LIVE AT FIVE: 06.26.12
Posted on | June 26, 2012 | 1 Comment
— compiled by Wombat-socho
TOP NEWS
Supremes Strike Down Most Of Arizona Immigration Law
Portion of law requiring state & local police to check status of suspected illegals upheld; Scalia caustically dissents from the bench on the remaining sections of the law which were struck down
NATO Nixes Intervention In Syria
AWACS planes will be dispatched to Turkey, but that’s it
Israel Urges Putin To Lean On Iran
No sign of concessions from Russian president
POLITICS
Obama Claims Outsourcing Is Part Of Romney’s Economic Vision
Romney campaign: Obama resorting to false and discredited attacks to divert attention from his abysmal economic record.
Supremes Strike Down Montana Ban On Corporate Contributions
Justices Rule Out Mandatory Life Sentences For Juveniles
Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. Takes Leave For Exhaustion
DNI Clapper Announces New Measures To Stem Leaks
FBI Rescues 79 Teens From Prostitution, 104 Alleged Pimps Busted
Charlie Rangel’s Moment Of Truth
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Continues Slide: NYMEX $78.91, Brent $90.80
European Shares Claw Back Losses But Concerns Persist
Asian Shares Fall Over EU Summit Skepticism
Stocks Dive As Spain Seeks Help For Banks
News Corp Considers Splitting Publishing, Entertainment Businesses
Porsche Looking To Close Sale Of Sports Car Unit To VW As Fast As Possible
Microsoft Purchases Yammer For $1.2 Billion
Facebook Irritates The User Base Again
Microsoft Late To The Tablet Game, But Its Strengths Could Make The Difference
Orbitz Guides Mac Users To More Expensive Hotels
Angry Birds Drives Quietly Into Formula One
Google Claims More Than 500 School Districts In US, Europe Now Using Chromebooks
Two British LulzSec Hackers Plead Guilty
SPORTS
Wildcats Begin CWS Dynasty By Beating Cocks
Arizona beats South Carolina 4-1 in Game 2 to win College World Series
Mets’ R.A. Dickey Hopes Sandusky Trial Opens Peoples’ Eyes To Sex Abuse
Youk Not Enough For Sox As Liriano Leads Twins In 7-1 Romp
Ortiz Lone Bright Spot From Red Sox In 9-6 Loss To Jays
Tomlin Tagged Early, Yankees Juggernaut Crushes Tribe 7-1
Byrd Banned 50 Games For Using Tamoxifen
Fish Blow Late Lead, Fall To Cardinals In 10th
Zito Ends Skid, Giants Come Through With Offense In 8-0 Thrashing Of Dodgers
Latos Fans 13, Gets Two Hits As Reds Beat Brewers 3-1
Strasburg’s Streak Ends As Nats Fall To Rockies’ Rally, 4-2
FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Paris Hilton Makes Big DJ Debut In Brazil
And by “big” we mean utterly awful.
Jenny McCarthy On The Cover Of Playboy
Anti-vaccination scam must not be paying off
Vile People Being Deposed On Disgusting Topics
Aubrey O’Day: I Have Mental Issues
“Magic Mike” Star Denies He Stole Stripper Moves From Former Co-Workers
Travolta Sued By Former Cruise Ship Employee
Meet Zooey Deschanel’s New Guy Jamie Linden
FOREIGNERS
Turkey Warns UN Over Syrian Threat To Security
Greek Finance Minister-Designate Resigns, Citing Health Problems
Mumbai Terror Attack Suspect Captured By Indian Police
Japan’s Lower House Approves Doubling Sales Tax
MI5 Chief Discusses Terrorist Threat Before Olympics
Al-Baghdadi Extradition To Libya Sets Off Row Between Tunisian President, PM
Afghan Jihadis Kill 13 Pakistani Troops, Behead 7
Ukraine Court Hears Tymoshenko Appeal
Nigerian President Seeks New Tactics Against Boko Haram
BLOGS & STUFF
Lonely Conservative: Homeland Security Cancels Arizona Immigration Enforcement Agreements
AmSpecBlog: Pinning Romney Down On Arizona
Valley Of The Shadow: Prepping The Battlespace Against SCOTUS And Election 2012
Volokh Conspiracy: Let’s Play “Spot The Logical Fallacy” (James Fallows Edition)
Jammie Wearing Fools: Crackpot James Fallows Says USA Undergoing A Coup Or Something
Riehl World View: “Scalia Rages Against Obama” – Nonsense.
Babalu: Obama’s Oath Of Obfuscation
Wake Up America: Oh FFS – Voter ID Laws Stop Voter Fraud = Better Results For Republicans, DUH
Weasel Zippers: No Joke, Government Spending $2.5 Million To Advertise Food Stamps
Sister Toldjah: #FastAndFurious – Conspiracy Or Stupidity?
Brendan Nyhan: Thomas Friedman’s Law Of Cliche Recycling
Jawa Report: Welcome To The Club, GOProud
Jim Treacher: Maurice Sendak’s Murderous Fantasy
Aaron Walker SWATted?
Posted on | June 25, 2012 | 93 Comments
FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
The escalating insanity has apparently reached new heights. Just when Aaron Walker achieved a court victory — this:
Readers will excuse the intensity of my reaction, but I simply cannot imagine that any criminal would be so stupidly overconfident to attempt such a thing, at a time when there is so much public attention on the subject. It boggles the mind.
UPDATE: Patterico reports:
It happened around 6 p.m. Eastern. I briefly talked with one of the police officers at the scene, who confirmed that someone had called saying he had shot his wife, and sent officers to Aaron’s address.
I just got off the phone with Aaron and he and his wife are a little shaken up but OK. The officers had machine guns but did not point them at Aaron. They were quickly able to determine it was a hoax.
More reaction at Twitchy. Memo to The Washington Post: This is now what they call “local news.” Get on it.
UPDATE II: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Perhaps now readers understand why I’ve spent the past five weeks at an Undisclosed Location.
Handing off the “night desk” to Bob Belvedere for further updates.
UPDATE III: Cops with M-4 automatics knocked on the door. Aaron said to the cops, “Let me guess, someone claimed I shot my wife…?”
– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown
Healing Butt-Hurt: Theory and Practice
Posted on | June 25, 2012 | 32 Comments
FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Today Mrs. Other McCain got the news that we had been turned down on a rental application for what we had hoped would be our new home, which is rather a bitter pill, considering that we now have less than five days to find a new home. Selah.
It has been five weeks today since I published “Never Doubt That God Answers Prayer,” my first post from an Undisclosed Location, and I’ve been Whereabouts Unknown since then. Also, today is the one month anniversary of “Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day,” when this story occupied the top eight threads on Memeorandum.
No guts, no glory, eh?
When you decide to go “all in,” you play the hand you’re dealt. I’m grateful for everyone who has hit the tip jar to assist in this unexpected emergency relocation, and tip-jar hitters will please accept my apologies for failing to send thank-you e-mails. I figured you were contributing to keep me reporting on “The Kimberlin Files,” and so I have kept reporting, rather than taking time to thank each of you individually.
Sunday, unfortunately, I wasted several hours composing a reply to an “Open Letter” posted by Seth Allen. About 2,000 words into my reply, I figured it was a waste of time, abandoned the draft and moved on. But this afternoon, during a phone call with a source, I was grumbling about the storm of infighting and recriminations among bloggers over the Kimberlin saga, an unfortunate development that has been a distraction and an emotional drain for the past several weeks. I’ve written nearly nothing about it, simply because it was fundamentally irrelevant to the important story I’ve been trying to cover.
Not to whine, you understand.
Mandy Nagy, Patrick “Patterico” Frey and others have been coping with these problems far longer than I have. Since October 2010, there has been a nearly incessant (but unseen) wrangling over the Kimberlin story, engendering much bitterness, weariness and demoralization. When I jumped onto this story May 17, I had no inkling of the background, and found myself inexorably drawn into a bunch of tedious personal drama that other people have facing for months.
Here I was, thinking we were trying to cover an important news story. Instead, I’d wandered into the International Championship of Butt-Hurt.
You. Have. Literally. No. Idea. Read more
Insanity as an Ideology
Posted on | June 25, 2012 | 10 Comments
Remember what I was saying in the comments on Friday, about the psychological shock of the coming repudiation, and how it would become a Concern (capital intended) as some people simply went crazy?
He speaks of the increasingly deranged James Fallows, but it could equally apply to any number of liberals. As they were utterly graceless in victory, we cannot expect them to lose with dignity.
UPDATED: Aaron Walker Granted Emergency Order in Maryland Hearing, Calls Ruling ‘Important Victory’
Posted on | June 25, 2012 | 68 Comments
FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
At a hearing this morning in Rockville, Maryland, a Montgomery County Circuit Court granted an emergency motion on behalf of attorney/blogger Aaron Walker. The effect of the ruling will permit Walker to resume writing and speaking about convicted terrorist bomber Brett Kimberln.
Judge Nelson W. Rupp Jr. presided over today’s hearing, with attorney Reginald W. Bours III representing Walker, who did not attend the hearing at Judicial Center in Rockville. In a brief telephone interview, Walker said that Kimberlin filed a counter-motion that did not address the First Amendment legal issues at stake, but rather “made a bunch of new accusations” against Walker.
It is important to note that Judge Rupp’s ruling only temporarily permits Walker to speak and write about Kimberlin, pending a July 5 hearing in Maryland state appeals court. Walker is appealing a May 29 ruling by Montgomery County District Court Judge C.J. Vaughey that granted a peace order sought by Kimberlin against Walker.
Walker said he plans to file a report on today’s hearing at his blog, Allergic to Bull. A Virginia attorney, Walker has become the center of national attention since May 17, when he published a 28,000-word blog post entitled, “How Brett Kimberlin Tried to Frame Me for a Crime (And How You Can Help!).” Walker’s post highlighted Kimberlin’s long-running efforts harass and intimidate bloggers who had written about Kimberlin’s criminal history.
Kimberlin is director of a 501(c) non-profit, the Justice Through Music Project, which has collected more than $1.8 million in contributions since 2005. Kimberlin also co-founded another tax-exempt activist group, Velvet Revolution, that has made headlines (and raised money) by making accusations of wrongdoing against a variety of public figures, including GOP strategist Karl Rove, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and the late Andrew Breitbart.
In addition to his appeal in Maryland state courts, Walker has filed for an emergency preliminary injunction in federal court.
As the legal blog Popehat notes, UCLA Law Professor (and popular blogger) Eugene Volokh has agreed to provide pro bono assistance to Walker’s legal defense team. University of Tennessee Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, whose blog Instapundit is one of the most popular center-right sites, has also shown strong support for Walker.
Patrick “Patterico” Frey also promises to provide more commentary about the Walker-Kimberlin case. Walker, writing under the pseudonym “Aaron Worthing,” was formerly a co-blogger at Patterico.com, a popular conservative site.
Award-winning conservative blogger Ace of Spades comments on today’s Maryland ruling. Ace was one of the targets of an escalating pattern of harassment against bloggers that evidently began last year, during the Anthony Weiner cybersex scandal.
Democrat “social media” consultant Neal Rauhauser has described Kimberlin as a “client.” Rauhauser evidently joined forces with Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution group last summer and is suspected of involvement with a Web site, originally aimed at “exposing” Breitbart, which published items indicating an ongoing effort to determine the offline identity of Ace. The anti-Breitbart site has been repeatedly published personal information (including home addresses) of bloggers who wrote about Brett Kimberlin’s criminal past.
Rauhauser became obsessed with a conspiracy theory explanation of the so-called WeinerGate scandal, which resulted in a formerly popular Democratic congressman from New York resigning in disgrace. Rauhauser has boasted of his connections to the criminal computer-hacking ring known as “Anonymous.”
Both Mike Stack, who played a key role in exposing Weiner, and Patterico — blamed as a prime suspect in Rauhauser’s conspiracy theory of the WeinerGate scandal — were targeted by a harassment tactic known as SWATting, a dangerous criminal hoax. In a May 25 blog post, Patterico named Rauhauser, Kimberlin and former Raw Story editor Ron Brynaert among those he suspects of complicity in the bogus 911 call that resulted in a police raid on Patterico’s Los Angeles home.
Aaron Walker describes his own situation: “An Important Victory For Freedom of Expression,” which includes a link to Judge Rupp’s order. Aaron says to expect further updates.
(Note: This article was originally posted at 10:46 a.m. ET as a single paragraph, and subsequently updated seven times over the course of three hours as new information was added. I have now removed the “update” notices for ease of reading.)
UPDATE 10 p.m. ET: Aaron Walker was SWATted tonight.
— Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown
LIVE AT FIVE: 06.25.12
Posted on | June 25, 2012 | 13 Comments
— compiled by Wombat-socho
TOP NEWS
Turkey Turns To NATO After Syria Shoots Down Jet
Turks call for consultations; Alliance will meet today to discuss action. Beginning of the end for Baby Assad?
Supremes To Rule This Week On ObamaCare, Arizona Immigration Cases
Q&A on the most controversial cases this term
Despite Morsi’s Victory, He’ll Have His Hands Tied
New Egyptian President will have limited foreign and domestic options
POLITICS
Orrin Hatch Rakes In Money From Colleagues
Senate pals showering Utah’s senior senator with donations while Tea Party stands aloof
Donors’ Support For Romney Strengthens
Obama Leads Romney In Washington State Donations, But Trails 2008 Haul
Ruling Due On Bid To Dismiss NYC Temple Bomb Plot Case
County Yanks $30 Million In Tax Funds From New 49ers Stadium
Cuomo, Lawmakers Tout Session Results
In Leaked Biden Memo, Veep Warned Obama War Plans Flawed
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Prices Continue To Weaken As Global Economy Continues To Suck: NYMEX $79.39, Brent $90.46
Nissan Announces New $800 Million Factory In PRC
Sony, Panasonic To Team Up For OLED TV Production
Asian Stocks Drift Lower Ahead Of EU Meeting
Anheuser InBev Near Deal For Other 50% Of Grupo Modelo
New Accounting Rules On Public Pension Funds To Yield Greater Disclosure
Hooters-Style Restaurants Experiencing A Mini-Boom
Samsung Galaxy S III Sales To Hit 10 Million In July
Failed HP Slate 500 Behind Microsoft’s Surface Tablet?
Google TV Launches In The UK
RIM Considers Breakup, Sale Of Handset Unit
Facebook’s “Find Friends Nearby” Feature: Creepy Or Clever?
SPORTS
Yankees Rap Dickey On The Knuckler
Control disappears, Yankees tee off for 6-5 win in Subway Series finale
Hawks Target Spurs VP Ferry For GM Job
Rookies Spearhead A’s Win Over Giants
Kurt Busch References “Tiger Blood”, Places Impressive Third At Sonoma
Thome Cashes In With Walk-Off Homer For Phillies
Willingham’s Two-Run Dinger Off Chapman In 9th Gives Twins Win Over Reds
Fish Shut Out Jays To Stop Skid
Wildcats Beat Cocks In College World Series Game 1
Nats Not Offensive Enough, Lose To O’s 2-1
FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Alex Trebek Hospitalized After Heart Attack
Expected to recover in time for next season’s filming in July
“Brave” Wins, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” Doesn’t
Reese Witherspoon Talks Pregnancy, Prom Dress Shopping, And New Film
Lifetime Producers Worried Sick Over Lindsay
Mila Kunis Takes A Hike After “Ted” Premiere
Anderson Cooper Curses Out Photo-snapping Airline Passenger
Penelope Cruz Unleashes Her Passionate Side In “To Rome”
New Mom Jessica Simpson Flaunts Major Cleavage In “Walk Around The Block”
Mia Wasilowska, Zoe Aggeliki In The Mix For Johanna Mason Role In “Catching Fire”
Thunder Road, Casey Affleck Plan Feature About Baseball Star Josh Hamilton
FOREIGNERS
President-elect Mursi Begins Forming Government
Famed Galapagos Tortoise Lonesome George Dies
Norks Whine About Use Of Their Flag In US/ROK Military Exercise
Ailing Greek Leaders Miss EU Summit
Rioting And Gang Reprisals Erupt After Nigerian Church Bombings
Putin Arriving In Israel To Discuss Iran, Syria
Pakistan’s New PM Says Power Crisis, Law & Order Top Goals
Israeli Police Arrest 85 After Violent Protests, Vandalism
Cameron Declares War On Welfare Culture
Bolivian Police Mutiny Over Pay, Other Issues
BLOGS & STUFF
WyBlog: Obama’s Green Energy Policy? Out With Foreign Oil, In With Foreign Solar Panels
Congressman Allen West: Muslim Brotherhood Takeover In Egypt Shows Arab Spring Is Radical Islamic Nightmare
Gateway Pundit: Obama Congratulates Islamist On Big Win In Egypt
Babalu: Game. Set. Match.
Donald Sensing: Ends And Means
American Power: Will You Votes The Values That Will Stand The Test Of Fire?
Althouse: Don’t Like The Court’s Decision? Propose A Court-Packing Plan!
Washington Free Beacon: Campbell Brown Takes On Planned Parenthood
Neo-neocon: How Can ObamaCare Be Unconstitutional When It Gets Us All This Nice Stuff?
Atlas Shrugs: L.A. Jewish Federation Submits To Hamas-Linked Muslim Groups, Cancels Geller Event
Jawa Report: “Fast & Furious” Roundup
An Ex-con’s View: Heaven (Almost) In Oklahoma
Rule 5 Sunday: Away From Home
Posted on | June 24, 2012 | 5 Comments
— compiled by Wombat-socho
Having wasted most of my Sunday (listening to baseball and slaving over the hot pixels of wargame software), it is now time to consider the handiwork of God, as Lewis Grizzard once said before heading down for a tour of Atlanta’s strip clubs.
I am. as usual, obliged to remind the Loyal Readers that while most of the links to follow are quite tasteful and artistic, others are Not Safe For Work, and clicking on them could lead to a serious contamination of your purity of essence, among other unfortunate eventualities. On with the linkagery!
Milking her recent triumph on the FMJRA for all it’s worth, EBL now engages in an udderly fantastic debut on Rule 5 Sunday by sending us a link to 21 pics of Kate Upton, Not content with that, she exhorts us to learn Chinese the sexy way, but overcome with her success, falls headlong into the trap of (classical Japanese) tentacle porn, which in some way is conflated with the equally creepy Obama Wedding Registry thing. Thank God there were no fursuits involved, that’s all I have to say.
The Rio Norte Line has a more attractive alternative to Hope and Change as well as some Cheryl Cole; the POH Diaries has S.E. Cupp, and Laughing Conservatie goes with Danielle Lloyd. Randy’s Roundtable midweek break has Lisa Cazzulimi and another backer of the Eater of Dogs.
Zion’s Trumpet narrows its focus to Raquel Pomplun this week, and Reaganite Republican spotlights Katie Pavlich. First Street Journal has more women with weapons (as opposed to girls with guns), while from Fishersville Mike comes the depressing reminder that football season is not far off.
Soylent Green kicks off early with a Sunday Snoochita, followed by a Monday Motivationer, Tuesday Titillation, Humpday Hawt, Solstice Snooch, Beach Breakfast, some driftwood, and wraps up with some overnight awesome.
A View From The Beach checks in with a Vanilla Ice reference suitable for last week’s heat wave, follows with a cheap shot at Liz Warren, zombies, the obligatory cave girls, and some dating advice involving dogs.
El Opinador Compulsivo goes with the Steampunk Dozen (which kinda makes up for the lack of Corset Friday at Soylent Green) and Jessica Jane Clement. Proof Positive has Marilia Moreno, vintage babe Susan Sarandon, and in the Sex In Advertising segment, it’s “You’re Not The First”. Three Beers Later provides fresh Juliana Moreira, and Dustbury has Condola Rashad, Tristan Prettyman. and Zooey without the palooza.
We end this Rule 5 Sunday as we end all our Rule 5 Sundays, with the Daley Gator’s Daleybabes: Misa Campo, Chili, Rutina Wesley, Ashanti, Kim Delaney, Saiyuki Matsumoto, Jennifer Nicole Lee, and a Rule 5 Tour with Megumi Fukushita.
Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Deadline for next Sunday’s Rule 5 roundup with be Saturday, June 30; please be sure your links go to the Rule 5 Wombat mailbox.
The Silence of Mark Singer; Also: Kimberlin v. Walker Hearing Monday
Posted on | June 24, 2012 | 13 Comments
FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Three years ago, progressive blogger Seth Allen was in communication with Mark Singer, whose 1996 book Citizen K: The Deeply Weird American Journey of Brett Kimberlin, had exposed Kimberlin as pathologically dishonest — a “top-flight con man,” as a reviewer for Publisher’s Weekly put it.
A February 2009 e-mail exhange published by Allen shows that Singer was approached by investigative reporter Joe Lauria, who was impressed by Allen’s writing under his “Prepostericity” pseudonym. Lauria wrote to Singer that Allen had “emerged as a player” by exposing the falsehoods promoted by Kimberlin’s tax-exempt 501(c) non-profit Velvet Revolution. Kimberlin was threatening to sue Singer for his alleged involvement with Allen and Ohio attorney Cliff Arnebeck.
Arnebeck had supported Kimberlin’s claims that Republicans “stole” the 2004 election by rigging the vote in Ohio, but there was a subsequent falling-out between the two. Sources have told me that Arnebeck suspected Kimberlin of financial wrongdoing.
For some reason, it appears Lauria never wrote anything about Kimberlin or Velvet Revolution, and Singer has remained silent for more than three years, even while Kimberlin has waged an escalating war of harassment against bloggers, including Allen.
Monday morning, there will be a hearing in Montgomery County (Md.) Circuit Court on an appeal by attorney/blogger Aaron Walker, who was arrested last month after he was accused of violating a peace order obtained by Kimberlin.
UPDATE: Walker will be represented by attorney Reginald W. Bours III at Monday’s hearing at Circuit Court (Judicial Center, 50 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850). David Hogberg of Investors Business Daily reported Friday that Bours has filed an emergency motion in Circuit Court seeking “a partial stay or a modification of Kimberlin’s peace order that would in effect lift the peace order until the Appeals Court hears the case on July 5th.”
In a May 29 ruling that outraged First Amendment activists, District Court Judge C.J. Vaughey effectively imposed a gag order that prevents Walker from writing or speaking about Kimberlin.
Welcome, Instapundit readers!
UPDATE II: Aaron Walker became a target of Kimberlin’s “lawfare” strategy after Walker offered volunteer legal assistance to Seth Allen. In October 2010, Kimberlin sued Allen, who had been criticizing Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution (whose director is blogger Brad Friedman) in a variety of liberal Web forums, including Democrat Underground. Allen blames Friedman and former Raw Story reporter Larisa Alexandrovna for getting him banned at DU and other sites, including Daily Kos.
Walker had been a co-blogger at the Patterico blog, whose proprietor Patrick Frey had written critically of Kimberlin. The escalating legal conflict, driven by Kimberlin’s efforts to silence his online crtitics, resulted in Walker publishing on May 17 a 28,000-word blog post entitled, “How Brett Kimberlin Tried to Frame Me for a Crime (And How You Can Help!).”
In addition to his appeal in Maryland state courts, Walker has filed for an emergency preliminary injunction in federal court.
– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown







