The Other McCain

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

If You Thinked That Romney Is Shocked By #OccupyResoluteDesk, You May Have The Problem

Posted on | July 20, 2012 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Come on, Bill:

How am I supposed to trust the judgment of a man who is such a dumbass that he’s actually shocked and surprised by Obama acting towards him the way Obama has acted toward every other political foe Obama has ever faced?
This pathetic tale makes Romney out to be either an ignoramus or a fool. Which one is it?

Romney cleaves to the Bush-ian tradition of ‘being above the fray’, coming out to surf the zeitgeist, while coloring well within the lines:

A more reasonable charge might be that Mitt is hoarding his political capital a bit more than necessary. Maybe he could spend more time on offense. But one interpretation of the body language could be that Romney is anxious not to let Obama appear wounded and cornered by Romney; self-immolation is fine, but Mitt needs to remain above the fray, knowing that the race card is in hot standby.

All of which is worth precisely what you paid for it.

Category: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Video

LIVE AT FIVE: 07.20.12

Posted on | July 20, 2012 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Syrian Rebels Seize Border Crossings; Fighting Continues In Damascus

A rebel waves shortly before defacing Assad's portrait at a crossing point on the Turkish border

Russia, PRC veto UNSC resolution on Syrian sanctions, indicate they’ll approve extension of observer mission

US Whooping Cough Outbreak Could Be Worst In 50 Years
New vaccine wearing off sooner?

Police Seek Bomber’s Identity; Israel Blames Iran
Bomber had fake Michigan driver’s license, may have had support inside Bulgaria



POLITICS
Obama. Romney Tangle On Healthcare, Economy

Mitt Romney

Obama rolls out the Mediscare attacks while Romney continues to pound on the economy

Is Michelle Bachmann Following In The Footsteps Of Joe McCarthy?

San Francisco Sheriff Mirkarimi’s Wife To Testify At Ethics Hearing

DoD Allows Uniformed Servicemembers To March In Gay Pride Parade

Pentagon Clamping Down On Classified Leaks

Los Angeles Reopens City Park Trashed By Occupods

GSA Inspector Probes Another Lavish Awards Ceremony



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Continues Up, Spurred BY Renewed Tension In Middle East; NYMEX $91.98, Brent $107.45
US Weekly Jobless Claims Shoot Back Up
Google Profit Jumps 28% To $11 Billion
Help Us, Marissa Mayer. You’re Our Only Hope
Private Student Loan Market Mirrored Housing Bubble
PRC Stocks Continue To Fall, Extending Slump Into Fifth Week
Microsoft Posts First Ever Quarterly Loss
GPS Hijacking Catches Feds, Drone Makers Off Guard
HTC Confirms Jelly Bean For Flagship Smartphones
Five Reasons The Google Nexus Beats The iPad
Dell Gives Linux Laptops Another Chance
Cat Signal Celebrates Launch Of Internet Defense League



SPORTS
Cody Ross To The Rescue

Cody Ross saves the day for the Red Sox

Three-run dinger in bottom of 9th pulls it out for Boston

Cespedes Homers, Griffin Shuts Down Yanks And A’s Win 4-3

Rockets Send Courtney Lee To Celtics For Three Players & A Draft Pick

Volquez Blanks Astros For 1-0 Win

Cavaliers Hope To Land Dwight Howard

Giants Can’t Find The Big Hits, Lose 3-2 To Braves

More Power For Big Ten Commissioner?

Gio Battered As Flutterball Flummoxes Nats’ Hitters; Mets Win 9-5



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Jordin Sparks Shows Off Sleek New Figure

Jordin Sparks

The Shape interview

Fred Willard Arrested For Lewd Conduct, Fired From PBS
Lying, racism, okay – but accused of wanking in a pr0n theater? OMG! Fire him!

Jessica Simpson Not On Track To Hit Weight Watchers Payday Goal

Bethenny Frankel On Marital Woes
New Tashes On The Block


Tom Davis, Best Known As Al Franken’s Sidekick, Dies At 59

Battle Continues To Rage Over Michael Jackson’s Will

“Amazing Spider Man” Director May Not Return For Sequel

Pregnant Snooki Tells Newt “I’m Trying To Be Like You”

Gwyneth Paltrow To Star In Adaptation Of Foodie Memoir “Blood, Bones & Butter”



FOREIGNERS
Tory Voters Threaten To Turn On PM Cameron
Venezuela Condemns Rebel Attack In Syrian Capital
US Refuses To Help Syrian Rebels Until After Election
Bundestag Votes To Protect Religious Circumcision
Religious Tensions Erupt In Tatarstan; Salafists Strike Back
Taiwan Teen Dies After Playing Diablo 3 For 40 Straight Hours
Amnesty International Claims Burma’s Muslims Targeted For Violence
Norks To Experiment With Economic Reforms: Cabinet Forms Politburo To Wrest Control Of Economy Back From Military
250,000 Mourn Passing Of Haredi Rabbi Elyashiv At 102



BLOGS & STUFF
Jammie Wearing Fools: Stupid Lefty Meme Of The Day
Weasel Zippers: DNC Apologizes To Ann Romney For Horse Therapy Mockery
Pat Sajak: Defining Moments
Legal Insurrection: Thank You, Elizabeth Warren (For Possibly Costing Obama The Election)
Rush Limbaugh: It’s The Ideology, Stupid
Lonely Conservative: Obama Campaign Attacks Romney For Using Obama’s Own Words Against Him
Atlas Shrugs: Bulgarian Bomber Was Former Gitmo Inmate; Swedish Jihadi Feted By Left
Lonely Conservative: Want To Support Companies Supporting Conservatives? Here’s a List
Hit & Run: “Aaron Sorkin Is Why People Hate Liberals”
James Taranto: Explaining Obama’s Ressentiment
Glenn Beck: Michele Bachmann Responds To Attacks
Beltway Confidential: Context Doesn’t Improve Obama’s Comments On Building Businesses
American Thinker: The Roanoke Shuffle
Power Line: Lack Of Edge May Be The Rubio Edge
Gateway Pundit: Obama Partners With Mexico To Increase Food Stamp Use

Category: Live at Five

Did Someone Say ‘Beandogs’?

Posted on | July 19, 2012 | 16 Comments

Nice Deb invokes the magic word to describe the harassment of The Lonely Conservative, and let’s notice something in the list of methods:

They’ve told me to slit my own throat. They’ve called me every foul name you can think of. They’ve insulted my husband, accused me of molesting my children and threatened to report me to my local school board. They impersonated my husband and contacted a local divorce attorney. They tried to have pornographic sex toys catalogues sent to my home. They have sent emails on my behalf to my elected representatives advocating for policies I disagree with completely. . . .They’ve called my home using Caller ID spoofing software or websites. They’ve let me know they know where I live.

Caller ID spoofing? They know where you live? Gee, that sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it?

“One of the things they’ve done to people who have worked with me in the past, including an L.A. prosecutor, is to ‘SWAT.’ That means that they’re spoofing phones, pretending to be somebody else’s phone, calling 911, and saying ‘I killed somebody’ and then the person’s home is met with the guns drawn, the SWAT and the helicopters, in a horrifying act. It’s happened twice: once in New Jersey, once in Los Angeles . . .”
— Andrew Breitbart, Feb. 29, 2012

Targeting someone for harassment using deceptive means to conceal participants’ online identities? Perhaps “to engage them with a synthetic presence”? Hey, that sounds kinda familiar, too!

In 2010, Rauhauser was involved in a scandal known as “TwitterGate.” Using a Twitter account called @WingNutWatch, Rauhauser was accused of having “organized a group of E-Thugs meant to harass, threaten, provoke, disparage, intimidate, verbally assault, berate & employ hate-speech against those not in agreement with his brand of politics,” to cite blogger Patrick Read’s September 2010 description. . . .
On Aug. 31, 2010, the same day he declared his intent to go after “right wing cells,” Rauhauser created a sock-puppet account he called “WingNutWatch,” which then acted as a sort of Twitter ringleader for the effort he described. It took less than a month, however, for Greg Howard, Patrick Read and @ZapEm to document the malicious actions of Rauhauser and his “beandogs,” resulting in the “WingNutWatch” account being shut down by Twitter.

Not only has Neal Rauhauser personally engaged in this kind harassment — go read Patterico’s 3,000-word account of how Neal used his “Gaped Crusader” persona for that purpose — Rauhauser has advocated such harassment and instructed others in these methods. Go read what Rauhauser wrote about “persona management” (how to protect a secret online identity), and then read Rauhauser’s account of how he joined forces with a “very big dog from Anonymous” in a plan to attack Brett Kimberlin’s enemies. Now, go read Rauhauser’s strategy to attack conservatives online in two posts (using his alias “Stranded Wind”) at the site Open Left:

Those two posts laid out the basic game plan of “TwitterGate,” an orchestrated campaign of harassment that erupted in September 2010, mere weeks after Rauhauser was a featured speaker at the DailyKos “Netroots Nation” conference.

The point is that Rauhauser is not just some random guy on the Internet, but has been a ringleader in fomenting the kind of viciousness that has been directed at The Lonely Conservative and others. When the people running the astroturf boycott against Rush Limbaugh’s advertisers feared their group had been infiltrated, they got Neal Rauhauser to “dox” the suspected spy:

Rauhauser . . . mused about exposing the man to harassment by sending his personal information to online groups.
“I have been sorely tempted to point him out to various actors — a guy like this, he could really produce some high quality entertainment for 4chan, Something Awful, Encyclopedia Dramatica, etc.,” Rauhauser wrote in his e-mail reply to [“Stop Rush” leader Matt Edelstein].

This is who Neal Rauhauser is. This is what Neal Rauhauser does.

He targets people for harassment and incites others to join his attacks on his targeted enemies, which he calls “high quality entertainment.” Having advocated such attacks, and having boasted of his skill at concealment and deception, Rauhauser cannot complain that he is wrongly suspected of complicity when the sadistic methods he has previously employed and endorsed are used to harass an innocent woman like The Lonely Conservative.

Remember that, when describing his plan to harass conservatives online in August 2010, Neal Rauhauser explained that his strategy was intended to provoke them into doing something that would provide the basis of civil or criminal prosecution:

We’re dealing with people who have likely had no interaction with the court system beyond a traffic ticket; the potential for a pro se litigant to force them into expensive, long distance, lengthy, discovery laden litigation doesn’t seem to cross their minds.

So there is profound irony in observing that Rauhauser is one of three defendants (along with Brett Kimberlin and Ron Brynaert) named in a Virginia lawsuit Aaron Walker filed in January:

Something tells me that twelve ordinary Virginians are not going to be very tolerant of this convicted domestic terrorist’s antics.

Probably not.

UPDATE: Linked by William Hoge — thanks! — and welcome, Instapundit readers! Zilla Stevenson has an honor roll of bloggers who have rallied to support and defend The Lonely Conservative.

BTW, Aaron Walker e-mails to say that the way I quoted him, it accidently implies that Rauhauser is the “convicted domestic terrorist” whose “antics” will be heard by a Virginia jury.

Of course, that description by Walker actually references Brett Kimberlin. However, the two appear to have become quite nearly inseparable, and every time Kimberlin shows up in court, Neal is part of the Brett’s entourage.

UPDATE II: Ace of Spades wrote this on May 22:

It is very easy to decide “this isn’t any of my trouble” and permit vicious behavior.
Easy. Perhaps understandable.
But hardly ethical. And certainly not heroic.
Who wants to get involved? Easier, and surely safer, just to duck one’s head and hide, and hope the danger visits someone else.
Perhaps the alligator will prefer to eat someone else first. Perhaps his belly will be full.
And why should you stick your neck out?

Here we are nearly two months later, watching as the alligators chomp on The Lonely Conservative’s leg, and it infuriates me. Because I know damned well this kind of harassment could be prevented, if law enforcement and political leaders were really determined to stop it.

 

Category: The Kimberlin Files

Ancient Commenter Solomon On The Topic Of Paint Huffers, Or Harry Reid, Insofar As A Difference Is Discernable

Posted on | July 19, 2012 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Proverbs 29:18

Hot Air brings the depressing detail, emphasis mine:

The Weekly Standard: Leader Reid, when it comes to the Bush tax cuts…why didn’t Senate Democrats push through this bill back when you controlled the Senate, the House, and the presidency?
REID: The tax cuts weren’t about to expire then. So that’s why we’re doing it now.
TWS: You could have foreseen this issue two years ago.
REPORTER: What are you talking about? They expired at the end of 2010.
REID: And that’s why they were extended one year.
TWS: Why didn’t they vote when you could have pushed this bill through and had it signed into law?
REID: Next question.

Somebody who is an actual statesman, and not a scarecrow in a suit, would see that the tax code itself is a train wreck, and set about reforming that.

Instead, Reid has run interference these years for #OccupyResoluteDesk, ensuring that a well-led government yielded priority only to submitting a budget.

Fall off the planet, Harry Reid.

Category: Democrats, Nevada, Video

Chick-Fil-A Not Exactly ‘Reeling From Backlash’ Against Common-Sense Attitude

Posted on | July 19, 2012 | 27 Comments

by Smitty

Let’s see if we can break this down:

  • Chick-Fil-A is a business.
  • Businesses (especially those whose owners build them on their own) rather fancy having customers.
  • Practices which don’t lead to customers (homosexuality, Origenism, beastiality, whatever) merit rejection.


Anecdotally, the local Chick-Fil-A is wall-to-wall customers all the time.

via American Power

Update: Daily Pundit links with what are, I guess, additional common-sense positions Chick-Fil-A could choose to espouse.

Category: American Power

‘You Didn’t Lose Your Job. Somebody Else Made That Happen.’

Posted on | July 19, 2012 | 14 Comments

And by “somebody else,” I mean, Barack Hussein Obama:

U.S. jobless claims jumped 34,000 to 386,000 last week, the government reported Thursday, reflecting typical summertime fluctuations in auto-industry employment.
Applications for unemployment benefits are now back to somewhat elevated levels after falling two weeks ago to a four-year low, suggesting the labor market remains sluggish.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast claims would rise to a seasonally adjusted 365,000 in the week ended July 14. The level of claims is a rough gauge of whether layoffs are rising or falling.
Claims in the prior week were revised up to 352,000 from 350,000.

The unemployment applications exceeded forecasts by 21,000 and that’s just “typical,” eh? Unemployment is just “somewhat elevated,” eh?

And by the way, does anyone remember the Labor Department’s unemployment numbers being revised downward during this administration? Or am I correct in suspecting that the initial report pretty much always understates the numbers, and then they come back to “revise upward” later on when they think we won’t notice? Dog-bites-man headline of the day:

Economic Fears Hurting Obama, Poll Indicates

You didn’t need a poll to know that. Somebody else needed that poll.

It’s Obama’s economy, stupid.

UPDATE: Guess it’s time to post this video:

Somehow I get the feeling Obama will say on Nov. 7, “I didn’t lose that election. Somebody else made that happen.”

MITT ROMNEY for PRESIDENT
Make That Happen


Category: Barack Obama, Economics

Places I Arguably Should Not Go, #OccupyResoluteDesk Edition

Posted on | July 19, 2012 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

I've got the finger right on you

If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.

Obama’s attacks against the right continue:

Yeah, I'm guessing God isn't too worried about BHO.

Should even the Almighty render props?

As American Power points out, “Despite Months of Negative Ads, Voters Not Buying Obama’s Dishonest Attacks on Mitt Romney”

If someone else (the government) did it for Romney,

  • How does Romney manage to be a diabolical capitalist, then?
  • How is the government both the cause and the cure of all this economic injustice?
  • Was the author of Obama’s biographies also a composite character provided from elsewhere?

Via Insty, for anybody who misunderstands the Left’s whole bogus Postmodern attempt to contradict your lying ears, your attention is drawn to this lengthy but worthwhile outing.

Because somebody else put that broom and dustpan there:

Category: Barack Obama, humor

Poison Pen E-Mail and the Harassment of the Lonely Conservative

Posted on | July 19, 2012 | 14 Comments

Go read The Lonely Conservative’s account of the fake e-mail in which an evil person impersonated Wombat and defamed me.

Read Wombat’s account: “Game On.” Read my reaction: “How’s Your Gaelic, Neal Rauhauser?”

Wombat and I are big boys who can defend ourselves.

The Lonely Conservatives is a woman who has been sadistically harassed by the Left. You should go hit her tip jar.

Category: The Lonely Conservative
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