TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalA Private Prison Group Runs Texas' New Immigrant Detention Center
Texas’ newest detention center for immigrant children and mothers opened last week in Karnes City, just 54 miles outside of San Antonio. But less than a week out, the facility’s already garnering scorn from immigration attorneys in Austin.
Those attorneys – the same ones who helped shut down the troubled T. Don Hutto detention center north of Austin in 2009 – take umbrage with the fact that the Karnes facility is run by the GEO Group, a for-profit company with a less-than-impeccable reputation.
Immigration attorney Barbara Hines was part of the group that shut down the Hutto facility. She's ready to do the same with the Karnes County Residential Center as a detention facility for immigrant families, saying immigration authorities haven’t learned from previous mistakes at the now-shuttered facility.
Her office at the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas Austin's School of Law is sprinkled with mementos from Hutto. The Karnes City facility, she says, has given her flashbacks.
“Hutto was run by the Corrections Corporation of America, which is a for-profit prison company like GEO. They have no training in child welfare," Hines says. "They have run these prisons or detention facilities on a prison incarceration model. If we are going to have them – and I am opposed to them – they should be run by licensed child welfare agencies."
More at http://kut.org/post/private-prison-group-runs-texas-new-immigrant-detention-center .
63 Texas legislators sign court brief linking same-sex marriage to incest, pedophilia
Sixty-three Texas legislators have signed a court brief calling on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the states’ bans on same-sex marriage.
Legislators who signed the friend-of-court brief are members of the Texas Conservative Coalition, a caucus of the Legislature that filed it Monday.
Last week, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott appealed a federal district judge’s decision in DeLeon v. Perry, which struck down the marriage bans as unconstitutional, to the 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans.
Legislators who signed the Texas Conservative Coalition brief include Sen. Dan Patrick, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, and Sen. Ken Paxton, the GOP nominee for attorney general.
More at http://www.lonestarq.com/63-tx-legislators-sign-court-brief-linking-sex-marriage-pedophilia/ . Check to see if any of your favorite legislators is on the list.
Texas A&M could be in the running to mass-produce Ebola treatment
There's no standardized treatment for the Ebola virus, but Texas A&M could play a key role in producing one.
The two Americans with Ebola have been given an experimental drug and are improving. Nancy Writebol left Liberia for the U.S. Monday night. Dr. Kent Brantly arrived at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta over the weekend.
If the treatment is successful, it could be mass-produced at the Texas A&M Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing, one of three places in the country able to standardize a treatment for a virus such as Ebola, said Scott Lillibridge, assistant dean and professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health.
"We would be the people who would get a hand-off to take drugs that were under investigation and begin to produce them in a standardized fashion," he said. "If you want to scale this up to be used in an emergency for Africa, we're going to need drugs that are proven and standardized."
More at http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/texas-a-m-could-be-in-the-running-to-mass/article_4c9f1c30-2f94-558d-a1f2-16884f6569b7.html .
Underdog Davis insists she'll win governor's race
AUSTIN, Texas —
Democrat Wendy Davis insisted Tuesday she'll break her party's two-decade Texas losing streak and win the governor's race, saying turnout from long-disillusioned voters will be stronger than expected and enough to overcome her opponent's sizeable leads in campaign cash and opinion polls.
"In November, we will win and the people know it," Davis told about 100 cheering supporters at a Democratic campaign gathering in Austin.
A Democrat hasn't captured statewide office in Texas since 1994 and poll after poll has shown Davis struggling to make up ground against heavily favored Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott. In comments to reporters a short time later, Davis said, "The polls are going to go back and forth and up and down, and I'll leave it to the pundits to determine what that means to them."
"I trust the voters of Texas to understand why this race is so important and I believe that they are showing up and I believe they're going to vote," Davis said.
More at http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/texas/wendy-davis-to-speak-to-media-in-austin/ngtyQ/ .
GOP AG candidate Ken Paxton named in State Bar grievance
A legal ethics group Tuesday filed a State Bar of Texas grievance alleging that state Sen. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, violated conflict-of-interest rules when he failed to register as an investment adviser representative.
Paxton, the Republican candidate for attorney general, accepted a reprimand and $1,000 fine from the State Securities Board in May for soliciting clients for a Texas investment firm without registering, as required by state law, and without disclosing that he would receive 30 percent of management fees.
The grievance by Erica Gammill, acting executive director of the Texas Coalition on Lawyer Accountability, said Paxton “committed a criminal act that reflects adversely on his honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer.”
Paxton spokesman Anthony Holm called the filing a political stunt. “The acting executive director of this organization is ill-informed and not even a licensed lawyer, continuing a pattern of politically motivated attempts to create headlines by liberal activists.”
More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/ken-paxton-named-in-state-bar-grievance/ngwR3/ .
[font color=green]Possible felony charges and disbarment make him an excellent choice for AG.[/font] 
Rick Perry Goes On CNN To Make Absurd Claims Associating Immigrants To Terrorists
Governor Rick Perry went on CNN's State of the Union this week to gain more media exposure regarding his recent political theatrical stunts on the border crisis and immigration.
During the interview, host Candy Crowley put Perry on the spot on his decision to send the National Guard down to the border, and how people are saying Perry is only doing so out of personal motives to run for president again in 2016.
"And, Governor, to those who say that you're calling up of the National Guard in Texas is a part of your road to become president and to run for president again, your response is?" asked Crowley.
The question gave Perry the perfect opportunity to come up with one of his most absurd claims yet: Linking Central American child refugees and other immigrants to terrorists from South Asia.
More to the story and video at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/15539/watch-rick-perry-goes-on-cnn-to-make-absurd-claims-associating-immigrants-to-terrorists .
Perry, Dewhurst Take Unearned Credit for Drop in Migrant Crossings
When troopers with the Department of Public Safety first started deploying to the border in June, DPS made clear that they weren’t going to be taking any part in enforcing immigration laws. DPS—much like the forthcoming National Guard deployment—would be on the border solely to assist with law enforcement efforts, like cracking down on drug smugglers. Gov. Rick Perry and others agreed: The deployments were about crime, not the migrants themselves.
But now apprehensions are apparently declining on part of the Texas border, and Texas lawmakers are eager to take credit, even there’s no evidence that the drop in apprehensions has anything to do with Texas’ border surge. To the contrary, the most likely explanations have to do with factors far out of the hands of Texas government. State lawmakers are also changing their story; now the border operations are about immigration enforcement, not stopping drug runners and traffickers.
Gov. Rick Perry was one of the first to take credit for the drop in apprehensions. At his press conference on July 21 announcing the deployment of the National Guard, he credited DPS for staunching the flow. “Apprehensions have dropped 36 percent, from more than 6,600 per week, to 4,200 per week,” Perry said. “This is a clear indication that the increased patrol presence” of DPS and other law enforcement efforts is “having a deterrent effect.”
(I asked Perry’s office for the source of the figures, and the office referred me to DPS. I’ll update when I hear back.)
But last week, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst went much further. On Friday morning, Dewhurst joined Fox News host Bill Hemmer to talk about the border crisis—but an ebullient Dewhurst had one thing in particular he wanted to say.
“As a result of our surge with our state police, Bill, over the last five weeks, we’ve been able to shut down and reduce illegal immigration” in a 60-mile stretch of the “Rio Grande Valley by some 50 percent,” he said. It was a great success, he said, even though the reduction had come at a cost of “$17 or $18 million a month” and the Texas-Mexico border is 1,254 miles long.
More at http://www.texasobserver.org/rick-perry-dewhurst-take-unearned-credit-for-drop-in-migrant-crossings/ .
Marlin detective on administrative leave after Facebook rant about SNAP beneficiaries
Marlin Police Chief Darrell Allen, left, poses with detective Rob Douglas, right, with cards and sacks of candy that school children created as a way of saying “thank you” during National Police Officer Week in May 2013. (The Marlin Democrat— Steve Snyder)
----------
Marlin, Texas -- A Marlin police detective is under investigation and has been put on administrative leave after allegedly posting a rant on Facebook, Marlin Police Chief Darrell Allen said Monday.
A post on Marlin detective Rob Douglas’ Facebook page centered around how it frustrates him to go grocery shopping at the first of the month with people who receive public assistance or food stamps but who may have tattoos or expensive tire rims on their vehicles.
“I love being able to see how the useless lazy turd bags spend the hard earned money my working friends and I provided for them so they can sit of (sic) their lazy asses all month and drink the beer I am paying for. I especially love it in the summer so I can admire the thousands of dollars of ink they have adorning their unclean bodies as they smile at me with that mouth full of bling,” the post stated.
The rant ended with: “I promise, if I ever snap and go on a killing spree, it will be in a supermarket on the first.”
More at http://www.wacotrib.com/news/marlin-detective-on-administrative-leave-after-facebook-rant/article_496c2e0c-d28f-5f9e-9743-36024254bf1a.html (Waco Tribune)
[font color=green]Well, isn't that special![/font]
Billionaire Musk chooses South Texas site for SpaceX launchpad
SpaceX has chosen a South Texas site to build its planned commercial rocket launch facility,Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office said Monday.
Texas is offering $2.3 million in incentives to SpaceX from the Enterprise fund, the governor's office said. The state is offering $13 million from the Spaceport Trust Fund to the Cameron County Spaceport Development Corp. The Spaceport Trust Fun is used to support the development of infrastructure necessary for establishing a spaceport.
Founded by billionaire Elon Musk, SpaceX plans to build the world's first private, commercial vertical rocket launch site. The proposed South Texas site — which is at Boca Chica, a remote beach surrounded by wildlife areas about 20 miles east of Brownsville — had been competing with sites in Florida and Georgia for the launch facility.
SpaceX getting the state incentives money is contingent on approval of local incentives deal, the governor's office said. The facility is expected to create 300 jobs and bring $85 million in capital investment into the local economy.
More at http://www.dallasnews.com/business/business-headlines/20140804-billionaire-musk-chooses-south-texas-site-for-spacex-launchpad.ece .
GOP Left Us With A Flaming Bag of Dog Poo
By Carol MorganFeeling as if you’ve been pelted by hailstones this week?
Yeah, me too. Deadly pestilence, plagues, wars, violence and wholesale disorder lurks in every corner of the globe. 18th century anyone?
Yet, others are underwhelmed. While a child was dying every other hour in Gaza, people were picking sides, as if Israel and Gaza were sports teams. As Syrian refugee numbers crept into 12 million, the headlines featured Kim Kardashian and her grossly fat and heavily-insured behind. Even the AJ took a dip into journalistic frippery with its story about a bare-chested Kingsberry.
Are people really this empathy-challenged? Or is stupidity and shallowness the new American exceptionalism?
I feel sure that most of the corporate media was snickering in the corner, laughing at how they manipulated us. Certainly, you can find truth and an appropriate degree of gravitas in some media, but it won’t be those websites with a lot of pictures, videos, white space, and advertisements.
Even education is drinking deeply from the river of absurdity. An education blogger was fired for writing a blog about homophones; his supervisor said he was promoting a gay agenda. Principals bragged about teaching entrepreneurial skills to kindergarteners. (what happened to teaching them to read and think first?)
Closer to home in Texas, Rick Perry jumps the gun on an election that will cost Lubbock County over a quarter of a million dollars and he attempts some foreign policy to strengthen his new image for 2016.
A portrait of the complete and total corruption of Greg Abbott finally emerged; a beneficial state ruling purchased by Farmers Insurance and more Koch money that compromises Texan’s health and safety. Come next year, if Ken Paxton is elected Texas might have an attorney general facing disbarment and a felony indictment.
In the past, all of this would have been a bombshell, but now everyone yawns and plays another round of Candy Crush.
We’re like the 2006 cult-film, Idiocracy; where America's favorite TV show is "Ow! My Balls!" and the award winning film is entitled "Ass"; a dystopian state with a disdain for intellectualism and love for commercialism, an unthinking population devoid of curiosity, social responsibility, and a coherent notion of justice or human rights.
Sometimes, I have to watch cat videos to prevent me from setting my hair on fire and jumping naked off the MetroTower, out of total frustration with people’s intellectual density and apathy. It’s a writer ethical duty to sound the alarm, but no one is listening.
The last and final straw, the coup de grâce, was the action taken by our comical Congress. So many problems in America are screaming out for solutions and they decide to sue the President. It’s like an eerie déjà vu of the $24 million dollar shutdown, with the same whale-obsessed lunatic Captain Ahab at the helm, Senator Ted Cruz, a man in love with himself.
How Congress spends their time in Washington shows clearly what they value. And the fact that they fled for their five week vacation immediately after announcing their litigious intentions, is an indication of their unabashed cowardice.
Just like adolescent boys, they left a flaming bag of dog poo on the Capitol steps and ran away giggling; hiding in a dark and obscure place to gauge the nation’s reaction.
Our Congressman Randy Neugebauer will be coming home soon; after he visits his son in Puerto Rico to see how the tax-free family business is doing. You know it’s an election year, when the Congressman offers a deadly overdose of newsletters, a constituent survey full of political omissions, a bunch of Right-Wing radio and television appearances and a tsunami of Bernays-like talking points that don’t mean anything.
Mr. Neugebauer will be holding a town hall meeting on August 12 from 5-6 p.m. at the Southcrest Baptist Church, 3801 S. Loop 289.
The location of this meeting puzzles me. Perhaps, he thinks people will be more inclined to civility in a church setting, or maybe, it’s to discourage dancing.
Whatever the reason, we all should be there. We need to ask Mr. Neugebauer why it’s more important to sue the President than take care of the hornet’s nest of problems facing America and District 19.
93 days remain until the mid-terms (not counting the politically-convenient special election in September) and people MUST take a stand.
The U.S. House and Senate has failed to govern.
The U.S. House and Senate has failed to do its job.
Their failure is not an accident, but a deliberate attempt to cause government to fail. The GOP has a severe case of myopia and this short-sightedness is hurting America.
Regardless of their rhetoric, the GOP does not care. They have a united goal. They will not be deterred.
If we want government to work, voters must AT LEAST elect those who WANT it to work.
District 19 voters took a really dumb detour back in 1979 when George Mahon retired and they elected the Ding-Dong-Daddy from Dimmitt to Congress. And we’ve been taking increasingly irresponsible turns ever since, in wrong-headed attempts to get back on the right road to representation.
The further into the dark wood we go, the harder it will be to get back to the main road. Your carefully considered vote will be the one to return us to sanity and away from the P.T. Barnum circus in which we’re now trapped.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carol Morgan is a career/college counselor, writer, speaker, former Democratic candidate for the Texas House and the award-winning author of Of Tapestry, Time and Tears, a historical fiction about the 1947 Partition of India. Read her work at the Houston Press and MetroLeader News Service. Email Carol at elizabethcmorgan@sbcglobal.net , follow her on Twitter and on Facebook or visit her writer’s blog at www.carolmorgan.org
http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/carol-morgan/2014-08-03/gop-left-us-flaming-bag-dog-poo#.U-AB9GNCz2Q
Permission granted to post in its entirety.
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: 112,142
