Posts Tagged ‘Harry Reid’

LinkSwarm for December 31, 2021

Friday, December 31st, 2021

Greetings, and welcome to the last LinkSwarm of 2021!

Remember how all those media pundits opined that 2021 couldn’t help but being better than 2020?

Yeah, not so much.

Assuming the official death tolls are accurate (probably not, but I doubt the methodology has changed from 2020 to 2021), there were approximately 375,000 deaths in the United States of America in 2020 from Flu Manchu. With some 821,000+ total deaths, more people have died this year than last year. So much for Joe Biden shutting down the virus…

Joe Rogan’s interview with Dr. Robert Malone has evidently dropped, but I haven’t watched it yet. Maybe Saturday.

  • Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted of sex-trafficking girls for Jeffrey Epstein in a story the Democratic Media Complex has done it’s best to pay as little attention to as possible.
  • Ron DeSantis vs. Critical Race Theory.

    Over the past year, DeSantis has emerged as one of the most articulate political spokesmen for the anti–critical race theory movement. His new policy agenda builds on successful anti-CRT legislation in other states but goes two steps further. First, it provides parents with a “private right of action,” which allows them to sue offending institutions for violations, gain information through legal discovery, and, if they win in the courts, collect attorney’s fees. Second, it tackles critical race theory in corporate “diversity, equity, and inclusion” training programs, which, DeSantis says, sometimes promote racial stereotyping, scapegoating, and harassment, in violation of state civil rights laws.

    At heart, the battle against critical race theory is a fight against entrenched bureaucracies that have used public institutions to promote their own racialist ideology. “This is an elite-driven phenomenon being driven by bureaucratic elites, elites in universities, and elites in corporate America, and they’re trying to shove it down the throats of the American people,” DeSantis said. “You’re not doing that in the state of Florida.”

    Following his speech, DeSantis invited me to address the crowd. I explained that the reason critical race theory has upset so many Americans is that it speaks to two deep reservoirs of human sentiment: citizens’ desire for self-government and parents’ desire to shape the moral and educational development of their children. Elite institutions have attempted to step between parent and child.

    DeSantis has deftly positioned himself as a protector of middle-American families. One of the guest speakers, Lacaysha Howell, a biracial mother from Sarasota, said that left-wing teachers tried to persuade her daughter that the white side of their family was oppressive. Another speaker, Eulalia Jimenez, a Cuban-American mother from the Miami area, said that left-wing indoctrination in schools reminded her of her father’s warnings about Communism in his native Cuba. Both believed that critical race theory was poison to the American Dream.

    As they begin their next session in January, Florida legislators have the opportunity to craft the gold standard for “culture war” policy. The governor’s team has worked with a range of interested parties, including the Manhattan Institute, which has crafted model language for prohibiting racialist indoctrination and providing curriculum transparency to parents. The battle is ultimately about shaping public policy in accord with public values. “I think we have an ability [to] just draw a line in the sand and say, ‘That’s not the type of society that we want here in the state of Florida,’” said DeSantis yesterday. The stakes are high—and all eyes are on Florida to deliver.

    (Previously.)

  • How the Democratic Media Complex managed to destroy what was left in the public’s trust in it:

  • “Washington State Democrats Want Decreased Penalties for Drive-By Shooters.” Because too many shooters are black. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • All the Republican candidates in Texas Donald Trump has endorsed for 2022. Including incumbents Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton and Sid Miller, plus Dawn Buckingham for Land Commissioner.
  • Speaking of Texas:

  • China’s Xian locks down over Mao Tze Lung.
  • “Houston Grand Jury Indicts Four More Defendants in $35 Million CARES Act Fraud Conspiracy.”

    Earlier this month, a federal grand jury in Houston indicted four men on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering in a scheme to rip off the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by submitting over 80 false applications for forgivable loans and writing checks to relatives and fictional employees, among other fraudulent activities.

    The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) stated in a press release on December 15 that 29-year-old Hamza Abbas of Richmond, 55-year-old Khalid Abbas of Richmond, 55-year-old Abdul Fatani of Richmond, and 53-year-old Syed Ali of Sugar Land could be sentenced to up to 20 years on each count of wire fraud.

    The indictments against them are the most recent in an apparent scheme that prosecutors say involved 15 defendants from Texas and Illinois, all of whom are accused of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

    The DOJ stated that Khalid Abbas, Fatani, Ali, and another defendant, Houston resident Amir Aqeel, 53, have been charged with money laundering in the superseding indictment. The money laundering counts carry potential sentences of up to 10 years.

    Last year, a grand jury also indicted Aqeel on a charge of aggravated identity theft. The government accuses Aqeel of using stolen identities to apply for the PPP loans.

    According to the DOJ, several of the accused have already pleaded guilty for their involvement, including Siddiq Azeemuddin, 42, of Naperville, Illinois, Richard Reuth, 58, of Spring, and Raheel Malik, 41, of Sugar Land, all of whom entered their pleas in October. Houston residents Abdul Farahshah, 70, Jesus Perez, 31, and Bijan Rajabi, 68, pleaded guilty in late November.

    Rifat Bajwa, 53, of Richmond, Pardeep Basra, 52, of Houston, Mayer Misak, 41, of Cypress, and Mauricio Navia, 42, of Katy were also indicted last year on charges of participating in the conspiracy and committing wire fraud.

    Why, it’s almost like just about all the defendants share some characteristic in common. If only I could put my finger on it…

  • Speaking of criminals, did mentioned that a second CNN employee was being investigated for child sex allegations? “The allegations against Rick Saleeby, a former senior producer for Jake Tapper’s “The Lead,” appear to be connected to reporting by Project Veritas. Saleeby resigned from CNN this month.” It’s hard to keep the media pedophiles straight without a scorecard…
  • When does Biden apologize to Trump?
  • Aluminum is up 40% this year.
  • “Austin Office of Police Oversight Violated Department Contract, Arbitrator Rules.”

    The City of Austin’s director of the Office of Police Oversight (OPO), Farah Muscadin, abused her authority, a third-party arbitrator decided this week.

    In a 31-page decision, Lynn Gomez, the arbitrator, ruled that Muscadin and the OPO violated Article 16 of the Austin Police Department’s employment contract that was negotiated in 2018. Article 16 governs the parameters of civilian oversight of the department, which progressive groups lobbied hard for during the labor standoff.

    “Contrary to the city’s claim, Director Muscadin was not acting within the scope of her authority…[she] clearly was seeking to dictate some future outcome rather than simply making a recommendation as Art. 16 permits,” Gomez ruled.

    “[T]he evidence and arguments raise[d] by the city indicate that the city does not consider itself or OPO bound by Article 16’s provisions.”

    You may remember Muscadin from such hits as “I’m spending taxpayer money to push Critical Race Theory” and “defund APD and give the money to my radical leftwing cronies.” She should resign.

  • Has the Biden Amdenistration tipped its hand that considers Taiwan too strategically important to not defend it in the case of a Chinese attack?

    Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs, told a Senate hearing three weeks ago that Taiwan was “critical to the region’s security and critical to the defence of vital US interests”. In words strikingly similar to MacArthur’s, he emphasised the island’s location “at a critical node within the first island chain, anchoring a network of US allies and partners”.

    This may well be remembered as the moment Washington came clean on its intentions regarding Taiwan. In Beijing at least, the statement is being read as dropping all pretence that the US could acquiesce to a unification of Taiwan with China.

    Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in China, believes that US strategic thinking regarding Taiwan has always followed the lines laid out by MacArthur.

    Even after establishing diplomatic relations with China, the US “worked to ensure the continuation of a state of separation across the Taiwan Strait”, Wu said. “When we ask the US if they do not hope to see the unification of China, they deny that. But judging from the US’s concrete actions, it is clear that they indeed do not hope to see China unify. Ely Ratner has now said this out loud.”

    In Washington, too, some observers think the testimony allows little conclusion other than that the US should not allow Taiwan to become part of China under any circumstances.

    Hopefully true, but betting on Joe Biden’s stalwart fortitude is putting your hopes on an extremely weak horse…

  • Alexandria Ocasio Cortez spotted in Miami Beach while New York City Flu Manchu cases hit alltime highs. As always, Covid Theater rules are for the little people.
  • Incoming New York City mayor Eric Adams is keeping Bill De Blasio’s private employer vaccine mandate. Because even nominally sane Democrats still hate you and your freedom to say no.
  • Family Guy sticks it to China:

  • Everything we know about famous psychological testing is wrong.
  • Sometimes the inevitable does happen: Betty White dead at age 99, just 18 days shy of 100. Still a hell of a run…
  • Remembering that we also lost Norm Macdonald this year, here he is slamming Carrot Top.
  • For those who didn’t get enough Harry Reid bashing in my obituary, here’s a classic Dennis Miller rant on the late senator.
  • A Twitter thread on electronic warfare during The Battle of the Bulge. Why yes, this is relevant to my interests. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • The challenge of moving a 17 ton magnet.
  • Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia gets a new tower.
  • I really should have bought this for Dwight for Christmas.
  • The Critical Drinker is not thrilled at the latest Matrix film:

    Ultimately The Matrix Regenerations fails on just about every level possible. It fails to properly honor the past by leaving it well enough alone. It fails to tell a compelling new story, or add new ideas to the world it created. It fails to establish interesting new characters, or take old ones in a new direction. It fails to surpass the spectacle, energy and originality of a 20 year old film. And most of all it fails to deliver a compelling reason for its own existence. The Matrix Retaliations is a film that never should have been made in the first place.

  • Left-wing sponsors vs. right-wing sponsors:

  • “Pfizer Assures That Vaccine Is Almost As Safe For Kids As COVID.”
  • “After Conviction For Sex Crimes, Ghislaine Maxwell Announces New Job At CNN.”
  • Abandoned Christmas puppies find homes.
  • Happy New Year, everyone!

    Obit Watch: Harry Reid

    Wednesday, December 29th, 2021

    “Leaving a trail of slime behind him-”

    Start over.

    “A repugnant, repulsive reptile-”

    Try again.

    “What can be said about him that hasn’t already been said about bubonic plague?”

    Strike that.

    Man, I’m really having trouble staying on the high road for this Harry Reid obit.

    It’s pretty much the job of the Senate Majority Leader to be the Bad Cop and hated by the opposition, but there was just something repugnant and unpleasant about late Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who just died at age 82. Certainly Chuck Schumer is no improvement, but still…

    Democrats probably love him for ramming through ObamaCare and the initial 2009 Porkulus. Reid (like all Democrats) supported lots of horrible legislation (remember SOPA/PIPA, possibly the first and last time the Internet as a whole rose up to slap down bad legislation?), but that’s not it. Nor is it his hatred of the Tea Party or gun owners. Or his proud manifest lies about Mitt Romney’s tax return. Or even his reported Mafia ties.

    There simply seemed something sinister and unpleasant about the man. Harry Reid made Kamala Harris look likeable and genuine by comparison. And his drive to change the rules to help Democrats changed the tenor of the senate and paved the way for the current political moment.

    Reid went nuclear to eliminate the filibuster on judicial appointments, and got three Republican Supreme Court justices for his trouble.

    That’s his most enduring legacy.

    BidenWatch for May 18, 2020

    Monday, May 18th, 2020

    Biden panders to the left, banks mad Benjamins, slices up some more word salad, gives the high hat to Stacey Abrams, and his secret weapon is…#NeverTrump? It’s this week’s BidenWatch!

  • Biden’s Support Among Women Drops as Tara Reade Allegations – and His Response – Take Their Toll.” (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • “How the Biden Campaign Aims to Win Battleground States“:

    In an hourlong briefing with reporters on Friday, senior campaign officials pledged to have “over 600 organizing staff responsible for battleground states” in place by next month as they pursue an “expanded map” with Arizona at the “top of the list” of new opportunities. They also said that they had doubled the size of the digital team “and it is growing,” and that they planned to implement a new livestreaming platform as they navigate the challenges of campaigning virtually during the coronavirus crisis.

    So far these are not campaign plans, they’re boxes in a spreadsheet.

    “The most important thing for us and for the campaign is public safety and the safety of the vice president, the people around him, the staff, the press corps, the Secret Service,” Ms. O’Malley Dillon said, noting the current stay-at-home order in Delaware. “We will travel physically to places when the time is right, driven by the experts and the guidelines that come and not a day before.”

    Congratulations! Your friend posting “Horrible day! 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 Can’t talk about it…” is no longer the Vaguebooking champion.

    Yet news of the campaign expansion comes as some Democrats have expressed anxiety about Mr. Biden’s visibility and the campaign’s agility, headed into a general election in which Mr. Trump has an enormous cash advantage and the bully pulpit of the presidency. The Biden campaign, which is now fund-raising with the Democratic National Committee, has $103 million in cash on hand, according to a slide show that accompanied the campaign presentation. The Trump campaign announced this week that, in conjunction with Republican fund-raising committees, it had $255 million on hand.

    Some Democrats have also been dismayed by the poor quality of Mr. Biden’s online appearances, citing the glitches that have marred some of his livestreams, and have urged him to significantly upgrade his digital operation and to find ways to drive a forward-looking agenda.

    Legit concerns, but maybe you’d like to get back to that “how” thing?

    The indicated that the campaign sees Arizona, Texas and Georgia as being in play. She is particularly “bullish,” she said, on Arizona, a traditionally red state. An accompanying slide described the Biden strategy in Arizona as a mix of persuading Romney-Clinton voters and others who have moved toward the Democratic Party recently, as well as increasing turnout among Latino voters and voters under 30.

    (cue the music) They’ve got…HIGH HOPES…they’ve got…HIGH HOPES…

    These are not plans for battleground states, these are aspirational wish lists. None of those states have Democratic governors, meaning voter fraud is going to be more difficult to commit. You know what states aren’t in that article? Ohio. Pennsylvania. Florida. Minnesota. Wisconsin. Michigan. Save Florida, I don’t see “young Latino voters” pulling them across the finish line in any of those. (And it’s not going to happen in Florida, either, but at least it’s conceivable there.) Either they’re doing a bad job of trying to headfake the Trump campaign or they’re repeating Clinton 2016 errors.

  • Enjoy another roundup of Biden gaffes. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • Lives, jobs, millions, billions, it all goes into the Bidenmatic Word Slicer:

  • Writer notes that unscripted Biden sucks. Stop the presses…
  • Tidbits from Biden’s financial disclosure form:
    • Biden earned $135,116 in a salary from the University of Pennsylvania, according to the latest report, which dates back to the start of 2019. He took a role as the Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice professor in 2017 and went on unpaid leave in April 2019.
    • Joe Biden made about $450,000 from just four speaking engagements at the end of 2018 and first month of 2019. Jill Biden made about $100,000 from three speaking engagements.

    Nice work if you can get it…

  • “All The Times Joe Biden Told People Not To Vote For Him.”
  • Joe Biden’s pitch to the left. Strangely, it’s not just “I’m not Trump and I’m going to keel over soon.”

    “We hear this every Presidential election cycle,” Harry Reid, the former Senate Majority Leader, told me in February, on the eve of the Nevada caucuses. “At least every one I’ve been involved in for these many decades. ‘The Party is moving too far to the left. It’s just terrible. What are we going to do about it?’ Well, when the primaries are over, the candidate moves back to the middle.”

    Hear that, lefties? Harry Reid thinks you’re perpetual chumps!

    At the time, we were talking about what it would mean for the Democratic Party to have a democratic socialist as its standard-bearer. Bernie Sanders appeared very likely to become the Democratic Presidential nominee. The question of the moment was, how would the ascendent [sic; nice work, New Yorker ] left win over the middle? But, of course, Sanders has suspended his campaign, and Joe Biden is the Party’s de-facto nominee. And that’s complicated the scenario that Reid and the Party have seen so many times. As the primaries ended, the general election began, and the coronavirus crisis hit, Biden, catching up to his own nomination, has spent as much time trying to move left as move forward.

    “A united party is key to winning the White House this November,” Biden tweeted on Wednesday, linking to an article about the task forces that he and Sanders—erstwhile opponents, now allies—have appointed and charged with working toward Party unity in six policy areas: climate change, health care, immigration, education, criminal-justice reform, and the economy. “The work of the task forces will be essential to identifying ways to build on our progress and not simply turn the clock back to a time before Donald Trump—but transform our country,” Biden wrote. The appointees to the task forces include pairings of new progressive stars with veterans of the Obama Administration: former Secretary of State John Kerry and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will co-chair the climate-change group; Representative Pramila Jayapal and former surgeon general Vivek Murthy will co-chair the health-care group. For much of the primaries, Biden’s rhetoric was that Donald Trump was an aberration, and that the soul of America needed to be restored. Now he’s saying that the country cannot “turn the clock back.” The blend of old and new faces on the task forces suggest that a Biden Administration will be a bit of both.

    Oh boy, task forces! Participation trophies for everyone! Any that’s pretty much the extent of the piece, except for sucking up to Elizabeth Warren (AKA 🐍, who the left freaking hates).

  • Want to guess who Biden thinks is his secret weapon? Would you believe #NeverTrump?

    Grandpa Badfinger just let slip that he has a secret weapon for November. No, his secret weapon is not the utter hypocrisy of a Dem base that is eagerly going all in on a senile old weirdo who, when he says “#MeToo,” means that he too treated women like inanimate objects as did his pals Teddy Glug-Glug Kennedy, Bill Cohiba Clinton and Harvey Sex Toad Weinstein. Their hypocrisy can’t be a secret weapon because their hypocrisy is no secret.

    No, Gropey J’s secret weapon is – get this – “Republicans for Biden.”

    Stop looking at me like that. This is really a thing, according to the presumptive nominee whose nemesis is a particularly uppity squirrel living in his backyard.

    Snip.

    I assume President Trump is quaking in his Guccis at the impending onslaught of verbal pinching and slapping from the very secret, very butch roster of Never Trump literal and figurative heavyweights. The Beast further reports on the identity of these titans of treachery: “Those names include former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Wisconsin-based political analyst Charlie Sykes, conservative media giant Bill Kristol, former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, longtime campaign operative Steve Schmidt, former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL), and columnist Mona Charen, among others.”

    I assume George Conway and Anna Navarro will be waddling along too, assuming that the organizers keep their promise and bring doughnuts. Lots of doughnuts.

    Nor should we count out egg-evoking fiscal conservative Evan McMullin, who it was reported conserved fiscally by not paying his campaign debts. I’m sure David French will be part of it because he’s got nothing better to do. Maybe Jonah Goldberg will join too. He is alleged to have a new website, though most of us haven’t gotten around to not reading it yet.

  • Foreshadowing:

  • Nothing President Trump or Joe Biden does seems to move the polls at all. Eh, most people have other things on their mind right now…
  • Lawrence O’Donnell: Are you going to name Stacey Abrams your running mate? Biden: Oh hey, look at the time!
  • Related:

  • Hmmm. Evidently Jill Biden is not a fan of Homewrecker Harris.
  • Heh:

  • “Biden Campaign Hires Interpreter To Translate His Speeches Into English.”
  • Like BidenWatch? Consider hitting the tip jar:





    Solyndra 2: Boondoggle Boogaloo

    Tuesday, January 7th, 2020

    Remember Solyndra, the solar energy company with Democratic Party connections that sucked up some half a billion dollars worth of green energy loans before going belly up?

    If you liked Solyndra, you’re gonna love the Crescent Dunes solar plant near Tonopah, Nevada. Thanks to the efforts of Obama energy secretary Steven Chu and then-majority leader Harry Reid, it sucked up $737 million in federal loan guarantees.

    Tiny problem: It was obsolete before it ever came online:

    Ten thousand mirrors form a spiral almost 2 miles wide that winds around a skyscraper rising above the desert between Las Vegas and Reno. The operation soaks up enough heat from the sun’s rays to spin steam turbines and store energy in the form of molten salt.

    In 2011 the $1 billion project was to be the biggest solar plant of its kind, and it looked like the future of renewable power. Citigroup Inc. and other financiers invested $140 million with its developer, SolarReserve Inc. Steven Chu, the U.S. Department of Energy secretary at the time, offered the company government loan guarantees, and Harry Reid, then the Senate majority leader and senior senator from Nevada, cleared the way for the company to build on public land. At a Washington celebration of SolarReserve’s public funding, Chief Executive Officer Kevin Smith told the assembled politicians, “We’re proud to be doing our part to win the future.”

    SolarReserve may have done its part, but today the company doesn’t rank among the winners. Instead, it’s mired in litigation and accusations of mismanagement at Crescent Dunes, where taxpayers remain on the hook for $737 million in loan guarantees. Late last year, Crescent Dunes lost its only customer, NV Energy Inc., which cited the plant’s lack of reliability. It’s a victim, ironically, of the solar industry’s success over the past decade. The steam generators at Crescent Dunes require custom parts and a staff of dozens to keep things humming and to conduct regular maintenance. By the time the plant opened in 2015, the increased efficiency of cheap solar panels had already surpassed its technology, and today it’s obsolete—the latest panels can pump out power at a fraction of the cost for decades with just an occasional hosing-down.

    “Green energy” subsidies aren’t carefully evaluated projects designed to advance technology, they exit to transfer money from the pockets of taxpayers to the pockets of those tied into what Ayn Rand called “The Aristocracy of Pull.” This is why government should stay out of the business of picking winners and losers.

    Are SolarReserve Inc. executives connected to the Democratic Party? And how!

    Chairman Lee Bailey donated tons of money to Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Kerry, Chuck Schumer, Barbara Boxer and (naturally) Harry Reid.

    CEO Tom Georgis has only sent money to two candidates: Barack Obama and Harry Reid.

    Board member James McDermott? Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer, John Kerry, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Bart Stupak (remember him?).

    Yes, it’s a great mystery how SolarReserve Inc. got all those federal subsidies…

    LinkSwarm for September 1, 2017

    Friday, September 1st, 2017

    The worst of the flooding in Houston seems to have passed, and the Brazos River has crested and is falling again. But over 40 people are dead and over 6,000 homes have been destroyed, and the road to recovery for many families remains long and arduous. Consider donating time or money, if you’re able.

    Here’s the Friday LinkSwarm

  • Before and after photos of flood and hurricane damage.
  • Federal Judge: “In evaluating Plaintiffs’ claims at this stage, the Court assumes their allegations are true—that the DNC and Wasserman Schultz held a palpable bias in favor Clinton and sought to propel her ahead of her Democratic opponent.” And then dismissed the the case. Because suck it, Bernie. (I should probably do another Clinton Corruption update in the near future…)
  • “[Democratic Robert] Menendez Mess Expands to Democratic Old Guard. Federal prosecutors ensnare Harry Reid in corruption probe of New Jersey senator.” In addition to his graft trial, Menendez was also accused of sleeping with under-aged prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.
  • President Donald Trump rolls back costly and cumbersome ‘diversity’ regulations. “Obama’s EEOC called for businesses to provide 3,660 different data points about each employee and their pay structure.” Man, it’s like the Obama crew was upset that businesses were allowed to get any work done at all… (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • Oakland reporter witnesses Antifa violence firsthand.
  • Speaking of Antifa violence, here’s an account of how a half-Japanese free speech advocate who magically became a ‘white supremacist’ at the fists of Antifa. (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
  • “New Evidence Reveals Comey Exonerated Hillary Before Key Witness Interviews.”
  • Democrats are irrelevant to the power equation in Donald Trump’s Washington.” (Hat tip: Directpr Blue.)
  • How Google rigged search rankings for companies that supported Google Plus, and then used its market power to quash media stories about it, and then memory-holed any archives…
  • Keith Olbermann loses it. At least whatever little “it” he had left to lose…
  • German nurse killed 86 patients. Surprised they didn’t just transfer him to EU euthanasia brigade. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • “Former spokesman for charity helping victims of Nice attack on trial for fraud.”
  • Speaking of charity fraud: “Southern Poverty Law Center Transfers Millions in Cash to Offshore Entities.” (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • “Large diet study suggests it’s carbs, not fats, that are bad for your health.”
  • Women sentenced to 10 years in prison for making 15 false accusations of rape. One look at her picture should have raised huge flags…
  • Open carry of swords becomes legal in Texas today. God bless Texas! (Hat tip: Bill Crider.)
  • Franklin BBQ burns. Being closed by a fire makes it only slightly more difficult to get into…
  • Comedy gold:

  • Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Board sued for arresting college girls over buying water.
  • Richard “Oscar Goldman” Anderson, RIP. He also had a role in Forbidden Planet. “Austin’s overseer, Oscar Goldman, was introduced in the first TV movie, played by Darren McGavin.” I had completely forgotten McGavin (another great character actor) originally played Goldman. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Butthole Surfer Wins ‘Yard of the Month’ Award in Austin.”
  • “Antifa Organizers Announce Plans To Disrupt Neo-Nazi Rally Or Whatever Else Going On That Day.” When you’ve lost The Onion…
  • Overview of my library of science fiction, fantasy and horror first editions. In case you missed it…
  • Let’s end with a bit of good news:

  • Update:

    LinkSwarm for April 7, 2017

    Friday, April 7th, 2017

    Welcome to another Friday LinkSwarm!

    I’m still not wild about President Trump’s decision to strike a Syrian airfield with cruise missiles last night, but the decision makes more sense if you look at it less of a tool to make Bashar Assad mend his ways than as a warning shot across the bows of Ali Khamenei, Kim Jong-Un and Xi Jinping, the latter of whom President Trump just happened to be meeting with while the missiles were hitting Shayrat.

    Now some links:

  • Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed to the Supreme Court today. How’d that Nuclear Option work out for you in the long run, Harry Reid?
  • The Obama/Kerry policy on Syrian chemical disarmament has been such an astounding failure that even Polifact has been forced to admit it.
  • Here’s a really interesting precinct-by-precinct map of the 2016 presidential election, along with analysis of changes from previous maps.

  • Susan Rice has changed her story twice. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • Intelligence agencies are stonewalling congressional information requests on unmasking scandal.
  • Even Rolling Stone has noticed Putin derangement syndrome.
  • Russia recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, while recognizing East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
  • Russia has banned this image:

  • Jobless claims “are hovering near the lowest level since the early 1970s.” Now the trick is to produce enough sustained growth to get the Obama-discouraged long-term unemployed back into the workforce…
  • Dissecting the mainstream media’s dishonest response to every jihad attack.
  • “Conniving, spineless, duplicitous, misleading, double-crossing—Chuck Schumer is a fitting exemplar for the modern Democratic Party.” (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • Intersectionality is a religion. (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
  • Marines test polymers to cut weight.
  • College student who was once in pictures with Bill Clinton busted for prostitution. What are the odds? (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • Justified shooting, unjustified indictment.
  • Mike Pence’s rules for not being alone with other women are probably less about preventing adultery than to prevent him from being framed and smeared by feminists.
  • “Ethicist” Pete Singer: Hey, let’s rape the retarded! It’s not like they’re real human beings…
  • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police can intercept your cell phone conversations.
  • Is Google prejudiced against ex-military employees?
  • ESPN is losing money hand-over-fist, but they’re still going shove the liberal culture war down your throat.
  • Oh the huge manatees…are doing just fine.
  • Hope you don’t need to use the stretch of I-35 near San Antonio this weekend: The Texas Department of Transportation is shutting it down for four days.
  • Don Rickles, RIP. With a great segment with him on the Tonight Show with Frank Sinatra.
  • LinkSwarm for March 27, 2015

    Friday, March 27th, 2015

    Those two outstanding Obama successes, ObamaCare and Middle East foreign policy, just keep succeeding…

  • Yet another ObamaCare timebomb threatens small businesses.
  • In case you hadn’t noticed, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are intervening directly in Yemen with other Sunni Arab nations, raising the significant possibility that Iran’s Big Yemen Adventure will turn into a full-blown Sunni/Shia Civil War.
  • Don’t you hate it when a bomb goes off in your mosque right in the middle of your “Death to America” chant?
  • But Iran supporting terrorists and attacking America’s allies in the region won’t stop Obama and Kerry from giving in on every Iranian demand for their toothless Iranian nuclear weapon deal.
  • Also, the Obama Administration just declassified a report on Israel’s nuclear program. It’s almost as if Obama truly wants to punish America ‘s allies and reward America’s enemies.
  • Think the Israelis are pissed at the fall of Yemen? It’s nothing compared to the rage of the Saudis and other Arabs.
  • Even Turkey’s Islamic government has decided Iran has gone too far.
  • Obama’s superpower is ignoring reality.
  • Think UK Muslim child rape stories couldn’t possibly get any more creepy or depressing? A gang in Croydon targeted Down Syndrome girls. (Hat tip: JihadWatch.)
  • Is Obama hindering the fight against Boko Haram because he favors the Muslim Nigerian Presidential candidate over the Christian one?
  • Harry Reid to retire from Senate. That hissing sound you hear is the air rushing out of Democrats’ chances to retake the senate in 2016… (Hat tip: Jim Geraghty.)
  • Speaking of Democrats and the Senate, there are bruising primary battles heating up up between the party’s corrupt wing and the party’s insane wing. (Sure, National Journal uses the words “pragmatic liberal” and “progressive,” but we all know what they mean.) (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • Of course Ted Cruz can win.
  • It doesn’t hurt that he’s running against corporate welfare.
  • Cruz set out a fundraising goal of raising $1 million the first week of his campaign. he did that in just over a day and has already hit $2 million.
  • Different jobs, different perks. If you work at a high tech start-up, you may get free snacks and catered meals. If you work at the DEA, you might get orgies with prostitutes paid for by drug lords.
  • An early leader for Mother of the Year.
  • A tale of two rapes, one that didn’t happen the media hyped, and one that did the media ignored.
  • Judging from the comments in this Slashdot thread, techies are getting tired of frivolous Social Justice Warrior lawsuits.
  • Since that was a mostly very depressing roundup of news, here’s a Golden Retriever puppy sliding down a ramp.

    Election Roundup for October 30, 2014

    Thursday, October 30th, 2014

    Early voting ends tomorrow in Texas. Plan accordingly…

  • Turns out that Hispanics are just fine and dandy with a Republican-controlled senate. So how’s that “all gay marriage and abortion all the time” thing working out for you, Democrats?
  • CBS buries its own poll showing that Democrats are about to get slaughtered. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
  • Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke was fired from her own family company because her “my way or the highway” management style alienated employees.
  • Ironically, Harry Reid protecting Democrats from tough votes may end up dooming them for tying them too closely to Obama.
  • Want to increase the number of black voters? Maybe it’s not such a swell idea to keep repeating that Obama is not on the ballot.
  • Democratic South Carolina gubernatorial candidate calls Republican Governor Nikki Haley a “whore.”
  • Dr. Milton Wolf endorses bitter rival Pat Roberts in Kansas senate race. Should help. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • What better way to convince Iowans that Bruce Braley isn’t an out-of-touch elitist who sneers at them than having Joe Biden do a fundraiser for him in New York City?
  • Illegal alien amnesty is so unpopular even Karl Rove’s PAC is running ads against it.
  • Democrats offer up cunning direct mail come-on: “Accept Defeat.”
  • LinkSwarm for April 14, 2014

    Monday, April 14th, 2014

    Time for another LinkSwarm:

  • By the standards of signing up the previously uninsured, “Obamacare may be headed for an epic failure.”
  • Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius resigns, leaving behind a legacy of incompetence and deception. “Rarely has any single public official done more to undermine the public’s confidence in the ability of government to function than Kathleen Sebelius.”
  • This just in: People still think ObamaCare sucks the farts out of dead wildebeests.
  • “Democrats face this reality: [ObamaCare]’s a political loser, and there’s no easy fix.”
  • New Jersey children lose health insurance thanks to ObamaCare.
  • The real reason for the Bundy Ranch standoff: Harry Reid’s son is in the pay of a Chinese solar power company that wants the land.
  • How Harry Reid’s insider trading and crony deals have made him a wealthy man.
  • Speaking of Harry Reid (via Iowahawk’s Twitter feed):

  • It turns out that the Overland Park Jewish Center shooter shared two fraternal organizations with late Sen. Robert Byrd.
  • Left out of all the left-wing Cesar Chavez hagiography: “Chavez had a very strong dislike for illegal immigrants.”
  • Indeed, we can best honor Cesar Chavez by making his birthday National Border Controls Day.
  • Backers of illegal alien amnesty may think it’s now or never.
  • It must have been a sad day for John Edwards, being barred from his sugar momma’s funeral.
  • Jay Carney is so use to lying, he can’t even resist PhotoShopping his own house. Badly. (Or maybe The Washingtonian is simply desperate to glamorize all Democrats profiled they won’t let little things like “competence” stand in the way…)
  • Is it just me, or did Hillary Clinton choose a singularly unflattering outfit for ducking shoes in?
  • The ideological slap-fight between radical lesbian feminists and tranny activists. “But all crazies are not created equal and, as crazy as the radical man-hating lesbians may be, they at least have valid science on their side in saying that ‘female’ is a biological category — genetically determined, rather than being a ‘social construct.'”
  • Vermonters just aren’t sure they want eyeball-bleeding tax rates just to satisfy the left-wing fantasy of single-payer health care.
  • France’s ruling socialists get their collective (ha!) asses kicked in municipal elections.
  • Property prices collapse in China. (Hat tip: Ann Althouse.)
  • Puerto Rico: 1.2 million workers, $70 billion in debt.
  • DC Power couple divorcing. Hilarity to ensue for, oh, probably a year or so.
  • Cowardly Brandeis University withdraws planned honorary degree for Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
  • Who is killing the bankers of Europe?
  • Ex-Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wants to “fix” the Second Amendment so its easier to disarm citizens.
  • Alec Baldwin forgets yet again that Twitter is not his friend.
  • Round Rock incumbent City Councilman Carlos Salinas appears to be benefiting from his position in a way that violates both city and state codes. How nice to pass a city-funded, interest-free loan for a building to a crony, then lease the same building back at below-market rates…
  • Well, this is disturbing: Kobe Bryant dispensing actual wisdom: “If we’ve progressed as a society, then you don’t jump to somebody’s defense just because they’re African-American. You sit and you listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right?” (From a New Yorker piece behind a paywall.) And naturally a firestorm erupted…
  • Speaking of the NBA: How two brothers owning a failing ABA franchise managed to earn a cool$1 billion from the NBA. The advantages of foresight,,,
  • PAX coming to San Antonio in 2014.
  • And remember that your taxes are due tomorrow…

    LinkSwarm for November 25, 2013

    Monday, November 25th, 2013

    This was supposed to go up Friday, but Stuff and Things interfered once again.

    Obama’s “deal” with Iran drops sanctions and lets them enrich uranium to their heart’s content. I guess Obama needs the Iran agreement as a disastrous fake achievement to distract from ObamaCare, his last disastrous fake achievement. I haven’t read all the details, so I can’t tell if it’s Madeleine Albright bad, or Neville Chamberlain bad, but it doesn’t appear to address Iran’s continued support of Assad, Hezbollah, or their other terrorist activities. Still to be decided: whether Obama personally plants the knife in Benjamin Netanyahu’s back, or has aide do it. (If Hillary Clinton wanted to put distance between herself and the Obama Administration, now would be a great time to denounce the Iran deal.)

  • Mother forced into Medicaid. “There was just one option—at the very affordable monthly rate of zero. The exchange had determined that my mother was not eligible to choose to pay for a plan, and so she was slated immediately for Medicaid.”
  • The real rationale behind ObamaCare was the redistribution of wealth. “The redistribution of wealth has always been a central feature of [ObamaCare].”
  • “Insurance is complex to buy”? Really, Mr. President? I’m pretty sure Forest Gump could have figured that out in less than 3 years…
  • The real reason behind Obama’s laughable deal with Iran is to shore up his shrinking liberal base, the only group that still supports him after the ObamaCare debacle.
  • John Bolton calls the deal “abject surrender”.
  • End result of the Iran deal? “War has now become a much more likely prospect.”
  • Given all that, Harry Reid nuking the Senate’s filibuster gets pushed further down the Stack of Perfidy. What it tells us is that Democrats believe they’re going to lose the Senate. “They think it’s very likely that they will lose their Senate majority in 2014. They are essentially writing off the last two years of Obama’s presidency, which means getting as much done as possible right now. They are going to spend the next year packing as many liberal justices and appointees onto the courts and various bureaucracies as they can.”
  • Democratic Rep mugged in DC. Does this mean she’ll turn Republican? (Hat tip: Ace of Spades.)
  • 16 things people couldn’t believe about America until moving here. (Hat tip: Michael Totten.)
  • I wonder how John Carter feels about being labeled part of “the House’s own pro-amnesty gang”?
  • Related: How Amnesty dies: Part 1, Part 2.
  • Syrian Kurds declare autonomy.
  • Crystal Mangum, the central accuser in the Duke Lacrosse “rape” case (which wasn’t) has been convicted of murder. Somehow I managed to miss Nancy Grace’s wall-to-wall coverage of her trial…