The Other McCain

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

The Unlubricated Truth

Posted on | June 21, 2013 | 19 Comments

It’s 3 a.m., and I don’t have a Mercedes sports coupe to take on a 100-mph joy ride, so why not get reckless on Twitter?

Nothing is more dangerous than the truth.

Except maybe what Democrats do with their butts.

 

Category: humor, Maine

It Hasn’t Been As Much Fun Since The Bear Up And Died

Posted on | June 20, 2013 | 45 Comments

— by Wombat-socho


Or, A Lot Of Words And Not Enough Pictures About Technothrillers


A couple of weeks ago we had a nice discussion in the comments about combat SF and the non-PC offerings of science fiction publisher Baen Books, and we were graced with some comments and linkagery by Sarah Hoyt. At the time, I asked where technothrillers fit into this, but I think by that point in the post people were already off and running with the combat SF and Baen Books stuff and completely forgot about the Tom Clancy stuff.


So here we are in the regular shelves of the library, since for some reason technothrillers are regarded as regular literature – despite every one of them (at the time they were written) being set Twenty Minutes Into The Future. Which you would think would make them SF, but then again I’m not a librarian or a publisher so I don’t get a say in these things. Anyway, what defines a technothriller? For our purposes, let’s consider technothrillers to be war stories set in the near future using existing weapons systems (or systems that’ll be deployed Real Soon Now); in addition to the battlefield action – which may in fact be taking place at sea or in the air – there’s usually a healthy helping of politics and/or espionage to provide background or contrast to the action. Arguably, Gen. Sir John Hackett’s The Third World War: August 1985 was the first of the technothrillers, but it was Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October that really got the genre off the ground and into the hands of millions of readers. Clancy was quickly followed by Larry Bond (Red Phoenix), B-52 jock Dale Brown (Flight of the Old Dog) and Harold Coyle, who explicitly based his Team Yankee on Hackett’s novel.


Almost all technothrillers were written from the NATO point of view – there were exceptions, such as Ralph Peters’ Red Army – and with few exceptions, dealt with the apocalyptic struggle between the US (and its NATO allies) and the Soviet Union (and its Warsaw Pact “allies”) in Europe. Which may explain why, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the field seems to have imploded and not transitioned well to the War on Terror or a possible clash with the Chicoms in the Western Pacific. Maybe it’s more a case of me being too lazy to go look for the latest novels by Bond, Brown, Coyle and others to see if they’re just as interesting as they used to be. Tell me what you think in the comments: make recommendations, warn people off horrible dreck and burned-out authors/played-out series, just stay on topic.


Category: Books, Culture

‘Fire Can’t Melt Crazy!’

Posted on | June 20, 2013 | 66 Comments

Says Matt Bramanti, although certainly the craziness has been heated to its boiling point lately and . . . speaking of Alex Jones:

The revelation that Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings was working on a story about the CIA before his death and had contacted a Wikileaks lawyer about being under investigation by the FBI hours before his car exploded into flames has bolstered increasingly valid claims that the 33-year-old was assassinated.

What does “increasingly valid claims” mean in the InfoWars lexicon?

That’s another one of those Unanswered Questions, isn’t it?

There is a certain art to the paranoia racket: You begin with a far-fetched conclusion, and then scout around for “evidence” that can be asserted in support of the conclusion. Then if someone should (a) point to evidence that would tend to disprove your conclusion, or (b) explain that your “evidence” of a conspiracy doesn’t really add up, you accuse them of being willing to accept Establishment explanations when, as every kook knows, the Establishment is conspiring to cover up the conspiracy.

This is where the Unanswered Questions come in handy: No matter what answers actually turn up, the conspiracy theorist always has more questions that cast doubt on the obvious (non-kooky) conclusion, so that however clear the counter-kook explanation, the kook will say you haven’t debunked him. Far-fetched as his theorized conspiracy may be, you’ll never prove to his satisfaction it doesn’t exist, because he doesn’t accept ordinary facts and logic as valid.

A conspiracy theory is ultimately non-falsifiable, which is why there are still kooks claiming that Lee Harvey Oswald was a “patsy” and, by ignoring such kookery rather than mocking it as the shabby nonsense it actually is, we permit it to fester out there on the fringe, infecting our discourse like an undiagnosed virus.

“The way forward is not through enormous heuristic leaps, but
through painstaking investigation and cogently applied reason.”

The Drudge Report headlines:

WIKILEAKS: Michael Hastings contacted us
just before his death…

Said He Was Being Investigated By FBI…

Well, maybe he was being investigated by the FBI, but this doesn’t mean that A (the investigation) was the cause of B (his death), although I would be glad to entertain the theory that his worries about an investigation caused Hastings’ final paranoid freak-out:

Colleagues confirmed Hastings was “a nervous wreck” because of fear he was under federal surveillance:

 ”He was incredibly tense and very worried and was concerned that the government was looking in on his material,” said Hastings’s friend and Current TV host Cenk Uygur. “I don’t know what his state of mind was at 4:30 in the morning, but I do know what his state of mind was in general, and it was a nervous wreck.”

Uygur told KNX-TV: “Michael Hastings was a journalist who definitely gave the government trouble, the Pentagon trouble, so if they were surveilling him it wouldn’t be that surprising.” The Los Angeles CBS affiliate also quoted another friend who said Hastings had begun to be “paranoid” about his fear of government surveillance.

The CIA Killed Michael Hastings!

Not really, but the Google-bombing does help traffic.


I’m not afraid of “digging too deep” or “getting too close to the truth.” What I’m afraid of is getting too close to these paranoid kooks.

– –

Category: Conspiracy Theories, Journalism

Obama’s Sequel Speech In Berlin Was Really Just An Alice In Chains Reference

Posted on | June 20, 2013 | 23 Comments

by Smitty

The Daily Mail carries the story the U.S. news is mostly ignoring:

It was a more muted affair for President Obama in Berlin today as he spoke at Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate before an invite-only crowd of 4,500 guests – a remarkable difference from the rock-star welcome he received five years ago in front of 195,500 cheering supporters.
Then, Obama had it all to play for – the glowing presidential candidate symbolizing America’s revived hope for the future. This time, he arrived back in Berlin under the cloud of NSA surveillance programs which have outraged many Europeans and the ever-growing crisis in Syria.

Some useless sack named Chris Matthews was trying to make excuses for why our Lawd & Savory bombed in Berlin:


The evidence:

However, known grunge fan #OccupyResoluteDesk may just be a Man in the Box, to hear his whining:

Category: Barack Obama, Germany

Michael Hastings ‘Was Hauling Irish Ass’

Posted on | June 20, 2013 | 57 Comments

According to LA Weekly‘s source:

LAPD traffic investigators found the motor of the late-model Mercedes-Benz C250 coupe involved in the accident about 100 feet away from the car . . .
[T]he expert estimation of Harry B. Ryon, a former LAPD officer who now runs his own private accident investigation firm in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The engine’s location is evidence that the driver “was hauling Irish ass and lost control,” Ryon told us . . .

Here’s the video that shows Hasting’s sports coupe — a silver blur — zooming through a red light four blocks away from the crash scene:

As a journalist who’s done a bit of high-speed driving myself — I routinely hit triple digits on two-lane highways while traversing NY-23 during the 2009 Doug Hoffman campaign — I feel a certain sympathy with Michael Hastings, despite the fact he was more liberal than your average Occupy Wall Street protest organizer. I mean, Rachel Maddow devoted five minutes to praising him Tuesday night.

Ask yourself:  Has Rachel Maddow ever said anything nice about anybody you actually like? No, she hates everybody you admire, and loves everybody you hate, and as for you yourself — if you’ve ever voted Republican — she hates you with every cell of her being.

With their customary civility, conservatives either maintained a respectable silence or joined in the praise of Hastings after his fatal accident in Los Angeles, as if it would be somehow discourteous to mention what a radical ideologue Hastings so proudly was. But he himself never bothered to hide his political enthusiasms, as I learned while researching my 2,000-word article at ViralRead:

As a political reporter, Hastings was openly contemptuous of objectivity, a liberal who shared the anti-war, anti-Republican sentiments widespread in his generation of journalists. In a GQ article recounting his work covering the 2008 presidential campaign for Newsweek, he called former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani a dangerous “maniac”:

On one of my first days, I watched Rudy deliver his stump speech in Peterborough, New Hampshire. As you might imagine, it was a little focused on the “terrorist war against us.” His solution was to “go on the offense” — meaning more aggressive torture techniques, recklessly increasing the size of our military forces, fighting an unending war in Iraq, and possibly bombing the shit out of Iran. …
I quickly realized Rudy was a maniac. I had a recurring fantasy in which I took him out during a press conference … saving America from the horror of a President Giuliani.

Hastings rejected objective journalism as a fraud and said most reporters secretly shared his views:

Objectivity is a fallacy. In campaign reporting more than any other kind of press coverage, reporters aren’t just covering a story, they’re a part of it — influencing outcomes, setting expectations, framing candidates — and despite what they tell themselves, it’s impossible to both be a part of the action and report on it objectively.  …
I wasn’t alone in the press corps. I don’t think I spoke to another journalist who ever said one good thing about [Giuliani]. What did we say? We made fun of his divorces and his wives, that he’d married a second cousin, that he surrounded himself with corrupt cronies, that he had a piss-poor relationship with his children, etc. We talked about his megalomania and his cynical exploitation of September 11.

Describing his own habits on the campaign trail, Hastings said he watched pay-per-view pornographic videos in hotel rooms and said masturbating to porn “was not unlike the larger experience of campaign reporting.” . . .

You can read the whole thing. I have no idea why Republicans act like it’s an insult to call liberals “liberals,” or to say that a guy who rammed his Mercedes into a palm tree was “hauling Irish ass.”

 

Category: Journalism

LIVE AT FIVE: 06.20.13

Posted on | June 20, 2013 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Pele Mocked On Social Media Over Appeal To End Protests

Open mouth, insert foot?

“Pele when silent is a poet”

Soccer legend asks Brazilians to focus on games, quit protesting

FBI Admits Using Drones For Stateside Surveillance
“Electric eye, in the sky…”


State Department Tries To Save Taliban Talks After Karzai Tantrum
Afghan President scuttles talks, insisting process must be completely in Afghans’ hands



POLITICS
Obama Says He’ll Meet Oversight Board About NSA Surveillance

Obama glances at British PM David Cameron during the G8 summit

Steps up defense of snooping: “Security vs. freedom is a false choice,” quoth Dear Leader

Former TWA Flight 800 Investigators Want New Probe

Conservatives’ Conference Highlights Murky Tax Laws

Rape Charges Filed Against Naval Academy Football Players

Senate Confirms Economic Adviser As Trade Rep

Murkowski Comes Out For Gay Marriage

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) Scrambles To Stop California From Imposing Its Egg Regs On Other States



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Oil Drops On Fed Bond Tapering: NYMEX $96.56, Brent $104.49
Euro Shares Fall With Commodities In Rout On Fed, PRC
PRC Manufacturing Contraction Deepens Amid Cash Pinch
Men’s Wearhouse Sacks Founder, Pitchman George Zimmer
Big Banks Reportedly Violating National Mortgage Settlement
“Candy Crush Saga” Maker Inches Towards IPO
Microsoft Backtracks On Used Game, Always-On Policies For XBox One
Facebook’s Zuckerberg Meets With Samsung To Discuss Partnerships
Boston’s Spindle Sold To Twitter
Vyclone, Vevo Apps Launch On Windows 8
Good Riddance Google Reader
Software Pioneer McAfee Posts Bizarre Video



SPORTS
Blackhawks Even Stanley Cup Series With 6-5 OT Win

Blackhawks mob Brent Seabrook after his game-winning goal

Chicago erupts for six goals, ends Rask’s shutout streak

Yankees, Dodgers Split In Don Mattingly’s Return To The Bronx

Celtics-Clippers Talks On Again

Manny Ramirez Done Playing In Taiwan

Saunders Goes The Distance For M’s But Throws It All Away With Wild Pitch In 1-0 Loss

#1 Pick In Baseball Draft Signs With Hometown Astros

Jets Players Want Sanchez At QB

Davis Takes Major League Lead In Homers As O’s Spank Tigers 13-3

Tribe Rallies Late Against KC, Gets Masterson Ninth Win

Ian Desmond’s Grand Slam In 11th Leads Nats Over Phillies, 6-2



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
James Gandolfini Dead At 51

Good night, sweet prince

James Gandolfini, 1961-2013 RIP

Played Mafia boss Tony Soprano on HBO’s hit series “The Sopranos”; felled by heart attack while in Italy


Joe Torre’s Daughter Makes A Life-Saving Catch In Brooklyn


Selena Gomez Hooking Up With Ed Sheeran

Paula Deen Admits Using The N-Word, Other Non-PC Horrors

Sam Taylor-Johnson To Direct “Fifty Shades Of Grey”

Shailene Woodley/Mary Jane Watson Cut From “Amazing Spider-Man 2”

Gaby Hoffman: Mel Gibson Was Mean To Me When I Was 11

Rihanna Whacks Clingy Fan With Microphone At Concert

Dwight Howard Not Watching NBA Finals

Christina Aguilera Bares Her Midriff; Looking Skinny On “The Voice” Finale



FOREIGNERS
India Cautions Afghans On Taliban Talks
Singapore Smog Hits Dangerous Levels
Jihadi Suicide Bombers Blast UN Compound In Mogadishu
Thousands Feared Dead In Uttarakhand Flooding
US Says Iran, Russia, And Uzbekistan Worst In Human Trafficking
PRC Says Norks Seeking New Nuke Talks
Salafis, Shiites Clash In Lebanon
Turkish Protester Stands Up To Authorities In Taksim Square. Literally.



BLOGS & STUFF
Michelle Malkin: The Amnesty Mob Vs. America
PJ Tatler: Bloomberg’s Real Agenda? “Self Defense Is Gun Violence”
Atlas Shrugs: Boston Jihad Bomber Memorialized As Gun Victim By Bloomberg’s Anti-Gun Movement
Weasel Zippers: Nanny Bloomberg Forced To Apologize After Boston Bomber Gaffe
Hugh Hewitt: Losing Immigration Reform By Refusing To “Finish The Dang Fence”
Allahpundit: Inevitable – Lisa Murkowski Declares Support For Gay Marriage
White House Dossier: Obama To Launch Major Global Warming Effort
Gateway Pundit: Irish MP Denounces “Unprecedented Slobbering” Over “War Criminal” Obama
Power Line: How Obamacare Is Being Used To Create A Permanent Democratic Majority
Mark Steyn: Taking ObamaCare Of Business
Israel Matzav: New “Moderate” Iranian President Involved In AMIA Bombing; Son Suicided Over Father’s Extremism
Washington Free Beacon: Senate Dems’ Amendment Would Gut Organizations’ Advocacy Rights
Jake Tapper: IRS Controversy Revives TEA Party
Scared Monkeys: PC Police Have Gone Too Far – NY Council Proposal Would Ban Suspect Descriptions On Pain Of Profiling Lawsuit


Category: Live at Five

If Ed Markey Were Any More Of A 1%er, He’d Be ‘Gentleman’ Jim Moran

Posted on | June 19, 2013 | 19 Comments

by Smitty

What a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad night for Markey:

Gabriel Gomez for Senate

Because Ed Markey is just another diving Oldsmobile vendor

via Breitbart

Category: Election, Massachusetts, Politics

Turbocharged Luxury Death

Posted on | June 19, 2013 | 46 Comments

The conspiracy theorists have already gotten way ahead of me on this story. I’m on a self-imposed deadline today for a long article about the life and death of Michael Hastings and the first question that interested me was, “How the hell does a journalist afford a brand-new Mercedes-Benz C250?”

A bit of research and a couple of phone calls pointed toward the answer: Big-money book deals for a guy who started his journalism career with Newsweek before moving onto high-dollar magazines like Rolling Stone and GQ that would never, under any imaginable circumstance, pay a nickel to a conservative reporter.

Well, I could expand on that theme a bit — and expect to do so later — but in the meantime there’s this long article to finish. But it’s interesting to notice that while everyone in the world of political journalism is saying nice things about Michael Hastings, at least one guy whose job is writing about cars isn’t too impressed:

Mercedes-Benz USA is no doubt sweating bullets over this one. An eyewitness report says that Mr. Hastings was driving at an excessive rate of speed down a suburban street when his car “suddenly jackknifed” and hit a tree “with the force of a bomb” . . .
This isn’t good. The official ad copy for the C-Coupe states

Like every Mercedes-Benz coupe, it wraps four sport seats and passion for the road in sleek style. And like every C-Class, it’s a paragon of engineering virtue and extraordinary value. Put it together, and it’s like nothing else.

Nowhere in there does it say anything about “then this sucker is going to jackknife out of control and char you like a steak ordered by a high-school dropout at Ponderosa”. . . . If I owned a C250 I’d be outside staring at the thing wondering if it was safe to drive it at 100mph in a suburb.

A fitting obituary for an irreverent iconoclast? Or . . . too soon?

Me, I’m just reporting this damned story. Y’all can talk it up all you want in the comments. I gotta get back to work.

 

Category: Conspiracy Theories, Journalism
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