Judicial Watch is reporting that Mexican Army and “federal law enforcement officials” have discovered an ISIS camp just outside of Ciudad Juarez close to the U.S. border.  The report is based on unnamed sources and provides extensive details of what would be a large-scale operation to infiltrate the U.S.  Frankly, Red thinks that ISIS has its hands full avoiding an ass-whupping in Iraq and Syria while taking time out to destroy priceless archeological and historic relics.   That coupled with the fact that Judicial Watch is a right-wing advocacy organization well-known for filing frivolous lawsuits to advance its conservative agenda.  But maybe, Red is wrong.  So here is what the good folks at Judicial Watch are claiming.

The exact location where the terrorist group has established its base is around eight miles from the U.S. border in an area known as “Anapra” situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Another ISIS cell to the west of Ciudad Juárez, in Puerto Palomas, targets the New Mexico towns of Columbus and Deming for easy access to the United States, the same knowledgeable sources confirm.

During the course of a joint operation last week, Mexican Army and federal law enforcement officials discovered documents in Arabic and Urdu, as well as “plans” of Fort Bliss – the sprawling military installation that houses the US Army’s 1^st Armored Division. Muslim prayer rugs were recovered with the documents during the operation.

Law enforcement and intelligence sources report the area around Anapra is dominated by the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Cartel (“Juárez Cartel”), La Línea (the enforcement arm of the cartel) and the Barrio Azteca (a gang originally formed in the jails of El Paso). Cartel control of the Anapra area make it an extremely dangerous and hostile operating environment for Mexican Army and Federal Police operations.

According to these same sources, “coyotes” engaged in human smuggling – and working for Juárez Cartel – help move ISIS terrorists through the desert and across the border between Santa Teresa and Sunland Park, New Mexico. To the east of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, cartel-backed “coyotes” are also smuggling ISIS terrorists through the porous border between Acala and Fort Hancock, Texas. These specific areas were targeted for exploitation by ISIS because of their understaffed municipal and county police forces, and the relative safe-havens the areas provide for the unchecked large-scale drug smuggling that was already ongoing.

Red suggests unleashing kamikaze javelina drones to disrupt the alleged ISIS warriors flooding into the land the free.

The Fifth Circuit is set to hear a motion to lift the district court stay of the President Obama’s recent actions on immigration.  U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen blocked the President’s November executive action which grants relief from deportation and work permits to approximately 5 million undocumented workers including many who currently reside, work and pay taxes in Texas.  Hanen refused to lift the stay while the Administration appeals to the Fifth Circuit.   Off the Kuff reports that the panel hearing the motion may not be too friendly to the Obama Administration’s position. The panel includes Judges Jerry Smith, Jennifer Elrod and Steven Higginson.  In fact according to Kuffner, it may be downright hostile.

Smith’s conservatism is tribal and, at times, belligerent. It would be very surprising if he cast a vote in favor of politically controversial programs spearheaded by Barack Obama.

He is joined on the panel by Judge Jennifer Elrod. Elrod is a George W. Bush appointee, while Smith is a Reagan appointee, so her record is not as thick as Judge Smith’s.

Elrod’s record on immigration suggests that she will take a similarly conservative approach. In Villas at Parkside Partners v. City of Farmers Branch, the full Fifth Circuit voted 9-5 to strike down a local ordinance that effectively made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to rent a home. Elrod dissented from this decision, claiming, somewhat improbably, that the ordinance “does not constitute a regulation of immigration.”

The Dallas Morning News Watchdog  reports on Sen. Larry Taylor’s (TP-Friendswood) bill to make things even more difficult for Texas consumers to obtain reasonable settlements from their insurers.  Taylor incredibly claims that this bill – carefully crafted by the insurance lobby – is a consumer protection statute.  Taylor obviously works under the “Big Lie” principal.  When questioned about some of the provisions in his bill, Taylor was unable to respond – perhaps because being the bought and paid for tool of the insurance industry does not also make you very smart.

The Texas Supreme Court has essentially written actions for bad faith denial of coverage out of the statutes – so right now it is a winning strategy for an insurance company to just deny coverage.  If 10% of their customers shrug and say “Okay” the impact on the insurer’s  bottom line is tremendous.  But now Taylor wants to make it even easier for Texas insurers to deny claims.  Senate Bill 1628 has been characterized as the “Christmas List for insurance companies.”  Among other things, Taylor’s bill requires insureds to provide a complicated sworn statement to their insurer before filing suit, and cuts back the penalties on insurance companies for failing to pay claims.  Among the brilliantly worded language in the bill is the following:

An insurer knowingly fails to act in compliance with this subchapter only if the insurer is actually aware of the insurer’s failure to pay a claim for which the insurer is liable.

So the insurer is not responsible unless you prove that it knew that it knew that it was denying a viable claim?

The Huffington Post reports on the controversy surrounding a show featuring male strippers in Warrenton during the recently concluded semi-annual antique madness in the Round Top area.  Some of the locals were upset when Stephanie Welch booked the American Cowboy Las Vegas Revue for performances at an enclosed tent amidst the many antique dealers in beautiful downtown Warrenton.  Welch saw the handsome hoofing hotties at another antiques show and decided to book them on the same weekend as the 47th Original Round Top Antiques Fair.  The fact that the coolly clad cowboys were performing on Good Friday and Holy Saturday did not sit well with some of the locals who picketed on State Hwy 237.  Even some local politicos got in on the action.

“I find all of it pretty distasteful to begin with, the fact that they’re actually having it on Good Friday and Holy Saturday across the street from the church really makes it distasteful to me and the vast population,” Fayette County Judge Ed Janecka told KXAN TV.

In the interest of full disclosure, Red and family were in Warrenton on Good Friday shopping and visiting friends who exhibit (not that kind of exhibition) there.  The large tent where the buff and booted boys were dancing was clearly visible from the friend’s booth.  Only for a brief moment could we hear the rhythmic thumping of the dance beat.  As we left after sundown, about 50 protestors were still walking the shoulder of the road carrying signs and crosses.  They were peaceful and mostly unobtrusive in expressing their rights to free speech.  At least they left us alone because one of our party was wearing his Jesus shirt.   And frankly, I have never noticed the church in Warrenton because it is covered up by vendors and shoppers during the antiquing frenzy.  All in all a lot of hubbub about nothing.

The Texas Tribune reports on a dust up between Rep. Borris Miles and a DPS trooper assigned to protect Attorney General Ken Paxton at the Vince Young Steakhouse in Austin.  Miles apparently wanted to speak with Paxton who was having dinner with state representatives and others in a private room at the restaurant when he was stopped by the officer.  Profanity ensued.

Miles claimed the plain clothes trooper did not identify himself until after he had placed his hands on the lawmaker.

 “A white man just walks up to me and starts grabbing me,” Miles said. “What do you do?” 

The DPS report confirms at least part of Miles’s story.

“When I saw Rep. Miles make a move for the door, I stood up, grabbed his arm to divert his attention to me and told him he was not allowed to go into the room.  . . I then positioned myself between him and the door. At this point, Rep. Miles became belligerent with me, using excessive profanity.”

The University of Houston revealed that it is paying actor and UT alumunus Matthew McConnaughey $135,000 to speak before the first school-wide graduation ceremony in recent memory at new TDECU Stadium.  McConnaughey has indicated that he will donate his part of the fee to a charity.  However, his booking agency, Celebrity Talent International, will keep at least $20,000 for its role in securing the gig for the Academy Award winner.

UH had refused to release the amount of McConnaughey’s fee citing an unusual confidentiality provision in the engagement agreement.  CTI sought to keep the fee from public disclosure arguing that if UH revealed McConaughey’s fee, a “reporter or someone” might create “unfair negatives online.”  That plan backfired as the effort to keep the fee confidential created enough backlash and embarrassment for a publicly funded institution that should have no secrets about such matters and should have refused to sign a contract with a confidentiality clause.

Enough bad publicity apparently forced UH’s hand even though the Attorney General’s office has not ruled on the open records request seeking the contract.  In a curious statement, UH claimed, “The university has concluded its business with CTI and, therefore, is no longer bound by its confidentiality agreement with the agency.”

That would be unlike any confidentiality agreement Red has ever laid eyes on.  A standard feature of such agreements is that they survive the transaction contemplated in the agreement.  Strange days indeed.