Why all these Mamdanis keep getting spawned in the USA

Liel Liebovitz looks at how a serious defeat was suffered in east coast elections in the USA, what with Zohran Mamdani now NYC's first Muslim mayor, and how such awful politicians end up elected. And something to consider is that Republicans are blowing it badly, which only serves to draw attention away from these pressing topics:

On one side stand figures like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who promise a return to classical conservatism: a muscular foreign policy, aggressive free-market economics, and an unrelenting fight against the progressive chaos that took root in America under Barack Obama and Joe Biden. On the other side are candidates like Vice President J.D. Vance, pulling the party in a very different direction.

A troubling example of that direction came just last week. Vance spoke at a Turning Point USA event, the conservative movement founded by his late friend Charlie Kirk, who was murdered earlier this year by a left-wing gunman. A student in the audience asked Vance: "I'm a Christian," he said, "and I don't understand why we support Israel, a Jewish state that doesn't seem to share our values."

Vance could have easily explained the importance of the US-Israel strategic alliance. He could have emphasized the obvious point that, in a war between a Jewish democracy and an Islamist terrorist organization, there should be no question where America stands. Instead, Vance mumbled something about Trump and how Israel doesn't tell him what to do, then veered into theology: "The reality is that Jews don't believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah," said Vance, a Catholic convert baptized in 2019. "My approach has always been that if we have disagreements, we should discuss them publicly."

Imagine for a moment a serious presidential candidate declaring that Americans should publicly debate whether Catholic politicians can be trusted to represent voters rather than follow the pope's orders from Rome. Or whether Hindus, who don't believe in one God, should be allowed to run for office. Such questions sound absurd, and rightly so. The separation of church and state is a bedrock principle of the American constitution. So what made the vice president, one of the GOP's highest-ranking figures, think that the right response to a political question was to turn it into a religious one?

The answer, in short, is Tucker Carlson.

The popular television host was ousted from Fox News in 2023 under complex circumstances. He launched his own podcast and wasted no time steering it in a new ideological direction. In February 2024 he traveled to Moscow for a warm interview with Vladimir Putin, who claimed, among other things, that Poland was to blame for the Nazi invasion in World War II and that Volodymyr Zelensky was the villain in his war with Ukraine. Carlson then toured Moscow's subway and shops, telling his audience that such order and cleanliness couldn't be found in any American city.

Some raised eyebrows, lavish praise for Russia and propaganda that demeaned the US hardly sound conservative. But Carlson was just getting started. Months before the presidential election, he hosted online influencer Darryl Cooper, who told viewers that Hitler was the real victim of World War II and that Winston Churchill refused to compromise with the "peace-loving" German chancellor only because a small group of people—no need to specify who, but they control the banks and the media—pressured him.

Last month, Carlson invited an even viler guest: Nick Fuentes, a social-media personality who has repeatedly expressed admiration for Hitler and Stalin.

What drove the supposedly conservative pundit to such extremes? The reasons are many, but the overall direction is clear: Carlson, and now Vance after him, understand that to capture the imagination of young and apathetic voters, one must sound extreme and exciting.

What's told about Vance is certainly galling, because his complaint about Jews not believing in Jesus was entirely uncalled for. It would be wrong to complain that far eastern countries like India and Japan don't believe in one god, so why is Vance dampening the impact as he is? What matters is whether even non-monotheists can be vigilant and realists. Doesn't that matter to Vance any more than anybody else?

It's also troubling that the movement founded by Kirk, a pro-Israel guy who was tragically murdered, appears to be hosting somebody with "values" that are anathema to what Kirk stood for. Is Turning Point USA deteriorating? Who knows? But Vance is certainly not setting a good example here, and if he keeps this up, it will only make things worse, and take away attention from the next Mamdanis who're planning their run for office in the USA. Division on the right is one of the problems that led to where we are now.

Wash. Post admits Hamas is to blame

In a rare instance of willingness to acknowledge savages are to blame for causing a "cease-fire" to collapse, the Washington Post admits the Hamas is the one at fault here, but that's otherwise all:

After just a week, the fragile Gaza peace is fraying. Israel halted the transfer of aid to Gaza on Sunday and launched airstrikes after it said Hamas fighters killed two Israeli soldiers. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have threatened to withhold reconstruction funds so long as Hamas stays in power. Given the continued barbarity of Hamas, a happy future for the people of Gaza is probably out of reach in the near term. Yet full war is also unlikely to resume.

Consider this a win for President Donald Trump, who brought about the ceasefire. It’s also an acceptable outcome for Israel, which has seen the return of all living hostages. And, perhaps most important, this might the best anyone can really hope for in the Middle East.

Naturally, they vehemently refuse to acknowledge Islam's got any accountability here, and if they don't think it should stop being indoctrinated, then no wonder nobody can hope for much in the middle east. And of course, they fail to acknowledge that any crowds in Gaza who cheer when alleged collaborators with Israel are murdered execution style by the Hamas only make clear they're as barbaric as the overlords are. One of the biggest tragedies in this case is that the Gazan Muslims are "happy", but for all the wrong reasons. If any of them are leaving for other countries, hopefully ones like the UAE and even Indonesia, it'll be far better as a result.

MSM outlets had reporters embedded with Hamas during terrorist attack

Some very horrific discoveries have been made about the AP Wire and Reuters, demonstrating just how evil journalists can be:

Photographers from the Associated Press and Reuters appear to have been embedded with Hamas terrorists as they executed terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, according to a new report from Honest Reporting, a media watchdog.

Photos posted by the news agencies of the surprise terrorist attack on Israel include ones showing terrorists breaking the gates to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where residents were caught completely off guard and dozens were murdered. Photos also show that photographers were on the scene as terrorists took civilians such as Shani Louk hostage, and attacking Israeli tanks on the other side of the Gaza border.

The photos raise serious questions about whether the news agencies had advance knowledge that the terrorist attacks were taking place. The four individuals credited by the Associated Press for images of the attacks — Hassan Eslaiah, Yousef Masoud, Ali Mahmud, and Hatem Ali — are all photographers based in Gaza, where it was revealed in 2021 that the Associated Press shared office space with the terrorist group.

One of the photographers, Hassan Eslaiah, has reportedly been pictured getting kissed by a top Hamas operative who is said to be one of the chief architects of the deadly terrorist attacks, which killed over 1,400 and have led to a massive war with Israel.

This is seriously offensive, and any and all reporters involved are guilty of participation in a crime, not to mention failure to report/prevent one. This whole catastrophe even led to the recent murder of a USA-born policewoman in the past week. The AP/Reuters reporters who were part of the massacre must be arrested and imprisoned for being party to a heinous crime. This recent horror practically makes clear journalists and photographers are more than fully capable of committing evil in their own ways, and if the 2 aforementioned news agencies won't weed out these monsters from their staffs, they should be boycotted and ostracized.

Update: speaking of the policewoman, it turns out a colleague of hers abandoned his post when this occurred, and enabled the tragedy to take place more easily. He's been removed from his position, as a result.

Leo Dee undermines cause by saying he's got "no hatred" for terrorists who murdered daughters and wife

The British-Israeli rabbi whose 2 daughters and wife were tragically murdered earlier this month by jihadists around the Jordan Valley has made a very bizarre and undermining statement about the jihadists themselves:

The Israeli-British rabbi whose wife and two daughters were killed this month in a terror shooting on a West Bank road said he has “no hatred” for the people who gunned down his family, in comments aired on Sunday.

Lucy Dee, 48, and her daughters Maia Dee, 20, and Rina Dee, 15, were killed after Palestinian terrorists opened fire at the car they were in as they drove through the northern Jordan Valley on April 7. The daughters were declared dead at the scene, while Lucy was rushed to a hospital in critical condition but died three days later.

The suspects remain on the loose despite promises from officials that they will be found and brought to justice.

“I have no hatred towards the… terrorists,” Leo Dee told Channel 12. “I obviously would like them to be captured and to be treated with full justice that they deserve, but mostly to stop them from doing anything like this ever again.”

“I’ve had some Palestinian friends of mine from neighboring villages who have left messages in tears, because I’ve known them for many years, they’ve known Lucy, they’ve known the girls,” Leo said, explaining how he developed friendships with builders and gardeners whom he employed to work on his home.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together. Because I never got any guards, I don’t have a gun, and I would spend the day working from home while they came, and we would end up chatting, having coffee, talking about their kids, talking about our kids. We trusted them, I trusted them completely with the family. I still do, more so than any other people I know.

“When I spoke to one of my friends recently, he said ‘Look, we love you,'” Dee said, adding that he believed a majority of Palestinians were “decent people.”

Yikes...and I thought it was bad enough when Linor Abargil said she didn't think rapists were evil people. This is a very defeatist thing to say, and notice how Dee's one of a considerable number of people even here in Israel who doesn't seem to have the guts to clearly denounce Islam, if all's been told and indeed he hasn't? This is very sad. Whatever one may think of "palestinians", what does Dee and others like him think of adherents to the Religion of Peace, along with said ideology itself? He's making a terrible mistake, especially after sources like the New York Times downplayed the seriousness of the issue, along with the UK government themselves. The naive approach he's taking, which likely buys into the Islamic concept of taqqiya (deception), makes it difficult to solve these issues.

What Dee should really be doing is condemning any and all dhimmis who minimize the murder of his family, including those who substitute the word "murder" with "killed". That kind of disturbing mentality and MSM mandates are exactly what enable these tragedies to occur. It's absolutely awful these murders occur. But it's also awful when relatives of the murdered women take the lenient positions Dee is. That really hurts the battle against Islamofascism.

ANOTHER REPRIEVE FOR RIFQA BARY

I've checked the news on the current hearing today of Rifqa Bary at Atlas Shrugs. And if I've got the following news correct:

4:15 Judge says rifqa stays with foster family while he communicates with ohio judge to determine jurisdiction and what kind of case this is dependency or criminal or truancy.

So there's another fortunate reprieve for her, but as one commentor says, we can't be overconfident.

Update: and all is not well. According to the following, the Lorenz children have been banned from visiting Rifqa, thanks to this disgusting lawyer Shayan Elahi, whom the parents hired. This is also because the "parents" are even filing a complaint against the Lorenz family. More about this at the Examiner.

On a related note, Hugh Fitzgerald writes about the St. Petersburg propagandist Michael Kruse, who, it turns out, is really a sports writer, and clearly not fit for his job. Plus, as told here:

And what about a systematic boycott of those papers -- the St. Petersburg Times, the Orlando Sentinel -- by their advertisers, who should be apprised of what these papers are doing, or not doing? Or, if the advertisers won't raise this issue, then why should not individuals, or groups, let those advertisers know that as long as they continue to advertise in the St. Petersburg Times, and the Orlando Sentinel, others will choose not to give them their custom?

I do agree that's time to boycott the newspaper for which people like him are working, and perhaps to avoid all businesses advertising in them as well.

Update 2: Yid With Lid raises some good questions: if the lawyer is a member of unindicted co-conspirator in terrorism CAIR, should Elahi be allowed to act as the "parents" lawyer? I do think an appeal should be made to challenge Elahi on whether he should be representing them. Here's also an article from Investor's Business Daily.

NOW THAT IS SICK

Of all the filthiest acts the MSM could commit in their demonization of Rifqa Bary, not to mention the "parents" themselves, do you know what they've done now? They've given her diaries to the Orlando Sentinel to publish. Of course, there's the question if anything extra was fabricated in their drive to demonize her.

Is this what real parents do? Is this what any decent person does, to expose someone else's private properties, which is a violation of privacy? This is most truly disgusting, and Rifqa's counsel should sue the paper over this. Come to think of it, they should sue the "parents" as well. This exposes the "parents" as the attention-hungering hatemongers they really are. Such vile characters should be shunned and ostracized by any and all sensible society.

Update: Rusty at the Jawa Report has some extra things to observe on the case, including a certain blogmaster's surprising irresponsibility in how he addressed Rifqa's defenders.

Update 2: Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch have a new video of Rifqa from last May that's also interesting for viewing, as well as the following statement by Bruce Bawer for the Intl. Free Press Society and Free Thinking Films about Europe's multiculturalists:

And in many cases they shamefully close their eyes to honor killings. The murders by parents and siblings, of girls and women who in some cases doing no more than looking at a boy the wrong way, have according to Islamic beliefs, soiled family honor. European authorities are so much a prisoner of multiculturalism that they could actually believe that their obligation in such matters is not to protect innocent children from brutality, but to display sensitivity to cultural difference.

Within Muslim communities, there are only a very few unimaginably bold men and women, who dare to speak out against the traditional sharia based autocracy of the Mullahs and Imams. And when they did so, they were not defended, let alone praised for it by the government, media or by professors,but were rather accused of betraying their people and rocking the boat. Take the writer Whalid Al-Kalbaisi, who came to Norway from Iraq many years ago, and has recounted a conversation he had with the Ethnic Norwegian Director at what Al-Kalbaisi described as an "international cultural center".

This cultural bureaucrat plainly thought of himself as being devoted heart and soul to the welfare of immigrants, but when Al-Kalbaisi raised the question of the freedom of Muslims to criticize or even leave their own religion, the cultural bureaucrat was displeased. "You are a Muslim Whalid", he said, "and you must not lose your identity. " "But do you believe", Whalid asked, "that I will lose my identity if I believe in the freedom of expression?" "Listen" the man replied, "this is something that you decide yourself, but your attitude causes a lot of problems. We want to create a multicultural society and we don't want to dissolve these foreign cultures, your attitude alters all our plans, it creates conflicts between immigrants.

I think that's telling of what Norway for one has in mind for its own country.

ANDREW BOSTOM GIVES MICHAEL KRUSE SOME EDUCATION

Over on Jihad Watch, they present a discussion Andrew Bostom had with the propagandistic pro-Islam journalist Michael Kruse, who doesn't like Rifqa Bary, and doesn't like Bostom or Pamela Geller of Newsmax/Atlas Shrugs either. From what I can tell, Kruse refused to answer on whether he ever interviewed any of Rifqa's friends in Ohio, and did not want to provid any intelligent answers on anything else in the case either. Honestly, I think Mr. Kruse does stand discredited.

In more news on the subject, Geller has interviewed Jamal Jivangee, another apostate, pastor, and one of the people in Ohio who helped work on her conversion to Christianity. He takes on the mendacity displayed by Newsweek, long one of the most loathsome newsmagazines on the stands. And here's another interview with another of Rifqa's friends, Brian Williams.

BOSTOM ON RIFQA BARY'S CASE

Andrew Bostom writes an article on the American Thinker (via Jihad Watch) about how the MSM has been almost consistently hostile to Fathima Rifqa Bary, including, sadly enough, FOX News.

MSM DOESN'T WANT BLACK COMMUNITY TO KNOW OBAMA DID SOMETHING DEMEANING

Power Line tells that the MSM has largely decided to go silent on the subject of Obama's bow to the Saudi king. Even the Wash. Post hasn't run a full story on it, and while Michael Fletcher, their White House correspondent, did run an online question about it, he still seemed to prefer avoiding the challenging answers about it.

I can guess why they'd rather avoid the subject - they don't want the black community to know that Obama, as a man of black descent, did something that's insulting and demeaning to the community. Challenging question then: does this not suggest that the MSM really does have contempt for racial minorities?

RUMORS DISCREDITED

The Bulletin reports that the reports that IDF soldiers killed in cold blood have been ruled phony:

Jerusalem — An inquest into rumored abuses against Palestinian civilians by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during January’s Gaza incursion has been closed.

The investigation came about as a result of press rumors the IDF had killed several Palestinian women in cold blood during military action in Gaza, following the publication of transcripts in the major press from a February conference that was held at the Rabin Pre-Military Academy.

The conference was attended by Israeli soldiers who had taken part in the Gaza operation in January, and the allegations were made about the unjustified shooting at innocent civilians at that time.

Israel’s judge advocate general, Brig. Gen. Avi Mendelblit, decided to close the Israeli Military Police Corps’ investigation after he determined the underlying evidence had been based on rumors and innuendo rather than hard evidence. The decisive portion of the investigation into the IDF’s having allegedly killed the noncombatants was undermined when the judge and investigators determined the rumors were not based on personal knowledge emanating from two Israeli soldiers who had started the rumors.

No corroborating evidence surfaced at the Rabin Pre-Military Academy, where the rumors first arose. The Military Police Corps interviewed all of the soldiers who spoke at the February conference at the academy and found none of those who spoken there had been involved in combat during the Gaza offensive. Consequently, none of them had first-hand knowledge of what had allegedly happened.

It's a little too late though. But now that the blood libel has been discredited, will Haaretz apologize for perpetuating the lies? I doubt it. But I do know that the sensible will not buy another copy of their cruddy paper ever again. We'd be much better off without dirty newspapers like them around.

DC COMICS' VERTIGO LINE TO PUBLISH MUSLIM CONVERT'S PROPAGANDA

Or it seems that way. G. Willow Wilson is a Muslim convert who's been doing some writing for DC Comics, including a story called "Air" for Vertigo, and a writer for the Wall Street Journal writes an item about her that alludes to some sob-story/propaganda material of hers:

At an airport in Amsterdam several years ago, writer G. Willow Wilson ran into a problem on her way back to Denver. Ms. Wilson, a white woman and Muslim convert from New Jersey, was grilled by an official at the gate for the plane and had to defend why she had a different surname from her husband. "The situation was funny to me," Ms. Willow says, so she decided to write a comic book about the not-so-friendly skies.

In her comic series "Air," Ms. Wilson follows a flight attendant who gets drawn into a magical world of intrigue after encountering a mysterious secret agent. Ms. Wilson's previous comic, "Cairo," was a surrealistic jaunt through her favorite city and part-time home. She fell in love with the Egyptian capital after a trip there during college. "Nothing works, but everything works out," she says about the city.

As a child, Ms. Wilson was attracted to comics for their conflicts. "X-Men" was a particular favorite. "[Comics] formed my ideas about heroism and they were more at my level than the bigger classic literatures," she says.

"Air," published by Vertigo (the adult imprint of DC Comics) and illustrated by M.K. Perker, is part of Ms. Wilson's attempt to make sense of her life as a Muslim after 9/11. She says that in the wake of the terror attacks, "It was weird and strange to be a white convert." She soon found that the very things that made her life difficult also provided great raw material for her comics.

She may be downplaying it, but still seems to have a problem with being asked questions at all. Ahem: standard security procedure, ma'am, so don't complain. Everybody can be asked questions at the airport.

And the part about X-Men being a favorite may be exaggerated too: In this interview on USA Weekend:

I hear your first introduction to comics was the X-Men.

I must have been 10 or 11 at the time. It wasn’t even a real issue of X-Men. It was one of those public service things that they do, an anti-smoking issue where some kid is on the track team, starts smoking, slows down, and the X-Men set him on the right path. But that’s all it took.

But is worshiping the Religion of Peace and Shari'a law the right path?

It's just so funny/sad how people like these go so far as to say certain comics are what "inspired" them, yet they take up ideologies that suggest otherwise.

I find the mention of her being a "white" convert rather puzzling too. There are plenty of white Muslims, perhaps more so than black ones, and it seems redundant to bring up the subject of skin color.

If anything, I figure Wilson is one screwed up individual.

A commentor on Comics Should Be Good asked the following question:

G. Willow Wilson is a confused idealistic young woman. As a muslim convert, she fails to understand how that culture endangers her as a woman. Does she endorse forced female circumcision? Does she support Sharia’s lack of human rights for women? What foolishness it is to laud someone like her. Please help her understand her folly.

Yes, someone certainly needs to help her out. Maybe that someone could be Geert Wilders, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, or even Bosch Fawstin!

Update: I found this old post from a blog called FunnyBookBabylon from last year that tells that Wilson had quite a Muslim audience at a conference held at the NYU where she spoke about the earlier book of hers called "Cairo", mentioned above. That too can give a clue just where and how she stands.

NYT IS AS MUCH AN ENEMY OF ISRAEL AS HAMAS/HEZBOLLAH

Accuracy in Media provides a press release where they talk about the New York Times and its anti-Israel stance. With it comes a special item written by Don Feder about the NYT's continuing nastiness.

Joel Stein mystified: why are conservatives are patriotic?

Joel Stein, the predictably liberal Los Angeles Times columnist, can't comprehend why conservatives believe in American exceptionalism.

I still think conservatives love America for the same tribalistic reasons people love whatever groups they belong to. These are the people who are sure Christianity is the only right religion, that America is the best country, that the Republicans have the only good candidates, that gays have cooties.

I wish I felt such certainty. Sure, it makes life less interesting and nuanced, and absolute conviction can lead to dangerous extremism, but I suspect it makes people happier. I'll never experience the joy of Hannity-level patriotism. I'm the type who always wonders if some other idea or place or system is better and I'm missing out.

Yes, perhaps Nazi Germany in the thirties would have been a better place for a guy named Stein to live.

Or did Joel Stein somehow forget that it was America's blood, sweat and treasure that defeated the twin scourges of Nazism and Militaristic Shintoism?

Or perhaps the Soviet Union, which murdered upwards of 90 million individuals, would have been a cool place to live: say, a gulag in Siberia.

Or did Joel Stein somehow miss the news that Ronald Reagan's strategy of peace through strength -- ("We win. They lose.") -- led to the economic meltdown of the Soviet bloc and the liberation of millions?

Maybe Stein would have preferred living under the Taliban, in their tolerant and forgiving culture, or in Saddam Hussein's Baathist Iraq, which had an unfortunate propensity to gas and rape its opponents?

Or were Joel Stein's newspapers swiped by the neighbor those days, so that he missed the news of George W. Bush's incredible risk-tasking to liberate fifty million Muslims from the despotic regimes of Bin Laden and Hussein?

Forget the fact that more people try to get into America than any other country. Forget, too, the opportunities afforded entrepeneurs by America's incredible innovation engine linking academia, venture capital and industry; and which has launched companies like Microsoft, Intel, Google and eBay out of whole cloth.

Were it not for America, Stein would -- today -- be living under Nazism, Communism or some other totalitarian regime.

Or, better put, not living.

Does that help you understand American exceptionalism, Mr. Stein, you ignorant pissant? Tribalism? Tribalism has nothing to do with it, you pathetic ignoramus. Were it not for America, were it not for Americans, the world be a far darker place, with hundreds of millions living behind barbed wire, in concentration camps, in death camps awaiting their smoky fate.

Stein, you are an intellectual midget and a bumbling doctrinaire liberal hack. Frankly, I'm surprised you can rub enough neurons together to keep breathing without having to concentrate.

If I were a meaner-spirited person, I'd slit the tires on your home. Instead I'll just mock your astute choice of profession: liberal hack #117 for the dying Los Angeles Times.

ISRAEL'S MSM DECLARES OWN JIHAD AGAINST PEACE HOUSE

Israel National News reports that there's a MSM campaign being waged against the Jewish owners of the Peace House. Any expulsion from the building has been posponed for now, but it's apparent that yes, there is hostility in the media against Jews owning it, if this Jerusalem Post article could be any indication:

Police have said the documents of sale were forged. Although the issue of ownership is still under legal debate, the High Court of Justice has said there is enough administrative evidence to uphold the Palestinian claim and that, as such, the Hebron Jews should not live there.

So let's see if I have this right. The Post is contributing to the self-hate campaign, are they? I think they could use a little feedback giving an opinion from the other side of the lawn about what we think of their atrocious attempt to delegitimize a Jew's right to buy property where he/she chooses. Go to their contact page and let them know what you think of them for propagandizing in favor of the enemy.

FREE THE TAPE!

There's going to be a protest today at the LA Times building over the suppressed Obama/Khalidi tape. Michelle Malkin has the details:

I just got word that there is a planned protest to try and force the LATimes to release the video of Obama/Rashid Khalidi. If people cannot physically attend the protest at the LATimes Headquarters building in downtown Los Angeles, they are encouraged to call the offices at (213) 237-5000, fax a request to release the video or complaint against their current stance to (213) 237-7679.

Your participation in this is of the highest priority to provide information to the voters in time to present a clear picture of the Democratic candidate’s coziness with individuals possessing extreme views in direct opposition to US foreign policies.

For more information, please go to the website of the organization leading the protest effort -
www.freedommarch.org

LA Times Headquarters
202 W. First St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
main phone 213-237-5000
fax 213-237-7679

There's also a petition here.

Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic has a very good view of this:

I understand that the tape was leaked to the Times by a source or sources unknown, and that an agreement was struck with that source to keep the tape hidden, but the tape has been described in a Times story already, and it quite obviously contains no state secrets. I also suspect that the tape could be posted in such a way as to obscure its origins. The Times, however, won’t discuss in detail why it’s keeping the tape from its readers, and the newspaper’s “readers’ representative,” Jamie Gold, has lined up against the readers, and argued against the release of the tape.

There is another reason why the tape should be posted: It might actually create interest in the L.A. Times. From what I understand, the mainstream media is in a bit of trouble these days. Perhaps — this is just a thought here — the L.A. Times could better its position in the world by drawing readers to its website.

Smart thinking. I fully agree.

The Peculiar Case of the AP's Missing Paragraphs

When an article by Beth Fouhy of the AP actually made it to the funny papers, it was curiously missing several paragraphs critical of Barack (name redacted) Obama. Compare and contrast the original with the version that hit the streets.

Key: I've colored the paragraphs that went missing in purple for the slower-witted liberals progressives out there. And I've bolded Fouhy's advertorializing for the Obama camp.

McCain says Fed should stop government bailouts By BETH FOUHY

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Republican John McCain said Friday the Federal Reserve needs to stop bailing out failed financial institutions. The Republican presidential hopeful said the Fed should get back to "its core business of responsibly managing our money supply and inflation" and he laid out several recommendations for stabilizing markets in the financial crisis that has rocked Wall Street and commanded the dialogue in the presidential campaign.

McCain made little mention of the massive proposal being crafted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that could amount to a $1 trillion taxpayer bailout of the mortgage industry. McCain said simply that leaders should put aside partisan differences and "any action should be designed to keep people in their homes and safeguard the life savings of all Americans."

The Fed engineered an $85 billion takeover of insurance giant AIG this week after seizing control of housing giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. McCain said that to help return the U.S. to fiscal solvency, the powerful central bank should instead focus on shoring up the dollar and keeping inflation low.

"A strong dollar will reduce energy and food prices," McCain said to applause from the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce. "It will stimulate sustainable economic growth and get this economy moving again."

In the speech and later at a boisterous rally in Minnesota, McCain sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for ties to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and for advocating tax increases McCain said would "turn a recession into a depression."

Obama has said he would raise taxes on people making over $250,000 a year and would cut taxes on the middle class. McCain restated his claim that Obama had voted to raise taxes on people who make just $42,000 a year — a claim that has been widely debunked by nonpartisan fact check organizations.

McCain noted the Illinois senator had taken large campaign contributions from both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that the one-time head of Obama's vice presidential search team, Jim Johnson, had received a $21 million severance deal after stepping down as Fannie Mae CEO. McCain's campaign released a new television ad Friday hitting Obama for his connection to Johnson.

The Arizona senator neglected to say that some of his closest advisers had ties to or lobbied for the home loan giants.

McCain is correct when he says Obama is the No. 2 recipient of campaign money from employees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Obama has collected $126,349 from those sources, according to a compilation by the Center for Responsive Politics, second only to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who has received $165,400. The ranking covers the period since 1989.

In Minnesota, the mention of Johnson's severance deal brought loud chants from thousands of McCain supporters who filled an airport hangar. "Give it back! Give it back!" they shouted.

Gee, I wonder why they cut out the stuff in purple?

As for the important ties between the Obama camp and the Fannie Mae debacle that threatens to melt our financial system down? How about the two disgraced Fannie Mae CEOs and Obama advisers (who, between 'em, ripped off taxpayers for around $111 million in compensation in six years) Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson?

• The Washington Post, 7/16/08: “In the four years since he stepped down as Fannie Mae’s chief executive under the shadow of a $6.3 billion accounting scandal, Franklin D. Raines has been quietly constructing a new life for himself. He has shaved eight points off his golf handicap, taken a corner office in Steve Case’s D.C. conglomeration of finance, entertainment and health-care companies and more recently, taken calls from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters.”
• The Washington Post, 8/28/08: “In the current crisis, their biggest backers have been Democrats such as Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (Mass.). Two members of Mr. Obama’s political circle, James A. Johnson and Franklin D. Raines, are former chief executives of Fannie Mae.“

Hat tips: Hot Air's Ed Morrissey, Fausta and Larwyn.

NEWSWEEK ONCE AGAIN PROVES ITSELF AN ENEMY

According to this news clip, Newsweek is blaming Israel one-sidedly for the tractor attacks in Jerusalem.

I think this is just more proof why nobody need waste their hard-earned money on their awful magazine.

THE PRE-APPROVED CAMPAIGN LEAK

A few days ago, Maariv caused a scandal by publishing the note Barack Obama put in the Western Wall cracks, which was allegedly fished out by some nutcase. Now, it appears that the whole thing may have been a setup:

What initially seemed to be a journalistic scoop of dubious moral propriety now seems to be a case of an Israeli paper being played by the Barack Obama campaign. Maariv, the second most popular newspaper in Israel, was roundly criticized for publishing the note Obama left in the Kotel. But now a Maariv spokesperson says that publication of the note was pre-approved for international publication by the Obama campaign, leading to the conclusion that the "private" prayer was intentionally leaked for public consumption.

[...]

For that "scoop" the paper has come under fire. Yediot Aharonot, the country's most popular daily, published an article Friday saying it had also obtained the note but decided not to publish it, to respect Obama's privacy. Other Israeli media outlets initially ignored the story, or picked it up only after the initial publication had triggered a controversy.

[...]

However, it now appears that Maariv had collaborated with the Obama campaign in getting the "private" prayer, with its "modest" supplicaton to the Lord, out to the public, buffing his Christian credentials and showing his "humility."

A Ma'ariv spokesman was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying that "Barack Obama's note was approved for publication in the international media even before he put in the Kotel, a short time after he wrote it at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem."

The paper added that is was "pleased" with its "journalistic accomplishment."

It appears that Obama made Maariv an instrument of his will. The paper, of course, was a most willing tool.

The campaign might be less pleased with another pronouncement by Maariv: "In any case," the spokesman said, "since Obama is not a Jew, publishing the note does not constitute an infringement on his right to privacy." Apparently, to the paper, Gentile prayer doesn't count.

If the Maariv statement about pre-approval of publication of the note is true, it would mean that the Obama campaign had managed the event brilliantly, if deceptively, getting the double benefit of appearing to be victimized by the invasive Israeli press and prayer-thieving Jew while at the same time leaking out his humble Christian plea to the Lord.

This is very eyebrow-raising, and at the same time, it shows how Maariv is an embarrassment as a newspaper, and does not deserve your money.

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The Dead Zone known as Stephen King's brain

Noel Sheppard, writing at Newbusters, goes all Cujo on Stephen King.

Well, last month, famed horror author Stephen King was speaking in front of a group of high school students at the Library of Congress... [and for] those that can bear it, what follows is another in a long line of liberal media members bashing the military...:

I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on.

If you don't, then you've got, the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that.


It's, it's not as bright. So, that's my little commercial for that.

Nice sentiment when the nation is at war, Stephen.

It's nice to see King take a Stand against his own country's military. This walking Bag of Bones is a true Creepshow and his diatribe hints at Desperation. Maybe he's been suffering from Insomnia.

Nonetheless it's been Misery trying to read his recent books. And I won't be buying any more.

Oh. And one other thing. Hasn't King amassed enough money to fix his underbite?