August 21, 2013
— Purple Avenger ...along comes a masterfully crafted bit of wordsmithing such as this one. You might expect something like this from say Coulter, but it actually comes from Camille Paglia
...Two words: pathetic dork. How sickeningly debased our politics have become that this jabbering cartoon weasel could be taken seriously for a second as a candidate for mayor of New York. But beyond that, I have been amazed by the almost total absence of psychological critique in news analyses of the silly Weiner saga. For heaven’s sake, Weiner is no randy stud with a sophisticated sex life that we need to respect. The compulsion to exhibit and boast about one’s penis is embarrassingly infantile — the obvious residue of some squalid family psychodrama in childhood that is now being replayed in public...She doesn't seem too fond of Hillary either.
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August 22, 2013
— DrewM While liberals often talk about needing "a conversation" on x, y, or z, what they really mean is, "Conservatives must confess their errors, engage in ritual self-condemnation and approved reeducation". How they set up this conversation is by declaring certain thoughts and positions approved and others deviant and beyond anything a respectable person would say or think.
What got me thinking about this isÂ…hockey.
The NHL and hockey writers have become increasingly vocal in support of gay rights and same sex marriage. Most of it is based on a program called You Can Play that seeks to increase tolerance for gays in sports. As a spinoff from that, given the NHLÂ’s participation in the upcoming Olympics in Sochi, Russia, thereÂ’s a great deal of focus on RussiaÂ’s law regarding what it terms the spread of gay propaganda.
The NHL and players who are likely to be at the Olympics are being asked about their feelings on the law and if they are deemed insufficiently outraged they are being criticized in hockey media.
What all this coverage amounts to s the left's vaunted conversation how (not if) we should be protesting the Russians at the winter Olympics.
Now thatÂ’s all fine. If people want to cross the streams of politics and sports, thatÂ’s their right. It annoys me no end but professional athletes and sports writers are as welcome to their opinions as anyone else.
What bothers me is the double standard. Some positions, such as gay rights and gun control are officially sanctioned parts of the liberal cannon so they may be and in some cases, must be, expressed. Should you have a view different from that held by the Cult of All Right Thinking People, well then you must be ridiculed and marginalize or worse. more...
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August 21, 2013
— JohnE. BuzzFeed's Steve Friess thinks he has a real scoop on his hands. The NRA has been building a database, and that's hypocritical because they oppose the government doing so.
But in fact, the sort of vast, secret database the NRA often warns of already exists, despite having been assembled largely without the knowledge or consent of gun owners. It is housed in the Virginia offices of the NRA itself. The countryÂ’s largest privately held database of current, former, and prospective gun owners is one of the powerful lobbyÂ’s secret weapons, expanding its influence well beyond its estimated 3 million members and bolstering its political supremacy.This isn't a gun registry; it's a marketing list. There's a world of difference. The "gun owner" classification is mostly assumed, based on interests and behavior. It's not even particularly important to the NRA whether they are gun owners, so long as they have an interest in gun rights and the second amendment. Companies do this all the time. Remember when Target figured out a teenager was pregnant before her parents did?
That database has been built through years of acquiring gun permit registration lists from state and county offices, gathering names of new owners from the thousands of gun-safety classes taught by NRA-certified instructors and by buying lists of attendees of gun shows, subscribers to gun magazines, and more, BuzzFeed has learned.This is known as micro-targeting, and it is not dissimilar from how any other politically-active entity seeks to expand its influence and engagement. Team Obama was famously data-mining single mothers on Facebook to warn them of the coming Sesame Street Wars, which thankfully never came to pass and I'm confident that the Sierra Club is scooping up attendee lists for tofu-based granola and free-range yogurt festivals.
Furthermore, are we supposed to be shocked that the NRA saves attendee information from their own gun safety and training classes? Permit registration lists are often times public or can at least be acquired simply by asking and magazines and conferences have been selling subscriber/attendee lists for decades. The NRA seems to have cracked the secret to finding people interested in firearms.
BuzzFeed very much wants you to believe that it is hypocritical for the NRA to keep a list of individuals who may own firearms while simultaneously opposing the government doing so. So what are the differences? In the NRA's case, outside of typical fundraising communications, they wish to alert people should the government and/or politicians attempt to pursue more onerous and overbearing gun control legislation. With a few possible exceptions (actual gun data the government already has), the NRA doesn't know what firearms you own. They can perhaps deduce that you may have an interest in duck hunting or competition shooting based on magazine subscriptions or other data points, but they aren't interested tracking weapons.
What the NRA opposes is a gun registry, which would allow the government to monitor precisely what you own (make, model, serial number). The reason for opposing a registry is simple enough: it often leads to confiscation. There are countless examples of this throughout world history, from the Soviet Union to Australia, but you don't even have to look that far. New York state was confiscating guns in April of this year.
It can and has happened here. The NRA would be incompetent if they didn't use every tool at their disposal to deliver their gun rights message to those most interested in preserving them.
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— DrewM Terrible if true.
Rockets with toxic agents were launched at the suburbs of the Ghouta region early on Wednesday as part of a major bombardment on rebel forces, they say.The Syrian army says the accusations have been fabricated to cover up rebel losses.
The main opposition alliance said that more than 1,000 people were killed by the attacks.
Activist networks also reported death tolls in the hundreds, but these could not be independently confirmed.
It is also not clear how many died in the bombardment of the sites and how many deaths were due to any exposure to toxic substances.
The UK and France have called for international inspectors to be allowed into the region to investigate the claim. The Obama administration has responded by asking, "Have you seen our new puppy?"
Obviously this would be a horrible thing if it turns out it's true but before getting swept up in the emotion of the moment people need to consider the implications of actually doing anything about it.
We could bomb Syrian military units. And then? The government has been regaining lost territory over the last month or two. Would airstrikes make sense now? Would they actually help the rebels that much?
Should we give the rebels more weapons? Just because people may have been killed in a chemical attack doesn't change the fact that we don't want the jihadi connected fighters to win.
Surely no one with half a brain would advocate US troops on the ground in Syria.
In short, even if this terrible massacre did take place (and there's a reasonable case to be made for questioning the timing of the story) it doesn't change the basic calculus for the US...do whatever it takes to keep the fighting going for as long as possible.
More dead Assad loyalists + more dead jihadis = US Win.
It's cold, it's uncaring and it's the reality of our interest in the fight.
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— DrewM Amnesty is like the main character in a horror movie franchise. Every time you think it's dead there's someone who thinks they can squeeze a few more dollars out of another sequel and back it comes.
Still, there's growing feeling on the left and right that this round is over.
Conservative talk radio may not have killed amnesty this time around, but it definitely helped liberals realize theyÂ’ve already lost.On Tuesday, House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the following to conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt:
In my opinion if you, after you have the borders secure and these enforcement mechanisms in place. If you were to do something, I would start first of all with children who were brought here illegally by their parents. TheyÂ’ve grown up here. TheyÂ’ve been educated here. They are ready to face the world and they have no documents. I think thereÂ’s a more compelling argument to be made for them. But, even for them, I would say that they get a legal status in the United States and not a pathway to citizenship that is created especially for them.
Follow the link and you'll see a number of liberal writers linked to who are realizing that the game is up this time.
Here's a taste of Josh Marhsall's take from TPM.
I get that it’s difficult for immigration reformers to see and accept the writing on the wall — that reform is likely dead in this Congress. … But pretending this isn’t the case is actually damaging the prospects of reform.It makes all the tactical and strategic sense in the world to take this out of the confusing arcana of Washington’s intentionally obfuscating procedural maze and put it back into the political realm where it belongs. In other words, stop pretending that the GOP House’s hardening resolve to kill the Senate bill is going to change and take this whole question back to the people looking forward to the 2014 election.
Now, the GOP may still find a way to give into it's suicidal fascination with amnesty but preventing a quick vote in the House before the August recess was vitally important. When they come back it's going to be all about ObamaCare, the debt ceiling and the Continuing Resolution. The GOP is on the defensive with a good part of their base on those issues and what can be delivered. It really would be a suicide run to top off what will likely be unsatisfying endings on those issues with amnesty.
If amnesty dies it will be interesting to see how it plays out with the 2016 field. You'd have to think the pro-amnesty types are going to have to do some major re calibration of their positions. This would mark the 4th time the GOP base has stood firm on amnesty (2007, pushing McCain and Romney to the right in 08/12). Being to the left of the base on this creates a major hurdle to overcome for the Rubio and Ryans of the world.
So it's not dead, it may not even be resting but there are some hopeful signs. That of course means it's not time to let up but to double the pain. Go to town halls, write letters and keep the pressure on. Only an idiot would keep pushing amnesty at this point but they don't call the GOP "The Stupid Party" for nothing.
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— andy Thought for the day:
When an innocent Australian student is shot dead in Oklahoma for 'fun' - America's gun crisis becomes the world's problem.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 21, 2013
It's time for every decent American to stand up to the @NRA and say: ENOUGH. #GunControlNow
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 21, 2013
Well, as a Life Member of the NRA, please allow me to retort: Piss off, Piers. The perps were 15, 16 and 17, hence underage under existing US gun laws.
What law would we pass that would affect them?
But remember, they're just running the playbook
The guide spells out how to talk about gun control and when to press the issue, the best time being in the wake of a publicized shooting. For example, it calls on gun control advocates to speak out, "don't wait" for the facts, after a shooting like Martin's heightens awareness of the issue."The debate over gun violence in America is periodically punctuated by high-profile gun violence incidents including Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, the Trayvon Martin killing, Aurora, and Oak Creek. When an incident such as these attracts sustained media attention, it creates a unique climate for our communications efforts," said the guide.
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— Ace I got nothin'. Well I usually got nothin'. Today I also got nothin' to write.
The Wall Street Journal, however, is just now reporting that the NSA's capabilities are far greater than has been claimed since the beginning of the Snowden Imbroglio and now admits it has the "capability" to monitor 75% of all internet traffic at any time.
Okay that's not funny but this is. Remember David Paterson, the half-blind accidental governor of NY who turned out to be kneedeep in affairs?
He's still got the silver tongue.
David A. Paterson was, abnormally, at a loss for words.The question was why voters should choose Scott M. Stringer, whom Mr. Paterson has endorsed in the Democratic primary for city comptroller and with whom he was campaigning on Monday morning in Harlem, over Eliot Spitzer, under whom Mr. Paterson served as lieutenant governor.
After a pause, Mr. Paterson replied, “Because I endorsed him.”
Asked again a minute later, he did not do any better.
“I’m not going to answer the question of why they should choose Scott over Eliot,” he said. “That’s your question. I didn’t ask that question, and I’m not answering it.”
This is not at all funny: The judge seems to have ignored the clear meaning of the law in order to rule in favor of Michael Mann in his sham defamation suit against Mark Steyn, NRO, and CEI, at least as regards the defendants' motion to dismiss the suit on grounds it's a SLAPP suit intended to squelch vital criticism.
And so for something funny, here's Baby Monkey Feeding Time.
more...
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August 20, 2013
— Maetenloch
Well since I'm feeling kinda tired and lazy I'm just going to grab 10 random browser tabs and call it an ONT. Because I can.
What's Worse Than Being a Terrorist? Being a Terrorist manager
Terrorist leaders also face a stubborn human resources problem: Their talent pool is inherently unstable. Terrorists are obliged to seek out recruits who are predisposed to violence -- that is to say, young men with a chip on their shoulder. Unsurprisingly, these recruits are not usually disposed to following orders or recognizing authority figures. Terrorist managers can craft meticulous long-term strategies, but those are of little use if the people tasked with carrying them out want to make a name for themselves right now.
...For terrorist managers, the only way to combat those "counterproductive activities" is to keep a tight rein on the organization. Recruiting only the most zealous will not do the trick, because, as the alleged chief of the Palestinian group Black September wrote in his memoir, "diehard extremists are either imbeciles or traitors."
Ten Simple Things You Can Do to Be Happier, Backed by Science
Most cost $0 and can be started right after you make just a few more ONT comments. Oh who are we kidding here - it's not gonna happen.
Debate waged by marquee.
Welcome to my world, Kevin. Just so as you know, this rule goes also for Obamacare, the economy, foreign policy, firearms law, and absolutely every other area of public policy. I have been called a "racist" for so long now that I'm almost looking forward to a Hillary presidency so that I can be called a "sexist" instead.more...
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— Ace If you don't love this video, I just don't know what to tell you.
Before that video cheer-up, Egypt's strongman is now sort of offering the West: keep the money coming and we'll kill terrorists for you. Heck, we'll even rebuild some churches, if you like that sort of thing.
Well, now that you put it that way...
Anyone who wants to beat Christie will have to figure out some way to overcome Christie's network of very big-dollar donors.
Oh, re that "Three Black kids killed the white kid" story: Actually, it was two black kids and one white kid who did the murder. I know you can't see that from the mugshot pictures that were running-- because those were mistaken mugshots. They ran the picture of one kid twice in that picture. The white kid wasn't shown.
This story has the actual mugshots. As you can see, Murderer 3 is white.
On one of the alleged killer's Facebook pages, investigators found the message: "Bang. Two drops in two hours," Sky News reports."I think they were on a killing spree. We would have had more bodies that night if we didn't get them,” Ford said in an interview with the Australian Associated Press.
As you can see they were very eager to comply with all relevant statutes involving gun ownership.
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— Ace Via @johnekdahl, who has summed everything up with one search and screengrab, here's what the Post has been up to the past couple of days. more...
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