IT SEEMS UNWISE TO LIBEL A FAMOUSLY AGGRESSIVE LAWYER: John Hinderaker: I Am Libeled, I Respond.
Archive for 2015
November 10, 2015
BACK-SCRATCHING: Critics Decry Capitol Police ‘Old Boys’ Network.’
A two-word email sent on the eve of the Oct. 10 Million Man March prompted Capitol Police to confiscate the gun and badge of a newly promoted captain, only to return both items on Oct. 13.
The incident is still under investigation, according to outgoing Chief Kim C. Dine, who credits the department with taking “swift and appropriate action” when employees misbehave. But a congressional aide familiar with the captain’s case said the agency’s “old boys’ network is attempting to make an example of a woman who has a reputation for calling out improper behavior.”
The original message, sent at 8:41 a.m. by an administrative officer in the department’s Protective Services Bureau, notified a few dozen employees that the security pin color for the week ahead would be, “BLACK.”
Capt. Kathleen McBride replied to all recipients at 8:47 a.m., “Of course.”
McBride sent a second response, two minutes after the first, directly to the sender.
“Of course you can feel free to take me off this notification any time you’d like. I don’t think I will be on [dignitary protection] anytime soon :)”
But the 8:47 a.m. email ignited a firestorm.
Many of the email’s recipients were black.
Tensions were running high ahead of the all-hands-on-deck event, which required some officers to log 20-hour shifts.
A day earlier, Dine sat down with Nation of Islam leaders to apologize and distance himself from an inflammatory internal newsletter — also released by the Protective Services Bureau — that warned of potential “fireworks” during Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s visit to the Hill.
Read the whole thing.
SEXIST MAN-HATING SENATOR TRIES TO END DEBATE SHE’S LOSING: Sen. Claire McCaskill would like men to ‘just shut the hell up’ on these issues. But remember, Todd Akin was the crazy one.
REPORTS OF RACISM AND RACIAL CRIMES ROCK MIZZOU: The scant reports of racism from black campus activists don’t seem to compare to several unsolved campus area assaults.
I GUESS THEY MUST BE GETTING CLOSE TO SOMETHING: Reid rips Grassley over Clinton-Abedin probe.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is demanding that Sen. Chuck Grassley drop his hold on dozens of State Department nominations, arguing the Iowa Republican is wasting money to try to bring down Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
“Why are nonpartisan public service positions being used as political pawns, especially if they are being blocked just because Senator Grassley doesn’t want Hillary Clinton to be the next president of the United States,” Reid said from the Senate floor. “How much money will Republicans in Congress waste to try to bring down Hillary Clinton? We don’t know all the numbers.”
Grassley has blocked nearly two dozen nominations—including roughly 20 foreign service officers. He’s cited a slow response from the administration over questions about Clinton’s use of a private email server and other State Department programs.Reid called on Grassley to drop his objections, adding that it’s “troubling” that the Iowa Republican, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, would block the nominations.
“He admits that he’s blocking the promotion of these foreign service officers until he gets answers about Secretary Hillary Clinton’s emails and a woman by name of Huma Abedin,” he said, referring to the longtime Clinton aide.
Blocking Obama nominations, at this point, should be the default option.
DEMOCRATS: THE “GET OFF MY DAMN LAWN” PARTY? “What happens to the youth vote in 2016, with Democratic leadership looking more like the Soviet politburo on a parade review stand? It won’t automatically become Republican, of course, although finding a younger nominee as a contrast might capture more of their energy than usual for the GOP. It does mean that it’s very unlikely that Democrats can count on a millennial wave to lift them in November 2016, and that may be a huge problem for a party that has had two successive crushing defeats in national elections without Obama on the ticket.”
Related: “Why Millionaires Like Hillary Clinton — The Democratic Party is for the rich. Here’s why.”
HILARY IS LOSING IN MINNESOTA. “Survey USA has released a new poll of voters in deep-blue Minnesota. The results should be alarming to Democrats everywhere. The poll shows just about every Republican tested–Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump–beating Hillary Clinton, if the election were held today. . . . What’s interesting is that these are mostly voters who pull the lever for Democrats. The same Survey USA poll shows Governor Mark Dayton, Senator Al Franken and Senator Amy Klobuchar with approval ratings of 52%, 55% and 60%, respectively. Yet Minnesotans really, really don’t like Barack Obama. He currently is under water by a stunning 37%/56% margin. And that’s no fluke: polls in recent years have generally shown him with poor approval ratings in the state, notwithstanding the fact that he carried it twice. It appears that the voters’ disapproval of the national Democrats is carrying over to Hillary Clinton.”
Well, she’s certainly not well-positioned to run as the candidate of change.
RIDE THE MIZZOU MOBIUS LOOP!
● “Photojournalism Student Tim Tai Wins 2 Awards in National Hearst Championship.”
—Headline, University of Missouri School of Journalism Website, June 24, 2015. As the Website notes, Tai received a $1,500 scholarship for placement as one of the six finalists, and additional $1, 000 for “Best Single Photograph” in the competition, with a photo the site captioned, “Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown, sheds a tear during a vigil for her son on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. The vigil later turned into a march protesting Brown’s death. Photo: Timothy Tai.”
Flash-forward to yesterday:
“Hey, who wants to help me get this reporter out of here,” the media professor then hysterically exclaimed to the assembled mob. “I need some muscle over here!”
* * * * * * *
“You need to back up if you’re with the media!” a voice in the background yelled to the journalists trying to document the protest. “You need to respect the students! Back up!”
“I am a student,” Tim Tai, a student photographer trying to cover the protest, responded.
After Tai protested that the crowd was trying to push him, several people in the crowd laughed, tried to cover the camera with their hands, and responded, “Okay, then we’ll just block you.”
“You don’t have a right to take our photos,” one of the protesters asserted, apparently unaware that he was on taxpayer-funded public property that is by law open to the press.
Later in the video, the crowd aggressively started pushing the reporter around in an attempt to get him to stop covering their behavior.
—“Meet The Mizzou Media Professor Who’s Trying To Ban Media Coverage,” Sean Davis, the Federalist, yesterday.
And speaking of Ferguson:
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: University of Missouri president Wolfe confirms the death of the university . . . that was noted by Allan Bloom decades ago in The Closing of the American Mind.
Also: The New Intolerance of Student Activism.
Plus: Meet the Cry-Bully: a hideous hybrid of victim and victor.
AND HOW TO KEEP IT SO: On Fertile Ground.
WE DON’T REALLY WANT IT, BUT: More on Missouri.
MORE NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Make A Feral Cat Shelter.
WE BUILD:‘We Are United by Love’.
YOU’RE MAKING DESMOND MORRIS CRY NOW: Humans are not apes.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: The Great French Artist Eugène Delacroix on Self-Doubt, Idea-Ambivalence, and the Cure for Procrastination. Well, a report I can use at any rate.
THE DEATH OF EBOOKS IS GREATLY EXAGGERATED: No, e-book sales are not falling, despite what publishers say. Which was also my opinion here: Whistling Past The Graveyard.
VIRTUE SIGNALING AIN’T CHEAP: California pension systems stand to lose millions by divesting from coal. And, of course, they count on us to bail them out.
HILLARY CLINTON’S LATEST LIE: Claiming to be a friend Of Israel.
The photo atop the post says it all.
LAYERS AND LAYERS OF FACT CHECKERS: Burden of Truth Back on Media as BuzzFeed Finds Confirmation from Carson’s Mom on Stabbing Incident.
A NEW WAY TO GREEN: Fracking, Not Renewables, Is Responsible For Emissions Reduction. Save the birds. Frack!
AND THEY SAID MATRIARCHIES WERE FAIR: College spokesman says rape didn’t happen, loses his job.
THE CURE FOR THE HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE: The College of Lost Arts.