July 21, 2014

Debate begins as hundreds of immigrant minors head to Karnes City

KARNES CITY — It has been more than two years since a tan, blue and red building opened on this town's west entrance to help deal with the nation's immigration system.

Touted as a “civil,” more humane kind of facility for immigrants, the Karnes County Civil Detention Center faced little opposition, other than criticism from immigrant advocates and some members of Congress who called on officials to improve detention conditions for immigrants.

That was then.

Now, there's some feeling among locals that they are going to be overwhelmed.

As of last week, the privately run prison removed the men it housed there to make way for up to 500 undocumented children and women scheduled to take their place.

It would be a sudden, unofficial population boom for this town of more than 3,000 souls 60 miles southeast of San Antonio, where 18-wheelers and pickup trucks seem more common than cars. Here, agriculture is big and oil rigs jut from the roadsides as they dip into and out of the earth for liquid gold in the Eagle Ford Shale.

More at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Debate-begins-as-hundreds-of-immigrant-minors-5634347.php#photo-6621689 .

[font color=green]Karnes City is about 125 miles from the border.[/font]

July 21, 2014

Gov. Rick Perry to deploy 1,000 National Guard troops to Rio Grande Valley

Texas Gov. Rick Perry plans to announce he will activate the Texas National Guard at a news conference Monday in Austin, said state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen.

Hinojosa did not have details of the effort, but an internal memo from another state official’s office said the governor planned to call about 1,000 National Guard troops to the Rio Grande Valley — at a cost of about $12 million per month.

The memo was provided to The Monitor on the condition of anonymity because the information is not yet public.

National Guard troops are expected to enter the area gradually, building up to 1,000 after about a month, the memo said.

More at http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/gov-rick-perry-to-deploy-national-guard-troops-to-rgv/article_a016fb52-1073-11e4-975b-0017a43b2370.html . (McAllen Monitor)

July 21, 2014

Fox host calls out Ted Cruz’s false compassion on border crisis: Your plan ‘doesn’t help the kids’

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday declared that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and other Democrats “want” a situation where refugee children were maimed and brutalized.

In an interview on Fox News, Cruz told host Chris Wallace that Reid and President Barack Obama were holding thousands of children “ransom” because they had been unwilling to “fix the problem” by deporting every undocumented immigrant child in the U.S.

“You keep talking about helping the kids,” Wallace noted. “One question I have is, how do you help the kids — I understand how it helps the United States not to allow them to come into this country — how does it help the kids to just say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to stay in Central America.’”

“You talk about the violence in Central America, the murder rate in some of these countries,” Wallace added. “I’m not saying it’s our responsibility to help the kids, but it doesn’t help the kids.”

More, including video, at http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/20/fox-host-calls-out-ted-cruzs-false-compassion-on-border-crisis-your-plan-doesnt-help-the-kids/ .

July 20, 2014

World Lacrosse Championships (Spoiler Alert)

Championship Game:
Canada 8, USA 5

3rd Place Game:
Iriquois Nationals 16, Australia 5

5th Place Game:
England 15, Scotland 13

7th Place Game:
Israel 15, Japan 10

9th Place Game:
Germany 8, Ireland 6

11th Place Game:
Sweden 8, New Zealand 6

13th Place Game:
Finland 11, Czech Republic 7

15th Place Game:
Switzerland 9, Netherlands 6

Other games at http://www.worldlacrosse2014.com/nations/schedule .

July 20, 2014

Video: Texas voters say they wouldn’t vote for ‘a known heterosexual’ for President

These voters in the US state of Texas apparently got in a bit of a mix up when they were asked whether they would vote for a heterosexual candidate for US President.

So used to stating that they would not vote for a gay candidate, the respondents in this video state their opposition to “a known heterosexual.”

One man goes on to say some scary things about what he would do to gay people, given the chance.

The video was posted by YouTuber Joseph Costello, and was recorded in Austin, Texas.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/07/18/video-texas-voters-say-they-wouldnt-vote-for-a-known-heterosexual-for-president/

Cross-posted in the Texas Group.

July 20, 2014

Video: Texas voters say they wouldn’t vote for ‘a known heterosexual’ for President

These voters in the US state of Texas apparently got in a bit of a mix up when they were asked whether they would vote for a heterosexual candidate for US President.

So used to stating that they would not vote for a gay candidate, the respondents in this video state their opposition to “a known heterosexual.”

One man goes on to say some scary things about what he would do to gay people, given the chance.

The video was posted by YouTuber Joseph Costello, and was recorded in Austin, Texas.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/07/18/video-texas-voters-say-they-wouldnt-vote-for-a-known-heterosexual-for-president/

Cross-posted in the Video & Multimedia forum.

July 20, 2014

OMG,

I just went to Yahoo and nobody connected to the Kardashian clan was mentioned in the Top 10 Trending Now column!

July 19, 2014

Day 2 of anti-immigrant protests in Lubbock: Twice the crowd! Two people show up.

After learning about a two-day anti-immigration protest that started Friday, Molina decided to counter-protest Saturday, standing at the corner of 42nd Street and Interstate 27 in Lubbock holding a sign reading, “This land is your land. This land is my land. ... This land was made for you and me.”

About one-hour into the event, two anti-immigration protesters arrived without signs. They were disappointed by the turnout and stayed for about 30 minutes before leaving. The group of about 10 counter-protesters left shortly thereafter.

“We thought we were going to support the (anti-immigration protesters),” said Bud Hefley of Portales, New Mexico. “Apparently they’re not very organized.”

The complete story is at http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-07-19/anti-immigration-protest-draws-larger-counter-protest-group#comment-342446 .

[font color=green]BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! [/font]

Related thread:
One person shows up to Lubbock protest on undocumented immigrants
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107819623

July 19, 2014

Rick Perry's Criminal Defense Has Cost Texas Taxpayers Thousands, And the Bill Keeps Growing

Last week, the San Antonio Express-News reported that Texas taxpayers "have picked up a tab topping $40,000 so far for the defense lawyer hired to represent Gov. Rick Perry in a grand jury investigation over whether he misused his power with a veto threat."

Rick Perry is currently under investigation for potential bribery, coercion, and abuse of office. What's being investigated is his attempt to force Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign after her DUI last year.

When the grand jury investigation began, Perry hired the former president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, David Botsford, to defend him. Botsford charges $450 an hour--luckily for Perry, he's not the one paying the bill. Instead, that has fallen to Texas taxpayers.

That's right, taxpayers are the ones responsible for footing the $450 an hour bill to defend Rick Perry from possible corruption charges.

More at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/15475/rick-perrys-criminal-defense-has-cost-texas-taxpayers-thousands-and-the-bill-keeps-growing .

July 19, 2014

Dozens injured when prison roof collapses in Diboll, Texas

Multiple inmates at a private prison in East Texas have been injured after the facility's roof collapsed earlier this afternoon.

Authorities from Diboll, a city of about 5,000 nearly two hours east of Houston, said multiple people had been hurt, but did not have an exact number.

Local news reports claimed about 40 people had been injured and were being taken to area hospitals by helicopter and ambulance.

A cause of the collapse is not known.

The Diboll Correctional Center, which was established in 1995, can hold up to 518 people, sits on about 100 acres of land, employs more than 100 people.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Dozens-injured-when-prison-roof-collapses-in-E-5632932.php