National, Regional and Local News

[Owendonovan]

"Texas Republicans Approve Far-Right Platform Declaring Biden’s Election Illegitimate.
The Republican Party in Texas made a series of far-right declarations as part of its official party platform over the weekend, claiming that President Biden was not legitimately elected, issuing a “rebuke” to Senator John Cornyn for his work on bipartisan gun legislation and referring to homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice.”

Talk about a sh*# hole place. These people are making decisions for others. Once again, embarrassing Americans.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/us/p ... imate.html

[Suliso]

I was on holidays in Texas (partially) last December. Stunningly beautiful nature, but people I guess leave something to be desired...

[ponchi101]

More and more fragmentation. As Owen says, an absolute position of not minding their own business and making decisions for others.
I keep saying that the USA is in a path for secession. These people, with their Bible's and 2nd amendment in hand, will never relent on their position that nobody has a saying about their right to buy an AR15, but THEY do have a saying on who you should love. It is an impenetrable way of thinking.

[ti-amie]

Secession? Let 'em. Who are they gonna call when their grid fails again or the next big hurricane roars in from the Gulf?

[ponchi101]

Sure. They can't see that. Also, most of the economically viable states in the USA are dems (Texas is an exception) so states like Kentucky would almost immediately be unable to fulfill the most basic needs of their inhabitants, if a split of the union were to take place.
But that is more fodder for the secession path. Eventually, states like NY or CA could say "enough, we are not paying any more for people that actually do not share our core believes". And if that ends up being the case, the experiment that is the USA will end.

[Owendonovan]

Seems like a mass psychosis based on an idolatry of someone who doesn't possess the qualities idolized. If they were to secede, what exactly are they aiming to create? Wouldn't the bulk of those CA transplants bolt along with a fair percentage of every metropolitan area?

[ponchi101]

Oh, it is a lunatic plan, based, as you say, on a faulty ideology. Texas has a lot of high-tech; that can't be denied. But, if they were to secede, they pull themselves from the American market, and they become an independent country, now subject to tariffs and immigration policies.
It is the talk of idiots, for sure.
But: maybe the remaining 49 states won't mind...

[dryrunguy]

I've been arguing we should give Texas to Mexico since about 2000 (and Florida to Cuba and Ohio to Canada).

[Deuce]

I've been arguing we should give Texas to Mexico since about 2000 (and Florida to Cuba and Ohio to Canada).

We would decline the penalty.

[Deuce]

An interesting angle on gun violence...

Would Curbing Gun Use in Movies and TV Shows Help?

Open Letter From Hollywood Film & TV Leaders...

.

[ti-amie]

I put this here because I wasn't sure where else to put it.

[ponchi101]

I must admit, I am very, very impressed by such a post.
I thought he was a bit of a jerk when asked about the huge medallion hanging around his neck ("I make too much money for these diamonds to be fake"). Mr. Burrow, I apologize.

[ti-amie]

Driver of truck 53 migrants died in makes first court appearance
A U.S. magistrate judge on Thursday formally charged Homero Zamorano Jr. in connection with the deadly human smuggling event.

ERIK DE LA GARZA / June 30, 2022

SAN ANTONIO (CN) — A Texas man who authorities say was the driver of the tractor-trailer where 53 migrants were found dead was arraigned Thursday in San Antonio federal court on human smuggling charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty.

According to court documents, Homero Zamorano Jr., 45, was identified through surveillance footage obtained by Homeland Security agents as the driver of the tractor-trailer spotted traveling through an immigration checkpoint about 150 south of San Antonio.

He was arrested by San Antonio police Monday at the scene of the nation’s deadliest human smuggling event after attempting to disguise himself as one of the victims he was allegedly smuggling, and was charged Wednesday with one count of alien smuggling resulting in death. He made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Chestney on Thursday afternoon, where he hardly spoke except when responding to the judge.

“Do you understand the charges against you and your rights?” Chestney asked Zamorano.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said softly.

Zamorano, who is originally from the Rio Grande Valley and recently resided in the Houston suburb of Pasadena, faces life in prison or the death penalty if convicted, a $250,000 fine and up to five years of supervised release. Seated next to his two federal public defenders, Zamorano wore a plain white T-shirt, gray sweat pants and a blue surgical face mask as the courtroom gallery, made up of mostly media and federal agents, observed the brief hearing.

“In your case, the government has filed a motion against you to detain you pending trial,” Chestney told Zamorano before remanding him to the custody of U.S. marshals. She set a July 6 detention hearing where she will determine whether he is eligible for bail.

Of the 64 migrants in the trailer, 48 were found dead at the scene Monday after San Antonio police responded to 911 calls from concerned citizens that led them to a tractor-trailer parked along a rural road in the city’s southwest side. Sixteen of the undocumented individuals were taken to local hospitals, with five later dying, bringing the death toll to a staggering 53.

“At the scene, SAPD officers discovered multiple individuals, some still inside the tractor trailer, some on the ground and in nearby brush, many of them deceased and some of them incapacitated,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

Justice Department officials have identified 22 of the deceased as Mexican nationals, seven as Guatemalan nationals, two Honduran nationals and 17 of unknown origin but suspected to be undocumented non-citizens.

https://www.courthousenews.com/driver-o ... ppearance/

I want to know who hired him.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

Warning this is graphic.

https://twitter.com/lawcrimenews/status ... S4B-KyU2UQ