• 'Mostly Peaceful' Trayvon Protest Turns Violent
  
• Zimmerman Protestors Show Their Commitment To Justice By Raiding A Walmart
  
• Feds Admit Improper Scrutiny Of Candidate, Donor Tax Records
  
• Sowell: Is This Still America?
  
• Good Piece On The Trayvon Trial By A Slate Writer
  
• Government Is Always Stifling Innovation
  
• Is DOJ Licensing Or Unleashing The Press
  
• Zimmerman's Parent's In Hiding Because Of Enormous Amount Of Death Threats
  
• MSNBC Is Beyond Parody
  
• Behold The Part-Time Worker Society
  
• Rachel Jeantel On Piers Morgan
  
• The Zimmerman Case Has Nothing To Do With The Stand Your Ground Law
  
• Is Detroit Headed For Bankruptcy
  
• Watch An Idiot Try To Break A Window With A Trash Can And Fail
  
• Snowden Submits Official Request For Temporary Asylum In Russia
  
• Andrew Branca Participates On NPR's Zimmerman Panel
  
• The Possible Parallel Universe Of Dark Matter
  
• Man Sues Apple Because Porn Gave Him Unrealistic Expectations
  
• Group Beats Up Hispanic Saying "This Is For Trayvon"
  

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Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:02 AM | Comments (179)
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Happy Tuesday.

Gosh, why does the GOP have such trouble attracting new voters? Could it be the gleeful nastiness that so many like to display? Here's some photos from yesterday's anti-Gang of 8 "March for Jobs" that, to put it mildly, make it harder to sell Republicanism. These folks did us no favors. Nor did this woman, whom I'm sure has a plan to help the GOP shift Ohio back into the red column. And, of course, these old racist buttons from last year made another appearance.

Sen. Cruz, among other GOP leaders, spoke at the march. But, then, he's not up for reelection until 2018. What about politicians who have to appeal to voters now?

Meet CA-31's GOP Rep. Gary Miller. Rep. Miller used to represent CA-41, a safe GOP seat in Orange County, but moved over to CA-31 after redistricting.

He got lucky in 2012 because, under California's new "top two" primary system, his opponent was a Republican -- the Democrats having split the primary three ways. But Miller's not depending on that to get him reelected next year. He knows he has to be competitive in this majority-Latino district in San Bernardino. Which is why he has retracted his former statements suggesting that 12-20 million illegals be deported (from back when he was in a safe red district and could say things like that without getting the stuffing beat out of him on Election Day) and now says that he's "evolved" on the issue.

I highlight this example because it comes down to a question of whether the GOP is ready to simply give up CA-31 and similar "purple" districts. Do we want to take back the Senate? Do we ever want to take back the White House? Let me suggest that getting nasty, like the marchers did yesterday, is not a viable path to majority.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:01 AM | Comments (493)
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Moe Lane: A Word About Election Cycles

So let me use that reputation to tell you this, and what I tell you three times is true:

• Nothing lasts forever.
• Nothing lasts forever.
• Nothing lasts forever.

We'll be up and we'll be down.  Sorry: I was going to pontificate more on this theme, but the eldest is downstairs now, and rather querulously insistent that there be goldfish crackers.  Which is really the important thing, of course.  So, to sum up: what goes around, comes around. And this is a comforting thought, really.

"It will be years - not in my time - before a woman will become Prime Minister."
-- Margaret Thatcher, future Prime Minister, October 26th, 1969.

"Reagan doesn't have that presidential look." -- United Artists Executive, rejecting Reagan as lead in 1964 film The Best Man.

Why Treyvon's Family Would Be Advised NOT to Sue Zimmerman

While FL law provides immunity from civil lawsuits in cases of justified self-defense this alone wouldn't prevent a lawsuit:

First, the decision yesterday will not bind the Martin family because it represents a finding that the state could not prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that it wasn't self-defense.  Failing to prove something wasn't something, is not the same as proving that it was that thing.  Instead I think the more likely reading is that if the Martins should sue, Zimmerman would have the right to a hearing on self-defense that could nip the entire thing in the bud.

But there's a detail that does make it risky for them to sue Zimmerman - in civil cases filed where self-defense is later shown the loser pays...everything:

(3) The court shall award reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, compensation for loss of income, and all expenses incurred by the defendant in defense of any civil action brought by a plaintiff if the court finds that the defendant is immune from prosecution as provided in subsection

This provision holds out the very real possibility that if the Martin family sues George Zimmerman, they will end up owing him money.  Plus, is it possible that the Martin family has ever defamed Zimmerman, even possibly their lawyers?  I am not sure they want to fire the first shot in such a suit, and risk whatever counter claims Zimmerman might have against them.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:13 PM | Comments (839)
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She said 5 of the 6 jurors thought the voice calling for help was Zimmerman. The sixth wasn't sure.

She says she found the Sanford PD detective credible when he said he didn't think Zimmerman was lying. She wasn't impressed with Jeantel (however you spell her name) and felt bad for her getting caught up in the whole thing.

They are going to talk to defense lawyers about the jurors statement and show more later.

Related...a good article (one of the few) on the trial and verdict. Some people actually can challenge their pre-existing assumptions and be swayed by facts.

Posted by: DrewM at 04:08 PM | Comments (631)
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For those in more northern latitiudes, our galaxy guide brings us to some excellent targets in the most glorious of northern constellations: Cygnus the Swan. Emission nebulae, planetary nebulae, Wolf-Rayet nebulae, dark nebulae, double stars, open clusters, even a globular, it's all here. Artist J-P Metsavainio has definitely made the most of it, as the above image and more below the fold can attest.

Remember that to best appreciate the Milky Way, visit a dark site when the moon isn't up. Some objects along the way can be spotted from suburban sites, but light pollution limits much of the grandeur.

Apologies for the delay (this usually goes up Sunday) but some of the images are well worth the wait. An overview of where we are looking, then the trip begins below the fold.

Posted by: CAC at 07:00 AM | Comments (124)
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Odious.

Claiming “the power of an extreme minority now threatens the very integrity of this institution,” Reid then talked about McCarthy’s committee vote and the role of late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.).

...

“Frank Lautenberg was dying — I called Bonnie and I said, ‘We have to have him here.’ And he, literally on his death bed, came down here — unhooked the stuff that was keeping him alive — came down here from New Jersey and walked in to make a caucus out — everybody was there for the Democrats on the [Energy and Public Works] Committee,” Reid related.

“We shouldn’t be doing stuff like that. That isn’t what it’s all about. You can’t reward bad behavior over and over and over again.”

Reid claimed he’s on a quest “to save the Senate from becoming obsolete, to remain relevant and effective as an institution.”

This past March, the Democratic-held Senate produced its first budget -- required by law each year -- for the first time in four years.

Reid suddenly remembers this tearful incident as he threatens the so-called "nuclear option," in which Democrats will change the rules of the Senate so that presidential nominees cannot be fiibustered, but can be confirmed with a mere majority vote.

They seem to want this especially because of the NLRB -- Obama illegally, unconstitutionally made fake "recess appointments" to that board, and then the board (without constitutional authority) made a raft of holdings. The Supreme Court has ruled this unconstitutional-- making the previous holdings without authority and therefore nullities.

I think Reid and Obama are especially keen to have these three unconstitutional appointments confirmed for realsies this time, to avoid the problem of their unconstitutional holdings. Once confirmed, they can re-hold everything they previously held and therefore give it all a sheen of constitutionality.

The Republicans do not want to confirm these appointees.

Posted by: Ace at 12:59 PM | Comments (292)
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I'd call this assault.

A city councilwoman and two lawyers, formerly allies of the mayor, held a press conference to air the charges lodged against Mayor Filner by a variety of women.

Former ally Briggs wrote that he must now turn on Filner, because his behavior is no mere slip-up or minor transgression, but consists of "hard core" violations.

In the Mayor's office, there was something known as the "Filner headlock" where the Mayor puts his arm around a woman's shoulder, pulls her in tight, gets in close to their face, asks about husband/boyfriend, says things like "you know you love me, lets go up to my office, no one will know."

...

Donna Frye described other specifics about a victim: "He grabbed her, kissed her, jamming his tongue down her throat." Frye went on to describe another encounter: "The Mayor quickly had his hand down the inside of her bra."

"I am the Mayor you can't kick me out of any office" one employee of Filner allegedly said after she kicked him out of her office for his unwanted advances.

The allies-turned-accusers are trying to get the lecherous old monster to step down without having the women to come forward and make the allegations themselves. Of course, that won't happen; he's a Democrat, and a union stooge to boot. So we're talking about the sort of retrograde, cynical, old-time machine politics mentality here where everything is fair game for your tribe that we usually don't see nowadays, at least not outside the national government.

After initially claiming there was nothing at all to the allegations, Filner then released an Apology Video in which he said he was sorry but did not name any specific actions he was sorry about.

“As someone who has spent a lifetime fighting for equality for all people, I am embarrassed to admit that I have failed to fully respect the women who work for me and with me, and that at times I have intimidated them,” Filner continued. “It’s a good thing that behavior that would have been tolerated in the past is being called out in this generation for what it is: inappropriate and wrong.”

Filner added: “I am also humbled to admit that I need help. I have begun to work with professionals to make changes in my behavior and approach. In addition, my staff and I will participate in sexual-harassment training provided by the city. Please know that I fully understand that only I am the one who can make these changes.”

But note that Apology Video came out last week -- he hasn't responded to the press conference today, which put forward a lot more creepy, rapey details about his behavior.

Filner's fiancée broke off the engagement this past weekend -- two of the women are said to be bringing legal action against Filner -- over these allegations clearly true facts.

Meanwhile, in the Decadent East, New Yorkers are finding the Weiner-Spitzer double-team to their taste.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:15 PM | Comments (289)
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The Place for Politics, not the place for breaking news.

And when there is lots of breaking news, as with the Zimmerman trial, MSNBC winds up looking abused and lifeless like Chris Matthews liver, or, in fact, Chris Matthews genitals after a particularly "Lincolnesque" Obama speech.

While Fox (at number 1) and CNN (at number 2) garnered about three and a half million viewers Saturday night (when the Zimmerman verdict was breaking)...

MSNBC, the left-wing network that hoped the Zimmerman trial would rescue them from the ratings dumpster, came in a distant third with only 1.298 million viewers -- about a third of its competition.

But look at the demos! some idiot leftwinger says to me, in my mind.

Okay, fine, let's look at the demos. They're also awful.

In the all-important 25-54 demo, CNN came in first with 1.716 million; Fox News was second with 1.113 million. MSNBC was again dead last with only 510k viewers.

Meanwhile, from the sidebar, The Daily Caller has passed Politico in traffic. Darned good, DC!

Or maybe it's just that Politico is a nightmare of tedium and collapsed under the weight of its own uselessness. Well, it's damn good news either way.

Posted by: Ace at 11:05 AM | Comments (306)
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Is Perry running for President? Who knows. But his Great Big Entrance into the 2012 primaries quickly turned into a pratfall beginning with his statement that those who objected to in-state tuition rates for the children of illegal immigrants "had no heart."

I doubt he's recanted that part of his thinking on immigration. But perhaps he now realizes how disastrous that statement was as far as national Republican politics* -- Texas Republicans may be cooler with illegal immigration than Republicans nationally, but any Republican hopeful needs to carry more states than Texas.

Perhaps Perry's statements today are intended to move him, rhetorically at least, into the immigration hawk camp.

He went on to criticize the Gang of Eight’s legislation for its failure to adequately secure the border, which he argued is a prerequisite for immigration reform rather than a feature of it. “I don’t think the will is in Washington, D.C., to secure the border. So, until that happens, I’m not sure the American people are going to trust Washington to come up with some immigration bill until they secure the border.”

* That statement began the narrative that he was a dummy who said lots of dumb things. Even though he went on to say other dumb things, it's possible that many Republicans would have supported him and ignored those other dumb things (we've done so before) had his opening act in national politics not been one of insulting and alienating half of the caucus. He immediately moved himself from "friendly" treatment to "hostile" or at least "suspicious" treatment, and paid the price later on.

Posted by: Ace at 03:10 PM | Comments (254)
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ObamaCare is every bit as unpopular as, say, assault weapons, and the public is just as hungry for public action on that.

And yet the media largely ignores ObamaCare as a live political issue. They don't report on it because they wish to convey the idea that there's nothing you can do so you might as well accept it.

Which is a powerful propaganda tactic -- you don't have to gain public support, after all. You merely need to gain public acquiescence.

So, while we have endless media campaigning on behalf of gun control and amnesty, the media just seems not to notice that ObamaCare is an unpopular, divisive scheme which even Democrats oppose.

Teamsters president James Hoffa, UFCW president Joseph Hanson, and UNITE-HERE president D. Taylor have written a joint letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi complaining that ObamaCare will demolish the unions' insurance plan.

Like millions of other Americans, our members are front-line workers in the American economy. We have been strong supporters of the notion that all Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care. We have also been strong supporters of you. In campaign after campaign we have put boots on the ground, gone door-to-door to get out the vote, run phone banks and raised money to secure this vision.

Now this vision has come back to haunt us.

[E]ven though non-profit plans like ours wonÂ’t receive the same subsidies as for-profit plans, theyÂ’ll be taxed to pay for those subsidies. Taken together, these restrictions will make non-profit plans like ours unsustainable, and will undermine the health-care market of viable alternatives to the big health insurance companies.

National Review has more quotes. (Yeah, I don't feel like reading the whole letter. I'm lazy.)

“Our persuasive arguments have been disregarded and met with a stone wall by the White House and the pertinent agencies. This is especially stinging because other stakeholders have repeatedly received successful interpretation for their respective grievances,” such as the employer mandate delay.

“We have a problem, you need to fix it. The unintended consequences of the ACA are severe.”

“Perverse incentives are already creating nightmare scenarios."

Posted by: Ace at 10:04 AM | Comments (288)
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