The Bundy Ranch story is part of the Second Amendment story (and the Tenth Amendment story), but is too big and sprawling to unpack here. So here are some of the other things that have been happening:
Gun and Crme Roundup for April 16, 2014
April 16th, 2014Dan Patrick Debates Julian Castro Tonight
April 15th, 2014Dan Patrick will debate Julian Castro on immigration and border controls in San Antonio tonight at 6 PM. Those who wish to watch can find the livestream here.
Wendy Davis Getting Slaughtered…Among Female Voters
April 15th, 2014Well, this can’t be good news for Team Wendy:
Texas women prefer Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott to self-styled feminist Democratic hopeful Wendy Davis, according to a new survey from a left-leaning polling firm.
According to a new Public Policy Polling survey, Davis’ favorability rating is upside down with women, while Abbott is right side up.
Thirty-two percent of women view Davis favorably, while 46 percent view her unfavorably, and 22 percent were not sure. But 35 percent of women viewed Abbott favorably, and only 27 percent said they viewed him unfavorably. Thirty-eight percent weren’t sure.
Abbott also took 49 percent of the female vote in a head-to-head matchup, compared to 41 percent for Davis, with 11 percent unsure.
Also this:
“Women get exhausted with women candidates who say they are pro-woman and then run on issues that real women don’t say are most important to them,” Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway told The Daily Caller.
She added that this is another indication that the Democrats’ “war on women” narrative has run its course.
Let’s hope so.
Poor Wendy. She didn’t start out alienating her supposed base, but she got there as fast as possible…
Texas vs. California Update for April 15, 2014
April 15th, 2014Today sucks if you still have to finish your taxes. It sucks more in California than Texas, since you have to pay state income taxes as well. That includes a marginal tax rate of 9.3% for all those millionaires making more than $49,774 a year. As opposed to Texas’ marginal rate of 0.0% for all…
Texas and Washington offer low corporate income tax and no personal income tax, while providing a stable business climate and skilled work force. Many high-profile corporations have relocated their operations to new states. Recent examples include Northrop Grumman, which moved its headquarters to Northern Virginia; Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, which moved its headquarters to McKinney, Texas; and Boeing, which moved two aircraft modernization programs, for the C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft and the B-1 bomber, from Long Beach to Oklahoma City.
The state teacher pension fund, CalSTRS, needs an extra $4.5 billion each year for 30 years to pay off its unfunded liabilities. CalPERS’ local government members will see costs increase by 50 percent during the next six years. And the state needs to contribute $1 billion more per year for retiree health care benefits.
These obligations for benefits already earned must be paid, and over the next decade, they will continue to drain funding from essential services such as education, public safety, transportation and health care.
Yet, powerful interests remain all too eager to kick the can down the road and push our pension problems onto future generations.
LinkSwarm for April 14, 2014
April 14th, 2014Time for another LinkSwarm:
And remember that your taxes are due tomorrow…
How Not to Commit the Perfect Murder
April 13th, 2014Here’s a pro-top for aspiring murderers: If you want to bump off your wife, don’t talk over murder methods with all the other paramedics you work with.
Despite which, it still took seven years to indict and convict the guy.
If You Don’t Think Ted Cruz is Running for President in 2016, You Haven’t Seen His Schedule
April 11th, 2014Some political observers think Ted Cruz will pass on running in the 2016 Presidential race, including the very perceptive liberal law professor Alan Dershowitz, who says flatly that “Cruz won’t run in 2016.”
I would suggest to those who don’t think Cruz is running should look at his travel schedule. This Saturday, for example, Cruz has a pretty hectic itinerary in New Hampshire:
Saturday, April 12
10:00 am ET – Nashua
Greater Nashua NHGOP Day of Action Rally
Nashua City Hall, Back Parking Lot
229 Main Street
Nashua, NH 0306011:00 am ET – Manchester
Greater Manchester NHGOP Day of Action Rally
Livingston Park, Pool Parking Lot
14 Red Coat Lane (off Hooksett Road)
Manchester, NH 031041:35 pm ET – Manchester
Sen. Cruz to hold media availability
The Executive Court
Media Room
1199 South Mammoth Road
Manchester, NH 031092:15 pm ET – Manchester
Sen. Cruz to speak at Americans for Prosperity “Freedom Summit”
The Executive Court
1199 South Mammoth Road
Manchester, NH 03109
He’s also been to Iowa this year:
Tuesday, March 18
1:40 pm CT – Des Moines, IA
Sen. Cruz speaks at the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) Homeschool Day at the Capitol
Marriott Hotel Downtown
Iowa Ballroom
700 Grand Avenue
Des Moines, IA 503097:40 pm CT – Mason City, IA
Sen. Cruz speaks at the Cerro Gordo County GOP Dinner
The Music Man Square
308 South Pennsylvania Avenue
Mason City, IA 50401
There were a significant number of events in Iowa and new Hampshire last year as well:
Friday, October 25
7:00 pm – Des Moines, IA
Sen. Cruz keynotes 2013 Iowa GOP Ronald Reagan Dinner
Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center
Iowa Events Center
730 3rd Street
Des Moines, IA 50309NOTE: Sen. Cruz speaks at ~7:30 pm; he will take questions from the press following the program in room 402.
Saturday, October 26
12:00 pm – Les Mars, IA
Sen. Cruz Speaks at Defenders of Freedom Banquet
Le Mars Convention Center
Banquet Hall
275 12th Street, SE
Le Mars, IA 51031NOTE: Sen. Cruz speaks at ~1:05 pm; he will take questions from the press following the program.
Friday, August 23 – Dublin, New Hampshire
4:45 p.m. ET
Media Availability
Knollwood Farm
4 Windmill Hill Road
Dublin, NH 034446:30 p.m. ET
New Hampshire GOP Summer Backyard Party
Knollwood Farm
4 Windmill Hill Road
Dublin, NH 03444
On Saturday, August 10, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz will speak at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa.
Saturday, August 10
3:50 p.m. – Ames, IA
Iowa State University
Stephens Auditorium
400 Beach Avenue
Ames, IA 50011*NOTE: Sen. Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, will speak prior to the Senator at 3:35 p.m.
If Cruz isn’t running, he’s sure spending an awful lot of time in Iowa and New Hampshire for a Senator from Texas.
For an additional data point, note that there’s already a Draft Ted Cruz Super PAC that just happens to be run by Cruz regional director Raz Shafer (and a rare kudo for David Weigel for doing the leg, er, Google and WHOIS work).
Finally, this video on the Ted Cruz for Senate YouTube channel sure sounds like a campaign ad:
If I had to bet money, I’d say Cruz is running for the Presidency in 2016, and I think he’ll make a formidable candidate.
When Democrats Say There’s No Voter Fraud, They’re Lying
April 10th, 2014There’s an risible liberal talking point that continues to rear its ugly head regarding ACORN and the Democratic Party’s demonstrated record of voting fraud:
“That’s not voting fraud, that’s voter registration fraud.”
Before we address the talking point proper (which seems to have originated at the liberally biased “fact checking” site FactChek.org), let us note that:
- Voter registration is merely a specific type of voter fraud, not something entirely different.
- Both kinds are deeply destructive of the “one man, one vote” principles of representative democracy.
- The FBI places both registration and at-the-polls fraud in the same category of fraud.
So in summary, there is no legal distinction between “voting fraud” and “voter registration fraud.”
However, even when making that dubious distinction, there have been numerous, documented instances of Democrats and ACORN staffers (but I repeat myself) committing in-person voting fraud:
Four Democratic officials and political operatives have pleaded guilty to voter fraud-related felony charges in an alleged scheme to steal an election in Troy, N.Y., FoxNews.com reports.
The group forged signatures on applications for absentee ballots and on the ballots themselves in a 2009 primary of the Working Families Party, which was affiliated with now-defunct community group ACORN.
So even by the standards of facetious distinctions between “voting fraud” and “voter registration fraud,” Democrats and ACORN have committed plenty of both.
No wonder they oppose Voter ID…
WordPress Appears To Be Broken Today
April 10th, 2014It won’t save drafts. More specifically, it won’t save drafts from the dashboard, though you can publish them, and you can edited previously save drafts.
If you save a draft from the dashboard, it creates what appears to be a copy of the last draft you have before than. Clicking on that draft brings up that older draft, and the duplicate then disappears from the list of drafts when you go back.
This is on WordPress 3.7.2, which was working yesterday.
I’m hoping this is a transient error…
Update: Upgraded to 3.8.2, and Quick Draft still appears to be broken…
Venezuela: A Ray of Light Amidst the Encroaching Darkness?
April 9th, 2014When last we checked, Venezuela had come down with a case of Terminal Socialism. Here’s an update.
Faced with crippling inflation and a shortage of basic goods due to endemic cronyism, horrible mismanagement and laughable official exchange rates, Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government has finally thrown in the towel and instituted floating exchange rates… sort of:
A dollar will cost you 6.3 bolívares if you are the government, or if you can persuade Cencoex (the government’s foreign-trade body) that you intend to import vital goods such as food or medicine. Then there’s the Sicad I rate, currently just over 10 bolívares to the dollar, but contingent on irregular, “auctions” (which are nothing of the sort). The new Sicad II process, which is as close to a free market as the government will allow, opened at a whopping 50 bolívares to the dollar. But even that is a bargain compared with the unofficial exchange rate, which at the time of writing stands at almost 68 bolívares.
Meanwhile, shortages of basic goods mean Venezuelans get to enjoy that classic staple of late stage socialism: waiting in line to get food:
Food lines in Venezuela , 16 hours to buy something , Welcome to socialism !! pic.twitter.com/zptCEKABAV
— Peter Perez (@cubamaniak) April 9, 2014
Glory to Socialism! Food lines in Venezuela #BackInTheUSSR via @theresa_beh @Conservative_VW pic.twitter.com/spoOfFHS9o
— bangkokdave (@bangkokdave) March 31, 2014
This is one of the MANY lines being form in Venezuela to get food… Smfh man. #SOSVenezuela pic.twitter.com/PQayOpE1Gj
— Whitney (@__WXMD) March 12, 2014
And the violent crackdown against opposition protesters continues:
Naturally, as a prelude to cracking down on the opposition, they followed the old socialist playbook by outlawing private ownership of guns. It’s always so much easier to oppress people once they’ve been disarmed. Even so, as the following video (via Legal Insurrection) shows, police don’t always get the upper hand:
Security forces have also committed dozens of documented instances of torture.
Are there any rays of home in the grim situation? Yes, Maduro’s government and opposition leaders have agreed to talks. Whether these can actually accomplish anything remains to be seen, but the fact that Maduro “ruled out any changes to the course of what he calls the Bolivarian revolution, the distinct brand of socialism created by his predecessor in office, Hugo Chavez,” tends to indicate that the prognosis is still grim.
Other Venezuela news: