July 28, 2015

Piñata party costs GOP official his job

SANTA FE – A Santa Fe County Republican Party official has been removed from his post for organizing an anti-Donald Trump piñata event last week, an act the county chairwoman says violated the party’s primary election neutrality rule.

Ignacio Padilla said he plans to fight the vote removing him from his position as treasurer of the Santa Fe County GOP, adding that he organized the Trump piñata bashing as an individual act of free speech, not as a county party official.

“I have the right to challenge anything I see that offends me,” Padilla said in an interview Monday.

But county GOP Chairwoman Jo Ann Eastham said Padilla had previously been warned not to go forward with the event. She also said an internal rule requires elected party officers to remain neutral in primary elections, or contests between members of the same party.

Read more: http://www.abqjournal.com/619244


Rogelio Cruz hits a Donald Trump piñata on the Santa Fe Plaza last week during an anti-Trump event organized by GOP county official Ignacio Padilla. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)

July 28, 2015

Lafayette theater gunman was not involuntarily committed, didn’t enter database restriction gun righ

The gunman who shot 11 people in a Lafayette movie theater last week wasn’t added to a database of people prohibited from buying firearms because he had not been involuntarily committed, Georgia officials said Monday, although John “Rusty” Houser’s troubled mental health did send him into hospital care.

These statements help explain how Houser legally bought a handgun at a Phenix City, Alabama, pawn shop in 2014, six years after his family sought court protection from him, alleging he’d been violent.

Court records show a Carroll County, Georgia, judge ordered Houser to be apprehended for a psychiatric evaluation in 2008, but there are no records Houser was subsequently committed involuntarily, a different process that requires a formal hearing before a judge.

“If there had been an adjudication of need for involuntary treatment, I would have reported that to the (Georgia Bureau of Investigations),” said Marc D’Antonio, a Muscogee County, Georgia, probate judge who was the clerk of that court in 2008. D’Antonio would have had jurisdiction over any commitments to the Columbus hospital where Houser was sent for evaluation.

Read more: http://theadvocate.com/news/13025524-123/lafayette-theater-gunman-was-not

July 28, 2015

Squee alert! San Antonio Zoo welcomes three African lion cubs

The San Antonio Zoo announced Monday three African lion cubs were born Saturday.

The first-time parents are “Tau" and “Sarabi,” who came to the Zoo in Nov. 2013 from Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon, according to a news release.

Sarabi started showing signs of impending labor early on Saturday, and the first cub was born shortly after 8 p.m.

The cubs will spend the next few weeks inside a custom-made den with their mother Sarabi in order to give them time to bond. There will be a monitor set up soon to allow zoo guests to view the cubs with the mom, officials said.

Read more and see more pictures: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-Zoo-welcomes-three-African-lion-cubs-6408065.php

July 28, 2015

Suspicious packages sent to Oregon government buildings

Source: AP

SALEM, Ore. -- Authorities in Oregon are investigating suspicious packages sent to government buildings around the state.

Oregon State Police said Monday that some of the packages contained an unknown substance. Police did not say how many packages were received or which government buildings received them. Hazardous materials teams and investigators have responded to the scenes.

The East Oregonian in Pendleton reported ( http://bit.ly/1D7aELX ) that Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer was taken to a hospital for treatment and observation Monday afternoon after opening an envelope addressed to him that contained white powder. The newspaper said Palmer developed a physical reaction.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Department in southwest Oregon was among the agencies receiving the mailings. The Mail Tribune in Medford reported ( http://bit.ly/1h1c1lD ) that the department's rural office in White City discovered a package and that the department's main building was evacuated for about three hours.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/nation-world/national/article29065237.html

July 28, 2015

Just Because Trump Espouses Fascism, That Doesn't Make Him Wrong About Scott Walker

According to a new CNN poll, only a third of Republicans wish that Trump would quit the GOP race and he's the candidate most GOP voters say they want to see on the debate stage. 22% of Republicans say they think he'll be the eventual party nominee.

Not only is Trump still #1 in the national polls, he is leading in New Hampshire and coming in second in Iowa, after Scott Walker. Writing for Newsweek, Jeffrey Tucker makes the case-- without any kind of stretch at all-- that Trump is a fascist and his appeal to the Republican base isn't unlike the appeal Mussolini and Hitler made to conservatives in the 1930s. "I just heard Trump speak live," he wrote. "The speech lasted an hour, and my jaw was on the floor most of the time."

Read more: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2015/07/just-because-trump-espouses-fascism.html

July 28, 2015

8-City ‘Faith Family Freedom Tour’ Across Texas Promises Plenty Of Hilarious Anti-Gay Bigotry

Last week, we mentioned how Texas anti-LGBT leaders are planning an anti-gay hatefest at a church whose pastor is also a state representative.

That announcement came on the heels of the launch of a new anti-LGBT coalition in Dallas.

Now, if you’re still keeping track, many of the same bigots are planning an eight-city “Faith Family Freedom” tour in August, September and October:

The rallies will be held in Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas, San Antonio, Tyler, Lubbock, Corpus Christi and Waco.

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2015/07/8-city-faith-family-freedom-tour-across-texas-promises-plenty-hilarious-anti-gay-bigotry/

[font color=330099]Coming to a city near you! Get your tickets for a dazzling exhibition of homophobia.[/font]

July 28, 2015

Texas Lawmaker Claims Gay Marriages Void, Same-Sex Benefits Invalid

Apparently still unable to cope with the fact that same-sex marriage is legal, one Texas state lawmaker has chosen instead to simply live in a fantasy world.

GOP Rep. Dan Flynn (shown above with his wife, via his website) is claiming that same-sex marriage licenses issued in Texas are void, and that benefits extended to the spouses of gay state employees are invalid, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Flynn makes the absurd arguments in a request for a nonbonding (sic) opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton (right) about what current Texas law says pertaining to marriage. Flynn also asks whether action by the Legislature is required to implement same-sex marriage in Texas; whether same-sex marriage licenses issued since the high court’s ruling are valid; whether state agencies have the authority to issue benefits to same-sex couples; and what action the federal government could take to force the state to implement same-sex marriage.

But Flynn’s request for an opinion is more like an opinion itself, in which he concludes that same-sex marriage is still illegal in Texas and then asks Paxton to agree with him. This is despite the fact that pursuant to the high court’s ruling, a federal district judge enjoined Texas from enforcing its marriage bans, in DeLeon v. Perry.

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2015/07/texas-gay-marriage/

July 28, 2015

Waller County DA releases Sandra Bland’s toxicology report

AUSTIN — Sandra Bland’s toxicology report, released on Monday, showed she had levels of marijuana in her system when she died.

The report detailed little new information and was brief. Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis said additional tests will be conducted. After releasing the toxicology on Monday, he declined to comment on the findings. Mathis also announced he is forming an independent committee of former prosecutors and defense attorneys to review evidence about the arrest and death of Bland.

“There are many lingering questions regarding the death of Sandra Bland,” Mathis said.

Bland was pulled over on July 10 in Waller County for failing to signal a lane change. The routine traffic stop turned heated when Bland refused to put out a cigarette. Bland and the state trooper got in a screaming fight that ended in her arrest. Three days later she was found dead in her jail cell. Since then, her case has attracted national attention.

Read more: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/07/waller-county-da-releases-sandra-blands-toxicology-report.html/

July 27, 2015

DA, feds investigate alleged theft of laptops at Prime Prep Academy

The defunct Prime Prep Academy has a new set of eyes looking at allegations of wrongdoing.

The Tarrant County district attorney’s office is consulting with federal authorities about claims that more than 100 laptops were stolen. Samantha K. Jordan, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, said in an email that the case has the “potential to touch multiple jurisdictions.” The school had campuses in Dallas and Fort Worth, and the computers were mainly purchased with federal startup funds.

“We’re currently consulting with the U.S. attorney’s office on the best way to prosecute the case,” she wrote.

In a follow-up interview, Jordan said no decision had been made about whether charges are warranted. About 18 months ago, Superintendent Ron Price gave the district attorney’s office documentation he said would prove computer theft at the school co-founded by ex-NFL superstar Deion Sanders.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20150726-da-feds-investigate-alleged-theft-of-laptops-at-prime-prep-academy.ece

[font color=330099]I don't recall a theft of this scope at a public school.[/font]

July 27, 2015

Bobby Jindal on Westboro Baptist Church: We will lock them up

Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune

Gov. Bobby Jindal has threatened to arrest Westboro Baptist Church members if they picket the funerals of the Lafayette theater shooting victims.

"Let me be very clear. If they come here to Louisiana, if they try to disrupt those funerals, we're going to lock them up. We're going to arrest them," Jindal said during an interview on "Face The Nation," the CBS Sunday morning political talk show.

Jindal made those comments despite the U.S. Supreme Court having affirmed the group's right to protest such events.

Louisiana law prevents protesters from interfering at funerals. The demonstration must stay 300 to 500 feet away from funeral proceedings for two hours prior to the event until two hours after it concludes. They are also not allowed to block or interfere with a funeral route. Jindal issued an executive order Saturday indicating he plans to enforce this law should the Westboro Baptist Church come to Louisiana.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/07/bobby_jindal_on_westboro_bapti.html#incart_most-read_