Shoe0nHead Debunks “The Pink Tax” (Again)

May 20th, 2018

Shoe0nHead did a video debunking the idea of “the pink tax” (i.e., that women pay more than men for the exact same goods). So what does YouTube do?

It puts ads promoting the pink tax at the beginning of her videos.

So, naturally, she has to produce another pink tax debunking video.

Liberal Texas Republican Follies

May 19th, 2018

Two primary runoff tidbits, courtesy of Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans:

  • A silly but effective fake 911 call from liberal Republican Lance Gooden, who’s in a tight runoff with Bunni Pounds in the U.S. Fifth Congressional District race against Bunni Pounds. (Previously.)
  • Liberal Scott Milder, who got walloped in the Lt. Governor’s republican primary by incumbent Dan Patrick, endorsed liberal Democrat and perennial candidate Mike Collier for the office and announced he was launching a campaign called http://conservativesforcollier.com/. One tiny little problem: Empower Texans already owns that website. That’s some mighty fine planning there, Lou…
  • LinkSwarm for May 18, 2018

    May 18th, 2018

    At some point I will grapple with all the unraveling Clinton/Mueller/Fusion GPS/FISA/Brennan Scandularity…but not today.

  • Democrats, rather than maximizing their chance at a blue wave, have insisted on electing far left-wing candidates over more-electable party moderates. Those national results replicate what the Texas Democratic Party did to themselves: Push moderates out of the party. Result: More Republicans elected. They appear hellbent on replicating those results at the national level…
  • Former New York speaker of the House Sheldon Silver found guilty of a kickback scheme yet again. The first conviction was overturned on appeal over a technicality.
  • “The people who’ve lost their way are the liberals and civil libertarians, blinded by their rage for Trump, who have dropped their principles in a moment of political threat and are taking out their anger on a man who has been their staunchest ally. Maybe the question isn’t what happened to Alan Dershowitz. Maybe it’s what happened to everyone else.” Caveat: Writer suffers from usual “Fox News and Trump are the Devil” derangement. (Hat tip: Ann Althouse.)
  • President Donald Trump: “Members of the violent MS-13 gang are animals.” MSM: “Trump just said all undocumented immigrants are animals!” Also: “Trump supporters are fleeing the media not because they want cheerleaders, but because they are tired of a secular, coastal, liberal press that not only cannot relate to heartland voters but thinks it is beneath them to even try.”
  • Rep. Lou Barletta wins Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary, to face Bob Casey in the general. Barletta earned a lot of nationwide Republican gratitude for taking out Stupak block flip-flopper Paul Kanjorski in 2010.
  • China, Russia and other scumbag authoritarian countries are lying about their GDP. This is my shocked face. This also why you should take all those “OMG China’s economy will overtake the U.S. in 20XX!” panics with several grains of sand.
  • Seattle thinks that golden goose would taste mighty fine cooked in a white wine reduction.
  • Class-action lawsuit filed against Facebook over revelations that the company logged users’ text and call logs using the Facebook smartphone app on Android phones. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • EU: here’s a statement condemning the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania: LOL, no. BLOCKED. (Hat tip: Pat Condell on Gab.)
  • Tom Wolfe, RIP.
  • Another case of illegal alien voter fraud that Democrats swear doesn’t exist.
  • President Trump wrings airline agreement out of gulf states.
  • The mathematician who cracked horse racing. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • Joe Straus backed a lot of liberal Republican state candidates in March, to the tune of $1 million, and they all got walloped.
  • More scandal at the University of Texas law school:

    Jason Shoumaker, the law school’s facilities director until November 2017, is the subject of an ongoing probe by the Travis County District Attorney’s Office and the Texas Rangers. Though Shoumaker was taken into custody Thursday over tampering charges, he is at the heart of a major fraud investigation – one that potentially involves “several million dollars of questionable expenses,” a source familiar with the probe said….During multiple pay periods, Shoumaker logged regular 8-hour days with the university while he was actually cavorting out of state, according to the affidavit.

  • George Soros pulls out of Hungary.
  • #BadStockPhotosOfMyJob. But they obviously nailed the one for writers:

  • Death by Snu Snu! (Hat tip: Slone’s Twitter feed.)
  • Twitter Admits Shadowbanning Users

    May 17th, 2018

    In case you missed it, Twitter came out and admitted it shadowbans users in all but name.

    Twitter has acknowledged that it is working to artificially limit the reach of “troll-like” accounts on the platform — “shadowbanning” users in all but name, a practice that the company has repeatedly denied.

    In an announcement earlier today, Twitter said they were taking steps to limit “behaviors that distort and detract from the public conversation” by downranking content that exhibits such behaviors from search results and “public conversations.”

    In other words, if your behavior is considered “troll-like” by Twitter, it will be harder for other users to find your posts on the platform. The practice of limiting the visibility of content without formally suspending the content owner, notifying them, or deleting the content in question the definition of shadowbanning.

    Although Twitter employees have been caught on camera admitting that shadowbanning takes place on the platform, the company continues to publicly deny that it engages in the practice — they have even made such denials in Senate hearings.

    Twitter has made little effort to be transparent about the kind of signals it looks for when seeking to identify accounts that, in their words, “distort the conversation.” One of their employees was caught on camera admitting that accounts that post too much about “God, guns, and America” are likely to be classified as “bots,” but there is no acknowledgment of that in Twitter’s announcement.

    Twitter only provided a few examples of the kind of signals they look for.

    There are many new signals we’re taking in, most of which are not visible externally. Just a few examples include if an account has not confirmed their email address, if the same person signs up for multiple accounts simultaneously, accounts that repeatedly Tweet and mention accounts that don’t follow them, or behavior that might indicate a coordinated attack. We’re also looking at how accounts are connected to those that violate our rules and how they interact with each other.

    Buried at the bottom of the announcement post is another admission: Twitter has given itself the authority to restrict content that doesn’t even violate its policies.

    These signals will now be considered in how we organize and present content in communal areas like conversation and search. Because this content doesn’t violate our policies, it will remain on Twitter, and will be available if you click on “Show more replies” or choose to see everything in your search setting.

    Although considerable political attention has been focused on Facebook over its alleged political censorship, Twitter has a far worse track record. Conservatives and critics of progressivism are still routinely kicked off the platform, often for no other reason that presenting facts and political arguments.

    Want to see if you’re shadowbanned? Here’s a tester.

    Here’s a Slashdot thread on the subject.

    (Previously.)

    In A Surprise Development, Germany Now Sucks At War

    May 16th, 2018

    One reason both Kaiser Wilhelm and Adolf Hitler were able to plunge the globe into successive world wars was that the German military was just that good. The combination of Germany’s industrial might and the Prussian military tradition proved a deadly and potent combination, which (along with innovations in tactics and technology) explain how the Wehrmacht rolled over so much of Europe between 1939 and 1941.

    Even after the war, those factors still made West Germany’s reformed Bundeswehr one of the more formidable fighting forces in NATO.

    But those days of military prowess appear to be gone, a victim of budget cuts.

    If Europe is to take its destiny into its own hands any time soon, Germany has a lot of work to do—the Bundeswehr, Germany’s defense ministry, is suffering from multiple readiness crises in a culmination of years of cost-shaving and poor management decisions. And the latest symptom to emerge of that crisis is the dwindling number of actually functional fighter jets that the Luftwaffe, Germany’s air force, can actually call combat ready. For the Eurofighter Typhoon, Germany’s main fighter aircraft, that number is four—out of a total of 128.

    But that’s not all:

  • The German Navy has had to refuse delivery of the first of its new class of frigates after the ship failed sea trials, and only five of the Navy’s existing 13 frigates were capable of being deployed.
  • The last available German submarine was pulled out of service for repairs, as all the other submarines in the fleet sit in drydock or sit idle due to lack of replacement parts. (One of those submarines may now be back in service.)
  • The German Army was found to lack enough tanks and armored personnel carriers, or even enough basic equipment for soldiers, to fulfill its commitment to NATO’s Very High Readiness Task Force at the beginning of 2019. While 105 out of 244 Leopard 2 tanks were called “ready for use,” only nine could be fully armed for the VHRF.
  • Only 12 of 62 Tiger attack helicopters and 16 of Germany’s 72 CH-53 cargo helicopters were available for exercises and operations last year; the rest were grounded for maintenance.
  • At any time over the last year, only three of the Bundeswehr Airbus A400M transport aircraft were ready to fly.
  • Stars and Stripes has more on the same theme:

    Germany’s military is virtually undeployable and security experts say it is too weak to meet its obligations to its allies, as it prepares to assume command of NATO’s crisis response force next year.

    Pressure on Berlin is mounting after a series of revelations has exposed the German military as one of the least combat ready in NATO, despite its economic heft.

    “The readiness of the German military is abysmal,” said Jorge Benitez, a NATO expert with the Atlantic Council in Washington. “For years, German leaders have known that major elements of their armed forces, such as tanks, submarines and fighter jets, are not fully operational and can’t be used for actual military missions.”

    The military dysfunction is likely to re-emerge as a flashpoint between Berlin and Washington when President Donald Trump attends a NATO summit in July.

    Berlin’s persistent shortcomings and resistance to meeting NATO spending targets is likely to further strain relations with Washington and risks a standoff that could eventually test the unity of the alliance and the American commitment to it.

    Trump, long ambivalent about the value of NATO, remains fixated on Germany as a security free-rider: The alliance “helps them a hell of a lot more than it helps us,” Trump said in December.

    If you’re going to have one major industrial power suck at war, Germany is a pretty good candidate, given all the Historical Unpleasantness that resulted when they didn’t. But that development does make it unlikely that NATO can maintain anything like the agreed-upon level of deterrence.

    (Hat tip: Borepatch.)

    Blue Wave? Not So Much

    May 15th, 2018

    Remember when dislike of President Donald Trump was going to propel Democrats into control of both houses of congress in an unstoppable “blue wave”?

    Well, that thinking is so 2017:

    After months of confidence that public discontent with President Trump would lift Democrats back to power in Congress, some party leaders are fretting that their advantages in this year’s midterms are eroding amid a shifting political landscape.

    Driving their concerns are Trump’s approval rating, which has ticked upward in recent weeks, and high Republican turnout in some recent primaries, suggesting the GOP base remains energized. What’s more, Republicans stand to benefit politically from a thriving economy and are choosing formidable candidates to take on vulnerable Democratic senators.

    One of their biggest sources of anxiety is the Senate race in Florida, where some Democrats fear that three-term Sen. Bill Nelson has not adequately prepared to defend his seat against Gov. Rick Scott, a well-financed former businessman handpicked for the race by Trump. Scott and Nelson are close in early polls.

    “I’m concerned about the race. I think everybody is,” said Ione Townsend, the Democratic Party chair in Hillsborough County, home to Tampa. Townsend said it will “be hard to compete” with Scott’s money.

    The growing alarm about Nelson, one of 10 Democratic senators running this year in a state won by Trump in 2016, prompted the Senate’s top Democrat, Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), to sound the alarm a few months ago in a private meeting in which he pleaded with Nelson to step up his efforts and hire a campaign manager, which he did not do until March, according to people familiar with the conversation.

    In West Virginia, where Trump won by about 42 points and Republicans gave the president credit last week for urging voters to reject the primary candidacy of a former coal executive who had served jail time, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III acknowledged that Trump’s popularity in the state is a major boon for the Republicans.

    “The more he can stay out of West Virginia and direct his energies elsewhere would be helpful,” Manchin said.

    Does Manchin actually think President Trump’s going to take that advice?

    In another sign that Democrats’ “All Trump Derangement Syndrome, All The Time” platform isn’t winning over voters, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown says they need to cut it out:

    It’s time for the Democrats to stop bashing President Trump.

    It’s not going to be easy, given his policies and personality. It might even mean checking into a 12-step program. But setting a winning agenda is like maneuvering an aircraft carrier. It takes time to change course. And if they want to be on target for the November midterm elections, the Democrats need to start changing course now.

    Like it or not, a significant number of Americans are actually happy these days. They are making money. They feel safe, and they agree with with the president’s protectionist trade policies, his call for more American jobs, even his immigration stance.

    The jobs growth reports, the North Korea summit and the steady economy are beating out the Stormy Daniels scandal and the Robert Mueller investigation in Middle America, hands down.

    So you are not going to win back the House by making it all about him.

    Rather than stoking the base by attacking Trump, Democrats need to come up with a platform that addresses the average voters’ hopes and concerns. Not just the needs of underdogs or whatever cause happens to be the media flavor of the week.

    Will Democrats heed his advice? I sincerely doubt they’re intellectually and emotionally capable of doing so. Democratic elites hate President Trump on an even more visceral level than they hated Bush43, and I doubt many are capable of dialing back the Trump Derangement Syndrome even if they wanted to…

    Texas Primary Runoff Voting Starts Today

    May 14th, 2018

    Texas primary runoff voting starts today. The headlining race is on the Democratic gubernatorial runoff, with Lupe Valdez and Andrew White jockeying for a chance to be creamed by Greg Abbott in November, but there are a number of undecided U.S. congressional races/etc., including Chip Roy vs. Matt McCall for the U.S. 21st congressional district and Bunni Pounds vs. Lance Gooden for the 5th. And here in Williamson County we have a runoff for the Place 6 on the 3rd Court of Appeals between Donna Davidson and Mike Toth (favor Toth, who’s been endorsed by Empower Texans).

    SDF Finally Clearing Euphrates Pocket

    May 13th, 2018

    After Deir Ez-Zor fell in early November of 2017, it looked like the war against the Islamic State in its own, self-professed caliphate was all but over.

    But then a funny thing happened. That theater of the war seemed to go into a sort of hibernation as other theaters in Syria (the Turkish incursion, the continued war in western Syria, and recently Israel bombing Iranian positions) heated up. That left several disjointed enclvaes of Islamic State control. Here’s what things looked like in at the end of 2017:

    Notice that little Islamic State pocket along the Euphrates southeast of Deir ez-Zor running from Hajin to Abu Kamal on the Iraqi border. One of the great mysteries of the war is why that enclave wasn’t crushed following the fall of Deir Ez-Zor. Instead, it remained there, largely unchanged, for half a year.

    That finally appears to be changing.

    In operation called #JazeeraStorm (I’m also seeing #CizireStorm), the Syrian Democratic Forces have finally launched an offensive aimed at crushing that pocket.

    Here’s a tweet with a very useful map:

    Today the village of Baqhous, directly on the Iraqi border, was captured, meaning the SDF have successfully pushed to the Euphrates there and are cooperating with Iraqi army troops to secure the border.

    Here’s a map of what the pocket looks like now:

    It’s possible that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may be hiding in the Euphrates pocket. Given how elusive al-Baghdadi has been in previous phases of the war, I’ll believe it when we announce his capture.

    Real Charges Finally Filed in Waco Biker Shootout

    May 12th, 2018

    Finally, just shy of three years after the Twin Peaks shootout between rival biker gangs that left nine people dead, suspects have finally been indicted on charges of murder in their deaths:

    A McLennan County grand jury Wednesday re-indicted 24 of the remaining 37 defendants in the Twin Peaks biker shootout on a variety of charges, as the district attorney’s office continues to veer sharply from the prosecutorial path it took three years ago.

    The bikers had previously been indicted in 2015 or 2016 on identical charges of engaging in organized criminal activity as members of criminal street gangs.

    The new charges handed down Wednesday include three murder counts, in addition to first-degree and second-degree riot charges and tampering with physical evidence charges.

    Prosecutors are expected to dismiss the cases of remaining Twin defendants who were not re-indicted Wednesday, officials close to the cases said. The statute of limitations to charge bikers with riot runs out next week, though there is no statute of limitations on murder.

    While the DA’s office did not dismiss the engaging in organized criminal activity charges, the new charges will supersede the older charges and are the ones prosecutors say they will pursue from now on.

    The original organized crime charge carried a maximum sentence of life in prison. Some of the defendants now are facing a lighter possible maximum sentence, while those who were indicted on murder or first-degree riot charges could still be sentenced to life.

    Judge Matt Johnson of Waco’s 54th State District Court said Wednesday he will not require the bikers re-indicted in his court to make post-indictment bonds or to be arrested again. Judge Ralph Strother of 19th State District Court said he also will not require the bikers to post new bonds, saying he deems the original bonds to be sufficient.

    Nine bikers were killed and 20 injured on May 17, 2015 in the shootout between Bandidos and Cossacks at the former Twin Peaks restaurant. The DA’s office has dismissed 118 of the original 155 Twin Peaks indictments in the past few months, and none of those dismissed defendants were re-indicted Wednesday.

    Among those still facing charges with a possible life sentence is Jeffrey Battey, a 53-year-old Bandido from Ponder, who was re-indicted on a murder count and a first-degree felony riot count in the shooting death of Matthew Smith.

    Seth Sutton, Battey’s Waco-based attorney, said if “Reyna’s regime” had wanted the grand jury to get a complete picture of the evidence, prosecutors should have allowed Sutton to address the panel.

    “As with the original indictment from 2015, Mr. Reyna clearly did not want the grand jury to hear the truth,” Sutton said. “We look forward to the day when we will finally get to present exactly what happened on May 17, 2015, to a jury of 12 McLennan County citizens.

    “It is this kind of misguided prosecution that has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars, has undermined the public confidence in our system of justice and has produced hundreds of dismissals with no convictions. As we have maintained from the beginning, we believe that justice will prevail for Mr. Battey and that he will be acquitted of all wrongdoing,” he said.

    Reyna has kept a low profile at the courthouse since his defeat in the March Republican primary, and he did not return phone messages Wednesday.

    I’ll bet he didn’t. If Reyna had just done his freaking job rather than pursue an unconstitutional policy of collective guilt, these indictments could have been handed down more than two years ago.

    Also indicted in the murder of Matthew Smith was Ray Arnold Allen, 48, of Krum, a Bandido who also was indicted on riot charges.

    According to court records, Smith, 27, of Keller, was shot twice — once in the upper back and once in the abdomen. The bullet in his back was described as a “medium-caliber jacketed projectile.” The bullet through his abdomen hit his right kidney and aorta before exiting.

    A Waco police officer reported that as he approached the Twin Peaks shootout scene he saw Battey and Allen standing behind the restaurant “in a triangulated position” in relation to Smith, who was lying on the ground about five yards away and “gasping for air,” according to court documents.

    An officer noticed Allen had a silver handgun in his hand and said Battey had been shot in his upper right shoulder, according to the documents.

    Also Wednesday, the grand jury indicted Glenn Allen Walker, 46, on murder and riot counts. He is charged in the death of Richard Kirschner, 47, of Wylie.

    Kirschner, 47, suffered a gunshot wound to his right thigh, one to the left knee and one in the left buttock. He also suffered a superficial cut to the right side of his neck, a scalp laceration and abrasions to his face, trunk and extremities, reports show.

    The grand jury also re-indicted Jacob Carrizal, 36, president of the Dallas Bandidos chapter and the only one of the original 155 indicted bikers to stand trial so far. Carrizal’s trial ended in mistrial when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.

    Carrizal was re-indicted on a first-degree riot charge, which has a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.

    This is a vast step forward toward bringing justice to all involved, innocent and guilty alike. The issue of law enforcement overreaction, which appears to be a significant cause in some of the deaths, remains unresolved.

    (Hat tip: Dwight.)

    LinkSwarm for May 11, 2018

    May 11th, 2018

    You know what doesn’t seem to be happening today? An all-out war between Israel, Syria and Iran.

  • The media is killing the Democratic Party by trying to help it and focusing on trivial bullshit.
  • Is Robert Mueller destroying the Democratic Party? (Hat tip: DirectorBlue.)
  • Nancy Pelosi says she wants to be Speaker again. How nice of her to fire up the Republican base for midterms…
  • Democratic advantage on generic congressional ballots down to 1.2%. And that’s from Reuters, which is not known to be particularly Republican or Trump friendly…
  • Ann Althouse on those silly Russian Facebook ads:

    I’m thinking that the Democrats who are making such a big deal out of these ads really don’t themselves believe in democracy. They have been going on and on for a year and a half about how Donald Trump shouldn’t be President. Personally, I want to believe in democracy, and what I saw back in November 2016 is that the American people voted Donald Trump into office. I accept that he is rightfully President because he won the election. It bothers me tremendously that so many people won’t do that. I think they do not believe in democracy. And I know they are leaning very hard into the argument that what happened wasn’t real democracy. Look at those stupid ads they’ve made such a big deal about!

    AND: Please don’t tell me about Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote. What if Donald Trump had held rallies in upstate New York and various places in California, etc. etc.? He won the election that was held. She won an imaginary election that he wasn’t competing in.

  • For the first time in two decades, job openings equal the number of unemployed. Usual statistical caveats apply.
  • Maybe that’s because President Trump’s high pressure economy looks to raise wages for workers. (Hat tip: Mickey Kaus.)
  • All the questionable financial dealings of Stormy Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • Want to review the original data on global warming? Too bad. There is no data. Only Zuul.
  • Antifa vandalizes Portland police cars. (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
  • Google has decided that arrested black people just need to stay in jail.
  • Baghdad now has thriving night life and bars again. Plus men sport hairstyles that look like they’re auditioning to play the next alien race on Star Trek. Also this: “As the war against ISIS wound down, [Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-]Abadi began removing the drab, ugly concrete blast walls that once divided neighborhoods. The government is moving many of these barriers to the Syrian border, where it is creating a wall to keep out ISIS militants.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • George Deukmejian, RIP. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Bret Easton Ellis on Kayne West’s redpilling: “As someone who considers themselves a disillusioned Gen-X’er, I think there IS a backlash brewing against leftist hysteria…What I used to semi-align myself with has no answers for anything right now, just constant bitching and finding ways to delegitimize an election.” And if you can’t trust the author of American Psycho to offer unbiased political commentary, who can you trust?
  • “Cultural appropriation is not a glitch of American life. It’s a feature. It’s part of what makes the country great. We take your culture, we get rid of the oppression, the mass murder, the slavery, the intransigent poverty and the endless internecine wars. We keep the pasta and the funny hats.”
  • Uber software decided pedestrian was a false positive. Result: Dead pedestrian.
  • Since Dick’s Sporting Goods has decided to lobby for gun control (just how does that increase shareholder value for a sporting goods company?), Springfield Armory has cut ties with them.
  • As has Mossberg.
  • Happy 112th birthday to Austin’s own Richard Overton!
  • “She also said that Janet Museveni had no power over her, because, as the mother of twins, she had endured a pain Museveni would never know. Her vagina was bigger and more powerful than Museveni’s, Nyanzi said.” (Hat tip: Ann Althouse.)
  • Now some links from the “Old News Is So Exciting!” file:

  • Since I was distracted primary week by a dying dog, this bit of news slipped under the radar and I only recently realized I forgot to report it: Democratic State Rep. Dawnna Dukes went down in flames back in March, along with fellow Democratic state reps Roberto Alonzo of Dallas, Tomas Uresti (brother of convicted felon and former state senator Carlos Uresti) of San Antonio, and Diana Arevalo of San Antonio.
  • From 2015: “Police find 3,700 knives, satanic shrine in mobile home of Florida woman who tried stabbing an officer.” I think that’s taking your cosplay too far. Also, unless your ID card says “Sarah Kerrigan,” you don’t get to be the Queen of Blades…
  • This Penny Arcade post is actually from several years ago. I thought it was a swell piece of writing then, and since Tycho relinked to it recently, I read it again, and still think it’s a swell piece of writing. I commend it to your attention.