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Kory Watkins (R-Fedora), leader of Open Carry Tarrant County will meet today along with hundreds of his friends at a Kroger in a mostly black and Hispanic area of Arlington, Texas for what they are calling the Massive March Against Police Overreach & Brutality.

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Kory has invited some 5,200 people and 486 have said they plan to attend. Another 128 answered with ‘maybe’ as to whether they’re going.

Kroger is currently the target of a very public campaign to end open carry in stores, so it seems he’s using recent tragedies to further his agenda.

To add to that, he’ll be wearing a “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” t-shirt while carrying a rifle.


This is Zack and he will be attending. It appears that he drives around naked. It’s against Kroger’s policies to allow someone without their shirt on inside of their stores, but openly carrying firearms is cool.

Read more: http://www.alan.com/2014/12/06/armed-open-carry-group-to-wear-hands-up-dont-shoot-t-shirts-at-kroger-no-really/

Photo By Marie DeJesus / Houston Chronicle

Protesters took to the streets and to the stores at the Houston Galleria and the surrounding areas Saturday to voice their displeasure with the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and the Eric Garner case in New York City.

Photos on Twitter showed protesters holding signs near stores such as Gucci, Saks Fifth Avenue, Microsoft and the Galleria’s skating rink. One sign called former Ferguson officer Darren Wilson a murderer.

As protesters marched with signs, it looked like business as usual inside the Apple store's second floor location.

Some participants were lying on the ground in protest -- a pose being called a "die in" at sites around the country. One "die in" was held outside the Prada store, according to a photo on Twitter. While ice-skaters glided on the Galleria's ice rink, protesters a floor above lay on the ground in the pose.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Houston-s-Galleria-sees-Ferguson-and-Garner-5939992.php

Longtime Brazos County Democratic Party Chair Maggie Charleton has begun her round of goodbyes in time to have them completed by the New Year.

On Dec. 31, Charleton and her husband, Gene, have plans to move to Asheville, North Carolina to start living out their retirement years.

"It's a real progressive city with a lot of the feel of Austin, except a lot smaller," she said, adding they chose the location because of the climate and culture.

Charleton retired as a veteran special needs teacher in College Station in 2004, which is when she said she was asked to manage the Democratic party office by her predecessor.

Read more: http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/longtime-brazos-county-democratic-party-chair-maggie-charleton-retiring-to/article_04b2c239-86c6-5af6-b9d9-66cae26415c6.html

DEPARTMENT STORE SANTAS, TIMES 2  | A disgruntled gay elf (Garret Storms, above) recounts the horrors of working for Macy’s in WTT’s ‘The Santaland Diaries,’ while in DCT’s ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’ Kris Kringle (Francis Fusilier, left) transforms a family. (Photos by Karen Almond)

[font size=4]You can be of good queer this Christmas with our rundown of seasonal classics, old & new.[/font]

Christmas is a time for family (and sometimes recovering from family), cheer, alcohol, more alcohol and finding things to do indoors where ugly sweaters are welcome. And there’s no reason you can’t gay it up, whether it’s watching hot men in tights (The Nutcracker!), seeing plays with gay plotlines (The Santaland Diaries!), enjoying some campy musicals (the British panto!) or just taking the folks out to a family-friendly show with a longstanding tradition of good will, preferably with man named Ebenezer leading the way (A Christmas Carol!).

We’ve rounded up most of the Christmas-themed plays, musicals and ballets, and added in some fundraising performances (Uptown Players gets candy caned! Leslie Jordan is back!) plus some community events that help you keep the yuletide gay.

— Arnold Wayne Jones

Dance and theater

The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky’s celebrated ballet — beautiful romantic music throughout — is perhaps the most revered of holiday traditions. The Texas Ballet Theater mounts its annual version from Sir Ben Stevenson, once again with performances both in Dallas and Fort Worth.

Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St. Dec. 5–7.
Bass Performance Hall, 525 Commerce St., Fort Worth. Dec. 12–27. TexasBalletTheater.org.

Read more: http://www.dallasvoice.com/keeping-yuletide-gay-10185669.html

The cliché is that gay folks have great bodies they love to show off in the summer with skimpy bikinis. That’s false. Many, many gays also have great bodies they like to cover in ugly sweaters while showing their prowess shushing down the slopes.

Gay ski weeks have been around nearly 40 years, and continue to grow in popularity. Whether you’re an experienced skier or snowboarder, or merely a cold-loving après-skier who likes to cuddle by the fire and attend the many social events gay ski organizers offer, there’s something for you. Here’s our annual rundown of the major North American gay ski weeks for 2015.

Aspen Gay & Lesbian Ski Week, Aspen, Colo. Jan. 11–18. The granddaddy of gay ski weeks takes place (for the 38th time) in Aspen, kicking off the season when the new year is still in its infancy. Featuring a “four mountains, one ticket” deal for as little as $250, you can hit a different slope all weekend long with the “mountain du jour” plan. Keep this in mind, though: The $375 black diamond pass is all about unfettered access to the parties, not the lifts. Every day also features and après ski hot tub party, as well as dance parties, a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, fashion events, whiskey and costume contests. GaySkiWeek.com.

Winter Rendezvous XXXI, Stowe, Vt. Jan. 21–25. On the other side of the continent, Stowe, Vt.’s Winter Rendezvous party touts its “five days of wintry bliss” for the 31st time. From the opening night party to entertainment by Bianca del Rio and Dixie Longate to an ice sculpture carving competition to performances from DJ Mary Alice and the unexpected indoor pool party (hey, those bikini bodies will be useful after all!), there’s fun for all. WinterRendezvous.com.

Read more: http://www.dallasvoice.com/snowmosexuals-10185683.html

Flanked by 24 newly-elected Republican members of the Texas House, the chairman of the House Committee on the Fiscal Impact of Texas Border Security Operations Friday unveiled a half billion dollar invoice for what he says the federal government owes Texas for a failure to secure the border.

“When Washington fails to act, Texas pays the price,” said Rep. Dennis Bonnen, the Angleton legislator who chairs the special committee, which met Thursday. “To date, Texas is on the hook for over half a billion dollars in services and security costs due to the failure and inaction of our federal government, and that is the most conservative number.”

Bonnen said he was sending a copy of the “invoice” to the White House and members of the Texas Congressional delegation, and that Glenn Hegar has pledged to send the bill to Washington in a more formal manner when he takes office as comptroller in January.

“If Washington is not going to secure the border, they can at least pay the cost of their failure,” Bonnen said.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/gop-lawmakers-sending-dc-half-billion-dollar-bill-/njMLd/

Southern Methodist University is expected to cut up to $35 million in annual operating expenses through layoffs and administrative changes in an effort to curb rising costs, even as the school continues its billion-dollar capital campaign.

The surprise decision to rein in finances follows a series of high-dollar expenditures in fiscal 2013 that included the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library, a change in the school’s athletic conference, consulting fees for a branding study to boost the school’s national reputation and 3 percent salary increases, according to a recent ratings update from Moody’s Investors Service.

Moody’s notes that the university has reached its debt capacity under its current rating and has “very thin liquidity” compared with similar universities, but it gives it a stable outlook. SMU has an Aa3 rating from Moody’s, the fourth-highest credit rating, and lags behind similar universities such as Vanderbilt, Emory and Notre Dame.

Staff affected by the layoffs are expected to be notified early next year, Chris Regis, SMU’s chief business and financial officer, said Thursday in an email.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/park-cities/headlines/20141204-smu-plans-layoffs-other-changes-to-cut-35-million.ece

[font color=green]Unfortunate news for the #2 Methodist affiliated university in Texas (with #1 being my alma mater, of course).[/font]

CHICAGO – Broken ribs can now be added to the list of injuries Tony Romo has been fighting through this season.

The Dallas Cowboys quarterback revealed during a postgame interview Thursday night on the NFL Network that on top of overcoming December back surgery and dealing with a pair of transverse process fractures, he has also been playing through broken ribs.

Romo said during his postgame press conference that the fractures in his back are close to being healed. He then added: “It’ll be nice when it’s just about the back improving instead of all the other little junk.”

Romo had a bounce-back performance Thursday night while leading the Cowboys to a 41-28 victory over the Chicago Bears.

Read more: http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/add-ribs-to-the-list-of-injuries-that-tony-romo-has-been-playing-through.html/

A former Beaumont school district employee and two others who conspired to commit fraud against the district pleaded guilt to their charges today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Giblin.

Daryl Johnson, a former warehouse supervisor, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in an embezzelemt of $284,000.

Johnson pleaded guilty in signing time sheets for his wife, Erin Johnson, and for his "sometime girlfriend," Kailyn DeShondra Pete. Both women pleaded guilty to fraud and accepted five-year probated sentences. Neither worked for the school district.

Daryl Johnson has not yet reached a sentencing agreement.

Read more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Former-BISD-warehouseman-2-women-plead-guilty-5935616.php

At the Texas Capitol Thursday night, protestors gathered to show solidarity with demonstrators in New York, Ferguson, Missouri and other cities around the nation, demanding police be held accountable in several high-profile deaths at the hands of officers.

The protest comes a day ahead of the arraignment of former Austin Police Detective Charles Kleinert, who shot and killed Larry Jackson, Jr. last year. Jackson was black and was unarmed. Kleinert was indicted on manslaughter charges and is expected to plead not guilty on Friday in a Travis County court.

http://kut.org/post/austin-protestors-show-solidarity-ferguson-ny-demonstrators