While I was on vacation, a guy decided to declare war on the United States starting in Austin.

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo described Larry McQuilliams as a “home grown domestic terrorist” who apparently had plans and enough equipment to blow up Austin.  He’s a convicted felon but was able, of course, to get all the weaponry and ammo he needed.

McQuilliams was a rightwing hate monger with complaints straight from Fox News – people are trying to hurt Christians, undocumented immigrants get all the good jobs, you know the usual Fox News headlines.

It was only through luck that no innocent people were killed that night.

However, I just want to note that it did not take riot gear and military weapons to take him down.  It was one cop, one sidearm, and Roy Roger’s horse Trigger.

Law enforcement sources confirmed to KVUE Saturday that a single shot to the heart killed 49-year old Larry Steven McQuilliams. The shot was fired by Austin Police Sergeant Adam Johnson.

Sgt. Johnson is a 15-year veteran on the force. Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said he was loading up horses early Friday morning when he heard the gunshots, and while holding two horses with one hand he fired at McQuilliams with his free hand hitting him in the heart.

Friday afternoon, Acevedo praised Johnson’s quick actions saying “For a guy to keep his composure, holding two horses with one hand and taking a one hand shot with the other hand just says a lot about the training and professionalism of our police department.”

No kidding.  He’s a cop on horseback.  He’s with the Mounted Patrol Unit.  The only thing that would have been cooler is if he’d been on horseback when he fired the shot.

I, for one, ain’t messin’ with this guy.

Ya know, it seems to me that Republicans in the Texas legislature would remember that Texas has not been real successful in wars against the union over states rights.

Republicans are big on States but not so much on United.

Texas Republican Representative Dan Flynn, an old rich white guy from East Texas (heavy sigh), has decided that we are going to set up a panel of 14 legislators to vote on which federal laws we will follow and which ones we won’t.  It’s called nullification.

Flynn wants this committee to be bipartisan.  So, only 8 of the 14 members can be Republicans.  That’s fair.

As James Madison warned early in American history, nullification would “speedily put an end to the Union itself” because it would render each obligation a state’s citizens owe to the union as a whole optional. In effect, nullification is a way to secede from the union one law at a time.

Remember that part about Republicans wanting to follow the Constitution?  They are having second thoughts about that.  Assuming they have any thought at all.

Thanks to Frank for the heads up.

We have a special election going on here for a State Senate seat.  It’s an open election – which is like a general election with more than one candidate from each party.  It’s a free-for-all.  There are three Republicans running and two Democrats (yeah, yeah, we tried to talk the second Democrat out of filing so we could unite behind one candidate and have a much, much better shot at making the run-off but nooooooo.).

Anyway, one of the candidate is Gary Gates, a man with far more money than good sense.  He’s run for office about 20 times and lost 26 times.

He loaned himself $100,000 to lose this race.

So, some damn sleazy political consultant is happy to oblige.  Here’s the deal.  Who would send an expensive ballot by mail application to the County Democratic Party Chairman (public information) who has already requested and received a ballot by mail for the entire year (public information)?

Now that’s some wasteful spending, my conservative friend.

Yeah, that’s Ron Paul endorsing him.

Here’s my theory.  Bill Kristol was putting up lights on his roof to do his part to combat The War On Christmas.

He fell off the roof and landed on his head, which was promptly eaten by some damn anti-God liberal activist who thinks the Obama girls dress just fine.

The result was this:

Well, Golly, Bill.  The Republican Party has so many to chose from, but it’s probably you.

Besides, the Silent Majority ain’t so damn silent, which has revealed that they are obnoxious, mean, and totally detached from reason.

And how do I know that, you ask?

Well, it seems Ms Scientist is looking at the brains of people who still have theirs.

People who are more sensitive to the ideas of fairness and equity are driven by reason, not just passion, according to a recent University of Chicago study published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

It turns out that liberals are liberals because … ta da! … their brains respond to logic and reason.

I’m exhausted and happy.

The trip was great.  A special thanks to Craig and Deb for the special “researchers pass” to the Truman library, a VIP tour of the Truman home, and some of the best food and fellowship known to humans.

The Ozarks are gorgeous this time of year and I discovered that Omaha is much prettier than I thought it would be.  Colder, though.  Damn colder.

I have a week’s worth of laundry to do and suitcases to unpack.  I haven’t even started on Christmas yet and everybody else is decorated and done.

It’s good to be home.

By John A. Kwitkoski

Well, folks, it’s a Republican Congress next year! And to help you keep track of their hard work, we thought you might like a handy “To Do” list, suitable for printing.

(Just click on the little one to get the big one, download it, and print it out.)

List the top five things you think Congress should accomplish in 2015 and as they do (Bwahahhahaha… sorry.) you can cross it off the list! Hang it up on your fridge as a constant reminder that Congress will be working for you and moving the country forward. (I’m trying not to laugh here, guys.)

And when they start campaigning in 2016 (Who am I kidding? They’re doing that now!) you can show your friends and neighbors how well Congress did. That should be fun!

(And BTW: If you pop this art into Word, I believe you can type on top of it, save it, and attach it to an email you can send to your Congressional representative to remind him or her what you think Congress should be getting done. They might find that useful! Ya think?)