The Other McCain

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

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

Posted on | June 11, 2013 | 65 Comments

Edward Snowden’s ex-girlfriend: He left her for a trip to federal prison.

“[Snowden] rails against ‘the dangerous truth behind the U.S. policies that seek to develop secret, irresistible powers and concentrate them in the hands of an unaccountable few.’
“He declares that ‘At this point in history, the greatest danger to our freedom and way of life comes from the reasonable fear of omniscient State powers kept in check by nothing but policy documents.'”
— Marc Thiessen, American Enterprise Institute

Over-imaginative narcissists living out hero fantasies inspired by pop culture are not an unfamiliar phenomenon . . . says the former newspaper editor who quit his job, started a blog, and went out on the 2012 campaign trail like Hunter S. Thompson had done 40 years before. But my role model for that bizarre gonzo adventure was a real human being, a working professional journalist, not the protagonist of a spy thriller, and I broke no laws — well, OK, I violated the speed limit in 14 states, but what the hell? — in the process of Living the Dream.

Edward Snowden? Not so much:

Talk of Snowden as a “hero” was rejected by former military intelligence officer Ralph Peters. Appearing on Fox News, Peters criticized the celebration of the NSA leaker. “Now you’ve got this 29-year-old high school dropout … making foreign policy for our country, our security policy,” said Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. “And this guy, I think it’s sad … we’ve made treason cool. Betraying your country’s kind of a fashion statment. [Snowden] wants to be the national security Kim Kardashian. He cites Bradley Manning as a hero.” Manning is an Army private who is being court-martialed for his 2010 leaks of classified information. For both Manning and Snowden, Peters said, “We need to get very, very serious about treason … bring back the death penalty.”

Drawing the line between reality and fantasy, and between heroism and criminality, seems to be increasingly difficult for young people, and some not-so-young people have also spent too much time consuming science fiction and spy novels that tell us that we have more to fear from government computers than we do from Muslim radicals who want to kill us all. People who think life is like a Matt Damon movie need to stop watching so many Matt Damon movies.

This is how I managed to keep my sanity during all the craziness of the Brett Kimberlin episode: As weird as that was — and trust me, it was plenty weird at times — I avoided the flattering thought that I was the protagonist of the story, even when Kimberlin’s people were trying to destroy me. “No, damn it, I’m just the storyteller.”

My resistance to the heroic view of Edward Snowden has an awful lot to do with the way his Courageous Truth-Teller Narrative looks like it was inspired by an ambition to get a book contract and a Hollywood movie deal — Code Name: Verax — “Based on a True Story.”

Unfortunately for Snowden, federal law forbids convicted criminals from profiting from the story of their crimes, which means that Snowden’s “friends” — including Glenn Greenwald and Barton Gellman — have played him for a chump. Snowden’s going to end up in Leavenworth, while his “friends” will be cashing in on his story.

“The Kook Who Knew Too Much” — yeah, I’ve seen this story before. Barrett Brown boasted he had a “six-figure” book deal to tell the inside story of the Anonymous hacker conspiracy, but if you’re inside the conspiracy, aren’t you also a criminal? And once the feds started tightening the screws on Barrett, the punk couldn’t handle the pressure, so he flipped out, went paranoid, and had the most memorable YouTube meltdown in the history of YouTube meltdowns. And federal inmates can’t collect book royalties.

Oops.

Pro Tip: If you want to live out a fantasy, pick a fantasy that doesn’t involve a trip to federal prison.

For decades, America has been plagued by these grandiose Walter Mitty types who can’t be satisfied doing regular jobs and living regular lives, and instead feel the need to Make a Difference — to see their name in headlines and, they hope, make their mark in history — and they never seem to notice that, in real life, these stories seldom end “happily ever after.” But let’s round up today’s headlines:

NSA leak is treason, says Feinstein
— The Hill

U.S. explores criminal charges against Snowden
— USA Today

Transcript: Exclusive Interview
With House Speaker John Boehner on NSA Leak
— ABC News

U.S. Preparing Charges Against Leaker of Data
— New York Times

Edward Snowden: Russia offers
to consider asylum request
— Guardian

“We’ve made treason cool”
Lt. Col. Ralph Peters on NSA leaker: We need
to bring back the death penalty for treason
— The Right Scoop

Booz Allen: We fired NSA leaker on Monday
— Yahoo News

 And — as I expected all along — Edward Snowden’s story doesn’t add up. When are people going to wise up to these bullshit artists?

Is there such a shortage of common sense that people no longer have any ordinary kind of skepticism? A high-school dropout flies to Hong Kong, claims he was paid $200,000 a year and the people who hired him say he exaggerated that by $80,000, and yet you’re telling me that everything else Snowden said was true?

Liars lie, and braggarts brag, and kooks are crazy for Cuckoo Puffs.

This computer geek had a six-figure salary and a hot girlfriend — if you like the skinny long-legged blonde ballerina acrobat type — and yet, his life in Hawaii wasn’t exciting enough for him, so he decides to become an international fugitive from justice.

Way to go, World Famous Douchebag.

Andy Warhol just called to say your 15 minutes are over.

If you want to see your name in headlines, there are lots of ways to do it. Me, I’m  just the guy who’s telling the story:

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee condemned as traitorous the unauthorized release of top-secret information about National Security Agency (NSA) data-mining operations. Even while thousands of Americans signed a petition urging President Obama to pardon the contractor who leaked classified documents about the program — and Republican Sen. Rand Paul slammed the NSA’s surveillance as unconstitutional — Sen. Dianne Feinstein joined other lawmakers urging the prosecution of Edward Snowden.
“I don’t look at this as being a whistle-blower, I think it’s an act of treason,” the California Democrat told reporters on Capitol Hill. “He took an oath — that oath is important. He violated the oath, he violated the law. It’s an act of treason in my view.”
Debate swirled over the constitutionality of the NSA program Snowden exposed, but Feinstein’s condemnations of the leaker were echoed by Republicans, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham: “I hope we follow Mr. Snowden to the ends of the earth to bring him to justice.” And in an interview with ABC News, House Speaker John Boehner called Snowden a “traitor,” adding: “The disclosure of this information puts Americans at risk. It shows our adversaries what our capabilities are. And it’s a giant violation of the law.” . . .

Read the whole thing at ViralRead. While I don’t want to make you paranoid, you should wonder why so many people on social media are trying to convince you Edward Snowden is a  hero.

Our enemies have Internet access, too. And all the “progressive” friends of our enemies are really into this Snowden guy, aren’t they?

Think about that. And stop watching Matt Damon movies, you kooks.

 

 

PREVIOUSLY:

 


Category: Crime, Culture, Fear. Loathing.

This Was Probably Inevitable

Posted on | June 11, 2013 | 2 Comments

I denounce myself for laughing at this:

While I’m sure Kaitlyn Hunt‘s admirers will reject this sarcasm as perversely inappropriate, let’s remember that they are the ones defending toilet sex with 14-year-olds as a constitutional right.

 

 


Category: Kaitlyn Hunt

LIVE AT FIVESEVEN: 06.11.13

Posted on | June 11, 2013 | 6 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Obama Administration Reverts To Form On Morning After Pill

Not old enough to drink, but old enough to buy abortion pills OTC?

Not old enough to drink, but old enough to buy abortion pills OTC?

Will comply with judge’s ruling giving 14-year-olds access to pill

Greenwald Says More Stories To Come From Snowden Docs
“There are dozens of stories generated by the documents he provided, and we intend to pursue every last one of them.”


BJP In Disarray After Advani Resignation
Veteran quits all party posts, accuses BJP leaders of pursuing “personal agendas”.



POLITICS
Farm Bill Passes Senate

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee

Senate cuts subsidies, increases crop insurance; bitter fight expected in House

Manning Trial Resumes As New Leak Scandal Unfolds

Military Women Working To Change Culture “From The Inside Out”


Obama Nominates Jason Furman To Head Council Of Economic Advisers

Tea Party Groups Make Progress Against “ObamaCore” Education Standards

Is The Army Criminalizing Conservatism? (Video)



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Slips On Rising Supply, Weak PRC Demand: NYMEX $95.62, Brent $103.68
World Shares Slip As BOJ Disappoints
SoftBank Sweetens Deal For Sprint, Offers $21.6 Billion
UK Industrial Output Rises On Mining As Manufacturing Slips
PNC To Phase Out Free Checking Accounts
Lululemon CEO To Step Down, Stock Slumps
McDonalds May Store Sales Rise
Wheat Drops A Fifth Day On Propsects For Better Ctop Conditions
Apple Reveals iOS7 Revamp, iTunes Radio
Sony Shows Microsoft How To Do A Pre-Owned Games Swap
Project Spark For XBox One Lets You Create The Game
“Elder Scrolls Online” Coming To PS4 In Spring 2014
Could Waze Drive Better Social Tools At Google?
Dell Updates Alienware Gaming Laptops With Haswell Chips But Sticks With Windows 7
LG Smart TVs Get GameNow Cloud Gaming



SPORTS
Patriots Signing Tim Tebow

Tebow and Brady: together again - this time on the same team.

Tebow and Brady: together again – this time on the same team.

Will be reporting to Pats’ mini-camp today. (h/t Jeff Quinton on FB)

Red Sox Outlast Rays In 14 Testy Innings

Maurice Cheeks Signs Three-Year Deal To Coach Pistons

Keuchel Outpitched As Astros Drop 5th Straight

Bryce Harper Can’t Return Soon Enough For Nationals



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis Vacation At St. Tropez With Princess Beatrice

On the beach

On the beach

Double dating with royalty

Chad Johnson Gets 30 Days For Slapping His Lawyer’s Ass In Court

Jane Lynch’s Big Gay Divorce

Did Neil Patrick Harris Drop The N-Word During His Musical Number With Mike Tyson?

Diana Ross “Extremely Concerned” About Paris Jackson

Rachel Uchitel Getting Divorced

Justin Bieber Kicked Out Of LA Hot Spot

Amanda Bynes Offered Hip-Hop Record Deal

Couric’s ABC Future Is Hazy



FOREIGNERS
French Air Traffic Controllers Go On Strike
Turkey Protests: Riot Police Storm Taksim Square
Bombs Kill 14 In Central Damascus
Related: BNP’s Nick Griffin compares Damascus to Belfast during the Troubles
Mandela Spends Fourth Day In The Hospital
Thousands Of Mexicans Ride Naked In Protest
Deputy Defense Minister Says Majority Of Cabinet Against Palestinian State



BLOGS & STUFF
Michelle Malkin: Harris v. Quinn – Families Battle SEIU Over Thuggish Home Invasion Tactics
Twitchy: Jay Carney Blows Needle Off The Laugh Meter With Claim About Obama’s Transparency Record
NRO Corner: Computer Access Not Restricted, Lerner Still Logging Into IRS Systems
LifeNews: IRS Caught On Tape Telling Pro-Life Group “Keep Your Religion To Yourself”
Eliana Johnson: Stop Blaming The “Rogue Agents”
Power Line: Loose Lips Sink Stocks
Hit & Run: Switzerland Furious At Snowden Leaks Indicating CIA Waged Economic Warfare Against Swiss Banks
John Yoo: Prosecute Snowden
American Power: Majority Of Americans Support Snooping To Expose Terrorists, Even At Risk Of Privacy, Poll Says
Gateway Pundit: Marco Rubio Says Legalization Comes First
Avik Roy: Ohio Insurance Department Says Obamacare Will Jack Up Premiums By 88%
Rush Limbaugh: Obama Returns To The War On Women


Category: Live at Five

Edward Snowden’s Dubious Heroism

Posted on | June 10, 2013 | 87 Comments

Lindsay Mills is a dancer, acrobat and blogger:

“My world has opened and closed all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass. . . . But at the moment all I can feel is alone. . . . As I type this on my tear-streaked keyboard I’m reflecting on all the faces that have graced my path.”

Until quite recently, she also hoped and expected to become Mrs. Edward Snowden, but without warning, he decided to abscond abroad and release the secrets he had been paid to keep:

Federal agents this afternoon visited the Pennsylvania home of Edward Snowden’s father and stepmother, just hours after the 29-year-old NSA whistleblower checked out of his plush Hong Kong hotel and went on the run from U.S. and Chinese authorities.
Two men, identifying themselves as FBI agents, dropped in on Lonnie Snowden, 52, and his wife Karen Snowden, 48, at their property in Upper Macungie Township, as the couple were still ‘digesting and processing’ the news about their son.

The explanations offered by Edward Snowden just don’t add up. They are rationalizations or excuses, more than explanations. And while there are people who desperately want Snowden to be the hero of this story, I think it’s not really going to work out that way, because Snowden appears to be a deeply flawed personality.

Michael Moynihan is one of the few people who isn’t joining in the rush to beatify Saint Edward of Whistleblower.

OK, that makes me and you, Mike.

We know why the Left loves Snowden: Because they hate America.

Anyone who damages U.S. prestige and undermines America’s national security, they love. You know . . . like Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, vast swaths of the Right seem to be following this syllogism: The NSA revelations are good, because they’re bad for Obama, and therefore Snowden must be hailed as heroic. But where’s the political payoff in that calculus? I think the celebration of Snowden is unnecessary to blaming Obama for this mess, and I suspect Obama will manage to evade the blame.

My Twitter timeline is crowded with hostile characters ranting about the Fourth Amendment in a tone reminiscent of 9/11 Truthers ranting about how fire can’t melt steel: “Inside job!”

Chill out. You think this guy is going to (a) burn the entire U.S. intelligence community and (b) have no dirt for the entire U.S. intelligence community to dig up and leak out?

Within 48 hours, “sources close to the investigation” will bring out damaging material about Snowden, and meanwhile, reporters will be quoting Snowden’s former colleagues to the effect that, since being diagnosed with epilepsy last year, this guy has been acting weird. He was, let’s say . . . depressed. Emotionally unstable. A kook, really.

Charles Krauthammer, on the other hand, is not a kook:

 

Category: Military

Happily Never After

Posted on | June 10, 2013 | 18 Comments

The one guaranteed result of legalizing gay marriage: Gay divorce, which is not exactly evidence of anything in particular, except as disproving the homo-supremacist message that we’d all be happier if not for the awful oppression of heteronormativity.

In 2010, actress Jane Lynch became the “wife” (or perhaps, husband) of psychologist Lara Embry:

“It’s just the greatest thrill in the world to find somebody that you want to be with every day.”

Well, at least “every day” until you get sick and tired of putting up with their crap, which in this case was about three years:

“Lara and I have decided to end our marriage. This has been a difficult decision for us as we care very deeply about one another. We ask for privacy as we deal with this family matter,” Lynch says in a statement.

“We ask for privacy” = “The ugly details of our relationship, from our disastrously misguided decision to get together, to the acrimonious circumstances of our bitter divorce, are so embarrassingly lurid that, should it all become public, many young women would probably abandon all hope for future happiness as lesbians and instead decide to sell themselves as mail-order brides to Arabs. Therefore, in the interests of The Movement, we ask that our friends please help us by ignoring the vicious accusations that will dribble out as affidavits and discovery documents in forthcoming lawsuits. Also, please join me in hoping my ex-wife dies of cancer, and soon, that bitch.”

What’s the over/under on how many days before the “Jane Lynch sex video” shows up on YouTube?

UPDATE: Speaking of YouTube — how’s that for a smooth transition? — perhaps those unacquainted with contemporary youth culture will find this shocking, whereas people who have been paying attention will find it all too familiar in its vacuous sadness:

Ah, the shallow, selfish competition of the “notch-in-the-bedpost” mentality, now celebrated as a triumph of Equality and Progress!

 

Category: Celebrities, Gays, Marriage

Recusing Myself On Recent Events, Let Me Bring Up A Point About Tiananmen Square

Posted on | June 10, 2013 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Actual courage in the face of evil.

Actual courage in the face of evil.

In the first place, the United States government is not a line of Type 59 tanks. In the second place, recent headline twerps are not Tank Man, staring down the barrel of tyranny.

The question to ask is: what constitutes heroism? It strikes me that, if in a situation where the government is doing something way out of line, e.g. interning citizens of Japanese extraction, one should have the courage both to

  • Raise the issue, and
  • Stand and deliver on the raising

That is, if you are certain enough that whistle blower mode is called for, you underscore your point by triumphantly treading titanium testicle territory, like Tank Man.

When you go all Brave Sir Robin, you seriously undercut your argument, and raise questions about motives.

Keep this in mind, patriots: irrespective of your contempt for the results of any election, try to hold true to the ideals the country was founded upon, and faith in the system to Do The Proper Thing.

That is, look past the IRS, DOJ, Pigford, and the rest of the laundry list of scandals. If there is any good to come of this wretched 100 year anniversary of Woodrow Wilson’s inaugural, it will be

  • a gut check,
  • a rejection of statism, and
  • a return to the individual and not the regime as the main point of emphasis.

Keep your powder dry, and let’s stick it to the incumbents at the election next year, Americans.

Category: China, Constitution, Corruption

Let’s Debate Fourth Amendment Rights, and Also Send Snowden to Leavenworth

Posted on | June 10, 2013 | 67 Comments

Glenn Greenwald’s new man-crush, Edward Snowden

Following the Edward Snowden revelations, I find myself accused of statism, warmongering and worse. It seems some of my libertarian friends — whom I will remind that I voted for Harry Browne in 1996 and for Bob Barr in 2008 — are trying to turn this into a policy debate. And yesterday I had a spirited telephone conversation with my friend Ali Akbar (a guy whose name alone ensures extra scrutiny at airports) about the Fourth Amendment considerations involved. Necessarily, I found myself in the position of arguing that the alleged violations of privacy in the NSA program — about which Glenn Greenwald and others are raising such hell — are purely theoretical, with “privacy” understood as an intellectual abstraction rather than as any practical reality. My attitude is, “No harm, no foul,” and I haven’t seen one scintilla of evidence that any innocent person has been harmed by this program.

Well, let’s all debate that as a matter of policy, but what enrages me about the Edward Snowden case — as with the Bradley Manning case — is that junior personnel cannot be permitted to exercise a heckler’s veto over U.S. national security policy. It doesn’t work that way.

Look, I was at Fort Meade when my son took an oath to obey orders from the President of the United States. Certainly readers by now know that I am no admirer of the current occupant of the White House, nor can I think of any policy of the current president that I support. For that matter, the previous President of the United States had some policies with which I strongly disagreed, including the harebrained notion that we could impose democracy on the people of Mesopotamia at the point of a bayonet. Nevertheless . . .

An Army private doesn’t get to decide which orders he will obey, and he has a sworn duty to maintain operational security necessary to the completion of his appointed mission. For the love of God, people — when my son left Fort Benning on a bus, I was careful not to disclose the time of his departure because who knows if some jihadi wacko might want to attack a busload of Army privates.

OUR ENEMIES WANT TO KILL US ALL!

What part of that is so hard to understand? So while I’m perfectly fine with having a debate about the permissible extent of NSA intelligence-gathering, and might even be persuaded to agree with Senator Paul that they’ve gone too far, I think that a 29-year-contractor illegally disclosing classified documents that he was obligated not to disclose is what it is: A felony, which makes Snowden an international fugitive from justice.

Certainly, I share the amusement of my conservative friends who delight in this NSA scandal as an embarrassment to The Most Transparent Administration in American History — “How’s that Hope and Change workin’ out for ya?” — but this does not mean that we cannot also smile at a future spectacle: Our President using every lawful power of the United States government to pursue, apprehend and prosecute Glenn Greenwald’s newest man-crush.

Damn, I hate it when I have to agree with Dianne Feinstein:

The NSA program is “lawful,” Feinstein told reporters last week, saying that the program only accessed “metadata” about U.S. residents’ telephone and online communications. “There is no content involved,” said Feinstein, who is the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “In other words, no content of a communication. … The information goes into a database, the metadata, but cannot be accessed without what’s called, and I quote, ‘reasonable, articulable suspicion’ that the records are relevant and related to terrorist activity. … [T]errorists will come after us if they can and the only thing we have to deter this is good intelligence, to understand that a plot is being hatched and to get there before they get to us.”

Trust me on this: The political advantage for conservatives here is to highlight first, the hypocrisy of Democrats in defending Obama’s use of policies for which Democrats condemned the Bush administration, and second, the negligence that has resulted in someone like Edward Snowden obtaining security clearance. And if Rand Paul wins the GOP nomination in 2016, maybe he can fix all this mess.

But at least I won’t have to vote the LP ticket again, eh?

 

Category: Military

Rule 5 Monday

Posted on | June 10, 2013 | 11 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Apologies for the aggravating lateness of so many posts this past week; the NSAVerizon has screwed up the internet at my current residence, so I’ve been having to spend time and money getting wifi at the local 24-hour McDonald’s. Or, during the week, the public libary. Anyway, on with the linkagery; as usual, be discreet about opening the links, as no few of them are NSFW.

Speaking of which, Mark Krikorian leads off with Female IDF Members Posing In Lingerie, followed by Valley of the Shadow’s monthly tip-jar rattle featuring Vampira. Animal Magnetism checks in with Rule 5 Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon, and Blackmailers Don’t Shoot has Pretty Girls On A Thursday: Pin-Up Edition. Fishersville Mike notes Tropical Storm Andrea with another Andrea altogether, and Randy’s Roundtable offers Chloe Pridham for your consideration. Ninety Miles From Tyranny offers Morning Mistress and Late Night Ladies, while Laughing Conservative has the exotic Aishwara Rai, And First Street Journal checks in with Glamour Girls.

This week, EBL has the Unspeakable Armenian, Nigella Lawson, Alina Kabayeva, Bocce Ball Bellas, and Shannon Rogers Guess.

A View From The Beach leads off with Amanda Seyfried, followed by a Femen triple-header: In The Dock, Haunting Heidi, and Beards The Lion. Also, Lindsey Vonn Drug Tested, Snatch This Purse! and Confessing or Bragging?

Soylent Green started the week early with Afternooner Ashley and Hey LC, Where’s Machete? before getting back into the regular routine with Monday Motivationer Ela, Evening Awesome Katia, Tuesday Titillation Katelyn, Humpday Hawtness Arianny, Vintage Fursday Fur Laurie, Fursday Evening Awesome, Corsetage, Trailer Trash: Open Windows, Evening Awesome Jessica, AM Awesome Ashley, and Overnighty Lori.

Proof Positive’s Friday Night Babe is Lauren Holly, his vintage babe is Constance Towers, and Sex in Advertising is all about the typos.  Dustbury offers Fahriye Evcen and Angie Harmon, while at The Camp of the Saints, it’s Lindsey Anne Strutt and the Rule 5 News.

The Daley Gator’s Daleybabes this week included Candace Smith, Jessica Jane Clement, Lana Tailor, Ming Na, Fox Sports Girl Asha, Christine Hallauer, Justene Jaro, Shay Mitchell, Stephanie Tejada, Alexia Viruez, Camilla Luddington Tanya Memme, and Ginger Zee ; also, rule 5 linkage, Bikinis vs. Sharia, and a celebration of 3 million hits.

Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Deadline to submit links for next week’s Rule 5 Sunday to the Rule 5 Wombat mailbox is Saturday, June 15.


Category: Rule 5
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