On Sherrod's suit against Breitbart

The suit might succeed, but I don't think the facts are on her side. The video was not diabolically edited. It wasn't stitched together from tiny fragments of the speech in order to make it look as if she was saying something utterly unconnected to what she was saying. As a number of people have pointed out, the excerpt even included some of the moralizing at the end that was meant to make her story more palatable. I did not see it until I knew about the controversy, but I think an intelligent person watching it would have taken it as a confessional moment. It was an excerpt.

Here is what I take to be Breitbart's version:



This little episode from Sherrod's speech is what it is. I grew up in the Deep South. I'm not old enough to exactly remember Jim Crow, but I can remember a very brief bit of time before desegregation and a long time afterward when there was still a certain smell in the air. Feelings of superiority, disdain, hostility usually evoke reciprocal feelings. It's just human nature, so I can cut Sherrod some slack--I don't think it is reasonable to expect her to be the world's most post-racial person. Breitbart seems to be guilty of nothing more than the crime of disagreeing with me.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Some Brief Items (Neo-linkim?)

Michael Ledeen has a good round-up on Iran.

Matthew Yglesias has betrayed the Progressive Movement. And they're nasty when they're betrayed.

Khaled Abu Toameh: "Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have a dream: to work or live in Israel. Some even say they are prepared to pay large sums of money to obtain Israeli citizenship." (h/t: Israel Matzav)

What are there, five Kos Diaries about this story?

Der Spiegel says "China's Soft Power Is a Threat to the West"

Wasn't this the idea of a Dr. Seuss book? (h/t: Instapundit)

Remember the story about an Israeli lawsuit against Al-Jazeera? Norman Finkelstein post title: "10 Israelis to sue Al-Jazeera for unflattering angle shots that accentuate their 'Semitic probosces'" (I guess he wants to make sure that his academic career stays dead.)

Bell, California just isn't supposed to be in the news.

Great News!

Concert celebrates victory in Fatherland Liberation War

Otherwise known as the Korean War. Today was the anniversary of the, ahem, North Korean victory, and obviously that calls for some Juche tunes "permeated with the spirit of devotedly defending the leader":

[...] The performers in the orchestral music "Song Devoted to Marshal Kim Il Sung" and "Our Victory-Day July 27" and other numbers highly praised the immortal feats President Kim Il Sung performed by leading the war to victory with his Juche-based military idea, war methods, outstanding strategy and experienced commanding art and thereby shattering the myth of "mightiness" of the U.S. imperialists for the first time in history and demonstrating the dignity and honor of the country and the nation before the whole world.

They also put on the stage numbers vividly representing the indomitable spirit and feats of the servicepersons of the People's Army and people who dedicated their youth and lives to the motherland without hesitation and courageously struggled to boost the wartime production and assist those on the front.

Orchestral music "Our General Is Best", mixed quartet "Let's Have Toast", chorus "Give Us Order,"etc. helped the audience harden their faith and will that the day of victory-- July 27 will shine forever as long as the DPRK is led by Kim Jong Il, brilliant commander of Mt. Paektu.

The concert was acclaimed by the audience as it was permeated with the spirit of devotedly defending the leader and the spirit of defending the country and the stamina of heroic Korea that prevailed in the country in the 1950s. [...]

Khomeinist vertebrate mocks mollusc

From IRNA:

President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad here Friday unveiled truth about new US-Zionist scenario against Iran, expressing sorrow that Russia, too, is now harmonizing with it. [...] The president also referred to some western propagation methods and superstitions, such as highlighting the news on the predictions of an octopus, or some fortune tellers on the results of the 2010 Football World Cup, arguing, “Such people cannot be the leaders of the world nations towards human perfection, while the Iranian nation with its love for the entire blessed values, is after establishing a humane world that would move towards absolute perfection.”

Octopi, of course, have always been the bulwark of the World Arrogance. This one, for instance: Or this one. According to Wikipedia,

Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.

No wonder Ahmadinejad hates them. By the way, the latest Haveil Havalim is also after establishing a humane world that would move towards absolute perfection. (h/t: memeorandum)

All the morbid curiosity about Andrew Sullivan's opinons is just inappropriate

Come on, there aren't enough political issues of real substance we can talk about? The sad, embarrassing spectacle of Sullivan's obsessions belong in the private sphere. His pathetic lurches into complete personality collapse just don't have to take place on the public stage . . . it just isn't necessary. Can't people have some sensitivity? Sullivan's mental lapses are just out of bounds, man.

Maan News: "Fatah and Hamas hold joint scout camp"

"Scout camp" as in the Boy Scouts? Campfires? Marshmallow roasting? That sort of thing? I need help figuring this out. That's a picture of a camper or a counselor?

Representatives from the student blocs of rival political factions Fatah and Hamas united, for the first time since the national split, for a joint scout camp.

Organizers, the Life Makers club, concluded the camp, held in the Gaza strip, with calls for higher levels of the parties to take the "brave decision" to reconcile.

Huffpo on the Wikileaks story: "Evidence Of War Crimes"

Does this mean President Obama will have difficulty traveling abroad now?

Fars News: "US Warships . . . Easy Targets for Iranian Navy"

A mainstay of the Iranian Press is the they-wouldn't-dare-attack-us-we're-really-powerful story. In this one we learn that the US Navy is outnumbered 100 to 1:

A senior Iranian military figure underlined the Iranian Navy's preparedness to repel possible attacks on the country, saying that each hostile US warship would be swarmed by over 100 Iranian military vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman if war breaks out between the two arch foes.

"We have seen over 100 combat vessels for each (US) warship" for the time of war or whenever necessary, Former Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Naval Forces Rear Admiral Morteza Saffari told the Persian-language Panjareh (Window) Weekly. [...]

Also at Fars, we learn the great news that "Iran Able to Mass-Produce Ballistic Missiles":

A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced on Sunday that Iran is now capable of mass-producing its home-made ballistic missiles.

"We have reached a never-ending point in (increasing) the quantity of ballistic missiles," IRGC Lieutenant Commander General Hossein Salami said, noting that Iran has made great progresses in this area based on its home-grown capabilities and capacities.

All these stories involve the IRGC, which is also prepared to counter ideological and cultural threats:

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari warned the Iranian youths against enemies' soft war plots, and called for further preparedness to confront soft threats against Iran and the Islamic Revolution. [...]

Last year, Jafari had stated that the IRGC was preparing infrastructures for confronting military, hard and soft threats, adding that the IRGC had entrusted the duty for confrontation against soft threats to the Basij forces.

Jafari said that fighting enemies' soft threats is the most important task of the Basij forces.

"Today, the most important and main mission of Basij is confronting the soft threats and cultural invasion which is stealthily targeting the (Iranian) youth," Jafari said.

Wikipedia explains:

From its origin as an ideologically driven militia, the IRGC has taken an ever more assertive role in virtually every aspect of Iranian society. Its part in suppressing dissent has led many analysts to describe the events surrounding the 12 June 2009 presidential election as a military coup, and the IRGC as an authoritarian military security government for which its Shiite clerical system is no more than a facade

So we can easily imagine the pride and pleasure felt by the average Iranian in reading stories like the above and being reminded that the folks who make their country a police-state are on the job!

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

"The face of Baruch Goldstein on the 20 shekel bill. A national holiday celebrating our spiritual founding father, Rabbi Meir Kahane."

Sounds like a leftist kid's art-project.

SANA (Syria): "Nasrallah: Martyrs' Bloods defeated Conspiracy Plots in the Region"

Interesting rhetoric:

Secretary-General of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday said that the bloods of the martyrs have defeated the conspiracy plots against the region over the last thirty years.

Speaking at the first Central Honor Festival for the sons of martyrs of the resistance, Nasrallah said that the resistance has put an end to the 'Greater Israel' Project, imposed an unconditional Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and failed the 'New, Greater Middle East' Project in 2006.

He said that targeting the resistance will continue because it doesn't accept an imposed American or Israeli settlement, affirming that the U.S project in the region has failed.

"Hezbollah will not deal with anyone on the basis that there is an accused in the party and we have to find away out, it will deal with all facts of the international investigation into the assassination of the Late Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri on the basis that there is a conspiracy plot against Lebanon and the region and this plot must be confronted," He said.

Nasrallah called for bringing the false witnesses and investigating with them to find out who fabricated their testimonies and has misled the investigation for four years, considering that this matter should be the first priority of the international investigation commission.

"All the Lebanese have paid, in a way or another, the repercussions of al-Hariri assassination, therefore the truth on this issue is no longer belong to individuals or families, it is a case that concerns Lebanon and all Lebanese People," Sayyed Nasrallah said.

He added that investigation into al-Hariri assassination will not lead to the truth or achieve justice because it is non-professional and this is a second assassination of al-Hariri. [...]

If that doesn't convince you that Hezbollah is guilty . . .

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Bava Metzia?

From a HuffPo article called "Social Justice and Orthodox Judaism":

Twelve excited, idealistic college students are gathered around a long conference table, discussing a text about worker's rights. A closer look, however, shows that this group is different. All the males at the table wear kippot (skullcaps), and several of the women sport long sleeves and skirts despite the 90-degree weather. The text they are discussing is not a contemporary justice article; it is over 1000 years old and in Aramaic.

Stuff that could be tweets

Tantawi's 1969 Anti-Semitic "Dissertation" is worse than I expected, although I should know better.

The Sherrod Case reminds Andrew Sullivan of Octavia Nasr. Come to think of it, that links back to Tantawi, who got the Fadlallah treatment when he died.

Angry Arab notes how badly educated people are in the area where he is employed as an academic. Fitting.

North Korea develops potato yogurt.

"Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says Iran and North Korea are both revolutionary and independent nations trying to resist the world's 'greedy' powers."

A Chassidic approach to Tisha B'Av

Chassidic Jews emphasize joy, so their approach to Tisha B'Av has an interesting tonality. I often hear this story told in Chabad cricles at this time of year:

The Holy Ruzhiner (Chassidic master Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin, 1797-1851) rejected all feelings of sadness, even of bitterness. So his chassidim would engage in all sorts of practical jokes on the Ninth of Av (in order to mitigate the sadness of the day). They would throw burrs at each other. Then they conceived of the following prank: they opened a skylight in the roof of the study hall and dropped a snare; when someone walked into the study hall, they would yank on the rope so that the snare fastened itself around him, and pull him up to the roof.

It happened that the Ruzhiner himself walked in to the study hall. Those who were up on the roof could not see clearly who was coming in, so they pulled him up. To their dismay, they saw that they had pulled up their rebbe! As soon as they recognized who it was, they let him down.

Cried out the Ruzhiner: "Master of the Universe! If Your children are not properly observing Your 'festival,' take it away from them!"

Here is the general link for the Three Weeks and Tisha B'av at Chabad.org.

I hope it's operating from an undisclosed location

I noted a story a few months ago about Jihad-training camps in Waziristan, catering particularly to German-speaking recruits. Here's another sign that Germany has a problem. From J-Post:

The German government set up a 'suicide bomber hotline' Monday to aid Muslims who feel pressured into advocating extremist ideas, reported DPA.

The service should not be confused with a standard 'suicide hotline,' which provides help to individuals who are considering hurting themselves. [...]

I.e. only themselves.

The service is intended as an outlet for Muslims who feel pressured into espousing extremist ideas, and provides advice and help with gaining qualifications, changing locations, and taking "appropriate measures" against threats.

Zionist psy-ops!