May 11th, 2015
Remember Plano pipeline bomber Anson Chi? Having already plead guilty (twice) for the attempted bombing, Chi, acting as his own attorney during the penalty phase of the trial, now claims his confession was tortured out of him.
Given the overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence against him (like the fact he managed to do more damage to himself than the pipeline), I think that idea is exceptionally unlikely. I suspect that the gulf between Chi’s self assessment of his legal skills and his actual skills are as vast as those between his conception of himself as an eco-avenging terrorist and his actual skills therefore…
Tags: Anson Chi, bomb, Plano, Texas
Posted in Crime, Texas | No Comments »
May 10th, 2015
Evidently the UK hard left is having a giant hissy fit in London over the fact they got their asses kicked by the Tories in this week’s election.
Also, here’s a helpful hint: When you start throwing things at police, you’re no longer part of a “protest,” you’re part of a “riot.”
And what says “Class” like defacing a World War II Monument?
“Hey greatest generation: Screw all of you! Defeating Hitler means nothing unless we can keep increasing the size of the welfare state!”
All the left’s temper tantrum will accomplish is reminding voters why they gave the Tories a clear majority in the first place.
Tags: Crime, Elections, Foreign Policy, Labour, riot, UK
Posted in Crime, Elections, Foreign Policy | No Comments »
May 8th, 2015
And the Greece shell game over implementing reform (or, since it’s Greece, “reform”) continues.
Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis (who’s evidently still doing the negotiating, reports to the contrary notwithstanding) has handed the Eurocrats a proposal that doesn’t match what was discussed in negotiations. It’s like a cheap farce, or a con game to see how long they can keep string Europe along without actually agreeing to anything.
Greece Syriza government has said to their creditors: Economic reality? We don’t need your stinking economic reality! “Greece defied its international creditors on Thursday, refusing to cut pensions or ease layoffs to meet their demands, dimming prospects of progress next week towards securing desperately needed financial aid.”
Greece’s government also rehired public sector employees they previously laid off. What’s giving the engine a little more gas when you’re headed for the wall at full speed?
Other Greek debt crisis tidbits:
Greece introduces mandatory surcharges on tax withdrawals above €1,000 Euros.
Plus an 18% hotel and restaurant tax. Extra bonus: It will hit some tourists who have already prepaid for vacations. “It’s catastrophic.”
Living life under the threat of default. “I’ve got a bad feeling we’re not going to get a good ending.”
European “Commission President Jean Claude Juncker said that if Greece left the single currency area, the ‘Anglo-Saxon world’ would try everything to break it up.” Hey Jean Claude: Reality is doing a great job breaking up the Eurozone all by itself, between its unsustainable welfare state, its aging population, and the insistence of Euroelites on cutting those filthy commoners from having any say in the matter. And as for the “Anglo-Saxon world” trying to break up the Eurozone, have you seen whose in charge of things these days?
Greece’s Blazing Saddles act is wearing thin. (I seem to remember having made this exact comparison before…)
Tags: Budget, European Central Bank, European Debt Crisis, Eurozone, Foreign Policy, Greece, Jean Claude Juncker, Syriza, Welfare State, Yanis Varoufakis
Posted in Budget, Economics, Foreign Policy, Welfare State | No Comments »
May 8th, 2015
David Cameron’s Conservative Party won an outright majority in parliamentary elections and will be forming the next government. Labour, after having managed to piss off almost everyone during last year’s vote on Scottish independence, was essentially wiped out in Scotland, all but one of their MPs replaced by candidates from the Scottish National Party, and right now is losing 26 seats. The Liberal Democrats were all but wiped out elsewhere, losing 48 seats, and UKIP managed nearly four million votes, but only a single parliamentary seat.
These were not the results which most pollsters foresaw, none of which saw the Tories getting more than 285 seats. Between this and the Israeli election results, it’s almost as if media pollsters have a systematic bias in favor of the big government parties favored by media elites…
Will Cameron govern more conservatively with an outright majority now that he no longer needs the rump of the Liberal Democrats in a coalition? Possibly. But if he reneges on his promise to hold a referendum on EU membership no later than 2017, expect to see a huge backlash against his leadership.
Update: Final count is 331 Conservative MPs.
Tags: Conservatives, David Cameron, Elections, Foreign Policy, UK, UKIP
Posted in Elections, Foreign Policy | 1 Comment »
May 7th, 2015
Shot:
“Get out, you fucking Jew.” Or the naked antisemitism at the heart of George Galloway’s Pakistani-clan-appeasing “Respect” Party in West Bradford.
Chaser:
“The radical left-wing loon George Galloway has finally been ousted from Parliament. He failed to win re-election in his constituency of Bradford West, losing to the Labor party’s Naz Shah.”
Tags: anti-semitism, Ben Judah, Elections, George Galloway, Jihad, Social Justice Warriors, UK, victimhood
Posted in Elections, Jihad, Social Justice Warriors | No Comments »
May 7th, 2015
Former Texas Democratic congressman and Speaker of the House Jim Wright has died at age 92.
As Speaker, Wright was a hyper-partisan that ran roughshod over the Republican minority while committing sleazy ethical lapses. As Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA) once noted, “Jim Wright was like an evil fog that floated over everyone’s head.”
Alas, Wright’s death means I’ll never get a chance to get him to sign my copy of Reflections of a Public Man.*
It’s a slender collection of personal reflections and pithy aphorisms that even at 117 pages is badly padded. It was also a blatant scam to bypass congressional limits on personal honorarium.
The real focus of the marketing effort for Reflections of a Public Man was on bulk sales to trade associations and other groups. Almost 98% of all sales of “Reflections of a Public Man” were bulk sales of 15 or more books. In some instances, Wright’s staff informed various groups Wright spoke to that because he had already reached the maximum limit on outside earned income for that year, he would not be able to keep an honorarium offered to him. The staff then recommended that instead of paying Wright an honorarium, the organization could purchase books for the same amount . . .
For example,) Wright spoke at a Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Assn. trade show in September, 1985, just several weeks after SBCA had purchased 1,680 copies of “Reflections of a Public Man” for $10,000. SBCA testified that although it historically has paid honoraria and expenses to congressmen for their appearances, in this case SBCA’s legal counsel, who arranged for Wright to speak at the trade show, suggested that SBCA purchase the books instead. Thus, Wright received a $5,500 “royalty” for his appearances before the SBCA.
So that works out to a 55% royalty rate. 10-15% royalties for hardbacks is industry standard. It’s possible that J. K. Rowling and Stephen King might (might) get as much as 25%. If J.K. Rowling demanded a 55% royalty rate, her publisher would have no choice but to turn her down, since they’d be losing money on every book sold.
Through Wright resigned, his strong-handed tactics helped lead to the rise of Newt Gingrich and his Contract With America, which helped pave the way for the 1994 Republican takeover of the House. (And don’t let the New York Times obituary fool yeah; Wright had squat to do with bringing peace to Nicaragua, which was achieved through the pressure of the Reagan Doctrine and the crumbling of the Eastern block, which finally realized it was too broke to prop out communist dictators in Central America.)
*Though I did get Newt Gingrich to sign it…
(Hat tip: Dwight.)
Tags: Communism, Democrats, Jim Wright, Newt Gingrich, Nicaragua, Obituary, Reagan Doctrine, Ronald Reagan, Texas
Posted in Communism, Democrats | No Comments »
May 6th, 2015
A new Quinnipiac poll of Iowa is out, and it shows Jeb Bush losing to, well, pretty much everyone:
Only 5% of likely Iowa GOP caucus-goers told Quinnipiac University pollsters that they planned to vote for Bush, placing him No. 7 in the field of declared or potential 2016 candidates.
Even worse for Bush: He may not have as much room to grow over the next year as other candidates do. One-quarter of Republicans said they definitely could not support Bush, the lowest ceiling of support of any candidate in the Hawkeye State, and 45% said Bush was “not conservative enough.”
The top Republican in Iowa is Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who garnered support from 21% of those surveyed. Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are tightly packed for second place, each earned between 13% and 11% support. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who unveiled his campaign on Monday, tallied 7% of the vote.
Jeb Bush losing to Scott Walker, Ran Paul, and Ted Cruz isn’t a surprise; Bush losing to Ben Carson, a political neophyte who has no chance to win the nomination, is.
When you dig further, Bush’s basic unpopularity rating comes to the fore: “Negative 39 – 45 percent favorability rating for Bush, and 36 percent saying he’s about right on issues, while 45 percent say he’s not conservative enough.”
Polls this early are essentially meaningless (remember when Howard Dean was going to win Iowa?), but the fact Bush is polling so poorly this early suggests both that he’s deeply unpopular with the base, and that he has yet to build an effective political operation in Iowa. Remember, George W. Bush won the Iowa caucuses handily over Steve Forbes in 2000 (McCain didn’t even pull 5%).
So far, Jeb Bush is running considerably behind expectations.
Tags: 2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Elections, Howard Dean, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, polls, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz
Posted in Elections, Republicans | No Comments »
May 5th, 2015
Happy Cinco de Mayo! My efforts to move the LinkSwarm back to it’s usual Friday position by posting early have failed, so I’m trying to get it there by letting it drift back one day later each time…
“Canadian Partnership Shielded Identities of Donors to Clinton Foundation.” Just in case you missed that. Because trying to keep up with all the sleazy bribery angles of the Clinton Foundation is like trying to drink from the firehose…
Speaking of which:
“Hillary may want to talk about inequality, but is there any better example of a couple who gorged at the trough of Wall Street and foreign autocrats, chose not to follow the rules, never could stop chasing more and more money and (in Hillary Clinton’s case) went to extraordinary lengths to destroy “personal” e-mails that might have pulled back the curtain on all that?” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Hillary hires Scott Hogan, an organizer of the failed “Everytown” gun-grabber astroturf to run her “Grassroots” campaign. Hopefully he’ll bring Hillary the same outstanding success he brought to gun control…
Russian stooges in Ukraine: “Soviet terror famine? No, that was all just a big misunderstanding!” (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Islamic State murders 600 more Yezidis. (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)
The Islamic State also claimed post facto credit for the Garland attack.
Speaking of which, here’s an interview with Bosch Fawstin, the winner of the Draw Mohammed contest. (Hat tip: Legal Insurrection.)
Emergency room visits up under ObamaCare.
Lefty lawyer Laurence Tribe calls Obama’s “force everyone to use green energy without congressional approval” plan unconstitutional. “After studying the only legal basis offered for the EPA’s proposed rule, I concluded that the agency is asserting executive power far beyond its lawful authority.”
Drug cartel violence heats up in Mexico: “Gunmen shot down a Mexican military helicopter Friday in the western state of Jalisco, killing three soldiers, and set fire to buses, blocked roads, and attacked banks and gas stations in a sharp escalation of violence against the government.” This is evidently the handiwork of the New Generation drug cartel.
Minimum wage hike hits San Francisco Comic Store.
When the Social Justice Warriors started attacking the company Protein World over their “Beach Ready” ad campaign, Protein World didn’t cave, they fought back. Result: They earned an additional $1 million in four days.
Not understanding that the Presidency is not an entry level job, and that the Republican field was already packed, Ben Carson joins the Presidential race.
Ditto Carly Fiorina, whose tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard was not an unqualified success, and whose 2010 California Senate race lost to Barbara Boxer by 16 points.
And evidently Mike Huckabee is going to run as well.
Texas Democrats are furious that a new ethics bill might keep them from scratching each other’s backs. (Hat tip: Push Junction.)
The Austin American Statesman is moving printing and packing operations to San Antonio and Houston, resulting in about a 100 jobs lost in Austin. Previously. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Social Justice Warriors can’t even win elections at UCLA.
Austin’s Highland Mall closed on April 30th.
Tags: 2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Austin, Austin American Statesman, Ben Carson, Border Controls, Bosch Fawstin, Carly Fiorina, Charlie Hebdo, Clinton Foundation, Communism, Crime, Democrats, drug lords, Elections, Everytown for Gun Safety, Garland, Garland Shooting, genocide, gun control, Hewlett-Packard, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Scandals, Holodomor, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jalisco, Laurence Tribe, LinkSwarm, Media Watch, Mexico, Mike Huckabee, Military, New Generation drug cartel, ObamaCare, Regulation, Republicans, Russia, Texas, Ukraine, Yezidis
Posted in Austin, Border Control, Communism, Crime, Democrats, Economics, Elections, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Guns, Jihad, Media Watch, Military, ObamaCare, Regulation, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Uncategorized | No Comments »
May 4th, 2015
The name of the second dead terrorist in the Garland attack has been released. “A federal law enforcement official is confirming the identity of the second gunman in the shooting outside a contest for Prophet Muhammad cartoons as Nadir Soofi, according to AP reporter Eric Tucker in Washington.”
Oh, and the lawyer for Elton Simpson, the first terrorist identified, says that he’s “a devout Muslim.”
Try to contain your shock.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also gets it right the second time, calling the attack a “heinous crime” and stating “We live in a country where the First Amendment is one of the paramount promises of this nation,” Abbott said. “That provides people the ability to speak out to say what they want. Just as people draw cartoons mocking the governor, people may draw cartoons mocking others.”
And here’s the cartoon that won the Draw Mohammed contest:
Tags: Crime, Draw Mohammed Day, Garland, Garland Shooting, Greg Abbott, Jihad, Texas
Posted in Crime, Jihad, Texas | No Comments »
May 4th, 2015
More details are trickling out about the failed Islamist terror attack on a Mohammed art exhibit being held in Garland:
“A senior FBI official has identified one of the men as Elton Simpson, who was previously the subject of a terror investigation.”
“FBI agents and a bomb squad swarmed Simpson’s apartment in north Phoenix, Arizona and used a robot to carry out the first sweep of his home, the channel reported. Investigators are reviewing computer records from materials found at the home.”
Bruce Joiner, the security guard and Garland ISD officer shot in the incident, has already been released from the hospital.
“A jihadist named as Abu Hussain AlBritani, which SITE said was British IS fighter Junaid Hussain, claimed that ‘2 of our brothers just opened fire’ at the Prophet Muhammad exhibition in Texas.”
“Other ISIS supporters claimed on Twitter that one of the gunmen was a man calling himself Shariah Is Light on the social media site, using the now-suspended account name @atawaakul, according to New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi. He had posted a message earlier that said ‘the bro with me and myself have given bay’ah [oath] to Amirul Mu’mineen [ISIS leader Al Baghdadi]. May Allah accept us as mujahideen #texasattack’.”
Despite some saying “ISIS has claimed responsibility,” I’m not seeing proof that any official ISIS account has claimed responsibility.
From a 10 AM conference by Garland police officer Joe Harn:
There were concerns about security for the Mohammed art event from the very beginning.
Garland police officers worked the event as private security officers (which is quite common), and the event paid an additional $10,000 for security.
Both suspects drove up, got out of their car with assault rifles, and started shooting at police officers outside. The officers returned fire and killed the suspects.
Suspects were evidently wearing body armor.
The first officer who fired put down both suspects, using his duty pistol.
Sounds like the bomb squad used explosives to breach the trunk of the suspects car, but did not find any bombs.
Because of the security plan and perimeter, no one else was hurt in the incident.
Says while others have released the names of suspects, Garland police hasn’t.
They’re working with the FBI.
It will not be a quick investigation.
Some people attending the event were put up in hotels, and still haven’t been able to return to their cars, which are part of the crime scene.
Nothing about motives or terror organization affiliation, which is probably beyond the scope of Garland police.
No forensic results yet, but they may have them by the end of thee day.
Another conference scheduled for 3:30 PM today.
Officer Harn did a good job conveying just what he knew, and refusing to speculate on what he didn’t know.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued the following statement: “Texas officials are actively investigating to determine the cause and scope of the senseless attack in Garland, Texas. This is a crime that was quickly ended thanks to the swift action by Garland law enforcement. Our thoughts and prayers remain with all those affected tonight.”
With all due respect for the governor, this was not a “senseless attack,” it was a premeditated act of Islamic terrorism.
Tags: Crime, Garland, Garland Shooting, Greg Abbott, Jihad, Joe Harn, terrorism, Texas
Posted in Crime, Jihad, Texas | No Comments »
