Before heading back home to keep his powder dry, Kokesh made the following statement: “We will not allow our government to destroy our humanity. We are the final American revolution. See you next Independence Day.” In a later statement, Kokesh also compared himself to Mahatma Gandhi: "Should one whole year from this July 4th pass while the crimes of this government are allowed to continue, we may have passed the point at which non-violent revolution becomes impossible."
Kokesh is no Gandhi. His publicity stunt at the Freedom Plaza is akin to a four-year-old rolling around on a supermarket floor in the midst of a full-blown tantrum.
- An unnamed editorialist at the Wall Street Journal thinks Egypt could do with an Augusto Pinochet of their very own for a few years, presumably to keep the nasty Muslim Brotherhood-types well away from the levers of power and influence and the nation fully ensconced within the western world's sphere of influence:
Egyptians would be lucky if their new ruling generals turn out to be in the mold of Chile's Augusto Pinochet, who took power amid chaos but hired free-market reformers and midwifed a transition to democracy. If General Sisi merely tries to restore the old Mubarak order, he will eventually suffer Mr. Morsi's fate.
Augusto Pinochet kept Chile safe from the predations of Socialism in South America and highly receptive to the free market reforms that best benefited U.S. and global corporate concerns. He also made a point of torturing and murdering thousands of fellow Chileans deemed hostile to his regime. I suppose there's a good reason why this WSJ piece was posted anonymously - it's the equivalent of a long-form Youtube comment with zero slang, zero cursing and a once-respectable name attached to it.
- Would you attempt to convince the mother of a slain young child that her son's murder was his own damned fault, in spite of evidence to the contrary? If you're defense attorney Mark O'Mara, that's probably just one of the many tricks up your suit jacket sleeve:
“If it was your son, in fact, screaming as you testified, that would suggest that it was Mr. Zimmerman’s fault that led to his death,” O’Mara observed. “And if it was not your son screaming, if it was, in fact, George Zimmerman then you would have to accept the probability that it was Trayvon Martin that caused his own death, correct?”
“I don’t understand your question,” Fulton said. “I heard my son screaming.”
“You certainly had to hope that was your son screaming even before you heard it, correct?” O’Mara continued.
“I didn’t hope for anything,” Fulton insisted. “I just simply listened to the tape.”
“I don’t meant to put you through this any more than necessary, but you certainly would hope your son, Trayvon Martin, did nothing that could have led to his own death, correct?” O’Mara tried again.
“What I hope for is that this wouldn’t have ever happened and he would still be here,” Fulton shot back. “That’s my hope.”
The need to maintain courtroom decorum and the understanding that the defense attorney is, in fact, defending his client precludes leaving the witness podium to enthusiastically dislodge Mr. O'Mara's teeth from his mouth.
- Ever since letting slip the less savory side of her sickly-sweet Southern persona, Paula Deen's career prospects have gotten dimmer with each passing moment. Not only has she lost her cooking show, various endorsement deals and the respect of countless consumers, she now has to put up with half-baked blackmail attempts such as the following:
The FBI busted Thomas Paculis in upstate New York on Friday on charges he tried to extort Deen, the scandal-scarred former Food Network superstar — for $250,000.
Paculis, 62, cooked his own goose when he emailed Deen’s lawyer and demanded cash in exchange for keeping quiet about “true and damning” statements involving the television icon “using the N-word in her business practices,” according to court papers.
“I am about to go public with statements refuting your (client’s) statements about using the ‘N’ word in her business practices at Lady and Son’s,” Paculis wrote June 24, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in federal court in Savannah, Ga.
Industry insiders believe there's life after a Michael Richards moment, but it remains to be seen if Paula Deen will be able to hawk any more butter-laden recipes on TV any time soon.
- Dana Loesch being Dana Loesch. Nothing further to add here.
- By striking down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the U.S. Supreme Court further enabled the GOP's mad dash to permanently secure a Republican gubernatorial and congressional majority by hook or by crook. The renewed push for voter ID laws and targeted gerrymandering are just part of the concerted effort of a dead party walking to stay on life support.
- Somewhere in the U.S., a picturesque married mother of two just stumbled on this story while looking for the latest Game of Thrones gossip. Or maybe not. Either way, it's the mother who should rightfully be made to feel like complete shit*, not the airline passenger sitting next to her.
* Do try to ignore the comments that attempt to excuse this woman's behavior.
