The Other McCain

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

LIVE AT FIVE: 06.25.13

Posted on | June 25, 2013 | 5 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
US Presses Russia As Mystery Over Snowden Deepens

Russian policemen standing in front of the Ecuadorian Embassy

Leaker supposedly was to fly to Cuba today, but wasn’t aboard today’s Aeroflot flight


Nelson Mandela In Critical Condition For Second Day
Announcement made by RSA President Zuma


Immigration Bill Advances In Senate
Border “Surge” Amendment Exposes GOP Rift As 15 RINOs Vote With Democrats For Bill



POLITICS
Supreme Court Sends Affirmative Action Case Back To Lower Court

Policeman stands watch in front of the Supreme Court

Appellate court failed to use strict scrutiny in upholding University of Texas’ use of affirmative action

Did IRS Also Scrutinize Liberal Groups?

Judge Orders ~3300 Inmates At Risk From Valley Fever To Be Moved

Utah Ban On Gay Marriage Likely To Stick Regardless Of Supreme Court’s Decision

Abortion Clinic Buffer Zone Gets High Court Review

Supreme Court To Weigh Recess Appointments

Texas House Approves Abortion Restrictions

Union-Connected Group Slips IRS Scrutiny

Senator Rips Pentagon Over Contract With Russians Supplying Assad Regime

Supreme Court Won’t Block Sales Of 15% Ethanol Blend



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Drops After Biggest Increase In Three Weeks: NYMEX $94.95, Brent $100.86
PRC shares Extend Losses, Sink To 4 1/2 Year Lows
Founder Zimmer Resigns From Mens’ Wearhouse Board
Mass Layoffs At Top-Flight Law Firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Carl Icahn Seeking $5.2 Billion In Loans For Dell Takeover Bid
McDonald’s Removes Halal Food Items From Menu After Lawsuit
iOS 7 Beta Arrives With Updates, Version For iPad
Rivals Microsoft, Oracle Bonding In The Cloud
Hands On With AOL Reader
Device Shipments Up 6% To 2.4 Billion In 2013, Mostly Driven By Android Phones And Tablets
Microsoft Parks Cloud Over $700 Million Iowa Data Center



SPORTS
Blackhawks Beat Bruins 3-2, Win Stanley Cup

Blackhawks collect the Cup

Chicago scored two in the third period for a comeback win after Bruins jumped out to an early 1-0 lead
Boston’s Bergeron Played With Broken Rib, Torn Cartilage, And Separated Shoulder



Hellickson, Rays Cool Off Surging Blue Jays

Big Ten, Pac-12 Announce New Bowl Affiliations

O’s Option Veteran Pitcher Garcia To Triple-A

Indians Send Down Carrasco, Call Up House

Shaw To Replace Karl As Nuggets Coach?

Clippers, Celtics Still Waiting League Approval For Rivers Trade

Brantley Carries Tribe To 5-2 Victory Over Orioles

Harper To Begin Rehab Tonight At Single-A Potomac



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Heidi Klum Is Removing Her Seal Tattoo

Because frankly, all of the other pix today were fugly.

Keeping the stars, losing the Seal

Police Question Scottie Pippen After Malibu Assault

Paramount, Brad Pitt Setting Sights On “World War Z” Sequel

George Lucas Gets Married


Rapper Fat Joe Gets Four Months For Shorting Uncle Sam’s Take

Jim Carrey Condemns Gun Violence In His New Movie “Kick-Ass 2” (After Cashing Checks)

Paula Deen Loses Smithfield Ham Endorsement Deal; Thanks Fans For Support – But Al Sharpton’s Got Her Back

Chris Brown Accused Of Assaulting Girl In Nightclub

Former “Full House” Actress Jodie Sweetin Files For Divorce

Amanda Bynes Declares Herself A “Hero” For Having Nose Job



FOREIGNERS
Former Italian Premier Berlusconi Gets Seven Years, Lifetime Ban From Politics In Prostitution Case
Egyptian Army Ready To Step In If Anti-Morsi Rallies Turn Violent
Islamist Governor Of Luxor Resigns To Prevent Bloodshed
Brazil’s Rousseff Calls For Constitutional Reform To Placate Protesters
Afghan Forces Crush Taliban Attack On Presidential Palace
Musharraf May Be Among Former Rulers Charged With Treason
Qatari Emir Set To Hand Over Power To Son
ROKs Issue Cyberattack Alert As Government Sites Shut Down On 63rd Anniversary Of Korean War



BLOGS & STUFF
Stephen Crowder: What We’ve Learned From Paula Deen’s Racism
Michelle Malkin: Mass Illegal Alien Amnesty Violates Our Founding Principles
Sarah Palin: Holes In The Border As Big As The Holes In Their Amnesty Bill
Vodkapundit: Et Tu, Marco?
Senator Ted Cruz: Latest “Deal” From The Senate? Pass Amnesty Now, Read The Bill Later
Hot Air: White House Trying To Rein In SecState Kerry?
Moe Lane: THE SEED THAT IS JOHN KERRY CANNOT BE CONTAINED OR DEFINED.
Allahpundit: Cold War – US Tells Russia To Cough Up Snowden, Or Else
Commentary: Putin Is Cleaning Obama’s Clock
Power Line: How Could A Goofy Techie Expose Our Government’s Incompetence?
AmSpecBlog: Supreme Court Punts On Affirmative Action
Volokh Conspiracy: Preliminary Thoughts On Fisher V. University Of Texas
NRO Corner: “Lookout List” Not Much Broader Than Originally Thought, Contrary To Reports
Bryan Preston: IRS Chief Admits Agency Improperly Targeted Groups Through May 2013
Ed Driscoll: Leave Barry Alone!!!
Professor Bainbridge: Memo To Roger Goodell – I’ll Take My NFL Football Without Obamacare Propaganda, Thank You
Conservatives4Palin: NYT Says Evil Gun Companies Should Pay Blood Money Or Something


Category: Live at Five

Rule 5 Monday

Posted on | June 24, 2013 | 32 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Better late than never. Don’t click the links when & where you shouldn’t. If excitement lasts more than four hours, consult your doctor.

Laughing Conservative leads off this week by dishing up the spicy Adriana Curry, followed by Blackmailers Don’t Shoot with Pretty Girls On A Thursday: Booth Babes Edition, and Randy’s Roundtable with Emmanuelle Vaugier. 90 Miles From Tyranny brings us Girls With Guns and Morning Mistress, while Animal Magnetism checks in with Rule Five Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon, this week featuring Czech bombshell Vica Kerekes. Reaganite Republican has some Russian Rule 5 controversy with Miss Russia, Elmira Abdrazakova, who apparently isn’t Slavic enough for some folks. Fishersville Mike contemplates new series Back In The Game and wonders if it’ll last into the next NBA season. First Street Journal’s contribution this week is Mostly Marines.

EBL goes from Vladimir Putin to nekkid Russian whale swimmers in nothing flat before offering Bob Dylan, Hairy Leg Stockings, Kate Upton Topless On A Horse, and what I can only conclude is some drug-fueled Photoshopping of Paula Deen*.

A View From The Beach has What Amber Heard, a great Russian ad, TSA Goes Into Slut-Shaming, Beauty (Not Brains) Contests, Some People Will Do Anything For Science, Don’t Bet Against The Redheads, and Musical Weirdness.

Wine, Women and Politics returns with Alice Goodwin, Alison Waite,  Gracie Lewis, and Rachel Burr.

Soylent Green this week had Your AM Angel and Afternooner Leanna before starting off the work week with Monday Motivationer Lisa Marie, followed by Tuesday Titillation Melissa Riso, Humpday Hawtness Melissa Jacobs, Evening Awesome Alanna, Falconsword Fursday Cristy, Soylent Solstice Spassfabrik, T-GIF Friday, Cameltoe With Distractions, Afternooner Julia, and concluding with Overnighty Rebecca.

Proof Positive’s Friday Night Babe was Odette Annable, his vintage babe was Shelly Fabares, and Madonna has the Sex In Advertising covered. Dustbury offers Alessandra Ambrosio and Cyndi Lauper for our consideration, while at The Camp of the Saints, it’s Miriam Gonzalez. Three Beers Later checks in with Georgia peaches, Jesse James, Laura Bell Bundy, The Jane Dear Girls, and Dustin Lynch’s She Cranks My Tractor.

The DaleyGator’s DaleyBabes this week included Ellen Roche, Ana Carolina de Fonseca, Jamilette Gaxiola, Kay Silvay, Betty Nguyen, Rosci Diaz, Aina Kaneshiro, Paula Andrea Giraldo, Serinda Swan, Miss USA Erin Brady, Tatiana Ramos, Krista Ayne, Ayana Tanigaki, and Juliette Cabrera.


Thanks to everyone for their linkagery!   Links for next week’s Rule 5 roundup should be in the Rule 5 Wombat mailbox no later than Saturday, June 29.


*Actually SFW, but whether it’s going to require brain bleach anyway is another matter.


Category: Rule 5

‘It’s Tough to Be a Man, Baby!’

Posted on | June 24, 2013 | 67 Comments

The title line from the unfortunately forgotten 1983 comedy D.C. Cab came to mind today when I encountered yet another reaction to the controversial new bestseller by Dr. Helen Smith, Men on Strike: Why Men are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream–and Why it Matters. It seems that everyone has an opinion on this book, one way or the other, and a pseudonymous contributor to Ricochet offered his own anecdotal reflections:

Here’s a bit on Fox and Friends discussing it. One quote from the book pretty much sums up the problem as seen by the author:

[The] new world order is a place where men are discriminated against, forced into a hostile environment in school and later in college, and held in contempt by society. Maybe there is no incentive to grow up anymore. It used to be that being a grown-up, responsible man was rewarded with respect, power and deference. Now, not so much.

While all that is true, I think it misses another, possibly bigger, dynamic, namely that being a man is hard. . . .
While the things pointed out in the book may be true, I think the real reason many men are abandoning traditional roles is plain old-fashioned selfishness. Society pushes self first in every aspect of our lives. Selflessness and sacrifice are scorned. Boys are taught about their rights rather than instructed in what is right. The author is wrong. Real men were never in the marriage/family game for what they could get out of it; rather, they were in it because it is the right and good thing to do, even if it’s hard.

Although I hesitate to quote anyone saying flatly that the InstaWife is wrong (!) certainly the Ricochet commentator has a point: A stoic commitment to duty, without regard for narrowly selfish interests, is the essence of responsible manhood. My father worked 37 years at the Lockheed Georgia plant in Marietta not because he had no other ambition beyond the factory gates, but because providing for his family was his foremost obligation as a man. And very few young people today, male or female, seem to understand that old-fashioned idea.

Yet this does not prove Dr. Helen wrong. The incentives that once encouraged men to do the right thing — the sensibility of duty — were complex and layered, not simple and superficial. Our culture once venerated Great Men who by word and deed exemplified that nobility of character required to accept responsibility for failure, and to quietly pursue the course of honor, rather than to scapegoat others for our misfortunes and dishonestly seek undeserved glory.

No man should crave a respect he has not truly earned, nor resent the humiliation for any failure that was within his power to avert.

In every enterprise we undertake, therefore, we must do everything within our power to achieve success and, should our efforts fail, blame only ourselves: “It is all my fault.”

People don’t think that way any more. Craving a good reputation in a superficial culture, they concern themselves with the external representation of virtue, rather than its true essence, and lose sight of the distinction between seeming and being.

A society that celebrates victimhood has little regard for the spirit of loyalty and humility that endures hardship without complaint. It is precisely these manly virtues which deserve more praise, and which are instead stigmatized by the radical egalitarian obsession with “rights.”

And you should buy Men on Strike: Why Men are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream–and Why it Matters.

 

 


Category: Books, Culture, Dr. Helen, Feminism

Ben Smith Wants You to Ignore This

Posted on | June 24, 2013 | 122 Comments

As soon as Edward Snowden came forward as the “face” of the NSA leaks, the question immediately suggested itself: “Hero or Traitor?”

Revelations about the NSA surveillance program had made worldwide headlines. Coming on the heels of other scandals, it seemed to fit into an emerging neo-Nixonian picture of the Obama administration. As I wrote Friday at The American Spectator:

Welcome to America in 2013, where Hope and Change have transmogrified into Fear and Loathing, where even a liberal reporter who last year praised Obama as “one of the most talented politicians around” could not resist the pervasive paranoia inspired by what voters were once promised would be “the most transparent administration in history.” Between the IRS secretly punishing the president’s political enemies, the Justice Department secretly seizing reporters’ phone records and the NSA’s secret surveillance, the only thing transparent about this administration is its dishonest hypocrisy.

One little problem: The IRS scandal and the DOJ scandal are genuine scandals — clear-cut abuses of power — whereas the NSA surveillance program had no actual victims. That is to say, while the NSA’s access to phone and e-mail records raises Fourth Amendment concerns about potential abuse, there is no one who can point to an instance where actual abuse has occurred. So far as we know, no one has been arrested on the basis of illegally obtained information or targeted by the NSA because they’re on Obama’s Enemies List of political opponents.

Apparently, Glenn Greenwald’s idea to solve this problem was to present the world with Edward Snowden as the hero-victim, making him the symbol (as Greenwald saw it) of how the administration was punishing courageous truth-tellers. However, rational people (a category from which Greenwald long ago excluded himself) recognized this as problematic: Snowden wasn’t an IRS employee revealing important truths about unlawful political abuse of government power, or a DOJ staffer disclosing the surveillance of journalists. Snowden had top-secret clearance at an agency whose express mission it is to gather communications (“signals intelligence,” or sigint) about America’s enemies. There is a world of difference between these two categories, and my antennae detected this difference when I saw the quote from Snowden praising Army Pvt. Bradley Manning as “a classic whistleblower” who “was inspired by the public good.”

Thanks for clearing that up, Ed: Having declared that Manning is a traitor who should be shot by a firing squad, I needed nothing else but your praise of him to form an opinion of you. If Bradley Manning is your hero, you can share a cell with him at Leavenworth.

Army privates don’t get to decide what classified documents the Army keeps secret, and 29-year-old computer nerds don’t get to decide what NSA operations our enemies can know about. And there was a certain too-good-to-be-true quality to the narrative:

Hollywood Script: Hipster Geek With Hot
Girlfriend Fights ‘Omniscient’ Government

Something about this movie scenario I instantly disliked. If leaking top-secret information made Ed Snowden a hero, then everyone with access to classified information who doesn’t leak it is a villain. And the more I looked at the backstory, the less I liked it:

After leaving the CIA a few years later, however, Snowden seemed disillusioned and suspicious toward government. In a comment on an Ars Technica article about surveillance software developed by Cisco, Snowden expressed concern about “how little this sort of corporate behavior bothers those outside of technology circles.” Criticizing what he called an attitude of “unquestioning obedience,” Snowden suggested that such surveillance had “sneaked in undetected because of pervasive government secrecy.”

Oh, what fresh hell is this? When I see the word “corporate” used as a pejorative, coupled with a jab at “unquestioning obedience,” I don’t think of Jefferson, Madison and Patrick Henry. Instead I think of Theodor Adorno, C. Wright Mills and Herbert Marcuse — the leftist indictment of 1950s America as proto-fascist oppression. I also think of every disgruntled misfit I’ve ever had the misfortune to know, malcontent whiners grumbling about the “bosses” and doing their best to spread demoralization throughout the organization.

Lee Stranahan yesterday finally went off on the conservatives who have made their pilgrimage to the Sacred Temple of Saint Edward the Whistleblower, where Glenn Greenwald presides as High Priest.

About damned time somebody said it. Greenwald had been secretly communicating with Ed Snowden for months. Greenwald timed the disclosure of the NSA documents and then presented the world with the Heroic Truth-Teller in a carefully scripted morality tale, and some people swallowed the entire narrative without stopping to think: How do we know Ed Snowden is actually telling the truth?

Gen. Keith Alexander says Snowden is lying and so we have to ask ourselves who we believe, the career Army officer who has dedicated his entire life to defending America from its enemies, or the dropout gamer who is Glenn Greenwald’s new man-crush?

Meanwhile, emerging from the JournoList conference call to share with us the Official Media Consensus, Ben Smith declares that Ed Snowden’s motives ares now utterly irrelevant to the narrative.

Permit me to quote from memory: “Fuck you. War.”

ADDENDUM: How strangely coincidental that Ben Smith decided to declare Snowden’s motives irrelevant as soon as Saint Edward embarked on the Grand Tour of America’s Adversaries.

 

Category: Crime, Journalism, Military

@TedCruz & The Broken Immigration Record: Heard This Bef–Heard This Bef–

Posted on | June 24, 2013 | 25 Comments

by Smitty

Senator Cruz at Red State:

On Monday at 5:30pm, the United States Senate will vote on the most sweeping immigration reform proposal it has considered in almost 3 decades – and it will do so having only seen the nearly 1200 pages of text for approximately 72 hours. Americans – including myself, my fellow senators and our staffs – are still trying to figure out exactly what is in the new Schumer-Corker-Hoeven “deal.”
Sound familiar? Pass it to find out what’s in it? Reminiscent of Obamacare, the lengthy amendment to replace the Gang of 8’s original bill was crafted behind closed doors and introduced late on Friday, after many members had left town. In the 2007 immigration debate, close to 50 amendments were considered. But this year, we have only debated 9 – with some of us being completely shut out.
Given only a weekend to review the language, we will now vote on whether to end a debate that never really began. To be clear – this is not a difficult vote. On process alone, we should all vote “no.“ This was by design – the President, Harry Reid and the Gang of 8 preferred all along to ram through a “deal,” and not have a real debate – just like Obamacare.

Read the whole sordid account.
Via his petition link:
There really isn’t terribly much hope in the Senate. Meanwhile, to clip Drudge:

And as if all that didn’t suck enough:

Opponents of the Gang of Eight immigration bill have spent the weekend looking for hard-to-find changes in a piece of legislation that was substantially re-written by the Hoeven-Corker amendment. But there’s one big change that’s right out in the open — impossible to miss, in fact.
The original Gang bill ended with a section designated Title IV, which was headlined REFORMS TO NON-IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAMS. The Hoeven-Corker version of the bill added a Title V, with the headline JOBS FOR YOUTH. The measure would provide $1.5 billion in the next two years to provide jobs for Americans between the ages of 16 and 24. It was originally pushed by Democratic Sen. Bernard Sanders, who wanted to come to the aid of young workers who were “hard hit by the Wall Street-caused recession.” Now, Sanders says immigration reform will further damage youth job prospects.

How rich would we all be if they’d just taken all of the giveaways, divided by the population, and cut us all a check? The answer is: no more rich, because proper economics don’t work the way this tooth-fairy government seems to think they do.
John Boehner, you’d better not go wobbly.

Category: Immigration, Red State, Republicans

LIVE AT FIVE: 06.24.13

Posted on | June 24, 2013 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Presidential Sops Fail To Quell Brazil’s Protests

Protesters camp in front of the Governor’s Residence in Rio de Janeiro

Friday’s televised speech by Rousseff dismissed as “rhetoric”

Snowden Due To Quit Moscow In Ecuador Asylum Bid
Hong Kong to Moscow to Havana to ?

Nelson Mandela Reportedly In Critical Condition
Lung infection no longer responding to treatment



POLITICS
Pelosi Booed, Heckled At Netroots Conference

Rep. Nancy Pelosi

Former Speaker’s defense of NSA snooping not well received

Government Begins Education Blitz For Uninsured

Emotional Abortion Debate Continues In Texas House

Mayor Bloomberg Cuts Deal With City Council On $70 Billion Budget

Obama To Unveil Climate Plan In Tuesday Speech

New Pro-Hillary Super PAC Attracts Donors, Worries

“Dead On Arrival”: Rand Paul Predicts Immigration Bill Doomed In House

Proposed Bill Would Fire Federal Employees Who Refuse To Testify



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Trades Near Two-Week Low On Slow PRC Recovery Concerns: NYMEX $93.48, Brent $100.51
Twinkies Set To Make “Sweetest Comeback” In July
BIS Says Party’s Over For Quantitative Easing
PRC Mid-Sized Bank Shares Tumble On Liquidity Concerns
Despite Drought, Harvest Good In Parts Of Kansas
Mystique In Tow, Dunkin’ Donuts Ready To Make Splash In Utah
Facebook Reportedly Working On Mobile News Delivery Service
FTC Reportedly Set To Probe Google’s Waze Acquisition
Early Apple Computer Could Fetch $500K Or More
If The Government Can Access Our Facebook Data, What Happens When We Have Computers On Our Faces?
AOL Reader Coming Soon To Fill Google Reader Void
Facebook’s Hashtags Will Be Great For Marketers – Users, Not So Much



SPORTS
Martin Truex Jr. Snaps 218-Race Winless Streak

Martin Truex Jr. celebrates in the victory lane

Beats Jeff Gordon at Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma

Blackhawks Edge Bruins 3-1 In Game Five, Take 3-2 Series Lead Into Tonight’s Game

Garcia Roughed Up Early As Jays Thump O’s 13-5, Extend Streak To 11

Pirates Plunder Angels Again With 10-9 Win For Sweep

Harvey Stifles Phillies, Mets Win 8-0

Celtics, Clippers Cut A Deal Sending Rivers To LA

Costner Takes Batting Practice With The Tribe

Royals Rally Late, Edge White Sox To Avoid Sweep

Cubs Rout Astros 14-6

Tigers Take Advantage Of Red Sox Errors, Rally For 7-5 Win

Morales Hits Three-Run Dinger In 10th To Win It For M’s

Fish Rip Giants’ Bullpen For 7-2 Win

Struggling Nationals Keep Losing Players, Ballgames



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Miranda Kerr Models This Season’s Swimwear For Net-A-Porter

Miranda Kerr

Giving women severe bikini body envy


“Monsters U” Zooms To $82 Million At Box Office, “World War Z” #2 At $66 Million

NeNe Remarries Greg Leakes

Paula Deen Thanks Food Network For “Eleven Great Years” After Firing

Kelly Rutherford Files For Bankruptcy – Divorce Did Her In


“That 70s Show” Star Lisa Robin Kelly Arrested For DUI

James Gandolfini’s Body Being Flown Back To New York; Funeral Scheduled For Thursday

Paris Jackson Headed For Additional Treatment

Anna Kendrick In Talks To Play Cinderella In Disney’s “Into The Woods”

Cinemax, Frank Spotnitz Developing “Hunted” Spinoff Starring Heather George

Ashton Kutcher As Steve Jobs In “Jobs”: Watch The Trailer

Justin Bieber’s Manager Wants Him To Go To Rehab

Jennifer Lopez Gets 2,500th Star On Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame

Amanda Bynes Has Her Fake Boobs Removed

Demi Moore, Daughter Rumer Willis Bond Over Yoga

Bob Newhart Lists His Bel Air Estate For $15.5 Million

Bristol Palin, Melissa Rivers To Switch Households On “Wife Swap”



FOREIGNERS
LDP, Komeito Secure Majority In Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly
Jihadis Kill Ten Climbers In Pakistan’s Himalayas
Syrian Rebels’ Car Bomb Explodes In Aleppo Airbase
Ten Lebanese Soldiers Killed In Clashes With Anti-Hezbollah Sheikh’s Followers
Mahmoud Abbas Accepts Hamdallah’s Resignation; PM Quits After Just Three Weeks
Erdogan, Opponents Hold Mass Rallies
Kerry Looks To Strengthen Ties During India Visit



BLOGS & STUFF
NewsBusters: Greenwald Asks, “Who Needs Government To Criminalize Journalism When You Have David Gregory To Do It?”
Ed Driscoll: Ride The David Gregory Recursion
Lonely Conservative: Ed Snowden Makes Some Odd Choices For Someone Concerned About Liberty
Power Line: Why Immigration Reform Is The Panama Canal Treaty Redux
Mickey Kaus: One More Metaphor For The Gang Of Eight
Legal Insurrection: Chuck Schumer Still Will Not Love Republicans In The Morning
Breitbart: Casino Crony Kickback – Reid, Heller Slip Las Vegas Tourism Handout Into Immigration Bill
Protein Wisdom: California Is Obama’s Tammany Hall


Rule 5 Monday will be up later today.


Category: Live at Five

Real Life Is Not a Reality TV Audition

Posted on | June 23, 2013 | 25 Comments

Maybe you saw the story via Althouse: Colorado officials have ruled that an elementary school was guilty of “discrimination” for not letting Coy Mathis use the girl’s bathroom. Coy is 6 and thinks he’s a girl. The ruling cited “evolving research on transgender development.”

Question: Does this “evolving research” say anything about the influence of a mother who’s a neurotic weirdo?

Because there’s a woman here who is familiar with Coy Mathis’ mother and says she “is a fame-seeking attention whore, who will stop at nothing to prove how edgy and non-mainstream she is.”

It seems Mrs. Mathis conceived triplets with the assistance of non-presciption fertility drugs she got from Mexico, and then had “natural childbirth” in a swimming pool in her living room. When one of her triplets got a serious respiratory disease (RSV), Mrs. Mathis sought the assistance of an alternative “healer” with the result that the child suffered brain damage and is now severely retarded. Having gained an Internet “following” first in the mothers-of-triplets community, then in the natural childbirth community and then in the “special needs” community, now it would seem that Mrs. Mathis is seeking to expand her “following” to include the mothers-of-transgendered community.

Well, you can read the whole thing and form your own opinion.

Coming soon to cable TV: Real Housewives of Kookville.

 


Category: Culture

Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees

Posted on | June 23, 2013 | 42 Comments

Working on some stuff today while coping with a caffeine deficiency, but my first task today was the latest in the Ed Snowden story:

Charged by U.S. authorities with espionage, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden left Hong Kong on Sunday and flew to Moscow, although it was not believed Russia would be his final destination.
Snowden is expected to continue on to Cuba and then to Venezuela, the New York Times reported, citing reports by Russian’s Interfax agency. . . .
Snowden, 29, arrived Sunday in Russia aboard an Aeroflot commercial flight shortly after 9 a.m. Eastern time (5 p.m. in Moscow). . . .
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday that Snowden’s flight would likely harm U.S.-Russian relations. It is “almost certain” Russian President Vladimir Putin knew about the fugitive’s plan to fly to Moscow, Schumer told CNN, “and it’s likely he approved it.”
The Reuters news agency cited “a source at the Russian airline Aeroflot” as saying Snowden “would fly on within 24 hours to Cuba and then planned to go to Venezuela.” . . .
Federal officials Friday charged Snowden with three counts: theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person.

You can read the rest at Viral Read. I’ve become weary of arguing with friends about this story, and probably wouldn’t like it any better if I were arguing with my enemies about it. Arguing just isn’t that much fun, really, and all this surveillance stuff is boring. Anyway, we’re out of coffee at the house, and I need it because I was up late working on this story:

What ‘Big Story’ Was Michael Hastings
Working On When He Died?

The problem is we don’t know what was going on the last 15 hours of Hastings’ life. He sent an e-mail to his BuzzFeed editors, saying the FBI was snooping around with his “close associates,” and the next thing we know, he slammed his car into a tree. I don’t think it’s a conspiracy or anything. Frankly, I think Hastings just got paranoid and freaked out. But the FBI has denied that it was investigating him, which raises the question: Why did Hastings believe he was being investigated, if he wasn’t? And what the hell was he doing driving 100 mph through Los Angeles at 4 o’clock on a Tuesday morning?

Another mysterious question: What kind of freak is Bill Schmalfeldt?

Honestly, what’s become of our civil liberties, when two women can’t have sex in a McDonald’s toilet without being assaulted?

Speaking of sex in toilets, I forgot to mention here that Kaitlyn Hunt’s attorney is trying to get the judge thrown off her case, saying the judge is “prejudiced” — against having sex in toilets, maybe.

Speaking of Florida sex offenders:

The man suspected of killing Jacksonville child Charish Perriwinkle, 8, has been charged with murder.
Members with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said Saturday that 56-year-old Donald Smith, a registered sex offender who has been convicted in the past of kidnapping, acted alone in the incident.
Charish’s body was found Saturday morning. She went missing while shopping with her mother Friday night.

Don’t tell this to the #FreeKate mob, but once upon a time, Donald Smith was also 18 years old. Were there warning signs that the teenage Donald Smith might become a child-killing pervert?

We don’t know, but we do know that Kaitlyn Hunt’s supporters insist she’s an innocent lamb who — aside from her penchant for having sex with 14-year-olds in the school bathroom — is a “model citizen” who is being unjustly prosecuted for a “high school romance.” Merely comparing Saint Kate of the Blessed Finger to creepy old violent sex offenders is hateful, her devotees tell us, because there is no evidence that she has any tendency toward violence. Oh, wait . . .

On May 25, I used the phrase “Sexual Anarchy” to describe the state of affairs toward which the “Free Kate” arguments are leading us. It turns out that my good friend Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel used the same phrase in 2011 to describe a weird gathering:

On Wednesday, Aug. 17 [2011], I – along with the venerable child advocate Dr. Judith Reisman – attended a conference hosted by the pedophile group B4U-ACT. Around 50 individuals were in attendance, including a number of admitted pedophiles (or “minor-attracted persons” as they euphemistically prefer), a few self-described “gay activists” and several supportive mental-health professionals. World renowned “sexologist” Dr. Fred Berlin of Johns Hopkins University gave the keynote address, saying: “I want to completely support the goal of B4U-ACT.”
Here are some highlights from the conference:

  • Pedophiles are “unfairly stigmatized and demonized” by society.
  • There was concern about “vice-laden diagnostic criteria” and “cultural baggage of wrongfulness.”
  • “We are not required to interfere with or inhibit our child’s sexuality.”
  • “Children are not inherently unable to consent” to sex with an adult. . . .

Read the rest of that and then I dare you to claim — as the “Free Kate” crowd does — that there is no danger that letting Kaitlyn Hunt go free would establish a dangerous precedent, giving aid and encouragement to these twisted perverts who want to void all age-of-consent laws. And make no mistake, perverts who want to legalize sex with kids are enthusiastically cheering for the “Free Kate” cause.

In case you had trouble reading that:

“This is what I’ve always felt. Get rid of numerical age of consent laws. If a person was too young to be able to give meaningful consent to sexual activity, put the onus on the prosecutor to demonstrate as much. …”

(Holy crap: You must prove a 9-year-old did not consent?)

“… Get rid of arbitrary numbers. No one should have to do math to love another person.”

Please tell me the NSA has that creep under surveillance.

 

Category: Crime
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