Arlington Is Hellbent on Keeping Armed Libertarians -- and Little Leaguers -- Off Its Streets

Over the summer, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor sided with Open Carry Tarrant County's Kory Watkins and struck down as unconstitutional an Arlington city ordinance banning people from distributing literature -- in his case copies of the Constitution -- to passing motorists. According to a brief prepared by the city attorney's office, the fallout was swift and disastrous.

"Within two weeks of Judge O'Connor's ruling on July 14, 2014, the City of Arlington received a request from a little league baseball team seeking permission to solicit donations on Cooper Street in the City of Arlington," the brief says. "The little league team sought to raise money for a little league trip by handing out bottled water on Cooper Street as a method for soliciting donations."

Next thing you know, the Girl Scouts will be wanting to hawk their absurdly delicious cookies from the Interstate 30 shoulder. A chilling prospect on its face, but in case the thinness of the line between gun-toting libertarians passing out Constitutions and Girl Scouts distributing cholesterol-laden desserts didn't sufficiently alarm the Arlington City Council, the city's lawyers provided some gruesome traffic statistics. Over the past four-and-a-half years, 625 pedestrians have been run over in Arlington. Thirty-three of them died.

It's not clear that any of the deaths involved people handing out literature. The 7-month-old baby killed along Cooper Street in May doesn't appear to have been doing so. But the sheer volume of pedestrian accidents convinced city officials that an ordinance barring pamphleteers from wandering out into the street was desperately needed.

Read more: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2014/10/arlington_still_hellbent_on_keeping_gun-toting_libertarians_and_little_leaguers_off_its_streets.php

Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick hold commanding leads in latest poll (by KHOU-TV and Houston Public Media)

Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick, Republican candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, are leading their Democratic opponents by double-digit margins, a new poll out of Houston shows.

In the contest for governor, Texas Attorney Abbott has the support of 47 percent of the voters statewide, compared to 32 percent for Democratic rival Wendy Davis, a state senator from Fort Worth, according to results of a poll by KHOU-TV and Houston Public Media.

Bob Stein, a Rice University political scientist and KHOU analyst who supervised the poll, told the television station that “it’s very hard to imagine that you can reverse a double-digit lead.”

Libertarian Kathy Glass and Green Party Candidate Brandon Parmer each have 1 percent support statewide in their bids for governor, the poll reported. And 17 percent of respondents said they didn’t have an opinion on the candidates or did not answer.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/poll-gop-candidates-at-top-of-ticket-lead-dems-by-/nhnS8/

[font color=green]Let's prove them wrong, GOTV![/font]

Cowboys' Joseph Randle stole underwear, now will endorse it

Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle, who was arrested Monday on a misdemeanor charge for allegedly shoplifting a pack of underwear and a bottle of cologne at a Frisco Dillard's department store, will now be a spokesperson for an underwear company.

MeUndies will pay Randle enough to help defray the cost of the reported $29,500 fine the Cowboys imposed on him.

Randle and MeUndies will also donate 15,000 worth of underwear and basic apparel to children in the Dallas area.

A statement by the company posted to Twitter read:

Randle would like to take full responsibility for his actions, and take this time to not only apologize to his fans, teammates and coaches, but the entire NFL, the Dallas Cowboys Organization and the department store for what took place. He saw this partnership as an opportunity to turn a negative situation into a positive and teamed up (sic) MeUndies to give back to his community and help families in need. Every mistake can be a teaching opportunity if you are willing to take advantage of it."

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-cowboys/headlines/20141019-cowboys-joseph-randle-stole-underwear-now-will-endorse-it.ece

Texan's truck has possibly the most racist decal ever

2nd nurse's Ebola case may have been worse than thought

Local Attorneys Gearing Up For Ebola Lawsuits

The rhetoric from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurses in the last several days has been vehement. Nurses are anonymously alleging that the hospital did not take proper steps to prevent contamination and infection, which ultimately led to nurses Amber Vinson and Nina Pham contracting Ebola from patient Thomas Eric Duncan. "In the end, the nurses strongly feel unsupported, unprepared, deserted and lied to in preparing for this," said National Nurses United spokesperson Deborah Burger in a press conference on Wednesday.

And Texas Health Resources is scrambling to counteract the claims. "National Nurses United recently made allegations regarding the protocols and equipment in place during Thomas Eric Duncan's treatment at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. The assertions do not reflect actual facts learned from the medical record and interactions with clinical caregivers," said spokesperson Candace White in an e-mail statement. "Our hospital followed the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines and sought additional guidance and clarity."

Still, chances are good that when the outbreak has subsided, Presbyterian's owner, Texas Health Resources, along with the CDC and any other group involved in treating the virus will be facing several lawsuits. Charla Aldous, a lead attorney with Aldous Law Firm in Dallas, said she could not give any details, but confirmed that someone involved in the Ebola outbreak has reached out to her about a possible suit. "I have been contacted, but cannot disclose the names," she says. "I have not yet been formally retained."

But it's clear the lawyers at Aldous are gearing up for a fight. Brent Walker, another attorney at the firm, outlined the lengthy legal avenue that -- hypothetically, of course -- an attorney could take if either Duncan's contacts or employees at Presbyterian decided to take sue.

Read more: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2014/10/local_attorneys_gearing_up_for_ebola_lawsuits.php

Oklahoma Teen Killed Family Before Spending UT/OU Weekend in Dallas, Prosecutors Say

Alan Hruby is a 19-year-old shopaholic.

"There is no bigger rush then {sic} getting to the register at a store and swiping your credit card. And in that moment you are waiting for the screen to say, 'Approved' you start to get heart palpitations and you get a rush of adrenaline. By the time she is handing your stuff to you, you are so high on adrenaline, the $15,000 total does not even phase [sic] you until you've gotten home and seen the receipts," Hruby said in a now-deleted February blog post.

Hruby brags about his shoe collection, about the points he earns on his numerous credit cards. He doesn't mention the criminal charge for opening a credit card in his grandmother's name and spending $5,000 on a six-week trip to Europe provided by his parents, nor his assault of his mother two years ago after a fight about money.

According to The Oklahoman, Hruby told investigators earlier this week that he owed a Norman, Oklahoma, loan company $3,000 and that he believed he would be the sole heir to any inheritance were the rest of his family to die. So, prosecutors say, he killed them.

Read more: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2014/10/oklahoma_teen_killed_family_partied_at_texas_ou.php

Outrage Grows After Greg Abbott Insults Millions By Calling Disabled Americans “Props”

Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis is calling on her Republican opponent Greg Abbott to apologize as a backlashing is growing after a top Abbott advisor referred to people with disabilities as, “props.”

The Abbott campaign went insane after Lamar White Jr., a law student who has cerebral palsy, spoke at a press conference in support of Davis. According to the Austin-American Statesman, ‘After horrendous wheelchair attack ad, Wendy Davis uses disabled people as props,’ David Carney, a top Abbott adviser, tweeted about Monday’s news conference.”

While trying to use Greg Abbott’s disability to attack Wendy Davis, Republicans leveled a vicious slur against all Americans with disabilities. Wendy Davis responded by demanding an apology, “Greg Abbott needs to apologize for the disgusting attacks on the disabled community by his top campaign staff. They can criticize me all they want. However, referring to a brave young man with cerebral palsy as a “prop” in order to dismiss his views about Greg Abbott’s hypocrisy of suing a homeowner for a multi-million dollar settlement while denying that same opportunity to rape survivors and paralyzed patients is out-of-bounds.”

Many members of the media on the left and right reacted to the Davis ad with visceral emotional reaction. Disability is still viewed by many as a taboo subject in American culture. The unspoken message that many differently abled Americans understand is that they are to be neither seen nor heard.

Read more: http://www.politicususa.com/2014/10/14/outrage-grows-greg-abbott-insults-millions-calling-disabled-americans-props.html

Hero Cat Saves World From Another G**d** F*ing Ukulele Cover

This video has become popular today as a short vignette about how cats are selfish and malicious and constantly interrupting your Important Human Business. Slice of life, right? We can all relate to those wacky cats! They're annoying as hell, but we love 'em anyway.

Well, that's certainly one (wrong) way of looking at it. The real protagonist of the video is the cat, who just saved us from another goddamn fucking ukelele cover of that "dentists and the dark" song.

He's not an asshole, he's a champion of taste and quality in a Vance Joy's "Riptide" world. The cat is the reason this video lasts 30 seconds instead of three-and-a-half minutes, which already makes him more likable than most people.

http://gawker.com/hero-cat-saves-world-from-another-goddamn-fucking-ukele-1646738964

No Ebola - Lubbock hospital official says state won't test; will be released, monitored

A Lubbock man exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms does not have Ebola and the state will not test him, University Medical Center spokesman Eric Finley confirmed Thursday afternoon.

“The patient will be released and monitored by the Lubbock Health Department,” Finley said in a text message.

-snip-

Lubbock police confirmed the man had recently traveled to the Ivory Coast in Africa.

Chris Teague, EMS director, said there were other people present in the house where the patient was found, but they were not the patient’s family. Those individuals are currently being attended to with all necessary protocols, he said.

Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-10-16/no-ebola-lubbock-hospital-official-says-state-wont-test-will-be-released#.VEAcRRbuPoF