Holy Freaking Crap! High School Seniors Suspended, Accused of ‘White Supremacy’ for Wearing White T-Shirts to School

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Stogie at Saberpoint calls attention to this bizarre example of political correctness run amok in California:

Students banned from a Central Coast school for wearing a white t-shirt. On Wednesday, Soquel High School suspended at least two students. The students say it’s because of allegations, they’re part of a white supremacist group. . . .
Soquel High Senior Mikey Donnelly wore a white t-shirt for his senior class photo Tuesday. About 10 of his friends did the same. That decision may seem harmless. But Soquel High suspended Donnelly for three days because of it. . . .
Soquel High Principal Ken Lawrence-Emanuel was very tight-lipped about it, saying students’ punishments are confidential. But told me the school got several complaints about a white pride group on campus.

Read the whole thing. This is insane. And the fact that one of the accused students is Asian sort of argues against that suspicion.

Lawyers: We Could ‘Gravely Undermine the Credibility’ of Strauss-Kahn Accuser

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Accusing the prosecution of trying the case in the media, the defense takes its own shot at trying the case in the media:

Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn have contended that they possess information that they believe will undermine the credibility of the hotel housekeeper who has accused their client of sexual assault.
The suggestion, contained in a three-page letter from the lawyers to Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, was almost entirely devoted to the lawyers’ complaints about unauthorized disclosures of the case to the press. But it included a reference to unspecified information that they said would hurt the prosecution’s case.
In the letter, sent Wednesday and made public Thursday, the lawyers, William W. Taylor III and Benjamin Brafman, complained “that our client’s right to a fair trial is being compromised by the public disclosure of prejudicial material even before these materials have been disclosed to his counsel.”
“Indeed,” they added, “were we intent on improperly feeding the media frenzy, we could now release substantial information that in our view would seriously undermine the quality of this prosecution and also gravely undermine the credibility of the complainant in this case.”
The letter seemed to serve as a form of legal gamesmanship — allowing Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers to hint at damaging information about the housekeeper without revealing it.

That a wealthy and powerful French socialist could be brought to ruin by a Guinean immigrant hotel maid is one of those priceless ironies, isn’t it? Speaking of priceless ironies, how about this September 2009 photo of Strauss-Kahn leering at Michelle Obama?

“Some pictures say a thousand words. This one just says two: No Touching.”

BTW, when this photo was posted at AOSHQ, the Morons™ got so out of control that Ace deleted the post and took the night off.

UPDATE: Seriously, at comment #67, Ace says, “Last post ever on Michelle Obama. I don’t care if she murders someone.” Not sure exactly what the commenters said to inspire the deletion, but it seems that some people don’t find the First Lady attractive, and therefore made derogatory statements about her.

Good-Bye, Global Population Control!

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And it’s certainly about time!

Spurred on by a public vote in which pro-life advocates said cutting funding for the pro-abortion UNFPA agency was their top desire, Congressional Republicans have filed legislation to yank millions from the UN organization. . . .
The vote at the popular YouCut web site makes it so the public will be able to track the progress of the legislation as it moves through the legislative process.
Rep. Renee Ellmers, of North Carolina, will be introducing legislation soon.
“This is going to save American taxpayers $400 million dollars over a 10 year period and it’s just another part of what we’re doing here in Washington to cut wasteful spending that we see happening,” she said in a new video introducing the bill. “And I am very excited to be part of this program and each week we will have more cuts coming forward.”

Here’s video of Rep. Ellmers making the announcement:

Rep. Ellmers’ Facebook page is here.

Why Does Eric Alterman Hate Pioneering Gay NY Times Columnist Frank Bruni?

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If you want a perfect example of how the Left pushes for more liberal press coverage, this is it: Eric Alterman accuses new-minted New York Times columnist Frank Bruni of being too soft on Bush.

It is not good enough for Alterman that Bruni is, and always has been, a reliably liberal member of the press corps. No, in Alterman’s universe, the job of reporters is to act as partisan attack dogs against Republicans. And so if Frank Bruni doesn’t fulfill that Alterman-approved role, he will be treated as the enemy.

There is something vaguely totalitarian in this attitude, and I think it is not an accident that the target of Alterman’s bullying is The First Gay Columnist in the Whole Dadgum History of the New York Times™.

Dave Weigel: ‘Hey, You Know Who’s Doing Pretty Good? Herman Cain.’

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Our boy Dave takes a look at the Gallup numbers and notices that the Hermanator has zoomed up in the GOP 2012 pack without benefit of much previous national media exposure, and despite the generally dismissive attitudes of such pundits as Karl Rove, Charles Krauthammer and Michael Barone. Here are the numbers:

Mitt Romney . . . . . . . . 17%
Sarah Palin . . . . . . . . . 15%
Ron Paul . . . . . . . . . . . 10%
Newt Gingrich . . . . . . . 9%
Herman Cain . . . . . . . . 8%
Tim Pawlenty . . . . . . . . 6%
Michele Bachmann . . . . 5%
Jon Huntsman . . . . . . . . 2%
Gary Johnson . . . . . . . . 2%
Rick Santorum . . . . . . . 2%

A couple of caveats about this poll: First, it’s nationwide, and there is no such thing as a nationwide primary. Secondly, they polled Republicans and “Republican-leaning independents,” whatever that means.

All caveats considered, however, this poll is the latest indication that pundits who have been dismissive of Herman Cain are making a serious mistake. If Tim Pawlenty is a “first-tier” candidate, you cannot now deny Cain is “first-tier,” too.

Dick Morris says Herman Cain “blew me away” at a Wisconsin Tea Party rally and, even though Morris doesn’t think Cain can win, he admits that he’s got “magic” and says he can’t be counted out.

Isn’t it time you joined the online grassroots army at Citizens for Cain?

ADDENDUM: Permit me to remind you exactly how early I foresaw the potential of Cain’s campaign. It was less than two weeks after the election last year and, at the end of a very long post on November 13, I included the clip of Herman Cain’s June speech at the SRLC in New Orleans. He ended that speech by making a plug for a possible “dark horse” campaign in 2012, and I wrote:

Say what you will about Mitt Romney, at least he’s got some meaningful private-sector experience. But if you want a successful businessman for the 2012 GOP nomination, how about a dark horse? . . .
Yeah: Herman Cain. Having backed a few can’t-possibly-win underdogs in the past couple of years — I went all-in for Rubio when he was 35 points down — I’m taking a long, hard look at that dark horse. It might not be the “pragmatic” thing to do, but I’m thinking a few “blogospheric demagogues” might be in a mood to really bust some balls for 2012.

Perhaps some analysts have overlooked the extent to which the Cain campaign is an anti-establishment ball-busting operation. There are a lot of grassroots conservatives who are sick and tired of having the GOP establishment and the elite pundits pick their candidates. If Cain could somehow win the nomination, he would owe the Republican establishment exactly nothing.

Heh. Heh. Heh.


Is Governor Palin Running in 2012?

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Earlier this month, Fox News ended its contracts with GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. The network also reportedly delivered an ultimatum to Mike Huckabee that he, too, must decide: Either give up his Fox show or disavow a 2012 presidential run.

When Sarah Palin chose then to continue her contract with Fox, I deduced that she had decided not to be a candidate in 2012. Three weeks later, however, observers have started chattering over several signals that Palin may decide to jump into the race soon. Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times summarize the developments:

Sarah Palin is fortifying her small staff of advisers, buying a house in Arizona — where associates have said she could base a national campaign — and reviving her schedule of public appearances. The moves are the most concrete signals yet that Ms. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, is seriously weighing a Republican presidential bid.
While it is by no means clear that she would be willing to give up her lucrative speaking career and her perch as an analyst on Fox News to face the scrutiny and combat that would come with her entrance into the race, she is being pressed by supporters for a decision and has acknowledged that time is running out.

The biggest news is the forthcoming pro-Palin documentary, The Undefeated, and the news that the movie will premiere in Iowa — well, well, well.

NBC’s team analyzes the question of who would be helped or hurt by a Palin candidacy. Their conclusion that it would spark a rally to Mitt Romney by the GOP Establishment, desperate to stop Palin at any cost, is probably sound. The original “Palin Twibe” activist, Lisa Graas has her own analysis of the impact.

The latest polls show Romney and Palin virtually neck-and-neck among GOP voters. The problem for Palin now is that Romney has been virtually running since 2008, and that the primary field is now crowded by other candidates who’ve spent the past seven months lining up staff and volunteers in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and other states. The longer she waits, the slimmer the pickings would be when she finally does get in (if she does). Scott Conroy of Real Clear Politics appeared on CBS to discuss the possible Palin campaign:

Doug Brady notes the dismissive attitude of CBS’s Jan Crawford, “a now-familiar mainstream media narrative that’s as predictable as it is delusional.” This narrative — that Palin is damaged goods who would be a certain loser against Obama in 2012 — can only be disproven in one way: By Palin getting into the campaign, winning the GOP nomination, and getting elected in November 2012.

The question, then: How badly does Palin want to disprove that narrative?

Beating Women Drivers?

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Strange news from Saudi Arabia:

A campaign has been launched on Facebook calling for men to beat Saudi women who drive their cars in a planned protest next month against the ultra-conservative kingdom’s ban on women taking the wheel.
The call comes as activists are demanding the release of Manal al-Sharif, a Saudi woman who was jailed for defying the ban.

This is crazy. If you ban women from driving, how is your wife supposed to go buy you more beer during the football game?