The Other McCain

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

Obama Has Consequences

Posted on | December 10, 2012 | 30 Comments

“God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs . . .”
— Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park

Lots of bloggers are science-fiction buffs, but I prefer reality, regarding fiction generally as a puerile waste of time. If you wish to improve your mind, it is much more productive to read history than any work of fiction. (I’ve recently been re-reading Alan Moorehead’s Gallipoli, which I borrowed from Joe Fein in 2010 and feel guilty for not having returned.)

However, it must be admitted that great science fiction makes us think, and Jurassic Park is a fine lesson in unintended consequences, a sort of Hayekian insight into the failure of planning and “expertise.” Genetically engineering the re-creation of extinct monsters might seem like a great idea for a theme park, but to quote another witty line by Jeff Goldblum’s intellectual character from the movie, “if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.”

Yes, and I’m sure it must have seemed like a great idea during the “Arab Spring” to arm Islamic extremists in Libya:

In spite of the threat of American weapons ending up in the hands of terrorist groups, President Barack Obama secretly approved an arms transfer to Libyan rebels through Qatar at the height of the rebellion against Moamar Khadhafi, a knowledgeable source noted on Friday.
However, American counterterrorists are discovering that some of those U.S. weapons ended up in the hands of radical Islamists including associates of al-Qaeda, according to a law enforcement source who trained police in the Middle East.
Some Americans who are retired from the military, as well as intelligence and law enforcement agencies, believe there should be an investigation into possible connections between the weapons provided by the Qataris back then and the attack that killed an American ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.

More at Gateway Pundit: “Benghazi Terrorists Were Armed By Obama”

One of the lessons of Gallipoli is how seemingly minor mistakes can have enormous consequences. The Allied effort to force a passage through the Dardenelles, capture Constantinople and thus knock Turkey out of the war was meant to relieve pressure on Russia and open a second front against the Central Powers.

Before the campaign began, it was suggested that the Greeks be brought in to aid the effort against the Turks, but the Czar objected to the idea that the Greeks might gain a colonial foothold in Turkey. It is speculation to wonder what might have happened in the historical alternative, but as it was, the campaign against Constantinople failed, the war lasted until 1918, and the Czar was executed by the Bolsheviks.

Exit question: Is comparing Obama’s policies to dinosaurs racist?

 

Category: Barack Obama, Libya, Terrorism

Two Weeks Until Christmas and
Three Weeks Until ‘Fiscal Cliff’

Posted on | December 10, 2012 | 18 Comments

On the one hand, I hope everybody’s having a happy holiday season — and shopping our amazing Amazon holiday deals! — while on the other hand, I suspect you’re bummed out by the tedious ongoing downer in Washington. Politico:

Time is running short — and so are the options available to avert the fiscal cliff.
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have just 21 days to resolve their differences over how to handle more than $500 billion in expiring tax rates and steep spending cuts.
Although they met Sunday for the first time in more than three weeks — signaling a new, potentially more productive stage of the negotiations — there was no progress on the staff level ahead of that sit-down, according to Democratic and Republican sources.
The White House and Capitol Hill are now staring at a narrow set of options  fraught with political and policy peril.

Yadda, yadda, yadda. Washington Post:

The contours of a deal to avert the year-end fiscal cliff are becoming increasingly clear. But progress has been slow, and time is running out for leaders to seal an agreement and sell it to restless lawmakers who so far have been given little information.
With hope still alive for a resolution by Christmas, President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) met Sunday at the White House, their first face-to-face meeting in nearly a month and their first one-on-one session since July 2011, when they last tried to forge a far-reaching compromise to tame the national debt.
Neither side would provide details, but White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage and Boehner spokesman Michael Steel released identical statements saying “the lines of communication remain open.”

It’s either (a) a hopeless stalemate, or (b) the prelude to a total GOP surrender, and there not really anything you or I can do about it. Which means there’s only one thing to do . . .

SHOP OUR AMAZON HOLIDAY DEALS NOW!

 

Category: Budget, Taxes

LIVE AT FIVE: 12.10.12

Posted on | December 10, 2012 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Obama, Boehner Go Mano A Mano

Speaker Boehner at a Friday news conference

Sunday meeting apparently without result

Morsi Annulls Controversial Decree
Opposition calls for more protests after demand for vote postponement rejected

Race To Replace Bloomberg Picks Up Speed
Lots of hype, lots of secrecy, only two declared candidates so far


POLITICS
House Democrats Push For Discharge Petition On Tax Rate Extension

Discharge petition sponsor Tim Walz (D-MN)

Walz hopes to split off 27 Republicans, do end run around Boehner

UC Students Arrested For Feeding Pot Brownies To Unknowing Victims; Three Hospitalized

Tea Party Losing Steam?

GOP Says No Retreat, No Surrender On Debt Ceiling Fight

Hillary For President In 2016?

Booker To Decide Soon On Christie Challenge

Homeless Numbers Steady In Latest Report, Some Improvement For Veterans

Newt Schools Lawrence O’Donnell On Clinton-Era Tax Cuts



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Falls For Fourth Straight Day: NYMEX $85.93, Brent $107.02
AIG Sells Unit To PRC Firm To Help Repay Bailout
Japan Revised GDP Signals Economy In Recession
PRC Export Growth Weaker Than Expected
Fed Likely To Continue Bond-Buying Program
PRC’s Wanxiang Wins Auction For US Government-Backed A123
Buying Time On Mississippi Rover Shipping Crisis
IBM Chip Aims To Use Silicon Nanophotonics In Bid To Speed Up Internet
Australian Police Warn Against Apple Maps, Citing “Potentially Life-Threatening Misdirection”
Apple, Google Team Up For $500 Million Bid On Kodak Patents
“Premium Suite” Packs Still More Features Into Galaxy S III
AT&T Adds $50 HTC One VX To Lineup
“Dark Souls II” Is Coming To Ruin Your Day



SPORTS
Royals Acquire Shields And Davis From Rays

James Shields

Kansas City gets two proven quality starters for top prospects Myers, Odorizzi


Grieving Cowboys Rally Past Bengals, 20-19


Kick Returns Ignite Giants In Win Over Saints

Redskins Rally To Beat Ravens 31-28 In OT After RG3 Hurt

Packers Keep Win Streak Alive With 27-20 Win Over Lions

Knicks Pull Away Late To Top Denver

Cardinals’ Woes Continue With 58-0 Rout By Seahawks

Fehr Maintains NHL, Players Were Close To Deal



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Jenni Rivera, “Queen Of Banda”, Dies In Plane Crash

Jenni Rivera, 1969-2012, RIP

Star of Mexican music, Telemundo reality show dies en route to concert; was signed to ABC sitcom deal

Brandi Glanville To Undergo Breast Surgery For Tumor

Lindsay Lohan: I Can Barely Pay My Rent!

Rep: No, Jenifer Aniston Is Not Pregnant

Gwen Stefani Joins Hubby Gavin Rossdale On Stage In LA

Dallas Cowboys Player Jerry Brown Killed In Auto Wreck; Teammate Josh Brent Arrested

Katt Williams Arrested Again

First Look At “The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug”

Charlie Sheen’s Ex Brooke Mueller Hospitalized



FOREIGNERS
Norks Delay Rocket Launch
Morsi Orders Military To Cooperate With Police To Maintain Order
Ghana’s President Wins Re-Election; Opposition Claims Results Manipulated
EU Less Than Peaceful Ahead Of Nobel Ceremony
Rebel Gains In Syria Embolden Lebanese Sunnis
Venezuela’s Chavez Announces Return To Cuba As Cancer Strikes Again
Exit Polls Point To Landslide For Romania’s Ruling Alliance
Italy’s President Napolitano Wonders How Markets Will React To Premier Monti’s Call For Early Elections
BJP’s Narendra Modi Invokes Facebook Arrests To Counter PM Singh’s Comments On Minority Insecurity In Gujarat



BLOGS & STUFF
Althouse: Why Can’t David Savage Read?
NewsBusters: George Will – “Opposition To Gay Marriage Is Literally Dying”
WSJ: The Republican Tax Panic
William Kristol: The Journal’s Tax Advice
Rick Moran: Raising Tax Rates Only Part Of The Deal
Jazz Shaw: Hillary’s Not-So-Smooth Path To The White House
Algemeiner: Egypt’s Opposition Calls For More Protests Against Morsi
Jihad Watch: Syrian Rebels Say Christians Can Only Live In Postwar Syria If They Pay The Jizya
Weasel Zippers: Syrian Rebels’ Most Effective Fighting Force? Al Qaeda
Vodkapundit: Tax THIS!
Protein Wisdom: “So Who Will Tell The Truth – And Then Act On It?”

Category: Live at Five

FMJRA 2.0: Day Late & A Dollar Short II

Posted on | December 9, 2012 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Well, once again my Saturday was eaten by the necessity of getting the last of my stuff out of the old apartment, but enough about me. Ladies and gentlemen, your linkagery from last week.

Unexpectedly: Unemployment Increases!

The Continuing Newsworthiness of the Weird Kimberlin-Rauhauser Story

WALKER V. KIMBERLIN: DISMISSED

Fleet Street to Be Neutered?

At The VA GOP Advance

‘Roid Rage’ in NFL Shooting?

Hint: “Don’t Turn Left” X 3 Is Known As “The Hard Way” To Make A Right Turn

FMJRA 2.0: A Day Late And A Dollar Short

World’s Youngest Blogger Sports Owl Sweater, Conquers Hooters

This Week in Evil

Easy Progressive RINO Test

Matthew Boyle Joins Breitbart.com

LIVE AT FIVENINE: 12.03.12

Rule 5 Monday

The Democrat-Media Complex

Fiscal Spliff: House GOP Takes A Hit From His Insta-badness

Why Does the IRS Hate Redheaded Celebrities With Large Breasts?

LIVE AT FIVE: 12.04.12

GOP To Palin: “‘Go’ Wobbly?”

Let EGAD Times Roll

‘Like Hell’

Panic in the Hamptons: Tax-Hike Talk Inspires ‘Fire Sale’ on Mansions

None Dare Call It ‘Decadent’

‘Born That Way’ — Not!

LIVE AT FIVE: 12.06.12

Deadly Chaos in Egypt

Gigantic 50-Year-Old Transsexual College Women’s Basketball Player Is Not Crazy

Due To Budget Cuts, The Band Has Been Reduced To A Lone Guitar

LIVE AT FIVE: 12.07.12

As With #Benghazi Four, So Will Obama Do For The Country At The Fiscal Cliff

Good News! Work Force Still Shrinking

VIDEO: ‘Miracle on Wall Street’

New Charges Filed Against Former ‘Anonymous’ Spokesman Barrett Brown

David Brooks, Ignorant Tool At Large

Top linkers this week:

  1. Daley Gator (9)
  2. Lonely Conservative (8)
  3. Da Tech Guy (6)
  4. Rick’s Rants (5)

Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Deadline to submit links for next week’s FMJRA is Friday, December 14.

Category: FMJRA Award

‘At a Time of My Choosing’

Posted on | December 9, 2012 | 11 Comments

Patterico has a few careful words about the constant harassment:

Threats just give me something new to talk about. At a time of my choosing.
Do you folks understand that yet? You’ve tried to intimidate and threaten me for over two years now. No letter to my boss will stop me. No threat will stop me.
I’m not going away.

Exactly. Sociopathic monsters like Bill Schmalfeldt think they’re doing a smart thing with their endless cyberstalking against people who have better things to do with their lives. But the targets have discretion over what to ignore, when to respond and how. And when the tables are turned — when Brett Kimberlin, Neal Rauhauser and their troll gang find themselves exposed by those whom they’ve tried so desperately to destroy — it ill behooves the monsters to cry, “No fair!”

Read the rest of Patterico’s post.

Category: Patterico, The Kimberlin Files

In Case Our Orwellian Reality Had Eluded You

Posted on | December 9, 2012 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

via Red Rover

Category: Uncategorized

Sen. Rubio Weekly GOP Address

Posted on | December 9, 2012 | 66 Comments

by Smitty

Via American Freedom, truly an excellent personal story, excellent ideas, and excellent delivery:

Contrast Rubio’s don’t-scare-the-horses delivery with William Kristol at the Daily Standard

And the conservative movement?—?a bulwark of American strength for the last several decades?—?is in deep disarray. Reading about some conservative organizations and Republican campaigns these days, one is reminded of Eric Hoffer’s remark, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” It may be that major parts of American conservatism have become such a racket that a kind of refounding of the movement as a cause is necessary. A reinvigoration of the Republican party also seems desirable, based on a new generation of leaders, perhaps coming?—?as did Ike and Reagan?—?from outside the normal channels.

What’s not in question are the basic principles of conservativism that go back to our founding documents: liberty, equality before the law, private property, free enterprise, &c.
What’s coming into question is whether the GOP elite has snorted so much Progressive cocaine as to make their heads ‘splode and forget those basic principles.

It’s not fair to rip Rubio over this weekly GOP address speech and call him a milquetoast. The weekly address is not CPAC, where Rubio can be expected to arrive with some sort of bacon gun and shoot pork product pellets into the sea of meat-craving conservatives. The weekly address is certainly an occasion for something short and vaguely positive that colors within the lines.

However, for 2014 and 2016, this blogger wants to see some recognition that those lines mark a Progressive pit into which the country has sunk, and correctly identifies the systemic issue for the problem: our government has shifted from being representative to redistributive over the last century. Both parties have been buying votes with entitlements and turning a country of opportunity into some sort of neo-feudalism.

Hopefully the GOP can glom onto the reality of 2012, which is that the Gradual Onslaught of Progressivism is not going to attract voters anymore. If the GOP is merely saying tom-ay-toe to the Democrat’s tom-ah-toe, then the losses will continue to mount. It’s time to put on the Big People Pants and talk hardcore reform.

Update: linked by Nathan J. Martin

Category: GOP

June 3: Bill Schmalfeldt Begins Cyberstalking Aaron Walker

Posted on | December 9, 2012 | 14 Comments

Bill Schmalfeldt is one of the strange characters in the troll army that has been harassing targets of the Kimberlin-Rauhauser Axis for the past several months. Schmalfeldt recently called attention to himself by cyberstalking me (see, “Pray for Ten Thousand Angels,” Nov. 23), but research shows that he has been at it since June.

His Twitter account has been suspended due to his abusive misbehavior. However, for reasons unknown, in July someone posted to Pastebin 2,800 of Schmalfeldt’s Twitter messages from May 29-July 2. From this cache, it is possible to learn how and when Schmalfeldt got involved:

2670. Sun Jun 03 19:55:53 +0000 2012, liberalgrouch, 209372854213558273,
@catsrimportant can someone point me to something written about this Aaron Walker case that was NOT written by some right wing shithead?

2669. Sun Jun 03 20:30:58 +0000 2012, liberalgrouch, 209381683034722305,
@AaronWorthing Are you really comparing yourself with MLK?

2668. Sun Jun 03 20:42:09 +0000 2012, liberalgrouch, 209384499425976320,
@AaronWorthing I know next to nothing about this case. What did Kimberlin say you allegedly said/tweeted/google that proved threating?

2667. Sun Jun 03 20:42:39 +0000 2012, liberalgrouch, 209384626899255296,
@AaronWorthing Forgive me for asking, but I have some strong views about the First Amendment and I’m researching this story for my blog.

2666. Sun Jun 03 20:42:54 +0000 2012, liberalgrouch, 209384689511841792,
@AaronWorthing I promise. No one will come to get you. 😉

2665. Sun Jun 03 21:10:29 +0000 2012, liberalgrouch, 209391629881192448,
@AaronWorthing Well, certainly a new Twitter chum can recommend to another new Twitter chum a website he might find interesting, say wot?

This is important to understanding Schmalfeldt’s motives, methods and mental disposition. Schmalfeldt’s target was Aaron Walker who, on May 17, had published a 28,000-word account of his conflict with Brett Kimberlin. About the length of a 90-page book, Walker’s account was studded with links to original court documents and e-mails. Schmalfeldt wasn’t dealing with a story where there was any shortage of factual information available.

What was Schmalfeldt seeking? Some way to discredit Walker, to create a narrative in which Kimberlin could be portrayed as the victim.

This is the “accuse the accusers” motif that has added layers of unnecessary confusion to this story: By a sort of narrative ju-jitsu — minimizing the deliberate harmfulness of Kimberlin’s actions, while depicting his targets as unethical, selfish or motivated by purposes of political revenge — the “accuse the accusers” strategy creates a false equivalence between victim and victimizer. This method of online obfuscation is effective because few people (including law enforcement officials and judges) have the patience necessary to trace the conflict to its origins, nor do they seem willing to contextualize any particular aspect of the conflict by studying it as part of an overall pattern of behavior.

Schmalfeldt began his involvement by declaring to Melissa Brewer (@catsrimportant) — an ally of Kimberlin and Rauhauser — that he wanted coverage of the Walker case not written by “some right-wing shithead.” He then started to hector Walker, questioning whether the convicted bomber Kimberlin had done anything threatening. Schmalfeldt offered as his motive his “strong views about the First Amendment.”

Keep in mind that, on May 20, Schmalfeldt evidently got himself banned from Daily Kos, where he’d been a diarist less than six months. Schmalfeldt’s stint as a blogger at the Examiner was terminated May 2, after he was accused of abusive conduct toward fellow Examiner contributor Joe Newby. (Shmalfeldt resurfaced June 22 as Examiner columnist “Bill Matthews,” only to be terminated again Aug. 6 after his deception was discovered.) His “strong views about the First Amendment,” we may suppose, involve Schmalfeldt’s antisocial belief that he should be able to say anything to anyone in other people’s privately-owned online space, without regard for the proprietors’ rules or even basic human decency. (See “Bill Schmalfeldt: Too Disgusting For Daily Kos,” Nov. 25, by Lee Stranahan.)

“Troll Rights” may be an interesting legal concept, but it’s a lousy career strategy. Schmalfeldt entered early June with more than one burnt bridge behind him, and his apparent plan for redemption was to make himself the white knight who would slay the dreaded Aaron Walker dragon that was threatening that noble progressive, Brett Kimberlin.

“The Narcissist as Self-Imagined Hero” — Schmalfeldt isn’t the first such character we’ve encountered. Incapable of accepting responsibility for his own errors and misfortunes, the narcissist instead externalizes blame for his failures, demonizing and scapegoating others. Unwilling or unable to emulate successful people, the narcissist envies them. Viewing success as a zero-sum game, he convinces himself that the game is rigged against him, and that the success of others results from their unfairly taking advantage of the “system,” thus wrongly cheating him out of the rewards and admiration he believes he deserves.

All people naturally want to think well of themselves, and even people with healthy minds are susceptible to the psychological defense mechanisms involved in narcissism. The difference between normal self-regard and pathological narcissism, however, is the profound ego-damage that motivates the narcissist, and his inability to recognize or accept the reality of his situation. In its most extreme manifestation, narcissism becomes paranoid psychosis, as the demonized scapegoats used to explain failure are inflated into an all-powerful “Them.”

Most narcissists never slip over the edge into outright psychosis, but instead exhibit borderline antisocial traits, among them grandiosity — an irrationally exaggerated sense of self-importance — and a tendency to dehumanize others. You can see this, for example, in the grotesque Photoshop image of Sarah Palin that Schmalfeldt used to illustrate his July 26 Examiner post (written under his “Bill Matthews” alias):

Palin bleeding with a spike through her forehead? Coupled with an unfunny “joke” about nipple-piercing? And Bill Schmalfeldt created this image to illustrate a blog post about Chick-fil-A?

Here’s a simple mental health test: You might be dangerously crazy if you need an explanation of what’s wrong with that.

So, Bill Schmalfeldt, courageous defender of the First Amendment, about midway through the 33 days between his getting banned from Daily Kos and his re-emergence at the Examiner as “Bill Matthews,” chooses as a suitable target for destruction Aaron Walker.

Why Aaron Walker?

Well, on May 29 — the Tuesday before the Sunday on which Schmalfeldt began “researching” his anti-Walker attack — Walker had been briefly arrested following a court hearing in Montgomery County, Maryland. That incident was widely reported (see “IBD At Kimberlin Hearing: Walker Handcuffed, 1st Amendment Muzzled,” by David Hogberg, Investors Business Daily) and, for the second time in less than a week, the Kimberlin saga controlled the top seven threads at Memeorandum.

Bill Schmalfeldt, courageous defender of the First Amendment, couldn’t stand it: How dare “some right-wing shithead” claim that he had rights that were threatened by noble progressive Brett Kimberlin? Therefore the white-knight hero would ride forth to save the day by “exposing” Aaron Walker as the dastardly villain. The result of Schmalfeldt’s scheme was a June 6 blog post with this vicious headline:

Buzzing Blowflies Swarming
the Rotten Breitbart Carcass

Ah, yes! That’s it! Schmalfeldt hated Breitbart when he was alive, he heinously mocked Breitbart after he was dead, and he knew that the way to invoke the Left’s sympathy for Brett Kimberlin was to portray Kimberlin as the victim of a Breitbart-inspired “hoax,” just like the Breitbart “hoax” that had brought down Anthony Weiner.

What? You didn’t know that Weiner was the victim of a “hoax”?

Maybe you aren’t one of the “Weiner Truthers” who coalesced around a certain Web site that is now run by Bill Schmalfeldt.

Narcissists crave attention, and some people think that the best way to deal with Bill Schmalfeldt is to ignore him. Schmalfeldt started cyberstalking Aaron Walker in June, and I tried to ignore him. It wasn’t until September that his name was first mentioned on this blog.

We keep re-learning the same sad lesson:

“It is very easy to decide ‘this isn’t any of my trouble’ and permit vicious behavior. . . . Who wants to get involved? Easier, and surely safer, just to duck one’s head and hide, and hope the danger visits someone else.”
— Ace of Spades, May 22

Evil is persistent. Duck your head, shrug your shoulders — “Gosh, too bad what happened to Aaron Walker” — and never mind who will be visited next by this particular specimen of evil. Never mind what innocent person the monsters will choose to victimize, because nobody can be bothered to pay attention to what’s happening.

Monsters on the Internet: Sociopathic
Sadism and Bill Schmalfeldt’s Madness

“Sociopathic sadism”? Am I an expert, to make such a judgment? No, but after more than six months of this craziness, I’m pretty damned familiar with it. Never mind what clinical label the diagnosticians might apply. You don’t need a Ph.D. to recognize evil.

Don’t let evil win. Go hit Aaron Walker’s tip jar.

And please, don’t stop praying now.

 

Category: Aaron Worthing, Bill Schmalfeldt, The Kimberlin Files
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