Guys, guys, guys: Mugabe’s radioactive. I know that his money spends as good as anybody else’s, but that’s only because he uses foreign currency for the bribes lobbying. Zimbabwe’s local currency is, in a word, useless; and there’s a reason for that.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Continue reading Danny Davis (D), Bobby Rush (D): involved in Mugabe lobbying scheme?
It’s all about the hypocrisy, baby.
Jeralyn Merritt of Talk Left has always had a stubbornly sensible streak about her when it comes to the absurdities of her side’s legal-themed shenanigans, and sometimes it gets loose. Case in point: her addressing of basic reality on the Martin-Zimmerman case, and exactly why the ACLU was smart to reverse course and get out of any further race-baiting in the form of trying for federally-spawned hate crimes charges.
Thousands may turn out to march, but millions will close their ears because of what they see as the unfair connection to George Zimmerman, a man with no history of racial animus, who a jury determined was not guilty of any crime at a trial at which no one alleged he acted out of racial animosity, and the connection to Trayvon Martin, whom they do not view as an innocent, but as someone who committed an unprovoked physical assault and unfortunately lost his life because the person he assaulted lawfully defended himself.
Others who will be turned off: Those who know that stand your ground laws had nothing to do with Zimmerman being found not guilty. He would have been found to have acted in self defense with or without the duty to retreat language, because the testimony and evidence at trial showed he had no place to retreat to once attacked by Martin.
Continue reading ACLU reverses course on further #Zimmerman prosecution: will @BarackObama… AGAIN?
It’s pretty much over, except for the shouting:
Lisa Madigan will not run for Illinois governor http://t.co/LaoTRYBzCe
— Taegan Goddard (@politicalwire) July 15, 2013
As Goddard notes, this is really, really good news for Bill Daley, and really, really bad news for Pat Quinn. Quinn’s biggest achievement thus far has been in not getting indicted for anything, which is frankly a bit of a problem for Illinois Governors at this point; his biggest hope was for a bitter, grenade-throwing primary. Unlikely to happen now.
Moe Lane
PS: Danged if I know how the general will go down; God knows that Daley as the nominee will drive GOP turnout, especially since Quinn is going to be probably more than a little bit scorched-earth-petulant at that point.
Good.
[Bobby Schilling’s] campaign is likely to place a heavy focus on economic issues, son and campaign manager Terry Schilling said during the holiday weekend.
“We’re putting together a plan right now on addressing mostly the rising prices and stagnant wages, because those are what’s really hurting the middle class right now,” he said.
Terry Schilling identified that focus as one of the shortfalls of the 2012 race.
“We didn’t talk enough about how the Republican policies helped the middle class,” he said, stressing that as a small-business owner and head of a large family – Bobby Schilling has 10 children – the candidate recognized the economic pinch many people are still facing.
“Bobby Schilling is the one with a large family who actually goes grocery shopping and has to pay bills,” he said. “When people aren’t getting raises and their wages are stagnant, he’s the one who’s feeling it.”
Continue reading Hey, Bobby Schilling is running for IL-17 again!
Two stories from Drudge.
The first story should not worry you, overmuch.
On the streets of Oakland, budget cuts have made the beat cop a rare breed, and some of the city’s wealthy neighborhoods have turned to unarmed security guards to take their place.
Private security companies have been a staple of American upper-income enclaves for decades. This is just a wider range than the usual gated community; it’s a sign that the economy’s rotten, but it’s not really worrisome.
This, on the other hand, is worrisome: Continue reading Chicago to flirt with a corporate/private-sponsored police force?
“IN-JUR-IES!”
“IN-JUR-IES!”
“IN-JUR-IES!”
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to politics and gun legislation.
His super PAC, Independence USA, is dropping more than $1 million in advertisement money against a Democratic candidate running in a special election to replace former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Chicago.
The candidate, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, has an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and opposes proposals that call for a renewed ban on assault weapons similar to the one that expired in 2004.
Continue reading Nanny Bloomberg aims at Debbie Halvorson in IL-02 Democratic Primary.
Could be, could be: “The White House is expected to name a new U.S. attorney for Chicago soon from among four finalists. Whoever it is will be an insider compared to the man he or she will replace, Patrick Fitzgerald.” Basically, Fitzgerald is leaving the position after over ten years of putting governors (note plural) and other corrupt Illinois state officials (yes, I know, redundant) behind bars. And it’s… interesting… that this tradition is not scheduled to continue: all four possible replacements are fully integrated into the Chicago power structure. As ABC News noted, this is not likely to be accidental:
Appointing someone with Chicago ties may convey confidence that Chicago is no longer as corrupt as it was, said Gal Pissetzky, another Chicago attorney. He said it could signal a desire to shift focus away from corruption and on to other persistent Chicago crime, such as drug trafficking or gang-related murders.
Continue reading Chicago preparing for business as usual, post-Patrick Fitzgerald?
Now this is just dumb.
Five police officers were kicked out of a Denny’s restaurant for carrying their guns.
It happened in downstate Belleville.
Needless to say, the national chain is kind of freaking out over one of their soon-to-be-former manager’s decision to encourage off-duty police officers to eat their crime-preventing breakfasts/dinners elsewhere. Because there’s a reason why Denny’s restaurants don’t get robbed more often, and it’s because criminals are generally smart enough to avoid the places where cops eat.
Sheesh.
Continue reading Illinois Denny’s manager (temporarily) kicks out off-duty cops for being armed.
Do you know what the most terrifying thing is about this Politico article (“Blacks fret free-for-all for Jesse Jackson Jr. seat*”)? It’s the very last paragraph:
“There’s going to be a lot of people running no matter what,” [soon-to-be former Democratic Congresswoman Debbie] Halvorson said. “This is the chance of a lifetime. Open seats don’t come along very often.”
‘Open seats don’t come along very often.’ Tremble for the Republic, my friends. Not because she’s wrong, because she’s not: they don’t. Continue reading Update on IL-02: Democrats starting up their internecine primary war.
Nice to see that the ACLU isn’t completely useless:
The Supreme Court has rejected an Illinois prosecutor’s plea to allow enforcement of a law aimed at stopping people from recording police officers on the job.
The justices on Monday left in place a lower court ruling that found that the state’s anti-eavesdropping law violates free speech rights when used against people who tape law enforcement officers. The law sets out a maximum prison term of 15 years.
Here’s a really good, really useful rule of thumb for handling any Constitutional situation not explicitly spelled out in the document in question: if the question at hand is Would the Founders have trusted federal, state and/or local government to do X without some kind of oversight then the default answer is going to be The answer is going to not just be “No.” It’s going to be “HELL, NO.”
Idiot.
Moe Lane
