TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalTexas School Reportedly Fires 2 Staff Members For Refusing To Accept Transgender Boy
The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance may have been defeated, but one area school is treating transgender children with dignity and respect.
The Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center in Katy, a Houston suburb, reportedly fired two staff members for refusing to accept a transgender boy as a boy and call him by a boy’s name.
Fox 26, which did a horrible job of reporting on HERO, is still referring to the boy as a girl:
“It caused confusion,” says one employee. At Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center on Clay Road in Katy, Madeline Kirksey says last week she and her staff were told a six-year-old student is transgender. According to Kirksey, the child’s parents cut the girl’s hair short and Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center workers were instructed to start calling the girl a boy and by a boy’s name.
Kirksey was a manager at the school and says she suggested informing all parents. Instead, school administrators allegedly gave staff a handout to refer to if students have questions.
“I don’t think we should be talking to other people’s children who are under the age of 18 about being transgender,” says Kirksey.
The school reportedly handed out a set of guidelines on dealing with transgender students, which said things like “Accord them the same respect you wish for yourself,” “Help defend their dignity,” “Educate yourself and your students” and, “Like the first black student in a white school 30 years ago, the transgender student today faces a population that finds them strange and frightening.”
Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2015/11/texas-school-reportedly-fires-2-staff-members-refusing-accept-transgender-boy-video/
Kentucky clerk Kim Davis loses latest gay marriage appeal
Source: AP
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis has lost another bid to delay issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Thursday denied her latest request for a reprieve.
Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage in June. Four couples sued her, and U.S. District Judge David Bunning then ordered her to issue the licenses. He later clarified his order to include all couples, not just the four who filed suit.
Davis’ attorneys have appealed that expanded order several times, arguing that the mandate to issue licenses should apply only to the four couples who filed suit. They received licenses during Davis’ five-day stint in jail for defying the court’s order.
Read more: http://wric.com/ap/kentucky-clerk-kim-davis-loses-latest-gay-marriage-appeal/
Hispanics Aren't The Only Group Turned Off By Right-wing Racism And Xenophobia-- Asian-Americans Hav
Hispanics Aren't The Only Group Turned Off By Right-wing Racism And Xenophobia-- Asian-Americans Have Given Up On The GOPTuesday night had some special significance for Asian-Americans. Philadelphians didn't just elect their first Asian-American woman to the City Council, they gave public education advocate Helen Gym the highest vote of the 7 at-large victors. I expect that in a few years she will be on the national stage. And in Lewiston, Maine, progressive activist Ben Chin came in first in the 5-way race for mayor. Chin was considerably ahead of conservative Republican incumbent Robert Macdonald, 44.08% to 37.29%, but because he didn't get 50%, there will be a run-off in December. Racist right-wing signs saying "Don’t vote for Ho Chi Chin" appear to have not hurt Chin's efforts towards ousting Macdonald. But this kind of knee-jerk racism from Republicans has hurt their party with Asian-American voters across the country.
As Los Angeles Congressman Ted Lieu told us today, "The close-minded, xenophobic comments by leading Republican presidential candidates such as Donald Trump and Jeb Bush send the following message to all minorities, including Asian Americans: YOU ARE NOT WELCOME. The message from GOP hardliners to Latinos and Asian Americans that 'we want you to join our party but we also want to deport your children and family members,' is not a message that has resonated, or ever will, resonate. America is witnessing the last gasps of an unsustainable viewpoint. A recent PEW study showed that 80% of America's population growth in the coming decades will be from immigrants, and that by 2055 the largest share will be from Asian American immigrants. The one fact that no one can change is that with every passing day, the rest of America looks more like California."
This week, Cecelia Hyunjung Mo, writing for the New Republic looked into why Asian Americans don't vote Republican. Obama took 73% of the Asian-American vote-- which exceeded his support among traditional Democratic Party constituencies like Hispanics (71%) and women (55%)-- and that is a complete turn-around from just two decades ago when Asian-Americans were favoring Republicans. "The Democratic presidential vote share, among Asian Americans," she wrote, "has steadily increased from 36 percent in 1992, to 64 percent in the 2008 election to 73 percent in 2012... No other group has shifted so dramatically in their party identification within such a short time period. Some are calling it the “GOP’s Asian erosion.”
Read more: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2015/11/hispanics-arent-only-group-turned-off.html
Conservation group expresses opposition to high-speed rail over possible detrimental impact
A natural resources conservation group has come out in opposition to a proposed Houston to Dallas bullet train, saying the venture would take valuable agricultural land out of production.
Directors representing the Texas Soil and Water Conservation Districts voted against the high-speed rail during their annual meeting last weekend.
Charlie Price, chairman of the Bedias Creek SWCD in Madisonville, is the head of the group that submitted the resolution at the state meeting.
Price said he's worried about the environmental impact of the proposed bullet train and wonders how farmers and ranchers will be able to work their land if it's separated by an uncrossable high-speed rail line.
Read more: http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/conservation-group-expresses-opposition-to-high-speed-rail-over-possible/article_ca5ecdee-800c-5309-863e-d15f98cd397a.html
Appeals court judge absent since September 2014, still collects $160K
DALLAS —The absence of Appeals Court Justice David Lewis has been the worst-kept secret in Dallas legal circles for months.
Records obtained by WFAA show the Republican justice hasn’t been at work since September 2014. He hasn’t heard a case or issued an opinion in 13 months.
“I know David, and I’ve tried cases against David, and I’m shocked,” said David Finn, a Dallas attorney and former judge. “That’s not the David Lewis I knew.”
Hours after WFAA asked for a comment from Justice Lewis on Wednesday, he announced he was temporarily stepping down without pay. Through his Austin attorneys, Perry Minton and Zooey Wharton, Lewis said he was entering into a voluntary agreement with the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct to be suspended for a minimum of six months.
“His voluntary agreement to stand down for a period is a consequence of an unfortunate period in his life that included the abuse of alcohol,” his attorneys said in a statement. “Justice Lewis chose to take full responsibility for his situation by seeking out and successfully completing an alcohol treatment program and remains in recovery.”
Read more: http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/11/04/appeals-court-judge-absent-since-september-2014/75195136/
Texts, calls from judge's wife prompt Paxton legal maneuver; shows split in Collin County GOP
DALLAS – The indictments against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton were not yet public when state district Judge Chris Oldner's wife told Collin County Commissioner Susan Fletcher the news.
"Did you hear?" Cissy Oldner said.
"Hear what?" Fletcher replied.
"Cissy then told me the grand jury had just indicted Paxton that day, and the case was assigned to her husband's court," Fletcher wrote in an affidavit given to Paxton's attorneys.
Read more: http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/texas-news/2015/11/03/judges-wifes-texts-key-to-paxtons-motion-to-dismiss-charges/75127468/
Republican ‘Family Values’ Consultant Caught Molesting Church Boys & Filming It “Hundreds Of Times”
It is with great regret that we must report a horrific tale of abuse from yet another conservative “family values” hypocrite who used his position in a local church group to abuse the children which he was entrusted with. Matthew Stanley of Vidalia, Georgia, has accused a top GOP consultant, Jim Collins, of abusing him and other boys in the youth group “hundreds of times” over a seven-year period.
Collins is reportedly “a top political advisor and strategist for new Senate Majority Leader Tommy Williams and managed the campaigns for several of the Capitol’s new South Georgia incumbents,” according to a bio on a website of a former employer, iSquared Communications. He also was very involved in the First Baptist Church of Vidalia, taking a close interest in the youth group that he volunteered for- the lawsuit alleges that he “would often invite Matt and the other boys to his home, provide them with food and drink, and host gatherings to watch sporting events, including sleepovers.”
Once he had gained the trust of the boys and their parents, he began inviting them over to a weekly Bible study at his house, where he had the security to give into his sinister urges. Stanley says that Collins soon abandoned all pretense of Scripture study:
“Under Collins’s direction, pornography together at Collins’s home. He encouraged each boy to engage in individual sexual acts, both privately and in a group setting. On at least one occasion, Collins videotaped these sexual acts as well, causing additional harm to Matt Stanley. Collins also engaged in highly inappropriate, sexualized physical contact with many of the boys, including Matt Stanley. 29. In addition, Collins sexually abused Matt Stanley and the other boys in these ways on church-sponsored out-of-town trips during which Collins served as First Baptist Church’s adult chaperone for the boys.”
Read more: http://www.occupydemocrats.com/republican-family-values-consultant-caught-molesting-church-boys-filming-it-hundreds-of-times/
Border Patrol agent under fire for Spanish Halloween sign outside 'candy only for American families'
PRESIDIO -- The mayor of Presidio, a small Texas border town, and numerous residents are outraged after an unnamed U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent hung a sign for trick-or-treaters this Halloween warning visitors that “Only American families receive candy.”
The sign – printed in Spanish with red, white and blue letters – hung outside the agent’s home in a government-owned housing complex that’s supposed to be gated, but never is, especially for Halloween.
Neighbors took pictures of the sign and posted them to Facebook Saturday, sparking heated comments and condemnation for the CBP, which refused to name the agent responsible, Big Bend Now reports.
“I got pissed, that’s the first time I had seen something like that in Presidio,” said a resident who submitted a photo to My San Antonio but asked to remain anonymous.
Read more: http://www.theamericanmirror.com/border-patrol-agent-under-fire-for-spanish-halloween-sign-outside-home/
ETA: I am not familiar with this Website and it looks so I don't know if they stand behind any social or political agenda.
Petition: Houston shouldn't be rewarded with the Final Four Tournament
On November 3, Houston voters took to the polls and determined that not everyone in their city deserves equal protections under the law. In a stunning margin of 65% to 38%, the city ordinance that protected citizens against bias in housing, employment, city contracting and business services was struck down. It’s an ordinance that is almost identical to ones in over 20 cities, protecting everyone from the LGBT community to military personnel to the elderly. Houston is now the largest US city without these protections.
We need to send a message that we won’t do business in a city that thinks some citizens don’t deserve equal protection under the law. That is why I’m calling on the NCAA to move its Final Four Tournament to another Texas city. Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso all still have ordinances like the one that was just struck down in Houston, and they would welcome the tourism and revenue generated from one of the biggest sporting events of the year.
The NCAA shouldn’t support a city where you can be fired for being LGBT, or not hired because someone thinks you’re too old. Unless the NCAA moves its Final Four from Houston, it will be doing just that.
The ball is now in the NCAA's court. It is time to show Houston and other cities that might be thinking about striking down anti-discrimination laws, that discrimination will not be tolerated.
Read more: https://www.change.org/p/ncaa-houston-shouldn-t-be-rewarded-with-the-final-four-tournament
S&P joins Moody’s in downgrading Dallas’ bond ratings, also blaming police-fire pension fund
One week after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the city’s bond rating for the second time in 12 years, Standard and Poor’s has followed suit. And, according to a memo Dallas City Manager A.C. Gonzalez sent to the city council late Wednesday, it’s for the same reason: “the size of unfunded pension liabilities.”
According to Gonzalez, S&P is assigning a AA rating to the $227 million general obligation bonds the Dallas City Council approved last week. That’s a downgrade from the prior rating of AA+.
We reported last week that the Dallas Police and Fire Pension Fund is carrying about $1 billion in unfunded liabilities, based in large part on the fact the pension fund’s $3 billion in assets continue to lose value based in part on mismanagement and poor real estate investments. City officials are concerned there are more write-downs looming.
But earlier this week, an outside auditor told the council that the pension system has an unfunded liability of $5 billion. When asked earlier this week about the discrepancies, Gonzalez responded that number was reached using Governmental Accounting Standards Board calculations that will be implemented this year.
Read more: http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2015/11/sp-joins-moodys-in-downgrading-dallas-bond-ratings-also-blaming-police-fire-pension-fund.html/
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
Home country: United States
Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
Number of posts: 112,124
