Patterico's Pontifications

3/14/2013

Ted Cruz at BlogBash

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:47 pm



Hard to believe a guy this awesome is a U.S. Senator.

29 Responses to “Ted Cruz at BlogBash”

  1. I wish I could have been there.

    Looks like the Kimberlin’s crowd’s threats and attempts at intimidation were an epic fail. It appears to have been a success in every way.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. oh.

    this is the conservative answer to netroots

    I didn’t get that earlier today

    it feels kinda subculturey and cliquish and inside basebally

    but that might be mostly cause of how they’re in a super secret skull n bonesy conservadungeon

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  3. Dude’s gonna do a lot of damage in the Capitol. Awesome.

    Ed from SFV (79bc7c)

  4. O/T but more good news concerning the Senate:

    Report: Grand jury investigating NJ Sen. Menendez

    It mostly concerns the financial arrangements between Melgen and Menendez.

    Menendez and Melgen’s overlapping interests have repeatedly raised questions in recent months. Menendez was compelled to reimburse $58,000 for two flights to the Dominican Republic aboard Melgen’s private jet for personal trips in 2010 that he previously had failed to report, prompting scrutiny by the Senate Ethics Committee.

    Menendez also has acknowledged contacting U.S. health agencies to question their billing practices and policies amid a dispute between Melgen and federal authorities. And Menendez was a key sponsor of a natural gas bill that could have aided a Melgen investment in a Florida company that markets a conversion system for natural gas truck engines.

    Melgen has given more than $14,000 directly to Menendez’s political campaigns since the late 1990s and, through his eye clinic, donated $700,000 last year to a “super” political committee that supported Democratic Senate candidates. The committee, in turn, spent $582,000 to back Menendez’s re-election effort.

    But they did touch on the prostitution issue:

    Then, in the fall, the FBI began looking into an anonymous tipster’s allegations that Melgen had arranged prostitutes for Menendez in the Dominican Republic. Such an arrangement could constitute providing a favor or gift under the bribery statute that investigators have been reviewing, the Post said.

    I realize that many people have pronounced this issue “unimportant,” but I have to reiterate my view is the feds may not be able to prove any quid pro quo between Melgen’s pay-to-play big money donations and Menendez’s subsequently doing favors on his behalf.

    But the prostitution angle may be easier to prove. They may not be able to prove the girls were underage but they may be able to place Menendez at Melgen’s vacation residence at the Casa del Campo resort because the staff will know if you’re bringing hookers in.

    The “gift and bribery” aspect hadn’t occurred to me. So what are Menendez’s options; reimburse Melgen for those undeclared expenses (and prostitution is legal in the DR) and claim he forgot like he did with the $58k worth of flights, or hope the feds haven’t already uncovered any evidence tying him to the hookers?

    Like I said, it’s kind of like nabbing Capone for failing to declare his illegal income on his taxes but I’ll take it.

    Now back to the CruzFest at BlogBash.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  5. Any word on those huge protests that were predicted for Blog Bash?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  6. Steve57: hold that thought.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  7. I see green shoots…of liberty.

    Patricia (be0117)

  8. 6. Steve57: hold that thought.

    Comment by Patterico (9c670f) — 3/14/2013 @ 9:57 pm

    Certainly. I am just a humble guest on your site, sir.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  9. Oh, I’m very happy for the news. It wasn’t a “you’re off topic” comment. It was a “funny you should mention that” comment.

    Seriously. Sit tight. Put on a seatbelt if you are so inclined.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  10. Any word on those huge protests that were predicted for Blog Bash?

    Yeah. Brett Kimberlin and everyone associated with him is a huge liar. What a shockeroonie.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  11. Rob Portman is on my awesome list today

    Rob Portman and New Pope are the two newest entries on the list

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  12. ok so who’s on your so-totally-NOT-awesome list, happy?

    bigots and haters thanks for asking!

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  13. crazy, delusional and stupid – perfect

    Dad (d40769)

  14. But wouldn’t it make your awesome list if instead of the electric mobility scooter medicare would pay for your V8 powered barstool?

    Imagine cruising the aisles of Walmart on one of those things? Especially if you’re wearing one of Walmart’s ultra-fashionable wolf t-shirts.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  15. “Dad” @13, wouldn’t if have been more responsible for you to have waited until after high school before starting a family?

    Steve57 (60a887)

  16. Or should I say “‘Dad’ is 13?”

    Steve57 (60a887)

  17. 14. My mistake. Point still stands.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  18. Steve57: post coming momentarily.

    Hint: check the Caller. Read down to paragraph 11.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  19. Steve57: this is what I was talking about.

    Rathergate II.

    Possibly.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  20. I’m reminded of the movie moment in “Run Silent Run Deep” when the Xo LT Bledsoe stands aside and tells CDR Richardson it’s his shot on the Akakaze. And realized he was wrong.

    Lt. Jim Bledsoe: [presiding at a funeral on his submarine] It’s thirty-eight days now since we left Pearl Harbor. I know how some of us felt then; I think I know how some of us feel now. But let no one here, no one aboard this boat, ever say we didn’t have a captain.

    This ship blog, any ship blog, has only one captain.

    It’s your shot, Pat.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  21. Look at the post. This could — I repeat, could — be a very big deal.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  22. *and realized he was wrong for relieving Richardson in the first place*

    Jeez, you’d think I wouldn’t leave out the necessary details.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  23. It would seem “Dad” is a moron.

    JD (b63a52)

  24. Word.

    While we pay particular notice to faceplants he orchestrates:

    http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2013/03/is-dianne-feinstein-smarter-than-sixth.html

    The longterm benefit will be to slap the silly grin off GOP politicians(yes, Marco, that sidelong glance was for you).

    http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=48016

    You just can’t be such an obvious subtard(faux leader) when the new kid is walking up and kicking the playground bully in the nuts.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  25. BTW, OT, but same vein, Agent FOIA has yesterday broken Climategate III, see WUWT.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  26. 14. Mother Jones? Dint they crush McChrystal, one of your own?

    Yeah, I remember Purple Haze, Orange Sunshine, Purple Microdot, and most of all Windopane.

    Unfortunately, it was the pages of Blotter that did Dad in.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  27. I had a wonderful conversation with him here in the DFW area at a little local shindig to vet politicians running for state office. He and Dewhurst were both there and at that time Cruz was the underdog (early on). I also spoke with his grandfather, so I got to know where some of his grit came from.

    This comes as no surprise to me, and he is exceeding my very high expectations of him.

    John White (15b1ff)

  28. In the meantime, while proposing to pass a mostly irrelevant law, the Senate Committee has attached all sorts of amendments that don’t protect gun owners, but only the gun industry.

    Congressional Committees Make Some Gun-Rights Provisions Permanent

    Page A24 March 14, 2013 New York Times.

    What provisions?

    1. It would prohibit the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from requiring gun dealers to conduct annual inventories to ensure that they have not lost guns or had them stolen. Who does that benefit? If that’s too burdensome, can’t they draft a simpler provision?

    2. It would retain a broad definition of “antique” guns that can be imported into the United States outside of normal regulations. (It’s not clear to me what this does)

    3. It would prevent the A.T.F. from refusing to renew a dealer’s license for lack of business. (this would prevent people from claiming to be gun “dealers” to avoid regulation. Congress now says, no,no, that’s fine. Some people, after all, might be blatantly in violation of some laws.

    4. It require the bureau to attach a disclaimer to data about guns to indicate that it “cannot be used to draw broad conclusions about firearms-related crimes.” (what’s this anyway? That might be OK, but do you need that? And if you sort of did need that, would it stop anything? You are going to tell people what to think?)

    Many of the provisions have been regularly added to appropriations bills since 2004. But Senate Democrats on the committee — pushed by Republicans and some Democrats who have made gun rights a signature issue — reluctantly agreed to make them permanent to stave off what they saw as an even more far-reaching House version of the bill.

    The House offering contained a new rider that would prevent the A.T.F. from requiring gun dealers on the Southwest border to notify the agency when selling two or more long guns — semiautomatic rifles, higher than .22 caliber with detachable magazines — to the same buyer within five days. These firearms are the preferred weapons of Mexican drug cartels, Senate aides said…..

    ….Even though the gun-rights provisions are long standing, making them permanent is “counterproductive,” said Garen J. Wintemute, the director of the violence prevention research program at the University of California, Davis. “Regular inventories help identify retailers who are not adequately protecting their firearms from loss or theft and, more important, those who are letting firearms go out the back door and declaring them lost or stolen,” he said.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)


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