Not welcome here

Not a very friendly joint eh?

Hotel bans kids with Down syndrome

ALMERIA, Spain, May 20 (UPI) --

A hotel in Spain has come under fire for refusing to let a group of children with Down syndrome stay the night because they "might annoy other guests."

Hotel CaboGata Plaza Suites in Almeria refused a reservation for a group of children with Down syndrome who were planning on celebrating the end of their school year, The Local.es reported.

The hotel said it would not board the children because "these kinds of people might annoy other guests."

Management at the hotel has apologized for the incident, saying it was "a misunderstanding," adding, "In 35 years of business we have never refused access to guests with Down syndrome," who the hotel management said, "have been, are, and always will be very welcome."

However, Down Espana, the group that organized the event for the kids, reported the incident to a public prosecutor because it felt that there was "a clear case of discrimination against disabled people that breaks the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by Spain."

The international law prohibits "all discrimination on the grounds of disability."

"We haven't gone public with this incident to victimize anyone but to educate the public," said Agustin Matia, head of Down Espana.

Only an Ass Clown would do this

A fitting punishment would most likely encompass chaining him or her to the same interstate guardrail in the heat of the day.

Going all "Old Testament" style this a.m.

Pup chained to interstate guardrail; ACS seeks culprit

By Sarah L. Tressler, Staff Writer

Animal Care Services is asking for help in identifying a man who chained a pit bull puppy to a guardrail on a freeway access road Sunday.

A witness reported seeing a man believed to be in his late 30s or 40s driving a red 2004-2008 Dodge Ram extended-bed pickup with paper license plates pull over on the West Avenue access road at Interstate 10 East and use a heavy chain to tether the pup to a guardrail with a padlock. The chain was attached to 35 pounds of barbell weight plates.

The call from the witness came in shortly before 9 a.m. An animal care officer arrived at the scene around 9:05 a.m. The dog was found to be in good health.

Read more:

Weep for the children

A horrible tragedy.

At least 20 children dead, 51 confirmed dead with pronouncements that this figure will eclipse 100+ fatalities.

We, all Americans, stand with Moore, Oklahoma and they are in our prayers.

In tornado's wake, worried parents seek out kids

By NOMAAN MERCHANT, Associated Press

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — The parents and guardians stood in the muddy grass outside a suburban Oklahoma City church, listening as someone with a bullhorn called out the names of children who were being dropped off — survivors of a deadly tornado that barreled through their community.

For many families, the ordeal ended in bear hugs and tears of joy as loved ones reunited. Others were left to wait in the darkness, hoping for good news while fearing the worst.

At least 20 children are among the more than 50 reported dead so far in Moore, the Oklahoma City suburb ravaged by Monday's tornado that packed winds of up to 200 mph. The twister reduced one elementary school to a heaping mound of rubble and heavily damaged another while also flattening block after block of homes. Officials said early Tuesday the death toll could rise by as many as 40.

The rest of the story:

Don't Taze me Bro! LVII

Another tasing death.

300-pound Texas man dies after police use stun gun

Associated Press -

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A 300-pound Fort Worth man died shortly after police fired a Taser stun gun at him during a drug raid.

Fort Worth police used the stun gun on 34-year-old Jermaine Darden Thursday because they say he was resisting arrest. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (http://bit.ly/18SQQJX ) Darden died a short time later at a local hospital.

Darden's mother Donna Randle says she and several others shouted at officers that Darden wasn't resisting arrest, but rather was trying to turn onto his side from his stomach because he couldn't breathe. Randle says police put Darden on his stomach, but he is asthmatic and struggles to breathe in that position.

The rest of the story:

Who do you trust?

This from the Washington Post Blog

Obama’s trust-in-government deficit

By Dan Balz -Washington Post

Whatever else happens as a result of the multiple controversies that have engulfed the administration, one thing is clear: President Obama has failed to meet one of the most important goals he set out when he was first elected, which was to demonstrate that activist government could also be smart government.

Six weeks after winning the presidency in 2008, Obama reflected on the meaning of the election. He was reluctant to claim, as some others were, that his victory marked the beginning of an era in which Americans would embrace bigger government. Suspicion of command-and-control, top-down government, he said, was “a lasting legacy” of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

So rather than portraying his first election as the end of a long period of conservative ascendancy, Obama called it “a correction to the correction.” As he put it then: “I think what you saw in this election was people saying: ‘Yes, we don’t want some big, bureaucratic, ever-expanding state. On the other hand, we don’t want a state that’s dysfunctional, that doesn’t believe in its mission, that can’t carry out some of the basic functions of government and provide service to people and be there when they’re hurting.’ ”

He then described what that meant for the government he was beginning to assemble. “What we don’t know yet is whether my administration and this next generation of leadership is going to be able to hew to a new, more pragmatic approach that is less interested in whether we have big government or small government [but is] more interested in whether we have a smart, effective government.”

The rest of the story:

Strutting Peacocks

Well, I think its relevant.

So do many others.

Obama Aide: 'Irrelevant Fact' Where President Was During Benghazi Attacks

The Weekly Standard -

Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer said it's an "irrelevant fact" where the president physically was during the Benghazi terror attack on September 11, 2012:

Host Chris Wallace reminds Pfeiffer that Obama didn't really talk with Secretary Clinton, Secretary Panetta, or Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that night. "He was talking to his national security staff," Pfeiffer insists.

Asked about whether the president entered the Situation Room, Pfeiffer says, "I don't remember what room the president was in on that night, and that's a largely irrelevant fact."
Pfeiffer then argues that Wallace's questions about the president's handling of the Benghazi terror attack are "offensive."

The rest of the story:

I certainly appreciate your patience

Dear Readers

I am sorry to have been gone so long but with Oral Arguments in the Court of Appeals and Faculty Meetings I have been a little busy.

I will try to endevour to be better and post as often as possible

Regards;

Man o' Law

WTH??

I just heard about it this morning as I've been working to get ready for oral argument on an appeal in a murder case before the Third Court of Appeals in Austin.

WTH is going on?

19 New Orleans shooting victims included 2 kids

By CHEVEL JOHNSON - Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Gunmen opened fire on people marching in a neighborhood Mother's Day parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 19.

The shooting — described by the FBI as a flare-up of street violence — shattered the festive mood surrounding the parade that drew hundreds of people to the 7th Ward neighborhood of modest row houses not far from the French Quarter. Cell phone video taken in the aftermath of the shooting shows victims lying on the ground, blood on the pavement and others bending over to comfort them.

At least three of the victims were seriously wounded. Of the rest, many were grazed and authorities said that overall most wounds were not life threatening. No deaths were reported.

The rest of the story:

Well? Explain yourselves

Can't wait to find out what these morons got into a fight over.

A woman?

Donuts??


Fight between jailers sends one to hospital
By Michelle Mondo - Express-News

A fight between two jailers Sunday morning left one hospitalized and both under investigation by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, a spokesman said in an emailed statement.

The names of the detention officers weren't released.

“What began as a disagreement between the two officers escalated into a physical altercation,” Sheriff's Office spokesman Paul Berry's email said about the 10 a.m. fight.

The rest of the story:

Keep on spinning, Liars

Cover-ups are always bad.

But, this one is a doozy.


Spinning Benghazi
Alex Koppelman - New Yorker magazine

It’s a cliché, of course, but it really is true: in Washington, every scandal has a crime and a coverup. The ongoing debate about the attack on the United States facility in Benghazi where four Americans were killed, and the Obama Administration’s response to it, is no exception. For a long time, it seemed like the idea of a coverup was just a Republican obsession. But now there is something to it.

On Friday, ABC News’s Jonathan Karl revealed the details of the editing process for the C.I.A.’s talking points about the attack, including the edits themselves and some of the reasons a State Department spokeswoman gave for requesting those edits. It’s striking to see the twelve different iterations that the talking points went through before they were released to Congress and to United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, who used them in Sunday show appearances that became a central focus of Republicans’ criticism of the Administration’s public response to the attacks. Over the course of about twenty-four hours, the remarks evolved from something specific and fairly detailed into a bland, vague mush.

From the very beginning of the editing process, the talking points contained the erroneous assertion that the attack was “spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved.” That’s an important fact, because the right has always criticized the Administration based on the suggestion that the C.I.A. and the State Department, contrary to what they said, knew that the attack was not spontaneous and not an outgrowth of a demonstration. But everything else about the changes that were made is problematic. The initial draft revealed by Karl mentions “at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi” before the one in which four Americans were killed. That’s not in the final version. Nor is this: “[W]e do know that Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qa’ida participated in the attack.” That was replaced by the more tepid “There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.” (Even if we accept the argument that State wanted to be sure that extremists were involved, and that they could be linked to Al Qaeda, before saying so with any level of certainty—which is reasonable and supported by evidence from Karl’s reporting—that doesn’t fully explain these changes away.)

The rest of the story:

This shit is bad

Well, well,well; IRS as political hitmen.

Who knew?


AP exclusive: IRS knew tea party targeted
Associated Press -

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior Internal Revenue Service officials knew agents were targeting tea party groups as early as 2011, according to a draft of an inspector general's report obtained by The Associated Press that seemingly contradicts public statements by the IRS commissioner.

The IRS apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was "inappropriate" targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. The agency blamed low-level employees, saying no high-level officials were aware.

But on June 29, 2011, Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, learned at a meeting that groups were being targeted, according to the watchdog's report. At the meeting, she was told that groups with "Tea Party," ''Patriot" or "9/12 Project" in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says.

The rest of the story:

Nowhere left to go but up

Message of hope; I hope went out and was received.



Jailed Moms get inspirational words from former inmates
By Ana Ley - Express-News

Caroline Reyes was willing to give up everything to feed her heroin addiction — even her three sons.

“I gave them up because I wanted dope,” Reyes, 37, told a room full of mothers incarcerated at the Bexar County Jail. “I saw mothers selling children for a bag of crack. I saw them say, 'Here, rape my child.' I gave them to my mom because I didn't want that for them.”

Reyes, formerly a crack dealer and madam in the gang-riddled Lincoln Courts area, is now president of Lakeview Baptist Church and is a motivational speaker for women who face some of the same challenges she did. She was one of five speakers who shared their troubled pasts with the inmates on Friday during an event coordinated by jail employees in observance of Mother's Day.

The rest of the story:

Got Gun? Get lock

You got little kids?

You want to keep tham alive?

Put a damn lock on your damn guns!

Capiche?


Boy, 2, dies after shooting self in Corsicana
Express-News -

CORSICANA, Texas (AP) — Police say a 2-year-old boy has died after accidentally shooting himself in the head at a North Texas home while his father was in another room.

Corsicana police on Thursday confirmed the child's death. The boy's name wasn't immediately released.

Police Chief Randy Bratton says the father called 911 on Wednesday night to report the shooting. The wounded boy was transported to a Corsicana hospital and then on to a Dallas hospital where he died later Wednesday.

The rest of the story:

Master-mind of highway ambush trial begins

Shouldn't take long I imagine.


Trial begins in fatal I-35 'highway ambush'
By Craig Kapitan - Express-News

For nearly three years after allegedly orchestrating a “highway ambush” that resulted in the slaying of an Interstate 35 motorist, Latray “Pooh” Whitley was a free man, prosecutors acknowledged as his murder trial began Wednesday.

There's a reason no witness stepped up to help police, allowing the case to initially go cold, Whitley's cousin explained to jurors.

“It ain't what we do,” Alvin Clark mumbled from the witness stand in 186th state District Court, reluctance evident in his voice as he pointed out his relative as the killer.

The rest of the story:

Sorry, I couldn't call you back, my #@%^&! iPhone EXPLODED!!

Great!

Something else to worry about.


Experts warn against exploding iPhones
WOAI.com -

Could your cell phone be a ticking time bomb? It may sound like a crazy experiment, but some smartphones are, in fact, suddenly exploding.

Electronics experts say this is happening especially with older iPhones, tablets and laptops. They say lithium batteries expand, because people overcharge them. They become too hot, take in too many charges, gets bigger and then pushes the phone's other components right out of the phone -- causing them to explode.

Luckily, experts say there is something you can do to protect yourself. They recommend not using generic chargers. When the battery is full, a good charger will cut off power. Cheaper chargers, on the other hand, may continue to push through voltage and potentially lead to an exploding electronic.