U.S. Gymnast Alexandra Raisman: Gold Medal Routine Was Tribute to Israeli Athletes Murdered at 1972 Munich Olympics

At London's Daily Mail, "U.S. gymnast Aly Raisman reveals gold medal tribute to victims of the 1972 Munich terror attack." (Via Doug Ross.)

Raisman is Jewish --- and a real class act. She performed to Hava Nagila, a traditional Hebrew song used at weddings and so forth.

PREVIOUSLY: "Alexandra Raisman Wins Gold Medal in Floor Exercise."

Connecting the Dots on Obama's 'Cancerous' Attack on Mitt Romney

Here's the Obama campaign ad featuring laid off steelworker Joe Soptic, the guy who's wife died of cancer. This ran about May 15th. Notice how he's wearing the same sweater as the one he's wearing in libelous Priorities USA ad now dominating the headlines:

Team Obama released another Joe Soptic ad on May 14th, "Romney Economics: Bankruptcy and Bailouts at GST Steel." And here's the write-up at Obama for America, "Faces of Romney economics: Joe Soptic, American steelworker."

Amazingly, unfathomably, the campaign denied knowledge of Soptic, but Politico reports that they've now come clean, "Obama camp acknowledges knowing man's story."

And Rebel Pundit pulls it all together at Breitbart, "CONNECTING THE DOTS ON SOPTIC: BEGALA, BROCK, AND BURTON."

And here's this at IBD, "Obama's Campaign of Lies Reaches Despicable Low" (at Memeorandum):

Unable to run on his record, President Hope-and-Change has built a campaign based entirely on scurrilous lies about Mitt Romney. But the latest reaches a historic, despicable low.

That ad features a man claiming that after Bain Capital closed his steel plant, he lost his job and his insurance, and shortly thereafter his wife died of cancer.

Even it were true, trying to blame Romney for his wife's death defies credulity. But the facts are all wrong.

Romney had left Bain to run the summer Olympics two years before Joe Soptic lost his job in 2001. And his wife had her own job and insurance at that time. She later took a disability leave and lost her coverage, and her cancer was apparently symptom-free until she checked into a hospital for pneumonia in 2006.

The ad, sponsored by an Obama "super-PAC" was too much even for the in-the-Obama-tank press. CNN's Wolf Blitzer called it "a pretty outrageous claim," and Sam Stein of the Obama-worshipping Huffington Post said it went "too far."

The Obama campaign has refused to denounce the ad, which is understandable, since when you lie as often as it does, the lines of propriety start to get blurry.

The campaign continues to hammer Romney as an "outsourcer," though the only examples they can cite took place after he left Bain, and even though the independent FactCheck.org reported the claim was bogus.

Obama campaign officials at one point called Romney a felon, saying he misrepresented his position at Bain after 1999. And Obama continued to make thinly veiled suggestions along these lines after the charge was completely debunked.

Continue reading.

And here's that key headline at Instapundit, "CANCER AD TURNS MALIGNANT: Business Insider: That Brutal Anti-Romney Ad Is Blowing Up In The Obama Campaign’s Face."

Sarah Silverman Tweets to Traditional Marriage Supporters: Suck Dick

Yeah, that's the way to build support for your agenda:

To those who feel they deserve more rights than others, I say: 'Let Them eat cock'#MarriageEquality
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) August 9, 2012

You're not doing it right, sweetie.

PREVIOUSLY: "Sarah Silverman Offers Financier Sheldon Adelson 'Traditional Lesbian Sex' if He Gives $100 Million to Barack Obama."

You Can't Use Anonymous Accounts to Attack, Smear, and Harass People

Michelle Malkin smacked down an anonymous Twitter troll identified as "Bloody Leftist" this morning:

@michellemalkin WE know you're not white...but do you?
— Bloody Leftist (@warpublican) August 9, 2012

And things continued around the horn. Robert Stacy McCain has that, "#TwitterGulag and Anonymous Trolls."

Robert got involved after linking me up in a post about Sundries Shack's Instalanche:

@wilw Delicious Gay Slurry! theothermccain.com/2012/08/09/del… hat-tips @ampowerblog @jimmiebjr
— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) August 9, 2012

And it's been going around since, and my Twitter feed's in the loop.

From Robert's report:

After I posted about Jimmie Bise Jr.’s “gay slurry” post this morning and Tweeted it to Jimmie’s attention, he was accosted with vile accusations from the Twitter troll @warpublican (aka “Bloody Leftist”), an anonymous supporter of the Occupy movement who has sent nearly 10,000 Tweets but has fewer than 900 followers.

This is one of the hallmarks of a Twitter troll: A small number of followers and a large number of Tweets. They have few followers because nobody wants to read a Twitter feed that is nothing but a stream of vile attacks and obscene harassment. The whole purpose of such an account is to “get in their faces,” to annoy, distract and harass the troll’s targets.

It’s a form of psychological warfare, and it is permitted to continue because it has not been taken seriously. Except for the troll account’s comparative handful of followers, nobody sees the harassing messages except the person to whom they’re addressed. The target of this deliberate harassment feels isolated — “Why is nobody coming to my defense?” — and decides to ignore the troll.

Ignoring this kind of troll acount, however, only encourages them to continue their harassment. In their mind, they’ve gotten away with it, so it must be OK, and then they go on to attack the next innocent target and the next and the next.

Conservatives keep getting their Twitter accounts suspended because the Left uses swarming ”block and report” attacks against the targeted conservative. The leftists doing the “block and report” attacks are, in many cases, anonymous trolls. And these trolls may actually be sockpuppet accounts created for this specific purpose, so that one person can use multiple accounts to “block and report” the target.

Continue reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "The Left's Underground Online War."

Demo-Hack Stephanie Cutter Goes Dark on Twitter Amid Obama Campaign's 'Cancerous' Attacks on Mitt Romney

At Twitchy, "Radio silence at Stephanie Cutter’s Twitter page."

And at Breitbart, "RNC POUNDS STEPHANIE CUTTER WITH DEVASTATING NEW AD."

PHOTO CREDIT. Wikipedia. It turns out Cutter is a former staffer to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. What a socialist corruptocrat. Sheesh.

RELATED: From Instapundit, "CANCER AD TURNS MALIGNANT: Business Insider: That Brutal Anti-Romney Ad Is Blowing Up In The Obama Campaign’s Face."

'Obama That I Used to Know'

At the Blaze, "Gotye Parody Mocks 'Obama That I Used to Know'."

The creators, Ryan Newbrough and Justin Monticello, are interviewed at CNN.

#WAR — 1st Installment

At Breitbart (via Dana Loesch).

Folks were tweeting this out the other day, around the time of the AFP conference. Parts of this clip were previously posted at Founding Bloggers.

Video Released of Arkansas Cop Gunned Down During Routine Traffic Stop

At Telegraph UK, "Arkansas police release dashboard camera video of fatal officer shooting":

US authorities have released footage which shows an Arkansas police officer pleading for his life before he was fatally shot during an incident last year.

Footage captured by a dashboard camera in the police vehicle shows how the tragic events unfolded during a routine stop in April 2011.

Trumann police officer Jonathan Schmidt and his colleague Corey Overstreet pulled over a car on suspicion of it being uninsured. The driver was handcuffed and questioned. Mr Schmidt then opened the rear left door to the vehicle where Jerry Lard was sitting. Lard opened fire on the officer, shooting at his face.

He then ran from the car, continuing to shoot at the two officers as he yelled, "What you got b----?"

In the 20-minute long video, Mr Schmidt can be heard pleading with Lard off-camera: "Please don't shoot me. Please don't shoot me again."

Michelle Malkin: Hey Team Romney, 'Get a Hang of Yourselves!'

That horrendous ad from Priorities USA has been agressively debunked and repudiated. Yet, despite that, Romney advisor Andrea Saul somehow claimed that RomneyCare would have better helped Joe Soptic and his wife, who died of cancer. Romney's campaign has a knack for own-goals, but at this point it's like deadly self-inflicted wounds. Red State's Erick Erickson went off on the campaign, and R.S. McCain responds, "Steady There, Erick."

I don't care for Erickson, but Team Romney's f-king up and it shows. Michelle called 'em out on Hannity's last night:

Sally Pearson Talks About the Closeness of Australia's Olympic Team

I posted on Pearson previously, "Australia's Sally Pearson Wins Women's 100-Meter Hurdles."

Wade Michael Page Died of Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound

At the New York Post, "Sikh-massacre fiend blew himself away":

The madman who gunned down Sikh worshippers blew his own brains out after he was blasted in the gut by a crack-shot Wisconsin cop, the FBI said yesterday.

“I’ve seen the video — it was an amazing shot. And thank goodness,” FBI Special Agent Teresa Carlson said.

The unidentified Oak Creek officer hit racist Wade Michael Page in the stomach, “thereby neutralizing the threat,” Carlson said.

“Subsequent to that wound, it appears that Page died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.”

Cops first thought the 40-year-old white supremacist was killed in a hail of police bullets after he murdered six Sikh temple members and wounded two others.

But video of a portion of Sunday’s bloodbath shows Page killing himself with a Springfield Armory 9mm semiautomatic he’d bought about a week before the rampage. Carlson said she didn’t know if the cop’s shot would have been enough to kill Page, who had pumped up to nine rounds into Brooklyn-born Oak Creek Police Lt. Brian Murphy.

Murphy is up and walking around his hospital room as he continues to make a miraculous recovery, Carlson said.

The feds are developing theories but may never know for sure why the hard-drinking, unemployed US Army veteran chose to attack total strangers in a holy place.

“We’re trying to piece together, and eventually we will piece together, as much as we can,” said Steven Conley, assistant agent in charge of national security for the FBI in Milwaukee.

RTWT.

Maybe Romney Should Pick Paul Ryan

At the Wall Street Journal, "Why Not Paul Ryan?":

The whispering over Mitt Romney's choice of a running mate is getting louder, and along with it we are being treated to the sotto voce angst of the GOP establishment: Whatever else Mitt does, he wouldn't dare pick Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, would he?

Too risky, goes the Beltway chorus. His selection would make Medicare and the House budget the issue, not the economy. The 42-year-old is too young, too wonky, too, you know, serious. Beneath it all you can hear the murmurs of the ultimate Washington insult—that Mr. Ryan is too dangerous because he thinks politics is about things that matter. That dude really believes in something, and we certainly can't have that.

All of which highly recommend him for the job.

We have nothing against the other men Mr. Romney is said to be still closely considering. Tim Pawlenty twice won the governorship of Minnesota, the second time in the horrible GOP year of 2006. His working-class roots and middle American values would counter the stereotype of Mr. Romney as too rich and disconnected to average concerns. The media would say he's another middle-aged white male, just like Mitt, but he'd certainly be a safe, mature choice.

Ohio Senator Rob Portman is well respected nearly everywhere for his thoughtful, disciplined brand of conservative politics....

Marco Rubio would be a somewhat riskier choice given that he is new to the national scene and has less Washington experience. But he's a tea party favorite who would energize the GOP base while also signaling Mr. Romney's outreach to Hispanic voters...

Pawlenty and Portman? Meh. Rubio would be exciting, but so too would Ryan. I'd personally love a wonky running-mate. We could use some serious discussions about things.

Continue reading.

RELATED: At The Other McCain, "VP Tea Leaves: Is Mitt’s Short List Now Down to Pawlenty, Portman or Ryan?"

BONUS: From David Harsanyi, at the Washington Examiner, "Romney should pick Paul Ryan."

Twenty-First Birthday of the World Wide Web

It was Tuesday, actually.

But interesting, in any case. At Wired, "Aug. 7, 1991: Ladies and Gentlemen, the World Wide Web."

When I applied to graduate school in 1991 it was all snail mail.

At UCSB, I think it wasn't until 1994, or maybe even 1995, that the university assigned mandatory email accounts. I didn't have my own dial-up connection until about 1997, from AT&T Worldnet service. When I completed my dissertation in early 1999, literally just a couple of my citations were online sources --- from H-Net history reviews.

But since about 2000 or so --- and certainly since around the time I started blogging in 2006 --- the web has been the central source of news and information in my life.

Weird how the technology changes, changes your life, and changes society.

Via Instapundit.

Ontario's Sergeant at Arms Approves Anti-Semitic Hate Rally for Queen's Park Later This Month

Well, I imagine it's like letting the Nazis march in Skokie. Not many would approve, but they have the right.

That said, if these idiots are inciting violence against Jews, arrest the f-kers.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "McGuinty's Ontario: FSWC Says Approval for Antisemitic Rally by Hate Group at Queen's Park is Offensive to Canadians."

'Starbucks Appreciation Day' Goes Bust

Bust, and no one's talking about it.

From Da Tech Guy, "Anyone notice what was missing from Memeorandum today?"

And previously, at the Los Angeles Times, "Starbucks appreciation: Will retort to Chick-fil-A day succeed?"

Obviously not, or else the Democrat-Media-Complex would be rubbing it in conservative faces.

Wealthy French Balk at President Hollande's Plan for 75 Percent Tax on Income Over $1.24 Million Annually

I could have sworn Hollande was backing off his big tax and spending schemes since winning election. But I guess not. I don't think $1.24 million is astronomically rich. It's a lot of money. But folks like that are looking to get into the 100s of millions, if not billions. I can see why even the more solidaristic French are saying screw that.

At the New York Times, "'Les Riches' in France Vow to Leave if 75% Tax Rate Is Passed" (via Memeorandum). I like the chart here.

Plus, Walter Russell Mead comments, "Amazingly, Socialism Isn’t Helping France."

RELATED: I thought this was satire, actually, from Hamilton Nolan at Gawker, "Let's Have a Maximum Income." Stephen Green, at PJ Media, isn't taking it as satire, "An Idea Whose Time Has Come (for You)."

But really. It's gotta be satire. I'll tweet that guy Nolan later. Maybe he'll admit that his piece was just a hoax. No one can be that stupid.

Allyson Felix is Smokin'

She's so beautiful.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Allyson Felix golden in 200 on third try, Carmelita Jeter is 3rd."

At the New York Times, "The U.S. Bounces Back, and Over."

The video's at NBC, "Highlights: Allyson Felix Strikes Gold In 200m."

The Left's Underground Online War

A great piece, from Lee Stranahan, "Digital Dirty Tricks, Part One."

RELATED: From Bob Belvedere, "The #BrettKimberlin Report D+75: Good News – Kimberlin Gets Served." And Aaron Worthing, "The Blogger’s Defense Team Goes on the Offensive Against Team Kimberlin (Update: Instalink!)."

EXTRA: The "Freedom to Blog" series is here.

Obama Campaign Under Fire for Horrendous Attack on Mitt Romney

There's a lot of news on this, and it's devastating.

At Business Insider, for example, "That Brutal Anti-Romney Ad Is Blowing Up In The Obama Campaign's Face."

And at AOSHQ, "Wait a Minute: Joe Soptic's Wife Wasn't Even Diagnosed With Cancer Until 2006?"

And more at Gateway Pundit, "OMG!… Joe Soptic, the Anti-Romney Cancer Ad Steelworker, Admits Bain Capital Offered Him a Buyout (Video)."

And from Bryan Preston, at PJ Media, "Why Team Obama Ran with the Dishonest ‘Mitt Killed My Wife!’ Ad" (via Instapundit):

Team Obama knows that the hollow man from 2008 is a real candidate now, and that he is not a particularly good one. They have seen him up close more than the rest of us have, and they know that he is an ideologue incapable of real leadership. But they have to keep him in power to keep themselves in power.

The “Mitt killed my wife!” ad isn’t about truth. Bill Burton & co did enough research to find Mr. Joe Soptic. They did enough research to craft an ad from the man’s sad story. They did enough research to know that Mrs. Soptic died seven years after Romney left Bain, they know that Bain tried to save GST, and they know that an Obama bundler was the person who ultimately shut GST down. They did the research, they brought the ad forward, and they know more than any of the fact-checkers know, that the ad is a lie.

And they don’t care.

The ad is out there. The uninformed are seeing it in their facebook feeds, twinned up with the latest from MoveOn or whichever smear group is running in parallel today. People will see the ad, and most of them will not see the CNN, PolitiFact or Washington Post fact-checks that declare the ad a total fraud. Out in the wild, the ad is intended do its job of toxifying Romney just enough to peel off a few of his voters and ramp up hate for him among Obama’s voters. That’s the point of the ad, not to tell anything that’s true, but just to stir the pot, sully Romney and depress his potential vote.

As I wrote yesterday, we’re dealing with something in the Obama campaign that we haven’t seen much at the top of American life, except in the worst moments of the Clinton era. We’re dealing with a president who is entirely without any sense of ethics, honor or morals. He has lived a lie for most if not all of his life, hiding his true political convictions in gauzy language that makes him appear reasonable and moderate. Having lived a lie, what’s one more lie, in the service of keeping himself in power? What’s one more lie if, in Obama’s mind, it accomplishes the “good” of keeping Romney out of power?

The danger for the Obama camp is that they risk going over a tipping point...

Plus, at Power Line, "HAS THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN FINALLY GONE TOO FAR?"

Perhaps, but the Democrats have the media doing interference. Besides, most voters aren't paying real deep attention to the campaign in the middle of August. More will tune in for the conventions, but it won't be until the second half of October that a lot of undecideds will finally make up their minds. But Glenn Reynolds says no worries, Team Obama will "top themselves several more times before November."

No doubt.

More at Memeorandum.

Wine Bottles Featuring Adolf Hitler on Label Have Been Deemed 'Offensive'

You think?

At Telegraph UK, "Italian Hitler wine bottles 'offensive'":

Wine bottles featuring Adolf Hitler on the label have been called "offensive" after complaints from US tourists in the Italian city of Garda.

Michael Hirsch, a lawyer from Philadelphia, complained to local media after he found a supermarket near his hotel was stocking wine bottles with Hitler in various poses and another bottle featuring an image of Pope John Paul II.

"It is very shocking and startling to us," Mr Hirsch told The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday. "We would think of it as neo-Nazism It makes you wonder about the sympathies of the local people."

One bottle features Hitler with his arm raised in the Nazi, another is labelled 'Mein Kampf" and another was labelled "Ein volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer" (one people, one empire, one Fuhrer), Mr Hirsch said.

Local prosecutors said they have opened an inquiry into the sale of the wine bottles.

Continue reading.