THU brief 12.16.21
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Today’s Stories
ROUND ROCK ISD’s conservative board members recently appeared on Fox News. There’s nothing particularly new if you’ve been following this saga. But the powers that be can’t like it getting prominent, national billing.
Following their appearance on Tuesday, Wednesday, the state’s overseer of the scandal-plagued district was alleged to have financial ties to the embattled superintendent.
If true, a) this would be a significant new scandal, and b) it would, once again, illustrate Greg Abbott’s disinterest in running state government. Remember, the Texas Education agency falls under the purview of the Governor.
To Round Rock ISD’s immediate south, on Monday, Austin ISD’s superintendent told the Texas Tribune she wouldn’t be “bullied” by concerned parents. Her words, not ours.
Public education continues to hemorrhage students in some of the largest districts in the nation. While CRT indoctrination and sexual grooming are a big part of the problem, the fundamental unwillingness to re-open for in-person instruction should not be overlooked.
Meanwhile, in Flordia, Ron DeSantis is pushing a bill targeting critical race theory, allowing parents to sue school districts if their children are taught the curriculum. (AC)
RICK PERRY’S position on the ballot at this point is secure.
Yesterday, the GOP published an open letter to attorney Eric Opiela after having Rick Perry (not the former Governor) removed from the ballot. A reasonable person would conclude that Opiela, while technically a private citizen, acts like Governor Abbott’s cat’s paw.
There will likely be continued litigation on this matter. If, as the party suggests, only Perry’s competitors have standing to remove the candidate, Abbott will have to step out from behind his lackeys and condescend to a political fight.
From Abbott’s perspective, this is a lose/lose proposition.
Team Abbott’s bluster notwithstanding, these gambits have a history. In 2016, Judge Richard Scott Walker won a seat on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals by using his middle name to impersonate the former Wisconsin Governor.
Speaking of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, see next item.
ELECTIONS are likely to be a little less safe in Texas in 2022, thanks to a ruling from the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals.
Yesterday the court ruled 8-1 that the Attorney General does not have the authority to prosecute election fraud. This came as a result of a case in Jefferson county.
Instead of having election lawsuits launched by the Attorney General, the CCA suggests these matters come from local prosecutors, rarely occurring. Local district attorneys are often politically aligned with those who engage, or benefit from, electoral shenanigans at the local level.
George Soros’ recent willingness to spend large sums in Texas DA races exacerbates this trend.
This continues the Texas GOP’s “election integrity” farce, insert Texas-themed cliched of the phrase “two-step.“
Over the summer, the GOP claimed to pass a bill cracking down on election fraud. And the Republican Speaker of the House inserted a poison pill gutting criminal penalties.
Now, the Court of Criminal Appeals disembowels the state’s remaining enforcement power.
Don’t forget, the last time James O'Keefe went searching for voter fraud in Texas, he caught a Republican. Following yesterday’s ruling, of course, the Attorney General office’s investigation of O’Keefe’s discoveries cannot continue. How convenient.
Absent a stolen election in Texas in 1948, the certainty of the Vietnam War is in doubt.
ART ACEVEDO will work at CNN after being fired from his most recent job in Miami.
JAY ROOT, an investigative reporter for the Houston Chronicle, is currently publishing a series on clergy homes in Texas.
Exempt from property taxes, the parsonages (some valued in the multi-millions) are drawing scrutiny from Root because they’ve fallen through the cracks. It probably doesn’t have anything to do with religion.
Anyhow, the prescribed policy outcome Root might be aiming for, capturing these properties and adding them to the tax rolls should be replaced with, make all property exempt from property taxes.
Hit the Links
Texas is close to becoming the job-quitting capital of the country
Cities Will Set Murder Records Because of 'Soros Effect'
Jab injury billboard in Waco ruffles feathers
‘Cyber is the most dangerous weapon
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