Author Archives: Scott Alfter

Blue-on-blue threats of violence

It’s what they do when they don’t get their way:

Attempt to place Review-Journal obituary for Hillary Clinton prompts report to Secret Service

The Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday reported a possible threat related to [Democrat] presidential candidate Hillary Clinton after a man tried to place an obituary notice for the former secretary of state.

The man, who identified himself as Don Schubert, was asked to leave the newspaper building’s lobby after he filled out a standard obituary form identifying the deceased as Hillary Rodham Clinton, and listing her date of death as Feb. 20, 2016, the date of Saturday’s [Democrat] Party presidential caucuses. Previously he had called the newsroom to complain about the coin flips that determined the outcome of some Iowa caucuses last month.

The man was seen leaving the RJ parking lot in a maroon Toyota Prius bearing several Bernie Sanders campaign stickers. A security guard said he was also wearing a Sanders sticker on his shirt. The official Sanders campaign website lists “Don Schubert’s House” in Long Beach, Calif., as the site of a volunteer phone bank.

Newspaper security officials reported Schubert to the Secret Service.

It’s not “obstructionism” when we do it

The President’s supporters insist vehemently that, having won the 2012 election, he has every right to try to change the Court’s direction. Yes, but the Republicans won the 2014 election, regaining control of the Senate, and they have every right to resist. This is not the same Senate that confirmed Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor as associate justices.

New York Times, 5 October 1987, with names and years changed to reflect present circumstances

Venezuela Feels the Bern

Our future, should Sanders end up winning:

Venezuela Declares New Emergency: It Has Run Out of Food

Venezuela’s opposition legislature has declared a “nutritional emergency,” proclaiming that the country simply does not have enough food to feed its population. The move comes after years of socialist rationing and shortages that forced millions to wait on lines lasting as long as six hours for a pint of milk, a bag of flour, or carton of cooking oil.

Opposition legislator Julio Borges announced the measure on Thursday, which would allow the legislature to push for more imports on basic food goods and inspect government-owned food companies to ensure they are meeting efficiency standards. “This will make corporations and expropriated lands produce food again, will simplify the process of national and foreign investment, and establish incentives for investors,” Borges promised.

Socialist party members are arguing that the decree goes beyond the scope of the power of the legislature and cannot override the executive decree President Nicolás Maduro put into motion in January, which declared an “economic emergency” and allowed the government to further intervene in private corporations. Venezuela’s Supreme Court extended the viability of the emergency decree this week, in a move many consider an attempt to keep the opposition legislature from asserting too much power over the food industry in Venezuela.