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Tuesday Roundup: And Now, Here’s Ollie Williams…

May 12, 2009 By Trey Garrison 3 Comments
  • If you ever had doubts that local schools should be run strictly by locals, look no further than the federal Title 1 rules. It appears the one bright spot in DISD — its magnet schools — because are safe from cuts but how smart is it that the district can’t, by federal fiat, pump extra funds into schools that need it beyond a 10 percent median?
  • This news will be heartening to more than a few in my network.
  • The Dallas City Council will be voting on its latest revenue enhancer — a daytime curfew for juveniles — which has the added benefit of making kids feel like they only have liberties at the sufferance of their civil masters. Want reasons why it’s a bad idea? Look no further than your friendly neighborhood blog.

Filed Under Bethany Anderson, Capitalist Superheroes, City Owned Boondoggle, DISD, Liberty, Politics, Vainglorious Plugging

Proposed Daytime Curfew — Who Are You Kidding?

May 6, 2009 By Trey Garrison 10 Comments

I’ve mentioned the proposed Dallas daytime curfew for those under 18 during school hours. Even though police already have the power to take truants into custody, this new curfew would criminalize them and — big surprise here — slap a $500 fine on parents. I’m sure it has nothing to do with Dallas’ budget crisis. Anyway, here’s more on the issue from the Citizens Against a Daytime Curfew. Take it away, Laurel Allen.

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Is the proposed daytime curfew necessary?

According to the Texas Education Code, police are already fully empowered to take any child seen in public during school hours into custody in order to determine if they are a juvenile in need of supervision, or if there is probable cause that they are in violation of the compulsory school attendance law under Section 25 of the code. In the process of making that determination, they have the ability to intervene in a manner that requires the involvement of the child’s parent or guardian, the courts or juvenile board, and the school district.

JUMP FOR MORE.

[Read more...]

Filed Under Liberty, Media Driven Panics, Politics, The DFW

Friday Roundup: I’m Going to the Special Hell for Item One

May 1, 2009 By Trey Garrison 17 Comments
  • Yeah, it’s real fun to be the guy who “defends” a convicted sex offender. This is going to make me real popular. But I’m just a little troubled that this guy is facing 10 years not because the law regards what he did as a danger to children, but rather because of a technicality. “John Joseph Stuart…faces a felony registration-violation charge that could send him back to prison for up to 10 years. Stuart, 32, wouldn’t have had any trouble with police if he had disclosed his job at the SAT and ACT Prep Center, which he co-owns with his wife, Frances Stuart.” If a sex offender is an imminent threat he shouldn’t be let out at all, but the sex offender registration laws go way overboard and do almost nothing but make the state pols who pass them sound tough on crime. They’re ineffective mainly because 95 percent of child sex abuse victims know the perpetrator, i.e. Uncle Don, not the stranger in the trench coat with a pack of Smarties on the end of a fishing line.
  • Conflicting reports on how the Richardson city council race for Place 4 is getting a little ugly, which means it’s suddenly interesting to me. In a race pitting a more hardcore conservative against an Establishment country club type Republican, I hear it two ways. Ed Cognoski — the classic example of the guy who can’t believe McGovern lost since “everyone I know voted for him” but who’s been following the races in his ‘burb closely — says the unfortunately named Tom Bache-Wiig is acting all douche-baggy. A trusted friend who is also following the race tells me it’s the other way around: “The ‘Richardson Coalition’ PAC sent a mailer with some really shitty remarks about Tom Bache-Wiig. The RC supports Gary Slagel, the former mayor, and class-A elite jackass. TBW is a true conservative, and quite frankly, his mere appearance in the race scare the country club set to death.” Is this Richardson’s version of Huckabee vs. McCain?
  • Good. Because I don’t care what you think about illegal immigration, national security, the need for a border fence, the environmental impact, or any other issue except this: the government needs to respect private property rights. Period. Full Stop.
  • Finally, from a dear friend Down Under:

    • 1

Filed Under Creepy Guys in the Park, Culture, FAIL, Humor, Liberty, Media Driven Panics, Politics, Swine Flu, The DFW, The Market, Zombies

Wednesday Roundup: Vandelay! Say Vandelay!

April 29, 2009 By Trey Garrison 11 Comments
  • Props to the Dallas Morning News and Austin Statesman for backing better compensation for wrongful convictions. Next up should be criminal charges for prosecutors who withhold exculpatory evidence or otherwise knowingly prosecute an innocent.

Filed Under Capitalist Superheroes, FAIL, Guns, Liberty, Politics, The DFW

Friday Roundup: Take It Away, Penn Jillette

April 24, 2009 By Trey Garrison 3 Comments

I’ll be back later this morning, but Penn Jillette speaks for me in this four minutes of genius.

“Ask what you can do for your country” is effing creepy and stupid. “Government that works” can suck it.

(h/t Mark Guppy)

Filed Under Capitalist Superheroes, Liberty

Brew Up Some Trouble: Dallas Tax Day Tea Parties

April 15, 2009 By Trey Garrison 1 Comment

tpToday is tax day, and it’s also a national day of tax protests. It’s the day the federal government demands you empty your hands.

Fine. Give them a finger while you’re at it.

I have the complete list of tax protest times and places after the jump below. Get going.

Protip: Bring a digital camera or camcorder to document the rallies, any police misconduct, and any provocateurs. Email your clips, comments, and/or photos to me at trey@treygarrison.com, for Spooner’s sake. I’ll post them here, so coverage won’t be limited to a few heavily edited 30-second segments (if that) on the local stations.

1asocialBe aware that by exercising your constitutional rights today, you may end up on the Stasi Department of Homeland Security’s new enemies list. Well, if this be treason…

Jump for the list of April 15 tax protests throughout North Texas.

[Read more...]

Filed Under Capitalist Superheroes, Liberty, Tax Day Tea Party, The DFW

Monday Roundup: It’s Worse than You Think. It Usually Is.

April 13, 2009 By Trey Garrison Leave a Comment

The city of Dallas’ budget deficit for next year? It’s worse than you think. Worse than the $100 million they thought. But the mayor has a cunning plan: a $500 million hotel no one wants that will provide a few hundred minimum wage jobs making beds and slinging drinks.

Oh, and this deficit and monument building stuff comes against a backdrop of the city of Dallas (and county) trying to sabotage the South Dallas inland port and the thousands of professional jobs it could bring by pushing for an unneeded master plan so that local pols can shake down potential investors and ensure that family boss John Wiley Price and his capos get a cut. (Welcome to Dallas, prospective business relocation. Pay no attention to our suburbs.) My solution from months ago? Here.

Oh, almost forgot: John Wiley Price is a shakedown artist.

What’s wrong with the North Texas Fusion Center, a centralized, double-secret “what the hell is a civil right?” melding of politics, Big Brother, law enforcement, and secret police tactics disguised as anti-terrorism? Here’s what, courtesy the Collin County Observer.

I was pleasantly surprised by how local students are connecting the dots between FDR’s failed New Deal policies and Mr. Obama’s epic fail stimulus programs.

Filed Under City Owned Boondoggle, Creepy Guys in the Park, Liberty, Politics, Porkulus, The DFW

Zombie Terrorism

April 8, 2009 By Trey Garrison Leave a Comment

Zombies AheadVia Reason: Remember when the Austin traffic signs were hacked to warn people of the real threat of zombies? Apparently, that kind of prank, along with things like having a Ron Paul bumper sticker or worshiping Odin are evidence of serious, dangerous terrorism afoot. Like we don’t know what kind of threat zombies pose in real life.

Filed Under Liberty, Zombies

Wednesday Roundup: Keeping Shady Deals Out of the Light, McKinney’s Moron Mayor, Epic Fail at Plano ISD & More

April 8, 2009 By Trey Garrison 5 Comments

Here’s a shocker — you know about all the back-room dealing and the shady rush to try to force a $550 million convention center hotel down taxpayers’ throats? No? The city of Dallas doesn’t want you to know about it. They’re suing the Texas AG to prevent the release of information about all their shenanigans. “I think it’s not accurate and disingenuous to say we’ve not been responsive,” (Mayor Tom Lepper) said. If so, then why the lawsuit to keep information from the very public they want to pay for this boondoggle?

Let’s stipulate that the kid in question looks like the typical needs-a-slap teenager. (God I feel so old.) And his story about having OCD seems as phony as a $3 bill. Let’s also stipulate that this kid wasn’t being obscene — his bathing suit was visible under his pants. He wasn’t showing his ass. But the McKinney mayor is now saying it’s OK for McKinney police to harass people for doing nothing at all illegal, even going so far as to lie and say that that something they are offended by is against the law. So now in his view, what’s offensive should be against the law. Unreal. Listen to the whole interview — it gets great toward the end. It’s an eye opener. And it leaves you wondering how out of out of touch the McKinney mayor is. Nice work, Ernie and Jay.

A new trend comes to North Texas: “I said I’m going to get extra meat this time. But he didn’t even put extra shrimp in there,” the woman told a 911 dispatcher. “I asked him, ‘Can I get any extra shrimp, or can you give my money back?’ And he started hollering. So I just said, ‘I’m going to call the police.’”

Minority groups in DPD are asking Chief Kunkle to address some racial sensitivity issues within the department. Thoughts?

Why is Plano ISD considering going down the same road as Dallas ISD with its bone-headed grading policy?

This is bad. I know Sgt. Gil Cerda personally, and my initial reaction to allegation he threatened his wife and physically abused her is one of skepticism. Regardless, it was a cretinous move by Senior Corporal Janice Crowther. No matter how much you may doubt an accusation of domestic violence, every one should be handled seriously.

EDIT: Should have said I was incredulous, not skeptical. Explained in comments.

Filed Under Capitalist Superheroes, City Owned Boondoggle, Liberty, Police, Politics, The DFW

Tuesday Roundup: BATFE Burns Another Dealer, Seig Health!, Urban Core Meltdown & More

April 7, 2009 By Trey Garrison 2 Comments

The Texas Observer has a definitely-worth-your-time investigation into the BATFE’s railroading of a Plano gun shop owner. Now, for those who don’t know, the BATFE is the bottom run of federal law enforcement, where the worst of the dregs wash up. This is an agency that goes after gun dealers for “not keeping proper records of gun sales” because — and I do not exaggerate — sometimes buyers will write the abbreviation for a state rather than the full state name on forms. It appears as though now the BATFE has helped put a man in jail for an arson he didn’t commit. Good stuff. (Hat tip: Unfair Park.)

First they come for smokers, now they’re coming for transfats. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

And Mr. Obama’s wise decisions touch down like a tornado in Fort Worth.

I don’t know what it will take for Dallas to reverse this trend — I have my doubts a park along the Trinity (with or without tollroad) and a half a billion empty convention center hotel will help — but it doesn’t auger well for Big D in the long run.

And now: The 5 Most Popular Safety Laws That Don’t Work

Filed Under City Owned Boondoggle, Creepy Guys in the Park, Culture, DISD, Guns, Liberty, Media, Politics, The DFW
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