Archive for the ‘Austin’ Category
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015
Democrats won’t be able to launch partisan witch hunts against statewide Republican officeholders from the Travis County Prosecutor’s Office anymore, as Governor Greg Abbott has signed the bill stripping oversight of the statewide Public Integrity Unit from the Travis County prosecutor’s office
“Under House Bill 1690, the Public Integrity Unit would be shifted from Travis County to the Texas Rangers – part of the Department of Public Safety – which would take charge of investigating alleged corruption among public officials. District attorneys from the home county of the accused would prosecute the cases.”
Travis County Democrats in general, and District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg in particular, have only themselves to blame. Both Lehmberg and equally partisan predecessor Ronnie Earle have pursued vindictive and flat-out-fraudulent cases against Republican officeholders, from Rep. Tom Delay (accused of violating a law that hadn’t been enacted at the time, and whose conviction was overturned and converted into an outright acquittal) to Kay Bailey Hutchison.
But it was Rosemary Lehmberg’s actions that pretty much sealed the fate of the Public Integrity Unit. The video of following her DUI arrest (when she decided that rolling around Austin with an open bottle of vodka in the car and a blood alcohol level of .239 would just be a swell idea) lead to Governor Rick Perry demand for her to resign. When she refused, Perry carried through with his threat to veto funding for the Public Integrity Unit, at which point the Travis County prosecutor’s office indicted Perry for using his constitutionally enumerated veto powers.
If it hadn’t been for Lehmberg’s poor judgment and criminal activity, and and the grossly partisan overreach of herself and Earle, the legislature would never have felt compelled to act.
Given the sterling reputation of the Texas Rangers, the unit is now in far better hands, and the move to their oversight takes effects September 1.
Tags:Austin, Crime, Democrats, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Rick Perry, Ronnie Earle, Rosemary Lehmberg, Texas, Texas 84th Legislative Session, Texas Rangers, Travis County, Travis County Public Integrity Unit
Posted in Austin, Crime, Democrats, Texas | 1 Comment »
Saturday, June 13th, 2015
This afternoon, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the Open Carry and Campus Carry bills into law at Red’s Indoor Range in Pflugerville. (I can tell you from experience that it’s hard enough to get a shooting lane at Red’s even when the governor isn’t there.)
Note that as per the actual text of the open carry bill, open carry for CHL holders goes into effect January 1, 2016. I’ve seen various commentators cite a date of September 1st, but that’s just the date for various Texas agencies to have administrative plans in place for complying with the new regulations. So don’t go wearing your holsters in public on September 1st, or you’re likely to receive a very rude awakening…
Tags:Austin, campus carry, CHL, Guns, open carry, Pflugerville, Texas, Texas 84th Legislative Session
Posted in Austin, Guns, Texas | No Comments »
Friday, June 12th, 2015
Remember the Kroll Report, the look into the University of Texas’ system of preferential admissions for unqualified friends and relatives of the well-connected? The one that showed UT Regent Wallace Hall was right and his critics were wrong?
Now it turns out that the Kroll report whitewashed some aspects of the UT scandal, namely how low the LSAT scores were for some of those well-connected applicants:
“Of 6,155 admitted applicants from 2010 to 2014, only four were admitted with an LSAT score below 150,” Kroll reported. Also, “During the time period reviewed, we found only two applicants who were admitted with both an undergraduate GPA below 3.0 and LSAT score below 155; however, both applicants belonged to an under-represented minority group and had valuable public sector experience before applying to law school.”
Actually, Kroll found dozens of students with LSAT scores below 150, and even found three students admitted during the Powers years with scores in the 130s.
Snip.
It’s impossible to say now exactly how many underqualified students were admitted, as UT redacted the tallies. We can say that in 2004, UT Law admitted at least one person with each of the following scores: 137, 140, 141, 144, 147, 148 and 149.
In 2005, UT Law admitted at least one person with each of the following scores: 137, 140, 141, 143, 144, 147, 148 and 149.
In 2006, the low scores recorded were 137, 141, 143, 146, 147, 148 and 149.
So who ordered the Kroll to spike its findings?
“Vice Chancellor Dan Sharphorn oversaw the report. He reports directly to Chancellor Bill McRaven.”
Ongoing lawsuits by Watchdog.org and a Dallas Morning News columnist may succeed in getting past UT’s stonewalling (“In response to a public records request, UT last week produced a key 24,536-page document from the Kroll files, with every last page redacted.”) to cast some light on the subject.
(Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Tags:Austin, fraud, Jon Cassidy, Kroll Report, University of Texas, Wallace Hall
Posted in Austin, Texas, Waste and Fraud | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 5th, 2015
Happy Cinco de Mayo! My efforts to move the LinkSwarm back to it’s usual Friday position by posting early have failed, so I’m trying to get it there by letting it drift back one day later each time…
“Canadian Partnership Shielded Identities of Donors to Clinton Foundation.” Just in case you missed that. Because trying to keep up with all the sleazy bribery angles of the Clinton Foundation is like trying to drink from the firehose…
Speaking of which:
“Hillary may want to talk about inequality, but is there any better example of a couple who gorged at the trough of Wall Street and foreign autocrats, chose not to follow the rules, never could stop chasing more and more money and (in Hillary Clinton’s case) went to extraordinary lengths to destroy “personal” e-mails that might have pulled back the curtain on all that?” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Hillary hires Scott Hogan, an organizer of the failed “Everytown” gun-grabber astroturf to run her “Grassroots” campaign. Hopefully he’ll bring Hillary the same outstanding success he brought to gun control…
Russian stooges in Ukraine: “Soviet terror famine? No, that was all just a big misunderstanding!” (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Islamic State murders 600 more Yezidis. (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)
The Islamic State also claimed post facto credit for the Garland attack.
Speaking of which, here’s an interview with Bosch Fawstin, the winner of the Draw Mohammed contest. (Hat tip: Legal Insurrection.)
Emergency room visits up under ObamaCare.
Lefty lawyer Laurence Tribe calls Obama’s “force everyone to use green energy without congressional approval” plan unconstitutional. “After studying the only legal basis offered for the EPA’s proposed rule, I concluded that the agency is asserting executive power far beyond its lawful authority.”
Drug cartel violence heats up in Mexico: “Gunmen shot down a Mexican military helicopter Friday in the western state of Jalisco, killing three soldiers, and set fire to buses, blocked roads, and attacked banks and gas stations in a sharp escalation of violence against the government.” This is evidently the handiwork of the New Generation drug cartel.
Minimum wage hike hits San Francisco Comic Store.
When the Social Justice Warriors started attacking the company Protein World over their “Beach Ready” ad campaign, Protein World didn’t cave, they fought back. Result: They earned an additional $1 million in four days.
Not understanding that the Presidency is not an entry level job, and that the Republican field was already packed, Ben Carson joins the Presidential race.
Ditto Carly Fiorina, whose tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard was not an unqualified success, and whose 2010 California Senate race lost to Barbara Boxer by 16 points.
And evidently Mike Huckabee is going to run as well.
Texas Democrats are furious that a new ethics bill might keep them from scratching each other’s backs. (Hat tip: Push Junction.)
The Austin American Statesman is moving printing and packing operations to San Antonio and Houston, resulting in about a 100 jobs lost in Austin. Previously. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Social Justice Warriors can’t even win elections at UCLA.
Austin’s Highland Mall closed on April 30th.
Tags:2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Austin, Austin American Statesman, Ben Carson, Border Controls, Bosch Fawstin, Carly Fiorina, Charlie Hebdo, Clinton Foundation, Communism, Crime, Democrats, drug lords, Elections, Everytown for Gun Safety, Garland, Garland Shooting, genocide, gun control, Hewlett-Packard, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Scandals, Holodomor, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jalisco, Laurence Tribe, LinkSwarm, Media Watch, Mexico, Mike Huckabee, Military, New Generation drug cartel, ObamaCare, Regulation, Republicans, Russia, Texas, Ukraine, Yezidis
Posted in Austin, Border Control, Communism, Crime, Democrats, Economics, Elections, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Guns, Jihad, Media Watch, Military, ObamaCare, Regulation, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, April 24th, 2015
Time for another Texas vs. California roundup:
The Manhattan Institute has a new report out discussing how California’s pension spending is starting to crowd out essential services. (Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
Austin is the number one city in the country for technology job creation.
Texas unemployment is down to 4.2%.
That’s the lowest unemployment rate since March of 2007.
Marin County Grand Jury:
Unfunded pension liabilities are a concern for county and city governments throughout California. Reviewing this problem in Marin County, the Grand Jury examined four public employers that participate in the Marin County Employees’ Retirement Association (MCERA): County of Marin, City of San Rafael, Novato Fire Protection District, and the Southern Marin Fire Protection District, hereafter collectively referred to as “Employer(s)”
The Grand Jury interviewed representatives of the County of Marin, sponsors of MCERA administered retirement plans, representatives of MCERA, and members of the various Employer governing boards and staff. It also consulted with actuaries, various citizen groups, and the Grand Jury’s independent court-appointed lawyers.
In so doing, the Grand Jury found that those Employers granted no less than thirty-eight pension enhancements from 2001- 2006, each of which appears to have violated disclosure requirements and fiscal responsibility requirements of the California Government Code.
(Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
The Marin Country lawyer: Nothing to see in this Grand Jury Report! Critics: Hey, aren’t you pulling down a cool $434,000 by “triple dipping” the existing system? (Ditto.)
Why does the University of California system have to hike tuition 28%? Simple: Pensions.
As with other areas of state and local budgets, a big factor is pension costs, which for UC have grown from $44 million in 2009-10 to $957 million in 2014-15. And the number of employees making more than $200,000 almost doubled from 2007-13, from 3,018 to 5,933.
While total UC employees rose 11 percent from October 2007 to October 2014, the group labeled “Senior Management Group and Management and Senior Personnel” jumped 32 percent.
(Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
Los Angeles Teacher’s Union gets a 10% pay hike over two years.
Like everything else associated with ObamaCare, covered California is screwed up.
BART wants a tax increase. This is my shocked face. (Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
And by my count, there are 157 BART employees who make more than $200,000 a year in salary and benefits…
California state senate committee votes to raise California’s minimum wage to $13 by 2017. If I were Gov. Greg Abbott, I’d be ready to start sending Texas relocation information packets to large California employers the minute this gets signed into law.
California-based Frederick’s of Hollywood files for bankruptcy. The retail lingerie business just isn’t what it used to be…
Torrence, California newspaper wins Pulitzer Prize for reporting on local school district corruption.
Priorities: Carson, California approves $1.7 billion for an NFL stadium even though they don’t have an NFL team to put in it.
Dilbert’s Scott Adams weighs in on California’s drought:
Tags:Austin, California, Democrats, drought, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District, Marin County, ObamaCare, pension crisis, Texas, unemployment, unions, University of California, waste, Welfare State
Posted in Austin, Budget, Democrats, ObamaCare, unions, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015
More good news from the Texas legislature: The Texas House has voted to remove jurisdiction over statewide elected and appointed officials from Travis County’s corrupt, partisan Public Integrity Unit. Instead, such investigations would be handled by the unimpeachable Texas Rangers rather than the likes of Ronnie Earl and Rosemary Lehmberg.
It was only a historical fluke that Travis County managed to exercise such authority in the first place, and given the Public Integrity Unit’s willingness to pursue abusive vendettas against Republican political figures such as Tom DeLay and Rick Perry, removing that responsibility was long overdue.
Democrats will no longer be able to get revenge against Republicans from the Travis County prosecutor’s office for what Republicans and voters have done to them at the ballot box over the last two decades…
Tags:Democrats, Republicans, Rick Perry, Ronnie Earle, Rosemary Lehmberg, Texas 84th Legislative Session, Texas Rangers, Tom DeLay, Travis County, Travis County Public Integrity Unit
Posted in Austin, Crime, Democrats, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 3rd, 2015
After a huge outcry over a proposed ordinance to limit BBQ smoke in residential areas, the Austin City Council has decided to punt:
A proposed resolution that could have forced barbecue restaurants in the city of Austin to install smoke scrubbers on their smoke stacks will come before the full city council this summer. That’s what council members approved during Friday’s meeting, after hearing from restaurant owners and neighbors who say the smoke is ruining their quality of life.
Snip.
The resolution now goes through a stakeholder process, meaning the city will hear from people who have a direct stake in the issue. Then it will go to the economic development and health and human services committees before coming before the full council again. That’s scheduled to happen after July 31.
So they could still kill the golden goose and fulfill Dwight’s longing to see an entire city council tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail. But the delay also gives them time to quietly kill the proposal after realizing how many orders of magnitude more BBQ-eating voters there are than people supporting the ordinance…
Tags:Austin, barbecue, Franklin Barbecue, Regulation
Posted in Austin, Regulation | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 1st, 2015
After the grand jury failed to indict him, Wallace Hall fired back at Texas House Speaker Joe Straus:
“The campaign by Speaker (Joe) Straus, Representative (Dan) Flynn and Senator (Kel) Seliger to criminalize my service as a Regent constitutes abuse of office,” Hall said in a statement. “Their use of the levers of political power to cover up wrongdoing by legislators should now be investigated, and those exposed for their abuses should be driven from office.”
The piece also points out the numerous vested interests of people who have weighed in against Hall.
Tags:Austin, Joe Straus, Jon Cassidy, Texas, University of Texas, Wallace Hall
Posted in Austin, Texas | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 1st, 2015
That should be the headline as yet another establishment attempt to punish UT regent Wallace Hall for the crime of actually doing his job fails. Or, if you prefer: “Wallace Hall: More Honest Than a Ham Sandwich.”
But chances are good that you’ve seen headlines like “Jury Criticizes Wallace Hall” or “Wallace Hall should step down,” based on four pages of “recommendations” from the Travis County jury. The lack of an indictment is important, the non-indictment condemnations are just dicta, statements of opinion that have no force of law. We do not let grand juries establish public policy for the same reasons we don’t have legislatures indict random citizens for crimes: it is not among their enumerated responsibilities.
Those trying to bury UT’s admissions scandal have thrown everything possible at him, but Hall has been proven right time and time again. After the latest grand jury shenanigans, Hall is still standing while UT President Bill Powers was forced to resign in disgrace.
Further attacks on Hall will only continue to prove that his critics are spiteful, petty defenders of corruption.
Tags:Bill Powers, Texas, Travis County, University of Texas, Wallace Hall
Posted in Austin, Texas | No Comments »