The Other McCain

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

Does UMass-Dartmouth Have a Department of Crazy Foreigners?

Posted on | May 1, 2013 | 9 Comments

What kind of university would enroll Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the marijuana-smoking terrorist who grinned after placing a bomb next to an eight-year-old boy? The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, which also enrolled Dzhokhar’s buddies Dias Kadyrbayev, Azamat Tazhayakov and Robel Phillipos, who perhaps deserve recognition as the Three Stooges of Terrorism:

A month before the April 15 attack on the Boston Marathon, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told college friends Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev over a meal that he “knew how to make a bomb,” Tazhayakov said. When Kadyrbaev texted Tsarnaev on April 18 to say that he looked like one of the suspects in video just released by the FBI, the 19-year-old responded with messages including: “lol,” “you better not text me” and “come to my room and take whatever you want.”

Right: “LOL” — three people dead — “LOL” — more than 260 people injured. Madcap hijinx ensue! Headlines via Memeorandum:

Two Kazakh men, Cambridge man, face
charges they disposed of laptop, backpack
to help Boston Marathon bombing suspect
— Boston Globe

Three arrested for allegedly
helping suspect after Boston bombings
— Washington Post

3 Friends Of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Arrested
In Boston Marathon Bombings Case
— CBS Boston

Lots of blog commentary from Jihad Watch, Hot Air, The Lonely Conservative, PJ Tatler, Gateway Pundit, and The Jawa Report.

You can read the federal criminal complaint here.

I’m wondering how long before somebody analyzes this case in the context of the Higher Education Bubble. Did these guys qualify for student loans? Good luck getting repayment from them.

 


Category: Education, Terrorism

Just When You Think Democrats Couldn’t Possibly Get Any Crazier …

Posted on | May 1, 2013 | 41 Comments

. . . they somehow manage to surprise you:

Several House Democrats are calling on Congress to recognize that climate change is hurting women more than men, and could even drive poor women to “transactional sex” for survival.
The resolution, from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and a dozen other Democrats, says the results of climate change include drought and reduced agricultural output. It says these changes can be particularly harmful for women.
“[F]ood insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health,” it says.

Lance Burri points out the oddity of “early marriage” — an evil as bad as HIV, according to Democrats — being listed among the harmful effects attributed to global warming.

 

Category: Democrats, Global Warming

The Internet Never Forgets

Posted on | April 29, 2013 | 21 Comments

And by “the Internet,” of course, I mean, Ed Driscoll:

Politico has numerous journalists who during the campaign in 2008 were on the infamous “JournoList,” which dubbed itself the “non-official campaign” for Obama’s election bid. The JournoList was created by Ezra Klein, who is now with the Washington Post. . . .
Another self-admitted member of the JournoList is Ben Smith, who is now with Buzzfeed; there’s a reason why John Nolte has singlehandedly made “BenSmithing” a verb to describe new media doing Obama’s bidding. . . .
The terrorist attack on Benghazi on September 11th 2012, and the eventual feckless “What difference does it make?” response to the Senate by Obama’s Secretary of State — the same Hillary Clinton his election campaign repeated denigrated would eventually turn the message of Obama’s earlier Orwell-inspired video in on itself. Not the least of which because the man responsible for the piece of social media that the Obama administration initially tried to pin the attack on, during their initial modified limited hangout, is still rotting in jail. . . .

Read the whole thing.

 


Category: Ed Driscoll, Media Bias

Obama’s Syrian Dilemma

Posted on | April 29, 2013 | 20 Comments

“Obama: Anatomy of a World Leader,” by Alex Gray (detail)

President Gutsy Call promised serious consequences if Syria’s Assad regime crossed a “red line” by using chemical weapons against anti-government rebels. Now that there is clear evidence that Assad used chemical weapons? Well, it’s nuanced, Chuck Todd explains:

“I can tell you there is regret about that red line comment … I mean, they meant it. They do mean it on the chemical weapons. But saying it creates this political conversation. They didn’t want to go public last week that they had this early evidence yet. They weren’t ready. And yet they knew Congress was going to get this briefing and it was all going to get out, so they decided to go public with it last week because they felt they had no choice, that it was all going to start leaking out … But they’re not ready. There is no good answer.”

Frank J. assesses Obama’s miscalculation:

I guess he never actually thought Syria would use chemical weapons, thus he could sound tough threatening them and then never actually have to do anything.

Ed Morrissey rounds up the latest Syria news and weighs the options for the administration, but as I explained yesterday, there are no good options in Syria, unless you count as “good” the likelihood that Obama will suffer further disastrous embarrassments.

 

Category: Barack Obama, Syria

‘A History of Psychiatric Problems’

Posted on | April 29, 2013 | 41 Comments

The California math teacher was arrested last summer:

The charges against 36-year-old Amber Lee Failla include unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation with minors and contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense, according to Kern County Superior Court records. . . .
California City police said their investigation into Failla began when school officials heard about “alleged sexual misconduct” involving a teacher. Three male students, ranging in age from 14 to 17 years old, reported to police Failla had sexual encounters with them and “sexted” them nude photos, the department reported.
The students told investigators Failla would text them at different times to meet in her classroom when there was no class in session and engage in sex acts with, according to police.

Female teachers having sex with male students seems increasingly commonplace: The Mary Kay Letourneau Syndrome, we might call it. And as my friend Pete Da Tech Guy would say, it’s a good thing they aren’t Catholic priests, or this might be a real scandal.

The average high-school teacher salary in California is $66,197, so that “oral copulation with minors” is apparently a skill that taxpayers are willing to compensate quite well, at least when such services are provided by credentialed professionals.

And you’ll be glad to know that the California court system understands that Amber Lee Failla is the real victim here:

A high school teacher charged with eight felonies in connection with engaging in sex acts with students pleaded no contest Friday to a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse.
Amber Lee Failla faces a maximum of 16 months in prison at her May 7 sentencing, but prosecutor Marcus Cuper said the judge indicated Failla will be sentenced to a year in jail. . . .
Defense attorney Timothy Lemucchi said he also believes the plea deal is fair, especially in light of his client’s background.
“She has a history of psychiatric problems,” Lemucchi said.
Failla is bipolar, and Lemucchi said she was given a drug that has a side effect of making a person “hyperactively sexual.” Lemucchi said Failla was the recipient of poor medical treatment in that she wasn’t given a second drug to counteract those effects. . . .
“She’s pretty emotionally distraught,” Lemucchi said. “Fortunately her husband is her biggest supporter and is staying with her.”

In other words: She’s crazy and, in California, the rights of crazy people take precedence over every other consideration. The entire state “has a history of psychiatric problems” — I mean, they elected Jerry Brown governor, OK? — and if Amber Lee Failla’s particular brand of craziness involved “oral copulation with minors,” well, who are we to judge?

Isn’t this just an alternative lifestyle? And, hey, “her husband is her biggest supporter,” so if he doesn’t mind his wife providing blowjobs to teenage boys, why should we object?

Isn’t this covered by those “penumbras formed by emanations“? Couldn’t Justice Kennedy explain it as an “emerging awareness“?

Why are some people so judgmental?

I’m guessing a male teacher would have gotten a much stiffer sentence. And why was someone with a ‘history of psychiatric problems’ hired as a teacher?

More judgmentalism:

Who thought it was a good idea to put a ‘sexually hyperactive’ person around children?

The mentally ill are a protected category, and the teachers union that donated millions to elect Gov. Jerry Brown would never tolerate any teacher being forced out of her job merely because she had “a history of psychiatric problems.”

Amber Lee Failla is a victim. And she probably voted for Obama.

 

Category: California, Crime, Education, Labor Unions, Scandal, Sex

Have You Heard the One About the President Who Was a Miserable Failure?

Posted on | April 28, 2013 | 31 Comments

We could laugh at the jokes, but of course, the joke is really on us: This incompetent bumbler is in fact President of the United States!

Ba-dah-BOOM!

 

 


Category: Barack Obama

Syria: Another Casualty of ‘Hope’

Posted on | April 28, 2013 | 28 Comments

Reading a long New York Times article about the prevalence of Islamic extremism among Syrian rebels fighting the Assad regime in a two-year civil war, I was struck by this paragraph:

The religious agenda of the combatants sets them apart from many civilian activists, protesters and aid workers who had hoped the uprising would create a civil, democratic Syria.

Ah, yes, these idealists “had hoped” to turn Syria into Stockholm and, as usual, their unrealistic hopes were compelled to yield to the reality of human nature. Creating “a civil, democratic Syria” would require a populace with some tradition compatible with that goal — and that such people care enough about their goal to fight and die for it — and it appears that these qualities are, alas, in short supply in Syria:

“Some of the more extremist opposition is very scary from an American perspective, and that presents us with all sorts of problems,” said Ari Ratner, a fellow at the Truman National Security Project and former Middle East adviser in the Obama State Department. “We have no illusions about the prospect of engaging with the Assad regime — it must still go — but we are also very reticent to support the more hard-line rebels.” . . .
“My sense is that there are no seculars,” said Elizabeth O’Bagy, of the Institute for the Study of War, who has made numerous trips to Syria in recent months to interview rebel commanders.

You can read the entire 1,456-word article and find not a single word of encouragement to those who hoped for “a civil, democratic Syria.” The Assad regime — backed by the Shi’ite fanatics in Iran — is likely to give way to a similarly fanatical regime dominated by Sunni extremists aligned with al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

If delusions that the “Arab Spring” would result in a more peaceful (or at least, more pro-American) Middle East were not already thoroughly discredited by previous events, the hopeless mess in Syria ought to put an exclamation point on this obvious conclusion.

And yet amid all this broiling trouble, our leaders in Washington propose to eliminate eight combat brigades from the Army.

Because . . . Hope.

We might well adapt to current circumstances an infamous saying of Josef Stalin: How many divisions does Hope have?

 

Category: Military, Syria

World’s Youngest Blogger: What Are These Congressional Clowns Doing?

Posted on | April 27, 2013 | 12 Comments


Is Rubio’s “la pandilla de los ocho” a good idea? Have there been any good ideas in Congress in my 21 long months since launch?

Oh, well, whaddaya gonna do? Eat; drink; be merry, and brace for economic shock as these clowns run us all hard aground.

Category: World's Youngest Blogger
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