Category Archives: Texas News

Guns Don’t Kill People. People with Guns Kill People.

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The Chicago Tribune relates the sad story of T.J. Antell – a concealed carry owner and former Marine – who was killed in Arlington when he attempted to intervene in a domestic dispute with his gun. The alleged shooter, Ricci Bradden, who was stationed at Fort Hood had been involved in an argument with his wife in the parking lot of a Walgreen’s.  Bradden discharged his gun twice striking the ground and hitting his wife in the ankle.  Antell rushed to his truck, retrieved his gun and attempted to stop Bradden from fleeing.  That’s when Bradden exited his vehicle and shot Antell dead. Now there is a dead father of three and a man who will be charged with murder – none of which had to happen.  Red wonders if the gun lobby’s continual rant which spins the compelling fiction that you need a gun at the ready at all times so that you can save yourself or, even better, be a real-life hero when the time comes had any part in this tragic chain of events.

The Texas Flag Pledge

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Don Munsch of the Killeen Daily Herald wonders about the increasing use of the Pledge to the Texas Flag at official meetings and in courtrooms across the State.  The pledge itself reads:

Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

Putting aside the somewhat redundant nature of the language (Texas being one state and also one and indivisible), and the possible First Amendment violation involved in requiring anyone to pledge that Texas is a state under God, the once obscure pledge is now in common use by certain governmental bodies in addition to the Pledge of Allegiance – which Munsch points out necessarily includes Texas by reference to the fifty-starred flag.

The Herald asked city and school officials about the practice.

“The best answer we can offer as to why we do it is that it is simply a show of respect to our state’s flag,” said Kevin Keller, public information officer for the city of Copperas Cove.

In a statement from the Killeen Independent School District, district spokesman Shannon Rideout said the KISD school board follows the policies written in the Texas Education Code, which states that school boards of each district should require students to recite pledges to both flags — American and Texas — in accordance with applicable government code.

The board just abides by the standards set in the code, by which students are held to, as well.

“I moved from Georgia to Harker Heights in January of 2004 and the pledge to the Texas flag was something being done at that time,” said Harker Heights City Manager David Mitchell. “As far as when that started, I could not tell you. I asked around the office and no one can remember when the city began to include the pledge to the Texas flag.”

Lucifer in the Flesh!

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Former GOP Speaker of the House John Boehner unloaded on Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) in an interview.  After calling the Texas Senator “Lucifer in the flesh”, Boehner kept going.

“I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”

Boehner also stated that Cruz would become president “over my dead body.”  Boehner is apparently still seething over Cruz’s promise that he could lead a government shut-down that would result in a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.  When it became obvious that Cruz was blowing smoke up the GOP’s collective pants and that he had little or no support for his cause in the Senate, Boehner and colleagues were left hung out to dry in the face of withering criticism.  What quickly became apparent to all was that Cruz’s ploy was nothing more than a chance for the junior senator to put his name out front and set up his run for the White House.  Cruz never had any intention of doing anything more than hogging the spotlight and running up his national name recognition.

For his part Cruz denied ever having worked with Boehner – another almost certainly verifiable lie from the lips of the Tea Party hero.

Meanwhile, Satanists were complaining that comparing Cruz to the Devil was an insult to all Devil worshippers.

 

Cruz Tries to Steal the News Cycle

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In the wake of his crushing losses in five primaries on Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) made a bold attempt to divert the nation’s attention away from the incredible ass-whomping he had just received by naming failed businesswoman Carly Fiorina as his vice-presidential running mate.  Cruz made an interesting choice in picking Fiorina who was soundly rejected by the Republican electorate in the early going.  Fiorina failed to ignite her campaign and performed miserably in the contests in which she competed.  Fiorina had less than 2%support in the Iowa caucuses, received 4% of the vote in New Hampshire with an 8th place finish, and was done.  She won exactly zero (o) delegates.   Fiorina kept proclaiming that her campaign “was not about me” – which in Red’s opinion is the clear sign that a campaign is indeed all about the candidate’s ego.  Fiorina gave voters absolutely no reason to cast their ballot for her – not surprising when he main accomplishments were her record as a horribly failed CEO of Hewlitt-Packard and her losing Senatorial campaign in California.   Her one claim to fame was a good performance in the “undercard” debate preceding Iowa which put her to prominence until the voters had the good sense to reject her as completely unqualified.    So what attracted Ted to her.  Cruz claim he was attracted to Fiorina as his running mate because she  was “born in Texas…the very first thing I liked about her.”  Interesting since that is something that the Canadian-born Cruz cannot say about himself.   Cruz did succeed in turning the national press away from the Trump blow-out on Tuesday, but Red thinks this smacks of desperation and predicts the news cycle will move on in a day or two or at best until Cruz loses in Indiana.

John Cornyn States the Obvious

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In an interview with KERA – Dallas, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) unloaded on Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) as a political opportunist.

“We’ve had our differences on tactics or how to accomplish those goals. Part of it [is] from the fact that I’ve been here a while and I’m part of the elected Republican leadership. My goal has always been to figure out how we can advance the conservative cause. I think he’s taken the more immediate shorter-term view of things. Clearly, he didn’t come here to remain in the Senate. He came here to run for president. I think that perhaps explains the difference in tactics.”

So the good folks of Texas voted for a man who had no intention of actually attempting to represent our interests in the Senate.   It’s no surprise to Red that Cruz views his current job as nothing more than a stepping stone to the greater glorification of all things Ted Cruz, but for Cornyn to essentially admit that is fairly remarkable.

All of this begs the question of what Cruz will do if he loses his bid for the presidency.  The Senate will not interest him at all, since it is by now obvious that he will not be able to accomplish anything in that august body that collectively hates him with a white hot passion.  So rather than be a meaningless if petulant back bencher, Red has a few thoughts on what our junior senator might do.

  1. Reality TV show with Sarah Palin – Ted and Sarah on the road, waving flags, shooting guns and talking crazy.
  2. Personal injury plaintiff’s lawyer.
  3. Don’t miss the “TrusTed” show at 9 pm EST on Fox News.
  4. Take over when Ed Young retires from Second Baptist – or push the old guy out if necessary.
  5. Find small third world country looking for Dictator for Life!
  6. Stay at home Dad living off Heidi’s Goldman Sachs paychecks and watching Hogan’s Heroes reruns.
  7. High school history teacher with simple message – Lincoln bad, Jeff Davis good.
  8. Multi-million dollar book deal.  Most copies remaindered for a $1.99.
  9. Actual tea party host.
  10. Or maybe Canada wants him back?

 

Renaming Austin School May Be Harder than Thought

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The Austin Independent School District is determined to rename Robert E. Lee Elementary school.  The school, located in a neighborhood just north of the UT-Austin campus, is now at the center of the growing controversy over removing Confederate icons from the public space.   USA Today reports that turning to the community to suggest a new name isn’t working out exactly like the school board had hoped.

The school board overseeing Austin’s Robert E. Lee Elementary voted last month to rename the school, deeming its namesake — a Confederate general — too polarizing. It then turned to the community to suggest a new name.

But the Austin Independent School District probably didn’t expect the top suggestion would be Donald J. Trump Elementary.

That name, with 45 nominations, heads the list of 240 suggestions announced Friday, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Thirty-four nominations urged the board to leave the school’s name unchanged.

Rounding out the top five were suggestions to name the school after Texas photographer Russell Lee (32 nominations), author Harper Lee (30 noms) or Elisabet Ney, the 19th century Austin sculptor (15 noms).

Other suggestions, shown on a list obtained by Mashable,  proved as colorful as Trump:

  • Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance (8 noms)
  • Kanye West Elementary (2 noms)
  • John Cena Elementary (1 nom)
  • Bee Movie (1 nom)

The British government could have perhaps warned the school board about the dangers of crowd-sourcing names. The top-voted name for its $300 million research ship was “Boaty McBoatface,” thanks to an online poll.

Red thinks Schooly McSchoolface has a certain ring to it.

Fire Guts Cleburne Cafeteria

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The greatest cafeteria in Texas was destroyed Monday night when a blaze consumed the Cleburne Cafeteria on Bissonnet Street.  The Houston landmark was almost entirely gutted by the blaze.  The CC was celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.  The CC had been rebuilt after a fire destroyed the previous structure in 1990.  The CC – notorious for accepting only cash and checks – has been run by the Mickelis family since its inception and the walls were decorated with the art work of founder Nick Mickelis.  George Mickelis, son of the founder, was distraught over the loss of his father’s artwork – much more than the loss of the cafeteria itself.  But it appears that a few of the paintings may have survived the blaze.  The loss will be felt throughout the community and especially among its loyal patrons who packed the restaurant at lunch and on Sunday afternoons.  Mickelis vows to rebuild again.  Red will be back for the grand re-opening.

Photo from KPRC. 

Ted Cruz Accused of Campaign Violations

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) has been accused of campaign violations in the conduct of fundraising for his presidential campaign.  Texas Democrats claim that Cruz violated federal election law by illegally coordinating with the Super PAC that is promoting his candidacy but which is supposedly – wink, wink, nudge, nudge – completely and totally separate from Cruz’s official campaign juggernaut.

The complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission alleges that Cruz national co-chairman J. Keet Lewis violated federal election laws at an official campaign fundraiser in December by asking Cruz supporters to donate unlimited amounts, as well as to make corporate contributions to the pro-Cruz Stand for Truth PAC  (you read that right – “Lyin’ Ted’s” Super PAC is named “Stand for Truth”).

Under federal law, a candidate or agent of a candidate can solicit donors to a PAC.  However, it is illegal for them to solicit unlimited contributions or corporate contributions to a Super PAC.

The  complaint names Cruz,  Lewis, Cruz for President treasurer Bradley Knippa and Stand for Truth Treasurer D. Eric Lycan as respondents.  The primary allegations involve remarks Lewis made at the December fundraiser where he told the crowd, “If you hit your max then we have a table for you that is the unlimited table. It can take corporate dollars, it can take partnership dollars, and that’s the Super PAC, Stand for Truth.”

Lewis denies the allegations, but the complaint seems to be just one more in a long line of ethical questions plaguing Cruz’s campaign as it head into the final stretch of primaries over the next month.

Back to Prison for Bernie Tiede

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Bernie Tiede, the Carthage mortician who was convicted of killing wealthy widow Marjorie Nugent in 1996, will be heading back to prison after being resentenced by a jury on Friday.  Tiede, who was the subject of the hit movie Bernie by Texas film maker Richard Linklater, was temporarily out of prison awaiting a resentencing trial after a state district judge set aside his original sentence of life in prison in 2014.  The judge had determined that Tiede’s sentencing was unfair because evidence of sexual abuse that Tiede had allegedly suffered as a child was not allowed to be presented.

Tiede had been living in Austin in Linklater’s garage apartment during part of the time he was out of prison, but will now be incarcerated again.  The new sentencing jury was apparently swayed by testimony from Nugent’s estranged family who portrayed a different portrait of the manipulative misanthrope played by Shirley Maclaine in the movie.  The state presented evidence that Tiede enjoyed a lifestyle well beyond his means thanks to the company of older, wealthy widowed women, and that he killed Nugent when because he feared exposure of his mismanagement of her money. Tiede’s attorneys said he was the victim of Nugent’s emotional abuse and that his decision to kill her  was a result of that abuse triggering the memories of being assaulted by his uncle.  However, the uncle testified and denied that he had abused Tiede as a child.

After deliberating for only a few hours, the new jury sentenced Tiede to a sentence of 99 years to life.  Tiede will not be eligible for parole for another 13 years.  He he has already served almost 17 years for his crime.

Texas Allows Guns in Mental Hospitals

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Please don’t claim that you are surprised to find out that a State Mental Hospital cannot ban visitors from bringing guns into the facility.  Hospital officials, however, were taken off guard when they recently discovered that under Texas law the longstanding practice of prohibiting handguns at the ten state psychiatric hospitals was illegal – and had been for years.

“Patients in our facilities are a danger to themselves or others,” Cathy Campbell, a policy coordinator for the state hospitals, wrote in a December email. “It seems inconceivable that we would require visitors to store box cutters but allow them to bring a gun on campus.”  But despite Campbell’s concerns, the law in Texas does not allow the state-run hospitals to ban handguns.

Tom Benning of the Dallas Morning News has the whole sad story of how the Texas Legislature failed to foresee the consequences in their zeal to promote more guns in the state.

Lawmakers who passed gun carry laws in the 1990s don’t appear to have contemplated the scenario. Carve-outs in the law and later legislative tweaks fuzzed things. At some point, “no guns” signs were posted at those hospitals. And until last year, the setup went largely unnoticed.

Officials with the Department of State Health Services have now taken steps to mitigate the risk of a patient accessing a gun – posting signs, for example, that ask visitors to voluntarily keep guns away.

But at least one facility, Austin State Hospital, has been slow to put up the new signs — which remain difficult to notice. And though there’s optimism that lawmakers will address the issue next year, the state remains in somewhat uncharted territory.

“It defies comprehension,” Dorthy Floyd, superintendent at Terrell State Hospital, wrote in an email in January. The News obtained the emails under the state’s open-records law after the gun policy earned international attention in January.

State-run psychiatric hospitals are just one of several government institutions re-evaluating their firearms policies these days. Private mental hospitals continue to have the right to bar guns on their property.