UPDATED: Dennis Hastert, Hoisted On His Own Petard, Or Patriot Act

Criminal Injustice, Homeland Security, Law, Regulation

To pep-up the subject of Dennis Hastert, consider a flash from the past in the form of “Entertainment Interruptus,” a column published in November of 2001: “The film Spy Games reached a crescendo as retiring CIA officer Robert Redford transfers $282,000 of his life’s savings to an account in the Cayman Islands. The money is supposed to help pay for the rescue of Redford’s bureau protégé Brad Pitt, who has been ‘burned’ by his employers at the CIA for going solo.”

Only Redford would be unable to complete such a transaction now, not with the new anti-terrorism laws, approved in 2001. Brad Pitt, as the column observed, would have been “burned” by the Patriot Act, which prohibited “suspicious financial transaction”: Move around more than 10,000 of your own dollars, and you’ll likely be the object of a federal investigation.

Dennis Hastert, who approved the Patriot Act, is being hoisted on his own petard.

Via The Huffington Post:

On Oct. 24, 2001, then-House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) shepherded the Patriot Act through the House of Representatives. It passed 357 to 66, advancing to the Senate and then-President George W. Bush’s desk for signing.

Hastert took credit for House passage in a 2011 interview, claiming it “wasn’t popular, and there was a lot of fight in the Congress” over it.

Little did Hastert know at the time that the law he helped pass would give federal law enforcement the tools to indict him on charges of violating banking-related reporting requirements more than a decade later. …

MORE.

UPDATE (6/10): “The Thin Gruel of the Hastert Prosecution”: We should all be concerned about Dennis Hastert’s strange indictment By SCOTT HORTON.

American Pharoah Flogged To Victory

Environmentalism & Animal Rights, Ethics, Sport

They’re both superb specimen. The one, however, is whipped into victory. American Pharoah, a beautiful and brave racehorse, won the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. American Pharoah’s jockey, Victor Espinoza, is a demonic dwarf who is known for breaking the horse’s skin.

I imagine this deformed tormentor will be celebrated as a big money maker, and the real workhorse will not get so much as a sugar lump.

The other exceptional specimen is, of course, Serena Williams. Serena won the French Open, also on Saturday, “and claimed a landmark 20th grand slam title and third in Paris.”

Serena is a human being, so she isn’t ridden to victory; or beaten into championship. Should American Pharoah suffer indignities because he is a horse? How about it?

The Lawless Logic Of Crime In Baltimore

Crime, Political Correctness, Race, Reason

“An uptick in crime in his city,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts blames on “looted drugs that have made their way to the streets of Baltimore.” In the April race riots, “at least 27 pharmacies and drug clinics” were ransacked.” While broadcasting this Batts fatuity, CNN showed in the background video of a swarm of sub-humans descending on a pharmacy and plundering the place.

The pharmacy employee is right: This is a joke.

Let’s trace the causal chain:

1. Criminals committed crimes called robberies.
2. Criminals came into the possession of goods called drugs through crimes called robberies.
3. Criminals bickered over loot appropriated during the commission of crimes.
3. The bickering of criminals over goods appropriated through crime escalated, resulting in injuries and deaths.

See what I’m getting at?

Drugs are not causing crimes on the streets of Baltimore; criminals are.
Drugs got onto Baltimore streets during the commission of crimes.
Criminals were first on the scene. They committed crimes. And then more crimes.

From Purges At #NationalReview To #Duggar Pedophilia

Celebrity, Conservatism, English, Ilana Mercer, Neoconservatism, Republicans

“From Purges At National Review To Duggar Pedophilia” is the latest column, and one “of the few chatty columns I’m likely to write.” On The Unz Review. An excerpt:

Fellow Canadian Kathy Shaidle sends her latest Taki’s Magazine column, “Beta Male Suckiness at National Review.” In it I learn that Kathy’s benevolence approaches the saintly; only recently has she terminated her subscription to National Review (NR). I did so about 15 years ago. The Alberta Report, a Canadian paleoconservative publication with libertarian leanings, soon became the subscription of choice in the home of this budget-conscious, coupon-clipping, immigrant. (Scientific American was another guilty pleasure.) …

… from whom I learn that a National Review editor has terminated Mark Steyn’s print-magazine column. I still recall searching frantically for Florence King’s back-page “Misanthrope’s Corner,” which was retired in 2002. That’s how long ago I bid “adios” to NR’s print version (I access Kevin D. Williamson online, as do I appreciate Josh Gelernter’s mention of my work on South Africa).

But why retire the Steyn byline? Steyn is a star. He also supports wars and is extremely talented. To wit, he managed to both defend and diss columnist John Derbyshire, who himself was dismissed from NR (where he freelanced), for writing “The Talk: Nonblack Version,” published, too, at Taki’s.

By the time the “girlie boys” of NR came for Ann Coulter, I was unaware the magazine still appeared in print. Ann’s column was expunged from National Review after 9/11. The reason? Most real people had a 9/11 moment. Miss Coulter’s cri de coeur was particularly memorable. For exhorting, “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity,” she was given the boot. This was a puzzling purge, considering neoconservatives promptly adopted her recommendations, invaded Muslim countries and killed their leaders.

In fact, the neoconservatives at NR supported all Coulter’s recommendations save the peaceful one (Christian conversion). Still do. Clicking through the ENORMOUS icons on the new NR website reveals that Lindsey Graham, John McCain’s evil ideological twin, is touted alongside the Patriot Act, whose “expiration” is mourned. (Fear not, fearless ones, your metadata remains unsafe. The USA Freedom Act, to replace Section 215 of the Patriot Act, is a mere mutation. It privatizes the Patriot Act, by co-opting corporations into the service of the Surveillance State.) …

… Read the rest.“From Purges At National Review To Duggar Pedophilia” is the latest column, now on The Unz Review.