The Other McCain

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

Rule 5 Sunday: Leave Room For Cream

Posted on | June 24, 2024 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

There used to be a bikini barista drive-through coffee joint in Las Vegas down by the Palms, but I think it went under thanks to then-Governor Sisolak’s stupid COVID shutdown. The baristas at the Vegas Dunkin Donuts stores are more modest than this young lady, at least in my experience. H/T kbdabear on X.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

I’ll have a Boston Cream with that, honey.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule Five Government Waste Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: Jordon Hudson, Saturday Night Girls With Guns, Melanie McLaren, Anti-MAGA Debate Camp, Summertime, Summer Starts Now, Oh Crap It’s Almost Midsommar, Talulah Riley, European Sports Hooliganism, Diane Franklin, and Connie Francis

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Herbert’s Girls, Fish Pic Friday – Touch The Sky, Cheap Fakes or Cheap Thrills?, Obsessed, The Wednesday Wetness, Tattoo Tuesday, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Random Celebrity News, Forget It Jake, It’s Baltimore, Is Weiss Going After Hunter on FARA violations? and Palm Sunday 

FLAPPR: T.I.T.S. for June 21

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

Amazon Warehouse Deals
Deals on Premium Beauty Products
Visit Amazon’s Intimate Apparel Shop
Shop Sex & Sensuality Gifts




 

Category: Rule 5

AOC, ‘ADOS,’ and the Strange New Contours of ‘White Supremacy’

Posted on | June 23, 2024 | 1 Comment

One of the basic problems of young extremists — this is equally true of Nick Fuentes and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — is that they don’t know history, and cannot be made to understand why history matters. A few years ago, Michelle Malkin tried to get Fuentes to abandon his Jew-hating (thus to make his “Groypers” a force capable of influencing mainstream politics), but that proved to be a futile effort. There is a puerile attitude, an adolescent thrill-seeking mentality, the frisson of defying the taboo, in youth who engage in anti-Semitism the way other youth get their thrills by illegally riding ATVs in the city. The attraction of being a neo-Nazi type, as in any kind of extremism, is the opportunity to be a Big Fish in a Small Pond. A desire to “be somebody” in the political realm means entering a competition with all the other players in the game; it’s much easier to “be somebody” among the radical fringe, where the numbers are much smaller and your competitors for influence are generally not the sharpest tools in the shed. But I digress . . .

What is the real problem with American foreign policy? Is it, as AOC and Nick Fuentes apparently agree, that Jews have too much influence?

This was the burden of AOC’s “freakout” about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which is trying to unseat New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman in the Democratic primary:

In response to AOC’s preposterously bratty shot at AIPAC, the organization responded, correctly, that polling definitively shows American voters to be pro-Israel and therefore members of Congress are responding to their constituents, not fear of Jewish money.
To that, Ocasio-Cortez shot back: “If AIPAC positions were so popular, they’d be free. Instead, they’re bought.” Ocasio-Cortez posted that last night, but I am writing this now because I have only just stopped laughing at her attempt at wit. Not with. At.
In fact, AIPAC’s positions are unquestionably popular on the whole—even AOC is capable of seeing that. But the overall point that campaign donations represent only unpopular opinions is ironic given that, as others pointed out to her, AOC is no fundraising lightweight. If her position is that she is bought and paid for, and therefore she assumes that to be true of others—well, that is quite the projection, but please leave the American Jewish community out of it.
At this point, Ocasio-Cortez essentially exists to live-tweet a 2024 adaptation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Indeed. But is Fuentes correct that an “America First” policy is (or should be) as reflexively anti-Israel as AOC and Jamaal Bowman? Is that the real problem with American foreign policy? No, the real problem is that the United States foreign policy establishment has never developed a coherent worldview since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s brought an end to the Cold War. This problem can be summed up in a mindlessly repeated phrase: “Our European allies.”

For more than 40 years, American foreign policy was organized around the principle of containing Communism, countering the Soviet nuclear threat, and blocking efforts by the Soviets to spread their Marxist-Leninist ideology through revolution, subversion and military aggression — “wars of national liberation.” The NATO alliance was crucial to that geopolitical strategy, and thus pandering to the concerns of “our European allies” became part of American diplomatic practice. The collapse of the Soviet Union created an opportunity to reorient American policy, particularly by helping the former Communist bloc countries successfully enter the global market economy and develop democratic socio-political cultures, but that opportunity was squandered by the Clinton Administration, which was run by people with zero understanding of human nature, and no apparent desire to advance U.S. interests. Then came the GW Bush years, 9/11, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which among other things exposed the fact that most of “our European allies” had ceased to be capable of mounting any kind of large-scale military expedition. If “allies” are not helpful in time of war, what’s the point of the alliance? How many armored divisions could France or Germany (or Belgium, etc.) deploy if push came to shove? How many boots could they put on the ground? Even if you could go down the list of our NATO allies and list a certain number of combat-ready battalions, what are the chances that we could persuade them to actually put those troops in harm’s way? “Our European allies” are decadent — they are weak and cowardly and not worth a damn in terms of any deterrent effect. The “peace-through-strength” calculation that is our only true basis of security is ruined by the reality of European weakness.

That, my friends, is the basic problem of American foreign policy, and while I don’t have any simple solutions to this problem in mind, my point is that anyone whining about Israel is completely misguided in terms of what “America First” should mean. At least Israel has an effective military and is willing to use it, which is something you can’t say for most of “our European allies.” It should be obvious that left-wingers like AOC hate Israel mainly because Israel is a good ally — anything that’s good for America, AOC will predictably be against it. As for Nick Fuentes, it’s probably best to view him an irresponsible brat, like a schoolboy scrawling swastikas in his notebook just to make his teacher mad.

‘White Supremacist’ = Jew-Hater?

Let us now, however, examine the way AOC uses the term “white supremacy” in denouncing Nick Fuentes. What exactly does she mean by this phrase? Until about 10 years ago, the accusation of “white supremacy” was rare, even in the liberal media. Accusations of racism — “RAAAAACISM!” — were fairly common, but as Trump emerged as a GOP contender, suddenly “white supremacy” loomed large.

That graphic, showing the frequency of use of “white supremacy”/“white supremacist” in four major media outlets (the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal), was done by Zack Goldberg of Tablet in 2020, and I’d urge everyone to read the whole thing. Goldberg’s focus was the emergence of “woke” racial rhetoric in the media, but what I specifically wish to call to the attention of readers is the anti-Semitic connotation of “white supremacist,” its function as a “dog whistle” to the Jewish audience.

As I have sometimes observed, everybody is “racist” in some sense of that word. One synonym for “racist” is ethnocentric, which is to say, we are concerned not only with ourselves as individuals, but also, considering ourselves to be members of some particular ethnic group, are also concerned with the welfare of whatever group that may be. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this ethnocentric attitude, which is merely an expression of human nature. Mankind has always been tribal, it’s the basic wiring of our social outlook. Living in an affluent, technologically advanced society, especially where communication systems give us immediate access to people and places across the globe, it’s easy to lose sight of the tribal aspect of human nature. The educated person is always tempted to think of himself as a sophisticated cosmopolitan — un citoyen du monde — but this attitude is itself a manifestation of our innate tribalism, since the cosmopolitan seeks to identify himself as a member of a “tribe” of like-minded people (e.g., the Ivy League assholes who run the State Department).

What is my “tribe”? How do I identify? Years ago, Michael Barone, the veteran chronicler of political demographics, took notice of those who, when asked on Census forms to identify their ancestry (Irish, Italian, etc.) chose “American.” These people, Barone explained, tended to live in rural areas and to be of what has sometimes been called “Old Stock” ancestry. That is to say, they are descended from the pioneer colonial settlers, so that all their ancestors are listed in the first Census of 1790.

That’s the grave of my ancestor who served in the South Carolina militia that defeated the British in the Battle of Cowpens. As I said in my Memorial Day post: “An awareness of one’s ancestry provides a deeper appreciation of history, which is valuable to our sense of who we are, and gives us a perspective that we might not otherwise possess.” Unfortunately, most Americans know nearly nothing of their ancestry — many couldn’t even tell you their paternal grandmother’s maiden name — and so lack this sense of themselves as the heirs of a historical legacy.

The stigmatization of white people (which is what the media rhetoric about “white supremacy” is really about) produces different reactions in different white people, depending on their own sense of identity. One way that some people try to deflect this insult is to say that their ancestors were immigrants who arrived after the Civil War — the Ellis Island cohort, largely from southern and eastern Europe — so that they cannot be held responsible for slavery, Jim Crow, etc. This was a big reason why the term “WASP” (white Anglo-Saxon Protestant) enjoyed a remarkable vogue during the 1960s and ’70s: If you were an Irish Catholic, Italian, Polish, etc., and wanted to distinguish yourself in a way to disavow responsibility for racism, you’d point the finger toward those “WASPs” as being the real villains of the American racial melodrama.

Excuse me if such “WASP”-bashing has always offended me. What you are saying, Mister Kowalski, is that your grand-grandmother from Krakow was somehow better than my great-grandmother from Alabama? And that, by logical inference, you are therefore superior to me?

Most people know nothing more about logic than they know about genealogy, of course, and one must learn to shrug off such unintended insults, but the point I’m trying to get at is how the term “white supremacy” acquired a connotation of anti-Semitism that “racist” does not have. Furthermore, I wish to persuade you, many of the people who are nowadays slinging around the accusation of “white supremacy” do so with exactly that connotation in mind. That is to say, Democrats know damn well that when Jewish people hear the term “white supremacy” they think of Jew-hating neo-Nazis, so that accusing Republicans of “white supremacy” functions as a propaganda tactic to keep Jewish voters from questioning their loyalty to the Democratic Party, in a way analogous to Joe Biden’s infamous warning to black voters about Mitt Romney: “They gonna put y’all back in chains.”

Winning elections by appealing to irrational fear — why is it that Democrats are never held accountable for such tactics? Except of course, that the news media are “Democratic operatives with bylines,” so they cheerfully applaud such tactics by Democrats. If any Republican engages in similar demagoguery, however, suddenly the media are full of indignant outrage: “How dare they do the same thing we do!”

Tribalism as a Zero-Sum Game

Democratic Party rhetoric is like the made-up “Festivus” holiday from Seinfeld — its main point is The Airing of Grievances. Various groups must be told, over and over again, how they are Victims of Oppression, and how Republicans are somehow responsible for this alleged oppression. In Minnesota, Democrats actually incorporated this idea into their name, the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), expressing the idea of an inherent unity of interest between farmers (i.e., impoverished peasants) and “labor” (i.e., the proletariat of Marxist jargon), all of whom were somehow oppressed by . . . Well, who, exactly?

The crypto-Marxist mentality of the DFL, with its implied representation of one side of a struggle between economic classes, stands in contradiction to the meritocratic view of Americans society, where everybody is free to get ahead by their own efforts. The essential message of Democratic Party rhetoric (not just in Minnesota) is that the American Dream of opportunity is a cruel lie. Anyone who is not already rich is forever doomed to poverty and misery — and BLAME REPUBLICANS!

However successful this message may be in mobilizing Democratic voters, the Festivus-style Airing of Grievances approach to politics has a harmful psychological impact on individuals. Is it any wonder that liberal young women are experiencing a mental health crisis? They have immersed themselves in “woke” politics, where the Victimhood Mentality is a sort of secular gospel, and this is the antithesis of healthy thinking.

Jon Haidt has analyzed the ways in which “woke” beliefs impair mental health by denying personal agency. If you know anything at all about mental health, you know how important it is for people to feel that they are in control of their own lives, rather than being subject to an “external locus of control.” Arguably the worst form of psychosis, paranoid schizophrenia, is characterized by the patient’s belief that he is menaced by controlling outside forces, the CIA monitoring his brain waves or whatever. Developing a sense of personal agency means that we must accept responsibility for our own flaws and failures, which can be difficult, but the alternative — blaming all our problems on some external “them” — is a roadmap to insanity. And it’s this blame-game view of life that Democrats are constantly promoting, which explains why the Democratic Party attracts lunatics like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The Airing of Grievances would be bad enough if it were limited to controversies and conflicts in the here-and-now. Yet Democrats encourage people to feel resentments based on grievances inherited from the past. Conjuring up fears of “white supremacy” among Jews involves making them think that today’s Republican is not essentially different from the Nazis who perpetrated the Holocaust, even if — in the here-and-now context — nearly all the Jew-hating rhetoric is coming from the Left. The message is: “Vote for the party of Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar because Donald Trump is Literally Hitler! Orange Man Bad!”

Anyone who closely examines the so-called “pro-Palestine” movement will see that it’s based on the same crypto-Marxist ideology that inspires every other left-wing cause, including Black Lives Matter, #MeToo feminism, LGBTQIA+ radicalism, etc. — the us-and-them conflict of Oppressors and Victims, the appeal to historic grievances, the exaggeration of wrongs, etc. And, of course, if you attempt to interrogate their claims, the advocates of these social justice causes will denounce you as a hateful enemy. Identity politics involves a zero-sum-game worldview, in which inflicting harm on them (the enemy) is always good, even if there is no obvious benefit to us. It’s like the old Russian joke about two peasant ladies who “lived across the road from each other. One had a cow, sold milk and was therefore (by local standards) rich. The other old lady had no cow and was poorer. A genie appeared and offered the poor lady one wish. Thinking for a moment she answered: ‘Kill my neighbor’s cow.’” This is exactly the attitude of Hamas supporters toward the Jews in Israel — the Jews are hated because they are more successful than their Arab neighbors. And never mind asking why the Jews are successful, because the answer might not be flattering to the Arabs.

Juliette Akinyi Ochieng

‘ADOS’ and Black Authenticity

My friend Juliette Ochieng, a/k/a “Baldilocks,” is an old school blogger from way before I even started my own blog. During the Great LGF Blog War of 2009, when Charles Johnson became obsessed with me — me! — as proof that the Republican Party was being taken over by “white supremacists,” Juliette never flinched from her conviction that CJ was the problem, and not me (or Pamela Geller or anyone else at whom CJ pointed the accusatory finger). Seems like a million years ago . . .

Juliette’s got up a Substack post about black Americans who “strive to differentiate themselves from black Africans and Caribbean immigrants using two terms: African-American Descendants of Slaves (ADOS) and Foundational Black Americans (FBA).” Several years ago, I became aware of this “ADOS” discourse not from grudge-holding left-wing ax-grinders, but rather from some black conservatives who pointed out that Kamala Harris is not “black,” in this sense, nor is she truly “African-American,” because none of her ancestors were from America. Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, is from India. Shyamala first came to the United States as a graduate student at the University of California-Berkeley, where she got her Ph.D. in 1964, while Kamala’s Jamaican father, Donald Harris, who also came to the U.S. as a graduate student, got his Ph.D. at Berkeley in 1966. And despite the efforts of media “fact-checkers” to obscure the truth, Donald Harris himself cited his descent from prominent Jamaican slave owner Hamilton Brown.

Do such distinctions among black Americans matter, and if so, why? Juliette (whose father is from Kenya and whose mother is “ADOS”) rejects such “splintered, scattered thinking,” and notes that many ADOS activists, who generally disparage latter-day African immigrants, had no problem with Barack Obama, who is half-Kenyan/half-white.

Let me here note that I’ve never indulged in the common habit of some right-wingers of loudly condemning black racism. As I’ve said, everybody is “racist” in some sense of that word, and I don’t think there is much to be gained, in terms of political persuasion, in acting indignant about black people being racist. In all honesty, if I were black, while I might not be jumping aboard the Louis Farrakhan bandwagon or joining the “Black Hebrew Israelite” cult, certainly I’d find some way of expressing my sense of racial pride. Whoever you are, whatever niche of humanity you belong to, an ethnocentric sense of pride would seem beneficial, and not harmful. If I were Jewish, I’d be a proud Jew; if I were Greek, I’d be a proud Greek; as it is, I’m an American and proud of it.

Ah, but what about diversity? And what about the not-so-secret racial spoils system of quotas that are imposed in the name of “diversity”?

That’s what the “ADOS” activists really have in mind when they make a big deal about who is (and is not) authentically black. When an elite university imposes admissions quotas — and, as evidence in a recent Supreme Court case showed, Harvard University had a 14% quote for black students — it makes a big difference who gets counted as black. If the objective of Harvard’s “diversity” policy is to deliver some degree of social justice to black people in America, isn’t it rather important to point out that the descendants of Cotton Belt slaves derive no benefit from Harvard granting admission to the offspring of wealthy immigrants?

See, these catch-all racial categories — white, black, Hispanic, Asian — are too large to be useful as measures of where any one individual might fall within the “privilege”/“oppression” matrix that those who operate diversity programs intend to adjust via social engineering. Not everyone who counts as Hispanic is an impoverished mestizo laborer, not every black person is fresh out of the ghetto, and certainly not every white person in America is “privileged,” a point that J.D. Vance sought to drive home in Hillbilly Elegy. Yet these sorts of stereotypical assumptions are built into the “diversity” regime, which is why I can’t imagine any white male even bothering to apply to an Ivy League school nowadays, as these “elite” universities have long since made clear that they are organized on the basis of a categorical hatred of white males.

‘Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes’

The ranting idiot known as AOC, who strives to identify as a Woman of Color (and thus, automatically, a Victim of Oppression) grew up in affluent Westchester County, where she was known as “Sandy” Cortez to friends. Her father was the CEO of an architectural firm, and her whole radical left-wing “struggle” against oppression is just a shtick she learned while attending Boston University (annual tuition $65,168). All this rhetoric about social justice — especially including what AOC and her comrades say about Israel and Gaza — is based on the idea that membership in some group justifies people in a Festivus-style “Airing of Grievances” attitude, giving rise to universal animosity, what Hobbes described as bellum omnium contra omnes, “the war of all against all.”

In the same way (and for the same reason) that Democrats hype the threat of “white supremacy,” they also accuse Republicans of promoting “Christian nationalism.” It should be obvious that both of these propaganda phrases are aimed at keeping Jews so afraid of Republicans — “Orange Man Bad!” — that they’ll vote for Joe Biden, despite the disastrous consequences of Biden’s policies for Israel, despite the blatant anti-Semitism expressed by Democrats like Jamaal Bowman, and despite the fact that American Christians are overwhelmingly pro-Israel.

Joe Biden got 77 percent of the Jewish vote in 2020, and if we’re going to engage in the collective-guilt game of identity politics, if any Jew wants to apologize for electing Joe Biden, I’d be willing to consider accepting their apology. But in lieu of such an apology, I’ll just be satisfied if Biden gets less than 77% of the Jewish vote this time around, and I don’t expect to be disappointed in that hope. Fears of a “right-wing” threat to American Jews are mostly hypothetical, whereas the Hamas threat is very real, and if you didn’t already know which party was pro-Hamas, AOC and her friends are doing everything they can to make it clear to you.

People need to wake the hell up, before it’s too late.



 

Shop Electronics at Amazon

Save on Groceries and Everyday Essentials

Shop Amazon Basics

Office & School Supplies

Category: Democrats, History, Racism

FMJRA 2.0: Bullpen Blues

Posted on | June 23, 2024 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Bullpen Blues

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Senators went 2-3 this week, losing two games against the Pirates thanks to poor pitching by the relief corps until Reggie Cleveland went the distance in Game Three to salvage a win. Next, we split a pair at Kansas City, where Joe Coleman won his 12th game against Bert Blyleven in an 8-0 blowout. Unfortunately Pat Dobson lost his 11th game because our hitters, who on paper should completely demolish lefty pitchers, couldn’t score even one run off Clyde Wright, and we lost that one 3-0. Still in in fifth place in our division at 39-45, four games in back of the Twins and four ahead of the A’s.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

We could sure use a closer like Ricky Vaughn.

The Warning From Sweden
Vulture Of Critique
The Daley Gator
Flappr
EBL
357 Magnum

 

 


Crime Wave in Monkey Junction
The Daley Gator
EBL
357 Magnum

‘I’m Saying He’s Whacked Out’
EBL
357 Magnum

Aspiring Rapper Update
EBL
357 Magnum

Maryland Sheriff Blasts Biden: ‘We Are 1,800 Miles Away from the Southern Border Here in Harford County and the American Citizens Are Not Safe Because of Failed Immigration Policies’
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Typical Wisconsin Democrat Gets Arrested Twice, Charged With Five Felonies
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

FMJRA 2.0: No Surrender
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Rule 5 Sunday: Just What It Says On Her Label
Animal Magnetism
Flappr
A View From The Beach
EBL

Two Innocent Bystanders Killed in Mass Shooting at Texas ‘Juneteenth’ Celebration
Flappr
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.18.24 (Afternoon Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.18.24 (Evening Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.19.24
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

The Star Treatment
EBL
357 Magnum

‘We Need to Do More for Mental Health,’ Says Woman Who Lived With Convict Whose Face Was Covered in Tattoos 
The Daley Gator
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.20.24
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Another #NeverTrump Embarrassment: ‘Lewd and Lascivious Behavior’
First Street Journal
EBL
357 Magnum
A View From The Beach

In The Mailbox: 06.21.24
EBL
357 Magnum
A View From The Beach

Top linkers for the week ending June 21:

  1.  EBL (17)
  2.  357 Magnum (16)
  3.  A View From The Beach (11)

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

Amazon Warehouse Deals
Major League
Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever
Ball Four
The Closer


 

Category: FMJRA Award

Mass Murder in Fordyce, Arkansas

Posted on | June 22, 2024 | 1 Comment

Accused gunman Travis Posey

As soon as this shooting made the news on Friday, I immediately said what every Alabama fan said: “Bear Bryant’s hometown!”

Fordyce, in rural Dallas County, Arkansas, gave to the world the son of cotton farmers who went on to become the winningest football coach of his era, and the local high school football stadium is named in honor of Paul Bryant, who earned his famous nickname as a 13-year-old when he accepted a dare to wrestle a bear at a carnival. Like much of the heartland of America, rural Arkansas has experienced a “hollowing out” in recent decades; Dallas County’s population has declined by about a third in the past 25 years, and barely 6,000 people live there now.

It was terrible what happened there Friday:

Three people were killed and at least 11 others — including two police officers — were wounded in a mass shooting at a grocery store in Arkansas Friday morning.
The suspect — identified by the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Office as Travis Posey, 44 — was shot by law enforcement and is now in custody.
Posey, a trucker, was previously arrested in 2011 for possessing a handgun at the gates of a New York military base near the Canadian border.
Eleven civilians were shot– three of them fatally — at the Mad Butcher in Fordyce, Mike Hagar, the Secretary of Arkansas Dept. of Public Safety and the Director of the Arkansas State Police said at a press conference. . . .
A motive was unclear as of Friday afternoon. . . .
“I am thankful to law enforcement and first responders for their quick and heroic action to save lives. My prayers are with the victims and all those impacted by this horrific incident,” Gov. Huckabee Sanders posted online ahead of the afternoon presser.
Posey, a truck driver from New Edinburg, Ark., was arrested in New York in 2011 for possessing a handgun at the Fort Drum military base in Watertown, about 30 miles from the Canadian border, a local outlet wrote at the time.
He was charged with 4th-degree criminal possession of a weapon but pleaded down to disorderly conduct in the town of LeRay Court. Police confiscated the gun and he paid a fine of $200.
Arkansas State Police said late Friday that Posey was being charged with three counts of capital murder with additional charges pending.

As my brother has said, “Crazy doesn’t need a motive.”



 

Shop Electronics at Amazon

Save on Groceries and Everyday Essentials

Shop Amazon Basics

Office & School Supplies

Category: Arkansas, Crime

In The Mailbox: 06.21.24

Posted on | June 21, 2024 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Usual weekend deadlines for the usual weekend posts.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: The Weaponization Of The DOJ Continues Under Biden
EBL: Summer Time, Donald Sutherland RIP, and Jocelyn Nungaray RIP – 12 Year Old Girl from Texas Raped and Murdered by Illegals From Venezuela
Twitchy: The Award For Best Comedic Response To Protest Punks Goes To Jake Tapper’s Kids, Sean Davis Has A Compelling Argument To Support The Notion of A SCOTUS Leak, and James Woods Puts The Administration On Blast For Its New Comms Director
Louder With Crowder: Kevin Costner finally makes official what “Yellowstone” fans were dreading to hear, also, DEI college course encourages students to live like bugs in order to understand marginalized groups
Vox Popoli: Mad, Bad, and Dead, also, Expect Surprises
According To Hoyt: Two Sides Of A Lie, Before You Run, and The Noble Bubbleheads
Monster Hunter Nation: Catalyst – the end of Steve Diamond’s Jack Bishop trilogy

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Poll Shows Farage Set to Win Seat in Landslide, also, Washington Post Newsroom Revolt Dissuades Named Editor from Taking Job
American Greatness: Study Shows Nearly Half of Electric Vehicle Owners Want to Return to Normal Cars, How California’s Paradise Become our Purgatory, and Peace Through Strength: The Stark Contrast Between Trump and Biden
American Thinker: ‘No Tax On Tips’ Reveals the Chasm Between Left and Right
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Government Waste Friday, also, Animal Magnetism LIVE Ep. 12 – Grandma’s Irises
Babalu Blog: Cuban professor describes her violent detention: ‘Cuba is a police state’, Political humor under a regime with no sense of humor, and Without fuel or electricity, Cubans turn to cooking with wood inside and outside their homes
Baldilocks: The Grudges
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm for June 21
Behind The Black: Japan’s space agency reveals it was hacked in 2023, New debris from another Dragon service module discovered in North Carolina, SpaceX announces a mini-version of Starlink designed for backpackers, Spanish high altitude balloon company releases artwork of its proposed passenger capsule, Family whose home was damaged by NASA battery ejected from ISS files claim, and Emerson College in Boston leads the way in supporting Hamas and losing enrollment
Cafe Hayek: If Weather Is Climate
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday
Chicago Boyz: Grand Canyon, also, It Was Funnier In a Movie
Da Tech Guy: By This Time Next Week the Issue of Joe Biden Will be Decided
Dana Loesch: SCOTUS Upholds Ban On Firearms Subject To Domestic Violence Protection Orders
Don Surber: Garter Snake Mitt speaks
Gates Of Vienna: Summertime Sexual Emergencies in Austria
The Geller Report: BIDEN FAIL: China and the Philippines Inch Closer to Conflict in the South China Sea
Hollywood In Toto: Why Sydney Sweeney’s ‘Barbarella’ Could Rock Hollywood
The Lid: Illinois Bleeding Tax Payers Dry with $100K+ Salaries, Education Waste, and More
Legal Insurrection: Manhattan DA Drops Most Charges Against People Who Took Over Columbia U. Building and Allegedly Held Custodians Hostage, Biden Freeze Videos: Democrats Fear the Public Will Believe Their Own Eyes, Not Media Lies, Democrat Congressional Staffer Goes Viral After Thanking Biden for ‘Canceling’ His Student Debt, ‘I Would Do it Again’: Utah Troon Admits Murdering His Parents, Illegal Aliens Arrested for Rapes, Murders of Maryland Mom, NYC and Houston Teens Shouldn’t Have Been in the U.S., and Oakland Leaders, Voters Demand Answers After FBI Raids Mayor Thao’s House
Nebraska Energy Observer: Scattershot Friday
Outkick: Move Over Caitlin Clark, The College World Series Is The Hottest Ticket This Summer As Vols And Aggies Battle, Roger Goodell Says NFL Will Continue To Push LGBTQ Outreach Because ‘Diversity Makes Us Better’, Arizona Coyotes May Not Be Able To Build A New Stadium In Phoenix, Texas A&M Baseball Can Win 1st National Championship In Major Sport Since 1939 In Football, Jaylen Brown Takes Shot At Stephen A. Smith With Parade Outfit, and Heidi Klum Does A Topless Wing Eating Contest, NFL Reporter Melanie Collins Ready For Summer & Chipotle Brawl
Power Line: Is anti-Zionism anti-Semitism? Ten German Bombers, Why Netanyahu called out Biden, and Thoughts from the ammo line
Shark Tank: DeSantis Announces Massive GDP Growth In Florida – Double National Rate
Shot In The Dark: It’s Transit Memorial Day, also, Filed Under “Things That Don’t Happen In Texas, Wyoming, Or The Dakotas”
The Political Hat: Firing Line Friday: A Murder Case
This Ain’t Hell: Valor Friday, Illinois law maker wants to criminalize flying the American flag upside down, School apologizes for calling ISIS a terrorist group, and You damn conservatives!
Transterrestrial Musings: Totalitarianism, California’s Paradise, Nifty Fifty, The Trouble WIth (Many) Teachers, The Pro-Hamas Universities, and The Stanford Internet Observatory
Victory Girls: Democrats Want Palestinian Refugees In The United States
Volokh Conspiracy: The Sixteenth Amendment did not “Overrule” Pollock
Watts Up With That: BBC Pushes U.S. Heatwave Story but Buries ‘Junuary’ Winter Storm Story, Highway Funds Illegally used for Floating Wind Factories, and Larry Fink at WEF destroys net zero due to AI power demands
The Federalist: It’s Past Time For American Jews To Abandon The Democrat Party, DHS Group Called Being ‘Religious’ An ‘Indicator’ Of Domestic Terrorism, True Tolerance Demands An End To The Persecution Of Jack Phillips, Supreme Court’s Immigration Rebuke Suggests Biden’s Border Order Is Unconstitutional, It Could Soon Be Illegal For California Teachers To Tell Parents About Kids’ Trans Confusion, Biden’s Push For Ukraine To Join NATO Is More About Dollars Than ‘Democracy’, and Yes, Democrats Have Made Milwaukee A ‘Horrible’ City

Amazon Warehouse Deals
Catalyst
Kelly’s Heroes
The Dirty Dozen
M*A*S*H
Buffy The Vampire Slayer


 

Category: Linkagery

Another #NeverTrump Embarrassment: ‘Lewd and Lascivious Behavior’

Posted on | June 21, 2024 | 2 Comments

“The people who drafted McMullin to be the ‘Never Trump’ independent candidate are some of the Republican establishment’s most well-known operatives: Bill Kristol, John Kingston, Joel Searby, Rick Wilson. McMullin is an unknown congressional staffer who worked for the CIA, including 10 years undercover, and has no political experience whatsoever.”
— Washington Post, Aug. 22, 2016

You may have forgotten — or possibly never noticed — the “independent” presidential candidacy of Evan McMullin in 2016. For a while, McMullin was the darling of the #NeverTrump types (Kristol, David French, et al.), who tried to hype him up as a viable candidate. The campaign (with former GOP operative Mindy Finn as McMullin’s VP running mate) was a sad joke, which managed to get barely 730,00 votes (less than one-half of one percent of the total) and failed to achieve its only real goal, i.e., to take votes away from Donald Trump and thereby elect Hillary Clinton.

Did I mention — because it seems relevant — that the McMullin campaign cheated its employees and vendors to the tune of $669,330.95?

The “chief strategist” of that debacle was Joel Searby who, going from one grift to another, in 2022 became political director of the short-lived “Renew America Movement,” which subsequently merged into the Forward Party (founded by 2020 Democratic primary candidate Andrew Yang), but Searby’s Forward Party grift didn’t last long, and by August 2023, he had moved onto his next grift: “Newberry Education First,” which is (or at least was) an effort to convert three public schools in Alachua County, Florida, into charter schools.

Meanwhile, however, Searby kept busy in other ways:

An Alachua County judge ordered a Newberry Education First board member to be held without bond at a first appearance hearing Friday morning.
Joel Searby, 43, was booked into the Alachua County Jail on Thursday on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior, communication to lure a minor, communication to travel to meet a minor, and using a communication device to commit a felony. According to the arrest report, he solicited sex from an underage boy on Snapchat.
Searby was one of the people leading the charge to attempt to convert Newberry public schools into charter schools.
The arrest report from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office transcribes a conversation that started on Wednesday between Searby and the victim on the messaging app Snapchat. In the message chain, Searby asked the 15-year-old if he has ever had a crush on an older man and then describes a sexual encounter he had as a teen with an adult man.
Searby sent the boy multiple photos of himself with his face obscured, including a photo of his hand in his pants. He then invited the boy to visit his home the next morning, secretly.
He suggested the victim should sneak out and go to Searby’s guest house. He would send the boy a text asking him to go over to help with yard work as an excuse for his parents.
“Evidence is pretty damning, and it’s scary for me as a parent,” shared parent Brandy Oldman.
On Thursday morning, law enforcement took over the boy’s account and continued the conversation with Searby. He confirmed the meet-up for “yard work” and a detective pretending to be the victim asked if they would be “jerking off” or something more.
Searby replied to the victim’s account, “I would like to do more but we can take it one step at a time and if I start doing anything you don’t want to do we can stop. I’ll walk you through it.”
Detectives then executed a search warrant at Searby’s home on Southwest 170th Street and he was taken into custody. Searby invoked his right to remain silent. He was booked into the Alachua County Jail and his bond has yet to be set.

“Allegedly,” I hasten to add, although I suspect Searby will be too busy trying to stay out of prison to be filing lawsuits against a blogger who forgot to use “allegedly” about these felony charges.

Probably the best-case scenario for Searby is that he can get a plea deal that lets him off with probation before November so he can then organize the “Convicted Sex Offenders for Biden 2024 Super PAC.”



 

Shop Electronics at Amazon

Save on Groceries and Everyday Essentials

Shop Amazon Basics

Office & School Supplies

Category: Crime, Florida

In The Mailbox: 06.20.24

Posted on | June 21, 2024 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

Ireland for the Irish

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Don’t Bring A Screwdriver To A Gunfight
EBL: Thanks Joe Biden, Summer Starts Now, and Oh Crap, It’s almost Midsommar!
Twitchy: Senator John Kennedy Shames Judicial Nominee For Finding “A Lot Of Good” In Child Molester, James O’Keefe Exposes Disney VP Saying The Company “Will Never Hire A White Male”, and Wisconsin Supremes Get Very Creative With Definition Of “Sidewalk”
Louder With Crowder: Man who drove on street that a Pride mural was painted on stands by his actions: “I Have No Regrets”
Vox Popoli: Veniunt, Infamaverunt, Mortui Sunt, Do Not Fear the Good, and The Excommunication of a Bishop
Upstream Reviews: League of Angels, also, Lost Planet Homicide
Stoic Observations: The Texas Stock Exchange

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Rishi Sunak on Track to Lose His Seat, also, France’s ‘New Popular Front’ Faces Extremism Woes
American Greatness: Pistol Packing Pedagogues, also, How California’s Paradise Become our Purgatory
American Thinker: The West’s War on Critical Thinking
Animal Magnetism: First Day of Summer, also, Animal’s Red Thursday News
Babalu Blog: Less than 1% of the homes needed to address Cuba’s housing shortage have been built, Nicaragua’s socialist dictator now targeting protestant churches, and Number of Cuban women murdered by their partners continues to increase, along with other types of violence
BattleSwarm: Oakland Residents Celebrate Juneteenth By Shooting At Each Other
Behind The Black: German rocket startup Isar raises another €65 million in investment capital, Blue Origin signs deal to fly Nigerian on New Shepard suborbital flight, Update on SpaceX activities leading to the next Superheavy/Starship orbital test flight, Rocket Lab launches five smallsats for French commercial constellation, SpaceX launches commercial geosynchronous satellite for SES, and The intellectual dishonesty of Democrats proven once again
Cafe Hayek: The Accounting Misleads, also, China, Slavery, and Trade
CDR Salamander: Submarine Industrial Wishcasting In A Time Dominated By Happy Talk
Da Tech Guy: Investigating Voter Fraud now illegal in Michigan and other matters Under the Fedora, also, Big Government makes it impossible to have fun at a famous lake
Don Surber: NYC sees Trump was right
Gates Of Vienna: Speaking Turkish is Your Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card, A Culture-Enriching Gang Rape by 13-Year-Olds in Courbevoie, and Honor Killing in Worms
The Geller Report: Democrats Suddenly Change 70 Year-Old Election Law to Block Investigation of Election Fraud, House GOP Moves to Reverse J6 Committee Subpoena Against Trump Advisors, and These are the Two Terrorists who DESECRATED, Spray Painted the 5,000 Year Old Stonehenge Monument
Hollywood In Toto: Why We All Slept on Wanderlust, Armie Hammer and the Rise of Cannibal Culture, How O’Keefe & Film Threat Exposed Disney’s DEI Agenda, and Bikeriders Nails Gang Subculture, Fuzzy Moral Compass
The Lid: Biden Spent Billions to Bring WiFi to Rural Areas – In 3 Years Not One Person Connected
Legal Insurrection: Progressive Oakland Mayor Faces Recall in November With District Attorney, New York Rep. Bowman Tries to Erase His Anti-Israel Past on Colbert Show, CBS News Beclowns Itself by Using ‘Wrong Version’ of Biden Video That Made Him Look Even Worse, Mexican Cartel ‘Travel Agencies’ Selling $15,000 Packages to Illegal Aliens for Help to Cross Border, Emerson College Laying Off Staff Amid Enrollment Decline Following Anti-Israel Protests, and Why is the DOJ Prosecuting a Whistleblower Who Exposed the Truth About Trans Medical Practices on Children?
Nebraska Energy Observer: Read
Outkick: Caitlin Clark Gets All The WNBA Attention As Indiana Fever Continues Drastic Improvement, ESPN Reportedly Offers Massive Deal To Stephen A. Smith, Still Short of Network Star’s Demand, Willie Mays Tributes Pour In At Rickwood Field MLB Ceremony, Wimbledon, French Open Champ Carlos Alcaraz Gets $200 Million Nike Deal, Includes His Own Logo, National Anthem Singer At Pirates Game Changes Lyrics, Sparks Debate About Political Agenda, and Kristin Cavallari Enjoys The View From Her Hot Tub, Juneteenth WNBA Shirt Stirs The Pot & Belichick’s Boat
Power Line: Glad to be unhappy, Here’s the Latest Cheap Fake, and Charges Against Columbia Rioters Dismissed
Shark Tank: Rep. Fine Calls For Jill Biden’s Arrest On Elder Abuse Charges
Shot In The Dark: A Little Unfair, also, Back To The Future
STUMP: Gordon Ramsay Shows The Dangers Of Bike Riding & The Importance Of Helmets
The Political Hat: Quick Takes – Enemies Not So Far Abroad: Russia In The Americas; Putin And Kim; Axis Of The Devils
This Ain’t Hell: AF General on trial this week, Hamas Pier, and Donald Sutherland passes, age 88
Transterrestrial Musings: Illegitimate Committee, Mike Rowe, “Young Democrats Like Me”, Boeing’s Latest Starliner Woes, and Israel And Space
Victory Girls: Democrat Staffer Gloats About Taxpayers Paying His Student Loan
Volokh Conspiracy: Professors Lacked First Amendment Right to Post Flyers Calling Colleague and Student Group Racist
Watts Up With That: Great Travel Reset: Britons who travel abroad more than once a year would face punitive ‘frequent flyer’ levies under Green Party proposals, Tomorrow is #ShowYourStripes Day – But we have the real one, and Wealthy Liberals Barrel Ahead with Plans to Block the Sun
The Federalist: ‘Pride’ Parades Are Nothing But Massive Humiliation Rituals, Every Pro-Life State Enacted Support For Pregnant Women And Families Post-Dobbs, Illinois Reporters Use Tragic Child Abuse Case To Dishonestly Smear Homeschool Families, Feminism Killed The Female-Led Action Movie, Election Integrity Groups Urge North Carolina To Pass Citizens-Only Voting Amendment, Pope Francis’ Feel-Good Gospel Fans The Flame Of Radical Gender Ideology, and Press Panics Over Public’s Ability To See Through Activist Narratives
Mark Steyn: Ninth Lives and Eleventh Hours, also, Three’s a Trend

Amazon Warehouse Deals
League of Angels
Lost Planet Homicide
Best Sellers – Health & Household
Best Sellers – Medical Supplies & Equipment
Today’s Deals



  

Category: Linkagery

‘We Need to Do More for Mental Health,’ Says Woman Who Lived With Convict Whose Face Was Covered in Tattoos

Posted on | June 20, 2024 | 1 Comment

Say hello to Lemar Brandon Qualls and, while you’re at it, go ahead and say good-bye, because the late Mr. Qualls got thoroughly ventilated by Indianapolis police last month. The photo above was taken in January 2023 by prison officials in Michigan, about two months before Mr. Qualls was released after serving more than six years on a methamphetamine charge. His conviction on that charge was part of a 2016 plea bargain:

With sentencing guidelines of five-to-23 months, Hillsdale County Circuit Judge Michael R. Smith found numerous reasons to exceed the guidelines including Qualls’ extensive criminal past in Michigan and Indiana.
Qualls currently has an outstanding warrant out of Steuben County where he is wanted for a probation violation.
“You have never completed probation successfully,” Judge Smith said. “You sir need discipline, reformation and guidance.”
Imposing sentencing, Judge Smith ordered Qualls to serve three-to-10 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections with credit for 56 days served.
Pursuant to the plea bargain, charges of operating/maintaining a drug lab, possession of marijuana and felon in possession of a firearm were dismissed.

“Felon in possession of a firearm” is a very serious crime. Having that charge dismissed — and being allowed to plead guilty to simple possession of meth when, in fact, he was manufacturing meth — was quite a generous concession by the prosecutors, but it seems that the judge did not believe leniency toward Mr. Qualls was warranted, considering the “extensive” nature of his prior criminal history.

Mr. Qualls came to my attention because of my habit of watching the Police Activity channel on YouTube, which features video captured by police bodycams, dashcams, and surveillance cameras, usually made public because of an officer-involved shooting (OIS) incident.

Police body cameras were introduced with the idea of providing more “transparency” and “accountability” in the wake of claims about “systemic racism” made by self-proclaimed “social justice” activists. Watching a lot of Police Activity videos is a surefire cure for any illusions you might have had on this subject. In fact, most of the time, the title of the video is sufficient to make you say, “Of course.” For example, the video of Mr. Qualls’ fatal encounter is titled, “Indianapolis Police Shoot Man Who Pointed Gun at an Officer.” Of course! What else did you expect them to do? Point a gun at a cop, guess what happens next?

That video begins with recordings of 911 calls. The first caller says, “There’s a guy outside the facility waving a gun at people, saying that he’s a felon, and claiming that he will shoot people.” The second caller says, “There is an intruder. He’s a black male with tatoos, about probably five-eight, and he has a gun. He has put it in front of my face, and he clanked it up against a metal bar to let me know that it’s real. He is currently on my porch trying to, like, solicit electronics for sale, but he’s kind of, like, babbling all crazy stuff.” Yeah, that’s going to elicit a swift response.

Next we see doorbell camera footage. Mr. Qualls is sitting on the front porch with a pistol in his right hand, talking to himself: “You’re fine. You know me. I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t what I think it is. If I’m wrong, tell me, please.” The cop — Officer Ivan Flick — aims his gun: “Hands up! Hands up!” The caption on the video freeze-frame provided by the police department is rather succinct: “Mr. Qualls raised gun and pointed it at Officer Flick.” Say good-bye, Mr. Qualls.

The video was just released today, but the shooting happened May 2, at which time WXIN-TV interviewed a “friend” of the deceased felon, who explained that the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) was very familiar with Mr. Qualls:

Erin Ireland lived with Qualls. She said IMPD and MCAT, which stands for Mobile Crisis Assistance Teams, had been called to their home several times this year.
Police reports show Qualls had been arrested three times since January for domestic incidents, but despite repeated arrests and trips to the hospital, Erin said Qualls never got the treatment he needed.
“The police have been over here so many times I bet the officer who shot him knew him,” said Ireland. . . .
Erin just wishes there were more resources to assist people with mental health issues.
“We need to do more for mental health. People aren’t bad people just because they’re sick. I wish there was a way to get them help because it’s been like impossible,” said Ireland.

Frankly, ma’am, I’m concerned about your mental health. Because where I come from, cohabiting with a convicted felon fresh out of prison . . . Well, some people might call that crazy. And how many times does your, uh, “friend” have to get arrested for domestic violence before you decide maybe he’s a bad person? Don’t even get me started on the face tattoo thing, but it seems to me that there is an inability (or unwillingness) to exercise proper judgment involved in this situation.

Nobody has even raised the question of how Mr. Qualls, a convicted felon, got hold of the .45 semiautomatic he was wielding before he got shot by the cops. Nor could I find any explanation of why, despite his criminal history, Mr. Qualls kept getting turned loose after being arrested in “domestic incidents.” My suspicion is that it’s because his “friend,” Ms. Ireland, refused to press charges for assault, which might have resulted in a return trip to prison for Mr. Qualls. Instead, he ends up roaming the street, babbling gibberish and waving a pistol around until he gets ventilated by the IMPD, because Crazy People Are Dangerous.



 

Shop Electronics at Amazon

Save on Groceries and Everyday Essentials

Shop Amazon Basics

Office & School Supplies

Category: Crime, Indiana
« go back — keep looking »