Category Archives: Texas News

106 Bikers from Twin Peaks Shoot-Out Finally Indicted

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After only 8 months of prosecutorial twisting in the wind, the McClennan County District Attorney finally obtained indictments against 106 of the bikers involved in the March 2015 shoot-out at the now closed Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco.  The wheels of justice are grinding slowly, but not particularly finely as there were no indictments for murder or assault issued by the grand jury. All were indicted on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity.  For unknown reasons, 9 of the 106 indictments were sealed.  Another 71 bikers were arrested and perhaps the murder, assault and weapons charges are going to be leveled against those individuals.  In any event, the MCDA has seemed overwhelmed by this massive project.

Anticipating Tonight’s GOP Debate

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With all the hubbub, hoo-hah, and general commotion surrounding Dr. Ben Carson’s claim to have stabbed someone as a youth, Red anticipates that the other presidential hopefuls on the GOP side may feel compelled to come up with their anecdotes showing how they have risen from their troubled past and become the better person for it.

Rand Paul –  Once refused to tip his hairdresser when she cut his hair too short.

Ted Cruz – Never killed anyone himself, but his Dad Rafael, was part of team of assassins who were dispatched to kill deposed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Bautista but were thwarted when FB had the impertinence to die of a heart attack just days before the planned assassination.  Ted himself did once unleash a brutal tongue lashing that reduced a first grade classmate to quivering jelly after cutting in front of Ted in the boy’s restroom.  Ted really had to pee very badly.

Jeb!!!!$$$$? – Whacked a fraternity brother up side of the head with a pledge paddle when he refused to give Jeb!!!!$$$$? a copy of an old Econ 101 final.  Jeb!!!!$$$$? made a C.

Marco Rubio –  Tried to attack a convenience store clerk with a switchblade.  Luckily, it was only Marco’s switchblade comb.

Carly Fiorina – Too many school yard cat fights to pick out one in particular.

Donald Trump –  Paid local toughs to beat up kid who made fun of his hair.  This happened more than once.

John Kasich –  Food fight in the men’s locker room at his country club.  Couldn’t get a decent tee time for several months.

Chris Christie – Sat on little brother until he forked over allowance.

Mike Huckabee – Body slammed gay man in the mosh pit.

Bobby Jindal –  Peed in neighbor’s back yard.

Poachers Beware

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According to reports from NBC Channel 5 in Dallas, Texas Game Wardens are gearing up to crack down on poachers this hunting season.  Most people probably do not understand how much of nuisance and actual danger these outlaws pose.  Not to mention giving a bad name to all hunters.  Now Red is far from a big time hunter, but he has taken out a few wild hogs and deer in his time.  The hogs because they are destructive pests that breed like – well, wild hogs – and harm native flora and fauna, and the deer because Red makes a mean venison sauerbraten.  Red can go out for a weekend hunt and be perfectly content to enjoy nature, do some birding, and take a hike through the woods without ever firing a shot.  Plus, Red enjoys the fact that it drives some of his rabidly conservative acquaintances practically bonkers when he tells them he will be out hunting this weekend.  They have a lot of trouble processing that one.  Red has observed some illegal poaching on occasion and there is very little that makes Red madder.  One of the cardinal rules when hunting is to know where everyone is going to be.  One cannot know where the poacher will be.  And therein lies the problem.  As mad as they make him, Red has no inclination to take out a poacher and is even less inclined to want to be taken out by one.  So Poachers Beware, the long arm of the law is watching, but they require your help.  Game Wardens rarely catch someone out of the blue.  The vast majority of poaching cases begin with an anonymous phone call to the Texas Operation Game Thief hotline at 800-792-GAME (4263).

UT Plans Move into Houston – UH Supporters Whine

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The Texas Tribune reports that the University of Texas system is purchasing a 300 acre site in southwest Houston and has plans to possibly construct a UT-Houston campus.  UH supporters where immediately aroused by any encroachment on their perceived turf by the tremendous academic juggernaut that is the UT System.   The exact site can be seen here.

Chancellor Bill McRaven, who announced the plans at a Board of Regents meeting Thursday, said “all options are on the table” and that he hopes to convene a task force next year to come up with ideas for the Houston land.

“It is the fourth-largest city in the nation; it has an international footprint,” McRaven said. “Why wouldn’t we want to have a footprint in Houston? Don’t you think Houston is large enough for another academic institution?”

The board has authorized McRaven to finalize the purchase of the property, regents said Thursday. A final price hasn’t been determined. 

The property, which is mostly vacant, is in an area called Buffalo Point about 3.5 miles south of the Texas Medical Center. A rendering displayed during the board meeting showed the potential for as many as a dozen buildings on the site, as well as sports fields and green space. 

Houston is already home to one tier one private university, Rice University, and a growing research school, the University of Houston, along with many other smaller universities and community colleges. 

The announcement was a surprise to some in the area, particularly supporters of the University of Houston. 

State. Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, whose district includes the university, said he didn’t learn about the UT System’s plans until an e-mail was sent out right before the speech. He said his first reaction was that this could be a “hostile move,” with the UT System homing in on potential tuition revenue that might otherwise go to the University of Houston or other local schools. 

All too typical of UH, which is clinging to its turf as a second-rate academic institution run by an incompetent administration that fears real competition.  Think about it, what other city the size of Houston has only 2 major universities and so few other options.  Here we have Rice and Houston followed by the minor players Texas Southern, Houston Baptist, UH-Downtown and St. Thomas.  Not that students cannot get a good education at these other institutions, but it seems remarkable that there are so few choices in Houston.   It is past time for the UT System to make its presence known in the state’s largest city.  If UH can’t compete on its own turf, then too bad.

Gregg Abbott Takes Action Against Non-Existent Texas “Sanctuary Cities”

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Gov. Gregg Abbott, Tea-Party Wannabe, is cracking down by threatening to withhold funds from so-called “Sanctuary Cities.”  There are a couple of problems with Abbott’s plans.  First, the funds he wants to withhold are miniscule in the scheme of things for the larger cities and counties in Texas.  Second, it is really unclear if there are in fact any SC’s in Texas.  The essence of an SC is that it’s law enforcement officials will not indefinitely hold an undocumented alien in custody for a minor crime until the Feds can get there and take the UA into custody for immigration violations.  It does not appear that any major law enforcement agencies in Texas are actually refusing to do just that.  So our poor idiot Governor (who is just one in a seemingly unbroken line of OPIG’s) is doing nothing more than his typical and customary grandstanding for his Tea Party base while ignoring the real issues that are facing our state.  If you want more on Abbott’s latest sad effort to look gubernatorial, you can check out FoxNews.  Even they have the correct take on Abbott’s folly.

HERO Ordinance Goes Down in Defeat

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Houston’s HERO ordinance went down in flames last night as voters overwhelmingly rejected the attempt to provide civil rights protection for a broad range of persons.  The radical right and Tea Partisans were successful as portraying the HERO ordinance as a bathroom fight, raising all kinds of fears about the possibility that transgender men would use women’s restrooms.  Red doesn’t have the energy today to go into the long and tortured history of the HERO ordinance.  Suffice it to say, that its supporters completely bungled this every step of the way and made the worthy ordinance vulnerable to the kind of right wing hysteria that ultimately brought it down.  Houston voters (or at least about 60 of them) should be ashamed that they fell prey to this kind of nonsense.  The supporters of HERO should be ashamed of the pathetic campaign they ran and the legal bungling that allowed this to become a major political football.  Houston will now be the only major Texas city without a similar ordinance.  The complete lack of problems resulting from the passage of similar ordinances by Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Dallas should have been a major selling point.  But now, Houston can wear its bigotry proudly. So go out today and discriminate against an L, a G, a B or a T and feel good about yourselves Houston.

Check out the Houston Chronicle which has lots of photos of some very happy bigots.  Some day we will look at these images the way we look at photos of the angry mobs confronting civil rights protestors in the 1960’s.

It’s Election Day – Go Out and Vote

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Red urges all Texans to vote in today’s election.  Even if you don’t have a local election, the constitutional amendments are on the ballot and all but one of them should be voted down.

So exercise your franchise and participate in the democratic experiment that is the United States of America or quit your damn complaining.

Does Texas childrin have to lurn much in there home skoolin?

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The Texas Supreme Court will tackle home schooling in Texas this week in a case pitting home schooling advocates against the El Paso Independent School District.  The case involves Michael and Laura McIntyre from El Paso who have been home schooling their 9 children since at least 2004.  Allegations were that the children were mostly singing and playing instruments and that little or no actual education was occurring because the children were going to be raptured at the second coming.  The problems were somewhat confirmed when one of the McIntyre children ran away from home in an attempt to actually get an education.  The school district was unable to confirm what level of education the girl had received and she was place in a school almost 2 years below her age level.  That prompted El Paso educators to make some attempt to determine what was going on at the McIntyre’s “home school.”  They were rebuffed at every turn with the McIntyres being assisted by the various home schooling associations, and truancy charges followed.  The McIntyres sued, predictably claiming that their religious freedom had been interfered with by the state attempting to make sure their children were getting some basic education.  The El Paso Court of Appeals found that no parents have an absolute constitutional right to home school their children completely free of any state supervision, regulation or requirements.  The McIntyres appealed to the Texas Supreme Court which will hear arguments this week.  The Washington Post has the full story.

If I can just get off of that [Austin] freeway without getting killed or caught . . .

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Jerry Jeff Walker should be singing about freeways in Texas.  Any laments about an L.A. Freeway are passé, and JJW need only travel a few miles in his attempt to avoid getting killed or caught. The Texas Department of Transportation has issued its annual Top 100 Congested Roadways  list and I-35 in Austin from Hwy 290 to Hwy 71 has been named the most congested stretch of highway in the state.  The stretch of I-35 (known to long-time Austin residents as “Interregional”) has surpassed the West Loop in Houston to claim the number one place in Texas to while away the hours waiting in traffic.  Fortunately, Red’s intimate knowledge of Austin’s highways and byways allows him to generally avoid the parking lot that is I-35 whenever he graces the Capital City with his presence.  In Houston, however, the West Loop can be damn near unavoidable because of the complete absence of crossings of Buffalo Bayou in the western part of the Inner Loop area.

Photo from the TXDOT.

Video of Waco Biker Gang Shootout Emerges – Bikers Run Like Little Girls

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After months of rampant speculation and very little (make that almost no) evidence of what actually happened, we finally have a video shot from the outside dining area at the now-defunct Twin Peaks in Waco.  While a few stalwart gang members stand relatively steadfast (one prominent Cossack member whips out his pistol attempting to provide cover for the headlong flight of his colleagues) when the shooting erupts, the vast majority of the self-proclaimed meanest, toughest bad asses around run, scramble and crawl their way to safety apparently leaving their fallen brethren behind.  How embarrassing.