Texas Mini-News Roundup for July 13, 2023

July 13th, 2023

Just a quick roundup of Texas news to cut tomorrow’s LinkSwarm down to size, as this is another insane week.

  • Property tax relief is finally heading to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s desk.

    After months of caterwauling and posturing, the Texas Legislature’s property tax plan ended up about where it began, with additional rate compression, an increased homestead exemption, and an appraisal cap.

    The Texas House and Senate put the final bow on their recently announced deal on property tax relief to put to bed the months-long standoff — after which the pair adjourned sine die for the third time this year. The plan is expected to be signed quickly by Gov. Greg Abbott.

    The toplines of the $13 billion deal are:

    • More than $7 billion to compress school district Maintenance & Operations rates
    • An increase of the standard homestead exemption to $100,000
    • A three-year trial run for a 20 percent appraisal cap on commercial and non-homestead residential properties valued at or below $5 million
    • A $1.47 million increase to the state’s franchise tax exception
    • The creation of three elected positions on Appraisal Review Boards in counties above 75,000 population

    That compression is on top of the $5.3 billion already passed in the 2024-2025 state budget to continue the 2019 reform.

    The new compression and the homestead exemption — should it be approved by voters in November — will be effective this tax year. The appraisal cap will begin next year and run through the end of 2026 unless continued by the Legislature.

    Estimates project the reform will provide a $1,200 “savings” for the average homeowner in Texas — meaning a reduction from what tax bills would yield without the reform, not a reduction from the previous year’s tax bill.

    Good news, if long in coming.

  • You know the “incident” Austin City Council used as an excuse to end DPS patrols? It never happened.

    The City of Austin canceled its recently-resumed partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) on Tuesday after allegations were made that officers pointed a gun at a child during a traffic stop — but DPS has now released body camera footage disputing that claim.

    The patrol partnership that deployed DPS officers throughout the capital city to assist the ailing Austin Police Department was set to resume this month after a May pause to bolster enforcement at the border as Title 42 expired. But city officials — Mayor Kirk Watson and Interim City Manager Jesús Garza — abruptly canceled the partnership on Tuesday.

    The onus for that decision was an allegation made by Carlos Meza and his son Angel that during a Sunday evening traffic stop, DPS officers pointed their sidearms at the child.

    DPS said that did not happen. The agency released three angles of footage of the incident.

  • “Texas Department of Transportation Attempts to Hide DEI-related Records.”

    The Texas Department of Transportation is attempting to withhold documents concerning the agency’s use of materials related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG).

    Responding to a tip from a whistleblower, Texas Scorecard sought agency records that would either confirm or debunk allegations that the agency has been pushing a “woke” agenda on its 12,861 employees.

    Texas Scorecard sent an open records request to TxDOT under the Texas Public Information Act (PIA). This request sought to unveil whether or not TxDOT employees are being paid to discuss such issues.

    Specifically requested were communications referring to DEI and ESG in the possession of the Texas Department of Transportation commissioner, chief of staff, director of human resources, and/or the director of the DEI section.

    Obviously TxDoT must be hiding considerable social justice subversion.

  • “Keller ISD Adopts New Student Pronoun and Bathroom Policy Based on Biological Sex.”

    A northeast Texas school district has adopted new policies related to the continued hot-button topics of restroom accommodations for transgender students and pronoun usage by school employees.

    On June 28, the Keller ISD board of trustees voted 5 to 0 with one abstention to establish a new pronoun policy wherein “district staff, educators, and other district employees shall not promote, encourage, or require the use of pronouns that are inconsistent with a student’s or other person’s biological sex as it appears on the individual’s birth certificate or other government issued record.”

    Additionally, the school district shall not compel any employee or “other students to address or refer to students in any manner that would violate the speaker’s constitutionally protected rights.”

    Prior to the vote, the board engaged in back-and-forth discussion of hypotheticals, such as if a teacher is asked by a student to be referred to by a pronoun that does not correspond with their biological sex.

    “The policy is pretty clear,” board President Charles Randklev said of the hypotheticals. When asked if the trustees will support teachers who might come to them with concerns following the passage of the pronoun policy, he said that “this board has always supported teachers.”

    Randklev added that the new policies “lay the groundwork for protecting kids and educators.”

    “I also think they basically help us get off to a good start for the upcoming school year.”

    The board did pass an additional bathroom policy that will “maintain separate restrooms” based on biological sex, but will make accommodations for students who are “seeking privacy” such as in a single-use bathroom.

    This move by Keller ISD comes on the heels of a federal judge’s ruling in 2022 that Texas had the ability to vacate the Biden administration’s guidance on allowing people to use restrooms based on their gender identity that do not correspond to their biological sex.

    Remember: Keller ISD voters kicked social justice school board members out and took a solid turn toward sanity instead. Elections matter.

  • Meanwhile, La Joya ISD down in RioGrande Valley, which has been pushing DEI, is so scandal-ridden that they’re being taken over by the state.

    A small public school district in the Rio Grande Valley is the latest to face a state takeover under Texas law, but district officials have vowed to fight the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in court.

    Located on the U.S.- Mexico border west of McAllen, the La Joya Independent School District (LJISD) operates 38 schools and serves 24,804 students. However, enrollment has steadily declined over the past decade and the district has been embroiled in multiple scandals.

    After an FBI investigation into corruption in Hidalgo County, five LJISD officials pled guilty last year to federal charges that included theft, bribery, money laundering, extortion, and wire fraud.

    In January 2022, Trustee Armin Garza admitted to participating in a kickback scheme regarding a district energy-saving plan under which he received more than $234,000. Later, central office administrators Luis Morin and Alex Guajardo would both also plead guilty for their part in the conspiracy.

    In a separate case, trustee Oscar Salinas pled guilty to federal extortion charges related to kickback payments he received from contracted vendor L&G Engineering. After discovering that L&G Engineering’s chief operating officer supported a political opponent, Hidalgo County Commissioner Everardo Villarreal, Salinas demanded additional funds and threatened to cancel a contract with Villareal’s wife. When the CEO refused, Salinas voted to terminate the contract.

    Another LJISD administrator, Rodrigo Lopez, pled guilty to federal charges of theft and bribery in August 2022 in relation to contracts for athletic equipment. Lopez also served as the mayor of Penitas, Texas.

    Earlier this year, TEA officials notified La Joya ISD Board President Alex Cantu and interim Superintendent Beto Gonzales that investigators had substantiated allegations related to fraud and violations of conflict of interest and contract procurement laws.

    Those who have been following the blog for a while know that fraud in border school districts and Hidalgo County (still Democratic Party strongholds) has been a recurring theme.

  • NBA power forward Grant Williams choose to sign with the Dallas Mavericks over the Boston Celtics due to tax differences between the two states.

    By approving a new wealth tax last year, Massachusetts voters might have dented the Boston Celtics’ chances of chasing down a National Basketball Association (NBA) championship.

    Grant Williams, a talented power forward drafted by the Celtics in the first round just four years ago, declined to re-sign with Boston this summer. Instead, he’ll be playing next season in Dallas, where his new contract won’t be subject to Massachusetts’ so-called “millionaire’s tax.”

    Williams told The Athletic that his decision to sign a $54 million deal with Dallas over a $48 million offer from Boston was “a little strategic” and that the gap between the two offers was larger than it might seem.

    “In Boston, it’s…$48 million with the millionaire’s tax, so $54 million in Dallas is really like $58 million in Boston,” Williams said.

    In Texas, which has no state income tax, Williams can keep more of his earnings, though it is worth noting that professional athletes unfortunately owe taxes in states where they play road games. His new state’s tax situation gives Williams a nice incentive to move, considering Massachusetts would have taken 9 percent of those earnings—thanks to its 5 percent flat income tax and newly created 4 percent tax on income in excess of $1 million.

    (Hat tip: Dwight.)

  • Problem: Austin PD Is Down 500 Officers. Austin City Council Solution: Fire DPS

    July 12th, 2023

    Back when DPS was patrolling the streets of Austin, crime went down. So naturally Austin City Council is ending DPS patrols because they made one person uncomfortable.

    The City of Austin has suspended its recently restarted partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), established to aid the city’s struggling police department.

    Announced back in March, the partnership between the Austin Police Department (APD) and the state was initiated to help APD respond to 911 calls and monitor traffic. APD has long struggled with staffing issues and saw 89 departures through the first three months of 2023, as city policy and posture toward the department were not appreciated by many rank-and-file officers.

    As of March, there were 281 vacancies on top of the 150 positions eliminated in the 2020 budget cut. Due to the staffing shortage, police response times ballooned to at or nearly 10 minutes and 911 call holding times grew even larger.

    At the time of the announcement, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said, “During my run for mayor, I promised we would make city government work better in providing basic services.”

    “This is an example of that. It’s a common-sense, practical response to a serious need and arose out of a positive working relationship between the Capital City and the Capitol of Texas.”

    A report on the partnership was released this month showing average response times in council districts dropping between 30 seconds and a minute and a half.

    But after a citizen complaint alleging DPS officers pointed firearms at a father and his child, the city’s Public Safety Commission recommended the council scrap the partnership.

    A citizen. One.

    On the first day of the partnership, DPS officers seized 70 pounds of methamphetamine and made 14 felony arrests.

    It was temporarily paused in May to shift the manpower to the border as Title 42 expired but was set to resume after the hiatus.

    “From the start of this partnership with DPS, I said I wanted Austinites to feel safe and be safe. Recent events demonstrate we need to suspend the partnership with DPS. The safety of our community is a primary function of City government, and we must keep trying to get it right,” Watson said.

    “This partnership was an innovative approach to address acute staffing shortages that were years in the making. However, any approach must be in sync with Austin values.”

    The city’s release says that the DPS support “has resulted in a decrease in violent and gun crime, fewer traffic fatalities, shorter response times to calls for assistance, and seizures of significant amounts of illicit drugs, including fentanyl and heroin.”

    Councilman Chito Vela said of the announcement, “This is the right decision, especially given the events of the last few days. Policing in Austin must be aligned with our community values. Unfortunately, the type of policing we have seen by DPS is not in line with Austin’s values.”

    Evidently “Austin values” are “We can’t put criminals in jail, because white supremacy.”

    A source within APD said to The Texan, “It’ll get worse before it gets worse and people want to leave.”

    “The activists who don’t have the residents’ or visitors’ best interest at heart are succeeding in tearing down public safety,” he added. “Until city leadership is brave enough to reject their radicalism, the dire situation will only get worse.”

    Sadly, “city leadership” is in on the scam. They want as many criminals and drug-addicted transients walking the streets as possible because they’re an excellent source of graft for the hard left.

    In a statement provided to The Texan, Austin Police Association President Thomas Villareal said, “The decision by the Interim City Manager and Mayor to suspend the APD/DPS partnership is absolutely unconscionable. Instead of asking DPS to look into the actions of a specific Trooper, the City allowed a one-sided, inflammatory, poorly researched news story, one purely intended to get clicks, to be treated as truth and fact.”

    According to Villareal, the department’s internal staffing numbers show APD is currently 500 officers short.

    Yeah, that happens when you defund the police and cancel cadet classes.

    Austin is following in the same crime-and-homeless infested footsteps of San Francisco even after San Franciscans have risen up to start kicking them out of office. Hopefully Austinites have just enough sense to avoid following them into that feces-strewn ditch.

    Turkey Flips, Boosts NATO Membership For Sweden…And Ukraine

    July 11th, 2023

    Remember how Turkey was blocking Sweden’s membership in NATO? Well, they’ve now flipped to backing Sweden’s membership.

    Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to support Sweden’s bid to join Nato, the military alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg says.

    He said the Turkish leader would forward Sweden’s bid to parliament in Ankara and “ensure ratification”.

    Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said: “I am very happy, it is a good day for Sweden.”

    Turkey had previously spent months blocking Sweden’s application, accusing it of hosting Kurdish militants.

    As one of Nato’s 31 members, Turkey has a veto over any new country joining the group.

    Reacting to the news, US President Joe Biden said he welcomed the commitment by President Erdogan to proceed with “swift ratification”.

    “I stand ready to work with President Erdogan and Turkey on enhancing defence and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Kristersson and Sweden as our 32nd Nato ally,” a White House statement said.

    German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock tweeted: “At 32, we’re all safer together.” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Sweden joining would “make us all safer”.

    Mr Stoltenberg announced the agreement late on Monday following talks between the Turkish and Swedish leaders in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

    The Nato chief described it as a “historic step”, but stressed that a “clear date” could not be given for when Sweden would join the military alliance – as this relied on the Turkish parliament.

    Sweden and its eastern neighbour Finland, both long considered as militarily neutral, announced their intention to join Nato in May last year, several months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Finland formally joined in April.

    Why the sudden turnaround on Sweden’s membership?

    For one thing, they’re getting F-16s out of the deal. For another, Erdogan is pushing for EU membership again, and needs all the friends he can get if he wants to stop Turkey’s disasterous economic slide. Turkey is hemorrhaging foreign currency reserves thanks to Erdogan’s SuperGenius economic move of lowering interest rates to flight inflation, so maybe a promise of closer ties to Europe might staunch the bleeding a little.

    It could also be Turkey’s age-old enmity with Russia coming to the fore. Or maybe Russia’s poor performance has finally led Erdogan to conclude that Russia is the “weak horse.”

    But it’s not just Sweden: Erdogan also indicated approval for Ukraine joining NATO as well. “‘There is no doubt that Ukraine deserves membership of NATO,’ Erdogan told a joint press conference with the Ukrainian president in Istanbul early on Saturday, adding that the two sides should go back to peace talks.”

    Moreover, NATO seems receptive to letting Ukraine join…just not right now.

    NATO leaders said on Tuesday that Ukraine should be able to join the military alliance at some point in the future but they stopped short of offering Kyiv an immediate invitation, angering Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

    The leaders were meeting at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius as Ukrainian troops struggled to make significant gains in a counteroffensive against the Russian invasion forces occupying parts of the country.

    The leaders said in a declaration: “Ukraine’s future is in NATO”. But they offered no timeline for the process.

    “We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met,” the declaration said, without specifying the conditions Ukraine needs to meet.

    I’m sure one of the conditions is “Not having Russia occupying large parts of your country.”

    Russia’s illegal war of territorial aggression has made the alliance more united than any time since the end of the Cold War. Clearly it’s in every NATO member’s interest to let Russia dash 50 years worth of Russo-Soviet miltech against the rock of Ukraine, so expect members of the alliance to keep feeding Ukraine’s armed forces for the immediate future.

    But having a direct military conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia isn’t on anyone member’s preference card, no matter how badly NATO armies would maul their Russian counterparts. So don’t expect NATO membership for Ukraine until the Russo-Ukrainian War concludes.

    Kentucky Ballistics + Slow Mo Guys + Big Guns = Cool Footage

    July 10th, 2023

    In a follow-up to both Saturday’s 4 Bore rifle video and high-speed footage of gun destruction, both Kentucky Ballistics and The Slow-Mo Guys are back with another video, this time shooting really big guns.

    How big? Up to a .577 Tyrannosaur.

    Points of interest:

  • The recoil shockwave of the .577 Tyrannosaur visibly travels through one of the Slow Mo Guys’ back muscles. It really emphasis the felt recoil of that monster.
  • At 82,000 frames a second, you can see a flash of light from bullet impact as it enters the ballistics gel. They talk about naming this “The Kentucky Effect.”
  • The bullet sucks the fireball from the initial shot in, then the collapsing cavitation of the gel reignites the gases.
  • Plus the usual exploding nacho cheese cans

    Netherlands: Let The Power Fall

    July 9th, 2023

    The Europhilic, farmer-oppressing, climate cult-believing government of The Netherlands has fallen over immigration policies.

    The Dutch government collapsed on Friday after failing to reach a deal on restricting immigration, which will trigger new elections in the fall.

    The crisis was triggered by a push by Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD party to limit the flow of illegal immigrants to the Netherlands, which two of his four-party government coalition refused to support.

    “It’s no secret that the coalition partners have differing opinions about immigration policy. Today we unfortunately have to conclude that those differences have become insurmountable. Therefore I will tender the resignation of the entire cabinet to the king,” Mr. Rutte said in a televised news conference.

    Tensions came to a head this week, when Mr. Rutte demanded support for a proposal to limit entrance of children of war refugees who are already in the Netherlands and to make families wait at least two years before they can be united.

    This latest proposal went too far for the small Christian Union and liberal D66, causing a stalemate.

    Mr. Rutte’s coalition will stay on as a caretaker government until a new administration is formed after new elections, a process which in the fractured Dutch political landscape usually takes months.

    News agency ANP, citing the national elections committee, said elections would not be held before mid-November.

    Two parties poised to take advantage of Rutte’s coalition falling: The pro-farmer BBB Party, and Geert Wilders libertarian/anti-Islamist PVV.

    Opposition parties in the Netherlands were pleased with the fall of the Rutte IV Cabinet. BBB frontwoman Caroline van der Plas tweeted a photo of herself smiling asking others to show the face they made when they heard the news.

    “Goodbye Rutte, Kaag and the rest!” writes PVV leader Geert Wilders. He said he has requested a parliamentary debate.

    PvdD leader Esther Ouwehand hopes for “the definitive end of the Rutte era.” She said, “Unprecedented that the prime minister created a new crisis in an attempt to save his own skin.”

    Rutte’s government is the one that tried to seize land from farmers to prevent them from farming as part of their global warming/anti-meat/land seizure agenda. That government deserved to fall. Actually, what it deserved was having angry farmers armed with torches and hay rakes track members down in the streets and thrash them within an inch of their lives, but the Dutch haven’t been much in the revolution business since 1648.

    From this remove, it would be nice if the elections could pave the way for a BBB/PVV Euroskeptic coalition focused on property rights, abandoning insane climate change mandates, restricting Islamist immigration, and protecting free markets and free speech. But European politics seldom proceeds along such (to us) logical lines.

    4 Bore Rifle vs. Body Armor

    July 8th, 2023

    4 Bore is an obsolete black-powder rifle with a (roughly) 1 inch barrel used for hunting big game in Africa. Scott at Kentucky Ballistics got a modern version of that and decided to test it against body armor. Consider this as the latest in the “BattleSwarm features videos of absurdly large rifle calibers for your viewing pleasure.”

    Though it has a 2,150 grain bullet producing over 200 pounds of felt recoil, the round is too flat and slow to actually penetrate the body armor, but it packs so much force that it just drags most of the body armor into the chest cavity. The zombie torsos do not fare well.

    Thanks to Dave Hardy for bringing the video to my attention.

    Low-Calorie LinkSwarm Substitute

    July 7th, 2023

    This week’s been a bear…

    …and I’ve just run out of time to do a decent LinkSwarm. Instead, in honor of police finding Hunter Biden’s cocaine unexplained cocaine of unknown origin at the White House, here’s a video of Norm MacDonald doing cocaine jokes, followed by a mini-LinkSwarm.

  • Russian ammo dump blows up real good.
  • Peter Zeihan: Scottish independence is a suicide pact.
  • RedHat is trying to paywall open source code. Penny wise and pound foolish.
  • “DC Police Say They May Never Discover Who Left Bag Of Cocaine Labeled ‘Property Of H. Biden’ At White House.”
  • Protip for professional sports teams: Don’t hold Dog Night and Fireworks Night on the same night.
  • The Battle of Juba: When China Got Its Ass Kicked

    July 6th, 2023

    Peacekeeping missions in Africa have a way of humbling proud nations, like America in Mogadishu or Ireland in Jadotville. But while American and irish troops actually acquitted themselves well in their respective engagements, the same can’t be said for Chinese troops in the Battle of Juba, in South Sudan, in July of 2016.

    The short summary is that two sides in the civil war had set up bases on either side of a UN refugee camp, and when fighting broke out, woefully unprepared Chinese peacekeeping troops got their asses kicked.

    Takeaways:

  • “Both sides fielded artillery and tank units. Chinese peacekeepers, of course, had neither.”
  • “Heavily outnumbered and outgunned, the Chinese soldiers couldn’t have asked for worse battlefield conditions.”
  • “The United Nations Camp perimeter was lightly protected by Hesco barriers, which are filled with sand instead of concrete walls.”
  • “The guard towers were wooden shacks instead of concrete pillboxes. They had no bullet resistant glass or reinforced sandbags, no concrete mortar protection zones that you would typically want on a base like this. The entrance gate was a flimsy metal fence instead of a heavy metal block gate. The main defense was barbed wire fences.”
  • “This place was not set up to prevent a heavy assault.”
  • Then the two forces started attack each other.
  • “The government army forces and the rebel forces rampaged through the city. They did not observe any rules of engagement, attacking hospitals and non-combatants.”
  • Some 1,400 rebel troops “looted shops, hospitals and aid stations.”
  • “Both sides were shooting at each other through the refugee camp.”
  • “Wooden UN guard towers came under heavy machine gun fire. This forced the Chinese peacekeepers to leave and take cover.”
  • “Hundreds of bullets rockets and artillery [shells] peppered the perimeter. The Chinese U.N forces retreated deeper into the compound and clustered around the few armored personnel carriers they had. This is when an enemy rocket-propelled grenade struck their APC. It killed two Chinese soldiers and wounded six others.”
  • “Enemy militiamen then looted one of the aid warehouses. They stole $30 million worth of United Nations goods. This was enough food to feed over 200,000 people for a month in the famine stricken nation.”
  • “Chinese-led UN peacekeepers were pinned down inside the compound, and unable to effectively return fire with the weapons and vehicles they had at their disposal. They were unable to prevent militia forces on the streets from going house to house hunting people down and committing
    unspeakable acts just outside the camp.”

  • Some individual Chinese forces did better, rallying and retrieving the weapons they had abandoned, and preventing forces from storming the center of the compound.
  • 272 confirmed casualties day one, 20 of which were under Chinese protection.
  • Reports said “UN leadership had directly ordered Chinese and Ethiopian battalions to leave the base and act as a quick response force They were supposed to go out, leave the gate, and set up a perimeter, but they refused to go.”
  • “Major General Patrick Cameron, in charge of the United Nations investigation, wrote a damning report on the Chinese soldiers…he cites an overall lack of leadership preparedness and international integration.”
  • “In the past four decades, Chinese soldiers have had basically zero combat experience, so it’s interesting to see that one of the major findings from the report is that they’re very risk-adverse. They don’t have the experience of what it takes to put your life on the line.”
  • Chinese retort that UN weapons and equipment suck. That’s probably true as well.
  • Chinese soldiers didn’t even know the rules of engagement.
  • “Orders were flat out ignored by Chinese soldiers because they came from a different source than they were used to. They weren’t flexible.”
  • “There was also evidence of a lack of basic medical training and Hazevac procedures” among the Chinese soldiers.
  • The two deaths made Chinese soldiers even more risk adverse.
  • Supposedly China implemented reforms after the dismal showing, but throughout history, China’s military has looked remarkably ineffective in fighting against theoretically smaller foes.

    Bodycam Footage of Cop Taking Down Active Shooter

    July 5th, 2023

    I may be late to this party, since the story broke several days ago, but I think this video is worth covering to highlight all the things the Allen PD officer (whose name, as far as I can tell, hasn’t been released yet) did right.

  • He instructed others to get to safety before moving to engage the shooter.
  • He paused to get a better weapon out of his car and take a moment to assess the situation.
  • He maintained constant communication with the dispatcher to let other officers know where he was all the time to reduce the possibility of friendly fire.
  • He constantly moved toward the sound of gunfire to engage the target.
  • He maintained solid trigger discipline throughout running to contact.
  • He engaged the shooter from behind cover, and continued controlled fire until putting him down.
  • As far as things to be improved on, he did slow noticeably while moving toward contact, so maybe better cardio is in order. But I’m hardly one to cast aspersions here…

    Happy Independence Day!

    July 4th, 2023

    Don’t think anyone is in the mood for any intellectual heavy lifting today, so here’s a fireworks livestream:

    Don’t ask me how they’re doing live nighttime fireworks during the middle of the day.

    This is a more eclectic livestream, with parades and such:

    And here’s that famous San Diego fireworks shot where they accidentally set off everything at once.

    Happy Independence day, everyone!