Leland Yee/Shrimp Boy Chow Update for April 21, 2014

April 21st, 2014

More details and repercussions from the indictment of California State Senator Leland Yee and his criminal associates on gun-trafficking and other charges:

  • Feds plan to add racketeering charges to the Yee indictment.
  • Prominent Democrat Willie Brown (former Speaker of the California House and Mayor of San Francisco) wonders what the big deal is with the Yee indictment:

    Give the guy a break. When all is said and done, his alleged crimes come down to taking campaign contributions in return for issuing proclamations, using campaign funds to set up a meeting and taking campaign funds for writing a letter.

    Never did he sell his vote, steal public money or actually put money in his own pocket, as far as I can tell.

    None of Yee’s decisions affected the public.

    I’ve gone over the FBI’s criminal complaint and, from what I can see, the biggest crime he was accused of was trying hustle some undercover FBI agents who were out to get alleged Chinatown gang leader Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow.

    First, I don’t think Brown has read that indictment carefully enough. Second, notice how prominent Democrats seem to think that some felonies are just no big deal…

  • “Leland Yee symbolizes the pay-to-play virus that has infected our entire body politic.”
  • But don’t worry, Californians! Your Democratic Party-controlled government has the solution to all this slime and corruption: “intensive ethics training for senators and staffers.” Because ordinarily people just wouldn’t know that engaging in illegal arms trafficking to Islamic rebels was wrong. “Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?”
  • Alleged money laundering co-conspirators Leslie Yun and James Pau granted bail. They’re also accused of stolen stolen cigarette smuggling, marijuana distribution, and owning “a massage parlor that provides sexual services for its customers.”
  • Back when Yee was a mere school board President, someone once sent him a message in the form of a pig’s head with a clever embedded in its skull.
  • Yee’s defense team accuses FBI of entrapment.
  • Chow’s lawyers also accuse the FBI of entrapment, saying that the FBI threw millions of dollars at him. His lawyer also says that “the $58,000 Chow received from undercover agents were legal gratuities, not kickbacks for illegal activity.” Yeah, good luck pushing that theory…

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    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Guns | No Comments »

    Republican Leadership’s Zombie Amnesty Crawls Out of Grave

    April 18th, 2014

    Like a dog returning to its sick, Republican leadership just can’t keep away from illegal alien amnesty.

    First we hear that “Speaker John Boehner and other senior House Republicans are telling donors and industry groups that they aim to pass immigration legislation this year.”

    Illegal alien amnesty is unpopular with American workers, American voters, and Republicans, and yet the GOP leadership can’t seem to give up its suicidal longing for it.

    Now comes word that Republicans are trying to slip an amnesty provision into a defense appropriations bill. Though the bill is narrowly tailored, amnesty opponent Mickey Kaus lays out its real purpose:

    [Rep. Jeff] Denham’s amendment isn’t about helping a few patriotic DREAMers. It’s about getting an immigration bill–any immigration bill–to the Senate where Democrats led by Senators Reid and Schumer can expand it by adding as much of the massive Gang of 8 amnesty as possible.

    Also, don’t be fooled by Rep. Eric Cantor’s protestations that Obama’s actions have put him off amnesty; all insider reports have him as pushing for some form of “down payment” on illegal aalien amnesty this year, be it Denham’s amendment or some other camel’s nose under the tent.

    I urge you to contact your Representatives and Senators a remind them that no form of illegal alien amnesty is acceptable, and that no immigration-related bills should be passed at all until the federal government starts enforcing existing immigration law and securing the border.

    I also urge you to print this out and send it back to the RNC or RHCC they next time they ask you for campaign contributions.

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    Posted in Border Control, Republicans | No Comments »

    Russia’s Pogromatic Behavior

    April 17th, 2014

    Today was a day spent doing a lot of piddling stuff I let slide while I was doing my taxes. And the sad news of Russia’s slow-motion invasion of Ukraine hasn’t left me a lot to say that others haven’t already said in greater depth, and at greater length.

    But I can hardly let news that Russian thugs in eastern Ukraine (the part that Russia wants to slowly annex) have asked Jews to start “registering” pass in silence.

    Eh. A little registration. What’s the worst that could happen?

    Oh yeah. That.

    Of course, Ukraine under communism had a lot of experience with such things.

    Marillion’s “White Russian” seems particularly apropos today:

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    Posted in Foreign Policy | No Comments »

    Gun and Crme Roundup for April 16, 2014

    April 16th, 2014

    The Bundy Ranch story is part of the Second Amendment story (and the Tenth Amendment story), but is too big and sprawling to unpack here. So here are some of the other things that have been happening:

  • Gun grabber Michael Bloomberg has pledged $50 million to defeat the NRA. Since every time Bloomberg opens has wallet, it seems like more Republicans win, we’ll see how long that commitment lasts…
  • But Bloomberg is sure that his Big Gulp and gun banning antics have earned him entry into the kingdom of heaven. “It’s not even close,” says he. Well, when you’re so exalted that you know the mind of God, why bother with the opinions of puny mortals?

  • “We gun owners have been utterly unreasonable and lacking in common sense for roughly 20 years. And by golly, look where it’s got us! We’ve whomped the enemies of gun rights into quivering submission.” (Hat tip: Borepatch, who offers further thoughts.)
  • Fast and Furious helped supply arms to gun trafficking rings in the U.S.
  • Connecticut: Massive non-compliance with new gun registration rules.
  • East Texas citizen terminates meth freak with gun.
  • Eric Holder wants to waste more money on smart guns.
  • A Harvard Law roundup on recent gun cases I haven’t had time to read yet. (Hat tip: Shall Not Be Questioned.)
  • Beaver County, PA Sheriff has around 700 guns seized from his home for violating a court order. Guess what party he’s from? Hint: The media decline to name the party when reporting the story. (Hat tip: Ditto.)
  • Two men rape and murder four women in California while wearing GPS tracking bracelets.
  • Detroit homeowners kill seven intruders in seven weeks.
  • Dumbass in Tuscaloosa finds out once again that gun beats machete.
  • Four pro gun bills (including a preemption bill) make their way through the Arizona legislature. (Hat tip: Alphecca.)

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    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Guns, Media Watch | No Comments »

    Dan Patrick Debates Julian Castro Tonight

    April 15th, 2014

    Dan Patrick will debate Julian Castro on immigration and border controls in San Antonio tonight at 6 PM. Those who wish to watch can find the livestream here.

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    Posted in Border Control, Elections, Media Watch, Texas | No Comments »

    Wendy Davis Getting Slaughtered…Among Female Voters

    April 15th, 2014

    Well, this can’t be good news for Team Wendy:

    Texas women prefer Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott to self-styled feminist Democratic hopeful Wendy Davis, according to a new survey from a left-leaning polling firm.

    According to a new Public Policy Polling survey, Davis’ favorability rating is upside down with women, while Abbott is right side up.

    Thirty-two percent of women view Davis favorably, while 46 percent view her unfavorably, and 22 percent were not sure. But 35 percent of women viewed Abbott favorably, and only 27 percent said they viewed him unfavorably. Thirty-eight percent weren’t sure.

    Abbott also took 49 percent of the female vote in a head-to-head matchup, compared to 41 percent for Davis, with 11 percent unsure.

    Also this:

    “Women get exhausted with women candidates who say they are pro-woman and then run on issues that real women don’t say are most important to them,” Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway told The Daily Caller.

    She added that this is another indication that the Democrats’ “war on women” narrative has run its course.

    Let’s hope so.

    Poor Wendy. She didn’t start out alienating her supposed base, but she got there as fast as possible…

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    Posted in Democrats, Texas | 1 Comment »

    Texas vs. California Update for April 15, 2014

    April 15th, 2014

    Today sucks if you still have to finish your taxes. It sucks more in California than Texas, since you have to pay state income taxes as well. That includes a marginal tax rate of 9.3% for all those millionaires making more than $49,774 a year. As opposed to Texas’ marginal rate of 0.0% for all…

  • Rich Californians don’t seem to mind that their green fantasies are screwing the poor.
  • California Democrats are trying to write racial quotas into the state Constitution. Oddly enough, Asian Americans are actually objecting to their children getting screwed out of college admissions. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • “A combination of unfriendly tax policies, military budget cuts and cutthroat competition is wreaking havoc on California’s storied aerospace industry, a new study cautions.” ​​More here, which notes that:

    Texas and Washington offer low corporate income tax and no personal income tax, while providing a stable business climate and skilled work force. Many high-profile corporations have relocated their operations to new states. Recent examples include Northrop Grumman, which moved its headquarters to Northern Virginia; Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, which moved its headquarters to McKinney, Texas; and Boeing, which moved two aircraft modernization programs, for the C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft and the B-1 bomber, from Long Beach to Oklahoma City.

  • CalPERS latest report proves conclusively that the fund spontaneously generates unicorns, rainbows and jobs. The Wall Street Journal examines the claims, wipes the vaguely yellow liquid off their legs and concludes “This political report offers one more reason why taxpayers and public workers shouldn’t trust Calpers with their money and would be better served by defined-contribution retirement plans that employees own and control.”
  • The California State Teachers’ Retirement System announced it faces $73.7 billion in long-term liabilities. “CalSTRS has a $71 billion unfunded pension liability.”
  • Both CalPERS and CalSTARS are desperately in need of reform.

    The state teacher pension fund, CalSTRS, needs an extra $4.5 billion each year for 30 years to pay off its unfunded liabilities. CalPERS’ local government members will see costs increase by 50 percent during the next six years. And the state needs to contribute $1 billion more per year for retiree health care benefits.

    These obligations for benefits already earned must be paid, and over the next decade, they will continue to drain funding from essential services such as education, public safety, transportation and health care.

    Yet, powerful interests remain all too eager to kick the can down the road and push our pension problems onto future generations.

  • Why California has an affordable housing crisis.
  • Is there a way out of Taxifornia? As such a solution would require liberals to stop acting like liberals, the answer is: probably not.
  • Bell’s corrupt officials agree to plea bargain deal. Bonus: Robert “Ratso” Rizzo gets 33 months on federal tax evasion charges. (Hat tip: Dwight, who has been all over the Bell story.)
  • At least 60 companies have relocated from California to Texas. But Elk Grove, California is striking back, trying to lure Texas companies to California. “The slogan: ‘Don’t wait for high taxes and stifling regulation to come to you, end the suspense and move to California’ just doesn’t seem too appealing to me.”
  • Continuing troubles with California’s high speed rail boondoggle.
  • Sports equipment maker MonkeySports is relocating from Corona, California to Allen, Texas, adding up to some 225 Texas jobs over two years.
  • A closer look at relocations to the Austin area.

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    Posted in Budget, Economics, Regulation, Texas, unions, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »

    LinkSwarm for April 14, 2014

    April 14th, 2014

    Time for another LinkSwarm:

  • By the standards of signing up the previously uninsured, “Obamacare may be headed for an epic failure.”
  • Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius resigns, leaving behind a legacy of incompetence and deception. “Rarely has any single public official done more to undermine the public’s confidence in the ability of government to function than Kathleen Sebelius.”
  • This just in: People still think ObamaCare sucks the farts out of dead wildebeests.
  • “Democrats face this reality: [ObamaCare]’s a political loser, and there’s no easy fix.”
  • New Jersey children lose health insurance thanks to ObamaCare.
  • The real reason for the Bundy Ranch standoff: Harry Reid’s son is in the pay of a Chinese solar power company that wants the land.
  • How Harry Reid’s insider trading and crony deals have made him a wealthy man.
  • Speaking of Harry Reid (via Iowahawk’s Twitter feed):

  • It turns out that the Overland Park Jewish Center shooter shared two fraternal organizations with late Sen. Robert Byrd.
  • Left out of all the left-wing Cesar Chavez hagiography: “Chavez had a very strong dislike for illegal immigrants.”
  • Indeed, we can best honor Cesar Chavez by making his birthday National Border Controls Day.
  • Backers of illegal alien amnesty may think it’s now or never.
  • It must have been a sad day for John Edwards, being barred from his sugar momma’s funeral.
  • Jay Carney is so use to lying, he can’t even resist PhotoShopping his own house. Badly. (Or maybe The Washingtonian is simply desperate to glamorize all Democrats profiled they won’t let little things like “competence” stand in the way…)
  • Is it just me, or did Hillary Clinton choose a singularly unflattering outfit for ducking shoes in?
  • The ideological slap-fight between radical lesbian feminists and tranny activists. “But all crazies are not created equal and, as crazy as the radical man-hating lesbians may be, they at least have valid science on their side in saying that ‘female’ is a biological category — genetically determined, rather than being a ‘social construct.'”
  • Vermonters just aren’t sure they want eyeball-bleeding tax rates just to satisfy the left-wing fantasy of single-payer health care.
  • France’s ruling socialists get their collective (ha!) asses kicked in municipal elections.
  • Property prices collapse in China. (Hat tip: Ann Althouse.)
  • Puerto Rico: 1.2 million workers, $70 billion in debt.
  • DC Power couple divorcing. Hilarity to ensue for, oh, probably a year or so.
  • Cowardly Brandeis University withdraws planned honorary degree for Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
  • Who is killing the bankers of Europe?
  • Ex-Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wants to “fix” the Second Amendment so its easier to disarm citizens.
  • Alec Baldwin forgets yet again that Twitter is not his friend.
  • Round Rock incumbent City Councilman Carlos Salinas appears to be benefiting from his position in a way that violates both city and state codes. How nice to pass a city-funded, interest-free loan for a building to a crony, then lease the same building back at below-market rates…
  • Well, this is disturbing: Kobe Bryant dispensing actual wisdom: “If we’ve progressed as a society, then you don’t jump to somebody’s defense just because they’re African-American. You sit and you listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right?” (From a New Yorker piece behind a paywall.) And naturally a firestorm erupted…
  • Speaking of the NBA: How two brothers owning a failing ABA franchise managed to earn a cool$1 billion from the NBA. The advantages of foresight,,,
  • PAX coming to San Antonio in 2014.

    • And remember that your taxes are due tomorrow…

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    Posted in Border Control, Democrats, Elections, Guns, Media Watch, Supreme Court, video | 1 Comment »

    How Not to Commit the Perfect Murder

    April 13th, 2014

    Here’s a pro-top for aspiring murderers: If you want to bump off your wife, don’t talk over murder methods with all the other paramedics you work with.

    Despite which, it still took seven years to indict and convict the guy.

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    Posted in Crime | No Comments »

    If You Don’t Think Ted Cruz is Running for President in 2016, You Haven’t Seen His Schedule

    April 11th, 2014

    Some political observers think Ted Cruz will pass on running in the 2016 Presidential race, including the very perceptive liberal law professor Alan Dershowitz, who says flatly that “Cruz won’t run in 2016.”

    I would suggest to those who don’t think Cruz is running should look at his travel schedule. This Saturday, for example, Cruz has a pretty hectic itinerary in New Hampshire:

    Saturday, April 12

    10:00 am ET – Nashua
    Greater Nashua NHGOP Day of Action Rally
    Nashua City Hall, Back Parking Lot
    229 Main Street
    Nashua, NH 03060

    11:00 am ET – Manchester
    Greater Manchester NHGOP Day of Action Rally
    Livingston Park, Pool Parking Lot
    14 Red Coat Lane (off Hooksett Road)
    Manchester, NH 03104

    1:35 pm ET – Manchester
    Sen. Cruz to hold media availability
    The Executive Court
    Media Room
    1199 South Mammoth Road
    Manchester, NH 03109

    2:15 pm ET – Manchester
    Sen. Cruz to speak at Americans for Prosperity “Freedom Summit”
    The Executive Court
    1199 South Mammoth Road
    Manchester, NH 03109

    He’s also been to Iowa this year:

    Tuesday, March 18

    1:40 pm CT – Des Moines, IA
    Sen. Cruz speaks at the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) Homeschool Day at the Capitol
    Marriott Hotel Downtown
    Iowa Ballroom
    700 Grand Avenue
    Des Moines, IA 50309

    7:40 pm CT – Mason City, IA
    Sen. Cruz speaks at the Cerro Gordo County GOP Dinner
    The Music Man Square
    308 South Pennsylvania Avenue
    Mason City, IA 50401

    There were a significant number of events in Iowa and new Hampshire last year as well:

    Friday, October 25

    7:00 pm – Des Moines, IA
    Sen. Cruz keynotes 2013 Iowa GOP Ronald Reagan Dinner
    Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center
    Iowa Events Center
    730 3rd Street
    Des Moines, IA 50309

    NOTE: Sen. Cruz speaks at ~7:30 pm; he will take questions from the press following the program in room 402.

    Saturday, October 26

    12:00 pm – Les Mars, IA
    Sen. Cruz Speaks at Defenders of Freedom Banquet
    Le Mars Convention Center
    Banquet Hall
    275 12th Street, SE
    Le Mars, IA 51031

    NOTE: Sen. Cruz speaks at ~1:05 pm; he will take questions from the press following the program.

    Friday, August 23 – Dublin, New Hampshire

    4:45 p.m. ET
    Media Availability
    Knollwood Farm
    4 Windmill Hill Road
    Dublin, NH 03444

    6:30 p.m. ET
    New Hampshire GOP Summer Backyard Party
    Knollwood Farm
    4 Windmill Hill Road
    Dublin, NH 03444

    On Saturday, August 10, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz will speak at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa.

    Saturday, August 10

    3:50 p.m. – Ames, IA
    Iowa State University
    Stephens Auditorium
    400 Beach Avenue
    Ames, IA 50011

    *NOTE: Sen. Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, will speak prior to the Senator at 3:35 p.m.

    If Cruz isn’t running, he’s sure spending an awful lot of time in Iowa and New Hampshire for a Senator from Texas.

    For an additional data point, note that there’s already a Draft Ted Cruz Super PAC that just happens to be run by Cruz regional director Raz Shafer (and a rare kudo for David Weigel for doing the leg, er, Google and WHOIS work).

    Finally, this video on the Ted Cruz for Senate YouTube channel sure sounds like a campaign ad:

    If I had to bet money, I’d say Cruz is running for the Presidency in 2016, and I think he’ll make a formidable candidate.

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    Posted in Elections, Republicans, video | No Comments »

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