Archive for 2019

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Bedtime may be best time for blood pressure meds. “Taking blood pressure medications at bedtime rather than in the morning nearly halves the risk of dying from a heart attack, stroke or heart failure, a large, new study finds. Researchers in Spain followed more than 19,000 adults with high blood pressure. They found that people who took all their blood pressure meds at night had lower blood pressure around the clock compared to volunteers who took their medication in the morning.”

STANDING IN LINE WITH MR. JIMMY: Judith Miller looks back at the career of her brother, the late Jimmy Miller, who produced the Rolling Stones’ best records.

DECOUPLING, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG: Apple CEO becomes chairman of China university board. “Tim Cook will work closely with Chinese government officials to promote Tsinghua University’s economics and management school.”

COLORADO: Former state rep accused of sexual assault uses campaign money to ‘reimburse’ self for ‘legal fees.’ “Galindo’s resignation came from scrutiny she faced when two women accused her of sexual assault they said occurred while they worked under her during her campaign for office during the spring, summer and fall of 2018.”

Rumors surrounding the future of former House District 50 Rep. Rochelle Galindo continue to circulate as the 29-year-old awaits trial on allegations she served alcohol to underage campaign workers.

Galindo may have created even more questions with her most recent campaign finance report, filed with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office on Oct. 15, showing she reimbursed a large portion of the cash on hand back to herself for “professional services.”

Galindo reimbursed herself $4,500 in what she labeled as legal fees for a recall effort that was in place when she resigned on Mother’s Day. However, the reimbursements didn’t come until months after she stepped down, and it is not clear who she paid for those services.

Under Colorado campaign finance laws candidates can not use their funds for “personal purposes not reasonably related to the election of the candidate except that a candidate committee may make expenditures to reimburse the candidate for reasonable and necessary child or dependent care expenses the candidate incurs in connection with their campaign during the election cycle.”

Much more at the link, including her celebratory trip to Vegas — also using unspent campaign contributions — following her election to the Greeley City Council in 2015.

Galindo resigned from the assembly in May, and was also the subject of a recall effort.

AND YOU THOUGHT MITCH MCCONNELL WAS JUST A BORING ESTABLISHMENT GUY: Well, it’s time you met Hemp Man Mitch because Hemp could be the next big deal. Roll Call details a “potential field of dreams.”

AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: LA ranked 2nd most rat-infested city in US. “Chicago took the number one spot, with New York, Washington D.C. and San Francisco-Oakland rounding out the top five Rattiest Cities.”

ENDORSED: Bring Impeachment into the Light: If Congress is to substitute its judgment for the electorate’s, let the people see why.

The Democrats have been talking about impeaching Trump since before he was even sworn into office. That’s the Democrats’ own Ukrainian telephone call: Of course Trump took an interest in whether political corruption in Ukraine — and please don’t sell me the Saint Hunter Biden story — would benefit him and his party politically. I assume Barack Obama also was keenly aware that his administration’s investigation of the Trump campaign might help his party politically — that doesn’t render the investigation necessarily corrupt or baseless. Democrats are calculating every step of their impeachment campaign as though it were an ordinary electoral exercise — which is something very close to what it is. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that there is nothing else to it. The symmetries there are too obvious to belabor.

And so we are obliged to ask the question: Who in Washington has the moral authority, the political intelligence, and the patriotism to see the country through this episode in a way that fortifies our institutions rather than undermines them, that leaves the country better off rather than damaged, that builds trust instead of pissing it away?

Answer: Nobody.

Trust is not an option. That leaves us with the second-best option: surveillance.

And so Nancy Pelosi must end the secret hearings and closed-door depositions, and put the process, the politics, and the evidence before the public.

If they’re not telling you things it’s because they don’t want you to know them. And if they don’t want you to know them, it’s because they know you’d be angry if you did.

10 QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT TRUMP’S SYRIA WITHDRAWAL: For starters, why is Trump wrong to reverse Obama’s decision in 2014 to ally the U.S. with a Marxist outfit that’s been at war with Turkey since Reagan was in the White House?

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Hang On Kids – Joementum Is Back. “The Democrats are now caught in the electability trap that often plagues the party that is trying to win back the White House. It’s the same plague that saddled the GOP with the monumental losers John McCain and Mitt Romney.”

THIS IS NOT YOUR FATHER’S ACLU: UConn students arrested for engaging in offensive speech. The ACLU of Connecticut puts out a press release denouncing racism at U Conn, apparently endorsing new hate speech rules, and opining that “policing is an inherently white supremacist institution.” Only at the very end of the release do we get a statement from the national ACLU that the speech in question is constitutionally protected.

SCENES FROM A FAILING STATE: They’re not avocados, they’re ‘green gold,’ and hyperviolent drug cartels have sights set on them.

Small-scale avocado growers armed with AR-15 rifles take turns manning a vigilante checkpoint to guard against thieves and drug cartel extortionists in this town in the Michoacan state, the heartland of world production of the fruit locals call “green gold.”

The region’s avocado boom, fueled by soaring U.S. consumption, has raised parts of western Mexico out of poverty in just 10 years. But the scent of money has drawn gangs and hyperviolent cartels that have hung bodies from bridges and cowed police forces, and the rising violence is threatening the newfound prosperity. A recent U.S. warning that it could withdraw orchard inspectors sent a shiver through the $2.4 billion-a-year export industry.

Some growers are taking up arms. At the checkpoint in San Juan Parangaricutiro, the vigilantes are calm but attentive. They say their crop is worth fighting for.

I wish all the luck in the world to these farmers, but the cartels have the big battalions.