Posts Tagged ‘Florida’
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 »
Tuesday, March 15th, 2016
Another big primary day, with Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina voters going to the polls today.
Polls show that Hillary crushes Trump in the general. “Donald Trump is detested by the general electorate.”
Hell, Trump even loses to Bernie Sanders. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
So how did Republicans get Trump foisted upon us?
“‘Lending” the Republican Party to Trump for the next six months might mean you never get it back.” (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
“The GOP has required that its nominees receive a majority of the vote from its delegates for 160 years now. And this requirement has been consequential: Along the way, multiple candidates have received a plurality of the vote, yet failed to become the nominee.”
“Ted Cruz’s campaign is pouring another half a million dollars into television and digital ad buys slated to run in Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina ahead of the contests in those states on Tuesday.” (Hat tip: Conservatives 4 Ted Cruz.)
“I’ve got nothing in particular against Rubio except that he let Chuck Schumer snooker him on immigration, but I keep hearing what a great candidate he is, and he keeps sucking in the actual votes.”
Florida Tea Party supporters who voted for Rubio in 2010 are itching for a chance to help defeat him tonight:
Floridians for Immigration Enforcement, a group that opposes illegal immigration, supported Rubio in his campaign for Senate that election cycle, in part due to an hourlong-conversation they had with him on that fateful day in 2009. During that meeting, Oliver said, Rubio pledged never to support “amnesty or legalization of people” in the United States without documentation.
“He ran for president as a graceful way to exit. He would have lost the Senate seat if he had run for reelection.”
The money behind John Kasich? George Soros. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Tags:2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Elections, Florida, George Soros, Hillary Clinton, Illinois, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Republicans, Ted Cruz
Posted in Elections, Republicans | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 9th, 2016
If you haven’t heard, Cruz is going all-in to deny Marco Rubio a victory in Florida…even if it hands the winner-take-all state to Trump.
Ace of Spades HQ makes a compelling case that this is the right call:
However, let’s look at the flip side — what happens if Rubio and Kasich win? In that case, both men will declare victory — obviously — and then say this proves what they’ve been saying all along, that America is now ready to embrace them, that the map looks better from them starting with Guam, that they’re going to take it all the way to the convention.
And then we continue on with the field unwinnowed, and Trump continuing to win more delegates than Cruz by 43% to 36% margins. Not huge margins — but they’ll get you there, and if you’re not gaining on Trump, you’re losing to Trump.
Thus, the way I see it, the downside to Cruz of delivering Florida and Ohio to Trump is less down than the downside of letting Rubio and Kasich get their stupid fucking Participation Trophy and their excuse (and financial backing) to continue dicking around in a race that neither man can win. Neither of these guys can win more delegates than Trump now; both are hoping just to have a contested convention, and then hope that the Establishment reaches past the 1st and 2nd place finishers to deliver the win to the third or fourth place “winner” — Rubio Gold come literally true, in other words.
This makes no sense from Cruz’s perspective.
It’s time to take them both out, and then take his chances one-on-one with Trump.
Snip.
if Rubio and Kasich stay in, and continue kneecapping Cruz from winning (or winning these crucial Winner Take Alls by 50% – Cruz would be ahead of Trump if Rubio hadn’t played in Texas or Idaho), then there is no shot to get Cruz anywhere near Trump’s tally — and Trump wins the nomination.
So tell me the Truth, guys: Is #NeverTrump a real thing, or is it just a quick dash of new paint on the #Rubio4Ever thing you’ve had going for a year now?
If you want to stop Trump, you need to end these Rubio fantasies and let the only guy with an actual chance of stopping him start getting into two man races with him.
Otherwise, your #NeverTrump slogan is a lie — you’re perfectly fine with Trump. You just are using that as another pretext to lobby for Rubio.
So yeah, from Cruz’s point of view, and frankly from any sane Republican’s point of view (that is, apart from the Rubio and Kasich diehards) — it’s time to cash these two guys out. Out.
These guys are throwing the race to Trump.
And their supporters will not give up on their fantasies until those fantasies are violently torn from their hands, set on fire, and then buried under a swamp.
Clowntime is over. The time for Rubio Fantasy Love Scenarios is over. It’s time for real, tough decisions to be made, or to be made on behalf of those who just can’t get over it.
Cruz won Idaho and was second to Trump everywhere else last night.
It’s past time for Rubio and Kasich to exit the race, but for either ego or strategic leverage at the convention both refuse to do so. So Cruz doing whatever he needs to in order to boot them off the stage is the right call.
Tags:2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Donald Trump, Elections, Florida, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Ohio, Republicans, Ted Cruz
Posted in Elections, Republicans | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 9th, 2016
Florida Man has really outdone himself this time:
Authorities in Florida have arrested a man accused of throwing a live alligator through a restaurant’s drive-through window.
Investigators identified Joshua James, of Jupiter, Fla., as the man who tossed the 3 1/2-foot reptile into a Wendy’s last fall, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission incident report.
He faces three charges related to the incident: Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; unlawful sale, possession or transporting of an alligator; and petty theft.
Pro tip: Try not to commit felonies for laughs. Though I’m sure the story will get a chuckle from his future cellmate.
See you later, alligator…
Tags:alligator, Crime, Florida
Posted in Crime | 2 Comments »
Friday, December 18th, 2015
It’s a week before Christmas, and I hope everyone is having a better week than I am (I’m sick and my dog’s sick).
Former FBI counterterrorism agent says that we haven’t gotten squat in terrorism leads from “moderate Muslims,” and we probably won’t as long as we keep using Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood front groups like CAIR as our only go-to groups for them. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Swedes are stocking up on guns.
Given that the French political establishment continues to ignore widespread French desire to stem Islamic immigration, is it any wonder Marine Le Pen’s National Front did so well in early voting?
DNC cuts off voter info access to Bernie Sanders campaign over data breach?
“Environmentalists are a much more serious threat to human well being than climate change—even catastrophic climate change.”
The Fall of Rahm Emmanual.
Media Matters mouthpiece David Brock says that Ted Cruz is the biggest threat to a Hillary coronation.
“FitzGibbon Media, a prominent progressive public relations firm, abruptly shut down on Thursday amid allegations of sexual harassment and assault by the company’s president. Trevor FitzGibbon and his team worked with some of the biggest progressive organizations, including NARAL, MoveOn, the Center for American Progress and the AFL-CIO, as well as Wikileaks, Chelsea [i.e., Bradley] Manning and The Intercept.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
How The New York Times continually revised a story to help Obama look better.
Remember that ACLU board member that called for murdering Trump supporters? Turns out that calling for the assassination of political opponents is just a tad too extreme for the ACLU.
So we saved Kuwait’s bacon, and they can’t even be arsed to pretend they don’t hate Jews?
How Obama celebrated a deserter in the Rose Garden.
The cocked fist culture.
Nothing says “rational” and “reasonable” quite like calling Ted Cruz Satan incarnate. Thanks for proving that Hollywood celebrities aren’t overwrought drama queens, Cher…
The 25 most Florida things that happened in 2015.
Tags:ACLU, Bowe Bergdahl, CAIR, Cher, David Brock, FBI, Florida, Global Warming, Jews, Jihad, Kuwait, LinkSwarm, Marine Le Pen, Mark Steyn, Media Matters, Media Watch, Military, Rahm Emanuel, Ted Cruz
Posted in Democrats, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Jihad, Media Watch, Military | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 21st, 2015
I could roll this up into the next California vs. Texas update, but I thought this Texas Public Policy Foundation paper by Vance Ginn on why Texas’ low tax, low regulation model generates prosperity was meaty enough to be worth a separate post.
The Texas model has been touted as an approach to governance that other states and Washington, D.C. would be wise to follow. This approach promotes individual freedom through lower taxes and spending, less regulation, fewer frivolous lawsuits, and reduced federal government interference. Does this Texas restatement of the unalienable rights of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” actually promote freedom, prosperity, and jobs when compared to the largest states and U.S. averages?
To answer this question, this paper (in most cases) compares various measures in California, Texas, New York, and Florida—the states with the largest populations and economic output—and U.S. averages during the last 15 years. Five fiscal measures of economic freedom and government intervention for these states show that Texas generally leads the pack as the most free with the least government intrusion. Eight measures of the labor market indicate that Texas provides the best opportunities to find a job. Five measures of income distribution and poverty show that Texas leads in most categories with a more equal income distribution and less poverty despite fewer redistributionary policies than these large states, particularly California and New York.
Though a mere 15 pages, the paper offers up an in-depth survey of various economic metrics and studies, where Texas repeatedly comes out on top, and New York and California repeatedly come in last and second-to-last.
A few more tidbits:
In a “Soft Tyranny Index” (measuring state government bureaucracy, state spending, income tax, and tax burden) “Texas ranks first with the least government intrusion, Florida 17th, California 49th, and New York 50th.”
“Texas outpaces the rest of the U.S. in nonfarm job creation since December 2007.”
“Texas’ distribution of income is more equal compared with other large states.”
Read the whole thing.
Tags:Budget, California, Economics, Florida, New York, Regulation, Taxes, Texas, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Vance Ginn
Posted in Budget, Economics, Regulation, Texas | No Comments »
Friday, August 14th, 2015
Austin had a very, very wet spring, but August is shaping up in normal fashion: Bone dry and hot as hell. Try to keep cool and enjoy a Friday LinkSwarm:
“There is no real distinction between today’s Democrats and socialists.”
Democrats have an America problem.
The email scandal could very well sink Hillary:
Politicized or not, the DOJ will be increasingly boxed in by the FBI and intelligence community investigations. Normally, when the intelligence community finds classified materials in unauthorized locations, it seeks felony prosecutions. Gen. David Petraeus was sunk for keeping his own personal calendars in an unlocked drawer at home. The calendars were deemed classified, even if they lacked an official stamp. President Clinton’s CIA Director, John Deutsch, lost his job and security clearance for using his portable computer at home. It had classified material on it. Those violations are trifling compared to Hillary Clinton’s exposure.
(Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin may be joining her in the big house
Bernie Sanders up over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire? #WhiteVotesMatter
Ohio Democrats continue their youth movement by recruiting 74-year old Ted Strickland for a Senate race.
Someone spilled millions of gallons of toxic waste into a river! Call the EPA! Oh wait, it was the EPA.
Islamic State executes 300 electoral civil servants in Iraq. Good thing we’ve got Nobel Prize winner Barack Obama sowing peace and stability to the Middle East rather than that warmongering bungler Bush… (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)
So why did the Obama Administration pretend Taliban-head Mullah Omar was still alive when he’s probably been dead 2 years? (Hat tip: Prairie Pundit.)
And why is the Obama Administration siding with the terrorists and against the Americans who have already won legal judgments against them?
A whole bunch of gun myths debunked. (Hat tip: Borepatch.)
Just why did the University of Minnesota think it needed grenade launchers? (Hat tip: Say Uncle.)
China devalues the Yuan. This is Big Freaking News, but hard to conceptualize, since China’s economic statistics are have not even a nodding acquaintance with reality, and haven’t for at least a decade. So is China’s current bubble bad, or super mega world-shatterling bad?
Your guide to global black market pricing.
Islamic State Worse off than Greece?
Brazil: Super-Duper boned.
“Great Cthulhu emerges as surprise front-runner in Labour leadership contest.”
Tianjin, China Blows Up Real Good.
Jihadis kill four, kidnap six from hotel in central Mali. That’s really going to crimp your vacation plans. (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)
Cop-killing inmate dies in prison riot. Alas, my electron microscope is being recalibrated, so I won’t be able to find the proper sized violin to commemorate this sad occasion… (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Social Justice Warriors continue their war on comedy on campus.
Man arrested for shooting at police in Ferguson was completely unarmed. Except for his guns.
Cool World War II radio intercepts story, via Instapundit.
Florida Man has been busy.
Tags:2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Afghanistan, Bernie Sanders, black market, Brazil, China, Crime, Cthulhu, Democrats, environmentalism, EPA, Florida, Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Scandals, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Italy, Jihad, Mali, Mullah Omar, Obama Scandals, Palestinians, PIIGS, Social Justice Warriors, Ted Strickland
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Economics, Elections, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Military, Obama Scandals, Social Justice Warriors | No Comments »
Monday, May 12th, 2014
Health care costs up most since 1980. Thanks, ObamaCare!
And low wage workers are the ones hurt worst by the employer mandate.
Adventures in Liberal Racism:
The late Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.V., a former leader of the KKK, twice was elected the majority leader in the U.S. Senate and served a 6-year stint as, ironically, minority leader in between. Add Harry Reid, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and countless others to the list of elected Democrats who’ve said things just as racist as Sterling, yet faced no consequences.
To liberals, people are their skin color first, and that should dictate their thoughts and behavior. To stray from that is somehow a betrayal. It’s the basest form of racism, even if the victim and the perpetrator share the same melanin.
To progressives, you aren’t an individual, you’re your skin. Clarence Thomas isn’t a man, he’s a black man. He isn’t an American, he’s an African American. It’s the prefix, not the person, that matters. That, at its core, is racism.
(Hat tip: Instapundit.)
“There’s no getting around the fact that people who reject everything the West stands for are guaranteed to live in poverty with a boot on their neck.”
Democrats doing as bad as they were in 2010? Nope. Worse.
Even the Washington Post has Republican chances of retaking Senate up to 82%.
They also admit that Obama’s ratings are hitting new lows.
Mark Steyn slams #BringBackOurGirls: “The wretched pleading passivity of Mrs Obama’s hashtag is just a form of moral preening.”.
Democrats can’t find anyone to run as a Democratic against David Jolly in FL-13 race. And the “independent” they endorsed doesn’t live in the district…
In Illinois, little things like being a convicted felon won’t keep you from overseeing millions of “anti-violence” program dollars.
Alan Derschowitz gets it right: “I don’t think we want the thought police to be intruding on people’s private conversations.”
Is China’s military a paper dragon?
Missed this: Defeated Democratic congressman (and Stupak-bloc flip-flopper) James Oberstar dead.
“What is hereditary in the United States is not wealth but poverty.”
The Left’s focus on the status of wealthy and high-income Americans is precisely backward — backward if improving the lives and opportunities of those born into poverty is your goal. If your goal is to increase the income and power of the public sector for your own economic and political ends, then of course it makes more sense to focus on the rich: That’s where the money is, and the perverse reality of the Left is that it cannot fortify its own interests by improving the lives of the poor but can do so by pillaging the rich.”
GOP establishment leader Eric cantor booed in his own district.
Nothing says “liberal tolerance” quite like a UC Santa Barbara teacher threatening to send Ted Cruz supporters home in a body bag.
Russia passes a “bloggers law.”
2013 Walter Duranty awards for media liars were given out. Seymour Hirsch received a lifetime achievement award…
Egyptian Muslim group declares that democracy must be eliminated because ”it does not allow to save Muslims and theorizes the equality of Jews, Copts and Muslims and must therefore be condemned”.
Three girls fined $3,500 for wearing bikinis. In Italy. [Edited to add: Jihad Watch has updated the story as a hoax.]
Democratic trial lawyer and Wendy Davis backer Linda Blue Baron is leaving Texas. Tort reform just keeps paying dividends…
Jeeze, you commit one or two little axe murders, and suddenly you’re not dating material.
The novel is dead yet again. Or: Will Self implores those uncouth striplings to vacate his sward.
Crazy spider gymnast.
Tags:2014 Election, Alan Dershowitz, China, David Jolly, Democrats, Elections, Eric Cantor, Florida, Illinois, IRS, James Oberstar, liberal racism, Mark Steyn, Obama Scandals, ObamaCare, Robert Byrd, Ted Cruz, Texas
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Media Watch, Obama Scandals, ObamaCare, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 12th, 2014
Republican David Jolly beat Democrat Alex Sink in a special election for Florida’s 13th congressional district. CD13 is a swing district that voted narrowly for Obama in the last two Presidential elections.
One district does not an election make, but a close look at the tea leaves suggests that the outlook for Democrats in 2014 is looking very dim, thanks to the albatross that is ObamaCare:
DNC was hoping Sink’s campaign would be “a blueprint to display public support for Obamacare”. Oh, I think it did a mighty fine job of showing how much the public supports ObamaCare…
The Tampa Tribune says that “David Jolly’s victory Tuesday in the U.S. House District 13 special election represents a clear repudiation of Obamacare.”
Even the Washington Post says Jolly’s win “illustrated the political toxicity of the law known as Obamacare.”
Well, guess what? seven competitive Senate seats are in states more heavily Republican than the district Jolly just won.
you know what’s less Democrat-friendly territory than this R+1 swing district? The states of West Virginia (R+13), North Carolina (R+3), Louisiana (R+12), South Dakota (R+10), Alaska (R+12). Arkansas (R+14) and Montana (R+7). Those are all currently Democrat-held seats. And there are seven of them.
If last night’s result means that a halfway decent Republican candidate can win on Republican-leaning territory by hammering away at Obamacare… then the odds of the GOP winning the Senate look very, very good.
The message of Sink’s defeat for Democrats? “‘Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
All this may be one reason Sean Trende now gives Republicans an 80% chance to win the Senate.
Of course, Trende also wrote not to read too much into the Florida CD13 special election. But he also thought Sink would probably win…
Meanwhile, a service workers union is talking about going on strike due to health care contract changes resulting from ObamaCare:
Culinary members have long enjoyed health care that is fully funded by employers, but the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has increased medical costs to the point that many companies can no longer afford to pay full freight. The hotels want workers to pick up some of Obamacare’s new costs, a demand the Culinary won’t agree to.
Of course, Obamacare is the law because of the Culinary’s political activism. The Culinary and the rest of organized labor poured untold millions of dollars and thousands of volunteer hours into the election campaigns of President Barack Obama and the Democrats who wrote and passed Obamacare, and the unions championed the reboot of American health insurance.
Then they realized Obamacare’s critics were right. The law is wrecking platinum-plated union health plans, not to mention health insurance for tens of millions of people.
Unions opposing Obamacare, Hispanics opposing unlimited abortion; that Democrat coalition is started to look more than a little frayed…
Tags:2014 Election, abortion, Alex Sink, David Jolly, Democrats, Elections, Florida, Hispanics, ObamaCare, unions
Posted in Democrats, Elections, ObamaCare, unions | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 11th, 2014
You may remember the case of New Rome, Ohio, an infamous speedtrap that existed only to line the pockets of a corrupt family and their friends. The corruption was so bad, Ohio disolved the town on September 9, 2004.
Now comes word that Hampton, Florida seems to be trying many of the same tricks.
“A state audit of Hampton’s books, released last month, reads like a primer on municipal malfeasance. It found 31 instances in which local rules or state or federal laws were violated in ways large and small.”
The big question seems to be where the ticket money went…
(See also: Maywood, California.)
Tags:corruption, Crime, Florida, New Rome, speed trap
Posted in Crime, Waste and Fraud | No Comments »
