Archive for the ‘Texas’ Category
Monday, June 6th, 2016
Here’s an update on the University of Texas admissions scandal and their continuing attempt to stonewall regent Wallace Hall.
Regents Alex Cranberg and Brenda Pejovich and former chairmen Charles Miller and Gene Powell filed a friend-of-the-court brief last week backing Hall’s lawsuit against UT System Chancellor Bill McRaven. The chancellor contends that Hall is not entitled to see confidential student records of the investigation into favoritism in admissions at UT-Austin.
For those who haven’t been following the case, this Jon Cassidy piece from March lays out the issues.
Tags:Austin, Texas, University of Texas, Wallace Hall, William McRaven
Posted in Austin, Texas | No Comments »
Friday, June 3rd, 2016
Another week, another Texas flood. Try to stay dry and enjoy a Friday LinkSwarm:
Paglia on Clinton: “If it were a Republican in the crosshairs, Hillary’s shocking refusal to meet with the Inspector General (who interviewed all four of the other living Secretaries of State of the past two decades) would have been the lead item flagged in screaming headlines from coast to coast. Let’s face it—the genuinely innocent do not do pretzel twists like this to cover their asses.” (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
New York Magazine massively re-edits article on why Hillary won’t debate because the original wasn’t fawning enough.
Eight reasons Hillary sucks. Including Obama: “she does not seem to want to run on Ben Rhodes’s foreign policy, Jonathan Gruber’s Obamacare, Lois Lerner’s IRS, Lisa Jackson’s EPA, Eric Holder’s Justice Department, or Barack Obama’s racial healing. And yet she needs Obama’s hard-left base. So far she has rejected her 2008 Annie Oakley, Reagan-Democrat schtick, gambling that her Black Lives (alone) Matter and transgenderism pandering can ensure that she will match Obama’s historic share of the minority vote. But so far it seems just as likely that she will lose more voters among the white working class than she can lease from Obama’s core.”
College students are allowed to ask Hillary Clinton original, spontaneous questions that just happen to be scripted by the Clinton campaign. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
At judge’s order, 20,000 documents related to Fast and Furious scandal released. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Trump is right: Some illegal aliens are being lavished with more benefits than our own veterans.
How a naval contractor named “Fat Leonard” infiltrated the Navy with bribes, prostitutes and lavish parties. “The Soviets couldn’t have penetrated us better than Leonard Francis.” Our country is in the best of hands. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Oberlin students are among the most precious of snowflakes.
More on the same theme. Alas, this morning I just don’t have time to explicate all the manifest idiocies on display by the Social Justice Warrior Campus Cadets…
Obama Administration bitch-slapped for attempting ex-post facto regulation. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Columbia was once a basket case and Venezuela a thriving nation on the rise. Thanks to The Magic Power of Socialism™, they’ve switched places.
“This bitch is so crazy I can’t even keep up with her crazy bitch shit.”
Enya: rich crazy cat lady.
Flooding-related blackout leads to Texas prison riots.
City Manager behind Dallas’ controversial city-owned hotel steps down.
If your political party openly calls for the complete destruction of the oil industry, maybe you shouldn’t have your national convention in Houston.
Science Fiction writer Gregory Benford on university host escort duties for G. Gordon Liddy, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, and a certain “Tom.”
Space City Comic Con turns into an actual con. As in the fraud kind…
Swiss open world’s longest tunnel with ceremony featuring marching uniform worker drones, a horned goat god, and a giant flying death baby.
Tags:2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Camille Paglia, Crime, Democrats, Donald Trump, Elections, Enya, Fast and Furious, Foreign Policy, Gregory Benford, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Scandals, Leonard Francis, Media Watch, Military, Navy, Obama Scandals, ObamaCare, Rolling Stone, science fiction, Social Justice Warriors, Switzerland, Texas, Venezuela
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Economics, Elections, Foreign Policy, Guns, Media Watch, Military, Obama Scandals, Social Justice Warriors, Texas | 3 Comments »
Thursday, May 26th, 2016
Well, this is interesting: UT and A&M are part of a consortium bidding to help run Sandia nuclear weapons lab:
A consortium that includes the Texas A&M University System and the University of Texas System announced Tuesday that it will compete for the contract to operate one of the nation’s nuclear weapons labs.
The two university systems, along with the University of New Mexico, the Boeing Co. and the Battelle Memorial Institute, will bid to run Sandia National Laboratories, based in Albuquerque, N.M., officials said. Sandia, which is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, has a $2.9 billion annual budget and is currently operated by a unit of Lockheed Martin Corp.
“This collaboration is a perfect fit, leveraging the research power of stellar universities as well as the expertise of Battelle and Boeing to elevate the already remarkable development coming out of Sandia National Laboratories,” UT System Chancellor Bill McRaven said in a written statement.
The UT System, the A&M System and the University of New Mexico would provide research expertise, workforce training and independent peer review of the work done at Sandia, officials said.
I was previously unaware that UT had missed out on running Los Alamos in 2005…
Tags:Austin, Military, nuclear weapons, Sandia, Texas A&M, University of Texas
Posted in Austin, Military, Texas | No Comments »
Monday, May 23rd, 2016
This kept getting pushed out by other posts, so enjoy a heftier-than-usual LinkSwarm:
U.S. district court judge rules that House Republicans lawsuit against ObamaCare on separation-of-powers grounds can move forward. (Hat tip: Elizabeth Price Foley at Instapundit.)
You know how American leftists claim socialist Denmark is paradise on earth? Yeah, not so much. “Denmark’s suicide rate has averaged 20.8 per 100,000 during the last five decades, with its highest level of 32. The American suicide rate averaged only 11.1 during the last five decades, and has never exceeded 12.7. Danes are deeply deprived, driven by severe narcissism, and so more than 11 percent of adult Danes – the supposed happiest people in the world – are on antidepressants.”
Why the left hates the Jews:
The Arab–Israeli conflict is a bitter and ugly one. My own view of it is that the Palestinian Arabs have some legitimate grievances, and that I stopped caring about them when they started blowing up children in pizza shops. You can thank the courageous heroes of the Battle of Sbarro for that. Israel isn’t my country, but it is my country’s ally, and it is impossible for a liberty-loving American to fail to admire what the Jewish state has done.
And that, of course, is why the Left wants to see the Jewish state exterminated.
Vaguely related: “Frank Sinatra’s Love Affair With the Jewish People.”
Brazil’s President impeached.
This just in: Europe is still screwed.
Greece approves new “austerity” measures that they’ll no doubt continue to cheat and ignore while spending money they don’t have.
Speaking of Greece, “More than one in five school-aged refugee children in Greece have never been to school, a study has revealed. Child refugees stranded in Greece have been out of school for on average 1.5 years, and many of them ‘cannot even hold a pencil.'”
Hezbollah operations chief killed by Syria, but nobody’s entirely sure by who.
Why did the feds give Bill Clinton’s pedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein a sweetheart deal?
Elijah Woods says there’s widespread pedophilia in Hollywood. (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
One billionaire moving to Florida is going to cost New Jersey $140 million in tax revenue.
Electric cars don’t lower emissions overall.
No sign of a down ballot Republican crackup.
Target has shed $10 billion in stock value since announcing its tranny bathrooms policy.
Why feminists hate sex: “The new feminist puritans see heterosexual sex as confirming and reinforcing outdated gender roles. That men and women not only have sex but enjoy it is a threat to the notion that both gender and sexuality are merely social constructs, to be crafted and rejected as instinct takes us.”
Why did 16 Republican Senators save the agency that’s hell-bent on creating instant public housing slums across America?
More than 300 UK CEOs come out in favor of a Brexit.
Eye-open infographic on mass public shootings from John Lott.
More proof that Social Justice Warriors hate everything, no matter how cute.
World’s oldest woman, and last living American born in the 19th century, dies. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Listeria outbreak among frozen fruits and vegetables. “Some of the affected products were sold under brand names such as Earth’s Pride, Panda Express, Signature Kitchens and Trader Joe’s.” (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Meet the vegan Bernie Madoff. (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
Black Pimps Matter.
Safety tip: Try not to get killed over cutting in line for the taco truck.
Facebook bans conservative for saying that Facebook bans conservatives. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Canadian company working on 20km high space elevator.
Jim Geraghty visits NRRAM.
The Dallas convention center sucks.
Microsoft is gonna Microsoft redux. (Hat tip: Borepatch.)
Wikipedia editor contemplates suicide over toxic atmosphere of powertripping.
Rehab for Internet addiction. “The program costs $25,000 for 45 days at the center.” Obviously I can’t be addicted to the Internet, because there’s no way I could afford the rehab…
I’m stealing this from Ace of Spades HQ:
Tags:2016 Election, Austin, Brexit, Crime, Democrats, Denmark, Elections, electric cars, Elijah Woods, Facebook, feminists, Florida, Frank Sinatra, Guns, Hezbollah, Hollywood, Israel, Jeffrey Epstein, Jews, Jihad, Jim Geraghty, John Lott, Kevin D. Williamson, Lolita Express, Microsoft, ObamaCare, pedophilia, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Syria, Target, Texas, Trader Joe's, Tranny Bathrooms, UK, vegans, Wikipedia
Posted in Austin, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Guns, Jihad, ObamaCare, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas | No Comments »
Friday, May 20th, 2016
Someone has to talk about Gary Gates’ dishonest direct mailer campaign against Wayne Christian in the Railroad Commissioner runoff, and since I’m a Texas blogger, and since early voting ends today, I guess that someone is me.
Gates has attempted to paint Christian as some sort of liberal, accusing him of “Obama-style politics” and of wanting to Texas into “Texifornia.” In fact, Christian has a long record as a very conservative state legislator who repeatedly received high marks in conservative rankings and who has racked up an enviable number of conservative endorsements:
While Christian garnered endorsements from conservatives like Michael Williams and Donna Campbell, Gates has been endorsed by liberal Republicans like Byron Cook and Charlie Geren. Says radio host Robert Pratt: “He’s endorsed and backed by the worst of Speaker Straus’ top leadership team.”
Indeed, Gates’ direct mail campaign has been so fundamentally dishonest that I wonder if former David Dewhurst staffers have been behind it.
I’ve been suspicious of Gary Gates since his “Texas Citizens Coalition” newsletter highlighted Straus-supporting legislators like Giovanni Capriglione, Tan Parker, Drew Springer and Jason Villalba. His dishonest scorched-earth flyer campaign is yet another reason why Texans should vote for Wayne Christian for Railroad Commissioner today or May 24.
(In other Railroad Commission news, the The Dallas Morning News didn’t endorse anyone in the Republican runoff, but did mange to endorse…Grady Yarbrough.)
Tags:2016 Election, Elections, Gary Gates, Grady Yarbrough, Joe Straus, Railroad Commission, Republicans, Robert Pratt, Texas, Wayne Christian
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 19th, 2016
Here’s a milestone worth celebrating: Texas hits 1 million citizens possessing CHL/LTCs.
Remember how gun control advocates said violent crime would soar when more people were armed? Hasn’t happened. Both rates and absolute numbers of violent crimes in Texas have been falling since 1991, even as Texas population increased by almost 10 million people. Says CHL bill sponsor Jerry Patterson: “I’d say those who predicted shootouts at four-way stops need to apologize to the rest of us.”
If you’re wondering why more law-abiding citizens carrying guns has coincided with dropping crime rates, the book linked below might have some answers for you…
Tags:CHL, Crime, Guns, Jerry Patterson, Texas
Posted in Crime, Guns, Texas | No Comments »
Friday, May 13th, 2016
After dropping out of the Presidential race, Ted Cruz filed for reelection to the Senate in 2018.
You would think this is pretty early, but at least three senators, Democratic Bill Nelson of Florida, Independent Angus King of Maine (who caucuses with Democrats) and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia), have also announced reelection bids. Given that Manchin is probably the last Blue Dog Democrat in the senate, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him cross the aisle to join the Republicans between now and 2018.
Tags:2016 Presidential Race, 2018 Election, Angus King, Bill Nelson, Blue Dog Democrats, Joe Manchin, Republicans, Ted Cruz, Texas
Posted in Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Thursday, May 12th, 2016
Texas Governor Greg Abbott delivered a full-bore conservative speech to the Texas Republican Convention today. Thus far I have not been able to find the full text online, but Twitchy offered up some excerpts from Abbott’s Twitter account.
A few samples:
Tags:2016 Election, Battleground Texas, Greg Abbott, Republican Party of Texas, Republicans, Texas, Twitter
Posted in Elections, Texas | No Comments »
Monday, May 2nd, 2016
I expected to spend the weekend at the Levitation Music Festival here in Austin, but it got cancelled when it looked like t was going to be rained out. However, I did see a makeup show by Slowdive, which was the biggest reason I was attending anyway.
Scott Adams: “I give Clinton a 50% chance of making it to November with sufficiently good health to be considered a viable president.”
Hillary wants to make it illegal to criticize her.
Indiana governor Mike Pence endorses Ted Cruz.
Once again, Team Cruz wins the delegate selection fight, this time in Arizona, Missouri and Virginia.
Latest poll has Trump and Clinton tied.
Trump isn’t fighting the establishment, he’s part of it. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
It’s good for the sake of the world that Islamic State fighters are no-talent assclowns. Maybe they should have drilled them more on military tactics than reciting the Koran. See how many basic military squad function mistakes you can count them making in this video.
Obama releases Islamic terrorist who helped attack the USS Cole. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
How progressives embraced eugenics with the same fervor they embrace global warming today. (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
Waco biker fight update, including various (inconclusive) videos.
“More than two decades ago, we heard the ‘misplaced fears’ and predictions of shootouts in the streets of Texas because of the CHL law. It didn’t happen — and it won’t happen because of SB 11, either.”
Abortion clinics are closing in blue states as well.
Rabid Puppies dominate the Hugo nominations again. The science fiction establishment was given the opportunity to address Sad Puppies concerns, but instead they continued to doubled down by backing the Social Justice Warriors at every turn. This has turned Sad Puppy voters into Rabid Puppy voters. The 2015 Hugos: “There are problems, but Vox Day is an odious troll.” The 2016 Hugos: “You know what? Fuck them. They deserve Vox Day.”
Microsoft gonna Microsoft.
Dyson launches a new hairdryer. I really like their vacuum cleaner, which is wonderful for picking up golden retriever hair…
For a brief, shining moment, something interesting actually happened at a soccer game.
This time of year there’s just so much pollen in the air.
Tags:2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, abortion, Arizona, Bandidos Motorcycle Gang, CHL, Cossacks Motorcycle Gang, Crime, Deadpool, Democrats, Donald Trump, Elections, eugeneics, Hillary Clinton, Hugo Awards, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jihad, Microsoft, Mike Pence, Military, Missouri, Rabid Puppies, Republicans, Sad Puppies, Scott Adams, Social Justice Warriors, Ted Cruz, terrorism, Texas, USS Cole Bombing, Virginia, Vox Day, Waco
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Elections, Guns, Jihad, Military, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas | No Comments »
Saturday, April 30th, 2016
The Texas voter ID law will remain in the books, at least for the November election, after the Supreme Court refused to issue an “emergency” request to suspend the law while the court case against it is being considered.
What this means in the short term: Democrats won’t be able to steal some down-ballot Texas races with illegal alien votes this year.
No wonder Democrats hate voter ID…
Tags:Border Controls, Democrats, Supreme Court, Texas, Voter ID
Posted in Border Control, Democrats, Elections, Supreme Court, Texas | No Comments »