Posts Tagged ‘Russia’
Thursday, February 20th, 2014
A super-brief update on Ukraine:
Current conformed death toll for recent fighting at 67, unconfirmed at 100 dead.
Euromaidan captures 67 policemen.
EU agrees to impose sanctions, including asset freezes and visa bans. It’s a start. Refusing to pay for any Russian oil or gas until democracy is restored in Ukraine would have a lot bigger effect…
Map of Russian gas pipelines in Ukraine. I differ with Zero Hedge in that I don’t think this is an all-encompassing explanation for the conflict…
Forget Sochi; Ukraine shows that it’s the same old Russia: “At the heart of the battle lies a fundamental question: Is Ukraine a free nation or is it a piece of Moscow — a piece on Putin’s chessboard?”
Obama’s White House: months late and several dollars short on Ukraine.
Video
Battle footage with CNN talking heads:
More random fight footage:
Military base torched:
More Tweets
And holy fark is Gary Kasperov pissed:
Tags:EuroMaidan, Foreign Policy, Gary Kasparov, Russia, Twitter, Ukraine, video, Vladimir Putin
Posted in Foreign Policy, video | No Comments »
Thursday, February 20th, 2014
That happens sometimes, when you try to escape your country’s harsh political bondage, despite the clamps and chains Putin’s police state has forced on dissidents, reformers and lesbians…
(Hat tip: Moe Lane, who doesn’t seem to have realized the glorious keyword trolling possibilities…)
Tags:Communism, Pussy Riot, Russia, Sochi Olympics, video, Vladimir Putin
Posted in Communism, Foreign Policy, video | No Comments »
Monday, February 10th, 2014
These LinkSwarms tend to get pushed back to days when there’s not a big story jumping up and requiring my attention. It seems like the Olympics have created a bit of a news lull
Democratic congressmen abandoning ObamaCare in droves.
Obama’s fake recovery sucks in comparison to Reagan’s real recovery. Why? ObamaCare.
People who overestimate their income, thus getting a subsidy rather than thrown into Medicaid, might be in for a nasty surprise come tax time.
Today’s Democratic representative retiring after getting caught with his hand in the till comes to you from Rep. Ron Andrews of New Jersey.
Today’s example of a Democratic member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns being convicted of a felony (in this case bribery) also comes to you from New Jersey, in the form of Trenton Mayor Tony Mack. But as you observe all this Democratic malfeasance in New Jersey, never lose sight of the truly important thing: Chris Christie might have closed a bridge!
Here’s a fascinating piece from Ace of Spades HQ on class identification among the gentry left.
And this piece on “Love in the Time of Obama” is well worth reading on its own.
Massachusetts state Democrat Rep. Carlos Henriquez’s schedule: 1. Smack my bitch up, 2. Mark my bills up. Yes, assaulting a woman is evidently no reason to keep him from working as a legislator…
More black Chicago residents question what the Democratic Party has done for the black community.
Heartening, but I can’t help but notice that some of the same people appear in this video as the one from that town hall meeting in December. Makes it hard to gauge just how widespread black America’s dissatisfaction with Obama is…
The Turncoat Diaries: “The conversions of Charlie Crist, from Republican to independent to Democrat, make up one of the least inspiring tales in modern politics. To take it seriously is to admit you’re the sort of person who takes Scientology stress tests and supplies credit card info to anyone who claims to need help from Nigeria.”
People move from high tax, high regulation states bleeding jobs to low-tax, low-regulation states gaining jobs. Gee, who knew?
How Russia is trying to keep control of Ukraine.
NBC calls the end of the Soviet Union “bittersweet”. Much like Hitler’s suicide…
Tweets from Sochi: Missing floors, open manholes, yellow tap water, and “cakes in ass.”
More: “Three of the nine mountain hotels have not been completed.”
Title company executive dead in nailgun “suicide.” Patrick Bateman wanted for questioning.
Inside the Red Light Camera Bribe Machine. Redflex has done business with several cities, including “Austin, El Paso, Plano, Corpus Christi, Grand Prairie, North Richland Hills, Hurst, Port Lavaca, League City, Carrollton, Killeen, Mesquite, and Longview.” (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Even Howard YEAGGGGHHH Dean thinks the Iran deal sucks.
When principled lefty Alan Derschowitz says the Dinesh D’Souza case is “selective prosecution,” perhaps we should listen.
New York City schools Harrison Bergeron a gifted students course because of their unacceptable albedo index. (Hat tip: Indapundit.)
Michael Totten visits some of the least-crappy parts of Cuba.
When I think “high tech giants,” certainly the first name that comes to mind is Chelsea Clinton. Nepotism much, SXSW? (Hat tip: Jim Geraghty in NRO.
Slashdot users in open revolt over a redesign. Take one look at the Beta site and you know why: It is indeed a big, festering mound of suck.
Adobe to release new DRM scheme that’s annoying, useless, and screws older customers.
Ten scenes from Blazing Saddles too politically incorrect to be made today.
Did Bill Clinton add Elizabeth Hurley to his list of in-White House conquests?
Round Rock ISD committee chairman tries to bypass laws to make changes to sex ed.
On tour with the Sex Pistols in Texas.
Tags:Alan Dershowitz, Austin, Crime, Cuba, Democrats, Dinesh D'Souza, fraud, Guns, Holly Hansen, Howard Dean, LinkSwarm, Massachusetts, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Media Watch, Michael Totten, New Jersey, ObamaCare, Ron Andrews, Round Rock ISD, Russia, Sochi Olympics, Ukraine, video
Posted in Austin, Communism, Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Guns, Media Watch, ObamaCare, Texas, video, Waste and Fraud | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 29th, 2014
Lots of news from around the world, where the global economy is handing like a Kia that’s just started losing traction on an icy hill:
Bundesbank: Don’t look at us, broke PIIGS, you’re going to have to screw your own people.
Does a big default loom in China?
Russian bank halts all cash withdrawals?
Meanwhile, reports that Chinese banks have stopped allowing withdrawals turns out to be a false alarm.
European earnings outlook: Zero.
Problem: Greek economy still sucking wind. Solution: change how GDP is calculated.
Japan hits record trade deficit. Remember when they were supposed to take over the world?
The ruble flirts with record lows.
Obama and the Democratic Party’s numbers are worse than they were in 2010.
Planned Parenthood wonders what’s the big deal with a little statutory rape among friends?
Florida heroin kingpin is an illegal alien on food stamps.
Another Democrat convicted of that vote fraud that doesn’t exist. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Democrats actually polling worse than they were in 2010. And that’s from Dem pollster/booster John B. Judis.
Target’s part-time workers get ObamaCared.
We have a winner for troll of the year:
Every time I hear someone say that feminism is about validating every choice a woman makes I have to fight back vomit.
Do people really think that a stay at home mom is really on equal footing with a woman who works and takes care of herself? There’s no way those two things are the same. It’s hard for me to believe it’s not just verbally placating these people so they don’t get in trouble with the mommy bloggers.
Having kids and getting married are considered life milestones. We have baby showers and wedding parties as if it’s a huge accomplishment and cause for celebration to be able to get knocked up or find someone to walk down the aisle with. These aren’t accomplishments, they are actually super easy tasks, literally anyone can do them. They are the most common thing, ever, in the history of the world. They are, by definition, average.
Amy Glass, come down and collect your coveted Trolly! (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
“Woman Takes Short Half-Hour Break From Being Feminist To Enjoy TV Show”
In case you didn’t notice, Iran’s mullahs are still lying, violent scumbags.
Strangely enough, Israeli’s trust Netanyahu more than Obama. Funny how a mere 40+ years Palestinians breaking every agreement they’ve signed will sour people on the peace process…
Michael Totten wanders around Cuba some more, where he let’s us know that Cubans can be arrested for unauthorized shrimp.
California Court determines that disgraced serial journalistic liar Stephen Glass is too dishonest to be a lawyer.
In other news, Eugene Volokh stuns Washington Post readers with non-liberal thoughts on guns and other topics.
Have you ever considered the possibility that Woody Allen isn’t a child molester?
Drive a Fit, a Prius, a Yaris, or a Fiat 500? Hope you’ve made out a will.
Anthony Weiner forced to downsize to an apartment whose rent is a mere 6 times my mortgage.
Tags:2014 Election, abortion, Amy Glass, Anthony Weiner, Benjamin Netanyahu, Border Controls, California, cars, China, Communism, Crime, Cuba, Democrats, Elections, Eugene Volokh, feminism, Florida, fraud, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Japan, Jihad, John B. Judis, Media Watch, Michael Totten, ObamaCare, PIIGS, Planned Parenthood, Russia, Stephen Glass, Welfare State, Woody Allen
Posted in Border Control, Communism, Crime, Democrats, Economics, Elections, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Media Watch, ObamaCare, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »
Monday, December 2nd, 2013
Amidst Thanksgiving weekend festivities (which for me included visiting with family, eating copious amounts of food, shopping for books, and watching the Rockets beat the Nets and Spurs), I kept seeing reports of unrest in Ukraine pop up on my Twitter feed.
Ukraine’s current president, Viktor Yanukovych, is a toady for Putin’s Moscow, and in that role he rejected a trade deal with the EU in favor of closer ties with Russia. Ukrainians, tired of centuries of Russian domination, were naturally pissed, and took to the streets to protest. Those protests continued to grow during the weekend, with the attendant clashes with police and volleys of tear gas, and even some members of the ruling coalition quitting in protest. Even John Kerry’s ineffectual State Department was forced to issue one of its toothless, pro-forma protests.
What it boils down to is the latest incarnation of a very old struggle of Ukrainians trying to throw off the yoke of Moscow’s rule. It looked like they had succeeded in the Orange Revolution in 2004-2005, but then Putin’s catspaws managed to slither their way back into power, all part of Russia’s attempt to assert control in its “Near Abroad” (i.e., the other states of the former Soviet Union). Then there’s that little issue of the Soviet Union killing between 4 million and 14 million people in the Holodomor.
Will Democracy succeed? Never underestimate the willingness of authoritarians (or totalitarians) to murder their own people when push comes to shove. But Yanukovych can only do so much. There’s no love lost between Ukraine’s armed forces and their Russian counterparts, so I sincerely doubt they would back Yanukovych in an actual revolution or civil war.
Would Russia intervene militarily in Ukraine? I never put anything past Vladamir Putin (remember, he’s almost certainly the guy who ordered the poisoning of Yanukovych’s rival Viktor Yushchenko with dioxin), but invading the Ukraine would probably be a bridge too far for even the squishy EU.
Recent reports have troops moving in toward the protestors.
Russia Today has regular updates on the situation. (Note that’s Russia Today, not Ukraine Today, and adjust for bias accordingly.)
Tags:Communism, Foreign Policy, Holodomor, John Kerry, Orange Revolution, Russia, Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, Viktor Yushchenko, Vladimir Putin
Posted in Communism, Foreign Policy | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 9th, 2013
Via Borepatch comes news of some super geniuses in Greenpeace who can’t understand why they’re sitting in a Russian jail. They illegally boarded a state-owned oilrig as part of a protest and were promptly arrested for piracy.
“They had never expected that they would face such consequences for their peaceful protest in a democratic state.”
There are two tiny little problems with that statement:
- Illegally trespassing on someone else’s property is not exactly “peaceful.”
- Russia is not a democratic state, it’s dictatorial state with a thin veneer of democratic trappings. Did they not notice all the people that Putin has had bumped off over the years?
Now they’re sitting in jail awaiting trail, wonder why they haven’t received the slap on the wrist they regularly get from other countries.
Real activists should expect to do time in jail. Vaclav Havel spent plenty of time in jail, as did Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King. And they were pushing for real social change, not pie-in-the-sky trust fund environmentalism.
Actions have consequences. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time…
Tags:Borepatch, environmentalism, Greenpeace, Russia, Vladimir Putin
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, July 29th, 2013
The July grind is about to turn into the August grind. Enjoy the LinKSwarm while you can:
Mark Steyn on Detroit’s downfall.
America may not be Greece, but neither was Detroit.
Gun Owners are right to oppose all measures, because the goal of gun banners isn’t reducing crime, but the complete confiscation of all civilian firearms.
If Obama ever drew a crowd of 3 million people, the MSM would never stop proclaiming how awesome he is. But when the Pope does it? Meh.
When you shop at Costco, you’re buying ObamaCare.
Is it too much to ask that the director of the freaking 9/11 Museum not hate America?
I guess Anthony Weiner chose Carlos Danger as his sexing pseudonym because it sounds so much cooler than Prematuro Ejaculatoree.
Thanks to Slate, I now know that my twitter sexting pseudonym is “Pablo Kill”.
Maybe the MSM should stop doing fawning spreads on how elegant Huma Abedin is and start asking how she could earn $135,000 as a part-time government employee and still pull down $355,000 as a consultant.
That is, when she’s not playing footsie with Islamic radicals.
And now those Taiwanese animators on Anthony Weiner (possibly not safe for work):
Peaceful Treyvon protestors assault mother taking her 7-year old to the hospital.
A nifty neighborhood crime analysis tool for Austin. (Hat tip: Stuff From Hsoi.)
Given the chance to escape from unions, more than half of Wisconsin union members do just that.
Indonesia is banning bikinis for the Miss World contest. Well, Siberia isn’t having any of that foolishness.
Remembering World War II, Korean and Vietnam war vet and Congressional Medal of Honor winner Bud Day.
Tags:Anthony Weiner, Detroit, Guns, Huma Abedin, Jihad, LinkSwarm, Media Watch, Obituary, Pope, Russia, unions, Wisconsin
Posted in Democrats, Guns, Jihad, Media Watch, unions | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 22nd, 2012
Once again I will be Livetweeting tonight’s Presidential debate. Drinking words to sip on are “Libya,” “China,””Iran,” “Russia” and “Nuclear.” Chug for “Jihad” or if Obama calls Benjamin Netanyahu “Bibi.”
Tags:2012 Election, Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Policy, Iran, Libya, Mitt Romney, Obama, Russia
Posted in Elections, Foreign Policy, Jihad | No Comments »
Monday, April 9th, 2012
A LinkSwarm to start your day with:
Today’s Democrat calling her fellow Texans bigots comes to you from Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin).
How the story of today’s media transformation is being written by the losers: “We should not expect anything like impartial analysis from people whose very livelihoods—and those of their close friends—are directly threatened by their subject matter.”
Want a glimpse of where health care is headed if ObamaCare isn’t repealed or overturned? In the UK, doctors told a woman to find another provider because her carbon footprint to visit them was too large. All two miles of driving worth. (Hat tip: Say Uncle.)
Holly Hansen reports on a Williamson County Republican candidates forum. County commissioner Lisa Birkman attended, but her opponent Lee Ann Seitsinger didn’t.
“Please excuse Kelly Lee McCarty from her job at the Texas Water Development Board because she was sick and has to spend five days of bed rest. Signed, Epstein’s Mother.”
Sen. John Cornyn notes the failure of Obama’s cheeseburger diplomacy with Russia.
Mark Davis leaving WBAP?
Tags:bureaucrats, Holly Hansen, John Cornyn, Kelly Lee McCarty, Lee Ann Seitsinger, LinkSwarm, Lisa Birkman, Mark Davis, NHS, Obama, ObamaCare, Russia, Socialized Medicine, Texas, UK, Williamson County
Posted in Austin, Foreign Policy, Media Watch, ObamaCare, Texas | No Comments »
