The Texan Podcast - Weekly Roundup - November 17, 2023

Episode Date: November 17, 2023

Show off your Lone Star spirit with a free Gonzales Flag t-shirt with an annual subscription to The Texan: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/The Texan’s Weekly Roundup brings you the latest news in Texas politics, breaking down the top stories of the week with our team of reporters who give you the facts so you can form your own opinion. Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Got questions for the reporting team? Email [e-mail] — they just might be answered on a future podcast. This week, the team discusses:The Texas House passing two major border bills in the fourth special sessionThousands of pro-Palestine activists gathering at the Texas Capitol to demand a ceasefire between Israel and HamasMajor metropolitan mayors requesting the Biden administration help with illegal immigrationState and local rewards offered for information relating to suspects in a Pearland shootingEight Republicans helping to block the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro MayorkasGalveston County Treasurer succeeding in abolishing his own officeCongressman Michael Burgess announcing he will not run for re-election in 2024A judge allowing the Attorney General Ken Paxton “whistleblowers” to seek new discovery and depositionsA Montgomery County church suing its utility district for attempting to collect a “backdoor tax”A mistrial in the murder case against Austin police officer Christopher TaylorCongressman Pat Fallon reversing course on returning to the Texas SenateAnd more.

Happy Friday, folks. Senior Editor Mackenzie DeLulo here, and welcome back to the Texans Weekly Roundup. This week, the team discusses the Texas House passing two major border bills in the fourth special session. Thousands of pro-Palestine activists gathering at the Texas Capitol to demand a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Major metropolitan mayors requesting the Biden administration help with illegal immigration. State and local rewards offered for information relating to suspects in a perilous shooting. Anti-Israel activists vandalizing Congresswoman Monica de la Cruz's district office. Eight Republicans helping to block the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The Galveston County treasurer succeeding in abolishing his own office.

Congressman Michael Burgess announcing he will not run for re-election in 2024. A judge allowing the Attorney General Ken Paxton whistleblowers to seek new discovery and depositions. A Montgomery County church suing its utility district for attempting to collect a backdoor tax. A mistrial in the murder case against Austin Police Officer Christopher Taylor and Congressman Pat Fallon reversing course on returning to the Texas Senate. Thanks for listening and enjoy this episode. Well, howdy folks. It's Mackenzie here with Brad, Matt, Cameron, and Hayden on another episode of the Weekly Roundup Podcast. We've had some technical difficulties, but we're here.

Some FCC, fcc issues too i don't know what you're talking about is this live radio is that what you're implying no this was live radio we would be in big trouble it's very true but alas we're here and we have lots of news to talk about gentlemen are you well today well i was until about okay two minutes ago have you seen that video of that guy saying each day when i come here i am abused that's you right now well now i just simply have to file an hr report here's the thing with brad though he just is poking the bear me constantly and eventually the bear just had enough you know eventually they're fed up doesn't excuse what just happened

excuse the incessant poking that's irrelevant oh man Cameron how's your day going I'm doing good I woke up a little tired I had to go to bed a little later than I'm used to why'd you have to go to bed later Cameron well we had our friendsgiving last night we missed Hayden I'm sorry

I am trying to pass physiological psychology which is a lot. Sounds like a lot. And having to learn about the brain and all the parts of the brain and how they do their thing. That sounds delightful. It is delightful, but sadly it means I have had to miss Friendsgiving. Well, Cameron went to bed.

We did keep Cameron up later than he. It got to like nine and his posture on the couch just kind of started to go like this. His eye, like less comments, less witty comments were coming from him. His eyes got a little droopy. Well, once it hits nine o'clock, I'm usually in bed. Yeah. You know, book book open lights are off got my little reading light so i can just turn it off and go to bed but well you're you're

an early bird you yeah well i still got up at 4 30 this morning so it's just amazing it really is it's just amazing well we're glad for those who could come. And we're going to jump in, too, and we're glad you aren't super tired. No, I made some coffee when I got into the office and I've already had about three cups. That's probably a lot of caffeine for Cameron, too. Just ride that high throughout the day. Ride that high. Oh, it's so good. Well, Hayden, we're going to go ahead and start off with you with our stories this week. What was the border security agreement reached between the House and the Senate this week in the fourth called special session? For weeks, Republicans have been haggling over the best way to approach border security during this special session.

It appears the two chambers have finally reached an agreement. The Texas House the other night passed legislation to appropriate $1.54 billion for border barrier projects by a vote of 84 ayes to 59 nays. The bill that criminalizes illegal immigration and authorizes magistrates to order illegal immigrants back to out of the country passed by a vote of 83 ayes to 61 nays. That bill would create severe criminal penalties for crossing the border illegally or disobeying an order by a peace officer to leave the country. The penalty would be a felony or a misdemeanor depending on the circumstances and the severity of the offense. Law enforcement would also be shielded from liability under the bill for enforcing it.

Notably, illegal immigrants must consent to the order. They cannot be ordered against their will to depart the country. However, if they did not agree to that removal order, then they could be prosecuted on charges of entering the state of Texas without passing through the proper channels through a legal port of entry. This is an aggressive effort by the state of Texas to clamp down on illegal immigration and fill the void the Biden administration has left in terms of enforcement, according to Republicans. So what was the parliamentary mechanism that helped expedite this process? The House has already been through all of this. The version of the legislation that was passed in the third special session would have allowed peace officers to simply escort illegal immigrants back to ports of entry,

as opposed to placing them in some kind of formal quasi-deportation process. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick did not like that because he characterized it as a catch-and-release proposal. The Senate wanted to incarcerate all of those people and hold them and prosecute them on charges of entering Texas unlawfully. But Speaker Phelan contended that that would be way too expensive and it was better to escort them back to the border. The agreement now is that there will be a process that resembles a deportation. As I mentioned, however, the illegal immigrant in question would need to agree to that process,

agree to leave the country instead of being prosecuted for illegal immigration. This bill was already debated extensively for hours and hours. Democrats proposed amendments and protest strongly against the bill when it came up during the third special session. Representative Jared Patterson, who carried this bill this session, decided that enough was enough, and he approached the well to move the previous question, which is a parliamentary procedure that effectively ends debate and forces a vote on the original bill. It's a way for a lawmaker to stand up and say, we've heard enough. Let's get on with it. Let's dispense with everything that has to do with this bill and finally decide this question.

This motion shuts down debate, so it's an important motion. It requires 25 signatures. Representative Patterson approached his colleagues and got the 25 signatures needed to move forward with this motion. The motion itself requires a majority vote. It passed 81 ayes to 57 nays. However, Democrats were still able to speak against the bill, filing their final grievances against it. There were many impassioned speeches against it. At one point, Representative Jolanda Jones stood up and said that she would stop using the race card if House members stopped being racist. She said she couldn't sleep at night if she voted for this bill. That provoked Representative Steve Toth to stand up and start shouting at Representative Jones and the Speaker, essentially saying that he didn't think he needed to sit there and listen to that.

And there were others as well that jumped in that shouted some jeers. There were definitely others jeering. He was the only one who he jumped out of his chair. There were strong objections to this motion, but they moved forward with the motion and ultimately passed the bill. As I said, that the bill criminalizing illegal immigration passed 83 ayes to 61 nays. There were no amendments adopted to that bill, either on second or third reading. It appears that the next step in the process would be for it to go to the governor's desk for his signature, which he has said that he will sign it. So what could the passage of these bills mean for the border security debate at large?

Undoubtedly, progressive interest groups will take this law to court and seek an injunction against it. These groups will probably try to convince a federal judge to put it on hold or deem it unconstitutional entirely. What's notable about this version of the bill is a staunch border security proponent in the Senate, a Republican, Senator Brian Birdwell, agrees with Democrats that it is unconstitutional. He said he believed that the first version of the bill that allowed the incarceration of illegal immigrants is constitutional, but this quasi deportation process that the state of Texas is seeking to institute runs afoul of what he

characterized as the vertical separation of powers between the state and federal government. He invoked the 10th Amendment and said that only the powers not delegated to the federal government are delegated to the states and to the people. He read the provision of Article 1 of the Constitution in Section 8, which he believes delegates immigration enforcement to the federal government. And he is correct that it is longstanding precedent that immigration is traditionally something handled by the feds. I imagine that Birdwell's comments will likely be used as a framework for the legal arguments against this proposal. It probably forecasts the feud that is coming between Texas and the feds over this law. On the floor of the House, Representative Victoria Niave said she

believes Republicans are using this as a way to challenge Arizona against the United States, which was the Supreme Court case that resulted from Arizona's efforts in 2010 to enforce immigration law. In that case, the Supreme Court rebuffed Arizona's efforts and decided that, again, this is only an area of law that the federal government can enforce. We have a new Supreme Court now. The legal landscape is different. This law could result in that case being challenged and a new precedent being set. Absolutely. Hayden, thank you for your coverage. Cameron, you worked over the weekend. You did some work over the weekend and were at the Capitol watching some things go down. Thousands of people gathered to protest the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

You were there. Give us some insight on what you saw. Yeah, so I got there pretty early, about 30 minutes before everything was really set to go off, and it really grew quickly. And so there was an estimated 10,000 individuals who really descended onto the Texas Capitol lawn on Sunday. And this was all before they eventually took to the streets to march and chant in support of Palestine, calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. And the protests, which was named All Out for Palestine, like I said, they were bringing in literal busloads of pro-Palestine protesters from all over the state. And they were assembling on the lawn of the Capitol. They had signs. They were chanting.

Many things were obviously anti-Israel. Some anti-American rhetoric was used throughout the protest. Things that they were saying were, Israel is a racist state, and from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. That was routinely chanted from the stage and echoed by the crowd throughout the protest. As I was walking around, I was doing loops of this protest, just trying to take everything in. I was taking pictures. If people are interested, they can go to the story.

I have all those linked, or they could go to my Twitter feed to see those. But something that wasn't talked about by other outlets or by other people covering it was the presence of Antifa at the protest. I was able to catch an individual with Antifa insignia on their jacket, and they were setting up equipment. So there was a presence there, for sure, that I saw. And like I said, these pro-Palestine protesters took to the streets where they had men riding horses, waving flags, and trucks full of individuals blaring chants from bullhorns and people beating drums. They set off smoke bombs. So it was a quite interesting sight to see as I was out there and they were marching up and down downtown Austin and again they're doing different chants like justice is our demand no peace on

stolen land so as you can see from the rhetoric it was pro-Palestine, anti-Israel language. And this is something we've seen really around the world is these pro-Palestine protests. And so unsure if we're going to continue seeing these. As we're recording this today on Thursday, as our listeners might know or might not know, I'm from California, and I was getting texts this morning that pro-Palestine protesters had shut down the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. And so, yeah, things are heating up around the country, around the world, and hopefully everyone's keeping an eye on it. Yeah, absolutely. Cameron, thank you for covering that and for getting out there and following it in person.

We appreciate your effort and coverage. Hayden, let's pivot to you here. What did the mayors of several large U.S. cities have to say about the border crisis. Earlier this month, the Associated Press acquired a letter from the mayors of major metropolitan cities in the United States calling on the Biden administration to provide more resources for the influx of illegal immigrants, non-citizens, and asylum seekers coming into their cities. The mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York City signed on to the letter. Houston is the only one in that list that is in Texas, obviously, but these out-of-state cities are requesting more assistance from the

federal government. The tone of the letter was not particularly confrontational. It was thanking Biden for his efforts to address the influx of illegal crisis, expedited work authorization, expanded access to work authorization, and improved cooperation between the different levels of government, state, local, and federal. This letter was, I would characterize it as a respectful request from these mayors for the Biden administration to do more to provide resources for this crisis. What is the significance of these particular mayors speaking out? These cities are included on Governor Abbott's list of cities for his busing program, which he has used to send illegal immigrants voluntarily to states outside of the country.

Pardon me, outside of the state. I said countries of Texas as a the country. Pardon me, outside of the state. I said countries of Texas as its own country. Abbott's office reported on Friday that on the Friday before publication of this article that 64,400 non-citizens have been bused out of state since the beginning of this program. Most of these individuals went to New York City and Chicago. 23,100 went to New York City. 18,400 went to Chicago. The governor used this program as a way to confront so-called sanctuary cities on their policies that Republicans contend contribute to the incentives for illegal immigration. Of course, Democrats have said that it is a political stunt, that it is costly, and it is not doing anything to

resolve the underlying crisis that is causing people to make dangerous treks across the border illegally. Hayden, thank you for your coverage. Matt, we are coming to you. A shooting in this week caused Governor Greg Abbott to team up with local crime stoppers and offer a reward for information leading to the capture of suspected shooters. Give us the insight on this story. An altercation between two young Hispanic men turned deadly at a flea market in Pearland this past week, with one or both of the men proceeding to exchange gunfire with each other. Unfortunately, they didn't hit each other. Instead, bullets struck bystanders, killing a 10-year-old boy and wounding four others. Both men fled the scene, and Governor

Greg Abbott joined with the Paralympic Crime Stoppers to offer a reward of $15,000 apiece for information that led to the arrest of those involved. Shortly thereafter, police were able to identify the main suspect, 19-year-old David Negrate, and issued a warrant for his arrest. Several days after that, on Tuesday, the perpetrator finally gave up the run and turned himself into Pearland police. He has been charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and according to police, he could be facing additional charges, including homicide. Absolutely. Well, thank you, Matt, for covering that for us, and we certainly are keeping those involved in our prayers. Cameron, let's go ahead and move on to this story here. This is the second

story you're covering for us about the domestic tensions related to this Middle East conflict. And this time it's affected an elected official in their office. Tell us what happened. Yeah, that's right. Congresswoman Monica de la Cruz, she posted online about some incidents that happened at her office where, quote, she was targeted twice with vandalism by pro-Hamas activists. They wrote in red spray paint a variety of different phrases and things like, Israel kills Jews too. Monica murders. And you can't escape your crimes, Monica. So threatening, to say the least. And these are just some of the messages. And we actually reached out to her office and confirmed with them that the incidents occurred in the early morning hours of November 7th and 9th.

And that these were the first such attacks against De la Cruz. The office is unaware of any incidents at other offices in the area and said that McAllen police are investigating the case. But again, domestic tensions are rising around this Middle East conflict and it doesn't seem like things are slowing down. So we'll keep an eye out on it. And everyone out there listening, please be aware if protests are happening in your area and make sure you're monitoring things. Yeah, absolutely. And this is something that Texas lawmakers,

specifically the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Middle East, have had a lot to talk about. Tell us about what they've said lately. Yeah, so there was actually a group of Democrats in the Texas House who called on the Texas Democratic Party Chair, Gilberto Hinojosa, to request President Joe Biden to call for a ceasefire. And there's been Governor Greg Abbott, who has been out in support for Israel, stating he has unwavering support for Israel in the weeks following October 7th, the Hamas attacks. Biden has called Hamas, their attacks on Israel, an act of sheer evil and equated it to the worst rampage of ISIS. And there's some internal tensions as well

within the Biden State Department. There's been some leaked documents about this internal divide amongst staff and how the U.S. is handling the situation in Israel. And this on Wednesday night, there was a large group of anti-Israel protesters, about 150 of them, that were essentially rioting outside the DNC headquarters in DC. And so tensions rising all over the country, but still important to remember that this conflict is happening overseas in Israel, in Palestine. And it's currently estimated that Hamas attacks on October 7th have killed roughly around 1,200 people. And now it is estimated that 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in this conflict.

Wow. Well, Cameron, again, thank you so much for your coverage. Hayden, we're coming to you. Let's talk about some federal news. What was the result of the effort to impeach Secretary Mayorkas on Monday? Republicans have been seeking to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for most of the Biden administration on charges that he has abdicated his duty to secure the southern border consistent with his oath of office. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a outspoken and very controversial figure from Georgia, proposed a resolution backed by Texas Congressman Tony Gonzalez to impeach Mayorkas on those charges. Impeachment, of course, is the mechanism that the U.S. House of Representatives can use to bring charges against an elected official. Conviction would require two-thirds of the Senate, an extraordinarily high bar, especially when the Senate is divided down the middle politically between Democrats and Republicans and the three independent senators who typically

caucus with one party or the other, two with the Democrats and one with Republicans. Despite this high bar, Greene brought this resolution to the floor, hoping representatives would pass it. However, the chamber chose to send it to committee, effectively scuttling the effort for now and saving Mayorkas the specter of being impeached for another day. Absolutely. So who were the eight Republicans who helped block the impeachment effort? The vote to send it back to committee passed by 209 ayes to 201 nays. That narrow vote was enabled by eight Republicans who joined Democrats in opposing it.

Spoiler alert, none of them were from Texas. Tom McClintock from California, John Duarte from California, Virginia Fox of North Carolina, Daryl Issa of California, Cliff Bence of Oregon, Ken Buck of Colorado, and Mike Turner of Ohio. As I understand it, these A-Republicans contended that now is not the time to impeach Mayorkas. But Mayorkas has been at the center of criticism for Republicans who object to the Biden administration's handling of illegal immigration. His removal from office has been advocated by members of the Texas congressional delegation. I remember when we interviewed Congressman Michael Cloud, that is something that he emphasized. Republicans thought that taking the majority in Congress would enable them to impeach Mayorkas. And this is by no means a final resolution.

Republicans could still pursue this, but just not yet. There you go. Hayden, thank you. Brad, coming to you, something quite rare occurred last week with the constitutional amendment election. What happened? So in an unusual turn of events for governments as we often see,

an elected office was abolished after a lengthy effort by locals in Galveston County by a 53% to 47% vote. Voters across the state and in Galveston County approved dissolution of the county treasurer's office in

Galveston County. It is the 11th county to abolish its treasurer's office, and because it's a constitutional office, it needed not only a local vote to eliminate it, but also statewide support. Current Galveston County Treasurer Hank Doogie was the face of this campaign, an issue on which he exclusively campaigned last year. The legislature passed the joint resolution to eliminate that office, placing it before voters this month. They passed it back in the regular session.

Doogie told the Texan, I'm glad we're on the other side of it, and I'm happy I was able to deliver for Galveston County voters. The county estimates it will save $450,000 per year with the elimination, $120,000 of which comes from the treasurer's salary. And as of January 1st, the duties of the treasurer will be transferred to the county clerk. Another elected office and the official treasurer's office will be no more. Doogie did what most politicians could never really dream of is deliver on his promise in the very first year that he was in off in elected office yeah um to abolish his own position

to what to abolish the position he's holding and oddly enough that makes him unemployed yeah at least for now we'll get into that later so how this gained such a groundswell of momentum. So Doogie campaigned on the issue for a few reasons. The biggest onus was a 2018 incident in which the previous treasurer Kevin Walsh mistakenly paid $525,000 to an email scammer posing

as the county's roadwork vendor. It's a massive scandal and ultimately the county got reimbursed from the bank, but still, that's half a million dollars down the drain. Doogie ran against Walsh in last year's primary and won outright, even avoiding a runoff. Um, he said to me in our interview, I was very clear when I ran, I said, you can either pick me who will work to shut the office down, or you can pick the 20 year incumbent and keep everything the same. There was no under handedness on my part. I was completely upfront. Opposition to this proposition mainly came from other County treasurers who do.

He said, we're afraid that this would start a domino effect, eliminating their positions. You know, in the, was it 150 years or so since the Constitutional Convention of 1876, there's been 11 eliminations. So it's not like this is a common occurrence, but it's not like it's never happened before either. Other interesting note of opposition came from the true Texas project, which is a conservative right wing organization in Texas that you would think normally would be for abolishing any governmental office.

Yeah, but they were originally apparently for it. And they came out and said, after talking to voters or to conservatives, they changed their position because I would eliminate an elected position that which they say removes the sovereignty of voters over that. Now, as I mentioned, this is being transferred to the county clerk, which is an elected office. So you're just replacing you're just getting rid of one elected office and giving its responsibilities to another and i think true texas project also said something along the lines of you know voters were the argument was that voters were also saying this position allowed for more fiscal accountability and the removal of that was um what they were hesitant sure now the counter argument is that when walsh screwed up and sent that half a million dollars, the county commissioner's court couldn't just fire him.

And it took a couple of years later for him to have that basically review from the voters. And so there are points on both sides of this. Oddly enough, got pretty heated and personal. Fascinating. Yeah. Fascinating. Part of the probably the most fascinating part of the last election. Yeah.

Yep. And then when Doogie won upon taking office, he scaled down the staff to eliminate the office's bloats and he saw interest dividends on investments rise to one point five million dollars in the first quarter of 2023. Now that's up from $200K in Q1 of last year under Walsh. There were allegations that Walsh was just not, he was mailing it in. He had his $120,000 paycheck and was not really being active on that side of things along with letting things slip on in other aspects. So he reduced the staff and down from seven to, I think, two or three. And the office kept, according to him, kept humming along. He told me, when you have an elected official in office for 20 years

and they themselves are not coming to work, it kind of permeates through the entire office. So I think just by being present and setting expectations for how the office will work, while I was a county treasurer, we had a lot of improvements. He complimented the staff for stepping up to the plate. So now that he's out of a job,

what's next for him? Well, I spoke to Doogie last week after the election and he said he wanted to continue in public service because it wasn't sure where yet. And then on Sunday, that didn't last long because on Sunday he announced a run for Galveston County Commissioner Precinct 3. I don't think he'll be campaigning on eliminating that position. That's kind of necessary. The county commissioner's court, that's the legislative and executive branch of the county commissioner's court to see you know the legislative and executive branch of the the county itself but um this was a a very interesting and fun episode to follow just quirky

you know how often do you have a situation like this yeah not often so can you imagine the anxiety attack that that first guy had when he realized that he sent more than half a million dollars to a scammer of taxpayer dollars. Yeah. And, you know, I'm sure he didn't mean to do that. No, but it was a screw up of massive proportions. That's why you have that anxiety, you know, attack because you don't mean to. And then all of a sudden you realize, oh, my gosh, I just imagine half a million dollars.

His next job interview. So what are your biggest weaknesses well one time i sent half a million dollars to a scammer online but that's the only thing that's the only thing my record is pretty spotless other than that other than that oh man well a fascinating story and it definitely worth going and checking out at the texan.news and reading all about it so not not to clarify i'm that was kind of mean i'm picking on him but he is the victim in this situation he was scammed but like hannah montana says you know everybody makes mistakes it cost him his job that's it i would tell you about what I sent to a scammer one time? Oh, gosh. Tell us, Matt. So I had this scammer send me a message for something that I posted online for sale. And I quickly figured out it was a scammer and figured out the intricate scheme where he had stolen somebody's identity, opened up a bank account, drawn a cashier's check off the bank account for thousands more than the

value was, sent it to me, wanted me to cash it, send him back the difference. And in the fine print of things, I would be liable for that money once the bank figures out that the account was fraud. So I ordered a pink glitter bomb and, uh, put it in a package and played along. Like I was totally, you know, fallen for the scheme, et cetera, et cetera, and mailed it to him and put a tracking number on it and was constantly hitting refresh, you know, whenever it got down to Houston to this, uh, pack and mail store where this guy had a mailbox. And, uh, whenever I saw it was delivered, I texted him and let him know that, you know, that the, the package was in the mail and since it was cash, you know, he needed to get it. And, um, about 30 minutes later, he sent me a text picture of the inside of his car covered in pink glitter.

Oh, my gosh. And holding this little cartoon of a Kilroy that I drew. And I had a little message on there for him. I won't repeat what it was. But he sends me all these profanities chewing me out. And that was, yeah, that was my finest time. That's awesome. Well, that's a pretty great story, Matt. My gosh,

I won't be scamming you anytime soon. Cameron, we're going to move on here with some election news. Texas Congressman Michael Burgess made a very surprise announcement on Monday that he will not be seeking re-election in 2024. Give us the details. Yeah, that's right. It was very much a surprise to all of us in the office, and we're scrambling around to get something together for all of our readers out there.

His district, District 26, encompasses almost all of Denton County, so it's a big district. And Burgess was first elected to Congress in 2002. He's been in the position for 20 years, so he has been a lawmaker for a very long time. And so surprising to see someone leave after serving for that long. He has been a part of the Tea Party caucus since 2010, and the Heritage Action Scorecard gave him an 87% lifetime score. So that is very high on the conservative scale. He's been very much pro-life in his voting. He's a former OBGYN, so it kind of aligns with his profession there he was a supporter of former president Donald Trump in 2017 and his executive order to ban entry to the United States to citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries he's also garnered the support and endorsement

of Trump and was one of 17 members of Congress from Texas who voted to sustain one or both objections to the vote counts of Arizona and Pennsylvania during the 2020 election. The congressman has also been critical of a lot of the green energy policies, so he has a very conservative vote record. And we haven't, at the time of publishing the story and recording of the podcast today, we haven't seen people state their intention to run for the seat. At least it hasn't come across my radar. But this will be definitely an interesting vacancy to keep an eye on. Absolutely. And we know that people are certainly lining up behind the scenes and Jocelyn for position. So we'll keep an eye on it. Thanks,

Cameron. Matt, coming back to you, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton sought to prevent a wrongful termination lawsuit from returning to the deposition and discovery phase, but a state district judge ruled against that request. Give us the details. That's right, Mackenzie. Most are familiar with the backstory that led to the impeachment and subsequent acquittal of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. But for a quick recap, several former high-ranking officials in the Attorney General's office had gone to the FBI reporting their boss on suspicion of committing certain illegal acts. They were later fired, and then they filed a lawsuit against the Attorney General's office for unlawful termination, citing a Texas whistleblower law that prohibits employees from being fired for blowing the whistle, so to speak. The Attorney General's office negotiated a settlement with the whistleblowers or former employees that included an apology from Paxton for calling them rogue employees and a $3.3 million settlement. Under Texas law, state agencies must

request approval for settlements over a certain amount, and the $3.3 million triggered that requirement. House impeachment managers have said when the Attorney General's office came to the legislature to ask for that settlement funding to be approved, that it triggered the initial impeachment investigation. Fast forward, the Senate Court of Impeachment found Paxton not guilty on all charges, and post-trial, the former employees want the unlawful termination lawsuit to return to the discovery and deposition trial portion of the process, where, for example, Paxton himself could be forced to testify. The lawsuit originated in Travis County. However, one of the former employees, David Maxwell, is a resident of Burnett County. So the Texas Attorney General's Office filed a petition with a district judge in Burnett asking for a temporary restraining order and subsequent permanent injunction

reinforcing the settlement agreement and blocking a return to the discovery and deposition phase of the trial. After initially granting a temporary restraining order that blocked discovery and depositions for several days while he reviewed the case, Judge Evan Stubbs ultimately rejected and denied the Attorney General's office motion to block a return to the discovery face and keep the settlement negotiation in place. Now, a hearing will be held to transfer the Burnett County case to Travis County, where the original case exists, where I believe they will seek to consolidate the cases and move forward for, I believe it's an efficiency type motion that since they already have an existing case and the Burnett judge really

didn't deviate from that existing case, et cetera, et cetera, they're just going to seek to have those consolidated and move forward in one case in Travis County. So we'll keep an eye on it and see how it proceeds. Absolutely. Thank you, Matt. Brad, coming back to you, a church in Montgomery County is suing its utility district. Goodness, what are the details? Grace Community Church sued the Southern Montgomery County Municipal Utility District, alleging that the mud raised fees for a water tap installation excessively to effectively tax the tax-exempt parish. Churches in Texas are exempt from taxes. With new additions under development,

the church needed an additional water tap installed to service the additions. I think the additions specifically were an office for its administrative staff and then a new auditorium. The cost for labor and materials for that water tap installation was quoted at $24,900, a price point the church says it was happy to pay. But then the mud raised the cost to $ 500 and then again to 147 938 exactly the amount of taxes the church would have paid to the district over the last 15 years if it was having to pay property taxes the um the petition reads in other words, the district refused to install the tap unless Grace Community Church paid 15 years worth of taxes up front.

After back and forth, the price point was lowered to $83,780. Despite the protests, the church paid the sum to get the service to their additions for so they could operate now the church is suing for the the delta between the two figures the 58 880 fee paid on top of the labor material costs and asked the court for a permanent injunction injunction against the mud they allege violations for of the first and 14th amendments along with the texas religious freedom restoration act and requested discovery in a jury trial this was just filed so it's very early on there hasn't been a response filed by the mud they also did not return an inquiry from me to comment on this at all so uh i guess we'll see how it plays out. But

a very intense court battle, it seems, is on the table. Also, Grace Community Church is being represented by, in part, First Liberty, which is a well-known religious liberty law firm, nonprofit law firm in the state of Texas, but they do cases all over the country. So that'll be one to watch. Absolutely. Thank you, Bradley. Hayden, coming back to you. Why did a judge declare a second mistrial in the prosecution of Austin Police Department Officer Christopher Taylor? This week, a state district judge in Austin declared a mistrial once again in the prosecution against Austin Police Department officer Christopher Taylor, who is accused of murdering Michael Ramos during a police confrontation in April 2020. The judge

decided that the jury was deadlocked and that there was no hope for the jury to reach a resolution on the murder charge against Taylor. Taylor contends that he was acting within his duty as a police officer and that he had to make a split second decision in that moment when he shot Ramos as he was fleeing from officers in a vehicle. The murder trial was not resolved and the charges are as if the case never went to trial. So this is not an acquittal. It is not a conviction. And more or less, the parties are back at square one. Why did or what did Taylor's defense team have to say about this? Defense attorney Doug O'Connell and other members of Taylor's defense team

spoke to the media shortly after this decision and had a lot of things to say. O'Connell said, quote, First of all, Chris asked us to convey the fact that he's very, very sorry and traumatized at this event. He understands that the Ramos family is grieving, and he recognizes this was a tragedy. But as we said during the course of this trial, while this may have been a tragedy, it's absolutely not murder, end quote. This is one of those cases in which it's not a whodunit. The question is not whether Taylor killed Ramos. The question is whether the killing constitutes the offense of murder under Texas law. Here, the defense contends that it does not, clearly.

However, O'Connell also said that he, Taylor, wants to move on with his life, that this has been hanging over him for several years now, and his family is devastated that this is going to continue. In a case like this, when there is no decision reached, it, as I mentioned, it goes back to square one and nothing is resolved. So this could continue to carry on. The parties were able to confirm that the deliberations after five days where they got stuck was eight votes in favor of not guilty, four votes in favor of guilty. And the jury spent approximately 34 hours deliberating

and two thirds of the jury thought that Taylor should be acquitted. But because those four jurors stuck to their guns and decided that he was guilty, this is a hung jury and a second mistrial. I will note the first mistrial was declared because of potential jury intimidation. The court tried to seat a jury in this case in May, but because allegedly, and I believe there was evidence to support this, there were leaflets placed on potential jurors' cars taking the stance that Ramos' death was a murder and seeking to intimidate the jury. And to that conclusion, the judge decided that because of the jury intimidation, there could be no fair trial. Taylor's defense also tried to move this case unsuccessfully to another county because of the media bias in this case. And Taylor's defense team had a series of affidavits, including the former DA of Travis

County, Margaret Moore, a Democrat, say that she believed that this case could not be fairly tried in Austin because of the jury intimidation factor and the media bias factor. Ultimately, the judge disagreed, though, and chose to have the trial in Austin. Will Taylor have to go to trial again on the same charges? It's unclear at this point what the DA's office is going to do. The DA's office issued a brief statement saying that it respected the jury's decision. The district attorney, Jose Garza, himself said that he respected the decision and the mistrial itself. But because this was not an acquittal, the double jeopardy rule does not apply here.

So the case could go back to trial. Doug O'Connell said at that press gaggle yesterday that they don't know what the DA's office is going to do. They will have to make a decision about that, whether they're going to take it back to trial. Doug O'Connell said at that press gaggle yesterday that they don't know what the DA's office is going to do. They will have to make a decision about that, whether they're going to take it back to trial, but they could be going through all of this again. My gosh. Well, we'll definitely keep an eye on it. And Hayden, thank you for your coverage. Cameron, in a story that has many twists and turns, we're going to end on this one here. The vacant seat for Senate District 30 after Drew Springer's retirement has had more than a few twists and turns. Tell us the latest. Yeah. So Drew Springer, he announced he would not be seeking re-election and everyone was keeping

their eyes on who was going to file for that vacant seat. And it appeared pat fallon was going to come back to the texas legislature for that sd30 seat that he used to hold before becoming a texas congressman well um this he he got a bunch of endorsements by the way after his name popped up uh saying he was going to run for sd30 including lieutenant governor patrick i was just about to say, glowing endorsement, press release, all of it. Well, it seems as though he will not be running for SD30 anymore. And he has pulled his name out and will run for reelection for his congressional seat.

There has been many rumors floating around about who might be potentially running for the SD30 seat now, but we haven't had any confirmation on that yet. So we here at the Texan like to withhold our speculation before there is confirmation. So once things come out into the open into the public we will report on that for all of our readers and listeners absolutely definitely keep an eye on it and a lot of back and forth Cameron thanks for keeping up with it

okay let's move on to our tweeter-y section here and Matt I want to come to you because I'm excited about this and curious about it and it involves animals so I'm pumped bring it on well we had a very unusual animal pop up in texas this past week um i'm not entirely sure if they're still there or not

but port aransas texas posted on twitter or what used to be known as Twitter, whatever we call it now, X, again, that flamingos had been spotted in Port Aransas for the first time, saying that these pink birds have made themselves at home on their vacation to Port A, and they encouraged people to head over to the Port Aransas Nature Preserve to catch a peek at these gorgeous birds while they're here. Now, I thought it was interesting. So I did a little bit of Googling. abundance or flamboyance, I think is what they called it, of flamingos in Texas that occasionally in the past, they have popped up when a hurricane blows them this direction. So they're up in the air, they hit high hurricane winds, they come over this direction.

So occasionally in the past, they have been seen, but there's no hurricane right now and these flamingos just decided to come on over and check out the beaches at port a so yeah i just looked it up too because i was curious if flamingos migrate but they're qualified or classified as non-migratory birds so yeah they just must and there are here, multiple reports that these birds show up in random places, even as far north as Ohio after a hurricane. Flamingos, much like coconuts, do not migrate. What would the airspeed velocity of a flamingo carrying a coconut have to be to carry it to Ohio, Brad. That's a very good question that I do not have an answer to. I suppose my follow up question is, are you talking about an African or European flamingo?

Well, there are no European flamingos. Brad, get it right. That we know of yet. Also, Matt, did you, were these flamingos, was your pink glitter bomb inspired by these flamingos? No, the pink glitter bomb happened a few years ago. Yeah, I know. I just thought I'd ask. I just figured that it would be, that obviously the scammer must be a guy and that pink would be an insulting color to have all over himself.

Fair. True. That's what you went with. Well, thank you, Matt. Okay. Cameron, what do you got? Well, there's been so much traffic lately. There's lots of construction going on the I-35. And I am subscribed to some different

local newsletters just to keep my ear to the grind about what's going on. And I saw something come through that they recently did a analysis of traffic in different metropolitan cities. And number one city in the nation with the worst traffic is Chicago. And Texas actually has four cities on this list. Really? And Houston has the 11th worst traffic in the nation and Austin is 19th. And so last night when I was traveling home, I was experiencing this because they shut down areas of the freeway at night. It's like after nine o'clock, they shut down entire areas so they can do this construction.

And so I had to do a huge detour and took, well, a fair bit of extra time to get home. And again this morning, coming into work, lots of traffic due to construction. And we actually covered a story here about Austin City Council trying to fight the construction that's been going on, claiming there needs to be more climate environmental studies before construction can begin. Well, like we talked about last time, it did not work. And they've been, I'm sure everyone listening knows the construction is happening, expanding the I-35. But I just thought i'd bring that up that it's not just our uh if you're listening it's not just you that thinks the traffic is terrible uh there's rankings out

there that say yeah it is that bad but this is interesting san antonio is like i'm gonna put just the texas cities in order so san antonio is last then it goes austin then dallas then houston which i feel like that's probably pretty accurate. Yeah. That makes sense to me. Austin, I feel like used to be a lot worse, but post-COVID, so many tech jobs are work from home.

That's what the analysis was saying is post-COVID, people are coming back to the office, especially now. There's been- Yeah, that's true. There's been lots of reports of different companies demanding people come into the office now, at least for two or three days a week. And so that could be increasing the amount of traffic, especially here in Austin, where it's a hub for technology companies. And a lot of those businesses and those companies have allowed employees to work from home,

but recently asking them to come back into the office. So that's why it might seem like it's gotten worse. Yeah. Well, there you go. Thank you, Cameron. Okay. Brad and Hayden both have, uh, tweeters of from the floor this week. So should we start with Meatloaf or Gene Wu?

Hmm. What a time. Brad, why don't you go ahead and start? So should we start with meatloaf or gene woo? Hmm. What a time. Brad, why don't you go ahead and start? So frequently when they're on the floor for a long day, house admin chair Will Metcalf will come up and make an announcement about what's available for dinner. Well, he did. And they had meatloaf and mashed potatoes, which piqued my interest because that is one of my favorite meals,

which, yeah, which of course I could not get because I'm not a member. But something that he mentioned did, it scratched a grievance itch that I have long had. He said that the meatloaf and mashed potatoes comes with gravy, notably not the tomato ketchup nonsense that has ruined many a meatloaf. Nonsense. And so this Metcalfe's announcement sparked a debate on Twitter. And by sparked, I mean I tweeted it and started the debate. And I got some

surprising pushback someone sent a screenshot of their grandma's recipe that has ketchup in the meatloaf which that's even worse because you can't you can't scrape it off so that's just ruining it so it's the taste of

ketchup that you dislike it's not that the fact that it's on top of the meatloaf. If it's involved in the meal at all, it ruins it. So you're just anti-ketchup. Because gravy is the superior. I'm not saying gravy is not superior to ketchup, but ketchup and meatloaf is a pairing that is rooted in tradition. And you are trying to disrupt that tradition

with what you put out on Twitter and what you're putting out on this podcast right now. There are many traditions that are worth getting rid of, and this is one of them because there's clearly a superior option. And frankly, it should be the only option. But another person came at me with, since when did the Texans start hiring Yankees?

And he said, this is a serious breach. But joke's on him because I've been here the whole time and I've always been a Yankee. So take that, Kent. So we're not naming names, but we're naming names. We're naming names. Even though he was serious, he was also just joking. Having some fun. Yeah.

But my meatloaf opinions will remain the same because they are undoubtedly the correct opinion. I think we need to put out a poll. We haven't done a Twitter poll in a while. Twitter poll. Those things normally don't get any any traction so i think this one might all right go ahead cameron you can do it why don't you do it you started it bradley because i am comfortable in how right i am about this are you scared of the

results oh he's numbers do not mean correctness. There is no... I didn't know that sentence was going to end. No, I didn't. I was making it up as I went along. We'll put this out. If you are listening to this on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify, leave a five-star review with your vote, gravy or ketchup, on Meatloaf.

Amen, brother. And we will count it up next week. Yeah. And reveal the winner. That's right. That means people go review us. No matter how— Your vote doesn't count unless the review is five stars.

Exactly. No matter how the vote turns out, my opinion is correct. And that goes for whether it sides with me or sides against me. Otherwise, it's just mob mentality. That's what that means. Whatever the majority says goes. That was an incredibly redundant statement, Bradley. No matter how this vote goes, my opinion is correct.

And that means if it goes one way or the other way, I'm still correct. I'm not going to all of a sudden start saying that my opinion is correct just because more people vote for my position. You're already saying it's objectively correct. Yeah, thank you. Yes. I'm just going to say that I side with the Ohio

in this. Thank you, Matt. That's it. There you go. Maybe one day we can just read our our reviews on the podcast people saying things i have read them maybe we should not do that that's true many people say nice things but others do not we have 4.8 stars so i feel like it's i mean our reviews are pretty good but every once in a while we get a hater. It's just the nature of the game. Don't hate the player,

hate the game, you know? Hayden, what about you? What happened in the ledge this week? Well, mine is weirder than Brad's. There's a lot of dead time on the floor and people get antsy. The reps and the reporters. But at one point, Speaker Phelan told the membership not to record videos and audio of the proceedings.

I assume that the press is exempt from that because we do that all the time and no one has ever said boo. So I do that all the time and no one has ever said boo. So I do that all the time. I'll take pictures of what's going on on the floor, but Speaker Phelan asked, well, didn't really ask. He told the membership not to do that. And after that, Gene Wu, who's a Democratic state rep, shouted out, but OnlyFans doesn't count, right? and i thought that was funny so i tweeted it and gene woo responded to my tweet because i had written that he told a joke and he just says who said i was joking and leaves it at that that's pretty funny if you had told me that a state rep would be talking about only flip fans on the floor of the texas house i probably would have believed it because

it's just everything's so weird at this point but if you're not familiar with only fans it is a website where non G rated things take place. So it's just a very good way of putting it. And I, so I didn't respond to the tweet because if he's not, if he is sincerely not joking, I don't want to know, but he is facetious on Twitter a lot.

So that's probably, that's probably what's happening. Probably what's happening here. Absolutely. If we're talking only fans what's happening here. Yes, absolutely. Well, if we're talking OnlyFans and elected officials here. I think I know what you're about to read. Representative George Santos. Oh, this is a different case I'm not familiar with.

Well, he's been investigated by the House Ethics Committee, and apparently he spent campaign funds on Botox, designer goods, and OnlyFans. Oh, my gosh. That's horrific. That's one of the serious issues that he needs to deal with. Oh, my gosh. I just thought I'd throw that out there. Throw that out there. I think he might be the craziest person that's ever been in Congress, and that is saying something.

Well, there was during the elections elections i think it was in virginia there was a state representative candidate who had a apparently a fairly lewd only fans account and um anyway she just barely lost that race last i checked but it was it was like a nail biter. But yeah, that was, I guess, how she made a living for a while was essentially doing porn and nearly got elected to the Virginia legislature. Wow. Well, this conversation has taken quite a turn, folks. We started with meatloaf.

That's a pretty G-rated topic, but that wasn't good enough, apparently. Meatloaf, which sucks. You're just terrible. You know what? Silence was the appropriate response to a statement like that. Do you like meatloaf? Absolutely.

It's a classic. You know what, Cameron? We can agree on that. We may disagree on what goes on it. Building bridges. But we can both agree that Mac is just wrong. I can't believe y'all just shook hands at the table. I don't think that's ever happened before.

I'm glad you said that. That happens. Okay, well, my tweeter for this week. So the Caitlin Armstrong trial closing arguments are going on. I think they may have concluded, but they were going on this morning. And this, of course, is the it's pitched as the love triangle between three bikers, two pro bikers, another gal who the yoga instructor and a more amateur cyclist here in Austin. Where there's Caitlin Armstrong's on trial for murder of Mariah Wilson. And it's a wild, crazy story.

And I've talked about it ad nauseum on this podcast, but I just also, I'm sorry. I love how you transitioned into this. Like it was going to be more lighthearted than the topics we just talked about. Well, my Twitter is, I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's so lighthearted and fine. Well, because my tweets, the tweets I'm mentioning are, so I So that was what was in my brain when I started talking about it. And then I realized I had to contextualize about this horrific murder. But Jim, I don't know how to say his last name, Fortuno. Fortuno.

Yeah. Is that how you say it? I really don't want to butcher this journalist's name. He's a journalist with AP. Yeah, that'd be terrible. He's been tweeting, what? I don't know to butcher this a journalist's name he's in a journalist with ap yeah that'd be terrible he's been tweeting what i don't know i'm just being sarcastic okay but there are some tweets he's been putting out from the trial that i just think are hilarious so last night he tweeted a woman just tried to bring a dachshund into the courtroom in the caitlin armstrong murder trial the bailiff said, nope.

That just makes me laugh. Somebody tried to bring a dachshund into the courtroom. This very high profile murder trial. The bailiff says, sorry, not going to work. Nope. Nope. And then an hour ago at the Caitlin Armstrong trial, District Attorney Garza comes in and takes a seat next to me, takes out his cell phone. Bailiff makes him put it away.

And that also really made me laugh. To have the district attorney walk in and be reprimanded by the bailiff is just funny in and of itself. For cell phone usage, nonetheless. I can also see Jose Garza saying, but I'm the da and the bailiff going and yeah yeah i can see that exchange happening so anyways fun stuff well john and thank you for joining us on this podcast by joining me on this podcast i appreciate it folks thank you so much for listening and we'll catch you next week thank you to everyone for listening if you enjoy our show

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