Douche Diligence

Caught retelling lies about Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Time magazine Blogger of the Year John "Asshole" Hinderaker pleads willful ignorance:

Obviously if I had known this guy was a liar I would not have given him the forum to tell a story.

Hinderaker is an attorney. And his defense -- seriously -- for repeating lies is that he didn't have any reason to think the lies weren't true.  As in, "some guy I don't called me up and told me something which I "verified" by Googling the guy's fake name and talking to him on the phone some more, so why wouldn't I believe him? And I didn't say he was telling the truth, because who reads my sorry ass for that shit?"

Time for another blogger ethics panel.

Okay

"Inspector of the Dead," by David Morrell:

The year is 1855. The Crimean War is raging. The incompetence of British commanders causes the fall of the English government. The Empire teeters.

Amid this crisis comes opium-eater Thomas De Quincey, one of the most notorious and brilliant personalities of Victorian England. Along with his irrepressible daughter, Emily, and their Scotland Yard companions, Ryan and Becker, De Quincey finds himself confronted by an adversary who threatens the heart of the nation.

This killer targets members of the upper echelons of British society, leaving with each corpse the name of someone who previously attempted to kill Queen Victoria. The evidence indicates that the ultimate victim will be Victoria herself. As De Quincey and Emily race to protect the queen, they uncover long-buried secrets and the heartbreaking past of a man whose lust for revenge has destroyed his soul.

From the author of "William S. Boroughs, Lawrence, Kansas Private Dick."

MoDo Is Insipid, But Douthat Is Insidious

Ross Douthat becomes more loathsome by the day.

In his latest column, he argues that raped children (whom he refers to as "women") were privileged in respect to their rapists.  And that, therefore, privilege doesn't exist. But U.S. gays are extraordinarily privileged.

Reliable Soreasses

A couple of days ago, Dyldo Byers at PolitcHo was pimping his stable of right-wing hacks to replace Bob Schieffer as host of Face the Nation:

Network President David Rhodes is a long way from settling on a successor.,,,

But there is a shortlist, those sources said: Internally, Rhodes and his fellow executives are looking at Major Garrett, the network's chief White House correspondent, and Norah O'Donnell, the co-anchor of "CBS This Morning" and substitute host for Schieffer on "Face." One source also said that John Dickerson, the network's political director, is on the list of potential replacements.

But CBS brass are considering outside talent as well: Jake Tapper, the CNN host who previously substituted for George Stephanopoulos on ABC's Sunday show "This Week," is a top consideration. ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl is also under consideration. However, both men are believed to be under contract with their respective employers.

Approximately 72 hours later, Schieffer announced John Dickerson as his replacement. (I'm guessing the decision wasn't made over the weekend, and was probably done by the time Schieffer made his retirement public.) But the sources inside Dyldo's head had already tapped a wingnut for the vacancy.

I also enjoyed the "believed to be under contract with their respective employers." Can't be arsed to nail that one down, Dyldo? Do you believe Tappy and Jonny are independent contractors?

Swing and a Miss

All in all, the rollout of Ron Paul's victim of the media strategy didn't go as well as Scott Walker's.

When he announces, Marco Rubio's really going to have to step up his game to be half the media victim that Walker is. 

Grand Old Police Blotter: More On Todd's Family Values Edition

Sharper than a serpent's tooth and crazier than a nut hatch is former Executive Director of the South Carolina G.O.P., Todd Kincannon, if Todd's father is to be believed:

Just before midnight on April 13, 2013, according to one incident report, an officer with the Simpsonville Police Department responded to a call from Kincannon's father, who said he wished to report an incident but did not want to press charges. The father (whose name has been redacted from the report) said that he had been woken up at 11:55 p.m. by his dogs barking because Kincannon was banging on the front door. Kincannon reportedly said that he had spilled Coca-Cola on his hands and needed to wash them. When the father followed him into the kitchen, Kincannon allegedly pulled a out a revolver, pointed it at his father, and screamed, "Get back, motherfucker, or I'll kill you." 

The father said that he tried to retreat, but his son pushed him against the front door twice and said, "Now I'm going to kill you, motherfucker." The father ran shoeless to another house and said that "he could see the red laser sight from Todd's handgun bouncing around as he was running," according to the report. 

Speaking to police, Kincannon's father said he and his wife had given Kincannon "large amounts of money in the recent past (including $35,000) to help Todd pay off student loans and to help him catch up on payments to the rental house" and that tension had arisen recently over inheritance issues after a family member passed away. An officer wrote at the time, "He advised that he's seen the weapon plenty of times in the past, especially when Todd put his own gun to his head and threatened to kill himself." Kincannon's father also said there was "a lengthy history of Todd verbally and physically abusing he and his wife."

Todd makes Erick Erickson look sane.

Law-Abiding American for Rand

For those dimwitted enough to believe that Poodle Paul's position against recording the telephone calls of "law-abiding Americans" represents some sort of libertarian vestigial tail, suck(*) on this:

“I have never argued against any technology being used against having an imminent threat, [or] an act of crime going on,” Paul said, referring to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. “If someone comes out of a liquor store with a weapon and 50 dollars in cash I don’t care if a drone kills him or a policeman kills him.”

If you smoke weed, Pot Paul has a wiretap for you.  If he had his druthers, Big Brother would be recording every homosexualist, abortion provider and political "radical" in the land. And worse.

The Poodle is a social Darwinist, to be sure, but he doesn't give two shits about your privacy if you're not one of the people who would subscribe to his old man's newsletter or build a child molesting religious compound in Waco.

*  "Suck on this" is a registered trademark of Tom "Fellatio" Friedman.

Jew for Rand

Said no one, ever.

Rand Paul '16: He Loved Big Brother

Sullivan To Readers: You Are All Mindless, Soulless Subhumans

Silly Sully comes out of hiding to talk about himself, one of many subjects of which he lacks any real knowledge.

"The truth is, I had to stop primarily because it was killing me," Sullivan said Sunday night at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan.
...

"I spent a decade of my life, spending around seven hours a day in intimate conversation with around 70,000 to 100,000 people every day, " Sullivan said. "And inevitably, for those seven hours or more, I was not spending time with any actual human being, with a face and a body and a mind and a soul."

It apparently never occurred to Sully (or the non-human "small editorial staff" who actually wrote his posts) that he could work five days a week, or less than seven hours a day.

But it's nice to see Sully admit that the readers who he was intimately conversing with -- without actual interaction -- lack minds and souls.  At least they have that in common with Sully.

Update:  Confidential to A.S.:  Patient: "Doc, it hurts when I do this." Doctor: "Don't do that."

Grand Old Police Blotter: Todds and Monsters Edition

North Carolina G.O.P. leader and family man Todd Kincannon tries to get his Germanwings, and fails:

[Kincannon's wife, Ashely Suzanne Griffith] went on to tell the deputy that, while Kincannon was driving the car in a Chick-fil-A parking lot at about 5 mph, she attempted to get out of the vehicle, but “James grabbed Ashely’s arm, squeezing it tightly, thus preventing her from exiting the vehicle,” according to the report. She told the deputy that she hit Kincannon’s arm several times in an attempt to escape, but Kincannon accelerated and she was unable to get out.

From the report:

Ashley continued to tell me she called her mother for help and attempted to call 9-1-1 with an open line in order for the dispatcher to hear James. While driving, James saw a police vehicle and ‘freaked out.’ James threatened he would drive the car into a concrete barrier if the cops became involved. In addition, James also threatened to kill himself if Ashely left. Ashely continued to tell me James has made several threats in the past to kill himself, her, and her family. Furthermore, Ashely said she has past incidents of domestic violence and threats of homicide/suicide recorded. I saw no visible injuries to Ashely, she provided me with a written statement, and was issued a victim’s pamphlet. It should be noted Ashely was trembling as she wrote her statement.

Todd says he was all hopped up on cough medicine at the time. Which doesn't explain either his past domestic terrorism and/or his well-documented history of general assholery. 

Maybe he's a secret Muslim.

Full Disclosure

I've never been tapped by Harry Reid.

Hoosier Hysteria, Anti-Gay Edition

A Lie Becomes The Truth

Steve M. demonstrates how a Jim Hoft lie gets traction, not just among the loons who read Jim Hoft but supposed non-loons as Andy McCarthy of National Review Online.

Would morons believe these lies if Jim Hoft didn't exist?  Most would, because they'd find another blog that circulated such lies. But anyone who claims legitimacy and cites Hoft as a source should be disqualified from professional standing and polite society until Hell freezes over.

Abused Children Grow Up To Be....

Just imagine the kinds of language Tuck and Buck use to describe Mickey Kaus.

Jesus Wept

PoliticHo is impressed only by the hardest hitting of the hummers:

Megyn Kelly Presses Ted Cruz: Can You Win?

Teddy and the Cruzers

Fifty seven years ago, Senator Joseph McCarthy died of cirrhosis of the liver in the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. 

Or did he?

What's Worse Than a TED Talk?

Did Liberty University provide a safe space for those forced to attend Ted Cruz's announcement that he is running for President?

Kaus Inadvertently Speaks The Truth

"...Roger Ailes is the most handsome man in the world...." -- MKUltrahack, March 22, 2015.

Release The a1c

Sure, Scott Walker's fabrications about fingering Ronald Reagan's Bible are interesting, but they don't put anyone's health or life at risk.

Not so with Mike Huckabee's promotion of a diabetes cure in which he declares himself a "Former Diabetic."  Diabetics can suffer serious consequences if their blood sugar is not well-controlled. By, for example, forgoing insulin and relying on a quack cure.

Now, I'm no Bill Frist, but ... something ... tells me that if Huck was ever a Type II diabetic, he still is. Boy looks like he can glaze donuts with his piss.

This is serious stuff.  Huckabee is now selling snake oil without his usual freedom of religion get-out-of-jail card.  Some responsible outlet (with an actual audience) should be investigating this, and not just laughing at it.

Of course, Huck could prove he is a former diabetic with a single a1c test. But he won't.