The Poisonous Obama Years
Posted: September 22, 2015 Filed under: History, Law & Justice, Politics, Think Tank, White House | Tags: Arlington National Cemetery, Ben Carson, Casino, Catholic Church, Citizenship in the United States, Common good, Consciousness raising, Donald Trump, Fairfax, Famine, United States, United States Census Bureau, Virginia 1 CommentObama’s promise was to be a transformative figure, his supporters averred. He would reverse a suspiciously colonialist Bush-era foreign policy, deliver the country into a post-racial period, and restore America’s faith in the power of collectivism and the righteous efficacy of government. As the winter of the Obama presidency approaches, it seems beyond dispute that this presidency has robbed Americans of what remaining faith they had in the value of collective action. The power of massive governmental programs to effect positive change is, at best, dubious. The tragedy of it all is that cynicism has replaced shock when the latest scandalous revelations hit the newsstands. That’s dangerous. The expectation of corruption is a condition that saps a nation’s faith in the virtue of self-governance. It is this kind of contempt for public institutions that leads republics to ruin.
[Read the full text here, at commentary]
Barack Obama’s administration is scandal-plagued. In its twilight years, this White House has subordinated accountability and the preservation of faith in public sector competence to exculpation from the political press.
“The power of massive governmental programs to effect positive change is, at best, dubious. The tragedy of it all is that cynicism has replaced shock when the latest scandalous revelations hit the newsstands. That’s dangerous. The expectation of corruption is a condition that saps a nation’s faith in the virtue of self-governance. It is this kind of contempt for public institutions that leads republics to ruin.”
The in-party spent the better part of the three years that followed the deadly assault on diplomatic and CIA compounds in Benghazi by framing the investigation into it as a manifestation of Republicans’ pathological hatred for the president. That is an impression which remains cemented in the minds of
many average voters who have not closely followed a congressional investigation into that affair – an investigation that exposed the scandalous details regarding how Hillary Clinton and her cadre of privileged aides comported themselves at the State Department. Those Americans who do not see the investigation as a partisan witch-hunt are apt to view it as an indictment of the political culture in Washington that afforded Clinton the leeway to flaunt the law and jeopardize American national security in order to preserve her sense of “convenience.”
[Read the full text of Noah Rothman‘s article here, at commentary]
The Obama-era has made it difficult to recall that it was once the left that prided itself for serving as sentinels standing guard against abuses by powerful government agencies. “Artful” Nixonian abuses of the IRS in order to intimidate and tarnish the reputations of political opponents were once a Republican phenomenon. Today, yet another simmering scandal involving the misuse of the IRS has ensnared Democrats. As such, it is dismissed as a non-issue by the left and partisans in the press.
Read the rest of this entry »
Cuckoo Bananas Chair-Throwing Fistfight at New York Casino, Because, Daiquiris
Posted: April 4, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: Aqueduct Racetrack, Associated Press, Casino, Disorderly conduct, Food court, Mardi Gras, New Orleans, New York City, Police officer, Queens Leave a commentWarning: Videos contain graphic violence and language
The violence was sparked by people angry about the long wait for daiquiris, law-enforcement sources said.
“The safety of our patrons is Resorts World’s top priority, and there is absolutely no room for this kind of behavior at our facility. We are reviewing all aspects of this unfortunate event and are fully committed to taking steps to ensure similar acts do not take place ever again.”
— Spokesperson for the casino
The fight spilled into the casino’s food court and then out into the parking lot.
Three people were under arrest late Friday night, law-enforcement sources said.
“Once y’all saw that dude in the 8 Ball jacket y’all should have known things about to go up.”
— Patron, via Twitter
Investigators are looking into whether the fight was gang-related and whether shots were fired in the parking lot, the sources said.
Video posted online showed crazed patrons throwing chairs, shouting, and milling about.
“People always ask why we never get anything. Next time ask yourselves, “Why every time we get something, we destroy it.”
— Patron, via Twitter
Yelling and the sound of glass breaking can be heard in the background. Read the rest of this entry »
Who Needs Wall Street? Gambling Companies Bet on Hong Kong Stock Market
Posted: August 25, 2014 Filed under: China, Economics, Entertainment, Global | Tags: Asia, Casino, China, Gambling, HengSheng Group, Hong Kong, Iao Kun, Initial public offering, Macau, Nasdaq, VIP 2 Comments
Casino companies are betting on Hong Kong’s equity markets to raise funds for expansion. Photo: Grand Emperor Hotel Macau
Gambling Firms Aim to Raise Funds for Macau, Overseas Casino Operations
HONG KONG— For WSJ, Kate O’Keeffe & Yvonne Lee report: China’s international financial hub, located a quick ferry ride from the world’s casino capital, has seen a throng of gambling companies rush to its equity markets over the past year.
“The Asia gaming industry should be one of the fastest-growing sectors in the next decade.”
— CLSA analyst Aaron Fischer
Since July 2013, at least six casino and VIP gambling companies have unveiled plans to list in Hong Kong, often through so-called backdoor listings. These companies are either hoping to raise funds to expand abroad or to bolster business at home in Macau at a time when the enclave’s $45 billion gambling market is suffering its first revenue declines in five years.
Most recently, Nasdaq-listed Iao Kun Group Holdings Co. last month filed a formal listing application to go public “by introduction,” where no new funds are raised, hiring Rothschild (Hong Kong) Ltd. as its sponsor. The company is part of Macau’s junket industry, which brings high-spending gamblers from mainland China to Macau, issues them credit and collects players’ debts in exchange for commissions from casinos. Read the rest of this entry »
頑張って!Ministry Study: Five Million Japanese Have Gambling Problem
Posted: August 22, 2014 Filed under: Japan | Tags: Canada, Casino, Gambling, Health Ministry, Japan, Mandalay, Myanmar, Problem gambling, Susumu Higuchi 2 Comments
Japan is weighing whether to introduce casino gambling
For WSJ, Jun Hongo reports: A group working under the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare estimates that some 5.36 million people in Japan, or 4.8% of the adult population, may have a pathological gambling problem.
“The report said Japan had higher percentage of pathological gamblers than other developed countries.”
A ministry-funded study of the issue was led by Susumu Higuchi of the Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center, a national medical institution. In a survey of 4,153 randomly chosen adults in July 2013, the group found 8.7% of men and 1.8% of women in Japan could be described as being addicted to gambling.
The report said Japan had higher percentage of pathological gamblers than other developed countries. Earlier studies showed lower numbers in Canada (0.9% in 2002), France (1.24% in 2008) and South Korea (0.8% in 2006), it said. Read the rest of this entry »
Quote of the Day: George Lopez
Posted: February 28, 2014 Filed under: Entertainment, Food & Drink | Tags: Arrest, Associated Press, Caesars Windsor, Casino, George Lopez, Lopez, Ontario, Public intoxication, Public space, TMZ (website) 2 Comments“…I was trying to sleep it off, unfortunately, it was on the casino floor.”
Comedian George Lopez was arrested at Caesars Windsor Thursday night.
The scary thing is, I recognize the pattern of that carpet. If it’s like the Ceasar’s in Vegas, I recall it’s pretty comfortable, and inviting. Who hasn’t slept one off on a Casino floor? Since when is that cause for arrest? Anyone who’s been to Ceasar’s understands that George didn’t do anything worth involving law enforcement. Maybe things are different in Ontario. If it was Las Vegas? We wouldn’t be reading about it. What happens in Ontario apparently doesn’t stay in Ontario.
The Associated Press reports: Provincial police say officers stationed at the casino in Ontario arrested Lopez for allegedly being intoxicated in a public place, then turned him over to local police. Windsor police say only that a man was arrested at the casino but later released with no charges laid.
..Lopez says in a statement via his publicist, Ina Treciokas: “Tied one on last night. Not feeling great this morning. I was trying to sleep it off, unfortunately, it was on the casino floor.”
Billionaire Stanley Ho: Chinese Love Gambling. Chinese Love France. It was only a matter of time…
Posted: February 15, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Asia, China, Global | Tags: Casino, Cotai, LAS VEGAS, Macau, Monte Carlo, Palace of Versailles, Stanley Ho, Versace 2 CommentsThis 92-year-old Tycoon is Building a Versailles Casino.
From Quartz:
SJM Holdings, the casino company founded by billionaire Stanley Ho, broke ground this week in Macau on a three hotel, 2,500 room casino complex that is modeled after Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles.
The Lisboa Palace will have 700 gambling tables, a wedding complex and three hotels, including one designed with Italy’s Gianni Versace fashion house. SJM Holdings managing director Angela Leong, one of Ho’s four wives, was inspired to include a Versace hotel in the complex after staying at a Palazzo Versace in Australia in 2003 (she was there to escape the SARS outbreak).
The project will cost $3.9 billion, SJM executives said, and will include opulent interiors inspired by the Louvre and the Casino at Monte Carlo.
Why is it Only Okay When the Government Runs the Racket? Let Gamblers Gamble
Posted: January 14, 2014 Filed under: Politics, U.S. News | Tags: Baptists, Casino, Colonial Downs, Gambling, Hampton Roads, Horse racing, Louise Lucas, Richard L. Saslaw, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Statute of Anne, Virginia 2 CommentsA. Barton Hinkle writes: Baptists do not abide drunkenness, which is why (it has been said) they never recognize one another in the liquor store. In much the same vein, Virginia will not abide gambling.
Gaming and the laying of odds, however, are another matter.
Gambling is a low and dirty act that starts in cupidity and ends in crime, bankruptcy and broken homes—or at least so say its foes, as they have been saying for centuries. As early as 1727, Virginia adopted the Statute of Anne—which rendered gambling debts unenforceable—and in 1744 the colony prohibited gambling in public places altogether.
Such attitudes linger today. Thirty-nine states have some form of casino gambling, but Virginia is not one of them, noted a Washington Post article a little while ago. The story quoted Richard Saslaw, the Democratic leader in the state Senate: “Forty-nine states will have it before we get it,” he said before adding, “maybe 48” — a nod to Utah’s Mormon ways. Small chance, then, that Sen. Louise Lucas’ proposal will win approval. She wants to introduce casino gambling to Hampton Roads.
Yet if gambling as an end in itself is an outrage against decency in the state’s eyes, then wagering as a means to other ends is something else altogether. Thus the state runs a hugely successful lottery. And like all those in the numbers racket, Virginia’s “house” fixes the odds in its own favor: Last year alone, the state raked in nearly half a billion from suckers who played its games of chance and lost.
But the official line denies that this constitutes gambling. It is, rather, government-provided “fun”—and it raises money for the schools! One hundred percent of the state’s proceeds go to Virginia’s K-12 education system, the lottery website notes. (It does not note that this transfer thereby frees up money for lawmakers to spend on other things.)
PHOTOS: Courtney Cox, 29, arrested for ‘skinny dipping in casino fountain’
Posted: September 13, 2013 Filed under: Entertainment | Tags: Bossier City Louisiana, Casino, Courtney Cox, Disturbing the peace, Louisiana, MailOnline, Public intoxication 4 CommentsUPDATE: From Mail Online. Gotta love the British Tabloid headline: A “young mother” (apparently a “mother” stripping naked has more sizzle than just a drunk 29-year-old) “has been arrested after allegedly swimming nude in a fountain inside a casino hotel.”
Courtney Cox (not the TV show one) was charged with disturbing the peace and public drunkenness following the incident in the Horseshoe Casino Hotel in Bossier City, Louisiana.
Cox, 29, was reportedly skinny dipping in the hotel’s fountain at 10.30pm on Sunday night and she argued with officers when they tried to bring her to the police station.
They asked her once to have a sober friend pick her up and drive her home but Ms Cox then started swearing at the officers…

If you’re drunk, rowdy, naked, and disturbing Casino Hotel guests, you might get arrested, made to get dressed, and taken here: Bossier City Police Station

Arrested: Courtney Cox, with Olympic Gold Medal: charged with disturbing the peace and public drunkenness
…’At one point she started using profanities and refused to stay still,’ police department spokesman Mark Matale told Mail Online.
She was arrested after officers gave her ‘numerous chances’ to stop yelling and being belligerent ‘in front of casino patrons who were in the area at the time’ but she did not take them.
The “mother-of-two” (oh my god how could she? She’s the mother of two children!) was then taken to the Bossier City Jail and is now out on bond.
She is still awaiting her first court appearance.
Related articles
- Woman Arrested After Alleged Casino Fountain Skinny Dip (punditfromanotherplanet.com)
- Courtney Cox of Shreveport Arrested for Skinny Dipping at Casino (everyjoe.com)
- Random Ridiculousness: Woman Caught Skinny Dipping In Casino Fountain In Front Of Guests (bossip.com)
- Woman arrested for skinny dipping in casino fountain… (breitbart.com)
- Public Skinny Dipping by Mother of Two, Courtney Cox, 29, in Horseshoe Casino Fountain in Front of Other Guests While Drunk Ended Up in Arrest (katenews2day.com)
- What Part of This Story Is True? (aleksandreia.com)
- Dirty On The 30: Friday, September 13, 2013 (starpittsburgh.cbslocal.com)
Woman Arrested After Alleged Casino Fountain Skinny Dip
Posted: September 12, 2013 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Entertainment | Tags: Bossier City, Bossier City Louisiana, Casino, Casino security, Courtney Cox, Disturbing the peace, Horseshoe Casino, Medley swimming, Olympic Gold medalist, Public intoxication, shreveport louisiana, Skinny Dipping 3 CommentsUPDATED with photos HERE: A 29-year-old Shreveport woman was arrested Sunday night after allegedly stripping down naked and then going for a swim in the fountain of the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel. Olympic Gold medalist Courtney Cox (pictured) now faces charges of disturbing the peace and public intoxication. It was a highly alert casino security team that contacted the Bossier City Police Department after witnessing the nude casino swim.
A police spokesperson told a local reporter that Cox was drunk and given many opportunities to contact a sober friend to take her home. According to police, she then began yelling and cursing in front of casino employees and hotel patrons despite their advice to remain calm.
Cox was booked into the Bossier City Jail. She is a thrice decorated Olympic Gold medalist in the 400 meter individual medley.
Related articles
- Woman Arrested After Alleged Casino Fountain Skinny Dip (punditfromanotherplanet.com)
- Random Ridiculousness: Woman Caught Skinny Dipping In Casino Fountain In Front Of Guests (bossip.com)
- Woman arrested for skinny dipping in casino fountain… (breitbart.com)
- Courtney Cox of Shreveport Arrested for Skinny Dipping at Casino (everyjoe.com)
- Public Skinny Dipping by Mother of Two, Courtney Cox, 29, in Horseshoe Casino Fountain in Front of Other Guests While Drunk Ended Up in Arrest (katenews2day.com)
- What Part of This Story Is True? (aleksandreia.com)