The Other McCain

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

Nancy Pelosi Is Tearing Apart America

Posted on | February 5, 2020 | 2 Comments

 

Everybody — and I do mean everybody — is talking this morning about Nancy Pelosi’s shocking gesture at the end of last night’s State of the Union Address, when she tore up the text of President Trump’s speech. It was rude and childish. My wife, a very polite Christian grandmother who generally doesn’t pay attention to politics, said of Pelosi’s tantrum: “How does she think this makes her look like the grown-up?”

President Trump’s approval rating is at an all-time high, the Democrats can’t even manage to count the votes in the Iowa caucus, yet Nancy Pelosi believes she can achieve . . . something, whatever was in her deranged mind, by ostentatiously disrespecting our Commander-in-Chief?

The speech itself was overwhelmingly positive and optimistic, full of patriotic sentiment, and insofar as Trump’s speech might have angered Democrats, the offense was a matter of policy, e.g., his criticism of “sanctuary city” laws and his advocacy of immigration limits. While one can understand that opponents of the president’s policy agenda would dislike hearing him advocate these policies from “the bully pulpit,” it did not deserve Pelosi’s disrespectful gesture. My hunch (and it is only a hunch) is that this was pre-meditated, something she had made up her mind to do before she ever saw a copy of the speech.

The net impact? Trump wins, Nancy loses.

“Whatever his faults and virtues,” says Stephen Green, “all magnified by his own boosterism and the press’s funhouse magnifying glass, Trump is unreservedly and unabashedly pro-American. A gung-ho patriot, delivering a gung-ho patriotic speech. Like running into an old friend after years and years apart, that’s something you maybe didn’t realize how much you missed until it was right there in front of you again.”

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Permit me to remind readers that the Five Most Important Words in the English Language are:

HIT THE FREAKING TIP JAR!




 

Violence Against Women Update: Two Killed in Texas Campus Shooting

Posted on | February 4, 2020 | Comments Off on Violence Against Women Update: Two Killed in Texas Campus Shooting

 

Monday afternoon, there were reports that two people had been shot and killed on the Texas A&M-Commerce (TAMUC) campus, but police did not immediately release information about the suspect or the possible motive. Two women were reportedly killed in the Pride Rock dormitory for freshmen (TAMUC’s mascot is the Lions, thus the reference to “Pride Rock” from the movie The Lion King), and a two-year-old child was reported injured, and I was mystified by what could have happened. If a suspect was at large, wouldn’t police have identified the gunman? Was this perhaps a murder-suicide? By Tuesday afternoon, however, a suspect was in custody and details finally became public:

Deja Matts, 19, wanted to be a nurse. That’s why she was in college.
Her sister, 20-year-old Abbaney Matts, was her best friend.
The two died together in Deja’s door room Monday afternoon at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
Abbaney’s 2-year-old son Allen was shot in the leg. He survived. . . .
Abbaney did not attend the college.
She drove her sister back to school after a big family get together over the weekend.
She and baby Allen were only going to spend one night there.
“They were just up here. My son had a birthday party and they were all up here and went back and all this happened,” said [their father, Timonthy] Matts.
Police did release a 911 call that was made by a student at the college saying there was a bullet hole in her dorm room.
“There is a hole through my wall and there on the other side is a nick in my calendar. It looks like someone shot through the wall and through the calendar.”
Police have arrested Abbaney’s ex-boyfriend 21-year-old Jacques Dshawn Smith. He has been charged with capital murder.

 

 

Do we or do we not care about violence against women?

Texas A&M University-Commerce police said 21-year-old Jacques Dshawn Smith is in custody and is believed to have fatally shot his ex-girlfriend, 20-year-old Abbaney Matts, along with her 19-year-old sister, freshman Deja Matts, and Deja’s 2-year-old son, inside the Pride Rock residence hall.
University police confirmed the arrest on Twitter Tuesday afternoon, saying witness tips and surveillance video led to the development of Smith as a suspect.
Rowlett SWAT, along with the Texas DPS and Texas Rangers, executed search and arrest warrants at Smith’s Rowlett home on Luna Road and took him into custody Tuesday afternoon.
NBC 5 has learned Smith was free on bond related to an alleged assault family violence incident that took place last week. The report was filed by Abbaney Matts, one of the shooting victims.
According to Garland police, Abbaney said Smith assaulted her Jan. 26 at a home on Bosque Drive with a frying pan, lamp and then pulled out a knife before leaving the residence. Though she was not hospitalized, Abbaney reported injuries to the right side of her head, her eyes and had red marks and abrasions after the alleged attack.
Smith was arrested and an emergency protective order was issued on Abbaney’s behalf. Smith was freed Jan. 29 after posting $15,000 bond.
NBC 5 has also learned Smith has a string of priors dating back four years with charges including evading arrest, theft and aggravated robbery.

This guy had been perpetrating crime his entire adult life. He was only 21 and yet had already been charged with at least four different crimes, so we must ask: Who posted his $15,000 bond after he assaulted the woman he eventually murdered? Why are obviously dangerous criminals being set free to commit more violence? And why aren’t feminists paying any attention to this atrocity? Oh, wait . . . intersectionality.




 

In The Mailbox: 02.04.20

Posted on | February 4, 2020 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 02.04.20

– compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Big Grocery Is Watching You
EBL: So WTH Happened At The Iowa Caucus?
Twitchy: Some Democrats Are Boycotting The SOTU, But Check Out The President’s List Of Guests
Louder With Crowder: MSDNC’s Chris Matthews Declares Trump The Winner Of Iowa’s Democrat Caucus
Minuteman Review: Gun Statistics (h/t Alex at Ammo.com)
Vox Popoli:  Complete Iowa Fail, also, The Necessity Of Debt Cancellation

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: The Joy Of Skipping A Meal
American Conservative: Democrats Don’t Realize How Much Impeachment Hurts Them
American Greatness: The Hate America Project
American Power: Bernie Sanders Internal Numbers
American Thinker: Why The Left Really Wants To Kill America, also, Godspeed, Rush Limbaugh
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Relative Intelligence News
Babalu Blog: The Assault On Miami – The Castro Regime Continues Trying To Turn The City Into Their Hong Kong
BattleSwarm: Iowa Caucus Winners – Trump & Chaos
Cafe Hayek: Some Links
Camp Of The Saints: Joe “Hill” Biden Went Up The Hill – And May Have Fallen Off It
CDR Salamander: Is Lucy Teeing Up The Ball For Charlie Brown Again?
Da Tech Guy: Report From Louisiana – On Reading & Education, also, Five Iowa Caucus Thoughts Under The Fedora
Don Surber: Killing Iowa To Save Biden
First Street Journal: It Must Have Killed The WaPo Editors To Report This
The Geller Report: Paris Metro Passengers Stop Muslim Mob From Attacking Jewish Man, also, How Iran’s Women Are Using Their Hijabs To Fight The Islamist Regime
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, Gloat Is The New Pounce
Hollywood In Toto: Hollywood’s Cultural Brainwashing Explained, also, Chuck Dixon & Sly Stallone Send Expendables To Hell
Joe For America: Ilhan Omar’s Dirty Money Hustle Blows Wide Open
JustOneMinute: State Of The Union
Legal Insurrection: Tulsi Gabbard Sends “Love & Best Wishes” To Rush Limbaugh, also, Chris Wallace – “Democrats Can’t Even Organize A Three-Car Funeral”
Megan McArdle: What Broke Iowa Is Bigger Than Iowa
Michelle Malkin: 
The PanAm Post: Spain’s Tarmac Diplomacy May Be Sleazier Than It Looks, also, Mexico’s Lopez Obrador To Raffle Off Presidential Jet
Power Line: Impeach This – Trump Popularity Surges After Winning Iowa Caucus, also, Tom Perez Looks Back
Shark Tank: Pro-LGBTQ Florida Legislators Oppose School Choice For Queer, Minority Students
Shot In The Dark: This Should Bring Out The Left’s Psycho Ghouls
STUMP: 2020 Project – Digging Through Connecticut Pensions
This Ain’t Hell: Warren Reiten – Vietnam War “Times” Veteran, also, Dude, Let’s Bern One!
Victory Girls: Hillary Alumni Fingerprints All Over Iowa Debacle 
Volokh Conspiracy: Who Is Hispanic, By Law?
Weasel Zippers: Schiff Claims Trump Could Trade Alaska To Russia For Support If Not Removed, also, CNN Reporting Biden May Go To Court To Halt Release Of Iowa Results
Mark Steyn: Submission Is The Better Part Of Valor, also, Rooting For Rush

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Disaster in Iowa: The Democratic Party Is Decadent and Depraved

Posted on | February 4, 2020 | Comments Off on Disaster in Iowa: The Democratic Party Is Decadent and Depraved

 

Last night’s dumpster fire in Iowa, caused by “technical difficulties,” kept me awake past midnight waiting for a result that never came, and I got up this morning and finally filed the story:

The way Democrats run their Iowa caucuses is difficult to explain briefly, but the result Monday was clear. Within an hour of the beginning of the complicated process, the totals of the first-round voting began to be reported via social media, and from precinct after precinct came the same phrase: “Biden — not viable.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden has based his campaign on the argument that he’s the most “electable” Democratic candidate, but the voters of Iowa shot a torpedo through the hull of that argument. Due to a technical glitch that delayed the state Democratic Party’s counting process, we still don’t have official results. But by 10:30 p.m. Eastern time Monday, it became apparent to caucus-watchers that Biden was headed for a fourth-place finish in the Hawkeye State, behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Buttigieg’s strong second-place showing is a big story — the young mayor out-performed expectations — but Biden’s humiliating defeat is much bigger. . . .

Read the rest of my latest column at The American Spectator.

UPDATE: Ace highlights how the #NeverTrump crowd at The Bulwark are in mourning from last night’s Iowa disaster, while conservatives are happy. Speaking of conservatives, my friend Cynthia Yockey caucused for Trump last night. Yes, there was a Republican caucus in Iowa, which Trump obviously won. Cynthia reports that (a) she was drafted to be a delegate to the county GOP convention in March, (b) elected to the platform committee, (c) her plank on transgender issues was unanimously adopted, and (d) “the passionate nominating speech for Trump that opened our caucus was given by an immigrant from India who became a citizen in 2008.”




 

In The Mailbox: 02.03.20

Posted on | February 3, 2020 | 1 Comment

– compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: A Bridge That Didn’t Quite Collapse
EBL: Get Well Soon, Rush Limbaugh, also, Sexually Depraved Penguin Coverup
Twitchy: Reza Aslan Wants You To “Ask Yourself This Simple Question” Before You Wish Rush Limbaugh Well
Louder With Crowder: What Letting Your Three-Your-Old Choose Their Gender REALLY Looks Like
Vox Popoli: A Note From Ireland

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Podcast #133 – The Put Yourself Out There Episode
American Conservative: Brexit Fails To Start World War III
American Greatness: “Walls Are Closing In” On The Democrats, also, Up Schiff’s Creek
American Thinker: The Winter Of NeverTrump Discontent
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
Babalu Blog: Jay-Z Disses America At Super Bowl, But Honors Che With T-shirt
BattleSwarm: The Case Of The Missing Poll, also, Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update
Cafe Hayek: Supporters Of Trump’s Tariffs Repeatedly Reveal Their Economic Ignorance
Camp Of The Saints: Three Cheers For England & Wales!
CDR Salamander: How A Nation Uses Her Power In The Face Of A Pandemic
Da Tech Guy: IL Corruption Investigation Breaks Wide Open With Guilty Plea Of State Senator, also, Wishcasting For California
Don Surber: Media Frankensteins Hate Their Creation
First Street Journal: Is Liberalism A Sexually Transmitted Disease?
The Geller Report: Muslim Beats Up American Tourist On The Paris Metro, also, Jihadis Blow Up Egypt/Israel Gas Pipeline
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, also, A Caucus-Race
Hollywood In Toto: Mon Mon Mon Monsters! – These Kids Aren’t All Right, also, Is This What Audiences Reject About Female Action Heroes?
Joe For America: Effort To Recall Mitt Romney Gains Momentum After Impeachment Trial
JustOneMinute: Super Sunday
Legal Insurrection: Rush Limbaugh Announces He Has Advanced Lung Cancer, also, Fauxcahontas Transferred Oil & Gas Investments To Children To Protect Her “Green” Profile
Megan McArdle: The Question Facing Democrats – Which Flavor Of Anti-Trump Do You Want?
The PanAm Post: Spanish Government’s Many Excuses For Violating Sanctions On Venezuelan VP
Power Line: Thoughts & Prayers For Rush, also, Bar Complaints About Trump’s Defense Team?
Shark Tank: Laura Loomer Outraises Democrat Frankel, Republican Primary Effectively Over
Shot In The Dark: I Wanna See Some History
STUMP: French Pension Protests – Final Form Of Pension Reform & Continuing Protests
The Political Hat:  News Of The Week
This Ain’t Hell: Appeals Court Decides Retirees Can Be Court-Martialed After All, also, How An Army Vet Became A “Cyber Rambo” In Alleged Bolivian Coup
Victory Girls: CNN Complains Coronavirus Task Force Too White
Volokh Conspiracy: Trump’s Expanded Travel Ban Compounds The Wrongs Of Previous Versions
Weasel Zippers: Ilhan Omar Trashes The US For Not Living Up To Her “American Dream”, also, Senator Hirono – “I Don’t Care What Nice Little Legal Constitutional Defenses They Come Up With On Impeachment”
Mark Steyn: The Hammer, also, Rule Britannia!

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Rule 5 Monday: A Fine Pair

Posted on | February 3, 2020 | 1 Comment

– compiled by Wombat-socho

Thanks to Daddy Warpig on Twitter for making me aware of this movie, which stars Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale.

A fine pair indeed.

Ninety Miles From Tyranny: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #881, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns

Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Micronukes Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon

EBL: Iguana Rule 5, Isa Briones, So Woke Now Broke, Pam Bondi, Chinese New Year, Romeo & Juliet, Brexit, Hannah Roemhild, and KC Barbeque Beats San Francisco Sourdough.

A View From The Beach: Kennedy McMann – A Nancy Drew MysteryLegislators Override Hogan Oyster VetoStream Restoration: But Beavers are Free!Fish Pic Friday – Hail to the KingfishTattoo Thursday – Flowers That Are ForeverProbably NotJust Maybe They Just Needed the Stage Space?,  
Russiagate, Shampeachment, Read All About It!Tanlines TuesdayJoy Villa Photobombs the GrammysClimate Alarmists Want Us to Shuffle Off to Buffalo and Palm Sunday

Proof Positive: Gina Lollobrigida

Red Pilled Jew: Women With Drinks

Thanks to everyone for the luscious links!

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Argument by Assertion

Posted on | February 3, 2020 | 1 Comment

Sitting here this morning with the TV in my home office tuned to the closing arguments in the impeachment trial, and while I actually tried to ignore this noise — the whole damned Ukraine mess just makes me angry — I could not help overhearing the endless repetition involved. We have heard over and over a handful of phrases: President Trump “violated his oath of office,” and “our democracy” is jeopardized by “foreign interference in our elections.” Indeed, the Democrats claim, “our national security” is endangered because . . .

Well, Vladimir Putin is a dictator and Russia is our enemy — or such is the essence the Democratic argument implies.

Let us cede the point that Putin is a bad guy who has done bad things, and still we are faced with the question of whether a realignment of U.S. foreign policy in Europe is overdue. We can simultaneously (a) favor the independence of Ukraine and other former Warsaw Pact nations without (b) believing that Russia is the greatest threat to those nations. In fact, I believe Stephen Miller and other key Trump advisers would argue, the greater danger to Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, etc., is from the kind of “globalism” advocated by George Soros. The minute you say “Soros,” of course, you’ll be accused of endorsing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and, perhaps also, repeating Russian propaganda. However, it’s possible to think that Hungary’s Viktor Orban and other Eastern European nationalists could be valuable American allies without embracing any kind of paranoid theory, much less anti-Semitism.

Isn’t it the case, after all, that the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe is a direct consequence of increased Islamic immigration to Europe? Why do Jews feel threatened in Paris? It’s not because of any neo-Nazi menace, but rather because Paris is being overrun by Arabs. And who is supporting this influx of Muslims into Europe? Not Russia. Go back to the “Arab Spring” of 2011, which inaugurated the civil war in Syria, which in turn led to the “refugee crisis” of 2015. At every point of that timeline, the Obama administration and the Left in Europe were supporting the forces of political instability and demographic chaos. Let anyone investigate what policies George Soros’s network of tax-exempt advocacy organizations were advancing doing at that time, and see whether it’s a “conspiracy theory” to criticize his influence.

It is a fact — a matter of public record — that four of the House Democrat impeachment managers voted against military aid to Ukraine. How is it, then, they can assert that President Trump is guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors” because he briefly delayed this aid, when if it were up to them, Ukraine never would have gotten any such aid? It’s almost as if Democrats really don’t care about “our national security,” but are merely manufacturing this concern for political advantage.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I am deeply cynical, and you’d have to be a damned fool to believe that Democrats care more about America’s national security than does President Trump. Democrats seem to think that all they have to do is assert that Trump is guilty, and that their mere assertion is tantamount to proof of his guilt. This is the only plausible explanation for why they keep repeating the same phrases, as if they believe repetition will give their assertions the force of argument.

This is not how actual arguments work, however, and preaching to the partisan choir — Democrats telling their own dimwit supporters that their hatred of Trump is justified — will not persuade anyone who understand the Constitution, which gives the President nearly unlimited authority (for good or ill) in conducting our foreign policy.




 

Terrorist in London Stabbing Attack Had Just Been Released From Prison

Posted on | February 3, 2020 | Comments Off on Terrorist in London Stabbing Attack Had Just Been Released From Prison

 

Just another random coincidence:

A man shot dead by police after he stabbed people in south London had been released from prison in January.
Sudesh Amman, 20, was released about a week ago after serving half of his sentence of three years and four months for terror offences.
He was under active police surveillance at the time of the attack on Streatham High Road, which police believe to be an Islamist-related terrorist incident. . . .
Streatham MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said: “He [Amman] was under surveillance quite soon after being released which begs the question, why was he released so soon?”
Treasury minister Rishi Sunak said “the police are obviously doing absolutely everything they can to keep people safe”.
He said new measures to toughen terrorism laws — already announced by the PM after last November’s attack near London Bridge — will give the police “more powers and resources to do that as well”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government would announce further plans for “fundamental changes to the system for dealing with those convicted of terrorism offences” on Monday. . . .
Sudesh Amman pleaded guilty in November 2018 to six charges of possessing documents containing terrorist information and seven of disseminating terrorist publications. . . .
Amman was first arrested in north London in May 2018 by armed officers on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack.

Here’s the thing: Under our Constitution, any American has a First Amendment right to possess “documents containing terrorist information.” The British have no such protection, and are suppressing liberty in the name of security. Why? Because they don’t have a Second Amendment that would allow citizens to defend themselves. You see how these two basic liberties are related. There will always be bad people in the world who wish to do harm to the innocent, but it is foolish — indeed, dangerous — to seek protection against bad people by disarming the law-abiding citizen and forbidding the publication of bad ideas.

Consider that the principle that would allow prohibition of radical Islamic “terrorist information” could also be used to criminalize any expression of “Islamophobia.” Indeed, there are many in America who would prohibit “hate speech” critical of U.S. immigration policy. If disagreeing with liberals is “racist,” then liberals would be able to destroy our First Amendment freedom in the name of suppressing “hate speech.”

The knife attacker’s parents are from Sri Lanka, and while it may be true that the vast majority of Sri Lankan immigrants to the U.K. are decent hard-working people, it is predictable that some of their children will grow up to be alienated and anti-social, prone to radicalization:

Sudesh Amman, the man shot dead by police in what officials described as a terrorism incident in south London, had been jailed for promoting violent Islamist material and had encouraged his girlfriend to behead her parents. . . .
He was 17 and living at home with his mother and younger siblings when he first began committing terrorism offenses, according to authorities. Police became aware of his activities in April 2018 and he was arrested by armed officers in a north London street a month later.
When officers examined his computers and phone, they found he had downloaded material about making explosives and carrying out terrorist attacks, according to police.
Messages showed that he had discussed with his family, friends and girlfriend his extreme views and desire to carry out an attack, often focused on using a knife, police said.
In December 2017 Amman posted a picture of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed during a U.S. raid in Syria in October, and told his brother in a message that “the Islamic State is here to stay.”
He also described Yazidi women as slaves and said the Koran made it permissible to rape them, and in another message he encouraged his girlfriend to behead her parents.
Police said he had shared an online al-Qaeda magazine with his family and while in a discussion about school with a sibling he wrote he would “rather blow myself up”.

British immigration policy has caused this terrorist problem, yet in England, as in America, those who criticize immigration policy are accused of promoting “hate.” However, the preservation of liberty requires that a nation must defend its borders against foreign invasion.




 

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