Category Archives: Texas News

Texas Secessionists on 21 City Tour

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The Texas Nationalist Movement has launched a 21 city tour in an attempt to convince Texans to put a secessionist question on the ballot.  KXAN reports on the meeting held in Austin.  TNM seeks to have a non-binding referendum put on the 2016 ballot.

Texans are tired of answering to bureaucrats in D.C. they didn’t elect and having to deal with policies they don’t want,” said TNM President Dan Miller.

Miller spoke to a room full of enthusiasts. Longtime Texans like Joe Glass. “We live with a lawless government,” he said. “The constitution was written to provide freedom to people and constrain government and now we live in a country where the government does whatever it wants to.”

Recent transplants to the Texas way also attended. Carmen Rao moved here from New Jersey. “I like the right to self determine, I think that’s important, free spirit and independence. That’s why I moved here.”

“Now there’s a state killed by regulation and bad decisions by politicians,” said Paul Jones, who moved here from Michigan. “I don’t dislike Michigan but I have to feed my family and I think a lot of people around the United States feel the same way.”

Somewhere, Vladimir Putin is smiling.

Jade Helm 15 Update, Cont.

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The second day of Jade Helm 15 has ended and alas, the jack-booted, goose-stepping thugs employed by Obama (Kenyan, Muslim, Commie blah, blah, blah) have yet to begin the inevitable round up of our wives, children and most importantly guns.  This sneaky and underhanded diversionary tactic of making JH15 look like a real military exercise cannot fool the public for much longer.  The black helicopters are arriving any minute now and if they don’t its only because the brave and loyal citizens of Texas (most of whom want to secede from the Union) have exposed JH15 for the ruse that it is.  Red for one will be very disappointed if Mrs. Red isn’t taken away soon since she wasn’t too happy about Red wandering in after 2 am the other night smelling of golf and tequila shots.  And if J. Edgar (Red’s Belgian Shepherd) doesn’t stop digging holes in the backyard, it won’t be too hard for Obama’s goons to figure out where Red buried his cache of vintage WWII hand grenades.

Vigilantly yours,

Red

Representative Democracy Under Fire

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The Texas Election Law Blog  examines the possible destructive effect on American democracy should the Supreme Court rule in favor of the petitioners in Evenwel v. Abbott.

The plaintiff argues that Texas should not base state redistricting on the distribution of its population, but rather on the distribution of its voters. The motivation for the case is to strip power from urban areas in favor of the rural conservatives.

Central to the conservative argument is that apportionment of representation by population size “dilutes” the power afforded to voters by distributing representation based on both the voting population and all the other people (kids, foreigners, prisoners, non-voters) who happen to live in a state House or Senate district.

In other words, the plaintiff believes that government representatives do not serve all the people in their district. The plaintiff believes that government representatives serve only the people who vote, and everyone else can suck eggs.

The potential impact of this case dwarfs the recent decisions upholding the Affordable Care Act and legalizing same-sex marriage.  While those cases have sex-appeal to the general public, a case about apportionment of legislative seats must seem dull in contrast.  But, if the Supreme Court bites on the argument that only voters should count for apportionment purposes, there will be a fundamental shift in political power that will make the Republicans current gerrymandering of their way into entrenched legislative power seem like weak tea indeed.  There would be a massive shift of representation away from urban populations to rural areas and older white voters would exert an even more outsized influence on the body politic.  This could cement extreme right-wing control of state and federal legislative bodies for another 40 or 50 years.

 

Scott Walker Not Connecting in Texas

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Scott Walker has yet to tap into the incredible cache of money held by wealthy conservative Texans desperate to elect another Republican President.  Mother Jones reports that Walker has made no inroads in Texas and conservative power brokers are being snatched up by other better-financed candidates.

The union-busting Wisconsin governor may be a conservative darling, but he’s way behind the curve when it comes to courting Texas’ biggest money men. Bill Miller, a top Texas lobbyist who regularly advises megadonors on their contributions, says he’s heard almost no buzz from the donor class about Walker. In the past, Miller has worked with major political benefactors including the late Bob Perry, a Texas home builder who gave more than $70 million to conservative causes over the years and was the major funder behind the 2004 Swiftboat Veterans for Truth group. This year Miller says he’s talked to clients about many of the Republican candidates, but not Walker.

“No one is asking about him,” Miller says. “None of our clients. We have a huge client base. It’s oddly quiet for a guy that’s supposedly top three among the potential nominees.”

According to Miller, almost all of the top-tier candidates—including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul—have come knocking on the doors of Texas donors. But Walker has not had much of a presence in the state.

“Among all those guys who are acknowledged at the top, he’s the one guy who is nowhere. Even Chris Christie has had more resonance here,” Miller says.

Jade Helm 15 Update

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On the first day of Jade Helm 15 – the not so covert operation where Obama (the Kenyan Muslim Socialist Terrorist Sympathizing duly elected President) is coming to take away our wives, children and most importantly guns – the sneaky jack-booted thugs of the U.S. military confounded the Tea Party whack jobs by failing to round up any wives or children or confiscate any guns.  The Guardian (a notorious leftist rag) played into Obama’s hands by noting that absolutely nothing had happened in Bastrop (the epicenter of the conspiracy) on the first day of the exercise which will ultimately spell doom for our democracy and the American way of life as we know it.

A “Come and Take It” flag, one of Texas’s favourite symbols of defiant independence, flew proudly on a pole outside a ranch near Bastrop on Wednesday.

But on the  first day of Jade Helm 15, no one appeared to be coming, let alone taking anything.

A small town near Austin with a quaint Victorian downtown, Bastrop is supposed to be a hub of the vast US military training exercise that spans seven states and runs until September 15.  But Wednesday seemed to be a day like any other in Bastrop – which is to say not much was happening.

Jade Helm still has more than eight weeks to run. But none of President Obama’s jackbooted minions had mounted an assault on the Simply Sweet cupcake store on Bastrop’s main street, as of Wednesday afternoon. No Humvees were parked outside The Best Lil’ Hairhouse in Texas, which was still styling customers. A poster in the window of the tourist information centre promoted a seniors’ quilt raffle.

It’s the calm before the storm.  Bury your guns now.  Bury your wife and children at your own risk.

Jade Helm 15 is Here – Run

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Well today is the day that the right-wing conspiracy theory Tea Party whackos have been waiting for.  The Feds are finally here to round up your women, children and most importantly guns.  That is, if they just don’t kill you right off the bat and haul your carcass away in a Blue Bell Ice Cream truck.  Yep, that’s the latest theory.  The Army will be using the obviously underutilized refrigerated trucks to transport bodies of those on the “Red List” to other undisclosed sites for – well it’s not really clear what for.  Or the whole thing is a cover up to put troops in place for the giant asteroid that is going to strike the southwest in September.  Or the gurus of Russian mind control are going to convert everyone into a Democrat.  Or maybe the Army is going to use the Russian troops spotted in Tennessee to do the dirty work of rounding up and killing the real patriots of the Tea Party.  Or after the jack-booted troops establish control, Obama is going to fly into Phoenix, personally pistol whip Jan Brewer and declare himself Emperor for Life.  Or maybe it’s just an Army training exercise.

County Clerk Refuses to Follow Law – Offers No Explanation

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Off the Kuff report that Irion County Clerk Molly Criner is refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.  Her only explanation appears to be “I can’t do that.”

Criner, clad in a hot magenta knee-length skirt, white long-sleeve shirt and brown hair flowing loosely around her shoulders, extended her hand as she walked in and asked for the women’s names.

“We just need a marriage license,” one of the women repeated.

“Ok,” Criner sighed, “well, I can’t do that. But the clerk’s office in San Angelo is only 25 miles [away] and they’d be happy to issue one. I just can’t.”

For minutes the dialogue continued, the women questioning Criner as to why she was refusing and whether she had the paperwork and authorization. She responded that she does have the paperwork and is authorized, but repeated that she “just can’t do it.”

Referencing her staff, all of whom she said have issued marriage licenses to heterosexual couples in the past, Criner explained that no same-sex certificates would be coming out of her office. “I have not delegated my authority to them to do it, so they don’t have a choice,” Criner said. “You know, we all believe very strongly in what we believe, and I admire you for that. I really highly recommend 25 miles down the road, where you can get a license in Tom Green County.”

What Ms. Kriner can’t do is perform one of the essential functions of her office which is following the law that she took an oath to uphold.  What Kriner can do is resign if she cannot perform the job she was elected to do.

Profiles in Courage – However Misguided

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Rusk County Clerk Joyce Lewis-Kugle resigned her office rather than have to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage by issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.  Lewis-Kugle who was first elected in 2006 explained her reasons in her resignation letter to County Judge Joel Hale.

“Before taking office, I was required to take an oath to uphold the laws of this State and the United States. Due to the recent decision by the Supreme Court, the laws I swore to have now changed.”

I disagree with her views, but Lewis-Kugle did the honorable thing by resigning her office rather than complaining or engaging in grandstanding like some other Texas county clerks.

Of course, Red is also willing to bet that Lewis-Kugle will attempt to leverage her resignation into a run for another office as she will undoubtably be viewed as a Tea Party martyr.

Birthright Citizenship Under Fire in Texas

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The Texas Observer reports that undocumented parents are increasingly unable to obtain birth certificates for their children born in the U.S.

For nearly 150 years, the United States, under the 14th Amendment, has recognized people born here as citizens, regardless of whether their parents were citizens.

But Texas has other plans. In the last year, the state has refused to issue birth certificates to children who were born in Texas to undocumented parents. In May, four women filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Texas Department of State Health Services alleging constitutional discrimination and interference in the federal government’s authority over immigration.

Jennifer Harbury, a lawyer with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, who is representing the women, said the deluge of birth certificate refusals began last winter. “I’ve never seen such a large number of women with this problem,” she says. “In the past someone might be turned away, but it was always resolved. This is something altogether new.”

The End Times are Near, Cont.

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Yahoo Sports relates that Gail Payne, an Oakland A’s season ticket holder, has filed a lawsuit seeking to have MLB clubs install foul pole to foul pole netting to protect fans from foul balls, broken bats and the occasional errantly expelled chaw spit.   A Houston law firm, Hilliard Munoz Gonzalez is representing Payne, but a website asks other season ticket-holders to contact another firm handling the case, Seattle-based Hagens Berman.

”Every type of fan is constantly at risk of serious injury or death,” claims attorney Robert Hilliard. ”If that foul ball is hit hard enough, reaction time is basically zero and life-threatening injury is certain. This is a needless risk. Extending the nets will, as a fact, save lives.”

If you want to sit in good seats, you must be willing to pay attention to the game.  If you can’t do that, sit in the outfield or the nosebleeds.