Haters Gonna Hate

Well, if this story is true, I hope this guy gets to cool his jets in prison for a very, very long time.

A 39-year-old Muslim cab driver who served in the Iraq war says that an executive from an aviation company accused him of being a jihadist and broke his jaw in what activists are calling a hate crime.

Mohamed A. Salim told The Washington Post that Emerald Aviation President Ed Dahlberg attacked him after he picked him up at Country Club of Fairfax in Northern Virginia at around 2 a.m. on Friday. Dahlberg had been drinking and was told that he would have to finish his open beer before getting into the cab.

Salim recorded audio of the encounter on his cell phone. 

Dahlberg's rant, as recorded on the phone, is pretty horrific.  It's just straight, raw, hate, bred by a decade plus of stupid, ignorant Islamophobia.

Dahlberg was charged with misdemeanor assault and police are determining if charges should be elevated to a felony hate crime. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Monday said that medical records and the 11-minute cell phone recording were being used as evidence in the case.

In a statement, Dahlberg’s attorney, Demetry Pikrallidas, admitted that his client “became rather emotional as the discussion turned to jihad and 9/11, and especially heated on the subject of jihadists who want to harm America.”

But Salim is an Iraq War veteran.  Unreal.  Just unreal.  And yet the haters on the right will now ruin Salim's life anyway.  It doesn't matter that he served his country in the military.  Muslims are nothing but subhuman animals to these morons and this is what they want to happen.

Keep openly backing these clowns, GOP.

Last Call

Seems our old friend Col. Mustard has a couple mountain ranges worth of umbrage to unload on that big 108-page GOP "why we lost in 2012" report, and he wants to know why he wasn't consulted.

No, really.

I would not be surprised if the RNC spoke with some of the salaried conservative media class who share the Washington professional circuit.  But did they reach out to the Army of Davids who are the anti-thesis of the consultant model because we mostly don’t get paid or make much money blogging, we do this in our “spare” time, and we are outside D.C.?

Did the RNC get any input from the great unwashed conservative blogosphere?  You wouldn’t know it from the report if it did...

Oh, considering how badly they lost, I'm pretty sure they were letting the "great unwashed blogosphere" run things, and that's exactly why they're avoiding you now, Bill.  Your advice was to run somebody even loonier than Romney, who would have managed to lose by double digits.  I would have been fine with that, but let's not pretend you have this deep well of wisdom just waiting to be tapped when you can't admit the GOP lost due to awful policies.  I'm a blogger too, man.  Don't play a player.

For the RNC to produce a 100-page report and not have a single mention of the need to interact with and support the conservative blogosphere tells me that the RNC simply has rearranged the deck chairs on the HMS Consultant.

We may not be all that, but it’s clear that the RNC doesn’t want us to be any part of that.

Can't possibly imagine why not, man.  Maybe it was your screaming hatred of Liz Warren?  How's that working out for you?

Both Sides Are To Blame, Right?

So if you're still wondering after the Steubenville trial "Well why don't more teenage girls report rape and sexual assault" and take the cases all the way to court, it's because FOX News will "accidentally" out you for retribution.

During correspondent Mike Tobin’s report about the guilty verdicts in the Steubenville rape case on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, the girl’s first name was broadcast without being censored.

“We have not known, really, how the victim is doing, Mike,” host Martha MacCallum told Tobin. “Is there any information on that today?”

“Well, a relative tells me that she spends a lot of time in her room,” Tobin explained. “She has been back out playing sports, and through it all — you’ll be surprised to learn — she made the honor roll one more time.”

“A family representative says the remorse coming from the football players came too late,” the correspondent added. “We saw their reaction yesterday.”

At that point, the report cut to footage of one of the rapists, 17-year-old Trent Mays, apologizing to the victim in court on Sunday.

“I would truly like to apologize to [redacted], her family, my family and the community,” Mays said. “No picture [of the rape] should have been sent around, let alone even taken.”

Raw Story has redacted the victim’s first name from this report and the video below, but Fox News did not.

A Fox News editor’s note added to an Associated Press report published on Sunday insisted that the conservative network would not name the minors charged in the case.

“Editors’ Note: The Associated Press named the minors charged due to the fact they have been identified in other news coverage and their names were used in open court,” the note said. “FoxNews.com will not name the defendants.”

So hey, plausible deniability from the crew at FOX.  Because shaming the victim is really what it's all about.  "Oops, it would be awful if we accidentally let your name slip on national TV like that if you went to trial, dear."

Ahh, but FOX News isn't alone.  Not by far, you see, both CNN and MSNBC were guilty of the same awful act as well.

All three cable news networks aired a clip of one of the defendants, Trent Mays, apologizing to the victim in the courtroom. Mays had addressed the victim by name, which was not censored during CNN and MSNBC's broadcasts on Sunday and Fox News' broadcast on Monday. Local CBS affiliate WTRF also aired the clip without editing the victim's name out.  

Gosh, MSBNC AND CNN did it first.  Before FOX.

That's a hell of a message to send, yes?

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said two 16 year old girls are facing charges after allegedly making threats against the rape victim in Steubenville.

Abdalla said one teen turned herself in and the other one was arrested.

They are being held in the Jefferson County Juvenile Detention Center and will appear before Judge  Samuel Kerr Tuesday.

Death threats.  From other girls.

This is where we are in America.  Feel the pride.

Last Call In Steubenville

The Steubenville rape trial reached closing arguments yesterday, and a verdict handed down by Judge Thomas Lipps:  both suspects in the case were found guilty on all charges.

Two Ohio high school football players have been found guilty of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl in a case that roiled a small city and stirred reaction from activists online.

Judge Thomas Lipps ruled Sunday in juvenile court that Steubenville High School students Trent Mays and Ma'Lik Richmond are guilty of attacking the girl after an alcohol-fueled party last August.

The 17-year-old Mays and 16-year-old Richmond were charged with digitally penetrating the West Virginia girl, first in a car and then in a house.

Judge Tom Lipps ordered Richmond held in a juvenile detention facility for at least one year and Mays at least two years. The juvenile system could hold them until age 21. Both were required to register as juvenile sex offenders.

My first reaction to the guilty verdict was this:

Can't wait for the first wave of GOP folks to explain to us that we're too hard on these boys for convincting them of rape.
— Zandar (@ZandarVTS) March 17, 2013

Turns out I was right.  The verdict prompted this awful reaction from, of all people, CNN's Poppy Harlow and Candy Crowley, two women defending Mays and Richmond, not more than an hour and some change later.  Harlow had this to say:

"Incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart...when that sentence came down, [Ma'lik] collapsed in the arms of his attorney...He said to him, 'My life is over. No one is going to want me now.' Very serious crime here, both found guilty of raping the sixteen-year-old girl at a series of parties back in August."

This is what the permanent Beltway "Both sides share the blame" mentality brings us.  We have to pity and feel sorrow for these young boys for their "youthful mistake", a "mistake" called "being convicted of rape and sexual assault" because they raped and sexually assaulted a girl.

Ohio AG Mike DeWine, to his credit, isn't letting this one go.  More charges are pending.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, saying that "this community needs assurance that no stone has been left unturned in our search for the truth," announced at a press briefing at Jefferson County Juvenile Court "that we cannot bring finality to this matter without the convening of a grand jury," which he said would convene on or around April 15. "I anticipate numerous witnesses will be called. The grand jury, quite frankly, could meet for a number of days," DeWine said, adding that "indictments could be returned and additional charges could be filed." He mentioned failure to report a felony, tampering with evidence, and "others" as possible charges. He added that the boys who received immunity were likely to retain that right.

As it should be.  The message here is really, really simple.  Don't rape people.  If somehow you're more worried about the two convicted sex offenders than the girl they hurt, then you are part of the problem of Steubenville.  It's people like that who enable this behavior and give it a pass when it happens.  There are thousands of cases like this that go unreported, and the fact that we have a country "divided" on this issue at all is the reason why they will remain so.

Rape.  Is.  Wrong.  There are no qualifiers that make sexual assault okay or justified.  None.  Deal with that.

Got it?

We Come Not To Praise Hugo Chavez...

...but to bury him, as Zack Beauchamp reminds us.  Deep, deep underground preferably, because the guy really was a despot and a tyrant, not to mention an actual anti-Semite.  I know that term gets thrown around a lot, but he really did go after Venezuelan Jews as political and social enemies of the state and did nothing to stop the rise of that awful garbage in his populist bullying wake.

While even Chavez’s critics admit that he did attempt to address the plight of Venezuela’s poorest, the decline in economic inequality in Venezuela reflected a broader egalitarian trend in Latin America, and can’t be fully credited to Chavez’s policies. However, Chavez’ policies harmed Venezuela’s poorest in other ways: the value of the Venezuelan currency dropped while prices soared, making it harder for people to buy basic necessities, and crime skyrocketed.

Moreover, Chavez hurt the vulnerable in Venezuela in other ways. Chavez’s state-run media hounded Venezuela’s small, beleaguered Jewish population — he himself once said “Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by those wandering Jews.” A study released by the Kantor Center at Tel Aviv University found that Chavez’s rule “witnessed a rise in antisemitic manifestations, including vandalism, media attacks, caricatures, and physical attacks on Venezuelan Jewish institutions.” Indeed, roughly half of Venezuelan Jews fled the country because of “the social and economic chaos that the president has unleashed and from the uncomfortable feeling that they were being specifically targeted by the regime.”

Chavez also attacked Venezuela’s democratic political system. Human Rights Watch reported in 2012 that “the accumulation of power in the executive and the erosion of human rights protections have allowed the Chávez government to intimidate, censor, and prosecute critics and perceived opponents in a wide range of cases involving the judiciary, the media, and civil society.” Contra Serrano, Venezuela’s elections were not certified as “free and fair” by international monitors of late: Chavez had not allowed international election monitors to observe Venezuelan elections since 2006.

Absolute best case, Chavez was a terrible leader whose reign caused untold damage among the Venezuelan people.  Worst case?  Glad the guy's in the ground.

He won't be missed.

And Don't Let Your Spurs Hit You In The Ass On The Way Out

Democrats moving to Wyoming to follow the American Dream?  Yeah, there's a problem with that.

Over the summer, the Reverend Audette Fulbright moved with her family to Cheyenne, Wyoming. where she preaches at the Unitarian Universalist church. When the state legislature began debating a bill to allow for the carrying of concealed weapons at schools and sporting events, Fulbright wrote to lawmakers to express her concerns about guns and about fracking. 

Seems like a reasonable, civic-minded plan of action.  So she wrote this:

My husband and I moved to Wyoming not too long ago. We believed it was a good place to raise children. With the recent and reactive expansion of gun laws and the profoundly serious dangers of fracking, we find we are seriously reconsidering our decision, which is wrenching to all of us. However, the safety of our family must come first. We are waiting to see what the legislature does this session. I know of other new-to-Wyoming families in similar contemplation. Your choices matter. It would be sad to see an exodus of educated, childrearing age adults from Wyoming as a result of poor lawmaking.

Again, a reasonable letter to her state representative...unless that Wyoming state lawmaker is Republican Hans Hunt.  Her GOP state representative's response?

I'll be blunt. If you don't like the political atmosphere of Wyoming, then by all means, leave. We, who have been here a very long time (I am proudly 4^th generation) are quite proud of our independent heritage. I don't expect a "mass exodus" from our state just because we're standing up for our rights. As to your comments on fracking, I would point out that you're basing your statement on "dangers" that have not been scientifically founded or proved as of yet.

It offends me to no end when liberal out-of-staters such as yourself move into Wyoming, trying to get away from where they came from, and then pompously demand that Wyoming conform to their way of thinking. We are, and will continue to be, a state which stands a head above the rest in terms of economic security. Our ability to do that is, in large part, to our "live and let live" mentality when it comes to allowing economic development, and limiting government oversight. So, to conclude, if you're so worried about what our legislature is working on, then go back home.

Big tent approach, right?  I mean, why should Republicans even bother listening to liberal constituents?  They're not going to be represented in any way, they don't donate to Republicans, they don't vote for Republicans, why should Republicans even bother to treat them as human beings, much less voting constituents?

I'm sure if I wrote to my state reps, I'd get much the same response.  Liberals aren't voters to convince, or constituents to win over, or citizens to represent, to Republicans.  We're "pompous" people who need to "go back home" to blue states where we belong.

Also, we're divisive.  Funny how that works.

Another Dead Shot Situation

It's a good thing America has 300 million firearms, so that only bad guys get hurt.

Police say a 75-year-old man in Dallas is being charged with Capital Murder after he allegedly shot and killed two neighbors because they had dumped dog feces on his porch.

According to The Dallas Morning News, Chung Kim had repeatedly complained to management at Sable Ridge Apartments that Michelle Jackson and Jamie Stafford, who lived above him, had dumped dog feces on his porch and allowed their dog, Selena, to urinate on the upstairs balcony which dripped down to his patio.

Tension finally boiled over on Monday when Kim was on his patio and shot 31-year-old Jackson multiple times as she stood on the patio above him, police said. He then reportedly went upstairs and shot Stafford, who was also 31, as he was trying to escape. After Stafford fell from the second floor, Kim is accused of going back downstairs and shooting him again.

Of course Second Amendment, so FREEDOM. 

"But Zandar, none of the existing gun control laws on the books could have stopped this senseless murder," you'll say.   And people still die from drunk driving accidents, but nobody ever says "Well, you can't stop drunk driving deaths with laws so why have laws involving drunk driving?"  Furthermore, nobody has large paranoid cults of people screaming "Obama is coming to take my booze!" when this stuff happens, either.

Oh, and has anybody asked if the 75-year old guy had an XBOX yet?  I'm sure it was the fault of video games, right?

Stunned In Steubenville

The big news in Ohio this morning is a pretty disturbing case involving two Steubenville, Ohio high school football players and a video with the two of them having a frankly awful discussion about sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.  WKYC in Cleveland:

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department is being flooded with calls from concerned citizens about an alleged rape case back in August.

Two Steubenville football players are accused of raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl at a party.

Evidence is now coming forward, like this picture that was posted on social media, showing two students carrying the alleged victim.

And now, another video is leaked, showing a former Steubenville athlete, not charged in the crime, but talking about the incident as if it did happen.  He keeps referring to the unconscious victim as being dead.

The words from this former student are very disturbing.

The sheriff has seen the video and called it disgusting.

Police say they have interviewed the former student seen and heard on this latest videotape, but would not comment any further.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says the case is moving forward and the two students arrested on rape charges have a hearing in February.

This is a pretty terrible case, and the way these boys are talking about this young woman is just completely unacceptable.  I'm not sure what other evidence is there that may prove one way or another what happened, but this video alone is enough to remind us that American rape culture is very much alive and a real problem for all of us.

Orange Julius Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Politico rounds up TEAM WIN THE MORNING(tm) to bring us this microcosm of Fiscal Cliffmas:

House Speaker John Boehner couldn’t hold back when he spotted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the White House lobby last Friday.

It was only a few days before the nation would go over the fiscal cliff, no bipartisan agreement was in sight, and Reid had just publicly accused Boehner of running a “dictatorship” in the House and caring more about holding onto his gavel than striking a deal.

“Go f— yourself,” Boehner sniped as he pointed his finger at Reid, according to multiple sources present.

Reid, a bit startled, replied: “What are you talking about?”

Boehner repeated: “Go f— yourself."

The harsh exchange just a few steps from the Oval Office — which Boehner later bragged about to fellow Republicans — was only one episode in nearly two months of high-stakes negotiations laced with distrust, miscommunication, false starts and yelling matches as Washington struggled to ward off $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts.

So yeah, that happened just a few days ago.   But both sides do it, right?  Get to open up with Tools of 2013 tag right off the bat.