Happy Tuesday.

D.C. police have arrested a woman for the green paint vandalism at the National Cathedral. They're still trying to determine if she's also responsible for the similar vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial and a statue near the Smithsonian Castle.

The Quran is no longer the most-requested book at Guantanamo Bay's secretive detention facility, Camp 7. Now it's Fifty Shades of Grey.

San Diego Serial Toucher Bob Filner wants the city to pay for the legal costs of defending him from the sexual harassment suits that go back to his time in Congress.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:49 AM | Comments (249)
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More on Ms. Magazine Does Guns

In which Heidi Yewman who intensely fears and dislikes guns buys a 9mm Glock and carries it around for a month just to see what it's like. With a completely open mind and everything despite being a board member of the Brady Campaign. Swearsies.

And you'll be shocked, shocked to discover that after four weeks she found it scary, dangerous, and all together icky. So of course we need more gun control. Because the children. And the middle class.

Tony told me a Glock doesn't have an external safety feature, so when I got home and opened the box and saw the magazine in the gun I freaked. I was too scared to try and eject it as thoughts flooded my mind of me accidentally shooting the gun and a bullet hitting my son in the house or rupturing the gas tank of my car, followed by an earth-shaking explosion. This was the first time my hands shook from the adrenaline surge and the first time I questioned the wisdom of this 30-day experiment.

I needed help. I drove to where a police officer had pulled over another driver. Now, writing this, I realize that rolling up on an on-duty cop with a handgun in tow might not have been fully thought through.

I told him I just bought a gun, had no clue how to use it. I asked him to make sure there were no bullets in the magazine or chamber. He took the magazine out and cleared the chamber. He assured me it was empty and showed me how to look. Then he told me how great the gun was and how he had one just like it.

The cop thought I was an idiot and suggested I take a class. But up to that point I'd done nothing wrong, nothing illegal.

Because apparently the law is expected to limit every possible foolishness and bad judgment a person could ever make.

And of course she found the gun dangerous - mostly because she refused to learn anything about the weapon and also because she did willfully dumb and dangerous things like this:

I played two tennis matches with the gun in my backpack next to the court, and I went to three parties in homes where children played just feet from the pile of guests' jackets and purses, including mine with the gun inside.

I put my purse on the counter and then spent the next hour out on the back deck. Walking into the kitchen to refresh our drinks, I noticed my purse with the 9mm Glock still inside it. I'd forgotten to lock it up! Panic set in as I realized my teen son was playing videogames just 10 feet away. What if he'd decided to get the socks I'd bought him from my purse while I was out on the deck?

Also it's quite possible her gun was possessed since it seemed to emanate brain rays that constantly put the idea of pointing the gun at random people into her head. A competent gunsmith/priest could probably fix that.

Bottom line: Heidi Yewman has no business owning or using a gun. Or a car or anything heavy or sharp or electrically powered. And no pets or children either. Smaller spider plants might be okay though.

Also NYPD: No Guns For You, No Help From Us

Gelman stabbed Joseph Lozito in the face, neck, hands and head on an uptown 3 train in February 2011, after fatally stabbing four people and injuring three others in a 28-hour period. Lozito, a father of two and an avid martial arts fan, was able to tackle Gelman and hold him down, and Gelman was eventually arrested by the transit officers. Lozito sued the city, arguing that the police officers had locked themselves in the conductor's car and failed to come to his aid in time.

The city, meanwhile, claimed that the NYPD had no "special duty" to intervene at the time, and that they were in the motorman's car because they believed Gelman had a gun.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:34 PM | Comments (1011)
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Because the other one's pretty long.

Oh, and in political news:

Latest Weiner boner drops a load
of support from polling figures.

Posted by: Ace at 04:42 PM | Comments (255)
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If it sounds chilling, it ought to.

This is how democracies die -- or rather, this demarcates the end of democracy.

NYT: People questioned your legal and constitutional authority to do that unilaterally — to delay the employer mandate. Did you consult with your lawyer?

MR. OBAMA: Jackie, if you heard me on stage today, what I said was that I will seize any opportunity I can find to work with Congress to strengthen the middle class, improve their prospects, improve their security –

NYT: No, but specifically –

MR. OBAMA: — but where Congress is unwilling to act, I will take whatever administrative steps that I can in order to do right by the American people.

And if Congress thinks that what I’ve done is inappropriate or wrong in some fashion, they’re free to make that case. But there’s not an action that I take that you don’t have some folks in Congress who say that I’m usurping my authority. Some of those folks think I usurp my authority by having the gall to win the presidency. And I don’t think that’s a secret. But ultimately, I’m not concerned about their opinions — very few of them, by the way, are lawyers, much less constitutional lawyers.

I am concerned about the folks who I spoke to today who are working really hard, are trying to figure out how they can send their kids to college, are trying to make sure that they can save for their retirement. And if I can take steps on their behalf, then IÂ’m going to do so. And I would hope that more and more of Congress will say, you know what, since thatÂ’s our primary focus, weÂ’re willing to work with you to advance those ideals. But IÂ’m not just going to sit back if the only message from some of these folks is no on everything, and sit around and twiddle my thumbs for the next 1,200 days.

I am livid that this is not the white-hot core-of-the-sun issue it should be. A lawyer quoted by Allah notes:

Republican opponents of ObamaCare might say that the suspension of the employer mandate is such good policy that thereÂ’s no need to worry about constitutionality. But if the president can dispense with laws, and parts of laws, when he disagrees with them, the implications for constitutional government are dire.

It is like this:

It is like the so-called elites are no longer even pretending to be part of a democratic republic anymore.

And let me say this:

The primary problem with the so-called elites is not that they are not humble.

The primary problem with the so-called elites is not that they are not patriotic.

The primary problem with the so-called elites is not that they are not godly. They're not, but that's not the primary problem.

The primary problem with the so-called elites is that they are not elite, and they are neither wise, nor intelligent, nor educated, nor enlightened, nor superior in any fashion save two, accident of circumstance and elevated self-regard.

They do not have any conception of what they're doing, of the history of this country, or of the disasters their stupidity visits upon the ruled every day of the year.

And they will be the death of us all.

Posted by: Ace at 02:10 PM | Comments (306)
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Okay, consider this an Open Thread as well as a Palate Cleanser. Maybe at least have a laugh as the country crumbles into apocalypse.

I did this with a friend like, literally, twenty years ago, and we were dying laughing. It went on for like five hours.

So here's the game: You just make up an album title or song title that could conceivably have been released by a specific band, but tweaked ever-so-slightly to sound ridiculous.

For example, here are some Made Up Albums and/or Songs. Songs get quotes, album titles don't. (Sometimes it sounds more like one than the other!) Throw on a year of release just to make it look official.

Yes, Euclid's Tesseract (1973)

KISS, "Just the Tip" (1974) (by AllahPundit)

KISS' collection of B-sides, Sloppy Seconds (1979)

Judas Priest, Guts for Garters (1982)

Smashing Pumpkins, Whinge (1994)

L'il Kim, "M.U.F.F" ft. Vagina (2002)

Jethro Tull, Shepherd's Pie (1981)

Hall & Oates, Mmm! Sweet (1983) (@nykensington)

Radiohead, Fortnight (2001) (@derakahunter)

Iron Maiden, To the Hilt (198

AC/DC's double-A side single, "Love In the Dark"/"You'll Never See Me Comin'" (1977)

AC/DC, "Box Lunch" (1980)

Rush, Portents (1980)

Madonna: The Anal Album (1997)

Kenny Rogers, The Riverboat Scamp & Other Tales (1982)

Bonjovi, Sexual Cowboys 1987

Pink Floyd (re-assembled band, post-Waters), "Meet Me At The Corner of Chance and Fate" (1994)

Sammy Hagar, "Ramona's Minge" (1979)

Van Halen, "Fine Dining at the Y" (1984)

Tori Amos, Urethra (1983)

Squeeze, live album, Crosswise & Topsy-Turvy (1983)

Kei$ha, U Can P on Me (2004)

Duran Duran, EP, Sextant (1981)

Prince, "Quim" (1996)

Steel Panther, Jerk Sock (2009)

Posted by: Ace at 03:08 PM | Comments (1363)
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Sorry, I just can't.

Posted by: Ace at 01:22 PM | Comments (281)
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Nailed it.

I mean, we were all thinking the same thing, and then bang!, you said it, and we were all like, "Abso-f'n'-lutely."

more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:38 PM | Comments (360)
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Narratives.

There are no Stupid Questions, but there are Forbidden ones.

Regardless of how the Bob Filner mess eventually ends—and it will end, somehow—there are questions that need to be asked and answered.

They are questions that should have been asked long ago, and should have been asked by those whose job it is to ask such questions: us.

Who are “us”?

“Us” are the San Diego news media reporters, editors, producers and writers who pretty much knew who and what Bob Filner is and has been.

Yes, IÂ’m including myself in that group. IÂ’ve covered Bob Filner off and on since he was elected to the San Diego Unified School District Board in 1979. From the beginning, most of us saw how arrogant Filner was and is, how abusive he could be to his own staff members, how he felt elective office entitled him to be all those things and more.

We all saw that in Filner, and yet we did nothing about it. Filner was often a topic of conversation among us when we gathered at news conferences or when we would gather at the various watering holes many of us frequented together when off work.

The near universal opinion among us was, “Can you believe this guy? Why does he get away with acting like that?” Then another round of drinks would appear, and talk went on to other things.

But we never asked those questions on air or in print. We never really tried to find out what was behind the near-incessant rumors that always floated around Filner. We never tried to confirm any of those rumors, or, if we did, we quickly gave up when presented with the denials, or refusals to talk about it.

We didnÂ’t do our jobs. We didnÂ’t try to work our way to the truth or what appeared to be the truth.

I've been saying this for a week -- it is simply capital-I Impossible that the Washington media did not know that this 20 year Congressman was molesting his staffers and those who came to meet with him to discuss actual government business.

People talk about these things. People talk about two things:

1, People,

2, People's misbehavior and scandals.

It is absurd to say otherwise. This is what 75% of human conversation consists of.

For the media to even suggest they didn't know is yet another stinking lie in their already-monstrous pile of horseshit.

via @johnekdahl and @starchambermaid

Posted by: Ace at 11:38 AM | Comments (279)
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First, the covering up for years part. You've probably seen this already, but the national media apparently hasn't.

The local Democratic Party has known for a long time about sexual harassment allegations against Bob Filner, a former Democratic assemblywoman said in a Thursday interview.

“I blew the whistle on this two years ago to the Democratic Party leadership,” former Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña said.

Saldaña said that in summer 2011 six prominent women in local politics, business and education told her that Filner had physically or verbally harassed them. Saldaña had been exploring what turned out to be an unsuccessful bid for Congress and the conversations came in the context of the 2012 elections.

Saldaña said she contacted former party Chairman Jess Durfee with the allegations and Durfee was among a group of Democratic leaders who met with Filner to discuss them that summer. She said nothing happened.

“As disgraceful as Bob’s behavior has been, it’s been tolerated by our Democratic Party leadership,” she said.

And yet she supported him for mayor. Why? Because she was threatened with being politically blackballed if she didn't:

Party leaders, she said, made it clear that if people didnÂ’t support Filner they wouldnÂ’t receive their support again.

So that's the prior cover-up. Now here's the current one.

Now, a recall drive has been initiated. This requires some 101,000 signatures. The law here is sketchy -- what happens if someone "files for a petition to recall" but actually doesn't bother seeking the signatures because he's actually an ally of Filner's and doesn't want the recall to happen at all?

Does his fake, political-sabotage "petition for recall" effort blockade legitimate efforts to collect signatures?

It looks like we're confronted with that situation:

Stampp Corbin, a close Filner ally and publisher of the LGBT weekly in San Diego, has filed a recall notice to recall Mayor Filthy Filner. Corbin was the first to mount a recall effort when he published a notice in the San Diego Union Tribune on Friday.

Publishing a notice for a recall starts a 60 day clock for the process...

San Diego Gay and Lesbian News reports:

By triggering the recall process on July 25, and without much fanfare, Corbin appears to be taking time away from organizers to mount a proper campaign. And it calls into question whether another recall effort led by land-use consultant Michael Pallamary, who has given Filner until today, July 29, to resign or face a recall petition, can now go forward.

Corbin has also stated he will not run a paid campaign with staff to collect signatures. If the effort fails, the recall effort would be set back as the rules dictate that there is a six month waiting period if a petition has failed.

But is there any proof that's his intent? I mean, apart from not bothering to hire staff to collect 101,000+ signatures?

Indeed there is -- a witness says he stated, explicitly, that it occurred to him that his effort would "derail the other group," that is, the real group really seeking a recall. That's at the link.

Now, this appears to be a coordinated Democratic effort, by the local party and now by this local Filner ally, to cover-up for Fingers Filner and help him escape the people's judgment about his actions. Nevermind creating a target-rich environment for him, lots of victims and a political machine determined to make sure they remain victimized and silent about it.

The national media completely refuses to report on this angle. As I've said one thousand times, the media template for a Republican scandal is "Culture of X enables Y crime," but the template for a Democratic scandal is always, "It's just One Man's Failing (TM)."

The dog will not fucking hunt. The local Democratic Party, the State Party, and Nancy Pelosi's California caucus in DC all knew or must have known about this and chose to cover it up. Even now Democrats seem to be scheming to help Filner, while they supposedly call for his resignation publicly.

George Will noted that if Filner and Weiner were a Republican the media would be lecturing us on the "somber sociological" roots of the GOP's War on Women.

Yet here's an actual war on women -- with a Democratic city councilwoman serving a chief witness -- and they, as usual, embargo the story, just like the did with Kermit Gosnell.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:29 AM | Comments (222)
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Okay, so are we done now?

Can we now dispense with the farce that we're having a discussion on anything?

Do we have to continue pretending?

Is there some value in lying that I'm not seeing?

There is no need for the "discussion." There is nothing to be said. The black leadership, such as it is, panders to keep its position, and will continue saying, until the stars burn out of the sky, that there is no bad outcome in the black community that is attributable to a choice a black person makes, that every single failure is traceable to whitey.

We understand this. That's why we don't bother talking about it.

Incidentally, just so Goldie Taylor knows: The only method the honest mind uses to contradict a statement is to prove that it is untrue. Anyone who employs a different tactic -- such as the "if you say this, you are a Traitor to the Race" (how ugly and sinister that concept is, and yet Goldie Taylor deploys it without embarrassment) -- you're not a honest mind, you're just a shouty demagogue, same as a thousand venomous thugs as have come before.

Posted by: Ace at 09:33 AM | Comments (266)
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