Patterico's Pontifications

4/28/2010

A Note to Stashiu3

Filed under: Blogging Matters — DRJ @ 11:33 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Thanks to Stashiu3 for helping to keep Patterico’s website alive each day. It’s his one year anniversary today, and please congratulate him for a job well done.

— DRJ

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: I second the motion; motion carries. Stashiu puts in countless hours to monitor for trollish or inappropriate comments, reboot when the site (all too often lately) slows or goes down, etc. Please give him your thanks.

By the way, we are still working on a
solution for the slow server and down times. Please be patient; it’s taking longer than we had hoped, but we are still optimistic. In the meantime, the help of someone like Stashiu is more valuable than ever.

Let him know you appreciate it.

Human Rights Abuse in Mexico

Filed under: International — DRJ @ 8:50 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Yesterday, Amnesty International called the abuse of migrants in Mexico a major human rights crisis. The same day, a “caravan of rights observers and leftist political activists” traveling in southern Mexico were attacked by gunfire. Two people were killed and many more may have been abducted:

“Gunmen ambushed a caravan of rights observers and leftist political activists in a remote, restive area of southern Mexico, killing a Finnish man and a Mexican woman, and dozens from the group remained missing, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The ambush took place Tuesday just outside the village of San Juan Copala, which is the scene of a long-running dispute between a group demanding greater local autonomy and militants with links to Oaxaca state’s ruling party.

An eyewitness said the roughly 40 people traveling in the caravan abandoned their vehicles and scattered when masked gunmen opened fire from a hillside.

Most who fled were still missing, including two journalists from the Mexican magazine Contralinea. It was not clear how many foreigners were with the caravan. The rights group Pro Juarez said there were observers from Finland, Italy, Belgium and Germany among the group, but Mexican authorities could not immediately confirm that.”

Mexico is extremely dangerous for residents and visitors, and that alone is reason to secure America’s southern border.

— DRJ

Woman Decapitated in Dallas

Filed under: Crime — DRJ @ 8:31 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

A Dallas man is being sought in connection with the decapitation of his wife, reportedly with two chain saws. Her headless body was found outside their home:

“Police searched Wednesday for a Texas man authorities say used two chain saws to decapitate his wife before leaving her body in the street near their suburban Dallas home.

Maria Corona’s body was found around 11 a.m. Monday by a postal worker outside the family’s one-story brick home in Lewisville, located about 25 miles outside Dallas, authorities said.

Police arrived at the home, shortly after the mail carrier called 911, and found a trail of blood from the body to the home, according to a search warrant affidavit. Two chain saws with blades covered in blood were on the tailgate of a pickup truck in the driveway. One of the chain saws was still running, the affidavit said.

Police said an arrest warrant had been issued for 49-year-old Jose Fernando Corona, charging him with the murder of his wife.

“Witnesses in the neighborhood did hear a chain saw running, but that was all they heard,” Lewisville police Capt. Kevin Deaver said. “It was an extremely gruesome scene. The method of death was brutal.”

The autopsy showed Mrs. Corona was alive when she was decapitated. Authorities apparently believe Corona may seek assistance from friends and family in Texas or Mexico.

— DRJ

Wind Farm Off Cape Cod

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 8:25 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The Obama Administration has approved a wind farm off Cape Cod:

“Plans for Cape Wind call for construction to begin within a year. Its 130 turbines would be placed in a grid pattern over a 25-square-mile area of Nantucket Sound. The closest turbine to land will be about five miles from Cape Cod . The turbines will supply a maximum of 468 megawatts of electricity, about the output of a medium-sized coal-fired electricity plant, or enough for about 200,000 homes in Massachusetts .”

The proposed wind farm has several opponents, many of whom joined with former Senator Ted Kennedy to block the venture in the past.

We have several wind farms in West Texas and I think they’re beautiful, but obviously West Texas lands aren’t the same as a Cape Cod seascape. Rather than appearance, I’d be more concerned about wind farms posing a danger to boats and shipping … but I’m sure that could be handled. So while renewable energy sources aren’t the only answer, they are part of our “All of the above” energy solutions. To the extent that’s the case here, I applaud this decision.

— DRJ

Hasan Likely to Face Death Penalty

Filed under: Crime,War — DRJ @ 6:09 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Army Major Nidal Hasan — charged in the murder of 13 people at Fort Hood — will likely face the death penalty:

“Maj. Nadal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the Nov. 5 shooting. Premeditated murder carries the death penalty. But if military jurors convict Hasan, they can only sentence him to death if they determine there is an aggravating factor in the case, according to military law.

Defense attorney John Galligan said the notice he received from prosecutors outlines as an aggravating factor that more than one person was killed in the same incident.
***
Rich Stevens, an attorney who defends military cases and is not involved in the Hasan case, said crimes that are ineligible for the death penalty do not require jurors to consider aggravating factors.

“The only reason to send a notice of aggravating factors is if you’re trying to seek the death penalty,” Stevens said.”

DeathPenaltyInfo lists 7 men on death row convicted under military law, but 2 were resentenced to life in prison. ABC News has more details on the 5 servicemen currently on death row. As discussed in this article, both the imposition of the death penalty and executions are rare in military court.

— DRJ

Why Reporters are Down on President Obama

Filed under: Media Bias,Obama — DRJ @ 2:49 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Politico reporters Josh Gerstein and Patrick Gavin post an important story titled “Why reporters are down on President Obama.” It’s fascinating but I can’t figure out if it’s a story about how hard America’s media works to stay in President Obama’s good graces, or the public outing of a growing schism between the Obama Administration and the press:

“One of the enduring story lines of Barack Obama’s presidency, dating back to the earliest days of his candidacy, is that the press loves him.

“Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me,” Obama joked last year at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

But even then, only four months into his presidency, the joke fell flat. Now, a year later, with another correspondents’ dinner Saturday night likely to generate the familiar criticism of the press’s cozy relationship with power, the reality is even more at odds with the public perception.

Obama and the media actually have a surprisingly hostile relationship — as contentious on a day-to-day basis as any between press and president in the past decade, reporters who cover the White House say.”

Read the whole thing and then tell me what you think.

— DRJ

Crist to Run as an Independent (Updated)

Filed under: 2010 Election,Politics — DRJ @ 2:18 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Fox News reports Governor Charlie Crist will run as an independent in the Florida Senate race:

“Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist has decided he will run as an independent in the race to fill the Florida U.S. Senate seat, Crist allies tell Fox News. The official announcement is scheduled for Thursday at 5pm ET in St. Petersburg, Florida.
***
The governor has been open about his consideration of switching parties, but GOP officials were pushing him to drop out rather than split votes among the Republican party — and give Democratic nominee U.S. Kendrick Meek an advantage.

On the main page of Crist’s campaign website, there are no visible signs of Republican affiliation. His bio still calls him a “common-sense conservative.”

Crist had until Friday at noon to pick his party.”

Crist has been sinking in the polls as more Republicans announced their support for his opponent, Marco Rubio.

— DRJ

UPDATE: Crist is trying to call the White House?


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