Californians Stifled By Lack of Freedoms

◼ If you’re finding it harder and harder to live in California, you’re not alone. - William Ruger, Jason Sorens/San Diego Union-Tribune

California’s beautiful Pacific coastline and beaches were not enough to keep 1.5 million California residents from fleeing the state between 2000 and 2010. That amounts to over 4 percent of the state’s 2000 population. To make matters worse, Californians saw their real personal income shrink by 0.4 percent from 2000 to 2007 – before the Great Recession wreaked its damage. Only the state of Michigan beats that record.

....Some freedoms mean more to people than others, of course, and if you can’t find a good job in a state, you might not care how free it is by anyone’s standards. But we’ve considered a range of social and personal freedoms, including the right to consume alcohol and tobacco, to bear arms, to home school your children and to be free from arbitrary search and seizure.

While California does well on marijuana policies and same-sex civil unions, it nonetheless lands near the bottom on overall personal freedoms. California’s high incarceration rate, tight gun laws, trans fat ban, cigarette taxes and regulations on drivers all help drive down its personal freedom score in our index.

After studying the complicated effects of more than 200 distinct public policies, we reached one simple conclusion: The more a state denies people their freedoms, increases their taxes, or passes laws that make it hard for businesses to hire and fire, the more likely they are to leave.

And while there’s clearly more to life than eating trans fats or riding a motorcycle without a helmet, the states that won’t allow you to often cause trouble for their residents in other ways.

Where legislators try to protect citizens from their own choices, it’s no great surprise that they also see fewer limitations on their power in other areas.

That costs Californians billions of dollars a year, makes their lives harder, and encourages more and more of them to move somewhere else.

Disgraced Lawyer Charged With Threatening E-Mails, Suspected in Murders of Texas Prosecutors

◼ Authorities are reportedly prepared to charge disgraced lawyer Eric Lyle Williams, 46, with three murders that had inflamed fears that members of a white supremacist prison gang were targeting law enforcement officials. - Robert Stacy McCain/Viral Read

...Williams’s law license was suspended after he was convicted of the theft charges. He was arrested early Saturday and is being held in the Kaufman County jail on $3 million bond. Williams will be charged with three counts of capital murder, Dallas CBS affiliate KTVT reported, citing unnamed sources. Williams was also charged with making terroristic threats in anonymous e-mails sent to county officials, and his bail was revoked in another case where Williams was charged with stealing money from a law library where he had worked.

The Dallas Morning News quoted an unnamed law enforcement official after Williams was arrested: “We can sleep a lot better tonight.”

The murders of Haase and the McLellands had been portrayed in national news media as potentially related to the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang....

◼ How the Left’s Online Meme Machine Helped Create a Murder Myth in Texas - The Other McCain

The pieces might have fallen into place earlier — Mark Haase’s murder might have been solved, and Williams arrested before McLelland was killed – if law enforcement hadn’t wasted time chasing the “white supremacist” wild goose, when the D.A. himself tried to tell them who murdered Mark Haase:

County Judge Bruce Wood said Sunday that McLelland repeatedly told him that McLelland believed Williams was behind Hasse’s slaying. The first time was in the emergency room in the hours after Hasse was shot down by a mysterious gunman dressed in black.

“He was distraught,” Wood said. “He very pointedly said to me, ‘I know who did this.’ I said, ‘Well, who, Mike?’ He said, ‘Well, Eric Williams.’”

McLelland, who worked for years as a diagnostic psychologist, described Williams as “a narcissistic psychopath” during that conversation and others. Wood said McLelland never elaborated on why he thought Williams was involved.

On March 27, Wood said he met with McLelland in the county judge’s office. “I said, ‘Are you still convinced that it’s Eric Williams?’” Wood recalled. “He said, ‘Absolutely.’”

Mike McLelland was shot dead four days later, which gave Mark Potok a chance to go on MSNBC, but I guarantee you that Martin Bashir and Chris Matthews won’t say another word about this crime now that we know the truth. Because they don’t give a damn about truth.

Democrat recants story of Kentucky Progress members taping McConnell meeting

◼ The Democrat who implicated two members of the liberal super PAC Progress Kentucky in the secret taping of a campaign strategy meeting for Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell is changing his story. - FOX

Jacob Conway, a member of the Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee, said Friday he might have talked to only one of the men he accused, ◼ according to The Courier-Journal.

Conway told the newspaper he is certain he talked with volunteer Curtis Morrison about the recording, but might not have spoken with Executive Director Shawn Reilly, contradicting what he said a day earlier.
“I had a lot of conversations with both of them during that time period, and maybe I was just confused, and maybe Shawn never said anything,” Conway said.

...Conway changed his story after a lawyer for Reilly said Conway lied about his client’s role. The lawyer also said Reilly had complied with FBI and U.S. attorney office probes.

The newspaper story also points out Conway made a plea agreement in 2006 to felony theft charges.

(Shouse pointed out a 2005 criminal case in which Conway was accused of stealing money from the office safe at the Jefferson County attorney’s office while working as a clerk there, as well as from the Log Cabin Republicans, a national GOP group that advocates equality for gays and lesbians.

Conway entered an Alford plea in 2006 to felony theft by unlawful taking, meaning he did not admit guilt but agreed there was enough evidence to convict him. He was put on diversion and agreed to pay $2,800 to the county attorney’s office and $670 to the Log Cabin Republicans.)

Sunday Funnies

◼ The Kitchen Cabinet - Obama's taxes are done. He's paying only 18% of his income to the IRS this year! Mitt Romney was a criminal for paying 15% on his investment income...which is money he had already paid 35% on when he EARNED it as salary. Obama is a rock star because he only made over 600k in salary and pays less than 20%! Great deal Barack.

In Venezuela

◼ Last week campaign roundup: a summary and final prediction - Daniel in Venezuela

Last minute polls of doubtful origin or accuracy coincide at least all in that the gap of two months ago between Maduro and Capriles has been narrowing. Will it be enough for Capriles to win? reply in less than 24 hours. Which bring us to the need to write a brief overall summary of the whole campaign....

Capriles faced this most undemocratic election of our recent history with the resolve to expose the fraud that Maduro was, supported by a regime turning fascist quick. And the Capriles version 2013 has paid off. His numbers went up in the polls, Maduro was forced into making errors after mistakes and tomorrow Capriles who had no chance in hell in January could pull off tomorrow one of the biggest comebacks in political history, not only of Venezuela political history.

Is Capriles victory possible? Yes, it is, but I am not predicting it, the deck is too heavily slanted in favor of the regime which has committed so many abuses, starting with an electoral board openly favorable to Maduro to levels that even our jaded selves were not expecting. There is a serious risk that tomorrow Capriles may be forced not to recognize the results as the CNE simply opened itself up to tremendous charges before the first polling station opens.

◼ The last, I hope, election day post - Daniel in Venezuela

...Those people are about to cross the line into public voting for a one party slate.... You know, like at the home of the colonial master, Cuba.

◼ Venezuelans decide on Sunday whether to honor Hugo Chavez's dying wish for a longtime loyalist to continue his hardline socialism or hand power to a young challenger vowing business-friendly changes. - Reuters ◼ Via Drudge

Acting President Nicolas Maduro had a double-digit lead in most polls, largely thanks to his former boss's public blessing before he died from cancer last month. But the gap has narrowed in the final days, with one survey putting it at 7 percentage points.

His opposition rival, Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles, says Venezuelans are tired of divisive "Chavista" politics and that his support has surged enough for him to pull off a surprise win.

◼ Capriles' main campaign weapon was thus jujutsu: To simply point out "the incompetence of the state," as he put it to reporters in a news conference Saturday night. - CBS

◼ Maduro gets a non-mandate and Capriles does not buy it - Daniel IN Venezuela

Now let's get down to business. Maduro got his very worst possible victory. And his aggressive unforgiving victory speech confirms to me that he understands it very well. Let's not forget that overseas votes have not been counted yet and that 50,66%, if real, is going to go down lower, to maybe as low as 50,3%. He claimed that Capriles called him up to "negotiate" and he gloated on how he put him down. More later: suffice tonight to observe that Maduro starts his tenure with an aggressiveness that can only bring him trouble, and repression for the rest of us.

Maduro lost about 1 million of Chavez votes, IN SPITE of an incredible abuse of state means to get the vote, IN SPITE of being the appointed heir. Now, what do you think his little friends inside chavismo, bypassed by Chavez, are going to say? Are they going to respect him the way they respected (or where afraid of) Chavez? See, Chavez for all of his abuse was never sabotaged, he inspired too much fear. Do you think Maduro is going to pull this trick starting with a bare 50%, with a unified opposition that could ally tomorrow with any breakaway chavista group that counts, say, 10% of the votes? No wonder that in a further act of necrophilia Maduro finished his "acceptance" speech with a recording of Chavez singing the national anthem.........

In his speech Capriles challenges the results. Not only he wants a recount but he seems hell bent on including all of the irregularities suffered. In short he is about to call for a repeat of the election, and the F word was used.

Capriles calls Maduro the great loser tonight! And the regime fascist.

Hard times ahead, whether Maduro gets to rule, or Capriles claim prospers.

PJTV: MSNBC Fascists Want Your Kid

Who is responsible for your children? First it took a family. Then it took a village. Now it takes a left-wing network. According to MSNBC contributor Melissa Harris-Perry, children belong to the government. Why do liberals hate the notion of responsible parenting? Does MSNBC want to remove children from families?