As part of the State takeover of the Houston Independent School District libraries across the state are being turned into disciplinary centers.
“There is nothing better than a good old fashion paddling to straighten out and humiliate a child.” said an Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Corporal punishment, including hitting a child with a paddle, a belt, rope, or electrical cord, was outlawed decades ago except in the Catholic Church where knuckle whacking with a ruler is still performed.
Parents had mixed feeling about the proposed punishment. According to one parent, “I have no problem with a teacher whipping the snot out of my kid just as long I can do the same to the teacher if my kids grades don’t improve.” According to the new superintendent “Paddling centers will be implemented across the district. Paddlings, whippings, and slaps will continue until parents show they are capable of discipling their own kids. Maybe we could extend the paddling to parents.”
Today begins the filing period for Houston City races. The period runs till Aug 21. According to campaign finance reports for the period ending June 30 there are a number of candidates for each race that are serious about running and there are those who are not.
The filing deadline for submitting campaign finance reports ended Monday July 17. Candidates were to have submitted their reports electronically or via paper at https://www.houstontx.gov/council/reports2023.html. Even if a candidate does not raise or spend money the reports must be filed showing $0 raised and $0 spent. It’s isn’t that hard. The following candidates have not filed reports for this period.
Mayor Gaylon Caldwell Julian Martinez Theudis Daniel
At Large 1 Anthony Dolcefino
At Large 3 Bernard “Bernardo” Amadi Ethan Michelle Ganz Richard Nguyen
The Defend Texas Liberty PAC, based out of Willow Park Texas, attempted to influence the CCISD election and lost.
Candidate Glencora Rogers was given $5000 for her race but she returned it. Peter Lauzon received $5000 which was the bulk of his donations. He lost. Since then Defend Texas PAC continues to raise money from a few donors and attempt to influence elections and the impeachment of Ken Paxton.
According the Texas Ethics Commission the PAC raised $3.5 Million in the last 15 days from just two donors Timothy Dunn and Farris Wilks, the two billionaires who were featured on an investigation on campaign donations in Texas by CNN. Of the $3.5 Million only $48.03 was from another donor who probably thinks they are donating to something good. He isn’t.
During this 15 day period the PAC gave Lt Governor Dan Patrick $3 Million. Dan Patrick is presiding over the impeachment of Attorney General of Ken Paxton. It should be clear what he is going to do. They also gave $100,000 to State Representative Tony Tinderholt. Tinderholt is a right wing, devout christian who has been married 5 times.
How does Bowen fit into this mess? He has personal ties to this organization. They will most probably finance his race for State Representative.
According to the Texas Ethics Commission Dennis Paul is quitting. Sort of…..
After serving just 8 part time years in the Texas House, it looks like Dennis Paul is going to cut and run with a nice retirement and free healthcare for life. Paul filed his July report with the Texas Ethics Commission and it leads one to believe he is leaving.
In his last report he only raised $9,600, spent $19,450, leaving a balance of just $3,118 and an outstanding loan balance of $40,000. All his donations except for $1,500 came from PACs and one third of his entire donations was paid to his Treasurer. Paul has never been a great fundraiser and depended upon a $150,000 loan from his company to win his primary. Instead of spending his money running for office during the 2022 election he repaid $70,000 of the partial balance of his loan. Based upon all of this it looks like he is quitting.
But, don’t cry for Dennis. According to the retirement system Paul’s 8 years of partial service will be quite rewarding! For the rest of his life he will receive a $25,760/year pension. Most people work their entire lives and will never get a $25k pension, or anything more than a retirement cake and a watch. But, it gets better. Paul will also receive free healthcare for himself and his spouse for the rest of his life! It truly is a sweet deal especially after just 8 part time years doing pretty much nothing.
After 8 years of representing House District 129 Paul leaves a legacy of having no town hall meetings, keeping his constituents in the dark, and being rated as “furniture” by the Texas Monthly. To me he will always be remembered for giving easy access to assault weapons to an 18 year old who killed 19 children in Uvalde.
To top it all it looks like he is grooming his replacement. From doing nothing to doing something worse.
Along with many school districts in the State of Texas, CCISD is reaching an unprecedented financial crossroad. From crippling inflation costs to inaction by the Texas legislature failing to adjust the basic student allotment, CCISD is leaning on our community to ensure that our students continue to reach their full potential, while improving their learning environment at a minimal impact to taxpayers. CCISD is seeking public input on a proposed Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE) and three Bond proposals options to address critical capital needs. The community is invited to attend one of the following public meetings to learn more about the proposals and provide feedback.
NOTE: To be far, many candidates contribute to their own campaigns. Some with non refundable donations our of their own pockets and/or loans. Candidate for Mayor Gilbert Garcia has reported raising $3,290,664 in donations, but $3,030,000 came from his own pocket. Fred Flickinger, candidate for District E is also self financing.
I can see part of the Latino community supporting George Bush for Texas Governor or President. Bush had a great talking point of being a compassionate conservative which lines up with the values of the Latino community. He didn’t bash immigrants but was critical of illegal immigration, even though he didn’t do anything about it as Governor or President. There were many attributes that enticed Latinos to vote for him, one being that he wasn’t a dick about everything.
And now comes Trump. He is a big, giant, dick, a rotten excuse of a human being. He bashes immigrants to the point they are targeted by white wing extremists of the Republican Party. He makes fun of the language. He uses Latino voters as props, as ignorant pawns. He is a fucked up human being. He is disrespectful of everyone, the media, elected officials, foreign officials, and anyone he has a grievance with. He is a fucking liar, not just a liar, a fucking liar. He has fed the Latino community a mouthful of lies and some of you are too stupid to realize he is a fucking liar. He stole top secret military documents. He was impeached, twice. He has been indicted for felonies, twice, with more coming. He is a racist and is supported by racist organizations.
So I can see your Abuela (grandmother) looking at your stupid ass, taking off her chancla, and asking you the same question I’ve asked Dennis Paul and Veterans for Trump. What the fuck is wrong with you?
Seriously. WTF? This piece of trash is not your friend. He does not share your values unless you are a coward, a racist, a cheat on your spouse, a liar, or you steal from others, turn your back on your friends, make fun of the weak and disabled, or treat women like trash. Those are not Latino values. Those are not human being values.
You, we, are better than that. It’s time that some of you start acting like it.
The CCISD Board of Trustees is seeking nominations for the 2023 Citizen of the Year! This distinguished award is presented each year to honor an outstanding member of the community who champions the school district and devotes their efforts to the betterment of public education. The recipient will be announced at the Clear Creek Education Foundation’s Annual Gala on November 9, 2023. Submit your nominations by August 1: http://bit.ly/43onqCZ
The Texas Monthly issues a report ranking the best and worst Texas legislators based upon their performance in the legislation session. Our own State Representative, Dennis Paul, made the list as “furniture” following in the footsteps of his predecessor, John Davis.
Dennis Paul joins such notables as Bryan Slaton who was thrown out of the House for giving alcohol to a minor staff member then porking her. Slaton won the new category called The Cockroach. The category of Furniture belongs to three members, Dennis Paul, John Raney, and Stan Lambert who are the who’s who of who the fuck are you. A legislator referred to as furniture is someone who takes space, does little, and sometimes is responsible for a stubbed little toe in the middle of the night. Furniture just sits there. They put out little if any effort. They might carry a bill that will pass just as long as the sun rises the next day. It doesn’t take talent or effort. Paul is good at that.
To Paul’s credit he did sponsor a bill that would create a fund for future development of coastal protection barriers. Abbott vetoed it. Whomp-whomp. Paul did sponsor bills, that easily passed, to limit mail in voting by those in the military and the elderly. And the sun came up the next day.
Someone needs to do a deep dive into this entire Latinos/Hispanics for Trump stupidity. We aren’t that stupid. The Latino community might be the laziest group of people when it comes to participating in political issues that directly affect their lives, but we aren’t stupid. But the Republican Party and their white donors think so.
According to the Texas Ethics Commission the Texas Latino Conservatives PAC was formed in 2020 and raised $1.9 Million. 95% of the entire donations was donated by 8 white guys and 4 white PACs including the Coalition Por For Texas PAC which is funded by….you guessed it….white guys. WTF?
Besides the Coalition, which gave $977,000, Richard Weekley, the Houston developer, gave $281,000. Harlan Crow, who is mired in a controversy with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, gave $100,000. The other white guys include McNair, Duncan, Rowling, Swinbank, Levine and donations from the white guys of the Harris county Republican Party and Grimes County.
Coalition Por Texas PAC
977,000.00
Weekley ,Richard
281,800.00
Mc Nair ,Cary
163,000.00
Duncan ,Jan
105,000.00
Crow ,Harlan
100,000.00
Rowling ,Robert B.
100,000.00
Harris County Republican Party
65,000.00
Swinbank ,Joseph B.
30,000.00
Levine ,Herbert
16,000.00
Grimes County Republican Party
10,000.00
Texas GOP PAC
8,000.00
1,855,800.00
The PAC spent money on a lot of white candidates including Harris county Commissioner Jack Cagle, who lost, and Jack Morman, Candidate for Harris county Commissioner Pct 2, who also lost. They also donated $330,000 to the Texas Latino Conservatives LLC which probably is a non profit organization whose spending habits are hidden due to their status. Mammoth Marketing was paid $419,000 for advertising in support of some white candidates. They threw a bone of $15,000 to Lopez and Assoc Consulting Inc.
The Coalition por for Texas PAC (yes that is their name) was created in early 2022 and looks as if it’s a PAC in support of Latino candidates. Their campaign finance reports reflects differently. Their expenditures are also interesting.
According to the Texas Ethics Commission this Latino PAC’s treasurer is Shannon O’Leary. (I kid you not, O’Leary) Since Jan of 2022 they raised a $2,550,000 from 5 white guys and 1 PAC. Here are the entire donations they received since they were formed. Harlan Crow is the Texas billionaire who paid for lavish vacations for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and paid the tuition for his adopted son. Both of these expenditures were never disclosed by Thomas. Richard Weekley is a developer from Houston and one of the republican oligarchs of Texas. Hillwood Development is a right wing PAC. So bottom line it looks like this is one of many front groups for a bunch of rich white guys.
Crow ,Harlan
500,000.00
Crow ,Harlan
250,000.00
Popolo ,Joseph
50,000.00
Rees-Jones ,Trevor D.
500,000.00
Rowling ,Robert
250,000.00
Weekley ,Richard
250,000.00
Weekley ,Richard
250,000.00
Weekley ,Richard
250,000.00
Hillwood Development Co
250,000.00
2,550,000.00
Over the same period the Coalition Por For Texas PAC donated $2,290,000 to various organizations and candidates. The biggest donations include $943,000 to Texas Latino Conservatives (more on them later), $510,000 to Project RedTx PAC. A couple of Latinos received a few thousand dollars including Alexandria Mealer for $68,000. Here are their major donations of $4000 or more.
Someone needs to ask the question. We all deserve answers.
What the fuck is wrong with military veterans who still support Trump? Case in point, Captain Chaos of League City Council, Justin Hicks.
Veterans are all about Duty, Honor, Country like the motto of West Point Academy. They say they are against those who violate their duty to the Constitution, who dishonor their position of authority, and turn on their country and countrymen. And yet we have Veterans like Justin Hicks, an elected official, actually considering voting for Trump. Again.
WTF? Over? This is beyond FUBAR. Didn’t these Veterans yell and scream about EMAILS back in 2016 and yet are still considering voting for a twice impeached, twice indicted, former president who has admitted to taking top secret documents, hiding them from the FBI, and lying about them? These documents contain some of the most protected military information that could endanger the lives of our troops and CIA agents if leaked to other nations. And yet some Veterans are still considering returning him to office?
Seriously. What the living fuck is wrong with you? It’s bad enough he soiled the office by fucking a porn star, paying her off, lying about it, and getting indicted for it. It’s bad enough he has mocked and turned on his cabinet members, including military generals, calling them losers. It’s bad enough he is a racist and an incredibly horrible human being. It’s bad enough he not only started a riot on our Capitol but he watched it on TV for 3 hours as members of law enforcement were being attacked and killed. It’s bad enough he is a habitual liar. But he stole top secret documents and admitted to it and has been indicted for it! He is truly a walking Charlie Foxtrot.
What’s the breaking point for these Veterans? What the living fuck are they waiting for? Are you waiting to learn he stole the documents and sold access to them to other countries, then make excuses to justify continuing to kiss his ass?
Hick’s love for this human garbage was documented on his Facebook page. It is sickening as are the comments.
God Bless the Veterans who have divorced themselves from this rotten human being.
“The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Tell that to the parents of the kids killed in Uvalde. You have to be a complete moron to believe that stupidity especially after over 180 well armed, well trained, good guys with guns sat and listened to the shooter kill 19 children.
Well the morons in Austin has just approved a bill that would put more guns in school, allowing teachers to carry hand guns and getting paid to do so! The bill allocated $325 million for school safety, fortifying schools just short of building a brick wall around every campus but it does nothing to keep guns out of the hands of a bad guy.
According to testimony during the last CCISD board meetings parents called on the Board to reject arming teachers as an alternative to hiring security guards. The bill requires every school to have an armed guard paid for by our tax dollars, which could include a private security personnel, or to allow teachers to carry and to get a $25,000 stipend. What could possibly go wrong? From comments at the Board:
One thing that I cannot wrap my head around is the sudden “trust” in teachers. Where over the past few years we have witnessed a concerted effort to vilify and demean these educators. Across the country and across the state of Texas, we have had parents, school board members and elected officials, casting aspersions on our teachers, fostering a lack of faith in their abilities. And now these same people want to arm them? These highly trained educators, proficient in their fields, are not trusted enough to carefully choose a book, but are somehow trusted enough to carry a gun. Make that make sense.
If you think this will stop a bad guy with a gun from shooting your kids during recess, or when being dropped off, or exiting the bus, or practicing band in the parking lot, or practicing on the football field then maybe you should go look at your kids school. Also this $325 Million expenditure will not protect your kids at school, church, concert, parades, or Walmarts.
Senate Bill 763, filed by our own State Senator “Money” Mayes Middleton, will require CCISD to vote on allowing chaplains to provide counseling services to students. The analysis of this bill says the cost of these chaplains, to help the guidance counselors, will be paid with funds allocated for school safety.
So instead of tackling the real source of the problem concerning school safety, they are going to put a volunteer, unemployed, chaplain that can provide spiritual guidance even though they have no training in guidance counseling or any degree that is not based upon a book of fables. What could possibly go wrong?
The vote must come within 6 months of when the bill will take effect, September 1, 2023. The ACLU has filed suit to stop this stupidity. BTW every common sense gun bill failed including restricting the open carry of assault weapons at protests, parades, and outdoor gatherings. Raising the age to 21 from 18 to purchase a military assault weapon also failed as well as closing the gun show loop hole, safe storage of guns, etc etc etc. They all failed yet the easy access to guns is the real source of the problem.
I can’t wait for the first Rabbi, Dalai Lama, or Imam, is assigned to John F. Ward and watch the religious, wingers go nuts. Praise the lord.
As has been said in the past “I consider this issue to be clooooosed!”
Unfortunately Bowen, in typical republican fashion, just can’t stop whining and claiming to be the victim something his buddy, Ted Cruz does very well. Bowen has posted a pre-board meeting response to the vote today claiming to be a victim, and the target of an attack on the Constitution, and blah-blah-blah, poor little me. Of course his comments on his Trustee re-election site is chock full of misinformation. I’m going to reluctantly respond to it below:
As stated to the board, this entire issue was brought about by Bowen and Bowen only.
No one claimed he violated the law. If I had I would have filed a complaint with the District Attorney’s office, not CCISD.
The attorney hired did not STRONGLY agree to squat. She dismissed it because Bowen said a cute little statement after identifying himself as a Trustee of CCISD and representing the constituents of the district. “I’m here on my own time and own dime”. You can read the entire opinion here.
No one said there was a violation of anyones 1st amendment rights. The complaint specifically stated he violated policy by identifying himself as a Trustee against a public education bill. Policy, not 1st Amendment. He does NOT have the right to represent the Board as per CCISD policy. The video is clear. Watch it.
And it is so rich that Bowen talks about wasting money, when he supported the many re-counts by his buddy Christine Parizo who lost by 25 points and the lawsuit by Misty Dawson costing the district thousands in legal fees. I addressed the cost in my letter to the Board. Quit clutching your pearls Scott.
And lastly he is whining about the Galveston News, much like all republicans do.
As I have written to the Board I consider this issue to be cloooooosed. Here is my letter to the Board concerning the vote tonight followed by Bowen’s whiny post on his Facebook site, followed by a link to the video of his testimony.
According to Councilman Michael Kubosh he has quit the race for Controller due to health reasons. KHOU TV thinks otherwise and for good reason. KHOU compared Kubosh’s campaign finance reports to his social media activity and found that he spent some of his donors money on personal travel and entertainment. From KHOU:
KHOU shared with Gutierrez a list of 20 questionable campaign expenses and corresponding social media videos. They include other expenses for family meals, and airport parking charges during out-of-state trips. The items span six years of Kubosh’s nine-year city council tenure and total $7,754.76.
Now to be fair, $7,754.76 isn’t that much. I’ve seen worse. There was Secretary of State Jane Nelson spending tens of thousands of dollars of her donor’s money on a condo. There was Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole spending $250,000 of his donors money on Starbucks, antique books and western chaps. (seriously) And there was State Representative John Davis of Clear Lake spending $1500 of his donors money on fancy, custom made, cowboy boots.
But Kubosh was running for Controller on a platform of fiscal responsibility, transparency, and all of those right wing talking points. He obviously was also running on hypocrisy which is a trademark of the Republican Party. So just days after KHOU started asking questions, he quit, as he should have.
Kubosh has claimed he has filed updated reports. According to Texas laws if you get caught breaking the Ethics Commission laws by a media outlet all you have to do is file a correction and you are off the hook. It’s like stealing from a bank. If you return the money you won’t be charged. (LOL)
Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa has been the Chair of the Texas Democratic Party for over a decade. It is time to thank him for his service to the Party and elect a new leader.
Gilberto Hinojosa retained his position running on his record. His opponents also were running on his record. Carroll Robinson of Houston hammered Hinojosa and his record everywhere he spoke. He criticized his record of just “maintaining” in 2020 when we ran against one of the worst human beings on the top of the ticket. We gained no ground. He criticized his record in the Valley where we lost in districts we should never had lost. He criticized his loss of Hispanic voters. He and others stated when you take credit for the gains of 2018 you must also take responsibility for just maintaining in 2020. He said it was time for something to change. Maintaining was not enough. It was time to win. He was right. He is right.
And then Robinson endorsed him for re-election. Go fuckin figure. So we, once again, maintained in the 2022 elections. We lost all State Wide races even though we had some very well qualified candidates. We couldn’t beat Abbott even after Uvalde, the Freeze, and the abortion issue. At that point Hinojosa should have stepped down before being asked to do so. As a sustaining member of the Party for many years I am asking. You should too.
But…let’s make sure we know what is probably going to happen. Robinson didn’t endorse Hinojosa for his good looks. Robinson will probably be endorsed by Hinojosa even after that dick move he made at the 2022 Democratic Convention. Robinson came in 3rd place in the race for Chair but then joined with Hinojosa by endorsing him. Robinson’s calls for change was nothing less than self serving so he is partially responsible for Hinojosa’s last stand as Chair for the 2022 election. Robinson told the delegation, over and over again, that Hinojosa had a losing record and we needed to move on. Robinson then endorsed him, he won, and we lost.
The State Executive Committee members will have to pick a new Chair once Hinojosa steps down or when 1/3 of the Committee calls for his removal and 2/3 of them vote in favor. That new Chair just might be Robinson although that dick move he made at the Convention still might be a sore spot for many.
Thank you for your service to the Party Mr. Chairman!
Much like Tilman Fertitta Don McGill plays both sides. Sort of.
According to the Texas Ethics Commission Don McGill of Don McGill Toyota donated over $1.8 million to various PACs and candidates since 2000. From 2000-2014 he donated a total of $145,500 with donations not exceeding $5000. In 2014 he began donating large sums of money totaling $1.7 Million. His largest donations includes $500,000 to Judicial Fairness PAC and Stop Houston Murders PAC formed to support republican judicial candidates. He also donated to Sid “The C*nt” Miller and Ken “The Impeached” Paxton. (See below)
He does play both sides of the aisle just like Tilman Fertitta. Of the $1.8 Million he has donated $2500 to 2 Democrats.
You might think Stop Houston Murders PAC is working to, well, stop murders in Houston by advocating for mental health services, taking unlimited guns off the street, educating Houston citizens about respectful ownership of guns, advocating for red flag laws, or working to keep our Police Officers safe. If you think that, then you think wrong.
Stop Houston Murders PAC is a political organization that is spending money on electing judges, republican judges, in Harris County along with the Judicial Fairness PAC which spent $10 Million doing the same thing. They both failed. It’s not like that is what I think they are doing, they actually state it in their slick commercials and their funding is coming from the same people that fund the Judicial Fairness PAC. It looks like Judicial Fairness PAC is working to get corporation friendly civil court judges elected and Stop Houston Murders PAC is focused on criminal judges.
Fundraising SHM began its fundraising in Feb of 2022 with a donation of $25,000 from John O’Neil, a right wing political activist with an interesting past. In 2022 they raised $2.4 Million $2.3 Million, 96% from 20 donations of $10,000 or more. 16 individuals or PACs contributed this $2.3 Million. The top contributors include Judicial Fairness PAC for $650,000, Don McGill Toyota with a combined total of $1 Million between both PACs, and the Houston Police and Firefighters PACs. The 16 individuals/PACs are listed below. Of the $2.4 Million, $5455 or .002% came from the common folks giving $100 or less.
Judicial Fairness PAC
$650,000
Don McGill of West Houston LTD
$500,000
OTA Holdings
$250,000
Texas Transeastern, Inc
$250,000
Weekley ,Richard
$210,000
Coalition Por For Texas PAC
$150,000
Huggins, III ,Josiah O.
$100,000
Plains Marketing, LP
$100,000
O’Neill ,John
$86,500
Hillwood Development
$25,000
Rowling ,Robert
$25,000
Constable Mark Herman Campaign
$10,000
Duddlesten ,Karen A.
$10,000
Herman ,Mark
$10,000
Houston Fire Fighters PAC
$10,000
Peacock ,David
$10,000
Total Donations
$2,396,500
Spending SHM spent over $2.3 Million in 2022 trying to elect republican judges. $2.2 Million was spent on slick advertisements. $2 Million was paid to Bullhorn Communications for consulting and media production. Even Wayne Dolcefino Consulting received a $1100 bone for video production.
Although I do not agree with the ruling I respect the decision.
And I am glad I filed this grievance against Scott Bowen for testifying at a hearing in Austin advocating for a bill, on OUR behalf, that would harm public education. Bowen identified himself as a Trustee, spoke as a Trustee, and stated that his constituents, you and me, were against everything the Texas Association of School Boards advocated for including eliminating racism in the class room and stopping vouchers which would harm our public schools. But don’t take my word for it. Watch the 3 minute video and make your own decision.
The presiding attorney concluded:
It is my recommendation that the grievance and written requested remedy that Trustee Bowen be sanctioned, reprimanded, or asked to resign be denied for the reasons stated herein. Trustee Bowen had a right under Texas law and the United States Constitution, First Amendment, to participate in the legislative process in his individual capacity, and he had a right to identify his title as trustee in doing so. I do not find that he crossed any lines or that he spoke or intended to speak on behalf of the CCISD Board of Trustees.
You can read the entire report here. Maybe next time Bowen will think twice about speaking on behalf of his constituents when he doesn’t have the right to.
Posted by johncoby 
Bay Area Houston 