September 29, 2014

Former Fort Worth mortuary director indicted on federal fraud charges

A former Fort Worth funeral home director has been indicted on federal fraud charges after she was accused of fraudulently filing for food stamps and other government benefits.

Rachel Hardy Johnson, 35, surrendered Monday after she was indicted on one count of food stamp benefit fraud, two counts of theft of federal public money and one count theft of educational funds, the U.S. attorney’s office said. She was charged with corpse abuse in July after Fort Worth police found eight bodies at Johnson Family Mortuary, which she operated with her husband, Dondre Johnson.

Hardy Johnson received $5,000 in food stamp benefits between April 2010 and July 2012, officials said. She also received $1,000 in Medicaid benefits during that time. Between June 2010 and May 2013, she received $200 in funds from a federal education program, officials said.

She is also accused of receiving $1,000 in housing subsidies between November 2010 and December 2011, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Read more: http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2014/09/former-fort-worth-mortuary-directed-indicted-on-federal-fraud-charges.html/

September 29, 2014

Top Republican Presidential Candidate Says Anarchy May Force Cancellation Of 2016 Election

[font color=green]Note: I posted this article earlier in Late Breaking News, but the hosts decided that it belonged in General Discussion instead. I also inadvertently truncated the URL link to the story at Think Progress. Here is the story once again with the corrected link. The prior comments to this article are available under the locked thread at http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014905802 .[/font]

Dr. Ben Carson, a popular Tea Party activist and Fox News contributor who says he will likely seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016, said on Sunday that he is seriously concerned that there will not be 2016 elections in the United States because the country could be in anarchy by that point. His reasons: the growing national debt, ISIS, and the U.S. Senate’s refusal to consider legislation passed by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

Host Chris Wallace noted that in light of his potential presidential campaign, Carson’s previous comments were now under a greater spotlight. He noted Carson’s August comment that if the Republicans don’t win a majority in the Senate this year, the 2016 elections might not even be held and asked the retired neurosurgeon if he stood by it:

WALLACE: You said recently that there might not even be elections in 2016 because of widespread anarchy. Do you really believe that?

CARSON: I hope that that’s not going to be the case. But certainly there’s the potential because you have to recognize that we have a rapidly increasing national debt, a very unstable financial foundation, and you have all these things going on like the ISIS crisis that could very rapidly change things that are going on in our nation. And unless we begin to deal with these things in a comprehensive way and in a logical way there is no telling what could happen in just a couple of years.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/09/28/3573103/ben-carson-anarchy-election/

September 29, 2014

Top Republican Presidential Candidate Says Anarchy May Force Cancellation Of 2016 Election

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/09/28/35731

Dr. Ben Carson, a popular Tea Party activist and Fox News contributor who says he will likely seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016, said on Sunday that he is seriously concerned that there will not be 2016 elections in the United States because the country could be in anarchy by that point. His reasons: the growing national debt, ISIS, and the U.S. Senate’s refusal to consider legislation passed by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

Host Chris Wallace noted that in light of his potential presidential campaign, Carson’s previous comments were now under a greater spotlight. He noted Carson’s August comment that if the Republicans don’t win a majority in the Senate this year, the 2016 elections might not even be held and asked the retired neurosurgeon if he stood by it:

WALLACE: You said recently that there might not even be elections in 2016 because of widespread anarchy. Do you really believe that?

CARSON: I hope that that’s not going to be the case. But certainly there’s the potential because you have to recognize that we have a rapidly increasing national debt, a very unstable financial foundation, and you have all these things going on like the ISIS crisis that could very rapidly change things that are going on in our nation. And unless we begin to deal with these things in a comprehensive way and in a logical way there is no telling what could happen in just a couple of years.

Read more: ThinkProgress

September 28, 2014

Texas TRS fund invests in casinos, loses $99M; businessmen contributed to Perry campaigns

As public investments go, this one looked like a roll of the dice.

But the Teacher Retirement System of Texas wanted a big win, so it put $100 million into the buyout of a Las Vegas gaming company called Station Casinos.

The company went bankrupt, and like many an unlucky jackpot-chaser, the state’s largest pension fund walked away a loser. More than $99 million of Texas teachers’ retirement money had vanished.

“There is no getting around it,” said Britt Harris, the fund’s chief investment officer. “This was a bad investment.”

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/headlines/20120512-texas-teachers-pension-fund-invests-in-casinos-loses-99-million.ece (part 1 of 2)

Coming Monday: The businessmen behind Station Casinos have been generous campaign contributors to Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

September 28, 2014

4 Good Reasons For A Man To Hit A Woman

By Troy Dunn

Lately, there has been much discussion about violence against women by the men in their life. Many have said there is never a good reason for a man to strike a woman but I disagree and today I am speaking out! I have six sons and I have taught them what my father taught my brothers and I: there are four good reasons for a man to hit the woman he loves;

1. Fire. If you look over at the woman you love and discover flames have overtaken your girl, you should absolutely knock her to the ground and start rolling her around.

2. Spider. If your princess discovers a spider wandering across her shoulder and with sheer terror in her voice says “GET. IT. Off! You should smack that 8 legged sucker right off of her.

3. Choking. If over dinner she begins to laugh at another one of your amazingly funny stories and in the process, lodges a bit of her steak in her throat, you have my full support to yank her out of her chair, spin her around and start squeezing her beneath her rib-cage until she spits up!

4. Train. If, while enjoying a peaceful, after dinner walk with your lover, you notice she has wandered into the path of a quickly approaching oncoming train, by all means, grab her by her arm and like the strong man you are, yank her backwards aggressively.

Absent the presence of fire, spiders, choking or trains, dad taught us boys there is never, ever, ever, ever, ever a justifiable reason for a man to strike a woman. Period. He said real men don’t do it. He then added this important definition about being a ‘real man’ which I want to share with all men today;

“Real men don’t allow other men to hit women either.”

I call upon my brothers-in-manhood everywhere to join with me in ZERO TOLERANCE for violence against women. Don’t hit and don’t tolerate hitting. That woman you see getting abused by her “man”, at the club or in the parking lot or even, oh let’s say, an elevator; intervene. Put yourself between the abuser and the victim. Is that dangerous? Could be. But it’s what a real man would do. Always remind yourself when you witness violence on a woman- that is somebody’s mother, daughter or sister.

Just for the record, it IS your business if you decide to make it your business. In the Dunn household, my sons know we consider the safety of other women, our personal business, whether the abuser likes it or not.

Lastly, a note to the abused women of the world- do not take one more punch, slap or kick from any man. There is NOTHING that makes it okay. Stop making excuses for him. He is a broken man and needs to be repaired before he is worthy of spending another second in your presence. Insist on it.

5 Bad Reasons Women Let Men Hit Them;

1. “He was drunk”. So what? He will be drunk again. And although I have personally never been drunk, I know many people who do occasionally get intoxicated- NONE of them hit their women. Your husband or boyfriend is not NORMAL. Stop trying to convince yourself he is.

2. “He’s under a lot of stress”. Real men deal with stress by hitting the gym, hitting a golf ball or even hitting the buffet. They do NOT hit women. Stress is not a gateway emotion to violence for healthy, normal men.

3. “I deserved it”. What???? No. There is nothing you or any woman can do to validate violence against you. Maybe you have done something so bad he leaves you, but violence is not on the list of options for him to choose from when he is upset. NEVER AN OPTION.

4. “His dad abused his mom. It’s all he knows.” When I hear that statement, it makes me throw up a little in my mouth. So what if he witnessed abuse as a child?? If anything, he knows better than others the hurt and pain that comes from abuse. In life we witness lots of things that are bad but we don’t then go integrate them into our own lives. If your man abuses you because he witness abuse, let him go witness therapy. Let him go witness a support group. Let him go witness life alone without you and the children.

5. “It was only once. He apologized.” Statistics say that where there is a “first time”, there is a second time. Your response to the “first time” needs to send an incredibly clear message to your “man” that there will be no second time. Send that message so clearly it haunts him. Make a bold statement with action attached. It is the ‘action’ that will signal the level of your seriousness. That might be calling the police, it might be moving out for a week or two, it might be telling him to leave for a week or require immediate counseling. Your words to him after being hit MUST be followed up with immediate action to reinforce the true level of intolerance you have for violence against yourself.

You might be shocked to learn that someone in your life is an abuser, which means somebody in your life is a victim. Rather than guessing who it might be, just share this article with everyone so it reaches the ones who need to hear it most.

Abusers, be on notice--I’m watching. My sons are watching. And millions of other real men are watching. We WILL defend and protect your wife, your mother and your sister….even from you.

https://www.facebook.com/TroyTheLocator/photos/a.499440200028.388114.319388540028/10154590655580029/?type=1&fref=nf

September 27, 2014

Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, and Ken Paxton Skip Out on Disability Issues Forum

On Wednesday, Wendy Davis, Leticia Van de Putte, and Sam Houston spoke at the Texas Disabilities Issues Forum to an audience of more than 300 attendees. The Democratic candidates underscored their support of higher wages for home attendants and legislation that would help protect civil rights of people with disabilities.

Noticeably absent from the forum were Republican candidates Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, and Ken Paxton, whom the forum organizers encouraged to speak.

-snip-

In fact, only one candidate, Attorney General Greg Abbott, submitted the organization’s candidate survey on disability issues.

In his response, Abbott defended the state using sovereign immunity to avoid adherence to the Americans with Disabilities Act, because waiving sovereign immunity “would be overly broad and could expose the state to excessive costs.”

Read more: http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/18672/greg-abbott-dan-patrick-ken-paxton-skip-disability-issues-forum

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20140215-greg-abbott-pushes-to-block-disabled-texans-lawsuits-against-state.ece

[font color=green]Greg Abbott, bad for Texas.[/font]

September 27, 2014

Abbott Rulings an Issue in Enterprise Fund Controversy

While critics were hounding Gov. Rick Perry a decade ago about his job-luring Texas Enterprise Fund, his lawyers went to Attorney General Greg Abbott to block the release of applications that supposedly had been filled out by the entities requesting taxpayer subsidies.

Abbott’s office, tasked with deciding which government records have to be made public, told Perry's lawyers they must keep the applications secret under exemptions to state transparency laws, according to attorney general rulings and news reports.

Now, though, information contained in a blistering state audit shows that at least five of the recipients that were named in Abbott’s 2004 rulings — and which got tens of millions of dollars from the fund — never actually submitted formal applications. And if no applications ever existed, it’s not clear what Abbott was telling Perry he had to keep secret or why the public is just now learning that millions were awarded without them.

At issue are at least five recipients of Texas Enterprise Fund money: Vought Aircraft, the University of Texas Health Science Center, Maxim Integrated Products, Citgo Petroleum and Cabela’s. According to rulings posted on Abbott’s government website, his office blocked release of “applications” from those recipients after requests from The Dallas Morning News in 2004.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2014/09/27/abbott-rulings-issue-enterprise-fund-controversy/

September 27, 2014

North Central Texas College grieves after 4 killed in bus crash

DAVIS, Okla. — A North Texas community college brought in counselors to comfort grieving students Saturday and canceled athletic competitions after four women's softball players were killed when an 18-wheel truck veered into oncoming traffic on a major interstate highway and crashed into the side of their team bus.

The collision near Davis, Oklahoma late Friday badly damaged the driver's side of the North Central Texas College team bus driven by a coach with 15 players aboard as they returned from a scrimmage against Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma.

In addition to the deaths, two team members remained in hospitals Saturday, one in critical condition. The other nine players were treated and released, along with the coach.

"This is the most traumatic event that NCTC has had in its 90 years of history," North Central Texas College President Brent Wallace said at an emotional news conference Saturday in Gainesville, Texas, about 60 miles south of the crash site on Interstate 35.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/09/27/6153072/college-softball-bus-crashes-in.html

September 26, 2014

Houston attorney alleges Perry prosecutor overbilling Travis County

A Houston attorney has filed a criminal complaint in Travis County against the special prosecutor handling the case against Gov. Rick Perry, alleging the prosecutor is overbilling taxpayers.

Attorney David Rushing accuses prosecutor Michael McCrum of violating laws related to theft, acceptance of an honorarium and abuse of official capacity — the crime a grand jury indicted Perry on last month — by charging a $300 hourly rate to Travis County.

The complaint says the county requires that “appointed counsel will be compensated for time actually required by an appointment at an hourly rate of $70 to $100 for in-court time and $60 to $90 for out-of-court time.”

McCrum’s rate is “more than three times the allowable rate for felony attorneys, even in capital cases where the death penalty is sought,” the complaint says.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/houston-attorney-alleges-perry-prosecutor-overbill/nhWKb/

[font color=green]David Rushing was a past chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas between April 2003 and February 2005.[/font]

September 26, 2014

Texas Tech freshman died with blood alcohol content 4 times over legal limit to drive

The Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office has released a full autopsy report shedding further light on the death of an incoming Texas Tech freshman.

According to the report, 18-year-old Dalton Debrick died with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.324 — more than four times the legal limit to drive. Earlier this month, the medical examiner declared acute alcohol intoxication killed Debrick.

The manner of death has been ruled an accident.

-snip-

Debrick was rushing the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. The day his body was found, the fraternity’s national headquarters dispatched two senior officials to Lubbock to investigate an alcohol-related incident, said Gordy Heminger, president and CEO of Alpha Sigma Phi’s national headquarters.

As a result of the investigation, the Alpha Sigma Phi colony on Tech campus was closed for a minimum of four years.

Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/education/2014-09-25/tech-freshman-died-blood-alcohol-content-4-times-over-legal-limit-drive#comment-349314

[font color=green]Although it may not have made a difference, I don't believe that fraternities or sororities should rush anyone until they completed at least one semester of classes. That would at least allow the students to begin to build a base of friends independent of the organization so that they wouldn't feel as pressured to fit into life on campus.[/font]