The Other McCain

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

Russian Bots Get Results!

Posted on | February 21, 2020 | Comments Off on Russian Bots Get Results!

 

 

“And let me say something else about this, not being too paranoid. All of us remember 2016, and what we remember is efforts by Russians and others to try to interfere in our election and divide us up. I’m not saying that’s happening, but it would not shock me.”
— Bernie Sanders, Las Vegas debate, Wednesday

Look, I’m not saying that help from Russian military intelligence is the reason Bernie Sanders is going to win the Nevada primary Saturday, I’m just saying, draw your own conclusions:

U.S. officials have warned Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that Russia is attempting to boost his prospects of winning the White House in 2020, according to the Washington Post.
President Donald Trump and Congressional lawmakers have also received briefings regarding the Kremlin’s efforts to help Sanders, sources familiar with the matter told the Post. In a statement to the newspaper, Sanders called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “thug” and said he stands “firmly against” any efforts to interfere in U.S. elections
“I don’t care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president,” Sanders said. “My message to Putin is clear: stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.”
“In 2016, Russia used internet propaganda to sow division in our country, and my understanding is that they are doing it again in 2020. Some of the ugly stuff on the Internet attributed to our campaign may well not be coming from real supporters,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Sanders campaign would not comment on the nature of Russia’s attempted efforts to help the Vermont senator.
Speaking to reporters about the Post’s report, Sanders revealed that he learned of Russia’s interference a month ago and seemingly suggested that their efforts were made public Friday in a bid to hurt him one day before the Nevada caucuses.
The development comes after Sanders raised the prospect of Russia being behind some online posts in support of the lawmaker, which have been described as toxic and violent by former Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) at this week’s Democrat debate in Nevada. Several other Sanders detractors have made similar claims.

So now, Bernie is about to score a gigantic win in Nevada, and we’re supposed to believe Russian bots aren’t the reason he’s winning.

Like I said, draw you own conclusions. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.




 

Category: Bernie Sanders, Russia

#NeverTrump Circus: Ex-GOP Voting for Bernie Sanders Because ‘Principles’!

Posted on | February 21, 2020 | 1 Comment

 

“Stand Up Republic” is the Evan McMullin/Mindy Finn organization funded by Democrat billionaire Pierre Omidyar. “Principles First” is an anti-Trump organization that is the brainchild of disappointed Rubio supporter Heath Mayo. Together, these two outfits are sponsoring the “Summit on Principled Conservatism” a week from Saturday:

Stand Up Republic and Principles First are excited to announce a one-day grassroots summit in Washington, DC on Saturday, February 29, focused on reviving principled conservatism in the United States. We look forward to bringing together conservative speakers, thought leaders, and grassroots activists for a day of panels, speeches, networking, and substantive discussion about what conservatism means today and where the conservative movement must go from here.
This promises to be an exciting, first-of-its-kind event. The speakers lined up for this gathering will be some of the leading thinkers in principled conservatism with many grassroots activists from around the country in attendance.

It’s a Who’s Who of #NeverTrump grifters — Bill Kristol, Rick Wilson, et al. — and their “principles” are simply: ORANGE MAN BAD!

The #NeverTrump crowd was betting on Biden as the “moderate” Democrat they could support against Orange Man Bad, but when it became apparent that Creepy Uncle Joe couldn’t win, they turned to Mike Bloomberg as their “moderate” Messiah. Now that Mini-Mike flamed out in the Vegas debate, the #NeverTrump gang is starting to make the case for why “conservative principles” would require them to support socialist Bernie Sanders, who increasingly looks likely as the Democrat candidate.

The avowed libertarian will vote for whoever Democrats nominate — even an outright socialist — “because Trump.” It’s just so sad, isn’t it?

UPDATE: Another “principled conservative”:

Trump Breaks Another ‘Never Trump’ Person;
MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace Confesses Who She’ll Vote For

(Hat-tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)




 

Category: Democrats

How’s That ‘Bail Reform’ Working Out?

Posted on | February 21, 2020 | 1 Comment

 

A woman is dead in New York state:

The 25-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing a library security officer to death had been released without bail after being accused of trying to rape a woman at Montefiore Nyack Hospital in November, authorities and court documents confirmed Thursday.
Blanchard Glaudin had been charged by Orangetown police under the name of Gaudin Blanchard, as he apparently goes under several names, according to police and court records.
He also was arrested in Florida in 2014 on a misdemeanor trespassing charge as Blanchard Carter Glaudin, according to the Nyack Justice Court.
Spring Valley Police Detective Kevin Freeman filed a felony complaint against him under the name Blanchard Glaudin in the stabbing death of security officer Sandra Wilson at 2:05 p.m. Tuesday at Finkelstein Memorial Library. He was charged with second-degree murder.
Orangetown police had charged him as Gaudin Blanchard with attempting to rape a woman at the hospital where he was an inpatient on Nov. 9 at 12:30 p.m., Capt. James Brown said in an email Thursday.
An Orangetown police report filed with Nyack Justice Court states he “entered the hospital room of the victim, held her by the throat, bit her neck and told her to, ‘Shut up and do not scream.’ Pull down your pants. I don’t care about your blood.'”
The woman fought off his attack until hospital staff intervened, the report states. . . .
He was held as Gaudin Blanchard in the county jail from Dec. 20 until Dec. 26, when a County Court judge released him, Sheriff Louis Falco said.
Falco said he doesn’t know who the judge was or the conditions under which the suspect was released.
The sheriff is a vocal opponent of the bail reforms as approved, taking away the discretion of judges and setting release without bail for some violent felonies.
Erin George, director of Citizen Action for the Civil Rights Campaign, called Wilson’s death heartbreaking, “but it is unquestionably not the result of bail reform.”
“The accused individual was released in December 2019 on charges that remain bail and jail eligible under the new law,” she said. “Furthermore, he could have been ordered to remain in a hospital for evaluation, as he reportedly was experiencing mental health issues.”

“Social justice” is a threat to public safety, but this is just another case of violence against women feminists won’t notice, for some reason . . .

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!




 

Category: Violence Against Women

The Late Winter Book Post

Posted on | February 21, 2020 | 1 Comment

– by Wombat-socho

Well, technically it’s early spring here in Las Vegas, but I’ve been dragging my feet on getting this done for literally months, for which I apologize. For once in my life I’ve been too tired, busy, depressed, and/or sick to read, which pretty much NEVER happens, but this last month or so of tax season has gotten me back in the saddle. So, for your reading pleasure:

The Last Straw – John C. Wright
John C. Wright’s review of the execrable movie The Last Jedi reminds me of the legendary quip by Mary McCarthy regarding Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged: “This is not a book that should be cast aside casually. Rather, it should be thrown with great force.” This is not to denigrate Mr. Wright’s review, which is a work both hilarious and depressing, but the movie it reviews, which is truly one of the worst things to come out of Hollywood since the all-female Ghostbusters. The Last Straw is hilarious, because Mr. Wright is a fine writer with a keen eye for the ridiculous (and oh, Lord, there is so much ridiculous about TLJ) and is a skilled wordsmith on a par with Chesterton, but it is also depressing, because for every stupid sentence of dialogue, every witless/wasted character, and every cringe-inducing meaningless action scene, he shows us what could have been in the hands of competent writers working for a producer who loved the original Star Wars trilogy – an outstanding action movie, with young characters we could have cherished, exchanging witty banter while fighting desperate odds for a meaningful victory. Unfortunately, we got Rian Johnson’s hideous bastardization of a beloved franchise. Console yourself with this book; unlike the movie, it is well worth your time and gold-pressed latinum.

The Compleat Martian Invasion: Earth’s Defense Awakens – John Taloni
There’s a subgenre of steampunk, or perhaps more correctly, Edisonades, which is made up of sequels to H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. These range in quality from the truly awful Edison’s Conquest of Mars to the tragic early issues of Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, with a detour sideways into parallel worlds with George H. Smith’s The Second War Of The Worlds and Larry Niven’s Rainbow Mars. I am pleased to say that John Taloni’s entry into this subgenre is a good read, having a lot more in common with Moore and Niven. The plot involves a mission to recover Dr. Cavor from the Moon and its hostile inhabitants, and the creation of a corps of female space fighter pilots using the liftwood technology developed by a certain Serbian super-scientist. Meanwhile, John Carter and Dejah Thoris fight the Tripods on Mars, the mysterious Time Traveller makes an appearance, and the crowned heads of Europe unite behind their cousin Louise, Queen-Empress of England…or do they? This is a fun little book, entertaining brain candy that’s worth the borrowing from the Prime Lending Library.

The Last Dance – Martin L. Shoemaker
In the ancient mists of time, back in the 1930s, many SF novels were what’s now called “fix-ups”, collections of short stories knitted together to create a coherent novel. These days, with SF novels often being mistaken for doorstops, this isn’t as common, but Martin Shoemaker pulls it off nicely with The Last Dance, which frames several mysteries in the setting of a court-martial of what at first appears to be the 22nd-century version of Captain Bligh – Captain Aames, a martinet whose harsh criticism and rigid standards nonetheless attract a crew of spacers who would do anything for him, while giving the powers that be the cold shoulder. Shoemaker does an excellent job of writing a series of hard-SF mysteries while peeling back the onion of Captain Aames’ personality…and the old wound that helped make him the hard, unforgiving officer he is. Aames sounds like an unlikable asshole, but Shoemaker manages to make you see him as his crewmen see him, and that is a very different man indeed. Excellent book, highly recommended, especially if you like near-future hard SF.

The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin – L. Jagi Lamplighter
As has been observed elsewhere, Ms. Lamplighter’s series of books about Rachel Griffin at Roanoke Academy have a very superficial resemblance to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter tales, but to dismiss them as just another knockoff of Rowling’s series would be a serious mistake. Jimbo’s review covers all the territory I would have, so RTWT. Then go read Rachel’s adventures. Well worth the time and money.

Komi Can’t Communicate – Tomohito Oda
I’ve become greatly enamored of this manga, which tells the story of Shouko Komi, a beautiful young girl who’s admired by all her classmates, who believe her aloof manner only enhances her beauty. What they don’t know is that Komi is desperately lonely and has enormous trouble saying anything to anyone , including her family. (There are indications that she may have inherited it from her father, but whether she’s merely excessively shy, autistic, or has some other problem is never explained.) This trouble begins to end when her classmate Tadano, perhaps the only ordinary boy in a class filled with weird kids, manages to engage her in conversation using the class blackboard. She expresses a desire to make one hundred friends during the year, and Tadano voews to help. A lot of us have had problems talking to other people, so it’s easy to sympathize with Komi, and the fact that none of her classmates except Tadano (and maybe “big sister” Onemine) have their heads screwed on straight makes for ongoing hilarity and occasional creepiness. I’m up to the fifth volume and am waiting with bated breath for the next one to come out in April. Highly recommended.

Today’s Menu For The Emiya Family – TAa
Bought this manga because I’m a fan of the mobile game Fate/Grand Order, and I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it’s kind of nice to see the various people and Servants of the series getting along and enjoying each others’ company – it reminded me somewhat of the parody Carnival Phantasm in that regard – but on the other hand it’s really just an illustrated cookbook with some useful recipes if you like Japanese food. The art is good, the story is somewhat lacking, and you already know the characters.


Category: Books

In The Mailbox: 02.20.20

Posted on | February 20, 2020 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 02.20.20

– compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Bail Reform Claims Another Life
EBL: Pete Buttigieg Goes For The Black Vote, also, Confirmed – Ilhan Omar Married Her Brother To Evade U.S. Immigration Law
Twitchy: The Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes Posts Speakers At The Summit For Principled Conservatism
Louder With Crowder: Bloomberg Savages Bernie – “You’re A Socialist That Owns Three Houses”

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Farming Isn’t An Information Age Skill
American Greatness: James Comey Is Lying About The Justice Department’s Job
American Power: The Limits Of Democracy Promotion
American Thinker: Rush Limbaugh, Trump, & The Tea Party Family
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Smackdown News
Babalu Blog: Socialism In Action – Lack Of Personal Hygiene Products Plunges Cuba Into Medieval Times
BattleSwarm: Coronavirus Update For February 2020
Cafe Hayek: No, Hayek’s “Promise” Wasn’t “Broken”
Camp Of The Saints: Perilous Times – On The Radical Young Left
CDR Salamander: Hedging Billions To Keep Shareholders Happy
Da Tech Guy: My Astros Suggestion, also, Shining Some Light On The True Nature Of Socialism
Don Surber: Pardon Stone, Fire The Judge
First Street Journal: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
The Geller Report: CNN Caught Coaching LV Debate Audience On How/When To Clap & Cheer, also, CONFIRMED – Ilhan Omar DID Marry Her Brother
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, This Ain’t Staying In Vegas
Hollywood In Toto: Night Clerk – Long On Sympathy, Short On Thrills, also, Standing Up, Falling Down Lets Billy Crystal Shine (Again)
Legal Insurrection: Judge Sentences Roger Stone To 40 Months, also, Stacey Abrams – Sure, I’ll Take The VP Slot In 2020, But I Really Want To Be President Someday
Megan McArdle: Hey Democrats, You’re Attacking The Wrong Candidate
The PanAm Post: Will Paraguay Follow Argentina’s Economic Decline? also, Spanish Government Criminalizes Memories Of Falangist Past While Supporting Communist Cuba
Power Line: Steve Scalise Wins Tweet Of The Year, also, How Far Left Are Journalists?
Shark Tank: NRCC Lists Dane Eagle As Contender For Rooney’s Seat
Shot In The Dark: “Evidence-Based”
The Political Hat: Recent Temporary Absence
This Ain’t Hell: Texas Rangers Investigating Jowers & Foley, also, Air Force Pleading With People To Adopt Some Of Their Retired Dogs
Victory Girls: Knives Out At #DemDebate Yelling Match
Volokh Conspiracy: Federal Court Rules Against Plaintiffs In Second Hurricane Harvey Takings Case
Weasel Zippers: Bloomberg Paying People $2500/Month To Say Nice Things About Him On Social Media, also, Biden Claims He Can Help A Democrat Win Senate Race In Pennsylvania (There Isn’t One)
Mark Steyn: Clash Of Titans, also, The Bloomberg Administration Takes Shape

Amazon Warehouse Deals




Category: Linkagery

Violence Against Women Update

Posted on | February 20, 2020 | Comments Off on Violence Against Women Update

 

The transgender agenda marches on:

On April 1 of last year, 29-year-old Janiah Monroe was transferred from Pontiac Correctional Center, a prison for men, to women’s prison Logan Correctional Center after the MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) and the Uptown People’s Law Center (UPLC) filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) on his behalf.
Named Andre Patterson before he began identifying as a woman, Mr Monroe’s criminal record includes convictions for second-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and attempted aggravated arson. At age 17, Mr Monroe argued with his male jail cellmate, 31-year-old Kimani Muhammad, and strangled him to death. At the time of the homicide, Mr Monroe was being held on suspicion of aggravated battery with a firearm after shooting two people outside a barber shop.
Two months after the transfer to Logan, Mr Logan was placed in a housing unit with a woman whom he immediately began “express(ing) an interest” in. According to the lawsuit, the woman was terrified of Mr Monroe due to his much greater size and strength. Mr Monroe raped her that same day, she said.
Following the incident, the woman was moved into the prison’s Health Care Unit and interviewed by internal affairs officers. Todd Sexton, a supervisory officer, told her he did not believe her and coerced her into providing a statement in which she retracted the rape allegation, she said. She was then subjected to months of punishment by the IDOC for filing a false complaint under the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

The victim has filed a federal lawsuit against prison officials.




 

Category: The Transgender Cult, Violence Against Women

Crazy People Are Dangerous

Posted on | February 20, 2020 | Comments Off on Crazy People Are Dangerous

 

Nine dead in Germany:

A far-right ‘terrorist’ who shot nine people dead in an attack on two shisha bars in Germany before killing his mother and then himself was a far-right conspiracy theorist who was obsessed by aliens, mind control, Satanic sacrifice and government surveillance.
Tobias Rathjen, 43, detailed his extremist views in a 24-page manifesto posted to a now-deleted website in which he vowed to wipe out entire countries including Israel, most of the Middle East, some Asian nations, North Africa, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Germans who he considered to be ‘impure’,
‘I can imagine halving the population,’ he wrote, alongside claims that he never slept with a woman because was being watched by the government, and his belief in various anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Alongside the manifesto, Rathjen posted his plan to help the German football team win a World Cup and a strategy that he insisted could have ended the Afghan and Iraq wars within 10 years.
His website included links to prominent conspiracy theorists including people who claim to have carried out autopsies on aliens or to be investigating missing persons cases which they link to alien abduction.
And in a video posted online just a few days before last night’s attack in the town of Hanau, Rathjen rants about underground military bases in America where he claims Satan worship and child abuse takes place — urging people to rise up and storm the compounds.
Rathjen posted the manifesto and videos online before opening fire in his hometown around 10pm Wednesday, killing nine people and wounding six. He then went home, killed his 72-year-old mother and then killed himself.
All nine of those killed at the shisha bars have a ‘migrant background’, German attorney general Peter Frank confirmed Thursday, adding that they were aged between 21 and 44.

Describing him as “far-right” — that his motive was political — requires us to ignore the obvious evidence that he was just crazy. Of course, I freely stipulate if a Muslim immigrant had killed nine Germans in a similar manner, we would automatically assume a terrorist motive. But the problem here is that you’ve got a guy who is just generally paranoid, ranting about Satanic rituals and alien abduction, so that his anti-immigrant hatred is just part of a big ball of crazy.




 

Category: Germany

How Bad Was It?

Posted on | February 20, 2020 | 2 Comments

 

It was bad — very, very bad:

Mike Bloomberg’s millions in campaign spending flew right out the window Wednesday night.
The billionaire’s self-bankrolled presidential bid was torn to shreds in the opening minutes of Wednesday’s Democratic debate as his opponents skewered him for his checkered past on sexual harassment and his record on stop-and-frisk.
Each candidate on the Las Vegas stage attacked Bloomberg right out of the gate, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren made the former Big Apple mayor visibly squirm and roll his eyes in frustration.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against, a billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians,’” she said from the Paris Theater.
“And, no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”
Bloomberg, 78, started to surge in national and state polls after pouring hundreds of millions of dollars of his personal fortune into a slick campaign with catered campaign events and wall-to-wall TV ads.
Former Vice President Joe Biden attacked Bloomberg for “throwing close to 5 million young black men up against a wall” while mayor of New York City and said he only stopped after President Barack Obama intervened in his stop-and-frisk policy.
Ex-South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg called Bloomberg and Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders the “two most polarizing figures on this stage,” while Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar accused the media mogul of hiding.
“I actually welcomed Mayor Bloomberg to the stage. I thought that he shouldn’t be hiding behind his TV ads, and so I was all ready for this big day,” she said.

While watching the candidates take turns pummeling Bloomberg, I was working on a column about the idiot pundits who are always wrong:

One of the most amazing things about American journalism is the continued employment of political pundits whose penchant for failure would disqualify them from being hired in any other field. All the experts who were wrong about the 2016 election are now confidently making predictions about the 2020 election, as if their credibility were undiminished by their previous mistakes.
Last week, for example, ex-Republican pundit Max Boot — panicked by the sudden meltdown of Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign, which he had failed to anticipate — issued a desperate appeal to prevent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders from winning the Democratic nomination. “Please, Democrats, do the smart thing and coalesce quickly around one of the three moderates — Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, or Michael Bloomberg — who are still standing after the first two contests,” Boot begged on Twitter in the aftermath of the New Hampshire primary, adding, “The future of our democracy may depend on it.”
Really? Is “our democracy” in such dire peril that it can only be preserved by one of the three Democrats whom Max Boot has named? Or is it rather the case, as I suspect, that Boot is chiefly concerned about rescuing his own damaged reputation? . . .

Read the whole thing at The American Spectator.




 

Category: Debates, Democrats, Nevada
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