CliffsNotes: Trump’s Jan 6 Indictment

August 2, 2023

I took one for the team and read the 45 page indictment against Trump. Here are the highlights.

Everyone who testified are Republicans

  • Everyone who told Trump he lost including his staff, his cabinet members, the AG, the State Secretary of States, State Legislators are all republicans. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.
  • Trump knew he lost. Over and over again he was told he had lost. There was no election fraud. He even admitted it.
  • Pence, Senior leaders of the Justice Department, the Director of National Intelligence, The Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure, Senior White House Attorneys, Senior staffers on the 2020 re-election campaign, State Legislators and officials from 7 states (all republicans), State and Federal Courts, all told Trump there was no election fraud.
  • Everyone in the indictment that testified against Trump are republicans. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.
  • Co-Conspirator #1 is Rudy Giuliani. Co-Conspirator #2 is former Trump lawyer John Eastman, Co-Conspirator #3 is former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, Co-Conspirator #4 is Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark. Co-Conspirator #5 is pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro. Co-Conspirator #6 is unknown. None have been indicted. Yet.

No Election Fraud Found

  • Trump claimed 10,000 dead people voted in Georgia. Republican Secretary of State testified this was false.
  • Trump claimed there were 205,000 more votes than voters in Pennsylvania. Trump’s AG and Deputy AG testified that this was false.
  • Trump claimed there was a suspicious dump of 105,000 votes in Michigan. The AG, Speaker of the house, Majority leader of the Senate testified this was false. (all republicans)
  • Trump claimed there was tens of thousands of double votes in Nevada. The SOS testified this was not true as did the Nevada Supreme Court.
  • Trump claimed that 30,000 non-citizens voted in Arizona. Trump’s campaign manager and the Speaker of the House testified this was not true.Trump claimed that the voting machines in various states were hacked. His AG, Acting AG, Deputy AG, all testified this was not true.
  • Trump paid for a recount in Wisconsin which resulted in more votes for Biden. Trump claimed there were more votes than voters. The AG testified that was not true. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled against Trump.

Fake Electors

  • Trump and his co-conspirators developed a “fake elector” scheme to marshal individuals who would have served as the Defendant’s electors, only if he was successful in flipping the state in seven targeted states Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania,and Wisconsin.
  • This turned out not to be true. The fake electors were to be submitted only to create a fake conspiracy and stop the certification.
  • State officials were enlisted to provide access the fake electors access to the State Capitols.
  • These lists of fake electors were provided to the Senate with help from the Chair of the Republican National Committee.

Illegally Leveraging the Justice System

  • Trump wanted to replace the Acting AG with Co-Conspirator #4, Jeffery Clark, and environmental attorney with no experience with criminal law in order for Clark to stop the certification.
  • Clark issue a letter to the Acting AG, Deputy AG, demanding they sign it falsely claiming the DOJ had found significant election fraud claims. They refused.
  • If Trump had replaced the Acting AG with Clark, he would have sent the letter to the States causing the certification to be stopped.
  • On Jan 3 Clark informed the Acting AG that he was accepting the position. The Acting AG
  • Trump met with Conspirator 4,the Acting Attorney General,the Acting Deputy Attorney General,theJustice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, the White House Counsel,a Deputy White House Counsel, and a Senior Advisor expressing his plan to replace the Acting AG with Clark.
  • Trump was advised it would lead to mass resignations of the Justice Department and his own White House Counsel. Trump relented.

Screwing over Pence

  • Trump on multiple times told Pence to use his ceremonial powers to overturn the election.
  • Pence on multiple times told Trump he did not have the power to do that.
  • On Jan 6 Trump falsley claimed at his rally that Pence refused to follow the law. He turned their anger towards Pence

This is some really fucked up shit folks. You can take an hour of your own time to read the entire indictment here. https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/trump-jan-6-indictment-2020-election/1f1c76972b25c802/full.pdf


Who hasn’t filed campaign finance reports for Houston City races

July 24, 2023

If you are going to run, then run. Or don’t.

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

At Large 5
Chad Cossey

Controller
Orlando Sanchez


Defend Texas PAC that tried to influence the CCISD election

July 19, 2023

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.


Clear Lake State Representative Dennis Paul to quit?

July 18, 2023

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.


Did Dick pull out?

July 17, 2023

Ok. This is weird.

Back in May Former Harris County Dept of Education Trustee, Eric Dick, filed a new Treasurer appointment to run for the Board again. Dick served on the Board then he decided to run for Houston City Council in 2019. He lost that race but not before generating a boat load of controversy. The headline from the Houston Chronicle says it all: “Houston Republican fined $30K for mailers suggesting Black Democrats endorsed him“.

He was not only fined $30,000 but the Ethics Commission referred him to the Texas Bar. I’m not sure what they would do with this but I doubt it would be a Rudy Giuliani outcome.

So today Dick has filed a “Designation of final report” which, according to the Texas Ethics Commission, terminates his newly appointed treasurer and relieves him of the duty to file any more reports. I am just assuming Dick has pulled out of the race. His final report show no money raised or spent during the short period.

I guess if he can find another Treasurer he can refile. Who knows?


Raising Campaign Cash: Houston City Elections FINAL Update

July 14, 2023

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.

JulyJan
CandidateRaisedIn-KindLoansCOHRaisedLoansCOH
Gilbert Garcia$3,290,664$5,000$0$2,895,819
Sheila Jackson Lee$1,218,886$1,398$0$1,033,982
Lee Kaplan$478,479$0$300,000$1,356,488$465,180$200,000$1,164,527
John Whitmire$371,517$0$0$9,893,611$1,148,015$0$10,100,086
Robin Williams$75,100$0$52,700$0$188,995$52,700$188,995
Robert Gallegos$60,348$0$0$151,794$48,837$0$133,471
M J Khan$58,750$0$85,000$108,308$0$15,000$1,453
Derrick Broze$10,827$0$0$6,998
Naoufal Houjami$585$0$0$294
Chanel Mbala$200$0$0$326
Gaylon Caldwell$0$0$0$0
Julian Martinez$0$0$0$0
Theudis Daniel$0$0$0$0
At Large 1
CandidateRaisedIn-KindLoansCOHRaisedLoansCOH
Melanie Miles$189,366$0$50,000$161,052
Conchita Shelly Reyes$80,592$15,994$0$30,577NANANA
Leah Wolfthal$55,961$1,064$0$44,892$43,812$0$24,953
Julian Ramirez$32,671$1,630$20,000$40,892
Kendall Baker$3,795$0$0$1,070
Anthony Dolcefino$0$0$0$0$0$0$0
At Large 2
CandidateRaisedIn-KindLoansCOHRaisedLoansCOH
Nick Hellyar$125,507$6,021$0$135,248$65,854$0$44,710
Danielle Bess$113,550$11,037$0$109,525$0$0$0
Holly Flynn Vilaseca$109,182$3,958$0$89,585
Marina Coryat$12,050$0$0$9,914$13,714$0$1,562
Willie Davis$9,500$0$0$9,500
Obioha “Obes” Nwabara$20,316$0$20,000$0
At Large 3
CandidateRaisedIn-KindLoansCOHRaisedLoansCOH
Twila Carter$160,485$0$4,000$190,096$85,926$4,000$78,768
Richard Cantu$38,623$5,000$10,000$30,038
Casey Curry$18,212$850$0$15,670
James Joseph$10,060$0$102,755$82,351
Donnell Cooper$23,977$0$0$9,189$25,977$0$9,189
Ericka McCrutcheon$2,725$0$0$920
Bernard “Bernardo” Amadi$0$0$0$0
Ethan Michelle Ganz$0$0$0$0
Richard Nguyen$0$0$0$0
At Large 4
CandidateRaisedIn-KindLoansCOHRaisedLoansCOH
Letitia Plummer$57,814$0$7,000$100,392$4,125$0$24,741
John Branch$4,358$0$0$752
Roy Morales$18,435$1,417$205$12,854$0$5,838$0
At Large 5
CandidateRaisedIn-KindLoansCOHRaisedLoansCOH
Sally Alcorn$166,625$0$0$406,170$155,531$0$206,273
Chad Cossey$0$0$0$0
District E
CandidateRaisedIn-KindLoansCOHRaisedLoansCOH
Martina Lemond Dixon$18,064$0$0$13,871$254$100$84
Fred Flickinger$13,126$0$103,000$101,186$0$50,000$0
Controller
CandidateRaisedIn-KindLoansCOHRaisedLoansCOH
Chris Hollins$528,576$12,136$0$639,806$167,034$0$1,062,754
Shannan Nobles$64,458$0$50,000$30,975
Dave Martin$1,850$0$0$152,495$8,250$0$161,851
Orlando Sanchez$0$0$0$0


WTF is wrong with you? Latinos for Trump

July 14, 2023

Pendejos

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.


Clear Lake’s State Representative rated as “furniture”

July 12, 2023
Illustration by Neil Jamieson

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.


Who is funding the Texas Latino Conservatives PAC? You will be surprised. Again.

July 12, 2023

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 PAC977,000.00
Weekley ,Richard281,800.00
Mc Nair ,Cary163,000.00
Duncan ,Jan105,000.00
Crow ,Harlan100,000.00
Rowling ,Robert B.100,000.00
Harris County Republican Party65,000.00
Swinbank ,Joseph B.30,000.00
Levine ,Herbert16,000.00
Grimes County Republican Party10,000.00
Texas GOP PAC8,000.00
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.


Who is funding the Latino Coalition por for Texas PAC? You will be surprised.

July 11, 2023

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 ,Harlan500,000.00
Crow ,Harlan250,000.00
Popolo ,Joseph50,000.00
Rees-Jones ,Trevor D.500,000.00
Rowling ,Robert250,000.00
Weekley ,Richard250,000.00
Weekley ,Richard250,000.00
Weekley ,Richard250,000.00
Hillwood Development Co250,000.00
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 Representative10,000.00
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