The Other McCain

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

The ‘How Dare You’ Defense on Benghazi

Posted on | May 9, 2013 | 30 Comments

“This has been a difficult week for the State Department and for our country. We’ve seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men. We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful internet video that we had nothing do to with. It’s hard for the American people to make sense of that, because it is senseless, and it is totally unacceptable.”
— Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sept. 14, 2012, while standing over the caskets of the four Americans killed at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya

Jeff Goldstein cites the important testimony that “a State Department official emailed the Libyan government on September 12 that the consulate attack was in fact a terrorist operation — specifically identifying Ansar al-Sharia in the email.” But why bother with facts? What difference, at this point, does it make?

Quite obviously, it makes a very important difference to Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) in their tireless efforts to convince Americans that Obama’s foreign policy is working, and especially to persuade us that the fine public servants at the top levels of the State Department did nothing wrong in the Benghazi affair.

When you point out the obvious facts — that the “Arab Spring” was a bad idea, that everybody in the administration lied through their teeth about Benghazi, and that the major media are enthusiastic volunteers in a partisan P.R. effort to assist in the cover-up — liberals go into fake indignation mode: How dare you?

If you’ve watched Democrats do this for years, you know how the tactic works: They’re trying to do the Jedi mind trick — “This is not the scandal you were looking for. Move along.” — and if you refuse to cooperate, they act as if your non-cooperation is proof of your bad motives. They have decided that none of the evidence or testimony means what you think it means, and that your interpretation of facts is therefore illegitimate, so you must be shunned as a bad person.

Our Moral Superiors™ get away with this trick often enough that they’re genuinely shocked when they don’t get away with it.

There are multiple layers to the Benghazi scandal, from the policy failures that left the consulate vulnerable to the mysterious “stand-down” order to the Special Ops rescue team — and with my son training as an 18X recruit, I can easily imagine how “furious” the troops were about that — and on to the “Internet video rage” talking points. As has been said, the administration failed before, during and after the Benghazi attack, and are now attempting to avoid accountability.

Damn, I need me some Chick-Fil-A.

 


Category: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Libya, Media Bias, Terrorism

LIVE AT FIVE: 05.09.13

Posted on | May 9, 2013 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Diplomat Says Questions About Benghazi Led To Demotion

Gregory Ricks testifies on the administration's response to the Benghazi attack

Gregory Hicks testifies on the administration’s response to the Benghazi attack

Five hours of testimony to Congress as State Department, White House desperately spin

US, Russia Seek New Syria Peace Talks
Rebels skeptical

Government Data Shows Hospital Billing Varies Wildly
Hospitals shown to have wide variations in charges for same procedures



POLITICS
Suffolk U Poll Shows Markey Leads Gomez By 17

Ed Markey and Gabriel Gomez

Ed Markey and Gabriel Gomez

Sample of 500 people very different from previous polls indicating tighter race
Related: Has Markey’s Stumble Put Mass. Senate Seat In Play?

Judge Declares High School Cheerleaders’ Bible Banners Okay

Air Force Sidelines 17 Missile Officers

NY City Council Approves Paid Sick Time Ordinance; Bloomberg Vows Veto

Obama Administration Weighs Options For Expanding Wiretap Laws

GOP Wins Delay In Battle To Block Labor Nominee Perez

CFPB Lays Out Options For Easing Repayment Of Private Student Loans



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Oil Falls On Higher U.S. Inventories: NYMEX $95.56, Brent $104.17
Dow, S&P Extend Record High Streak
PRC April Inflation Edges Up To 2.4% Amid Concern About Strength Of Recovery
Bank Of Korea Cuts Key Interest Rate To 2.5%
Coke Broadens Distribution Of Its Low-Calorie Drinks
News Corp. Beats Profit Estimates On Higher Licensing Sales
Microsoft Names Amy Hood As New CFO
World Of Warcraft Loses 1.3 Million Subscribers In Q1
Here’s Why The Facebook Phone Flopped
Slacker Redesign Helped Drive 100K New Subscribers
Google, Authors In Court Again Over Digital Books
San Francisco Drops Fight For Cell Phone Radiation Labeling Law



SPORTS
Heat Crush Bulls In Game 2, 115-78

Joakim Noah: he mad

Joakim Noah: he mad

Bulls lose their cool and the game with nine technical fouls, two ejections and a flagrant foul

Rangers Win Game 4, Tie Series Against Capitals

Joe Gibbs Racing Team Wins Penalty Reduction

Bruins Top Leafs On Krejci Hat Trick, Take 3-1 Lead

No Joy In Wrigleyville As Cubs And Neighbors Clash

A’s Lose To Tribe On Controversial Call By Umps

Jaguars Have 99 Problems But GM Says Tebow Ain’t One

Utah Teen Charged With Homicide After Soccer Referee Dies From Punch

Nationals Reverse Rainout Ticket Policy After Strong Negative Reaction By Fans

Harper Drives In Two As Nats Beat Tigers 3-1



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Blake Lively Sets Pulses Racing

What -if anything- is under the coat?

What -if anything- is under the coat?

Racy pix from NY photo shoot

“Young And The Restless” Star Jeanne Cooper Dead At 84

Margaret Cho Outs John Travolta In Australia

“Gossip Girl” Actress Kaylee DeFer Pregnant With First Child

Jinkx Monsoon Has An Opinion On Gwyneth Paltrow

Chris Kelly’s Wake: Forward Pants, Tears, Instrumental “Jump”

Gwen Stefani And Katy Perry Party Together In NYC


Winona Ryder: I Was Told I Wasn’t Pretty Enough To Be In Movies

Marvel Cliffhanger: Robert Downey Jr.’s $50 Million Sequel Showdown

David Bowie Releases “The Next Day” Video

Liam Hemsworth’s Brothers Staged An Intevention To End Miley Cyrus Engagement



FOREIGNERS
Syrian Internet Back After 19-Hour Outage
Bangladesh Factory Fire Kills Eight; Collapse Toll Reaches 892
Stephen Hawking Joins Academic Boycott Of Israel
Brazilian Robert Azevedo Will Become First Latin American Head Of WTO
Russian Deputy PM Surkov Resigns After Putin Reprimand
Is PRC Finally Reining In The Norks?
Kurdish PKK Fighters Begin Withdrawal From Turkey
U.S. Congress Moves To Close Iran Sanctions Loophole
Cuba’s Ladies In White Leader Meets Pope Francis
Italian Appeals Court Upholds Berlusconi Tax Fraud Verdict
Karnataka Election Results: Congress Gains 2%, BJP Loses 14%



BLOGS & STUFF
Three Beers Later: National Offend A Feminist Week Wednesday – Women In Church
Michelle Malkin: Operation Smear Benghazi Whistleblowers
Power Line: The Benghazi Hearing – Did It Matter?
NRO Corner: “The YouTube Video Was A Non-Event In Libya”
Bryan Preston: Seven Things We Learned From The Benghazi Whistleblower Hearing
Weasel Zippers: Benghazi Whistleblower Says He Was Told Not To Talk To Congressman Investigating Attack
NewsBusters: Time’s Joe Klein Still Bitterly Clinging To Discredited Obama Script On Benghazi
Lonely Conservative: Hillary’s 2AM Phone Call And Other Highlights Of The Benghazi Hearing
Gateway Pundit: Cheney Blasts Obama Administration On Benghazi
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: Grad Students Are Even More Hosed Than I Thought
Legal Insurrection: BDS Lied About Stephen Hawking Joining Anti-Israel Academic Boycott (Updates)
The Commentator: An Open Letter To Stephen Hawking
Israel Matzav: #tomorrow13 An Open Letter To A BDSer
Jammie Wearing Fools: Media Sad Face – “Sanford Victory Could Spell Trouble For House GOP Leadership”
Ed Driscoll: Two Washington Posts In One
Hollywood Reporter: Conservatives Plan Anti-MSNBC Protest At Comcast Shareholders’ Meeting
Via Meadia: Nigeria Is Melting
Viking Pundit: Fauxcahontas Knows The Solution To Student Loan Debt – More Cowbell!


Your links. Send them to me.



Special for National Offend A Feminist Week!

Category: Live at Five

Unsurprising Media Consensus: ‘Shut Up About Benghazi, You Stupid Republicans’

Posted on | May 8, 2013 | 30 Comments

Even before the six hours of congressional hearings began, CNN telegraphed its disinterest in the Benghazi “whistleblower” testimony by cutting away to Cleveland, Ohio, for what Wolf Blitzer falsely promised would be the first public statement by kidnapping victim Amanda Berry. What actually happened in Cleveland was a ginormous media scrum for a statement by the victim’s sister Beth Serrano (who has been interviewed by every news organization on the planet already) asking that reporters “please respect our privacy.”

That particular goose-chase blunder — pre-empting the start of the House Oversight Committee hearing to hype coverage of what proved to be a non-story —  was a clumsy signal: Nobody important at CNN thinks the Obama administration did anything wrong in the Benghazi affair, and therefore the congressional investigation is a trivial exercise of no genuine public interest.

The fix was in, and the Piers Morgan Network might as well change its slogan to, “CNN: What Difference, At This Point, Does It Make?” 

No matter what the witnesses said, under no circumstance were the major news organizations that have spent the past five years as de facto members of the Obama campaign committee going to treat this hearing as actual news. In fact, the only TV reporter not employed by Fox News who has treated the Benghazi cover-up as a legitimate story — Sharyl Attkisson of CBS — is being treated like an unprofessional pariah by her own network, while Chuck Todd of NBC News quite literally laughs off criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi attacks.

Really, they out-did themselves on this one. Check out the “Don’t Bother to Read This Dull Story” headline from the New York Times:

Official Offers Account From Libya of Benghazi Attack

Here’s another way you might headline the story, if you actually wanted to get readers to, y’know, read the story:

VIDEO: Benghazi Whistleblower Gregory Hicks Describes
‘Saddest Phone Call’ That Ambassador Stevens Died

Unless you saw that testimony — which was just one highlight of a six-hour hearing that the major networks did their best to ignore or dismiss as mere politics —  you would have no reason to suspect how riveting it was, if all you saw was that bland New York Times headline.

Ace describes the methodology of suppression:

[T]he media can never be embarrassed by its liberal bias and deliberate suppression of the news for political purposes if no one in the media ever breaches the wall of silence and clues the public in to what it’s hiding.

This is journalism as a partisan team sport, and the guys who call the shots at NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN don’t care how dishonest their bias is, they only care about winning — i.e., electing Democrats, and helping Democrats enact their policy agenda — so that as long as a Democrat is in the White House and opposition to the Democrat agenda can be effectively marginalized, the truth doesn’t matter.

You can read the Benghazi hearing liveblog we did at ViralRead, but what difference, at this point, does it make?

 

 


Category: Libya, Media Bias

Domestic Terrorists Teaching At Colleges?

Posted on | May 8, 2013 | 31 Comments

Guest Blog by Ryan James Girdusky

Controversy ensued when the news broke that Kathy Boudin, former member of the Weather Underground who was convicted in 1984 of felony murder, received the position of adjunct professor at Columbia University.  While it may be ironic that Boudin received a teaching position at a university she was plotted to bomb, she is not the only former domestic terrorist to receive such a position.

At least a dozen former members of domestic terrorist organizations are now college professors. Members of the Weather Underground make up half of this list; some are well known, like Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn, Ayers is now retired from the University of Illinois, while Dohrn is still teaching at Northwestern Law. Read more

Category: Education, Politics, Progressivism, Terrorism

Remember Nakoula?

Posted on | May 8, 2013 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Category: Hillary Clinton

Monsters Could Face Death Penalty in Cleveland ‘House of Horror’ Kidnappings

Posted on | May 8, 2013 | 21 Comments

Legal expert Ace of Spades* has consulted his esteemed colleague Allahpundit, as well as a guy on Twitter and it looks like, if Ariel Castro and/or his brothers did what they are reported to have done — inducing abortions in their pregnant victims through beatings — they could be eligible for the death penalty. Alternatively, cops could just announce that they’re turning these guys loose on bail at noon tomorrow, and let the citizens take care of the problem, IYKWIMAITYD.

“Well, I’m all broken up about that man’s rights.”

Cleveland kidnap suspects Ariel Castro, 52, Onil Castro, 50, and Pedro Castro, 54

Leaving aside fantasy scenarios of rough justice against these perps — the jailhouse guards could look the other way, let ’em get shivved by their cellmates, and save Ohio taxpayers the expense of a trial — there is the question of, who are these guys? The Cleveland Plain Dealer has an extensive account of the Castro brothers’ background: Their father was a modestly successful used-car dealer, who left an estate valued at more than $250,000 when he died in 2004, but divided up between his nine kids, that was barely $25,000 each.

The Castro family is mainly respectable, even if these three aren’t: Onil and Pedro are both alcoholics, and Ariel was brutally violent toward his ex-wife. Pedro drank himself out of a job and was collecting S.S.I. payments (“disability,” nudge, nudge) while Onil had been collecting workman’s comp for the past five years. Ariel was the only one of them working, that is until he got fired from his $19-an-hour school bus driver job in November. You can go read the whole thing at the Plain Dealer, but long story short is, these guys were sliding down a slope of downward mobility, coming from a family of enterpreneurs, but descending into a low-rent drunken deadbeat lifestyle. And then there was also this interesting bit of Castro family news:

The daughter of the prime suspect in the kidnapping case of three Cleveland women was jailed for 25 years in 2008 for the attempted murder of her 11-month-old baby, it was revealed today.
Emily Castro, 24, tried to slash her daughter Janyla’s throat in April 2007 after she broke up with the child’s father.
Court documents state that police were called to Emily’s home in Fort Wayne, Indiana — where she moved after she became pregnant — when a passerby saw a woman running out to the street with a bleeding baby in her arms.
The woman was Emily’s mother, Grimilda Figeroa, who told police that her daughter stabbed her own child.

So, yeah, a typical Christian conservative Tea Party family.

https://twitter.com/rsmccain/status/331886844906201088

* Ace actually does have a law degree — J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of the Forest Moon of Endor.

 

 

PREVIOUSLY:

 


Category: Crime

Occupation: Consultant

Posted on | May 8, 2013 | 11 Comments

Ace of Spades nails it down cold in two sentences:

“Most people have no idea what the hell they’re talking about, and that’s especially true in Hollywood. This guy has no idea what he’s talking about either, but neither did the people who paid for his services.”

There is a certain type of person who just has a knack for seeming to know what he’s talking about and who can convince people to pay him to tell them how to do whatever the hell it is they’re supposed to be doing. My problem — at least, insofar as explaining why I’m not pulling down the big bucks as a “communications consultant” or whatever — is that I know how to do what I do, but because I figured out how to do it via on-the-job training, it’s very difficult for me to teach what I know to anyone who isn’t committed to putting in the time:

“Go talk yourself into a job as a sports editor at a newspaper. Then spend five years busting your ass to meet deadline after deadline so they don’t fire you. And once you’ve put in those five years, you’ll be about where I was in 1991. Then . . .”

There’s no overnight shortcut or magic formula, and I’d feel silly trying to bullshit anybody into believing that there is one. Which is neither here nor there to the question: Does Vinny Bruzzese deserve $20,000 a pop for his “script evaluation” services?

Anything is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it.

Having a script vetted by an “expert” gives the people involved in the project a sort of credential that they can then display to investors — “Hey, Vinny rates this script highly” — so they’ll green-light the film. That way, if the movie loses money, the producers can at least say they did their due diligence in getting a “certified” good script.

And then they can blame the director for the flop.

 

Category: Hollywood

LIVE AT FIVE: 05.08.13

Posted on | May 8, 2013 | 6 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
HE’S BACK – BY POPULAR DEMAND

Congressman-elect Mark Sanford

Congressman-elect Mark Sanford

Former governor easily beats comedian’s sister with 54% of vote

Colorado Shooter To Pursue Insanity Defense
They put down mad dogs, don’t they?

Two-Thirds Of Senators Voting On Immigration Bill Have Never Seen Mexican Border
Marco Rubio: “It doesn’t help when you have [Napolitano] testifying that the border is already secure, and yet you have senators returning from weekend visits to the border as recently as this weekend and telling us that they personally witnessed people crossing, including people from as far away as Afghanistan.”



POLITICS
Bolton: Benghazi Could Bring Down Obama Administration

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton

Says witnesses’ testimony to Congress likely to prove devastating, especially for former SecState Clinton
Related: Lindsey Graham says “Dam is about to break” on Benghazi

Louisiana Supreme Court Strikes Down Voucher Funding


Texas Looking To Expand Radioactive Trash Program

Appeals Court Strikes Down NLRB Ruling On Union Posters

Pentagon Survey Says Military Sexual Assaults On The Rise

Bill Richardson Claims Ted Cruz “Not A Hispanic”

Chris Christie Stomach Surgery Feeds 2016 Presidential Speculation

Vegan Students At California High School Accused Of Cyberbullying Agriculture Students



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Drops As Traders Eye Rising Supplies: NYMEX $95.62, Brent $104.40
PRC Reports Stronger April Trade Growth
Whole Foods Shares Surge As Growth Continues
US Consumer Borrowing Climbs Less Than Forecast
JC Penney 1Q Revenue Down Again
Theme Parks, Movies, ESPN Ad Sales Drive Disney Profit Growth
Symantec Forecasts Weak Results As Yen Depreciates
Southwest Airlines Begins Service To Richmond, Memphis And Pensacola In November
SpaceX Inks Lease With New Mexico’s Spaceport America
Google Glass Gets Smeared: 11 Improvement Ideas
Syria Disappears From The Internet
Gmail iOS App Now Opens Links In Chrome, YouTube, Google Maps
Seagate Enters SSD market
Google+ Hangouts On Air Now Process Videos During Recording, Allowing For Live Rewind & Immediate Publishing
Microsoft To Boost Office Web Apps Features
Cray Builds A Budget-minded Supercomputer
Pixelmator 2.2: A Legitimate Photoshop Replacement That Costs $15
Bethesda Announces Reimagined “Wolfenstein” Action-Adventure Game



SPORTS
Do The Blackhawks Have The Wild Tamed?

The Blackhawks' Patrick Sharp (middle) celebrates his first-period goal

The Blackhawks’ Patrick Sharp (middle) celebrates his first-period goal

Chicago takes 3-1 lead in series with 3-0 shutout

J.A. Happ Takes Line Drive Off Skull, Blue Jays Beat Rays Anyway

Penske Suspensions Reduced By Four Races On Appeal

Phil Jackson Nixes Nyets’ Coaching Job

Streit Scores Two For Islanders Against Pens, Ties Series At Two Apiece

CBS, TBS To Split March Madness Coverage In 2014

Turris’ OT Goal Lifts Senators Past Habs

Phoenix Suns’ Beasley Under Investigation For Alleged Rape

Sharks Score Power Play Goal In OT To Beat Canucks

Reds Rip Kimbrel For Pair Of Two-Out Homers To Stun Braves In Ninth

Twins Capitalize On Walk, Three Errors, And Three Hits To Put Down BoSox 6-1

Astros Remind Angels That Speed Kills With 7-6 Win

Tigers at Nationals postponed due to rain. 🙁



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Rachael Leigh Cook Pregnant With First Child

Rachael with hubby Daniel Gillies

Rachael with hubby Daniel Gillies

Child due in the fall

Carrie Underwood To Sing NBC’s  “Sunday Night Football” Theme, Replacing Faith Hill

Charlie Sheen And Denise Richards In Family Court Over Custody Of Brooke Mueller’s Twins

Tiger Woods Gets Drunk And Embarrasses Lindsey Vonn At Met Gala Afterparty

Lindsay Lohan’s Adderall On The Chopping Block At Betty Ford

Andrew Garfield To Star In Scorsese’s “Silence”

“Girls Gone Wild” Creator Convicted Of False Imprisonment, Assault

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Crowns A Winner – In Style!

Charles Ramsey: Unlikely Hero, Internet Sensation

Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman Rock Out At Justin Timberlake Concert



FOREIGNERS
Bank Of China Cuts Off Nork Bank Accused Of Weapons Dealing
Philippine Volcano Mount Mayon Erupts, Kills Five
Queen To Miss Commonwealth Summit For First Time Since 1971
Body Count Soars As Nigerian Army Hunts Down Boko Haram Jihadis
India Agrees To Demolish Border Bunkers To Thaw Himalaya Standoff With PRC
Dalai Lama Decries Buddhist Attacks On Burma Muslims
Former Chancellor Lord Lawson Calls For UK To Leave EU
Pentagon Plans For The Worst In Syria



BLOGS & STUFF
Three Beers Later: National Offend A Feminist Week Tuesday – Happy Women With Babies!
Breitbart: Dr. Emanuel Says We Must Brainwash Youths To Join Obamacare Exchanges
Lonely Conservative: Hey Kids, Obama Wants You To Fund Obamacare
Power Line: Sanford Wins In South Carolina
Jammie Wearing Fool: Donna Brazile (Former Bill Clinton Adviser) She Say, “Sanford Wins, Women Lose”
PJ Tatler: Five Benghazi Mysteries That Must Be Solved
The Blaze: Megyn Kelly Re-Signs With Fox News
Rush Limbaugh: The Idea That Amnesty Will Produce New Taxpayers And Wipe Out Its Costs Is Pathetically Wrong
Allahpundit: Two Studies Show Gun Crime Has Dropped Dramatically Over Last Twenty Years, And Most Americans Have No Idea
Bing West: Benghazi – Do As I Say, Or As I Do?
Washington Free Beacon: Boehner Opposes Online Sales Tax
Jim Treacher: Terry McAuliffe’s Wife Has A Great Life Because All Her Credit Cards Are Paid, Says Terry McAuliffe
Protein Wisdom: RIP Ray Harryhausen


Pimp your blog. Send me links.


Category: Live at Five
« go back — keep looking »

    About

    This is an area on your website where you can add text. This will serve as an informative location on your website, where you can talk about your site.

    Subscribe to our feed

    Search

    Admin