More Donna ISD Weirdness: Active Shooters Thwarted?

June 1st, 2022

This is a small post-Uvalde-shooting story that I might not have posted had it not happened in Donna ISD.

Four students at a high school in Donna, TX were arrested last week for making terroristic threats towards their school just days after the Uvalde shooting.

Two 17-year-old males — Barbarito Pantoja and Nathaniel Montelongo — were arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Both were held on $750,000 bond. That charge, if convicted, carries with it up to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

An anonymous tip was made on the same day as the Uvalde shooting in which 21 people, including 19 children, were murdered.

Police investigated the tip, which led to the arrest of Pantoja and Montelongo, along with two other students, to-date unnamed juveniles, who were also arraigned last week.

Classes resumed Tuesday in Donna Independent School District after the administration canceled classes for the week once discovering the threat. “We’ve received a credible threat of violence that is currently under investigation,” the district’s statement to parents read. “In light of the recent events and in an abundance of caution, we will be canceling school district-wide and staff will work from home.”

According to initial reports, an AK-47 and a “hit list” were found at the home of one of the students, but Donna Police Chief Gilbert Guerrero later said his department found no such list and did not specify whether a firearm was found.

Time to dig this handy visual aid out again:

Absent an actual weapon, I suspect there’s less to this story than meets the eye, and is probably nothing more than a case of disgruntled teenagers shooting their mouths off. What really caught my eye was the fact this happened in Donna ISD, which punches well above its weight for stories of weirdness and corruption. Previous Donna ISD stories:

  • School board members were convicted of extortion.
  • $1 million in missing funds.
  • Vote-Buying and Suicide Over a School Board Election?
  • And that’s to say nothing of Round Rock ISD importing sketchy Superintendent Hafedh Azaiez from Donna ISD.

    I don’t know what it is, but Donna ISD produces more notable news stories than every other Rio Grande Valley school district combined.

    Maybe there’s a South Texas version of the South Florida Giant Underground Weirdness Magnet

    Biden Administration Changes Rules To Get Graft Flowing To Leftwing Cronies Again

    May 31st, 2022

    My Working Theory is that every single expansion of the welfare state is merely a means to pass graft into the hands of Democratic Party cronies and leftwing activists. Today’s data point: Merrick Garland is bringing back Obama-era legally-mandated slush funds for leftwing activist groups scrapped by Trump.

    President Biden’s Department of Justice appears to be rebuilding a dubious money chain known as “settlement slush funds.” The Obama DOJ used these funds to channel cash from corporate settlements to bankroll private progressive organizations, circumventing the budget and oversight authority of Congress.

    On May 5, Attorney General Merrick Garland revoked a Trump-era rule that specifically prohibited the DOJ from directing funds from corporate settlements to finance third-party organizations and causes. The use of these so-called settlement slush funds became so rampant under the Obama administration that the House passed the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act in 2017 in an attempt to end it. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate but failed to pass.

    Under the Obama Justice Department, corporate fines were directed to organizations including the Sierra Club, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and the National Council of La Raza.

    So payoff to the left, payoff to the left, and payoff to the left.

    Through arrangements known as Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) and third-party payments, corporations could have their fines reduced if they paid money to organizations that, although not victims in the DOJ suit, were nonetheless approved as beneficiaries.

    In addition to reducing fines, these arrangements also gave penalized companies a tax deduction for their charitable contributions, which bought corporate support for the practice and prevented legal challenges. There were hundreds of such arrangements under the Obama administration.

    The most notable cases include Volkswagen’s settlement of its emissions cheating scandal, which included a requirement that VW spend $2 billion to build electric filling stations. The Obama administration had twice requested these funds from Congress and been denied, so it used the VW settlement to fund the project instead. Of the $2 billion that VW paid, $800 million went to the state of California.

    Settlements with Wall Street banks after the mortgage crisis also featured payments to progressive groups that were favored by Obama’s DOJ. A 2017 congressional hearing revealed internal DOJ memos regarding these settlements, one of which was addressed to then-Associate Attorney General Tony West, asking: “Can you explain to Tony the best way to allocate some money to an organization of our choosing?” Another DOJ email stated that the settlement with Citibank, which included third-party payments, should “not allow Citi to pick a statewide intermediary like the Pacific Legal Foundation,” which the official said “does conservative property-rights free legal services.”

    You can’t let anyone else get their fingers in the pie you’re trying to get your crony’s fingers into.

    Third-party settlement payments include no provision to track where the funds went, how they were being used, or if they achieved the goals the DOJ intended when arranging the payments.

    The DOJ itself was not forthcoming with information regarding these payments. Although the congressional investigation began in November 2014, the report noted that “for over a year, DOJ provided none of the requested internal communications pertaining to the controversial settlement provisions.”

    The House Judiciary Committee, however, obtained emails from the president of one of the organizations that received donations from settlement funds, the National Association of Interest On Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Programs, stating, “I would like to discuss ways we might want to recognize and show appreciation for the Department of Justice and specifically Associate Attorney General Tony West, who by all accounts was the one person most responsible for including the IOLTA provisions [in the settlement].”

    In response, the executive director of the Hawaii Legal Aid Foundation, another recipient, wrote that he “would be willing to have us build a statue [of West] and then we could bow down to this statue each day after we get our $200,000.”

    In order to stop this practice, in June 2017 then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions enacted what has become known as the “Sessions Rule,” prohibiting third-party settlements at the DOJ. Immediately upon assuming office in January 2021, however, President Biden directed his administration to review this rule, which his DOJ has now rescinded.

    “The fact that they’re spending resources on getting rid of an anti-corruption regulation shows that they intend to engage in the corruption that the regulation was intended to prevent,” said Ted Frank, senior attorney at the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute. “It’s a good way to avoid voter accountability, and it gives power to the DOJ that Congress didn’t give them. They can direct hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars to pet causes.”

    Of course they will. The Democratic Party and its vast panoply of left-wing fellow travelers are corrupt, parasitic institutions that can only thrive when they suck the lifeblood out of taxpayers.

    The only surprise here is that it took over a year for the Biden Administration to give their cronies the greenlight to stick their snouts back into the trough.

    (Hat tip: Director Blue.)

    Memorial Day: Remembering Samuel David Dealey

    May 30th, 2022

    This Memorial Day we honor the memory of Navy Commander Samuel David Dealey, AKA The Torpedo Toting Texan, AKA Destroyer Killer, the Medal of Honor winner whose submarine the U.S.S. Harder sank five Japanese destroyers in five days off the Sulu Archipelago during World War II.

    Here’s his official Medal of Honor citation:

    For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Harder during her 5th war patrol in Japanese-controlled waters. Floodlighted by a bright moon and disclosed to an enemy destroyer escort which bore down with intent to attack. Comdr. Dealey quickly dived to periscope depth and waited for the pursuer to close range, then opened fire, sending the target and all aboard down in flames with his third torpedo. Plunging deep to avoid fierce depth charges, he again surfaced and, within nine minutes after sighting another destroyer, had sent the enemy down tail first with a hit directly amidship. Evading detection, he penetrated the confined waters off Tawi Tawi with the Japanese Fleet base six miles away and scored death blows on two patrolling destroyers in quick succession. With his ship heeled over by concussion from the first exploding target and the second vessel nose-diving in a blinding detonation, he cleared the area at high speed. Sighted by a large hostile fleet force on the following day, he swung his bow toward the lead destroyer for another “down-the-throat” shot, fired three bow tubes, and promptly crash-dived to be terrifically rocked seconds later by the exploding ship as the Harder passed beneath. This remarkable record of five vital Japanese destroyers sunk in five short-range torpedo attacks attests the valiant fighting spirit of Comdr. Dealey and his indomitable command.

    Dealey survived that action, but his sub was lost sometime on August 24, 1944 somewhere off the Philippines. “In the final analysis, Dealey had sunk 16 enemy ships, with total tonnage of 54,002 tons (according to the postwar accounting – enough to make him number five among U.S. submarine skippers in World War II.)”

    Here’s a video:

    These Are The Cope Cages

    May 29th, 2022

    It looks like we finally have an answer to just what the “cope cages” seen on some Russian tanks were meant to accomplish:

    The Red Effect guy went back and looked at the original specs for the original factor-manufactured slat armor purpose-built for advanced Russian tanks like the rear of the Armata, and found it was spaced to capture incoming RPG-7 round and prevent effective formation of the penetration jet based on extensive studies of which gap sizes worked best. However, the cope cages added at the last minute before the invasion didn’t follow any of the meticulous research that went into the real slat armor. The result is armor that provides some minimal protection to drone-dropped munitions, but probably won’t do squat against a Javelin, and brings with it some new drawbacks (like a high profile that makes them easier to spot, and impeding easy crew escape.

    Are You A Woman?

    May 28th, 2022

    Are you a woman? Finally, a handy quiz you can answer in your own home without having to visit a biologist for the answer!

    LinkSwarm for May 27, 2022

    May 27th, 2022

    The economy is contracting (thanks Biden), attacks and counterattacks in eastern Ukraine, regulation madness, and something from the 1875 crime blotter in 2022. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!

    Note: Today’s LinkSwarm will be a bit shorter than usual because: A.) I’m off Twitter for the time being, so I’m not grabbing links there, and B.) I took the day off from work and I’m just feeling lazy.

  • America’s Gross Domestic Product declined 1.5% in Q1. It’s that Biden magic! (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
  • Sure, the Biden Administration sucks on basic competence when it comes to the American economy, but to balance that, they also suck on regulation.
    • The Biden Administration capped off its first full year in office with more than $201 billion in regulatory costs and 131 million hours in new annual paperwork, putting it far ahead of the two immediately preceding administrations’ respective first years by a wide margin.
    • Actions related to vehicle emissions and COVID-19 safety measures provided the vast majority of these administrative burdens.
    • Additionally, in terms of executive orders issued during the first year of an administration, the 77 put forth by President Biden represent the highest number since the Ford Administration.
  • Speaking of bad regulations and bad economic ideas, the Biden Administration has evidently learned nothing from the 2008 subprime meltdown, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) getting ready to loosen mortgage standards for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
  • Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, and Russian forces seem to be making a slow, grinding advance on the strategic city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine. “Moscow has poured thousands of troops into its assault on Severodonetsk and its sister city of Lysychansk. The twin cities, straddling the Siverskyi Donets river, have been in Russian sights for months. They currently comprise the lone Ukrainian redoubt in the Luhansk oblast.” Taking Lysychansk will require Russians to cross the Donets, previous attempts at which have been disasterous for them.

  • Russia has succeeded in taking Lyman, but Ukraine has launched counterattacks against the Russian forces encircling Severodonetsk.
  • More good news for Democrats: “Obamacare ‘Time Bomb’ To Hit Right Before Midterms.”
  • Texas Association of School Boards finally votes to leave National School Board Association.

    The Texas Association of School Boards is set to leave Its parent organization, the National School Board Association, according to records obtained by Texas Scorecard.

    The National School Boards Association made headlines last year following their letter to President Joe Biden and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting federal intervention in local school board meetings and referring to concerned parents as “domestic terrorists.”

    It has since been revealed that the NSBA leadership urged the Biden Administration to deploy military forces in an effort to prevent parents from attending school board meetings.

    Since then, parents have been calling on the state organization—the Texas Association of School Boards—to leave the organization, as more than 20 states already have.

    Texas, however, had been a holdout until now.

    (Hat tip: Push Junction.)
    

  • “NBA owners silent on relationship to China, invested more than $10 billion in Chinese interests.”
  • Iran Seizes 2 Greek Tankers In Gulf As Retaliation For US Taking Oil.”
  • “Professor Fired Over Tweets Questioning BLM Movement Gets Reinstated, Awarded Back Pay After Arbitrator Finds In His Favor.” “An arbitrator has ruled that a University of Central Florida professor, Charles Negy, has to be reinstated.”
  • Speaking of intolerant Social Justice Warriors censoring people: Libs Of TikTok Suspended From Instagram. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • Dwight is attending the NRA convention in Houston.
  • Who’s been funding the attacks on Elon Musk following his Twitter bid? Would you believe Bill Gates? Of course you would. “Would you believe what perfidy Ernst Stavro Blofeld is up to this week?” Why yes, I would. The biggest difference is that Blofeld has better fashion sense and never tried to inflict Microsoft Bob on the world…
  • “TSMC And Intel Are In A Mad Dash To Hire Semiconductor Technicians For Their New Plants In Arizona.” And that’s not all: “Simply finding enough workers to build the facilities has already proved a challenge.”
  • Old Navy takes massive loss because women buying clothes aren’t enthused about fat models. (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
  • I’ll take headlines from 1875 for $400: “Loving County judge arrested for cattle theft….Loving County Judge Skeet Jones is accused of livestock theft and organized criminal activity.”
  • Who wants some nightmare fuel?
  • After that, enjoy a palate cleanser:

  • Russo-Ukrainian War Video Tank Update for May 26, 2022

    May 26th, 2022

    It’s been three months since Russia invaded Ukraine, and there’s more tank news coming out as the main theater has shifted to eastern Ukraine. Here’s a (mostly) video roundup of the news:

  • We hear a lot about Russia has 20,000 tanks (or some other crazy high number) in reserve. This guy went through satellite photos of all Russian tank storage yards and came up with an estimate of 6,000, only 3,000 of which appear as if they could be made battle ready. (A lot of the photos show hulks with their turrets off).

  • Did Russia’s First Tank Army lose 130 tanks in the Battle of Kharkiv alone?

  • Ukraine appears to have knocked out a Russian T-90M tank, the most modern Russian tank that’s actually been fielded:

    (There’s still no sign of Russia’s T-14 Armata in-theater.)

  • Update: As of this writing, Russia has lost 729 tanks in Ukraine, and a total of 4,134 “vehicles” (including helicopters, UAVs, and even towed artillery pieces) in theater.
  • Is Russia demothballing T-62s to send to Ukraine?

    Remember, the Soviets stopped manufacturing the T-62 in 1975, the same year that the Captain & Tennille and “Rhinestone Cowboy” topped the charts and The Rocky Horror Picture Show debuted in theaters…

  • Ukraine has also taken delivery of the Brimstone anti-tank missile from the UK:

  • Not a tank, but built on a T-72 chassis, is the Russian T-2 “Terminator,” which sports duel 30mm auto-cannons for close support of tanks in urban warfare.

    That does look like it would but a world of hurt on urban defensive positions, but won’t be any more immune to NATO-sourced Ukrainian antitank weapons, and they reportedly only have a handful in-theater.

  • Also not a tank: Ukrainian forces take out a thermobaric (AKA “vacuum bomb”) missile launcher:

  • Turns out that the Russian military’s catastrophic performance in Ukraine is not a great advertisement for its weapon systems, and India is canceling some big deals.

  • And in tank news related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. is accelerating it’s delivery of M1A2 Abrams tanks to Poland, to back-fill for the Soviet-era tanks Poland gave to Ukraine.
  • Texas Runoff Results: Buckimngham Wins, Bush, Strogner Go Down In Flames

    May 25th, 2022

    All the favorites won in yesterday’s statewide Republican primary runoff races:

  • Ken Paxton clobbered George P. Bush with more than two-thirds of the vote. Paxton won 67.90% to Bush’s 32.10%. Bush went from getting more votes than Greg Abbott in 2014 to garnering less than one-third of the vote in a runoff, and the only sizeable county he won was Travis. Back in 2014, a whole lot of political pundits talked about Bush as though he were some political golden boy destined for higher office. Those notices proved premature. Now everyone is talking about “the end of the Bush dynasty.” Maybe, but that talk may also be premature; that bush has a lot of branches…
  • Dawn Buckingham also won more than two-thirds of the vote against underfunded challenger Tim Westley.
  • Wayne Christian didn’t quite get 2/3rds of the vote against challenger Sarah Stogner, but didn’t fall short by much, winning 65.04% of the vote to Strogner’s 34.96%. So that $2 million that transexual West Texas ranching heir Ashley (formerly Andrew) Watt poured into the race may have bought Stogner an extra 2% of the vote.
  • In other races, Pete Flores beat Raul Reyes in Senate District 24 (as expected), and Ellen Troxclair beat Justin Berry with 56.48% of the vote in State House District 19.

    Texas Scorecard notes that in open races, a lot of school choice advocates beat the candidates that Governor Greg Abbott endorsed…

    Today Is The Texas Runoff! Go Vote!

    May 24th, 2022

    Today is the Texas runoff election. Here is some brief coverage of the races and who I’ll be voting for.

  • Texas Attorney General: Incumbent Ken Paxton vs. current Land Commissioner George P. Bush. Paxton has campaigned on a solid conservative record and an endorsement of President Donald Trump, while Bush has dropped a bunch of direct mail flyers trying to label Paxton as corrupt. My pick here is strong favorite Paxton, who has constantly followed conservative principles in filing lawsuits against both federal overreach and neglect of enumerated constitutional duties. Moreover, the charges against Paxton have dragged out over seven years, long after the underlying federal charges were dismissed, making it seem more like a political witch hunt and possible Sixth Amendment rights violation than anything resembling justice. George P. Bush has hardly been impressive in his stint as Land Commissioner and doesn’t deserve a promotion.
  • Texas Land Commissioner: Former Texas Senator Dawn Buckingham vs. Dr. Tim Westley. Buckingham is the pick here, and she’s going to win this one running away, having been endorsed by Trump, Ted Cruz and the NRA, and holding a significant financial advantage over her underfunded challenger. Westley seems like a nice guy, but he has the profile of someone who should start out running in a local race.
  • Texas Railroad Commissioner: Incumbent Wayne Christian vs. challenger Sarah Stogner. Christian, a solid conservative, is the pick here, endorsed by Cruz, Abbott, Rick Perry and Dan Patrick, and should win this one running away, despite Strogner getting a huge $2 million donation from transexual West Texas ranching heir Ashley (formerly Andrew) Watt Watt), who nurses a grudge against the Railroad Commission. Stogner’s previous donation to Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 campaign against Ted Cruz isn’t helping her case any either…
  • Texas Senate District 24: Pete Flores vs. Raul Reyes: Flores is the heavy favorite here, having been endorsed by Trump, Cruz, Abbott, Perry and Patrick. Despite all that, I will be voting for Reyes, based on Flores seeming a bit squishy to me, and Reyes receiving the endorsements of Gun Owners of America and several Tea Party groups.
  • Voting locations:

  • Williamson County
  • Travis County
  • Twitter Locks My Account Over Defending My Right To Use Lethal Force In Self-Defense

    May 23rd, 2022

    This is the offending tweet:

    Evidently Twitter has decided that mentioning use of lethal force to defend your life and home (legal in all 50 states, but especially in Texas, a castle doctrine state) is forbidden. Or, more likely, the left-wing “duh, you don’t need to worry, because there’s only a 7% chance home invaders will commit violence!” troll reported it as a “threat” and Twitter just automatically suspends accounts over mere reports.

    I have appealed.

    Hey, can someone forward this to Elon Musk?