The Other McCain

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

In The Mailbox: 06.25.25 (Evening Edition)

Posted on | June 26, 2025 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 06.25.25 (Evening Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

The weekend, summarized

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: Free immigration & welfare, Bobby Sherman RIP, Communist Muslim Zohran Mamdani Wins Democrat Nomination for Mayor of New York, New York Embraces Class Equity, and Jugging on the Rise
Twitchy: CNN’s Dana Bash Loses It Over Hegseth & Trump Calling Network Out On Its Lies, Army Vet Breaks Down The Destructive Power Of Strike On Iran, and Manhunt Underway For Teens Who Tore Pride Flags In Possible “Hate Crime”
Louder With Crowder: AOC claims she’ll beat up Trump because she’s “from the Bronx,” then her yearbook photo exposes where she’s REALLY from, JD Vance can’t wait to hop on BlueSky, trolls leftists now that an Islamic Socialist’s become the new leader of the Democrat Party, Jasmine Crockett goes on BIZARRE rant that she’s the one who gets to decide to bomb Iran, Female beauty queen stripped of crown because she opposes men (pretending to be girls) in the competition, and Joe Rogan busts Bernie Sanders, fact checks him on the alleged climate change “experts”
Vox Popoli: Abandon the Platforms, NATO Takes Aim at China, A Failed Modus Operandi, The Vanished Six Inches, and Con Inc. Discovers Math
Cedar Sanderson: Up to the Glory of the Stars
Defending The Wood Perilous: Revenge is Mine, saith the Lord
Jim McCoy: The Advanced RPG Beginners Guide to Becoming A Dungeon Master
Toni Airaksinen: Hospital Silent After Doctor Calls To “Delete Zionists” and “Level Tel Aviv”

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Trump Threads the Needle on Iran
American Greatness: Muslim Democrat Socialist Wins Dem NY Mayoral Primary, Former Biden Aide Tells House Oversight Committee She Was Authorized to Use Autopen, Trump Says ‘This Is Ridiculous’ After Iran and Israel Exchange Missile Fire But Ceasefire Remains ‘In Effect’, DOJ Accuses Biden-Appointed Judge of ‘Unprecedented Defiance’ After Defying SCOTUS Ruling , and Martial Law in Mascara: How FDR Hijacked the Constitution and No One Told You
American Thinker: Iran Effectively Surrenders to the United States, President Trump’s Bombing Iran’s Nuclear Sites Did Not And Will Not Start A War, The War Powers Narrative Is False—And the Constitution Proves It, The Left Has an Authoritarian Problem, and Should We Deplorables have a ‘No Walmart Day?’
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Alaska Burning News, also, Animal’s Hump Day News
BattleSwarm: Counting Up Texas Gun Rights Wins, also, NYC Democrats Vote For Self Destruction
Behind The Black: Astronomers look at the Andromeda Galaxy in many wavelengths, SpaceX launches 27 more Starlink satellites, German rocket startup Isar Aerospace secures $174 million in financing, Another permanently shadowed crater on the Moon shows no obvious ice, and A graceful spiral galaxy
Cafe Hayek: The Real Emergency Is the Abuse of Delegated Powers to Address Emergencies, Trump’s Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Will Cause Economic Harm to America, and Has Free(r) Trade “Hollowed Out” America’s Industrial Economy and Her Middle Class?
CDR Salamander: A Tale of Two Conferences
Chicago Boyz: Seth Barrett Tillman: “A Phenomenon in Search of a Theory/Recent Citations to Michael Bellesiles’ Publications”
Dana Loesch: Trump Gets A Ceasefire
Don Surber: CNN lies for Iran
First Street Journal: He threw his life away, also, Was Yahya Sinwar actually insane?
Gates Of Vienna: Rawa Majid, Iran’s Hit Man in Sweden, also, Britain to Open Long-Overdue National Inquiry Into Grooming Gangs
The Geller Report: 9/11’s FINAL BLOW  – NYC Mayor Primary Election – Islamic Terrorist Operative Zohran Mamdani Takes The Lead, Iranian General Assets “We’ll Chop Off Trump’s Hand, Annihilate Israel”, Iran Breaks Ceasefire, Despite “Total Obliteration,” CNN Claims US Strikes on Iran Did Not Destroy Nuclear Sites, and THE BREAKDOWN: Lower Income Overwhelmingly Voted for Cuomo, Majority of College Educated Vote For Jihadi Mamdani
Hollywood In Toto: Sovereign – Parks & Rec’s Ron Swanson Gone Wild, These Stars Slammed Trump Voters, Not Just Trump, and M3GAN 2.0 Does Not Compute
The Lid: This is Your ‘Higher Education’: Georgetown Prof. Wishes for Iranian Strike on U.S.A., also, L.A. Area Vice Mayor Urges Street Gangs to Assassinate ICE Officers
Legal Insurrection: RFK Jr Secures Pledge from Insurers to Streamline Prior Authorization Practices, Climate Activists Block the Road as Man Rushes Home to Pregnant Wife, Georgetown Prof Walks Back Statement That Iran Should Perform ‘Symbolic’ Strike on US Base, Zohran Mamdani is the Red-Green Alliance, and New Ohio Higher Ed Law Banning DEI Policies and Faculty Strikes Takes Effect This Week
Matt Taibbi: Socialism Wins Its American Normandy, also, What Am I For?
Outkick: Switzerland Women’s National Soccer Team Got Smoked By U15 Boys Team, Dan Le Batard Says Shannon Sharpe’s Career At ESPN Is Over, We Aren’t As Certain, MLB All-Star Hilariously Announces Retirement, Oilers Already Hard At Work After Stanley Cup Disappointment, and Cooper Flagg Goes No. 1 To Dallas Mavericks In Draft, Perhaps NBA Planned It That Way?
Power Line: Their man in St. Paul, Walz underwater in statewide poll, and Why So Many Rich Socialists?
Shark Tank: Floridians Can Count On Senator Ashley Moody
Shot In The Dark: History Is Blank Verse, also, A Policy Proposal
The Political Hat: The Trump Tram Ride
This Ain’t Hell: Illegal alien charged with attempted murder after attacking federal agent, Refineries closing, BDAs not looking good, Iran’s nuclear program set back years by strikes: President Trump would hit them again if they get rebuilt, and Twenty-four years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, New York may end up with Muslim mayor
Transterrestrial Musings: Terry Savage, We Knew It, and Unconditional Surrender
Victory Girls: Goodbye New York: Radical Socialist Zohran Mamdani Wins NYC Mayoral Primary
Watts Up With That: Heatwaves and Excess Deaths–The Facts, South Africa Embraces Green Hydrogen Exports as the Solution to their Economic Woes, Professor Judith Curry – Climate Science Has Become Pseudo Science, Multi-state lawsuit to stop wind-stopping executive order inches ahead, and Good Laugh For Today: New York State Says It Will Build A New Nuclear Power Plant
The Federalist: Florida Moves Forward With ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ ICE Detention Center Over Objections From Democrat Mayor, Key Biden Adviser Refuses To Testify About Former President’s Cognitive Decline, America Will Be Better Off, And More Self-Reliant, Without Illegal Immigrant Labor, Biden Staffer Directing Autopen Didn’t Know Who Final Authorization Came From, and The New York Times Is Mad Transportation Secretary Duffy Raised A Big, Happy Family
Mark Steyn: Things That Don’t Change, Harmony and Understanding, and Live Around the Planet: Blessed Is The Peacemaker

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 06.25.25 (Afternoon Edition)

Posted on | June 25, 2025 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 06.25.25 (Afternoon Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Call For Fantasy & SF Authors – Epic Indie Summer Books Sale!
Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Is Anything In Your Car Worth Your Life?
EBL: Flight Risk, DANCING PLAGUE, and CEASEFIRE BETWEEN IRAN AND ISRAEL?
Twitchy: Mary Katherine Ham’s Sarcastic Take on History’s Next “Perfect” Experiment, Stanford Swears They Never Did Troon Surgeries But They’ll Stop Now, and “According To CNN” Trends on X As Users Show How Much Trust They Have In Legacy Media
Louder With Crowder: Florida announces illegal immigrant detention center surrounded by gators, and of course it’s called “Alligator Alcatraz”, Woke Amazon worker has a nutty, isn’t sure how to do her job without “crashing out” over Trump bombing Iran, Elizabeth Warren goes on warpath about Donald Trump putting “lives at risk…” while she is speaking at Planned Parenthood, and Trump drops EPIC rant against Occasional Cortex, and someone turned it into the Star Wars theme
Vox Popoli: What an Odd Thing to Say, Another Nail in the Coffin, MIGA is Backpedaling Fast, US Begs China for Help, and More Kabuki
Stoic Observations: Transcendant Culture
Upstream Reviews: A Long, Fat Shadow, also, Freedom Express
Jim McCoy: Knights of Badassdom

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
CDR Salamander: Sloops Of War – Now More Than Ever
Don Surber: Trump Always Confuses Opponents
Matt Taibbi: The SPAC Is Back!
Shark Tank: Miccosukee Tribe Requests Halt To “Alligator Alcatraz” Plans
Shot In The Dark: Back On Course, also, Of Note
STUMP: Deaths From Heat In The U.S.  – Update To 2024

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NYC Goes Full Zimbabwe

Posted on | June 25, 2025 | Comments Off on NYC Goes Full Zimbabwe

Never go full Zimbabwe. You can order a $10 trillion Zimbabwe note online for under $25, which is still more than its actual value as currency, but rather reflects what it’s worth as a collector’s item, a memento of the kleptocratic regime of Robert Mugabe. New York City doesn’t issue its own currency, so we won’t be able to use that metric to judge the consequences of Zohran Mamdani being elected mayor, but a Zimbabwe-scale disaster probably can’t be avoided. Having won the Democratic primary, the socialist Mamdani is all but certain to become New York City’s next mayor. The bumbling incumbent Eric Adams is seeking re-election as an independent, Curtis Sliwa is the Republican candidate and the loser Andrew Cuomo may also run as an independent in the general election, but it’s difficult to see a scenario where any of them gets more votes than Mamdani in November. The writing is on the wall.

New York City is now doomed beyond hope of redemption.

Here’s two words for you: Capital flight.

Mamdani’s socialist agenda will inspire an irreversible exodus of investment from the city. It’s not just a matter of high-earning indviduals fleeing to avoid confiscatory taxation — although that will certainly happen, too — but the simple fact that Mandani’s anti-business policies will make it impossible for any company to operate profitably in the city.

Since Rudy Giuliani left office in 2001, every mayor of New York has been worse than his predecessor. Michael Bloomberg was awful, but Bill de Blasio was a catastrophe, and Eric Adams is a pathetic joke. The city is now prepared to elect a “charismatic” young radical who bids fair to make the David Dinkins era seem a mild annoyance by comparison.

There are some who say a Mamdani administration probably won’t be as bad as his campaign promises suggest. But my guess is that it will actually be much worse than most people now imagine. Which is to say, “this city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions”:

Old Testament, real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes! volcanoes! The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!

Snake Plissken could not be reached for comment.



 

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Category: New York

In The Mailbox: 06.23.25

Posted on | June 24, 2025 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 06.23.25

— compiled by Wombat-socho

The Based Book Sale continues! Over 2000 books sold so far!
Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

Happy birthday, Justice Thomas, and thank you Again.

OVER THE TRANSOM
Director Blue: Top 20 Most Blatant Democrat Lies 
357 Magnum: Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0
EBL: Duster, Danielle Trotta, 100 Foot Wave, “Bomb Iran“, and The Next Mayor of New York?
Twitchy: Expect “Fireworks” As White House Holds Rogue Judge Accountable for Defying SCOTUS, “FIREBALL, BITCH!”, and NYT “Family” Beat Reporter Goes After SecTrans Duffy’s Family & Faith
Louder With Crowder: Harry Potter actor lashes out at JK Rowling, JoJo Siwa, who likes dudes now, claims she was pressured into becoming a lesbian, Drag queen invited to honor Democrat resolution celebrating “black drag”, performs on the floor of the Oregon House, Shocker: While the LA riots burned, Gavin Newsom was out sipping wine with his elitist friends, and Jasmine Crockett is in her feelings because Donald Trump didn’t “holla” at her before bombing Iran
Vox Popoli: Turkey is Next, The Japan That Can Say No, Why Pakistan Backs Iran, The Iranian Expedition, and Team Trump and Bibi
Cedar Sanderson: Predictability, 
Upstream Reviews: Exigency
Stoic Observations: Why I Fought Woke
Gab: The Great Work Of Our Generation
Jim McCoy: Cross Over
L’Ombre de L’Olivier: Cautious Optimism About Iran

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
The Abbey of Misrule: The Language of the Master
American Conservative: Trump Risks a Strategic Misfire in Iran
American Greatness: Trump Torches Thomas Massie on Truth Social, Up to One Million Illegals Have Already Self-Deported Under Trump, President Trump Thanks God, Asks For The Lord’s Protection After Successful Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities, The Trump Doctrine (aka the Businessman’s Way of War), and Who Killed Pride Month?
American Thinker: Trump Is No TACO After All, From Deportation to K Street: The Curious Liberation of Mahmoud Khalil, and How Biden’s Border Policies Burned America
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
BattleSwarm: Iran – Uncle Sam’s Stick Gets Bigger, BREAKING – U.S. Hits Iranian Nuclear Sites, Fordow Damage Assessment, Abbott Vetoes THC Regulation Bill, Calls July 21 Special Session, and Iran Attacks Empty U.S. Qatar Base…With 6 (Intercepted) Missiles
Behind The Black: Ispace says Resilience’s failure was due to a hardware issue in laser rangefinder, SpaceX completes another smallsat Transporter launch, launching 70 payloads, France’s space agency awards ArianeGroup contract to build methane-fueled engine, NJ Boy scouts win first prize in international rocketry competition, and Isaacman hints of future space plans
Cafe Hayek: On Tariffs, Trump Outsmarted No One, also, Are Protectionists Really This Historically Uninformed?
CDR Salamander: It’s Hammer Time On Midrats, Midnight Hammer Quicklook, 
Chicago Boyz: Where Are We Now
Da Tech Guy: A Moment 46 Years in the Making, also, Cause and Effect: “‘Never seen such operational security’” Edition
Dana Loesch: U.S. Bombed Iranian Nuke Sites
Don Surber: Trump Ends Iranian Nuke Program, also, Trump saves the world, Democrats complain
Elizabeth Nickson: World Tells Muslims Conform Or Get Off My Lawn, 
First Street Journal: World War III Watch, also, There is only one crime in war, and that’s the losing of it
Gates Of Vienna:  A Tale of Two Flags, Knives Become Active at the Asylum Center in Apolda, The Hijrah Comes for Texas, The Islamic Colonization of Italy, and Arabs vs. Turks: Who Will Win?
The Geller Report:  President Trump Announced US Has Completed Successful Attack on THREE Iran Nuclear Sites, President Trump’s Great Military Deception Strategy, China Issues Warning to Iran After Threats to Close the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump Announces Ceasefire Between Israel and Iran, and Jihadis Bomb Syrian Christian Church During Sunday Mass, 30 DEAD, 70+ Wounded
Glenn Reynolds: Five Takes On Bombing Iran
Hollywood In Toto: ‘White Lotus’ Star – I Couldn’t Be Friends with a Trump Voter, Wake Up (Literally) Skewers Antifa-like Radicals, Long & Polishchuk Mock No Kings Rally’s Free Speech ‘Fight’, and Andrew Schulz Says Kamala Harris ‘Blatantly Lied’ About Podcast Invite
Legal Insurrection: Supreme Court Rules Fuel Producers Can Contest California’s Emissions Regulations, Zohran Mamdani Inches Closer to Snatching Democrat Nomination for NYC Mayor, ‘Traumatized’ AWFL Says She Was Hit by Car at Anti-ICE Protest—Asked Police for Help, Got a Citation Instead, Supreme Court Pauses Order to Give Illegal Aliens Deportation Notice to Third-Party Countries, and IDF Hits Tehran’s Notorious Evin Prison, Destroys Khamenei’s ‘Israel Doomsday Clock’ 
Matt Taibbi: Divided America is Vulnerable in Wartime
Outkick: Title IX Was Meant To Protect Women — Not Erase Us, FSU QB Stupidly Gives Alabama All-Time Bulletin Board Material Quote, ESPN, Disney & WNBA Silent On Rebecca Lobo Apologizing For Saying ‘That’s What Makes America Great’, Sleeper Success: NBA Finals Game 7 Ratings Soar Amid Series’ Historic Lows, and Tiffani Amber Thiessen Starts Summer In An Ice Bath, Danica On A Boat & Here’s The Military Draft Order!
Power Line: Motive Unclear, Misplaced Sympathy, “Regime change”, “You don’t know what you’re talking about”, and The gates of Evin Prison
Shark Tank: DeSantis Shades NY After Poll Reveals Socialist Mamdani With Lead In Democrat Mayoral Primary
Shot In The Dark: Just, also, It’s Transit Memorial Day
STUMP: Lightning Safety Week 2025, 
This Ain’t Hell: Six B-2 stealth bombers headed to Guam from their US base, President Donald Trump: Remember, there are many targets left, and CEO and Marine Fred Smith, 80, died Saturday
Transterrestrial Musings: Still On The Road
Victory Girls: No Democrats, Bombing Iranian Nuclear Sites Is Not An Impeachable Offense, also, Could Iran Activate Terror Sleeper Cells In The United States?
Watts Up With That: Wind Industry Now Destroying 1000-Year Old German Forest That Inspired Grimm Fairy Tales, Why Trump‘s ‘Gold Standard’ Executive Order is Essential to Restoring Truth in Science, Trump Closes Notorious EPA Lab That Conducted Illegal Human Experiments, Reality Check for Gen Z: ‘Green’ Energy Requires Wealth, and Biden’s Offshore Wind Dreams Drowning As Trump Guts Industry
The Federalist: Whatever Happens Next, Iran Doesn’t Need To Be Made Safe For Democracy, Here Are 10 Great Clarence Thomas Quotes To Commemorate His 77th Birthday, We Don’t Need A Trite And Predictable MAGA Satire, Every Church Needs A Security Plan Fortified By The Second Amendment, and Federal Judge In California Remains At The Ready To Wrest Control Of National Guard From Trump
Mark Steyn: Defusing a Bomb – Michael Powell’s The Small Back Room, Non-Indian Summer, God Bless America, “Fordow Is Gone”, and Live Around the Planet – The World Unravels

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Rule 5 Sunday: In The Sun

Posted on | June 23, 2025 | Comments Off on Rule 5 Sunday: In The Sun

— compiled by Wombat-socho

It’s for everyone. This week’s appetizer courtesy of kbdabear on X; SOTD (as if you didn’t know) from Blondie’s first album. 
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM:  Vacation Totty I, II, III, IV, First Day of Summer, and the Saturday Gingermageddon. 

EBL: Saturday Night Girls With Guns, The Right Stuff, MAGA Message To Iran, Happy Summer, “Summer In The City”, Gavin Newsom – It’s Good To Be The Governor, “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl”, Emma Canning, Cleaner, Deep Cover, Iran In The 1970s, Bloomsday, Robin Hood, and U.S. Army’s 250th Birthday

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Kaia Gerber, Fish Pic Friday – Gator Girl, It’s My Life, The Wednesday Wetness, Tattoo Tuesday, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Palm Sunday, and Flotsam and Jetsam on Flag Day

BACON TIME: Rule 5 Butt Its Friday

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

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Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: Before The Deluge

Posted on | June 22, 2025 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Before The Deluge

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Well, it could have been worse. We lost two out of three to the Cardinals in St. Louis and then came home to take two of three from the Tribe. Spaceman Lee picked up the lone win against the Cards, going the distance in a 5-0 shutout, and then gave up three runs in Game 2 against Cleveland but got the the win as our boys ripped Steve Busby for six runs and tacked on another three against George Culver for a 9-3 blowout. Game Three saw Joe Coleman put in six good innings, giving up just one run, but the Tribe tied it up in the sixth on a Hal Breeden sac fly. Blue Moon Odom, who had lost Game One in relief, came in and held Cleveland scoreless for three innings until Ed Brinkman hit a triple in the bottom of the ninth to score Vic Harris with the winning run. So that leaves us at 68-79, tied with Oakland for third in the division, thirteen games behind Pete’s Brewers, five in back of the Twins, and just four games ahead of the cellar-dwelling Red Sox. Unfortunately, this week we’re facing the A’s (2-7) and the Dodgers (0-3) so unless the Twins choke and we get really lucky, it’s going to be a miserable ending to June.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

YUGE Win for Trump: Illegal Immigrant Population Has Dropped by 1 Million!
The Daley Gator
First Street Journal
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

‘Politically Motivated Assassination’ Targets Two Minnesota Democrats UPDATE: Suspect Identified, Had ‘Manifesto’ — ‘No Kings’ Motive? UPDATE: ‘False Flag’? It’s So Confusing!
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

FMJRA 2.0: September in Washington
A View From The Beach
EBL

Rule 5 Sunday: The Almost Perfect Picture
A View From The Beach
EBL

Minnesota Assassin Captured: Exactly Why Did Vance Boelter Go Crazy?
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.17.25 (Afternoon Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.18.25 (Morning Edition)
The Daley Gator
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.19.25 (Abbreviated Juneteenth Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Radical Vegan Transgender Cult Update: Federal Weapons Charge Indictment
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.20.25 (Morning Edition)
EBL
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 06.20.25 (Evening Edition)
EBL
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

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Category: FMJRA Award

How Trump Ruined the Media’s Weekend

Posted on | June 22, 2025 | Comments Off on How Trump Ruined the Media’s Weekend

Oh, sure, it was a bad Saturday for the Ayatollah, but try to imagine what it was like for the news media. Suppose you’re the lead national security reporter for the Washington Post or the New York Times. It’s a Saturday in June, so maybe you’re out at the beach for the weekend, having a nice seafood dinner with friends at some beachside bistro on the Maryland shore. You’re probably on your third glass of wine when, shortly before 8 p.m., your phone explodes with messages from your editors.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT! THAT SON OF A BITCH!”

Which is how reporters talk, by the way, especially when they find out on a Saturday night that they’ve got barely an hour to write the lead for a front-page story in the Sunday paper, and the only information they’ve got is a Truth Social message from Donald Trump. Bwa-hahahahaha!

A lot of reporters had their weekends ruined this way. The front-page story in the Metro edition of the Washington Post carries three bylines (Dan Lamothe, Evan Hill and Warren Stroebel), and down at the end, it gives credit to two other writers, Natalie Allison and Alex Horton, as having “contributed to this report.” Meanwhile, of course, the news desk was scrambling to remake the layout of the front page, and clearing space for the “jump” on page A11, as everybody in the newsroom — skeleton staff on a Saturday night — was scrambling to deal with this story.

It didn’t end there, however. After rushing to get a story in the early Metro edition (the one delivered to the suburbs), then they immediately turned around to do an update for the late city edition. Shortly after Trump’s Truth Social message, the White House put out the word that there would be a 10 p.m. press conference.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT! THAT SON OF A BITCH!”

Which is how reporters talk, when they find out they’re going to have to write up a second version of their front-page story — including quotes from the press conference — with just minutes to spare before the presses roll for the late edition. Great weekend at the beach, eh?

OK, so after filing your first version of the story, you might have 30 or 45 minutes before Trump’s press conference, time enough to write up a quote or two from your “intelligence community” sources. And then — as the final weekend-wrecking insult from the president you loathe with ever fiber of your being — at the end of his White House press conference, Trump announces that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General Dan Caine will hold a Pentagon press conference at 8 a.m. Sunday.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT! THAT SON OF A BITCH!”

Which is how reporters talk, when they realize that after a night spent scrambling to write a front-page story, they’re going to have to get up early Sunday and head down to the Pentagon for a press conference by that smug Fox News bastard Pete Hegseth. It’s absolutely . . . perfect.



 

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Category: Donald Trump, Iran, Media Bias

What the Heck Is Wrong With Florida?

Posted on | June 21, 2025 | Comments Off on What the Heck Is Wrong With Florida?

Anthony Reznick was 11 when he was killed

Sometimes you encounter a story that makes you so angry that words cannot express the intensity of your rage, and such is the case with Florida’s new “super speeder” law. Here’s the short version:

Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed a new measure creating extra criminal penalties for extreme speeding, marking the state’s latest move to improve road safety and deter reckless driving.
The legislation (HB 351) targets so-called “super speeders,” establishing criminal consequences for motorists who exceed the posted speed limit by 50 miles per hour or more, or who drive at 100 mph or more in a manner that threatens others or interferes with vehicle operation.
First-time violators may face up to 30 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both. Repeat offenders could receive up to 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. If a second violation occurs within five years, the offender’s driver’s license could be revoked for up to a year.
Any driver caught exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 mph must appear before a Judge under a mandatory court appearance provision.
The measure, carried by independent Hollywood Sen. Jason Pizzo and Republican Reps. Danny Alvarez of Hillsborough County and Susan Plasencia of Orlando, passed unanimously in the Senate. . . .
While Pizzo had initially proposed a stricter version of the bill (SB 1782) that would have imposed longer jail terms, he accepted the House’s comparatively lighter version. Passing the measure on the Senate floor April 24, he jokingly referred to HB 351 as the “less good House bill.”
The legislation, he said, was partly inspired by the 2022 death of 11-year-old Anthony Reznick in Sunny Isles Beach. Reznick was struck and killed in a crosswalk by Samentha Toussaint, a driver with more than two dozen prior traffic citations and a suspended license. She was traveling roughly 85 mph in a residential zone without headlights and had no insurance.
Despite the circumstances, Toussaint was not criminally charged. A Judge suspended her license for eight years and ordered community service and fines.

[ insert shouted obscenities here ]


Before getting into the legal discussion, permit me first to share some anecdotes. When I was 17, a police officer told me, “You could’ve got yourself killed” and, smart-ass that I was (and still am, honestly), my reply was, “Yeah, but I didn’t.” No need to go into the details of that vehicular offense, but there was a serious point behind my arrogant sarcasm: There is a difference between a hypothetical danger and an actual event, which ought to be considered in traffic enforcement.

When I reflect on my driving history, I have to admit that those guardian angels — sent to protect me, by the prayers of my late Grandma Kirby, and subsequently by my dear wife — deserve tremendous credit for my survival, especially during my years on the campaign trail.

Remember that? The day after Christmas 2011, I flew into Iowa for the 2012 Republican caucus campaign, with reservations for an economy rental car, but the lady at the counter explained that the Rick Perry campaign staff had arrived earlier and taken every car on their lot, except one — a black Mustang convertible which, under the terms of the agreement, they were obliged to give me at the same rate as the economy car I’d reserved. The best eight days of my life ensued, and not just because Rick Santorum won the caucuses. One morning, I found myself “aggregating headlines while naked” from the Radisson Quad City Plaza in Davenport, on the east side of the state. There was a 3:30 Rick Perry event scheduled in Pella that day, and I calculated a 1 p.m. departure for a drive of approximately 150 miles. Knowing that I couldn’t drive more than 10 mph over the speed limit on the interstate, the key to my calculations was to max it out on the final 25-mile stretch from Exit 173 — down Highway T22 South through Killduff, hang a right on Highway F62 toward Galesburg, then a left onto Highway T14. Let me tell you folks, I took some of those curves at tire-squealing speed, and don’t even ask how fast I drove the straightaways on those country roads.

You think I’m joking and, from a strictly legal standpoint, I’m prepared to plead that this is just satire, rather than a confession of crime, because they’ve got no other evidence and the statute of limitation has probably expired, but I’ll leave that to Bert the Samoan Lawyer.

My point is that nobody was killed or injured as a result of my record-setting pace on those Iowa backroads. The basis of traffic laws is the hypothetical risk of an accident, but between my skill as a driver, the excellent handling of that Mustang, and the overtime labor of those guardian angels, there was no actual risk and therefore, no accident. Sure, there are nerds who can point to statistics about the correlation between excessive speed and vehicular accidents, but (a) correlation is not causation and (b) who gets to define “excessive”? Yes, I saw the sign cautioning me that 25 mph was the, uh, recommended speed for that tight curve, but if in fact I made it through safely at 50 mph, who’s wrong — me or the sign? But I’ve digressed long enough . . .

The funniest guy I ever knew, Scott Swanson, was killed in a traffic accident while a student at West Georgia College (now West Georgia University). It was a profoundly stupid accident, caused by his friend’s drunk driving, and the friend was sentenced to what’s called “five do 10” (a 10-year sentence, with five years suspended, if the convict has no further offenses after being released from the penitentiary). Trust me, the judge didn’t want to sentence an otherwise harmless college kid to five years in prison, but he felt that anything less would be an injustice. I forget what the exact charge was — negligent manslaughter or whatever — but most states have some similar law, like vehicular homicide:

Vehicular homicide, also known as vehicular manslaughter . . . is a criminal offense that occurs when a person’s negligent or illegal operation of a vehicle results in the death of another person. It’s generally considered a form of involuntary manslaughter, where the intent to kill is not required.

Hence my question: What the heck is wrong with Florida?

Don’t they have a vehicular homicide statute in the Sunshine State, and if not, why not? Instead of increasing the penalties on mere speeding — which, as I have pointed out at some length, is just a hypothetical risk — why doesn’t Florida law punish actually causing death as a felony?

This situation is insane. Toussaint was 32 years old at the time she ran over Anthony Reznik in February 2021:

Records show Toussaint has past citations for speeding through a school zone in Pembroke Pines, and for “following too closely behind a vehicle.” There are several infractions in South Florida courts ranging from careless driving to not having proof of insurance.
In Miami-Dade County alone, Toussaint has a laundry list of moving violations through the years, including seven separate citations for driving on a suspended license — infractions that date back to at least 2007.
Records show Toussaint still owes big fines for some of those past driving citations.

She had been a known public menace for 15 years, basically, and by the time she finally killed someone — running a red light on a residential street at 85 mph — you might think the courts would consider this something more than a mere traffic violation. The appropriate legislative response to this egregious situation would be to fix whatever loophole exists in Florida law that fails to punish vehicular homicide as a felony, particularly in cases with aggravating circumstances such as a prior record of driving on a suspended license, etc. Ramping up penalties on “super speeders” isn’t the right answer because there are plenty of “no harm, no foul” speeding cases that don’t deserve harsh punishment. Not saying that I’ve ever topped 115 mph on any country backroads, because I haven’t waived my right to remain silent, but if nobody was actually harmed by me driving fast, why should it be treated as a crime?

Some people are just born to drive, and I’ve got that hillbilly moonshiner chromosome somewhere in my DNA. which explains why I’m still alive. (Also, thank you, guardian angels.) On the other hand, some people are born to ride the bus, and should never be allowed to drive at all.

You can make your own judgments about Ms. Toussaint.



 

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Category: Crime, Florida
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