Monday, April 24: Comments closed on this post. A defense lawyer wants to see the evidence. Read and discuss the latest news.
Update (4/23): Read Newsweek’s latest story about this case. It’s long and detailed enough to cover almost everything we know so far.
The emerging images pop right out at you: two strippers start dancing, the players get rowdy, the strippers get angry and start to leave, the players get angry and call them names as they head out, one of the strippers returns the taunts, the drunk accuser-stripper goes back in to retrieve her shoe (but may not have found it), second stripper is angry at the players and the drunk stripper, calls 911 to report name-calling, has someone else call 911 to report drunk woman in her car, cop arrives and sees drunk woman passed out, drunk woman is taken to a “substance abuse” center, realizes she may be in big trouble because of her past drunken criminal behavior (leading police on a car chase and trying to run down an officer), claims rape, is sent to hospital where exam reveals injuries “consistent” with rape, points the finger at three men at the party, media and black “leaders” go crazy and play up race angle, DA – in a fight for political survival – takes the race bait and vilifies 46 men, some of whom weren’t at the party, tests all but the black player, and despite no evidence charges two men with rape.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
And this is highly unlikely to have happened: “She [the stripper] identified Reade Seligmann, 20, with 100-percent certainty as the man who forced her to perform oral sex on him.”
Yet no DNA connected Seligmann or Finnerty to the accuser; no DNA under her nails from trying to fight them off. No connection also means their DNA wasn’t found on her, either. Don’t mean to be graphic, but if someone had forced me to…let’s just say the lab techs would have a sufficent sample of blood evidence to work with.
Also see this must-read comment.
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Update (5:05 p.m.): This case is burning up the search engines, too. In the last hour, I’ve had over 800 unique visitors looking for information about this case. To give you some perspective, an “Insta-lanche” may generate about 500 visits per hour, depending on the time of day and how Glenn describes the post.
By the way, the wonderful e-mail I’m getting greatly outweighs the troll droppings and hate e-mail. Thank you.
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First-time visitors: Please read the entire post before you comment. There’s a special message for you at the end.
Vulgarity and Hypocrisy
The usually acerbic Ann Coulter takes a gentler turn in her latest column, Lie Down With Strippers, Wake Up With Pleas. (If you’ve never read Coulter’s work before, let me assure that this column is gentle.) She writes about a concept as old as time, one based on reality (not to mention physics) but frowned upon in PC America: the connection between behavior and consequences:
However the Duke lacrosse rape case turns out, one lesson that absolutely will not be learned is this: You can severely reduce your chances of having a false accusation of rape leveled against you if you don’t hire strange women to come to your house and take their clothes off for money.
Also, you can severely reduce your chances of being raped if you do not go to strange men’s houses and take your clothes off for money. (Does anyone else detect a common thread here?)
…
Whenever a gun is used in a crime, there are never-ending news stories about how dangerous guns are. But these girls go out alone, late at night, drunk off their butts, and there’s nary a peep about the dangers of drunk women on their own in public. It’s their “right.”
Coulter writes about the old days when people were not afraid to call a thing by its name. Calling someone’s behavior vulgar or stupid is “judgmental,” which is used pejoratively. For the record, let me exercise my judgment: Throwing drunken parties is vulgar behavior. Taking off your clothes in front of a group of men — for free or for cash — is vulgar behavior. Being a fall-down drunk is vulgar behavior, something that I, unfortunately, have experienced.
Some haters (who still read this blog) tell me that I have no business judging people because I was once a “drunken slut.” Coulter writes:
In no area except morality would a sane person believe he can’t criticize something stupid because he’s done it. How about: If you’ve ever forgotten to fill up your car and run out of gas, you must forevermore defend a person’s right to ignore the gas gauge. Or if you’ve ever forgotten to wear a coat in cold weather and caught a cold, henceforth you are obliged to encourage others not to dress appropriately in the winter.
And God says:
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
The Enemy and his minions will try anything to tear down God’s own. I’m here on this blog every day because God makes it so. And only he has the power to stop me, not my enemies. My Savior has assured me: “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
Coulter continues: “But we’re all rotten sinners, incapable of redemption on our own. The liberal answer to sin is to say: I can never pay this back, so my argument will be I didn’t do anything wrong…The Christian answer is: I can never pay this back, but luckily that Christ fellow has already paid my debt.”
Amen, indeed!
Dirty Double Standards
A MURDERER in Durham gets a $50,000 bond, while accused rapists get a $400,000 bond. The DA would argue that the “wealthy” rapists were a flight risk and the teenaged murderer was not. Still, it stinks of the DA’s political motivations.
Gateway Pundit blogs about a heinous act and more double standards. Sickening!
The national media, mostly left-leaning, are on a mission to keep the smoldering embers of racial tension hot, overplaying white-on-black crime while underplaying black-on-white crime. Don’t take out your frustration on me; I didn’t start the fire.
Myths
In Fact and myth Duke it out, Kathleen Parker writes:
If [Jesse] Jackson were an honest dealer in the race card game, he’d have to mention that those ancient fears, though perhaps once justified, are no longer factually relevant. The U.S. Department of Justice’s 2003 National Crime Victimization Survey, which breaks down crime victims and perpetrators by race, indicates that the vast majority of violent crimes, including rape, are intra-racial. Blacks tend to attack blacks, and whites tend to attack whites.
There is no current trend of white men raping black women, in other words. In fact, though sample sizes are considered too small to draw any solid conclusions, the most recent figures show that among white rape victims, 15.5 percent of those rapes were perpetrated by blacks, while 0.0 percent of black victims were raped by white males. (Zero in this case is a rounded figure meaning that the total number of black women raped by white men is between 0 and half of 1 percent of the total.)
Not that anyone’s counting. But if we’re going to talk about race and crime, we may as well rely on facts rather than ancient memories that serve only to sensationalize and emotionalize what is already a painful episode in Southern history.
[Note (9:58 a.m.): Someone just e-mailed and said Parker is biased and the stats she cites have nothing to do with the Duke rape case. Neither do race and class, but they're headlining nonetheless. Dirty double standards. Besides, Parker was responding to Jackson's comments.]
Money
Jesse Jackson’s not the only one rutting for cash. Kim Roberts, the second stripper, wants to get hers, too: She contacted a PR firm via e-mail: “I’m worried about letting this opportunity pass me by without making the best of it and was wondering if you had any advice as to how to spin this to my advantage.”
Roberts likes money. So do I, but not enough to steal it. By the way, she says one of the men called her a “damn nigger.” If she does end up cashing in on this sordid mess, perhaps it will ease her pain.
New Evidence
Remember the fake fingernails the stripper broke fighting off her “attackers?” According to FOX News, a photo confirms that the nails were missing before the attack. But who cares about evidence? It’s irrelevant. This is a case about covetousness, greed, and class envy, not facts.
These are the photos released so far.
Meanwhile, a cab driver’s account of that night appears to match the timeline recreated by the accused.
Listen to MP3s of the first and second 911 calls. (Via Talk Left)
This isn’t new, but I wanted to remind you of ABC’s photo notes.
Idiots and Fools
Well, well, well. “Racist” white lacrosse players and Black Entertainment Television aren’t the only ones buying into and perpetuating stereotypes about “oversexed” black women. A troll with an unhealthy fixation on me using the real or phony name “Steve Fair” (or “Steve Vaughn”) who says he’s black, married and a father (!), left this troll dropping last night:
Name: Steve F. | E-mail: X@aol.com | URI: | IP: 205.188.116.199
One thing that comes through loud and clear about you LaShawn is that you DESPISE black men.
Have you found any white boys willing to take you any place but a roadside motel?
Have you met their parents?
For the record, he knows nothing about my personal life. I really hate to give him the attention he pants for, but I wanted to show you the kind of thing I sometimes wake up to. This idiot was banned from commenting last year, but his obsession seems to be growing. He tries to comment during the day from this IP: 67.151.138.118. Info:
CustName: PaeTec Communications
Address: 600 Willowbrook Office Park
City: Fairport
StateProv: NY
PostalCode: 14450
Country: US
RegDate: 2005-04-05
Updated: 2005-04-05
I need a reader-sleuth, VIA E-MAIL, not the comment section, to tell me if it’s possible to pinpoint an exact location based on this information, and how. If you need the full e-mail address, let me know.
Message to New Readers
If you’re wondering why I am biased against the accuser, wonder no more. I’ve stated in various Duke rape-related posts that if anything happened to the accuser, it happened before she arrived at the lacrosse party. Based on injuries found during a medical exam, I believe she was either raped earlier or engaged in, let’s say…aggressive acts. While no one knows what the DA has, although I suspect it’s nothing strong, the evidence I know about so far tends to support the players’ stories. Suspending judgment until all evidence is revealed is noble, especially if you’re a juror. I’m in the court of public opinion, however, and I’m allowed to express my opinion.
If the accused made up this whole thing, particularly with the intent to use the race angle to her advantage, she is perpetuating racial animosity. And false accusations of rape hurt all women. I’m angry, and on this blog, I will express that anger as often as I need to. If it turns out I’m wrong, I will say I’m wrong. I’ll even apologize to accuser in an open letter for doubting her story. If the allegations are true, it’s certainly not her fault the media and media-hungry grievance-shoppers turned her plight into a circus.
But I won’t delete or retract the opinions I formed based on what I knew at the time or on what I’ve learned about human nature.
I recommend that first-time visitors read the previous posts before commenting on this one. Reading a few pages of the archives wouldn’t hurt, either.
Related posts:
- Is Duke Stripper Channeling Tawana Brawley?
- Fake Rape at Duke: Next Steps
- The ‘Black’ Helen of Troy?
- No (Public) Indictment in Duke Rape Case…
