Bay Area Houston

State Representative Dennis Paul lives just a block from my house. I remember when he was running in the primary he was standing outside sporting a hat with a large NRA on it. He has represented the NRA well, voting to allow gun nuts to walk in the open with loaded assault weapons as if we are fighting a war in our neighborhood. Dennis is a nice guy, but he needs to drop his support of the NRA.

The body of a 17 month old child isn’t even cold and another elected official has stood up to defend the gun nuts of Texas in a number of tweets. He claims god have Texans the right to own guns. The only thing god gave was the right for someone to call Schaefer a dick. Gun rights were given by man and man alone. God had absolutely nothing to do with this. Nothing. As was said in the past:

Newflash for you buds, God didn’t give you that right. So quick saying it. As you probably know the right to own a gun comes from the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution, written by a group of men. So what man giveth, man can surely taketh away. So quit your g—damn whining about how you have a god given right to own a gun. It’s about as intelligent as saying you have a god given right to own a chicken. (But not in the city limits)

Schaefer continued saying NO to background checks, or banning assault weapons, or red flag laws. Schaefer wants Texas to remain to be the wild, wild, west with guns on demand. He wants more guns in schools and more guns on the streets, even though if it costs the life of police officers, your family members, or a 17 month old child.

He bows to guns and not to god.

Kathaleen Wall ran in the Republican primary for Congressional District 2 in 2016. She donated $800,000 to Gov Abbott who has endorsed her. She invested $6 Million of her own money into her own campaign, raising only $10,000 from others. And she lost, and lost bad. She came in 3rd place. Buying an election has become a campaign strategy for republicans much like Money Mayes Middleton who spent $2.5 Million of his own money to win a House seat.

Now Wall is trying to buy the primary for CD22, a seat abandoned by Congressman Pete Olson. Much like CD2 we should expect a huge amount of money to be spent on ads showing she is the best Trump supporter in the race, and the most loaded candidate with guns and money.

Kathaleen Walls stands with trump and is loaded. What could possibly go wrong with that strategy?

Photo by Tom Fox of The Dallas Morning News

Dallas citizens and police were lucky. 

In Texas Governor Abbott signed a bill to allow open carry which includes carrying loaded assault rifles like the Dallas shooter did this past week. Luckily no one was injured besides the shooter. Abbott and the Republican Party believes dressing up in military outfits, wearing bullet proof vests, and holding loaded assault weapons with large capacity clips in public is necessary and is a right of all gun nuts across Texas. This is legal in Texas. 

So it shouldn’t be so shocking to anyone that a person like this can simply walk up to the building and start shooting. In 2016 Five officers were killed, and nine others and two civilians were injured during a shoot out at a Black Lives Matter protest. During this event people were carrying assault weapons which confused those who were providing security for the event. So how does any of this protect our Police Officers?

Short answer. It doesn’t. What kind of idiot thinks carrying loaded assault type of weapons in public, dressed up like GI-Joe is necessary? How do we determine if this person is a law abiding gun nut and not a domestic terrorist? This is insanity. Law enforcement across the state was against this bill yet Abbott and company passed it anyway.

Unfortunately the police across Texas continue to vote for them.

Leave it to Pete Olson and Brian Babin to support the Virginia Beach shooter.

Texas Congressmen Pete Olson CD22 and Brian Babin CD36 cosponsored House Bill 155 which would make buying a silencer as easy as buying a gun, which is pretty easy in the USA. The bill is called the “Hearing Protection Act” and would allow easy access to a silencer like the one the Virginia Beach shooter used to kill 12 Americans. Olson and Babin believe it is important to protect the victims hearing as they are shot to death.

Babin is in a 70/30 district and will easily win reelection but Pete Olson won in 2018 by only 3 points and the district is now a target for the Democratic Party. Easy access to a gun silencer is about as stupid as nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize which both had sponsored. Currently the law allows silencers to be purchased but there are specific requirements and applications that must be met.

Making  it easier is not in the best interests of the vast majority of Americans.

Texas House Bill 357 (get it? 357?) sponsored by  Johnathon Stickland (R-Bedford) has been sent to the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee. From Texas Scorecard:

Recently, State Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R–Bedford) filed a bill to allow permitless carry of a firearm, a Republican Party of Texas Legislative Priority, designating it House Bill 357. Conservatives and pro-gun Texans will recognize the bill number from the popular handgun caliber, .357 Magnum.

Get it? 357? Isn’t that just cute? HB357 is called “Constitutional Carry” and would allow anyone to open carry a gun without training, without a background check, and without a concealed handgun license. Stickland carried the bill for open carry allowing the open display of guns except in certain areas. It has had no effect on crime or prevention.

This bill is supported by the Texas Republican Party and has a few sponsors with no companion bill in the Senate. Discussions with local Representative’s staff shows little support in the Senate or the House. Hopefully this lack of interest will continue. Baby Briscoe Cain out of Deer Park and Mayes “Money” Middleton of Galveston have signed onto the bill. Both of these are from the far white wing of the republican party. Baby Briscoe is known for flashing his gun at the Texas Democratic Convention last summer and being escorted out. Money Middleton self financed his run for State House for a tune of $2.5 Million, with $2.25 Million coming from his own pocket.

Hopefully this bill will never see the light of day. It truly defies common sense. Here are the authors and sponsors:

After 58 Americans were gunned down with an assault weapon equipped with a bump stock in Las Vegas with hundreds more injured Trump will be signing an executive order banning the sale and ownership of the device on Friday. From NBC News:

“We are faithfully following President Trump’s leadership by making clear that bump stocks, which turn semiautomatics into machine guns, are illegal, and we will continue to take illegal guns off of our streets,” Whitaker said. 

Later, at a school safety event at the White House, he called it a “big victory” for Trump’s administration.

Better late than never. It only took trump a year to realize bump stocks should be off the market. He could have had a “big victory” by signing this order a year ago.

As of Friday bump stocks will no longer be sold in America and those who own the device will have 90 days to turn it in. Watch for the NRA to file a lawsuit. Next up: high capacity clips and assault weapons.

As the celebration of the birth of baby Jesus Christ approaches, Texans have made a list and are checking it twice looking for that special gift that reflects the season of joy, happiness, and love.

And what can be better to celebrate the coming of Christ than an assault rifle, like the popular AR-15?  Coupled with accessories like a 100 round barrel clip and a bump stock to convert the rifle to fully automatic makes this a perfect gift to light up the face of any high school Christian student!

And where else but Academy Sports and Outdoors to start your purchase? Academy has a wide selection of assault style weapons such as the AR-15, Rugers, Mossbergs, Colt and many many more with price ranges just right for every frugal Christmas shopper! Academy sells the Radical Firearms AR-15 for only $529.00, a gift that would wake up the face of anyone anxiously awaiting Baby Jesus!

But that is not all! A 100 round barrel clip can be found on the internet for the low price of just $79.95 and a bump stock that converts the AR-15 into a fully automatic rifle can be found for the low, low price of $150. Order now before those g–damn Baby Jesus hating Democrats take them off the g–damn Christmas cheer market!

Complete your Christmas purchase with a “Freedom Bucket” of 300 rounds of quality bullets also sold with joy at Academy Sports and Outdoors!

What a wonderful way to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ with an AR-15, bump stock, 100 round magazine, and a bucket full of ammo snuggled under the Christmas tree in a festive manner! Just look at the above video to see what kind of Christmas cheer a purchase like this can bring to any young Christian!

Merry Christmas to the republicans for protecting the rights of Texans to bring this kind of Christmas joy to our streets, dance clubs, churches, schools, concerts, and restaurants!

It’s sad when you have to tell a human being not to wear an nra hat while working the polls less than 48 hours after 11 Americans were slaughtered by a gun nut. Besides the fact that it is illegal, it is obscene and disrespectful towards the families, friends, and other Americans. From Fox 26 Houston:

County Clerk Stan Stanart claims all of his poll workers and presiding judges must be neutral and cannot wear any type of clothing such as an NRA hat, yet he obviously forgot to tell his poll workers and presiding judges. He also wasn’t going to do anything about the complaint which was filed early in the morning until Fox 26 called for a statement.

What bothers me the most is that the presiding judge, a republican, knew he was going to wear this hat. She allowed it. She condoned it and she defended him when a complaint was filed. As a judge she has the authority to tell her workers to remove any obvious inappropriate clothing or to leave the area. She refused.

What kind of a Christian would think this was appropriate? What kind of human being would think this was appropriate? It makes your heart hurt for our country.

#NoPlaceButTexas #FireStanStanart

It really just pisses me off.

I may have said the g–damn word maybe 5 times in my entire life. Today was one of them. I walked up to vote in Clear Lake today to take advantage of the short line. The person giving out instructions on what was needed to vote was wearing an NRA hat. It might has well been a MAGAt hat.

I looked at him and simply said “Take that g–damn hat off!”. I then had a very long discussion with the presiding judge who has the authority to tell him to either leave or take off the hat. I had to remind her that 11 human beings were shot less than 48 hours ago. I had to remind her that a gun nut had taken the lives of 11 Jewish Americans with an AR-15. I told her she had the authority to tell him to leave or to take the hat off. She defended him until I told her I would file a complaint and bring the media. (if they would come)

She agreed to tell him to take it off….until she could talk to Stan Stanart, her boss. I bet this asshole of man will put it back on. She claimed it was illegal. I told her that farting in a crowded elevator was legal but it was extremely disrespectful.

What part of being an asshole do republicans not understand? BTW both are right wing republicans.

It’s getting to be a pattern with the members of the republic party.

From the Houston Chronicle

First we had the Fort Bend Republic Party stooping to a new low as they reached out to Hindu-Americans in an ill conceived ad. 

The ad appeared to be an attempt to reach out to Hindus on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi and urged Hindu American voters in the county to vote Republican by asking “Would you worship a donkey or an elephant? The choice is yours.”

The party has since apologized for it. Now we have the republicans in Clear Lake showing, once again, their true white colors with the backing of the tea baggers of the area attacking a parent of one of the Sante Fe shooting victims. Rhonda Hart attended a gathering with Ted Cruz and his white supporters after he unveiled the new Space Force uniforms at NASA designed by Ivanka Trump Inc. After confronting Cruz as a parent who lost their child to gun violence, the tea baggers shouted her down. From KTRK:

Rhonda Hart stormed the crowded room at Franca’s Italian Restaurant. She stood on a chair and shouted, “Don’t disrespect my daughter. My daughter died. My daughter died.”
Some in the crowd reacted harshly. Cruz, a Republican, calmed them down and offered his condolences. 

“You still have not introduced common-sense reform,” Hart yelled.

Ms Hart is right. Besides thoughts and prayers and photo ops at the sites of the massacres, Cruz and the Republic Party hasn’t done a thing to prevent gun violence since the shooting in Santa Fe, or Sutherland, or Orlando, Las Vegas, or even Sandy Hook where 20 kindergarten kids were gunned down. They have done nothing. Absolutely nothing.

These so called “conservatives” in the Clear Lake republicans continued their harsh attacks towards a mother who lost her child in the comments sections of the Houston Chronicle:

A naive tool of the left, sorry for your loss and for your lack of how gun laws and the second amendment work. Find something useful to do with your life or move to Chicago and work on the guns laws there. 

AM sorry her daughter died. But am more sorry for the death of freedoms. 

So now she had her 5 minutes of fame to prove that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about and the chronicle tried to sensationalize it to promote the fake Mexican Beto!

Sorry Libs, the NRA and Ted have never shot anybody. 

And those are just a few of the nasty comments left by the right. Like the republicans in Fort Bend, there is nothing too low for the republicans in Clear Lake. Nothing. 

Unlike Fort Bend, don’t expect an apology from the Clear Lake republicans.

Nothing like treating the symptoms instead of addressing the cause.

After a couple of round table meetings Greg Abbott has come up with some ideas for protecting kids at school from gun violence.

“I believe the only way to stop gun violence in our schools is to arm all of our teachers and high school seniors. If they are old enough to vote, they are old enough to carry.”

If you have read my blog in the past you can probably guess, Abbott didn’t say exactly that, but please do not give him any ideas! Abbott is a white wing NRA gun nut and will do whatever will promote more guns in society no matter who gets killed, including our children and friends.

This entire “school safety” misses the point of the gun violence epidemic. Gun violence is not restricted to only one location. It’s in churches (Sutherland), Movie Theaters (Aurora), night clubs (Orlando), concerts (Las Vegas), restaurants (Luby’s), military bases (Ft Hood), baseball fields (Congressional baseball game), Universities (UT Austin, Virginia Tech), public streets( Dallas police shootings) and public schools (Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, and now Santa Fe). His solutions will not stop the violence. From the Houston Chronicle:

Beefing up armed security, fortifying school entrances and enhancing mental health services are among the options Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to unveil Wednesday in his effort to make Texas schools safer amid a rash of mass shootings.

How will arming teachers protect everyone else from gun violence? And who is going to pay for metal detectors, mental health services, and armed guards? We can’t even pay our teachers fairly. If Abbott was serious about his wide eyed ignorant gun nut ideas he would be calling for arming teachers, altar boys, waitresses, umpires, professors, and high schools seniors. And even if you can put aside my snide comments and satire, how will arming teachers and installing metal detectors stop someone from driving up and shooting the high school band as they practice? Or the football team? How will that stop someone from ripping up a School bus filled with students?

Abbott and his gun nut buddies once again has used the deaths of 10 students and teachers as a way to distract from the real cause of gun violence. Guns.