LIVE AT FIVE: 02.13.13

UPDATE 9:30 p.m. ET: A single gunshot was reportedly heard from inside the cabin inside which fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner had barricaded himself. The cabin caught fire and burned out of control. Dorner is believed to be dead.

* * * PREVIOUSLY (5:04 p.m. ET) * * *

Doug Sanders of the San Bernardino Sun reports:

Law enforcement are reportedly exchanging gunfire with a suspect in the Big Bear Lake area this afternoon following reports that fugitive Christopher Dorner may have stolen a truck in the area.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies, U.S. Marshals Service deputies and FBI agents began rushing to the Big Bear Valley area after searching a cabin in the Arrowbear area.
Shortly before 1:30 p.m., police scanner traffic indicated that two officers had been shot in the gun battle. Media personnel in the area have reported hearing numerous shots fired in the area.
The law enforcement officers are part of the team searching for Christopher Jordan Dorner, an ex-LAPD officer who has been charged with the murder of Riverside police officer Michael Crain and is suspected of killing an Irvine couple.

UPDATE: The latest from CNN:

Two sheriff’s deputies have been wounded in a shootout with a suspect believed to be renegade ex-Los Angeles police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, a high-ranking law official with knowledge of the investigation said Tuesday.
The source says the suspect, believed to be Dorner, shot the deputies as police responded to a report of a home invasion and a carjacking in the Big Bear area of southern California.
After police got a description of the vehicle, police set up a road block, and Dorner approached the officers, the source says. Dorner then opened fire, wounding the two sheriff’s deputies, according to the source.
The official said Dorner was pinned down.

UPDATE II: The Los Angeles Times reports:

Christopher Dorner was engaged in a shootout with federal authorities in the Big Bear area Tuesday, a law enforcement source told The Times.
The shooting occurred after Dorner burglarized a home, tied up a couple and stole their car, the source said.
It was not immediately clear whether Dorner was in custody.
A second source said there was an active crime scene but did not have details.
Law enforcement officials were swarming the area.

More blog reaction at Memeorandum.

UPDATE III: Additional details from the L.A. Times blog: Dorner is now reportedly barricaded inside a cabin after a shootout with cops in which “hundreds of rounds” were fired.

UPDATE IV: More details on how Dorner’s gun battle with police transpired:

Fugitive Christopher Dorner suddenly resurfaced Tuesday afternoon, engaging in a vehicle-to-vehicle gun battle with a California Department of Fish and Wildlife officer before holing up in a Big Bear-area cabin as dozens of officers homed in. . . .
Dorner was allegedly spotted by a state Fish and Wildlife offices in a white pickup truck. Dorner fired, and the officer returned fire. The officer was unharmed, but his truck was riddled with bullets.
Dorner crashed the truck and exchanged gunfire with the officers as he fled into a vacation cabin, where he was quickly surrounded by San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies, the source said.
The source said one deputy was wounded as Dorner fired out of the cabin and a second was injured when Dorner exited the back of the cabin, deployed a smoke grenade and opened fire again in an apparent attempt to flee. Dorner was driven back inside the cabin, the source said.

One deputy was reportedly killed and another wounded in the shootout.

UPDATE V: Did I ever mention I hate long standoffs?

C’mon, Dorner, get it over with, so reporters can write, “died in a fusilade of gunfire.” We don’t get to use “fusilade” every day, y’know.

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) February 13, 2013

You got your 15 minutes of fame already. We’re getting bored now.

UPDATE VI: USA Today confirms the deputy’s death:

One sheriff’s deputy died and another was wounded Tuesday afternoon during dramatic gunfight with the man authorities believe to be Christopher Dorner, the fugitive former Los Angeles cop wanted in three murders and a revenge shooting rampage across Southern California.
The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department confirmed earlier reports that a deputy was killed after authorities surrounded a cabin in the Big Bear ski resort area.The deputy, who has not been identified, died of his wounds at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Redlands.
It was unknown whether Dorner, a Navy veteran who was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department, had been hit by gunfire.

There is now smoke pouring out of the cabin where Dorner is holed up. It is not known whether Dorner has been killed.

Category: California, Crime

Freedom Works/Tea Party SOTU (P)rebuttals

Posted on | February 12, 2013 | Comments Off on Freedom Works/Tea Party SOTU (P)rebuttals

by Smitty

Matt Kibbe has an excellent intro:

And the Tea Party rebuttal which I’ll put below the fold in case scaling the embed breaks it: Read more

Category: Uncategorized

Alabama Recruits Top Football Talent With Promises of Academic Excellence and Hot Girlfriends, But Mainly …

Posted on | February 12, 2013 | 3 Comments

. . . yeah, Crimson Tide football recruits really like the hot girlfriends:

Katherine Webb, who stole the BCS National Championship Game broadcast out from under her star-quarterback boyfriend A.J. McCarron, is blowing up. She has been tapped to compete in ABC’s upcoming reality competition “Celebrity Diving,” she guest hosted Inside Edition’s Super Bowl coverage and now she has appeared in Sports Illustrated‘s famed Swimsuit Edition.

And, yes, the BCS National Champions got the No. 1 recruiting class in the country this year because . . . hot girlfreinds.

Category: Alabama, Football, Rule 5

Maryland Attorney General Investigates Abortionist Linked in Woman’s Death

Posted on | February 12, 2013 | 10 Comments

Steve Ertelt at Life News reports:

Following a new probe started by local officials, the Maryland Attorney General has opened an investigation into the late-term abortion practitioner who killed a woman last week in a botched abortion.
The Maryland Attorney General’s office is not specifically looking into the death of 29-year-old woman from a botched 33-week abortion last week. The woman has been identified as 29-year-old Jennifer McKenna Morbelli, of New Rochelle, New York.
Instead, the office notified the Maryland Coalition for Life and Operation Rescue that is has late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart and Germantown Reproductive Health Services under an active criminal investigation for illegal dumping, based on complaints made by both groups last year. This investigation is separate to ongoing investigations into Morbelli’s death, OR informed LifeNews today, that are currently underway by the State Medical Examiner, the Montgomery Police Department, and the state’s Office of Health Care Quality.

So . . . illegally dumping, the Attorney General might prosecute as a crime. Botching an abortion and killing a woman, not so much.

Whatever. Pro-lifers learn to be grateful for any minor official attention to the shoddy practices of abortionists. More headlines at Life News:

Tony Perkins: War on Women? What about the Woman Who Died From an Abortion?
Steven Ertelt: Jennifer Morbelli Not the First Woman Carhart Killed in Abortion

Meanwhile, the media embargo crumbles further with this report from Sylvia Carignan in the Montgomery County, Maryland, Gazette:

The state medical examiner is investigating the death of a New York woman who sought a late-term abortion from a controversial Germantown clinic.
Jennifer McKenna Morbelli, 29, was pronounced dead at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital on Feb. 7, according to Bruce Goldfarb, spokesperson for the chief medical examiner.
The Maryland Coalition for Life pinned her death on Dr. LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska-based physician who began performing abortions at the Germantown Reproductive Health Services clinic in 2010. . . .

Read the whole thing. Meanwhile, there is this press release quoting Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy advisor for Operation Rescue:

“For years we have documented Carhart’s abortion abuses. This time we pray authorities will quickly act before he has the opportunity to kill again,” said Sullenger. . . .
Sullenger continued, “The tragic death of Mrs. Morbelli from a botched 33-week abortion may be the catalyst that will finally bring Carhart to justice. It’s too bad that a woman had to die before authorities would sit up and take notice.”

Bob Belvedere has a round-up on the Jennifer Morbelli story: “Butchery In Germantown.” I’m worried butchers may sue Bob for libel.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Abortion, Maryland

Media Embargo Slowly Crumbling on Jennifer McKenna Morbelli’s Death

Posted on | February 12, 2013 | 97 Comments

Jennifer McKenna Morelli with her future husband in 2008

Jennifer Morbelli died last Thursday at Shady Grove Hospital in the Maryland suburbs of D.C. after undergoing a gruesome third-term abortion ordeal at Dr. LeRoy Carhart’s Germantown Reproductive Health clinic. A 29-year-old married kindergarten teacher in the affluent Westchester County suburbs of New York, Morbelli had actually named her unborn daughter Madison Leigh, but reportedly decided to seek an abortion in her 33rd week of pregnancy after prenatal testing diagnosed her baby as suffering from a disorder that causes seizures.

Both Morbelli and her daughter will be recognized at a funeral mass Wednesday — coincidentally, Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent — at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in New Rochelle.

Carhart has been called “likely the most prominent abortionist in America.” Carhart has been the plaintiff in two cases that reached the U.S. Supreme Court and was featured in a highly-praised documentary, After Tiller, about an abortionist who was assassinated in 2009.

Given these facts, ask yourself a question: How could any news editor look at the death of Jennifer Morbelli and say, “That”s not a story”?

This is not merely news, it’s got enough of a human-interest angle to deserve at least a two-hour network special or a magazine cover story.

Forget your opinion about the legal and political controversies involved and think about the basic journalistic news value of this story. Here is a profound human tragedy, a young woman who died in a heartbreaking circumstance which just happens to be a microcosm of a major national issue, and . . . that’s not a story? Turn in your press credentials, clean out your desk and find yourself another line of work.

This was why, last Friday, I called attention to the complete news blackout on the story: Jennifer Morbelli died in the Maryland suburbs of D.C., and yet neither the Washington Post nor the Baltimore Sun deemed it newsworthy? The illogic was glaring, and the Washington Post finally did a 350-word article inside the Metro section of Sunday’s paper. The media embargo crumbled further yesterday when the Journal News in Westchester County, N.Y., reported on the death of the local kindergarten teacher. And now the Washington Post has followed up with coverage of Monday’s press conference by pro-life activists:

The Maryland Office of Health Care Quality is investigating the death of a woman who visited a controversial abortion clinic in Germantown before dying last week at a local hospital.
More than 150 demonstrators gathered near the clinic Monday to step up their efforts to draw national attention to the case, asserting that the clinic’s leader, LeRoy Carhart, was directly responsible for the woman’s death and that she had come to his office for a multi-day abortion procedure when she was 33 weeks pregnant.
“We will not rest until this clinic is shut down and the license of LeRoy Carhart is revoked. God let it be so,” the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said at the demonstration.
The circumstances leading to the woman’s death remained unclear Monday. State and county officials confirmed that she had visited the abortion clinic and that she died Thursday morning at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, but they offered no details.
Antiabortion demonstrators seized upon the incident to try to sway public opinion about late-term procedures. Many of their specific claims about the case could not be immediately verified. . . .

You can read the whole thing, and I could criticize how the reporter, Dan Morse, handled the story, making “antiabortion demonstrators” (rather than LeRoy Carhart or Jennifer Morbelli) the central characters of the narrative and insinuating that their version of events was unreliable. (As I pointed out Monday night, “If it weren’t for pro-life activists who keep constant vigil at this facility, we might not even know about Jennifer Morbelli’s painful death.”) But I’m not criticizing Morse, at least not at length, because at this point I really don’t care how much pro-abortion spin or liberal bias goes into mainstream media coverage of the story, just so long as they actually cover the story.

In the same spirit, therefore, let us applaud Roseann Moring and Robby Korth of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald for their coverage:

A New York woman’s death has put Bellevue abortion provider LeRoy Carhart back in the national spotlight.
Abortion opponents say a 29-year-old kindergarten teacher died Thursday after getting a late-term abortion at Carhart’s clinic in Germantown, Md.
Carhart did not return messages left on his cellphone Monday. A woman who answered the phone at his Bellevue clinic said he would not be available for comment.
Maryland authorities confirmed the woman’s death but said they still are investigating the cause. Montgomery County (Md.) Police and the Medical Examiner’s Office declined to say whether she had been at Carhart’s clinic.
So far, abortion opponents are the only ones who have publicly linked the death to Carhart’s clinic.
Carhart is one of the nation’s few doctors who perform late-term abortions. He had done so at Bellevue’s Abortion and Contraception Clinic until 2010, when the Nebraska Legislature banned abortions after 20 weeks’ gestation.
He then opened the Germantown Reproductive Health Services clinic about 30 miles north of Washington, D.C.
Carhart also considered opening a late-term abortion clinic in Council Bluffs.
In response, Iowa lawmakers proposed legislation aimed at keeping him out of the state. . . .

Read the whole thing and notice that, like the Washington Post‘s Dan Morse, the World-Herald reporters don’t name Jennifer Morbelli as the victim, and make clear that they are merely reporting the assertions made by “abortion opponents.” Heaven forbid that any mainstream reporter should actually do some actual journalism the way “just a blogger” Jill Stanek did on this story.

If you know anything about Jill Stanek (which, of course, no liberal reporter would) you know that she wouldn’t report something like this unless she was absolutely certain of the facts, and so this concern-troll attitude that Stanek’s reporting “could not be immediately verified” bespeaks the incompetence and sloth of reporters who can’t be bothered, at least, to contact Stanek as a source. (Hint: She’s on Twitter.)

However, I don’t want to complain too much about this, because I’m genuinely grateful for any mainstream media coverage of this story. In fact, if some left-wing feminist blogger like Amanda Marcotte or Elspeth Reeve decided to do a post condemning pro-life bloggers for their coverage of Jennifer Morbelli’s death, I would absolutely welcome it. Please, feel free to denounce me by name, call me a hateful misogynist or whatever, and I don’t care: Just stop ignoring the story.

There will be a funeral in New Rochelle tomorrow morning — Ash Wednesday — and I defy anyone to say that funeral isn’t legitimate news.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Abortion, Jill Stanek, Maryland, Media Bias, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York

ObamaPhone Boondoggle Update

Posted on | February 12, 2013 | 6 Comments

In October 2008, I was one of the first conservative writers to call attention to the government program to provide free cell phones to the poor. This existed before Obama became president, but has since become known as the “O-Phone” program, because recipients mistakenly believe that this is a benefit provided to them by Obama. And now Spencer Ante of the Wall Street Journal reports that it’s a shoddy boondoggle:

The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion last year to provide phones to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who received the phones haven’t proved they are eligible to receive them.

Remember, it’s RAAAAACIST to criticize this program, or to laugh at this video of an Obama voter excited about her free phone:

Category: Barack Obama, Budget

LIVE AT FIVE: 02.12.13

Posted on | February 12, 2013 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

TOP NEWS
Pope’s Resignation Leaves Catholics In Shock

Catholics pray during a mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York

Benedict XVI cited failing health as reason for being first pope to resign since 1415

Pentagon Benefits For Gay, Lesbian Spouses Limited By DOMA
Housing, health and burial benefits under review

$1 Million Reward Produces Hundreds Of Tips On Murderous Ex-Cop
Border Patrol opines that killer has already fled to Mexico

POLITICS
SEAL Team Six Member Who Killed Osama Now Struggling On Civvy Street

SEALs go after Osama in Zero Dark Thirty

Unemployed, without pension or medical benefits, and separated from his wife.
Or maybe not.

Joe Biden Claims Gun Proposals Not A “Slippery Slope”

Virginia’s Bob McDonnell Not Choosing Sides Between Rove And Trump: “All Good Republicans”

Former Florida GOP Chair And Crist Ally Pleads Guilty To Theft, Money Laundering

Lawmakers Accuse VA Of Covering Up Veterans’ Deaths

SSG Clinton Romesha Receives Medal Of Honor For Defense Of Outpost Keating

Arizona Lawmakers Weigh Giving Hopi, Navajo Tribes Own County So They Can Share State Sales Taxes They Collect

THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Oil Inches Up On Trade Data: NYMEX $95.83, Brent $118.99
Japan Boosts Asian Stocks As Won Fall On Nork Nuke Test Fears
Fed’s Yellen Says Higher Rates Not Assured After Targets Hit
Maker’s Mark Defends Watering Its Booze
FTC Says 5% Of Credit Reports Contain Costly Errors
Is Einhorn’s Apple Activism Insider Trading?
Wall Street Ends Lower On Year’s Lightest Volume
How The Horsemeat Sneaked Into The Lasagna
American Express Lets Twitter Users Shop Via Tweet
Novo Nordisk Says FDA Wants Data From Cardiovascular Health Study Before Approving New Diabetes Drugs
Dish Chairman: “I Don’t Want To Kill Ads”
Surface Pro Shortage: Sold Out Or Understocked?
Why An Apple Smartwatch With iOS Makes Sense
Raytheon May Know Where You’ve Been – And Where You’re Going
Bill Gates Talks Tech, Philanthropy During Reddit AMA
Microsoft Staffs Up LA Studio To Develop Original Content For XBox
EA Takes “Real Racing 3” Down Freemium Route

SPORTS
Changing Tribes: Michael Bourn Signs With Indians

All-Star center fielder Michael Bourn

Four years, $48 million after turning down Braves’ one year, $13.3 million deal and snubbing the Mets

Celtics’ Streak Snapped By…The Bobcats?

Scrivens Strong In Relief As Leafs Beat Flyers

Michael Vick’s New Eagles Contract Heavy With Incentives

Bulls Lose To Shorthanded Spurs, 103-89

Blue Jackets Rout Slumping Sharks

Struggling Nyets Get Big Win Without Williams

Stephen Strasburg Ready For Unrestricted 2013 Season

FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Rihanna Premieres “Stay” Music Video On E!

Bath time with Rihanna.

Latest single off “Unapologetic”

Taylor Swift Slams Ex Harry Styles In Opening Number At Grammys

Lindsay Lohan’s Latest Fling? NY DJ Julian Cavin

Rapper Lil’ Wayne Says Heat Gave Him The Boot, Team Disagrees

“Storage Wars” Star Commits Suicide Days After Drug Arrest

Dan Marino’s Baby Mama Resurfaces

“Buckwild” Star Arrested For Drug Possession

Some Marginal Talent Drops F-Bomb At Grammys

FOREIGNERS
Seismic Activity Detected Near Norks’ Nuke Test Site
Tunisian Crisis Deepens As Ruling Coalition Breaks Up
Car Bombs At Turkish-Syrian Border Kill 13; Police Searching For Suspects
Egypt On High Alert As Protesters Mark Anniversary Of Mubarak’s Ouster
Railway Minister Refutes Charges Of Callousness In Stampede Deaths
At Least 18 Dead In Russian Arctic Coal Mine Blast
Syrian Rebels Claim Control Of Tabqa Dam; Third Dam On Euphrates To Fall

BLOGS & STUFF
Gateway Pundit: Ted Nugent To Attend State Of The Union Address As Guest Of Rep. Steve Stockman
TPM: Nugent Says “I Will Be Taking On The Media Orgy” After SOTU
Hot Air: Good News From Jay Carney – The President Believes We Have A Spending Problem, Sort Of
Jim Pethokoukis: If President Obama Thinks The Job Of Deficit Reduction Is Nearly Done, He Needs To Look At This Chart
Protein Wisdom: It’s What They Do – Obama’s State Of The Divided Union
Lonely Conservative: Biden Seeks Help From “Legitimate Media” In Violating Constitution
Michelle Malkin: Oh, Look, There Aren’t Enough California Doctors To Service Obamacare
AmSpecBlog: So Long, Benedict
Hit & Run: The Ones Who Walk Away From The Holy See
Jammie Wearing Fools: Childlike Democrats Offer “Prebuttal” To Marco Rubio’s SOTU Rebuttal
Via Meadia: Law Schools In For A Shakeup
Israel Matzav: Soccer Dad’s Middle East Media Sampler
Freedom Works: Reasons To Oppose The So-Called “Violence Against Women Act”

Shop Amazon – Valentine’s Day Flowers and Chocolates from Grocery

Category: Live at Five

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The Other McCain

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

LIVE AT FIVE: 02.13.13

UPDATE: Crazed Ex-Cop Chris Dorner Believed Dead After Cabin Catches Fire

Freedom Works/Tea Party SOTU (P)rebuttals

Alabama Recruits Top Football Talent With Promises of Academic Excellence and Hot Girlfriends, But Mainly …

Maryland Attorney General Investigates Abortionist Linked in Woman’s Death

Media Embargo Slowly Crumbling on Jennifer McKenna Morbelli’s Death

ObamaPhone Boondoggle Update

LIVE AT FIVE: 02.12.13

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