In politics an absurdity is not a handicap.
Napoleon Bonaparte
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Granted, it's a GOP poll, but the latest poll on the Louisiana Senate runoff Saturday suggests that Landrieu's support is collapsing, down 26 points from Cassidy's 60%. I previously noted that Landrieu's early voting numbers were down from last month's jungle primary. Remember, Landrieu barely edged Cassidy, who split the non-Dem vote with other candidates. Given the fact I haven't seen Landrieu even battle to a tie in a single Cassidy pairwise poll for months, I think Landrieu has run out of time and field to score.
RCP is already tracking the Senate 2016 races where the GOP will be defending a bumper crop of Senate seats, including in purple or blue states, like IL, WI, FL, PA and NH. Of course, the GOP is still smarting over leaving some seats on the table, like Reid's NV and CO.
There's a new Hillary jingle out there. I've made it clear I'm backing Rand Paul. Paul did announce his candidacy--for reelection to the Senate. There is an interesting story in that Kentucky doesn't allow a candidate's name to appear twice on a ballot, and it doesn't look like Kentucky Dems are willing to cut Paul any slack. So this seems to suggest that Paul will need to withdraw from the Presidential primary; maybe the GOP will decide to hold a caucus instead.
There was a recent story that the candidates Hillary Clinton's team is most concerned with are Jeb Bush, who might cut into the Latino constituency, and "conservitarian" Paul, who seems to appeal to a number of young people, also part of the Dem coalition. Drudge had another recent link to a report that Romney may run again. I don't think that Rubio will run, since Jeb Bush, his mentor, is a stronger candidate, and I think Rubio alienated some of the base for his part in the unpopular Senate immigration bill. Walker, who just won his third race in a row, might run, and former surgeon Ben Carson is near the top; I don't see both Walker and Ryan running. I don't necessarily know that Paul will inherit his father's passionate base. Whereas I agree with Christie and others that an experienced governor is a plus, I don't think that Christie's combative style will wear well. I also don't think Rick Perry manages to rehabilitate his disastrous 2012 campaign. My personal intuition (plus $5 will buy you a cup of joe at Starbuck's) is that the GOP will be looking for fresh faces and policies; I think Paul Ryan is very articulate and positions well against Clinton, Jindal is also very impressive and articulate (his state's education reforms are leading-edge, and of course Rand Paul is about as different a candidate as you can find in the GOP pool.
Bad Elephant and JOTY Nominations
I think I'm close to closing off this year's nominations. Landrieu won one for playing the race card in the upcoming runoff (JOTY), and Congressman Peter King (Bad Elephant) for his obnoxious take on the Eric Garner death (see below).
I will probably publish my mock award one-off posts after mid-month. I was reviewing Time's person of the year nominations. Whereas I'm intrigued by entrepreneur Musk, for his fabulously successful space and electric car subsidiaries, I'm leaning in the direction of the historic midterms--but who do you attribute success? The RNC chair, Senate Minority Leader McConnell, Republican Governor chair Chris Christie, others? I have come to a decision that will make the "progressives" go apeshit
Healthcare Inflationary Government Policies: A Look At Certificate-of-Need Laws
I want to recommend the Cato Daily Podcast, which is on my scheduled podcasts, including the certificate-of-need laws. Before going on, here is a good summary of anti-competitive government regulations. Basically, the net effect of all these things is to suppress competition (hospitals, physicians, prescription drugs, insurers, etc.) The argument of certificate of need is that in an allegedly saturated market, new participants will profit by convincing patients to undergo unnecessary healthcare, so Dr. Nanny and Gov. Nanny will "protect", as Gruber might say,"stupid" Americans.
I want to raise another unstated protectionist argument--think of why the FDR regime assigned farm product quotas; they were worried about the bugaboo of low prices under competition, which might lead to small farm failures. So, for example, an upstart hospital may poach patients undermining the business models of existing hospitals and drive them out of business. But in reality, the upstart hospital may draw patients because it has innovative technology, provides more value or has a better business model. Why should we worry about too many providers any more than too many supermarkets or fast food outlets? As Mitchell points out, fewer providers mean higher prices, less innovation and less accessibility: not in the interests of consumers.
Facebook Corner
(Libertarian Republic).
I wonder if the fascists will now require printing the warning on cigarette packages, that smoking may lead to cancer and reselling cigarettes may result in State execution.
(separate comment)
I think that Rand Paul was making a broader point about having the police enforce victimless crimes which, like alcoholic and drug prohibitions, attract violent organized crime and/or corrupt politicians and cops.
But there is no excuse for the use of excessive force in subjugating a man who is obese, not a flight risk, non-aggressive, and outnumbered. What is dangerous is a State that abuses its monopoly of force, doesn't know how to prioritize an increasingly unknowable set of regulations where almost any citizen is subject to arbitrary arrest.
(separate comment)
Some retards in this thread..."Suspect did not die from the choke." Where did this asshole get his talking point from--that idiotic piece of work Congressman Peter King? The medical cause of death was homicide, i.e., by the policeman choking him. It is true that the man had a medical condition which could have contributed to the main cause: "Medical examiners ruled Garner's death a homicide and said his health was a contributing factor. It listed the chokehold, his position on the ground and the compression of his chest as the main cause." Got that? The policeman was responsible for all three specified aspects in the main cause of death.
"If he respected authority in the first place and complied with the officers, then the situation wouldn't have escalated." Blaming the victim for his own murder by the policeman? No, you had an obese man surrounded by multiple police officers; he was not a flight risk; he was outnumbered; he did not attack any officer. Only a fascist would think that selling untaxed cigarettes is is a capital offense...
"Because the cop went into planning to kill him right? He just sat there saying " I can't wait to choke this guy until he's dead." " What about the fact the victim repeatedly said he couldn't breathe and the policeman refused to release the hold, even when the victim was on the ground and surrounded by cops?
Can you ignorant trolls think through what you write before you publish rubbish?
(IPI). The city of Monmouth is sitting on nearly $13 million in unfunded police and fire pension liabilities.
So, for the second year in a row, the city is poised to hike property taxes on its residents to pay for quickly growing pension costs.
I suspect the union-sympathetic Illinois justice system will back the greedy, out-of-touch unions, and Illinois taxpayers need to implement a constitutional change. My understanding is this requires a supermajority of the Illinois House and Senate and then basically a supermajority of voters. In fact, IPI opposed what I call a supermajority speedbump to constrain lawmakers from INCREASING benefits in 2012. I agree this was a fairly lame reform to begin with, but if you can't even get a speedbump amendment passed, how are you going to get a supermajority of the crony unionist political whores in the Illinois legislature to get REAL reform on the ballot? Remember the Governator lost public pension reform to the corrupt unions in California and in later reform packages, he found that state Republicans also had the back of prison union members.
The way I see it, it's going to take some Illinois cities filing for bankruptcy before lawmakers finally get the message they can't punt serious reform down the road. There's only so much Rauner can do with Madigan controlling the Illinois House.
(Reason). Government, at its core, is force. The more it does to shape the world around it, the more it needs enforcers to make sure officials' wills are done. "The law is the law," says New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, but it's creatures like him who make so much damned law. And then they send the likes of Officer Daniel Pantaleo to make sure we comply. Or else they might kill us.
Anyone else not on the police force that did this would have been up for at least assault, more likely manslaughter. He was videotaped performing an illegal act and still faced no consequences. This has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with a lack of culpability.
The chokehold is a banned act; not illegal. Your point is still valid.
Obviously it was illegal given the very nature that the matter went to a grand jury. Quite clearly this was unnecessary, excessive use of force; Garner was grossly obese and he had asthma; he was not a flight risk and he was surrounded by officers. For the policeman to continue a choke hold even after Garner repeatedly saying he was having problems breathing is unconscionable.
It's one thing if a suspect is physically resisting or attacks an officer, but how many times have we seen shock and awe tactics used to intimidate people, even toddlers, flash grenades thrown without even seeing if there are potential victims in the line of fire? The members of the grand jury are accountable for their decisions; I know what I saw on that video.
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| Courtesy of Bob Gorrell via Townhall |
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