Posts Tagged ‘wildfire’

Scenes From The Endtimes

Thursday, September 10th, 2020

Not to get all biblical on you, but have you checked out these scenes from the West Coast?

And the pictures out of Oregon are just crazy:

Why is it happening?

Remind me which party has been managing forestry in those states again…

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Posted in Democrats, video | 2 Comments »

LinkSwarm for December 8, 2017

Friday, December 8th, 2017

Last night mother nature dumped a bunch of snow on Austin…very little of which stayed on the ground through this morning. Which is just fine for those of us who have jobs.

I’ll still sorting out the latest DOJ/FBI revelations to have them all filed in the next Clinton Corruption update, which should be ginormous.

  • California is on fire.
  • “Traffic through central Mordor is slow but steady.”

  • The Wisconsin Witch Hunt was even worse than even conservatives feared:

    Wisconsin’s infamous John Doe investigation was more sinister and politically driven than originally reported.

    A Wisconsin Attorney General report on the year-long investigation into leaks of sealed John Doe court documents to a liberal British publication in September 2016 finds a rogue agency of partisan bureaucrats bent on a mission “to bring down the (Gov. Scott) Walker campaign and the Governor himself.”

    The AG report, released Wednesday, details an expanded John Doe probe into a “broad range of Wisconsin Republicans,” a “John Doe III,” according to Attorney General Brad Schimel, that widened the scope of the so-called John Doe II investigation into dozens of right-of-center groups and scores of conservatives. Republican lawmakers, conservative talk show hosts, a former employee from the MacIver Institute, average citizens, even churches, were secretly monitored by the dark John Doe.

    State Department of Justice investigators found hundreds of thousands of John Doe documents in the possession of the GAB long after they were ordered to be turned over to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

    The Government Accountability Board, the state’s former “nonpartisan” speech cop, proved to be more partisan than originally suspected, the state Department of Justice report found. For reasons that “perhaps may never be fully explained,” GAB held onto thousands of private emails from Wisconsin conservatives in several folders on their servers marked “Opposition Research.” The report’s findings validate what conservatives have long contended was nothing more than a witch-hunt into limited government groups and the governor who was turning conservative ideas into public policy.

    “Moreover, DOJ is deeply concerned by what appears to have been the weaponization of GAB by partisans in furtherance of political goals, which permitted the vast collection of highly personal information from dozens of Wisconsin Republicans without even taking modest steps to secure this information,” the report states.

    Snip.

    The Department of Justice, however, recommends the John Doe judge initiate contempt proceedings against former GAB officials and the John Doe probe’s special prosecutor for “grossly” mishandling secret evidence. Schimel also recommends that Shane Falk, who served as lead staff attorney in the John Doe probes, be referred for discipline to the Wisconsin Court System’s Office of Lawyer Regulation. Falk took a job with a private law firm in August 2014, just as allegations of investigative abuse began to surround the political investigation.

    (Hat tip: Instapundit.)

  • Perspective: Nancy Pelosi seems to think the GOP tax bill is worse than the Fugitive Slave Act
  • Another sexual harassment followup on Democratic Rep. Ruben Kihuen: “Hey, Nancy Pelosi knew all about my sexual harassment charges last year, and threw money at me anyway. So why’s she getting her knickers in a knot now?”
  • “Eye Doctor Tied to Bob Menendez Case Convicted in $100 Million Fraud Scheme.” And Democrat Menendez is still, as of this writing, a Senator.
  • Months after the Las Vegas shooting, and there are still dozens of unanswered questions about what actually happened.
  • “92 percent of illegal aliens arrested this year had ‘criminal convictions, pending criminal charges, were an immigration fugitive, or were an illegal reentrant.'” (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • “Man Deported 20 Times Sentenced to 35 Years for Sexual Assault.” So when is San Francisco throwing him his parade?
  • “Swedish Government to Ban Websites that List Ethnic Origin of Criminal Suspects.”
  • Related: “Swedish lawyer Elisabeth Fritz claims that in the majority of rape cases she has had to work on the suspects have been individuals from migrant backgrounds.”
  • “Swedish Chief Prosecutor: No-Go Zone Rinkeby Is Like a ‘War Zone.'”
  • “You know who doesn’t have a refugee problem? Japan.” This year Japan has taken in three refugees. Last year it was 28.
  • Hmmmm: “A federal judge in Argentina indicted former President Cristina Fernandez for treason and asked for her arrest for allegedly covering up Iran’s possible role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people, a court ruling said.”
  • Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks to resign over asking staffers to consider being a surrogate mother for him and his wife? Franks, unlike Al Franken, has actually resigned, not merely promised to resign at some unspecified date in the future.
  • More on how Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman plans to revitalize the kingdom:

    Last Sunday premiered the newly formed Islamic anti-terrorism coalition, putting together leaders from Sunni Arab nations to denounce and combat fundamentalist terrorism throughout the Middle East and the world. It was another bold initiative towards the West of the young and energetic Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, coming on the heels of other bold moves that have looked to consolidate political and religious power in the Kingdom.

    Together, all of these initiatives couldn’t be more transparent. They represent a movement of the most economically powerful nation in OPEC towards social, cultural and economic change, the realization of the Saudi “Vision 2030”. It is a top-down Arab Spring movement that likely has a better chance of success than the populist movements that resulted in more chaos than change in 2010.

    However, the ultimate success for Vision 2030 will rely upon achieving the main economic goal of this revolution – the divestiture of Saudi Arabia from the singularity of oil revenues. Because we know that ultimately money – and lots of it – will be needed to drive the engines for change, we get a far better picture of just how important these latest production extensions agreed to in Vienna were for the young Prince.

    And here we’re brought back to the upcoming IPO of Saudi Aramco, still on tap for 2018.

    Even the planned 5 percent offering of the Saudi state oil assets could yield an instantaneous $100 billion dollars, if the $2 trillion-dollar valuation of Saudi Aramco is accurate. That’s a lot of capital to start the process of rebuilding a Saudi economy from one that is now virtually completely reliant upon the State. 75 percent of the Saudi public is under 35 years old, and they are starving for a new economic infrastructure that will bring job opportunities, cultural diversity, music, education – global access of all kinds – the kind of freedoms that the 2010 Arab Spring uprisings were supposed to deliver. Only this time, the push for change is coming from the top down, not as a populist movement from the people upwards.

  • “Tesla – which lost $619 million in Q3 – delivered only 3,590 vehicles in November in the US, down 18% from a year ago.”
  • In a rare moment of sanity for Sports Illustrated, they named J. J. Watt and the Houston Astro’s Jose Altuve as co-sportsmen of the year. Next week I’m sure they’ll get back to their usual Social Justicing…
  • Texas writer Bill Crider enters hospice care. Bill’s not particularly political, but he is a friend of mine, and I have frequently stolen some of the lighter LinkSwarm items from his blog. He’s a prince among men and he will be missed…
  • You’ve got to admire the designers of http://www.theworldsworstwebsiteever.com for having the courage of their convictions.
  • “Opossum breaks into liquor store and gets drunk as a skunk.”
  • Hell to the no
  • A tweet that tells you all you need to know to evaluate forthcoming legislation:

  • A shot of yuletide Archer cheer:

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    Posted in Border Control, Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Republicans, Texas, video | 1 Comment »

    LinkSwarm for Friday, September 9, 2011

    Friday, September 9th, 2011

    After an unusually active week, here’s a LinkSwarm for a lazy Friday, including a few things I meant to link to earlier and didn’t have the time.

  • Christopher Hitchens, a fine writer and a formidable intellect, weighs in on the London riots. In the process Hitchens provide a nod to his brother Peter Hitchens’ analysis of the riots (and link to this fascinating debate between the two on the nature of religion, of which I was previously unaware). I’m not entirely convinced by Hitchens argument that there were “bad” areas no one went into long before the riots. I’m sure there were, but did they consist of people who had never held a job in their lives, and would those denizens in past eras have felt a complete lack of compunction over setting other people’s small businesses on fire?
  • Speaking of Hitchens, here he is on 9/11.
  • Michael Barone wasn’t impressed with Obama’s job speech: “Straw men took a terrible beating.”
  • Turkey to dispatch warships to break the Gaza blockade. What’s the worst that could happen?
  • Interpol issues a notice for Moammar Gadhafi.
  • Also, clashes in the Gadhafi stronghold of Bani Walid.
  • Others say the real objective of the rebel (provisional government?) offensive is the arms caches at the oasis of Jufra.
  • Solayndra is just the tip of Obama’s crony capitalism.
  • Oooo, burn.
  • Chocolate weapons. That is all.
  • Finally, some good news from the Bastrop fire. Couple with horse farm had to flee with horses, but without tackle. The good news is the tackle (including some very expensive saddles) survived the fire. The bad news is it was promptly stolen. The good news is it took all of nine hours to track down the thieves trying to sell the stuff on eBay. Score one for the good guys.

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    Posted in Crime, Foreign Policy, Guns, Jihad, Military, Texas, Waste and Fraud | No Comments »

    Revised Wildfire Prevention/Fighting Numbers Straight From the Horse’s Mouth

    Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

    Since my original post, there seems to have been some confusion over the exact budget numbers for Texas Forest Service and Wildfire Prevention/Fighting as enacted by the 82nd Legislature for the 2012-2013 biennium budget (which went into effect for Fiscal Year 2012 starting on September 1).

    So I decided to go straight to the horse’s mouth.

    I contacted my own State Representative, Larry Gonzales, who pointed me in the direction of Rep. John Otto, the legislative chairman for Article II of the state budget. One of his staffers was kind enough to get back to me with the following numbers.

    It turns out that all the previous numbers were wrong, for various reasons. The numbers below all link to the official PDFs for the final budget numbers of the bills in question. And my liberal critics have, if not half a loaf, then at least a quarter-loaf.

    The reason is that for the 2010-2011 biennium, the Forest service was allocated $54.5 million 2010 and $54.5 million for 2011. That amount was indeed reduced for the initial budget passed in the regular legislative session, to $37.7 million for 2012 and $37.5 million for 2013. But keep in mind that it was very clear that the budget was not finished at the end of the regular legislative session, as several outstanding issues (school funding, revenue enhancement, use or non-use of rainy day funds, etc.) still remained to be hashed out. That was why there was a special legislative session.

    And in that special legislative session, two separate bills were passed which increased forest service/wildfire fighting and prevention funding: SB2, which added an additional $40 million to the forest service for FY 2012 specifically to fight wildfires (with any rollover, of which I’m pretty sure there will be none, to be carried into 2013), and HD4, which allocated an additional $81 million for fighting wildfires in the 2012-2013 biennium. (This is most likely where A&M got the $81 million figure for.) All those bills (and thus the funding increase) were passed and in the books months before the FY2012 budget started on September 1.

    So, in summary:
    Total 2010-2011 Biennium Forest Service/Wildfire Fighting Budget: $109 million.
    Total 2012-2013 Biennium Forest Service/Wildfire Fighting Budget: $196.2 million.

    So the Texas legislature authorized, and Governor Rick Perry signed, an 80% increase in wildfire fighting and prevention funding for the 2012-2013 biennium. Not quite double the amount I had in my original post, but pretty close.

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    Posted in Budget, Texas | 14 Comments »

    Another Left-Wing Lie: The 50% Cut in Texas Wildfire Funding That Wasn’t

    Monday, September 5th, 2011

    Note: My numbers below are somewhat off…but those of critical commentators are also off. See this post for the complete breakdown of Texas Forest Service/Wildfire Fighting and Prevention Funding. The bottom line is that it was increased by 80%.

    You may have noticed several fires breaking out in Central Texas due to the prolonged drought and high winds. You may also have noticed liberals crowing about how the latest Texas budget cut wildfire response by 50%. That would indeed seem to be shortsighted, except for one tiny fact:

    It isn’t true.

    Evidently the myth arises from pieces like this one from earlier in the year, citing unnamed sources in the midst of budget negotiations saying such a cut was proposed. Not passed, mind you, but proposed. And it doesn’t say by who.

    But when you look at the actual numbers for the passed budget, they tell a radically different story.

    First, let’s look at funding for the 2010-2011 biennium passed by the 81st Legislature, where the Texas Forest Service was allocated $38,550,563, most of which was for wildfire fighting and prevention.

    Next let’s look at the 2012-2013 biennium passed by the 82nd Legislature; sorry, I was only able to find a PDF, but the relevant information can be found near the top of page 15, where it states that the legislature allocated $81 million for the Texas Forest Service for wildfires.

    So not only did the Texas state legislature and Governor Rick Perry not reduce the amount for wildfire fighting and prevention, they actually doubled the amount spent on it.

    So a real natural tragedy is being used by opportunistic liberals to slander politicians (and let’s face it, a state) that they already hated. The original Think Progress etc. pieces were merely half-baked rumor. Repeating them today, however, makes them an actual lie.

    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to their own facts.

    Edited to add: The Texas State Fiscal year starts on September 1st, so the state is operating under the 2012-2013 biennium budget now.

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    Posted in Budget, Republicans, Texas | 15 Comments »

    A Few Sundry Followup Stories

    Sunday, July 3rd, 2011

    I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend. Here are a few follow-ups to previously covered stories:

  • Politico’s David Catanese says that David Dewhurst is going to jump into the Senate race.
  • After months of dawdling, the Obama Administration finally changes its mind and declares Texas a wildfire disaster area. Better late than never, I suppose.
  • Another ex-Gingrich staffer climbs aboard the Rick Perry bandwagon (albeit with a group urging him to run, not Perry himself).
  • In the course of naming Rick Perry the “winner” of the recent legislative session, the Texas Tribune’s Jay Root repeats the lie that Education funding was decreased in the recent session, rather than receiving a slight increase. Does the MSM just believe that if they repeat the lie enough times people will believe it’s true?
  • A Daily Kossack looks over the phony-baloney PPP Texas senate race poll and stills comes up gloomy about Democratic chances. Also manages to display his ignorance, stating “On the Democratic side, the only announced candidate is retired Gen. Ricardo Sanchez,” not only ignoring declared Democratic candidate Sean Hubbard, but also his appeal for votes on Daily Kos. I guess it’s just a case of the far left hand not knowing what the other far left hand is doing…

    • I hope everyone is enjoying their July 4th weekend, even though those of us in drought-stricken central Texas won’t be firing off any fireworks this year…

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    Posted in Democrats, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »

    2012 Election Tidbits for May 11, 2011

    Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

    A few 2012 election tidbits, on the Senate race and others.

  • Since I dinged them over inaccuracies in their reporting on the Texas Senate race, it seems only fair to praise Ryan Murphy and Matt Stiles for this nifty interactive map of Q1 fundraising by incumbent Texas congressmen.
  • 2011 hasn’t been kind to Elizabeth Ames Jones thus far, but today she’ll be talking to the U.S. congress about fracking. And not the Battlestar Galactica kind.
  • Roger Williams sets up a separate website to slam Obama’s job on the economy and boost his own chances. This strikes me as a good move, but I think the site is a little lite on content right now; a splash page and a video are a nice start, but he should have links to more information for each of his four subheads. There’s plenty of ammunition for the charge that Obama has screwed up the economy, and the more he can put up there, the more likely voters are to consider Roger Williams’ campaign.
  • Speaking of Obama, he was in Texas yesterday to raise money and pander to the amnesty crowd, but was too busy to look at the areas of the state ravaged by wildfire.
  • Newt Gingrich will run for President. Gingrich would make an excellent Presidential contender…in 1996. Today, with Gingrich already pulling sellout moves like pandering to the ethanol lobby, I see no reason to believe he would be the best choice for President.

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    Posted in Border Control, Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »

    Obama to Texas: Die In a Fire

    Thursday, May 5th, 2011

    “On Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) rejected Perry’s request to declare Texas a federal disaster area.”

    In other news, Obama will be in Austin and El Paso next Tuesday. Perhaps those affected by the wildfires might make their feelings on the subject known to President Obama…

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    Posted in Austin, Democrats, Texas | 1 Comment »