Archive for 2018

#BELIEVEALLWOMEN: Kavanaugh accuser admits to fabricating rape story. “The Washington Times reports that Judy Muro-Leighton admitted to making a false accusation against Kavanaugh because she was against his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. . . . She said the story of a backseat car rape by Kavanaugh ‘was a tactic’ to halt the judge’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.”

I hope she’s prosecuted to the full extent of the law, as an example to others.

OPEN THREAD: Did anything happen today?

DID THEY GET HER THOUGHTS ON PIZZA AND GAY MARRIAGE, ALSO? Portland Mercury sics social media mob on woman who reported car parked in crosswalk owned by black couple:

In fact, as the Mercury said in an update, the woman, who is white, was not on the phone with the police, but with the city parking authority. What’s more, it is impossible that the woman they’ve dubbed “Crosswalk Cathy” could have known the race of the owners of a car parked illegally in a crosswalk, with no one sitting in it.

Muhammad and Khan filmed the woman on the phone with the authorities, and posted it to the Internet. The Portland Mercury amplified it by identifying the white woman — with whom they did not speak to get her side of the story — as a racist Enemy Of The People.

This is an example of a totalitarian mindset. Thanks in part to the Portland Mercury, the face of this poor woman is now all over Portland, and all over the Internet, identified as a racist harasser of black people, when in fact she is no such thing.

That was the formula that in 2015 destroyed Indiana’s Memories Pizza: newspaper runs story on innocent people, convinces the mob that they’ve committed doubleplus ungood crimethink, and lets the mob loose on them.

THIS IS NICE: In Show of Civility, Curbelo Meets with Teen Who Threatened to Kill Him.

In a tour de civility, Rep. Carlos Curbelo met with a 19-year-old who threatened to kill him and forgave him.

Curbelo, a Florida Republican, appeared at a joint news conference on Thursday with Pierre Alejandro Verges-Castro, whom the congressman said had fallen “into the trap of violent political speech and hateful expression” but did not plan to actually follow through on his threat, the Miami Herald reported. . . .

Standing alongside Verges-Castro on Thursday, Curbelo said the man had apologized to him for the tweet and that he did not want it to “ruin” Verges-Castro’s life.

“I’m pretty sure he had no idea how serious what he had done was,” Curbelo said. “He does now. I’m grateful to him for being willing to not just learn a lesson himself, but to stand with me here today and to share what has been a difficult experience.”

That’s very generous.

“I’LL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN:” My Ukrainian Wife’s First Trip to the United States. “Despite all the broken dreams in her country, Lilya, like so many Ukrainians of her generation, possesses a clear vision of the life she wants and deserves. And you, dear reader, are already living it.”

JUST NBC THE HYPOCRISY:

Shot: ‘SNL’ Mocks ‘Gross’ GOP Candidate Who Lost His Eye to an IED Blast:

The vile attack came during the SNL’s faux news segment “Weekend Update” where Davidson was mocking multiple Republican politicians for their looks. The comedian stated he’d “realized there are some pretty gross people running for office this year”. When a picture of Crenshaw was put on the screen, co-star Michael Che blurted out: “Oh, come on, man!”

“Hold on,” Davidson told him. “You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hitman in a porno movie,” he ridiculed Crenshaw to the uproarious laughter of the liberal crowd. “I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war or whatever.”

—Nicholas Fondacaro, NewsBusters, today.

Chaser: Why comedians and ‘SNL’ are shielding President Obama:

We learn this from Jim Downey, the longtime “Saturday Night Live” specialist in political japery. “If I had to describe Obama as a comedy project, I would say, ‘Degree of difficulty, 10 point 10,’” the writer says in the expanded new edition of the “SNL” oral history book, “Live from New York.”

“It’s like being a rock climber looking up at a thousand-foot-high face of solid obsidian, polished and oiled,” Downey says. “There’s not a single thing to grab onto — certainly not a flaw or hook that you can caricature. [Al] Gore had these ‘handles,’ so did Bush, and Sarah Palin, and even Hillary had them. But with Obama, it was the phenomenon — less about him and more about the effect he had on other people and the way he changed their behavior. So that’s the way I wrote him.”

—Kyle Smith, the New York Post, August 24, 2014.

UPDATE: “Crenshaw responded to Davidson’s comments on Twitter Sunday morning. ‘Good rule in life: I try hard not to offend; I try harder not to be offended. That being said, I hope @nbcsnl recognizes that vets don’t deserve to see their wounds used as punchlines for bad jokes,’ he wrote.”

Meanwhile, The Hill goes into full “Republicans Pounce” mode:

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: China prepares for hot war and long struggle.

The military and diplomatic dimensions of 21st-century Chinese Communist imperial bullying rely on an expanding economy, continued productivity and relatively unfettered access to markets — especially the American market.

Perhaps the U.S. trade war with China is the beginning of a strategic counter-attack on the cash cow that the Beijing dictatorship knows is its long-term route to global power.

Perhaps it is intended to be, perhaps that isn’t the trade war’s objective. But it could have that effect.

NORWEGIAN LANDING: USMC’s 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducts an amphibious landing in Alvund, Norway. Note the rugged hinterland.