The Other McCain

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

Normally, I Don’t Support the Animal Rights Movement, However …

Posted on | December 20, 2013 | 11 Comments

. . . in this case, I’ll make an exception:

People who do that to their pets should be in prison.

 

Category: humor

Knife-Wielding Rape Suspect Says the Voices in His Head Were Rather Specific

Posted on | December 20, 2013 | 23 Comments

Criminality and stupidity are not a particularly unusual combination, but it is a mistake to think that criminals are so stupid that they cannot pick up cultural clues. For example, decades of liberal rhetoric about the “rights” of criminals and the depiction of the mentally ill as helpless victims apparently influenced Anthony Washington’s ideas of how to avoid conviction for attempted rape:

“I was currently diagnosed with schizophrenia and I was hearing voices to do bad things … to girls,” said Washington. “To go get, um, sex.” . . .
“[The voices] told me to go over there to the college,” he said. “I followed this girl from um, the trolley station to her college…and I followed her to her class.”
Once that woman went to into a classroom, he said he went to look for another young woman to follow.
He said he went to the large, eastern parking garage and found a girl getting ready to get into a parked car.
Authorities said that’s when Washington accosted her.
“Straddled her and put a knife to her throat,” Washington said.
He said he then forced her to get into her car. He told 10News that he had planned to “rape her” next.

“Hey, I’m not responsible for putting a knife to that girl’s throat, because that’s what the voices in my head told me to do!”

Evidently, the voices in Anthony Washington’s head also told him he should give an interview to the local TV station, because the voices in his head don’t understand that whole “right to remain silent” thing.

His 18-year-old victim testified at a hearing this week:

Deputy District Attorney Nicole Roth alleges that the victim was leaning into her car shortly before 11:30 a.m. Oct. 22 at the western El Cajon campus when Anthony Jerome Washington Jr., 26, forced her into the vehicle.
The victim, who was only identified as Melissa P., testified about her frightening ordeal in court on Wednesday.
“He just kind of pushed me from my shoulders in and told me to get in the car,” she said.
Roth asked her about the terrifying moments when she came face-to-face with her attacker.
When asked if she saw anything in the defendant’s hands at the time, she responded, “A knife.”
When asked if she saw the knife before or after he pushed her, she answered, “I don’t remember … as soon as I was like on my back, I saw the knife.” . . .
As the woman struggled to free herself, student Javier Partida was driving by in his car looking for a parking space when he saw what was happening.
“Her legs were spread out under him,” he said Wednesday on the witness stand. “I started honking my horn until I got a reaction.”
That reaction was Washington walking away quickly. Partida helped the victim call for police.
Deputies assigned to patrol the college then searched the campus, found a man matching the description of the attacker nearby and took Washington into custody.
When deputies arrested Washington, he had an 8-inch kitchen knife with a 4-inch blade inside his jacket.
After being arrested, Washington allegedly confessed that he had planned to rape the student “and do whatever he had to in order to get his way,” said San Diego County sheriff’s Sgt. Vic Perry.
Judge Daniel Goldstein ruled that enough evidence was presented at Wednesday’s preliminary hearing for Washington to proceed to trial on Feb. 3.

The voices in my head just told me that Anthony Washington needs to go to prison for a long, long time.

 


Category: Crime

A Brett Kimberlin Christmas: Unexpected Gifts From My Fellow Defendants

Posted on | December 20, 2013 | 23 Comments

‘Speedway Bomber’ Brett Kimberlin was sentenced to 50 years in 1981

“Really? Really? Can this be what it sounds like? Somebody is trying to out-crazy Stacy McCain? That’s not going to end well . . . .”
— Professor Glenn Reynolds, May 21, 2012

“It turns out that Kimberlin has been spreading lies about conservatives for almost as long as he’s been a criminal. Remember the risible story that then-Vice President Dan Quayle had been a drug user? The source was a jailbird named Brett Kimberlin. . . .
“The reporter who broke the story about Quayle wrote an entire book in 1996 on how Kimberlin had repeatedly lied to him.”
— Rosslyn Smith, May 23, 2012

“Plaintiff is a public figure because he has had an authorized biography published about him detailing his exploits. Citizen K: The Deeply Weird American Journey of Brett Kimberlin (Singer, Mark, Knopf, New York, 1996) is an authorized biography of Plaintiff Kimberlin. In it the book insinuates that the Plaintiff had an inappropriate relationship with a ten year old girl, (id. at 78.), that he was suspected in having arranged a murder-for-hire of the girl’s grandmother (at 82, 83), and that the subsequent Speedway Bombings were an attempt to distract the murder investigation (at. 89).”
— The Franklin Center, Dec. 18, 2013, Motion to Dismiss, Kimberlin v. National Bloggers Club, et al.

The Franklin Center’s concise summary of certain facts relevant to the federal RICO lawsuit is an unexpected holiday gift, and Aaron Walker explains that Franklin appears to be “re-gifting,” so to speak, by copying a similar paragraph from John Hoge’s motion to dismiss in the same lawsuit — an acceptable practice in law, and one of which I expect to avail myself if and when Brett Kimberlin ever serves me in the federal suit, which he has not yet done.

It would seem to me a self-evident fact that Brett Kimberlin has sued so many bloggers just to harass and intimidate us, but in law one must actually prove facts that may seem self-evident. Likewise, it seems self-evident that Brett Kimberlin was “notorious” or “infamous” — that he had a very bad reputation — before I ever wrote a single word about him, a fact which would tend to undermine Kimberlin’s claim that he is the victim of tortious defamation. Nevertheless, in law, one must sometimes prove facts that seem obvious, and the filings by my co-defendants provide some examples of how this might be done.

SO, HOW’S THAT “BRASS-KNUCKLES REPUTATION MANAGEMENT” WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA?

Professor Glenn Reynolds asked that question in June 2012, two days after a Maryland hearing at which Aaron Walker was arrested and handcuffed because of Kimberlin’s “harassment” claims.

Perhaps some readers have forgotten that day, but the injustice of it — the attempt by a notorious criminal to silence a law-abiding citizen — ought to be remembered. Patrick Frey coined the phrase “brass knuckles reputation management” to describe the methods by which Brett Kimberlin has sought to coerce or intimidate honest people into silence and, of course, Frey is also a defendant in the federal RICO suit, which would appear to be the ne plus ultra of these intimidation attempts. Although an attorney of some eminence himself, Frey has retained the services of attorney Ken White to handle his defense.

So if Kimberlin ever serves me in this RICO suit — John Hoge has dubbed it Kimberlin v. the Universe, et al. — the filings of my co-defendants will offer ample sources for facts and legal arguments from which I can crib. And as for The World’s Worst Pro Se Litigant™, it looks like Kimberlin is going to have a White Christmas with the blizzard of incoming court documents:

So to keep a tally, Brett has to respond to 1) a motion to dismiss the RICO suit by John Hoge, 2) a motion to require verified filings in the RICO suit by John Hoge, 3) a motion to dismiss the RICO suit by me, 4) a motion to require verified filings in the RICO suit by me, 5) a memorandum in support of Kimberlin Unmasked’s right to remain anonymous in state court, 6) a motion to dismiss the RICO suit by DB Capital Strategies, and 7) a motion to dismiss the RICO suit by the Franklin Center. And he will have to work on all of it over Christmas — I mean, he doesn’t want to default on any of that, does he?

God bless us every one!

 

BomberSuesBloggers.com

 




 

Category: The Kimberlin Files

#SouthSudan Update: Obama Urges Calm, Reconciliation, Sends Small U.S. Force

Posted on | December 19, 2013 | 16 Comments

President Obama has sent 45 troops — just to protect U.S. personnel and property — to South Sudan, and issued a statement:

In 2011, millions of South Sudanese voted to forge a new nation, founded on the promise of a more peaceful and prosperous future for all of South Sudan’s people. In recent years, against great odds, South Sudan has made great progress toward breaking the cycle of violence that characterized much of its history.
Today, that future is at risk. South Sudan stands at the precipice. Recent fighting threatens to plunge South Sudan back into the dark days of its past.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. South Sudan has a choice. Its leaders can end the violence and work to resolve tensions peacefully and democratically. Fighting to settle political scores or to destabilize the government must stop immediately. Inflammatory rhetoric and targeted violence must cease. All sides must listen to the wise counsel of their neighbors, commit to dialogue and take immediate steps to urge calm and support reconciliation. South Sudan’s leaders must recognize that compromise with one’s political enemy is difficult; but recovering from unchecked violence and unleashed hatred will prove much harder.
Too much blood has been spilled and too many lives have been lost to allow South Sudan’s moment of hope and opportunity to slip from its grasp. Now is the time for South Sudan’s leaders to show courage and leadership, to reaffirm their commitment to peace, to unity, and to a better future for their people. The United States will remain a steady partner of the South Sudanese people as they seek the security and prosperity they deserve.

This is a good first step, although I’d feel better if he had sent 450 troops instead of 45, but OK. My concern is that South Sudan is flanked on the west by Central African Republican, which has recently descended into anarchy, and the Islamic Khartoum government to the North would like nothing better than instability in the South to justify intervention. The tribal aspect of the fighting in South Sudan is the real danger: “the race card is being played by both sides” —  which sounds crazy to American ears, since both the Dinka and Nuer are black as coal, but tribal animosities are the bane of political stability in modern Africa.

Thursday’s attack on a United Nations peacekeeping base in Jonglei killed three Indian troops, and there’s this:

South Sudan’s government declared that its security forces are in “absolute control of the situation,” but admitted later Thursday that the central government had lost control of Bor, the capital of the country’s largest and most populous state, where barrages of gunfire were reported.

This is not good news:

[R]ebels have taken the town of Bor.
The town, which lies about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Juba, was under heavy shelling, said Col. Philip Aguer, an army spokesman. Bor Mayor Mhial Majak Mhial said the town was under rebel control and heavy artillery was in use. . . .
President Salva Kiir has blamed soldiers loyal to his former vice president, Riek Machar, for starting the violence.
“The government has lost control of Jonglei state to the forces of Col. Machar and his group,” government representative Ateny Wek Ateny told CNN, referring to the state where Bor is situated.
The government could not yet confirm the number of fatalities from the violence, but “casualties are in the hundreds, including army forces and civilians,” Ateny said.

Lots more at the link. Thousands of refugees are fleeing. Even the best-case scenario — government forces swiftly defeating the pro-Machar rebels — would likely mean weeks of fighting and hundreds more casualties. And the worst-case scenario is almost unthinkable, a full-blown Rwanda-style ethnic bloodbath.

UPDATE: Andrew Green reports from Juba for Foreign Policy:

It will probably never be clear what triggered the Dec. 15 firefight that broke out at a Juba military barracks and has now brought the world’s newest country to the brink of a civil war. In the hours after the barracks shootout, fighting spread rapidly across the city — leaving hundreds of people dead and tens of thousands displaced.
By the following afternoon, before the army could even launch its investigation, President Salva Kiir — in full military fatigues — appeared on a delayed state television broadcast to denounce the fighting as an attempted coup by his former deputy, Riek Machar, a gap-toothed mechanical engineer turned fighter in the Sudanese civil war. Hours later the police detained ten leading political figures.
Machar, who slipped out of Juba and into hiding around the time the other politicians were being rounded up, fired back in an interview with a local newspaper two days later. He called the fighting “a misunderstanding” between soldiers and accused Kiir of using the clash as a cover to remove his rivals.
Whether coup or confusion, the incident has revealed just how fragile the coalitions that once held the country together really were.
Independence has not come easy for South Sudan. After decades of war, a country the United States helped midwife into existence less than three years ago, has come to the brink of war with Sudan and watched its economy crumble after it shut down oil production early last year over a refusal to pay grossly inflated transit fees the government in Khartoum was charging to use its pipeline. Meanwhile, rebel groups have continued to crisscross vast swathes of the country, engaging soldiers and disrupting humanitarian efforts. But now South Sudan faces its most serious challenge: Unresolved political divisions have already caused hundreds of deaths and now threaten to split the country along ethnic lines. . . .

Read the whole thing.

 


Category: Barack Obama, Sudan

World’s Youngest Blogger: Of Course #IStandWithPhil. Because #Obvious

Posted on | December 19, 2013 | 29 Comments

Category: humor, World's Youngest Blogger

Quick #SouthSudan Update

Posted on | December 19, 2013 | 18 Comments

My kids’ Christmas concert is tonight, so I’ll have to run, but here’s the latest Reuters update on the emerging crisis:

South Sudanese government troops battled to regain control of a flashpoint town and sent forces to quell fighting in a vital oil producing area on Thursday, the fifth day of a conflict that has deepened ethnic divisions in the two-year-old nation.
The conflict, which has so far killed up to 500 people, has alarmed South Sudan’s neighbours. African mediators held talks with President Salva Kiir on Thursday to try to broker peace.
The fighting that erupted around the capital Juba on Sunday night has quickly spread, pitting loyalists of the former Vice President Riek Machar, a Nuer, against Kiir, a member of the dominant Dinka clan.
Machar, whose dismissal in July led to months of tensions, has denied Kiir’s accusation that he had led a coup attempt.
Rivals have fought fierce gunbattles over the town of Bor, north of Juba, the scene of a 1991 massacre by soldiers loyal to Machar of hundreds of Dinkas.
Thousands of people have sought refuge in U.N. bases, including 200 oil employees in a main crude-producing region. U.N. officials said one base in Jonglei state, where Bor is located, was breached by Nuer and there may have been deaths.

Here’s Agence France-Presse:

The fierce fighting that erupted in South Sudan this week risks spiralling into an ethnic conflict, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay warned Thursday.
“The risk of seeing the fighting taking on an ethnic dimension is extremely high and could result in a dangerous situation,” Pillay said in a statement.
She expressed deep concern over reports of “civilians killed in Juba based on their ethnicity,” and of “numerous extra-judicial killings.”
Some 450 people have been killed in the capital Juba since battles broke out late on Sunday and thousands displaced, as rebels loyal to fugitive former vice president Riek Machar battle government forces following an alleged failed coup attempt against President Salva Kiir.
They seized the town of Bor in Jonglei state late Wednesday.

Voice of America News:

The U.N. says the situation in South Sudan’s Jonglei State has deteriorated and a group of young people has reportedly forced its way onto a U.N. base sheltering civilians. Officials say there may be casualties, but they cannot confirm how many.
The United Nations says Lou Nuer youth are reported to have entered a temporary operating base belonging to the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in Akobo, Jonglei state.  The United Nations said it is trying to extract its unarmed personnel from the area while reinforcing the base with an additional 60 peacekeepers.
U.N. Deputy-Secretary General Jan Eliasson told reporters that they are working to verify reports of casualties.
“Our base in Akobo, Jonglei state, was attacked and we have reports that lives were lost.  We do not have the details of that yet.  Of course, the secretary-general and I both condemn this attack in the strongest terms,” said Eliasson.


 


Category: Sudan

Anarchy in Africa: U.S., U.K. Evacuate as South Sudan Spirals Out of Control UPDATE: Rebels Hit U.N. Mission

Posted on | December 19, 2013 | 29 Comments

The United States has evacuated non-essential personnel from its embassy in Juba, South Sudan, British nationals are being evacuated, and people are trying to make sense of the crisis that developed suddenly over the weekend:

During the final session of the National Liberation Council, one of the ruling party’s highest political organs, on December 15, there was a dispute among different elements of the Presidential Guards (Tigers) over orders to surrender their arms. According to Adwok, guards were disarmed but later the officer in charge opened the stores and rearmed only the Dinka soldiers. The Nuer guards questioned this, a fistfight ensued and more Nuer soldiers came in and broke into the stores. The Nuer soldiers managed to take control of the headquarters and the next day after some SPLA reinforcements, the mutineers were dislodged. There is no evidence of any planning, masterminding or political coordination before or during the clash.
Although ethnicity is a major factor, the crisis was actually precipitated by a deep political rift and power struggle. Yes, the President Salva Kiir is a Dinka and his rival the former vice-president Riek Machar is a Nuer. Yes, the race card is being played by both sides, and certainly it is a real dimension of the conflict especially at the ground level. But behind Riek Machar is a coalition that includes prominent Dinka politicians as well such as the former Sudanese minister of foreign affairs and the widow of the founding father of the SPLM John Garang. Other prominent non-Nuers are in the camp of the former vice president such as the now dismissed secretary-general of the ruling party, Pag’an Amum, a Shilluk.

Reuters reports that oil workers are being evacuated, and witnesses report that SPLA troops targeted ethnic Nuers.

South Sudan only recently gained its independence from Sudan’s Muslim-dominated Khartoum regime, and this sudden descent into violent tribal anarchy is profoundly disappointing for those who supported Juba’s independence. The breakdown of discipline in the SPLA is particularly disturbing, and remember that South Sudan is right next to the Central African Republic:

Armed gangs are rampaging through the Central African Republic carrying out atrocities including executions and mutilations, despite the presence of French and African troops.
Reports by two leading human rights organisations say the situation in the war-torn country is spiralling out of control and requires a robust response from the international community.
Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say the death toll is much higher than reported and that peacekeeping forces in the CAR must be beefed up to protect the population from further war crimes.

Have you heard anything about this on the national news? Has any reporter asked our Nobel Peace Prize-winning president about it? No, of course not. Innocent people are being slaughtered wholesale, but it’s not “news” because, hey, it’s just Africans.

On the one hand, media silence about the bloodbath in central Africa is racist, but on the other hand, it’s also “racist” to expect Obama to do something to prevent genocidal violence. So this brutality continues, and we’re not supposed to notice.

UPDATE: South Sudan is rapidly going from bad to worse:

The United Nations says it fears casualties after attackers forced their way into a peacekeeping base in South Sudan’s Jonglei state.
Rebels from the country’s second-largest ethnic group, the Nuer, attacked the base, targeting civilians of the majority Dinka ethnic community. . . .
UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters on Thursday that “fighting took place” at the compound in Jonglei.
“We fear there may have been some fatalities but can’t confirm who and how many,” he said.
The UN peacekeeping mission is sheltering civilians in five state capitals, including Juba and Bor. The attack on the Jonglei compound came after Nuer rebels seized control of Bor. Even before the unrest, Bor was seen as one of the most volatile areas of South Sudan.
Earlier, there were reports of gun battles in the town, as renegade officers fought with troops still loyal to the president.

 


Category: Central African Republic, Sudan

Thanks to the Reader Who Bought ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ From Our Amazon Links!

Posted on | December 19, 2013 | 4 Comments

There’s still time to do your last-minute Christmas shopping via our Amazon Associates holiday specials, and this week somebody ordered the hottest game of the year, “Call of Duty: Ghosts” for an Xbox 360 system. (It’s also available for PlayStation and other systems.) The sale price was $47.99 and, as with all sales from our Amazon links, we got a small commission at no cost to you.

Among the other Amazon purchases this week, readers bought an Alexander Del Rossa designer fleece bathrobe for $49.99 and a Lenox Portola 65-Piece Flatware Set for $127.49.

 

 

Let’s face it: You don’t want to go to the mall and fight those crowds, just to find they don’t have what you want, or they don’t have it in the right size or color. Who needs that hassle? Just click the link, shop around Amazon and have it shipped in time for Christmas!

And if you’re not sure what to buy that special someone? Just get them an Amazon Gift Card and have it shipped in a special gift box.

 

 

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Category: Amazon
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