The Texan Podcast - Weekly Roundup - January 7, 2022

Episode Date: January 7, 2022

This week on The Texan’s “Weekly Roundup,” the team discusses Beto O’Rourke blaming the governor for child COVID hospitalizations, Abbott suing the Biden administration, a federal judge blocking a vaccine and mask mandate for the Head Start program, the state announcing a shortage in monoclonal antibody treatments, a lawsuit over vaccine requirements for Navy SEALs sees progress, new state laws taking effect, campaigns across Texas taking shape, the secretary of state delivering data on voter rolls, Sen. Ted Cruz's Biden impeachment comments, the attorney general being sued over the state’s new election law, a Central Texas school district facing controversy over a superintendent scandal, and Dallas County looking to provide taxpayer-funded “affordable housing” with county-owned properties.

Happy Friday and Happy New Year. Senior Editor Mackenzie Taylor here bringing you the first news roundup of 2022. This week, Beto O'Rourke blames the governor for child COVID hospitalizations. Abbott sues the Biden administration. A federal judge blocks a vaccine and mask mandate for the Head Start program. The state announces a shortage in monoclonal antibody treatments. A lawsuit over vaccine requirements for Navy SEALs sees progress. New state laws take effect. Campaigns across Texas take shape.

The Secretary of State delivers data on voter rolls. Cruz makes Biden impeachment comments. The Attorney General is sued over the state's new election law. A Central Texas school district faces controversy over a superintendent scandal. And Dallas County looks to provide taxpayer-funded affordable housing with county-owned properties. Thanks for listening. Have a wonderful weekend.

Howdy, folks. Welcome back. Happy New Year. I'm here with Hayden Sparks, Brad Johnson, Daniel Friend, Isaiah Mitchell, and Holly Hanson joining us from Harris County. Now, Holly, I do want to shout you out real fast. You have a brand new Christmas present that you get to utilize this podcast. I do. I'm super excited. I have this handy new microphone. It is not golden, but it's very functional. I like it. And your son, I believe, was the one to so thoughtfully give that to you. Is that correct? Yes. My son slash tech support. He's only home for the holidays. So after this, who knows what will happen?

I love it. Well, I love that you're actually getting to utilize it. Happy New Year, everyone. I'm glad y'all are able to join us this week. Let's go ahead and jump into the news. I always say we have a lot to cover, but we really do have a lot to cover this week. So Brad, we're going to go ahead and start with you. Democrat Beto O'Rourke is back in the news. He put out a statement of alarm about COVID trends this week and blamed Governor Abbott specifically for the increase in child hospitalizations. Tell us about that. Yeah, so Beto put out a statement, like an email blast, and part of it was, he said this as his quote, COVID hospitalizations in Texas barb, as we're going to be accustomed to during campaign season. But after that, I wanted to look at what the state of child hospitalizations actually was. And so as of the release, this was Monday night, Tuesday, there were 276 children hospitalized with COVID across the entire

state. Now, that was a 200% increase from around Christmas Day. And that was a number that was put in this release. But overall, it only accounts for about 3.7% of the total hospitalizations at that time. When I checked again yesterday, the percentage had remained basically the same, even though the number of children went up to just above 300, but also the overall number of hospitalizations jumped as well. So right now we're seeing cases surge as the Omicron variant spreads, but all data seems to indicate so far that it is a less severe but more contagious variant as the past ones. And so we're seeing it being used as political rhetoric right now. Yeah, absolutely. Now let's talk through hospitalization, what constitutes a hospitalization.

This has been the subject of some debate in political circles. And even just for those who are confused about what's happening with Omicron right now, talk to us about what constitutes a hospitalization so that we know where these numbers are coming from. Yeah. Yeah. So the state data itself, it is called COVID hospitalizations with COVID. And that's worded specifically because they count anyone who is in the hospital that happens to test positive for COVID. So they test anybody that goes in the hospital, regardless of what the reason is they're in.

And, uh, you know, you could be in there for a broken arm. And if you test positive for COVID, you're accounted in the DSHS data as that. And that's a directive from, uh, I, the CDC that set the guideline for that nationwide. And so, yeah, so it's an over, it's an inflated number, even based on what DSHS publishes, even that 3.7% is inflated. And we saw, I think it was last week, Anthony Fauci, who has been one of the biggest spokesmen on this issue during the last two years, really. He's been out there all the time daily. He even acknowledged that these are inflated numbers. And so, yeah, I think that's very important context to note when seeing these claims put out there. Well, thank you for covering that for us, Brad. We'll continue to watch, one, how these gubernatorial candidates go after each other

politically, especially in terms of the COVID pandemic, but how these hospitalizations are actually being counted. And Daniel Friend has done a lot of reporting on this. Speaking of Daniel, let's jump to your segment here. The governor announced yet another lawsuit against the Biden administration this week. What was this one for? This one was once again about another vaccine mandate. We've seen, I feel like it's been dozens of these types of lawsuits already, and so we're seeing another one. This one is specific to the Texas National Guard. The governor issued an executive order months ago, back in August, that prohibited government entities in the state from issuing a vaccine mandate in Texas, but there has been some debate

over whether that applies to the Texas National Guard as a whole or all members of it or what members it applies to. So just to give you a little bit of a recap on the timeline of this issue, we've written about it in the past. Both Brad and Kim have written about that and have done some good articles on it. But the brief timeline of it was after Governor Abbott issued his executive order around the same time the DOD issued a military-wide vaccine mandate, basically saying that if you're in the military, you need to be vaccinated to stay in the military. The Texas Military Department Adjutant General Tracy Norris issued a directive to the National Guard members telling them to

follow the vaccine mandate or to apply for an exemption based on the timelines that the DOD had issued. Abbott then sent a letter to Norris stating that his ban on vaccine mandates applied to the National Guard, as well as, you know, all the other entities that were fighting it, like local school boards and different cities, municipalities, every entity in the state. So after that, then in November, the DoD issued another memorandum that asserted that all members of the National Guard for each of the 50 states that have them, including those that are members that are active under Title 32 orders, which is different than Title 10 orders. The debate being whether it's a little bit more members who are kind of under the directive of the state

versus members who are called to service, called to duty, under the national banner, so to speak. So the DOD was basically saying, whether you're Title 10 or Title 32, you need to comply with this mandate or you could potentially risk losing federal funding because, of course, the DOD does provide of under the more of the national side of things, would need to comply with a mandate. And also they had noted that members could potentially lose drill pay because the DoD would have the authority to withhold that from them, you know, based on whatever they want, really. So also after the DoD issued their memorandum, then in December, Governor Abbott sent a letter to the

DoD essentially disagreeing with the position that they were asserting and kind of saying that they had authority over these Title 32 members. And essentially, he was just threatening legal recourse, which is what we've seen played out this week when Governor Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton filed this new lawsuit. Now, have there been any other challenges to the DOD's mandate over National Guards? Yes. So we saw a similar one recently in Oklahoma. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt brought a similar challenge to the DOD after it issued its memorandum in November. That made its way through the court process. And then a district court in Oklahoma rejected a request for a preliminary injunction last week. So Texas's lawsuit kind of comes on the run and work its way up to appellate courts and possibly the Supreme Court. But of course, you know, there's lots of vaccine lawsuits to keep

track of. And this is yet another one. We're covering all the vaccine and COVID news right up front on the podcast this week. Daniel, thank you. So speaking of vaccine mandates, Isaiah, we're going to come to you. A federal judge in Texas blocked the Biden administration's vaccine and mask mandate for the Head Start program recently. Now, before we get into all this legal stuff, explain to us what the Head Start program is for those who may not know. So Head Start is a federal program. It operates around the country and it's meant to help low-income children under the age of five prepare for school after pre-K. And it usually just boils down to a federal pre-K program. It commonly operates through regular local schools as pre-K classes.

One of those participants is Lubbock ISD, which joined the state of Texas in suing the Biden administration, in particular the Department of Health and Human Services, which runs Head Start, for the requirement that everybody above the age of two in the program wear a mask, and that all employees or volunteers in Head Start, who are not federal employees, by the way, be vaccinated for COVID. Got it. Now, most people remember President Biden himself making an announcement that federal employees would have to get the COVID vaccine. But how did the actual rule get promulgated in Head Start? So, like I said, HHS runs Head Start.

And like every federal program, they've got performance standards that do get into the nitty-gritty of how clean the building should be and employee standards and things like that. And so the mask and vaccine requirements were promulgated in those rules as a condition of funding. So in other words, the program overall for states will not get funding unless they enforce this rule that all the participants, the attendees and workers be masked and all the workers be vaccinated for COVID. In addition to that, if you want to get to smaller and smaller layers, the workers themselves had to get the vaccine as a condition of employment. In other words, they'd get fired if they don't comply. And children have to mask as a condition of attendance. In other words, they can't attend if they don't wear masks.

And so that's how the rule got promulgated just in federal rules, rules is the technical term, performance standards for the program. What was Judge Hendricks' reasoning? Yeah, I forgot to mention that it was Judge James Wesley Hendricks, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, which includes Lubbock. He's the one that issued the injunction that stops the enforcement of this rule in Texas. In a nutshell, he wrote that an agency cannot act without congressional authorization. So under his interpretation, it's one thing for HHS to tweak performance standards. For example, states themselves have long mandated, Texas included, that children get certain vaccines and shots to participate in childcare programs. So it's one thing for them to tweak performance standards along those lines, but it's another thing entirely to mandate a medical procedure

as a condition of funding and hiring and for children with regards to masks participation, which is something that they've never done before. So he interpreted that that kind of sweeping action would have to require congressional authorization. And he further contemplated that Congress could have considered this in the many COVID-related bills and stimulus packages that have strings attached that they've passed so far, but they haven't. Well, Isaiah, thank you for explaining all of that to us. We'll certainly keep an eye. Brad, let's continue on this topic. The state of Texas announced recently an issue with certain treatment for coronavirus that has become quite popular here in Texas and other red states as well. But what did they say? What's the issue?

Yeah. So the DSHS, Department of State Health Services, announced multiple infusion centers are running low on supplies of monoclonal antibody treatments. They announced this just before the new year. And that treatment is used to, quote, restore, enhance, or mimic the immune system's response to viruses. So different from a vaccine, it treats the symptoms of a particular disease or virus. And the shortage itself stems from the federal government shutting down shipments of it back in November, citing their lack of effect on the Omicron variant. There were three brands of this antibody treatment. And two of them they found specifically not to have any effect against the Omicron variant.

And so they just halted them all to study them more, I suppose. But then after studying them, they found that one, Sotromivab, it's a very pharmaceutical name, that it does have an effect against Omicron. So they restarted it in December. Reportedly, 55,000 doses of it were delivered throughout the states around Christmas time. And another 300,000 will be shipped across the country this month. So that's the situation as it stands. How did officials react to this? Well, when asked not about this issue specifically, but about the new wave of COVID coming

by reporters, President Joe Biden said, quote, there is no federal solution. This gets solved at a state level. My message to the governors is simple. If you need something, say something. We're going to have your back any way we can. And this kind of fell on deaf ears in Texas to some of the, especially Republicans here, and especially concerning this monoclonal antibody treatment issue. Governor Abbott issued a retort and he said that President Biden vows full federal support to help states combat COVID, but he's not. Biden is hoarding the antibody therapeutic drugs and denying states independent access to that treatment. Now he has stopped providing any of that medicine to Texas. And another state official, Congressman Chip Roy,

penned a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and he said, basically called on the HHS to release more antibody treatments, saying it is essential that your, or sorry, the decisions your department made surrounding the monoclonal antibody treatment supply chain changes caused immediate disruptions to that treatment access. And disruptions have only gotten worse as COVID-19 has continued to circulate through our communities. And so, as I mentioned before, there's more dosage being shipped out this month, but we'll see if that gets ramped up at all. And when the congressman is saying the decisions your department is making, he's pending this to the president, correct? Well, the president and then the HHS specifically because they're the department that put the hold on this treatment, at least the temporary hold.

But yes, ultimately, he's pointing the finger at President Biden. The executive branch at large. Yep. Awesome, Brad. Thank you. Daniel, this, I believe, is our last COVID story of the day. But a few months ago, First Liberty Institute filed a lawsuit in a Texas federal court on behalf of several Navy SEALs who were denied religious exemptions to the military vaccine mandate. What's the latest update in that case? Yes. First Liberty Institute is a Plano-based organization that focuses on legal cases

involving religious liberty. And this is one of the cases that they have been fighting for. They filed it in a Northern District Federal District Court of Texas. They were basically arguing in favor of several Navy SEALs as well as some currently do without facing the repercussions for not force the vaccine upon them, essentially, and that they needed to consider their request for religious exemptions. What was the reasoning behind the court's decision? O'Connor's reasoning was largely in line with the arguments that First Liberty made. The two big things, of course, that come into play with this are the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment itself. He noted, as the plaintiffs also noted in their filing,

that members were willing to take other protocols, such as social distancing and masking. Those were measures that worked largely before the vaccines were available. And the members who were requesting exemptions were willing to continue doing those things in order to continue in their jobs as they had been. He also noted that many members had tested positive for antibodies suggesting that they had some sort of natural immunity and, uh, also that there had been medical exemptions granted as well. And so based on those things, uh, he essentially said that the government does not have a compelling interest that really outweighs these, uh, religious liberty, uh, aspects that the plaintiffs have. He also emphasized the importance of the First Amendment saying, quote, the Navy service members in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect. The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to

abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our constitution. What's next in the lawsuit? Where do we go from here? Well, we know how court cases usually go. There will likely be an appeal to this by the government and the court battle will continue on. But in the meantime, there is an injunction against the DOD and the military so that they cannot impose these mandates on the members in the case. So we'll see what happens

from here. But right now, it was a win for the Navy SEALs. Yeah, absolutely. We'll keep an eye on that. Daniel, thank you for your reporting. Isaiah, we're coming to you. You wrote a piece that started the new year detailing some new laws that went into effect on January 1st. Why don't you highlight just a few of those and walk us through them? Yeah, there were 23 new state laws that took effect on New Year's Day. We didn't go over all of them extensively, just a select few that seemed to be the most important. Probably the flashiest one is the one that its sponsors have dubbed the Back the Blue Act, SB 23. It requires the state's biggest counties to hold

an election before significantly cutting police department funds. Brad followed this one a lot, and he can tell you it was originally written to include all municipalities and counties. And by the time it actually crossed the goal line and took effect, it now only applies to counties with a population of more than a million people. So in those counties, as of January 1st, they have to have an election, local election, before significantly cutting police department funds. There is also alcohol to go. It's a big flashy one. There's a law that I think is in that same vein that took effect, SB 9-11. Before it took effect, state law did not have a definition of restaurant in terms of alcohol

revenue. And so when Governor Greg Abbott shut down bars, he distinguished them from restaurants by defining a bar as a business that receives more than 51% of its income from the sale of alcohol. But that wasn't in statute. That was just in his executive order. And so SB 9-11 actually defines restaurant in the alcoholic beverage code in state law, that portion of state law. So that's a response to another COVID phenomenon, if you will. There is a pretty big omn to the eminent domain process with a special focus on private companies that use eminent domain to acquire the land of private individual property owners. There's always fun discussions about – This is sponsored by

Republicans, by the way. Senator Kohlkost has been pushing this issue for years, and there's always fun discussions about Republican attention to private business and how that's changed recently. That's for another time. But House Bill 2730 first requires the Attorney General to review the Landowners' Bill of Rights every two years and receive public comment. After January 1st, the Bill of Rights for Landowners will also include the right to file a complaint against a registered easement or right-of-way agent. Those agents will also have to undergo new education and training with the Texas Real Estate Commission under the law. Land agents that offer owners inadequate bids for compensation can have their licenses revoked under the same law that lets the commission discipline them for dishonest stealing or fraud. And there are some other changes to the eminent domain law, state law. And you can check out the article

and read those. There was quite a few that had to do with property taxes. And every time for the most part that these go through the legislature, they become Christmas trees. I didn't come up with this metaphor. I don't know who did, but these are bills that when they go through the whole group effort process and amendments on the floor or in committee, when changes are made, lawmakers decide they're going to hang their own changes onto it. And so initially simple bills look very different by the time they're actually passed. And we described a few of those there. My favorite one that was not a Christmas tree because it was just too simple and too perfect was one that directs the property value appraiser to exclude chicken coops and rabbit pens meant

for personal food consumption from the value of a property. I know many people that have been waiting on Justice Bill. It has the goal of alleviating the property tax burden. And so that's a fun one. But we've got a couple others in there that are more substantial and deeper analyses of the bigger ones, like the back of the blue bill and imminent demand and so forth. Anytime we can put the words chicken coop in a headline is always a fun time. You take that chance. You absolutely take that chance and you run with it.

Yeah. Well, Isaiah, thanks for covering that for us. Definitely a great piece to check out if you're curious what laws went into effect come January 1st. to watch in the congressional, Senate, Texas House fields here in the state. Walk us through some of the top races to watch, what you're looking at come the primary season in these three categories. Yes. I saw as we were filling out our podcast docket that you had put a note that to do just a quick plug of the piece. And I don't know why you don't want me to talk for an hour about these at least 35 races that will be some competitive primaries for some open seats. Well, see, here's the thing. I know you were, if I allowed it, I know you would just be like, oh my gosh, I have so much to talk about. There's so much interesting fodder here. And so I,

I'm sorry, I have to put some sort of limit on this conversation. And even with that, I'm probably going to go around it because I don't want to talk about just one race in each thing. I'll point out some good ones, but I won't take too long. We'll place bets over here in the chat and see what we think about that. Okay. Yeah. Well, we'll see. I can do this quick. I believe in you. We'll start with the congressional side of things.

Work our way from the top to the bottom. That's how we publish them in that order. It's also a little bit easier because there's a lot fewer congressional races than there are state house races. The thing with the congressional races is that there's several retirements this cycle. So we have Representative Kevin Brady and Representative Vilemon Vela. Both of them are retiring. You have also Representative Eddie Brady's Johnson up in Dallas retiring. So you have some different seats like that, which will be interesting to watch. But I think the one key race to watch in the congressional race, this is going to be the most competitive district based on redistricting. This is what Republicans drew

as kind of the battleground. They're making South Texas their battleground. And the fight will really be in Texas's 15th congressional district, which does stretch essentially down from the center of South Texas, just a very long strip of counties there. And that district is kind of up in the air. It's a bit of a toss-up district. It is trending towards Republicans. If you look at past election results, Governor Greg Abbott carried it in 2018 with 49.5%. No, that's not right. Governor Greg Abbott's challenger carried it with 49.5%. So it was a very close race there for Democrats. But in 2020, Trump actually carried the district with 50.9%. And Senator John Cornyn carried it

with 50.8%. So it is trending toward Republican sum. It's shifted from a D54% district to a D52% district. So that has been an interesting change through redistricting. It's definitely going to be a race to watch and that's both for the primary for republicans and democrats and the general election that will be the one big race in the congressional side of things with the state senate there's a couple things to watch there are a bunch of open seats with different primary races the thing i think that will be interesting in all of those is going to essentially be, does Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick get all the people that he wants in the Senate in the Senate?

And so he has endorsed people in all these really Republican open primary races. So we'll see if all of those win. They are kind of seen as the front runners in each of those races. So we'll see if that holds true. The one toss-up I think that people will be watching is also in South Texas, SD27, which is currently held by Representative Eddie Lucio Jr. That is going to be another race to watch. It does favor Democrats a little bit more than Texas' 15th congressional district. But we'll also see there will be competitive primaries, both on the Republican and Democrat side, and also the general election. So that's another race to watch. In the House, things will be a little bit more interesting because there are 26 open seats. So there's going to be a bunch of contested primary

races. There's also going to be a bunch of primary challengers. There's 30 primary challengers for Republicans, and there's 10 Democrats who are also facing Republican challengers, including two in El Paso who are running against each other thanks to redistricting. So that one will be a fun race to watch. The most competitive race, in my view, will be up in Collin County in HD70. That used to be Representative Scott Sanford's district. He's retiring, and they redrew his seat to basically be the southwestern part of the district. And that is going to be the most competitive district in the state. It is going to be a contested Republican primary and a contested Democratic primary. And, of course, the general election

will also be interesting just to see which way that swings. So those are kind of the three races that I would say keep an eye on for both the primary and general election. But there are also a huge number of other districts that will be interesting, especially in the primary. The primaries will be a lot more interesting this year than the general election, but for the general election, those three seats will also be pretty interesting. Daniel, I am so proud of you. Truly, I am. I tried. Yeah, it's bringing me to tears. I'm on the verge of showing emotion over here. That's a lie. If you couldn't see my face, maybe I'd be able to feign it. Well, thank you, Holly and Hayden. We have not gotten to either of you yet. You've both

been so patient and I appreciate your patience through all of this. Holly, let's test out that brand new microphone. Let's talk with you about some Harris County news. The Texas Secretary of State released a progress report last week on the first phase of what is to be a full forensic audit of four counties, the two most populous Republican counties and the two most populous Democrat counties in the state for a full forensic audit. The audit is not even close to being completed, but this is phase one that they have reported on now. And a lot of media outlets reported very quickly that there wasn't much to it. And to be fair, you know, some of these looking at discrepancies in voter accounts, it didn't yield a whole lot. I think the largest discrepancy they found was in Collin County. It was a discrepancy of about 17 votes.

But it's important to note that this partial manual recount only applies to 1% of each of these counties. So just a few precincts were selected for this partial manual recount. The report also notes that Harris County in particular will not be subject or they will not be able to do a manual hand count because the machines that Harris County was using in the November 2020 elections do not have any kind of paper ballots associated with them. So it's simply not possible. But I think the thing that most people were more interested in was the analysis of the voter registration rolls. And there were some interesting numbers that the SOS reported from that. There were potentially 257,000 deceased voters on the State. And there were potentially 1,628 felony voters found and canceled by the Secretary of State's office. So I think that's what was very

interesting to many folks who are concerned about election integrity in the state of Texas. For sure. Now talk to us about what the Secretary of State has done with the data and how have the counties responded? Right. So in some cases, the Secretary of State could move to cancel the registration, such as the deceased voters. But in the case of the potential non-citizen voters, what they did is they notified the counties about these non-citizen voters' potentials for them to investigate and check up on. And what happens next is the county then is responsible for notifying these people, usually by mail, that they may potentially be listed as non-citizen voters. And then those people have 30 days to respond. If they don't respond within 30 days, then the registrations can be canceled. But here's the big caveat is that you cannot cancel these voter registrations within 90 days of a federal election. And so we are within that 90 day window of the primary elections. And so none of these are going to be canceled. What's interesting is that some of the counties did respond to the Secretary of State's office

and let them know that they're moving forward with investigating these potential non-citizen voter registrations. Harris County was not one of them. And as far as we know, they have not canceled any of the more than 3,000 voter registrations that are potentially non-citizens. We always have to put that word potential because they do have to investigate to make sure it's a correct record. I did call the elections division here in Harris County, and they did say that they would be proceeding,

they would be sending out those letters, but they had not reported that information to the Secretary of State's office in time for this report. Now, talk to us a little bit about when this phase two of the audit will take place and what else the Secretary of State investigators look for. I also would love if you'd kind of speak to, I think it's easy to see a headline like this and see, oh my gosh, these voter rolls are a mess, right? And kind of speak to, okay, what's administrative? What could be potentially malicious? We don't really know, but walk us through a little bit of that as well, because folks on both sides of this debate will draw conclusions when they see numbers like this.

Of course. And the Secretary of State's office is very careful to state that just because they found these problematic registrations, that does not necessarily mean that these people voted. And in some cases, they are investigating to see how many of these people may have voted. You know, the problem, of course, is if they do find fraudulent votes, they would then normally refer those to the Attorney General's office. But the Attorney General's ability to act on these fraudulent votes is in limbo right now. So that's another angle to the story. But in the spring, the Secretary of State's office and seal certificates, hand delivery of ballots. So they're really going to be trying to analyze some of what happened in the November 2020 elections. In the case of Harris County, Harris County Commissioner's Court did approve a measure

instructing the county's attorney to seek to block the audit. County Judge Lena Hidalgo called any audit attempts a political trick that were designed to, she said, undermine faith in the elections. And so we do not know at this point how well Harris County or any of the other counties, Dallas, will cooperate with this audit. So it'll be interesting to see what happens. And again, you know, we're not sure how, you know, if they find something, how that may be prosecuted, because that's sort of in limbo. And I believe Hayden this week wrote a story about the Attorney General has filed an emergency motion trying to get a rehearing of the case that says basically he cannot prosecute election fraud in the state of

Texas. Absolutely. Now, Hayden, I'm going to loop you in on this real fast. You and Holly can both speak to this. But the reason this is all in limbo in the first place, Hayden, is why? Give us a quick, quick rundown of why this is even a conversation we're having about the Attorney General's extension of power. There was a statute that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, or there is a statute that the court ruled is unconstitutional because they believe it violates the separation of powers. And this law is the source of the Attorney General's power to prosecute election crimes himself instead of leaving it to county and district attorneys. So he has filed a

motion for a rehearing on that decision. But as of now, the court has prevented AG Paxton from taking any action on election crimes on that basis. Well, that was delightful. Delightfully succinct. Thank you, Hayden. Holly, thanks for covering that for us. Hayden, we're going to continue chatting with you here. Finally, again, you've been so patient. Let's talk about a pretty spicy little story, some spicy comments from our junior senator here in Texas. What did Ted Cruz have to say about the possible impeachment of Joe Biden? What's good for the goose is good for the gander, was exactly what he had to say. He hearkened and I was corrected this week that it's harking back, not hearkening back. So thanks Isaiah for helping me with that.

But he was harking back to the impeachment of Donald Trump and the political nature of what he believed to be the political nature of that impeachment. He made the comment at the time that people could expect an impeachment proceeding against a future Democratic president if Republicans took the reins of power in Congress, because Trump was impeached not once, but twice. The first time was in December 2019. He was impeached on a charge of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power over his alleged interference with foreign aid to Ukraine, making it contingent on whether they helped, the Ukrainian government helped Trump find political dirt on President Biden, then candidate Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden.

He was, Trump was, of course, ultimately acquitted on those charges in the Senate, and Mitt Romney was the only Republican to vote to convict him on those counts. And then after the riot in the US Capitol, he was impeached again, again, on largely a partisan basis. And though he was acquitted in the Senate, 57 voted for his guilt, including seven Republicans. But of course, you need two-thirds in the Senate to convict. So Cruz discussed the Trump impeachment and stated that the border crisis would be a possible basis for an impeachment if Republicans take control. That basis would be that he has allegedly violated his oath to take care that the laws be faithfully executed because there are so many illegal crossings on the southern border.

Cruz did say there could be multiple grounds for impeachment, but that one would be one of the most compelling. Very interesting to see the border be cited as a potential grounds for such an action. Now, could the president be impeached and what would that entail? Talk us through that process. The most likely circumstance under which Joe Biden is impeached is if Republicans take control of the House, which Cruz said is overwhelmingly likely and even assumed in some DC circles right now that he will take back the House or Republicans will take back the House. But if that occurs, Republicans could impeach him with a simple

majority. An impeachment is like an indictment. It's bringing charges against someone and that does not require two-thirds of the House. It requires only a majority vote. However, in the Senate, which Cruz put it about a toss-up, in his opinion, whether Republicans take control of the Senate, the president, if he was impeached, there would need to be 67 votes for conviction in order for a finding of guilt, which would be unlikely, almost impossible politically, if the Democrats have anything to do with that. So the process is intended to remove the president or bar him from office in the future. And of course, no criminal penalty could be assessed, but it wouldn't, almost certainly wouldn't get that far because a conviction would require

many Democratic votes, which is virtually impossible politically. And it's certainly, you know, conjecture at this point. A lot of things have to happen before anything along those lines is moved forward upon. But interesting to see a sitting senator make those kinds of claims, even if it's even if it is, you know, somewhat of an opposite political party wielding a pretty large megaphone in the country. So, Hayden, thanks for covering that for us. Certainly spicy at the very least. Holly, let's go back to you.

Last month, the Harris County Elections Administrator filed a new lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton, someone we're very familiar with in these instances regarding the state's new election reform law. What is this lawsuit about? And how is this different from other suits that have been filed up until this point? Yeah, so this lawsuit is a little bit different. There have been quite a few filed about SB1, the state's new election reform law. Most of those have been consolidated, though, under a case that's now called Lupe. I think I'm saying that right. But this is a different one. This is filed by Isabel Longoria. She is the appointed Harris County Elections Administrator. And she is filing this in her personal capacity along with a volunteer voter

registrar who operates in Travis and Williamson counties by the name of Kathy Morgan. So Longoria and Morgan are targeting just one aspect of SB1. And this is the provision that says they cannot send out those unsolicited mail ballot applications to all voters. And a lot of these provisions in SB1 did stem from things that Harris County in particular tried to do during the 2020 general election. So you have drive-through voting, you have 24-hour voting, and also this plan to send out these mail ballot applications to people regardless of their eligibility. What Longoria and Morgan are arguing is that this is a restriction on their First Amendment rights to free speech. And they're saying that since they cannot encourage people to use mail ballots, but are not prohibited from discouraging people from using mail ballots,

that this is somehow an infringement on their free speech rights. They've actually asked for an injunction that would allow them to send out mail ballot applications prior to the 2022 primary election. So they would like to do that here very quickly. And so we're expecting to see a federal judge respond in short order. Now, how has the Attorney General, Attorney General Ken Paxton, responded to all of this? Right. So this week, Ken Paxton filed an opposing motion. I think that's the correct term. Not entirely sure. But so Paxton is saying, well, you know, Longoria is a plaintiff in all of these other lawsuits that have already been consolidated under Lupe.

And part of the agreement between all of the attorneys, and there are quite a number of attorneys involved in this and quite a number of different plaintiffs involved. But under the agreement, they would not seek any injunctions prior to the primary elections. And so that was agreed to by this party, including some of the same attorneys who are representing Longoria and Morgan in this particular case. Harris County, of course, has been pushing the envelope, if you will, to expand access to mail ballots or what we would typically call absentee ballots in the state of Texas. Absentee ballots, of course, in the state of Texas have been restricted to people who are 65 or older,

who are ill or incapacitated, or will actually be out of the county during the election period. So they have been pretty restrictive. And there are concerns, and Paxton has brought these out, with securing mail ballots and checking identification. Of course, you know, it's very difficult to check identification on a mail ballot. And it's also difficult to prevent so-called mail ballot harvesting. And so Paxton is fighting this motion and will fight this lawsuit as well. Well, Holly, thank you for following that. We'll continue to keep an eye on basically everything that goes on after this point. And I'm certain that the attorney general will have a lot to say going forward.

So thank you so much. Isaiah, another spicy story here. Lots of scandal going on. But Round Rock ISD may choose a new superintendent. What makes this process unusual or distinct for the district? Well, the district has had a TEA monitor for a couple years now. And TEA monitor's job is to oversee, when they're district-wide, is to that the school board place the superintendent Hafer Azaiz on leave pending a local law enforcement investigation. And the cops are investigating Azaiz for assault after a woman tried to get her to get an abortion for their unborn child.

And when she refused, Azaiz gripped her by the arms and threw her down. And so that was her declaration and the restraining order that she got. So they actually made decide, the board made decide to find an interim superintendent by the time this podcast comes out on Friday, their meeting on Thursday at 7 PM. That's tonight for us recording to discuss this recommendation. They met already on Monday,

heard a lot of public comment and ended the meeting without action, except to plan another meeting for Thursday with the same topic, but also the new part to discuss and consider finding an interim superintendent. So in other words, they might take up this recommendation by the TEA to put Isaiah, the current superintendent on leave and find a placeholder. How much of a bombshell is this TEA letter? Well, what really thickens the plot is that some parents and two of the seven board members How much of a bombshell is this TEA letter? the board members, Daniel Weston and Mary Bone have carved out a reputation as outsiders based on other issues, largely relating to politically charged topics like COVID with regards to mask

mandates and stuff like that. They generally have their own little caucus and the rest of the five have theirs. And one could argue that that began with the hiring of Azaiz. They were the only two to vote against naming him the lone finalist. And he hasn't had the job for a while. That was fairly recent. But they claim that they were approached by the woman claiming to be his mistress in July. And that shortly afterward, they, well, the woman, they say, told her, Weston and Bone, her accusations against Azaiz. And afterwards, they attempted to connect her with the rest of the board so that the board could hear. And when August rolled around, they sent out a press release claiming that the board had refused to hear this woman's claims. So there was that.

That was back in August 3rd. That's when they sent out that press release. So that's, you know's intra-board disputes. Outside the board, just in the public, there's a father who's active in some political circles on the Republican side and Jeremy Story, who was arrested at a board meeting a little while ago when he attempted... Well, I'm mixing things up. He was removed by police from a board meeting, not arrested at a board meeting, when he was bringing up these accusations during public comment. And the board said that they weren't relevant to the topic at hand. And so they had police remove him. And he was shortly thereafter arrested, not by RRISD police, but he claims that the board was involved in his arrest

and directed it. And he was released the next day. But he was kicked out of a board by RISD police for bringing the topic to their attention. So, and he's not the only parent that has been ringing the bell on this for a little while. It's concerned a lot of parents, but it's also important to note that there's a political backdrop to all of this, generally, that we can get into here in a little bit if you want. Yeah, let's talk about that. So talk to us about how the board and the public are split on this, on the superintendent. At the risk of oversimplification, generally, Weston and Bone and the crowd that opposes Azaiz, they tend to be on the right. And the rest of the five board members and their supporters who also tend to support Azaiz tend to be on the left. And a lot of that

has to do with the board majorities and Azaiz's COVID strategy. Azaiz and the majority of the board supported mask mandates and a somewhat creative mask mandate-ish that I've seen called the mask matrix in a lot of circles and different districts were experimenting with that. What they ended up with was tying mask requirements to Travis County health orders or health recommendations. We've got other articles on that. But with this COVID policy, virtual learning is another big part of that. He was a big proponent early on for virtual learning before the legislature passed the bill regulating that. And so there are a lot of parents on the left in the community that support Azaiz for that and stand with the majority of the board that also stands with Azaiz.

There are other parents, again, more on the right, who already had a negative disposition to Azaiz because of those same proposals that the board went through with. And so generally, that's the political backdrop to this as well, is that it's important to note that these are elected officials, they're not neutral figures, and they gather their fans and their critics early on with political actions. Stuff like this shakes out. The divisions are made about the meeting. If y'all go watch the meeting, you can see Isaiah in the background, not to totally call him out, which I have done multiple times today, apparently. But you can see him in the back of all those videos, which is pretty fun. So Isaiah, thanks for your coverage. Hayden, last topic of the day, we're coming to you. Talk to us about Clay Jenkins, someone we haven't reported on in a little while, an interview he had and what policy

did he focus on during that interview? Clay Jenkins, who is the Democratic County Judge in Dallas County, promised, and this was his word, unprecedented spending in this year, especially on infrastructure, again, his word, and mental health. That was his phrase that he used as well. Those items, the county will be funding at higher levels this year. He specifically mentioned a project that will provide taxpayer subsidized housing to residents in the southern sector of Dallas County, specifically a housing project that will be built on what was or what is county property near an old courthouse to provide what he estimated to be one bedroom apartments at $900 per month to those at 80% of the poverty level or below. And he pitched this idea as good for increasing or good for helping reduce the problem of expensive housing. Of course, one unintended consequence of that could be competition with the private sector that is difficult to match, given the fact that Dallas County is able to subsidize this project with the benefit of the tax base, as opposed to creating its own business, if you will.

So the county will be paying for this project out of the taxpayer fund. Let's talk about that. How much more in taxes are Dallas County property owners paying this year? From fiscal year 2021 to this current fiscal year, the county commissioner's court increased taxes, tax revenue by 29.4 million. Of course, that does include 13.7 million in new taxes gained from new property added to the tax rolls. So that is an all existing property tax owners. But this new project and this unprecedented spending level that he promised will be with a budget that taxes Dallas County property owners 29.4 million more than the last budget. Hayden, thank you for covering that for us. Folks, let's talk about some fun things. We have,

of course, this is a new year, 2022. Welcome, everyone. But I think we should all talk about either something that we're excited about for this new year or a resolution that we have. And while y'all start us off, I'm going to even think about what they are. I'll be honest, I have not written down my New Year's resolutions yet. I usually do it by the second week of January. I have never wanted to do it by the first or even the first week. But where are we at? Who wants to go first? What is either something you're excited about for this new year or a resolution that you have? Don't all go at once. Well, I feel like since I was the one who so vociferously supported New Year's celebrations last week, I feel obligated to give an answer to

this question. But there are lots of different personal goals that people have around New Year's, but I think one of mine is, I need more interesting decor for my apartment. I have a few interesting things on the wall, but I'm looking at my, because for those who don't know, we're recording this podcast on Zencaster, so we can see each other. Y'all may not be able to see us, but we're looking at each other, and I'm a little disappointed in myself and looking at my webcam. I don't have very many interesting things on the wall. It's looking very beige and empty. So I think I need to up my decorating game, maybe go to Target or I don't know where else I need to go. So I'm open to seeing goods.

Home goods is a great one. Home goods is a really good one. You know, just grab something tasteful and I don't know, artistic to throw on the wall. Hopefully, you know, affordable. I don't need to artistic to throw on the wall. Uh, hopefully, you know, affordable. I don't need to blow the budget on decor or anything, but, um, yeah, I think that's an area of my life that I could improve. I love that resolution and your, I don't think your, your space looks very boring at all. Daniel, you were, you, I believe you have something to say as well. Do I? Well, you had previously said you did. I have two things to say now. I want to give a tip to Hayden

and everybody else who this might apply to. But right before the pandemic began, I was working on my book and I was like, I need some art on my walls. And I found a little trick. If you go and you find some high quality images of old paintings, they're in the public domain.

So you can download them and have them printed out at Walmart for like 20 bucks for a giant poster. So if you want something cheap and good quality, that's a good way to go. That's a cool thing. I'll have to keep that in mind. You just get like a four foot version of Saturn devouring his son. Just plaster that right up above your couch.

Yeah, that's exactly it. I want to see Isaiah's place. Yeah, it didn't take Isaiah two seconds to think of that idea. I think he wants to put it above his couch. That's my personal reading of the do. He's one of my favorite artists, actually. Isaiah, do you have any New Year's resolutions or exciting things this year?

I feel like we interrupted Daniel. Yeah, you didn't let me get to my actual thing. Daniel, I'm so sorry. You know, you're so right. Please, continue. So I wrote my book, and this year i am going to self-publish it so currently working on an audio production of it and i will release that and then i will go about actually trying to turn it into something that you can

buy on amazon or wherever you want to buy a book that's pretty cool it's pretty awesome i'm really excited it has been coming for such a long time it's exciting cool it's pretty awesome i'm really excited it has been coming for such a long time it's exciting that it's almost here um okay well daniel i don't want to step on your toes are there other things you wish to say yes i i see poncho in the background and i think another new year's resolution is to kidnap him kidnap ponchocho? Yeah. You can't. You cannot do that. He'll fit in your pocket. Be an easy kidnap. Just making sure I have company.

Just hanging out. Isaiah, what about you? I have a resolution. I want to master bebop. I've always wanted to. And this year I've decided I'm going to devote any time I'm playing music, that's just going to be bebop all i've decided i'm going to devote any time i'm playing music that's just going to be bebop all the time i'm going to figure it out help our listeners

understand what you mean by that it's why is daniel daniel's dying it's it's a i probably might be the most famous kind of jazz like everybody's heard it it's very very famous but um you can imagine there's kind of a cool story behind it. So like in the 30s, jazz had become a little bit mellow. There was like Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw and these really big bands playing ballroom jazz and people were dancing to it, stuff like that. It's good stuff. It's just kind of mellow, you know, and then World War II happened and everything that it takes physically to make records was rerouted to the war effort. So records really weren't being made very widely during World War II. But all the while, there's this new kind of jazz that's being experimented within clubs with smaller groups, like two horn players, a piano player, a bass player, a drummer, and just that. And it was really lightning fast. And these are like virtuosos on their instruments. And so World War II ended, you know, 45, 46 comes out and all of a sudden like Charlie Parker gets recorded. And it's just this huge leap from the barroom jazz that had

been happening. It's, you know, like 220 beat per minute solos that he's playing. It's just incredible, but it's also really hard. Like to this day, you can devote a lot of time just figuring out bebop, this whole style that has dominated jazz since. So that's what I want to figure out because I'm very bad at it and I'd like to be good at it, but it's very, very difficult. Well, I love that that's even something that you're aiming to master because that's quite the, it's just unique. I love that you know all the history behind it. I think that's really cool to say. Brad, what about you?

Well, the main thing I'm excited about is baseball season, provided that they actually end this labor lockout they've got going on right now. I don't know why you're looking at me like that, Mac. That is such a reasonable response. You could have said anything. No matter what you would have said, you would have gotten that look. Here's the thing. I've been told by reliable sources

that I berate you too much on this podcast. And so that was me... Reliable sources being my grandma? Correct. And so that was me reliable sources being my grandma correct and so that was me consciously choosing my hand was moving toward the unmute button and then i retracted it and i had to make a face and i you're the only reason i'm even speaking about this right now because you brought it up so i'm going to go back into my hole and let you continue to talk about the wonderful points i got a text from from my grandma who listens to every show and was like mckenzie needs to lighten up a bit no that's not what she said she said and

i quote actually you keep going and then i will read her text you keep going okay well anyway back to my uh what i was saying before i was rudely interrupted by facial expressions um i'm excited about baseball season but i think one thing that i want to do a lot more is learn more texas history i think i've done a a pretty good job so far of learning the basics uh for someone that didn't grow up here. But if anybody has recommendations for books or places to go or interesting stories, we're always looking for Texas history stories here. And whether we write about it or not, I find it interesting to actually know. So yeah, I'll crowdsource that to our listeners. Absolutely. And our listeners care deeply about the history of the state. So it's always interesting that they're able to just provide us information that we may not know

okay here's the text from your grandmother i think mackenzie taylor should make a new year resolution to be less negative in her remarks to you happy second of january so you know note taken from the top rope what oh nothing i was making a wwe reference we say grandma johnson from the top rope is that you said so grandma johnson this is me sincerely apologizing for offending you on behalf of your grandson um i will tone it back for as long as I'm physically able to. We'll see how long that lasts. So maybe one week. Maybe one week.

Maybe one week. You know she wouldn't have said this if there wasn't a grandma involved. No. Yeah. I just feel. She totally would have ignored it. Yeah. But this sounds like a very reputable source that I must at least take into consideration.

I actually really enjoy the banter between Mackenzie and Brad. That's one of my favorite things. My resolution is to have more of that. To incite it. To incite it. Incite it. Oh, yes. I will admit, Radalee, that I am not completely optimistic that I'll be able to maintain this New Year's resolution for more than several days. But my intention is there. I will just note I will just make note of that.

Holly, what about you? Oh, I don't do New Year's resolutions anymore. Although I do have one. I'm going to start trying to remember where I park the car when I go to the grocery store because I'm just tired of, you know, coming out and not knowing where my car is. But yeah, other than that, I'm not very ambitious. I love that. I love fun. I love lighthearted New Year's resolutions. I think they're my favorite.

You don't take yourself too seriously. Every day is a new day. But I always want to read more books and travel more. Hopefully, this year will be more conducive to travel. So looking for that. I love that. That's awesome. I'd say my New Year's resolution, aside from being just, you know,

sugary sweet to Brad, would be, I'm trying to think. I actually, well, one thing I'm really looking forward to is. You're dripping with sarcasm there. One thing. That's a good resolution to be more sarcastic i like it oh that's interesting yeah that's a great resolution to be more sarcastic perfect yeah as if i don't know if our team could handle any more sarcasm i don't know how i feel about that one i can't i can't think of a better one he's being sarcastic right now.

My sister gets married this year. I'm very much looking forward to that. That's going to be wonderful to celebrate that. As far as a resolution goes, I'd say, hmm, I'm trying to think of one. I have several books. I have a lot of books I want to read and all sorts of devotional and Bible goals of how much I want to read through this year. But yeah, I'd say the one thing I'm really looking forward to this year is my sister's wedding. It's going to be awesome. Yeah, there you go. Daniel, yes, what do you have to say? You should read my book.

I will. I've pre-ordered it. Haven't I? Or no. No, I can't pre-order it. I pre-ordered your C.S. Lewis one and I own that one. Maybe I'm just getting that confused. You can't pre-order the other one yet. Yeah. It is not yet available, but it will be sometime. Well, let us know

when it is and we'll plug it here till the cows come home. Well, gentlemen, lady um y'all are wonderful happy 2022 holly it's so great to have a female present on this podcast i'm so grateful that you have a mic it just is wonderful i'm excited i am too um folks thanks for joining us this week we will catch you uh for another episode next friday thank you all so much for listening. If you've been enjoying our podcast, it would be awesome if you would review us on iTunes. And if there's a guest you'd love to hear on our show, give us a shout on Twitter. Tweet at The Texan News. We're

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