The Other McCain

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

Red Pill: Celebrity Pastor Josh Harris Divorces Wife, Renounces Christianity

Posted on | July 29, 2019 | 1 Comment

Normally, I ignore church scandals, but the apostasy of Josh Harris hurts at a personal level. My wife and I began homeschooling our children in 1996, and so we were — indirectly, but in a real way — part of the same Christian community that produced Josh. When we lived in Gaithersburg, my wife and daughter attended a weekend women’s conference at Covenant Life Church, where he was youth minister before becoming senior pastor, replacing C.J. Mahaney. Some commentary about Josh’s apostasy suggests that it was somehow a predictable sequel of the child-abuse scandal that hit Mahaney’s Sovereign Grace Ministries in 2011. However, I was more reminded of the downfall of Doug Phillips, an eminent figure in Christian homeschooling who was destroyed by a 2014 sex scandal. Christian leaders who make themselves national spokesmen for an ethos of sexual purity are, necessarily, forfeiting their privacy and exposing themselves to destruction if they stray from the narrow path. Paula Bolyard summarizes feelings I share:

Many Christians (homeschoolers, in particular) are familiar with the Harris family — Josh’s mother and father, Gregg and Sono Harris, were pioneers in the Christian homeschooling movement of the ’80s and ’90s and Josh’s book advocating the view that dating should be avoided in favor of a courtship model sold more than a million copies . . . Many of us were understandably shocked and disappointed by Harris’ apostasy (the Greek word means simply a defection or revolt). An individual whom many of us admired and learned from has chosen to forsake Christ and embrace the world — he’s denounced the faith of his childhood, one that he has embraced very publicly over the last two decades. . . .
Besides being a warning about dangers of Evangelicalism Inc.’s celebrity culture, these incidents also serve as a warning about how Satan prowls about like a roaring lion “seeking whom he may devour.” Make no mistake: The prince of this world revels over each and every one of these stories.

Indeed. This son of eminent church leaders, a bestselling author whose message made his name familiar to millions of young Christians, must surely have been a target of Satan’s most fiendish demons, who now dance in delight at his downfall. We have been warned that the kingdom of God shall not come “except there come a falling away first,” and that we “be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled” by such apostasies.

What happened to Josh Harris? Honestly, I don’t know. He quit the pulpit in 2015, and by 2017 was promoting himself as a consultant offering businesses “branding and content strategy.” He announced his separation from his wife in sensitive blue-pill language (they “will continue our life together as friends . . . to create a generous and supportive future for each other and for our three amazing children”). We don’t know what we don’t know, but we may speculate that his wife — who had fallen in love with him when he was a evangelical superstar — lost interest in her husband once he ceased to be a celebrity. The Mahaney scandal must have inflicted collateral damage on Josh’s reputation and status as a leader, and what is the church to such a Christian celebrity except a source of status, an adoring audience for his performances? Necessarily, the celebrity pastor’s wife becomes part of the performance, playing the role of Perfect Christian Wife, and what happens when the show is over? What happens when the pastor leaves the pulpit and there is no longer an audience for this performance?

Maybe Josh Harris could learn something from Rollo Tomassi, but as I say, we don’t know what we don’t know. In his Instagram apostasy announcement, Josh Harris went out of his way to apologize to “the LGBTQ+ community.” My hunch is that this was not a coincidence, but I’ll avoid sharing my other hunches about the significance of this.

There are probably many lessons to be learned here, but I’ll skip the didactic approach and simply mourn Josh Harris’s apostasy.



 

Category: Religion

Rule 5 Sunday: Victoria Baldessara

Posted on | July 29, 2019 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

It’s Canadian Teen Drama Starlet Week here at Rule 5 Sunday, which is why we’re wishing Victoria Baldessara of The Next Step happy birthday. She’s been a regular on the show for six seasons, playing a member of a competition school dance troupe, with all the drama that entails. Baldessara has also participated in the show’s concert tours. I guess it’s pretty popular; Wikipee claims it’s been renewed for 78 more seasons, but that’s probably a typo. Here she is, looking very mature in a white bikini.

A seaside view

Ninety Miles From Tyranny has Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #692, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns. At Animal Magnetism, it’s Rule Five Socialism Sucks Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon. This week’s slice from Bacon Time is Rule Five Daisy Dukes.

EBL’s herd this week includes Astronaut Wives, Thieving Tiana Lowe, Ice Cream Day, Time For Mars!, Fool On The Hill, Jerry Nadler, Tiger Women, Sharmila Nicollet, and Jessica Brown Findlay.

A View from the beach offers a nice selection: From Pandora’s Box, Priscilla Quintana, Florida Refugee Caught in Maryland, Fish Pic Friday, Is Taylor Swift the New Queen Maker?, Just Another Wet Shirt Wednesday, Almost a Good Enough Reason to Go to Baltimore, Ugly Duckling Glues Self to Road in Climate Protest, A Good Question, Over My Pampered Ass, It Seems Like a Radical Solution, You Will Be Made to Conform and Steaming Through Russiagate

Proof Positive’s Vintage Babe of the Week is Lana Turner, and at Dustbury, it’s Chelsea McGehee and Kriti Sanon.

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious linkagery!


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Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: Kryptonite

Posted on | July 27, 2019 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Kryptonite

— compiled by Wombat-socho

‘Oikophobia’ and #NeverTrump: How Can We ‘Secure the Blessings of Liberty’?
Bacon Time
Dark Brightness
Amerika
357 Magnum
EBL

Rule 5 Sunday: Kathy Zhu
Animal Magnetism
Ninety Miles From Tyranny
A View From The Beach
Proof Positive
EBL

Saying ‘Thank You’ to David Atkins
A View From The Beach
EBL

FMJRA 2.0: Floating
A View From The Beach
EBL

Forgotten History for a Sunday in July
EBL

In The Mailbox: 07.22.19
357 Magnum
A View From The Beach
Proof Positive
EBL

‘Ourselves and Our Posterity’
Dark Brightness
EBL

In The Mailbox: 07.24.19 (Morning Edition)
A View From The Beach
Proof Positive
EBL

Mueller Hearing a Democrat Debacle
The Pirate’s Cove
A View From The Beach
EBL

In The Mailbox: 07.24.19 (Evening Edition)
A View From The Beach
Proof Positive
EBL

The Mifsud Mystery
EBL

Jonathan ‘Jessica’ Yaniv and How Transgenderism Destroys ‘Rights’
EBL

In The Mailbox: 07.25.19
Proof Positive
EBL

‘Brain-Eating Amoeba’
EBL

Meet the Women Who Ruined Twitter
EBL

Gang of Black Teenagers Mercilessly Beat White Tourist at D.C. Hilton Hotel
EBL

In The Mailbox: 07.26.19
Dark Brightness
Proof Positive
A View from The Beach
EBL

Top linkers for the week ending July 27:

  1.  EBL (17)
  2.  A View From The Beach (8)
  3.  Proof Positive (6)

Thanks to everyone for the linkagery!

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Category: FMJRA Award

In The Mailbox: 07.26.19

Posted on | July 27, 2019 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


Deadline to submit links for the FMJRA is noon tomorrow; for Rule 5 Sunday, midnight.


If you can throw a few bucks in the tip jar this weekend, it would be greatly appreciated.
Donation button is at the bottom of the post.


OVER THE TRANSOM
Bacon Time: Chuck The Wonder Dog
EBL: Once Upon A Time In Pedowood
Twitchy: Alyssa Milano Rails Against Pro-Lifers’ “Bullshit” While Sticking Up For Actual Convicted Child Murderers
Louder With Crowder: “Jessica” Yaniv Tried Showing Young Girls Pornography, also, Sabo Strikes Again
According To Hoyt: Today I Got The Libertarian Up
Vox Popoli: Neon Revolt Sums Up The Devil Mouse, also, Stop Whining About Wikipedia, Conservatives

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Greatness: Covenants Without The Sword
American Power: Orioles Beat Angels In 16 Innings, Outfielder Gets The Save
American Thinker: Do You Understand That Democrats Will Destroy America?
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Socialism Sucks Friday
Babalu Blog: Cardinal Jaime Ortega Dies On Anniversary Of Cuban “Revolution”
BattleSwarm: Mueller’s Testimony – A Roundup, also, LinkSwarm For July 26
Camp of the Saints: Mueller The Drooler & Other Observations
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday
Da Tech Guy: POTUS “Rapping” On The Culture Door, also, Punking The Nutroots On #MuellerMadness
Don Surber: Twump Hurts CNN’s Feewings
Dustbury: Not A Wildcat In The Bunch
First Street Journal: Tulsi’s Tears, also, Math Are Hard
The Geller Report: Ilhan Omar Owned By/Colluding With Terrorist Sponsor Qatar? also, Louis Farrakhan Falsely Claims Talmud Permits Sex Crimes
Hogewash: Another Day Older & Deeper In Debt, also, Team Kimberlin Post of The Day
Hollywood In Toto: Geraghty’s Between Two Scorpions Knows What Scares You
Joe For America: Should Rashida Tlaib Be Evaluated By Mental Health Professionals?
JustOneMinute: The Eternal Sunshine Of The Impeachment Mind
Legal Insurrection: SCOTUS Rules In Favor Of Wall Funding, also, Democrats Begin “Impeachment Investigation”, Seek Grand Jury Info
The PanAm Post: Argentinian Cultural Leaders Back Reelection For Macri
Power Line: Tulsi Sues Google, also, Just Married…And Divorced
Shark Tank: Senate Democrats Introduce Progressive Carbon Tax
Shot In The Dark: The Intersectional Minstrel Show
The Political Hat: Firing Line Friday – The Economics & Politics Of Race
This Ain’t Hell: Valor Friday, also, Local Head Of POW/MIA Group Under Fire
Victory Girls: Democrats Still Grasping For Impeachment Ring After Mueller Hearings
Volokh Conspiracy: Judge Rejects Nicholas Sandmann’s Claim Against The WaPo
Weasel Zippers: Bill DeBlasio – “Trump Will Not be Welcome Back In NYC” After Presidency, also, Trump Breaks Guatemala
Megan McArdle: Farewell To Mark Kleiman


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Category: Linkagery, Uncategorized

Gang of Black Teenagers Mercilessly Beat White Tourist at D.C. Hilton Hotel

Posted on | July 26, 2019 | 2 Comments

Is this a “hate crime”?

Police are hunting for 14 teenagers caught on video brutally beating a tourist outside a renowned hotel in Washington, DC.
Disturbing surveillance footage recorded at the entrance to the Washington Hilton Hotel at around 1am on July 14 shows the group of girls and boys believed to be around 13-14 years old attacking the man as he lies defenseless on the ground.
The video was released by the Metropolitan Police Department on Wednesday.
Authorities have asked for the public’s help in identifying the assailants.
The video shows the gang of teens exchanging a few words with the man before one of the boys punches him, knocking him backwards.
The rest of the group joins in and they proceed to kick and punch the man repeatedly.

 

To me, what’s most shocking about the video is that the Hilton is a posh hotel in the affluent Northwest section of D.C., off Connecticut Avenue a few blocks from Dupont Circle. Why was this gang of teenagers loitering around the entrance to the hotel in the first place? And what were those “few words” exchanged between the tourist and his assailants that preceded the beating? But we are supposed to shrug our shoulders and not spend too much time thinking about this frightening scene in terms of what it might symbolize about our society.



 

Category: Crime

Meet the Women Who Ruined Twitter

Posted on | July 26, 2019 | 1 Comment

 

Twitter rolled out a site redesign this week and it sucks — a giant leap backward, to a clunky and inefficient user interface. Who did this? It was a crew of social-justice quota hires:

IN JANUARY . . . following Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s return from a 10-day silent meditation trip to Myanmar, about which he praised the food and the beauty of the monasteries but neglected to mention the ongoing regional genocide, Twitter made it clear that some things were about to change. . . .
It was time to give the experience of using Twitter a makeover.
A redesign of Twitter’s website was long overdue. The desktop interface hadn’t been refreshed in seven years . . .
“Personalization and customization — that’s something we hope to start bringing out throughout the product,” says Ashlie Ford, the product designer who led Twitter[dot]com’s redesign. . . .
“People use Twitter a lot on desktop to look for information, and it tends to be around their interests,” says Jesar Shah, the web redesign’s product lead. “So we’re trying to make that easier for people, and leverage these new spaces we’ve created on the site and compliment their primary browsing experience.” . . .
“Internally, we call this project ‘Delight,’” says Shah. “One of the things we’re trying to do is make sure this is a delightful experience for users.”

It’s not “delightful.” It’s a nightmare. It’s wrong. You screwed it up.

But they’ll never be held accountable for their failure. That’s the thing about “social justice” as a human-resources policy — if your employer decides it needs to hire more “women of color,” just to satisfy some diversity goal, the people hired under this policy can never be fired, no matter how spectacularly incompetent they are, or no matter how much harm their failures inflict on the company’s profitability.

Six months or a year from now, when the metrics show that “New Twitter” has been a complete disaster, the quota hires responsible for this disaster will not suffer any actual consequences for their failure. Remember when Marissa Mayer became CEO of Yahoo in 2012 and everybody was like, “Yeah, GRRRL POWER!” What happened? In 2013, Yahoo paid $1.1 billion for Tumblr, which proved to be such a disaster that within three years Yahoo had to admit that the site was “basically worthless,” and in 2017 Yahoo was sold to Verizon, with Mayer getting a buyout of more than $20 million. No consequences.



 

Category: Computers, Economics

‘Brain-Eating Amoeba’

Posted on | July 26, 2019 | Comments Off on ‘Brain-Eating Amoeba’

Something else for hypochondriacs to worry about:

A North Carolina man has died after contracting an illness caused by a “brain-eating amoeba,” public health officials said.
Laboratory testing confirmed the man, identified by local media as Eddie Gray, was sickened by Naegleria fowleri after swimming at Fantasy Lake Water Park in Cumberland County earlier this month, according to officials with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the Cumberland County Department of Public Health. Infections like Gray’s are rare but typically occur when it is hot for prolonged periods of time, according to the release.
“Our sympathies are with the family and loved ones,” said state epidemiologist Zack Moore. “People should be aware that this organism is present in warm freshwater lakes, rivers and hot springs across North Carolina, so be mindful as you swim or enjoy water sports.”

From the health department:

Naegleria fowleri, referred to as the brain-eating amoeba, does not cause illness if swallowed but can be fatal if forced up the nose, as can occur during diving, water-skiing or other water activities. . . .
Symptoms of Naegleria fowleri infection start with severe headache, fever, nausea and vomiting and progress to stiff neck, seizures and coma.
Local health officials are working with the water park to provide guidance and education about the presence of Naegleria fowleri and how to take precautions when in natural bodies of freshwater.

The world has so many ways to kill us. It’s a miracle any of us survive.

 

Category: Science

In The Mailbox: 07.25.19

Posted on | July 26, 2019 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Only a Bureaucrat Could Construct a Tax Rate ABOVE 100%
EBL: Rossello Out In PR, But “Coonman” Northam Still Governor Of VA
Twitchy: “Fake News In Real Time” – Reuters Tweet Of Woman Begging Soldier To Let Her Into U.S. Missing Important Context
Louder With Crowder: Norm MacDonald Levels Bette Midler For Sexist #MeToo Attack, also, Ted Cruz Kills Again

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Greatness: The “Marlene Effect” – Why Our Reasonable Neighbors Are Blind To The Deep State
American Power: Inside The Fight Over The Democratic Party’s Future
American Thinker: Time To Wheel Robert Mueller Away
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Twit Squad News
Babalu Blog: UK Labour Party Leader Corbyn’s Boundless Love For Fidel Castro
BattleSwarm: Mueller – Sad As A Wrinkled Little Balloon
Camp of the Saints: Our Future – Fear, Malice, & Blandness
CDR Salamander: The Gods Of Demographics, Economics, & Politics Are Astride Their Chargers
Da Tech Guy: Is The U.S. Turning Into A Surveillance State? also, #MuellerMadness, or, The Revenge Of The Russian Bots
Don Surber: Media Reacts To Muellergeddon
Dustbury: Bring That Garbage In Here
First Street Journal: The Lexington Herald-Leader Mealy-mouths Rape
The Geller Report: UN Singles Out Israel As Only Violator Of Womens’ Rights, also, Muslim Who Raped & Brutally Murdered 14 Year Old Named As Judge Overturns Reporting Ban
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, A Good Day For Blondes
Hollywood In Toto: Here’s Why Cancel Culture Is Piling On Leonard DiCaprio
Joe For America: Clinton Donor & Pedophile Epstein Found Unconscious In Cell After “Attempted Suicide”
JustOneMinute: Score One For The Skeptics & Haters
Legal Insurrection: Ilhan Omar – “Our Country Should be More Fearful Of White Men”, also, The Investigators Need To Be Investigated
The PanAm Post: Lessons From Ukraine – Communism & Naziism Are Legally Synonymous, also, Putin Willing To Send More Troops To Venezuela
Power Line: Democrats Balk, But Senate Confirms K of C Member To Judgeship, also, Anti-Semites Unite!
Shot In The Dark: It’s Almost A Law
The Political Hat: Gallery of Suicide – Canada Harvests Organs From The Living, Swiss Expanding Euthanasia Clinics, & France Killing The Non-Terminal
This Ain’t Hell: SEALs Booted From Iraq For Drinking, also, FUBAR Ends After One Season
Victory Girls: Mueller’s Finished, So Democrats, Fix Your Cities
Volokh Conspiracy: Notorious RBG Opposes Court Packing
Weasel Zippers: Judicial Watch Files House Ethics Complaint Against Ilhan Omar For Immigration, Marriage, Tax, & Student Loan Fraud, also, Multiple Suspects In Custody For Dousing NYPD Cops With Water
Megan McArdle: Give Up Hoping For A Deus Ex Machina End To President Trump
Mark Steyn: The Taming Of The Jew-Hating Shrew, also, Can’t Get Into That

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