The Other McCain

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

Eric Ciaramella Is the ‘Whistleblower’ and Other Things You’re Not Allowed to Say

Posted on | January 22, 2020 | 1 Comment

 

Three weeks ago, I posted to Facebook a link to a post by Instapundit, and discovered that it is “coordinating harm and promoting crime” to name Eric Ciaramella, despite the fact that he is allegedly the man responsible for the current impeachment of President Trump. And of course, as I said, his identity is by no means a secret (although some of us have trouble trying to get the spelling right). Just today, in fact, Paul Sperry of Real Clear Investigations reports more on Ciaramella:

Barely two weeks after Donald Trump took office, Eric Ciaramella — the CIA analyst whose name was recently linked in a tweet by the president and mentioned by lawmakers as the anonymous “whistleblower” who touched off Trump’s impeachment — was overheard in the White House discussing with another staffer how to remove the newly elected president from office, according to former colleagues.
Sources told RealClearInvestigations the staffer with whom Ciaramella was speaking was Sean Misko. Both were Obama administration holdovers working in the Trump White House on foreign policy and national security issues. And both expressed anger over Trump’s new “America First” foreign policy, a sea change from President Obama’s approach to international affairs.
“Just days after he was sworn in they were already talking about trying to get rid of him,” said a White House colleague who overheard their conversation.
“They weren’t just bent on subverting his agenda,” the former official added. “They were plotting to actually have him removed from office.”
Misko left the White House last summer to join House impeachment manager Adam Schiff’s committee, where sources say he offered “guidance” to the whistleblower, who has been officially identified only as an intelligence officer in a complaint against Trump filed under whistleblower laws. Misko then helped run the impeachment inquiry based on that complaint as a top investigator for congressional Democrats. . . .
Two former co-workers said they overheard Ciaramella and Misko, close friends and Democrats held over from the Obama administration, discussing how to “take out,” or remove, the new president from office within days of Trump’s inauguration. These co-workers said the president’s controversial Ukraine phone call in July 2019 provided the pretext they and their Democratic allies had been looking for.
“They didn’t like his policies,” another former White House official said. “They had a political vendetta against him from Day One.”

You can read the whole thing, but the point is plain enough: Two Democrat staffers from the Obama administration had been looking for a way to sabotage Trump ever since he was inaugurated, and this political conspiracy against the President of the United States has now led to an impeachment trial in the Senate, but Facebook has prohibited anyone from naming the “whistleblower” who is responsible for this.

Meanwhile, in Colorado:

A Denver Post columnist says he was fired after disputing the idea that there are more than two sexes.
Jon Caldara, president of the libertarian Independence Institute, announced that he has been fired from the Post, chalking it up to “a difference in style” that his editors found “too insensitive.”
“My column is not a soft voiced, sticky sweet NPR-styled piece which employs the language now mandated by the victim-centric, identity politics driven media,” he said in a Facebook post. “What seemed to be the last straw for my column was my insistence that there are only two sexes and my frustration that to be inclusive of the transgendered (even that word isn’t allowed) we must lose our right to free speech.”
Caldara criticized an Associated Press directive saying that sex and gender are not binary. “There are only two sexes, identified by an XX or XY chromosome. That is the very definition of binary. The AP ruling it isn’t so doesn’t change science. It’s a premeditative attempt to change culture and policy. It’s activism,” he wrote on Jan. 3. In a column two weeks later, Caldara also railed against a 2019 Colorado law that required elementary school children to be instructed in transgender ideology.

(Hat-tip: Bob Belvedere.) If journalists are no longer permitted to discuss the scientific facts of sexual dimorphism — human beings are mammals! — what is the First Amendment even worth? Political pressure campaigns to silence dissent from the approved ideology are certainly not compatible with constitutional liberty, and every day we see more evidence that American culture is descending into an Orwellian dystopia.



 

Category: Democrats, Media Bias

Impeachment Circus Update

Posted on | January 22, 2020 | 1 Comment

 

The Trial of the Century began Tuesday with the House Democrats arguing for subpoenas and whatnot, arguments that mainly rehashed the weeks of testimony in Adam Schiff’s House committee. Nothing new was learned, no “bombshells” were dropped, and I don’t think anyone who nodded off for a nap (as I did) missed much.

There is only so much tedium we can tolerate. Politics junkies and the D.C. press corps may enjoy The Trial of the Century, but the bottom line has not changed: Trump committed no high crimes or misdemeanors, and Mitch McConnell will bring this farce to conclusion with an acquittal.

What we are watching is the Democrats engaging in a performance staged to provide sound bites for their propagandists in the media. Like the phony “debate” staged on CNN last week, this cable-TV charade is simply part of the Democrats’ 2020 presidential campaign. Insofar as anything important happened Tuesday, Tyler O’Neill suggests it was in Jay Sekulow’s opening argument in defense of Trump:

During his opening remarks in the Senate impeachment trial, President Donald Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow quoted Democrats’ own words against them. He condemned the House Democrats’ rush to impeach Trump, adding an article of impeachment for “Obstruction of Congress” rather than litigating a matter of executive privilege in court. He quoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), each of whom defended Barack Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder when he was held in contempt of Congress in 2012.
“Mr. Schiff did say the courts don’t really have a role in this. Executive privilege? Why would that matter? It matters because it’s based in the Constitution of the United States,” Sekulow said. “The president’s opponents in their rush to impeach have refused to wait for judicial review.”

Speaking of Tyler O’Neill, he’s just published a book entitled Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which deserves widespread attention. Years ago, when I was smeared by the SPLC, few conservatives understood how dangerous and dishonest the SPLC had become, but as the scope of their smears widened — targeting traditional-values organizations like the Family Research Council as “hate groups” — public awareness of the SPLC’s malice began to spread. The problem is not that there are no genuinely dangerous hate-mongers out there, but rather that the SPLC’s political agenda (and their endless fundraising drives) required them to expand the definition of “hate group” until it meant simply: People who disagree with liberals.

If you think about it, that’s basically the Democrats’ argument for impeachment: Disagreeing with liberals is a crime, and Trump is guilty!



 

Category: Donald Trump, Senate

Another Crisis for the Wombat?

Posted on | January 21, 2020 | Comments Off on Another Crisis for the Wombat?

As our loyal colleague Wombat explained earlier, he’s run into a financial crisis caused by his health problems, and we must raise $500 for him by noon Wednesday to prevent the repossession of his automobile.

We can do this, folks: I just hit his tip jar for $15 myself, and if 33 readers will do the same, that’s a total of $510. Think crowdfunding — even if you can only give $5, please do so, and I’m certain that Wombat will be more responsible about his thank-you emails than I have been (he says, plagued by a guilty conscience). Getting the Wombat back on his feet (and keeping him on his wheels) is a worthy endeavor, a patriotic duty as it were, so if all our readers will chip in what they can, certainly we can stave off the arrival of that tow truck. Because I will make a slight alteration to the Five Most Important Words in the English Language:

HIT WOMBAT’S FREAKING TIP JAR!

UPDATE: Happy to report that, by your generosity, Wombat was able to make that car payment! Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Category: Blogging

In The Mailbox: 01.21.20

Posted on | January 21, 2020 | 1 Comment

– compiled by Wombat-socho


As much as I loathe doing this, I’m up against the wall again. The credit union is going to repossess my car unless I can come up with $500 by tomorrow at noon. Your contributions to the tip jar below would be greatly appreciated.


OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: I Feel A Great Disturbance In The Narrative
Ammo.com: Deplatformed – How Big Tech Companies & Corporate America Subvert The Second Amendment
EBL: It’s Time For Cocaine Mitch To Show Us His Senate Kung Fu
Twitchy: Puerto Rico’s Secretary Of State Confirms There’s Even More Warehouses Full Of Unused Aid
Louder With Crowder: Occasional Cortex Pwns Herself – “Why Are There Almost NO Police At Virginia Gun Rally?”, also, Is This Gun Rights Advocate A White Supremacist?

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Girls, Your College Degree Is A Net Negative
American Conservative: NYT’s Lukewarm, Wrong, & Ultimately Useless Endorsements
American Greatness: New Book Details How Five Biden Family Members Cashed In On Joe’s Political Connections – Profiles In Corruption
American Power: Trump Impeachment – The Last Gasp Of Progressivism
American Thinker: Conservatives Need To Stop Playing Defense
Animal Magnetism: A Tramp Abroad I – Ireland
Babalu Blog: WaPo Puts Ultra-Positive Spin On Cuban Slave Doctor Scam
BattleSwarm: Thousands Not Dead At Richmond Second Amendment Rally
Cafe Hayek: A Deficit Of Clarity
Camp Of The Saints: The Virginia Protest & Lessons Learned
CDR Salamander: Words Mean Things – Fleet Marine Force Edition
Da Tech Guy: The Virginia #2A Tweet Awards, also, Red China’s Economic Troubles
Don Surber: Trump’s Remarkable Davos Remarks
First Street Journal: Democrisy – The Sexism Of The Bernie Bros
The Geller Report: Rep. Schiff Caught Leaking Classified Information To Damage President Trump, also, Muslim Who Raped, Murdered 92-Year-Old Was Here Illegally
Hogewash: Democrats, Gun Control, & Reality, also, Team Kimberlin Post of The Day
Hollywood In Toto: Adam McKay, Hollywood’s Progressive Propaganda Machine, also, Apu Is Gone – Is Linda Belcher Of Bob’s Burgers Next?
Legal Insurrection: Hillary Won’t Commit To Endorsing Sanders – “Nobody Likes Him”, also, Denver Post Columnist Fired Because Of His Insistence “There Are Only Two Sexes”
The PanAm Post: The Reputation Of A FARC Leader
Power Line: Inside Edition Looks For Crime, Finds More Than It Wanted, also, Trial Of The Century 
Shark Tank: Florida Democrats Support Child Genital Mutilation
Shot In The Dark: Nothing. Is Everything.
STUMP: Meep Picks Apart Teresa Ghilarducci On Working Longer
The Political Hat: Highlighting The Nonsense Of Gender Pronoun Madness
This Ain’t Hell: MRFF Is At It Again, also, Occasional Cortex Claims The Democrats Are Center Or Right Of Center
Victory Girls: Schumer Has Tantrum On Senate Floor Over Impeachment Rules
Volokh Conspiracy: The Case Against The Slippery Slope Argument Against Impeachment For “Abuse Of Power”
Weasel Zippers: Project Veritas Drops Another Video On Bernie Staffer’s GULAG Agenda, also, Biden Says We Should Be Helping Red China
Mark Steyn: The Last Waltz, also, Revenge On Reality

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Category: Linkagery

A Mass Shooting CNN Won’t Notice

Posted on | January 21, 2020 | 2 Comments

There was a mass shooting Sunday night in Kansas City in which one woman was killed and 15 other people were injured. Three of the injured victims were listed in critical condition Monday. Mass shootings have become part of propaganda campaign by Democrats and the media, who seek to blame President Trump for these crimes — a “climate of hate” supposedly inspired by the White House. However, not every mass shooting lends itself to this political narrative, and so CNN viewers will not be getting 24/7 coverage of the Kansas City shooting:

Jahron Swift was identified by authorities as the gunman in a mass shooting that left at least 16 people wounded, 1 fatally, at a Kansas City nightclub a couple hours after the Kansas City Chiefs won a spot in the Super Bowl.
The shooter also died at the scene. The shooting occurred outside at 9ine Ultra Lounge bar about 11:30 p.m. on January 19, 2020 in the 4800 block of Noland Road. . . . The bar was hosting a Chiefs’ party.
Kansas City.com reported that the shooter “started firing into a line of people waiting to get inside” the club. The motive remains unclear. Jahron Swift was 29 years old and a resident of Kansas City. . . .
In a news conference, Kansas City Police Chief Richard Smith said the first call came in at 11:27 p.m.
“This club had come up previously. We knew it was an issue at other points in time in the past. Officers had done a check of the parking lot and were less than a minute out when we got our first call,” he said. . . .
“No one fired a weapon other than the security guard and suspect. Police officers fired no shots at the scene,” Smith said. He said the shooting ignited after a “disturbance in the club…in the line waiting to get in. This incident unraveled shortly after that disturbance.” Police don’t know what caused the disturbance. The chief said he was aware of social media reports that people were cutting in line but said they haven’t confirmed that.
The guard was inside the club and “heard commotion. He went outside and that’s when he confronted the suspect,” the police chief said. . . .
Swift had a previous criminal history. According to Missouri state court records, he was accused of unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) in 2017.
There are also some civil cases and a paternity action against him. A court ordered him to pay child support.

Further details about the killer:

We’re learning more about the suspect in Sunday night’s shooting at 9ine Ultra Lounge in east Kansas City. It turns out he never should’ve had a gun in the first place.
Jahron Swift just got off probation after a felony conviction. . . .
The 29-year-old was sentenced for unlawful use of a weapon and felony drug possession in 2015. According to court records, Swift and two other men were pulled over in a traffic stop. Officers uncovered thousands of dollars worth of pills, marijuana and cocaine, several guns, and almost $8,000 in cash.
That conviction means Swift couldn’t legally own a gun.

If more than a dozen people had been shot by an “alt-right” Trump supporter, CNN would be airing hourly updates, with politicians and pundits being asked to weigh in on the “climate of hate” that allegedly caused the mass shooting. However, when an angry dope dealer opens fire because people are cutting in front of him in the line to get into the club after the Chiefs won a trip to the Super Bowl? That’s just local news.

There were 149 homicides in Kansas City last year. None of them made the national news, because none of the killers was a known Trump voter.



 

Category: Crime, Media Bias, Missouri

In The Mailbox: 01.20.20

Posted on | January 20, 2020 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 01.20.20

– compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Not-So-Smart Homes
EBL: Asshat Of The Day – Blue-Check David Leavitt
Twitchy: Alyssa Milano Correctly Identifies Peacefully Protesting Gun Owners As “Trump’s America”
Louder With Crowder: VA Gun Rally Attendee Nails It – “Gun Rights Are Civil Rights”

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Friday Hawt Chicks & Links  – The Love Song Edition
American Conservative: The Covington Kids’ Revenge, One Year Later
American Greatness: Progressive Petards, also, Scandal Erupts In Puerto Rico After Unused Hurricane Maria Aid Found
American Power: Maine Leftists Can’t Cancel Michelle Malkin
American Thinker: What Do Democrats Fear About Donald Trump? Greatness
Animal Magnetism: While We’re Traveling…
Babalu Blog: Florida Democrats Trying To Erase Their Long History Of Defending Socialist Regimes
BattleSwarm: Bluecheck David Leavitt Vs. #TargetTori, also, Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update
Cafe Hayek: Government Schooling & Supermarkets
Camp Of The Saints: Virginia – Is A New “Shot Heard Round The World” Coming?
CDR Salamander: Mid-January Melee On Midrats
Da Tech Guy: America’s Greatest Enemy Is Not A Physical One, also, Report From Louisiana – Reading List
Don Surber: Facts The Wall Street Journal Overlooked
First Street Journal: The Two-Facedness Of Max Boot
The Geller Report: Palestinian Muslima Running For Manhattan DA, also, 150 Occupied Territories In France Held By Muslims – Secret MoD Report
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, On Being Dangerous
Hollywood In Toto: How Stabbing Westward’s Improbable Reunion Happened
JustOneMinute: When You Come To A Fork In The Road, Take It
Legal Insurrection: Fauxcahontas – “How Could The American People Want Someone Who Lies To Them?”, also, Virginia Pro-2A Protest Was Peaceful Despite Hysterical Predictions By Democrats & Media 
Megan McArdle: Pushing Back Against Red China Is About Staying True To Ourselves
The PanAm Post: Venezuela’s Guaido Meets With Pompeo In Colombia, Heads To Davos 
Power Line: Pro-Gun Rally In Richmond Is Peaceful, Liberals Hardest Hit, also, The Prophetic Voice
Shark Tank: Rick Scott Guilts Europeans For Visiting Cuba
Shot In The Dark: The Steady Drip Drip Drip
STUMP: French Pension Protests – Macron Backs Down On Retirement Age & Protests Continue
The Political Hat: Rape Gang Privilege
This Ain’t Hell: Navy To Name Aircraft Carrier After Pearl Harbor Hero Dorie Miller, also, Someone Is Really Angry At You Guys
Victory Girls: Womens’ March 2020 – The Retreat Of The Pussy Hats
Volokh Conspiracy: Desperately Smearing Amy Coney Barrett
Weasel Zippers: Montage – Media Hypes False News About Gun Rights Rally, also, Black 2A Supporter Has A Few Words For The Media
Mark Steyn: Falling Down, also, I’m Just Wild About Harry

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Category: Linkagery

Rule 5 Monday: Stacey Dash

Posted on | January 20, 2020 | 2 Comments

– compiled by Wombat-socho

This week’s appetizer is Stacey Dash, actress and occasional conservative pundit, because it’s her birthday and I lacked inspiration. It’s also Buzz Aldrin’s birthday, but I think you’ll agree he’s well past his beefcake days, even if he can still punch out the occasional obnoxious idiot.

Ninety Miles From Tyranny leads off with Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #867, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns. At Animal Magnetism, it’s Rule Five Fleecing The Rubes Friday and the Saturday Asian Invasion.

EBL rustled up some prime cuts this week: Go Big Or Go Home, There Can Be Only One,  Chicken Feet, Itzy: Icy, Jessie Buckley, Booth Babes, Prohibition Babes, and Julie London.

A View From The Beach hauls in Capetown Cutie – Leah Sanders, EPA Bay Program Admits 35 Years of Failure, Fish Pic Friday – Carpe Diem, Tanlines Thursday, Gone Fishin’ Russiagate, Water Bottle Wednesday, Having Solved All Their Bigger Problems . . ., Having Solved All Their Bigger Problems . . . (no, not an accidental copy), Pennsylvania Seeks to Protect Farmers from Bay Diet Costs, I’m Afraid I’ll Just Have to Take Her Word For It, So Long, Marianne! and Palm Sunday.

Proof Positive’s Vintage Babe is Kim Novak, Bacon Time has New Year’s Resolutions, and Red Pilled Jew has Women Across The Table.

Thanks to everyone for the luscious linkagery!

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Women’s Lingerie
Sexual Wellness Store




Category: Rule 5

Be Careful in Richmond, Please

Posted on | January 20, 2020 | 1 Comment

Thousands of Second Amendment activists are assembling today at the Virginia capitol in Richmond to protest against proposed legislation that would infringe their right to “keep and bear arms.” Last week, activists noticed signs that the Left might be sending agents provocateurs to this event in an attempt to create some incident that might embarrass the gun-rights movement. So if you are going to this Richmond rally, stay safe, and do not allow yourself to be baited into saying or doing anything offensive or illegal. Keep your eyes open for trouble, and urge your fellow attendees to stay away from any conflict that might emerge. Because great minds think alike, Dana Loesch is offering the same advice:

Some in media and many anti-gun/gun control advocates are desperately trying to gaslight everyone into thinking that Virginia’s Second Amendment lobby day will be Charlottesville 2.0. Since 2002 the Virginia Citizens’ Defense League has peacefully gathered law-abiding Virginians in Richmond to speak to lawmakers on behalf of preserving Second Amendment rights. This year is no different — except the numbers are expected to be astronomically larger due to state Democrats’ gun control kegger.
Do not be baited. Do not be provoked.
You are at an extraordinary moment in history and the rest of us in states, counties, and cities across the country (all of us dealing with rights grabs like you, some at stages earlier than others) are watching you, praying for you, and depending on you. How you choose to use your time and impact your community will send shockwaves throughout the rest of the country. Do not be distracted from your good work by bad actors sent to incite, antagonize, and sabotage your efforts. Stay relentlessly focused.

The First Amendment specifically protects the right of citizens “peaceably to assemble” and express their grievances. Anyone attempting to disturb the peace at such an event should be carefully avoided.



 

Category: Constitution, Virginia
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