Tag: Kate Steinle

An Open Letter to Cthulhu Cultists

 

It’s the apocalypse, so why don’t you put down the funny-sided dice.

Seriously, what in the hell are you all waiting for? I know you’ve had no choice but to hide in far-flung corners of the world: the ice deserts of the north, the remote bayous of the south, the D&D gaming tables in your moms’ basements, but know this: the time for you to organize is right now.

And I quote: “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.” — “In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”

Antonio Sabato, Jr.: The Sanctuary State and Being Blacklisted by Hollywood

 

Being blacklisted for openly supporting Trump isn’t easy in Hollywood, so what do you do when the doors are closed in your face? Work to change the system. Actor, Director, and Producer Antonio Sabato Jr. is now a candidate for Congress in the once formerly red district, CA-26 (Ventura County).

On Lawfare and Legend of Lucretia

 

The legends of ancient Rome tell the story of Lucretia. It tells how the age of the Roman Kingdom ended and the age of the Roman Republic began. It is the story of why the last Roman king, a true tyrant, named Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud, as in “the arrogant”), was finally overthrown. It also shows the powerful public outrage over the wrongful death of a virtuous woman.

The legend goes that, one night, a group of Roman nobles was getting drunk and bragging about whose wife was the most virtuous. To settle the argument, they rode to each of their houses so that the others could see just how their wives spent their idle time. All of the wives were found feasting or relaxing, except for Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus. When the nobles arrived at the house of Collatinus, Lucretia was found busily spinning wool. Her virtue and her beauty caught the drunken eye of Sextus, the son of King Tarquin.

On the next day, while Collatinus was away, Sextus returned. Since he was a cousin of Collatinus, Sextus was received by Lucretia as a relative and as a guest. Sextus then threatened, blackmailed, and raped Lucretia. Later, when Sextus had left and Collatinus had returned, Lucretia told her husband what Sextus had done, and then, to preserve her honor, she drew a knife and killed herself. Immediately afterward, Collatinus, Brutus, and others swore an oath that the evil Tarquin family could no longer be allowed to rule over Rome. They spread the news of the outrage of Lucretia’s death far and wide. Tarquinius Superbus and his family were soon exiled and the Roman Republic was born.

Garcia Zarate: Prior Convictions Are Best Evidence

 

The Kate Steinle verdict last Thursday by an uninformed San Francisco jury was our criminal justice system’s latest affront to common sense.

Much of the furor about this miscarriage of justice relates to Zarate’s status as an illegal criminal alien who had been deported five times before sneaking back into the country, stealing or possessing a stolen weapon, and killing Kate.

The most outrageous circumstance arising from the trial of Garcia Zarate, however, is that the jurors were not permitted to know the details of Zarate’s seven prior felony convictions, nor were they allowed to know about his five prior deportations.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Chad Benson of Radio America raise an important question about the national debt as the GOP approaches the votes needed to pass new tax legislation. They also ponder some possible explanations for the verdict in the Kate Steinle case. And they consider some possible implications for the president in light of Michael Flynn’s guilty plea.

The Classicist Podcast, with Victor Davis Hanson: “Illegal Immigration and Sanctuary Cities”

 

In this installment of The Classicist podcast from the Hoover Institution, VDH uses the recent murder of Kate Steinle in the sanctuary city of San Francisco to discuss the issues faced by Californians dealing with illegal immigration, address whether ‘compassion’ ought to be the driving factor behind immigration policy, take issue with the idea that rates of criminal behavior are lower amongst those here illegally, explore the popular/elitist divide on the issue, and speculate on whether we’ve reached an inflection point in the public debate.

As ever, you can subscribe to The Classicist via iTunes or your favorite podcast app — or you can listen in below, right after the jump.

Can Kate Steinle Get Justice in “Jim Crow” San Francisco?

 
MIRKARIMI

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was arrested for domestic violence, which, through San Francisco cronyism, he pled down to misdemeanor false imprisonment and then got expunged from his record.

We remember the Jim Crow South, where sheriffs’ departments routinely colluded with prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys to slow-walk investigations involving white officers harming blacks. They routinely “softly” prosecuted whites who injured blacks. All-white juries handed out perfunctory acquittals based on “reasonable doubt.” It was the good ‘ol boy network at its finest.

You Fools!

 

shutterstock_195769607I try not to rant in my writings. I read way too much ranting on right-leaning blogs and even in supposed news sources. The left, meanwhile, views ranting as a kind of constructive psychotherapy – which used to be fine when they did it in small, cozy living rooms with groups of screwed-up fellow travelers. But in the whining age of social media, some of the rest of us become collateral rantees and, all told, it is kind of embarrassing.

Because ranting is an exposure of pain — and, as such, is fundamentally an act of self-pity. A man becomes a fanatic and his political statements become a rant when he reveals the personal toll that some social evil has exacted from him. If someone starts to tell you about the inevitable rise of the ocean levels due to climate change and their eyes begin to well up with tears, it is likely that the source of their anguish is unrelated to the environment. Global warming has merely opened the door for all to see the misery within.

But this cadenza is a little too long already.