The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees

Posted on | June 23, 2013 | 42 Comments

Working on some stuff today while coping with a caffeine deficiency, but my first task today was the latest in the Ed Snowden story:

Charged by U.S. authorities with espionage, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden left Hong Kong on Sunday and flew to Moscow, although it was not believed Russia would be his final destination.
Snowden is expected to continue on to Cuba and then to Venezuela, the New York Times reported, citing reports by Russian’s Interfax agency. . . .
Snowden, 29, arrived Sunday in Russia aboard an Aeroflot commercial flight shortly after 9 a.m. Eastern time (5 p.m. in Moscow). . . .
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday that Snowden’s flight would likely harm U.S.-Russian relations. It is “almost certain” Russian President Vladimir Putin knew about the fugitive’s plan to fly to Moscow, Schumer told CNN, “and it’s likely he approved it.”
The Reuters news agency cited “a source at the Russian airline Aeroflot” as saying Snowden “would fly on within 24 hours to Cuba and then planned to go to Venezuela.” . . .
Federal officials Friday charged Snowden with three counts: theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person.

You can read the rest at Viral Read. I’ve become weary of arguing with friends about this story, and probably wouldn’t like it any better if I were arguing with my enemies about it. Arguing just isn’t that much fun, really, and all this surveillance stuff is boring. Anyway, we’re out of coffee at the house, and I need it because I was up late working on this story:

What ‘Big Story’ Was Michael Hastings
Working On When He Died?

The problem is we don’t know what was going on the last 15 hours of Hastings’ life. He sent an e-mail to his BuzzFeed editors, saying the FBI was snooping around with his “close associates,” and the next thing we know, he slammed his car into a tree. I don’t think it’s a conspiracy or anything. Frankly, I think Hastings just got paranoid and freaked out. But the FBI has denied that it was investigating him, which raises the question: Why did Hastings believe he was being investigated, if he wasn’t? And what the hell was he doing driving 100 mph through Los Angeles at 4 o’clock on a Tuesday morning?

Another mysterious question: What kind of freak is Bill Schmalfeldt?

Honestly, what’s become of our civil liberties, when two women can’t have sex in a McDonald’s toilet without being assaulted?

Speaking of sex in toilets, I forgot to mention here that Kaitlyn Hunt’s attorney is trying to get the judge thrown off her case, saying the judge is “prejudiced” — against having sex in toilets, maybe.

Speaking of Florida sex offenders:

The man suspected of killing Jacksonville child Charish Perriwinkle, 8, has been charged with murder.
Members with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said Saturday that 56-year-old Donald Smith, a registered sex offender who has been convicted in the past of kidnapping, acted alone in the incident.
Charish’s body was found Saturday morning. She went missing while shopping with her mother Friday night.

Don’t tell this to the #FreeKate mob, but once upon a time, Donald Smith was also 18 years old. Were there warning signs that the teenage Donald Smith might become a child-killing pervert?

We don’t know, but we do know that Kaitlyn Hunt’s supporters insist she’s an innocent lamb who — aside from her penchant for having sex with 14-year-olds in the school bathroom — is a “model citizen” who is being unjustly prosecuted for a “high school romance.” Merely comparing Saint Kate of the Blessed Finger to creepy old violent sex offenders is hateful, her devotees tell us, because there is no evidence that she has any tendency toward violence. Oh, wait . . .

On May 25, I used the phrase “Sexual Anarchy” to describe the state of affairs toward which the “Free Kate” arguments are leading us. It turns out that my good friend Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel used the same phrase in 2011 to describe a weird gathering:

On Wednesday, Aug. 17 [2011], I – along with the venerable child advocate Dr. Judith Reisman – attended a conference hosted by the pedophile group B4U-ACT. Around 50 individuals were in attendance, including a number of admitted pedophiles (or “minor-attracted persons” as they euphemistically prefer), a few self-described “gay activists” and several supportive mental-health professionals. World renowned “sexologist” Dr. Fred Berlin of Johns Hopkins University gave the keynote address, saying: “I want to completely support the goal of B4U-ACT.”
Here are some highlights from the conference:

  • Pedophiles are “unfairly stigmatized and demonized” by society.
  • There was concern about “vice-laden diagnostic criteria” and “cultural baggage of wrongfulness.”
  • “We are not required to interfere with or inhibit our child’s sexuality.”
  • “Children are not inherently unable to consent” to sex with an adult. . . .

Read the rest of that and then I dare you to claim — as the “Free Kate” crowd does — that there is no danger that letting Kaitlyn Hunt go free would establish a dangerous precedent, giving aid and encouragement to these twisted perverts who want to void all age-of-consent laws. And make no mistake, perverts who want to legalize sex with kids are enthusiastically cheering for the “Free Kate” cause.

In case you had trouble reading that:

“This is what I’ve always felt. Get rid of numerical age of consent laws. If a person was too young to be able to give meaningful consent to sexual activity, put the onus on the prosecutor to demonstrate as much. …”

(Holy crap: You must prove a 9-year-old did not consent?)

“… Get rid of arbitrary numbers. No one should have to do math to love another person.”

Please tell me the NSA has that creep under surveillance.

 

Category: Crime

Comments

42 Responses to “Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees”

  1. MrEvilMatt
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:12 pm

    Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees: @richard_mcenroe Leftists vs. David Gregory? Kinda like Hitler vs. Stalin, r… http://t.co/C9sOnGvyER

  2. jwbrown1969
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:12 pm

    Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees: @richard_mcenroe Leftists vs. David Gregory? Kinda like Hitler vs. Stalin, r… http://t.co/J5SGI332VS

  3. Lockestep1776
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:12 pm

    Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees: @richard_mcenroe Leftists vs. David Gregory? Kinda like Hitler vs. Stalin, r… http://t.co/llmjNWc072

  4. rsmccain
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:18 pm

    Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees http://t.co/NNJPZLrPA5 | #tcot

  5. Edward Snowden
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:19 pm

    I could be the next PBS kids geography show: Where in the world is Edward Snowden?

  6. jimmiebjr
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:20 pm

    RT @rsmccain: Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees http://t.co/NNJPZLrPA5 | #tcot

  7. preciseBlogs
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:20 pm

    Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees http://t.co/iWvqD7VSIA #news #conservative #crime

  8. robertstacymccain
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:22 pm

    He’s no Carmen San Diego!

  9. princy_lyn
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:24 pm

    Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees http://t.co/raLc8Aa3tt via @rsmccain

  10. rsmccain
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:27 pm

    “Get rid of arbitrary numbers” and other creepy stuff http://t.co/NNJPZLrPA5 @jmattbarber @MelissaTweets @ConvictKate

  11. rsmccain
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:27 pm

    RT @princy_lyn: Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees http://t.co/raLc8Aa3tt via @rsmccain

  12. thatMrGguy
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:29 pm

    Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees http://t.co/WmdCiK9znB

  13. joethefatman1
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:44 pm

    Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees http://t.co/ptPP9wtjPq

  14. joethefatman
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:45 pm

    He ain’t even Waldo

  15. mnrobot
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:50 pm

    Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees http://t.co/V42JGEdrqi #tcot #tlot #vrwc

  16. Arifjan
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:52 pm

    RT @mnrobot: Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees http://t.co/V42JGEdrqi #tcot #tlot #vrwc

  17. rsmccain
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 5:58 pm

    RT @mnrobot: Headline Round-Up: Snowden Flees http://t.co/V42JGEdrqi #tcot #tlot #vrwc

  18. bet0001970
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 6:26 pm

    I’m getting those urges again McCain. It isn’t me, you know. It’s THEM. They seduce me into this murderous rage. I just can’t help myself. Do you think I need help?

  19. Edward Snowden
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 6:38 pm

    Don’t I know it.

  20. keyboard jockey
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 6:50 pm

    Obama getting attacked by his left flank….I just don’t know how I am supposed to feel about that 😉

  21. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 7:04 pm

    Schadenfreude?

  22. jmattbarber
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 7:10 pm

    “@rsmccain: “Get rid of arbitrary numbers” and other creepy stuff http://t.co/fsefYa41Rn @jmattbarber @MelissaTweets @ConvictKate”

  23. rsmccain
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 7:16 pm

    RT @jmattbarber: “@rsmccain: “Get rid of arbitrary numbers” and other creepy stuff http://t.co/fsefYa41Rn @jmattbarber @MelissaTweets @Conv…

  24. M. Thompson
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 7:37 pm

    This would all be very interesting if it was in fiction.

    But it’s in real life, so it just drives you to drink or some sort of escapeism.

  25. Dana
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 7:40 pm

    My darling bride — of 34 years, one month and four days — is an RN in a pediatric unit, and she has said, many times, that a lot of the chronically ill children — the oncology patients, the cystic fibrosis kids — grow up really fast, because they have to. Perhaps Marty Smith would think that an eight-year-old CF kid, who had to mature pretty fast to deal with the pain and hospitalizations and all of the rest from his disease, would meet the test of being mature enough to consent to sexual relations.

  26. PubliusNV
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 7:49 pm

    MT @rsmccain “Get rid of arbitrary numbers” and other creepy stuff http://t.co/yxn3LE5JT0

  27. Shawny
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 7:57 pm

    Probably best to be very suspicious……but not enough to rule out beer and a lively polka.

  28. Shawny
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 8:08 pm

    Hell, the FBI is still looking for Hoffa and chances are he hasn’t been a flight risk for decades.

  29. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 8:18 pm

    Full of USA secrets and traveling internationally without a passport…hmmm what could go wrong?

  30. Finrod Felagund
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 9:38 pm

    Pop some popcorn.

  31. Finrod Felagund
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 9:38 pm

    If you can’t count to 18, you shouldn’t be having sex. Period.

  32. Finrod Felagund
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 9:44 pm

    So they want to get rid of arbitrary numbers and leave it up to arbitrary decisions of judges and prosecutors?

    My girlfriend’s comment to this: “None of these people have ever been raped, have they?”

  33. Cube
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 11:07 pm

    Good grief, if you’re a US citizen you need a passport to see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. How do you travel internationally without one? It’s like there are different laws for special people…

  34. Cube
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 11:10 pm

    Translation of #FreeKate and the other perverts: DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!11!!!

  35. RichFader
    June 23rd, 2013 @ 11:35 pm

    Would you believe “Where’s Dildo?”

  36. Shawny
    June 24th, 2013 @ 12:45 am

    ….Or where I can do it….. cause if they’re defending this in school toilet stalls today you know damned well they’ll be defending it in the salad bar at Ziggy’s tomorrow?

  37. K-Bob
    June 24th, 2013 @ 1:12 am

    He bravely ran away

  38. Good Stuff
    June 24th, 2013 @ 1:24 am

    I like following this Edward Snowden story, it fits into two of my old niches. But I have questions…

    Is Anna Chapman going to swap spit with Edward Snowden?

    Could this Hong Kong, Iceland, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador stuff be a big smoke screen or a divide forces thing ?

    BTW – America is have their puppy nose rub in the brown stuff. Cookies are best served cold…

  39. Pablo
    June 24th, 2013 @ 7:40 am

    He is now the all-time worldwide Hide and Seek Champion!

  40. Bob Belvedere
    June 24th, 2013 @ 8:27 am

    At first, I misread your post title wrong, Stacy – I thought it said ‘…Snowden Fleas’.

  41. Snowden Still in Russia; Do US Authorities Really Want To Catch Him? | The Necropolitan Sentinel
    June 24th, 2013 @ 1:23 pm

    […] Stacy's tired of arguing his point of view with those of us who think that it's time for a National Conversation on what information is being captured by the NSA and other intelligence agencies about so many Americans, but I'll just say that my point of view is that this administration has demonstrated many times that any information it has it will use to advance what it regards as its own best interests, no matter the constitutionality or probity, and that they will lie to anyone about anything when it suits them, and they will look for means to advance political prosecutions whenever they have the opportunity, for whatever reason strikes their fancy, and they will use public resources to do so. Surely, given previous revelations regarding the use of metadata, it's a much bigger story that the Chinese were able to steal detailed information about so many of our most advanced weapons systems, but until yesterday I didn't see the administration complaining about it, and it's certainly not been given any prominence in the MSM. I'm not a security expert, so I don't know what sort of damage these revelations might have done to our interests, but we've been lied to so many times by these boobs that I'm certainly not inclined to take their representations about how many plots they're supposed to have stopped as a result of that information at face value, and I'm not going to take their claim that they're only monitoring about 300 people at any given time out of the enormous amount of information they're collecting, or that their FISA courts are anything but a rubber stamp, or that their 'accidental' data collection doesn't amount to illegal search and seizure. I'm afraid that we have a crisis of credibility, the kind that Obama likes to refer to as falling on people who don't trust their government very much, when it abuses their trust so blatantly and perjures itself so casually when it is called on the carpet. […]

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    June 29th, 2013 @ 12:15 pm

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