The Other McCain

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

Bradley Manning Verdict: GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY! …

Posted on | July 30, 2013 | 51 Comments

Exactly how many counts this unspeakable disgrace to the uniform of the U.S. Army was convicted of today, it’s hard to tell from the Politico story, but Allahpundit says it’s at least 15 counts, enough to put Bradley Manning — I pause to spit on the ground in disgust at the mention of his name — in federal prison for a long, long time.

This dishonorable piece of filth should have been shot or hanged already. We can expect one of his fellow inmates to stick a shiv through Manning’s neck, gouge his eyes out and mutilate his corpse. Then we will petition the White House to seek a full pardon for that inmate.

Personally, I’d want to pin a medal on any convict who kills Manning.

 

Category: Crime, Military

Well, She Is a Democrat, After All

Posted on | July 30, 2013 | 96 Comments

The first thing I learned about Sydney Leathers — back in those prim and proper days of a week ago, when it was considered shocking to name her, as she was presumed to be the helpless young victim of Anthony Weiner’s perverted predation — was that she had worked as a field coordinator for President Obama’s re-election campaign.

Once I knew that, I thought, “Oh, give me a break.”

Readers may forget that, two months after I first arrived in D.C., the Monica Lewinsky scandal erupted and, as the new guy on the national desk, I received a journalistic baptism by fire during the mad scramble of the Washington press corps that a major sex scandal produces. And watching the way the media reacted to Bill Clinton’s embarrassment (collectively donning Nina Burleigh’s “presidential knee pads,” as it were), I concluded that all liberal women are sluts.

Except the lesbians, maybe. Probably some of the more monogamous of those are closet Republicans, with secret urges of decency they hide from their more “progressive” LGBT friends.

Anyway, I woke this morning and saw Donald Douglas’s headline, “Weiner Sexting Partner Sydney Leathers Boasts of Milking ‘Sugar Daddies’ for Thousands,” and thought: “Of course she did.”

Sydney Leathers is a tattooed harlot who hired herself out to old creeps. What other kind of 22-year-old could (a) work for the Obama campaign, and (b)  think she was in love with Anthony Weiner? And yet we are supposed to pretend to be surprised by this, when Sydney Leathers was only doing what all liberals girls do, and Anthony Weiner was only doing what all Democrats do, i.e., cheating and lying:

‘So Anthony Weiner and I talked all day and every day for months,’ she wrote.
‘And someone found out somehow and tried to blackmail me with it. I’m like…terrified this will come out since he’s running for mayor.’

Could I say more? I could, and will. But for now, I recommend again my American Spectator column, “The Pervert Party.”

UPDATE: Your daughter might be a liberal if . . .

 

 

Category: Anthony Weiner, Scandal, Sex

LIVE AT FIVE: 07.30.13

Posted on | July 30, 2013 | 11 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Nationwide Child Prostitution Sweep Rescues 105 Kids

Unidentified man arrested in Atlantic City

Mostly girls, aged 13-17; 150 pimps also arrested

Swiss Train Crash Kills Driver, Injures 35
Head-on collision; no cause given



Lake County, Florida Propane Plant Explodes
Nobody killed, but five Blue Rhino employees seriously injured



POLITICS
North Carolina Governor Signs Law Tightening Rules For Abortion Clinics

NC Governor Pat McCrory with legislative leaders

Law requires abortion clinics to meet same standards as other outpatient surgery clinics

Senate Confirms James Comey To Head FBI

Former Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton Dies, 96

San Diego Mayor Wants City To Pay Legal Fees In Sexual Harassment Cases

Arkansas School District Training Teachers, Staff As Armed Security Guards

Woman Arrested For DC Cathedral Vandalism

Obama Remarks About Keystone Spark Ire, Concern For Pipeline’s Future

ObamaCare Call Center Workers Angry About Being Offered Jobs Without Health Benefits



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Eases Ahead Of Fed: NYMEX $104.28, Brent $107.32
Hudson’s Bay Buying Saks For $2.4 Billion
Sony Earnings Face Setback As Loeb Criticizes Movie Unit
Fast-Food Workers Kick Off Multi-City Strike For Higher Pay
Dollar Edges Higher, Aussie Tumbles On RBA Comments
Herbalife Shares Rise Following Positive Earnings Report
Ballmer’s Take On Weak Surface RT Sales
Twitter Looks To Simplify Abuse Reporting After Rape Threats
Vimeo And Redbox Instant Coming To Chromecast; Plex, HBO Go Next?
Google Shuts Down Shopper, Google+Local App For iOS
Apple Faces New PRC Worker Abuse Claims



SPORTS
George “Boomer” Scott Dies, 69

Coined the term “taters” for home runs

Played first base for Red Sox “Impossible Dream” 1967 squad


Papelbon Wants Management To Blow Up The Phillies

Rangers Blast Two In Ninth To Beat Angels 6-5


Former Cubs Pitcher Frank Castillo Dies, 44

Jason Giambi’s Walk-Off Homer Gives Tribe Dramatic Win Over White Sox

Astros Deal Closer Veras To Tigers For Top OF Prospect Vasquez

If A-Rod Appeals, Selig Ready To Exercise Commish Powers For Ban

Mets Shell Marlins Bullpen For Two Three-Run Innings, Rally To Win 6-5

Twitter CEO Commits Recruiting Violation

Nats Pitching Coach Steve McCatty Okay After Atrial Fibrillation



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Alyson Hannigan, Alexis Denisof To Renew Vows

Celebrating their tenth anniversary

Former “Buffy” co-stars still very much in love

Teresa & Joe Giudice Facing 50 Years For Fraud, Tax Evasion

Lindsay Lohan To Guest Host “Chelsea Lately” August 5

Leah Remini On Co$: “No One Is Going To Tell Me How I Need To Think”

Drugs Seized From Bieber’s Tour Bus Connected With Singer

Cumulus Deal Doesn’t Cloud Outlook For Limbaugh, Hannity

Britney Spears/Katy Perry Collaboration Revealed!

Film Review: “The Canyons”

Lindsay Lohan “Cuts Toxic Friends”

J-Lo’s “Voice” Goes Unheard

“The View” Has Its Eye On Hoda

Taylor Swift Goes Paddleboarding

Christina Aguilera Shows Off Her Shrinking Figure



FOREIGNERS
Syrian Loyalists Hack Thomson Reuters Twitter Feed
Taliban Gunmen Storm Pakistan Prison, Free Hundreds
EU’s Ashton Meets With Ousted Egyptian President Morsi
SA Government: Mandela Still Critical, But Improving
Six Killed As Bombs, Gunfire Hit Kano
Seeking To Enforce Visa Rules, UK To Require $4600 Bond For Visitors From Six Former Colonies
“Fifty Shades” Effect Leaves Many In A Bind
Hamas Orders Closure of Gaza Media Outlets



BLOGS & STUFF
Michelle Malkin: Colonel Bud Day, RIP
Twitchy: No Joke – Congressional Black Caucus Recommends Sheila Jackson-Lee For Head Of Homeland Security
Allahpundit: Quinnipiac Poll – NYC Dems Want Sagging Weiner To Pull Out
American Power: Hillary Clinton Fuming Over “Carlos Danger” Comparisons
Howard Dean: ObamaCare’s Rate-Setting Won’t Work
Power Line: Dr. Dean Says “I Told You ObamaCare Rate-Setting Won’t Work”
PJ Tatler: Latest Radical Republican To Rip ObamaCare Is…Howard Dean?
Kathryn Jean Lopez: What The Pope Did And Didn’t Say On The Plane
Israel Matzav: Abu Mazen’s Future Apartheid State – “Not One Jew In Palestine”
Gateway Pundit: Everyone “Must Have Some Skin In The Game” – Obamas Staying At $7.6 Million Vacation Home
Ed Driscoll: Well, It Sounded Good At The Time
Natalie Solent: A Public Intellectual Shares Her Thoughts For The Public Good
Marco Rubio: Shut Down ObamaCare, Not The Government


Vox Popoli: Combat Barbie Wear

Category: Live at Five

#WarOnWoman Does Anybody Care That Tetyana Kimberlin Fears for Her Life?

Posted on | July 29, 2013 | 89 Comments

“Brett Kimberlin is a terrorist. While I firmly believe in the doctrine of redemption and conversion, I remember a few things about Brett that give me great pause.
“First, he was convicted of perjury — in federal court — before he got out of high school. Think about that for a moment.
“Second, he was not convicted of smoking a couple of joints when he was in high school. He was a major drug dealer who officials believe got into terrorism to throw officials off the trail of a murder.”
— Joe Gelarden, Jan. 9, 2007

Brett Kimberlin is a habitual liar, and there is a reason he has never admitted guilt for his “Speedway Bomber” crimes: If he ever told the truth about what he did, he would have to tell the truth about why he did it. This is why I have repeatedly called attention to Joe Gelarden’s 1981 article in the Indianapolis Star, “Kimberlin case a maze of murder, deceit,” which explains this twisted tale: This explains the motive, the horrible truth Brett Kimberlin was willing to kill to keep secret. (See also, “When ‘Jessica’ Was 10, 11, 12.”)

Kimberlin’s dishonesty pervades his entire existence. In fact, the “Speedway Bomber” might have gotten away with his crimes if he hadn’t been caught committing another crime of deception: Attempting to obtain forged federal identiification documents. “The owner of a Westside [Indianapolis] print shop called investigators from the U.S. Army to report a customer asking him to reproduce military drivers licenses and other government materials,” as the Indianapolis Star reported. When authorities arrested Kimberlin (who was wearing a phony U.S. Department of Defense security guard uniform) on Sept. 20, 1978, the FBI searched his’s car and found bomb-making materials that matched those used in the eight bombs that had terrorized the community of Speedway during the weeklong bombing spree.

So, perjury and forgery are two crimes in Brett Kimberlin’s arsenal of dishonesty. Thus, it was interesting that, as soon as Tetanya Kimberlin filed Maryland sex-offense charges against her estranged husband — saying she was 15 when Kimberlin had sex with her in 1996 — a certain pro-Kimberlin troll account immediately published a Ukrainian travel document falsely stating Tetanya’s birthdate as 1978.

John Hoge points out that Kimberllin himself had given his wife’s actual date of birth (November 1980, rather than November 1978) when he recently filed for a peace order against her. Hoge adds:

We are dealing with someone who was convicted of perjury and trying to falsify government documents.

Hoge doesn’t say so, but the obvious inference is that Kimberlin forged documents to conceal his wife’s true age — to show her as 18 rather than 16 — so that he could marry her in Maryland without parental permission. Once you get one fake ID document (e.g., a birth certificate), you can then use that to obtain others, and so it is impossible to know what falsified identification was used to obtain that travel document in June 1997, when Tetyana was still only 16.

Now that she has filed sex-offense charges against Kimberlin, has moved out and is trying to divorce him — there will be a hearing tomorrow in Rockville on her petition against Kimberlin — Tetyana now fears for her life, for obvious reasons. The feminists and progressive activists and liberal journalists who have never told the truth about who Brett Kimberlin is (and I’m looking at you, Monica Hesse of the Washington Post) are deeply implicated in Tetyana Kimberlin’s plight, but of course they won’t lift a finger or say a word to help her now. But I told Tetyana today after her hearing in Rockville, “Know this: People will be praying for you — God will send ten thousand angels to guard you.”

Please, people: Don’t let evil triumph. Too much is at stake.

 

Category: The Kimberlin Files

Rule 5 Monday

Posted on | July 29, 2013 | 16 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

So much craziness and twisted behavior RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES!!!
What better time to unwind a bit with examples of the glory of God’s creation? Keep in mind, not all the huge tracts of land (or smaller, but still attractive plots) in the links below are safe for work, so reader discretion is advised.

Laughing Conservative kicks things off with Carmella DeCesare, followed by Blackmailers Don’t Shoot with Pretty Girls On A Thursday: Mary Carey For Mayor Edition and Pretty Girls On A Sunday: All Apologies. 90 Miles From Tyranny goes for the hat trick with Morning Mistress, Hot Pick of the Late Night, and Girls With Guns; Reaganite Republican checks in with Miss Bolivia 2013, Alexia Viruez. Fishersville Mike has Kaley Cuoco, Animal Magnetism offers Rule 5 Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon, and First Street Journal this week goes with female troops from across the pond. Also, Postaldog’s got MJ Joyce, Vanessa Hudgens, and Stacy Haiduk.

EBL rounds up a herd of links, starting with Military Appreciation, and continuing with Sydney Leathers, Bob Filner’s Women, an odd and awkward pro-vegan video, Kate Upton, and the allegedly hot Huma Abedin, a/k/a Sra. Carlos Danger. Also, a Siberian beauty contest and Flirting At The Library.

A View From The Beach has Diane Kruger, The Great Gig In The Sky, Emma Stone, Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton Walk into a Bar…, Wednesday Morning Eye Opener, She Just Can’t Take a Compliment, Susan Tedeschi – Angel and Sugaree, and Scientists Battle Over War (with cavegirls).

Wine Women And Politics checks in with Saturday Sweeties, What’s Better Than Cars And Women?, Friday Heat, Kyla Cole, Thursday Beauties,  and Almost Friday Women.

Soylent Siberia starts early with Sunday Angel and Complementary Cameltoe, after which the week really gets underway with a Monday Motivationer Montage, Overnighty Britany, Tuesday Titillation Kelly, the Humpday Hawt,  Falconsword Fursday Sushi, Fursday Evening Awesome Deborah, Did Somebody Say Corsets?, T-GIF Friday, Happy Hour Hawtness, No Carpet On That Floor Either, and Evening Awesome Francesca.

Dustbury has the ever-popular Christina Hendricks and Melanie Brown, Three Beers Later offers Jason Aldean and Laura Bell Bundy, and Proof Positive has Adrianna Costa as his Friday Night Babe, with Claire Trevor his Vintage Babe; also, Sex In Advertising and Women Of PETA XXXVI.

Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Deadline to submit links to the Rule 5 Wombat mailbox for next week’s roundup is Saturday, August 3.


Category: Rule 5

SHOCKING ALLEGATIONS IN KIMBERLIN V. KIMBERLIN

Posted on | July 29, 2013 | 87 Comments

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
Last night I told readers I was going on a road trip to cover a big story — but I didn’t tell you how big it was going to be:

Brett Kimberlin, the convicted bomber-turned progressive activist, had sex with his wife when she was only 15, according to charges filed Monday in Maryland. A native of Ukraine who is now estranged from her husband and seeking a divorce, 32-year-old Tetyana Kimberlin says she had sex with Kimberlin multiple times during her 1996 visit to the United States, before she turned 16, the legal age of consent in Maryland. . . .
At the time of the alleged offense, Kimberlin was on parole from federal prison for a 1978 bombing spree that terrorized the Indianapolis suburb of Speedway. . . .
In accusing Kimberlin of a third-degree sex offense, Tetyana says she met him when she was 14 and living in Ukraine, where Kimberlin traveled on business after his 1993 parole. In charges filed Monday with the Montgomery County District Court, Tetyana says she was 15 when she arrived in Maryland in September 1996 and that Kimberlin, who was 42 at the time, had sexual intercourse with her repeatedly before her 16th birthday in November of that year. . . .
[A]ccording to the charges filed Monday, Kimberlin “enticed me to come to Maryland so I could be his sex partner and bride,” Tetyana Kimberlin wrote. “Brett Kimberlin had sex with me every single day between the day I arrived and the day I turned sixteen, on Nov. 16, 1996.” Tetyana wrote that her cousin, who was 12 at the time, “also met Brett Kimberlin in Ukraine and coae to live with him … shortly before I did. On at least one occasion, I saw him attempt to seduce her.” . . .

Please read the whole thing at Viral Read.

You’ll also want to check John Hoge’s coverage of the story. Kimberlin has provided forged Ukrainian documents to claim Tetyana was two years older. But if you know the story of Brett Kimberlin, you know that forging documents was how he got caught for the Speedway bombings.

If you contributed to the Shoe Leather Fund for this road trip, I hope you feel like you got your money’s worth.

And if you haven’t contributed yet, remember that the the Five Most Important Words in the English Language are still: Hit the freaking tip jar.

 

 

UPDATE: Just a little reminder about Brett Kimberlin’s past:

Alas, the girl’s grandmother was shot to death and, while police were investigating that murder, the Indiana town was struck by a series of bombings.

“Kimberlin seemed to be the only one with a possible motive — to distract police attention from the Scyphers murder and delay or halt their quiet investigation of him.”
— R. Joseph Gelarden, Indianapolis Star, “Kimberlin case a maze of murder, deceit,” Oct. 18, 1981

If Brett Kimberlin was “the only one with a possible motive,” it’s interesting how he was eventually caught: On Sept. 20, 1978, wearing a fake uniform, Kimberlin was arrested at a print shop where he was attempting to get phony military identification — a federal crime. And when the FBI searched Kimberlin’s car, they found the same kind of blue-and-white timers that had been used to detonate the bombs.
Fake uniform, fake IDs, real evil.

 


Category: Crime, The Kimberlin Files

LIVE AT FIVE: 07.29.13

Posted on | July 29, 2013 | 16 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Three Million Attend Papal Mass On The Beach In Brazil

Copacabana beach in Rio

Pope preaches evangelism in Mass concluding World Youth Day

Spanish Train Driver Charged With Negligent Homicide
Death toll increases to 79 as injured passenger dies in hospital


Informal Israeli-Palestinian Talks To Begin Today
Israel to release 104 jailed Palestinians over next nine months



POLITICS
Top Democrats Want Weiner To Pull Out

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Campaign manager quits, but Weiner insists volunteers have increased


At Least Twelve Arrested In E. Baton Rouge Under Invalid Sodomy Law

Rand Paul Blasts Chris Christie Over Surveillance Programs


4 Out Of 5 American Adults Face Poverty, Joblessness

GOP Divided On Whether To Shut Down Government Over ObamaCare

Senate Democrats Call For Curbs On NSA’s Intelligence Collection

Huma Abedin Faces Questions About Dual Jobs

White House Takes Hard Line On Spending Cuts, Says No Negotiations With GOP

President To Award Medal of Honor To SSG Carter For COP Keating Battle



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Oil Prices Mixed In Asian Trade: NYMEX $104.39, Brent $107.18
Dollar In Retreat Ahead Of Fed Meeting, Reaches 1-Year Low Against Yen
BOJ’s Kuroda Okay With Planned Sales Tax Increase
Perrigo Buys Elan For $8.6 Billion, Gets New Irish Home
EU, PRC Resolve Solar Panel Dispute
Amazon Hiring 5000 In Warehouses To Meet Customer Demand
Iowa Sales Tax Holiday Big Hit With Shoppers, Retailers
Bank Blames GPS For Repossessing Wrong House
Apple’s Senior VP Bob Mansfield No Longer On The Executive Team
PC Industry Fights To Adapt As Tablets Muscle In
Software Experts Hack Cars, To Release Code At Def Con
Amazon Updates .NET SDK To Support Windows 8, Windows RT, And Store Apps
“Kingdom Hearts 3” Not The End Of The Series



SPORTS
US Beats Panama 1-0, Wins Gold Cup

Team USA players celebrate after win

The only soccer story you’ll see on Live At Five this year

Hoosier Ryan Newman Wins Brickyard 400 At Indy

Albert Pujols Goes On DL With Foot Injury, Could Miss Rest Of Season

Eagles QB Donovan McNabb To Retire Today

Marlins Hitting Coach Tino Martinez Resigns After Player Abuse Allegations

With Only Ghosts Inducted Into Hall Of Fame This Year, Players Plead Leniency For Pete Rose

NY Giants’ Will Hill Opens Up About Drug Use

Jeter Homers In Return As Yankees Edge Rays 6-5

Tribe Shuts Out Rangers For Second Straight Day

Bombs Away: Ramos Hits Grand Slam As Nationals Pulverize Mets 14-1



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Christina Ricci’s Favorite Thing About Being Engaged

At the premiere of “Smurfs 2”

“Being able to say fiance instead of boyfriend.”

Musician J.J. Cale Dead At 74

Tara Reid Rejected From “Sharknado” Sequel

Neil Patrick Harris: No Longer A One-Man Band

Toni Braxton Loses Song Rights In Bankruptcy

Selena Gomez Reunites With Justin Bieber For 21st Birthday Bash

Anderson Cooper’s Stalker Arraigned

“Wolverine” Whimpers With $55 Million Domestic Opening, Pulls $141 Million Worldwide

Lindsay Lohan Headed For Europe After Rehab

Miley Cyrus Misses German Meet & Greet With Food Poisoning

Ben Foster To Play Lance Armstrong In Stephen Frears Movie



FOREIGNERS
Bus Crash In Italy Kills 38
$53 Million In Jewels Stolen In Cannes Heist
Wave Of Car Bombings Hit Iraqi Shiites, 55 Dead
Cambodian Opposition Rejects Election Results
Taiwan Defense Minister Resigns After Corporal’s Death From Abuse
Putin, Russian Orthodox Leaders Attend Commemoration Of Christianity’s Arrival In Kievan Rus
25 Killed in Clashes Between Nigerian Jihadis, Vigilantes
ROKs Offer “Final” Kaesong Talks



BLOGS & STUFF
Victor Davis Hanson: Our 20th Century Future
Gateway Pundit: Is Cumulus Dumping Rush Limbaugh And Sean Hannity?
NRO Corner: Bad Voting Rights Suggestion In A NYT Editorial
Weasel Zippers: Crackhead Marion Barry Praises Weiner As “Good Democrat”
Jawa Report: Iconic Photo Nearly Excluded From 9/11 Museum As “Too Rah-Rah America”
Protein Wisdom: “I really believe that the way America will look best, the way we can really do best, is to not be Americans so vigilantly and so vehemently.”
Power Line: The Sequester, “Austerity”, And Obama’s Attempt At A Comeback
Jazz Shaw: Jack Lew On IRS Scandal – What Political Pressure?
Ed Driscoll: The Six Scariest Words In The English Language
Conservatives4Palin: Retired Colonel “Bud” Day Dies, 88
Sarah Palin: “Bud” Day, RIP
Ross Douthat: Going For Bolingbroke


Category: Live at Five

Barrett Brown: Madness Foreshadowed

Posted on | July 28, 2013 | 36 Comments

December, 2010: Barrett Brown explains his
‘informational schematic’ on YouTube.

“I wonder to myself: Where do these trolls come from? Where do they live and breed? . . .
“Many militants are devoid of an essential ingredient of being human: empathy. . . .
“They afford themselves free rein to act out their basest of impulses.”
— “Robin of Berkeley,” Dec. 3, 2010

“You might get the idea that Barrett Brown is kind of a moody loner, isolated and alienated, attempting to invent a social context for himself where none exists. And if that’s your impression of Brown, you might find it highly significant that the primary subject of Barrett Brown’s online videos is . . . Barrett Brown.”
— Robert Stacy McCain, “Narcissism, Isolation and Trolls,” Dec. 3, 2010

Barrett Brown is now in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Worth, Texas, scheduled for trial in September on multiple felony counts that could send him to prison for more than 100 years. Why did no one else see this coming?

“So this reader widget, it works off a human filter of these very erudite people, all together, and provides what should be the best means of obtaining information in existence. “

That is a quote from Barrett Brown’s YouTube “Video153,” in which he rambled on rather incoherently about his plans to gather “very erudite people” to participate in what he called a “schematic.” On Dec. 3, 2010 — that is to say, nearly two years before his September 2012 arrest — I compared Barrett’s incipient madness to that of Patrick Bedell, the schizophrenic Pentagon gunman who got himself shot to death in an apparent “suicide by cop” in March 2010. (See, “Whatever Happened to Crazy?” at Hot Air.) And it is remarkable that now, when Barrett Brown is being celebrated by the Left as a martyr, nobody can be bothered to transcribe this 13-minute video:

Because no one has provided a full transcript — and I’m about to leave on a road trip, so I certainly don’t have time now — the best way I can describe Barrett’s discourse is this: Imagine Wile E. Coyote on Oxycontin, outlining his new super-genius plan to catch that elusive Roadrunner, using Acme rocket skates, 400 feet of rope, an elaborate series of pulleys, two cups of bird seed, and a 95-pound anvil.

We know how this cartoon ends, don’t we?

The word you’re looking for is “grandiose.”

Grandiosity is a term psychologists use to discuss the delusions of greatness that are symptomatic of schizophrenia or, to a lesser degree, the manic phase of bipolar disorder:

Bipolar patients experience delusion during the worse part of their illness. Typically, when experiencing or displaying a stage of heightened excitability, joy, rage, senselessness, and correlated phenomena they might convey thoughts or beliefs that are grandiose in nature. Some of these grandiose beliefs frequently involve thoughts that the patient is very rich or famous or has super human abilities, etc.

In less severe manifestations, grandiosity is associated with narcissism, which is in turn a function of feelings of shame and failure. The damaged ego of the narcissist is unable to cope with failure and overcompensates through a series of rationalizations, including exaggerated and unrealistic schemes to achieve the success (and receive the admiration) he craves. The impracticality of these plans, the yawning gap between (a) the grandiose goals of such schemes and (b) the ability of the person to do what he aspires to do, is significant of the psychological need this kind of fantastic plan serves: A desire for recognition as a superior person, thus to vanquish the feelings of shame associated with the sense of failure.

Barrett Brown is an intelligent person. As a child, he earned praise for his intelligence and was thought to have exceptional promise. But he became a college dropout and a heroin addict, scraping along with meager earnings. He co-authored a book in his mid-20s and discovered that being that grand thing, a “published author,” isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be. Whoop-dee-doo, y’know? It ain’t like you’re a zillionaire rock star with limousines, champagne and showgirls.

This video in December 2010 where Barrett tried to describe his “informational schematic” wasn’t so much a career plan as the symptom of an unhealthy mind tending toward thought patterns that were disorganized and grandiose. Being something of an amateur student of abnormal psychology, I recognized it as such and described it accurately, and now fast-forward to September 2012:

Ask yourself, “Why have Barrett Brown’s admirers never fully transcribed that video rant?” Because it’s haphazard paranoid gibberish, and not the discourse of the hero they want him to be.

It does not matter, really, whether there was anything genuinely newsworthy about the subjects — HBGary and “Team Themis,” etc. — that became the focus of Barrett Brown’s obsessive interest. Other people have written about those subjects without going crazy. And anyone who hails this narcissistic wackjob as a heroic martyr is seriously misguided. Barrett Brown was mentally ill and, according to federal grand jury indictments, a criminal menace.

There is news today: Anthony Weiner’s campaign manager resigned, and people are beginning to ask questions about the thousands of dollars that Weiner’s campaign spent to “investigate” claims that his 2011 scandal was the result of hacking.

“Gosh, who do you think is filling Weiner in on this?” said . . . Neal Rauhauser?

A stalker is terrorizing CNN’s Anderson Cooper, and Bill Schmalfeldt is still crazy, but I’m about to hit the road to cover another story. Could be interesting. Your prayers are earnestly requested, and remember the Five Most Important Words in the English Language are still: Hit the freaking tip jar.

 

 


Category: Barrett Brown
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