Pratt on Texas

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: From the City of Dallas forcing employees, and especially supervisors, to actively support homosexuality and so-called “gender transistions” to family venues like Six Flags hosting drag queen shows all month to actively promote homosexual “pride,” the secular, anti-values Left is on the march to revolution. (Would these same venues like Six Flags include shows and marketing to promote monogamous married sexuality? Probably not.)Another public school, a rural district, has been caught promoting the sex change agenda to students.There seems to be no slowing of this revolution of forcing sexual perversion and sinful behavior upon all, especially children. Legislators have acted on some of it but will those restrictions be enough? Likely not but such are still important and needed.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.FBI raids locations in Laredo connected to United ISD school board member and Webb Co. chief deputy sheriff Rick Rodriguez.Bexar County sheriff pushing criminal charges over Florida’s voluntary flight of illegal aliens from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts – pure political B.S. And more in the border news stack.LIV an PGA to merge just after PGA opened its new HQ campus in Frisco, Texas.Houston chef wins Best Chef in Texas.And, other news of Texas.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: The fight between the Texas Senate and House on how to best provide property tax relief is not well understood. The Texan’s Brad Johnson does a better job than anyone of putting it in basic terms.There are good and bad sides to both. I slightly favor the Senate plan because of the more permanent protection of home owners found in a big increase in the homestead exemption. The House relies too much on appraisal caps which, while capping the rate of growth in appraised value for taxation, do not actually guarantee much of any cap on actual taxes levied on properties. I would like to see, however, non-residential property have the same appraisal cap as residential simply to prevent hidden tax shifting to business properties by local governments.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Texas Again Leads Nation With Most Fortune 500 Headquarters.City of Dallas mandating employees express agreement with the transsexual movement or face firing. And, Dallas has long required taxpayers to pay for sex change related healthcare.Armed Mexican cartel members cross into Texas, arrested. Also, it appears that Texas officials are finally making arrests of illegal crossers in Eagle Pass.Austin has its first known serial killer in 138 years, but questions remain on Rainey Street deaths.And, other news of Texas.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: The regular session was 140 days and yet lawmakers were unable to pass tax relief but did find time to continue a spending spree growth of government trend that is far greater than Texas population growth. (Maybe the rush to impeachment was to take the focus away from the huge budget growth and a lack of tax relief? I doubt it but one does wonder.)Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Two celebrity lawyers hired to prosecute impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton and already they are trying the case in the press and lamenting that some in the A.G.’s office are defending Paxton.Big fall in oil and gas drilling in the Baker Hughes report this week. Worse, Comptroller Hegar says that while sales tax is up in today’s report, most of the economy is flat or negative.An interesting piece at Fox News about Senator Ted Cruz’s comments about what has happened to high school and college debate reminds me that we discussed this in a Podcast Extra with Roy Maynard in 2021.Texas Scorecard: Starr County Elections Department Raided, Texas Attorney General Investigating Voter Fraud.And, other news of Texas.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: There is much press across the state about  the feuding between Lieutenant Governor Patrick, Speaker Phelan, and Governor Abbott over the best way to deliver tax relief. Some stories have quotes about how it has never been this intense, mean, etc. B.S. The feuding between Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and Speaker Craddick over the Franchise Tax reform was far nastier. Let’s just hope that whatever avenue of tax relief the House and Senate finally agree upon that it’s better than the debacle that come out of that early feud on the Franchise Tax.James Quintero has a good piece on “tax compression” which helps explain how the legislature, which does not levy a property tax in Texas, can provide a property tax cut by compressing local government taxes.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.More legislative review of what passed and what did not including the end of the annual car inspection to renew your registration. The Tribune story almost seems to be written by an Austin lib who does not have a car. Yes, you will still pay the $7.50 bit to the state at renewal but you will not have to get an inspection, except for emissions is certain counties, or pay for that inspection which is another $7.50.Texan, Aggie set to become head of U.S. Marine Corps.Federal judge in Texas blocks Biden ATF pistol brace rule on day of deadline to register weapons.And, other news of Texas.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: There is a flippant arrogance to Texas House leadership and culture over the last decade (Straus, Bonnen, and Phelan) which is unseemly and causes one to think many of the body do not realize that it is our money and liberty they are playing with and that we only lend them power through our vote. This is not a game, it’s our money, lives, and government and they need to take things more soberly.The House, yesterday, gavelled in for the first called session of the 88th Legislature, passed its same tax relief plan and some border security bills and then immediately gavelled out sine die. Meanwhile the Senate, taking its work far more seriously and maturely remained in session to reconvene on Friday.Despite comments from Abbott about the House plan being the only that is germane to the call, he’s wrong and Lt. Gov. Patrick is correct that the guv cannot control the what the legislature adopts policy-wise. He can veto it but he can’t specify it.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.More on impeachment: Phelan’s impeachment game: Bad form, bad precedent, unnecessary and embarrassing.Gov. Abbott appoints his buddy and former Secretary of State, John Scott, as interim Attorney General.Texas History, through the Texas State Historical Association, gets a temporary win in district court in Galveston with an injunction stopping nefarious action by far-Left academics who are ignoring the organization’s bylaws.Dallas Fed’s May report on the Texas service and retail sectors.And, other news of Texas.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates. www.PrattonTexas.com

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: Understand this: My primary objections to the use of, and vote for, impeachment of Mr. Paxton by members of the Texas House stand fully without respect to the person involved. In other words, on the face of it this process, this use of the power of impeachment is wrong for many reasons no matter whether Paxton is guilty of things alleged, or not, or whether it was someone else like former Democrat attorneys general Dan Morales or Jim Mattox.I address a small part of my arguments on today on the show. One of the most important, aside from the terrible tool for a House Speaker to coerce legislators and state officials this precedent sets, is the lack of “inherency” to the argument made by those show spoke for impeachment in the House.In debate, we define the stock, or fundamental, issue of inherency as: Is there a law, statute, or barrier that prevents the status quo from achieving the affirmative’s goal.What that means in this case is that to support even the roll out of the impeachment process, it needs be demonstrated that no other part of our existing systems (the status quo) are able to achieve the goal of “protecting the state” from Mr. Paxton. Yet no one has even bothered to put forward the argument that law enforcement, whether state or federal, is being prevented from investigating allegations against Paxton. And remember, despite the moniker “state’s chief law enforcement officer,” the attorney general does not actually run or control the state’s major law enforcement bodies.Both of the last two Democrat Texas Attorneys General, Mattox and Morales faced criminal charges with Morales pleading guilty and Mattox being acquitted after a long jury trial, demonstrating that there is no fundamental reason that the standard law enforcement and court process should not be allowed to run its course with Mr. Paxton. (Unless of course that reason is purely political vendetta and you don’t think there is actually enough evidence for Paxton to be convicted of a serious crime.)From the rushed, stacked-deck House debate on impeachment Saturday as reported in The Texan:Responding to questions from Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler), Murr agreed that witnesses were not placed under oath and were not cross-examined by members of the committee.Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo) opposed the impeachment resolution on the grounds that he believes the process was flawed and the evidence is not enough, a theme throughout.“I’m not here to defend Ken Paxton. That’s not my job, I’ll leave that to someone else,” Smithee said.Smithee asserted the evidence presented to members was “hearsay within hearsay within hearsay” and would not be admissible in any court of law.“We do not need to be relaxing the fairness and due process concerns,” Smithee said, discussing the precedent the House set with an “indefensible” process.Smithee said the chamber was considering impeachment in the “worst possible way.”“What you’re being asked to do is to impeach without evidence. It is all rumor, it is all innuendo, it is all speculation,” Smithee said. …Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) pointed out that all of the investigators that testified before the committee were former Harris County employees and nearly all of them vote in Democratic primaries. Murr suggested he was uninterested in the political leanings of the investigators when considering the articles of impeachment.“This body gave more time to debating tampon tax relief than we’ve given to impeaching the chief law enforcement officer in our state,” Tinderholt said.Tinderholt said he was “sorry” Republicans in the House are “being used” to cram through an impeachment against a popular GOP official. He said it is “imprudent at best and gross abuse of power at worst.”Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Waxahachie) spoke against impeachment, saying the allegations should be “left to the courts and to the voters.”The only Democrat to come to Paxto(continued)

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: Why will Texas House leadership not allow law enforcement to do its job? Why insert aggrieved politicians into any process looking at what Attorney General Paxton may or may not have done? Are House politicians better than the Texas Rangers? Or, is Speaker Phelan and crew suggesting the FBI somehow turned a blind eye to Paxton when it looked at his dealings with Nate Paul? That would be odd given how much the DOJ and DC hates Paxton. Or, are the suggesting that the Texas Rangers are corrupt and incapable of investigation Paxton, as well as every other state and local law enforcement agency in the state?Rather it appears that since years of pressure and investigation of Paxton has not gone anywhere, his political opponents have decided upon a Soviet-style show trial in the House (yes, the impeachment itself is a form of trial for all practical purposes and in Texas, unlike a Federal situation, if impeached Paxton is removed from office until after a Senate trial so he gets punished with just the indictment.)Want proof of the show trial aspect?The House proposes 4-hours of debate tomorrow divided between supporters and opponents of impeachment. The supporters have had taxpayer funded investigators working in secret for months and will have stacks of one-sided information to present. Those speaking against impeachment will have had barely over 24-hours to even think about the situation much less be able to prepare contradictory evidence.Also remember, the House committee doing all of this threw the A.G.'s office official out of their show-trial hearing this month and refused to allow any evidence to be submitted that was in favor of Paxton's position.Why are we having House members take over law enforcement in this case when the A.G. does not run any of the big state policing agencies? Is our law enforcement corrupt or, is it just our House leadership that is corrupt?And just to clarify, all of my arguments hold merit even it later we find out Mr. Paxton has engaged in illegal behavior. This is about politicians weaponizing their legislative power to settle scores and ignoring the work of proper law enforcement.Here Paxton speak this afternoon (more importantly is the man who comes after him):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyNWUqINSPoOur Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Oil and gas rig count falls nationally but rises 2 in Texas.State budget presented from conferees appears to be a massive spending spree with tax relief being a relatively small amount. From TPPF: "It will take some time to fully grasp the 1,000+ page document, but a surface-level analysis of expenditure growth is telling. From the 2022-23 biennium to the 2024-25 biennium, the state’s total budget may increase by 21.4%. Spending from state sources is poised to grow by 31%. General revenue-related expenditures are set to increase by more than 20%."And, other news of Texas.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: More bills killed by slow scheduling, working Texas House but some good elements kept alive by Senate action. I review many issues and bills and where such stand at the moment.Greg Price releases more video, over 6 minutes worth, showing Speaker Phelan to be intoxicated, or something, while presiding over the House. https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1661488194104307715And for another, non-Leftwing media, perspective on Phelan versus Paxton, give this is try: Paxton Scorches Phelan as Investigation Starts. Even the Statesman admits: “The three-hour hearing Wednesday uncovered little evidence that had not already surfaced in Paxton’s many legal troubles,…”Most Texas Democrat state representatives oppose allowing only citizens to vote in Texas elections.DPS Investigating Women Who Complained About Man in Capitol Restroom.  This is how extreme and wrong this trans and homosexual movement has become and how far its backers are willing to go.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Huge win at the U.S. Supreme Court against EPA overreach in the WOTUS issue for ranchers, farmers, landowners, and all Americans: Supreme Court Rolls Back Biden EPA’s Expansive Water Regulation.And, other news of Texas.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: Texas House Republican leadership proves that even when it comes to ethics, they are not much better than Democrats, even those in D.C.You have a House Speaker appearing drunk while presiding over the House, and at a key time, which most likely is the cause of the surprise adjournment last Friday night until Monday which killed tons of bills that were supposed be heard Saturday, who doesn’t answer about his behavior and lack of proper decorum. And then when it all gets noticed and the Attorney General suggests he resign after the session, that Speaker, Dade Phelan, has his henchmen launch a next morning “investigative” theater show to try and ruin the A.G.Irrespective of anything the A.G. may have done or not done, there was nothing new offered up, just the same old stuff that has been presented in the press ad nauseam for years. This was abuse of the institution again (like being drunk on the dais) to deflect in a political fight.It’s shameful and all going on while the House demonstrates its unwillingness to get to work early and get the people’s business done.(No doubt the pro-marijuana lobby will be celebrating and defending Phelan because it seems being stoned is central to their lives.)Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Comments on the Uvalde tragedy that will surely be taken out of context by someone at some time as well as specific comments about Senator Roland Gutierrez and Democrats in relation to the matter.Governor Abbott confers with other governors about helping Texas on the border. Meanwhile even the barriers Texas has built are not stopping the illegal entry. And, Texas A.G. Paxton files important lawsuit against the Biden Admin. and it’s phone app program for illegal crossers.And, other news of Texas.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: In the middle of a war for the future of our society, it seems many Republican elected officials have no appetite for victory but instead worry more about the back-end bureaucracy. It’s as if they would rather lose at the front if winning takes time and energy away from the trappings of being some type of power broker and, it is shameful.Texas House Republicans Reject Effort to Fix Watered-down DEI BanTexas Public School Administrators Admit to Ignoring Critical Race Theory Ban– read the story, it proves what I said the colleges will do under the watered-down non-ban DEI bill.Rural Texas Republicans fight school choice and here’s why that’s a surprise (the schools in their districts are bad!)Senate OKs Medicaid expansion for new mothers – smaller gov’t? helping people make better choices to get off assistance? No. Just more promotion of a Democrat dependency agenda.Landgraf’s Energy Independence Act goes to governor’s desk – a good frustrate the feds billTenure Reform at Public Universities Passes in Texas House – “…neither eliminates tenure nor changes anything about the tenure process as it exists in the university system. Kuempel agreed…” So why bother!?Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Texas Land Commissioner Buckingham points out just how bad is the EPA/Biden new power plant policy.Texas artist gets surprise order from Coca-Cola for his Topo Chico hand painted shoes.KCBD: Lubbock Co. commissioners ‘excited’ about possible new medical examiner’s office. Why no question or mention of a bond-debt election to cover the other costs? Why no question about the county’s infamous troubles, and costs, in running such a program?And, other news of Texas.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com