The Other McCain

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

Chip Gerdes, Remembered

Posted on | May 6, 2013 | 12 Comments

Chip Gerdes (left) with Dana Loesch and Andrew Breitbart

The first rule of Chip Gerdes was, nobody talked about Chip Gerdes. In a world of political fame-junkies, nobody was so deliberately anonymous as the man whose Twitter handle was @TookieW.

That handle was, of course, an inside joke about Tookie Williams, one of the Left’s cop-killer heroes, and Chip Gerdes was in a sense a sort of inside joke: A shadowy behind-the-scenes operative who was well-known to all the people who really knew what was going on, but who made a point of being completely unknown to the larger world.

Today Chip is being fondly remembered by his friends who would never have dared to write his name in public while he was alive, lest they accidentally let slip the closely-guarded secret of his existence.

Chip was a “black ops” guy, a disciple of the legendary Republican operative Roger Stone. He was adept at research and organizing, but his specialty was the kind of no-fingerprints political trickery that some people have termed “ratfucking.” Knowing how Chip worked, you never trusted that any “coincidence” in politics was actually coincidental, because you realized that whatever mischief Chip did on the GOP side, there were professional ratfuckers doing the same kind of thing (and probably worse) on the Democrat side.

When the WeinerGate scandal broke, one of the first phone calls I made was to Chip Gerdes: “Did you do this?”

“No, swear to God, man — this is legit,” Chip said. “I mean, yeah, we all knew Anthony had this problem weeks ago, but it’s the real deal. Dude hit the wrong button trying to DM a meat-Tweet to this girl. I’d love to tell you it was us, but it wasn’t.”

The first time I remember meeting Chip was in California when I went to see Alabama play in the BCS title game in January 2010. Chip was hanging out with Breitbart’s colleague Mike Flynn and I actually crashed that night in their motel room near the beach. About a week later, I went to Massachusetts to cover the Scott Brown campaign and, while I was there, actually reported on something that (unknown to me) was one of Chip’s black-ops stunts.

That’s how good Chip was — he fooled me. Now that he’s gone, I suppose it might even be possible to believe in coincidences again.

You had to know the guy to really appreciate him. Jim Hoft pays tribute to a loyal friend, and Dana Loesch attempts to convey a sense of who Chip was and what Chip did:

Most people couldn’t fathom all that he contributed to our movement. They simply don’t know. They don’t know how many victories he helped win for conservatives. They don’t know how he pitched in with fundraising behind the scenes. How he worked to turn blue districts red. How he encouraged and supported the next generation of conservatives. He always answered his phone. He always had a plan. He always had advice, most often given in his fast pitch with a cigarette perched on his lip. . . . He was the biggest Bama fan I knew. He was a family man. He was a diabolical genius.

“The biggest Bama fan I knew”? My feelings are slightly hurt, but I’m not in a mood to argue. Not today. #RollTide. #RMFT.

Chip Gerdes, R.I.P.

 

Category: Blogging

Like Many Other Liberal Activists, @Political_Bill Doesn’t Like Police

Posted on | May 5, 2013 | 28 Comments

Of course, if you had gotten busted for possession of drugs and child pornography, maybe you’d hate cops, too:

William “Bill” Talley aka @Political_Bill on Twitter … is a convicted sex offender who has managed to delay going to prison through evidentiary appeals. During that time, he has emerged as a progressive voice on Twitterand even briefly enjoyed board status in a prominent netroots startup. …
Talley was arrested for possession of drugs and hundreds of sexual images of children in August 2005. …
Questioned directly, Talley has denied the charges are true, even though he actually pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. …

So, @Political_Bill denies being a pedophile dopehead, kind of the way Brett Kimberlin denies being a terrorist bomber — and really, why would anyone mention that little girl whose grandmother got shot to death? — in an effort to evade responsibility and reputation damage.

Also, like Kimberlin’s associate Neal Rauhauser, William “Bill” Talley reportedly has used multiple online identities:

@Political_Bill
@Strategic_Bill
@Healthcare_Bill
@Sleeping_Bill
@Politaire
@7serf7

And, like Neal Rauhauser’s personal hero, Anthony Weiner, William “Bill” Talley “has been communicating with teenagers on Twitter.”

Oh, and about @7serf7  — “the account does engage in pedophilia advocacy,” according to Matt Osborne, the liberal blogger who exposed Talley in an internecine feud among progressives:

When communities of interest form in cyberspace, it is all too easy for characters like Talley to obtain entry and rank without proper vetting simply by speaking to the interest of those communities. . . . .
William Talley didn’t think his upcoming guilty plea was “relevant” when he was approached about a place on the new Advisory Board of Unite Blue . . .
William Talley’s guilty plea on February 8th, when all his evidentiary appeals had finally been exhausted, was relevant enough to Unite Blue founder Zach Green that he removed Talley from the board the instant he found out about it in March. . . .
William Talley has outed himself as @7serf7, an account that is still wearing a Unite Blue twibbon (see slideshow below). @7serf7 has doxed and harassed Twitter users who exposed Talley or criticized Unite Blue over him. Despite being removed from the board, Talley apparently remains an active and even respected force in that community. He is also calling on his followers to aggressively spamblock the accounts of critics in hopes of getting them suspended by Twitter, which is ironic given how Unite Blue rose to prominence by deploring such tactics.

Using trolls and sockpuppet accounts to dox and harass people who expose your criminal activity? Gee, that seems so … familiar.

Big hat-tip to Dan Riehl, who has a copy of William “Bill” Talley’s appeal to the Tennessee State Supreme Court.

UPDATE: Some things are predictable. Attempts to suppress the truth will, in the Internet age, generally result in wider exposure of the truth — a principle known as “The Streisand Effect.”

What Talley was doing — publicly soliciting people to report his critics for “spam” in an effort to get their accounts suspended — is a Twitter terms of service violation and (predictably) resulted in Talley himself getting suspended from Twitter:

Equally predictable is that some liberals would rally to Talley’s defense on the basis of political solidarity, arguing that Talley must be an innocent victim simply because he was a popular liberal. One progressive, a former friend of Talley’s, was utterly dismayed by this:

I just can’t let certain things go.
The saddest, and most frightening, is related to a man many of us know and held in high regard for his particular brand of political acumen recently pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.
There is a considerable amount of information regarding this matter available via highly LEGITIMATE PUBLIC SOURCES – including his own lawyers’ website. The refusal by some to accept that these documents are legitimate, instead believing them to be fabricated as part of some elaborate doxing scheme is troubling.
Why would his own lawyers, The Tennessee Supreme Court, and the jurisdiction within which he is being prosecuted tolerate this? And the answer is they haven’t.
People capable of critical thinking(us), who are then so inclined to read these documents and form an opinion as to what it all means, including the fact that a guilty plea is legally considered a conviction, are then too often called, stupid, idiots, morons, and worse — part of a lynch mob. This is unacceptable.

It is unacceptable, and Talley’s unsuccessful attempt to get the evidence against him thrown out on an illegal-search claim, which delayed his conviction for nearly eight years, is a matter of public record. If you will take time to read Talley’s appeal, you will discover that he not only had child pornography on his home computer, but also on his office computer. That is to say, this wasn’t some random coincidence or the result of casual curiosity, and it wasn’t just a few illegal images, it was hundreds of illegal images.

Go read the newspaper account of  Talley’s arrest; He was in possession of more than 3,000 Xanax and other pills, cocaine, marijuana, as well as scales and baggies that constitute evidence he was dealing the stuff, which is what the anonymous tipster had told police.

William “Bill” Talley was a criminal menace.

Predictably, however, some people were fooled by Talley’s protestations of innocence (despite his guilty plea) and let arguments for political solidarity convince them that the “bad guys” were the people who exposed the truth about Talley’s criminality.

If Talley had been willing to quietly exit the digital stage, rather than rallying his allies in an attempt to suppress the facts, it’s possible this case never would have come to wide notice. Instead, the “Streisand Effect” guarantees it will receive more publicity.

Liberals should advise Bill to exercise his right to remain silent.

 

Category: Crime, Progressivism

Rule 5 Sunday: Cinco de Mayo Massive Catching-Up Edition

Posted on | May 5, 2013 | 13 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Well, it wasn’t supposed to go down that way, but unfortunately my vile & treacherous body had other plans – so I wound up spending an extra week in Minnesota recovering from an infected leg instead of working on the FMJRA and the ever-popular Rule 5 Sunday. Well, we have three weeks’ worth of links to wrangle here, so I’d best get cracking…oh, and do remember not to open the links where doing so would get you in trouble, since many of them are NSFW.

Animal Magnetism opens with Rule Five Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon for the week of April 21st, followed by Rule Five Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon for the week of April 28, and finally this weekend’s Rule Five Friday and Saturday Gingermageddon. Ninety Miles From Tyranny also hit the trifecta with Hot Pick of the Late Night I, II (Megan Fox), and III; Late Night Ladies, and Morning Mistress I and II.  First Street Journal has the Kitchen Remodeling Edition of Rule 5, Laughing Conservative offers Petra Cubanova,

EBL checked in with Diana Krall, Debbie Harry en francais, a girl and her dragons, and the New Feminism. Also, #nerdprom Rule 5 and Rose Leslie.

Randy’s Roundtable offered Caroline Corinth, Reaganite Republican had some Cool Chicks, and Fishersville Mike drew our attention to Kellie Pickler from Dancing With The Stars. First Street Journal showed us some Women in Art, while Destination Dali debuts with San Yue Jie Showgirls. Mark Krikorian directs our attention to Patricia de Leon showing some skin in a bad cause.

Soylent Green closed out April with Monday Motivationer Victoria, Tuesday Titillation Iga, Humpday Hawtness Costanza, Falconsword Fursday, Late Night Snack Bree,  Corsetcare Caress, Only Her Hairdresser Knows For Sure, A Final Fond Farewell To Winter, Now THAT’S A Night Light, AM Awesome, Great Moments In Advertising: Levi’s, and Overnighty Brande. Also, Ride Boley Ride, Rhian, Afternoon Awesome, Falconsword Fursday Flashback, Corset Awesome, and Did Someone Say Hoola-Hoop Awesome?

A View From The Beach had Anja Rubik, Gingers Become A Protected Minority, Jump Rope Girl, Time To Break Out The Fly Rod, Thin Drunk And Stupid, Happy Earth Day!, Doing It Wrong, Viking Fitness Routine, Dana Delaney, Stone Tools (has cavegirl content), and Hot Chick Recounts North Korea Escape.

Proof Positive had Gwyneth Paltrow and Anne Heywood along with “Baby, you can wash my car!”. Dustbury had Vigdis Finnbogadottir, Sheena Easton, and Madhu Shalini.

The DaleyGator’s DaleyBabes included Karla Laureen, Jessica Green, Michelle Monaghan, Topaz West, Carla Ossa, Sunny Reichert, Carla Campbell, Taryn Terrel,  and Brooke Burke.

Laughing Conservative leads off the May parade of pulchritude with Tera Patrick, followed by Valley of the Shadow who rattles the tip jar with the assistance of Pauley Perrette. Randy’s Roundtable marks its third blogoversary with Elyse Taylor, First Street Journal has more ladies of the IDF, and Destination Dali offers Yunnan Hippie Girls.

EBL flogs Bali to the masses, posts Separated At Birth (Fabulous Edition), offers proof that the American Dream survives, and hot Chechen women.

A View From The Beach’s May offerings include Women of Defiance, The Naked Commuter, The Cat Daddy Winner, Global Warming Makes Good Women Go Bad, and The Pool Prank.

Soylent Green begins the month with Monday Motivationer Bella, Tuesday Titillation Olga, Overnighty Cara, Humpday Hawt Brooke, Falconsword Fursday, Corsetation Nation, and Afternooner Julie.

Proof Positive offers Ireland Baldwin, Kim Basinger, and Sex in Advertising; Dustbury has Lola Astanova and Hannah Simone;  The Camp of the Saints returns after a long absence with Taylor Vixen, Robyn Alexander, Amanda Ammann, and three episodes of the Rule 5 News.

Thanks to everyone for their links. Deadline for next week’s Rule 5 Sunday will be Saturday, May 11.

 

Category: Rule 5

Muslim Student Association Doesn’t Get Credit for Soccer League Sponsorship

Posted on | May 5, 2013 | 7 Comments

Kind of an interesting omission, don’t you think?

Coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing has ignored admitted bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s connection to his college’s Muslim Student Association, a group that has close relations with both the Muslim Brotherhood and a local imam friendly with an al-Qaida operative.
Although a student leader and the mainstream media have downplayed Tsarnaev’s ties to the the group, Tsarnaev associated frequently with the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
The Washington Post on April 27 reported that Tsarnaev, who has admitted his role in the Marathon terrorist bombing to police, played intramural soccer with MSA members, contradicting earlier reports that the U. Mass-Dartmouth student spurned an invitation to join the controversial Muslim Brotherhood-linked student organization.
“For a time, Jahar played on an intramural soccer team composed of students involved with the campus Muslim Student Association,” explained the Post’s Marc Fisher, a fact that has since been missing from coverage.
In fact, Tsarnaev played soccer with the Muslim Student Association nearly every week, according to MSA Secretary Bassel Nasri in an interview with George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer on April 19, 2013. Nasri simply neglected to say they were MSA games. Although Stephanopoulos described Nasri as “a soccer buddy” of Tsarnaev, neither he nor Sawyer mentioned that they were co-religionists and that the soccer games were organized by the Muslim Student Association.
Nasri was later interviewed by CNN and again didn’t mention that he had known Tsarnaev through the Muslim Student Association’s weekly soccer games.

So Dzhokhar was (a) involved with the Muslim Student Association, and (b) participated in a terrorist attack, but when (c) an officer of the MSA is interviewed on national TV, then (d) reporters call the MSA officer “a soccer buddy,” because (e) obviously soccer was more important than Islam to the terrorist bomber.

Certainly, there must lots of Lutheran and Methodist soccer leagues out there, fomenting dangerous religious extremism . . .

(Hat-tip: Leslie Eastman, College Insurrection.)

 


Category: Islam, Media Bias, Terrorism

You Disagree With @Instapundit At Your Peril, But I’m Going With Nicolaitanism Over Oikophobia

Posted on | May 5, 2013 | 17 Comments

by Smitty

Pondering why we can’t talk about guns, Insty quotes Barry Snell

. . .we can’t have a rational gun debate is because the anti-gun side pre-supposes that their pro-gun opponents must first accept that guns are bad in order to have a discussion about guns in the first place. . .

and concludes:

As with most lefty causes, the key driver is a craving for moral superiority, usually driven by oikophobia.

Now, I’ve only been pondering modern political evil for a few years, but I’ll opt for Nicolaitanism as an explanation:

Nico-, combinatory form of n?k?, “victory” in Greek, and laos means people, or more specifically, the laity; hence, the word may be taken to mean “lay conquerors” or “conquerors of the lay people”. However, “Nicolaitan” is the name ostensibly given to followers of the heretic Nicolas —the name itself meaning “victorious over people,” or “victory of the people,” which he would have been given at birth.

An informal definition of Nicolaitanism could be: “Bossy little power-monger”. That is, somebody who’s life’s quest is to acquire and exert as much authority over others as possible. Impediments to amassing power, such as freedom of speech and the right self-defense, must be obliterated.

The exact meaning of Nicolaitanism in the Revelation isn’t known. But it’s always been a mind-blower that Christianity, which was born in an atmosphere of heavy Roman/Pharisaic oppression, replicates that oppressiveness in so many instances.

So it’s not clear to what degree our modern, elite, liberal, lefty, Socialist, Postmodern, Politically Correct, Godless, Commie, blue state, critical theorist, Democrat, Alinskyite, union, baby boomer, polysexual, abortion-on-demand, #Occupy-loving, group-thinking, anti-Enlightenment, crypto-Marxist overlords conform to the original Nicolaitan heresy. Probably not much at all.

Nevertheless, I submit that recreational overlording has more explanatory power than a simple fear-based label.

Category: Instapundit

A Festive Occasion!

Posted on | May 5, 2013 | 35 Comments

National Offend a Feminist Week begins tomorrow and ends (as per tradition) on Mother’s Day, but why not start the party early, eh?

UPDATE: Thinking back to when it all began in 2009, I got misty-eyed with nostalgia:

Thank you, Daley Gator!

UPDATE II: Loyal reader Jeff in Walla Walla reminds us of another festive holiday occasion.

 

Category: Feminism, National Offend a Feminist Week

The Highly Ironic Syrian End-Game?

Posted on | May 5, 2013 | 17 Comments

When last we examined the mess in Syria, President Obama was embarrassed that the Assad regime had crossed his “red line” by reportedly using chemical weapons against the rebels (who are, by the way, a dangerous mob of Islamic extremists). And so now the ironic denouement, in headlines via  Memeorandum:

 

Damascus hit ‘by Israeli strikes’
— BBC

Israel Targeted Iranian Missiles in Syria Attack
— New York Times

Israel launches second airstrike in Syria,
targeting weapons shipment
— Washington Post

Israeli warplanes continue to pound Damascus
— Associated Press

So Obama, who has never been credibly accused of doing Israel any special favors, receives an unexpected gift: Bibi Netanyahu gets fed up with living next door to a madhouse, and intervenes to knock the legs from under the Assad regime. And then there’s this:

Assad “to declare war” on Israel
following fresh airstrikes
Reports suggest that Syria’s embattled dictator,
Bashar al-Assad, is shortly set to declare war
on Israel after interventions against the regime

That’s basically a suicide note from Assad. Israel has the most powerful military in the region — the IDF has nuclear weapons, remember — and a war between Syria and Israel can only end one way.

Does the expression “Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin” ring a bell?

And what will follow the destruction of Assad? Will we see Israel occupy part of Syria? Will Israel be content to let al-Qaeda-allied jihadists take over in Damascus? Will Syria descend into the sort of “failed state” anarchy we’ve seen in Lebanon?

These are just questions, and I don’t pretend to have the answers. But gee, this “Arab Spring” is working out just peachy, isn’t it?

 

 


Category: Israel, Syria

A Zinn Tidbit From “Dupes” By Kengor

Posted on | May 4, 2013 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

Burkely Herman is turning into a fun interlocutor on twitter since RSM delivered him a jolly spanking earlier today. There has been some feedback from BH. I’d like to chip in a paragraph from Paul Kengor’s “Dupes”

. . .Dr. Howard Zinn, a Boston University Professor. Zinn is an interesting case. He had been a World War II bombardier, a patriot, who went on to attend Columbia University for graduate school on the GI Bill, where he earned a master’s degree and a doctorate. With Columbia’s training, Zinn was primed for another kind of service. His work found a captive audience in POW camps in Hanoi, where the Vietcong so admired his arguments that it provided his material to detained airmen (that is, downed bombardiers). Specifically, the Vietcong stocked the prison library with Zinn’s book Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal. He eventually became a runaway bestselling historian, with his leftist work A People’s History of the United States a staple for many high-school history teachers and devoured by liberal college students. (p. 311)

Props to Zinn’s capitalism. I hope he enjoyed all of the money.
One wonders how much time Zinn spent at Columbia with the godless Commies. . .

Category: Progressivism
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