Snapped Shot

Life under dictatorship is constantly being lauded as virtuous, pure, and wholesome. Mostly, this type of coverage emanates from the State-controlled press, but on occasion, it is repeated by fellow-travellers from the West. The reality, however, almost never matches the image portrayed by the propagandists.

In my continuing quest to illustrate that we in America are still not under an evil BushCoRovian dictatorship, allow me to present this glimpse into an actual dictatorial world:


More photos of Paradise follow the break. Continue reading »

Reuters photographer Ibraheem Abu Mustafa has made some rather interesting friends in Gaza. Consider this series of photographs, which he sent across the wires today. Can you guess, based on the following photograph, what the goal of the Popular Resistance Committee really is:


That's some committee.

No word on when Reuters will be sending photographers to cover the Israeli army training in as sympathetic a light. You can find more enemy-embedded fun following the break, if you're interested. Continue reading »

... in Arabic? Check out this Kuwaiti idiot's take on Virginia Tech (h/t MEMRI):

In his column yesterday in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa following the shootings at Virginia Tech, columnist Muhammad Yousef Al-Malifi wrote of the sickness of American culture: "It is never heard, not even in dreams, of a massacre at one of the Islamic universities...

Yeah, sure. It's not like any Arab universities have ever celebrated brutal massacres or anything, right?

I'm delighted to read that the Supreme Court has upheld Congress' ban on "partial birth" abortion. It is a gruesome procedure that has no business being performed in any so-called "peaceful" nation. For instance, take this nice little descriptor, from the Court's decision:

§ 2. (c)(i) The Act’s text discloses that it prohibits a doctor from intentionally performing an intact D&E. Its dual prohibitions correspond with the steps generally undertaken in this procedure: The doctor (1) delivers the fetus until its head lodges in the cervix, usually past the anatomical landmark for a breech presentation, see §1531(b)(1)(A), and (2) proceeds to the overt act of piercing or crushing the fetal skull after the partial delivery, see §1531(b)(1)(B). The Act’s scienter requirements limit its reach to those physicians who carry out the intact D&E, with the intent to undertake both steps at the outset. The Act excludes most D&Es in which the doctor intends to remove the fetus in pieces from the outset. This interpretation is confirmed by comparing the Act with the Nebraska statute in Stenberg. There, the Court concluded that the statute encompassed D&E, which “often involve[s] a physician pulling a substantial portion’ of a still living fetus . . . , say, an arm or leg, into the vagina prior to the death of the fetus,” 530 U. S., at 939, and rejected the Nebraska Attorney General's limiting interpretation that the statute’s reference to a “procedure that “kill[s] the unborn child” was to a distinct procedure, not to the abortion procedure as a whole, id., at 943. It is apparent Congress responded to these concerns because the Act adopts the phrase delivers a living fetus,” 18 U. S. C. §1531(b)(1)(A), instead of “ ‘delivering . . . a living unborn child, or a substantial portion thereof,’ ” 530 U. S., at 938, thereby targeting extraction of an entire fetus rather than removal of fetal pieces; identifies specific anatomical landmarks to which the fetus must be partially delivered, §1531(b)(1)(A), thereby clarifying that the removal of a small portion of the fetus is not prohibited; requires the fetus to be delivered so that it is partially “outside the [mother’s] body,” §1531(b)(1)(A), thereby establishing that delivering a substantial portion of the fetus into the vagina would not subject a doctor to criminal sanctions; and adds the overt-act requirement, §1531(b)(1), thereby making the distinction the Nebraska statute failed to draw (but the Nebraska Attorney General advanced). Finally, the canon of constitutional avoidance, see, e.g., Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Constr. Trades Council, 485 U. S. 568, 575, extinguishes any lingering doubt. Interpreting the Act not to prohibit standard D&E is the most reasonable reading and understanding of its terms.

Far be it from the Court, however, to imply that an unborn child has any "right" to live:

§ 3. (b) This traditional rule is consistent with Casey, which confirms both that the State has an interest in promoting respect for human life at all stages in the pregnancy, and that abortion doctors should be treated the same as other doctors. Medical uncertainty does not foreclose the exercise of legislative power in the abortion context any more than it does in other contexts. Other considerations also support the Court’s conclusion, including the fact that safe alternatives to the prohibited procedure, such as D&E, are available. In addition, if intact D&E is truly necessary in some circumstances, a prior injection to kill the fetus allows a doctor to perform the procedure, given that the Act’s prohibition only applies to the delivery of “a living fetus,” 18 U. S. C. §1531(b)(1)(A). Planned Parenthood of Central Mo. v. Danforth, 428 U. S. 52, 77–79, distinguished. [ed.: All emphasis mine.]

We are truly a decadent nation of monsters if we've allowed horror like this to even be considered as a "lawful" right.

Would it be callous of me to point out that the same people who were gunning so hard (pun intended) for this "Constitutional" right, are the same exact people who decry any action taken by the U.S. military?

Food for thought.

Shrill cries to commence on the "reality-based" wing of the blogosphere in 10... 9... 8...

On Target: It has begun: Kosmonuts, Just a Bump in the Beltway, Wonk"ette".

Celebrating the end of this atrocity: novatownhall, Pajamas Media, Blue Crab Boulevard, Captain's Quarters, Sweetness & Light, Texas Rainmaker, The American Pundit, Wizbang, Newsbusters, Ace of Spades, Dogwood Pundit, Hot Air, Below the Beltway.

... for nothing! I was curious as to why my little helper wasn't reading my e-mails this morning. Now I know why:

NewsChannel 4 learned of a massive system failure that affected all BlackBerry users in the western hemisphere late Tuesday.

The RIM Company, which stands for Research In Motion, developed BlackBerry technology and said its infrastructure failed around 8 p.m. Tuesday and was until about 7 a.m. Wenesday.

Oof, that's gonna hurt the team!

Keep reading for more Iranian silliness, plus a bonus appearance by my favourite little maniac. Also, be sure to check out our previous story on Iranian missiles of peace. Continue reading »

From the looks of the wires, it seems that the Palestinian Territories celebrated "Prisoner Day" over the past few days, organizing protests demanding the release of their "relatives," who are currently jailed in Israel for the mere crime of plotting for the death of the Jews and the destruction of the evil, Zionist, Apartheeeeeeid Israeli state.

To a "progressive" and wholly sympathetic press, this obviously doesn't arise to the horror of detention.

Perhaps I'm too much of a Neanderthal to understand the "nuance."

Continue reading »

Oded Balilty, photographer for the Associated Press, has won the Pulitzer Prize this year for a dramatic photograph published of a female Israeli settler trying to defy the IDF's attempts to remove her from an illegal settlement in the West Bank.

Congratulations to Oded—this photograph is very powerful. Heck, it's unusual enough to see the Pulitzer committee honour a photograph depicting Israeli suffering, so I suppose congratulations are due all around. The Committee does at least try to live up to expectations, though:—Notice that most of the entries they considered are related to the "brutality" of the Israeli state. (The exception, of course, goes to Barbaro.)

The photograph in question can be found following the break, along with a candid shot of Mr. Balilty's celebration. You can find more of Oded's work using the ol' Snapped Shot tag browser. Continue reading »

I'm watching live coverage on FoxNews now (back in the Fox-equipped office), and see that there's been an incident down in Blacksburg that has resulted in 20 deaths so far. The shooter is reported to have been killed, but details are still coming in. My prayers are with the victims and their families. I'll keep you posted if/when I hear more.

Background For those of you not from the Commonwealth of Virginia, we're known--perhaps even "notorious"--for being adamant supporters of 2nd Amendment rights [ed.: In other words, we're an Open-Carry State]. Don't let that confuse you, though: These "rights" we're so supportive of do not transfer to our universities. From Virginia Tech's student policy:

Unauthorized possession, storage (in vehicles on campus as well as in the residence halls), or control of firearms and weapons on university property is prohibited. (NOTE: Organizational weapons of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, approved by the commandant, are not prohibited by this policy.) Firearms are defined as any gun, rifle, pistol, or handgun designed to fire bullets, BBs, pellets, or shots (including paint balls), regardless of the propellant used. Other weapons are defined as any instrument of combat or any object not designed as an instrument of combat but carried for the purpose of inflicting or threatening bodily injury. Examples include (but are not limited to) knives with fixed blades or pocketknives with blades longer than four inches, razors, metal knuckles, blackjacks, hatchets, bows and arrows, nun chahkas, foils, or any explosive or incendiary device. Possession of realistic replicas of weapons on campus is prohibited. Students who store weapons in residence hall rooms, who brandish weapons, or who use a weapon in a reckless manner may face disciplinary action that may include suspension or dismissal from the university. Refer to Section V.W. for additional information about Weapons.

In short, don't start blaming this on our "gun culture." I can assure you that our very liberal colleges have no such thing. This is the action of someone who's clearly got criminal intent, nothing more.

Also blogging: Riehl World View, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Captain's Quarters, Confederate Yankee, Wizbang, Protein Wisdom, Ace of Spades, The Sandbox, The New Editor, The American Pundit.

Update: Wow, a link from the Kosmonauts. Hey guys: How are you going to solve this problem with "more gun control," if the campus already outlawed guns completely? You going to start putting people on double-secret probation?

Apparently, fauxtography isn't limited to events in the Middle East. Allan Detrich, a photographer most famous for his storm coverage, has been terminated by the Toledo Blade after, Holy Toledo!, being caught Photoshopping a front-page photograph of a baseball team.

Of course, upon further investigation, the Blade has discovered that he's been at it for a while.

Oops.

The lawyers will definitely be circling over this one.

The SnappedWife writes to inform me that there is a series of cases going on somewhere in Texas, and now Maryland, where children are being burned by sulfuric acid that has been "poured" on playgrounds at their schools.

She says it's being reported right now on Fox News, but not having access to a TV here at the SnappedOffice, I haven't seen it yet. The Baltimore Sun has the skinny, thankfully:

Payton Potachney knew exactly where the slides were behind Victory Villa Elementary School.

Late Saturday morning, as he crossed a wooden footbridge onto school grounds, the Middle River boy who turns 3 next month left his grandmother's grasp and raced toward the cupola-covered jungle gym, family members said. Within minutes, the blond-haired toddler was gliding down his beloved slide.

Then he screamed.

The plastic slide had been coated with an industrial-strength drain cleaner containing sulfuric acid so caustic that it quickly burned through his clothes and began to peel away his skin. In that instant, the popular school playground became the most unlikely of crime scenes.

My money's on this being a "Culturally Diverse" gang initiation brought on by our government's blatant open-borders policy, but then again, I'm evil. What do y'all think? What are the odds of this kind of disgusting activity spreading into Virginia?

Update: Bryan at Hot Air has discovered that arrests have been made in the Maryland case.

Baltimore County police arrested two 16-year-old boys in connection with the chemical burning of a 2-year-old at a playground last Saturday.

Police said both boys live in the Essex area and were arrested Monday evening. They were charged with reckless endangerment and second-degree burglary.

—

Investigators said the suspects wanted to kick the door in to a storage building. When they found the bottles of chemical, they poured it on the plastic slide to see if the chemical would burn the plastic. When they saw it did nothing, they left, leaving the chemical sitting on the slide.

Both suspects were released into the custody of their parents.

It should be noted that Baltimore has a slight problem with gangs. It's possible that this is a couple of "bored" teenagers, but I'm betting there's more to it than we're hearing so far, particularly in light of the Texas case.

This one's just too good to pass up. It looks like ol' Mahmoudie is trying to do his best Terminator impersonation. Very fitting, no?


No word on whether Mahmoud plans on running for governor of California, but I suspect that he'd win by a landslide in the State of Fruits and Nuts. I'll do my best to post additional pictures of The Governator's newest competitor in the extended version of this article. Continue reading »

I'm going to forgo any commentary on this. I think it illustrates the "Palestinian" problem succinctly all by itself.

Who knew that April 14 serves the distinction of not only being the most despised day of the year in the United States, but also being the birthday of former North Korean dictator Kim Il-Sung.


Who knew that one day could possibly have so many communist parallels? Coincidence? I'll let you decide.

Photos from this year's celebration can be found following the break. The file photos pictured above and directly below this text are for illustration purposes only. Continue reading »