Morning Briefing
For August 18, 2014
Rick Perry Becomes a Victim of Lawfare
Rick Perry, scourge of frivolous litigants, has just become the victim of one of the worst and most insidious variety: the runaway prosecutor. Perry was indicted late Friday afternoon on charges of abuse of power by a grand jury at the behest of special prosecutor Michael McCrum. The basic facts of the case appear not to be in dispute – Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg, an influential Democrat, pled guilty to DWI and served 45 days in jail. After serving her jail sentence, Lehmberg returned to her office and refused to step down. Perry announced that he would veto a bill that funded the Public Integrity Unit, a division over which Lehmberg was supervisor, unless she stepped down because he felt that she had lost the public’s trust. Later he followed through and did veto the bill.
The indictment is clear that Perry is not accused of abuse of power for actually vetoing the bill – presumably, everyone accepts both legally and factually that a Governor has the absolute privilege to veto a bill for any reason he wants to or no reason at all – but rather for announcing beforehand his intention to veto the bill. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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It is perfectly fine to think Mr. Brown was no saint, the rioters should be punished, and in addition to both of those, to think the police in Ferguson, MO behaved badly too. Before rioting even began the police in Ferguson decided to behave like soldiers instead of police.
Regardless of where conservatives fall on the spectrum of how they see Ferguson, MO, conservatives should also be willing to agree on two things. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
Obama has a great round of golf; General Green not so much
On Thursday, Major General Harold Green was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery. MG Green is the highest ranking US officer to die in combat since MG George Casey was killed in Vietnam on July 7, 1970, he was killed August 5 by an Afghan soldier who was being trained by NATO troops.
On Martha’s Vineyard, his Commander in Chief was playing golf with celebrities on Martha’s Vineyard. That tells you all you need to know about the contempt Obama has for the men and women in uniform. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
Rick Perry Punches Back Against Indictment
Of course, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Rick Perry is not going to take this revenge indictment by Rosemary Lehmberg lightly. I mean, who on Earth would have the temerity to suggest that a prosecutor arrested for a DWI should step down from her office?
Shortly after the news of the indictment broke, Governor Perry’s General Counsel Mary Anne Wiley released this statement . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
Militarization of the police: it is more than just equipment
If anything good comes out of the mess in Ferguson it may be a national consensus that American police forces have gradually morphed from a force designed to protect citizens into a heavily militarized force. While much silliness has been spread for the reasons for this — apparently the “North Hollywood Shootout,” in which two heavily armed bankrobbers held LAPD at bay for nearly exactly 20 minutes before one was killed and the second wounded and left to bleed out on the pavement justifies combat fatigues, MRAPs and the Dallas Independent School District having its own SWAT team. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
Ferguson, the social contract, and the consent of the governed
“In moral and political philosophy, the social contract or political contract is a theory or model, originating during the Age of Enlightenment, that typically addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual.” . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
Abortion is an Easy Decision
The former mouth of Emily’s List has an op-ed in today’s Washington Post in which she tackles what she considers to be a problem – people who say that abortion is a difficult choice . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
The Market-Distorting Effects of Current Affirmative Action Policies
“With so many oddities in the public school system, it’s hard to know where to start. Across the country, arbitrarily drawn school district lines radically distort real estate markets. Anyone who has shopped for a house in the United States knows one sad truth: Better school districts command a steep premium. (The other truth, it seems, is that you probably won’t like the kitchen.) Despite our government’s lofty rhetoric of free and equal public education, the fact remains that better-off families can buy their way into better schools.” . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
Don’t forget to check out the latest TECH AT NIGHT.
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