Category Archives: Texas News

DPS Issues Gang Update

Leave a reply

The Texas Department of Public Safety issued its latest “Gang Update” on Monday August 31.  According to the DPS’  Texas Gang Threat Assessment, several Texas based gangs remain a major problem.  The report ranks gangs in order to determine which ones are the most dangerous.  Under the ranking system, Tier One gangs pose the biggest threat.  These include Tango Blast with 15,000 members, Texas Mexican Mafia with over 4,700 members, and Texas Syndicate with more than 3,400.

Jan Mickelson Update – Yep, He’s Still Crazy

Leave a reply

Iowa radio host Jan Mickelson, who recently came out in support of slavery (you read that correctly – slavery), is back at it – this time cheering on Texas officials who have been violating the 14th Amendment by refusing to provide birth certificates to American citizens.   Mickelson has proposed that undocumented immigrants should become “property of the state” (or state-owned slaves) and be conscripted for forced labor unless they leave Iowa.  He is now applauding the Texas Department of State Health and Human Services’ plan to deny birth certificates to American children of undocumented immigrants. Media Matters has the details.

On his August 28 show, Mickelson criticized what he called “street hustler” civil rights groups who have filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of State Health Services for refusing to issue birth certificates to U.S. citizen children born to undocumented immigrant parents. [T]he plaintiff’s complaint alleges that Texas stopped allowing “matricula consular” identifications — official papers issued by the U.S.-based consulate of the immigrant parents’ home country — “to meet the requirements to acquire a birth certificate for their U.S.-born children” around two years ago.

Mickelson, who denies that the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship applies to the children of undocumented immigrants, said he thinks it is “cool” that Texas is refusing to issue these birth certificates and expressed his appreciation of Texas’ approach as “Iowa passive-aggressive,” which will prevent such children “to start this process of looting.”

Bye Bye Jeff – UT Puts a Traitor in His Place

Leave a reply

According to numerous reports, a state district judge has removed any legal impediments to UT-Austin’s plan to remove the statute of CSA President Jefferson Davis from its place of prominence on the South Mall of the main campus.  Kudos to UT for removing this monument to slavery, segregation and racism from daily viewing.  Predictably, the Confederate apologizers and historical revisionists expressed outrage that UT would no longer seek to honor a traitor who was dedicated to preserving slavery.  KSAT has the story.

A judge on Thursday cleared the way for the University of Texas to move a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis away from the main area of campus, despite objections from a Southern heritage group that called uprooting the monument a “cultural atrocity” and compared it to the Islamic State destroying ancient artifacts in the Middle East.

Civil rights activists say the nearly century-old bronze likeness of Davis highlights the university’s racist past and the statue had been targeted by vandals. New school President Greg Fenves recently ordered it moved to a campus museum, but allowed other Confederate symbols to remain.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, which earlier this year lost a U.S. Supreme Court decision over rejected Confederate license plates, had sued to prevent moving Davis’ statue.

But state District Judge Karin Crump said state law allows the school to determine where to place statuary on its campus. And she noted the original will of benefactor George Littlefield, who commissioned the statue of Davis and others, stated that it be placed in a position of prominence.

Texas will move Davis to the campus Briscoe Center history museum, which also houses one of the nation’s largest archives on slavery.

“Putting it in the Briscoe Center, far from whitewashing or erasing history, but puts it in the proper historical context,” said Gregory Vincent, Texas vice president for diversity and community engagement.

Vincent said the school would move the Davis statue within the next few days.

Photo from http://www.insidehighered.com 

I Hope it Was a Pro-V 1

Leave a reply

KWTX has the sad story of a Salado man who drowned while trying to retrieve a golf ball from a water hazard.

Police identified the man Friday afternoon as Johnny Watson, 74. His body was found at around 9 a.m. Friday in the pond on the fifth hole of the Mill Creek Golf Course in Salado.

“We received a call about a man who slipped into the water trying to retrieve a golf ball and drowned trying to get out,” police Chief Jack Hensley said Friday afternoon.

“He didn’t know how to swim,” Hensley said. Watson was in the water for about 10 minutes, Hensley said.  He was pronounced dead at the scene.

This is why Red buys the X-outs on Ebay.  Count no man happy . . .

Another Bush Reads from the Script

2 Replies

Land Commissioner and Bush family scion George P. is living up to his family legacy of being water boys for powerful corporate interests by leading a push to make it more difficult to add species to the national Endangered Species List.  And in doing so – George P. attacks the most endangered species in Texas – the trial lawyer.  Thanks  largely to Uncle George W.’s demagoguery and kowtowing to the insurance and medical lobby, the rights of Texas citizens to a fair trial have never been in more danger.  So George P. jumps on the bandwagon in paying obeisance to his corporate masters by attacking lawyers and sucking up to the Tea Party base.   The Texas Tribune has the full story.

The son of GOP presidential hopeful and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is leading an alliance of 23 state land commissioners in a charge against the Endangered Species Act, calling for more transparency on how animals are added to the federal endangered list.

In question is a practice known  “sue and settle” under which environmental advocates sue the federal government if it misses deadlines to respond to their petitions seeking to name a new endangered species. To avoid long court trials, agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service sometimes enter into settlements with the environmental groups filing the petitions. The end result, Bush claims, is species ending up on the list without sufficient scientific basis, and taxpayers end up footing the legal bills of both parties.

“The Endangered Species Act was designed to preserve biodiversity, not enrich trial lawyers and political activists,” Bush said in a statement. “It’s time to prioritize scientific assessments in conservation when dealing with property rights and our national security.”

But environmental groups that file such suits call those accusations unfair. Federal wildlife agencies can enter into settlements because its cheaper than trial and agencies often have to pay legal fees of the winning party if they lose a lawsuit under the Equal Access to Justice Act. This applies to more than just environmental plaintiffs.

Winning a settlement doesn’t guarantee an animal a spot on the endangered list. It only forces the agency to make a decision, which typically doesn’t come for months, or even years, after a settlement is reached, said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. 

“Fish and Wildlife Service sometimes just doesn’t act unless they’re sued,” Greenwald said. “They have to get sued in order to list those species.”

In a resolution brought by Bush and adopted by the Western States Land Commissioners Association, the officials ask Congress to enact legislation requiring federal agencies to report legal expenses on “sue and settle” cases and relax the deadlines leading to such suits.

The settlements lead to “a flood of litigation,” Bush said, and the tactic “lines environmental groups’ pockets by looting the national treasury.”

Okay, George P. – how about ceasing a baseless smear job and coming up with some actual facts?  Since when is filing a legal lawsuit considered a criminal offense – i.e. looting?  Name one trial lawyer who has gotten rich filing these types of lawsuits?  Tell me whose pockets have been lined?  And what they did with the money?  And by the way, who has been lining your campaign pockets?  Would it by any chance be people who have the most to gain from a roll back of protection for endangered species?

Well That Didn’t Take Long – Perry Advisor Jumps to Trump

Leave a reply

Sam Clovis, the former Iowa Chair for Rick Perry’s flagging campaign, has landed with Donald Trump and will serve as his national co-chairman and policy adviser.

“I had an opportunity to get to know Mr. Trump over the past several months. I have some close friends working on the campaign. It’s a great opportunity for me to effect change in Washington, and I think Mr. Trump is exactly the person to do that.”

Perry had attempted to separate himself from some of the other also-rans in the massive GOP field by directly attacking trump. That must make Clovis’ switch to the GOP front runner an even more bitter pill for the former Texas Governor to swallow. Perry’s perilous position was weakened by Clovis’ abrupt departure earlier this week. Clovis has indicated that Perry’s vocal criticism of Trump does not represent his views. Now with the Iowa power-broker firmly in Trump’s corner, the end of Perry’s political life seems inevitable. Despite a recent influx of cash, Perry’s campaign is still having trouble meeting payroll.

What’s Geg Abbott Hiding?

Leave a reply

The Texas Tribune reports extensively on Gov. Greg Abbott’s penchant for secrecy and obfuscation in the release of his emails.  Abbott has repeatedly sought the help of embattle Attorney General Ken Paxton in this attempts to keep the public from knowing what he is up to.  Abbott has used a private email for official communications and has argued that he is a “member of the public” and that the Governor’s office is a “competitor” in the private market place in his so-far successful attempts to prevent the public from knowing what is going on with their Governor.

In his objections to releasing various records to the Tribune, Abbott cited exceptions available under increasingly weak state transparency laws — from attorney client privilege to broad protections given to lawmaking deliberations — so it’s hard in many instances to tell which legal provisions triggered each redaction, or what types of records his office is refusing to provide.

The two objections drawing the most criticism from transparency advocates relate to Abbott’s email address and his successful attempt to avoid scrutiny of his use of taxpayer money to encourage business relocation or expansion in Texas.

On the email address issue, the Republican governor cites an exemption that was written into the law to protect the privacy of regular citizens who correspond with state and local government officials. Under that provision, authorities are forbidden from giving out “an email address of a member of the public that is provided for the purpose of communicating electronically with a governmental body.”

That’s the exemption Abbott cited when his office unilaterally chose to block out identifying information in the address fields on emails provided by the governor’s office. Without that information included — or some explanation from the governor’s office — it’s impossible to say for sure if it was the governor himself who promised a top donor some last-minute assistance on a lawsuit-restriction bill that was stuck in committee last May. Somebody in his office did, albeit unsuccessfully.

Several government transparency experts say the provision Abbott cites was never intended to protect the email addresses of public officials who are discussing state business inside the government.

“I can’t see how a governmental official’s email address that he or she uses to conduct official business can be redacted,” said Joe Larsen, an open government attorney who also serves on the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.

Larsen said the email address, like the body of the email itself, becomes a public record the minute it’s used for public business.

“He’s not communicating with the government,” said former Travis County Judge Bill Aleshire, a Democrat.  “He’s communicating within the government — with other government officials. And that email address ought not be confidential.”

Aleshire, an open records expert and attorney, is awaiting a decision on that very question in a lawsuit pitting an Austin watchdog publication, the Austin Bulldog, against the former Austin mayor and members of the City Council who have tried to withhold their email addresses using the same exemption. Aleshire is representing the Austin Bulldog. 

Williamson County Judge Going to Prison for Illegal Arms Dealing

Leave a reply

Former Williamson County Court-at-law Judge Timothy Wright was sentenced to 18 months in Federal Prison for his role in an illegal weapons trading scheme.  U.S. Attorney Richard Durbin, Jr. indicated the following in a Department of Justice pleading.  “While sworn to uphold the law, Judge Timothy Wright repeatedly violated federal laws governing the sale of firearms. He falsified official firearms records to hide the true identity of the real buyer and then lied to federal investigators about his crimes. These are serious crimes for which he has been held accountable.” Breitbart reports the details of the downfall of the jurist from deep in the heart of Tea Party Red Williamson County.

Federal prosecutors say that between June, 2014, and March of this year that Wright sold more than 60 pistols, without a federal license, and some of those guns were sold to felons, and other firearms ended up in Mexico.  

Wright’s home in Georgetown was raided in late March, he was arrested about a week later, spent a night in jail in Austin, and then plead [sic] guilty in federal court in May. He then resigned from the bench in Williamson County, saying that “No one is above the law, especially judges. 

Open Letter to Kenneth Starr

Leave a reply

Chip Brown of Scout posts a powerful open letter to Baylor University Chancellor and President Kenneth Starr.  In the aftermath of Sam Ukwuachu’s rape conviction, the pathetically incompetent BU investigation into the allegations and apparent lies of Head Coach Art Briles about what he knew about Ukwuachu’s past, someone’s head needs to roll.  Whose will it be?  Brown calls out Starr for the failed investigation especially given Starr’s stellar legal stature.  Brown clearly questions whether any university athletic program will go after its rainmaker – the men’s football program – and why Starr did not do more to insure that Baylor students were safe.

That probably puts the onus on yourself, a top legal expert once considered for a U.S. Supreme Court appointment (by George H.W. Bush), to make sure everything about the rape allegations were properly vetted, right?

To make sure your campus was safe from a potential predator – especially in the wake of defensive end Tevin Elliott’s conviction in 2012 after he was accused in court of being a serial rapist?

You have legally defended someone accused of sexually preying on young girls. In 2007, you joined the defense team of Palm Beach, Fla., millionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexually molesting several underaged high school girls before paying them off. (Epstein later pled guilty to soliciting prostitutes and spent 13 months in a private wing of the Palm Beach Jail).

And you also investigated the sexual dalliances of then-president Bill Clinton in a $70 million probe laid out in graphic detail in a 445-page report that led to impeachment proceedings. If anyone was qualified to try to separate fact from fiction in the case of Ukwuachu and a female Baylor soccer player, wouldn’t it be you? With the university’s reputation potentially on the line because of the Elliott conviction in 2012 and the U.S. Dept. of Education Title IX probe?

As the head of the university, and with what was already on the line, was it your responsibility to talk to Art Briles about if Ukwuachu needed to remain at Baylor?

It’s been my experience covering college athletics the most powerful person on a university campus is a conference-championship football coach making it rain with donor millions with a chance to win a national title.

Few, if any on campus, maybe outside of the school president and chancellor, are willing to be the voice of reason when it comes to having a hard conversation with a football coach in hot pursuit of being No. 1.

Was there a hard conversation about how, after Ukwuachu’s indictment in June 2014 for raping a Baylor women’s student-athlete, it might be time for Briles to recruit another pass-rusher? Briles has a daughter, and he undoubtedly respects you.

At that point, would it not have been fair to conclude Ukwuachu had violated the BU Student Conduct Code and needed to be expelled as a threat to the rest of the campus (especially after previous issues involving a rocky relationship at Boise State helped lead to his transfer to BU in the first place)?

In this case, it appears a female Baylor soccer player was left to fend for herself in more ways than one, including – according to Texas Monthly – having her scholarship cut after accusing Ukwuachu of rape and then not being found credible by anyone in a position of authority on campus. Is that accurate?

In my experience, this is a situation where the leadership at the top of the university needs to stand up and be accountable for whatever it did or did not do on behalf of a once-proud Baylor women’s soccer player who came to Waco to enjoy the best years of her life and transferred out shattered, humiliated and ignored.