The Travis County commissioners list has been updated.
I also made some minor tweaks to the list of US Senators from Texas.
We apologize for the convenience.
Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Update 2.
Tuesday, January 28th, 2025Update.
Monday, January 27th, 2025The list of Austin City Council members has been updated.
I’ve included staff members when I can, but several of the newer city council members don’t have their staff listed yet. Probably still hiring…
Short gun crankery.
Saturday, January 25th, 2025I refer from time to time to the “Hillary Hole”, aka the internal lock on many recent Smith and Wesson revolvers. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad idea.
Greg Ellifritz posted this article in his weekly link roundup this week. While I do regularly read the Revolver Guy blog, I missed this one before now, and I want to bookmark it for future reference.
“The History and Future of the Smith & Wesson Internal Lock”.
You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#141 in a series)
Friday, January 24th, 2025Joseph Molina Flynn is a lawyer in Rhode Island. He specializes in immigration law. He was also a municipal judge in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
“Was” because he resigned on Thursday…
…after the FBI raided his offices.
The investigation into Molina Flynn started before President Donald Trump took office and is unrelated to his immigration-related executive orders, according to two people with direct knowledge about the investigation who would only speak on the condition of anonymity.
They said federal agents are looking at Molina Flynn over allegations that he defrauded people seeking representation on immigration-related matters.
No charges have been filed. Yet. But it sure seems like there’s something there. Plus, I don’t get to use the “Rhode Island” category often enough.
You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#140 in a series)
Saturday, January 18th, 2025Remember Sheng Thao? The former mayor of Oakland? “Former” because she got tossed out of office in a recall election in November?
She was indicted on Friday. Also indicted: Andre Jones, who the NYT describes as her “boyfriend”, David Trung Duong, and Andy Hung Duong. David Duong is the head of a local waste management company, and Andy is his son.
Patrick D. Robbins, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, said on Friday that Ms. Thao in October 2022 had agreed to extend a city contract with the waste company, California Waste Solutions, buy housing from the Duongs and use her influence to help them in exchange for a campaign mail effort and side payments that would benefit her and Mr. Jones.
California Waste Solutions then spent $75,000 on an attack mailer that helped Ms. Thao’s campaign in the 2022 mayoral election, prosecutors said. After Ms. Thao took office, the company paid $95,000 to Mr. Jones for a “no-show” job and had promised additional payments to the couple in exchange for Ms. Thao’s influence at City Hall, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors alleged that Ms. Thao followed through by taking steps to help companies owned by the Duongs and by appointing a high-level city official that they had selected.
The charges against her are pretty much standard. You got your mail fraud, you got your wire fraud, you got your bribery and conspiracy.
…
Administrative note.
Thursday, January 16th, 2025For the record, my plan is to update the various politician lists (city council, commissioners court, reps, senators) sometime after, but close to, January 20th.
I know some of these folks have been sworn in already, but waiting until after the 20th gives people a chance to get their web sites updated and things in order.
You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#138 and #139 in a series)
Thursday, January 9th, 2025Mike the Musicologist tipped me off to an interesting story from Louisiana.
Tyrin Truong is the mayor of Bogalusa. He’s 23, which makes him the youngest mayor in Bogalusa’s history, and one of the youngest ever in the state.
And he got busted on Tuesday for drug trafficking.
But, apparently, no blow. Which is kind of disappointing, because:
…
“unauthorized use of a moveable”?
Even before officially becoming mayor, Truong did not shy away from political battles and controversies. As mayor-elect, he pushed for the resignation of the Bogalusa police chief after a Black man died in the department’s custody.
During his tenure he encouraged law enforcement to patrol more in Bogalusa, but also suggested the city could dissolve its 33-officer police force and transfer responsibilities to the Washington Parish Sheriff’s office to save money.
What kind of expenses?
The articles don’t specify if that was a down payment on a new Prius or an outright purchase of a used one. I did run the numbers, and that works out to $14.61 a pound for the bourbon steak tips. I don’t know if that’s a good price or not: my H-E-B app does not list steak tips (with or without bourbon) at my local store. I also can’t find “bourbon steak tips” online – I was thinking that might be something Omaha Steaks sells – but I did find lots of recipes for “bourbon” and “honey bourbon” steak tips online. Might be something worth trying.
Clasby also arranged for the city to pay over $38,000 to a New York consulting company owned by his friend, federal prosecutors said.
The consulting company didn’t provide any goods or services to Quincy, federal prosecutors said. Instead, Clasby’s friend cashed the city’s checks and gave Clasby the money at three separate places: A rest stop in Framingham, a ferry terminal in Bridgeport, Connecticut and at the friend’s New York apartment.
Okay, now you’re just being scummy instead of amusing. But we’ll always have the “signed, lacquered, framed portrait” and the studio recordings of his singing. Not that I’ve found those anywhere yet, but I’m sure prosecutors will be entering those into evidence and playing them for the jury.
Obit watch: January 8, 2025.
Wednesday, January 8th, 2025Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the National Front party in France (now the National Rally).
An arm-waving reactionary with the swagger of a circus pitchman making outrageous claims, Mr. Le Pen ran unsuccessfully for the French presidency five times, making it to a runoff in 2002, riding waves of discontent and xenophobia and raising specters of a new fascism as he excoriated Jews, Arabs, Muslims and other immigrants — anyone he deemed to be not “pure” French.
Mr. Le Pen’s youngest daughter, Marine Le Pen, succeeded him as leader of his party, the National Front, in 2011 and rose to prominence on a tide of populist anger at the political mainstream. She was defeated in France’s presidential elections three times — in 2012, placing third with 17.9 percent of the vote behind François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy; in 2017, with 33.9 percent, losing to the centrist Emmanuel Macron; and in 2022, with 41.5 percent, defeated again by Mr. Macron.
But that year’s elections also sent a record number of representatives from the party, renamed National Rally, to the lower house of Parliament — 89 in all — testimony to the success of Ms. Le Pen’s efforts to normalize it and moderate its message in some regards.
By then it had became the leading opposition party, no longer an outcast widely viewed as a threat to the republic, and in 2023 the National Rally backed Mr. Macron’s bill restricting immigration, an embarrassment for the French president.
Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary.
Obit watch: December 30, 2024.
Monday, December 30th, 2024I have been running around with Mike the Musicologist, and will be continuing to do so through the first of the year. So I’m a little behind in obits, but I’m trying to catch up.
Warren Upton. He was 105.
Mr. Upton was the oldest living Pearl Harbor survivor, and the last remaining survivor of the Utah.
Mr. Upton was serving as a radioman aboard the U.S.S. Utah on Dec. 7, 1941. He was below deck, reaching for his shaving kit, when the Utah was struck in quick succession by two torpedoes at about 8 a.m.
“It was quite an inferno,” Mr. Upton, a resident of San Jose, Calif., told the San Francisco TV station KTVU in 2021. “I went over the side then,” he added, “and slid down the side of the ship as she rolled over.”
The ship began capsizing within minutes. Mr. Upton and others left the ship and swam to Ford Island, adjacent to the row of battleships in Pearl Harbor. Along the way, he helped another shipmate who couldn’t swim.
The NYT quotes the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors as stating there are 15 remaining survivors.
Former president Jimmy Carter, for the historical record: NYT. WP. I don’t have a lot to say about this, and it has been thoroughly covered elsewhere. But: I am excited that we’re going to get a new stamp.
Linda Lavin. I don’t know how many people realize she had a considerable Broadway career in addition to “Alice”. Other credits include “Harry O”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, and “The Muppets Take Manhattan”.
Olivia Hussey. Other credits include voice work in “Pinky and the Brain”, “Death on the Nile”, and “Black Christmas”.
You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#137 in a series)
Saturday, December 21st, 2024Wow. Just wow.
You know, you go to church last night for the “Lessons and Carols” service (which, at my church, was a very nice service, but lightly attended). Then you go pick up your car from the repair shop (yes, Daddy spoke too soon. Fortunately, I have the reserves to cover it.)
Meanwhile, all heck breaks loose.
New York City’s second-highest-ranking police officer, who served as chief of department, abruptly resigned Friday night following allegations of sexual misconduct, according to the Police Department.
The former top chief, Jeffrey Maddrey, submitted his resignation and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted it Friday night, according to a statement from the department.
The NYPost broke the story. This being the Post, they go into more explicit detail.
And here’s a fun fact:
I am leaving a lot out of the Post story. You can go over there and read it if you want, but I warn you: the details are very explicit.
In the interest of fairness:
When she started to try to get away from Maddrey recently, Epps was outed on a list of high overtime earners in retaliation, Sanders said.
Epps was suspended for 30 days and is being investigated over the excessive overtime, police sources said.
Also in the interest of fairness:
Updated 12/23: And over the weekend, Miguel Iglesias, the Chief of Internal Affairs, was “relieved of his command and has notified the Department of his intent to retire”. The NYPost coverage is being played like it was an open secret within the department that Maddrey was a sex predator, and nobody – including IAD – was willing to do anything about it before now.
Flaming hyena update.
Friday, December 20th, 2024A while back, I wrote about Burnet County Judge James Oakley, who had just been indicted on both felony and misdemeanor charges.
Judge Oakley was also reprimanded by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct earlier this month.
One of the things he’s accused of is removing the lock to Justice of the Peace Lisa Whitehead’s courtroom door. Whitehead ended up filing a formal complaint over safety concerns after she said she could not find a “workable solution” with Oakley.
Oakley also faces allegations of sexual harassment from Whitehead that stem from 2023 and for creating a “hostile work environment.”
Judge Oakley resigned on Wednesday. For what it may be worth, the text of his reprimand is included in the linked KXAN article.
You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#136 in a series)
Thursday, December 19th, 2024You know, there’s been so much corruption in the Eric Adams administration, I’ve kind of lost track myself.
But being as this is possibly the most corrupt administration in the history of New York City, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: do I feel like doing two flaming hyenas in one day?
Well, do I, punk?
Allegedly, they were getting paid by check, “which her son cashed and used to buy a Porsche and other luxury items”.
…
Prosecutors also accused Ms. Lewis-Martin and her son of accepting financial support from the two businessmen for a clothing line and a Chick-fil-A franchise in exchange for her using her city position to assist with their projects.
As evidence, prosecutors quoted from telephone conversations involving Ms. Lewis-Martin, her son and others, suggesting they may have wiretapped one or more of the defendants’ phones.
…
The businessmen charged alongside her were pursing construction projects that included work on a rooftop bar, the Glass Ceiling, and a hotel, both in Manhattan, and they had asked her to help move the projects through the city’s tangled bureaucracy.
After Mr. Dwivedi and Mr. Vaid paid Mr. Martin $100,000 in August 2023, he deposited the money into a joint account he shared with Ms. Lewis-Martin, prosecutors said. Each businessman made a $50,000 payment to Mr. Martin; one had the words “personal loan” written in the check memo, according to prosecutors, who called that an attempt to conceal a bribe and said the defendants had not provided any evidence that loan payments were ever made.
…
…
Noted:
COMSEC! Hurrah! Obviously not a perfect effort, but it has been so rare to see someone even trying to secure their communications, attention must be paid.
Oh. Her lawyer vigorously denies the charges:
Ms. Lewis-Martin resigned over the weekend, apparently in anticipation of the indictment.