The Other McCain

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

Ace Hates Him Some Spider-Man

Posted on | December 5, 2013 | 35 Comments

Our hero battles an evil franchise that possesses sinister powers of luring dumb 13-year-old boys to the local multiplex:

Apparently they’re making so much money with bad Spider-Man movies they’ve already greenlit sequels for 2016 and 2018. I guess that’s the ultimate in movie properties — if you can make $750 million with a bad movie, then why the hell not just keep making them forever? . . .
So we all have this continuing Cartoon Nightmare for Adult Children to look forward to for some number of years . . .
Okay, I’m officially done with comic book movies. It took a while to get here, but now I’m agreeing with the cranky guys who’ve been saying “What the hell is this stupid crap?” for eight years.

Here’s a scenario: A lone blogger is transformed by a radioactive bottle of Valu-Rite vodka into a crime-fighting super-hero. He is opposed by the villains, SCOAMF and Pelosi the Botoxed Skeletor.

 

Category: Ace of Spades, Movies

Britain Belatedly Admits It Has an ‘Islamist Extremism’ Problem

Posted on | December 5, 2013 | 33 Comments

Woolwich, England, May 22: Killer shouted, ‘Allahu akbar!’

Gee, how did they ever figure this out?

Britain plans to classify “Islamist extremism” as a distinct ideology, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday, as part the government’s response to the murder of a soldier on a busy London street.
Cameron said he would implement recommendations he had received from a task force he set up after the murder of Lee Rigby in May, to try to stop people being radicalised by “hate preachers”. . . .
“Islamist extremism” would, for the first time, be classified as a distinct ideology to guard against it being confused with traditional religious practice, he said.
Cameron wants to tackle violent ideologies that claim Islamic justification but by doing so in a way that does not alienate Britain’s 2.7 million Muslims.
The new definition would make it clear that “Islamist extremism” was a distorted interpretation of Islam that betrayed the religion’s principles and tried to sow division.

Did the killers of Lee Rigby betray the “principles” of Islam?

The Muslim terrorist who hacked a British soldier to death in broad daylight [May 22] — and was captured on shocking video shouting, “You people will never be safe!” — was identified [May 23] as the son of Nigerian immigrants who had embraced radical Islam to the horror of his devout Christian parents. Michael Olumide Adebolajo, 28, was known to Britain’s MI5 intelligence as a potentially dangerous extremist, the Sun tabloid reported. Sources told Sun reporters that Adebolajo became a Muslim as a teenager and was linked to radical leader Anjem Choudary, whose Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun has been banned in Britain. . . .
Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old Army veteran of Afghanistan, was the target of the attack. . . . Video of Wednesday’s attack showed Adebolajo yelling “Allahu akbar” while brandishing a butcher knife and a meat cleaver with Rigby’s blood covering his hands.

It seems there are an awful lot of Muslims who share this “Islamist extremism” hatred of the West. Perhaps I’m the only one who remembers watching TV news coverage on Sept. 11, 2001, when crowds of Muslims were dancing in the streets of Cairo and Gaza in celebration of the terrorist attacks masterminded by al-Qaeda.

Pamela Geller notices how the British government has tied itself in knots trying to distinguish Islam (good) from extremism (bad). Perhaps she and her colleague Robert Spencer could explain this problem to the British, if they weren’t banned from entering the country because of their “pro-Israel views”:

The move to ban us . . . was a massive operation. . . . At the first whisper of a rumor by some “hooligans” that Robert Spencer and I might be speaking at a freedom demo in the UK, numerous British government and law enforcement agencies sprung into action. Although Robert Spencer and I had not decided to go and speak in the UK until June, various government agencies began working to ban us as early as February.

Are supporters of Israel beheading British soldiers in broad daylight? Are radical Zionists bombing London’s subways and buses?

No, of course not, but the British elite class has succumbed to the kind of cowardly fecklessness that inspired Neville Chamberlain’s “peace for our time” folly at Munich and so — as appeasement to Britain’s most dangerous enemies — Geller and Spencer are banned.

Can no one in England do simple arithmetic? The population of the United Kingdom is 63 million, and yet Her Majesty’s Government is engaged in this humiliating appeasement because of their concern that they “not alienate Britain’s 2.7 million Muslims.”

The 4 percent tail is wagging the 96 percent dog.

While certainly no civilized person wishes to infringe anyone else’s legitimate rights, must the vast majority of Britons silently endure the humiliating spectacle of their own government tiptoing around for fear of hurting the feelings of the 4% Muslim minority?

How rapidly does decadence advance! Scarcely seven decades ago, Britain stood alone against the unspeakable terror of the Blitz. Her soldiers, sailors and airmen covered themselves in eternal glory, fighting in the distant desert, on the high seas, and in the skies over London to defeat Hitler’s deadly totalitarian war machine. Yet now the grandsons of those heroes are willing to surrender everything because they are afraid of offending a handful of disgruntled imams, professional “activists” and liberal newspaper columnists?

Is there not one courageous man left in the United Kingdom who can summon that once-proud nation to recall its great heritage?

UPDATE: “By the command of Allah“:

The alleged murderers of Lee Rigby told police they cut his throat with a knife because ‘this is how we kill our animals in Islam’, a court was told today.
Michael Adebolajo said in an interview that ‘the most humane way to kill any creature is to cut the jugular’, the Old Bailey heard.
He allegedly also told detectives that he and Michael Adebowale targeted Fusilier Rigby because he was the first soldier that they saw while waiting near Woolwich Barracks on May 22 this year. . . .
Describing the day of the killing, he said: ‘We decided to wait in the vicinity of the barracks that are in Woolwich. By the command of Allah, Allah’s decree, we waited to find a soldier because between us we decided that the soldier is the most fair target because he joins the army with kind of an understanding that your life is at risk.’

Britain’s soldiers are killed in the name of Allah, but Her Majesty’s Government must take care not to “alienate” Muslims.

 

 


Category: Great Britain, Islam, Terrorism

A Death In Bedford Falls

Posted on | December 5, 2013 | 12 Comments

— Wombat-socho


Once in a while you trip over a book that normally you wouldn’t look twice at, and so far this month I’ve found two of them. The first is a peculiar beast: It’s A Wonderful Death is a noir sequel to Frank Capra’s classic Christmas movie It’s A Wonderful Life, starring former New York assistant DA Richard Incles as a newly minted private eye, hired by Mary Bailey to clear her husband George. It seems the man everybody loves to hate, Old Man Potter, has been found dead in his office, his mouth stuffed full of money. Everyone’s a suspect – everyone had the motive and a lot of folks had the opportunity to off the old banker, but George Bailey is the #1 suspect. E.N. McMahon’s short novel plays with all the noir movie tropes in an amusing way, and is well worth your time and money. It’s free to Amazon Prime users under the Lending Library program.
So Join Amazon Prime.


The other unusual book is Monster Hunter Alpha by Larry Correia. I should point out that I don’t have much interest in conventional horror; tales of vampires, werewolves and such tend to leave me cold. By and large, I much prefer my horror in the Lovecraftian vein, whether it’s the Old Master himself (H.P. Lovecraft The Complete Collection) or contemporary versions of the Mythos such as Tim Powers’ Declare or Charles Stross’ The Atrocity Archives and its sequels. Correia does a good job of telling a classic tale of werewolf horror set in rural Michigan, one with its roots in the past but with plenty of contemporary complications to make a bad situation worse. I liked this enough to make me seriously think about checking out the rest of this series, and in the meantime I checked out his holiday novel, The Christmas (Noun) (and its two sequels) here. Good clean violent fun for the whole family!


A commenter brought this up on Black Friday’s In The Mailbox thread: Herbert Werner’s Iron Coffins, a grim and very personal history of the U-boat war in the Atlantic that goes very well with the more famous movie Das Boot , which is available free on Amazon Instant Video to Prime members.


I’ll probably be making a library run tomorrow. Any suggestions?
Also, thanks to everyone who bought books, movies and the Wand Essentials 8 Speed 8 Mode Wand, Purple (no, that’s not a joke) through my links last month. It was very much appreciated!


Category: Books

In The Mailbox: 12.05.13

Posted on | December 5, 2013 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


OVER THE TRANSOM
Proof Positive: I Came, I Saw, Iran
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: The Tarantino Presidency
Michelle Malkin: Anti-Gun NFL (National Frauds League)
Twitchy: The Gift Of Truth! FLOTUS Announces “Stories Of The Season”, Laura Ingraham Slays
Bill Whittle: Shards
This Ain’t Hell: Bateman On Guns – It’s Time To Shut Up


RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Power: Millennial Generation Abandons Obama
American Thinker: Targeting The Low-Information Voter
Blackfive: Godspeed Edward “Babe” Heffron And Earl “One Lung” McClung
The Necropolitan Sentinel: Public Pensions Watch – Detroit Signals A Change…Maybe
Don Surber: Daily Scoreboard, December 4
Jammie Wearing Fools: Obama’s America – Rent-A-Mob Protesters Get Paid To Get Angry
JustOneMinute: Show Us The Money! And The Memo!
Pat Dollard: Portland Tells Preteen To Stop Selling Mistletoe To Raise Money For Braces, Tells Her To Beg Instead
Protein Wisdom: Representative Government? Depends. Are You A GOP Corporate Crony?
Shot In The Dark: The Democrat War On Science
The Jawa Report: Al Qaeda Live Tweeting Report
The Lonely Conservative: Obama’s Latest Pivot – Income Inequality
Megan McArdle: Four Reasons A Guaranteed Income Won’t Work


Category: Linkagery

Hannan Answers The Godless Commies

Posted on | December 5, 2013 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Like all nations, we have sometimes behaved shabbily. But I stand by my claim: no other civilisation has been so secure a repository for human freedom.

All of these guilt-mongers can go get stuffed. We can be intellectually honest about our shortcomings without veering into the destructive self-hatred that so many Lefties just seem to groove on. I don’t give guilt, and I refuse to receive it from them.

Read the whole thing.

 

Category: Culture

Lunenburg, Massachusetts: Mother Suspected in Fake Racism Hoax?

Posted on | December 4, 2013 | 52 Comments

A supposed hate crime that made big news in Massachusetts now appears to have been a hoax — but still, perhaps, a crime:

The investigation into who spray painted a home with racist graffiti last month has turned toward the woman who lives there.
Police said on Wednesday that Andrea Brazier is now considered a “strong suspect” in the case.
Officers say they executed a search warrant on Tuesday and seized two cans of spray paint and ammunition from the home.
Brazier, who is white, and her husband Anthony Phillips, who is African American live at the home with their 13-year-old son, Isaac. Brazier initially cast suspicion on her son’s Lunenburg High School football teammates, saying he had been bullied in the past.
The school’s superintendent cancelled the football team’s final game on Thanksgiving after no one came forward to take responsibility. . . .

(Whoa! They canceled the high school football team’s last game because of a mere suspicion of racism?)

A police affidavit obtained on Wednesday indicated that Brazier had stopped cooperating with investigators and had changed her story several times. . . .
During an interview with police and an FBI agent, she told them that she wanted the investigation to be over and wanted the media to go away.

Ruh-roh. If she lied to the FBI, she could be in big trouble. But since when is it the FBI’s job to investigate racist graffiti? And if real racist graffiti is a federal offense, what is fake racist graffiti? The alleged hate crime was a big deal last month:

Days after the vandalism, several hundred residents gathered in the center of town for a candlelight vigil to show their support for Isaac Phillips, who played on Lunenburg’s freshman and junior varsity teams.

Da Tech Guy rounds up the local story that went national and asks, “Where does Lunenburg go to get its reputation back?”

 


Category: Crime, Massachusetts, Racism

LGF’s Charles Johnson Blames Bashir Resignation on ‘Right Wing Lynch Mob’

Posted on | December 4, 2013 | 81 Comments

Yeah, a lot of readers are asking, “Charles Who?” But the dude actually used to be somebody, and now he’s reduced to playing silly Media Matters/Crooks & Liars “gotcha” games with blog commenters:

“Meanwhile, at Breitbart.com, where they’ve been on a non-stop campaign to get Bashir fired, they’re in a celebratory mood. And you know what that means: lots of gloating (nobody gloats like a wingnut), mixed with thousands of openly racist, xenophobic comments: MSNBC’S BASHIR RESIGNS!!!“

Johnson links to an article by Ben Shapiro. Is he accusing Shapiro of leading this “right wing lynch mob”? Is he saying that Shapiro or anyone else at Breitbart endorses and/or encourages “openly racist, xenophobic comments”? What exactly is he saying?

Better question: Does anyone believe that Martin Bashir resigned from MSNBC because of the “non-stop campaign to get Bashir fired” by Breitbart.com? Or do you suppose, rather, that Bashir’s comments were simply indefensible and that MSNBC — taking a look at Bashir’s anemic ratings — is probably just seizing on this controversy as a pretext to give that time slot to someone more likeable?

 


Category: Charles Johnson

Martin Bashir Resigns from MSNBC, Disappointing Dozens of Viewers

Posted on | December 4, 2013 | 62 Comments

When you think about all the evil things the liberal media have said about Sarah Palin over the years, you know it took a special kind of stupid for Martin Bashir to say something so grossly offensive he had to resign from MSNBC because of it:

“Upon further reflection, and after meeting with the President of MSNBC, I have tendered my resignation. It is my sincere hope that all of my colleagues, at this special network, will be allowed to focus on the issues that matter without the distraction of myself or my ill-judged comments. . . .
“I deeply regret what was said, will endeavor to work hard at making constructive contributions in the future and will always have a deep appreciation for our viewers.”

“Liberals are better than you and me because . . . they’re liberals,” as I observed at the time of Bashir’s fateful comments. Believing that their politics makes them inherently superior, liberals feel no obligation to cultivate ordinary virtues or even simple courtesy.

Allahpundit recounts a few of Bashir’s lowlights:

This is a guy who took Mormon-themed digs at Mitt Romney; brought on a shrink to analyze the allegedly violent, possibly psychotic tendencies of tea partiers; accused Republicans of treating the word “IRS” as a racist dog-whistle against Obama; and wondered if Rick Santorum wasn’t some sort of theocratic second coming of Stalin. When Steve Jobs died two years ago, he turned his on-air eulogy into an excuse to — ta da — bash Sarah Palin again. All of this is par for the course on MSNBC so imagine Bashir’s surprise, after all of that, upon finding out that introducing a little actual rhetorical scat into the figurative scat-flinging at righties was an unpardonable sin worthy of suspension. I’ll bet he’s mystified even now.

Via Memeorandum, with more blog commentary from Jeff Dunetz, Ed Driscoll, Weasel Zippers, Andrew Johnson at National Review, Patrick Howley at Daily Caller, Ross Kaminsky at The American Spectator and William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection.

By the way, Sarah Palin spoke at Liberty University today and said, “There are the world’s standards of perfection and God’s standards of perfection.” And then there are the MSNBC standards.

 

Category: MSNBC, Sarah Palin
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