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
Leave a Comment » | 
Political | Tagged: CCISD | 
Permalink
Posted by johncoby
Who would have thunk it?
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.
Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Ethics | Permalink
Posted by johncoby
White guys. More white guys.
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.
White guys posing as Latinos.
Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Ethics | Permalink
Posted by johncoby
White guys. Their donors are white guys.
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.
| #ProjectREDTX PAC , | 100,000.00 |
| Adam Hinojosa Campaign , | 10,000.00 |
| Alex Mealer Campaign , | 68,000.00 |
| Conservative Hispana In Action , | 38,000.00 |
| Guillen Campaign , | 75,000.00 |
| Hidalgo County Republican Party , | 15,000.00 |
| Hispanic Republicans of Texas PAC , | 175,000.00 |
| Hispanic Republicans of Texas PAC , | 38,000.00 |
| Janie Lopez Campaign , | 10,000.00 |
| John Guerra Campaign , | 5,000.00 |
| John Lujan Campaign For State Representative | 10,000.00 |
| Marc Lahood Campaign , | 5,000.00 |
| Maverick County Republican Party , | 7,000.00 |
| Michelle Lopez for HD 45 Campaign , | 5,000.00 |
| Oscar Rosa Campaign , | 5,000.00 |
| ProjectREDTX , | 400,000.00 |
| ProjectREDTX , | 10,000.00 |
| RightSide , | 6,990.00 |
| Stop Houston Murders , | 150,000.00 |
| Texans for Educational Freedom , | 150,000.00 |
| Texas Federation For Children PAC , | 12,500.00 |
| Texas Latino Conservatives PAC , | 450,000.00 |
| Texas Latino Conservatives PAC , | 184,500.00 |
| Texas Latino Conservatives PAC , | 100,000.00 |
| Texas Latino Conservatives PAC , | 75,000.00 |
| Texas Latino Conservatives PAC , | 48,000.00 |
| Texas Latino Conservatives PAC , | 40,555.00 |
| Texas Latino Conservatives PAC , | 30,000.00 |
| Texas Latino Conservatives PAC , | 11,000.00 |
| Texas Latino Conservatives PAC , | 4,000.00 |
| The Republican Party of Jim Wells County , | 23,500.00 |
2 Comments | Political | Tagged: Ethics | Permalink
Posted by johncoby
I don’t call him “Money” Mayes for nothing.
Senator Middleton is using his wealth to finance campaigns across Texas, hand picking extreme right wing candidates and providing them with funding. His biggest contribution, according to the Texas Ethics Committee, is to himself. Since 2015 Middleton self financed his campaigns for State House and Senate to the tune of $5.7 Million.
Middleton has donated over $9 million to candidates and extreme right wing organizations with over 60% going to his own campaigns. Some of his biggest donations include $300,000 to Louie Gohmert who unsuccessfully ran for Texas Attorney General against Ken Paxton in the Republican Primary. He donated over $60,000 to Galveston’s State Representative Terri Wilson. Wilson raised over 87% of her entire campaign donations from out of district PACs and individuals. He donated a few thousand dollars to the leader of conservative values, State Representative Tony Tinderholt, who has been married 5 times. He donated $186,000 to Carrie Isaac of Dripping Springs.
You can view Middleton’s donations here.
1 Comment | Consumer | Tagged: Ethics | Permalink
Posted by johncoby
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.
1 Comment | Political | Tagged: league city | Permalink
Posted by johncoby
It’s almost funny. Homeowners can voice their opinion at the TWIA meeting July 11 in person or via Zoom. More information is here.
So…back in 2003 I was a consumer advocate and watched as Rick Perry and the Republican Party reformed the home insurance industry. Here is what Perry said after his industry friendly bill passed:
“This comprehensive reform measure will stabilize the home and auto insurance market, rid the insurance industry of fraudulent practices and ensure Texans have access to fair rates offered in a competitive market,”
LOL. How did that work fer ya? Actually not so well. Home insurance rates have since skyrocketed even prior to the post COVID inflationary period. TWIA (Texas Windstorm Insurance Association) has jumped on the opportunity to raise premiums by 20-25%. According to TWIA:
The Rate Adequacy Analysis indicates that TWIA’s current rates are inadequate by 20 percent for residential coverage and 22 percent for commercial coverage.
TWIA was created back in 1971 after Hurricane Celia and was to be the insurance policy of last resort for owners who could not find coverage. At the time insurance companies were removing wind storm protection from their policies. TWIA was created to respond to the situation and was doing just fine until 2003 when insurance reform kicked in. According to the graph provided by TWIA the number of structures covered by TWIA skyrocketed after 2003.
And the rest is history. Luckily our own State Representative Dennis Paul is on the House Committee on Insurance. I am sure he is working hard for those soon to be affected by the TWIA increase. As I said, it’s almost funny.
Leave a Comment » | Consumer | Tagged: Insurance | Permalink
Posted by johncoby
OK. That wasn’t cool.
I was a Karen this week. (My apologies to those named Karen) As a former consumer activist it really grinds my gears when someone tries to wiggle out of taking responsibility for their actions, but acting like a Karen wasn’t the best thing to do.
So, here is the story. I took my Subaru to Clear Lake Subaru. They replaced my transmission under an extended warranty. A while later I took it back in because it felt like it was “slipping”. So they replaced the new transmission with a rebuilt one. A while later I returned, again with the same problem. Turns out it wasn’t the transmission after all. It was an ignition coil. They wanted $600 to fix it. I bought the part of $100, watched a YouTube video on how to fix it, and completed the job in 5 minutes. Needless to say I wasn’t very thrilled, but my car was working just fine. Until….
The transmission pan gasket was leaking. That was why I took it back to Subaru. I should have known better. I sat in the waiting room for 2 hours. I enquired about the status after an hour, then again after 2. The second time I got their attention and they confirmed it was the seal on the transmission that they put it that was the problem. They wanted me to pay $550 to repair it.
Really. Needless to say I tried to explain and remind them of what the had done in the past including misdiagnosing the problem and replacing my new transmission with a rebuilt one. Now, to their credit, they offered to “research” the issue and try to have it replaced but the Karen in me was not happy with that offer and I told them so in many different ways.
So I have contacted Subaru of America, explained the situation, including me acting like a Karen, and asked for help. $550 to replace a gasket on a new transmission is insane. The gasket is a $10 part. Let’s see if Subaru comes through.
3 Comments | Consumer | Tagged: Consumer | Permalink
Posted by johncoby
“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.
1 Comment | Political | Tagged: CCISD, Gun Violence | Permalink
Posted by johncoby
OMG. Where are the “Save the children” people?
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.
Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: CCISD, Gun Violence | Permalink
Posted by johncoby
Bay Area Houston 