No, a real douchebag scheme.

Patrick Cannon, the Mayor of Charlotte, NC was arrested today and accused of accepting nearly $48,000 in bribes during a four-year-long FBI sting. A good portion of those bribes came in the form of a quote-unquote investment into one of Cannon’s business ventures: a “feminine hygiene product” called “Hers”.

The precise type of feminine hygiene product is currently unknown, but analysts theorize it could be a douchebag.

More at AP.

Cannon, a longtime radio show host and the founder of E-Z parking, a parking management company, was elected mayor in November...

Why are parking businesses always corrupt?

Oh, note that this guy has only been on the job six months. The road to corruption is a quicker one for fast learners.

Before becoming mayor, in 2013 and 2014, he is alleged to have taken $20,000 in bribes for providing "access" to city officials in zoning matters. He was a City Councilman at the time.

He procured $12,500 in bribes -- allegedly -- to help a nightclub get its permits. In exchange for his help with the permit, the undercover agent agreed to pay him $12,500 so that Cannon could develop "Hers," his feminine hygiene product.

Cannon disputes that, of course, and in fairness, I have to point out that AP says that in a "later" conversation with the undercover agent, Cannon attempted to clarify that "help with the nightclub permits" and "$12,500 investment in 'Hers'" were two entirely unrelated transactions, completely and in all ways unconnected to one another, because he didn't want people thinking he was corrupt or anything.

More: Buzzfeed has excerpts from the indictment affidavit of one of the FBI agents involved in the sting. In one exchange, Cannon actually offers to return the money to the undercover agent, apparently becoming worried that there was "linkage" between help-for-the-nightclub and the "twelve-five." But Cannon doesn't return the money, and, per Buzzfeed, never brings up the possibility of returning it again.

Hers

Gentle enough for delicate skin.

Strong enough for Nancy Pelosi.

Posted by: Ace at 01:20 PM | Comments (245)
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The other day, a reporter asked Harry Reid about the $17,000 his campaign had funneled to his granddaughter.

"Sixteen thousand," Reid snipped, chiding the reporter for getting the figure wrong.

The reporter did have the figure wrong. It's $31,000. At last count.

And it gets worse, because one of Reid's organzational supporters, NV Energy Foundation, is considering making a separate donation to the granddaugher's theater troupe, for some reason.

His granddaughter has also received financial support for her fledgling New York theater company from two Nevada-based foundations that typically prohibit donations to organizations outside of their service areas. The foundations belong to gaming and energy companies that have also donated to the lawmaker.

...

According to the Brooklyn Arts Council, Sprat “is supported by funds from Clinton Global Initiative, Caesars Foundation, NV Energy Foundation, and individual donors.” (The Sprat website also lists these contributors, along with others.)

The Caesars Foundation is the philanthropic wing of Caesars Entertainment, a Las Vegas-based gaming corporation that owns and operates dozens of casinos. Sen. Reid has received funds from the corporation in the past.

...

The NV Energy Foundation, also a philanthropic wing of a larger corporation, donates to a variety of causes -- from artistic endeavors to educational institutions. However,Still, the benefactor “reserves the right to give special emphasis to specific categories of funding from time to time or to change or withdraw this program without notice.”

A couple of updates on this (from the same link). The Caesars Foundation says... well they deny funding Ryan Reid's theater company. But then they say they funded "a proposal."

In a statement to RCP, Caesars Foundation spokeswoman Jan Jones said, "The Caesars Foundation did not provide funding to Ryan Reid's company. We funded a proposal from the Las Vegas Keep Memory Alive (of the Cleveland Clinic Luv Ruvo Center) in support, along with several other non-profits, [of] bringing Reid's play . . . to Las Vegas." Jones added that the play, which deals with Alzheimer's disease, fits with the foundation's focus on the illness.

And NV Energy says it did not make a donation... but is considering doing so.

A spokeswoman for the NV Energy Foundation and another for two foundations set up by philanthropist Larry Ruvo separately told Nevada reporter Jon Ralston that they had received applications for funding from Reid's granddaughter. However, NV Energy is still considering a donation, and Ruvo's groups declined the requests. None of the spokeswomen knew why their foundations were listed as donors.

Posted by: Ace at 10:47 AM | Comments (304)
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Remember when Republicans complained about Obama's lawlessness? Good times my friends. Good times.

The GOP wants to spend more money on the "Doc Fix", which would raise the amount paid to doctors for Medicare patients. The thing that needs to be "fixed" is that current law was put into place during the Clinton administration to save money and reduce the deficit. But cuts can never actually happen so when it looks like they will, they have to be "fixed".

Conservatives weren't thrilled with spending more money especially since the Democrats swore ObamaCare would save money by assuming the "doc fix" would never happen even though we all knew it would.

So today Boehner and Cantor found out they couldn't get their way so they simply held a sham vote to ram it through and prevent conservatives from calling them out on it.

House Republican leaders had planned to bring up the “doc fix” under a procedure requiring a two-thirds majority to pass, but after a series of closed-door meetings on Thursday morning, they determined they didn’t have the votes to meet that threshold and didn’t want to stay in session long enough to set up a simple majority vote.

So with just a few members on the House floor before a scheduled vote on an unrelated Ukraine measure, Republicans brought up the Medicare bill by voice vote. When no one in the chamber objected, the measure passed.

“Bullshit,” said a visibly annoyed Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) as he emerged from the floor following the Ukraine vote. When Mulvaney was asked to comment about the upcoming GOP budget, he replied: “I can’t talk about the budget because I’m so pissed about the [doc fix].”

GOP leadership "didnÂ’t want to stay in session long enough to set up a simple majority vote". I'm sorry if doing their damn job is too inconvenient for them.

But hey...bi-partisanship!

Republican leadership worked with their Democratic counterparts to orchestrate the ploy. As members returned to the floor when the House came into session, they discovered that the bill had already passed. Nearly all of them were surprised.

No one had the chance to vote no, no one had a chance to vote yes.

Boehner likes to talk about the House of Representatives being "The People's House". Well today he and his leadership team broke in and trashed the place. Remember this the next time he or Cantor complain out how Obama is lawless.

But yay GOP, right?

Posted by: DrewM at 11:57 AM | Comments (289)
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Gabe mentioned this at the end of the podcast last night.

You might remember that, last Friday, two Washington Post writers regurgitated a left-wing "activist" group's fanciful claim that the Koch Brothers were pushing for the Keystone pipeline, because of all their oil sands holdings in Alberta.

The article claimed that they were the biggest lessor of oil sands lands in the province, which is false. When Powerline called them on that, they responded by saying, basically, "Close enough."

The main thrust of their claim -- ignoring their mistatement of fact --is that the Koch brothers are lobbying hard for the Keystone pipeline, because Evil Oil People. The article glosses over tiny details like the fact that the Koch brothers are not in fact lobbying for the Keystone pipeline, as the pipeline would actually hurt them economically.

But the progressives hate the Koch brothers, and desperately need a pair of distracting bogeymen for this election cycle, and progressives hate the Keystone pipeline, so... unconnected dots must nevertheless be connected.

Now comes Powerline to report that promptly after the publication of this false report, Congressional Democrats issued the Koch brothers a menacing letter demanding they answer the question posed in the Washington Post's article.

To wit:

What is Koch Industries doing there?

Yes, Washington Post, what an interesting and probing question. What is an energy company doing leasing tar sands from which oil (also called "energy") can be extracted?

It's all terribly suspicious.

Powerline writes:

But it may have been even more political, and more nakedly partisan, than we suspected. Today Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman wrote a letter to David Robertson, President and COO of Koch Industries. The DemocratsÂ’ letter was premised almost entirely on the Washington PostÂ’s discredited article; it repeatedly footnoted that article and the IFG report on which the Post story was based. The two Democrats concluded by requesting that Koch answer questions and produce a long series of documents relating in various ways to the Keystone pipeline.

The Democrats' questions -- hostile, prosecutorial, conspiratorial -- can only be characterized as implying wrongdoing.

If there are dots in need of connection, let's check these dots:

* Democratic politicians in dire need of an election-year distraction

* Far-left agitation groups funded by far-left donors -- by which I mean Democratic donors

* Usefully pliant writers in the "mainstream" media who are ready, willing, and eager to float whatever Conspiracy Balloon that crosses their transom

Yes, let's see some connect-the-dots analysis of that.

Cui bono?

Posted by: Ace at 08:39 AM | Comments (1020)
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• GM Bailout Claims The Legal Rights Of Americans
  
• The Case Of Leland Yee
  
• Government Power Rests On Violence And Coercion
  
• Alan Grayson Has A Sad
  
• Did WaPo Coordinate With Congressional Dems?
  
• Harry Reid Quietly Reimburses Campaign Funds He Gave To Granddaughter
  
• WRM On Public Pensions
  
• Charlotte Mayor (Party Unknown) Charged With Corruption
  
• Former Top CA Educator Busting In Murder-For-Hire Plot, Blames Racism
  
• Putin Likely To Move On Eastern Ukraine
  
• Divorce: It's Way Bigger Than We Thought
  
• Obama Downplays Russia As A Regional Power
  
• Majority Of Texas Hispanics Have Unfavorable View Of Obamacare
  
• Thursday Edition Of Ace Of Spades Lifestyle
  
• Shark Gives Florida Student A Two Hour Ride
  

Follow me on twitter.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:56 AM | Comments (211)
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Fox's Adam Shapiro interviews Walter Russell Mead about the coming public-pension meltdown. It's a fairly long video, but very worth your time if you're interested in this sort of thing.

Mead's point about yesterday's liberals becoming today's conservatives is a good one, and one that not enough people really appreciate. It's become au courant to refer to modern conservatism as "classical liberalism", and we are now encountering the spectacle of the radical New Left of the 1960's desperately trying to conserve (note the word) the status quo.

Mead is optimistic that America can re-invent itself yet again and take advantage of technology to make government at all levels work better and for less money. I doubt that this is the case -- a century's worth of untrammeled growth of government at all levels argues against it -- but we shall see.

As for the government's ability to leverage technology to improve delivery of services....

Posted by: Monty at 06:07 AM | Comments (574)
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Happy Thursday.

Democrats are having a banner week when it comes to being arrested and charged with corruption. See here for the cases just from yesterday. Here's the one from Sunday's papers. The case against Leland Yee sounds like it was stolen from a Hollywood blockbuster.

Fallout from the Washington Post's now-debunked hit piece on the Koch brothers' Alberta oil sands investment continues, with two Democratic mouth breathers on the Hill using the false report to demand that Koch Industries explain its plans for Keystone XL. Even the hacktastic Washington Post piece noted that the Kochs haven't reserved space in the pipeline and that industry folks think the pipeline will conflict with the Kochs' other energy business.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:49 AM | Comments (296)
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Okay okay I promise tonight's ONT really will kinda suck...

Jim Geraghty: Why It's So Hard to Out-Alinsky the Left

Because the left isn't bothered by hypocrisy. And because their Weltanschauung is fundamentally different from that of conservatives.

Shortly after Barack Obama rose to the presidency, the Right became fascinated by Saul Alinsky, and in particular by the philosopher and community organizer's "Rules for Radicals." Many on the right focused their attention on Alinsky's Fourth Rule: "Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity."

The strategy of "making them live up to their own book of rules" is frequently mentioned and discussed these days at Breitbart.com, Instapundit, Ace of Spades, and just about every other conservative website and blog.

...Not to take away from O'Keefe's work, which generates must-watch videos and scandal-inspired resignations with metronomic regularity, but there may be a flaw in this strategy. Ultimately, not that many liberals care whether their brethren are following their own book of rules. They've demonstrated a remarkable acceptance for one another's hypocrisy.

Many progressives organize their worldview in the reverse order: They pick the good people - themselves - and everything else is negotiable. And as it's currently practiced, liberalism doesn't really require much of anything. Or, when liberalism starts asking sacrifices and commitments of its adherents beyond liking and sharing on Facebook, the energy and enthusiasm disappear. Close observers of Obamacare have noticed that the Millennials and other young people who voted for Obama in droves aren't willing to pay several hundred dollars a month for health insurance.

The currency of progressivism isn't policies, and it certainly isn't results. It's emotions.

Read the whole thing here.

Of Course: Anti-Gun CA Senator Leland Yee Charged With Gun Running

And we're talking Archer-level running of guns here.

Famously anti-gun California state Senator Leland Yee has been charged with, in addition to bribery and public corruption.yes.gun running. Specifically conspiring with known organized crime lord Kwok Cheung "Shrimp Boy" Chow to illegally import firearms and sell them without a license . . .

The affidavit charges that the $2 million worth of weapons to have been secreted into the country from the Philippines included rocket launchers and machine guns, some of which Yee himself had fired while on Mindanao. A portion of the weapons Yee conspired to bring into the U.S. through New Jersey were to have been forwarded on to North Africa via Sicily.

And just in the past year Yee has sponsored bills to ban the 3-D printing of guns and the use of bullet-buttons on rifles like the AR-15 along with several other bills all designed to make life miserable for gun-owners in California. Because guns are bad, m'kay?

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:03 PM | Comments (1024)
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Just clearing out the browser tabs of links that I really should write up more fully, but don't have time for.

First up, Michelle Malkin has a long, personal piece at National Review about medical marijuana.

Molly Ball has a piece at the Atlantic on how Republicans are driving the current momentum for gay marriage.

Sean Davis has a piece at the Federalist on six absurd arguments made at the Hobby Lobby argument.

Nate Silver has a post at FiveThirtyEight taking a shot at former colleague Paul Krugman.

Patterico has a post at his site about Vox stumbling right out of the gate.

Maybe I'll come back to these tomorrow.

Bonus Videos [Ace]: A Chicago subway train's driver fell asleep while conducting the vehicle. The train jumped the tracks and... well, you'll see. more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:48 PM | Comments (283)
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If you don't remember, these cases concern the language of Obamacare, which states that federal tax credits and subsidies are available to those who purchase insurance in a health insurance exchange "established by a state under section 1311" of Obamacare.

But most states have not established state exchanges. In most states, Obamacare exists (to the extent it exists at all) as a federal insurance market. So tax credits and subsidies should not be available for such plans.

And further, section 1311 concerns the state exchanges. So the law does seem to restrict the subsidies/credits boondoggle only to state exchanges -- if we care about the law anymore, which Obama, like, doesn't.

A district court already ruled on this point in Obama's favor, back in January. Then, a Clinton appointee stated that the words of Obamacare were "clear" and "unambiguous" -- and clearly and unambiguously meant something other than they said. The lower court ruled that, get this, when Congress said subsidies would be available for polices bought on the state exchanges, they "clearly" and "unambiguously" meant "the state and/or federal exchanges."

Powerline links a digest of oral arguments on this point in the DC Circuit of Appeals (and there are, I think, three other identical challenges in other federal courts). In the DC circuit, at least, the judges (two Republican appointees and one Democratic one) seem skeptical of the government's argument that words are stupid things.

The Democratic judge (a Carter appointee) resorted to very weak arguments to justify letting the Obama Administration "interpret" the law to mean something other than the words actually say:

At one point, Judge Edwards claimed that because the statute was entitled the “Affordable” Care Act, the court should construe it so care would be affordable.

Apparently the government's arguments boiled down to these:

1) Come on, you can't strike this down, "everyone knows" what they meant, even if they didn't actually write it

2) No seriously "everyone knows" what they meant

Now, NRO's Bench Memos thinks (based on the judges' questioning) that we'll win here. However...

A 2-1 panel decision seems likely, with Judges Griffith and Randolph firmly in favor of applying the plain meaning, and with Judge Edwards against the plain meaning. If the appellants win and the court declares the regulation ultra vires, the government would likely petition for en banc rehearing to the newly-packed D.C. Circuit to delay or reverse the effect of the panelÂ’s decision.

Yes, now that the DC Circuit is packed with Obama appointees, an en banc review would probably go against us.

And then on to the Supreme Court.

If you're interested in this case, the DC Circuit has posted audio of the oral arguments.

Posted by: Ace at 02:16 PM | Comments (181)
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