Posts Tagged ‘Greg Abbott’
Thursday, April 17th, 2025
After seeing numerous attempts die at the hands of the Straus/Bonnin/Phelan/Burrows cabal over the years, the Texas House has finally passed school choice.
In a historic move, the Texas House gave initial approval today to Senate Bill 2, a school choice proposal backed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
The vote marks the first time a school choice bill has cleared the Texas House—a major shift from just last session when a similar proposal was voted down. The change comes after Abbott made the issue a defining battle in last year’s Republican primaries, endorsing challengers against GOP incumbents who had opposed school choice. Many of those incumbents were ousted, clearing the way for today’s vote.
Ahead of the floor debate, House Republicans met privately and heard from both Gov. Abbott and President Donald Trump, who called into the meeting and urged them to stay united.
“I just think it’s a really forward-thinking vote,” said Trump on the call. “There’s nothing complex about it. You’re not going to get hurt by it. It’s actually almost the opposite. People really want it.”
Snip.
The bill ultimately passed 86-63, with Phelan and State Rep. Gary Vandeaver (New Boston) being the only GOP members to vote against the measure.
Phelan still insists on being the turd in the punch bowl.
The bill now returns to the Senate, which can either concur with the House’s amendments or send the legislation to a conference committee.
Finally getting school choice passed is a direct result of slaughtering so many Dade Phelan cronies in the 2024 Republican primary (and runoff), the success of such efforts greatly aided by Abbott, Ted Cruz and Ken Paxton all campaiging to defeat anti-school choice (and pro-Paxton impeachment) reps.
It was a long time coming, but Texas voters finally got Republican representatives to vote like Republicans.
Tags:89th Texas Legislature, Brandon Waltens, Dade Phelan, Donald Trump, Gary VanDeaver, Greg Abbott, Republicans, school choice, Texas, Texas Scorecard
Posted in Republicans, Texas | 2 Comments »
Saturday, March 29th, 2025
We briefly touched on EPIC City, an “Islamic City” being built northeast of Plano.
Welcome to Epic City and Epic Ranches! A Muslim town built by and for Muslims and Muslims only. Deep in the heart of Texas!
Yes, this is a real thing. We have Epic city, with the outskirts having a little more room at the Epic Ranches!
An entire city of over 1,000 people, 30 minutes outside of Dallas.
I think we’re running into some definitional issues here. The East Plano Islamic Center, which seems to be the managing entity here, is in Plano itself. That can fairly be characterized as “30 minutes outside Dallas,” at least at non-rush hour times. Epic Ranches, north of Josephine, is much further out, on the other side of two lakes, and current Google Maps images show a whole lot of nothing there.
Filled. So why not build Epic Ranches to meet demand for Muslims who weren’t quick enough to get into the city?
Welcome to EPIC Ranches, where we are committed to building a vibrant and inclusive community that serves the evolving needs of the Muslim community. Our vision is rooted in creating a safe and purpose-built environment that fosters growth, connection, and prosperity for all who call EPIC City home.
They’ve got Islamic schools, mosques, stores. Everything that is needed for a Muslim to live comfortably in their own city to make sure they don’t have the opportunity to assimilate into American culture.
I think you can see some problems looming here. So does the State of Texas, starting with the securities law concerns.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the Texas State Securities Board has launched an investigation into the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) and its affiliated entities for potential violations of state and federal securities laws, including possible investor fraud.
According to the governor, the probe centers around whether EPIC has failed to comply with legal requirements meant to protect investors from fraud and financial abuse.
“The group behind the proposed East Plano Islamic Center compound may be misleading investors,” said Abbott. “Defrauding Texans will not be tolerated. The Texas State Securities Board is conducting a thorough investigation to ensure Texans are protected from financial harm that is alleged to have been caused by EPIC.”
Given all that nothing currently out there, I’m wondering if it’s more like the Rockford Files episode “The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company,” where Jim stumbles across a real estate scam selling housing development lots (including some “lakeside”) out in the middle of a desert, than a real Sharia City.
“All entities in Texas must follow state law, not Sharia law,” he added.
Then there’s the Texas Fair Housing Act concerns.
Gov. Greg Abbott has announced that another state agency will be investigating a controversial real estate development in North Texas, this time for “potential discrimination” in violation of the Texas Fair Housing Act.
The East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) and its “EPIC City” development have come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks. The Josephine-based development is planned to cover more than 400 acres of land, which will include more than 1,000 homes, a mosque, and schools.
The announcement video for the community states it is designed to “[bring] Islam to the forefront” and will “celebrate diversity and promote unity … to foster a sense of belonging and inclusivity for all residents regardless of their background.”
Just days ago, Abbott announced that he had directed the Texas State Securities Board to investigate and uncover “potential failures to comply with applicable state and federal securities requirements, including protections against fraud.” He also issued a cease and desist letter from the Texas Funeral Service to “immediately stop all illegal funeral service operations.”
Attorney General Ken Paxton also said he had opened a Civil Investigation Demand (CID) regarding EPIC and its investment firm, Community Capital Partner (CCP) LP, stating that it has “raised a number of concerns.”
Now, Abbott is directing the Texas Workforce Commission to begin investigating EPIC for “potentially breaking state fair housing laws by refusing to sell or rent housing to certain groups based on religion or other protected traits.”
The Texas Fair Housing Act prevents discriminatory sale or rentals of real estate based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin.
More:
A controversial new residential development near Dallas designed to address the “evolving needs of the Muslim community” has caught the eye of some Texas’ top elected officials.
The project, initiated by the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) and called EPIC City 2.0, is a planned development created by EPIC’s Community Capital Partner (CCP) LP. It describes itself as a “vibrant and inclusive community” where a “thriving ecosystem” will be created for “all who choose to call EPIC City home.”
Located in Josephine, the development will encompass 402 acres of land and has preliminary plans to include a mosque, more than 1,000 homes, and private schools — with utilities provided through an approved Municipal Utility District.
The announcement video for the community states it was designed to “[bring] Islam to the forefront” and will “celebrate diversity and promote unity… to foster a sense of belonging and inclusivity for all residents regardless of their background.”
Controversy began to surround the residential development online, especially after Gov. Greg Abbott made a post commenting on the project: “To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas.”
“Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply,” Abbott added.
“Bottom line. The project as proposed in the video is not allowed in Texas.”
Right now, EPIC City 2.0 seems more like a highly speculative real estate project than an actual threat, but Abbott and Paxton have moved swiftly to nip the potential threat in the bud.
Given how long the illegal alien problem in Colony Ridge was allowed to metastasize before state officials looked into it, I’m glad they’re taking a pro-active approach to EPIC City 2.0 before it becomes a problem.
Tags:Collin County, Community Capital Partner, East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), EPIC City, Greg Abbott, Islam, Jihad, Josephine (Texas), Ken Paxton, Muslim, Plano, Texas, Texas Fair Housing Act, Texas State Securities Board
Posted in Jihad, Texas | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, February 25th, 2025
Remember how three illegal aliens were arrested in Colony Ridge for carrying 350 pounds of meth in last week’s LinkSwarm? That, and the Trump Administration’s crackdown on illegal alien felons, finally seems to have prodded authorities into launching a crackdown on illegal alien and cartel-infested Colony Ridge.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced that federal authorities and state law enforcement would be targeting criminal illegal aliens in the Colony Ridge development north of Houston.
Abbott said the operation had been in the works with President Donald Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan for several months.
It’s great to have an administration willing to work with Texas to enforce the law, rather than break it.
“Texas DPS Troopers & Special Agents are assisting Homeland Security Investigations, with an operation in Colony Ridge this morning. They are targeting criminals & illegal immigrants,” wrote Gov. Abbott on X.
The Colony Ridge development has been the subject of controversy, with critics accusing the developer of attracting a large population of illegal aliens by advertising in Spanish on social media and offering predatory loans that require no social security number.
As of publication, the extent of the enforcement action is not clear. DPS vehicles were visibly patrolling and conducting traffic stops in the area.
Numerous criminal illegal aliens have been arrested in Colony Ridge in recent years as the settlement has exploded in size. Last December, an illegal alien smuggler was arrested there for his role in the deaths of 50 people.
The Biden Administration just brought in the very best people.
Last month, an illegal alien was sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in the murder of 16-year-old Emily Patricia in Colony Ridge.
That Colony Ridge was allowed to metastasize as a crime-ridden illegal alien settlement for so long, despite the Texas Public Policy Foundation sounding the alarm all the way back in 2020, is no credit to the state political establishment. But now that the State of Texas is aware of it, and Trump is back in the White House and ready to do what it takes to control the border, the problem is finally being addressed.
Let a thousand deportations bloom…
Follow-Up: The Texan reports that 118 people were arrested in the raid.
Tags:Border Controls, Colony Ridge, Crime, Greg Abbott, Holly Hansen, Illegal Aliens, Texas, Texas DPS, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Tom Homan
Posted in Border Control, Crime, Texas | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, February 4th, 2025
It’s amazing what having a President dedicated to securing the border can help accomplish when he works with border state officials rather than against them.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has become the first Texas law enforcement official to sign an agreement with the Trump administration to carry out its mass deportation efforts.
On Sunday, Paxton’s office announced the move, less than two weeks after President Trump handed down an executive order authorizing state and local law enforcement entities to perform the functions of immigration officers.
The order is pursuant to section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which the White House claims allows the federal government to co-delegate “the investigation, apprehension, or detention of aliens.”
Section 287(g) was added to the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1996 as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.
“On day one, President Trump took bold action to make America safe again. I am proud to be the first to join him to restore our national sovereignty, secure our border, and ensure that criminal aliens face the justice they deserve,” stated Paxton. “As the top law enforcement official in Texas, I call on all agencies and departments to join me in the fight. We will enforce the law and protect America.”
Paxton’s agreement follows a January 29 executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott instructing “all appropriate state agencies to assist federal actors working under the direction of the Trump Administration with carrying out functions under federal immigration laws.”
Two days later, Abbott stated that his office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Texas National Guard continue to collaborate with the Trump administration on Operation Lone Star.
Abbott revealed to Breitbart on February 2 that he signed a memorandum of understanding between U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the State of Texas to grant Texas National Guard personnel the authority to make immigration arrests.
The order is “effective immediately” and “boosts man power for border security,” wrote Abbott in a post on X.
It’s going to take years (at a minimum) to clean up the illegal alien border mess that the lawless Biden regime left behind. But having a Presidential Administration in office that’s willing to enforce the law is a huge start.
Tags:Border Controls, Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Immigration and Nationality Act, Ken Paxton, Republicans, Texas
Posted in Border Control, Republicans, Texas | 2 Comments »
Friday, January 3rd, 2025
Happy New Year! The Biden Administration is made of lies (which you already knew), a few links about guns, mysterious deaths in Tarrant County jails, Russian finds new, embarrassing ways to lose equipment, Hasbro destroys D&D’s legacy, and a look at biblical werewolves. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
One of Biden’s main legacies: Corrupting official government economic statistics:
Try to contain your shock: The Biden Administration hid the lab leak origins of Flu Manchu.
A brand new investigation from the Wall Street Journal has revealed that scientists knew early on that the COVID-19 virus was an engineered virus that escaped a lab, but the information was suppressed by intelligence agencies and removed from all presidential briefings on the matter.
Three scientists from the National Center for Medical Intelligence, John Hardham, Robert Cutlip and Jean-Paul Chretien, had reported their findings that the virus was manipulated in a lab. They shared their findings with the FBI, but were soon told to stop.
In August of 2021, Biden was briefed on the origins of COVID-19 after a 90-day investigation from intelligence agencies. National Intelligence Director Avril Haines briefed the President and left out all research pointing to a lab leak from her briefing.
Sarah Hoyt has a pretty good plan moving forward: We win, they lose.
It’s going to take a long time for us to stop flinching and deciding we’re going to be betrayed. 2020 left scars in the collective psyche, and scars take a long time to fade if they ever do.
The last four years we were hunching our shoulders and just enduring the blows, and that will take a long long time to fade.
And sure, there are things that won’t go our way. But you shouldn’t worry too much about that.
Look, the edifice that supports the boot on our necks is not only rickety. It always was rickety.
Keeping the big lie of the all powerful centralized government in place was a full scale production, and it required a fully coordinated media, fully coordinated panels of “experts”, and a trusting public that believed all of it. Or at least a majority of the public that believed all of it.
It has been eroding for a while, since social media and blogs got really big in the wake of 9/11. Despite their best efforts at censorship, a massed multitude of — what did they call us? — hobbits is harder to control than a few journalists who want to be invited to the right parties.
Trump’s election in 2016 was the first time the media lost to the hobbits. Really lost, publicly. They didn’t like it. The hell the establishment has put us through since is their payback.
It came with unexpected consequences though. The main ones being: their masks were yanked off; and we don’t believe them anymore.
This is the sort of thing that not all the king’s horses and not all the king’s men can put together ever again.
Sure, we’ll “lose” some. Sure, they’re making cunning plans to thwart the will of the people.
But be not afraid. If we win even a few places, it’s enough for the whole edifice of oppression and lies to come tumbling down.
It has been tumbling down, already, even while they were nominally in power, which is why we won 2024.
Be not afraid. This is very important. The rest will fall into place, provided you keep your heads and remember you’re Americans.
Mike Johnson reelected as Speaker of the House. And that was after National Review sent out an email that he hadn’t, so there was a bit of confusion around the event. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Powerline illustrates Why Democrats Lost for Dummies.
How DEI is ruining careers in academia.
Until a few years ago I was working as a mid-career research scientist, no I won’t tell you what field. Within my collaboration I was known for being extremely productive. I’ve seen jaws drop when I show colleagues my publication list.
Then it came time to start applying for junior professor positions.
Got a few interviews, but doors kept getting slammed in my face. It’s a very opaque process ofc, they never tell you why. In one case however I had the dean – a portly Hispanic woman – tell me two minutes into the interview that “women in STEM are very important to me”, and ultimately heard informally from one of the profs at that dept that I hadn’t been hired because of interference from the dean, despite all of the profs on the committee wanting me, and that instead they’d hired … no one.
(Hat tip: Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit.)
Obama’s Ministry of Censorship gets shut down.
One of the many controversial chunks of the short-term spending bill that sparked debate recently included funding for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center.
But what’s the problem? After all, who doesn’t like “Global Engagement”?!
Well, this agency — formed by Barack Obama — has been moonlighting as a censorship czar, handing out taxpayer dollars like candy to groups that spend their time suppressing conservative voices online.
(In other words, your average Obama administration government office.)
But after widespread backlash, the new version has no room for the Global Engagement Center.
Snip.
Reports from the Washington Examiner indicated that the GEC bankrolled groups like the Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard, organizations that basically police speech with the finesse of a drunk mall cop. The Federalist and the Daily Wire even sued the GEC over its role in suppressing right-leaning voices.
Thanks to the new continuing resolution, the GEC finally met its own doom, with yet another scrap of Barack Obama’s legacy shuffling off into the sunset like Joe Biden’s last remaining marble.
Sounds like some companies are asking for a lawsuit:
(Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Suspicious. “North Texas Activist Is Latest to Die in Tarrant County Jail. Mason Yancy was the ninth person to die in Tarrant County Jail custody this year….Yancy was well known to grassroots activists in North Texas and across the state as an advocate for limited government and First and Second Amendment rights. He co-founded Open Carry Texas with activist-turned-attorney CJ Grisham.”
Anti-Chinese riots in Africa, following a disputed election in which Daniel Chapo of the ruling FRELIMO (socialist, formerly communist) party was declared the winner. Seems like the citizens of Mozambique aren’t big fans of Belt and Road…
Ford’s account gets hacked.
John Richardson, of No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money, is a reform candidate for NRA’s board of directors.
Russian SAM system final engages a target it can take down: A Russian helicopter.
Russia loses vehicles in Ukraine every day, but usually they’re not getting stolen. And their troops don’t usually put up missing posters for them…
Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger: “Wikipedia made a real effort at neutrality for I would say its first five years or so, and then it began a long, slow slide into what I would call leftist propaganda.”
The top selling guns of 2024 on GunBroker.com. I actually own the top-selling gun, the Sig Saur P365 9mm, which feels…weird.
Buyer beware: Fake ammo scam. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
It’s easier to get car parts for a 2007 Ferrari 599 than a 2016 Hellcat.
Net Neutrality loses in court again.
Oopsie! “Texas Governor Greg Abbott mistakenly sent a message of condolences to Jimmy Carter’s dead wife.”
Hasbro pimps out D&D for a gambling app. (Hat tip: Clownfish TV.)
Asking biblical questions no one else is asking: “Was Benjamin, Jacob’s youngest son, a werewolf?”
Waterloo records in Austin is relocating under new ownership. “Caren Kelleher, founder and president of Gold Rush Vinyl, confirmed Thursday she and business partner Trey Watson (CEO of Armadillo Records) will be taking over Waterloo Records. The vinyl shop has operated in Austin for more than 40 years, including 35 years at its current location along West Sixth Street and North Lamar Boulevard.” I used to spend a fair amount of time searching their used CD bins, but I all but stopped going downtown during the “homeless camping” fiasco. (Hat tip: .)
“Trump Names Buc-ee’s Beaver Secretary Of Transportation.”
“Biden Finally Claims Title Of Worst Living President.”
“White House Insists Jimmy Carter Is Still Sharp And Focused Behind Closed Doors.”
Wormsign!
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Tags:Austin, Avril Haines, Babylon Bee, Buc-ees, cars, censorship, China, coronavirus, Crime, Daniel Chapo, DEI, dogs, Dungeons and Dragons, Economics, education, Ford, fraud, FRELIMO, gambling, Global Engagement Center, Greg Abbott, Guns, H1B visa, handguns, Hasbro, Jean-Paul Chretien, Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden, John Hardham, John Richardson, Larry Sanger, LinkSwarm, Mason Yancy, media bias, Media Watch, Military, Mozambique, NRA, Obama, open carry, retail sales, Robert Cutlip, Rosalynn Carter, Russia, Russo-Ukrainian War, Sarah Hoyt, scam, Second Amendment, Sig Saur, statistics, Stellantis, supply chain, Tarrant County, Texas, Ukraine, unemployment, werewolves, Wikipedia, Wuhan Institute of Virology
Posted in Austin, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Guns, Military | 3 Comments »
Friday, December 20th, 2024
Because I had to get out my book catalog last week, I’ve been as busy as Kathleen Kennedy on Ruin Star Wars Day, so this is another two-weeks crammed into one LinkSwarm. It’s just been a packed two weeks, with so many major stories breaking up not going to tease them up here, so let’s jump right in.
“21 Soros-linked district attorneys replaced since 2022 by voters seeking ‘tough-on-crime’ policies.”
A new report has revealed that 21 George Soros-linked district attorneys across the United States have been replaced by “tough-on-crime” prosecutors. The report also noted that four have left office, either through recall efforts or other means.
Among those listed by the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund were former Portland District Attorney Mike Schmidt, who lost a May election to Democrat challenger Nathan Vasquez, Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, who lost her reelection bid to Kalki Yalamanchili, and Kim Foxx, the former Cook County State’s Attorney who in 2023 announced that she would not seek reelection.
For those who were removed from office, there is Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, who in November was indicted on federal bribery charges, and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, who was recalled last month after serving just 18 months in office, per The National News Desk.
Replacements also noted by the report were Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, who lost to challenger Nathan Hochman in last month’s election, and former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who lost the 2022 Democratic primary election to Ivan Bates. Since her election loss, Mosby has been found guilty of one count of mortgage fraud.
All of them need to go.
Speaking of Soros tools: Subway Samaritan Daniel penny found not guilty on all charges. Just like Kyle Rittenhouse, he never should have been charged in the first place. Soros tool Alvin Bragg needs to be impeached and removed from office.
Christopher Wray steps down as FBI head. This shouldn’t keep the Trump Administration from prosecuting for his manifest interference in the political process.
More Democratic Party fundraising fraud. “ActBlue, the massive online fund-raising platform for liberal causes, has informed Congress it did not automatically block donations made with foreign-bought gift cards until recently.” Almost like the entire party is a giant money laundering scam…
Busted. “Georgia Court Removes Fani Willis from Trump Case over Relationship with Special Prosecutor.”
An appellate court removed Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis (D) from the racketeering case against President-elect Donald Trump over her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Georgia’s court of appeals ruled Thursday that Willis will be removed from the case because of the appearance of misconduct surrounding her relationship with Wade, but did not throw out the case all together.
“While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety is generally not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings,” the three judge panel ruled.
Left unstated is that her lawfare attack on Trump was both illegal and unconstitutional.
“Law enforcement arrested and charged a suspect on Monday in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, which occurred in New York City on Wednesday outside a Manhattan hotel. Luigi Mangione, 26, of Towson, Md., was stopped by auth0rities in Altoona, Pa., on Monday. The detained suspect had a handwritten manifesto that criticized the health care industry.
Biden’s Department of Education spent $1 billion to infect schools with DEI, because of course they did.
He also handed Iran access to $10 billion, because promoting terrorism, plotting to destroy Israel, and trying to build nuclear weapons are activities that Democrats seem eager to reward.
Winning. “ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement in a defamation suit brought by President-elect Donald Trump, which requires the network to apologize, contribute $15 million to a ‘Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff,’ and pay Trump’s legal team $1 million.”
Believe it or not, that wasn’t the biggest settlement ABC owner Disney agreed to pay out this month. They also agreed to pay $233 million to settle a minimum wage lawsuit.
How DeSantis and Abbott bussing illegal aliens to blue sanctuary cities changed the game.
As Saul Alinsky once said, make your enemies live up to their words.
Let the Democratic Party Civil War commence.
The battle lines are now drawn between West Coast liberals, Bernie Sanders-socialists and moderate technocrats in the Midwest, who insist the party has completely lost touch with the average American voter.
But first, there is one thing that all sides seemingly agree on: The current political establishment must be chased out of national politics for good. A reckoning is coming.
‘The people that are responsible for this s**tshow are the Obama people. They’re just grifters,’ a well-connected Democratic donor exclusively told Daily Mail. He singled out Jen O’Malley Dillon, who went from Biden 2024 campaign chair to serve in the same role for Harris’s camp, and David Plouffe, an ex-Obama 2008 campaign manager turned top Kamala adviser.
“Trump sues Des Moines Register, pollster for ‘brazen election interference’ over faulty polling in presidential race.” I think it’s very unlikely that Trump will win this lawsuit, thanks to First Amendment protections and the “absence of malice standard.” Plus pollster Ann Selzer can always just claim “I just sucked at my job.” She retired after the election.
After Assad fell, Israel pounded the snot out of his remaining military assets.
Israel pounded Syrian army bases on Tuesday in strikes it says aim to keep weapons from falling into hostile hands, but denied its forces had advanced into Syria, toward Damascus, beyond a buffer zone at the border.
Regional security sources and officers within the now-fallen Syrian army who spoke to Reuters described Tuesday morning’s airstrikes as the heaviest yet, hitting military installations and airbases across Syria, destroying dozens of helicopters and jets, as well as Republican Guard assets in and around Damascus.
The rough tally of 200 raids overnight had left nothing of the Syrian army’s assets, said the sources.
The Israeli Air Force has carried out over 300 airstrikes in Syria since the collapse of the regime, destroying advanced weapons and other capabilities.
Strikes reportedly carried out by Israel in Damascus’s Barzeh area completely destroyed a defense ministry research center, AFP correspondents reported on Tuesday. Western countries including the United States struck the facility in 2018, saying it was related to Syria’s “chemical weapons infrastructure.”
Plus they sunk the entire Syrian navy.
Speaking of pounding the snot out of things:
Videos of Russia buggering out of Syria.
Ukraine hit a solid rocket propellant plant in Russia.
“Palantir CEO Alex Karp Eviscerates Democrats: Voters ‘Do Not Want To Hear Your Woke Pagan Ideology.'”
Alex Karp, the co-founder and CEO of Palantir, said late last week that Democrats lost the 2024 election because they did not understand the fundamental human desire to feel safe.
Karp made the remarks during a panel discussion at the Reagan National Defense Forum while talking about what Americans expect out of the U.S. government.
“Americans are the most loving, God-fearing, fair, least discriminatory people on the planet,” he said. “They want to know that if you’re waking up and thinking about harming American citizens, or if American citizens are taken hostage and kept in dungeons, or if you’re a foreign power sending fentanyl to poison our people, something really bad is going to happen to you and your friends and your cousins, and your bank account and your mistress, and whoever was involved.”
He continued, “When Americans are spending a trillion dollars on ‘defense,’ what I want and what I think my peers want is: why are these people keeping our citizens as hostages, torturing our people, attacking our allies, maligning us in what was once called the United Nations — basically a discriminatory institution against anything good? We need to stand up and those people need to be scared.”
He said that it was critical for the U.S. to dominate because “we have the best products in the world, and we can not have parity.”
“Our adversaries do not have our moral compunction,” he said. “If it is even, they will take advantage of our niceness, our kindness, our desire to be at home in Nebraska and New Hampshire or wherever we live, in our peaceful environments.”
“They need to wake up scared, and go to bed scared, and if you give that to the American people, the American people will go back and say — and honestly, I probably shouldn’t say this, this is why I thought the Democrats were going to lose the election, and why they did, because people want to live in peace,” he continued. “They want to go home. They do not want to hear your woke pagan ideology. They want to know they’re safe. And safe means the other person is scared. That’s how you make someone safe.”
Democrats are now, finally, pissed at Obama. “There are people there are people who are now multi-millionaires as a result of the Harris campaign, and we know exactly who they are. And I just want to say that half a billion dollars in advertising went to just four well-heeled Democratic firms. This whole thing is deeply incestuous.”
China cracks down on economists telling the truth about how much their economy sucks rather than parroting Beijing’s approved lies.
“Ozy Media Founder Carlos Watson Sentenced To Hefty Prison Term For Defrauding Investors. [He] was sentenced to 116 months, or nearly ten years, in prison for conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in an unusual case that briefly captivated the media world.”
“Crystal Mangum admits to fabricating 2006 Duke lacrosse scandal accusations.” And by “scandal” they mean “false accusations of rape.” So when can we expect apologies from Nancy Grace and Amanda Marcotte? (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
“Biden’s EPA just made the first-ever “climate change” related arrest.”
More of that voting fraud Democrats swear doesn’t exist. “2020 Carrollton Mayoral Candidate Admits to Mail Ballot Fraud. Zul Mohamed pleaded guilty Monday to 109 voter fraud felonies.”
“After Donald Trump flipped his county for the first time in a century, longtime Democratic Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina has announced he is switching parties to the Republicans saying that “the [Democratic] party left me, and the people of South Texas behind.”
Three soldiers arrested for smuggling illegal aliens into the country.
Three U.S. Army soldiers have been arrested in Texas on criminal charges relating to smuggling illegal aliens.
The three soldiers were based at Fort Cavazos, which is near Killeen in Central Texas.
Fort Cavazos is The Fort Formerly Known As Fort Hood. I might have been a little more worked up over the name change if Hood hadn’t been such a shitty general.
U.S. Border Patrol agents made an initial traffic stop of a suspicious vehicle in the city of Presidio, located in West Texas on the Rio Grande. As an agent approached the vehicle’s passenger side, the driver sped away—hitting a second Border Patrol vehicle and injuring the agent inside.
The vehicle was eventually stopped by local law enforcement officers who detained four individuals in the car. Three were illegal aliens, and one was identified as U.S. Army soldier Emilio Mendoza Lopez.
The driver of the vehicle was reported as being another soldier named Angel Palma, who fled on foot from the vehicle but was located in Odessa a day later.
Presidio is nearly 500 miles away from where the soldiers were stationed.
“Mendoza Lopez and Palma allegedly traveled from Fort Cavazos to Presidio for the purpose of picking up and transporting undocumented noncitizens,” announced the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas. “A third individual, Enrique Jauregui, is alleged to be the recruiter and facilitator of the human smuggling conspiracy.”
“Tren De Aragua Gun Runner Released by Biden Admin Charged in Texas Capital Murder.” Democrats sure love murderous gang members… (Hat tip: Issues and Insights.)
“Laredo Educator Arrested for Production of Child Pornography. Carlos Jobany Castaneda Lechuga was a lecturer at Texas A&M International University, but has since been removed from the staff directory.”
“Three More Texas Teachers Nabbed for Child Porn.”
Three Texas teachers made news last week over charges of child pornography—also known as child sexual abuse material, as the images and videos depict sex crimes being committed against minors.
The educators worked in Dallas, Leander, and Wall Independent School Districts. Two of the three taught band.
On December 13, Dallas Police arrested Sean Turner, 34, and charged him with possession of pornography featuring a child younger than 10 years old—a first-degree felony.
Snip.
Retired principal Curtis John Locklear was arrested December 12 and charged with felony possession of child porn.
Locklear was arrested by the Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office working with the Houston-area Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force.
Snip.
Also on December 12, a federal judge sentenced Joshua Carroll to 30 years in prison for possessing and producing child porn.
Carroll was an assistant band director in Wall ISD from January 2022 until his crimes were discovered earlier this year.
Texas Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw got dinged by the Internet for insider trading. So then Crenshaw attacked the Internet. It didn’t go well for him.
Phllly man awarded $41 million for overturned murder conviction is back in jail for murder.
AOC loses an election to be the ranking member of the Oversight and Accountability Committee to 74-year-old Gerry Connolly. “Connolly is undergoing chemotherapy and immunotherapy for esophagus cancer.”
In addition to being a brutal dictator, Bashar Assad was also a drug pusher.
Google unveils a newer, more powerful quantum chip.
Google on Monday introduced a new chip called Willow, which solved in five minutes a computing problem that would take a classical computer more time than the history of the universe.
Tech companies are chasing quantum computing in hopes of developing systems that perform at speeds far faster than traditional silicon-based computers.
The building blocks of quantum computers, called “qubits”, while being fast, are error-prone, making it hard to ensure quantum computers are reliable and commercially viable.
The more qubits used in quantum computing, the more errors typically occur. But Google said on Monday it found a way to string together qubits in the Willow chip so that error rates decline as the number of qubits rise, adding that it can also correct errors in real time.
My understanding of how quantum computers work is limited to popular explanations, but D-Wave is evidently still in business, so maybe they work?
It’s been a long time since I found Louis Black funny, but this rant on the Democrats post-election reactions is pretty good.
MSNBC viewers haven’t returned.
City in Florida tries to fine man over $1 million for 10 year old code violation fines against the previous owner for a home the new owner bought on foreclosure.
Company YesMadam surveys employees to see how stressed they feel…then lays off employees feeling stressed. Then reveals the whole thing was a publicity stunt.
Assad had a really shitty survival bunker. Plus a garage of luxury cars.
“Jordan Peterson Flees “Totalitarian Hellhole” Canada For U.S. Due To Censorship, Taxes.” Welcome to the land of the free and the home of the brave.
“How Now, Woke Longhorn? An Open Letter to University of Texas President Jay Hartzell.”
“Trump announces $100 BILLION investment to create 100,000 US jobs from Japanese company Softbank.”
Add Big Lots to the list of retail chains that died thanks to the Biden Recession. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Broadcom hit $1 trillion in market cap this week.
Jaguar is going all in on woke thanks to new CEO Adrian Mardell, and the infection is spreading to fellow Tata subsidiary Land Rover.
First reaction to Mufasa: The Lion King: “Profoundly awful.”
The trailer for James Gunn’s Superman dropped. I’ve never seen a Superman film in theaters, and this will not be getting me in. But you’ve got to give Gunn credit for thinking way outside the box and including Krypto the Superdog and Hawkman, two characters that absolutely no one in the greater viewing public was clamoring for.
Don McMillan has cracked the Hallmark Christmas movie code.
Heh:
“Now Now, Let’s Not Be So Hasty To Find And Assassinate Everyone Responsible For The Healthcare Crisis,’ Says Nervous Obama.”
“Assassin Luigi Mangione Takes Lead In 2028 Democratic Primary Polls.”
“Members Of Congress Explain They Need Pay Raises To Keep Up With The Inflation They Caused.”
“Biden Calls For New Gun Laws He Can Pardon His Son For Breaking.”
“Running Low On Ideas, God Makes Oklahoma.”
“Unclear If Pianist Total Beginner Or Professional Jazz Player.”
In you go:
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Tags:ABC, ActBlue, Adrian Mardel, Alex Karp, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Alvin Bragg, B-52, Babylon Bee, bankruptcy, Bashar Assad, Biden Recession, Big Lots, Border Controls, Border Patrol, Brian Thompson, Broadcom, Budget, Canada, Carlos Jobany Castaneda Lechuga, Carlos Watson, Carrollton, China, Christmas, Christopher Wray, Communism, Cook County, Crime, Crystal Mangum, Curtis John Locklear, Dan Crenshaw, Daniel Penny, DC Comics, Deborah Gonzalez, DEI, Democrats, Department of Education, Disney, dogs, Don McMillan, drones, Duke lacrosse case, Emilio Mendoza, Emilio Mendoza Lopez, EPA, F-15, Fani Willis, FBI, Florida, Foreign Policy, Fort Cavazos, fraud, Ft. Hood, George Gascon, George Soros, George Stephanopoulos, Georgia, Gerry Connolly, Google, Greg Abbott, Guns, Hallmark, Hollywood, Illegal Aliens, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Israel, Jaguar, James Gunn, Japan, Jay Hartzell, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Jessica Tarlov, Jihad, Jody Owens, Jordan B. Peterson, Joshua Carroll, Kalki Yalamanchili, Katie Couric, Kim Foxx, layoffs, LinkSwarm, Louis Black, Luigi Mangione, Media Watch, Mike Schmidt, Military, MSNBC, Nathan Vasquez, Nathan Wade, Obama, ObamaCare, Oklahoma, Palantir, Pamela Price, pedophilia, Philadelphia, quantum computing, Regulation, Republicans, Rio Grande Valley, Ron DeSantis, Russia, Russo-Ukrainian War, Sean Turner, Secret Service, Semiconductors, sex offender, Softbank, superheroes, Superman, Syria, Tano Tijerina, Texas, Ukraine, UnitedHealthcare, University of Texas, voting fraud, Webb County, Zul Mohamed
Posted in Border Control, Communism, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Guns, Jihad, Media Watch, Military, Obama Scandals, ObamaCare, Regulation, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, unions, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, December 10th, 2024
The incoming Trump47 administration has made it clear that they intend to start deporting illegal aliens with criminal illegal aliens.
Incoming Border Czar Tom Homan revealed that ridding the United States of violent criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua and MS-13 is going to be a “major priority” of the incoming Trump administration.
“So this is going to be a huge operation,” Homan said in a Fox News interview. “I’m looking forward to getting it started. I haven’t started the operation yet, but I have already worked with the Texas governor on the plans and the Texas border czar.”
Homan also argued that sanctuary cities should allow immigration officials to enter jails and conduct removals of violent criminals already in captivity, rather than waiting until the criminal is released back onto the streets.
“So let us in the jail,” he said. “It’s safer for everybody and it’s the right thing to do.”
In addition to meeting with Texas officials, Homan said that he has discussed plans with New York Mayor Eric Adams as well as hundreds of sheriffs across the country.
“The National Sheriffs Association is ready to go to work with us. So, January 20, game on,” he concluded.
I think that deporting criminal illegal aliens is a strategy pretty much all sane Americans agree with. Unfortunately, the woke-led Democrats are not sane. The Biden Administration refused to deport illegal alien felons despite the widespread unpopularity of that position, and to social justice warriors, national borders and law and order are both part and parcel of “white supremacy.” Notice how the left raged a law-abiding citizens like Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Penny daring to defend themselves against murderous criminals.
The Law and Order issue is one that has bit Democrats on the ass again and again, from the 1988 Presidential race to the 1993 New York City mayoral race to a whole lot of 2024 DA races. Slightly saner Democrats like New York City Mayor Eric Adams have recognized and changed course on illegal alien criminal deportations. But while the radical left, Democrat/Soros-backed soft-on-crime policies are deeply unpopular with the American electorate as a whole, they’re still a key tenant of the poisonous woke ideology that animates the ideological core of the Democratic Party.
There’s majority approval for deporting illegal aliens, and overwhelming support for deporting criminal illegal aliens. Will Democrats heed the will of the American people, or their woke radical activists?
Tags:Border Controls, Crime, Daniel Penny, Democrats, Eric Adams, Greg Abbott, Illegal Aliens, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, MS-13, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Tom Homan, Tren de Aragua
Posted in Border Control, Crime, Democrats, Social Justice Warriors, Texas | 4 Comments »
Friday, November 22nd, 2024
The Trump witchunt trial is suspended, PA Democrats give up the steal, the ruble collapses, a real estate developer is busted for bribery, thrash metal TDS, and an unexpected voice of sanity and reason from…Cenk Uygur?
It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
“New York Judge Indefinitely Postpones Trump Hush-Money Sentencing, Will Consider Dismissing Case.” Why, it’s almost as if the entire farcical trial was a witch hunt from the beginning.
Judge Juan Merchan indefinitely postponed the sentencing hearing in President-elect Donald Trump’s New York criminal case, which had been planned for next week, in light of Trump’s election.
Merchan is giving Trump’s legal team more than a week to file its motion asking for a dismissal under the argument that his return to office provides him a new host of immunity-related defenses.
Trump’s lawyers will be required to file by December 2, after which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will have until December 9 to respond.
Snip.
While Trump could face up to four years in prison, the more likely sentence in the case — should it move forward — would be probation, which could include some combination of a fine or community service, as the former and future president is a first-time offender.
“Just as a sitting President is completely immune from any criminal process, so too is President Trump as President-elect,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a letter filed Tuesday.
Trump’s team had requested a December 20 deadline to file.
Bragg, for his part, has argued in favor of freezing the case for the entirety of Trump’s term in office, and then revisiting the sentencing at the end of Trump’s tenure.
But Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove have argued dismissal of the case “is necessary under the Constitution and federal law to facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power — and in the interests of justice — following President Trump’s victory in the Electoral College and the popular vote in the 2024 Presidential election.”
Democrat Bob Casey realizes he won’t be able to cheat his way to victory and concedes after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reiterates that no, you’re not allowed to illegally count the ballots we’ve already declared illegal.
The Harris campaign spent $12 million doing polling on her strengths and weaknesses. I’m going to guess that the amount Trump spent on polling his strengths and weakness was “zero.”
Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration as Trump’s Attorney General, and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is the new nominee.
Heh:
(Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Musician turns Democrat freakouts into epic thrash metal:
Are we running out of gunpowder? (Hat tip: KR Training.)
To paraphrase Instapundit, we’ve entered some sort of hellworld where Cenk Uygur is a voice of moderation and reason, calling out far left pollster Allan Lichtman for blowing his election call, whereupon Lichtman shrieks that Uygur is committing “blasphemy” against him. Everyone and their dog has posted this, but I’m linking to the Asmongold clip because his seems to be the shortest.
Ukraine hit a military manufacturing facility 1,279 km from the Ukrainian border in a drone strike.
The Russian ruble hit a two year low against the dollar.
Trump intends to squeeze Iran.
US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to reinstate its “maximum pressure” strategy against Iran, targeting Tehran’s economic stability and its ability to support militant proxies and nuclear development, The Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing sources close to the transition team.
The sources revealed that the administration plans to impose stricter sanctions, particularly on Iran’s oil exports, which serve as a critical revenue source.
The anticipated sanctions could drastically reduce Iranian oil exports, which currently exceed 1.5 million barrels per day, up from a low of 400,000 barrels per day in 2020. Experts suggest that these measures would severely impact Iran’s economy. Bob McNally, an energy consultant and former US presidential adviser, indicated that reducing exports to a fraction of current levels would leave Iran in a far worse economic position than during Trump’s first term.
The Danish Navy is following a Chinese ship suspected of severing communication cables in the Baltic Sea.
In a followup to yesterday’s story, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state entities to divest from investments in Communist China. “One investment group specifically highlighted in Abbott’s letter is the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company (UTIMCO), which manages billions of dollars in assets for both university systems. UTIMCO has come under scrutiny after a Texas Scorecard investigation revealed its investments in more than 50 Chinese companies.”
Laken Riley’s illegal alien murderer convicted and sentenced to life without parole. Oh, and he had previously enjoyed a taxpayer-funded stay at the Roosevelt Hotel and a flight to Georgia. Thanks, Joe Biden.
El Salvador’s gang prison doesn’t play around. A whole lot of this would (rightfully) be considered cruel and unusual punishment, but we should veer more in this direction rather than putting illegal alien rapists up in hotels…
Michael Johnston, the mayor of Denver, “is “suggesting the use of force against ICE agents who are carrying out the lawful actions of the U.S. government.”
“Dallas Developer Pleads Guilty to Bribing City Council Members.”
Sherman Roberts, who led the City Wide Community Development Corporation, was indicted four years ago for a bribery scheme involving former Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and former City Council Member Carolyn Davis for their support of loans and low-income housing tax credits for his apartment projects.
He now faces up to five years in prison and is expected to be sentenced in March.
Roberts paid Davis several thousand dollars in cash, and promised future payments after her council tenure ended, in return for Davis’ support of his projects — Serenity Place, Runyon Springs, and Patriot’s Crossing — according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
Roberts was a Democratic Party donor, but in fairly piddling amounts for a real estate developer…
Middle School Principal Arrested for Possession of Child Pornography…Chad Dwight Barrett, a 56-year-old principal at Hardin Junior High School in Liberty, was arrested on November 14 following a police investigation that found he sent a student an inappropriate video.”
“Incoming Lawmaker Files Legislation to Allow Death Penalty for Sex Crimes Against Children.” Would need to see the details, but clearly scumbags raping small children deserve to die…
Repeat criminal told sheriff it would take “his tank and his helicopter” to get him out of his house, but in the end all it took was a needle.
Southern Poverty Law Center tries to dox Not The Bee staffers over #WrongThink.
Advanced Auto Parts closes all of it’s California stores. Thanks, Gavin Newsom.
Carmakers stopped making affordable cars in order to underwrite their move into electric cars. Result: They can’t sell cars and their overflow lots are full.
The DOJ wants Google to sell off Chrome. Well, that would be a start in addressing their monopoly position in Internet searches, but would hardly be sufficient. They should also have to spin off YouTube. And because consumers were directly harmed by their monopoly, they should be required to add 2GB of storage a year for every Gmail user for 20 years, he said self-interestedly. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
The time of the turning: “Sold-out NYC crowd ERUPTS, chants USA as President Trump attends UFC 309 with Elon Musk, RFK Jr, Speaker Johnson.”
Austin governance at its usualist: “CapMetro puts dozens of electric buses in storage amid manufacturer’s financial collapse. (Previously.) (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Shocking news from the world of science: Weed isn’t good for you. “According to their findings, exposure to cannabis was associated with a range of cancers – breast, pancreatic, liver, thyroid, testicular and lymphoma – that also develop quickly and are more aggressive.”
Sweden’s Gender Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg is deeply afraid of…bananas.
Service for a hypercar costs more than the purchase price of a non-hyper car.
Thomas E. Kurtz, creator of BASIC, RIP. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Enjoy the Honest Trailer for Megalopolis, with bonus Teen Girl Squad reference.
Interesting video on attempts to replicate flickering firelight using electric bulbs. (This is what I currently use for the Halloween season, and it’s adequate for my needs.)
The TDS doctor is in.
“Trump Worried Everyone Will Quit Before He Can Tell Them ‘You’re Fired.'”
“Fattest, Sickest Country On Earth Concerned New Health Secretary Might Do Something Different.”
“After Illegal Immigrant Found Guilty Of Murder, Dems Sentence Him To Flying Coach.”
“Sunny Hostin Forced To Read Legal Notice Acknowledging Nothing Said On ‘The View’ In Its Entire History Has Ever Been Remotely True.”
“Before DOGE Cuts Funding, NIH Working Feverishly To Complete Study On The Effects Of Giving Meth To Jetpack-Wearing Hamsters.”
That’s a happy puppy.
Tags:2024 Election, 2024 Presidential Race, Allan Lichtman, Alvin Bragg, Asmongold, Austin, Babylon Bee, Baltic Sea, Bob Casey, Border Controls, bribes, Budget, California, Capital Metro, Carolyn Davis, cars, Cenk Uygur, Chad Dwight Barrett, China, Colorado, Communism, Crime, Dallas, Democrats, Denmark, Denver, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Donald Trump, drones, Dwaine Caraway, economy, El Salvador, electric cars, Elon Musk, Emil Bove, Florida, Foreign Policy, Google, Greg Abbott, Guns, Honest Trailer, ICE, Illegal Aliens, Iran, Jihad, Juan Merchan, Laken Riley, LinkSwarm, marijuana, Matt Gaetz, Media Watch, Michael Johnston, Military, monopoly, movies, murder, Not The Bee, Obituary, Pam Bondi, Paulina Brandberg, pedophilia, Pennsylvania, rape, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ruble, Russia, Russo-Ukrainian War, sanctions, Sherman Roberts, Social Justice Warriors, Southern Poverty Law Center, Sunny Hostin, Sweden, technology, Texas, The View, Todd Blanche, Trump Cabinet, Trump Derangement Syndrome, Ukraine, University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company (UTIMCO)
Posted in Austin, Budget, Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Guns, Jihad, Media Watch, Military, Social Justice Warriors, Texas | 5 Comments »
Thursday, November 21st, 2024
Communist China has plenty to worry about with a second Trump Administration coming in, but now a second Republican politician is taking concrete steps to thwart their plans: Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has issued a number of executive orders to curtail Chinese influence in the state.
First he issued an order opposing Chinese efforts to harass and forcibly repatriate dissidents.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced a new executive order on Monday aimed at countering what he describes as harassment campaigns by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) against Texans.
The order focuses on China’s “Operation Fox Hunt,” which Abbott says is part of a broader CCP effort to forcibly repatriate Chinese dissidents living abroad to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
“The PRC forces targeted dissidents to return in several ways, including threatening dissidents’ families still residing in China, using PRC assets to target dissidents abroad in their host countries, and kidnapping and smuggling dissidents back into the PRC,” the order states.
According to Safeguard Defenders, a human rights nonprofit, as of 2022, the PRC has established at least 102 illicit overseas “police service stations” worldwide, including some in the United States. These stations reportedly engage in unlawful campaigns of threats, harassment, and harm against U.S. citizens and lawful residents of Chinese origin or descent.
At least six of these so-called “police service stations” are believed to still exist in the United States, including one in Houston.
The order tasks the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) with a series of actions to address the issue, including:
Identifying and prosecuting offenders: DPS will identify and charge individuals suspected of exploiting dissidents on behalf of foreign governments.
Collaborating with law enforcement: DPS will partner with local and federal law enforcement through the Texas Fusion Center to assess incidents in which foreign governments attempt to intimidate Texans.
Documenting and reporting threats: DPS will discover and document individuals planning or carrying out acts of repression, and by January 15, 2025, will provide policy recommendations and training programs to counter these threats.
Improving reporting systems: Texans will be able to report suspected acts of oppression or coercion through a new hotline and updates to the iWatch Texas Community Reporting System.
Abbott says that Texas will not tolerate such harassment, particularly against the state’s Chinese-American community.
Abbott has also undertaken steps to protect Texas from foreign threats (including China and others).
Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order aimed at strengthening Texas’ defenses against hostile powers.
Abbott identified the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as the primary threat. He also included North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Russia, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in his order.
The executive order directs state agencies, public institutions of higher education, and other key sectors to bolster security measures, safeguard critical infrastructure, protect intellectual property, and secure personal data against threats from these hostile powers.
“Our No. 1 priority is to protect Texans, including from espionage threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party and its proxies,” Abbott said. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that the Chinese government has actively targeted local and state officials as part of their strategy to undermine the national security of the United States. Hardening our state government is critical to protect Texans from hostile foreign actors who may attempt to undermine the safety and security of Texas and the nation.”
The executive order is designed to prevent Chinese influence and espionage operations within Texas’ state government.
Among the key provisions of the order:
Increased Scrutiny for Contractors: Any company bidding for state contracts must certify that it does not have ownership or control by a foreign adversary government or its subsidiaries.
Enhanced Background Checks: Stronger background check procedures will be introduced for state employees and contractors who have access to critical infrastructure.
Gift and Travel Restrictions: State employees will be prohibited from accepting gifts from representatives of foreign adversary countries, and any state-sponsored travel to those countries will be banned.
Restrictions on Foreign Government Contracting: Texas state agencies will no longer be allowed to contract with companies owned or controlled by foreign adversary governments, ensuring that Texas is not inadvertently empowering foreign entities with national security concerns.
Protection for Higher Education: Faculty and employees will be prohibited from participating in foreign recruitment programs sponsored by foreign adversary nations, which often serve as channels for espionage or intellectual property theft.
“With this Executive Order, Texas will safeguard our critical infrastructure and information from threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party,” Abbott added.
In the past Communist China has infiltrated or partnered with University of Texas system entities, including “The University of Texas Medical Board (UTMB)-run Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) [signing] a formal Memorandum of Understanding with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in 2017.”
Infrastructure was also the focus of yet another Abbott executive order.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced his third executive order in as many days targeting the influence and potential security threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party in Texas.
Abbott’s latest executive order directs two key agencies—the Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Public Utility Commission of Texas—to take immediate action to prepare for and counteract any potential cyberattacks or other disruptive actions aimed at Texas’ critical infrastructure. This includes sectors crucial to public safety and economic stability such as communications, energy, water, and transportation.
In his statement, Abbott emphasized the urgent need for these protective measures. “China has made it clear that they can—and will—target and attack America’s critical infrastructure,” he wrote, adding:
Just this past year, a hostile Chinese government actor targeted America’s communications, energy, transportation, water, and wastewater systems, threatening our national security. Today, I directed Texas state agencies to identify potential vulnerabilities to prevent cyberattacks on local, state, and other critical infrastructure. Texas will continue to protect our critical infrastructure to ensure the safety of Texans from potential threats by the Chinese Communist Party or any hostile foreign government.
The executive order outlines a multi-faceted approach to reinforce the security of Texas infrastructure. Among the key provisions, TDEM and PUC will:
Establish a taskforce to identify vulnerabilities in Texas’ infrastructure, focusing on state and local government systems. This taskforce will also offer actionable recommendations to address and mitigate these vulnerabilities.
Simulate responses to cyberattacks across key Texas industry sectors, including energy, water, transportation, and telecommunications, to ensure preparedness for potential disruptions. These simulations will guide the development of policies and best practices to prevent or minimize the impact of cyberattacks.
Convene a state agency committee to simulate the restoration of Texas’ electric grid in the event of a foreign attack, ensuring that state and utility authorities are prepared to respond swiftly to protect the state’s energy supply.
Additionally, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has been directed to create a dedicated, secure communications system for electric and telecommunications companies to use during critical grid incidents. Abbott has set a deadline of June 30, 2025 for the creation of this system.
That secure communications system sounds like it would have come in handy during the last two ice storms.
Taken together, these actions may seem somewhat scattershot, and are no substitute for effective, coordinated federal action, but they reflect China’s multifaceted threat. At lot of these may have no impact (I see no signs China is particularly active in the U.S. contract employee space, though India certainly is), but others may at least have some bureaucrats go “Eh, I supposed we should look into this,” which might end up turning up something.
And anything that discourages private companies and government agencies from working with a genocidal communist dictatorship is a good thing.
Tags:China, Communism, Crime, ERCOT, Greg Abbott, Operation Fox Hunt, Republicans, Texas, Texas Scorecard, Wuhan Institute of Virology
Posted in Communism, Crime, Republicans, Texas | 3 Comments »
Monday, November 18th, 2024
Another week, another Ken Paxton lawsuit against federal overreach, this time on the cutting edge of cryptocurrency regulation.
A group of states is suing the Security Exchanges Commission (SEC), claiming the commission is overstepping its authority in regulating digital assets like cryptocurrencies — arguing that the SEC’s actions stifle state-level innovation and impose federal control without congressional approval.
Eighteen state attorneys general have joined the lawsuit, one of which is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in addition to DeFi Education Fund, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group.
Along with naming the SEC directly in the complaint, it also lists SEC Chair Gary Gensler, among other officials.
If Gensler’s name rings a vague bell, it may be because he was the chief financial officer for Hillary Clinton’s ill-fated presidential run.
The states want the court to stop the SEC from enforcing regulations and allow them to manage digital assets with their own laws.
“The SEC’s sweeping assertion of regulatory jurisdiction is untenable,” the suit states. “The digital assets implicated here are just that — assets, not investment contracts covered by federal securities laws.”
“They do not entail any traditional investment relationship, in which the investor invests capital and the promoter assumes an ongoing obligation to use that capital in a common enterprise to generate returns that the investor will share.”
The lawsuit goes on to explain that the laws defining what counts as an “investment contract” were written in a clear way, and past U.S. Supreme Court decisions support this definition. Because of this, the complaint asserts, the SEC does not have broad authority to regulate all digital asset transactions as if they were securities. The argument is that the SEC is overreaching beyond what these laws and past rulings allow.
The complaint, filed in Kentucky district court, is asking the court to declare that digital asset transactions are not considered securities if they don’t involve a promise to manage assets for profit. They also want the court to stop the SEC from forcing digital asset platforms to register as securities-related businesses if they don’t meet those conditions. Additionally, the states claim the SEC broke rules by not following proper procedures.
Snip.
While on the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to protect the blockchain industry, making a bevy of promises to crypto enthusiasts.
Trump took the stage at the Libertarian National Convention back in May, where he promised to stop “Joe Biden’s crusade to crush crypto.” In July he said he would “fire Gary Gensler” on day one of his new administration.
“No longer will your government sit by and watch as Bitcoin jobs and businesses flee to other countries, because America’s laws are too unclear and too tough and too angry and too stiff,” Trump said while delivering the keynote address at a Bitcoin conference. “We will keep each and every Bitcoin job in the United States of America, that’s what we’re going to be doing.”
Texas has become a major center of the crypto and Bitcoin industry in America. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is a vocal advocate for the emerging finance sector, and Gov. Greg Abbott signaled he will continue to be friendly to the crypto community, describing himself as a “crypto law proposal supporter.”
There’s a long-running debate about just what the hell cryptocurrencies are under federal law. Unlike other securities (say, a stock or bond), a unit of cryptocurrency is not a token that represents a tangible legal entity in the real world. It’s not a currency as traditionally understood, as it is not backed by specie or the power and authority of a government. It’s not a commodity, because what commodity can be moved across the world at the speed of light?
If it doesn’t actually fit the profile of anything that legislation has specified that the government regulates, then maybe, as Paxton et al assert, then the federal government shouldn’t regulate it. That would seem to be the proper constitutional interpretation under the Tenth Amendment.
While I’m still skeptical of the long-term usefulness of cryptocurrency (though with Bitcoin hovering around $90,000, I sure wish I had mined some back when it was easier to do), the Trump Administration is filled with very smart people who believe in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. History teaches us that it’s best to let new technologies shake out without government interference, so let’s hope Paxton and company’s lawsuit succeeds.
Tags:Bitcoin, DeFi Education Fund, Elon Musk, Gary Gensler, Greg Abbott, Hillary Clinton, Ken Paxton, Lawsuit, Regulation, Republicans, SEC, Ted Cruz, Tenth Amendment, Texas
Posted in Regulation, Republicans, Texas | 13 Comments »
(@NOELreports) 
