U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz says he will endorse against the 21 Republicans who voted with Democrats against school choice in the Texas House.
Cruz made the comments during an interview on the Chris Salcedo Show, where he acknowledged that getting involved in state-level races is abnormal for U.S. senators.
“There are 100 senators. To the best of my knowledge, 99 of them do not get involved in state legislative races. And the reason is getting involved in state legislative races in primaries in your state is stupid, it hurts you politically,” said Cruz. “To the best of my knowledge, I am the only one who not only gets involved, but I make a regular practice of it.”
The main factor in Cruz’s endorsements this cycle? Their support for school choice.
“My basic rule is, if you have supported school choice and you are otherwise relatively conservative, you’re quite likely to get my support. If on the other hand, you voted against choice, the odds of getting my support are zero. And I am very likely to endorse your primary opponent. When I do so I don’t do so gently. I cut TV ads and radio ads and I come in and we beat you,” said Cruz.
Earlier this month, 21 Republicans in the Texas House sided with Democrats in killing a school choice proposal. While some of those members have already announced their retirement, Cruz says he is prepared to replace them with more conservative members.
“l’ll tell you this, the 21 Republicans that voted this last session to kill school choice, every one of those 21 I want to make an invitation to their primary opponent: run against them and I will back you.”
“I’m going to do everything I can to beat those 21 Republicans,” he added.
This is not the first time Cruz has endorsed candidates based on their support for school choice. In the 2022 primary, Cruz said it was a “critical factor” in earning his support.
For years the powers behind Joe Straus, Dennis Bonnen and Dade Phelan have constantly thwarted conservative priorities in the House thanks to a small cadre of squishy Republicans willing to buck the party on central priorities. The combination of the Paxton impeachment farce and killing school choice may finally have prodded key Republicans into replacing those squishes with actual conservatives.
As promised, here’s a second LinkSwarm for your reading enjoyment and edification!
“The chief of staff for Department of Defense Education Activity schools in the U.S. was arrested last week during a two-day human trafficking operation in Coweta County, Georgia, according to local authorities. Stephen Hovanic, 64, of Sharpsburg, Georgia, was arrested Nov. 15 in a sting that netted 25 additional suspects on charges related to prostitution as well as drugs, weapons and warrants, according to the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office and its Police to Citizen Portal website.” Our country is in the best of hands. (Hat tip: Borepatch.)
I missed the announcement in August that Rep. John Raney, one of Dade Phalen’s school choice opponent/Ken Paxton impeachment supporters, is also not running for reelection. (Hat tip to reader David Besly.)
Your government in action: “A traditional Catholic family was allegedly ‘dragged out of their home at gunpoint, handcuffed and locked in a van’ earlier this year after the FBI “goaded” their 15-year-old son to post “offensive memes” online. The teen, a volunteer firefighter and altar boy, was then hospitalized on mental health pretenses, according to his father, Jeremiah Rufini. The FBI’s aggressive “investigation” only resulted in a misdemeanor conviction against the boy for breach of peace, but financially devastated the family with substantial legal expenses.”
The Disney Grooming Institute had the worst box office year imaginable in 2023. Couldn’t happen to a nicer den of thieves of children’s innocence.
After losing $106 million on Lightyear (2022) and another $152 million on Strange World (2022) — both of which featured prominent gay plotlines aimed at little kids — the Disney Grooming Syndicate roared into 2023, hoping for a much better year. But…
Thanks to Disney’s cratered reputation and string of terrible movies where good storytelling and relatable characters took a backseat to divisive politics, 2023 was an even bigger disaster.
Snip. Here are his numbers condensed. John Nolte seems to be adding in market cost and going with 2X cost to breaking even, though usually I’ve seen estimates go with 2.5x production costs.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania…Deficit: -$37 million
Chevalier [unknown, but with a $4.147 million gross, I’m pretty sure we can assume it lost money – LP]
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3…Profit: +98 million
The Little Mermaid [live action remake]…Deficit: -$40 million
The Boogeyman…Deficit: -$14 million
Elemental…Deficit: -$1.5 million
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny…Deficit: -$158 million
“Vox Media Lays Off 4% of Staff in 2nd Round of Cuts This Year.” Well, that’s a start. I was unaware they owned The Dodo, maybe because three minute animal rescue videos on YouTube don’t require you to interact with their Coral commenting system.
One reason to be cautiously optimistic of anarcho-capitalist outsider Javier Milei’s victory in their presidential election is just how freaked out the international left is over it.
In a world with two (or more) major wars going on, China imploding, and a major U.S. recession, a libertarian winning election in Argentina is suddenly the new Worst Thing Ever.
“This came after years of far left fascist rule which has plunged the country into crisis, with the inflation rate hitting 143% earlier this month. Argentina has gone from a wealthy nation with an enviable standard of living to one destroyed by socialist lunacy.”
“That’s why firebrand Javier Milei, a conservative, a libertarian, a vehemently anti-socialist, anti-woke outsider won the presidential election in a landslide.”
“The world’s media went into a predictable meltdown, similar to when Italy’s center-right Giorgia Meloni was elected prime minister last year.”
“But the election results show Argentinians, including young Argentinians, importantly, have finally woken up to the lunacy of watching close to half the population live in poverty despite being blessed with abundant natural resources.”
Milei “has been clear in his desire to tackle the bloated bureaucracy that has so poorly served the country.”
And yes, he still intends to shut down Argentina’s central bank. “This weekend he confirmed that it was an absolute, non-negotiable.”
He wants to eliminate the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity, and Ministry of Public Works.
Says Milei: “We are crushing them in the cultural battle! We are not only economically superior, we’re culturally superior, we are aesthetically superior, we are better than them at everything, and that triggers them!”
And since they can’t beat him in the field of ideas, “they use the repressive power of the state to destroy their enemies.”
You know who else likes the cut of Milei’s jib? Donald Trump.
“Congratulations to Javier Milei on a great race for President of Argentina! The whole world was watching, and I’m very proud of you! You will turn your country around and truly make Argentina great again!”
Happy Black Friday, everyone! (Here’s my prepping/gift guide, if you haven’t seen it already.) I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Some interesting international election results, unreasonable gun control legislation gets struck down in two different states, more legal trouble for Houston Democrats, and a weed company goes bankrupt. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
The average price American families will have to pay to celebrate Thanksgiving with a traditional dinner will be the most expensive in history after years of sky-high inflation that experts attribute partially to President Joe Biden’s policies, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The price of all goods has risen dramatically under Biden following a period of sustained high inflation, which peaked at 9.1% in March 2022 and has since remained elevated, measuring at 3.2% in October, while the index for food rose 3.3% year-over-year for the month. The total increase in costs for a Thanksgiving dinner is about 26% since the beginning of Biden’s term, culminating in the most expensive Thanksgiving dinner in history.
Don’t buy the cookies. “Girl Scouts To Host Training Sessions On ‘Internalized Racism,’ ‘White Supremacy Culture.'” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
In a surprising turn of events, Argentina has elected the libertarian outsider Javier Milei as its new president. The hotly contested presidential run-off saw Milei defeating left-wing candidate Sergio Massa — a consequential shift in the country’s political landscape. Massa brusquely conceded on Sunday night, stating, “Milei is the president elected for the next four years.”
The victory of Milei, a self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist,” introduces an unconventional leader with what are considered to be radical economic views relative to Argentina’s neighbors. His campaign, characterized by anti-establishment rhetoric and metaphorical gestures such as wielding a chainsaw to show his fervor for cutting taxes, resonated with voters frustrated by Argentina’s economic decrepitude, including triple-digit inflation. One of Milei’s key proposals is the adoption of the U.S. dollar as Argentina’s national currency, an unprecedented move for a country of its size (Argentina is home to some 45.8 million people).
Massa — a lifelong politician and representative of Argentina’s left-wing political establishment — emphasized his government’s actions to address inflation during his tenure.
But Milei’s appeal, particularly among the younger generation, suggests a desire for change to break free from the cycle of economic crises.
Milei’s victory has produced excitement and concern alike. While some see him as the catalyst for much-needed economic reforms, others fear the potential austerity measures tied to his plans, such as shutting the central bank and slashing spending. Despite the uncertainty, Milei’s supporters view him as the only viable option to break the political status quo and address Argentina’s persistent and extreme economic challenges.
The election is not just a political shift but also a generational one, with Milei’s popularity among the youth reflecting a desire for a new direction. The effect of Milei’s win extends beyond Argentina’s borders, potentially influencing trade relationships, especially with his criticism of China and Brazil and his preference for stronger ties with the United States. As for the U.S., the hour is late, and we’ll take all the friends we can get, and Argentina is doubly welcome because the Millennium must be nigh if a libertarian won an election outside of New Hampshire.
Note: Linking to MSN rather than NRO because the latter has now raised it’s war against ad-blockers to obnoxious levels. Year-by-year, the TDS-infected NR has become ever-more sad and useless.
Geert Wilders, the Dutch populist whose anti-Islam comments have led to death threats, could become the next leader of the Netherlands following an election upset for his Freedom Party (PVV) on Wednesday.
After 25 years in Dutch politics without holding office, Wilders was set to lead coalition government talks and has a good chance of becoming prime minister.
An exit poll on Wednesday evening showed the PVV in a clear lead, 10 seats ahead of its closest rival, Frans Timmermans’ Labour/Green Left combination.
“We will have to find ways to live up to the hopes of our voters, to put the Dutch back as number one”, Wilders said in his first response, adding that “the Netherlands will be returned to the Dutch, the asylum tsunami and migration will be curbed.”
Maryland is one of 14 states that require background checks for all firearm purchases, whether or not the seller is a federally licensed dealer. Since 2013, Maryland has imposed an additional requirement on handgun buyers: They must first obtain a “handgun qualification license,” which entails completing at least four hours of firearm training and undergoing a seemingly redundant “investigation” aimed at screening out people who are legally disqualified from owning guns. According to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, that process, which can take up to 30 days, violates the Second Amendment.
In a decision published on Tuesday, a divided 4th Circuit panel concluded that Maryland’s handgun ownership licensing system is not “consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation”—the constitutional test that the U.S. Supreme Court established last year in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. Writing for the majority in Maryland Shall Issue v. Moore, 4th Circuit Judge Julius Richardson notes that Bruen “effected a sea change in Second Amendment law,” making a variety of gun control laws newly vulnerable to constitutional challenges. Maryland’s handgun licensing law is the latest example.
Speaking of unconstitutional gun laws being struck down: “It turns out that bullets are an essential part of a gun, and limiting the number of rounds in a gun violates the Oregon constitution. A county judge in Oregon made that decision on Tuesday overturning Measure 114, a citizen-passed measure that outlawed what gun grabbers call ‘high capacity magazines’ and required that Oregon serfs get a permit to be allowed to purchase a gun.” (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Funny how no Arab nation wants to take in Palestinians. They know the simple truth: They suck.
The Palestinians tried to take over Jordan in the 1970s, leading to the late King Hussein declaring war on them and driving them out. They were booted from Kuwait after collaborating with Saddam Hussein’s forces before the Gulf War. They set off a powder keg in Lebanon, a nation that has yet to recover from its brutal civil war that lasted 15 years. No Arab country wants these people because they bring instability and trouble.
Outgoing Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner gets to enjoy a new host of scandals on his way out.
As term-limited Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner finishes his final days at the helm of the state’s most populous city, a new set of scandals have emerged over city contracts and a dispute over who will pay for a book touting the mayor’s legacy.
In the most recent dustup, an investigation by Houston’s KPRC 2 discovered that city contracts for much-needed water repairs were awarded to two relatives of Houston Public Works (HPW) employee Patrece Lee, including one for $4.5 million to Lee’s brother, who had only created his company six months before the city council approved the “emergency contracts.”
When KPRC reporter Amy Davis attempted to question Turner about the issue at a public event last week, Turner became irate and told his communications director to escort Davis from the room.
“You are not going to get away with this,” said Turner to Davis. “You are rude.”
Late Friday, HPW Director Carol Haddock announced that the employee had been placed on leave while the city’s Office of the Inspector General investigated the allegations.
In another contract scandal, Houston Landing media reported last week that the Midtown Redevelopment Authority had referred information to law enforcement on a since-fired manager who allegedly steered more than $4 million in taxpayer-funded landscaping contracts to himself and another contractor.
The latest developments came hard on the heels of Turner’s squabble with Houston First Corporation, the city’s marketing organization. During the “State of the City” luncheon last September, hosted by Houston First, attendees were given copies of Turner’s book “A Winning Legacy,” which celebrates the mayor’s accomplishments during his eight years in office.
As first reported by Bill King, Turner told President and CEO Michael Heckman that Houston First must pay a $123,979 invoice for the 600 copies, but Heckman refused, saying it was not in the corporation’s budget and not an appropriate expense. Houston First Chairman David Mincberg later told FOX 26 that the corporation would develop a strategy to raise private funds to pay for the books.
Controversy has also surrounded Turner’s management of city finances. Last year, Controller Chris Brown warned that the city was using $160 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to plug budget holes and even to cover ongoing expenses.
Speaking of governments in trouble for spending Flu Manchu funds on other priorities, Germany is also in trouble for pulling the same trick after their high court told them to stop. As Europeans, spending within their means is unacceptable, so they’re now plotting to suspend debt limits…
Texas Governor Greg Abbott endorses Donald Trump for President. This is interesting in that Abbott is a careful, cautious Republican, who might be more ideologically inclined to endorse Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley. That Abbott has endorsed Trump indicates he thinks Trump is a lock for the 2024 nomination. He may be right.
“Stacey Abrams’ Brother-In-Law Arrested, Accused Of Human Trafficking, Choking Underage Girl…Jimmie Gardner, a well-known Georgia-based youth motivational speaker, is accused of human trafficking, lewd or lascivious touching, and battery…According to the Tampa Police Department, Gardner invited a 16-year-old girl to his hotel room in the early hours of Friday, offering to pay her for sexual acts.” Sounds like the wrong sort of youth motivation…
…don’t need any of that newfangled computerized vote fraud. No sirree! They do things the old fashioned way: By handing out cash to homeless people.
“Videotape shows individuals being dropped off in black Suburbans and Expeditions and entering City Hall to vote. When they exit, a man takes out what appears to be a large bundle of cash and peels off a bill for each individual.” Old school!
Bonus: The man dropping people off appears to be Springfield Democratic mayoral candidate Justin Hurst himself. It’s not often you get candidates with the pluck, verve and raw stupidity to commit their own hands-on election fraud. Usually they delegate that sort of thing to underlings. (More experienced criminals call that underling “the cutout.”)
“According to sworn affidavits from the election workers, many of the people who came in they listed their address as being being a local homeless shelter. Furthermore, the affidavits claim that many of these voters who came inside were noticeably either drunk or under the influence of drugs, and many of them were confused about why they even came to City Hall in the first place.”
“One of the election workers wrote in her affidavit that she saw a man hovering over some of the voter shoulders while they were standing at the voting booth. At times he appeared to be pointing at the place on the ballot where the persons should vote.”
“Many of these individuals came up to them multiple times throughout the day and asked them where they’re supposed to go in order to get the $10 that they were promised as payment.”
“I had seven people ask me directly where they their $10 payment was. One man said in Spanish vote for Hurst and you’ll get $10.”
And yes, the exchange of money outside City Hall is on camera.
Five poll workers signed sworn affidavits attesting to the voting fraud.
Naturally, Hirsch swears up and down not voting fraud occurred.
“It is patently illegal to exchange money for votes within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Here’s specifically what the relevant part of the relevant statute: ‘No person shall directly or indirectly pay, give, or promise to a voter any gift or reward to influence his vote, or to induce him to withhold his vote.'” I’m pretty sure every state in the union has similar statutes.
At the current time, it does not appear that Mr. Hurst has been indicted…
Progressives kick Jews out of the club, San Francisco cleans up for a communist dictator (but not mere citizens), FBI busts a brothel catering to politicians…then refuses to divulge their clients, and The Marvels crashes and burns on opening weekend. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
To sustain the alliance between leftists and Islamists, something had to give. And that something was Jews.
After a while, it became a parody worthy of classic comedy skits: the Biden administration’s reflexive need to launch into a condemnation of “Islamophobia” every time the discomfiting topic of antisemitism came up — which, you may have noticed, it does quite a bit these days.
Progressives hate antisemitism. Not, unfortunately, the concept . . . the word. It holds a mirror up to their internal contradictions.
Jews have been among the most consequential, cutting-edge progressives in history. A few months back, I reviewed Democratic Justice, Brad Snyder’s biography of Felix Frankfurter, who may have been as responsible for forging the dominance of American progressivism as Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president he zealously served. Alas, Frankfurter would not be welcome today in what’s become of his movement — not least because of another project on which he collaborated with his mentor and fellow Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis: Zionism. That project is anathema to today’s progressives. It honors the old order and the uniqueness of a people reified in their ancestral homeland, one in which they dwelled for millennia — before Islam existed and, 14 centuries later, the notion of “Palestinians” was conceived.
Moreover, to highlight antisemitism is intolerably inconvenient to the collaboration of highest priority for modern progressives: Their partnership with sharia supremacists — so-called Islamists, adherents to “political Islam.”
Snip.
Ostensibly, it’s an unlikely partnership: Sharia supremacists despise many signal progressive causes — e.g., abortion, equality for women, civil rights for homosexuals, and “gender fluidity.” (How long do you figure the “activists” waving their “Queers for Palestine” placards would actually last in Gaza?) And it seems odd for progressives, infamously intolerant of religious liberty, to make common cause with unabashed theocrats who would impose on society a systematically discriminatory legal code enforced by barbaric punishments — of the terrorizing kind that, not coincidentally, the Brotherhood’s Hamas jihadists inflicted on Israeli men, women, and children on October 7.
But let’s dig deeper. The ne plus ultra for sharia supremacists and leftists is the extirpation of the established order. Yes, they have very different ideas about what should replace that order; but that’s an argument for later (at which point progressives would find themselves in the unenviable position of the appeaser after the crocodile is done devouring everyone else). For now, it is a marriage of convenience, a joint war of conquest against Western civilization.
Marriages of convenience are not big on commitment and loyalty. Hence, Jews — predominantly on the left, with legions of stalwart progressives who would as reflexively rebuke Islamophobia as any good Democrat — have become a casualty of that war.
The sharia-supremacist hatred of Jews is doctrinal. As the Hamas Charter relates, Islamic eschatology is consumed by an end-of-times war in which even trees and stones will help Muslims kill their mortal enemies, the Jews. The Islamic claim on the land “from the River to the Sea” also stems from scripture: Mohammed’s night ride from Mecca to Jerusalem and on to heaven. And Muslim scripture further holds that Islam’s prophet died upon being poisoned to death by a Jewish woman.
This is all very uncomfy for progressives. They really don’t do doctrine, let alone submit — or at least allow themselves to appear to be submitting — to religious doctrine. Thus must they engage in euphemistic games to sidestep reality.
“Democrat Media Arm Scrambles As It Becomes Clear They Knew About Hamas Invasion Of Israel Before It Happened. “Reports have been bubbling up that the various tentacles of the Democrat hacktivist media actually had pro-Hamas activists ‘journalists’ embedded with Hamas before and on October 7th.”
Democrats wouldn’t clean up San Francisco for mere citizens, but they did it for a communist dictator.
Apparently, the city of San Francisco can indeed clear out the tent cities of homeless, remove the human feces and hypodermic needles from the sidewalks, and make the downtown look sparking clean and shiny in just a matter of days. All it takes is sufficient motivation — like hosting a visit from Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
Even the New York Times can’t deny the irony that the arrival of Xi and a plethora of overseas leaders is spurring efforts that, presumably, could have been started and carried out at any point with enough motivation:
On Market Street, the city’s main thoroughfare, maintenance workers resurfaced uneven sidewalks and installed plywood over empty tree wells.
Nearby, a crew gave a long-derelict plaza a makeover by turning it into a skateboard park and outdoor cafe with ping-pong tables, chess boards and scores of potted plants. Elsewhere, workers painted decorative crosswalks and new murals, wiped away graffiti, picked up piles of trash and removed scaffolding to show off a refurbished clock tower at the Ferry Building. . . .
Perhaps the most obvious change has been seen at the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building at the corner of Seventh and Mission Streets, less than a mile from the conference center.
Before we go any further, can I just point out how infuriating it is that we live in a country with so many genuinely heroic, inspiring, and under-recognized figures, and yet we name things after politicians whose greatest achievements were bringing back a lot of federal funds to their constituents? I realize in the state of West Virginia, that statement is blasphemy.
In a perfect irony, in August, “Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advised hundreds of employees in San Francisco to work remotely for the foreseeable future due to public safety concerns outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building on Seventh Street.” As Iowa GOP senator Joni Ernst noticed, to protect the building named after the House speaker who said that border walls are “immoral,” federal officials put up a high chain-link fence.
In other words, the official assessment of the federal government is that the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building is not a safe place for anyone, which strikes me as a heavy-handed metaphor.
Anyway, back to the Xi-driven cleanup:
For two years, a stubborn fentanyl market at the corner and a sprawling homeless encampment across the street became neighborhood fixtures. People regularly used drugs in an adjacent alley.
Most have seemingly disappeared in a poof…
It’s almost like the city government of San Francisco perceives Xi Jinping as the boss it needs to impress, instead of the voters whose exorbitant taxes (including an 8.625 percent sales tax!) pay city employees’ salaries. If the city is worth making safer, cleaner, and more attractive for a visit by Xi, President Biden, and a whole bunch of diplomats . . . why isn’t it worth making safer, cleaner, and more attractive for the full-time residents?
“Californians Set Up President Xi Dummy So Newsom Will Keep The Cities Clean All The Time.”
Thinks that make you go Hmmmm: “DOJ Protects D.C. Brothel Customers… As Congress Votes For New FBI Facility.”
Two tightly connected things happened in Washington, D.C., on November 8: a “high-end” brothel serving “elected officials” was shut down by the FBI, and the U.S. House approved a controversial $300 million new headquarters building for the weaponized agency.
In announcing the brothel’s bust, the Department of Justice explained that the sex-trafficking operation served “elected officials, high tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors that possess security clearances, professors, attorneys, scientists and accountants, among others.”
The press release named the brothel operators: Han “Hana” Lee, 41, of Cambridge, MA; James Lee, 68, of Torrance, CA; and Junmyung Lee, 30, of Dedham, MA.
In lurid detail, the Department of Justice explained how the operators advertised their services—primarily young Asian women—for high-end customers. In order to utilize the prostitution services of the brothel, prospective clients allegedly completed “a form providing their full names, email address, phone number, employer and reference if they had one.”
Not mentioned in the press release were the names of the customers.
The announcement was made just ahead of a vote in the U.S. House, which would have defunded the $300 million new headquarters building proposed for the FBI. The facility, to be built in Maryland, will reportedly be larger than the Pentagon. The Pentagon has a total floor area of 6.5 million square feet and offices 23,000 military and civilian employees.
Dispatches from the Biden Recession: “Stellantis offers buyouts to roughly half of U.S. salaried workers.” Stellantis consumed the corpse of Chrysler several years back.
“Taibbi: According To Pundits, ‘Ignorance’ Makes Americans Give “Wrong” Answers To Economic Confidence…The Guardian editorial Krugman linked to explains: Americans continue to believe the economy sucks, even though they’ve been told over and over it doesn’t! Why won’t they listen?…I can’t remember an instance of newspapers polling Americans about their feelings, then telling them their answers are not only wrong, but ignorant!
“Pro-Palestinian” protestors are anti-American protestors:
This is a weird story: “Congressman Pat Fallon (R-TX-4), who had filed to run for Texas Senate District (SD) 30, has now backed out and will instead run for re-election to his currently held congressional seat.” Being a state senator is all well and good, but who steps down from a U.S. Congressional seat to a state senate seat?
A BuzzFeed feature story from 2018 about a journalist who told a group of schoolchildren that he was gay was taken down just a day after it was announced that he had been brought up on child pornography charges.
Slade Sohmer, 44, the former editor-in-chief of the left-leaning video-driven news site The Recount, was freed on $100,000 bail on Monday after he was charged in Massachusetts court with possessing and disseminating “hundreds of child pornography images and videos.”
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of dissemination of child pornography.
Asianometry takes a deep dive into Nvidia’s radical new computational lithography method for generating semiconductor masks. I know a whole lot of eyes just glazed over, but this stuff is important, and I don’t think any other bloggers are covering semiconductors. And speaking of eyes…
Speaking of disasterous superhero films, Critical Drinker goes over the compounding errors of the never-to-be-released Batgirl movie. Surprisingly, the film itself was reportedly not that bad, it’s just a cascading series of studio decisions made the film nonviable.
Snoop Dogg says he’s giving up weed. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
After a fraught election that drew a flurry of endorsements from partisan groups and high-profile elected officials, three conservative-backed candidates have won races for the board of the state’s third-largest school district.
According to unofficial results posted Tuesday night, Todd LeCompte, Justin Ray, and Christine Kalmbach were the victors in Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (CFISD) board elections for Positions 1, 3, and 4.
The three candidates garnered endorsements from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), state Rep. Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress), and Harris County County Commissioner Tom Ramsey (R-Pct. 3).
“This is a major victory for the CFISD community, and the State of Texas. Flipping the third largest school board in Texas is because we focused on empowering parents and getting back to the basics in the classroom,” said Christopher Zook, consultant and spokesperson for the GOP-backed candidates in a statement to The Texan.
“It is abundantly clear that despite efforts from radical activists, parents and voters just want a good education for their children. Additionally, thank you to Senator Ted Cruz for engaging in this race, and fighting for conservative values not only in Washington, but at the most local level, the school board.”
Vying for Position 1, GOP-backed candidate LeCompte captured 43.7 percent compared to 38 percent for Tonia Jaeggi and 18 percent for Cleveland Lane, Jr. Jaeggi had been endorsed by the local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union and Lane had been endorsed by state Rep. Jon Rosenthal (D-Houston) and former CFISD board member John Ogletree, Jr.
CFISD does not hold runoff elections, meaning the candidate with the most votes is declared a winner in the first round.
Julie Hinaman, the only incumbent to run for re-election this year, held on to her seat with 45 percent in a tight three-way race in which right-of-center groups split their endorsements between former CFISD Trustee George Edwards, who secured 43 percent, and local activist Ayse Indemaio, who received 11 percent.
In Position 3, former Jersey Village Mayor Ray won with 43.5 percent, beating out AFT candidate and former Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce President Leslie Martone who took 39.1 percent, and adjunct professor Michelle Fennick with 17 percent.
In the two-way race for Position 4, former GOP candidate for Texas House Kalmbach defeated former teacher Frances Ramirez Romero 51 percent to 49 percent.
Snip.
Parents in CFISD have grown increasingly vocal in opposition to elements of critical race theory being embedded in curricula and age-inappropriate books in school libraries.
In 2021, three conservative candidates successfully challenged incumbents for the CFISD board, but the minority coalition has been easily overruled by other trustees on the seven-member board.
The four candidates backed by the AFT, Jaeggi, Hinaman, Martone, and Ramirez Romero, ran as a slate under the moniker “ALL4CFISD.” Rosenthal backed all but Jaeggi, instead throwing his support to Lane. Rosenthal and local Democratic Party groups activated a well-coordinated campaign effort of blockwalking and phone banking for the candidates.
Right-of-center organizations and GOP elected officials were largely unified in support for their own slate of candidates, chosen through a series of forums with local Republican precinct chairs earlier this year. However, a few precinct chairs who were dissatisfied with the top four candidates broke with the party to back Indemaio. As a result, conservative voters split their support in Position 2, handing Hinaman a second full term on the board.
For some reason this image comes to mind:
With Tuesday’s unofficial results, GOP-backed candidates now hold a 6 to 1 majority and will be able to exert more control over district policy.
Conservative/sane school board candidates don’t always win, but average parents don’t want school boards secretly grooming their children or teaching the poison of critical race theory. When properly organized and united, conservative school board candidates have solid fighting chances to win.
Again, if it can happen in San Francisco, it can happen with your school board.
School board elections used to be pokey little things few people paid attention to. That all changed when the social justice set decided that schools would be ideal platforms from which to indoctrinate and groom your children. Now some school board elections are important enough that they can attract the attention of a sitting United States Senator.
Following several years of controversy over allegations of critical race theory embedded in curricula and age-inappropriate books in libraries, heightened interest in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School district (CFISD) board elections has drawn a slew of new candidates and endorsements from elected officials who rarely weigh in on local races.
Cypress-Fairbanks (Cy-Fair) ISD is in the northwest of Harris County. It started out suburban, but the vast majority of it is now within the city limits of Houston.
“It is vital that our children and schools are led by those who advance educational opportunity,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in a statement explaining his endorsements. “These candidates will ensure that educational excellence is the standard in Cy-Fair ISD.”
Like municipal elections, school board races are non-partisan, meaning candidates do not officially declare party affiliation and there are no primaries. In recent years, however, CFISD has been among many across the state in which local and state political parties help to recruit and promote candidates.
Earlier this year, Republican precinct chairs in the northwestern Harris County district near Houston held a series of private forums to determine which candidates the Harris County Republican Party (HCRP) would endorse. Votes from the participating chairs landed on Todd LeCompte for Position 1, George Edwards for Position 2, Justin Ray for Position 3, and Christine Kalmbach for Position 4.
In addition to the HCRP, the Republican Party of Texas, state Rep. Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress), and Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey (R-Pct. 3) have stepped in to endorse the four candidates campaigning together. Cruz’s endorsement added heft to the Republican-sanctioned slate in a district that helped elect Republican Reps. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX-8) and Wesley Hunt (R-TX 38) to Congress.
Naturally the American Federation of Teachers has weighed in on the other side.
Early voting continues through Sunday, and election day is Tuesday, November 11.
There are some local bond elections on the ballot along with constitutional amendments. Here are my recommendations:
Williamson County
Proposition A: Proposed Roads: There are some 38 road projects included in the bond, totaling some $1.68 billion. Most of these seem to be “small ball” improvements on various roads and interchanges. Williamson is the fifth fastest growing county in the state, and the fourteenth in the country. One legitimate purpose of bonds is to support future growth, and the growth is there. Despite concerns over the out-of-state developers supporting the bond election, I think it best to keep ahead of growth and not be stuck with the sort of traffic nightmares that Austin and Travis County’s long-running refusal to properly plan and fund road growth have created. So despite my well-documented opposition to increased government spending, bonds and taxes, I recommend voting FOR Williamson County Proposition A: Proposed Roads.
Proposition B: Proposed Parks and Recreation: $59 million, some of it for obvious unnecessary pet projects like “Twin Lakes Park projects with YMCA to construct adventure course and expand parking.” Pay for your own damn “adventure course.” As opposed to roads, parks don’t pay for themselves by enabling growth, and should be paid for out of ongoing operating budgets. I recommend voting AGAINST Williamson County Proposition B: Proposed Parks and Recreation.
Travis County
Proposition A – Roadway Capacity and Active Transportation: Some of the items in this $233 million bond package are necessary improvements, but there are too many sops to green priorities (everything seems to have a “bike lane” or “mixed use path”). I recommend voting AGAINST Travis County Proposition A – Roadway Capacity and Active Transportation. Maybe next bond election they can come back with a pared-down bill.
Proposition B – Parks and Open Spaces: $276 million. Once again, parks should be funded out of ongoing revenue, and when it comes to Travis County, it’s useless putting more money into them since they’ll just became trash-strewn campgrounds for drug-addicted transients. I recommend voting AGAINST Travis County Proposition B – Parks and Open Spaces.
Round Rock ISD
No one in Round Rock ISD should receive a raise as long as the current social justice agenda is in place. I recommend voting AGAINST Round Rock ISD Proposition A.
