Harsh Life of Missing 8-Year-Old Relisha Rudd Comes Into Focus

An almost unbelievable story of bureaucratic incompetence and incomprehensible evil.

At the Washington Post, "Relisha Rudd’s difficult past comes into focus":

Relisha Rudd’s absences piled up at Daniel A. Payne Elementary School, topping 30 days this year before someone notified the D.C. Child and Family Service Agency on March 13.

But it took an additional six days before the city agency took action. By then, Relisha, 8, had gone missing.

Police believe Kahlil Malik Tatum, 51, a janitor at the homeless shelter at the old D.C. General Hospital, where Relisha lived, killed his wife and now has the girl. They are looking for them up and down the East Coast.

With the search now into its eighth day with no breaks, Relisha’s difficult past is coming into focus. Guardians, social workers and employees at the subsidized shelter had extensive contact with Relisha but missed or ignored repeated opportunities to intervene weeks or even years ago, records show. And her mother, who allowed Relisha to be with Tatum, told school officials her daughter was missing school because she was sick, an explanation that authorities say delayed their ability to respond...

Keep reading this sorry-assed report.

I mean really? Who lets their 8-year-old child spend the days with a janitor at a homeless shelter? This dude Tatum took the child "swimming" and bought her presents. Hey, no hints something's awry there. Nope, not at all. And child protective services? No clue. Can you say city-agency clusterf-k?

This is not good. Not good at all. Ima say a prayer now.

Congressman Michael Grimm Threatens NY1 Reporter

Not becoming of a congressman, at NY1 News, "Rep. Grimm Threatens NY1 Reporter Following State of the Union."

The reporter finished his on-air report, saying Rep. Grimm didn't want to talk about campaign finance allegations:

"So Congressman Michael Grimm does not want to talk about some of the allegations concerning his campaign finances," Scotto said before tossing back to the station. But as the camera continued to roll, Grimm walked back up to Scotto and began speaking to him in a low voice.

"What?" Scotto responded. "I just wanted to ask you..."

Grimm: "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this f-----g balcony."

Scotto: "Why? I just wanted to ask you..."

[[cross talk]]

Grimm: "If you ever do that to me again..."

Scotto: "Why? Why? It’s a valid question."

[[cross talk]]

Grimm: "No, no, you're not man enough, you're not man enough. I'll break you in half. Like a boy."

More at the link, plus video.

Also at CNN, "New York congressman threatens to throw reporter off balcony." (At Memeorandum.)

Grimm's a Republican, the idiot. Here's his statement:

“I was extremely annoyed because I was doing NY1 a favor by rushing to do their interview first in lieu of several other requests. The reporter knew that I was in a hurry and was only there to comment on the State of the Union, but insisted on taking a disrespectful and cheap shot at the end of the interview, because I did not have time to speak off-topic. I verbally took the reporter to task and told him off, because I expect a certain level of professionalism and respect, especially when I go out of my way to do that reporter a favor. I doubt that I am the first Member of Congress to tell off a reporter, and I am sure I won’t be the last...”

Tom Morello, Guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, Plays the Kennedy Center Honors

You gotta love it.

From Adam White, at the Weekly Standard, "Radical Chic at the Kennedy Center":

One trusts that the Kennedy Center Honors' organizers and audience were completely ignorant of Morello's body of work when they invited him to perform, even if it's not the first time that Morello's graced the Kennedy Center's stage. (Last time, he managed to out-activist an entire Woody Guthrie tribute show, interrupting "This Land Is Your Land" to hector the audience with the usual revolutionary bromides.) ....

Still, the scene of President and Mrs. Obama cheering Morello's fret work among the rest of the assembled celebrities, echoes Tom Wolfe's Radical Chic: "Shootouts, revolutions, pictures in Life magazine of policemen grabbing Black Panthers like they were Viet Cong—somehow it all runs together in the head with the whole thing of how beautiful they are. Sharp as a blade."

RTWT.

A classic.

The Top Washington Story of 2013?

What's your pick?

I say the Snowden NSA leaks and the disastrous ObamaCare rollout. A year's a long time in the frame of the daily news cycle.

But see WSJ, "Review & Vote: 2013′s Top Washington Stories."

Veterans Take Over Washington Mall, Liberate War Memorials — #1MVetMarch

William Jacobson had the awesomely-titled post yesterday, "Liberation of WWII Memorial."

In all my years of tea party protests and anti-ObamaCare rallies, I don't think anything has resonated so viscerally with American freedom.

At Fire Andrea Mitchell, "Pictures From Million Veteran March – Media AWOL in Coverage."

And one hella roundup at Weasel Zippers, "DEVELOPING… Veterans Storm D.C. #VetMarch."

Also at Gateway Pundit, "Patriots at the Million Vets March Carry Barricades from Lincoln Memorial to Set Up at White House (Video)."And from the Mad Jewess, "Vets, Patriots & Truckers Throw Obama’s Bolshevik Barriers On The White House Lawn."

CNN, Salon Hatemonger Joan Walsh Tout Confederate Flag at Million Vets March — #1MVetMarch

Look, this is just the start of it. You'll see attacks on the "racist, Confederate" veterans all next week during the primetime newscasts. And "tea baggers" too.

@AmPowerBlog I'm waiting for media headlines "veteran tea baggers."

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 13, 2013

Here's Ben Shapiro at Big Government, "CNN MOCKS MILLION VET MARCH AS TEA PARTY CRAZIES."

And at CNN, "Rallier tells Obama to ‘put the Quran down’."

Notice how CNN positions the Confederate flag front and center in its reporting:



And disgusting hate-merchant Joan Walsh took to Twitter to smear veterans as "racist neo-Confederates":

That Confederate flag at the White House today is really a nice touch: pic.twitter.com/avXiBME6Xd

— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) October 13, 2013

More, ICYMI, from Dana Loesch, "Media Targets Million Veteran March."

Powerful Photos From #1MVetMarch!

I'm overwhelmed with all the incredible news out of Washington. I'll try to post more, but the photographs from the Million Vets March are some of the most powerful of the Obama era.

See Twitchy, "Powerful photo from Million Vets March sums up ‘American spirit’," and Protein Wisdom, "Vets remove barrycades from memorial, carry them to the #SpiteHouse [Darleen Click] UPDATED!"

Added: "‘Shut down the White House!’ Million Vets March protests outside the Spite House [pics]."

This protest is so devastating to the left's narrative that now we have "mainstream" media outlets attacking veterans as "a 'group of conservatives' who are basically birthers and racists and hate Obama." In other words, "tea baggers." See Dana Loesch, "Media Targets Million Veteran March."



PREVIOUSLY: "Million Vets March."

Million Vets March

I wish I was there.

At the Washington Times, "UPDATED: "Million" vets are in DC to demand their monuments be opened."

And at CBS News DC, "'Million Vet March' Storms DC Memorials."

How this great nation was founded and how it will be resurrected. MR. OBAMA, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL: pic.twitter.com/j9nUQobGhW

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) October 13, 2013

More a Twitchy, "#1MVetMarch: Barrycades down! Spite House barricades no match for Million Vets March [photos]."

And, "‘It belongs to the people!’ Sarah Palin and Sens. Cruz, Lee address Million Vets March [pics]," and "‘Awesome!’ Veterans remove Barrycades from memorials, transport to White House [pics]."

Woman Killed in Capitol Hill Chase Was Fixated on President Obama

Well, support for Obama is a mental health issue, but this certainly is extreme.

At LAT, "Woman shot in D.C. chase had fixation on President Obama":

WASHINGTON -- The woman shot to death after a police chase from the White House to Capitol Hill had been suffering from mental health issues, according to federal law enforcement officials, including postpartum depression after her daughter was born and a troubling fixation on President Obama.

Miriam Carey’s declining mental stability, the sources said, developed into a belief that the president was “controlling" her life, which may explain why she appeared Thursday afternoon next to the White House and then led Secret Service agents and Washington police on a two-mile, three-minute chase down Pennsylvania Avenue. Along the way, two officers were injured.

"She thought that the president had her apartment under surveillance," Rep.  Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, told the Los Angeles Times. "That must have prompted her trip to Washington and her attempt to visit the White House."

Carey’s sister, Amy, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Friday, "We will never know what Miriam was thinking in those last hours before she died. We can only speculate."

She said her sister experienced postpartum depression "with psychosis … which came along with treatment and medication and counseling…. She had her challenges as a new parent. I am a parent. I have two children. … There was nothing out of the ordinary.  She didn’t appear to be unstable."

But Amy Carey also asked, "Was there some other way that she could have been helped so it didn’t end tragically?”

McCaul said, however, that the police "didn’t really have much of a choice, given the way she was driving."

"At the time, they don’t know who she is, what her motivation is," he said. "When I talk to the FBI or Secret Service, they’re just amazed that she could drive at 80 mph down Pennsylvania Avenue and not hit a car…. When you’re traveling like that, and you’re erratic … there’s plenty of pedestrians that could be killed.

"Plus, the threat to the White House raises the stakes. And then this car was seen around the Capitol grounds. That raises the stakes even higher."

Also at Expose Liberals, "Miriam Carey Facebook page and profile."

And from yesterday at Twitchy, "Reports: All shots fired by police; Pathetic lefties continue to blame NRA and Tea Party."

Plus, "But of course! Actress Nancy Lee Grahn uses Capitol shooting to smear House GOP," and "Vile haters wish Ted Cruz and Tea Partiers were shot during the Capitol Hill lockdown."

Washington Post on Lockdown Amid Protest Against Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood

Tweeted out a few minutes ago:

Wash Post lobby on lockdown with giant pro-Sissi/anti-Morsi protest out front. pic.twitter.com/qsV8Rp4DBJ

— Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) August 22, 2013

And here's the background, "US Egyptians plan rally at White House against 'Brotherhood terrorism'."

China's Xi Jinping is Maoist Ideological Hardliner

Well, I'm sure he'll hit it off with our Dear Leader then.

At LAT, "China's Xi Jinping appears more Maoist than reformer so far":

At a Politburo meeting in April, Xi announced an effort to reeducate party cadres, using language that harked back to Mao's "rectification" campaigns of the 1940s when he was consolidating power at his revolutionary base in Yanan.

Trying to boost morale in the military, Xi decreed all generals and officers above the rank of lieutenant colonel must do stints of at least 15 days as rank-and-file soldiers. Mao used almost exactly the same tactic in 1958.

In public speeches, Xi tends to elevate the Communist Party above the nation and even above the Chinese people. He's tried to clamp down on criticism of Mao.

"To completely negate Mao Tse-tung would lead to the demise of the Chinese Communist Party and to great chaos in China," Xi told a high-level forum in January, according to an article last month in Study Times, an official publication of the Central Party School in Beijing.

Just to show that he is not Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Xi blames the collapse of the Soviet Union on wavering from Communist convictions.

"It's a profound lesson for us. To dismiss the history of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Communist Party, to dismiss Lenin and Stalin, and to dismiss everything else is to engage in historic nihilism, and it confuses our thoughts and undermines the party's organizations on all levels," he said in another unpublished speech from December that was widely leaked.

Xi's predecessor for the last decade, Hu Jintao, was a bland figure. But political analysts believe he may have been more inclined toward political reform.

"Xi Jinping is very good at public relations, much better than Hu, who acted like a robot," said Willy Lam, a political analyst based in Hong Kong. "But ideologically he is really a Maoist, who wants to maintain tight control over the party and the military and to put a freeze on Western values."

Nobody expects Xi to reverse the opening of China's economy and, in fact, many are predicting reforms this year to loosen the grip of state-owned enterprises. But unlike Hu, he rarely speaks about rule of law.

Tighter controls were in evidence June 4, a sensitive day marking the anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in 1989. To much ridicule, censors deleted all references to the anniversary on the Chinese Internet — including a doctored photograph of yellow rubber ducks marching like tanks toward the square. Hong Kong journalists were detained briefly and prevented from filming the daily ceremony for the raising of the Chinese flag.

Authorities made sure no commemorations took place, rounding up activists and putting others under house arrest.

Boy, that sounds familiar. No doubt Xi's even getting a few pointers from President Dronekiller.

Michele Bachmann Talks Obama Impeachment

At CNN, "After IRS targeting, tea party says their fears confirmed."

NYT's Mark Leibovich Slams White House Correspondents' Dinner

A great clip.

Leibovich hammers Washington's entitled celebrity class, which partied last night at the exclusive correspondents' dinner:

Leibovich discusses his forthcoming book, "This Town: The Way it Works in Suck Up City."

And see Politico, "'This Town': A Washington takedown."

Plus, at Twitchy, "Tweet like a girl: Sarah Palin blasts ‘DC assclowns’ at ‘pathetic’ Correspondents’ Dinner." (The responses to Palin on Twitter have been utterly pathological.) And at Memeorandum.

BONUS: At The Other McCain, "Have You Heard the One About the President Who Was a Miserable Failure?"

Obama Bundler Anna Wintour's Boyfriend Owes $1.2 Million in Back Taxes

According to a report last week at PuffHo, Anna Wintour "is the editor of Vogue and the role model for the character played by Meryl Streep in the movie The Devil Wears Prada. She is a citizen of the United Kingdom as well as the United States so it may not be clear which government she is serving. But she is one of the President's biggest bundlers." But according to New York Magazine, she's no long being considered for the post, and I've heard little about it lately, so who knows? She and her boyfriend are certainly members in good standing of Washington's permanent political class. Although a wee bit of boyfriend back taxes might have been an indelicate subject at Wintour's confirmation hearings.  See Telegraph UK, "Anna Wintour's boyfriend 'owes US government $1.2 million in taxes'":

J. Shelby Bryan, the long-term boyfriend of Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor in contention to be Barack Obama's next ambassador to Britain, owes the US government more than $1.2 million (£760,000) in taxes.

Mr Bryan, a former adviser to Bill Clinton who helped raise funds for Mr Obama's re-election campaign, has owed the money to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) since 2006, according to court filings obtained by The Daily Telegraph from Texas.

Mr Bryan, who has been in a relationship with Ms Wintour since 1999, was also pursued for outstanding Texas property taxes, and has had energy companies he owns in the state chided by local authorities for falling behind on their financial filings.
The findings may threaten Ms Wintour's confirmation as a US ambassador if nominated by Mr Obama. Her appointment would need to be approved by the US Senate, which has in the past objected to irregularities in the tax affairs of nominees and their partners.

Mr Bryan, 66, was said to have a fortune of $30 million when he left his second wife, Katherine, for Ms Wintour 13 years ago. He reportedly suffered a decline in personal wealth amid the financial crisis, however, and frequently stays at Ms Wintour's $10 million townhouse in Manhattan.

Ms Wintour was one of Mr Obama's leading fundraisers during his re-election campaign, bringing in $500,000 to the president's coffers. At one $35,000-a-plate fundraising dinner in August, Mr Obama thanked "Anna and Shelby for being such extraordinary hosts".

Continue reading.

RELATED: At Big Journalism, "Bannon on Boomtown: Media Must Investigate Permanent Political Class."

God, you can say that again.

Photos From the 40th Annual March for Life

From Matt Cassens, at St. Blogustine, "40th Annual March For Life In Pictures."

Do You Believe the NRA's 'Grip on Congress' is Threatened?

I got a pretty good laugh out of this front-page story at yesterday's Los Angeles Times, "Gun lobby's grip on Congress threatened":

WASHINGTON — The gun-control debate sharpened Tuesday as President Obama backed an effort to revive the assault weapons ban spearheaded by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is poised to have a powerful new role as the head of the Senate committee overseeing gun laws.

Calls for federal gun restrictions were mounting following last week's shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. — even from lawmakers who had rejected them in the past. The National Rifle Assn. and its allies have successfully kept such efforts at bay for years, but the slayings of 20 children have roiled the politics of gun control and now challenge the gun lobby's hold on Capitol Hill.

I doubt it. The president's task-force on firearms is supposedly designed to freeze the politics of gun control. But even if it doesn't I don't think there's much support for gun control beyond a couple of token measures to make the left's extremists happy. We'll see. A good indicator going forward will be the direction the NRA takes in its press conference on Friday. The group exists to protect the rights of gun owners. It's not going to take all these pathetic attacks lying down. Word has it that the group's going to hammer mental health failures and the pop culture's glorification of violence. This oughta be good.

Arlington's One More Page Bookstore Caters to Royalty, Closes to Public During Obama's Presidential Visit

Well, you wouldn't want to inconvenience the presidential family by having the riff-raff nearby.

At London's Daily Mail, "Must be nice being President! Obama avoids Black Friday crowds as bookstore closes for his visit as he shops for Christmas presents with his girls."

Pictures at the link. And I don't see any red carpets. These people are slacking!

Here's the store's website: One More Page Books, located in Arlington, Virginia.

ADDED: Here's video, "Raw: Obama, Daughters Go Christmas Shopping."

The 25 Most Influential Women in Washington

Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers makes the cut.

See: "25 Most Influential Women in Washington - PICTURES," and "NJ’s Most Influential Women."

And the full feature is here: "Women in Washington."

Atheists Rally at the National Mall in Washington D.C.

At Washington Post, "Atheists rally on National Mall in show of political force."

And Reason Magazine declaims any organizational affiliations:

Reason.tv headed down to the National Mall for the Reason Rally (no affiliation!) in Washington, DC. The March 24 event was billed as the "largest gathering of the secular movement in world history" and drew a several thousand-strong crowd of damp, enthusiastic unbelievers (and a few protesting believers) to the National Mall.

'Etch A Sketch'

What an amazing day in politics.

See Robert Stacy McCain, "Romney’s ‘Etch-a-Sketch’ Platform: Santorum’s ‘Act of God’ Moment?" (via Memeorandum).

And at the New York Times, "Shaking It Up With a Popular Low-Tech Toy: Etch A Sketch Becomes a Symbol of Second Chances":

THE United States is the great land of second chances. Change your name. Change your location. Change your life. If you’re a politician, change your ideas, and in so doing, change your prospects. It’s a deep-rooted American tradition that the Mitt Romney campaign has now given a colorful symbol.

It was widely reported that Wednesday on CNN, Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior adviser to Mr. Romney, predicted a fresh start for his boss’s campaign after victory in the Illinois primary. “Everything changes,” Mr. Fehrnstrom said. “It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.”

Mr. Romney’s political opponents seized on the image as a sinister expression of the candidate’s pliability. But to millions of Americans, the Etch A Sketch has offered a precious life lesson: No matter how badly you screw up, you can always make a fresh start. The past does not exist. The Etch A Sketch offers total deniability in a neat rectangular package.

The Etch A Sketch was invented in the late 1950s by André Cassagnes, a French electrician, and the first model was manufactured for the American market by the Ohio Art Company on July 12, 1960. The device is simple and ingenious: a framed plastic screen coated with aluminum dust on the reverse side. Two knobs move a stylus vertically and horizontally, allowing the user to draw pictures as the tip of the stylus leaves a dark line against a light gray background.

If the results do not please, the user simply shakes the screen, causing polystyrene beads to create a fresh surface by smoothing out and recoating the inside of the screen. History, with a flick of the wrist, vanishes.

Over the years, the company has added color and electronic features, but the essential appeal of the device has remained the same. No matter how bad the drawing, how distant the final product from the original intent, the clock can be turned back.

More at Pundette, "The Etch A Sketch candidate."

And the response at Astute Bloggers, "ROMNEY ETCH-A-SKETCH BROUHAHA IS BULLSHIT."