Memorial Day

A day when we remember, a day when we rightfully honor, those who have sacrificed so much so that we can enjoy those precious gifts that the Founders bequeathed to our care some 225 years ago.

We usually think of this in terms of those who have died fighting for and defending our country and it is proper and appropriate that we do so, for the price they paid to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity was to give up all those things for themselves so that we, we argumentative, vain, impetuous, loving, sharing and kind people that we all are at various times could enjoy them for better or worse.

But we must remember that we need not always look to the graveyard for those we need to honor and thank. Sacrifice in defense of our Liberty does not invariably lead to death, for did not the Founders also pledge their fortunes and their sacred honor when they stood against tyranny, when they stood against those who would deny others their basic rights of free expression?

Thus today we join with many others listed here and here and here and here and here and here among many many others (that I apologize for not listing) in standing up and saying that, no, we will not let this sort of assault go unanswered.

…..

You know what, I’ve been working on this in fits and starts this morning and I just finished reading Patterico’s story in Sis’s post. Nothing I can say will have the barest portion of the power of that.

Darkness at noon.

That’s what we are fighting.

From the Continuing “CONVICTED Domestic TERRORIST Brett Kimberlin” Files

Patterico finally reveals what HE has been subjected to:

You’re about to listen to one of the most bone-chilling pieces of audio you will ever hear. At least, it was to me when I first heard it.

It’s a phone call that could have gotten me killed.

Dear GOD.

…WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

So who perpetrated this crime on me and my family?

I reported the crime to the FBI on July 1, 2011. (Obviously, the Sheriff’s Department was already aware of it, since they had come to my house.) Unfortunately, law enforcement has not solved the case. Worse, they have failed to follow up on a number of leads I have given them.

But there is circumstantial evidence suggesting who may be responsible. I met personally with the nationwide experts on swatting in December 2011: the FBI office in Dallas, Texas. They told me that swatting is an extreme form of harassment — and that swatters typically combine swatting with other forms of harassment, including: complaining to the victim’s workplace, defaming the victim online, “Googlebombing” the victim, publishing the victim’s address online, filing phony reports of criminal activity by the victim, and so forth.

All of these things have happened to me and other critics of Brett Kimberlin since July 2011. The harassment has been relentless and has occurred almost every day. It would literally take a book to catalogue it all. What you read in this post, incredibly, is only part of it.

Why target me? Well, I first wrote about Brett Kimberlin in October 2010, after getting a call from Andrew Breitbart. Andrew told me that his site was going to publish a post about a domestic terrorist named Brett Kimberlin. The story sounded interesting, and I published a post about Kimberlin shortly after the Breitbart post (penned by Mandy Nagy aka Liberty Chick) was published.

The next day, Kimberlin threatened to sue me. He said: “I have filed over a hundred lawsuits and another one will be no sweat for me. On the other hand, it will cost you a lot of time and money and for what.” I asked him to identify any specific falsehoods in my post and he did not. I published subsequent posts about topics like Kimberlin’s alleged murderous plots to escape from prison and exact revenge on his enemies and an examination of his non-profits’ tax returns. In February 2011, I talked about stalkerish intimidation tactics used by Kimberlin and his business partner, Brad Friedman of the “Brad Blog.”

It’s fair to say I have been one of Brett Kimberlin’s least favorite people in the world for a good long time now…

We are UNDER ASSAULT, financed by the very people we see on TV every day. By the very people WE finance through movie and ticket sales.

Rally.org

#FreeStacyMcCain

One Can Dream

From (Miami Herald) Marc Caputo’s Twitter feed first thing this morning:

I hope CA reporters asked Mariela Castro to square this irony: she’s a face/scion of a dictatorship yet she’s lecturing in US about rights

AMEN, brother!

Correct Me If I’m Wrong

…but the guy should be able to PACK a 1000 person room, Heaven forbid less than that, right? At least, you’d imagine…

Obama Misses His Entrance

President Obama failed to appear on cue last night at the Fox Theater in Redwood, California, a weird lapse for a president who may have been exhausted at the end of a marathon day of speechifying and campaigning.

At a fundraiser earlier in the day in Denver, Baker reported that “the room at times felt a little flat and Potus seemed a little tired.”

What’s more, the crowd at the Denver event was smaller than the Obama campaign planed on, totaling only 550 compared to the 700 who were expected to attend.

Thinking of my little network here, give me a week’s notice and I’ll have overflow for a Rubio event, tell you what.

Did I ever put the pictures up of how many turned out on short notice (as in a couple days) for Mitt here a couple months back?

POTUS seems to have lost his lusterware. Tch, tch.

Can These People Ever Just Shut Up?

I guess “spiking the football” is contagious

In a rare glimpse into cyberwarfare tactics, a top U.S. official has explicitly acknowledged that the U.S. government hacked into websites run by al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen, changing advertisements that boasted about killing Americans into advertisements that underscored the deaths of Muslim civilians in al-Qaida terror attacks.

During her keynote speech at the Special Operations Command gala dinner in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday night, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that State Department specialists attacked sites tied to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) that were trying to recruit new members by “bragging about killing Americans.”

“Within 48 hours, our team plastered the same sites with altered versions of the ads that showed the toll al-Qaida attacks have taken on the Yemeni people,” Clinton said. “We can tell our efforts are starting to have an impact because extremists are publicly venting their frustration and asking supporters not to believe everything they read on the internet.”

Next we’ll hear about how Michele Obama’s Task Force hacked McDonald’s website with images of fruits and vegetables.

Seriously, though, is there no one in our Government who can resist the urge to blab about things we are doing?

Has Brett Kimberlin Sued Fox News Yet?

This (H/T Ace) extensive 2010 piece is a pretty solid primer on him:

Leftist Blogger’s Criminal Past Raises Questions About His Real Intent

Even before his release from prison 10 years ago, Brett Kimberlin had learned a lesson that has served him well: If you publicly accuse a well-known political figure of crimes or misdeeds — even without proof — publicity and money will follow.

Kimberlin, a convicted bomber and drug dealer, learned that lesson in 1988, when he claimed from his prison cell that he had been Dan Quayle’s marijuana dealer in college. The claim got a lot of attention because Quayle was running for vice president of the United States at the time.

Now, 22 years later, Kimberlin has taken that lesson and made unfounded accusations a profession of sorts. Using two popular leftist blogs, the 56-year-old from Bethesda, Md., has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from the public and left-leaning foundations by promising to put conservatives he disagrees with in jail, often with offers of large rewards. So far — without success — he has called for the arrest of Karl Rove, Andrew Breitbart, Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donohue, Massey Energy Chairman Don Blankenship and other high-profile public figures.

A review of tax filings for Kimberlin’s blogs, “Velvet Revolution” and “Justice Through Music,” raises troubling questions about whether his “nonprofit” operations are dedicated to public activism — or are just a new facade for a longtime con artist.

It rolls through his murderous rampage in Speedway, the drug-dealing, and up into recent times, ending on a curious note I wasn’t aware of yet…

…But that action by prison officials gave Kimberlin’s story credence, and he declared himself a political prisoner — a claim that attracted Mark Singer, a writer from The New Yorker magazine, who thought it would make for a great story. After Singer ran a long sympathetic piece in 1992, he got a book contract to write about the fate of an American political prisoner. The two split a large cash advance from the publisher and began to work together.

In the process, Singer discovered that Kimberlin was far from a hero. In fact, he realized, the man who had gotten the attention of the nation was a liar and a con man, and he ended up writing a story of how he had been taken in by a “narcissist.” Kimberlin, for his part, who had been released on parole after 14 years in prison, was sent back to jail for a parole violation. The charge was hiding the money from his advance to prevent the widow of the woman whose husband he maimed from collecting on the bombing victim widow’s civil judgment.

And it is that civil judgment that may explain Kimberlin’s blog sites and much of his existence since prison.

Because of the judgment, which with interest is now more than $3 million, anything Kimberlin has in his own name is subject to seizure. He lives in his mother’s home in Bethesda and operates the websites out of there.

It’s hardly a happy place, though; Kimberlin’s mother has sued him and won a $150,000 judgment against him, and he and his wife have traded domestic abuse charges, according to local records. It even may explain the causes of the moment on which the websites focus their energy, likely to generate cash.

“Hardly a happy place”? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

The fucking ball less, terrorizing little weasel is living in his mommy’s basement? Does he still?!?

For Ave

…where ever this may find her

Finally Showing We Are Willing to Play the Game

As Geraghty says:

The Obama camp wants to talk about a layoff that predates Obama’s political career launch at the home of domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.

Push-back is a bitch, ain’t it? I likey.

Advise Our Clients…

Mr. Valentine Morgan Stanley says “SELL!”

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s chairman said on Tuesday that regulators plan to review allegations that Morgan Stanley shared negative news before Facebook’s initial public offering with institutional investors.

“The allegations, if true, are a matter of regulatory concern” to FINRA and SEC, Ketchum told Reuters.

Ketchum made the remarks to Reuters in response to allegations that Morgan Stanley [MS 13.31 0.12 (+0.91%) ], the lead underwriter on the deal, unexpectedly delivered some negative news to major clients in the run-up to Facebook’s [FB 31.00 -3.03 (-8.9%) ] $16 billion IPO: The bank’s consumer Internet analyst, Scott Devitt, was reducing his revenue forecasts for the company.

Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth William Galvin has issued a subpoena to Morgan Stanley over the discussions with investors on Facebook.

It is unusual for analysts at lead underwriters to make such changes so close to the IPO, sources said. It is unclear whether Morgan Stanley only told its top clients about the revised view or spread the word more broadly.

Like via, say, Facebook.

Update: Ching-ching!

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Facebook Inc. FB -8.90% Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has sold 30.2 million shares and director Peter Thiel has sold 16.8 million shares of the social-networking company, according to securities filings published late Tuesday. The sales confirm plans detailed in a prospectus before Friday’s $16 billion IPO. Zuckerberg sold 30.2 million shares at a price of $37.58 for gross proceeds of $1.13 billion; Thiel sold 16.8 million shares for gross proceeds of $633 million. Facebook insiders had told prospective shareholders of their plans in an S-1 filing last week. Facebook FB -8.90% shares were down 0.8% after hours at $30.74.

Hey, those canapes at his wedding on Saturday didn’t buy themselves, you know!

Read. Get Pissed. Support.

Enough of this crap.

Just read this bullshit.

ths update: Our recent posts:

Has Brett Kimberlin Sued Fox News Yet?

From the Continuing “CONVICTED Domestic TERRORIST Brett Kimberlin” Files
concerning Patterico’s terrible travails

A Hot German Model Speaks The Truth

It’s just about not spending more than you collect. It’s astonishing that this simple fact leads to such debates.

Oh, sorry, that wasn’t a model, it was a Merkel.

Pipe Dreams Of My Father

NSFW

Penn Jillette on that cool cat hipster President of ours “maybe doing a little blow”

Cory Booker

My my my, he’s learning the price for speaking in a truthful honest way, isn’t he?

Somebody Must Have Had a Lot of Time On Their Hands

And some poetry in their soul, thank goodness.

“Lamest Rush Limbaugh Protest Ever Attracts Seven Angry Women “

I just couldn’t add a thing to that except, really girlfriends. Have ONE thing at hand memorized to illustrate your point JUST in case some wise-ass, goodlooking hunka conservative guy asks why you’re out on a curb at lunchtime with a sign.

DUH.

Thank You Sir

I’ll Have Another.

Although I have to admit the best part is the announcer losing it.

This Could Be the Start of Something Fun

Or not.

China Buyers Defer Raw Material Cargos

Chinese consumers of thermal coal and iron ore are asking traders to defer cargos and – in some cases – defaulting on their contracts, in the clearest sign yet of the impact of the country’s economic slowdown on the global raw materials markets.

The deferrals and defaults have only emerged in the last few days, traders said, and have contributed to a drop in iron ore and coal prices.

“We have some clients in China asking us this week to defer volumes,” said a senior executive with a global commodities trading house, who warned that consumers were cautious.

“China is hand to mouth at the moment.”

Joy.

So Ebola and I Were Just Discussing the Proposed California “Millionaire’s Tax”

That’s the “New and Improved” one, by the way ~ where they ride scorched earth over any semblance of sanity, see Governor Moonbeam’s original proposal and raise it (by the way, the Socialists are screaming FITS about this little accord):

Joining Forces with Governor Brown

As has been reported by the news media, one week ago the Millionaires Tax Coalition came to a negotiated agreement with Governor Brown, Senate President Pro-tem Steinberg, Speaker Pérez, and their allies by setting aside our separate ballot measures and joining forces on a new initiative to raise needed revenue for California public education and social services.

This agreement represents a major victory for the thousands of Californians who have risen up over recent months to demand that the wealthiest Californians start paying their fair share, that low and middle-income families still reeling from the Great Recession be spared undue burdens, and that our state raise sufficient, reliable revenue to restore cuts to education and vital services.

“Paying THEIR FAIR SHARE”. Oh, man. What a barftastic, high school sincerity line, like Miss Congeniality = “World Peace”. And you can read that last sentence as: “make sure to keep the feebies flowing and the public unions happy”, got it?

An estimated $9.2 billion deficit turns into an actual $16 billion blackhole that has everyone scurrying for answers and, in typical California fashion, nothing ever reverts to reality. The folks in charge just reach for someone else’s wallet and have their minions march in the street with a skin drum. Dude.

But the dwindling effect isn’t limited to dollars in the drawstring purse Governor Brown takes when he wanders barefoot with his milk cow to market.

What I found (while we were pondering what a livefeed satellite would pick up scurrying outbound from the state into friendlier surroundings resident-wise) was pretty telling and that data is already three years old:

The wealthy in California

According to the state Franchise Tax Board, those earning $500,000 or more a year make up 0.5% of tax filers in the state, and pay 32% of the state’s total take from the state income tax. The number of such residents has declined since 2007

Year Residents earning $500,000+
2007 146,221
2009 98,610

So ONE-HALF of ONE PERCENT of the entire TAXPAYing populace (I am differentiating between those who exist ON the State and those who contribute to its upkeep, yes) pay ONE THIRD of its revenues and, according to these FAIR SHARE hand-out-hand-in-your-pocket types, the BASTARDS STILL aren’t paying their way?!?!

Apparently not. Not only not paying their fair share, but less of them doing so and, I would think given the state of the economy, doing less paying altogether.

Awkward. Someone should have been calculating. (Don’t they get paid big bucks for this sort of stuff in state offices? I’m available.)

But it does beg the question: with 50,000 people of means fleeing the state ‘twixt ’07 and ’09, how many are still left three years later, and…do they really wanna stick around? Pay this much more “fair shareness”?

…Proposal’s details

The new proposal would increase the sales tax by a quarter of a cent instead of Brown’s proposed half-cent. Personal income tax would go up by one percentage point for individuals making $250,000 a year or couples making $500,000 a year. Individuals making $300,000 a year or couples making $600,000 a year would see an increase of two percentage points. And, individuals making $500,000 and couples making $1 million or more would see a tax hike of three percentage points.

The personal-income-tax increase would last seven years, and the sales-tax increase would expire after four years

I believe the phrase is “cause and effect”. The Santa Cruz Sentinal noticed, too:

…And, with everyone lining up to tax the wealthy, consider that the state Franchise Tax Board…[ths notes: verbatim as above]…

It’s this overreliance on this tiny fraction of taxpayers that has caused the state’s budget picture to soar or, in recent years, to plunge into the abyss.

The rich paid about half as much in income taxes in 2009 as they did in 2007, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Considering that wealthier taxpayers are either in decline or fleeing the state, it’s hard to see how they’ll be able to rescue the state’s broken finances.

I guess you can beat yourself over the head with those statistics and it don’t make no never-mind when someone’s definition of your hard earned money as their “fair share” is at stake.

I mean, fair’s fair, but robbery’s still a crime in most states, although I hear it’s pretty fair in Arizona or Texas.

Can’t wait to see who what Ebola’s caught on the satellite making a run for the border.

“It’s Not the Economy, Stupid!”

“It’s the Stupid President.”

…Good grief! It’s not enough America has a president who’s so full of bullsh**( Probably the effects of a childhood diet eating dogs, which eat their own poop), if he fell into his wife’s organic vegetable garden, he would multiply himself, but this Constitution shredding Marxist is radically “changing” America’s exceptionalism into something as obscure as Obama’s own undocumented and deluded history.

So Beautiful, It Makes You Cry

Thanks to William Dougherty

“I Shot A 69…”

“…and I lost by 14 strokes”

Rhein Gibson made 12 birdies, two eagles and 4 pars on the way to shooting 55 at River Oaks last weekend in Edmond, Okla.

Teeing off the 10th hole, he followed an opening par with an eagle, a birdie, another eagle, and then five straight birdies for a 26. He cooled off on the back with pars at the first and second holes, three straight birdies, another par, and then three more birdies – a lousy 29.

An amazing performance by a young Australian pro.

READ IT

Mark Steyn. Genius.

Mark Steyn: Eternally shifting sands of Obama’s biography

…And where’s the harm in it? Everybody does it – at least in the circles in which Obama hangs. At Harvard Law School, where young Barack was “the first African-American president of The Harvard Law Review,” there’s no end of famous firsts: As The Fordham Law Review reported, “Harvard Law School hired its first woman of color, Elizabeth Warren, in 1995.” There is no evidence that Mrs. Warren, now the Democrats’ Senate candidate, is anything other than 100 percent white. She walks like a white, quacks like a white, looks whiter than white. She’s the whitest white since Frosty the Snowman fell in a vat of Wite-Out. But she “self-identified” as Cherokee, so that makes her a “woman of color.” Why, back in 1984 she submitted some of her favorite dishes to the “Pow Wow Chow” cookbook, a “compilation of recipes passed down through the Five Tribes families.”

The recipes from “Elizabeth Warren – Cherokee” include a crab dish with tomato mayonnaise. Mrs. Warren’s fictional Cherokee ancestors in Oklahoma were renowned for their ability to spear the fast-moving Oklahoma crab. It’s in the state song: “Ooooooklahoma! Where the crabs come sweepin’ down the plain.” But then the white man came, and now the Oklahoma crab is extinct, and at the Cherokee clambakes they have to make do with Mrs. Warren’s traditional Five Tribes recipe for Cherokee Lime Pie.

A delegation of college students visited the White House last week, and Vice President Biden told them: “You’re an incredible generation. And that’s not hyperbole, either. Your generation and the 9/11 generation before you are the most incredible group of Americans we have ever, ever, ever produced.”

Ever ever ever ever! Even in a world where everyone’s incredible, some things ought to be truly incredible. Yet Harvard Law School touted Elizabeth “Dances with Crabs” Warren as their “first woman of color” – and nobody laughed. Because, if you laugh, chances are you’ll be tied up in sensitivity-training hell for the next six weeks. Because in an ever-more incredible America being an all-white “woman of color” is entirely credible.

Entering these murky waters, swimming through it like a crab in Mrs. Warren’s tomato mayo, Barack Obama refined his own identity with a finesse that Harvard Law’s first cigar-store Indian lacked…

Note to Self: Don’t Use “Crack” and “Marion Berry”

…simultaneously in any of my advertising anymore.

Hizexoner gets all jiggy widit.

Marion Barry Beer Ad Taken Down After Call From Lawyer

A beer poster produced by Frederick-based Flying Dog Brewery featuring an image of Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was taken down today at the behest of Barry’s lawyer.

The poster, which showed Barry next to the text “Crack One Open D.C.,” was advertising a release party this Saturday at Jack Rose Saloon for its Underdog Atlantic Lager.

Lighten up, dude.

“Facts” Can Be Nasty Things

…when someone actually “checks” them.

A ‘Fact Checking Error’? Dystel & Goderich Ask Writers to Submit Their Own Bios

Submission guidelines at the Dystel & Goderich website (original emphasis): “[Y]ou should describe in two or three sentences—no more—what the book will be about. This is followed by another brief paragraph on why it is being written and then another on why you are qualified to write it….Finally, there should be a more formal narrative Bio of the author.”

…I can speak of what she was like to work with and how she generated material. In my dealings with Dystel, I found her exceptionally thorough and very professional. She had a template she wanted non-fiction writers to follow, and my writing partner and I followed her template closely. She was rather fastidious, going so far as to mail a personal “Season’s Greetings” card in December.

All material she used in our proposals came directly from me and my writing partner. She edited our rough-draft proposals and gave us feedback, but the final versions were all ours. Our final versions, bio included, were then simply photo-copied, by us, and distributed to potential publishers. This was back in the pre-Google days, recall.

I was asked to write the bio in the third person.

Born in Honolulu, moved to Land of Hutu.

He’s a kinda loner, but we know he was a stoner.

King Putz!

Facebook IPO To Save Known World

Or some such.

Why don’t we just give the entire IPO to Greece?