Posts Tagged ‘Hurricane Harvey’
Friday, February 15th, 2019
There’s a much criticized spending bill with a lot of poison pill provisions and a tiny bit of border wall funding President Trump is expected to sign, and then declare a national emergency to get the wall built.
While that’s up in the air, enjoy a Friday LinkSwarm:
Democrats don’t want to detain or deport violent felons. If that’s the hill they want to die on, bring on the shutdown. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
“National Border Patrol Council president Brandon Judd told Breitbart News Tonight on Wednesday that Congress had ignored the advice of experts when reaching a deal to provide less than $1.4 billion for border fencing.”
The ludicrous nature of the Democrats’ “Green New Deal” continues to haunt them, leading to a lot of walking back economically insane socialist goals. NPR has the original text of the proposal.
Jonah Goldberg on the subject:
These people think that they can adequately plan and run — for all time — an economic system from Washington that would guarantee: “a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States” as well as “access to nature.”
But they can’t even plan the roll out of a non-binding resolution and some press-release materials? And, when confronted by their own words, their immediate response was to accuse their enemies of sabotaging them? Gosh, by all means, let’s give them control of the entire economy. That couldn’t work out badly. I mean “Mistakes happen when doing time launches like this coordinating multiple groups and collaborators,” when uploading FAQs, not when doing anything as simple as commandeering the bulk of the U.S. economy.
Republicans pull the dirtiest trick on Democrats ever: forcing them to vote on the Green New Deal lunacy they just endorsed. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Bill Barr confirmed as Attorney General.
Amazon cancels it’s New York City HQ2 expansion plans. Government shouldn’t be throwing subsidies at targeted corporations (nor picking winners and losers). The decision is also rich, zesty schadenfreude for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez screwing over New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who both pushed hard for the Amazon deal.
This story should be absolutely infuriating to everyone on all sides of the political spectrum: rather than preserving or processing DNA rape kits, Oklahoma destroyed them.
How do Democrats expect to get socialism to work nationwide when they can’t even get it to work at one Panera Bread location?
Twitter bias is real. “Of 22 prominent, politically active individuals who are known to have been suspended since 2005 and who expressed a preference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, 21 supported Donald Trump.” (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Democrats cause climate change. The science is settled!
Those pesky peasants are threatening the EU by daring to vote for parties of which the EU elite disapproved.
Brexit update:
“Migrants” banned from Finnish schools and daycare centers because of all the rapes.
Here’s a phising scam that targets not only credit unions, but the credit union officers in charge of enforcing anti-money laundering laws.
Pro-tip: If you’re a phone scammer, try not to target the former head of the FBI and the CIA.
Meanwhile in Australia: “$500 per family for a single day’s electricity. There’s your Green New Deal.”
Germany and Japan are teaming up to oppose American foreign policy. I’ve seen this movie before, and I don’t think they’ll like how it ends…
Islamic State executioner enjoys death by tank. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
More semi-informed speculation than insider knowledge: “The Notorious RBG…is not dead. But she probably soon will be.” (Hat tip: Doug Ross on Twitter.)
New frontiers in unconstitutional legislation: “The Los Angeles City Council voted yesterday to require companies who want to contract with the city to disclose their relationships with the National Rifle Association.” (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Disgraced former Democratic state senator Carlos Uresti sentenced to five years for bribery. Unfortunately it will run concurrently with his fraud conviction, and therefore result in no additional time in prison. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Don’t mess with Texas, Part 8,192. Doesn’t say whether the attackers were illegal aliens or not. (Hat tip: HeidiL_RN.)
There’s low, and there’s “constable stealing Hurricane Harvey donations” low.
Tesla’s Buffalo Gigafactory workers are not happy campers.
Jussie Smollett’s hate crime allegations fall apart.
New Jersey hates high school football.
I don’t keep up with celebrity culture at all, but this is freaking hilarious. (Hat tip: Ann Althouse, who provides context for celebrity-challenged.)
“Millennials Have Discovered ‘Going Out’ Sucks.” And they only discovered this after cities pushed densification policies to hurd them all downtown where the clubs and bars are… (Hat tip: Millennial Conservative.)
Tags:Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Amazon, Andrew Cuomo, Australia, Bill Barr, Bill De Blasio, Border Controls, border fence, Brexit, California, Carlos Uresti, Crime, data security, Democrats, EU, Finland, fraud, Germany, Global Warming, Green New Deal, Harris County, Hurricane Harvey, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Japan, Jihad, LinkSwarm, Los Angeles, Media Watch, New Jersey, New York, New York City, NRA, Oklahoma, phishing, rape, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, socialism, Tesla Motors, Texas, Twitter
Posted in Border Control, Crime, Democrats, Global Warming, Jihad, Media Watch, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Supreme Court, Texas, Waste and Fraud | No Comments »
Friday, October 6th, 2017
Welcome to October! Enjoy your complimentary LinkSwarm:
Imran Awan’s lawyer said the House Democrats he worked for asked him to falsify spending reports:
House Democrats ordered the systematic falsification of records showing how they spend their taxpayer-provided office budgets, according to lawyers for two former House information technology (IT) aides.
It’s a remarkable accusation that pits sitting lawmakers against the former aides, Imran Awan, his brothers Abid and Jamal, and his wife Hina Alvi. Imran was arrested in July while trying to board a flight to Pakistan, and then indicted on four counts of bank fraud involving moving money to that country. Imran and Hina, who was also indicted, face a court date Friday.
One of Imran’s lawyers, Aaron Page, acknowledged the invoicing discrepancy Aug. 21, telling The Daily Caller News Foundation, “This is just how things have been done for forever. This is what experienced members of Congress expect: to expedite things, they adjust the pricing.”
If members or senior staff instructed IT aides to misrepresent how budgets were spent, that could potentially explain why officials have not charged the Awans with crimes related to procurement, even a full year after House authorities gathered documentation showing invoices that claimed expensive technological items cost $499 instead of their true price: potentially an open-and-shut violation.
Garden-variety Democratic graft is probably the least worrisome lawbreaking the Awan ring could have been up to…
How the NFL protests are going to get Donald Trump reelected:
now believe that the left will re-elect Trump. The ruction over NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem illustrates the point.
The left has talked itself into believing that Trump’s alleged appeals to white racism were what put him over the top.
More astute psephologists have pointed out that the actual difference was made by people in industrial states who previously had voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, but switched to Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Hard to attribute those decisions to white racism.
Nevertheless, the left now interprets all of Trump’s actions through the prism of perceived appeals to white racism. If Trump were to tweet, “It’s a lovely day in Washington,” the left would denounce it as a dog whistle to white supremacists.
Which brings us to the NFL ruction. Players began kneeling during the national anthem reportedly to protest what they regard as racial injustice in the United States. Trump denounced them in Trumpian fashion.
According to the left, since the players were protesting racial injustice, Trump was endorsing racial injustice by criticizing them. There goes that dog whistle!
o most Americans, that’s nuts.
I’m not much of a flag waver. And I’ve never really understood why sporting events begin with the playing of the national anthem. Doesn’t seem a particularly apposite occasion for a display of patriotic fidelity.
But it is part of American tradition. And traditions matter.
You don’t have to be a racist to find galling the spectacle of pampered athletics, making millions of dollars playing a game, hosted in taxpayer-subsidized stadiums, benefiting from an antitrust exemption, ostentatiously exempting themselves from the traditional display of fidelity to our country.
The argument by some that the protest isn’t really about the flag and national anthem rings hollow. If you do it during the national anthem, it is about the flag and the national anthem.
Snip.
Generally speaking, white Middle Americans aren’t racists. They don’t long for a return to Jim Crow. They’re just sick of having identity and grievance politics thrown in their faces all the time.
If the left continues to tell Middle Americans they are racists, Trump will be re-elected.
“The media and the NFL did not know what hit them. I do. They hit themselves. Hard.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Pew confirms: Democrats are the extremists.
“Senior law enforcement officials from the United States, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras announced here today criminal charges against more than 3,800 MS-13 and 18th Street gang members in the United States and Central America in a coordinated law enforcement action known as Operation Regional Shield.”
ICE nabs 498 criminal illegal aliens in “sanctuary cities.”
Under President Donald Trump, illegal alien deportations have roughly tripled. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
How Donald Trump’s election caused the mainstream media to drop their masks of objectivity:
The forces that brought Trump to power are alien to the experience of the men and women who populate newsrooms, his supporters unlike their colleagues, friends, and neighbors, his agenda anathema to the catechism of social liberalism, his career and business empire complex and murky and sensational. Little surprise that journalists reacted to his election with a combination of panic, fear, disgust, fascination, exhilaration, and the self-affirming belief that they remain the last line of defense against an emerging American autocracy. Who has time for dispassionate analysis, for methodical research and reporting, when the president’s very being is an assault on one’s conception of self, when nothing less than the future of the country is at stake? Especially when the depletion of veteran editors, the relative youth and inexperience of political and congressional reporters, and the proliferation of social media, with its hot takes and quips, its groupthink and instant gratification, makes the transition from inquiry to indignation all too easy.
(Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Reason is really high on President Trump’s nomination of Justice Don Willett to the 5th Circuit court. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
“The media is missing the Republican takeover in New England.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Difficulties in nursing home evacuations: having to punch people.
Michael Totten wonders why Turkey is still in NATO.
Catalonia might declare independence from Spain.
North Korean ship carrying 30,000 rocket launchers seized in Egypt. Biggest surprise? They had been purchased by the Egyptian military in defiance of UN sanctions…
Houston still has not resumed jury trials since Harvey wiped out two criminal justice buildings.
“Democrat mega-donor [Harvey] Weinstein accused of sexual harassment.” [Cue Instapundit] Why are Democrat-dominated industries like Hollywood such cesspits of sexism?
What do women who worked in the editorial department of Playboy think about their time there? That it was the best job they ever had.
Latest #BlackLivesMatter chant: “Liberalism Is White Supremacy .” Also: “The revolution will not uphold the Constitution.” Way to get ordinary Americans on your side! (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
How the Chicago Sun-Times bought a bar to to document local political corruption. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Houstonian’s rich neighbors aren’t wild about the the working Sherman tank in front of his house. I say good for him. I also wonder why Fox declined to call it a Sherman rather than the more generic “World War II” tank.
Wisconsin gets court pushback in its illegal war against bakers.
Netcraft confirms it: Slashdot turns 20. CowboyNeal is now old enough to be Florida Man…
Tags:#BlackLivesMatter, Border Controls, Catalonia, Connecticut, Crime, Democrats, Don Willet, Donald Trump, Eqypt, Foreign Policy, fraud, Houston, Hurricane Harvey, Illegal Aliens, Imran Awan, Maine, Massachusetts, Media Watch, Michael Totten, MS-13, New Hampshire, NFL, North Korea, Republicans, Rhode Island, Slashdot, Social Justice Warriors, Spain, tanks, Texas, Turkey, Vermont, Wisconsin
Posted in Border Control, Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Media Watch, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Waste and Fraud | 1 Comment »
Friday, September 22nd, 2017
Welcome to the first LinkSwarm of fall! Between a new job, car trouble, dog trouble and iPhone updates, you’re lucky there’s a LinkSwarm at all!
Final total for J.J. Watt’s YouCaring campaign: $37,131,967.
Death toll in the Mexico City earthquake hits 273.
Mexican rescue dog saves over 50 lives.
100% of Puerto Rico is without power following Hurricane Maria.
Obama Administration official Samantha Power asked for over 260 unmaskings of American citizens. “She continued to seek identifying information about Americans caught up in incidental surveillance right up to President Trump’s inauguration.” (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
And Obama’s FBI Director James Comey was apparently eavesdropping on Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
“House IT Worker At Center Of Scandal Allegedly Abused Three Muslim Women.” “Multiple women in relationships with Imran Awan, the indicted former IT aide for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, have recently called Virginia law enforcement and alleged being abused by him, police reports obtained under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act show.”
President Trump didn’t forget Poland.
“The mainstream media failed to see the rise of Donald Trump in 2016. Now it’s overlooking another grassroots movement that may soon be of equal significance— the growing number of liberals “taking the red pill.” People of all ages and ethnicities are posting YouTube videos describing “red pill moments”—personal awakenings that have caused them to reject leftist narratives imbibed since childhood from friends, teachers, and the news and entertainment media.”
“Federal Prosecutors Say Anthony Weiner Convinced [15-year old] Teen To Strip, Touch Herself On Skype.” (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
“Evergreen State College has settled a tort claim against it from embattled Professor Bret Weinstein and his wife, Professor Heather Heying, for $500,000, according to an email sent to faculty Friday evening.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Article on the decline of NFL ratings offers and explanation in the comments section: “One after another, cogent, thoughtful comments clearly stating the exact reason that life long NFL fans have turned off the TV, dropped their cable subscription, and moved on.” Sample: “There will be no NFL at my house until the employment of players that disrespect our flag and anthem is terminated.”
More signs of NFL’s decline in popularity: Los Angeles Rams can’ even sell out their temporary stadium. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Flashback: Ted Kennedy, drunken serial sexual molester.
Wisconsin appeals court dismisses union lawsuit against right-to-work law.
Armed citizen stops would-be rapist near downtown Austin. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
“Scientists create world’s first ‘molecular robot’ capable of building molecules.” No indication these 150-atom “robots” can contain programming or self-replicate, so we’re still a long way from K. Eric Drexler’s nanotechnology…
Valerie Plame steps in it:
Tags:2016 Presidential Race, Anthony Weiner, Austin, Crime, Democrats, earthquake, Elections, Evergreen State College, Foreign Policy, Guns, Hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, Imran Awan, Jihad, JJ Watt, Los Angeles Rams, Mexico, Mexico City, Military, nanotechnology, NFL, Poland, Puerto Rico, sex offender, Social Justice Warriors, Ted Kennedy, Texas, unions, Valerie Plame, weather, Wisconsin
Posted in Austin, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Guns, Jihad, Military, Social Justice Warriors, unions | 1 Comment »
Friday, September 15th, 2017
Greetings, and welcome to another Friday LinkSwarm! Cleanup from Harvey and Irma continues apace, and there was another London jihad terror attack.
Bomb attack on a London tube train injuries 20, but no reported deaths. “Officers believe that the blast on the train at Parsons Green, southwest London, was caused by an improvised explosive device and hundreds of detectives are now investigating with the assistance of MI5.” More west than southwest, I would say, since it’s north of the Themes and south of Earl’s Court.
Also, not one, but two jihad knife attacks in France today, fortunately with no fatalities. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Irma death toll is at 82, 39 of them in the United States, and 1.5 million homes remain without power.
“Houston councilman tells residents not to donate to Red Cross.”
Houston City Councilman Dave Martin, who represents hard-hit Kingwood, had a message for the public about the American Red Cross.
“I beg you not to send them a penny,” he said at Wednesday’s council meeting. “They are the most inept unorganized organization I’ve ever experienced.”
In part of a broader rant that also roped in a perceived lack of assistance from his native New Orleans (“Send me your darn trucks, Mitch,” he said, a plea for the Big Easy’s mayor, Mitch Landrieu, to send waste trucks westward to haul off storm debris), Martin said local folks opened shelters and gathered water and supplies to help his northeastern suburb’s evacuees.
“Don’t waste your money,” said Martin. “Give it to another cause.”
Woman downloads app during Harvey, and suddenly she’s doing rescue dispatch.
How many times must a gay Democratic mayor be accused of child sexual abuse before resigning? Judging by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, the answer is evidently “five.” Edited to add: Forgot to mention (as Dwight does in the comments below) that Murray was a member of Illegal Mayors Against Gun Owners.
Speaking of prominent Democratic office holders who are sex offenders, Anthony Weiner is arguing he doesn’t deserve to go to prison because it’s not his fault that those darn sexy 15-year-olds keep attracting his attention and taking advantage of his sickness. See Anthony, the thing is, when normal men receive a message like “High! I’m nubile jailbait!”, we ignore it because we’re: A.) Not perverts, and B.) Not complete morons. But only the dimmest, stupidest, sickest pervert would fall for that crap when he lives under a media microscope and after it’s already ruined his life.
The Awan family Democratic House member data breach gets murkier:
On April 6, at midnight, in a small room once used as a phone booth on the second floor of the Rayburn House Office Building, a Capitol Hill Police Officer doing his security rounds discovered evidence that will possibly reveal one of the the biggest security breaches involving House Democrats by the Awan family, a group of entrusted IT staffers, according to court records, police reports and news reports.
In the small room, the U.S. Capitol Police found a laptop computer registered to Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a Florida Democrat and former DNC chairwoman. Wasserman-Schultz had been fighting authorities for months to return the laptop, that she once claimed was not hers.
What’s more concerning, say senior House officials who spoke to Circa, is that Imran Awan was also allegedly transferring files – including documents and emails – of House Democrats to a secret server connected to the less secure House Democratic Caucus. The organization was then chaired by Rep. Xavier Becerra, who left Congress in January after being sworn in as the Attorney General of California.
The Daily Caller’s Luke Rosiak was the first to break the story and last week Rosiak reported Wasserman Schultz’s IT staffer, now indicted Awan, is believed to have planted her laptop in the Rayburn office room, along with his Pakistani ID card, copies of his driver’s license and his congressional ID badge. Awan also left behind letters to the U.S. attorney.
Awan apparently wanted the evidence discovered, according to a Capitol Hill police report on the matter.
Officials are now asking the question of why the computer was left but the answers remain elusive.
“There is no reason to accommodate all the members data on one server and one that was apparently hidden,” said the Senior House official. “Why didn’t Xavier Becerra know this because it happened on his watch? Each member had their own server to protect against this and Awan intentionally tried to hide what he had done from investigators.”
Becerra’s office did not return phone calls for comment.
The House official told Circa that Awan was also allegedly uploading “terabits of information to dropbox so he was possibly able to access the information even after he was banned from the network.” The official said there is a need for a full congressional investigation on the matter.
“I think this may lead to information as to who really accessed the DNC server – everybody talks about Russia – but look at the access (Awan) had and potentially those emails could have been sold,” the House official added.
Speaking of data breaches, here’s Brian Krebs on how to protect yourself after the Equifax data breach. (Hat tip: Borepatch.)
“The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that will provide $1.2 trillion to fund the government past Sept. 30, and will allocate $1.6 billion towards President Donald Trump’s border wall.” This is why I don’t freak out over all the reports of President Trump’s reported amnesty deal with Democrats. It’s not that I trust Trump, it’s that I have no interest in watching the magician make flourishes with his left hand. If such an amnesty actually approaches the voting stage, then I’ll worry. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Still, President Trump would do well to heed Kurt Schlicter’s advice and not let Chuck Schumer play him for a fool. “What we saw isn’t the art of the deal. This is the art of being suckered.”
An organizer for the #BlackLivesMatter rally where five Dallas police officers were killed has been arrested on felony theft charges. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Illegal alien arrested in murder involving a stolen police officer’s firearm was wearing an electronic monitor issued by United States immigration officials at the time.
“Outraged illegal aliens demand ICE announce their raids in advance.” Note: Not an Onion headline. (Hat tip: BigGator5’s Twitter feed.)
Obama Administration National Security Adviser Susan Rice admits that she unmasked Trump associates.
Even with President Donald Trump’s recent chumminess with Democratic congressional leaders, he’s less of an authoritarian threat than Hillary was. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Don Surber puts his finger on what’s ailing the Democratic Party:
It comes down to one man.
The leader of the party.
Barack Obama.
He was a terrible president.
Also this:
Calling us deplorable backfired too.
Democrats are intellectually lazy. Decades of demonizing conservatives failed to win the last election. Name-calling won’t win votes. Racist, sexist, even Nazi, no longer have any meaning thanks to overuse.
If Democrats want to win again, then they will have to sell their ideas, not their skin color, their sex, or any other superficiality.
People want results, not tokens.
(Hat tip: The Other McCain.)
How Antifa are helping reelect Donald Trump.
It should be apparent, but evidently is not to antifa members and leaders, that the United States, despite Donald Trump being president, is not in a comparable situation to that of Weimar Germany on the eve of Hitler’s ascension to power…Leftist violence in the 1930s in Germany led many to support the Nazis in the hope they would put an end to the continuing street brawls and violence. Today, the antifa left may even help to get Donald Trump reelected in 2020.
“And they wonder why people don’t vote for Democrats around here anymore.”
In a poll of possible Democratic candidates for 2020, Bernie Sanders has a commanding lead over— [At this point a lynch mob broke into the writer’s house to wreck terrible vengeance upon him for mentioning the 2020 presidential election more than three years out.]
Democrats declare war on vaping.
Camille Paglia says that transgender activists are committing child abuse by advocating “sex change” surgery for children.
In sex-reassignment surgery, even today, with all of its advances, cannot, in fact, change anyone’s sex. You can define yourself as a trans man or a trans woman or one of these new gradations along the scale, but ultimately every single cell in the human body, the DNA in that cell remains coded for your biological birth.
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
“The Left Is Still Freaking Out About Betsy DeVos Because School Choice Is An Existential Threat.”
Don’t look now, but there’s a new war in the Congo.
“Brexit: EU repeal bill wins first Commons vote.”
When are experts right and when are they wrong? Scott Adams offers some guidelines.
Oberlin College: Hey! Let’s go full Social justice Warrior! Reality: Hey! Enjoy declining enrollment and financial problems.
Russian company develops anti-riot truck that’s like a moving battlement. Looks like it would be adept at crushing pro-democracy protestors and Antifa equally.
Jack Kerouac: “You stupid hippies should get the hell off my lawn!”
How it took four decades to restore Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil. Including a fascinating interview with Welles from 1958.
“Commuters express concern as Thomas the Tank Engine falls to the power of Chaos.”
My library was featured on the Ace of Spades Sunday book thread.
Tags:#BlackLivesMatter, 2020 Presidential Race, amnesty, Anthony Weiner, antifa, Bernie Sanders, Betsy DeVos, Bombing, Border Controls, Brian Krebs, Camille Paglia, Chuck Schumer, Congo, Crime, Dallas, data security, Dave Martin, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrats, DNC, Dominique Alexander, Don Surber, Ed Murray, Elections, Florida, Foreign Policy, Houston, Hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Illegal Aliens, Imran Awan, Jack Kerouac, Jihad, Kingwood, Kurt Schlichter, London, Obama, Obama Scandals, Orson Welles, pedophilia, Red Cross, Russia, Seattle, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Thomas the Tank Engine, unmasking, vaping
Posted in Border Control, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Obama Scandals, Social Justice Warriors, Texas | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 14th, 2017
In this corner, we have J.J. Watt’s YouCaring Campaign for Hurricane Harvey relief in Houston and surrounding environs. He raised (as of this writing) just shy of $33 million.
In this corner, we have ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, George Clooney, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, Stephen Colbert, Stevie Wonder, Tom Hanks, Barbra Streisand and Cher in a national telethon to raise money for Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma relief. They raised $44 million. (For comparison’s sake, the 2010 Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy telethon, the last full 21 hour one and the last one Jerry Lewis presided over, took in just shy of $59 million.)
So the combined forces of the four major networks and 130 celebrities managed to raise 1/3rd again as much as J.J. Watt did with a Twitter account.
This is not to denigrate the telethon. Their heart was in the right place, and I’m sure most of the money will be put to good use. But it does rather suggest that the days of telethons as efficient fundraising vehicles has now passed…
(More background on Watt’s campaign here.)
Tags:Hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, JJ Watt, Texas, Twitter
Posted in Texas | 3 Comments »
Monday, September 11th, 2017
The short-lived post-Harvey gas shortage is pretty much already over:
Long lines for gasoline in Austin and elsewhere in the state have dissipated for the most part along with the short-lived, social media-fueled frenzy over fears of a severe shortage.
Motorists remain more likely than before Hurricane Harvey hit to encounter the occasional empty filling stations, and gas prices remain elevated, but “the run (on gas) has stopped,” said Cary Rabb, owner of the Round Rock-based Wag-A-Bag convenience store chain.
“It’s the panic buying that has stopped — at some point, everybody has topped off,” Rabb said.
In addition, gasoline supplies are becoming more accessible as Gulf Coast refineries and pipelines slowly come back on line after being closed since Harvey made landfall.
Flint Hills Resources — which operates a Corpus Christi refinery that provides the bulk of gasoline dispensed at Austin area gas stations — “has resumed normal operations,” company spokesman Andy Saenz said Wednesday. The Flint Hills refinery had been shut down since the storm hit, leaving area fuel distributors to tap reserves.
Flint Hills pumps gasoline to an Austin terminal east of Interstate 35 through a pipeline, where it’s picked up by distributors with tanker trucks and transported to local gas stations.
Thanks to Hurricane Irma (now downgraded to a tropical storm), it’s Florida that’s suffering gas shortages, not least because Florida is dependent on those same gulf coast refineries idled by Harvey:
Between 2007 and 2014, Florida’s daily gasoline consumption shrank significantly — by about 90,000 barrels. In 2012, two Caribbean refineries that had supplied Florida with a significant share of its gasoline were idled, leaving Florida more dependent upon refineries located along the Gulf Coast. That’s all well and good when the weather is fair, but Hurricane Harvey disrupted things. For one thing, it forced the shutdown of several refineries in the Houston area. For another, it made navigating the Gulf of Mexico treacherous — you don’t want to sail an oil barge into a hurricane. And there is no gasoline pipeline connecting those Gulf Coast refineries to Florida: that trade is conducted by boat. Pipelines are the cheapest and safest way to move petroleum products from producers to consumers, but America’s fanatical environmentalists, who oppose the development of new energy infrastructure categorically, have been remarkably successful in blocking or delaying the development of new pipelines.
So far Irma seems to have devastated the Caribbean, but damage to Florida seems to be less than feared for such a large storm.
Tags:Austin, environmentalism, Florida, gas prices, Hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, Kevin D. Williamson, Texas
Posted in Austin, Texas | 2 Comments »
Friday, September 8th, 2017
It would be swell if I could stop leading the LinkSwarm off with hurricane-related news, but Irma is now a class five hurricane headed straight at Florida. If you’re in any evacuation zones, heed authorities, as this does not look like a storm you want to ride out in place unless you have to. Hsoi’s preparedness checklist is also a good thing to go over earlier rather than later.
One reason President Donald Trump had to act on DACA: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and nine other states were threatening to sue to end Obama unconstitutional backdoor amnesty program.
“¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Obama lawyer who worked on DACA admits it’s probably unconstitutional.” And yes, the ASCII Shrugging Emoji is actually in the headline, so it just wouldn’t have felt honest to leave it out…
“Trump’s Crackdown on Illegal Aliens is Driving Wage-Growth in US Construction Industry by up to 30%.” In other news: Basic economics have not been repealed by liberal talking points. (Hat tip: Borepatch.)
Congress passes hurricane relief bill and debt ceiling hike. Both John Cornyn and Ted Cruz voted in favor of the bill. I haven’t read the bill, but I’m hoping it’s less stuffed with pork than the Sandy bill.
J.J. Watt’s Hurricane Harvey flood relief fundraiser hits $29 million.
What it takes to keep HEB stores up and running after a hurricane.
One of my stores, we had 300 employees; 140 of them were displaced by the flooding. So how do you put your store back together quickly? We asked for volunteers in the rest of the company. We brought over 2,000 partners from Austin, San Antonio, the Rio Grande Valley. They hopped into cars and they just drove to Houston. They said, we’re here to help. It’s shitty work. For 18 hours a day, they’re going to help us restock and then they’ll go sleep on the couch at somebody’s house.
The bribery trial for New jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez gets under way.
“It Appears That Out-of-State Voters Changed the Outcome of the New Hampshire U.S. Senate Race.” (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Why Israel had to bomb Syria’s chemical weapons complex. For one thing, it looks like Iran, Assad and Hezbollah will all emerge strengthened from the Syrian civil war…
Speaking of Iran, they’re amassing new weaponry. “While all eyes are on North Korea, Iran is advancing its weapons technology. The country recently tested and announced the success of their new Bavar 373 long range, mobile, anti-missile defense system. Everything in the system is manufactured in Iran; it requires no support from outside sources.” However, since Iran has (to my knowledge) no wafer fabrication plants to produce integrated circuits, this statement is almost certainly false, at least as far as electronics goes. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
“Bulgaria is projected to have the fastest-shrinking population in the world.” I suspect this is a combination of communism (and its aftermath) sucking, of it wrecking disproportionately more damage on backward, mostly rural countries, and of the general trend in Europe toward a modern, unchurched, welfare state society, with its attendant population decline.
Betty DeVos vows to dismantle the Obama-era campus kangaroo rape courts. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
“Twitter Bans Activist Mommy for Tweeting Her Dislike of Teen Vogue’s Anal Sex Guide.” (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
This is disappointing.
Texans handled Harvey better than Louisianans handled Katrina because both their governments and societies are more functional.
Another day, another fake hate crime. (Hat tip: The Other McCain.)
The American Railway union was founded on segregation. “George Pullman famously hired African Americans to work for him. Eugene Debs infamously did not allow African Americans to join his union striking against Pullman’s company.”
Al Gore’s new book being outsold by scientist’s book debunking Al Gore.
I laughed.
Tags:2016 Election, 2018 Election, Al Gore, amnesty, Border Controls, bribes, Budget, Bulgaria, Communism, Crime, DACA, debt, Democrats, Elections, HEB, Hezbollah, Houston, Hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Illegal Aliens, Iran, Israel, JJ Watt, Ken Paxton, Larry Gonzales, LinkSwarm, Military, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Republicans, Robert Menendez, Social Justice Warriors, Syria, Teen Vogue, Texas, unions, World War II
Posted in Border Control, Budget, Communism, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Military, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, unions | No Comments »
Monday, September 4th, 2017
Though it may take up to two weeks for all the flood waters to disappear, Houston is showing some signs of normalcy, such as opening most freeways. Governor Greg Abbott said that Harvey may have inflicted $180 billion in damage on the state.
More food recovery tidbits:
Michael Dell pledges $36 million.
JJ Watt’s new YouCaring goal is $20 million, and he’s currently at $18.8 million.
“Travis County Sheriff Delays Houston Rescue Efforts.”
As thousands of private citizens bravely responded with their individually owned boats and resources to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey, nearby Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez waited to mobilize a single boat crew to assist with the disaster.
Sheriff Hernandez did not authorize mobilizing deputies to assist with rescue efforts until Wednesday – waiting on a formal ‘mutual aid request’ before mobilizing. The request guarantees that departments will be reimbursed for costs incurred and also serves as part of an organized effort.
The gas shortage is real (and we’ve been feeling it up here in Austin as well), but I expect it to be temporary, as Gulf Coast refinaries closed during the storm are already coming back online. Check Gas Buddy to see if gas is available in your area, though they don’t seem to have Sam’s or HEB, two places I typically buy gas, and both of whcih have been out this week.)
President Trump visits Houston.
If your liberal Facebook friends are passing off satire as real news, let them know that Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church was not screening refugees based on tithing.
Tweets:
At 98K and rising, this may be the most retweeted thing from Hurricane Harvey:
Tags:alligator, disaster, Greg Abbott, Houston, Hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, JJ Watt, Michael Dell, Sally Hernandez, Texas, weather
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Thursday, August 31st, 2017
Welcome to a short, extra late Hurricane/flooding update, since I was busy much of the day working on this giant post about my library on my non-political blog.
The death toll from Harvey is now up to 38.
Some links:
Beaumont had their water supply knocked out by the flood.
Waters begin to recede in Port Arthur, but tons of homes and businesses are still flooded.
The BBC offers up a rainfall total map for Harvey. 40+ inches over five days is pretty hard to plan for…
Vice President Mike Pence and Governor Greg Abbott visit Rockport.
President Donald Trump has pledged $1 million of his own money for Hurricane relief.
Direct FEMA Assistance website.
Salvation Army disaster recovery.
JJ Watt has raised $10 million for flood relief so far, including $1 million from Wal-Mart. Update: over $12 million now, and headed for a new $15 million goal.
Charlie Hebdo brings the dumbeth. My reply:
Tags:Charlie Hebdo, Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, Houston, Hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, JJ Watt, Mike Pence, Port Arthur, Republicans, Rockport, Texas, weather
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Wednesday, August 30th, 2017
Houston may finally be drying out, but now Port Arthur is under water, Beaumont is flooding and a woman there died saving her infant daughter.
Other flooding/Hurricane Harvey news:
The death total in Houston is now over 30 due to the grisly discovery of six family members drowned in a minivan.
If you haven’t seen it already, you probably want to read this post on leftwing jihad sweetheart Linda Sarsour scamming Hurricane Harvey relief dollars for her political PAC.
More than forty people have been arrested for looting.
An Arkema chemical plant in Crosby might explode due to the flooding.
“Hurricane Harvey has brought out the best in people.”
JJ Watt’s YouCaring’s original goal was to raise $200,000 for flood relief. Right now it’s sailed over $6 million and is closing in on $7 million.
That might be a better choice than the Red Cross.
The Texans-Cowboys preseason game, which had previously been moved to Arlington, has been cancelled.
Tags:Beaumont (Texas), Houston, Houston Texans, Hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, JJ Watt, Port Arthur, Texas
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