#ClintonAFilm

October 12th, 2016

So much work to be done on big posts that it’s hard to do a small one today, so instead enjoy some selections from the #ClintonAFilm hashtag off Twitter instead:

Rio Grande Valley Corruption Update for October 2016

October 11th, 2016

Been a while since I did an update on corruption down in Rio Grande Valley, so let’s do a roundup:

  • A border patrol agent is being tried for murder and aiding drug smugglers:

    The discovery of a headless body floating near the spring break haven of South Padre Island touched off an investigation that prosecutors say revealed a U.S. Border Patrol agent had helped a Mexican cartel move illegal weapons and ammunition south of the border and illicit drugs to the north.

    The prosecutors allege that agent Joel Luna got pulled into the business to help his brothers, including one linked to a cartel, and that their operation unraveled when investigators found a “treasure trove” of evidence in a safe at Luna’s mother-in-law’s home. The material included passwords to Luna’s work computer, almost $90,000 in cash and a kilo of cocaine. The trail of evidence led to Luna facing a raft of charges, including capital murder in the death of a man seen as a possible snitch.

    Snip.

    The case against Luna and his brothers, Eduardo and Fernando, began in March 2015 when boaters found the headless, nude and bloated body of 33-year-old Jose Francisco Rodriguez Palacios Paz. The Honduran immigrant had worked at Fernando Luna’s tire shop in Edinburg, about 20 miles north of the border.

    Investigators said phone records and texts revealed that Palacios Paz’s wife expressed concern to Fernando Luna that he was going to reveal the drug operation. Prosecutors allege that the Luna brothers conspired to kill Palacios Paz and that he was killed at the tire shop.

  • And here’s the story of another law enforcement officer arrested for working with drug smugglers:

    A Rio Grande Valley police officer accused of aiding a drug trafficking organization out of Starr County appeared for his initial hearing on Monday.

    Rio Grande City police officer Ramon “Ramey” De La Cruz Jr. is currently under federal custody. He’s charged with conspiring to possess and distribute marijuana.

    Investigators said he accepted cash and marijuana while providing smugglers with police radios and security.

    A Homeland Security Investigation’s federal complaint shows an extensive list of De La Cruz’s alleged crimes. It details a highway drug bust in Victoria County three years ago that led investigators to members of an alleged drug smuggling family in Starr County.

    The federal complaint shows sources from a string of indictments gave information about how De La Cruz aided the Beltran family.

    The report details how an informant said De La Cruz would give the Beltrans law enforcement documents, intel and would get paid in return with marijuana. Another informant said the police officer provided one of the smugglers with a police radio.

  • La Joya Housing Authority head Juan Jose Garza was indicted on a a bid rigging scheme:

    The 48-year-old executive director of the housing authority in a small Rio Grande Valley town and a construction company owner have been indicted on federal charges related to what prosecutors say was a bid rigging scheme.

    Juan Jose Garza, who runs the La Joya Housing Authority, and 52-year-old Armando Jimenez made initial appearances Monday before a federal magistrate in McAllen. They both were arrested Friday.

    Prosecutors say the men from July 2012 through March 2013 engaged in bid rigging for construction contracts with housing authorities in nearby Alamo and Donna in Hidalgo County.

    According to the indictment, they submitted false bids so Jimenez’s company would be awarded construction projects, then Jimenez falsely submitted invoices for work he claimed as his firm’s but actually was done by subcontractors working for Garza.

    Garza also seems to be a member of the La Joya ISD school board.

  • More on the same story, including the tidbit that “Roberto Jackson, who represents Garza [also] serves as a the [sic] La Joya city attorney.”
  • Misssed this from December of last year: Starr County Tax Assessor Collector Maria Del Carmen Pena arrested on 18 counts:

    Prosecutors have obtained five indictments against Starr County Tax Assessor Collector Maria Del Carmen Pena, charging her with 18 offenses, according to records obtained by CBS 4 News.

    Investigators arrested Pena and 14 other people Wednesday, when they raided the Tax Assessor Collector’s Office.

    According to the indictments, Pena embezzled at least $200,000 from the Tax Office from November 2010 to October 2012. Pena also conspired with clerks to backdate payments from taxpayers and make the transactions appear legitimate.

    Investigators have said they believe approximately $700,000 in taxpayer funds were stolen.

  • Two Hidalgo County employees arrested for stealing from the county. “La Villa Alderman Jose Lupe Contreras, 32, and 26-year-old Derick Palomin were arrested and charged with theft by a public servant, a Class B misdemeanor, and abuse of official capacity, a Class B misdemeanor, according to the news release.” What did they take? “The pair of cousins is accused of using county equipment to steal caliche from Precinct 1.” It takes a certain kind of genius to be arrested for stealing dirt…
  • Increased border enforcement brought by the Texas Department of Public Safety “surge” has meant that smuggling-related crime is down in Starr and Hidalgo counties, but up in Webb and Cameron counties. “The next step is going to be Cameron County, and we’ll keep moving to Zapata and Webb and keep moving west…It’s working exactly as we expected. We don’t just throw this strategy out based upon anything. This strategy was built on evidence and past experiences.”
  • Second Clinton Trump Debate Roundup

    October 10th, 2016

    No, I didn’t watch it. So here are some reactions from people who did:

  • Vodka Pundit Stephen Green: “I’ve never seen one candidate come on so week, then reverse course — in his own limited, almost demented fashion — so strongly. I’ve never seen another candidate, so thoroughly programed, act as though her various subroutines had been corrupted by one of those nasty Russian viruses.”
  • Scott Adams: “Trump won bigly. This one wasn’t close.” Also:

    The best quotable moments from the debate are pro-Trump. His comment about putting Clinton in jail has that marvelous visual persuasion quality about it, and it was the laugh of the night, which means it will be repeated endlessly. He also looked like he meant it.

    Clinton’s Abe Lincoln defense for two-faced politicking failed as hard as anything can fail. Mrs. Clinton, I knew Abe Lincoln, and you’re no Abe Lincoln. You know that was in your head. Or it will be.

  • Powerline’s John Hinderaker: “Some of the rats might want to consider returning to the ship. Donald Trump came through pretty well tonight, mainly because the focus was on the issues. As long as issues are being discussed, Trump wins….In short, Trump won. In my opinion, he won big. We will see whether it matters.”
  • How moderators hijacked the second debate. (Hat tip: Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit.)
  • Zero Hedge also scored the debate for Trump.
  • Personal Crime Blotter Note

    October 10th, 2016

    I was awoken this morning by police banging on my door.

    I looked out the window to see who it was and determined it probably had something to do with the car that was now parked mostly on my lawn, with the front still hanging off the edge into the street.

    Evidently someone had tried to steal my across-the-street neighbor’s car, had put it in neutral, where it had promptly rolled down the driveway, across the street, then up over the curb into my lawn. The perp was then unable to figure out how to get it started and in gear, so he just left it there.

    Two lessons:

    1. If you have a garage (my neighbors had converted theirs into an extra room long ago), keep your cars in it, at least the newest and most valuable ones.
    2. If you don’t have a garage, keep your doors locked. You might also consider getting The Club steering wheel lock, which can be had for less than $20.

    And keep in mind that I live in a pretty low-crime area of Williamson County.

    Hit the Wrong Button

    October 9th, 2016

    Nothing to see here. Enjoy your weekend.

    LinkSwarm for October 7, 2016

    October 7th, 2016

    It’s been one of those weeks. Enjoy a Friday LinkSwarm:

  • This just in: The eight years of the Obama Administration have been a miserable failure.
  • Some ObamaCare patients are losing their plans, others are facing huge rate hikes. In Tennessee, they’re getting both. (Hat tip: Jim Geraghty’s Morning Jolt.)
  • More on the same theme:

    ObamaCare’s unraveling shows the danger of a one-size-fits-all federal program. What’s happening in Tennessee is only a nationwide harbinger. Every single neighboring state will have less competition on its ObamaCare exchanges next year. The entire state of Alabama will have only one insurer. Almost all are facing double-digit premium increases: in Mississippi a weighted average of 16%; in Kentucky 25%; in Georgia 33%.

    These problems aren’t confined to the Southeast. ObamaCare exchange buyers will have only one option in nearly a third of American counties, according to an August report from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s a 300% increase in single-option counties from last year. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have approved rates leading to average premium increases next year of over 26%.

    (Hat tip: Director Blue.)

  • Indiana police raid offices in nine county voting fraud case. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • And speaking of voting fraud, the 86 non-citizens registered to vote in Philadelphia are just the tip of the iceberg. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • There’s even a huge voting fraud investigation going on in Tarrant County, with “a vote harvesting scheme involving as many as 20,000 ballots.”
  • Michael Moore: “I don’t think people do trust the Democrats.”
  • Even MSNBC panelists nail the media for obvious left-wing bias.
  • Race relations have gotten worse under Obama. That’s what happens when you have George Soros spending millions to poison race relations, and let Social Justice Warriors go rampaging through your institutions…
  • Both Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte and Donald Trump are gaining in New Hampshire. Remember that until very recently New Hampshire was considered a solidly Republican state.
  • Mayor de Blasio is thin-skinned and unable to handle even the slightest criticism.” (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
  • NFL ratings are down across the, and one-third of people surveyed says its because of the Black Lives Matter pandering. (Hat tip: Jim Geraghty’s Morning Jolt.)
  • Followup: Dawanna Dukes seeks a plea deal. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • So even Canada has giant brawls in its McDonalds? Bonus: Baby raccoon.
  • Peak Florida? (Hat tip: Bill Crider.)
  • This Week in Clinton Corruption for October 6, 2016

    October 6th, 2016

    Another week, another bumper crop of links on Clinton corruption:

  • That amazing thing about the Clinton web of corruption is that there are tentacles of the Clinton Foundation you’ve likely never even heard of, including the Clinton India Foundation:

    Three months after leaving the White House in 2001, former President Bill Clinton arrived in India to cheering throngs to help those who had just lost a million homes in the aftermath of a massive earthquake that killed 20,000 and injured 166,000.

    In classic Clinton style, he solemnly promised that his new nonprofit — called the American India Foundation (AIF) — would rebuild 100 villages. Rajat Gupta, his millionaire co-chairman, pledged $1 billion for the victims.

    It never happened. Years later, AIF’s annual reports were reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation and show only seven villages were partially rebuilt by Clinton’s group, and a mere $2.7 million of $53 million raised over a decade went to the earthquake victims.

    It gets worse:

    The sheer number of AIF executives who ran afoul of the law is dramatic. Clinton’s handpicked AIF co-chairmen — Rajat Gupta, then head of McKinsey & Company and Victor Menezes, then Citibank chairman — were both convicted of insider trading. Gupta served 19 months in federal prison and Menezes was fined $2.7 million.

    Gupta was close to the Clintons. He hired Chelsea Clinton right out of college for a six-figure salary to work at McKinsey and he donated between $10,000 to $25,000 to the Clinton Foundation.

    Raj Rajaratnam was perhaps the most notorious AIF trustee. He was convicted of 14 counts of security fraud in one of the largest and most spectacular Wall Street prosecutions in decades. He is currently serving serving a sentence of 11 years in prison. Gupta passed on insider tips to Rajaratnam.

    Then there’s Vinod Gupta, an AIF director who the Securities and Exchange Commission helped remove as CEO of InfoUSA because he used company funds to support a lavish lifestyle. He was forced to resign and pay $9 million in restitution.

    Vinod also bestowed large financial rewards to Clinton. He paid Bill $3.3 million and gave him 100,000 stock shares of his company without prior approval from the board of directors. Vinod allowed the Clinton family to use the company’s jet, also without board approval. The Clintons got $900,000 worth of air travel. And Vinod gave between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation.

    Vinod had spent a night in the White House Lincoln bedroom when the Clintons opened it up to donors.

    Sant Singh Chatwal, another AIF trustee, pleaded guilty in 2014 to funneling more than $180,000 in illegal contributions to candidates for federal office, including Hillary. The Times of India reported the close relationship Chatwal had with the Clintons.

    “Chatwal and his wife Daman were regular visitors to the White House during the Clinton presidency. A fortnight after the Clintons left for their new home in Chappaqua, New York, Sant Singh Chatwal and his elder son, Vikram, dropped in to meet them,” the newspaper wrote.

    Naveen Jain, an AIF trustee, was accused of buying and selling stocks with insider knowledge as CEO of InfoSpace. He eventually paid $107 million in a civil suit over insider trading.

    Ajay Shah, another trustee was forced to pay $14.8 million for contributing to the collapse of the Trust Bank of Kenya. He fled the country to avoid the Kenya High Court decree.

    Sudesh K. Arora, president of Natel, entered the criminal plea for a major Department of Defense fraud investigation. He settled and his company paid a $1 million fine.

  • How Hillary Clinton’s State Department shared insider information on Greek bonds with Chelsea Clinton’s husband, bond trader Marc Mezvinsky. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • New emails show how Clinton’s State Department staff went out of their way to perform favors for Clinton Foundation donors:

    A new batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s time at the State Department offered fresh evidence Wednesday of the pains Clinton’s staff took to accommodate her husband’s paid speeches and her family’s foundation — just hours after Sen. Tim Kaine dismissed the possibility that the Clinton Foundation had wielded influence over his running mate.

    Emails showed Clinton’s aides teamed up with the foundation to perform donor maintenance, craft messaging on key policies and put together guest lists for both diplomatic and philanthropic events. State Department staffers were often asked to advise Clinton’s husband on how to handle politically-fraught speaking engagements or foundation events, such as an effort to bring the new Libyan president to a Clinton Global Initiative meeting that was held less than two weeks after the 2012 Benghazi attacks.

    The trove of roughly 200 pages of records made public Wednesday was just the latest and most convincing indication that, rather than operate as an independent organization, the Clinton Foundation leaned heavily on the State Department to expand its global reach.

  • How the Clinton Foundation corrupted Charity Navigator with payola:

    But the four-star rating had hardly been announced before the Associated Press reported that Charity Navigator was a member of the CGI from 2012 to 2014. The CGI is one of the Clinton Foundation’s best-known programs, as it regularly convenes glittering gatherings of celebrities, government officials and philanthropic stars.

    The $20,000 CGI membership fee was waived for Charity Navigator, which reported it as an in-kind contribution, according to the AP. The news organization said Charity Navigator chairman Michael Thatcher claimed his group joined CGI “to mingle with world leaders and promote its ratings.

  • Hillary Clinton deleted nearly 1,000 emails exchanged with David Petraeus. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • How the FBI treated former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell vs. the kid gloves approach they took with Hillary Clinton.
  • The Obama Administration lifted sanctions on Burma after Chevron donated to the Clinton Foundation. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • Hillary failed as secretary of state — why would president be any different?”
  • Did the DOJ drop prosecution of a man dealing arms to Libyan rebels beause he might expose Hillary? (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
  • Ten Hillary Clinton debate lies debunked. (Hat tip: The Bull Elephant.)
  • More on the same theme.
  • Some have complained about how Donald Trump treats people. Fair enough, but have they not noticed that Clinton treats underlings like dirt?
  • Photograph evidence suggest that Hillary Clinton suffers from permanent double vision. On the bright side, that means she’s probably not a shape-shifting reptoid. Probably. (Hat tip: Dircetor Blue.)
  • More Hillary health issues.
  • Hillary Clinton avoided taxes the same way Trump did.
  • How New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is abusing his office to help the Clinton campaign.
  • Five more tidbits from hacked Clinton staffer emails. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • Twitter shadowbans Dilbert’s Scott Adams for no apparent reason, except backing Donald Trump.
  • Guccifer 2.0 Drops Files From Clinton Foundation

    October 4th, 2016

    Potentially significant? Well, there is a Folder labeled “Pay to Play,” but so far I haven’t seen anything earth-shattering.

    Maybe there’s something in those 500 MB of additional files that doesn’t want to download…

    What Sort of Immunity Deal Includes Destruction of Evidence?

    October 3rd, 2016

    Seriously, I’m asking here, in light of this headline: FBI agreed to destroy laptops of Clinton aides with immunity deal.

    Immunity deals for two top Hillary Clinton aides included a side arrangement obliging the FBI to destroy their laptops after reviewing the devices, House Judiciary Committee sources told Fox News on Monday.

    Sources said the arrangement with former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills and ex-campaign staffer Heather Samuelson also limited the search to no later than Jan. 31, 2015. This meant investigators could not review documents for the period after the email server became public — in turn preventing the bureau from discovering if there was any evidence of obstruction of justice, sources said.

    The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee fired off a letter Monday to Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking why the DOJ and FBI agreed to the restrictive terms, including that the FBI would destroy the laptops after finishing the search.

    Has such an immunity deal ever been offered to a non-Clinton associate in the history of the Republic?

    LinkSwarm for September 30, 2016

    September 30th, 2016

    Another Friday, another LinkSwarm. On a personal note, I am once again looking for a Senior Technical Writing position in the greater Austin area. If you have any leads in that direction, please let me know.

  • Polls show Hillary losing ground after debate.
  • Likewise, LA Times poll shows a slight bump for Trump.
  • Professor says there are 13 keys for an incumbent to lose the White House. By my count, Democrats suffer from just about all of them.
  • Minnesota, the only state to vote for Walter Mondale in 1984, is now a battleground state. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • Democrats give up on Ohio. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • Nineteen dead people registered to vote in Virginia. Yet more of that voting fraud Democrats swear up and down doesn’t exist… (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • Republicans cave on everything and leave town. But somehow it’s Trump that’s going to sully the spotless reputation of the Grand Old Party…
  • But at least congress overrode Obama’s veto of bill allowing 9/11 survivors to sue the Saudis 97-1. One wonders why Obama even bothered vetoing the bill, given how he had already stabbed the Saudis in the back with the Iran deal.
  • Blue Cross/Blue Shield drops out of ObamaCare exchange in Nebraska.
  • More illegal aliens on the way. (Hat tip: Praire Pundit.)
  • Two Maryland Democrats fight over which is more responsible over making Baltimore burn.
  • Chicago schools are boned. (Hat tip: The American Interest.)
  • Taxis vs. Uber.
  • Will Franklin of WILLisms put a lot of work into this school choice video:

  • Texas among four states to sue to stop the transfer of ICANN to an international governing body.
  • “Target Corporation’s transgender bathroom pander costing its shareholders billions.” (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
  • Scott Adams think that the Middle East is just building a wall around the Islamic State.
  • Ace of Spades declares war on the Republican leadership:

    Apparently, some in this party really do think they’re going to hand the election to Hillary, and, bizarrely, they think this will bully the rest of us into knuckling under to their agenda in 2020.

    Rather than simply getting payback and tanking their candidate in return.

    This party is on the verge of self-destructing. The upper class of the party is upset that the lower class has finally had its say, and they’re determined that should never be permitted to happen again.

    Why then would anyone of the lower class ever vote for the GOP again? Are they required to sign a piece of paper confirming that they are Lessers who should know their place in order to have the privilege of voting against their own interests?

    He’s also turns his fire on #NeverTrump:

    we have a hundred people who claim to be #NeverTrump and #NeverHillary but, strangely enough, never talk about the downsides of a Hillary presidency. Oh, they’ll talk up how much of an authoritarian Trump is, but not Hillary’s sense of entitlement, grievance, vengeance, and her own history of authoritarianism and lawlessness in covering up her crimes.

    They talk all day about “Principles,” but discard the most basic principles — such as keeping a proven lawbreaker out of the White House, or just honestly admitting which candidate they’re actually supporting to their readers — as convenience may recommend.

    In fact, right now they’re howling about Ted Cruz’ “calculations” in endorsing Trump, while not admitting their own pose of “Being Against Both Equally” is in fact a completely contrived lie they’ve calculated will permit them to agitate for their candidate (Hillary) while not compromising their career prospects within Conservatism, Inc. too much.

    How much can I agitate for Hillary while still retaining plausible deniability?

    How much can I agitate for Hillary to appease my anti-Trump donors while still keeping enough pro-Trump readers that my anti-Trump donors will feel they’re getting enough eyeballs per dollar of their patronage?

    The party — not just the party;the writers who are supposed to have telling the truth as their first mission, but instead of become nonstop liars all the time decrying Trump as a liar himself — has declared war on all of the Lessers beneath their station, those not in The Media and who should, therefore, not have quite as much of a say in things as they themselves have.

    They’ve made themselves into exactly what they pretend to oppose — and exactly what I do in fact oppose.

  • Canada launches prescription smack. Part of me wants to see how the experiment turns out. And part of me wants to start offering junkies one-way bus tickets to the Great (China) White North.
  • Other Canadian craziness: Montreal to euthanize all non-owned pit bulls. Way to jerk those knees, French Canadians.
  • Navy changes the way it categorizes sailors.
  • Burning Man camp vandalized.
  • More of that vaunted liberal tolerance we hear so much about these days. “Kill yourself bitch.” (Hat tip: Will Shetterly.)
  • There’s a proper and an improper way to turn down an orgy. Proper: “No thank you.” Improper: Getting stabby. Don’t they teach kids basic manners these days?
  • I picked up some signed William F. Buckley, Jr. books cheap.