tvc184

In the article it says, “save democracy”. No, the Black vote didn’t save democracy, it saved Democrats. There is a huge difference.

The crash from a couple of months ago that wrecked several vehicles and sent several people to the hospital, finally got to the grand jury and an indictment was returned. I guess money couldn’t buy his was out of this step as so many people claimed would happen. I am sure that he will be offered a plea deal and will likely accept something but that is just a guess [Hidden Content]

That isn’t only with punishment or school but with any endeavor. Incentives, whether positive or negative, is almost always the determining factor in behavior. Therein lies the reason that social programs generally don’t work. Obviously some programs are life savers for some motivated people (going back to incentivizes) but for a substantial percentage of people, it is a justification to fail or never strive to improve. in my opinion……

I believe that he has exhausted all of his appeals in Texas. He can appeal to the 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans, one step below the Supreme Court. To do so I think he has to raise a federal law or US Constitution issue. [Hidden Content]

Wait…. he’s a scam?? 😂

Is there anything there other than slot machines? I think the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Texas law which bans poker, roulette, blackjack, etc.

Yes, that is absolutely what I am saying. Time will tell but looking at prior SCOTUS cases, I don’t see that the federal government has a dog in the hunt. They certainly can’t claim Indian is offensive unless they change many of their own laws. The feds will have a tough sell when their main US Government advocate/organization for Indians is the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

I think you were making kind of an apples versus oranges argument. SCOTUS decisions aren’t that simple…. as I noted in the previous comment.

I believe you will find that the reasoning is flawed by SCOTUS rulings. In the case you mentioned, it was SD which brought suit that went to SCOTUS (South Dakota v. Dole 1987) In that case that led to the withholding of highway funds, SCOTUS listed five requirements to make it lawful. 1. The spending must promote the “general” welfare” (highway deaths). 2. It must not be ambiguous. 3. The condition should relate "to the federal interest in particular national projects or programs." 4. The condition imposed on thec state (citizens) must not be in itself unconstitutional (1st Amendment). 5. The condition must not be “coercive” (gee, no coercion there). I think a school name is clearly coercive, it clearly violates the First Amendment, it’s ambiguous and if you’re certainly not in the furtherance of a specific federal program. Drinking was. Then in 1992 in NY v. US, SCOTUS in a 6-3 decision ruled that the federal government again used the Commerce Clause and it to away states’ rights under the 10th Amendment. Looking at those Supreme Court rulings, there is a huge difference between drinking age and highway fatalities under the authority of the commerce clause and a national highway safety program and a school name and the First Amendment.

Buildings don’t have rights. The people working and going to class inside of them certainly do.

Not arguing but a serious question. Under what constitutional authority could the US government be involved? Will the 1st, 10th and 14th Amendments come into play, especially the 10th and 14th?

In what time frame?

Oh!!! Another Indian tribe jumps on the bandwagon. Same song, different verse….

This is what happened… [Hidden Content]

Apparently a guy is messing with his pistol while shopping when it “accidentally” went off. Those pesky guns keep pulling their own trigger!! One article I read said that it wasn’t in a holster. I am betting that he had it stuffed in his pants and it started falling out and he grabbed it. The Plaxico Burris move….. It says 3 others shot by the ricochet. The thing must have been like a pool ball hitting bumpers!! Actually the round probably struck the floor and pieces of tile scattered and hit a couple of people in the ankle. People like this give other gun owners a bad name. That is why it should always be in a holster. Even if the holster falls out for some strange reason, the gun still will not discharge. [Hidden Content]

This seems like PNG having a nothing to lose and everything to win kind of game. PAM on the other hand has the pressure of being embarrassed. They bring in a team expected to win and having a good season against a smaller team with a new head coach. If PNG loses, especially if keeping it close, they have nothing to be ashamed about. If PAM loses……..

Maybe 20 years ago, Beaumont PD was looking to hire minorities and the union agreed to an offer. I don’t know what incentive the city offered by the union accepted it. The hiring (if I remember correctly) was a 3 tier system and it was divided something like, Blacks/Hispanics, women, White males. In some respects it is similar to Minneapolis with race based layoffs. By Texas civil service law, a department has to hire by test score. The only incentive allowed is that 5 extra points for military service. The problem was (and still seems to be) that W/Ms were consistently scoring in the top percentages. Under Texas collective bargaining laws, only the police and firefighters in the public sector are allowed to bargain. If a city is civil service (such as Port Arthur and Beaumont), there are laws in place on promotions, discipline, etc. An example is that on promotions, the testing materials must be announced at least 90 days in advance of a test (such as certain laws and books on management, police supervision, etc.) and the test must be announced at least 30 days in advance. All announcements must be in writing and posted publicly at city hall. Everyone must take the promotional test at the same time and location. Anyone is allowed to appeal questions on the test. It is a timed test and the police department does not choose the testing materials, see or choose the test beforehand and does not give the test. That is all done by civilian civil service commission. An officer by state law gets 1 point per year seniority, up to 10 years. The only point of that is there are state laws in place the regulate police operations to the extent of promotions and discipline. BUT…. by contract a union and the city can agree to disregard laws of civil service but both sides must agree. An example is that state law requires two years of experience to test for sergeant but a city (like mine) can change the state law and require 4 years of experience. Another example is a city giving additional points on the test for candidates that live in the city in addition to military service. What has all of that got to do with teachers in Minneapolis having a contract that lays off people by race? Beaumont PD as mentioned had the tier hiring system by race and sex. It was agreed to by the union. One W/M from another area department made very near the top of the test and maybe even #1 overall. The problem for him was, to be hired by the contract, a person in each other tier has to be hired first. So there had to be a Black or Hispanic and then a female. But….. the city could not fill those slots first so the W/M was rejected only because they couldn’t find a qualified female (I think). It was not even a matter of giving preference to a minority, in this case the guy was completely rejected because they could not find a qualified minority in one of the tiers. Civil service law says that the test is good for a year so a city can’t keep giving tests if they don’t like the outcome. In this case the city ended the test scores since they are not getting enough minority participation. So he sued. I believe the city’s argument was, we have a contract that the union agreed to so we aren’t bound by the law. True however…. a contract can’t overcome my rights that I did not agree to give up. From my memory, the officer won an EEOC lawsuit, got a 6 figure settlement based on race discrimination and BPD had to change their hiring practices/contract. I am fairly certain I remember that officer staying with his old department after the settlement. So a union cannot take away certain individual rights by contract. Imagine this, a police union votes for a contract to ban women from police service and the city agrees under the belief that woman should not be police officers. Would that be allowed to stand? Would such a contract overcome individual rights? I think not!! Does that apply to the Minneapolis teacher’s union? I don’t know since they are under a different federal circuit court. Unless the Supreme Court issues a different ruling, their circuit court would stand as precedent. I think a federal lawsuit “might” knock that race based part of the contract out. In my opinion….

My first car was a 1966 Ford Galaxie 509 with a 352 with a four barrel. I paid $500 for it in 1973.

The CBS News, Washington Post, Washington Times, NY Post, Daily Mail, MSN….. Have all fallen for the lie then.

The fact that Cheney was beaten is not shocking. The fact that Hagerman won 2/3s of all votes combined against 4 other candidates is very telling.

It wasn’t a hard call to make. When there are five people going for one position in an election it would be easy to think that they would have to be a runoff. If four candidates got 13% each and the fifth blew all of them away, it would still be a runoff. that is because the first place candidate would only have 48%. In this case that hope by Cheney was crushed because #1 beat her by more than 2-1. When an incumbent cannot even get 30%, not either general election, but from her own party….. I am sure the exit polling showed this was not even a contact. Cheney knew what was coming and it was only a matter pride to even had her enter the race.

I didn’t know that was in question. I know that in criminal investigations you have to prove every point to determine if it is a crime. Saying “I know he did it” isn’t enough so tests are run. Sometimes it is just to confirm what is already known.

Amazon by the end of this year is expected to start delivering packages in College Station and in Lockeford, CA. I think it is interesting that they chose College Station to launch and test it. According to Amazon it was Texas A&M and the relatively small town feel of the city that brought them in. [Hidden Content] Here is a YouTube video of what looks like some fairly large drones. It is claimed to completely autonomous or send it and forget it device. [Hidden Content]

In know that I am viewing it from spending almost 4 decades as a police officer but it does seem strange if he left quickly. I have been to many house fires, some in which the homes were totally destroyed, and don’t recall seeing homeowner or resident just leave. Like, “Okay, every thing I worked for and all of my memories are gone… see y’all later”. I remember a house fire in the west side of PA where a woman’s home was destroyed. There were flames coming out of the windows on all sides. The term “totally engulfed” was appropriate. When the woman came home and saw the ongoing destruction, she was understandably extremely emotional and wanted to get into the house. I think she had a dog inside. She would have been seriously injured or killed if she had gotten within about 15 feet from the house yet she was beating on me trying to break free to run into the home. I just held onto her, telling a younger officer with me not to hit her back because she was swinging but just emotional. Instinctively you want to knock the crap out of someone hitting you. She finally and probably fortunately passed out and we called EMS for her. That is the kind of reaction a person might expect. Everyone handles things differently though.

The first qb, tall (sophomore?) had a huge arm and could sling it. His passes at times were way off mark but it might have been the wrong pattern and/or timing. A receiver breaks left and he throws right. I thought the line looked okay but they seriously looked like they needed someone to want to carry the ball. In though the second qb that came in (I think) with the first team during game like conditions, did a better job of moving the team. Was it better qb play or was the team coming together better nest the end? I might have been to shell shocked to notice and I am being serious. I think when noticing such glaring mistakes (which were plenty) it is easy to overlook the good parts. HF seemed very inspired and were getting after it. I know it is a scrimmage but next week might get ugly if some serious improvement isn’t made. Maybe last night was like throwing a cold bucket of water on someone, shockingly waking them up.