TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalPete Sessions said a Highland Park man killed his own wife for being 'unfair,' and Democrats pounced
National Democratic groups are pouncing on Congressman Pete Sessions, a Dallas Republican, for saying in a video that a local woman carried responsibility for being "unfair" to her husband, who shot and killed her in a fit of "frustration" over their no-fault divorce case.
A video uploaded to YouTube on June 23 shows Sessions commenting on area domestic violence cases in previous years while speaking to Jeff Morgan, a conservative activist based in Garland. It was first reported Wednesday by Talking Points Memo, a left-leaning political news site.
In the video, Sessions — who is facing a stiff challenge from Democrat Colin Allred in a competitive race for re-election — brings up a case from Highland Park, in which a "big-time guy" shot and killed his wife.
"That was because the judge was unfair, and the woman was unfair. And she demanded something, and he was out. And it was frustration," Sessions said in the video from a Greater Garland Republican Organization event. "So now we go through the court system. And unfortunately lives have to be lost and there has to be tragedy — there now is a better system."
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-politics/2018/08/01/pete-sessions-said-highland-park-man-killed-wife-unfair-democrats-pounced
Ag Commissioner Sid Miller tangles with Texas cattle raisers
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller — who most recently tangled with the state’s barbecue joints — has a new beef: the way ranchers fight the potentially deadly fever tick.
Miller incited a controversy Monday during a visit to a ranch near Raymondville, where he shut down 16 fever tick spray box operations, saying producers were complaining of cattle deaths from overuse of Co-Ral, a Texas Department of Agriculture-regulated pesticide manufactured by Bayer-Monsanto.
“Ranchers had complained to me about their cattle dying from these spray boxes, so I went to South Texas to check it out,” Miller said in a news release. “From my personal observation, the insecticide was being used in violation of the label, so I shut them down. I also gave state and federal authorities lawful alternatives for applying this insecticide, but they refused to implement these alternatives.”
But Robert McKnight, a Fort Davis rancher who’s president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, said there have been no reports of cattle deaths and Miller doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Read more: https://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/Ag-Commissioner-Sid-Miller-tangles-with-Texas-13121638.php
Juror's problems with English prompts mistrial for sex assault suspect
AUSTIN -- Nicodemo Coria-Gonzalez was set to go to trial this week in Travis County in connection to a string of violent attacks against women, including one who said Coria-Gonzalez sexually assaulted her while threatening her with a knife, and another who accused him of dousing her in gasoline.
But his trial ended before having started after a juror on Tuesday revealed he struggles with English and would not be able to understand complex legal terms.
The disclosure came prior to opening statements and prompted state District Judge David Crain to declare a mistrial in the state’s aggravated sexual assault case against Coria-Gonzalez.
Police have accused Coria-Gonzalez, 27, of attacking seven women, some of them prostitutes, between December 2015 and July 2016. He has been deported five times to Mexico for past criminal convictions.
Read more: https://www.mystatesman.com/news/crime--law/juror-problems-with-english-prompts-mistrial-for-sex-assault-suspect/ua2y45kaIOL21QTcUZMM1L/
On the campaign trail, Democrat running for agriculture commissioner reckons with her past
Kim Olson, who is running to unseat Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, is a veteran, farmer and outspoken feminist. But will an episode from her past derail her candidacy?By David Yaffe-Bellany, Texas Tribune
MIDLAND — Wherever she goes, Kim Olson carries with her packets of wildflower seeds advertising her campaign to unseat Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.
Olson calls the seed packets her "calling card." She distributes them to everybody she meets on the campaign trail, from fellow Democrats at fundraisers in Austin to farmers selling pickles at outdoor markets in conservative West Texas. After lunch last week at an eatery in Midland, Olson had one of her supporters slip a seed packet into the bill.
Olson, a third-generation farmer, has only slightly less cash on hand than her Republican opponent, and over the last few months, she has established herself as the most outspoken feminist on the statewide Democratic ticket, with a loyal following of women who admire her barnstorming speeches. Although every Texas Democrat running this year faces an uphill battle in a state dominated by Republicans, experts in both parties say that Olson, 60, stands as good a chance as anyone on the Democratic slate of winning statewide office. Olson has pledged to visit all 254 counties in Texas — a feat recently achieved by fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who's running for U.S. Senate — and meet with voters in conservative areas that Democrats typically avoid.
“The only way we’re gonna make a difference is if we go to them," she said at a fundraiser earlier this month. "You’ve got to walk their fields, you’ve got to visit their farms, you’ve got to sit at their family dinner tables, because the last time I checked representative government was going out and listening."
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/30/kim-olson-democrat-agriculture/
Special Election: Republican Pete Flores, Democrat Pete Gallego set for runoff for Uresti seat
By Patrick Svitek, Texas TribuneRepublican Pete Flores and Democrat Pete Gallego are headed to a runoff in the special election to replace convicted former state Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio.
With all precincts reporting Tuesday night, Flores led Gallego by 5 percentage points, 34 percent to 29 percent, according to unofficial returns. At 24 percent, state Rep. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio came in third in the eight-way race, and he conceded in a statement. The five other candidates were in single digits, including Uresti's brother, outgoing state Rep. Tomas Uresti of San Antonio.
The first-place finish by Flores, who unsuccessfully challenged Carlos Uresti in 2016, is a boon to Republicans in the Democratic-leaning district. In the home stretch of the race, Flores benefited from a raft of endorsements from Texas' top elected officials including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
Their heft will continue to be tested in a district considered friendly to Democrats, if not solidly in their column. After taking congratulatory calls from Abbott and Patrick, Flores issued a statement insisting a second-round victory was within reach.
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/31/sd-19-special-election-results/
I think that the Democrats will consolidate their support behind Gallego for the runoff election. Flores won't be attracting many voters who supported the candidates that didn't advance to the runoff.
Don't count your (Democratic) chickens until they're elected
By Ross Ramsey, Texas TribuneSan Antonio voters could provide an insurance seat in the Texas Senate for Republicans, who are at some risk of losing an incumbent or two in the 2018 elections.
The GOP has a 20-11 advantage in the state Senate, if you count the chair left empty by the disgraced Carlos Uresti as a Democratic one. They’ll have a majority no matter what; they hope to have at least 19 votes — the number needed to bring legislation up for debate when the other party isn’t cooperating. Uresti resigned this year after he was convicted on multiple counts of fraud and money-laundering by a federal jury in San Antonio.
Eight candidates vied for his seat Tuesday in a special election that is headed for a runoff this year. And getting a Republican candidate into that runoff — in a seat conventionally considered a Democratic one — could buy Republicans some room in a year when other seats are at risk.
It would be an upset, to be sure, but the numbers aren’t as forbidding as you might expect.
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/08/01/analysis-texas-2018-elections-senate-democrats-republicans/
As Possible Border Wall Looms, a State Park Hangs in the Balance
As President Donald Trump pushes for funds to build a wall between Mexico and the U.S., talk of how such a structure would actually affect the border region has crescendoed. One possible casualty of a wall would be Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.
Carter Smith, executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, recently sent a letter to the Border Patrol telling them how a wall could disrupt the park to the point of closure. Smith discussed the possibility with Texas Standard substitute host Laura Rice.
“Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park is our oldest state park in the Rio Grande Valley,” Smith says. “It was donated by the Bentsen Family…back in 1944. It’s one of the crown jewels of the Rio Grande Valley – one of the most biologically unique and sensitive areas not only in Texas but really all across the country.”
Park officials believe, based on preliminary designs, that there would be very significant impacts on the park, should a border wall be constructed, including separating crucial facilities.
Read more: http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/as-possible-border-wall-looms-a-state-park-hangs-in-the-balance/
Lockheed Martin to add 400 more Fort Worth Workers in F-35 Hiring Binge
Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth factory has already added 1,800 workers in the past year. And on Monday, the aerospace giant held a hiring fair to add 400 more workers to its Fort Worth workforce.
The Maryland-based defense company needs the labor as it ramps up production of the F-35, its next-generation stealth fighter jet.
Despite the blustery weather, people started lining up in the wee hours of the morning outside the Sheraton hotel in downtown Fort Worth. By 6:45, the parade of aspiring airplane builders was four blocks long — and that was just the people who hadn’t registered. More than a thousand had applied ahead of time.
Inside a hotel conference room, a couple dozen staffers spent the day interviewing droves of applicants, offering the best candidates a letter of intent and putting them on track for a job building brand-new fighter jets.
Read more: http://www.keranews.org/post/lockheed-martin-add-400-more-fort-worth-workers-f-35-hiring-binge
Drag Queen Storytime Sees Largest-Ever Turnout After Anti-LGBTQ Attacks
Attendance was higher than ever at the Houston Public Library’s most recent installment of Drag Queen Storytime.
About 75 parents, children, and supporters attended the monthly event at the Freed-Montrose branch of the Houston Public Library on Saturday, July 29. The program, which features drag queens reading picture books to children, has recently come under fire from right-wing conservatives.
“The controversy surrounding Drag Queen Story Hour affected our numbers in a good way,” said Trent Lira, organizer of Drag Queen Storytime. “So many people came out in support because they know how valuable this program is.”
The reading was hosted by Lira and his Space Kiddettes bandmate Devin Will. Houston drag performers Beck and Carmina read Curtis Manley’s The Summer Nick Taught His Cats to Read and Diana Murray’s Summer Color!
Read more: http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2018/07/drag-queen-storytime-sees-largest-ever-turnout-after-anti-lgbtq-attacks/
Georgia Democrats build a history-busting slate of women candidates
The Republican race for governor we just witnessed amounted to a testosterone-fueled buddy flick. We had mic’d-up secret agents, explosions, shotguns, roaring chain saws, giant pickup trucks, and a candidate pushed off a cliff in the final scene.
The last men standing were a battle-scarred Brian Kemp and his mysteriously summoned ally, President Donald Trump. A sequel is already in the works.
So it is worth examining the general election ticket that Georgia Democrats finished building on Tuesday. Former state lawmaker Stacey Abrams won the top spot in May, and is now running to become the first African-American woman to be elected governor in U.S. history.
But with Tuesday’s vote, we now know that the Nov. 6 ballot, in addition to Abrams, will feature 10 other female candidates for federal and statewide offices — a number unprecedented in Georgia political history.
Read more: https://politics.myajc.com/blog/politics/georgia-democrats-build-history-busting-slate-women-candidates/7H6782PCMljxj2MgOb2F4K/
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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
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