Crony criminalism
In merely local news, Democrat tries acquiring hellfire missiles for the mob.
You may not know it if you follow CNN, but a Democrat in California has recently taken cronyism a step further, into crony criminalism. State Senator Leland Yee is a hardcore gun control legislator, and is now indicted for trafficking in illegal firearms.
“Crony capitalism” was always a poor name for the kind of cronyism traditionally engaged in by politicians (and for examples of which you should read Peter Schweizer’s Throw Them All Out). It’s not capitalism that’s engaging the cronies, it’s government; the term should be crony government. It’s government grown so big that it ends up requiring that businesses get involved in lobbying in order to stay in business. When legislators micro-legislate and empower bureaucrats to micro-regulate, businesses must lobby to make sure they don’t get put out of business.
Crony criminalism is the next logical step: legislators can just make something illegal and then profit on the black market. Crony criminalism is, like crony government, a tool of big government—a tool of the left and the establishment. And it’s enabled by national media outlets such as CNN, who simply refuse to report on it except to lie about why they’re not reporting on it. I only just found out, while researching this post, that Leland Yee isn’t the only Senator in trouble in California. I had to find this out by visiting blogs and regional news outlets.
In her article on the San Francisco Gate, journalist Debra Saunders opines that “Journalists should ask themselves whether we could have done a better job reporting on Sacramento and Chinatown.”
Saunders misunderstands the role journalists see themselves filling today. From JournoList coordinating media response to Republican candidates, to CNN covering for Democrats in California, to ABC News using vague terms in polling , their job is covering up for the left and the establishment, and attacking the right and conservatives. If Senator Lee had been a Republican, there’s no question that a State Senator engaging in illegal activity contrary to his legislative agenda would have been a national story. Certainly if that illegal activity had been conspiring to get hellfire missiles onto the black market within the United States.
- ABCNews Poll: Suddenly, Near-Majority of Respondents… Supports Obamacare?: Ace at Ace of Spades HQ
- “Overall, do you support or oppose the federal law making changes to the health care system?”
- CNN.com Hasn't Covered Leland Yee Arrest, Gets Snippy When Challenged: Tom Blumer at NewsBusters
- “Although its report has its shortcomings, particularly the fact that it didn't identify him as a Democrat for 24 paragraphs (as noted this morning), the Associated Press has at least treated California State Senator Leland Yee's arrest on corruption and gun trafficking charges as a national story, with two bylined reporters and seven others assisting.” (Hat tip to Ace at CNN: We’re Not Covering Leland Yee Because It’s a Local Crime Story)
- Ezra Klein: ‘There still might be’ a JournoList: Joel B. Pollak at Big Journalism
- “Klein evades the question throughout. His first response is to rebuke Cannon for believing in ‘conspiracy theories’—never mind that the original JournoList was, in fact, the rare case of a conspiracy theory being true.”
- Leland Yee Blackout: CNN mocks citizen who wants coverage of arms trafficking scandal: Tony Lee at Big Journalism
- “CNN dismissed complaints that the network was not covering last week’s shocking arrest of Democrat Leland Yee, the California state senator who was arrested for alleged arms trafficking and bribery, and falsely asserted that it does not give attention to state senators.”
- Leland Yee corruption case: State senator faces uphill fight against strong FBI evidence: Howard Mintz
- “Not only has he been arrested, but legal experts say the now-suspended Democratic state senator is in deep trouble if the federal charges reach a jury. Even though defense lawyers say he could try claiming he was entrapped, the case rests on a type of evidence that is almost impossible to rebut—his own secretly recorded promises to trade his political juice for campaign money.”
- Throw Them All Out
- IPO nowadays stands for Invest in Politicians Often. Investing in politicians brings huge returns.
- Whom do you trust: ‘Shrimp Boy,’ the FBI or neither?: Debra J. Saunders
- “Like Calderon, Yee enjoys the presumption of innocence. Still, it doesn’t look good when more than 10 percent of the Senate Democratic caucus is looking at prison time. The next time you hear a California Democrat extol ‘public service,’ hold onto your wallet.” (Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit)
More crony criminalism
- Speeding and budgets: Conflict of Interest
- Obviously, the money generated by speed laws creates a conflict of interest for state lawmakers, who will need more “lawbreakers” in order to meet budget numbers. But the conflict of interest doesn’t always stop there.