June 28th, 2014
Pretty much what the title says. Consider it a cheap but tasty add-on to your regular blogging menu, like those “crumblies” at Long John Silvers…
Tags: Crime, Democrats, gun control, Guns, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Michael Bloomberg
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Guns | No Comments »
June 27th, 2014
A small LinkSwarm for a busy Friday:
Evidently Obama wants $500 million to arm the Syrian rebels that we’re supposedly trying to fight in Iraq. Oh, the article says he wants to arm “moderate” rebels. Has anyone seen these moderate rebels? Who are they? Kurds? Oppressed Christians? The problem isn’t that they don’t exist, the problem is that the actual moderates seem to have forces too small to affect the outcome of the fight, and I don’t trust this administration on, well, anything, but especially on their ability to discern the difference between “moderate” rebels and radical Islamic militias from 6,000 miles away….
Welcome to the ObamaCare Death Spiral.
The War Nerd suggests that Putin is mucking around in eastern Ukraine less to take it outright than to keep it at a simmer so he gets to keep the Crimea without a fight. Also include this epic quote: “Tom Friedman, the Michael Jordan of wrong.”
Obama gets unanimous beatdown from the Supreme Court. For the 13th time.
Even liberals are turned off by Hillary’s poor, poor pitiful me act.
As Hillary Clinton gears up for a Presidential run in 2016, ABC decides to make one of Bill Clinton’s chief aides a network anchor. Lovely.
Hillary’s book sells more than 100,000 copies, but woefully short of what it would need to earn back it’s whopping $14 million advance…
“Did Obama Fail Black America?” Obviously the question mark is unnecessary, as the only question is whether that headline is one or two words too long.
Feminism: The Tiny Elite: “You don’t have to look far to realize that victimhood is the flavor of the moment in America. Deeming oneself a victim delivers an afforded reverence, especially if said victimhood is biologically based.” Today feminism is “a group working largely for the interests of elite white women.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
How the media discriminates against stories than indict big government.
Phil Collins donates his extensive collection of Alamo relics to the state. In fact, Collins is donating not only his existing collection, but stuff he continues to acquire. Three cheers for him.
Much like obeying the law, word problems are not Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings’ strong suit.
Texas man told to remove American flag from his balcony because it was “a threat to Muslims.” Get a rope…
Far-left cartoonist Ted Rall gets the axe. I’m not sure there’s a violin tiny enough…
Finally, you too can own the screenplay to Manos: The Hands of Fate.
I hope to have a longer post of the kangaroo court trying Michael Quinn Sullivan next week…
Tags: ABC, Alcee Hastings, Democrats, feminism, George Stephanopoulos, Hillary Clinton, Iowahawk, Iraq, Jihad, John Stossel, LinkSwarm, Media Watch, ObamaCare, Phil Collins, Syria, Ted Rall, Ukraine
Posted in Democrats, Foreign Policy, Media Watch, Military, Obama Scandals, ObamaCare, Regulation, Supreme Court, Texas | No Comments »
June 26th, 2014
Since Iraq and Syria are now all part of the same greater Sunni/Shia conflict, let’s take a look at recent developments in the broader theater:
The War Nerd pinpoints the biggest reason for ISIS’s rapid Iraq advance: the flat geography of the area they’ve taken: “It’s the Bonneville Salt Flats of insurgency, the place you go to set new speed records.” He also thinks the Kurdish Pesh Merga will slaughter them if ISIS is foolish enough to make a big push into the northern hill country.
Michael Totten has a depressing interview with Lee Smith, the author of The Consequences of Syria:
For all Obama’s talk of arming Syrian rebels, no arms seem to have actually made it there. Indeed, the whole thing seems to have been a disinformation campaign the press lapped up. “This White House has been bad for the press, and the readership’s faith in our press, but it seems most journalists don’t much care.”
“The administration feared that helping topple Assad, an ally of Iran, might have angered the Iranians and pushed them away from the negotiating table, and getting a deal with Iran was the White House’s chief goal in the Middle East.” So the goal of the Obama Administration isn’t a free Middle East, or a stable Middle East, but signing a piece of paper with the ayatollahs.
Since Obama’s serial retreats have put us in a situation of such profound weakness, they won’t even be getting that: “What we’re seeing [is] a United States in retreat in the Middle East. So I don’t see what the accommodation would look like. It’s not a grand bargain with Iran, but an American fire sale, with the US virtually giving away its assets. The US is retreating from the region and leaving it in Iranian hands.”
“What we’re seeing in cities like Mosul is a Sunni rebellion against Maliki and the Iranians. In addition to ISIS, there are also former Baath party figures, like one of Saddam’s deputies, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, as well as Sunni tribes. ISIS would appear to be playing the role of Sunni shock troops, who are dispatched to the fronts to terrorize and create havoc. Behind them are the Baathis and the tribes.”
Reason for ISIS’ rapid advance? Maliki’s brutal sectarian incompetence. “What Maliki and the Iranians have done is unite the tribes and ISIS through their anti-Sunni policies.”
Read the whole thing.
A look a Syria’s Christians, who are getting it from both sides.
Here’s a piece that suggests that moderate Sunnis are just using ISIS to get Maliki out. (Well, what are a few Shia mass graves anyway?) Yeah, not buying it. It’s the guys with guns who use “moderates,” not the other way around. Also argues for a de jour rather than merely de facto partition of Iraq.
Tags: Bashar Assad, Iran, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jihad, Kurdistan, Kurds, Michael Totten, Military, Pesh Merga, Syria, War Nerd
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June 25th, 2014
This bad (click to embiggen):
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, contracted at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.9% in the first three months of the year, according to the Commerce Department’s third reading released Wednesday. That was the fastest rate of decline since the first quarter of 2009, when output fell 5.9%.
Just about every sector was down:
My takeaway is that ObamaCare has been twice as bad for the economy as the subprime meltdown.
Tags: economy, ObamaCare
Posted in Economics | No Comments »
June 25th, 2014
“A new report released Tuesday by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., claims more than a thousand veterans may have died between 2001 and 2011 as the result of misconduct and a ‘culture of mismanagement’ at the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
Obama didn’t make this mess, which was a long time in coming. But he promised to fix it and hasn’t, and in fcat it’s gotten considerably worse on his watch.
Here’s the actual report, which I haven’t had a chance to read all of yet.
Tags: Military, Obama Scandals, Veterans Administration
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June 24th, 2014
Hot on the heels of Hillary Clinton claiming that her family was dead broke in 2001 (for certain values of “dead broke” that include being worth more than $20 million) comes news that Hillary has doubled down on the “shucks, we’re just regular folks” gambit.
In an interview with The Guardian, Clinton said she isn’t “truly well off”:
But with her huge personal wealth, how could Clinton possibly hope to be credible on this issue when people see her as part of the problem, not its solution?
“But they don’t see me as part of the problem,” she protests, “because we pay ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well off, not to name names; and we’ve done it through dint of hard work,” she says, letting off another burst of laughter. If past form is any guide, she must be finding my question painful.
The full quote is actually more damning than just the “not truly well off” bit because it suggests an even more radical disconnect from the economic reality most Americans face every day. Evidently Hillary is suggesting she gets a pass from class warfare envy because: A.) She and Bill have actually deigned to obey the law by paying taxes, and B.) Americans know just how hard it is for Bill to give $103 million worth of speeches.
A few choice reactions:
Moreover, Hillary’s daughter seems to have picked up on her mother’s entitlement issues. It seems that the woman married to a former Goldman Sachs manager who started his own hedge fund, the woman who owns a $10 million Manhattan apartment, the woman who was given a $3 million wedding and the woman who MSNBC paid $600,000 a year to (or $26,724 for every minute she appeared on-air) says she doesn’t care about money.
At least one pundit has suggested that Hillary’s clan suffers from “Status-Income Disequilibrium”, in which people with All The Right Opinions suddenly realize how much wealthier fellow members of the Overclass are. Or, as Rush Limbaugh puts it, “in [Hillary]’s world, $50 million is peanuts.”
Let’s give Bill Clinton one small piece of praise in all this: As far as I can tell, on this particular subject he’s apparently been smart enough to keep his mouth shut…
Tags: Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Democrats, Economics, Hillary Clinton, Rush Limbaugh, video, wealth
Posted in Democrats, Economics | No Comments »
June 23rd, 2014
Some Texas statewide race news to start your week with:
Her campaign manager twitched her whiskers, then jumped off the USS Wendy Davis. Speaking of which, remember her old logo?
Of the move, liberal MSM fossil Paul Burka says it’s about time: “The Davis campaign has been a disaster.” Also:
Democrats have already started describing the Republican slate as the “Abbott, Patrick, Paxton ticket.” There is always a “be careful what you wish for” component to these races. Patrick in particular is a very shrewd operator who has widespread support from the conservative base. He is a dangerous opponent. Democrats who underestimate him do so at their peril.
The fact that Greg Abbott is kicking Wendy Davis’ ass in polls is no surprise. The fact that Dan Patrick is kicking Leticia Van de Putte’s ass by an even bigger margin is.
Davis’ political obituary is already being written: “Privately, many of her supporters are resigned to her losing. And, already, some political operatives are pondering how she can stay politically relevant beyond November.” As I’ve said before, I think in 2015 she’ll host her own show on MSNBC.
Don’t give up, Wendy Davis! “Republicans needed her to be sucking up Democratic donors’ dollars all year long.”
Davis continues to raise funds where she’s most beloved: outside Texas.
More on that theme.
Abbott’s first ads against Davis are running in Spanish during the World Cup. It’s a sign of Abbott’s strength that he feels no need to secure his own base, so he can cut into Davis’ base right out of the gate.
Davis and Van de Putte are getting together to celebrate the one year anniversary of her abortion filibuster on Wednesday.
Abbott and Davis agree to two debates.
Abbot is not a big fan of corporate welfare.
Tags: 2014 Governor's Race, 2014 Lt. Governor's Race, abortion, Elections, Greg Abbott, Leticia Van de Putte, Paul Burka, Texas, Wendy Davis
Posted in Elections, Texas | No Comments »
June 21st, 2014
I see that #NoMoreAusterity is trending on Twitter this morning. It seems the usual leftist protest sorts are rallying against the Cameron government’s “austerity.”
The only problem is it doesn’t exist.
Real austerity is cutting government spending until it matches receipts. Under David Cameron, deficit spending has merely gone from 11.4% of GDP in 2010 to a projected 5.8% in 2014. So the UK government hasn’t practiced austerity, it’s merely slowed the rate at which it’s digging its own grave.
For the protestors, this simply will not do. They want government to give them things, and if it means having the moribund economies of Greece and Spain, so be it.
But unlike Greece and Spain, the UK won’t be able to get Germany to bail them out, nor to hold down the hyperinflation that is the inevitable endpoint of excess deficit spending.
Tags: austerity, deficits, European Debt Crisis, Foreign Policy, UK
Posted in Budget, Foreign Policy | No Comments »
June 20th, 2014
I couldn’t make Hillary Clinton’s signing at Bookpeople today because I have to work for a living. Plus tickets were “sold out.”
Fortunately, someone else was able to make it to her D.C. stop:
Tags: Austin, Benghazi, Democrats, Hillary Clinton
Posted in Austin, Democrats | No Comments »
June 20th, 2014
Believe it or not, there seem to be a few actual glimmers of sanity in California in the latest roundup:
Texas: Not just leading the nation in jobs, but doing it more equitably as well.
“The income gap between rich and poor tends to be wider in blue states than in red states.” More: “Texas has a lower Gini coefficient (.477) and a lower poverty rate (20.5%) than California (Gini coefficient .482, poverty rate 25.8%).” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Perhaps the biggest crack in the “Blue State” model this month was a state superior court judge ruling that California’s teacher protection laws were illegal, because they violated the equal protection clause for students. How the Vergara vs. California decision plays out on appeal is anyone’s guess, but just recognizing that union contracts that keep crummy teachers employed harms students is a huge step forward.
New California payroll and pensions numbers are now available. “The data shows that public compensation in California is growing more out of control, threatening the solvency of the state and local governments.” Let’s take a look at a few locales, shall we?
Will wonders never cease: CalWatchdog calls the just-passed California budget “fairly prudent.”
The legislature also passed a law almost doubling the amount of money school districts pay into CalSTARS.
But don’t let that fool you: California’s legislature is still crazy.
Especially since California Democrats just elected a new Senate leader guaranteed to pull them to the left.
But Republicans are poised to torpedo California Democrat’s Senate supermajority.
Desert Hot Springs is contemplating dissolving it’s police force to avoid bankruptcy. (By my count, 21 Desert Hot Springs police officers make more than $100,000 a year in total compensation. Including five officers who make more than the Police Chief…)
San Bernardino has evidently reached agreement with CalPERS in it’s ongoing bankruptcy case, but no details have been reported.
They also closed a gap in a yearly budget thanks to some union concessions. But one union is balking, and its members are threatening to join the SEIU instead.
The California town of Guadalupe considers bankruptcy. One problem is that the town has been illegally transfering money from dedicated funds (like water bills) to general funds. “If voters do not pass three new taxes in November, Guadalupe is expected to disband its police and fire departments, enter bankruptcy or disincorporate, meaning it would cease to exist as a city.”
Ventura County residents collection enough signatures to force a ballot measure on pension reform. Response? A lawsuit to keep it off the ballot.
Los Angeles 2020 Commission goes over what changes the city needs to avoid a future where “40% of the population lives in ‘what only can be called misery,’ ‘strangled by traffic’ and hamstrung by a ‘failing’ school system.” Response? “Meh.”
Sickout among San Francisco municipal bus drivers. Good thing poor people don’t depend on buses for transportation…
Huge growth in Texas apartment complexes.
California’s prison system illegally sterilizes female inmates against their will.
The Obama Administration Department of Education is driving the California-based Corinthian for-profit college chain out of business.
A Californian discusses why relocation to Texas might be attractive, and hears the pitch for Frisco, Texas.
“‘Building a business is tough. But I hear building a business in California is next to impossible,’ Perry says.”
California regulators can’t be arsed to come out and check flaming tap water.
California bill to add warning labels to soft drinks fails.
California-based nutritional supplement maker Natrol files for bankruptcy, mainly due to class action suits. I note this because I’ve found their 3mg Melatonin to be really effective as a sleep aid.
Tags: Border Controls, Budget, California, CalPERs, CalSTARS, Desert Hot Springs, education, Frisco, Guadalupe (California), Los Angeles, pension crisis, Regulation, San Bernardino, SEIU, Stockton, Texas, unions, Vallejo, Ventura County, Vergara vs. California, Welfare State
Posted in Border Control, Budget, Regulation, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | 1 Comment »