Tag Archives: Tea Party

Rick Perry Speaks – Cue the Violins

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Off the Kuff details Rick Perry’s attempt to blame his campaign going down in flames, swirling the drain, crashing and burning, taking a 10 foot walk off a 6 foot pier, biting the big one, taking a dirt nap, sleeping with the fishes, kicking the bucket, falling off the table, chucking up a duck farm, eating leaden death, licking on a cyanide pop, jumping with a brick parachute, batting .000, shanking it into the water hazard, booking a cruise on the Titanic and generally setting a new standard for ineptitude and failure on – wait for it – EVERYONE ELSE BUT HIMSELF!

To paraphrase Homer Simpson, “I’ve seen campaigns suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks who ever sucked.”

Cruz Throws Chief Justice Roberts Under the Bus

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) has turned from an enthusiastic supporter of Chief Justice John Roberts to a Monday morning quarterback who now attacks Roberts at every turn.  Cruz, who failed to score any points in Tuesday’s GOP debate, was put on his heels when asked about his past support of Roberts.  Cruz is now making judicial appointments a prime focus of his campaign by arguing that he will put only right wing radical conservatives on the bench.  Red has no doubt that Cruz has a long list of potential judicial Neanderthals in his pocket who are chomping at the bit for the chance to serve their corporate masters and pay obeisance to their insurance company overlords by further cutting back on the rights of ordinary Americans.  The Texas Tribune can fill you in on Cruz’s plan to make judicial appointments a centerpoint of his campaign.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is finding a new pressure point in his proxy war with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: the decision by Bush’s brother to nominate John Roberts, a growing target of conservative scorn, to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Cruz’s offensive, however, is shining more and more light on his own past support for Roberts, an issue that flared up during the second 2016 Republican presidential debate Wednesday in California. 

Asked by a moderator whether it was a mistake for George W. Bush to name Roberts to the high court — as Cruz had suggested — Jeb Bush noted that Cruz was a “strong supporter” of Roberts at the time, and indicated Cruz was trying to “rewrite history” with his recent criticism of Roberts. In a 2005 op-ed for the National Review, Cruz, then the solicitor general of Texas, offered a vigorous defense of Roberts, urging the U.S. Senate to “confirm him swiftly.”

Confronted with that position Wednesday, Cruz ultimately made explicit what he has been hinting at over the past few months, especially in the wake of the most recent ruling from the high court salvaging President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. “It is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his nomination,” Cruz said. “That was a mistake and I regret that.” 

Yet Cruz’s admission speaks to a broader conversation he is hoping to have with his GOP opponents as conservative outrage at the high court metastasizes, particularly following its June decision that legalized gay marriage across the country. Cruz’s question to primary voters boils down to this: Which candidate do you most trust to appoint truly conservative judges?

Jade Helm 15 Update

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Red was really starting to think this whole Jade Helm 15 thing was a bunch of hooey, when lo and behold Red heard that Lionel Messi and Argentina was going to be in Houston for a match against Bolivia on Friday.  That got Red to thinking about why two South American teams would come all the way to Houston to play a so-called “friendly” against each other when there are umpteen places either in Argentina, Bolivia or somewhere in between that could host this match.  So Red is naturally suspicious that this is a big scheme by Obama (socialist, Kenyan, Muslim terrorist sympathizer that he is) to encourage more illegal immigration – who else watches soccer anyway? – and further erode the Tea Party’s chances of putting their man in the White House before it’s too late and they all die off.  So when all the illegals take a moment off from committing criminal acts and taking handlouts from the feds while watching the nefarious socialist sport of soccer, the jack-booted thugs will be getting busy rounding up our women, children and most importantly guns.  It’ll be easy for them to spot the true patriots because they will be the only ones not mesmerized by Messi’s magical moves con la pelota.  So take Red’s advice, suffer through 2 hours of futbol (as they call it).  It will be worth figuring out exactly what is “offsides” in order to keep the JBT’s away from your WCAMIG’s.  Sacrifices must be made lads.

Vigilantly yours,

Red

Abbott Wants Fed Money for Healthcare

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Gov. Greg Abbott has adamantly refused to expand Medicaid even though it would provide billions in federal dollars and provide health insurance for many of the millions of Texans who are still uninsured.  The negative economic impact on the Texas economy is estimated to be at least $66 billion in lost funding – money that would create jobs and keep workers and their families healthy.

Abbott, who must be seen doing everything he can to oppose “Obamacare”, hasn’t been shy about attempting to hang onto another source of critical funding for Texas hospitals.  The federal government provides a huge amount of money to Texas hospitals through the uncompensated care pool. For four years, the feds have reimbursed Texas’ safety-net hospitals for care they provide to people who cannot afford to pay because Texas refuses to embrace Medicaid expansion.  Now that the feds are threatening to cut off this funding, Abbott is up in arms and has his administration attacking those who are arguing for Medicaid expansion.  The Texas Tribune has the whole sordid story of Abbott’s duplicity, his attempt to smear his opponents and his refusal to turn over the emails that show his role.

Make up your mind, Gov. Abbott.  Either you are for or against the federal government funding health care in Texas.

Jan Mickelson Update – Yep, He’s Still Crazy

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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

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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 

What’s Geg Abbott Hiding?

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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

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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. 

Rick’s Reeling Run

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Former Gov. Rick Perry’s quickly fading Presidential campaign took another hit on Monday with the departure of Sam Clovis, his Iowa campaign chairman. Clovis, a right-wing talk radio host, professor and failed U.S. Senate candidate gave warm regards to Perry, but left with the feeling that all is not right in the Perry camp.   “I feel bad for the campaign and I feel bad for Governor Perry because I think he’s a marvelous human being, he’s a great man and it was my honor to be a part of this, but it was just time to move on.”  Clovis indicated that the move to stop paying campaign staffers came as a surprise to him.  Other campaigns will likely be quick to snap up Clovis, who is considered to be one of the premier GOP political operatives in the state.

Clovis said he has been approached by “several” other campaigns since Perry stopped paying his staff earlier this month. He said he expects to be working for another candidate within days. “I’m going to go where there’s the best fit.”  Clovis considered working for  Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump, before signing up with Perry.  Look for Clovis to settle in with either Cruz or Trump.