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American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

Archives for 2015

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Our Weasel Of The Week Nominees!!

At the Watchers’ Council, so many weasels, so little time!

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It’s time once again for the Watcher’s Council’s ‘Weasel Of The Week’ nominations, where we pick our choices to compete for the award of the famed Golden Weasel to a public figure who particularly deserves to be slimed and mocked for his or her dastardly deeds during the week. Every Tuesday morning, tune in for the Weasel of the Week nominations!

Here are this weeks’ nominees….


Dim-O-Crat NY Assemblyman Chuck Lavine!

The Noisy Room : My nomination this week is Assemblyman Charles Lavine. How very stupid this is. Trump donated a 440-acre park in New York 10 years ago when a golf course deal fell through. It’s worth $100 million and has Donald Trump’s name on it. Now, liberals are demanding that Trump’s name be removed from the state park that he donated. Morons. Two weenie liberal Democrat lawmakers have now introduced the “Anything But Trump Act.” You’ve got to be freaking kidding me. They claim his name should be stripped because of his anti-Muslim stance. Assemblyman Charles Lavine – who sponsored the “Anything But Trump Act,” has some ideas who they should rename the park after. Lavine, of Long Island, suggests the state rename the park for Peter Salem, a Muslim Revolutionary War soldier from Massachusetts who fought in battles in New York state. Other suggestions include folk singer and activist Pete Seeger. Seeger, of course, was a communist. I mean, literally… he’s connected to the Communist Party USA. There is also absolutely no proof that Peter Salem was a Muslim. What a bunch of unapologetic Marxist trolls.

Lavine and Squadron weren’t finished: “The rhetoric and discriminatory proposals we’ve seen from Mr. Trump don’t belong in the presidential election, and don’t belong in New York state parks,” said Squadron, of Brooklyn. “He has dishonored the state, and should not be honored with a state park named for him.” Donald Trump bluntly put it just right: “If they want, they can give me the land back.” If the liberals hate Donald Trump this deeply, then he should make a fantastic president. I still prefer Ted Cruz, but I’ll gladly vote for Trump. The Donald is driving them out of their minds with fear and loathing. I hope they give the park back to Trump. It closed four years ago due to budget cuts and Trump would surely make it a success again. For being a moronic weasel, Charles Lavine has earned the golden weasel.

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 Long Time Clintonista And Corrupt Political ‘Fixer’ Governor Terry McAuliffe!

 Virginia Right! : I would like to nominate Terry McAuliffe for the Weasel of the Week. There are many, many reasons he should win, but the anti-gun leftist has gone over the line. He and his activist Attorney General Mark “The Red” Herring decided arbitrarily to cancel the reciprocating Concealed Weapons Permit agreements Virginia had with 25 state after a “review” of the other state’s gun laws.
[Read more…]

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Fraud: Socialism for the XXI Century

John Hinderaker writes on THE ENDURING POPULARITY OF FRAUD

In the realm of fraud, the wisdom of the ages is reflected in the adage that a fool and his money are soon parted. The same, I think, is true of socialism. Socialism is fraud writ large. It is a fraud perpetrated by the cynical and greedy on the ignorant and credulous, just like a Ponzi scheme. Only we can add: a fool and his freedom are soon parted.

Only under socialism could Fidel Castro become the richest warlord, relative to his subjects’ wealth, in recorded history. (And that was the least of his sins.) Only under socialism could Maria Gabriela Chavez, daughter of socialist tribune of the people Hugo Chavez, beloved by the American left, waltz off with a $4 billion fortune. But then, she was a piker: Chavez’s Minister of the Treasury stashed $11 billion in Swiss bank accounts.

But hey, the Lefties’ cult of magic firmly believes that the deceased Hugo Chavez’s Socialism for the XXI Century “improved the economy drastically and ameliorated poverty drastically”, no matter what reality shows.



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Venezuela: Bal Harbour police Police wired drug money to known drug traffickers, money launderers

This was in the Miami Herald this weekend, and mostly went unnoticed, but it’s the “what the hey” story of the month, if not the year:

Bal Harbour to Caracas: Millions in drug money. Hundreds of thousands went to man who is now top aide to President Nicolás Maduro. Village police ‘broke the law,’ says former top DEA agent. Police wired drug money to known drug traffickers, money launderers

Click on image to enlarge:

For two years starting in 2010, they funneled millions in drug money into the bank accounts of Venezuelans, including William Amaro Sanchez, now special assistant to President Nicolás Maduro. The stated goal: to disrupt criminal groups.

They sent drug money to a well-known trafficker, a cash smuggler and a money launderer — more than $4 million in all.

If you think this was a routine sting operation, get a hold of this (emphasis added),

In spite of U.S. warnings about the emergence of the country as a major hub for cocaine, the police never investigated the people to whom they were sending millions in drug proceeds, including a host of individuals with criminal records.

How it worked:

Jaw-dropping.

This is a Fast and Furious, without the guns.

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Sunday palate cleanser: Cavalleria Rusticana

A reader requested an opera with Jonas Kaufmann,

by Pietro Mascagni (1863 -1945)

♪ Cavalleria Rusticana (1889)

Director – Philipp Stölzl
Conductor – Christian Thielemann
Mamma Lucia – Stefania Toczyska
Santuzza – Liudmyla Monastyrska
Lola – Annalisa Stroppa
Turiddu – Jonas Kaufmann
Alfio – Ambrogio Maestri

Salzburg Easter Festival 2015.

Kaufmann played Siegmund in the Met’s Ring cycle – see Amazon link below:

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Puerto Rico: Bankruptcy next

The WSJ editorial board proposes Saving Puerto Rico From Itself. The price for bankruptcy: A review board that can overrule local politicians. Here’s a snapshot of the rolling disaster:

Employment laws, such as mandatory 15 days of paid vacation, and stringent job protections provide disincentives to hire. Generous welfare, housing, food stamp and health benefits discourage work. Nearly half of island residents are on Medicaid. A household can rake in 50% more in
government assistance than the take-home monthly minimum wage. Federal strictures such as the $7.25 minimum wage, welfare eligibility rules and the 1920 Jones Act, which requires that goods transported between U.S. ports be shipped on vessels built and manned by Americans, are also growth killers.

The overriding problem is mal-governance, which creditors have enabled by financing patronage politics and bloated government payrolls. The commonwealth has 40% fewer students but 10% more teachers than a decade ago. Territory government still constitutes a quarter of the island’s workforce. Recent government reforms such as shifting workers to defined-contribution pensions and increasing the retirement age haven’t stanched the red ink. Over the next five years general fund spending is on path to grow by 20%, resulting in a cumulative $28 billion deficit.

After mentioning some nonsense on “repurposed ObamaCare funds” (what funds?), the WSJ, as mentioned above, proposes a financial review board:

a muscular financial review board modeled on (but with more power than) New York City’s of the 1970s. The board needs the power to reject budgets, contracts and new borrowing, audit government agencies and cut spending. Ideally, the board would be jointly appointed by Congress and the White House with ex officio members from the Puerto Rican government to mute protests of a federal takeover.

Good luck with that; the current Commonwealth is structured to preserve itself through fostering dependence on the government.



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