In Bizarre, Bitter Diatribe, Washed-Up Leftist Bill Moyers Attacks United States as 'Arsenal of Death'

Holy cow!

And I thought Rep. Jim Moran had blown a gasket.

Bill Moyers is so over the top he's about blast off to Mars. What a freak! He's contemptuous of the Constitution and he completely ignores the real facts of gun violence in this country, which I've discussed here in recent days. He rants about how the U.S. used to be the "arsenal of democracy" but is now the "arsenal of death." And he attacks the NRA as death's "enabler ... paranoid, delusional, and as venomous as a scorpion."

I am so glad that I never, ever see this man on television. Seriously. Is he even on PBS anymore? I would personally show up at his studio, weekly, to stage a one man protest, I find him so repulsive. But he's got the right to rave on as such, just as much as any person retains the right to own a gun for protection against the real lone killers out there, killers for which there's little explanation other than the grip of evil.

Progressivism is a disease, and Moyers is its embodiment. What an bitter little man, and awful bitter decrepit man-stump.

Here's an old piece on Moyers at FrontPage Magazine, which places him right along with all the other commie-enabling America-bashers that just infest the progressive left. What a hateful, hateful man. See: "Bill Moyers: Fat Cat for the Fifth Column."

Sensuous Katie Holmes Photo Shoot Just Days Before Divorce from Tom Cruise

The piece suggests you wouldn't know that Katie Holmes was under any marital stress. And frankly, given the speed at which they settled, I think she came out looking like a pro --- a strong, capable woman, the kind that feminists are supposed to be raving about.

In any case, lovely pictures, at London's Daily Mail, "The reinvention of Katie: Miss Holmes gets a sultry fashion makeover in photoshoot taken just days before dumping Tom Cruise."

Second Fatal Shooting in Anaheim Weekend Unrest

Jeez, it's getting to be a long, hot summer out in Anaheim.

At the O.C. Weekly, "Anaheim Police Kill Second Man on Sunday," and at the Orange County Register, "Anaheim shootings: Police prepare for protests."

More at the Los Angeles Times, "Anaheim chief 'very concerned' about uptick in police shootings."

Mariah Carey Joins 'American Idol'

She might have the star power to keep it going for awhile.

At the Los Angeles Times, "It's official: Mariah Carey will join 'American Idol'." (And see WeSmirch.)

And earlier at the Times, "With Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez out, the 'Idol' fun begins," and "Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler quit 'Idol'; Randy Jackson next?"

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.

Holmes Family Statement on Colorado Theater Massacre

See the Los Angeles Times, "Suspected Colorado gunman's family stands by son, attorney says," and "Colorado theater shooting: The next legal steps for James Holmes."

More at the Wall Street Journal, "Colorado Suspect Is Silent at His Hearing."

'Replace the Stigma With Compassion' — Elton John at International AIDS Conference

I love Elton John. And I'm so glad he's not dead.

At Telegraph UK, "Elton John tells Aids conference 'I should be dead'":

In his address at the International Aids Conference, Elton John tells the audience "I should be dead" because he didn't take precautions against HIV in the past.

Musician Elton John spoke to a packed audience at the 19th International Aids Conference in Washington, DC on Wednesday and said that because he did not take precautions, he should have contracted HIV years ago.

"Ladies and gentlemen by all rights I shouldn't be here today. I should be dead. Six feet under in a wooden box. I should have contracted HIV in the 1980s and died in the 1990s. Just like Freddie Mercury, just like Rock Hudson, just like so many friends and loved ones of yours and mine," Elton John said.

He also called on people to stop marginalizing people with HIV-Aids during his key note address.

More at that link above.

Thank goodness medical science has developed effective treatments to lessen the effects of the disease.

And I hope those at the conference follow John's model behavior as a gay man: live a stable life, be good to your family and support traditional values, and by all means eschew the radical homosexual politics that alienates so many decent people of good faith.

PREVIOUSLY: "Elton John Admits It's 'Heartbreaking' for Son Zachary to Grow Up Without a 'Mummy'."

Air Force C-17 Lands at Wrong Airport

At MyFox Tampa Bay, "Giant military cargo plane lands at small Tampa airport."

FLASHBACK: "Long Beach Boeing C-17 Tour."

'Batman' Moviegoers Undeterred by Tragedy

I'm not surprised. It's supposed to be an excellent film.

See the Los Angeles Times, "'Dark Knight Rises' opens to estimated $160 million amid tragedy."

Repsac3, Hate-Addled Internet Predator, Screams 'Liar' at Virtually Entire World on Politicization of Colorado Shooting

For all of hate-blogger Walter James Casper III's embarrassing, over-the-top bleating, he's in fact never shown that Brain Ross's premature speculation wasn't political. In fact, that Ross sought to tie suspect James Holmes to the tea party was nothing but political, because his statement couldn't be farther from a routine mistake of fact. Ross "investigated" the suspect's name, found out there was a "James Holmes" in Colorado who belonged to tea party groups, and then went on the air with it. He didn't wrongly report the suspect's age or occupation, or some other descriptive non-political fact. He instinctively went with the same well-worn blood libel smear against the allegedly "violent" tea party movement. He was comfortable smearing the tea party for mass murder because that's what network elites do. Simple as that. And of course it was entirely wrong and Ross has been universally condemned for "politicizing" the reporting. Not "misreporting" the story, "politicizing" it in the most disgusting way imaginable. Regina Thomson, President of the Colorado Tea Party Patriots, repudiated Ross's smear as "shameless and reprehensible." This happens every time there's some kind of horrible massacre, for example last year in Tucson. Left-wing journalists, pundits, and bloggers jumped to exploit the bloodshed to destroy conservatives. And that Repsac3 is now so blindingly enraged to be called out on his dishonesty--- when even far-left "Wonkette" called Ross's smear a reprehensible move --- is just, well, pathetic.

And note now that the epic hate blogger didn't think it enough to attack Michelle Malkin, who had written a perfectly reasonable and well-documented report, as a "whiney wingnut victim." No, in his insane descent to dangerous incoherence, he's now basically calling virtually everyone who's responded to the Colorado politicization a "liar":

Politicizing the CO Shootings bit.ly/LEojKb A lie every time @ampowerblog repeats it. ABC ran w/ bad TParty link 2b first, not bias.
— J. Casper (@repsac3) July 22, 2012

Actually, it's Repsac3 who's lying. As I've reported throughout, the condemnation has been virtually universal, left and right, attacking Ross's initial report as disgustingly political. Here's IBD's editorial from Friday, for example, "ABC News' Tea Party Apology Isn't Good Enough":

ABC News quickly apologized after one of its reporters tried to tie the Colorado massacre to the Tea Party. When will the network apologize for the blatant media bias that led to this monumental screw-up?

Less than eight hours after the movie theater shooting spree left 13 dead, "Good Morning America" host George Stephanopoulos turned to reporter Brian Ross who, he said, had "found something that might be significant."

Ross' finding? There's a guy named Jim Holmes who joined the Colorado Tea Party last year.

Stop the presses!

Never mind that a simple online search of the Denver area turns up more than a dozen Jim Holmeses, any one of whom was just as likely to be the shooter as the guy Ross found on the Tea Party site. And never mind that Ross had zip, zero, nada information on the Jim Holmes whose name he did find.

Why bother taking such elemental journalistic steps when you can possibly be the first to tag a right-wing group with a mass shooting?

There's also the question of why Ross' first instinct was to go trolling around Tea Party sites. That, as much as Stephanopoulos and Ross' decision to go on the air with the bogus information, reveals the enormity of the media bias at work here.

This is the same bias that was on glaring display after the Gabby Giffords shooting, when reporters tried — falsely and based on no evidence whatsoever — to pin the shooting on heated Tea Party rhetoric.

It's the same bias that pushed the mainstream press to trumpet unfounded claims that Tea Partyers hurled a racial epithet at a black congressman. And that propelled these same reporters to cover up actual crimes — rapes, murders, destruction of property — perpetrated by their "Occupy Wall Street" friends.

Shortly after Ross' report, ABC News apologized "for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted."

Sorry, but that's not good enough. If ABC News was genuinely sorry, it would take a hard look at how such a fantastically biased report could have made it on the air in the first place.

Exactly right.

And this is the same basic point that Michelle made in her post on Friday, "Blame Righty impulse blows up in media faces…again." And tea party groups are still indignant that they get blood libeled every time there's a national tragedy. See Jennifer Stefano, the Pennsylvania State Director of AFP, at Fox News, "Media must stop falsely accusing the Tea Party every time tragedy strikes."

And here's John Kass, at far-left Chicago Tribune, "ABC makes a wrong — and biased — snap judgment: Colorado massacre quickly becomes political":

How long does it take for a major American television news network to politicize mass murder and blame conservatives for the blood of innocents?

Not long.

It happened on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday morning, as the country woke to the news of the mass murder during the midnight showing of the new Batman movie: A heavily armed man named James Eagan Holmes allegedly killed 12 and injured 58 others in a suburban theater outside Denver.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos, once a top aide to former President Bill Clinton, and ABC reporter Brian Ross teamed up to quickly place the horror at the feet of American conservatives.

Stephanopoulos: I'm going to go to Brian Ross. You've been investigating the background of Jim Holmes here. You found something that might be significant.

Ross: There's a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado tea party site as well, talking about him joining the tea party last year. Now, we don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes. But it's Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado. Stephanopoulos: OK, we'll keep looking at that. Brian Ross, thanks very much. And that's all it took, a mention, a name, a possible connection about a Jim Holmes joining the tea party movement that is reviled by establishment Democrats and (though not often reported) establishment Republicans. The connection was made. It was artfully done.

But there was one thing wrong with the ABC report.

It was the wrong Holmes.

The Holmes ABC referred to was a middle-aged man. The one arrested with the guns and the gas bombs and the mask and the booby-trapped apartment is James Eagan Holmes, a 24-year-old graduate student who was in the process of dropping out of school.

After an onslaught by bloggers over the Internet on Friday, ABC news issued a correction.

"An earlier ABC News broadcast report suggested that a Jim Holmes of a Colorado tea party organization might be the suspect, but that report was incorrect," said ABC News in a statement. "ABC News and Brian Ross apologize for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted."

We all make mistakes. But this one smacks of political bias. And when you add political bias to the rush of breaking news, as seems to have happened here, things get stinky.

It could have been an honest mistake, perhaps. It might have come across as a mistake if Stephanopoulos had interjected and said, "No, Brian, we don't have enough evidence to make that connection to the tea party." Instead, the former aide to Bill Clinton thanked Ross for his reporting. It's no wonder that virtually the entire political establishment reacted the way it did. ABC News was out there on a limb, as James Taranto reported at the Wall Street Journal --- and for someone to come along and then essentially call all these people "liars" is simply beneath contempt. But that's Walter James Casper for you. He's been working the Internet for years, attempting to undermine and destroy conservatives.

I could keep going, because the examples are all over the web. But in fact there's no need to keep going. The facts are out there, but those blinded by ideological bigotry refuse to see them.

Walter James Casper is now back to stalking this blog and sending me unsolicited tweets. He's even kicked back up the old "American Nihilist" hate-site after I reported it to the Irvine Police Department previously. But it's all of a piece, I guess, as a conservative on the web shining truth on progressive evil. The left tries to shut folks down with stalking and intimidation, but you have to shine a light on the hate and defeat them. It takes a lot of time, but Repsac3 is a particularly resistant form of progressive pestilence. He never went away after being reported to the police, despite announcing that I'd "won the Internet." He just shifted gears a bit, and is now back in the hunt for his next political kill.

PREVIOUSLY: "When Even Sick Left-Wing Sites Like 'Wonkette' Want Brian Ross Fired, Despicable Hate-Blogger Repsac3 Attacks Michelle Malkin as 'Whiney Wingnut Victim'."

BACKGROUND: "Intent to Annoy and the Fascist Hate-Blogging Campaign of Walter James Casper III."

Are Politicians 'Cowed' by the NRA

I think the example of the rampant bloodshed in Chicago this month is a very effective response to all the left-wing cries for gun control coming out of the Colorado shooting. But it's interesting seeing progressives getting all worked up about this.

One of the New York Times pieces I've linked recently (I don't care enough to go back and find it) quoted Democrat New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy to the effect that Members of Congress were "afraid of the gun lobby." I'll have more on the congresswoman later (she's interviewed at Democracy Now! here), but for now I wanted to share this piece at the Guardian UK, "America's love of guns: how attempts to tighten gun laws have foundered" (Americans are "cowed" by the NRA), and also this CBS News clip featuring Democrat Rep. Jim Moran --- who is factually wrong on at least one or two points (suspect Holmes did not walk into the theater armed, so metal detectors at the door wouldn't have stopped him, for example). And while the "politically castrated" remark is colorful, notice after that how Moran essentially argues that nothing would have stopped the shooter --- he was wearing a "bullet proof vest" --- and citizens defending themselves "would have just caused even more deaths." Perhaps not, especially since Holmes' AR-15 jammed and someone familiar with firearms who was packing would have recognized an opening and perhaps saved lives. It's all conjecture. No one wants a movie theater breaking out in gunfire like "the O.K. Corral," but people like this are ridiculously loose with their statements and fabulously hostile to the Second Amendment. It's been a very revealing last couple of days in that respect.

And toward the end there Moran drops that magic number of "6,000 rounds of ammunition," which as I mentioned is like honey to the busy-bees of the anti-gun lobby. These people sound like raving idiots overwhelmed by all the political opportunity this week. Sheesh.

PREVIOUSLY: "'As Easy as Ordering a Book From Amazon' — Suspect James Holmes Amassed 6,000 Rounds Via the Internet."

'As Easy as Ordering a Book From Amazon' — Suspect James Holmes Amassed 6,000 Rounds Via the Internet

The public isn't moved toward greater gun control coming out of Aurora, although it's amazing the kind of arsenal the suspect amassed.

This is from this morning's front-page at the New York Times, "Suspect Bought Large Stockpile of Rounds Online":

DENVER — Unhindered by federal background checks or government oversight, the 24-year-old man accused of killing a dozen people inside a Colorado movie theater was able to build what the police called a 6,000-round arsenal legally and easily over the Internet, exploiting what critics call a virtual absence of any laws regulating ammunition sales.

With a few keystrokes, the suspect, James E. Holmes, ordered 3,000 rounds of handgun ammunition, 3,000 rounds for an assault rifle and 350 shells for a 12-gauge shotgun — an amount of firepower that costs roughly $3,000 at the online sites — in the four months before the shooting, according to the police. It was pretty much as easy as ordering a book from Amazon.

He also bought bulletproof vests and other tactical gear, and a high-capacity “drum magazine” large enough to hold 100 rounds and capable of firing 50 or 60 rounds per minute — a purchase that would have been restricted under proposed legislation that has been stalled in Washington for more than a year.

Mr. Holmes, a graduate student in neuroscience with a clean criminal record, was able to buy the ammunition without arousing the slightest notice from law enforcement, because the sellers are not required in most cases to report sales to law enforcement officials, even unusually large purchases. And neither Colorado nor federal law required him to submit to a background check or register his growing purchases, gun policy experts said.

A few states like Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey, and cities like Los Angeles and Sacramento, have passed restrictions on ammunition sales, requiring permits for buyers or licenses for sellers, or insisting that dealers track their ammunition sales for law enforcement.

But in Colorado, and across much of the United States, the markets for ammunition — online and in storefronts — are largely unregulated, gun-control advocates say.

I imagine those gun control advocates see this angle as a way to get some leverage for stricter gun laws. But the same rebuttal applies: the suspect is an extreme anomaly and tighter gun control laws wouldn't have made a difference. He bought legally and would have been able to buy legally under whatever regime is in place. Had he been restricted in Colorado he could have gone somewhere else and a ban on Internet sales would probably violate the Second Amendment. And frankly, if someone's determined enough to amass a stockpile for a mass murder, he'll do it legally or not.

In any case, the Wall Street Journal also has a piece on the arsenal, "Rifle in Shooting Once Was Federally Restricted."

Obama Praises Himself for Ending Iraq War on Same Day Insurgents Kill at Least 100 in New Offensive

The administration's badly flawed Iraq drawdown is coming home to roost, ironically on the same day that President Obama was conducting a round of gutsy call, football-spiking political events, including campaign ads and military speeches.

Jake Tapper notices, "President Obama Praises Self for Ending War in Iraq on Bloodiest Day of the Year in That Country" (via Memeorandum). It's not insignificant, Jake, not at all.

See the New York Times, "Iraq Insurgents Kill at Least 100 After Declaring New Offensive" (via Memeorandum):

BAGHDAD — In a coordinated display intended to show they remain a viable force, Iraqi insurgents launched at least 40 separate attacks throughout the country on Monday morning, setting off car bombs, storming a military base, attacking policemen in their homes and ambushing checkpoints, the Iraqi authorities said.

At least 100 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in the single bloodiest day this year, according to Iraqi officials in the many areas where attacks took place.

The attacks, coming in the early days of Ramadan, the monthlong Muslim religious rite, were predicted Sunday in an audio message attributed to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Bakir Al Baghdadi, and posted on the group’s Web site. Mr. Baghdadi vowed that a new offensive, which he called Breaking Down Walls, would begin soon.

The offensive was without precedent this year at least in the sheer number of attacks, spread over so many locations in a third of Iraq’s 18 provinces, from north to south. It was sure to raise concerns about the government’s ability to contain the violence, six months after the last American troops left the country.

“I think Al Qaeda in Iraq made a big joke of the government and the Iraqi security forces,” said Khalid Fadel, a military analyst and former instructor at the Iraqi Military College. “They were so clear that they were going to launch attacks during Ramadan, and the government said that they have information of about 30 terrorist groups entering the country, but still the security forces are unable to prevent the attacks.”

Mr. Baghdadi said in the Qaeda statement that “we are returning again to dominate territories we used to dominate, as well as more.” He depicted the attacks as part of a battle launched by Sunnis against the country’s Shiite leaders and people.

Continue reading. And just a few minutes ago I caught a few minutes of the president's speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Reno, Nevada. He looks almost deathly glum, and he's still speaking at the live feed right now, at 1:05pm.

The Untold Story of the Arab Spring

At IBD, "Obama, Hillary Secretly Helped Bring Islamofascists to Power in Egypt" (via Israel Matzav).

And it all sounded so great at the time, the talk of freedom and democracy in Egypt. Recall former Bush NSC chief Stephen Hadley, "The Two Likeliest Political Outcomes for Mubarak."

The euphoria faded fast, or at least in my case. I don't think Hadley's updated his opinion, despite the accession to power of the Islamists.

Colorado Shooting Suspect James Holmes in Court

I'm watching CBS News, and there's a live feed here.

8:40am: Erick Weber has a picture of the suspect on Twitter.

8:43am: That's it. He's back out of the courtroom.

9:00am: The New York Times reports, "Suspect in Colorado Shooting Appears in Court."

9:05am: A video clip:

New Julie Henderson Bikini Pics!

At London's Daily Mail, "Bikini model Julie Henderson brings some Miami heat as she parades enviable figure on the golden sands."

She's a Sports Illustrated model. See: "Julie Henderson in Desroches Island, Seychelles."

NCAA Slaps Penn State With Huge Penalties

At the New York Times, "Penn State Penalties Include $60 Million Fine and Bowl Ban."

The NCAA vacated all of Penn State's wins going back to 1998, and I'm still trying to figure out the logic of that. You can't erase history, so I guess it just vacates the team's rankings. Anyway, read it all at the link. Late justice, I guess.

Anaheim Places Officers on Leave After Fatal Shooting

At the Los Angeles Times, "2 officers placed on leave after fatal shooting in Anaheim."

And at the O.C. Register, "2 officers on leave after Anaheim shooting":

[VIDEO PULLED]

ANAHEIM – Two police officers have been placed on paid leave after one of them fatally shot an unarmed man as he attempted to flee on foot in a residential alleyway, police Chief John Welter said Sunday.

The shooting victim, 25-year-old Manuel Angel Diaz of Santa Ana, was pronounced dead at a local hospital at 7 p.m. Saturday after being shot in the alley a few blocks northeast of downtown Anaheim.

Police described Diaz as a "documented gang member," and said he was shot after the officers saw three men near a car in the 600 block of Anna Drive, near La Palma Avenue and State College Boulevard. Believing the activity to be suspicious, the officers approached the vehicle, and all three men fled on foot.

The officers chased Diaz and observed him throwing unidentified objects onto rooftops as he ran, Welter said. What led one of the officers to shoot Diaz remained under investigation Sunday, Welter said.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait said he would be asking California's attorney general to assist in the investigation.

"I'm asking for a full investigation," Tait said at a Sunday news conference. "Transparency is essential. Whatever the truth is, we will own it."

The dead man's sister, Lupe Diaz, said Sunday that her brother was "just hanging out with friends" before the shooting.

"There is no explanation," Diaz said. "It's not fair."

Continue reading.

The suspect Diaz was shot in the butt, and then again in the head, according to an eyewitness.

And note this from the Register's report: "Police reportedly tried to buy any video taken by witnesses on their cellphones, residents said." And the reporter at the clip says the same thing, so there were probably a number of requests.

The police dog jumped out of the police car unauthorized as well, which is fail.

A little damage control, no doubt.

Prof. Glenn Reynolds has written on the right of citizens to record the police, at the Washington University Law Review, "A Due Process Right to Record the Police."

BONUS: There's a huge roundup at the O.C. Weekly, and witnesses reportedly identified the deceased as Manuel "Stomper" Diaz. See, "Anaheim Police Fire Rubber Bullets at Crowd After Officer-Involved Shooting."

Olympic Committee Won't Hold Moment of Silence for Slain 1972 Israeli Athletes

From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Not One Moment to Remember Munich":

In spite of the growing calls for a moment of silence in honor of the 11 Israelis murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the head of the International Olympic Committee said yesterday that he would not alter his determination to refuse to allow the issue to intrude upon the opening ceremonies of the London Games this Friday. Jacques Rogge said yesterday that it “was not fit” for a commemoration of Munich to be included in the gala start to the global athletic extravaganza.

This week, President Obama added his voice to those already calling for a moment of silence at the ceremony. Perhaps even more importantly, Bob Costas, NBC television’s Olympic host, has said that he will impose his own moment of silence on the coverage of the event when the Israeli team enters the stadium:

“I intend to note that the IOC denied the request,” Costas said. “Many people find that denial more than puzzling but insensitive. Here’s a minute of silence right now.”

Costas deserves great deal of credit for not allowing the IOC’s desire to keep the memory of Munich out of sight during the games (Rogge said he will attend a ceremony honoring the Munich victims in Germany next week). But while he finds the refusal to simply devote one minute to remembrance “puzzling,” there is no mystery about it. Rogge has called requests for such a memorial “political.” While there is nothing political about recalling the terrorist attack, by that he means that many of the participating nations are not comfortable highlighting a crime committed by Palestinians or honoring the memory of Israeli Jews. As historian Deborah Lipstadt wrote this past week, the controversy is more proof that in the eyes of the world, spilled Jewish blood remains a cheap commodity.

Continue reading.

The Lipstadt essay is here: "Jewish Blood Is Cheap."

Alexander Cockburn, Shill for Communism, Dead at 71

David Horowitz comments on the death of Alexander Cockburn:

Alex Cockburn is dead of cancer at the age of 71. Alex was an influential voice in a generation of leftists who did an enormous disservice to this country and the world at large by carrying on a political tradition and promoting a political cause that killed 100 million people in the 20th Century – in peacetime – and consigned more than a billion others to immeasurable and unnecessary poverty, even starvation, by imposing on them the crackpot socialist schemes of Karl Marx and his misguided disciples. Alex’s father Claud was also a noted writer and both an agent of and propagandist for Stalin’s bloody regime. Alex exhibited in his own person many of the worst Stalinist traits. He was personally vicious in attacking political opponents and even friends, such as Christopher Hitchens, about whom he wrote one of the most disgusting columns I have ever read – although in fairness it must be said that Christopher himself was a master of this particular form of literary abuse.

On the other hand, Alex had worthy sense of humor, which even a target like myself could appreciate, and was a clever writer though inferior as a stylist to Christopher whom he obviously envied and paid back with insults. It could be said of Alex that he was also a gutsy individual who, like Christopher, on occasion displayed independence of mind – a rarity among leftists who are normally incapable of challenging the progressive herd. Alex’s most notorious deviation from orthodoxy was his refusal to support the idea that human beings are responsible for climate change, a cardinal tenet of the progressive faith. This caused the obituary writer for the Los Angeles Times, which like most of our metropolitan papers has become a left-wing tabloid, to say of him “his thoughts on global warming aligned him with the far right” – as though matters of science should be subject to a political party line.

Needless to say, the Times obit failed to mention the fact that Alex and his father were shills for Communists, or that Alex was anti-American and an anti-Semite and a cheerleader for the Islamo-fascists of Hizbollah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood who are bent on destroying us. Despite the unfortunate resurgence in our time of the vile ideologies of the 1930s and 1960s to which he devoted his life, Alex was at the end a bitter and spiteful man. This was the predictable fruit of a life spent badly in recrimination and anger.

The Times' obituary is here: "Leftist journalist Alexander Cockburn dies at 71."

The New York Times also has this, "Alexander Cockburn, Left-Wing Writer, Is Dead at 71." And note an interesting bit, in light of David's remembrance:

After Martin Peretz, the publisher of the The New Republic, had a fainting spell in Paris in the late 1980s, Mr. Cockburn gleefully noted that it occurred at an expensive restaurant where patrons were “so bloated that they have to be rubbed down with Vaseline to squeeze through the door.”

Yet when Mr. Cockburn wrote a column drastically revising downward the number of deaths attributable to Stalin, Mr. Peretz suggested that Mr. Cockburn “has a sentimental interest in this controversy but not the credentials to evaluate it.”

No one drastically revises downward "the number of deaths attributable to Stalin," unless they want to whitewash the crimes of 20th-century leftism, which is exactly what David points out.

And about Cockburn's dissent from the leftist global warming orthodoxy, the communist Down With Tyranny! wasn't down with that:

I can't overstate how important Alex's weekly fuck-the-bullshit journalism was for me in, roughly, his first two decades in the U.S. (beginning in 1973), first at the Village Voice, then at The Nation. In the pre-Internet age, I don't know that anyone reached me as regularly and forcefully with the message that the media are feeding us sanitized (or worse) BS, and that self-proclaimed left-leaners aren't necessarily more trustworthy than the roster of unapologetic establishment whores, and arguably less so in that they pretend to be other-than-whores....

The memorialists are writing in terms like this, from the deck on the L.A. Times obit: "His views didn't always jibe with those of his allies."

Which is a polite way of saying that a lot of people who found in him a champion on a whole range of issues were anywhere from mystified to horrified by what he had to say on other issues. The most conspicuous example, as Carolyn Kellogg puts it in the L.A. Times obit, "was his denial of global warming, which brought him a measure of public attention in 2007." But I often found, on occasions when I read something he wrote from the '90s on (usually by referral from a friend or colleague), that I didn't know quite what to make of it. Was it the fire-breathing truth-teller who had once inspired me so, or was it a hobby-horse-riding crank who had perhaps been living too long inside his own head?

So there was really no point in my seeking out his writing, and I'm sure in those later couple of decades I missed a fair amount of it which would have gotten my juices going and pointed me in directions I needed to explore.

Which is another way of saying I'm not going to read the f-ker if he's not trumpeting the communist party line.

Jeez, these are some sick freak leftists.

'Reliable Sources' Covers Media Response to Colorado Shooting

A follow-up to my earlier post, "When Even Sick Left-Wing Sites Like 'Wonkette' Want Brian Ross Fired, Despicable Hate-Blogger Repsac3 Attacks Michelle Malkin as 'Whiney Wingnut Victim'." As noted, Repsac3 is infected with incredibly deep hatred and bigotry, and this prevents him from even acknowledging progressive error, not to mention left-wing evil.

At the clip, Howard Kurtz briefly mentions that Breitbart's website claimed that the suspect was a Democrat, and then corrected the post. That's premature as well, and I think folks should report the facts about what is happening on the ground before trying to tear apart your enemies. Of course, that is not something the progressives like Walter James Casper believe, so there's literally no reason to expect him to call out folks on his side rather than defend them. As I've documented here for years, he's a genuinely twisted individual, and frankly a sad little imitation of a man.

Also at the clip, Ana Marie Cox makes a good point that if we're going to debate gun control, let's do it in response to news at the local level, around the country, where we've seen a massive loss of human life, especially in Chicago. Glenn Reynolds suggested why that won't be happening, however, "REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS OF..."

...this month’s massacre in Chicago.

“A mass murder like Aurora, Colorado, naturally grabs the headlines and attention, as it should. A presidential recognition of the murders is appropriate. Yet more than twice as many people have been murdered this month in the president’s hometown of Chicago than were killed in the Aurora shooting. They are just statistics for whom there will be no presidential visits or flags flown at half staff.”

Well, since Chicago already has very strict gun control, these deaths can’t be turned to political use.

And see William Jacobson as well, "Remembering Chicago’s Victims."