LinkSwarm for January 17, 2014

January 17th, 2014

Welcome to your complimentary Friday LinkSwarm. I steal collect these from all over, including Ace of Spades HQ, Instapundit, Twitter, Facebook, and a dozen other places

  • Really, is there any book that screams “love story” like George Orwell’s 1984?
  • Reminder: North Korea is still an unmitigated communist hellhole. Not that anyone whose name isn’t Dennis Rodman has forgotten…
  • More people in Illinois sign up for concealed carry than ObamaCare. That’s so delicious I might have to rerun it for the next ObamaCare and gun news roundups…
  • Insurers say they’re just fine and dandy with ObamaCare subsidies.
  • ObamaCare cast pall of gloom over Democratic attempts to take the House. Now if only I could figure out where I placed my nanoscale violin…
  • Jonah Goldberg further explores the theme:

    In 2009, retiring Arkansas representative Marion Berry presciently warned that Obamacare was setting up the Democrats for a huge defeat in the 2010 midterms, just like “Hillarycare” had led to a loss of 54 House seats in 1994. Obama scoffed at such concerns. According to Berry, the president told him, “Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.” Republicans went on to win 63 House seats and six Senate seats. It was the largest swing in the House since 1938. So I guess the difference was him.

  • Liberal New York Times editor wonders why cancer patients can’t just hurry up and die.
  • Retiring congressman Jim Moran: Scumbag.
  • Compared to the Obama Administration, Chris Christie is a rank amateur in the vindictiveness Olympics.
  • “If the current president is making a mess of everything and almost no one is being held accountable, isn’t that a bigger story?”
  • Every so often. the New York Times publishes a lifestyle story whose entire purpose seems to be to make you hate New Yorkers. Today’s example Left-wing yuppie tells how capitalism (in the form of her failing business) made her start stealing stuff.
  • Obama tells Senate Democrats that he’s going to make John Boehner his bitch on illegal alien amnesty.
  • Ted Cruz is America’s most efficient Senator, while Rand Paul ties for most effective.
  • Calling all Jews, calling all Jews. Calling all Jews, calling all Jews. (Via Ace)
  • It occurs to me that people younger or older than a certain edge (“My lawn! Off it!”) may have no idea what I’m riffing on, so here’s the reference:

  • 100,000 government employees escape union control.
  • Obama (wait for it) gives a speech, claiming that the solution is (wait for it) bigger government. (Save this sentence, and you’ll find that you can use it over and over again the next three years…)
  • Michael Totten on Syria: “Today we have a near-zero chance of a non-horrible outcome.”
  • How the American Studies Association anti-Israel boycott breaks the law.
  • Baltic Dry Index collapsing?
  • I think I know what the next Alamo Draft House “don’t talk on your cell in the theater” ad will be.
  • Liberal actually says that the Obama Administration has no serious scandals. It’s like that Monty Python skit where the British naval officer is denying cannibalism while the guy next to him is munching on a human leg.

    I am heartened to see that not a single commenter supports his absurdist whitewash.

  • Is Egypt getting ready to take the wood to Hamas?
  • German children taken from parents because they might be exposed to incorrect thought. Nazi Germany? Communist East Germany? Try today.
  • “Socialism is the anti-Semitism of intellectuals.”

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    Posted in Border Control, Communism, Democrats, Elections, Jihad, Media Watch, unions, video | 1 Comment »

    Wendy Davis Pulls in (Extends Pinky) One MILLION Dollars From Dr. Evil, er, Oliver

    January 16th, 2014

    I’ve been going through Wendy Davis’ finance report. I hope to report some interesting tidbits, but the Statesman beat me to the punch on one of the most interesting, reporting Davis received a hefty (raises pinky) one million dollars from a doctor Carolyn Oliver.

    I’m sure liberals who complaining about the corrupting influence of money in politics will be asking her to give that back any minute now.

    (Checks watch)

    Any minute now…

    In the meantime, here’s the Washington Post and Will Franklin on why Wendy Davis’ fundraising numbers are considerably less impressive than they seem to be.

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    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Texas | No Comments »

    Member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns Sentenced to 20 Months for Illegal Gun Crime

    January 15th, 2014

    Hey, remember Nurse Bloomberg’s gun-grabbing Mayors Against Illegal Guns? Turns out that yet another member has been sentenced to prison for an illegal gun crime.

    A former Pennsylvania mayor who was a member of Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns has been sentenced to up to 20 months in jail for a gun-related crime. Last February, James Schiliro, the mayor of Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, fired a gun in an attempt to intimidate a man to whom he said he was attracted.

    Schiliro had had police bring 20-year-old Nicholas Dorsam to his home to drink wine, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. When Dorman attempted to leave, Schiliro prevented him from doing so, shooting the gun into a stack of papers and threatened to kill himself.

    Can Bloomberg pick them or what?

    This is not the first time a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns has been convicted of a felony, nor even the first time one has been convicted of a gun crime.

    By contrast the conviction rate among Texas CHL holders is exceedingly low. So why does Bloomberg’s group continue to push for the disarmament of the law-abiding?

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    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Guns | No Comments »

    Vote-Buying and Suicide Over a School Board Election?

    January 14th, 2014

    Inexplicable goings-on down in the Valley:

    “Donna school board President Alfredo Lugo hanged himself in his home on New Year’s Day, authorities confirmed Thursday.”

    Donna ISD is located in the Rio Grande Valley between McAllen and Harlingen. Lugo’s reason?

    “The motive for the suicide was not immediately clear, but it came shortly after federal authorities arrested three women accused of buying votes for school board candidates in the most recent Donna ISD election.”

    A school board election? Really? It’s not exactly a small district, given it’s $150 million budget, but still. Why would you even rig a school board election?

    Maybe for the graft? In 2011, six district officials were convicted “in a bribery scheme that that totaled more than $600,000” stretching back to at least 2002.

    Also of note: former Donna schools Superintendent Andres Martinez was awarded $1.2 million in damages in 2009:

    “Martinez, who served as the Donna school district’s chief administrator during part of 2001, sued the district and several of its then school board trustees, alleging they had conspired to illegally fire him because he refused to hire, promote or give raises to political operatives who supported the majority faction on the board.”

    Donna also has a long-standing issue with the drug trade. Related? Maybe, maybe not.

    Something stinks down in the Valley, and it’s not Mexican cheese. Attorney General Greg Abbott and/or the Texas State Board of Education (I’m unclear who would have the responsibility) might want to consider launching a full audit of the district to see just where the money has been going…

    (Hat tip: Prairie Pundit.)

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    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Texas | 5 Comments »

    ObamaCare LinkSwarm for January 13, 2014

    January 13th, 2014

    ObamaCare is performing like the 2013 Astros, but Democrats keep pretending they’re the 1927 Yankees. Here’s another roundup on the fester hill of fail that is ObamaCare:

  • Insurance companies are certainly willing to take your money for ObamaCare. But actually providing coverage for health care? Not so much. This all sounds strangely familiar. It’s a singular accomplishment to take an already-dysfunctional insurance system and make it notably worse, but that’s the Obama magic…
  • Get ready for the second wave of ObamaCare cancellations.
  • The ObamaCare death spiral will be even more acute for small businesses.
  • Democrats blame “big business” for ObamaCare disaster. Because of course Big Business passed ObamaCare on a party-line vote, then was in charge of the executive branch that was supposed to implement it…
  • What if they threw a mandate and no one came?
  • Problem: Some 250,000 Coloradans have insurance cancelled thanks to ObamaCare. Solution: Have staffer for Democratic Senator Mo Udall lean on insurance agency to revise the number downward.
  • You know those “lousy” Walmart health care plans liberals are always criticizing? Turns out they’re better and chaper than what people can get under ObamaCare.
  • Obamacare questions the White House won’t answer.
  • Democratic Senators up for re-election in 2014 find the bed they’ve made really, really uncomfortable.
  • It only took the Obama Administration a year to figure out their website contractor sucked and to replace them. That’s some mighty fine project management there, Lou…
  • “The story of Obamacare is a story of small businesses and cancelled plans and struggling families, but it’s also the story of its architect. From his promises on the campaign trail in 2008 to the ongoing health care crisis of 2014, we’ve seen Barack Obama reduced from an orator and champion of the middle class to an ineffective leader lacking the humility and courage to admit that he was wrong. The president has inextricably tied healthcare reform to his legacy, and both sink further into the abyss each time another working American loses his insurance.”

    • Posted in Democrats, Elections, ObamaCare | No Comments »

    Flash Mob Loots Convienance Store in Bryan, Texas

    January 12th, 2014

    Another week, another flash mob of teenagers looting a store, this time in Bryan, Texas.

    Once again, the video suggests that it’s an overwhelmingly (though not exclusively) black crowd.

    You would think self-preservation would dissuade them from trying to rob someplace that obviously has video cameras…

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    Posted in Crime, Texas, video | 1 Comment »

    Ariel Sharon, RIP

    January 11th, 2014

    Former Israeli General and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has died at age 85 after being in a coma since 2006.

    While Sharon was a hugely important and influential political figure, I want to highlight his brilliance as a general. Israel’s swift and sure destruction of numerically superior Egyptian forces in the Sinai (with a total area significantly larger than Israel itself) under the leadership of Sharon, Israel Tal and Avraham Yoffe in a mere four days in 1967 are a big reason it’s called the Six Day War.

    Here’s a History Channel show on The Six day War, complete with Machinima recreations of the battles.

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    Posted in Military, video | No Comments »

    Ted Cruz at TPPF

    January 10th, 2014

    I couldn’t attend this year’s Texas Public Policy Foundation legislative orientation session, but for those who couldn’t make it, here’s Ted Cruz’s Friday speech.

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    Posted in Texas, video | No Comments »

    Hot Stuff

    January 10th, 2014

    A couple of days ago I mentioned that hot sauce maker Sriracha had been temprarily shut down due to more stringent California regulations.

    Now the followup: In good news for pho restaurants everywhere, Huy Fong Foods announced that Sriracha shipments will resume by the end of the month.

    Moreover, Texas Republican state representative Jason Villalba has invited them to come on over to Texas.

    Villalba, who has been in office for a little under a year, happens to be a Sriracha fan, but he’s looking to move the company for more than personal reasons. He notes in his letter that in Texas there are no personal or corporate state income taxes and a plentiful non-union labor pool. He also mentions that Forbes Magazine named Texas the best climate in the country to grow a business.

    “The great state of Texas would welcome you and your employees with open arms if you would consider moving…” reads the letter. “…Texas could provide you with exactly what you need to continue to grow, build and maximize the opportunities of Huy Fong Foods.”

    Houston Democratic state rep Gene Wu has also invited them over as well.

    No word on whether they’re considering moving or not, but plenty of California businesses have already relocated from California’s failing blue state model to Texas’ booming economy, so it’s certainly possible…

    (Hat tip: Instapundit.)

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    Posted in Regulation, Texas | No Comments »

    Travis County Ending Gun Shows at the Expo Center?

    January 9th, 2014

    So it appears:

    Travis County won’t be hosting a gun show in its Exposition Center after this month, after county commissioners did not renew a lease for the controversial event.

    “Controversial” in the sense that “liberals don’t like it.”

    Saxet Gun Shows has been hosting the nearly-monthly show at the Expo Center since 2010 and had been negotiating a new contract for eight shows from March to January 2015, but got nowhere as county officials wanted the company to require background checks for all firearm sales. The company refused to require background checks for all transactions, and neither side has budged in the weeks of discussions, officials said.

    (Hat tip: Dwight.)

    Does this count as a violation of the preemption clause of Section 229 of the Texas local government code, which states:

    (a) Notwithstanding any other law, including Section 43.002 of this code and Chapter 251, Agriculture Code, a municipality may not adopt regulations relating to:

    (1) the transfer, private ownership, keeping, transportation, licensing, or registration of firearms, ammunition, or firearm supplies

    I am not a lawyer, so I don’t want to hazard guess. It certainly seems less clear-cut than when they tried to ban gun shows outright. I did send off a tweet to Texas Attorney General (and 2014 gubernatorial favorite) Greg Abbott to ask his opinion…

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    Posted in Austin, Guns, Texas | No Comments »

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