EXECUTION WATCH: Richard Aaron Cobb

 Posted by on 4/25/2013  117 Responses »
Apr 252013
 
Richard Cobb

Richard Aaron Cobb

UPDATE: — What do Richard Cobb and Beunka Adams have in common? You know, besides being murdering pieces of shit? That’s right, Jim — they are both dead. Good and dead.

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  • Thug: Richard Aaron Cobb (18 at time of offense)
  • Date of Execution: April 25, 2013
  • Date of Crime: September 2, 2002
  • Victim(s): Kenneth Vandever (37)
  • Last Meal: A huge serving of Pentobarbital.
  • Final Words:  ”Life is too short to harbor feelings of hatred and anger. That’s it.”

Richard Cobb will be the second rabid animal put to death for the murder of Kenneth Vandever. You might remember his partner in crime,  Beunka Adams, who has already been turned into worm food and a rapetoy for Satan.

On that fateful night, Cobb and Adams  kidnapped two young women (Candace Driver and Nikki Dement) who were working at a convenience store in Rusk, Texas. They also kidnapped mentally handicapped customer Kenneth Vandever.

Adams and Cobbs then stole one of the girl’s car, drove them in the trunk to a remote location where Adams raped Dement. And then it got worse:

The women then heard a single gunshot. (Adams) asked, “did we get anybody?” And Candace said, “No.” Shortly thereafter, a second shot was fired, and Kenneth cried out, “They shot me.” Kenneth Vandever died from the gunshot wound. Seconds later, Candace heard another shot, and Nikki fell forward. Candace fell forward as well, pretending to be hit. (Adams) approached Candace and asked her if she was bleeding. He was carrying the shotgun. Candace did not immediately answer in the hope that (Adams) would believe she had been killed. (Adams) then said, “Are you bleeding?” You better answer me. I’ll shoot you in the face if you don’t answer me.” When Candace said, “No, no, I’m not bleeding,” (Adams) shot her in the face, hitting her lip.

(Adams) and Cobb then turned to Nikki, asking her the same questions. (Adams) kicked Nikki for about a minute, joined by Cobb. Then they picked her up by her hair and held a lighter to her face to see if she was still alive. Candace feigned death for fear of being shot again. She heard Cobb say about Nikki, “She’s dead. Let’s go.” That was the only time that Candace ever heard Cobb speak. After (Adams) and Cobb left, Candace got up and ran barefooted down the deserted country road and banged on the door of the first house she saw.

There simply is no “rehabilitating” a sick and rabid animal who is capable of that kind of remorseless evil. There is only one way to deal with a rabid animal — and that’s to put it down. And sometime just after 6:00 p.m. HTT tomorrow, Ricahrd Cobb will join Beunka Adams in hell.

Cobb has admitted to being the trigger man who shot and killed Vandever:

After satisfying themselves that the three victims were dead, Adams and Cobb left the scene and went to the residence of Adams’s cousin.

Vandever died, but Ansley and Driver survived. After regaining consciousness, they managed to get to safety. Ansley sustained a shotgun wound to her left shoulder, numerous broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, which required her to spend almost two weeks in the hospital. After undergoing emergency surgery, she identified Cobb and Adams from a photo lineup. Driver, who suffered a gunshot wound to her lower lip, was able to identify Adams, but not Cobb, from a photo lineup while in the hospital. Adams’s cousin contacted the police and disclosed Cobb’s and Adams’s whereabouts. They were arrested at Adams’s cousin’s home on September 3, the day after Vandever’s murder. Adams surrendered, but Cobb resisted arrest and had to be subdued. Under questioning, Cobb confessed to shooting Vandever and to participating in the robbery and kidnaping [sic].

Here’s a good article/interview with Cobb from last month, via Daily Progress (Jacksonville, TX):

The convicted capital murderer will turn 29 next month, shortly before he is executed. He been on death row for a decade and has all but exhausted his appeals.

“There’s really nothing left to do,” Cobb said during a recent jailhouse interview from Death Row in Livingston. “ … I accept it, you know what I mean? For what it is. There’s no getting away from it. At the same time I don’t want to die, but I’m ready to die.”

We’d All Be Better Off Had the Crooks, Cheats, and Incompetents of the 83rd #TXLege Simply Stayed Home

 Posted by on 4/24/2013  No Responses »
Apr 242013
 

As Empower Texans‘ Michael Quinn Sullivan noted, the completely failed legislative leadership (looking you square in your wormy little eyeballs, Speaker Joe Straus) means that “conservative House members are preparing to go home in 34 days with no wins, no fights and not much of a record. It’s quite a campaign slogan the House leadership is asking them to adopt: “I did nothing I promised, and we attempted even less!”

Two sessions squandered – one with a super-majority, the other with a near-super-majority – and not much of a substantive set of reforms to show for it.

Whether it is protecting religious liberties or defending life, reforming the budget or cutting taxes, this Texas House is doing nothing. If they could do less, they probably would.

This is by design, folks. Mostly because Joe Straus 1) is not a Conservative, but he is 2) a coward. If his hair was on fire, I’d piss all over his leg.

And the Texas Monthly‘s Paul Burka agrees:

I do not believe this is happening by chance. It is the strategy of the leadership. The last thing the Straus team wants is a lot of vigorous debate between R’s and D’s and long lines at the back microphone, nor do they want want (sic) to give the tea party members anything to get riled up about. So the calendars will continue to be boring and innocuous under the watchful eye of Calendars chair Todd Hunter. I’m not guessing about this; I aired my suspicions to a Straus insider and got an affirmative answer. No long calendars. No contentious bills that could blow up the session. No chance for the tea party freshmen to do their thing. Let’s just get the hell out of Dodge. That’s the plan, man.

Killing Pro-2nd Amendment Legislation

There have been few hotter national topics than gun control this year. As our Federal government and Democrat-led states around the nation have sought stricter gun control laws, many other states’ legislative bodies have fought back by expanding gun rights.

Texans are fervently pro-gun and pro-second amendment, so the GOP-majority Texas Lege has the full support — nay the expectation — from their constituents to pass meaningful and long-awaited pro-second amendment legislation this session. Especially campus carry and open carry laws.

But Speaker Straus had different plans. A plan to kill that legislation without ever allowing it to come before the house for a full vote (where it would have passed). That plan involved appointing anti-gun Democrats to key Committee Chairmanships, where Straus knew these bills would be assigned. And knowing that these Democrat Chairmen would make sure these bills died pending in committee.

This is why Rep. Joseph Pickett (D) was picked by Straus to chair the House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety, which is where HB-700 (open carry) went to die.

Meanwhile, over in the Senate, Sen. John Whitmire (D), the chairman of the Criminal Justice committee, assured us that he had killed any hopes of campus carry coming out of his committee in the Senate.

The Texas Tribune has a hand Gun Legislation tracking app, where you can go watch 100 gun-related bills die. I imagine the 100% Liberal Tribune staff cheers loudly (and openly) every time another pro-second amendment bill is left pending in committee.

Continue reading »

Fertilizer Plant Explodes in West, Texas

 Posted by on 4/18/2013  10 Responses »
Apr 182013
 

The explosion from the West Fertilizer Plant [/caption]It’s been a very, very bad week for America.

Thoughts and prayers to all in the West, Texas community after this horrific explosion at a fertilizer plant on the edge of town. These ammonium nitrate explosions can be tremendous.

Timothy McVeigh only had a truck filled with the stuff (and some added diesel fuel). Imagine an entire facility filled with the stuff…and you get this:

I’m sure that the dad in this image thought they were a safe distance from the fire — but still…dad…WTF? You have a small child with you. You should have been doing 90 mph in the opposite direction. Just as if you’d spotted a tornado: you don’t drive towards it in the hopes of getting some good Youtube footage; you’re primary job is to ensure the safety of your child. I hope your kid’s OK and her hearing has not suffered any permanent damage.

Early (and still evolving) reports are that there are 5-15 dead and hundreds more badly injured. I would not be surprised if the number of dead increases significantly once all said and done.

For those not familiar with the town of West, Texas (well, you’re not from Texas if you’re not)…it’s a small town of about 3000 mostly Czech, German, and Polish immigrants just north of Waco. The town is mostly known for their kolaches — if you’re driving between Waco and Dallas, you stop in West for gas and kolaches. That’s just the way it goes. Just like if you’re driving between Houston and Austin (via HWY 71), you stop at Hruska’s in Ellinger for gas and kolaches.

When I was a student at Baylor University in Waco, we used to make the short drive up to West almost every Saturday to pick up the best hang-over cure in the world from the Czech Stop.

While this is a tragedy in every sense of the word, the people of West will be OK. They will rebuild, they will recover. These are hard-working (Bible and gun-clinging) Conservative people. Unlike Katrina and Sandy Hook, these are not people given to standing around and waiting for government to help them. Instead, they’ll pull together and help their neighbors. And a year from now, there won’t be West folks living in FEMA trailers.

How you can help.

EXECUTION WATCH: Ronnie Paul Threadgill

 Posted by on 4/16/2013  48 Responses »
Apr 162013
 

UPDATE: Justice has been served. He is dead.

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Ronnie Threadgill

The soon-to-be-worm-food Ronnie Threadgill

  • Thug: Ronnie Paul Threadgill (28 at time of offense)
  • Date of Execution: April 16, 2013
  • Date of Crime: April 14, 2001
  • Victim(s): Dexter McDonald (17)
  • Last Meal: Pentobarbital. Lots and lots of pentobarbital.
  • Final Words:  ”To my loved ones and my dear friends, I love y’all and appreciate y’all for being there,” Threadgill said. “I am going to a better place. To all the guys back on the row, keep your heads up, keep fighting. I’m ready. Let’s go.”

With tax day, a sick wife, a baby boy, a full-time job, and trying to process the terrorism at the Boston Marathon yesterday, I almost forgot that we have an execution scheduled today in Texas.

12 years and 2 days ago, Ronnie Threadgill carjacked Christopher Lane’s car. In the course of committing this crime, he fired two shots into the car, one of them struck 17-year old Dexter McDonald in the arm and into his chest. Threadgill drove away with McDonald still in the car, but stopped a few blocks away, dragged McDonald from the car, and left him on the street to die.

While his case and this crime may not be as horrific and stomach turning as some of the other cases of recently executed animals, Threadgill had a lengthy criminal past, and 9 LEOs testified at his sentencing that he was trouble. He was a ticking time bomb who never should have been released from prison. The murder of Kevin McDonald is partly on the hands of our too-lenient DOJ, who routinely releases dangerous criminals back into our communities long before they have served their sentences.

BTW, I like the scheduling of executions within a day or two after the anniversary of their crimes, like this one. I hope that the dates weigh heavily on the mind of the condemned as they think about what they did, and what they are about to get.

Art Acevedo: A Willing Puppet in the Left’s War on the Second Amendment

 Posted by on 4/10/2013  7 Responses »
Apr 102013
 

Austin Police Department’s Chief cop, Art Acevedo is proving once again that he is little more than a Liberal politician and not an real police officer. Or, more accurately, a puppet of the Liberal establishment.

What’s our Chief up to this time? Apparently he was in D.C. to stand with Obama in trying to stomp all over the second amendment.:

Austin’s top cop has made it clear he’s all for universal background checks on gun purchases. At a rally at the State Capitol last weekend, Chief Art Acevedo spoke passionately about what he believes is the way to curb gun violence.

“People that have proven that they want to do harm to themselves or others, we should have an ability to keep firearms out of their hands,” Acevedo said.

Now, he’s taking his fight to Washington D.C. Tuesday, Chief Acevedo tweeted a picture of himself in the West Wing of the White House. He’s there meeting with Vice President Joe Biden along with other law enforcement officials from around the country to push for legislation calling for universal background checks.

“I made it clear from my perspective and the perspective of law enforcement around the country that we need to get this done, we need to protect our neighbors, friends, family members and at the same token respect the gun rights of lawful Americans,” he told FOX 7 over the phone Tuesday afternoon.

Uh…I have no doubt that you want to stomp on the second amendment because you think it will make your job in law enforcement easier, but you definitely do not speak for the greater law enforcement community. I suggest that Art read the results of this nation-wide survey of 15ooo front-line cops. Their conclusion?

Quite clearly, the majority of officers polled oppose the theories brought forth by gun-control advocates who claim that proposed restrictions on weapon capabilities and production would reduce crime.

In fact, many officers responding to this survey seem to feel that those controls will negatively affect their ability to fight violent criminals.

Contrary to what the mainstream media and certain politicians would have us believe, police overwhelmingly favor an armed citizenry, would like to see more guns in the hands of responsible people, and are skeptical of any greater restrictions placed on gun purchase, ownership, or accessibility.

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UPDATE — Chief Acevedo responded to me (via Twitter) as to the poll I linked above:

Ah, yes…Art is much wiser than the average cop on the street, what with his ‘broader view’ than that of the men and women he leads. As one of my fellow tweeps wrote: out of touch with the cop on the beat.

UPDATE II — I guess while I was working, Chief Acevedo was still tweeting me:

Wait? Are we talking about Fast & Furious? Because what you just described in that last tweet, Chief, is exactly the scheme that Barack Obama and Eric Holder are guilty of. Were you in D.C. to arrest Obama for his role in the murder of Border Agent Brian Terry?

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Look, Art — I know you favor universal background checks because it makes your job easier. Especially when it’s time to start confiscating. Unwarranted wiretaps would also make your job easier. As would unreasonable searches and seizures. You know what else would make your job easier? If we could force suspects to talk against their wishes. Without an attorney present. Or if you could just plant evidence on a guy you just know is guilty, but can’t prove it. Perhaps if we made entrapment easier for you…

But these things are just as unconstitutional as the rest of Obama and Biden’s gun control fantasies. If you were half  a man, Art (you’re not), you’d surrender your badge and gun and just run for whichever Democrat office you happen to most covet at the moment (Austin Mayor?).

The video in this story is of Fox 7 News anchor Loriana Hernandez, who has a hard time masking her anti-gun/pro-gun-control bias, talking to my CHL instructor, Michael Cargill about universal background checks:

 

EXECUTION WATCH (Part Deux): Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy (TX)

 Posted by on 4/1/2013  27 Responses »
Apr 012013
 

UPDATE (April 2) — Well, looks like this rabid animal has evaded justice once more. Albeit just for a few more months. Her pantie-wetting Liberal State District Judge has ordered yet another stay of execution until a pending bill in the 83rd Lege (a bill that has zero chance of passing, and likely will die on the committee calender). So, looks like we’ll have to reconvene in June.

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It’s April folks, which means it’s time to get back to meting out justice behind the walls of the Walls Unit. March was on 0′fer month, with zero executions taking place in the nation’s busiest death chamber. But, with 6 executions scheduled for April, that trend looks to be over.

And first up for their date with the gurney and a side of pentobarbital is Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy, whom you might remember was scheduled for execution on January 29, 2013, but she received a temporary reprieve so that her defense team could look at whether her predominantly white jury was improperly selected on the basis of race. Never mind the fact that she was guilty…let’s just play the race card and hope for the best.

As it turns out, the jury was just fine.

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Kimberly McCarthy and her victim, Dorothy Booth.

Kimberly McCarthy and her victim, Dorothy Booth.

  • Thug: Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy (36 at time of offense)
  • Date of Execution: January 29, 2013 April 3, 2013, sometime shortly after 6:00 pm HTT
  • Date of Crime: July 21, 1997
  • Victim(s): Dorothy Booth, 71
  • Last Meal: A whole bunch of pentobarbital. Probably more than she can stand.
  • Final Words: TBD

It’s been 15 years since Kimberly McCarthy brutally murdered her 71-year old neighbor. Hopefully this is the week that she will finally pay for that crime with her life.

McCarthy will be only the 4th woman executed by the state of Texas since the Supreme Court lifted the ban on capital punishment in 1976, to include Karla Faye Tucker (1998), Betty Lou Beets (2000), and Frances Newton (2005).

Here’s hoping that this evil, rabid animal final gets the justice she deserves.

April Showers

In addition to McCarthy’s April 3rd execution date, the April lineup includes:

Back-to-back execution dates are rare. But two in one month? Now that’s taking care of some business.

It’s Been a Very, Very Bad Month for Texas Democrats

 Posted by on 3/26/2013  No Responses »
Mar 262013
 

Of course, when you’re a Democrat living in the prosperity of one of the reddest states in the country — where a Democrat hasn’t won state-wide election since Tanya Harding had Nancy Kerrigan’s knees whacked by her goon husband — every month is a bad month.

Via our friend Michael Quinn Sullivan:

It’s been a really bad month for the mostly irrelevant Democrat Party in Texas.

The media narrative was how carpet-bagger Jeremy Bird, an Obama-nut organizer, was moving to Texas and launching “Battleground Texas” that would turn Texas blue. All the northeastern media was breathless in anticipation.

Even the conservative National Review foolishly fell for it (I was “interviewed” as the naysayer to the nonsensical narrative).

But then March happened. And happened hard.

  1. First, came word that trial lawyer and mega-Obama donor Mikal Watts of San Antonio had his offices raided by the US Secret Service. Opps.
  2. An El Paso Democrat state rep was arrested for intoxicated driving after sending two people to the hospital and blowing twice the legal limit. But, gosh, she’s really sorry.
  3. Then this week ANOTHER Democrat state rep (this one from the Houston area) was arrested for illegally pursuing clients as part of his ambulance-chasing law practice.
  4. Oh, and don’t forget that the Democrats’ great hope for the future, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, is under investigation for taking illegal contributions.

We’re not supposed to rejoice in the travails of others, obviously. Instead, we should look hopefully to what fun and frivolity Texas’ Democrats have in store for us in the months ahead!

Don’t forget to include State Rep. Gene Wu making a clown of himself on Twitter while trying to defend teachers unions at the expense of the children they teach.

You don’t have to rejoice if you don’t want to, Michael. But the German in me can’t help myself. In fact, we even have a word for this very thing: schadenfreude.

Texas Lege: Unethical House Members Voting for Other Members

 Posted by on 3/24/2013  4 Responses »
Mar 242013
 

When I read last week that Texas State Representative Rene Oliveira, a Democrat from Brownsville, was in a car crash last week, my first thought was, “I wonder what his BAC was?”

What? It’s a fair assumption. I just assumed that driving drunk and causing accidents is what what Latino Democrat state reps do here in Texas (yeah, I’m looking at you, Rep. Naomi Gonzalez).

It appears that Rep. Oliveria is just a bad driver. Thankfully he’s OK, and apparently didn’t hurt anybody else.

But his hospitalization did help to illuminate another element of unethical behavior that runs rampant in the Texas Lege (what? politicians breaking rules and acting unethically? Say it isn’t so!): members voting (illegally) for absent members:

Not that anyone in the Legislature probably cares, but a vote on the House floor yesterday should be cause for reflection by the legislators’ employers. A vote was “cast” by a legislator… who was in the hospital and unaware his vote was being exercised.

Rep. OliveriaGoing through the official House Journal for March 21, 2014, on page 933, we find Record Vote 89. The vote itself is less important than this “Statement of Vote” found in the Journal.

“When Record No. 89 was taken, I was at Brackenridge Hospital recovering from a car accident. I had requested to be excused for illness before the vote was taken, but the excuse failed to be read out.”

The statement was placed by Rene Oliveira (D-Brownsville), who was in a car accident that morning and taken to Brackenridge Hospital. Sure enough, looking at Record Vote 89, it shows Mr. Oliveira voting.

Since he clearly wasn’t present, how could that be?

House Rules state that a “member must be on the floor of the house or in an adjacent room or hallway on the same level as the house floor, in order to vote.”

Clearly the House members know not to trust each other. The House Rules provide that the clerk must “lock the voting machine of each member who is excused or who is otherwise known to be absent.” Note the two qualifications: “excused” or “known to be absent.”

No honor among legislators, eh?

Sadly, this is not new or uncommon (though still highly unethical). Here’ s a story (with video) from 2011 and another from 2007. What we need is to add some teeth to the House Rules, providing some real and painful penalties for this exceptionally unethical behavior.

I guess asking our legislators to act with honor and integrity is asking too much of them, huh?

Everything That’s Wrong with #SXSW Music Festival Captured in a 2 Minute Video

 Posted by on 3/16/2013  6 Responses »
Mar 162013
 

And this, in a nutshell, encapsulates every reason why I avoid not just SXSW, but 6th St. in Austin.

I hate crowds. I hate punks. I hate hipsters and hippies. I hate bad music.

And that’s almost entirely what you find on 6th Street on any given every weekend.

Now, don’t get me wrong…I have no problem with that bad-wig douchebag (Matt Amon?) who got knocked the fuck out after acting like a tough guy, trying to pick fights with what looked like a bunch of soft-dicked nancy boys. And watching him eventually escorted to jail in cuffs and having your shame go viral on Youtube? Priceless.

But the dude who sucker-punched the douche? Giant coward. I hope someone either knocked the shit out of him later, or he finds himself in a jail cell eventually. Want to be a good guy, and step in and stop this douche from bullying girly men who obviously do not want to fight? Then stand in front of him and back him down.

And then there’s the crowd themselves. Not one person stepped in to help the nancy boys getting bitch slapped (not counting coward sucker-punch guy). Instead, each and every person was more concerned with making sure they were getting the best video possible. And when the douche did eventually hit the ground and was obviously knocked out? Not a single person stopped filming to try and help the guy. Sure, he might have been a douche, but the moment his head was cracked against the concrete, someone should have tried to help him…make sure he’s breathing, make sure there’s not blood pouring out of the back of his head.

Until the police showed up, there was not a single decent human being in that video.

And that’s why I stay the hell away from downtown Austin.

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NOTE: I am going to watch some live music today — a good friend of mine and a high school classmate (Leyla Fences) from long, long ago, is playing an early (1:00 p.m.) gig at one of my favorite south-side dive bars (Giddy Ups). So I’m going to ride over there (as soon as I hit “Publish” on this post) and enjoy some authentic cowgirl honkeytonk music and support an old friend.

Since the venue is about quite a ways out of downtown, there shouldn’t be too many douches hanging around. Plus, this isn’t exactly hipster/douche music (as it’s good music). Not to mention…at 1:00 p.m. most of the douches will still be asleep or trying to make bail from last night.

Chris Kyle Statue Arrives To Be Cast In Bronze

 Posted by on 3/8/2013  4 Responses »
Mar 082013
 

It has been just over a month since Chris Kyle was murdered. An artist in Florida began work on this statue just two days after Chris’ death.

Currently it is a clay statue which will be cast in bronze over the next few months. Mrs. Kyle will view the clay statue for the first time today. My screen grows blurry just thinking of that moment.

A video report on the arrival of Chris’ statue can be found here. More photos of the event can be found here.

Contact information for this project, and if you would like to donate to help with the approximately $85,000 in costs, is below:

E.F. (Gene) Sweeney, Executive Director Business Affairs, www.americanpatriotsinart.com. Facebook Page: American Patriots in Art LLC. Direct Phone: 770-330-7683.

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