Not so much a #LinkSwarm per se, as a roundup of news you might have missed over the weekend:
Weekend Roundup for April 28, 2014
April 28th, 2014Donald Sterling: NBA Owner, Racist, Democrat
April 26th, 2014Unless you follow the NBA, you may be unaware that owner Donald Sterling’s Los Angeles Clippers were, until very recently, regarded as one of the worst-run franchise’s in the league. Between moving to Los Angeles in 1983 and 2010, they only had two winning seasons.
The Clippers have recently been on the upswing, having drafted one All Star (Blake Griffin) and traded for another one (Chris Paul), that Sterling wisely let have more input in composing and running the team. The input Sterling has on running the team, the better they tended to do. So the Clippers are in the playoffs in the powerhouse NBA West. Things were looking up.
Well they were, until Sterling was recorded as telling his hot young girlfriend that he doesn’t want her seen in public with black people.
It takes an extra-special brand of stupid for a man who owns a team in a league with predominately black players, with one and half black superstars on his team (Griffin is half-black, half-leprechaun) and a black coach (Doc Rivers) to be caught saying he doesn’t like black people. It’s tantamount to declaring “I never want to have another big name NBA free agent come to my team ever again!”
Now, as for why I’m blogging it here: Though Sterling hasn’t been active giving campaign donations recently, guess which political party to which all the candidates receiving his donations belonged?
Go ahea(D). Guess.
STERLING, DONALD BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90210 BEVERLY HILLS PROPERTIES 11/30/89 $1,000 Bradley, Bill (D)
STERLING, DONALD BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90210 BEVERLY HILLS PROPERTIES 11/30/89 $1,000 Bradley, Bill (D)
STERLING, DONALD BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90212 9/27/91 $1,000 Davis, Gray (D)
STERLING, DONALD MR BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90212 REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER 9/9/91 $1,000 Leahy, Patrick (D)
I’m guessing the NBA will give him a token fine, but little more. One dumbass owner makes it just a little easier for all the other teams…
LinkSwarm for April 25, 2014
April 25th, 2014Pressed for time, so here’s a quick LinkSwarm:
Fallout from the Supreme Court Affirmative Action Decision
April 24th, 2014The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of Michigan voters in banning Affirmative Action (i.e, discrimination based on race) in college admissions
Conservatives and libertarians have a very simple position on racial discrimination:
The liberal position can be paraphrased thus: “Racism requires racism, because racism.”
What, you think that’s a bit reductio ad absurdum? Fine. How about:
“Because the lingering effects of institutional racism continue to hold back historically disadvantaged groups*, the federal government must continue to impose preferential treatment for members of those groups.”
“*Historically disadvantaged groups” are those that in pre-PC speak were referred to as “minorities.” Except of course, the Democratic Party’s current formulation excludes Asians from preferential treatment, resulting in systematic discrimination against them by colleges that practice Affirmative Action compared to less qualified black and Hispanic candidates.
Left unsaid is when do we stop discriminating against people based on their race due to the “lingering effects” of racism? Why should someone born in 1996 (as those entering college this fall) be discriminated against due to laws scrapped three decades before they were born?
It is also obvious that Affirmative Action sets up minorities to fail by mismatching them with institutions desperate for “diversity” where they will be at a disadvantage compared to brighter students. So someone who could have been in the middle of their class at, say, Texas Tech, is instead at the very bottom of the class at Harvard or Yale.
Affirmative Action is a racist relic of bygone days and should be eliminated from a free, colorblind society.
ObamaCare: Still an Electoral Loser
April 23rd, 2014I know it’s more of a “dog bites man” story by now, but given Obama’s ever-louder declarations that “debate is over,” here’s the most recent reminder that ObamaCare still has all the popularity of an album of Yoko Ono/Gilbert Godfried duets:
Update on Certain Hidalgo County Democrats
April 22nd, 2014You may remember back in 2012 when I reported on Democratic Party candidate for Hidalgo County Precinct 1 Constable Robert “Bobby” Maldonado being caught with over $1 million cash in his car’s trunk. Well, I now have a Hidalgo County guilty plea update.
But not on Maldonado. Last time I checked, he was out on a $200,000 bond.
No, I have an update on a completely different Hidalgo County Democratic Party law enforcement officer charged with money laundering.
Former Hidalgo County Sheriff Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño, a nine-year veteran of the office and a fixture of the region’s Democratic Party, pleaded guilty on Monday to federal charges of money laundering. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said the former lawman “received cash contributions for his election campaign from alleged drug trafficker Tomas ‘El Gallo’ Gonzalez.”
Trevino’s former chief of staff, Maria P. Medina, also plead guilty.
Also keep in mind that this was after Trevino prepared termination papers for his second in command, Jose Padilla after the feds arrested him for “marijuana smuggling and money laundering,” also reportedly in the pay of Gonzalez.
I wonder how many other shoes might drop.
Texas Attorney General (and 2014 Gubernatorial favorite) Greg Abbott penned this editorial on the topic, containing this great quote (albeit it one only tangentially related to the question of border corruption):
Conservative is not a color, it is not a race, it is not an ethnicity. It is a commitment to the idea that every American has a chance to succeed; that faith and family are foremost; that jobs and education are the best pathway to a better future; and that secure communities are a part of all that.
Leland Yee/Shrimp Boy Chow Update for April 21, 2014
April 21st, 2014More details and repercussions from the indictment of California State Senator Leland Yee and his criminal associates on gun-trafficking and other charges:
Give the guy a break. When all is said and done, his alleged crimes come down to taking campaign contributions in return for issuing proclamations, using campaign funds to set up a meeting and taking campaign funds for writing a letter.
Never did he sell his vote, steal public money or actually put money in his own pocket, as far as I can tell.
None of Yee’s decisions affected the public.
I’ve gone over the FBI’s criminal complaint and, from what I can see, the biggest crime he was accused of was trying hustle some undercover FBI agents who were out to get alleged Chinatown gang leader Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow.
First, I don’t think Brown has read that indictment carefully enough. Second, notice how prominent Democrats seem to think that some felonies are just no big deal…
Republican Leadership’s Zombie Amnesty Crawls Out of Grave
April 18th, 2014Like a dog returning to its sick, Republican leadership just can’t keep away from illegal alien amnesty.
First we hear that “Speaker John Boehner and other senior House Republicans are telling donors and industry groups that they aim to pass immigration legislation this year.”
Illegal alien amnesty is unpopular with American workers, American voters, and Republicans, and yet the GOP leadership can’t seem to give up its suicidal longing for it.
Now comes word that Republicans are trying to slip an amnesty provision into a defense appropriations bill. Though the bill is narrowly tailored, amnesty opponent Mickey Kaus lays out its real purpose:
[Rep. Jeff] Denham’s amendment isn’t about helping a few patriotic DREAMers. It’s about getting an immigration bill–any immigration bill–to the Senate where Democrats led by Senators Reid and Schumer can expand it by adding as much of the massive Gang of 8 amnesty as possible.
Also, don’t be fooled by Rep. Eric Cantor’s protestations that Obama’s actions have put him off amnesty; all insider reports have him as pushing for some form of “down payment” on illegal aalien amnesty this year, be it Denham’s amendment or some other camel’s nose under the tent.
I urge you to contact your Representatives and Senators a remind them that no form of illegal alien amnesty is acceptable, and that no immigration-related bills should be passed at all until the federal government starts enforcing existing immigration law and securing the border.
I also urge you to print this out and send it back to the RNC or RHCC they next time they ask you for campaign contributions.
Russia’s Pogromatic Behavior
April 17th, 2014Today was a day spent doing a lot of piddling stuff I let slide while I was doing my taxes. And the sad news of Russia’s slow-motion invasion of Ukraine hasn’t left me a lot to say that others haven’t already said in greater depth, and at greater length.
But I can hardly let news that Russian thugs in eastern Ukraine (the part that Russia wants to slowly annex) have asked Jews to start “registering” pass in silence.
Eh. A little registration. What’s the worst that could happen?
Oh yeah. That.
Of course, Ukraine under communism had a lot of experience with such things.
Marillion’s “White Russian” seems particularly apropos today:
Gun and Crme Roundup for April 16, 2014
April 16th, 2014The 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:
