Judge Edith Jones, Texan born and educated, sits on the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans and was appointed to the court by Ronald Reagan.  She has earned her ultra conservative stripes over the years in fireworks fashion.   She’s known as being anti-abortion, wanting the state to rush to execute death penalty cases, and seems to favor debtor’s prison for poor people rather than bankruptcy.

She’s a damn horses’ patootie.  She also wants to invalidate a federal ban on owning machine guns.  Machine guns.  Won’t that be fun?  Hell, she considers Ronald Reagan a pussy-footed liberal.

Her name always bubbles around when Republicans are looking for Supreme Count nominees.  Reagan and Bush both considered her.  We dodged a bullet, Honey.

She made a speech earlier this year that is gaining some dandy attention.

The speech was not recorded but five students and one attorney have signed a complaint.  Nobody who knows her would doubt for a New York minute that she did indeed say these things.  These kinds of things roll off her tongue like Amens from a tent revivalist.

Jones is accused of saying that certain “racial groups like African-Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime,” and are “prone to commit acts of violence” and be involved in more violent and “heinous” crimes than people of other ethnicities.

The judge also allegedly said Mexicans would prefer to be on death row in the United States than serving prison terms in their native country, and that it’s an insult for the U.S. to look to the laws of other countries such as Mexico.

She also said that claims of mental retardation by defendants “disgust her,” and that the fact that they committed a crime is proof that they are not retarded.  Ring, ring.  Judge Jones, it’s Joseph Heller on line one.  He wants his satire back.

And …

… she said a death sentence provides a service to capital-case defendants because they are likely to make peace with God only just before their execution.

Yeah, how’s that there for some Christianity?  We’re gonna kill you so you can go make peace with God.  Because, you know, we love you and God.

Judge Edith Jones, a real Texas kind of judge.

Thanks to Aggieland Liz for the heads up.

It it with great sadness that I write to you with news of the passing of James Barnett, our Data Director.

James speaking at a Texas Democratic Workshop in Richmond in March

James was dedicated to the ideals of our democracy, and chose to live his too short life in service to others. His passing is a great loss to the TDP, and to all those who believe in democracy and Democratic values.

Below please find the official TDP statement on this loss.

And thank you for keeping James’ family in your thoughts and prayers.

Gilberto Hinojosa

—————————–

Yesterday the Texas Democratic Party learned of the passing of James Barnett our Data Director. Words cannot express the sadness we feel from the loss of our colleague and dear friend.

James came to the party in January of this year, having previously served as the Data and Voter File Manager in Nevada. James was a 2004 graduate of Rossville High School, and a 2008 graduate of the University of Evansville. He was an avid sports fan. His favorite teams were the Cardinals, Colts and Pacers and he was a huge fan of college basketball.

But James was most passionate about his job. He worked across this great country to fight for his values through supporting Democratic candidates and causes. As we contemplate his loss, we are thankful for all that he has given us through his love of service to others.

We ask that you keep James in your heart and his family in your prayers. James is survived by his parents Randy and Charlotte and his brothers and sisters Bryan, Sarah, Chris, Erik, Abee, and Bekah.

On a personal note:  Y’all, this is very tough for me, so I won’t be posting today.  I was on the hiring team who found James at the Nevada Democratic Party and brought him to Texas.  The night after his first interview (and his first visit to Texas), Don and I took him to Stubbs Barbeque in Austin and fed him the all-you-can-eat plate. We were accompanied by two of my other favorite people, Glen Maxey and Huey Rey Fischer.  James fit in beautifully and believed in what we are trying to do in Texas.  He and I shared a love of baseball and all things nerdy.  I was honored to work with this bright and charming young man on many occasions, including a training visit to my county.  My heart breaks for his family.  I personally know what they are going through and it is unimaginable.  I miss his plaid shirts, his lousy Star Wars references, and arguing with him over baseball.  James Barnett was loved.  He was 27 years old.

Some people.

I am just amazed that stuff like this doesn’t happen to me.

It sounds like a stoner’s dream, but it’s been a bit of a nightmare for a California man who recently got an unexpected FedEx delivery: 11 pounds of marijuana.

It seems the box was addressed to him but he didn’t order the stuff – at least that’s what he says.  He called the police to come get it – at least that’s what he says.  He claims that he didn’t sample the product and that I do believe.  Had he, the police would not be involved.  Doritos would be.

So, you go to Russia to talk about the Boston bombing.  Who would you send?

The kickboxer who knows more than most Republicans

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who led the six-member delegation, described discussions with Russian parliament members and security officials as productive. Some of the meetings, he said, were made possible by American actor Steven Seagal.

Yep, that Steve Seagal, the maker of the best kick boxing movies ever to grace the big screen and serial sexual harasser.

Rohrabacher thanked Seagal for arranging the meetings so they could bypass the US Embassy and the State Department because, after all, those people know diddle squat about kickboxing.

Not surprisingly, on this trip Republicans heard what they wanted to hear and Democrats heard what was said.

Rep. Steve King said Russian security officials told the delegation they believed that Tsarnaev and his mother had been radicalized before moving to the United States in 2003. “I suspect he was raised to do what he did,” said King, a Republican from Iowa.

His account of the meeting at the FSB, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, was disputed by Rep. Steven Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, who said he understood that the radicalization took place much later, when the family was living in Boston.

Yeah, but if what Cohen heard is true, you can’t blame the commies for this and – all kickboxing aside – that was the whole purpose of the trip being arranged outside normal channels.

The best part of the trip is that Steven Seagal wanted to take them to Chechnya, but Cohen refused to go because of Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen Republic, a weird guy who the Kremlin adores.  Kadyrov has been seen in some wild hoochy parties, has approved of honor killings on the basis that wives are the property of their husbands and has participated in rape, kidnapping, massive torture and murder.  Seagal, of course, loves him because that’s the exact plot of every Steven Seagal movie.

“All these accusations are thrown around,” said Seagal, who was given a lavish welcome in Kadyrov’s palace. “Is there any evidence? Has he been indicted?”

Yeah well, dude, Stalin was never indicted either.

I read the article twice but there appears to be no mention of Seagal kicking anybody so, at least to me, this diplomatic mission was a complete failure.

Send Dennis Rodman next time. He’s good at this stuff.

I have no idea how much money Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is paying to show up on my Facebook page every damn day spreading lies about President Obama but it’s probably about the same amount as landing on Boardwalk with a hotel.

Not even one of his ads ever mentions what Greg Abbot believes in.  Oh no, it’s just Let’s All Be Very Afraid of Obama.   Every day it’s guns, health care, or the forked end of a rattlesnake.

So, Greg, if you’re spending a boatload of money just to piss me off, it’s working.  And every single day you show up on my Facebook page, I’m donating $5 to the Texas Democratic Party.  Speaking of which, Texas Democrats just hired a big guy to make us a big party.  So, hunker down, Greg, because you’re hacking me off.

‘Teenie’ Harris was an African American photographer in Pittsburgh during the mid century.  He chronicled the lives of African Americans struggling during that time.

This one caught my eye.

Black hands coming after the little white girl.  You gotta say one thing for Republicans.  The only thing they’ve changed since 1949 are the light bulbs.

Thanks to Charles for the heads up.