want a glimpse into politics of the “truly well off,” take a look at Lachlan Markay’s Free Beacon story, “Democracy Alliance Donors Finance and Help Run Obama Advocacy Group.” This is a follow-up to an article Lachlan did last month, after finding a copy of a Democracy Alliance document that got lost at the Soros-backed group’s spring conference. It’s the Politics of Daddy’s Money:

[Democracy Alliance donor Amy Goldman’s] fortune comes from her status as heiress to one of the largest real estate fortunes ever amassed. Goldman’s father, Sol, owned nearly 600 New York commercial real estate properties when he died in 1987. At one point, he owned the famed Chrysler Building.
The ensuing legal battle over his $1 billion estate was at the time the largest ever to take place in New York’s Surrogate Court, more than doubling the previous record.
Amy Goldman has since become one of the Democratic Party’s largest individual campaign contributors. Goldman has donated more than $6 million to Democratic candidates, party organs, interest groups, and independent expenditure groups since 1990. . . .
Another benefactor of a massive inheritance that appears on DA’s new partner list was donating tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats while he was still in school.
Philip Munger is the son of Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman and Warren Buffett lieutenant Charles Munger, whose estimated net worth is $1.2 billion, according to Forbes. Munger the younger is a professor at the New School in New York City. Despite living on an educator’s salary, he also manages to donate vast sums to Democratic politicians.
Munger has shelled out more than $700,000 in political contributions since 1990, all to Democrats or liberal interest groups. He donated $46,300 while he was still a student, according to FEC forms that require donors to disclose their profession. . . .
More inherited wealth will likely flow through DA from Henry van Ameringen, heir to the International Flavors and Fragrance fortune. Van Ameringen is another massive Democratic donor. He has donated more than $900,000 to Democrats since 1990.
Van Ameringen was the 21st largest individual contributor to 527 “political action committees” in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He is the ninth largest donor to those groups in the current election cycle.
Much of van Ameringen’s political activity is aimed at promoting gay rights. He attended a $35,800 per-plate fundraiser for Obama in 2012 that solicited support from wealthy gay and lesbian individuals. The event raised an estimated $1.4 million for the president’s reelection.

See? None of these rich liberals gives a damn about the poor. Instead, the decadent offspring of the ultra-wealthy typically favor trendy “boutique” causes like environmentalism and gay rights that don’t do anything to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.

This helps explain why Hillary Clinton doesn’t see herself as “truly well off.” Whatever her faults, she comes from a middle-class background and is not one of the idle rich who have the luxury of playing around with Daddy’s Money. The Democrat Party historically has won elections by claiming to look out for the interests of the “little guy,” and the only way to sustain that partisan mythos is by political rhetoric that demonizes the rich. So Hillary is caught in a trap: On the one hand, she has gotten rich by being a Democrat and her 2016 ambitions require her to continue soliciting money from rich Democrat donors. On the other hand, she must pretend she’s not part of that demonized fictional category of rich people who don’t “pay ordinary income tax.”

It’s absurd, but liberal rhetoric has been so absurd for so long that most people scarcely even notice the absurdity anymore.

However, it does explain why I’m not a liberal: I can’t afford it!





 

Category: Hillary Clinton, Intellectuals, Progressivism

Rule 5 Monday

Posted on | June 23, 2014 | 15 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

It was one of those weekends when I just didn’t seem to have any kind of energy, and that’s why I’m running so late with the weekly dose of shapely young women -or not; EBL has odd notions about what constitutes Rule 5 material. In any case, readers should be aware that the aforementioned young ladies may be scantily or completely unclothed, so discretion on clicking the links is advised.

Grumpy Patriot is first out of the box again this week with Kate Upton, followed by Elvira Egmond at Randy’s Roundtable, Redskins cheerleaders at Fishersville Mike, and at Ninety Miles from Tyranny, Morning Mistress, Hot Pick of the Late Night, and Girls With Guns. Goodstuff returns this week with Jennifer Lopez, Animal Magnetism chips in with Rule 5 Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon, while Rotten to the Core offers Coleen Rooney and Blackmailers Don’t Shoot wonders Is Megan Fox Losing Interest in Show Business?

EBL’s thundering herd this week includes Casey Kasem (or what I presume is his wife, rather), Kurds, mail order brides, and pulp fiction covers. Also, Postmodern Jukebox!

At Soylent Refuge, it’s your morning coffee creamer, an Overnighty Classic, Monday Motivationer with choker, Overnighty Specialty Leathers, Tuesday Titillation Sunny, an Evening Awesome Linky Love Contender, Humpday Hawtness, Happy Hour Hawtness, Fursday Pixelated Poon Repair, Corset Confabulation, more Happy Hour Hawt, Weekender Candice, and Bath Night Bodacious Deborah.

A View from the Beach offers A is Also for Angie Everhart, Sheryl  Crow, “Cry Me a River”, X-Chimps as Common as X-Men (cavegirl content), Cougar Caught Checking Out Junior High School Students, Elites Rally to Rescue Stinky Cheese, Are You Up for the World Cup?, and Are Scientists Addicted to Grant Money?

Proof Positive’s Friday Night Babe is Natalie Dormer, his vintage Babe is Martha Hyer, and Sex In Advertising is courtesy of GoDaddy. At Dustbury, it’s Amal Alamuddin and Eve Hewson.

The DaleyGator’s DaleyBabes this week included Milana Vayntrub, Crystal Lowe, Eboni Jackson, Dina Meyer, Sigourney Weaver, Jessy Schram, Elisabeth Rohm, Saki Yamaguchi, Erina Mano, Sao Yoshimi, Julie Benz, Megu Fujiara, and Nikki Rae. Also, Feminists vs. Hot Women!


Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Deadline to submit links to the Rule 5 Wombat
mailbox is midnight, June 28.


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Category: Rule 5

Massachusetts Mayor Complains About Influx of Somali Refugees

Posted on | June 23, 2014 | 30 Comments

The flood of illegal aliens into Texas isn’t the only immigration problem making headlines lately:

A Massachusetts mayor is calling for an end to refugee resettlement in his city, saying Somali families are putting pressure on already strained services in Springfield, a onetime industrial center where nearly a third of the population lives below the poverty line. . . .
Sarno, leader of the state’s third-largest city, first demanded last summer that the U.S. government stop sending refugees. But after recent inspections found Somali families living in overcrowded, pest-infested apartments without electricity and sometimes heat, he stepped up complaints, saying resettlement agencies are bringing in “warm-weather” refugees and dumping them into cold climates only to leave them dependent on the city.
“I have enough urban issues to deal with. Enough is enough,” Sarno said in an interview. “You can’t keep concentrating poverty on top of poverty.”

Read the whole thing.

 

Category: Immigration

Iraqi Collapse Continues

Posted on | June 23, 2014 | 9 Comments

The bad news just keeps getting worse:

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government said Sunday that Sunni militants had taken control of a major Iraqi post on the Syrian border, strengthening their ability to move men and supplies into Iraq’s heartland. . . .
On Sunday, Gen. Qassim Atta, a top military spokesman, acknowledged in a briefing that Iraqi Army troops had left the Qaim border post near the Syrian border as well as the towns of Rawaa and Ana, but that the units would be fighting the militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, elsewhere.
“As a tactical procedure,” General Atta said, “the security forces in Rawaa, Ana and Qaim have withdrawn from these areas to reinforce other troops in other areas.”
There were also unconfirmed reports on Sunday evening that government forces had fled Al Waleed, the last post at the Syrian border that had remained in the army’s hands. Frightened police officers, reached by telephone, said that the army had already left and that the police scattered when the militants arrived in trucks. Some police officers crossed the border into Syria, if they had family there, and others stayed on the Iraqi side, a police source said.

Meanwhile, oblivious to the Obama administration’s role in the escalating Iraqi disaster, John Kerry was in Cairo doing his darnedest to undermine support for al-Maliki’s government:

“The United States would like to see the Iraqi people find leadership that is prepared to represent all of the people of Iraq,” Mr. Kerry said Sunday in Cairo, at the start of a Middle East trip to rally Arab support on the Iraq crisis.

This is insane. It reminds me of the Kennedy administration’s CIA coup against Diem in Vietnam, and we know how that worked out.

A whopping 37 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s handling of foreign policy, which is about 37 percent too much.

 

Category: Iraq

LIVE AT FIVE: 06.23.14

Posted on | June 23, 2014 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Iran Rejects US Action In Iraq

ISIS jihadis take control of an intersection in Mosul

Khamenei accuses US of attempting to regain control

Ukraine Ceasefire Under Pressure As Fighting Flares Again
Kiev accuses rebels of taking advantage of unilateral ceasefire


Scott Walker Rips Prosecutors’ Allegations As “Partisan And False”
“The federal judge…sharply criticized the prosecutors. He said that they are now seeking ‘refuge in the Court of Public Opinion, having lost in this Court on the law.'”



POLITICS
Bergdahl Released From Inpatient Treatment

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl

Accused deserter to continue treatment on outpatient basis

McCarthy Slams Reid: “US Should Have All Options On The Table With Iraq”

Former AG, Pa. Governor Thornburgh Hospitalized With Stroke

2012 Audit Found VA Hospitals Warned Not To Game The System

Cochran, McDaniel Stump On Mississippi’s Gulf Coast

Border Patrol Scraps Plan To Fly Illegals To California

Mormon Feminist Faces Excommunication

Clawson Heavily Favored To Win Radel’s Vacant Seat

Military Considers Online Shopping Perk For Vets



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Brent Breaks $115 As Iraq Burns: NYMEX $107.14, Brent $115.16
New Majority Leader Calls For Expiration Of Ex-Im Bank
Oracle To Seal $5 Billion Deal For Micros Systems
Justice Department Nearing $9 Billion Deal With BNP Paribas
American Apparel’s Charney Fighting Back
Billions At Risk As West Coast Port Contract Ends
Nvidia Thinks ARM Is Ready For High Performance Computing Market
Facebook Boosts Android App Speed After Trip To Africa
Amazon: Fire Phone Or Fire Sale?
Cutting The Cord: Aereo Decision Could Be Turning Point
Heartbleed Isn’t Dead Yet



SPORTS
Twins Complete Four-Game Sweep Of White Sox

Veteran Jared Burton saves the sweep

Mauer, Willingham have 2 RBI apiece in 6-5 win


Knicks’ Anthony To Test Free Agent Market

Cueto Pitches Reds Past Blue Jays 4-3

Padres Sack GM Josh Byrnes


Yu Got Nothing: Angels Beat Darvish, Rangers 5-2

Carl Edwards Gets First Win At Sonoma

Red Sox Blow Big Lead In Oakland, Big Papi Saves Day In 10th

Tillman & The O’s Blank Yanks 8-0

Rays Take Series Against Astros With 5-2 Win

Nats Beat Braves 4-1 For Series Split



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Hope Solo Arrested For Domestic Violence

Party out of bounds?

Not the soccer star’s first brush with the law

Jared Leto Turns Thumbs Down On “Brilliance”

Jill Duggar Gets Married – Saves First Kiss For Husband

Katie Couric Marries BF Of Two Years In The Hamptons


“Men Of The Strip” Star Nate Estimada Drives Off Cliff

Robert Pattinson: “I Don’t Need Therapy”

J-Lo Enjoys Flirty Night Out With Maksim Chemerovsky After Shooting Down Dating Rumors

Cast Set, Plot Revealed For Wachowskis’ Netflix Series “Sense8”

Norks Slam Film “The Interview” About Kim Jong-Un

Rosario Dawson Joins “Daredevil” For Netflix

Justin & Selena Canoodling In The Studio



FOREIGNERS
Kerry Arrives In Baghdad To Talk About Inclusion
ROKs Capture Rogue Soldier
Antigovernment Imam Returns To Pakistan, Followers Clash With Police
IDF Hits Syrian Military Positions After Teenager Killed In Golan Heights
US Unlocks Aid As Kerry Presses Egypt On Democracy
UK Business Leaders Seek Cameron’s Protection From EU Bureaucrats
Hong Kong Democracy Poll “An Illegal Farce”
Clashes In Kosovo Over Bridge Blockade
Top Malaysian Court Rules Only Muslims May Use “Allah”
Aussie PM To Reintroduce Bill For Repeal Of Carbon Tax
Lack Of Coordination Hampers Vaccine Drive In Pakistan



BLOGS & STUFF
Proof Positive: Hillary’s NYT Best Cellar
Michelle Malkin: NY-22 – Laughable Lies Of Liberal Republicans
Twitchy: “Chuck Todd Is An Ultra Conservative Neo-con Puppet” (Crazy People)
American Power: Polish FM Sikorski Slams Obama Administration – US Alliance “Worthless, Harmful”
American Thinker: Summer In DC Brings Out The “Skinterns”
BLACKFIVE: Attention, Media – Stop Referring To US Advisors In Iraq As “The 300”
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: Is Megan Fox Losing Interest In Show Business?
Conservatives4Palin: After One Week, Hillary’s Book Falls From Amazon’s Top Ten
Don Surber: Bobby Jindal Just Said No To A New Law
Jammie Wearing Fools: How Are Obama And The IRS Getting Away With A Blatant Coverup?
Joe For America: Marine Barred From Wearing Uniform At Graduation Killed In Afghanistan
JustOneMinute: We’ve Seen This Movie
Pat Dollard: Pissed Off Virginians Revolt Against Obama’s Plan To House Illegals
Protein Wisdom: IRS Commissioner’s Big Middle Finger To American Public
Shot In The Dark: Lawless
The Jawa Report: ISIS Orders Unmarried Women To “Sex Jihad”
The Lonely Conservative: Have You Seen The Crap Our Troops Have To Eat?
This Ain’t Hell: White House Values Treason More Than Honor
Weasel Zippers: Sotomayor Defends Affirmative Action – Race Should Trump Academics In College Admission
Megan McArdle: Boomer Housing Bust Ain’t Happening Yet


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Category: Live at Five

So Close! #USA Ties Portugal, 2-2

Posted on | June 22, 2014 | 15 Comments

The United States was less than a minute away from a 2-1 World Cup victory that would have clinched advancement to the round of 16 when Portugal’s superstar Christiano Ronaldo fired a crossing shot that set up a header from Silvestre Varela. The 2-2 tie was a disappointing result for the U.S. which had battled back heroically from an early error that put them in a 1-0 deficit just five minutes into the game. Nevertheless, as CBS Sports points out:

The United States is actually in a position now that managing a draw against one of the best teams in the world in a World Cup match is actually considered a disappointment. The United States has four points after two matches in the “Group of Death!” We should be thrilled, but instead we’re all disappointed because the expectations have been raised for this team. That’s a good thing.

The U.S. could have gotten rattled after a defensive blunder cost them that early goal. Instead, they settled down and controlled the ball and waited for their chance. They didn’t get that chance until nearly 20 minutes into the second half when Jermaine Jones absolutely nailed a long shot after a corner kick to tie it up.

Then, at the 81-minute mark, Deandre Yedlin penetrated to the right corner, hit a crossing shot into the middle and — after some kicking back and forth — Clint Dempsey put it in.


At that point, I thought we had it in the bag. Unfortunately, Team USA went into a soccer version of the “prevent defense,” which gave Portugal numerous scoring chances — they out-shot the U.S. 12-6 in the second half — and finally the dangerous Ronaldo found his chance. We managed to hold him scoreless, but his assist on the final goal cost us the win.

It was a beautiful, exciting game, though. Now the situation is this: If the U.S. wins or ties Thursday against Germany, we advance to the round of 16. If the U.S. loses to Germany, we could still advance, if the Portugal-Ghana game ends in a tie, or if Ghana wins by a single goal and the U.S. loses by only one goal. A nail-biter, sure, but we’re still in good shape and still control our own destiny.

 

Category: Sports

ZeroHedge: ‘How A Country Dies’

Posted on | June 22, 2014 | 11 Comments

by Smitty

Quite a ring of truth about this:

2. The State

The State is threatened by a decline. Generally it moves into full pretend mode. Three behavioral traits characterize its behavior. The State must convince citizens:

  1. things are not as bad as they seem.
  2. the State is not responsible for the situation.
  3. the State must do more (grow bigger) in order to solve the problems.

Statistics issued by the State are fudged to convey a false image of well-being. Government spending soars in an effort to juice reported economic activity. Much of the spending is unproductive in terms of providing things that would have otherwise been bought. It is also counterproductive to a proper functioning economy as price discovery is disrupted and consumer and investment decisions are based on false signals.

Read the whole thing.

It remains to be seen whether the poison that the Left has injected into this country is going to make death preferable to renewal. Even with the prospect of a fully Republican Congress starting next year, who expects “elections have consequences” in this case? ObamaCare remains fundamentally a bum steer, a 10th Amendment violation, and a kidney-load down the back called “rain”. And the GOP is sounding. . .flaccid at the thought of repeal.

This is why I support the Convention of States. The fundamentally wrong things with the United States have their epicenter with the District of Columbia.

Update:

Category: Culture, Democrats, Republicans

FMJRA 2.0: A Day Late And a Moron Short

Posted on | June 22, 2014 | 8 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

This weekend’s FMJRA delayed on account of the Northern Virginia Moron Meetup, which was chock-full of commenters from AOSHQ; both morons and moronettes were there in pretty decent numbers, and both conversation & booze flowed freely. Very entertaining, and it made me think we ought to do something similar one of these months. It’s been way too long since the last Smittypalooza.

Dateline: Fort Leavenworth

Rule 5 Sunday: Floating

Liberals in Line to Buy Hillary’s New Book Can’t Name Her Accomplishments

BOOM! WaPo’s Dana @Milbank ‘Is Why People Loathe Journalists’

The Media’s President

Obama’s Jihad-Loving DHS Adviser

The O. Henry Plot Twist

Judas Priest Shout-Out To Princess Chelsea Clinton

Fugitive Florida Sex Offender Flees to Canada, Claims ‘Refugee’ Status

Happy Lesbian Father’s Day!

FMJRA 2.0: Steam

The Pathology of the ‘Male Feminist’

‘Statistical Voodoo and Elastic Definitions’

The Stupid Goes All the Way to Eleven

LIVE AT FIVE: 06.16.14

Bloodbath in Iraq

Shorter Krugman: ‘Kool-Aid, Anyone?’

In Which @AmandaMarcotte Reveals Her Disturbing Lack of Self-Awareness

Police: Arkansas Teacher, 57, Admits ‘Inappropriate’ Lesbian Sex With Girl, 16

‘Homo-Maniacal’ Cyberstalking

Hard Choices Is Sort Of The Literary Equivalent Of Healthcare.Gov, Then

Back to Iraq

Call Implausible IRS Lie About ‘Lost’ Emails What It Is: Obstruction of Justice

Ace on @Milbank: ‘Biased and Giddily Ignorant … Proud to Know Nothing’

A Failed Slut, A Successful Farmer, And A Pair of Soldiers

LIVE AT FIVE: 06.18.14

Porn, Shame and Suicide

Young Feminist Has Problems

Is Hillary Brain-Damaged?

IRS Obstruction of Justice

LIVE AT FIVE: 06.19.14

‘Victims Proliferate’ at Occidental: The Unfortunate Truth About Campus Rape

‘The First Time She Molested Me, I Was Three. The Last Time, I Was Twelve’

Democrat 2016 Hopeful Schweitzer Implodes After ‘Gaydar’ Comment

LIVE AT FIVE: 06.20.14

Brett Kimberlin Annoys a Judge

Professor Ludlow Defends His Right to Have Sex With Grad Students

Does That Mean That BHO’s Actual Birth Certificate Was An Attachment?

‘No One Deserves to Be Violently Murdered and Set on Fire’

Top linkers this week:

  1. Batshit Crazy News (36)
  2. Regular Right Guy (14)
  3. The DaleyGator (8)
  4. A View From The Beach (7)
  5. I’m 41 (6)

Thanks to everyone for their linkagery!


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Category: FMJRA Award
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