Month: February 2015

Meet (no doubt reluctant) conservative hero Richard Ankrom.

I write that, knowing full well that the odds that an artist in Los Angeles would ever define him or herself as a political conservative are somewhere on that special spectrum between ‘fat’ and ‘slim.’ Nonetheless:

Continue reading Meet (no doubt reluctant) conservative hero Richard Ankrom.

Gov. Nikki Haley (R, South Carolina), Last Woman Standing.

This is from last month, so no real need to dwell overmuch on it – still, always nice to see an old friend of RedState doing well:

When Gov. Nikki Haley takes her second oath for the state’s highest office Wednesday, she will stand as a survivor of a sometimes turbulent first term, having outlasted many of her opponents and controversies.

Powerful legislative leaders who fought the Lexington Republican’s priorities have left the General Assembly. Foes who took Haley to court and challenged her at the ballot box failed to knock her out of office. Scandals, including the worst data hacking of a state agency in U.S. history, did not cause lasting damage.

Continue reading Gov. Nikki Haley (R, South Carolina), Last Woman Standing.

Gov. Bruce Rauner (R, Illinois) is… actually going to go to war with the unions.

I may have to reassess my opinion of the nature of Illinois politics: perhaps somebody actually can achieve statewide office there without also being fully-tied into the Illinois Combine.  New Republican governor Bruce Rauner apparently wants to have a brawl: “Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner struck a first official blow on Monday against the public sector labor unions he has frequently criticized by ordering an end to a requirement that workers pay dues even if they decide not to join a union.” It’s an executive order, not legislation: because – like Barack Obama – Bruce Rauner has a pen and a phone, and is apparently unafraid to use either.  He also has a budget crisis that’s fueled in no small part by the inability of public sector unions to not be quite so greedy, which is one reason why we’re seeing this reform now.

Put another way… Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune is bitter, but accurate enough*: “Rauner’s order isn’t animated by empathy or some fastidious concern with constitutional fine points. It’s animated by a desire to put public employee unions into a death spiral, which will ultimately shrink the state’s payroll.” This, of course, is not exactly bad news to anybody who despises public employee unions, which are indeed kind of abominations unto the Lord – but I suppose that the Chicago Tribune might feel differently, given that the Tribune is fully-tied into the Illinois Combine.  Continue reading Gov. Bruce Rauner (R, Illinois) is… actually going to go to war with the unions.

Tweet of the Day, I’ve Seen Worse One-Sentence Biographies edition.

I dunno. “Knitting tiny wool sweaters for tiny injured penguins” is actually kind of badass.

Especially when you’re 109 years old. What recklessly Australian things did this man do in his prime, that he now balances it with making protective clothing for cute, yet wounded waterfowl? – And nobody tell me! It almost certainly won’t be as cool as the story I’m telling myself in my head right now.

An unhappy morning.

Obviously evil acts are and must be the responsibility of their perpetrators. I recommend prayer for the families of the three murdered victims in Chapel Hill… and prayers for the shooter, because I’m sorry but that sad, sorry bastard rather desperately needs some God in his life. I try not to hassle people about their different faiths – in the end, it’s not me who makes the call over who goes where – but I don’t think that the murderer’s life choices exactly ended up working out for him.