David Protess of the Innocence Project Now Defends Himself

Read this piece, at New York Times, "A Watchdog Professor, Now Defending Himself." (At Memeorandum.)

A key passage:

It is often said that academic politics are so vicious because the stakes are so low, but in the matter of Mr. Protess and the wrongly convicted men he helped to free, the stakes could not have been higher.

I know something about academic politics and high stakes. A few days back I mentioned that I'd have a report on some of the bloggers at Lawyers, Guns and Money, and not Dave Brockington (about which, here). I'm still waiting, because attorneys are involved, but this is going to be blockbuster when I can write about it.

Anyway, I don't know anything about David Protess, but I can see that he developed some powerful enemies in his work, people who want to destroy him. Again, I know the feeling, although I haven't gotten anyone released from death row. But some people have been extremely threatened by the things that I write here, and allegations and high-level threats have been made. I'm not kidding when I say high level. Seriously. Readers are going to be blown away when this comes out.

Stay tuned.

Tim Pawlenty Gets Glittered in San Francisco‎

Code Pink "glittered" Pawlenty.

At The Hill, "Pawlenty gets 'glittered' at San Francisco speech."

Also, at ABC News, "Glitter Bandits Strike Pawlenty." (Via Memeorandum.)

New Ruling Upholds Proposition 8

I'm not surprised: "Gay judge wasn't required to remove himself from same-sex marriage case, U.S. judge rules."

I wasn't surprised at all. And ICYMI, yesterday's New York Times had a good piece on the road ahead for gay marriage, "Same-Sex Vote Unlikely in California":

Regardless of how the lower courts rule, most legal analysts believe the Boies-Olson case will eventually be decided by the United States Supreme Court. No one seems to want anything to happen outside the courtroom to prejudice judges at any level.

“We’re right at the cusp, and it is the conventional wisdom that we can’t go to the ballot to repeal and lose,” said Kate Kendell, the executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco. She said an electoral loss could “create a very toxic environment” for same-sex marriage and “send a message that might chill an otherwise more compassionate court.”

Evan Wolfson, the president of Freedom to Marry, another rights group, echoed that statement, saying the federal case has been a “tremendous boost to public understanding about how the denial of marriage really harms families,” but it’s also had a chilling effect on a California ballot push. “While the case is pending, it has made it harder to mobilize the volunteers and money and energy,” he said. “That’s really been the good and bad of it.”

In addition to the potential impact on the federal case, some worry that a 2012 ballot campaign could also galvanize conservative groups in a presidential election year, and bring more Republican voters to the polls in California in a year when initiatives on issues like immigrant rights and the death penalty may make the state’s ballot.

But the wait-and-see decision will no doubt displease some who feel that the voter-approved ban on gay marriage — in a year in which President Obama was elected — was a low-water mark in the gay rights movement.

Seems weird how long ago it's been. Polls have shifted a bit toward gay marriage, but not that much. Politics will still matter, a lot.

Why Are Male Bloggers Pretending to Be Lesbians?

I blogged Jonah Goldberg's commentary piece yesterday morning, and now here's an interview with Glenn Reynolds:

How Many Male 'Lesbian' Bloggers Are Out There?

Radical anti-American lesbian feminism is on the rocks, but you knew that. The twist is that even radical anti-American lesbian feminists need fake radical anti-American lesbian feminists to keep the flame from being extinguished.

At Washington Post, "‘Paula Brooks,’ editor of ‘Lez Get Real,’ also a man."

And don't miss Jonah Golberg, "The 'Gay Girl in Damascus' hoax is worse than a lie. It's propaganda" (via Instapundit).

'State of Emergency' Rally, Los Angeles, May 13, 2011

I couldn't make it. I covered Noam Chomsky the weekend before, and then David Horowitz a couple of days after --- and we were at finals week, and I was finishing up all of my grading. But I would have loved to have made it. The place was swarming with communists. For weeks before my union leadership was flooding the campus e-mail system with announcements on bus transportation to Pershing Square. State administrative regulations were violated in this, but no one on my campus seems to care, as long as it's far left-wing agitation that's being promoted.

Anyway, Ringo was there, with an awesome photo-essay: "L.A. Teachers Unions "State of Emergency" Rally - Los Angeles, CA 5/13/2011."

And Reason.tv always features killer reports:

Anthony Weiner to Enter Treatment Center!

Well yeah.

But still, this ain't over until he sucks it up and announces his resignation.

At New York Times, "Weiner to Enter Treatment Center and Seek Leave From House." And Memeorandum.

Nancy Pelosi Calls for Weiner's Resignation!

At CNN, "Calls mount for Weiner's resignation:"

Three weighty Democratic voices -- including Nancy Pelosi -- on Saturday called for the resignation of embattled U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has been under fire after admitting to inapporpriate communications with women online.

The House Minority Leader, and the chairmen of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in separate statements called for Weiner to step down.

The New York congressman has resisted calls to resign.

Via JammieWearingFool, "The End is Near: Pelosi Calls for Weiner's Resignation."

Calls for Anthony Weiner to Resign

At the clip, Andrew Breitbart expects Antony Weiner's resignation.

And see New York Times, "Weiner Faces Calls to Resign and Tries to Make Amends" (via Memeorandum):

[VIDEO TAKEN DOWN]

Representative Anthony D. Weiner of New York, reeling from revelations of salacious online behavior that threaten his political career, moved rapidly on Tuesday to make amends as Republicans called for his resignation and leading members of his own Democratic Party distanced themselves from him.

Mr. Weiner spent much of the past 24 hours apologizing over and over to stunned Congressional colleagues and Democratic leaders angry at him for misleading them and the public. Even neighboring House Democrats seemed shaken, with many of them worrying that worse disclosures may still surface.

During a tense telephone call with Mr. Weiner, during which he apologized, Representative Nydia M. Velázquez of Brooklyn scolded him, as she recalled: “How can you explain that somebody can be so smart but so stupid?”

Asked if Mr. Weiner should resign, she replied, “The most important thing in this business is credibility.”

Signs of a redrawn political reality quickly emerged for Mr. Weiner, once considered a top contender to become mayor of New York. His campaign donors said they were especially shocked and furious because a week ago the congressman attributed his online travails to a “vast right-wing conspiracy,” a contributor who spoke with him said.

“Everything is going to be fine,” Mr. Weiner said, according to the contributor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the uncertainty surrounding the congressman’s future.

But Mr. Weiner’s problems have only intensified as new and more embarrassing details of his online relationships emerged. After adamantly proclaiming for a week that he had been the victim of a hacker, Mr. Weiner admitted during a tearful news conference on Monday that he had sent suggestive photographs and messages to at least six women and had repeatedly lied to cover up his actions.

RTWT. Bill and Hillary Clinton are said to be deeply upset by this (wonders never cease, I know). I'm personally surprised he's held out this long. I expected his resignation at the time of the press conference.

Amanda Marcotte's #Weinergate Embarrassment

I checked out Amanda Marcotte's Twitter feed yesterday morning. She's a strange woman. I was tempted to write something but didn't. Kinda burnout out on #Weinergate, although the complete destruction of progressives on this is simply too much. (Joan Walsh was off Twitter all day Monday, hoping to avoid an expected backlash.) Anyway, count on Robert Stacy McCain to come through with an epic report on Ms. Marcotte, "WeinerGate Götterdämmerung":

Life is a big joke and Ms. Marcotte is the punchline, so that all we need do is to say, “Hey, go read what this idiot wrote,” and everyone will see for themselves why she is so transparently absurd.

Yet Amanda Marcotte is taken seriously by influential people, who pay her to preach to the rest of us, and it would be wrong to dismiss her without at least attempting a serious analysis of her errors. It may be true of Ms. Marcotte, as Mary McCarthy said of Lillian Hellman, that every word she writes is a lie, including “and” and “the.” But exactly why and how her writing is so pervasively false requires further explanation.

Note how Ms. Marcotte deploys “ideologue” as an epithet against Breitbart when she is herself an avowed adherent of the ideology of feminism. Indeed, if it weren’t for her idolatrous devotion to feminism, Ms. Marcotte would have nothing to write about. Her entire raison d’être as a writer is to filter the world through a feminist lens.

She is one of those writers who, despairing of achieving notoriety in the larger literary world, seeks a readership in some ghetto niche occupied almost entirely by third-rate talents, so that her occasional second-rate contributions appear conspicuously impressive by comparison. And in her feminist niche, the only standard by which anyone may be judged is according to their zealous devotion to The Sacred Cause:

Weiner has an outstanding record supporting sexual rights of others, with100% ratings from NARAL and Planned Parenthood, and has a strong record of support for gay rights.

See? He votes the right way. And isn’t that what really matters?

RTWT. It's a long exegesis of Amanda Marcotte's utter depravity. She's got some kinda record. Wow. Even Jill Stanek piles on: "Liberal Feminists Blow Off Weiner Sex Scandal." (And linked there is Jessica Dweck at Slate, "The Case for Tolerating Left-Wing Lotharios.")

My interest wavers on radical feminism, because it's so complicated, frankly (radical feminists can be found on the left and right, although those on the latter side deny it). But considering all that's happened of late, I should probably have more on this in upcoming posts shortly.

Photo Credit: Flickr.

Charles Johnson Won't Apologize for Smearing Andrew Breitbart

Read it all at Legal Insurrection: "Charles Johnson: I Won't Apologize to Breitbart."

Take a minute and send your thoughts to the Lizard Man, via Twitter.

Plus, Glenn Reynolds has more.

And C.J.'s response is available through Google, if you're interested. He's all about science and facts and stuff. Except when he's not.

Huma Abedin, Wife of Congressman Anthony Weiner, Puts on Brave Face Amid Scandal

I feel bad for her. She's beautiful, and apparently a deeply trusted aid to Hillary Clinton. See London's Daily Mail, "As Weinergate goes on, Congressman's wife puts on a brave face and goes back to work with Hillary Clinton":

Amid the controversy and the scandal, as poised and unfaltering as ever, Anthony Weiner's wife returned to work.

Huma Abedin - who has only been married to the Congressman since July last year - put on a brave face and went to work as one of Hilary Clinton's most trusted aides.
The 34-year-old, who is the Secretary of State's right-hand woman, is said to have been carrying out her job as if nothing happened ...

RTWT (lots of photos.)

PREVIOUSLY: "Anthony Weiner's Political Obituary.

Added: At New York Post, "Weiner's unflappable wife finally gets flapped."

Anthony Weiner's Political Obituary

I have a snarky post already scheduled for Midnight, but the hits keep coming for Representative Anthony Weiner. And since I've been on this, well, here goes some more ... Robert Stacy McCain has the latest: "Finally, Weiner Calls the Police!" Actually, it turns out that Marcia Kramer of CBS News (New York) tried to get an interview with Weiner and he called the cops. So, yeah, this is the big development I was talking about this afternoon. And not only that, I like this headline, at CSM, "Anthony Weiner: Were his dreams of being mayor just Twittered away?":

It's clear Anthony Weiner wants to be mayor of New York. Just as clear, say analysts, is that 'Weinergate' will arm his political rivals for years to come, and isn't likely to 'just go away.'

Also at AoSHQ, "Hey, I Don't Want To Cast No Aspersions Or Nothin', But Anthony Weiner May Be Lying."

Also, see how long this holds up, at NYT, "Some Question a Congressman’s Uncertainty, but Others Take It in Stride."

Anthony Weiner Investigation Forthcoming?

I'm not sure if the latest developments are all that significant. Anthony Weiner's probably safe for now, unless somebody with real power puts the pressure on for an investigation. A wonderfully clear and concise case for investigation is offered by Jack Ford, in his interview with the lovely Erica Hill at CBS News: "Jack Ford Speaks to Erica Hill." And a report from Nancy Cordes also at CBS hits on the key inconsistencies in Rep. Weiner's denials: "Anthony Weiner Avoids Denying Racy Pic Is of Him." That said, this tweet from Katie Couric powerfully condenses the abject failure of the mainstream press to take seriously dirtbag Democratic scandals. And that's just Couric. MSNBC's the left's institutional channel, and Weiner got yesterday's softball interview of the day with Rachel Maddow. NewsBusters has an analysis of the interview, with some video highlights: "Maddow Gets Weiner to Admit That Pickle in Twitter Pic Could Be His." Maddow's queries are nearly all open-ended and she specifically avoids asking the key question: Why hasn't Weiner gone to the authorities?

Weiner is completely at ease with Maddow, of course. Contrast that with Bret Baier's interview yesterday, where the issue of contacting the FBI nearly burst a couple of Weiner's vessels. So, we've hit the wall on this story unless new evidence emerges or the pressure builds on Weiner to really come clean. If Weiner's innocent, why is he acting so guilty? And from the Wall Street Jounal, "Police could figure out Weiner guilt or innocence":

NEW YORK — There's one way Rep. Anthony Weiner could show that he didn't send a salacious photo to a female college student from his Twitter account: Ask law enforcement to investigate.

The New York congressman has so far declined to ask for an investigation into the photo, saying it's not a worthy use of government resources. The U.S. Capitol Police said it would not launch an investigation unless requested.

In asking a private security firm to investigate instead, Weiner won't be able to prove his innocence by obtaining logs from Twitter showing where his account was accessed from. Twitter says it requires a subpoena or court order to hand over such information. A subpoena or court order would have to be initiated by police or the FBI, not private detectives.

The scandal, which erupted last weekend, has been fueled by Weiner's initial refusal to answer questions about it. Although he started explaining his side Wednesday in a series of media interviews, some of his answers were perplexing.

Weiner was clear about one thing: He says he didn't send the picture, which was addressed to one of his Twitter followers, identified by news outlets as Genette Cordova.

If he didn't send it, that points to someone else using his account at Twitter or at yFrog, the photo-sharing site that stored the picture, according to conservative website BigGovernment.com, which first reported on the tweet.

Sites such as Twitter usually keep logs of which Internet addresses are used to access an account, sort of like an online guestbook. It doesn't contain names, but these numerical Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses identify computers and phones.

That's really it. The rest is just partisan baloney at this point ...

RELATED: At The Other McCain, "#WeinerGate: Who Is @PatriotUSA76? @AndrewBreitbart Wants to Know."

Kevin Williamson's Guide to Socialism

Have you read his book? I've read some longer snippets, but held off going further for now, mainly because I think he's taken a public goods approach and applied it broadly to any economic situation where states supplant markets. Socialism in this sense isn't necessarily Marxism, but that's all I can say until I finish it. You get the gist of it at the clip, in any case:

Anthony Weiner Can't Deny That Lewd Twitter Photo is Him

The Los Angeles Times sums up yesterday's news, "Rep. Weiner says he didn't tweet lewd photo":

Reporting from Washington— Rep. Anthony Weiner continued Wednesday to try to extricate himself from allegations that he sent a college student a lewd photo over Twitter, though the congressman's explanations did little to contain the sordid drama.

Weiner, a brash Democrat from New York who is considered a rising star in his party, maintained that his personal Twitter account had been hacked, but in television interviews he would not say for certain whether the crotch-level photo of a man dressed only in underwear was or was not him.

Weiner denied sending the photo to a 21-year-old female student in Seattle, an incident that became public over the Memorial Day weekend after conservative bloggers circulated the Twitter message.

He said that he had retained a private security firm to look into the matter, but would not call in the Capitol police or the FBI.

"I just don't think it rises to that level," Weiner told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. But "I know for a fact that my account was hacked. It happens hundreds of thousands of times every single day."

More at the link.

I blogged this all day on Wednesday, and perhaps the story's peaked (although I said the same thing previously).

RELATED: Also at LAT, "Anthony Weiner: No photographic memory of his underwear drawer." And from New York Times, "Lawmaker Denies Sending Suggestive Photo but Doesn’t Rule Out It’s of Him."

Lawrence O'Donnell: 'Not all sex scandals are actually scandalous'

Says the MSNBC host on Twitter.

And I watched his show tonight. What a disgrace. O'Donnell's a self-proclaimed socialist who rejects the values of a majority of the American people. Nothing wrong with it? We're all human, blah, blah ...? Well, I'd be more accepting of Anthony Weiner if he came out with some integrity in his response to all of this. Even left-leaning New York Magazine winced at the sheer stupidity of Weiner's press relations yesterday.

I'm not finding the whole clip, but Noel Sheppard has commentary and some video at NewsBusters, "Lawrence O'Donnell on Weiner: 'Voters Need to Realize Sex Doesn't Matter'."

Added: Interestingly, just found this at Neo-Neocon, "More on not caring about Weinergate: morality in private and public life."Maybe it's a libertarian thing. Oh, well, that reminds me why I'm not libertarian.

Bret Baier Gets Best Weiner Interview of the Day: 'I Know for a Fact That My Account Was Hacked'

Well, what is it? Representative Weiner told Wolf Blitzer it was just a prank. The guy's hopeless. And boy does Bret Baier put it to him: "It would take one call to the FBI and they would subpoena Twitter and within five minutes you could probably get the IP address ..."

Man, maybe Weiner should've avoided the media sit-downs today. It's like Ann Coulter said, "He cannot have an investigation for the simple reason that it will show that he posted the photograph himself."

RELATED: Howard Kurtz has a mini-roundup of today's interviews: "Anthony Weiner's Junk Defense."

Anthony Weiner Google Traffic

It's a pretty big story. I noted previously my personal dislike for Anthony Weiner (still more to come on that), but mostly I'm not one to let a traffic opportunity go to waste. And if you think that's shameless, you should see Robert Stacy McCain, "All the Weiner You Can Handle: Why MSM Can’t Ignore This Scandal Now."

RELATED: An indication of how bad this is for the Democrats is how frantic are the efforts to debunk the story. The progressive blog Cannon Fire's getting some play on Memeorandum right now, but check Red State for the debunking of the debunking. Indeed, idiot progressives are further making the case for a formal investigation: "Case Closed? Leftblog Claims Definitive Proof Weiner Was Framed." Also, at Founding Bloggers, "BREAKING WEINERGATE UPDATE: Lefty Blogger Exposes Massive yFrog-Twitter Vulnerability! Weiner Might Not Have Sent The Wiener" (via Instapundit).

Also, at Christian Science Monitor, "Twitter scandal: a mess for Anthony Weiner, a lesson for Congress":

Rep. Anthony Weiner has been unable to put questions about a lewd picture on his Twitter account behind him. The rest of Congress might become more wary of Twitter.

Ya think?

#Weinergate! — Rep. Anthony Weiner Retains Legal Counsel!

At The Other McCain: "BREAKING: Weiner Lawyers Up!"

And linked there is Politico, "Anthony Weiner hires attorney in Twitter incident" (via Memeorandum):

New York Rep. Anthony Weiner has retained an attorney to advise him “what civil or criminal actions should be taken” after a lewd picture was sent from his Twitter account.

Weiner, who has represented part of New York City since 1998, says online hacking led to a close-up shot of a man’s underwear being sent from his official Twitter account Saturday night.

Dave Arnold, a spokesman for Weiner, said the Congressman’s staff is “loathe to treat” this incident as more than a prank “but we are relying on professional advice.”

“At a time when the GOP is playing games with the debt limit, a member of the Supreme Court is refusing to recuse himself from matters he has a financial interest in, and middle class incomes are stagnant, many want to change the subject,” Weiner said in a statement emailed to POLITICO by his office. “I don’t. This was a prank, and a silly one. I’m focused on my work.”

Weiner’s office did not answer specific questions about the photograph, whether he has contacted authorities or the Seattle woman who received the photograph. He has said that his Facebook was hacked and if his Twitter had the same password, that too could be vulnerable.

Also, check the #Weinergate hashtag on Twitter, where the essential coverage has been developing.

Image Credit: The People's Cube.

ADDED: At Daily Caller, "Weiner spokesman: ‘We’ve retained counsel to explore’ possible ‘civil or criminal actions’."

More: Mediaite has video from Weiner's CNN interview today: "CNN First To Track Down Rep. Anthony Weiner For TV Comment On Twitter Scandal." And Dana Bash's report at CNN, "Liberal congressman involved in Twitter controversy over lewd photo."