February 24th, 2016
This is not exactly a surprise, given that Cruz used to work under Attorney General Abbott as Solicitor General. Still, it is a slight departure, as Abbott has tended to keep his cards close to his chest and avoid pre-primary endorsements.
Does it move the needle? Probably not. But it certainly doesn’t hurt…
Tags: 2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Elections, Greg Abbott, Republicans, Ted Cruz, Texas
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
February 24th, 2016
Former California State Democratic Senator Leland Yee today was sentenced to 5 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
“Yee also agreed to forfeit about $33,000, mostly from his campaign account for secretary of state, according to a court filing by prosecutors.”
Huh? If it’s in a campaign fund, unless Yee donated it to himself, shouldn’t it go back to his campaign contributors?
It being California, it would not surprise me at all to see him paroled well before that five years is up. (Update: Mike wrote to remind me that Yee coped to Federal rather than State charges, as Uncle Sam’s parole tends to be a lot tougher to earn.)
Reminder: Former Yee co-defendant Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow has been convicted on 152 counts, but has not been sentenced yet.
(Hat tip: Dwight.)
Tags: California, Crime, Democrats, Leland Yee, Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow
Posted in Crime, Democrats | No Comments »
February 24th, 2016
Travis County’s politicized District Attorney’s office loses yet again:
Texas’ highest criminal court on Wednesday dismissed the remaining felony charge against former Gov. Rick Perry in the abuse-of-power case that he blamed for his early exit from the Republican presidential race.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals tossed a charge of misuse of office that stemmed from Perry’s 2013 effort to force out the Travis County district attorney. And it upheld the decision of a lower court to dismiss a charge of coercion of a public official.
The 6-2 decision appears to mark the end of Perry’s 18-month legal saga — one that outlasted the end of his record-setting, 14-year tenure as governor and his short-lived second bid for the White House.
Snip.
“The case centered on Perry’s threat in 2013 to veto $7.5 million budgeted for the Travis County district attorney’s office if District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat, didn’t resign after her drunken-driving arrest.”
The only corruption in this case was not Rick Perry using his constitutionally authorized veto power, but the Travis County DA’s nakedly partisan witch-hunt on behalf of a Democratic Party furious at how Perry consistently kicked their asses…
Tags: Austin, Democrats, Rick Perry, Rosemary Lehmberg, Travis County, Travis County Public Integrity Unit
Posted in Austin, Democrats | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2016
I’d sure like to get back to reporting on minor subjects like this Presidential election thing, but Twitter #FreeStacy news just keeps exploding:
Twitter told Robert Stacy McCain that they would not restore his @SexTroubleBook account, but also would not detail why it was suspended other than a vague reference to “targeted abuse.”
Adam Baldwin announces he’s leaving Twitter over suppression of conservative accounts.
So has Ace of Spades HQ.
So has Larry Correia. “Their stock price has been tanking.”
Speaking of Twitter stock prices, here’s a chart:
You can almost smell the shareholder value burning…
James Lileks weighs in. “It’s about ethics in banning! Sorry. But it is, in a way; it’s about transparency in moderating.” (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instaundit.)
Since Twitter has sought to silence Robert Stacy McCain, I’ve been Tweeting links to his articles on newly-empowered Twitter Head Censor Anita Sarkeesian. Like this one for today: “For dishonest women like Anita Sarkeesian, feminism is a sort of alchemy by which bullshit is transformed into cash.”
Da Tech Guy has a theory: “Stacy McCain is the test case and with a candidate even worse that John Kerry at the top of the ticket you will see Twitter acting decisively to suppress conservative opinions on their platform and by the time election day rolls around you will see things that will make his banning look like a kiss in the cheek.”
While I can certainly understand Baldwin, Ace, etc. leaving Twitter (a tremendous timesink even when the company isn’t trying to Emmanuel Goldstein you), I feel that it’s the wroing strategy. I think it’s best to go down fighting so that every act of suppressing conservative thought is as painful as possible for those involved in the suppressing.
Tags: Ace of Spades, Adam Baldwin, Anita Sarkeesian, feminism, Larry Correia, Media Watch, Robert Stacy McCain, Social Justice Warriors, Twitter
Posted in Media Watch, Social Justice Warriors | No Comments »
February 22nd, 2016
Well, lots of activity on the #FreeStacy front, so here’s a quick update:
Twitter has now suspended McCain’s backup account @SexTroubleBook.
Actor Adam Baldwin’s verified account appears to have been “shadowbanned” (i.e., his account has not been suspended, but none of his Tweets, except the one he has pinned at top, appear are visible to other users.
Discussion of the current problem and how to fix it. Including “Dismantle the kangaroo court” and “Fire CEO Jack Dorsey.” “The ‘Trust and Safety Council’ was Dorsey’s brainchild, and he’s the one who chose to give it over to political hacks with an axe to grind. In other words, while Twitter’s user base has been leveling off and its share price has been going down in flames, he’s been busy hatching a scheme to drive away even more of its users.” (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Conservative writer John Podhoretz’ blue “verified” check-mark on Twitter was breifly removed over the weekend, then restored.
It appears more and more that Twitter’s “Trust and Safety Council” should be more properly named “Anita Sarkeesian’s Committee To Ban People Who Say Mean Things About Her.”
This is a quick post due to Stuff and Things, but possibly more later. Or, as Drudge Report is wont to post, “Developing…”
Update: Baldwin has announced he’s quitting twitter.
Update 2: Welcome Ace of Spades HQ Readers! Now Ace just need to add BattleSwarm to the Bloggers in Arms list…
Tags: Adam Baldwin, Anita Sarkeesian, John Podhoretz, Robert Stacy McCain, shadowban, Social Justice Warriors, Twitter
Posted in Media Watch, Social Justice Warriors | 5 Comments »
February 21st, 2016
Some people learn quicker from experience than others. For example, a foolish child generally learns very quickly not to play with fire.
Then there’s the Texas Racing Commission, which would have disfiguring burns over three-quarters of its body before deciding Hey, maybe the bright red thing doesn’t want to be my friend!
But this week, commissioners finally seem to have gotten the message:
“The Texas Racing Commission voted Thursday to repeal its endorsement of historical racing terminals, the controversial machines that led to a fierce political fight with prominent state legislators. The 5-4 vote ends a more than year of fighting over who has the authority to authorize dog tracks to add new gaming machines.”
How eminently reasonable of the Commission to decide that, in fact, state law does indeed apply to them after all…
(Hat tip: Cahnman’s Musings.)
Tags: gambling, Texas, Texas Racing Commission
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February 20th, 2016
“Jeb Bush, who sought to join his father and brother in winning the White House, suspended his campaign for the presidency Saturday night after a long year-long slide in the polls and a disappointing showing in the South Carolina primary.”
Trump is winning handily, with Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz fighting for second place.
Tags: 2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Donald Trump, Elections, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Republicans, South Carolina, Ted Cruz
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Uncategorized | No Comments »
February 20th, 2016
As part of Twitter’s ongoing attempt to silence anti-social justice warrior thought, they have suspended the account of Robert Stacy McCain.
For now you can follow his alt account @SexTroubleBook.
In the best Kafka-esque fashion, the Twitter SJW police have refused to tell McCain why his account is suspended, or which offending tweet did the deed:
Twitchy has more.
Edited to Add: Reason covers the story:
Remember a few days ago, when Twitter elevated anti-GamerGate leader Anita Sarkeesian to its “Trust and Safety Council,” an imperious-sounding committee with Robespierre-esque powers to police discussion on the social media platform? The goal, according to Twitter, was to make it easier for users to express themselves freely and safely.
One user who won’t be expressing himself at all is Robert Stacy McCain: a conservative journalist, blogger, self-described anti-feminist, and prominent GamerGate figure who was banned from Twitter on Friday night. Clicking on his page redirects to this “account suspended” message that encourages users to re-read Twitter’s policies on abusive behavior.
But as with other Twitter suspensions, it’s impossible to tell which specific policy McCain is accused of violating, or which of his tweets were flagged as abusive.
Hiring Anita Sarkeesian to define free speech is like hiring Ted Bundy to run a battered women’s shelter…
Tags: Anita Sarkeesian, Robert Stacy McCain, Social Justice Warriors, Twitter
Posted in Social Justice Warriors | 3 Comments »
February 20th, 2016
Turns out that Trump loves the ObamaCare mandate. Then he said Obama lied making all those promises about ObamaCare…right after making similar promises about his nebulous, pie-in-thes-sky “much better than ObamaCare, less expensive than Obamacare” health care plan that he fails to elucidate.
So he likes ObamaCare’s unrealistic promises, and the ObamaCare mandate, but hates the name “ObamaCare.”
Presumably TrumpCare is paid for by taxing unicorns.
And this is the same Trump that slammed Ted Cruz for supporting (before he became a Senator) John Roberts, who ruled the mandate, that Trump says he likes, as unconstitutional. It’s enough to make your head spin, if it weren’t already spinning from all of Trump’s previous spin.
“I’m angry, so I’m going to vote for a reality TV star with no core conservative principles who makes unrealistic promises!” seems a rather self-defeating strategy for Republican voters.
More on the subject.
Tags: 2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Donald Trump, Elections, ObamaCare, Republicans
Posted in Elections, ObamaCare, Republicans | 1 Comment »
February 19th, 2016
Tomorrow (Saturday, February 20) is the South Carolina Republican primary. (Democrats don’t vote in South Carolina until next Saturday, February 27). Current polls have Ted Cruz gaining on Donald Trump. (Hat tip: Conservatives 4 Ted Cruz.)
A small LinkSwarm going into the weekend:
Remember Hillary’s big lead in Nevada? As frequently happens to items owned by the elderly, she seems to have misplaced it.
Also, the AFL-CIO has decided not to open their bank vault of compulsory union dues to Hillary.
Ted Cruz’s already has a grassroots army on the ground in Texas.
Remembering Ted Cruz’s role in DC vs. Heller. (Bonus: Here’s the brief on Heller Cruz helped author.)
The most trusted states in the union have Republican governments, while the least trusted ones are run by Democrats. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Venezuela’s socialist government is so desperate they’re trying a few “too little too late” reforms, like “replacing a leftist sociologist who has denied existence of inflation” with a businessman and raising the price of subsidized gasoline. Problem is, since they’re socialists, gasoline is still heavily subsidized compared to market prices.
Charles Koch agrees with Bernie Sanders. Sort of…
China stops reporting cash outflows. Hmmm….
Rio de Janeiro to Olympic athletes: Suck it up and swim in the cesspool.
How to prep for a fire. And I’ve already downloaded one of those emergency radio apps for my iPhone.
Harper Lee, RIP.
Tags: 2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, AFL-CIO, Bernie Sanders, Brazil, China, DC vs. Heller, Democrats, Elections, Guns, Hillary Clinton, LinkSwarm, Nevada, Olympics, Rio de Janeiro, South Carolina, Ted Cruz, Texas, unions
Posted in Democrats, Economics, Elections, Guns, Texas, unions | No Comments »