Since the Nikki/Marienel "fake" revelation, people have pushed the "False Flag" theory, in which the Nikki/Marienela combo are sockpuppets, but sockpuppets designed to get the #bornfree crew to bite on a false story and thereby embarrass themselves.

I have consistently thrown cold water on this claim, finding it a little too cute and too pleasing for Team Conservative. That is, I thought there was a wishcasting element in it, a desire to wrap this all up by postulating everything bad that happened here happened on the left's side of things.

Last night I realized something. I realized that most of my logical objections (as opposed to my meta objection, "it's too good to be true") to this narrative could be pushed aside if we didn't think about some vague, unknown person doing the sockpuppeting, but rather a defined, known person. more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:34 AM | Comments (542)
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What do these two things have to do with one another?

In the Gunwalker thread, there's a report that Mexican President Felipe Calderón has reiterated his support for changes in U.S. gun laws to (theoretically, at least) help him control crime in Mexico:

Calderon endorsed calls for reinstating the ban on domestic sales of assault rifles, saying its expiration in 2004 may have played a role in the increase of drug violence in Mexico.

At least he wasn't making this call for gun control measures from our own capitol building, but last time he was here he had the following to say about Arizona's SB1070 immigration law when addressing a joint session of Congress:

"It is a law that not only ignores a reality that cannot be erased by decree but also introduces a terrible idea using racial profiling as a basis for law enforcement," he said to cheers, mainly from the Democratic side of the chamber.

So let me get this straight. Calderón wants us to have extremely lax border enforcement when it comes to illegals but also says we need to enact even more stringent measures than tight border enforcement when it comes to guns. It's like he wants a big Gore-Tex wall on the Rio Grande that will let illegal aliens stream into the U.S. but keep Evil Black Rifles from flowing back towards Mexico.

Now Felipe, amigo, who is it that's ignoring reality again?

I have a better suggestion for el Presidente. Let's clamp our shared border down hard and control the flow of both people and guns. It's a win-win.

Posted by: andy at 08:05 AM | Comments (256)
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There's a report in the weekend Wall Street Journal suggesting that ATF head Kenneth Melson is about to take the fall for Operation Fast and Furious a/k/a Gunwalker.

The Justice Department is expected to oust the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to people familiar with the matter, amid a troubled federal antitrafficking operation that has grown into the agency's biggest scandal in nearly two decades.

Moves toward the replacement of Kenneth Melson, acting ATF director since April 2009, could begin next week, although the precise sequence of events remains to be decided, these people said.

Usual anonymous source caveats apply, but this burgeoning scandal is at about the stage where you'd expect the administration to sacrifice an underling in an attempt to limit the fallout. And this guy's just the "acting" head anyway, so no muss, no fuss.

It's a nice start, but according to the first report out of the House Oversight/Senate Judiciary Committee (pdf), "ATF led a strike force comprised of agents from ATF, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)." Chances of a higher-up's head rolling are high in such a large-scale clusterfuck. My bet's on Napolitano.

I spent a little time reading through the linked report, and it is damning. Instapundit questions the timing, or more specifically, the timeline. And so do I. more...

Posted by: andy at 06:08 AM | Comments (345)
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The legislature must be controlled by the constitution, and not the constitution by them.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:55 AM | Comments (207)
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Neo-neocon: The Conspiracy of Kennedy Conspiracists

There are Kennedy conspiracists and then there are writers who write about Kennedy conspiracies. The former may be kooks and fools, but the latter are knowingly dishonest.

IÂ’ve been reading a book by Vincent Bugliosi entitled "Reclaiming History", which purports to definitively prove that Oswald killed JFK by himself and was not part of any conspiracy. Bugliosi amasses a mountain of evidence (almost literally; the book is huge) and strikes down each and every conspiracy theory point by point by point.

...Bugliosi makes an especially interesting point in his introduction, one I hadnÂ’t really thought of before, which is that although most of the people who believe in the various conspiracies are probably sincere in their beliefs, many of those who actually write the conspiracy books are not. They are lying and they know it, but they count on their readers not to realize this.

Bugliosi notes that conspiracy sells, and he is correct. There is no question that some of the motivation to write these things is to make money. But for at least some of the conspiracy authors and promoters there is probably another reason, which is that belief in conspiracies undermine faith in our government as a whole.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:38 PM | Comments (676)
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Yes, yes, he would have made a better President than Obama. Undeniably. That doesn't mean he's not an idiot; pickings were slim in 2008.

This morning Sen. McCain opined that the folks competing to beat the man he could not are behaving in an isolationist manner by insisting that Obama get congressional authorization before waging wars overseas.

"This is isolationism. There's always been an isolation strain in the Republican party, that Pat Buchanan wing of our party," McCain told "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour. "But now it seems to have moved more center stage."

At the first major Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire last week, several candidates criticized U.S. military involvement in Libya, while on Afghanistan former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney said, "It's time for us to bring our troops home as soon as we possibly can" based on the advice of military commanders.

"I wonder what Ronald Reagan would be saying today?" questioned McCain, saying the isolationism is a stark departure from traditional Republican foreign policy positions. "That is not the Republican party that has been willing to stand up for freedom for people for all over the world."

McCain's inexhaustibly stupid premise that it is "isolationist" to expect Congress to have a say in the wars American Service Members fight was parroted by that other mincing ninny, Sen. Graham:

On Meet the Press this morning, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said “Congress should sort of shut up and not empower Qaddafi” by discussing the possibility of cutting off funding for military operations there.

He also said it was a mistake for Republican presidential hopefuls to think that getting “to the left” of President Obama on national security is a path to victory in the GOP primary. He warned that any candidate evincing skepticism about our military mission in Afghanistan and elsewhere the Middle East would face strong “headwinds” from the party.

With very little respect: Senators, you're wrong. It does not "empower Gadhafi" to behave as if we actually believe the words written in our own Constitution, nor can any of the GOP candidates, except that mutant subcreature Ron Paul, be fairly called "isolationist." I'm just going to say it: I'm not 100% convinced McCain even knows what isolationism is.

The Libya War is being waged without even the token cover of the War Powers Resolution. It is not constitutionally kosher, even according to President Obama's lawyers. So whether or not the United States should "be willing to stand up for freedom" in Libya is only relevant to the question of whether Congress would approve intervention in Libya. Since Congress obviously won't, McCain, Graham, and President Obama have decided to forgo that constitutionally-mandated step. Shame on them.

And shame on McCain for calling it isolationism. If he has nothing to say other than pathetically inaccurate name-calling, perhaps he should take Graham's advice and shut up.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:37 PM | Comments (213)
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Jon Stewart insists he's totally, totally non-partisan, as evidenced by the fact that he jumped so hard on the Weiner story.

You know, first praising leftwing blogs for flogging the #Hacked! theory, and saying Andrew Breitbart sucks, and then, once Weiner confessed, informing us that we had ignored important stories while dwelling on WeinerGate.

So, yeah, totally non-partisan, the Clinton Playbook Two-Step, first, he's innocent, then, okay, he's guilty maybe, but aren't there more important things to talk about?

So here he is, telling Chris Wallace that Fox News is biased, but the New York Times is not.

Wow. Hey, thanks for the people who urged me to watch this. Chris Wallace is dogged. And Jon Stewart serves up a huge pile of Ego, telling Wallace "What I do is harder than what you do... I put things through a comedy process."

Oh man, he is really giving it to him on Clown Nose On/Clown Nose Off.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:45 PM | Comments (281)
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Probably better than you were expecting, and probably are worth a watch (especially at Red Box prices), but not really actually good.

Also, bear in mind the Unexpected Christian-Disrespecting Content Warning posted in white font (invisible until you click over it) below. more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:15 AM | Comments (167)
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Posted by: andy at 04:04 AM | Comments (242)
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[Well I guess this is gonna be the official ONT so I bet you wished you hadn't trashed it up so much now. No deposit return for you guys. - Maet]

Ghosts. Trapped souls? Or the ultimate peepers?
Until another co-blogger ectoplasms the OOT in excitement, enjoy your open thread. more...

Posted by: CAC at 08:24 PM | Comments (554)
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