[Guest post by DRJ]

CBS News reports Joran van der Sloot has confessed to the murder of Peruvian Stephany Flores. In a way, her death may have been related to the death of Natalee Holloway:

“According to BNO the Holloway case played a roll [sic] in the Flores killing. BNO reports that police say van der Sloot said he hit Flores because she saw private information on his computer regarding Holloway.”

Van der Sloot has apparently been questioned since he was returned to Peru following his arrest:

“Sunday the Associated Press reported that Joran van der Sloot would spend all week at criminal police headquarters being questioned in the death of Flores. He had asked to be able to hire his own lawyer, authorities said Sunday.

Flores’ May 30 killing was five years to the day after Holloway’s disappearance. Flores was a business student who police say he met playing poker at a casino.”

How sad if the coincidence in timing and her curiosity contributed to Stephany’s death.

— DRJ

The tech guys think they have the comments fixed. Leave a comment and tell us whether they’re right.

[Guest post by DRJ]

The President calls in experts so he knows “whose ass to kick,” while his staff plays shirtless beer-pong.

As a famous blogger says, the country is in the very best of hands.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

An anonymous Arizonan has joined the ranks of Americans unhappy with President Obama:

“Thanks to an advertiser who wishes to remain anonymous, cars and trucks on Arizona Highway 260 in East Central Arizona are driving by a billboard advertisement that recently went up, bearing President Obama’s face on what appears to be a mock U.S. $100,000,000,000,000 (One-Hundred Trillion Dollar) bill.

The billboard’s caption: “But Who Will Pay the Piper?”

The Arizona billboard joins billboards in East Texas and Atlanta opposing Obama, while Wisconsin and Minnesota have hosted several Bush “Miss Me Yet?” posters.

Unfortunately, things will only get worse if the economy tanks in 2011 as Arthur Laffer predicts.

— DRJ

[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

Yesterday, our host noted the conspicuous absence in the Los Angeles Times of any mention of the Helen Thomas affair. Today, the paper reports on Thomas’s long overdue retirement:

Helen Thomas, the legendary White House reporter who broke down barriers against female journalists covering politics, will retire after controversial remarks criticized by many as anti-Israel.

“Criticized by many,” says the Times, but not by us. Perhaps they should have remained silent on the matter.

–Jack Dunphy

[Guest post by DRJ]

Apple unveiled (for real this time) its iPhone 4 today. It’s slim. It’s Apple cool. It’s still AT&T.

I have one of the older versions. What do you think — should I upgrade or not?

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

A hacker has turned in an Army analyst who reportedly bragged about leaking voluminous intelligence information, including an Iraq War video made famous on Wikileaks:

“[Former high-profile hacker Adrian] Lamo says that he was responsible for reporting Specialist (SPC) Brad Manning to the military authorities after the analyst boasted to him that he had handed over thousands of classified documents and classified military video to whistle-blower site Wikileaks.

Lamo feared being arrested himself and was concerned about the impact of the leaks on national security. As noted in the linked article, he also struggled with his decision to turn Manning in.

If this is true, I blame Manning for what he did. Period. But there may also be some blame for a Watergate media that has romanticized whistleblowers and an educational system that puts individuality and “marching to your own drummer” above responsibility. There is a place for whistleblowers and individuality but they don’t always trump loyalty.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Helen Thomas has retired — abruptly, according to the AP — as a columnist for Hearst News.

This is a sad way for anyone to end their career but I doubt she kept her feelings secret from those with whom she worked. They knew what she thought about Israel and the Jews. They just couldn’t bear for us to know it.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Jury selection continues in former Governor Rod Blagojevich’s trial in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune is covering some of the interplay between the judge and the panel. This was an interesting exchange:

“Like many in the jury pool, number 174 said she had served on a jury before. That case was dismissed before a verdict was reached, but the woman indicated on a pre-trial questionnaire that she came away a little disturbed because some of the people on that jury seemed argumentative.

In questioning the woman, Zagel assured her that arguing was inherent in the jury process. “Sometimes they argue in very loud voices and sometimes they argue in quiet voice,” Zagel said. “That’s a feature of jury service.”

Zagel said he has often talked to jurors after cases and many said they were pleased with the experience. “But nobody I’ve run into says it’s like taking a long slow train ride through a beautiful countryside,” he explained.”

I get his point but my experience serving as a juror is that it’s a lot like a long slow ride.

— DRJ

Jonah Goldberg:

Spare me Lanny Davis’s wounded outrage. Everyone knows [Helen Thomas] is a nasty piece of work and has been a nasty piece of work for decades.

And when I say a nasty piece of work, I don’t simply mean her opinions on Israel. She’s been full-spectrum awful. I’ve known a few people who knew her 40 years ago, and she was slimy then too. . . . All of these condemnations, equivocations, repudiations and protestations are all fundamentally silly because they are part of a DC Kabuki that treats the last straw as if it was wholly different than the million other straws everyone was happy to carry.

On one hand, I get what he’s saying. Nobody who has paid attention to Helen Thomas over the years is surprised by what she said. Many of us who viewed the video were less than shocked, and I am actually surprised that she’s actually receiving a backlash for the same kind of crap she has spewed for years.

Then again, the last straw is the last straw precisely because it’s a lot like the others — yet is somehow also just a little worse. And Thomas has never before been quite this clear in expressing her support for ethnic cleansing. Yeah, she has said similar things, but not quite this shamelessly.

The harrumphs of former respect are indeed ridiculous, but let’s let the backlash play out, Jonah.

Thanks to Allahpundit.