TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalChicago Bears defensive tackle Jeremiah (Jay) Ratliff pleads guilty to DWI, gets probation
FORT WORTH -- Former Dallas Cowboy Jay Ratliff, 33, pleaded guilty Thursday to DWI in a Tarrant County courtroom, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office said. He will be on probation for one year.
The defensive tackle now plays for the Chicago Bears and goes by Jeremiah Ratliff.
Ratliff provided Criminal Court Judge Bob McCoy with documentation that he had a substance abuse evaluation, attended a DWI education class, attended a victim impact panel through MADD and performed 20 hours of community service for the YMCA.
Ratliff will pay $750 in court costs. While on probation, he cannot refuse sobriety tests from law enforcement in traffic stops. Doing so would violate his probation.
Read more: http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/04/former-dallas-cowboy-jay-ratliff-pleads-guilty-to-dwi-gets-probation.html/
End of an Error -- Last Battle of Civil War -- The Battle of Palmito Ranch.
War is full of ironies, not the least of which is that infantrymen are asked to spill blood for the sake of occupying a piece of earth that wouldn’t be worth a glance on any other day.
“We go to gain a little patch of ground that hath in it no profit but the name,” complains a captain marching off to war in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. “To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it.”
So it was with an unremarkable patch of salt prairie to the east of Brownsville, where on May 12 and 13, 1865, a Union advance was beaten back by Confederate artillery fire. About 800 troops were involved at what came to be called the Battle of Palmito Ranch.
Fights for otherwise useless ground were common during the American Civil War, but the Battle of Palmito Ranch stands out for several reasons. For one, it took place 34 days after Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia and 29 days after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination—in other words, about a month after the war had effectively ended.
Furthermore, the clash on the open coastal plain was a decisive rout for the Confederates. The last gasp of the rebellion was a victorious scream.
Read more: http://www.texasobserver.org/final-civil-war-battle-in-south-texas/
Squee alert! Pregnant cat leaves Spain as ship stowaway, arrives in Texas with kittens
A beautiful family of orange tabby kittens and their mother are enjoying the comforts of suburban America, thanks to the soft hearts of a oceangoing ship crew.
Born March 17 on board a container ship sailing from Spain to Houston, the kittens are progressing well and are expected to be ready for adoption next month, depending upon their individual circumstances, said Monica Millican, president of the Friends of League City Animal Shelter.
The volunteer organization is hosting the mother, Federica, and her four kitties named for radio tag signals: Bravo, India, Juliette and Zulu.
Anyone interested in adopting one of the cats is asked to visit the Friends group's website for an adoption form as well as information on making donations. The website also features other adoptable animals available through the shelter.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article/Stowaway-cats-getting-ready-for-adoption-6226667.php#photo-7895616
Update: Fired Popeyes manager demanding $5.5 million in lieu of lawsuit
A pregnant woman who was fired from her job as a Popeyes restaurant manager over money taken during an armed robbery is now seeking $5.5 million in damages from the company.
Marissa Holcomb, former manager at the Channelview eatery, was on duty about 10:15 p.m. March 31 when a man with a gun ran in and took nearly $400 from the cash register. Holcomb was told she had to make up the money because she had left too much money in the cash drawer, but she refused and lost her job.
Holcomb has retained an attorney, Marc Bozeman of Houston, who has sent a demand letter to Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen's headquarters in Atlanta as well as Z & H Foods Inc. in Houston, owner of the franchise where Holcomb worked.
In the demand letter sent Monday, Bozeman asked that the companies agree to pay Holcomb $5.5 million to settle her claims for exemplary damages. If they do not respond within 30 days, he said he will file a lawsuit on Holcomb's behalf in state district court.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Fired-Popeyes-manager-demanding-5-5-million-in-6233295.php
Can a Socialist Sway Texas Democrats?
[font color=green]Article from the Texas Observer.[/font]
There’s one question Democrats face as they head into the 2016 presidential election. How should they feel about Hillary Clinton? The coalition Barack Obama built happily came out to vote in his two presidential elections, but turnout was pathetic in 2010 and 2014 when he wasn’t on the ticket. Clinton’s ability to inherit that coalition is debatable.
Some of the party’s faithful just want to maximize their chances of taking a third consecutive term, and they think the Clintons’ careful and calculated brand of center-left politics is the thing to do it. Others are antsy. They’ve seen the GOP’s far right drag their party to them with great success, and they want someone to subject Clinton to the same type of pressures. But they need a candidate. Elizabeth Warren has declined to run, and Martin O’Malley is a ball of ambition.
Enter U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Congress’ sole self-avowed socialist, who came through Texas at the beginning of April in the middle of a cross-country trip whose purpose, he said, was to judge the energies of the left and to raise money in anticipation of a possible primary run against Clinton. Sanders would be as unusual a candidate as we’ve seen in America for quite some time. He’s not quite a Dennis Kucinich or a Mike Gravel, but it’s not that he’s setting out to win either. His self-proclaimed models are people such as Jesse Jackson and Howard Dean, who ran and lost, but inspired future political activists.
Obama’s 2008 campaign, Sanders told the Observer at an Austin Tex-Mex restaurant, “will go down in history as one of the great campaigns ever run.” But, he continued, “the day after the election, he said, ‘Thank you for electing me, but I think I can go on from here without you. I do not need the millions of people who were actively involved in my campaign.’” The kind of change the left wants, he said, is not possible without “mass organized activity” of the kind that has not existed in the country in some five decades—the kind Sanders experienced as a young man in the civil rights, anti-war and kibbutz movements.
http://www.texasobserver.org/bernie-sanders-presidential-run/
Cross-posted in the Bernie Sanders Group.
Can a Socialist Sway Texas Democrats?
There’s one question Democrats face as they head into the 2016 presidential election. How should they feel about Hillary Clinton? The coalition Barack Obama built happily came out to vote in his two presidential elections, but turnout was pathetic in 2010 and 2014 when he wasn’t on the ticket. Clinton’s ability to inherit that coalition is debatable.
Some of the party’s faithful just want to maximize their chances of taking a third consecutive term, and they think the Clintons’ careful and calculated brand of center-left politics is the thing to do it. Others are antsy. They’ve seen the GOP’s far right drag their party to them with great success, and they want someone to subject Clinton to the same type of pressures. But they need a candidate. Elizabeth Warren has declined to run, and Martin O’Malley is a ball of ambition.
Enter U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Congress’ sole self-avowed socialist, who came through Texas at the beginning of April in the middle of a cross-country trip whose purpose, he said, was to judge the energies of the left and to raise money in anticipation of a possible primary run against Clinton. Sanders would be as unusual a candidate as we’ve seen in America for quite some time. He’s not quite a Dennis Kucinich or a Mike Gravel, but it’s not that he’s setting out to win either. His self-proclaimed models are people such as Jesse Jackson and Howard Dean, who ran and lost, but inspired future political activists.
Obama’s 2008 campaign, Sanders told the Observer at an Austin Tex-Mex restaurant, “will go down in history as one of the great campaigns ever run.” But, he continued, “the day after the election, he said, ‘Thank you for electing me, but I think I can go on from here without you. I do not need the millions of people who were actively involved in my campaign.’” The kind of change the left wants, he said, is not possible without “mass organized activity” of the kind that has not existed in the country in some five decades—the kind Sanders experienced as a young man in the civil rights, anti-war and kibbutz movements.
http://www.texasobserver.org/bernie-sanders-presidential-run/
Cross-posted in the Bernie Sanders Group.
Texas A&M University regents approve new seal with little discussion; Aggies speak out in protest
The official Texas A&M University System and flagship school seals received new centerpieces during Wednesday's Board of Regents meeting in College Station.
Regents unanimously approved alteration of the 52-year-old seals without discussion by replacing the "T Star" logo with the "Block TAM" logo in an effort to streamline the system and flagship school's brand identity. In a message, A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said the seal change will enhance the visibility of the system and the school.
"When you talk about brand identity, having that 'Block TAM' is something that brings it all together," Sharp said. "That change makes it very obvious when you see it, where you are and what you're talking about, that it's Texas A&M and the Texas A&M System."
A&M spokesperson Shane Hinckley said the seal updates are the result of a collaborative effort between marketing and communications divisions at university and system levels that began six months ago. At the university level, the white "T Star" logo is only used by the office of the president and mostly appears on diplomas and fine gifts. At the system level, the maroon "T Star" is used by system office employees, the office of the chancellor and the board of regents and is mostly used for materials such as letterhead and business cards. Changing the "T Star" allowed for fulfillment of the "one brand" approach to reach optimum brand recognition inside and outside Texas A&M.
Reach more: http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/texas-a-m-university-regents-approve-new-seal-with-little/article_b6b3838c-69e4-5901-82dd-5852f565ef8b.html
UPDATE! Cat case not presented to grand jury (vet that killed cat with arrow and posted pic on FB)
BELLVILLE — Austin County officials say evidence is still being gathered in the case of a veterinarian who bragged about killing a cat with her bow and arrow.
District Attorney Travis Koehn said the case was not presented to an Austin County grand jury that met Wednesday.
Read more: http://www.brenhambanner.com/news/cat-case-not-presented-to-grand-jury/article_8256b1ee-8921-5c1f-bfd7-64bb43f0e0c6.html (subscription required)
Senate Advances Limits on Hail Damage Insurance Claims
The Senate has voted to impose limits on Texas homeowners filing insurance claims for roof damage following hailstorms -- despite opponents' worries it favors insurers over policyholders.
Republican Sen. Larry Taylor's proposal establishes deadlines for filing claims and strengthens penalties for inflating claims adjustments.
It was approved 21-10 Wednesday, but needs a final vote before clearing the Senate.
Taylor said it will stop groups trolling neighborhoods after large storms, signing up people with minimal damage in hopes of building large lawsuits against insurers.
[font color=green]Why am I not surprised? Senator Taylor owns an insurance agency.[/font]
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