The Other McCain

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

Monsters And A Mystery

Posted on | May 27, 2014 | 49 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


I confess to having failed the Loyal Readers by not mentioning that I’ve finally gotten around to reading the first two Monster Hunter novels by International Lord of Hate Larry Correia, which were conveniently packaged in The Monster Hunters along with the first one I’d read, Monster Hunter Alpha, which is itself an excellent tale of modern horror set in a small Michigan town. While you can certainly read the Monster Hunter novels in any order, I think your appreciation of them is definitely improved if you read Monster Hunter International and Monster Hunter Vendetta first. To sum up for those who haven’t read them before, the Monster Hunter novels are about Owen Zastava Pitt, an accountant who finds himself volunteering for the secret war on vampires, werewolves, and other things that go bump (and slash, and chomp) in the night after barely managing to kill his boss, who turned werewolf and decided Pitt would be a good late-night snack. Mysteriously, Pitt doesn’t himself become infected with lycanthropy – narrowly avoiding death at the hands of the Federal Monster Control Bureau – but gets a job offer from legendary monster hunter Earl Harbinger and Earl’s lovely daughter. The offer is to join Earl’s company of hunters, kill monsters, and get filthy rich collecting the bounties. Of course, Owen accepts, and the result is (so far) four novels chock-full of ultraviolence, cliffhangers, massive property destruction, and other entertainments. I am definitely looking forward to Monster Hunter Nemesis, wherein the MCB’s Agent Franks goes off the reservation – and you should, too.


Larry Niven is famous as the author of Ringworld, of course, not to mention The Smoke Ring. He’s at it again with Greg Benford in Bowl of Heaven, wherein a human ramscoop en route to the Earthlike exoplanet Glory comes across a gigantic half-Dyson sphere using its sun for propulsion – which is also headed for Glory. The bowl is inhabited, of course, and ruled by the long-lived, gene-manipulating Astronomers, who remind me more than a little of the fithp from Footfall, and the Astronomers are uncertain whether they want to “adopt” or exterminate the newcomers. Interesting read; nowhere near as good as Ringworld, but it has its charms.


Last in the list of books I’ve read this weekend is This Doesn’t Happen In The Movies, a nice little noir mystery by Renee Pawlish which is entertaining enough if you like noir, and hey – the price is right!


In the wider world of science fiction, apparently the increasingly irrelevant SFWA picked their Nebula Award winners recently, and excluded all the bad, evil, cismale patriarchal oppressors from the winner’s circle. Sarah Hoyt has a few things to say about that. As for the clash between Hachette and Amazon, Vox Day has pertinent comments.


Like Stacy, I’m going on the road next week and will be in Las Vegas from June 3-6. Since I’m planning on visiting both the Heart Attack Grill and In-N-Out Burger, there will be burger posting in addition to the usual Live At Five posts.


Category: Books, Culture

Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson Will Speak at Republican Leadership Conference

Posted on | May 27, 2014 | 40 Comments

Just announced a few minutes ago:

Phil Robertson, patriarch of the Robertson family and star of the series “Duck Dynasty,” will address the 2014 Republican Leadership Conference, Thursday May 29th at 6pm. Also speaking on Thursday evening are RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. Ron Johnson and Ben Sasse.
Other Speakers at the 2014 Republican Leadership Conference include Governor Rick Perry, Governor Phil Bryant, US Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, & David Vitter; Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann and Allen West! The Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans has become one of the premier political events in the country. It’s not too late to register.

Yeah, I’m on my way to New Orleans today, leaving out of Atlanta, and will be covering the RLC this weekend.




 

 

Category: Fear and Loathing in the French Quarter

Creepy Little Weirdo’s Murder Rant Becomes Cultural ‘Rashomon’

Posted on | May 27, 2014 | 59 Comments

Isla Vista mass murderer Elliot Rodger’s 7-minute video and 141-page manifesto have become a Rashomon — a story whose meaning is different to everyone. The Washington Post has Style section writer Ann Hornaday telling us how Rodger’s video rant reflects “misogynist” themes promoted by Hollywood.

Meanwhile, the shooter’s mention of Monette Moio — she shows up on Page 41 of Rodger’s manifesto as “a pretty blonde girl” he said teased him when he was in 8th grade and she was in 7th grade — drew an angry reaction from the girl’s father:

The woman’s father said it was Saturday morning when his 20-year-old daughter realized Rodger had made her part of his sick story.
“She’s devastated by this,” the dad said in a phone interview. “She doesn’t even remember this guy. . . . She’s always been the most delicate kid you’d ever want to meet. For him to call her a bully, this kid was really disillusioned.
“She was 10 years old,” the dad added. “He was two years older than her. He was in my son’s class. She was in the seventh grade and he was in eighth grade. . . . Can you imagine a 10-year-old kid bullying a 12-year-old? This little, petite girl bullying him?”
In his screed, Rodger called his crush an “evil bitch” who “teased and ridiculed” him and “wounded me deeply.”

The reality — this was just a girl he had a crush on in 8th grade, a girl who never even noticed him — became something completely different inside the twisted mind of the Creepy Little Weirdo. Speaking of twisted minds, Amana Marcotte’s got a long rant headlined, “How ‘Pick-Up Artist’ Philosophy and Its More Misogynist Backlash Shaped Mind of Alleged Killer Elliot Rodger.”

PJ Media’s Dr. Helen Smith fires back: “The Elliot Rodger Case: If Pick-Up Artists Are Guilty, Then So Are the Feminists.” Dr. Helen is a psychologist who has specialized in studying male violence and is also the author of Men on Strike: Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream — and Why It Matters. If anybody is an actual expert in this area, she is.

The focus on “pickup artist” (PUA) culture as an influence on Roger is probably misguided. As his manifesto makes clear, the Creepy Little Weirdo had been overwhelmed by resentment and a sense of failure since he was in middle school, and he didn’t start ranting on PUA forums until after he had already decided on his “Day of Retribution.” So he acquired from PUA culture a jargon (“Alpha males,” etc.) but this was not the source of his anger, nor did it exercise a determining influence on his actions. As for the PUA culture itself, they are denouncing Elliot Rodger as “effeminate.”

 

 

Category: Crime

LIVE AT FIVE: 05.27.14

Posted on | May 27, 2014 | 15 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Narendra Modi Sworn In As Prime Minister Of India

The new PM greets BJP party workers after paying tribute at a memorial to Gandhi in New Delhi yesterday

Takes office one week after his party’s smashing victory in Lok Sabha elections; Nawaz, Karzai in attendance

Ukraine’s New President Vows To Restore Order
Poroshenko rules out negotiations with pro-Russian militants

High Hopes For Al-Sisi As Egyptian Tourism Falters
Former general the consensus pick to win next week’s presidential election



POLITICS
Sen. Burr (R-NC), VFW Spar Over VA Scandal

VA Secretary Shinseki meets with ranking senators Burr and Sanders of the Veterans Affairs Committee

Burr accuses VFW, other vet groups of trading support for access to senior VA officials

Obama Observes Memorial Day At Arlington As VA Scandal Grows

Prosecutors Seek Leniency For Former Hacker Who Defended Government Websites

Medicaid Surge Triggers Cost Concern For States

In New Role, NYC Champion Of Homeless Hopes To Prove His Critics Wrong

US To Rev Up Hacking Fight Against PRC



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
WTI Stays Above $104 In Asian Trade As Libya, Ukraine Crises Persist
Asia Stocks Mixed On Political Tensions, ECB Rate Cut Hopes
Inflation Worries Weigh On Europe, Japan
Big Health Insurance Rate Hikes Coming?
Amazon Tests Its Dominance In Row With Hachette
US Reactors Prepare Long-Term Nuke Waste Storage
How Do Today’s Kids React To 1970s Computers?
Microsoft, Apple, And Device Discontinuity
Sony Forms PlayStation Venture In PRC
“Watch Dogs” Live-Action Fan Made Video Mimics Game Action
Here’s What “Wolfenstein: The New Order” Had To Do To Launch In Germany



SPORTS
Santana Can’t Hold Five-Run Lead; BoSox Rally To Beat Braves 8-6

Snapping a ten-game skid

Big Papi homered, drove in four

A’s Rack Up Five Homers In 10-0 Rout Of Tigers

Heat Dominate Pacers Wire-To-Wire, Take 3-1 Series Lead

Jays’ Weekend Sweep Of Rays The Start Of Something Special?

Rangers Move Within One Win Of Stanley Cup Finals

Howard Fuels Phillies’ Rout Of Rockies

Ramirez’ Walkoff Lifts White Sox Past Tribe

Brewers Bullpen Costs Lohse Another Win As O’s Rally For Win

Young Shines As Mariners Top Angels

Rangers Pound Twins 7-2

Pirates Rally In Ninth To Top Mets

Jimmie Johnson Ends Drought At Coca-Cola 600

Stanton Hits NL-Leading 15th Homer As Fish Beat Nats



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Emma Watson Graduates From Brown University

One English Lit major who won’t have to worry about finding a job

Took an extra year to wrap up degree due to break in 2011 to promote The Deathly Hallows Part 2

Unspeakable Armenian Gets Married
I’m taking six months in the divorce pool.

T.I. Vs. Floyd Mayweather: Brawl Erupts On Vegas Strip

Rachel Bilson Pregnant

“Happy Endings” Alum Casey Wilson Married


Christina Ricci Pregnant

25 Things You Don’t Know About Lea Michele

Justin Theroux Is The Main Course In “The Leftovers”

Picture Of Kate Middleton’s Bare Butt Posted Online

Jim Carrey Offers Heartfelt Advice To Maharishi U. Grads

The “Bullied” Fights Back

Nick Loeb Low-Key After Split From Sofia Vergara



FOREIGNERS
PRC To Scrap Millions Of Cars To Improve Air Quality
Thai Junta Rushes To Pay Rice Farmers, Boost Economy
Nigerian Military Knows Where Missing Girls Are; Rules Out Force
Pope To Meet With Sex Abuse Victims At Vatican
Canadian Doctor Gunned Down In Pakistan
Vietnam Accuses PRC Of Sinking Fishing Boat
Hollande: Euroskeptic Vote “Must Be Confronted”
At Least Forty Killed, 100 Injured As Indian Express Train Hits Stationary Freight In Uttar Pradesh
Jordan Declares Syrian Ambassador Persona Non Grata
Pope Francis Visits Jerusalem On Final Day Of Tour
Poroshenko Wins 54% In Ukraine Vote
Ireland’s Labour Party Leader Quits After Disastrous EU Vote Results



BLOGS & STUFF
American Power: Emo-Prog Elliot Rodger Was Fan of MSNBC’s Far Left Spinoff Channel, “The Young Turks”
American Thinker: Senate Democrats Declare War On Vets
BLACKFIVE: Are Journalists Free To Publish Classified Info?
Conservatives4Palin: Democrats Privately Calling Obama “Detached”, “Flat-Footed”, “Incompetent”
Jammie Wearing Fools: Justice Department Used Lois Lerner To Build Criminal Case Against Nonprofits
Joe For America: Mark Cuban, Stephen A. Smith, And The Dirty Little Secret About Blacks And Racism
JustOneMinute: Classic Krugman
Pat Dollard: Gay UCSB Killer’s Father Photographs Womens’ Naked Asses For Extra Cash
Protein Wisdom: Land Of The Flawed, Home Of The Corrupt
Shot In The Dark: Memorial Day
The Jawa Report: Smartest Administration Ever Accidentally Outs CIA Station Chief In Kabul
The Lonely Conservative: Lessons In Liberal Governance
This Ain’t Hell: The President At Bagram
Weasel Zippers: CAIR’s Canadian Branch Sues PM Stephen Harper For Accurately Linking Them To Hamas
Megan McArdle: Even Less To Like About Flying Coach


Category: Live at Five

ROAD TRIP!

Posted on | May 26, 2014 | 34 Comments

With little advance warning, I have decided to hit the road today, bound for New Orleans and the Republican Leadership Conference:

Republicans who can’t wait for an advance preview of the 2016 GOP presidential primary campaign should mark the last weekend in May on their calendars and book their flights for New Orleans, site of the 2014 Republican Leadership Conference. Among the names already announced for the three-day event are Texas. Sen. Ted Cruz, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, Tennesssee Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Florida Rep. Allen West, businessman Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Tonight I’ll be in Atlanta and tomorrow will traverse Alabama and Mississippi.




 

Category: Fear and Loathing in the French Quarter, Shoe Leather Fund

Toward Anarchy and Oblivion

Posted on | May 26, 2014 | 104 Comments

“It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then the dauphiness, at Versailles, and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. . . . I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone. . . .
“The unbought grace of life, the cheap defense of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise, is gone!”
— Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

The Apostles of Equality and Progress, who have done everything in their power to destroy whatever vestiges of courtesy, decency, loyalty and honor remained in American society, now presume to disavow the Age of Hatred and Violence they have unleashed upon us. What Burke called the “barbarous philosophy” of the French Revolution — whereby “a king is but a man, a queen is but a woman; a woman is but an animal, and an animal not of the highest order” — has prevailed as he foretold, and the horrifying consequences are everywhere.

Lesbian feminist Lisa Needham believes all men are Elliot Rodger:

[T]his might be mental illness, but it is an illness that is not unfamiliar to women who routinely and disproportionately are the victims of harassment, neglect, violence, and death at the hands of men. Rodger’s actions were an extreme manifestation of a cultural view that is not actually uncommon: that women “owe” men attention, that women who don’t put out are bitches, that women who do put out — for other guys, of course — are sluts, and all these women get what they “deserve” — violence from men.

Right. Women are victims “routinely” of “a cultural view that is not actually uncommon,” and a psycho creep who kills six people is just an “extreme manifestation” of this “not unfamiliar” illness.

Marie Antoinette could not be reached for comment.

The chivalry that once inspired “manly sentiment” died long ago, and customary deference has been replaced by raw Power, the only currency recognized in the Age of Hatred and Violence.

Yet the hashtag #YesAllWomen is trending, one liberal describing it as “meant to open eyes to the real problems with the injustice in society . . . instigate change, and open up the eyes of both women and men; women in a show of solidarity . . . men to make a strong statement that these are not isolated incidents we see on the news, but rather, ongoing problems that, if left unchecked, will ultimately lead to a much bleaker future.” Not a word (and probably not a thought) from liberals that maybe how we got into this godawful bloody mess is because fools trying to “instigate change” didn’t bother to think through their radical syllogism to its deadly conclusion.

Los Angeles Times headline: #YesAllWomen: Isla Vista attack puts a spotlight on gender violence — and never mind the fact that four of the six people Elliot Rodger killed in his murder rampage were men: Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, 20, Cheng Yuan Hong, 20, George Chen, 19, and Weihan Wang, 20. If the facts don’t fit the liberal narrative, liberals will just ignore the facts, and will bristle with indignation if you dare to point out the cognitive dissonance.

“You have to hand it to the liberals: they never miss an opportunity to convert tragedy into political gain,” and who can disagree?

Ginning up hatred is always “political gain” for liberals, and this is what the hashtag #YesAllWomen is about: Convincing women that men are their enemy. The standard Tweet format is for a woman to say that A Terrrible Thing happened to her because of a man (or men in general) and #YesAllWomen — a slogan framed as a reply to “Not All Men,” which is a feminist pet peeve: Whenever they complain about men in general, someone is always certain to point out that the generalization is unfair:

NAMALT – internet (feminist) shorthand for ‘Not All Men Are Like That’. . . .
NAMALTs usually happen within the context of explaining how widespread a problem is with males; male supremacy; or male violence. If too many women are agreeing that this is indeed a widespread problem with males in general, then one or more NAMALTers rush in, and, well, just NAMALT.
Once the NAMALTing starts, it becomes a tsunami of NALMATing, NIGELs and UNICORNs.
NIGEL is feminist internet shorthand for NIcest Guy who Ever Lived. And Unicorns . . . are apparently these very special pro-feminist men that are shoved at radfems, who are understandably skeptical that such pure creatures exist.

Radical feminists do not hesitate to include all men in their condemnations of the “patriarchy,” and NAMALTing is not allowed:

The phenomenon of NAMALTing is also the phenomenon of stating NAFALT (Not All Feminists Are Like That), ie, not being one of those nasty manhater types of feminists. Yeah sure, we get it. Your ‘feminist’ politics are ‘man friendly’. They are also bullshit. Feminism is the only political movement that prioritises women’s rights and needs above the mainstream (ie male domination). If you cannot do that, then don’t call yourself a feminist.

In other words: No Feminist Can Ever Say Anything Nice About Men.

Understood in this context, #YesAllWomen is a chip on the shoulder, daring anyone to claim not all men are responsible for violence against women — to frame rape and abuse as a collective victimization of women for which men are collectively to blame.

The Apostles of Equality and Progress have brought us here, and the logic of their “barbarous philosophy” leads in exactly one direction — toward anarchy and oblivion. The Age of Hatred and Violence has merely begun, and it ill behooves those who have delivered us into utmost savagery to disavow the handiwork of their labors.

Marie Antoinette could not be reached for comment.

 


Category: Feminism, Intellectuals

Alyssa Funke, R.I.P.

Posted on | May 25, 2014 | 76 Comments

She was a straight-A student and then she decided it would be smart to get an F on camera, so to speak:

A 19-year-old college student committed suicide just two weeks after making her first pornographic video.
Alyssa Funke, who starred in her first porn film earlier his year for a website called CastingCouch-X, used a shotgun to kill herself on April 16.
The teen, who adopted the stage name “Stella Ann,” was a straight-A student at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls. She told the pornographers, “I want to be a major in biology, minor in chemistry, and I want to be an anesthesiologist.”
It is widely thought she killed herself after former classmates at her high school in Stillwater, Minnesota, taunted her through Twitter and Facebook. Police say their investigation, which is still ongoing, has not yet found any criminal harassment.
Funke’s parents say that she suffered from periodic depression. Local media report that the young lady’s father has a record for swindling and theft, and her mother dealt drugs with a boyfriend. Funke’s mother also neglected the family’s younger siblings. Eventually, Funke moved in with her grandmother as a young teenager, though she still struggled with money.
Former pornstars told LifeSiteNews that troubled childhoods and deep depression — before or after a shoot — is not out of the ordinary in that industry.
Madyson Marquette, whose porn film name was Fayth Deluca, told LifeSiteNews that “after shooting porn, it seemed as if all the girls were depressed, including myself. We would shoot a scene and immediately after we would go do something to where we wouldn’t have to think about what we had just done, whether that was getting so drunk we just blacked out, some type of drug like Xanax, cocaine, or ecstasy.”

The mainstream media are taking the angle that Alyssa was a victim of “cyberbullying,” rather than a victim of the porn industry, but hello? It’s 2014 and it’s time for people to wake the hell up: If you do porn, it’s going to be on the Internet, and if it’s on the Internet, everybody’s going to see it. There is no way you can have a “secret” porn career in the Internet age, so if you’re going to do porn, just get used to the idea that your high school friends (and your high school enemies) are going to find out about it. Your parents, your teachers, your brothers and sisters, your aunts and uncles, grandma and grandpa — everybody you know is going to see what you do, got it?

If that doesn’t bother you, OK. But if you don’t think you can handle the reaction, maybe you shouldn’t be doing porn.

Of course, America’s Feminist Teen Porn Princess, Miriam Weeks (a/k/a “Belle Knox”) disavows any responsibility:

I have read the criticism that because I have said I feel “empowered” by porn that I am somehow encouraging other young women to go down this same path. Absolutely not. . . .
I do not think pornography caused your death. But I think society’s reaction to pornography did.
It’s time that we end slut shaming and treat sex workers with respect and tolerance. How many more people need to die before we realize that the hatred needs to end?

Right. Let’s blame “society” and give us a Women’s Studies lecture about the need to have “respect and tolerance” for whores. But you cannot wish away the shame of what is, objectively, shameful. And feminist lectures can’t raise a dead girl from the grave.

 

Category: Sex

#OccupyResoluteDesk PSA

Posted on | May 25, 2014 | 20 Comments

by Smitty

Category: Barack Obama
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