William F. Buckley and Saul Alinsky on Firing Line

November 27th, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

Instead of words, here’s a video of William F. Buckley and Saul Alinsky on Firing Line, which seems strangely appropriate following Ferguson.

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Texas vs. California Roundup for November 26, 2014

November 26th, 2014

Who knows how many people will read this in the rush of Thanksgiving travel:

  • Texas’ economy continues to kick ass.
  • In fact, Texas set a record for new jobs for the third month in a row. (Hat tip: The Twitter feed of Texas’ incoming governor.)
  • Texas also leads the nation in oil and gas jobs created. (Hat tip: Texas’ incoming Comptroller.)
  • CalPERS retirees will soon soon outnumber active workers. (Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
  • California’s death by pensions.
  • Bankrupt San Bernardino caves in to CalPERS.
  • Still, court rulings make it possible that bankrupt cities may shed pension obligations in the future.
  • You know how California’s Prop 30 tax hikes in 2012 were supposed to prevent university pension hikes? Guess what? “Despite the massive tax hikes ostensibly to keep higher education affordable, the University of California Board of Regents just announced a sizable increase in tuition.” Let’s hope that students at California universities learn the proper lesson: tax hikes are never temporary.
  • Indeed, tuition will increase around $15,000 by 2019.
  • The underfunded liabilities across all California pension systems adds up to $130 billion.
  • Pension crisis divides California Democrats on UC tuition hikes.
  • Demands from union-backed environmental group torpedo plans for a Japanese-owned factory in Palmdale, California.
  • Education reform loses in California.
  • California is spending $33 million to get rid of 800 non-endangered birds.
  • Costa Mesa motel residents sue over a law requiring them to move every 30 days.
  • Some Tweets:

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    Posted in Budget, Democrats, Texas, unions, Welfare State | No Comments »

    Tweets From a Riot

    November 25th, 2014

    Tweets, from myself and others, as last night’s riot in Ferguson developed:

    I had a lot of fun with Ronan Farrow:


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    Posted in Crime, Media Watch | 1 Comment »

    Ferguson Verdict Due at 8:00 PM CST

    November 24th, 2014

    The Ferguson indictment (or non-indictment) is evidently coming down at 8 PM tonight. Why the night rather than the day, and why now rather than during the next polar vortex, I couldn’t tell you. It’s almost like somebody somewhere wants a riot.

    Police presence is described as “extremely heavy.” Shops have boarded up their windows. Barricades are already up in the courthouse, and heavy Homeland Security presence there has already been reported.

    Descriptions of the “protestors” on site doesn’t sound terribly encouraging:

    As for what the night may hold if things go bad, well, here’s the Dead Kennedy’s “Riot”:

    “Tomorrow you’re homeless/tonight it’s a blast…”

    Update: No indictment.

    Update 2: And now the expected riot has come to pass. Happy, mainstream media? You built that.

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    Posted in Democrats, video | No Comments »

    Washington Post “Fact-Checks” An SNL Skit

    November 24th, 2014

    You know that Saturday Night Live Schoolhouse Rock parody I put up yesterday?

    The Washington Post actually put up fact-checking piece on it.

    Hey, remember all those times the Washington Post fact-checked SNL skits of George W. Bush and Sarah Palin?

    Me neither.

    Twitchy had a field day.

    Other important Washington Post fact-checks:

    The lengths to which Obama’s media praetorian guard will go to protect him are officially beyond parody.

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    Posted in Border Control, Media Watch | No Comments »

    SNL Updates Schoolhouse Rock for the Obama Era

    November 23rd, 2014

    Who needs all that tedious Bill-wrangling on Capitol Hill when you can just issue an Executive Order?

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    Posted in Border Control, Media Watch, video | No Comments »

    LinkSwarm for November 22, 2014

    November 22nd, 2014

    I had an entire set of stuff lined up for yesterday’s LinkSwarm, but in the rush of amnesty-related news I managed to forget to paste it into the right file. D’oh!

    So enjoy your rare complimentary Weekend LinkSwarm!

  • “Support for ObamaCare continues to decline, with the law hitting a new low in approval.”
  • Among the many acts of Gruber: Scheming to remove insurance plan deductability by subterfuge (and without offsetting tax credits).
  • How do Democrats react to near-historic loses? By reelecting their entire leadership team.
  • “Democrats did lose the South, but they didn’t lose it because of the Civil Rights Act.”(Hat tip: Ann Althouse.)
  • Last year, illegal aliens were on pace to use $650 million in welfare benefits in L.A. County alone. And that was before Obama’s new amnesty.
  • Hillary Clinton seems to view Obama’s illegal alien “dreamers” as a permanent menial labor underclass as well.
  • 30,000 of Lois Lerner’s IRS emails have been miraculously found. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • Some Twitter liberals decided it was a swell idea to lie about Instapundit. There’s a technical term for these people: Morons.
  • Putin is increasingly yanking NATO’s chain.
  • GamerGate: “A new, radical and dangerously illiberal left which marinates in a hideous quagmire of resentment, smugness, vacuousness and contempt for free discussion.”

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    Posted in Border Control, Democrats, Obama Scandals, ObamaCare, Welfare State | No Comments »

    LinkSwarm for November 21, 2014

    November 21st, 2014

    Here in Austin, we’re enjoying a temporary respite from Winter in November, but I don’t expect it to last long.

    Links!

    All the lies of ObamCare:

    The growing impression that politicians don’t play straight with their constituents is completely toxic, particularly to Democrats, who actually want to use government to improve people’s lives. It’s one thing to downplay unpalatable choices made in the law; it’s another to never disclose the consequences of legislation until it’s too late for anyone to react. Combine that with the moustache-twirling of a Jonathan Gruber, saying that the idiots should be happy for what they got, and you have basically every conservative stereotype about liberal elites confirmed.

    Also: ObamaCare is designed for people buying insurance through it to get a nasty sticker shock in year two. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)

  • House Republicans file suit over Obama’s unilateral actions on ObamaCare.
  • The administration is lying about ObamaCare signup numbers. Again.
  • “Why Texas Could Remain a Republican Stronghold for Another Generation.”
  • “The president’s promises have been proven to be worthless…How many illegal immigrants want to come out of the shadows and identify themselves to law enforcement based upon this promise?”
  • Jay Carney admits that with his illegal alien amnesty, Obama is doing something he previously called unconstitutional.
  • Mickey Kaus thinks the courts could very well act quickly to squash Obama’s illegal amnesty, much as they did with Harry Truman’s steel mill seizures.
  • Aaron Worthing thinks illegals will pass on Obama’s amnesty as a bad deal.
  • “These illegal aliens are willing to do the work that Americans will no longer do — namely, vote Democrat.”
  • How desperate are the Democrats? They’re saying Republican opposition to Obama’s illegal alien amnesty will lead to ethnic cleansing. (Hat tip: Moe Lane.)
  • Top Obama bundler arrested on child rape charges.
  • Lefty lawyer Alan Derschowitz on Harvard’s kangaroo court sexual assault rules: “Harvard’s policy was written by people who think sexual assault is so heinous a crime that even innocence is not a defense.”
  • How come Bill Cosby gets convicted in the media for rape allegations by Bill Clinton gets a pass? “There is more sympathy for a white southerner like Clinton than a black comic like Cosby.”
  • A giant leap backward for woman-kind.
  • Price of ground beef hits record highs.
  • Oh lovely: Microsoft is deploying Daleks.

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    Posted in Democrats, Economics, Elections, ObamaCare, Regulation, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »

    Guns and Crime Roundup

    November 20th, 2014

    Another roundup of gun and crime news:

  • Washington state’s I-594 evidently makes it illegal to touch a gun you don’t own. Bloomberg’s long-term plan is to destroy gun culture by preventing new recruits. (Hat tip: Shall Not Be Questioned, which sees massive non-compliance in Washington state’s future…)
  • All about civil forfeiture abuse.
  • California gun control provision struck down. (Hat tip: Alphecca.)
  • Despite repeated legal rulings otherwise, it is still almost impossible to get a gun permit in Washington, D.C.
  • Girls just wanna have guns. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • Oregon Democrats push for gun control. (Hat tip: Shall not Be Questioned.)
  • How can Milwaukee prosecute felons for illegal possession of firearms when there are so many Republican office-holders to investigate?
  • Texas State Senator Charles Perry files a bill to reduce the minimum CHL requirement caliber down to .22.
  • Facebook bans ads for gun safes. Because gun safes are such a gateway drug to buying guns…
  • Jay Leno folds like a cheap card table.
  • Armed citizens foils an attempted purse-snatching in Houston:

  • Man tries to rob veteran. Grounding and pounding ensues:

  • Dwight of Whipped Cream Difficulties visits the Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Gun Show.
  • Breaking into an armed homeowner’s house high on ecstasy, cocaine and alcohol is no way to go through life, son.
  • I’m thinking I may need to delink Sipsy Street if they’re going to call other gun bloggers “Judenrats”…

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    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Guns, Texas | No Comments »

    A Real Texas Speaker’s Race? Don’t Count on It

    November 19th, 2014

    Despite a broad consensus that he’s too moderate and holding up important conservative legislation, conservatives in the Texas House failed to unseat Speaker Joe Straus in both 2010 and 2012. Since then, one Straus ally after another has fallen to more conservative challengers in the primaries. Will this session finally be the one where Straus is replaced?

    Well, conservative are certainly going to try to oust Straus from the speaker’s chair. “Scott Turner, the freshman state representative challenging Joe Straus for House speaker, affirmed on Tuesday that he will insist on a floor vote on Jan. 13, the first day of session, come what may.”

    Michael Quinn Sullivan makes the case for ousting Straus. (One would think that if Sullivan was as powerful as liberal reporters make him out to be, Straus would have been out of a job in 2011. But for all Sullivan’s considerable influence, Straus has managed to survive repeated attempts to kick him oust him.)

    And Texas Tea Party groups are threatening to hold Reps accountable if they vote for Straus as Speaker again. Indeed, the North Texas Tea Party said as much on their website. Unfortunately, they decided to do so in an overheated and poorly-formatted screed interspersed with ALL CAPITAL LETTERS FOR EMPHASIS. Guys, you’re not posting on a BBS in 1984. Things like this make it entirely too easy for the opposition (in this case Straus-backing RINOs and their media enablers) to dismiss you out of hand.

    However, as much as it pains me to report it, the more I read the tea leaves, the more I think Straus survives the challenge this time as well.

    Conservatives were less than thrilled when Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, who owes his seat in large measure to running against Straus and beating Straus ally Vicki Truitt in 2012, announced he was supporting Straus for speaker.

    Then Sarah Rumpf wrote that still more Republicans announced they were backing Straus:

    Joining Capriglione are Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound), Ron Simmons (R-Carrollton), Phil King (R-Weatherford), Myra Crownover (R-Lake Dallas), James Frank (R-Wichita Falls), and Drew Springer (R-Muenster), who emailed the release to Breitbart Texas with a short message that it was “from leading North Texas conservatives on our position on the 84th session.” Straus was first elected Speaker in 2009, largely on the votes of the Democrats and moderate Republicans in the House. Since first taking up the Speaker’s gavel, Straus has faced criticism from various conservative groups and grassroots activists who view him as more of a moderate.

    Now comes news that Straus theoretically has enough votes in the bag to stay speaker:

    The list of House Republicans who have publicly backed Straus in the past week include Trent Ashby of Lukfin, Cecil Bell of Magnolia, Giovanni Capriglione of Southlake, Travis Clardy of Nacogdoches, Myra Crownover of Denton, Tony Dale of Cedar Park, Marsha Farney of Georgetown, James Frank of Wichita Falls, Larry Gonzales of Round Rock, Jason Isaac of Dripping Springs, Kyle Kacal of Pearland, Phil King of Weatherford, Tim Kleinschmidt of Lexington, J.M. Lozano of Kingsville, Doug Miller of New Braunfels, Morrison, John Otto of Dayton, Chris Paddie of Marshall, Tan Parker of Flower Mound, John Raney of Bryan, Ron Simmons of Carrollton, Drew Springer of Muenster and Paul Workman of Austin. Three newly elected Republicans who will join the Legislature in January — Dade Phelan of Beaumont, Gary VanDeaver of Clarksville and Rick Galindo of San Antonio — have also pledged support to Straus.

    Et tu, Tony Dale? It’s disappointing that all three Williamson County Representatives (Dale, Larry Gonzalez and Marsha Farney) are backing Straus.

    At this point, it’s beginning to look like conservatives will need to knock off Straus in the 2016 Republican primary to get rid of him…

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    Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »

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