Friday, September 30, 2022
The Judiciary in Texas - 9/30/22
- Bastrop County grand jury declines to indict caretaker at center of The Refuge abuse scandal.
. . . “The Grand Jury did not indict Iesha Greene, or any other person, for any offense(s). The Grand Jury did not find sufficient evidence to support an indictment on any criminal offense,” Conor Brown, an investigator with the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, wrote to The Refuge. The case was presented to the grand jury on Sept. 13, and the shelter received a copy of the letter in the mail on Tuesday. Brown did not respond to a request for comment.
. . . Testifying before a committee investigating the allegations in late March, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said he was confident Greene would be arrested on charges of sexual exploitation of a child and child pornography when law enforcement can provide further evidence.
Court-appointed watchdogs of Texas’ foster care system, meanwhile, have said there is “ample evidence” that former sex trafficking victims were abused at a foster care facility, though they did not mention Greene. U.S. District Judge Janis Jack said she would seek a federal criminal investigation into allegations that children were sexually abused and trafficked at The Refuge.
Relevant Terms:
- grand jury
- Bastrop County
- Sheriff's Office
- The Refuge
- committee investigation
- Texas Department of Public Safety
- Steve McGraw
- arrested
- charges
- sexual exploitation of a child
- child pornography
- law enforcement
- court appointed
- watchdog
- foster care system
- evidence
- sex trafficking
- victims
- foster care facility
- U.S. District Judge
- Janis Jack
- federal criminal investigation
- Families of three Uvalde shooting survivors sue school district, gun makers, city officials and others.
The families of three children who survived the Uvalde mass shooting in May have filed the first lawsuit in a federal court against the Uvalde school district, law enforcement officials, gun makers and others, alleging that their negligence and failures contributed to the massacre.
. . . In all, the suit names 10 defendants: the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District; since-fired school district police chief Pete Arredondo; the City of Uvalde; Mariano Pargas, a lieutenant who was the acting Uvalde police chief during the shooting; Mandy Gutierrez, the school’s principal who the suit alleges failed to notify teachers of the gunman’s presence through the school’s intercom; Daniel Defense LLC, a gun manufacturer; Firequest International Inc., which designed an accessory trigger system the gunman used; Oasis Outback LLC, the gun store in Uvalde where the shooter bought and picked up his firearms; Motorola Solutions Inc., which designed or sold radio communication devices used by first responders that allegedly failed; and Schneider Electric USA Inc., which is alleged to have made or installed the doors at the school.
The defendants could not be immediately reached for comment.
About a month ago, another law firm served the Uvalde school district with a $27 billion claim over the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
The lawsuit says each defendant played a part in the shooting’s tragic outcome, from producing faulty technology that hindered first responders to pushing dark marketing that pitches lethal weapons to young minds.
The families of three children who survived the Uvalde mass shooting in May have
- filed
- lawsuit
- federal court
- Uvalde school district
- law enforcement officials
- gun makers
- negligence and failures
contributed to the massacre.
- Texas’ Western District Court
- seeking unspecified damages
- defendants
- - the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District
- - school district police chief Pete Arredondo
- - the City of Uvalde
- - Mariano Pargas
- - Uvalde police chief
- - Mandy Gutierrez
- - school principal
- - Daniel Defense LLC
- - gun manufacturer
- - Firequest International Inc
- - accessory trigger system
- - Oasis Outback LLC
- - gun store
- - Motorola Solutions Inc
- - radio communication devices
- - Schneider Electric USA Inc
- Texas court confirms the attorney general can’t unilaterally prosecute election cases.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's last-ditch attempt to regain the power of his office to unilaterally prosecute election cases was rejected by the state’s highest criminal court Wednesday.
The Court of Criminal Appeals instead upheld its previous ruling that says that the attorney general must get permission from local county prosecutors to pursue cases on issues like voter fraud. Paxton had been fighting to overturn that ruling as the issue of prosecuting election fraud has become fraught in recent years. Paxton sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and has aggressively pursued individual cases of fraud, outraging some voting rights advocates who see the punishments as too harsh for people who made honest mistakes.
Last December, eight of the nine members on the all-GOP court struck down a law that previously allowed Paxton’s office to take on those cases without local consent. The court said the law violated the separation-of-powers clause in the Texas Constitution.
Texas Attorney General
- Ken Paxton's last-ditch attempt to regain the power of his office to
- unilaterally
- prosecute
- election cases was
- rejected
- state’s highest criminal court
- The Court of Criminal Appeals
- upheld its previous ruling
- the attorney general must get permission from local county prosecutors to pursue cases on issues like voter fraud.
- overturn that ruling
- voting rights advocates
- punishments
- eight of the nine members on the all-GOP court
- struck down a law
- allowed Paxton’s office to take on those cases without local consent
- the law violated the separation-of-powers clause in the Texas Constitution
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home to avoid being served with subpoena, court record says.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home in a truck driven by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, to avoid being served a subpoena Monday, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
Ernesto Martin Herrera, a process server, was attempting to serve the state’s top attorney with a subpoena for a federal court hearing Tuesday in a lawsuit from nonprofits that want to help Texans pay for abortions out of state. Later on Monday, Paxton filed two requests: a motion to quash the subpoena and another to seal the certificates of service, which included the affidavit from process server.
- served a subpoena
- affidavit
- filed in federal court.
- Ernesto Martin Herrera
- process server
- a federal court hearing
- lawsuit
- nonprofits
- Paxton filed two requests
- motion
- quash the subpoena
- seal the certificates of service
- In campaign ad, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggests mandatory 10-year sentence for gun-related crimes.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is making the increase in violent crime a major point of his reelection campaign, most recently proposing to imprison people for at least 10 years if they’re convicted of any crime while using a gun.
“Texans are fed up with violent crime and skyrocketing murder rates,” Patrick says in a campaign ad that began airing this week. “To stop it, I will pass legislation next session to add a 10-year mandatory jail sentence to anyone convicted of using a gun while committing a crime.”
But details are scant on what would be a major policy shift to increase incarceration in the state, which already imprisons the most people in the country.
- Texas Lt. Gov.
- Dan Patrick
- increase in violent crime
- a major point of his reelection campaign
- proposing to imprison people for at least 10 years if they’re convicted of any crime while using a gun.
- murder rates
- 10-year mandatory jail sentence
- convicted of using a gun while committing a crime.”
- major policy shift
- increase incarceration in the state
Thursday, September 29, 2022
What is a political party? What is an interest group?
Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy.[1] They play an important role in the development of political and social systems.
From ScotusBlog: Merrill v. Milligan
A case that may further weaken the Voting Rights Act.
- Click here for it.
Issue: Whether the state of Alabama’s 2021 redistricting plan for its seven seats in the United States House of Representatives violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
- From Oyez:
Facts of the case
A three-judge district court agreed with the challengers that the map likely violated Section 2 of the VRA, granting a preliminary injunction that ordered the state to draw a new map. Alabama asked the U.S. Supreme Court to freeze the district court’s injunction, which the Court did by a 5-4 decision pending a merits decision.
Question
Does Alabama’s 2021 redistricting plan for its seven U.S. House seats violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act?
Relevant terms
- gerrymandering.
- partisan gerrymandering.
- racial gerrymandering.
- cracking.
- packing.
See:
- Gerrymandering, explained.
- Princeton Gerrymandering Project.
- Gerrymandering Explained.
2022 Texas Party Platforms
Texas Republican Party 2022 Platform and Resolutions.
Texas Green Party 2022 Platform.
Texas Libertarian Party 2022 Platform.
- What is a party platform? . . . a formal set of principle goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, in order to appeal to the general public, for the ultimate purpose of garnering the general public's support and votes about complicated topics or issues. A component of a political platform is often called a plank – the opinions and viewpoints about an individual topic, as held by a party, person, or organization.
- Ballotpedia: Platform. A political party platform or platform outlines a party's principles, goals, and positions on domestic and foreign affairs. Platforms are typically announced at the party's national convention. They do not necessarily have a binding effect on elected officials or candidates within the party.
Links - 9/29/22
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/litigation
https://www.justice.gov/crt/section-2-voting-rights-act#:~:text=Section%202%20of%20the%20Voting%20Rights%20Act%20of%201965%20prohibits,)(2)%20of%20the%20Act.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1086/222274/20220502123219863_21-1086-tsac-Citizens%20United.pdf
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1086/230264/20220718150806851_21-1086%20Amicus%20Brief%20of%20The%20Brennan%20Center%20for%20Justice.pdf
https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/merrill-v-milligan-2/
From Wikipedia: October surprise
More disinformation (?)
- Click here for the entry.
In U.S. political jargon, an October surprise is a news event that may influence the outcome of an upcoming November election (particularly one for the U.S. presidency), whether deliberately planned or spontaneously occurring. Because the date for national elections (as well as many state and local elections) is in early November, events that take place in October have greater potential to influence the decisions of prospective voters; thus, relatively last-minute news stories could either change the course of an election or reinforce the inevitable. The term "October surprise" was coined by William Casey when he served as campaign manager of Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. However, there were October election-upending events that predated the coining of the term.
Disinformation
A look ahead to out coverage of freedom of the press and the media.
A central purpose of the media is to convey information, but it can also be used to purposely distort it as well. This is referred to as disinformation, and has become an increasing issue in this age of social media where anyone can post messages.
For more:
- Wikipedia: Disinformation.
- Brookings: How disinformation evolved in 2020.
- A Brief History of Fake News.
- How To Think About Whether Misinformation Interventions Work.
- Washington Post: The long history of disinformation during war.
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
From the Pew Research Center: The Growing Partisan Divide in Views of Higher Education
An example of differences of opinion between self described Democrats and Republicans
- Click here for the article.
Americans see value in higher education – whether they graduated from college or not. Most say a college degree is important, if not essential, in helping a young person succeed in the world, and college graduates themselves say their degree helped them grow and develop the skills they needed for the workplace. While fewer than half of today’s young adults are enrolled in a two-year or four-year college, the share has risen steadily over the past several decades. And the economic advantages college graduates have over those without a degree are clear and growing.
A new Pew Research Center survey finds that only half of American adults think colleges and universities are having a positive effect on the way things are going in the country these days. About four-in-ten (38%) say they are having a negative impact – up from 26% in 2012.
The share of Americans saying colleges and universities have a negative effect has increased by 12 percentage points since 2012. The increase in negative views has come almost entirely from Republicans and independents who lean Republican. From 2015 to 2019, the share saying colleges have a negative effect on the country went from 37% to 59% among this group. Over that same period, the views of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic have remained largely stable and overwhelmingly positive.
Links - 9/27/22
https://www.hipgnosissongs.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Anne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Madison
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison_Sr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_in_the_American_colonies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Party
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/critical_legal_theory#:~:text=Overview,those%20who%20create%20the%20law.
Annotated Bill of Rights
establishment clause
free exercise clause
free speech clause
free press clause
peaceably to assemble
- association
petition clause
II - A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
-
- Heller v DC
- McDonald v Chicago
III - No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
IV - The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
warrants
probable cause
V - No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.
indictment
grand jury
double jeopardy
life or limb
due process clause
private property
VI - In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
speedy trials
public trials
impartial jury
informed
confrontation clause
witness
right to counsel
VII - In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
VIII - Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
excessive bail
excessive fines
cruel and unusual punishment
IX - The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
right of conscience
right to own property
X - The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
15th Amendment.
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.
2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
- United States v. Reese.
- Williams v. Mississippi.
Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- Section 2.
- - - Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee.
- Section 4.
- - - Shelby County v. Holder.
- Section 5.
John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
From The Texas Tribune: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home to avoid being served with subpoena, court record says
What is a subpoena?
- Click here for the article.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home in a truck driven by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, to avoid being served a subpoena Monday, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
From the Washington Post: A new way to visualize America’s surge in partisan hostility
A good example of what Washington warned against in his farewell address.
- Click here for the article.
We are at one of those moments where it’s worth stepping back and considering the state of things though the lens of recent history. Ten years ago, the defeat of Mitt Romney by Barack Obama prompted reflection within the Republican establishment about its appeal. Now, Romney regularly sides with Democrats in opposition to the right-wing president who succeeded Obama — including on that president’s effort to retain power despite losing his bid for reelection.
Newly published data from a regular national survey shows exactly how that divide has widened. At the time of each presidential election, the American National Election Studies (ANES), run by Stanford University and the University of Michigan, asks Americans about their political views. The research has been conducted for decades, with researchers asking the same or similar questions during each cycle. The result is a pool of data that offers unique insight into how Americans’ political views have changed in recent decades.
From the Brookings Institute: Voter suppression or voter expansion? What’s happening and does it matter?
- Click here for it.
What is voter suppression anyway?
- Click here for some answers.
From the National Conference of State Legislatures: State Elections Legislation Database
Everything you could possible want to know about state elections across the United States.
- Click here for it.
From the Texas Tribune (8/30/21): The hard-fought Texas voting bill is poised to become law. Here's what it does.
A look at the changes to the electoral system in Texas following the election of 2020.
- Click here for the bill.
- Click here for the article.
Components of the bill:
- A ban on drive-thru voting.
- A ban on the distribution of mail-in ballot applications
- New ID requirements for voting by mail
- A correction process for mail-in voting
- Enhancing poll watcher protections
- Establishing monthly citizenship checks
- Creating new rules for voter assistance
Monday, September 26, 2022
From American University: Campaign Management Institute
Its a living . . .
- Click here for it.
For over thirty years, the Campaign Management Institute (CMI) has offered a nationally recognized program designed to train individuals for participation in local, state and federal political campaigns.
Directed by Dr. Candice J. Nelson, the institute comprehensively covers campaign techniques, strategy, and tactics with emphasis on recent technological developments.
Participants will have the opportunity to develop their expertise by utilizing the extensive personnel and organizational resources in the Nation's Capital.
Group seminars and campaign simulations are used to develop and refine a participant's ability to coordinate a successful political campaign. Written work for this course consists of several short exercises plus development of a campaign plan. Groups of five to six students work jointly on the development and presentation of a single campaign plan for an actual upcoming race. The final day of the Institute is devoted to the presentation of the group-designed campaign plans before a panel of CMI faculty and campaign professionals.
Key Terms - Week 6
Interest Groups and Political Parties
K Street
Special Interest
Interest Group
lobbyist|
pluralism
hyperpluralism
Power elite theory
economic groups
public interest groups
intergovernmental lobbying
reverse lobbying
iron triangles
revolving door
issue networks
lobbying on judicial confirmation
amicus briefs
sponsoring litigation
interest group spending
political parties
faction
coalition
nonpartisan / partisan elections
winner take all elections
elite politics
mass politics
Democratic Party
two party system
party eras
minor parties
party boss
party machine
New Deal
New Deal Coalition
GOP
party identification
straight ticket voter
split ticket voter
base voters
Republican Factions
Democratic Factions
party organization
party platform
party organization
party in government
party in the electorate
the big tent
party caucus
partisanship
divided government
Electrical Codes
https://www.sll.texas.gov/law-legislation/texas/building-codes/electrical-codes/
file:///C:/Users/jefferiesk/Downloads/hpw_ce_2014_nec_houston_amendments.pdf
https://www.tradesmance.com/career-central/texas-electrical-code-and-2020-nec-updates
https://www.sll.texas.gov/law-legislation/texas/building-codes/
Sunday, September 25, 2022
Week Five
This is a look at the items covered in the second section of the class:
The Political Institutions
1 - What is a Political Institution?
2 - Suffrage
3 - Elections
4 - Groups and Interests
5 - Political Parties
6 - The Press
The Political Institutions
1 - What is a political institution? An institution whose purpose is to influence the actions of the governing institutions - those established in a country's constitution.
2 - Suffrage: "Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote)."
3 - Elections: the formal process of selecting a person for public office or of accepting or rejecting a political proposition by voting.
4 - Groups and Interests: An interest group, also called special interest group, advocacy group, or pressure group, any association of individuals or organizations, usually formally organized, that, on the basis of one or more shared concerns, attempts to influence public policy in its favor.
5 - Political Parties: A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections.
6 - The Press: the collective designation of media vehicles that carry out journalism and other functions of informative communication, in contrast to pure propaganda or entertainment communication.
Lecture Notes
- The First Amendment and the Political Institutions.
- Federalist 10.
- The Iron Law of Oligarchy.
- Democracy.
- Elections, Appointment, and the Separation of Powers.
- Elections in the U.S. Constitution.
- U.S. Election Code.
- Suffrage.
- Title 1 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - Voting Rights.
- The Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- Shelby v Holder.
- The Political Freedoms in the Texas Bill of Rights.
- Texas Constitution, Article 6, Suffrage.
- Texas Election Code.
- Search Campaign Finance Reports.
- Candidate Information.
Terminology
- the media
- loud signal
- public watchdog
- journalism
- policy agenda
- priming
- framing
- mass media
- personal presidency
- radio
- television
- cable
- infotainment
- 24 hour news
- new media
- fake news
- bias
- - political
- - sensational
- - confirmation
- - investigative
- - fairness
- private ownership
- profits
- Watergate scandal
- public ownership
- regulations
- Federal Communications Commission
- agency capture
- fairness doctrine
- consolidation
- Telecommunications Act of 1996
- horserace journalism
- sound bite
- advanced or early voting
- blanket or wide-open primary
- casework
- closed primary
- credit claiming
- cross-filing
- direct primary
- disclosure
- equal protection clause
- general election
- grandfather clause
- incumbent
- independent candidate
- literacy test
- majority election
- Motor Voter Act
- open primary
- party-line voting
- party primary
- plurality election
- poll tax
- position taking
- preference primary
- primary election
- private financing
- public financing
- roll off
- runoff election
- second-order elections
- suffrage
- voter turnout
- Voting Rights Act of 1965
- white primary
Saturday, September 24, 2022
For week 6's written assignment
(I'll assign a separate assignment to ACC GOVT 2306)
Several times now - in my lecture classes - we have discussed Aristotle's typologies of governments. They are divided into the rule of the one, the few, and the many, and are then separated into those that rule for the public interest and those that rule purely for the benefit of the rulers.
Given what you have covered so far in class, as well as your unique understanding of American and state government, which do you think best describes our government?
Are we a government of the one, the few, or the many?
Do they rule for the public interest or their own private interest?
Justify your answer with examples, don't just give me your opinion.
Friday, September 23, 2022
Links - 9/23/22
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/436/572/1430005/
https://mcamericas.org/news-events/news/what-is-a-life-sciences-ecosystem#:~:text=So%2C%20what%20is%20a%20life,%2C%20medical%20devices%2C%20and%20more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Corporation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin#History
https://rollcall.com/2022/09/22/schumer-starts-process-for-taking-up-stopgap-funding-bill/
From the New York Times: Russia Begins Orchestrating Staged Voting in Occupied Territories
Not all elections are designed to allow the people to decide public policy.
- Click here for the article.
Moscow began orchestrating referendums on joining Russia in areas it occupies in Ukraine on Friday, an effort widely seen as a sham that is expected to culminate in the annexation of an area larger than Portugal.
The ballots being distributed had one question: Do you wish to secede from Ukraine and create an independent state that will enter the Russian Federation?
“We will be able to make our historic choice,” Kirill Stremousov, a leader of the Russian occupation administration in the southern region of Kherson, said in a statement.
He said the wording on the ballots — in both Ukrainian and Russian — was “in accordance with international law,” but even before the first vote, the referendum plans were met with international condemnation.
President Biden, speaking to the United Nations General Assembly this week, said that “if nations can pursue their imperial ambitions without consequences,” then the global security order established to prevent the horrors of World War II from repeating will be imperiled.
Russian proxy officials in four regions — Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizka in the south — earlier this week announced plans to hold referendums over four days beginning on Friday. Russia controls nearly all of two of the four regions, Luhansk and Kherson, but only a fraction of the other two, Zaporizka and Donetsk.
Ukrainian officials have dismissed the voting as grotesque theater — staging polls in cities laid to waste by Russian forces and abandoned by most residents. President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Ukraine’s allies for their steadfast support and said “the farce” of “sham referenda” would do nothing to change his nation’s fight to drive Russia from Ukraine.
From the New York Times: The California County Where MAGA Took Control
An example of what Madison describes in Federalist 10. Majorities are far more likely to form at the local level, than the state or national level.
- Click here for the article.
Times are grim in the cowboy far north of California. Wildfires rage. Covid-19 lingers. Drought has stripped most of the snow from Mount Shasta and shrunk Shasta Lake.
“We’ve been duped!” one resident charged during an epic six-hour debate in July over the certified results of the June primary election. “We need to get rid of all electronics in our voting!” another exhorted during a two-hour August outcry over “rigged” equipment. This week, a woman in a “We, the People” T-shirt invoked David and Goliath, and a self-described citizen journalist said voters were being controlled via nasal swabs coated with “nano smart dust” in Covid-19 tests.
“This is a national moment,” said a woman warning that November’s election could be hijacked by Wi-Fi. “We’re going to keep coming back till we get what we want.”
In most of California, their claims would have been dismissed immediately: State law prohibits most of the election reviews they have called for and there has been no evidence of voter fraud in the primary election. But Shasta County, population 180,000, has become a riveting California exception, a red pocket where far-right activists aligned with former President Donald J. Trump have taken charge of a government long overseen by establishment conservatives.
In February, an alliance of MAGA activists, secessionists, vaccine resisters and self-described militia members ousted a longtime board member and won a 3-2 majority on Shasta County’s all-Republican — but officially nonpartisan — main governing body. Since then, the most populous county in California’s upper reaches has been a case study in the forces reshaping the Republican Party and governance in conservative parts of the country.
The health officer has been fired, the chief executive has quit, the head of the largest county department has retired, and the county has had difficulty hiring full-time replacements. The board has issued a declaration opposing state vaccine mandates.
Thursday, September 22, 2022
From the Houston Chronicle: What to know about Texas Medical Center's new TMC BioPort and other big expansions
An example of a city's efforts to enhance its economic viability
- Click here for the article.
Houston's Texas Medical Center is the largest medical center in the world. With the announcement of TMC's plans to build a 500-acre biomanufacturing and medical supplies distribution center, it also aims to be a premier hub for life sciences.
. . . TMC has been trying to grow its presence in the life sciences ecosystem in recent years, and the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the need to grow in that area even further.
According to TMC President and CEO Bill McKeon, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the risk of depending on manufacturing from overseas, as many hospitals struggled to secure personal protective equipment and other critical supplies.
Having a biomanufactuing and medical supplies center in Houston would help the region and other areas of the country avoid similar problems in the future, McKeon told Chronicle reporter Evan MacDonald.
For more on the Texas Medical Center, click here.
The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a 2.1-square-mile (5.4 km2)[1] medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrated in a triangular area between Brays Bayou, Rice University, and Hermann Park, are members of the Texas Medical Center Corporation—a non-profit umbrella organization—which constitutes the largest medical complex in the world.[1] The TMC has an extremely high density of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research.[1][2][3]
The Texas Medical Center employs over 106,000 people, hosts 10 million patient encounters annually, and has a gross domestic product of US$25 billion.[1] Over the decades, the TMC has expanded south of Brays Bayou towards NRG Park, and the organization has developed ambitious plans for a new "innovation campus" south of the river.[4] The 4.93-square-mile (12.8 km2) Medical Center / Astrodome area, highly populated with medical workers, is home to over 20,000 people.
. . . The Texas Medical Center was established in 1945, in part by funds endowed to the M.D. Anderson Foundation by businessman Monroe Dunaway Anderson.[10] The fund's first gift was a check of $1,000 to the Junior League Eye Fund for eyeglasses. In 1941, the Texas State Legislature granted funds to the University of Texas for the purpose of starting a cancer research hospital. The M.D. Anderson Foundation matched the state's gift to the university by supplying funds and land on the condition that the hospital be established in Houston and named after its founder.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the purchase of 118 acres (0.48 km2) from the estate of local entrepreneur George Hermann (namesake of Hermann Park) in 1944 for the construction of a 1,000-bed naval hospital in Houston. The hospital, later renamed the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, opened in 1946 and became a teaching facility for Baylor College of Medicine.
- Click here for more on Monroe Dunaway Anderson.
Monroe Dunaway Anderson (1873–1939) was a banker and cotton trader from Jackson, Tennessee. With William L. Clayton, Anderson built Anderson, Clayton and Company (formed in 1904 by his brother Frank E. Anderson and Frank's brother-in-law, William L. Clayton) into the world's biggest cotton company. In the event of one of their deaths, the partnership would lose a large amount of money to estate taxes and might be forced to dissolve. In order to avoid this, Anderson created the M.D. Anderson Foundation with an initial sum of $300,000. In 1939, after Anderson's death the foundation received an additional $19 million.
In 1941, the Texas Legislature appropriated $500,000 to build a cancer hospital and research center. The M.D. Anderson Foundation agreed to match the state funds if the hospital were located in Houston at the Texas Medical Center (another project of the Anderson Foundation), and named after Anderson.
Using surplus World War II Army barracks, the hospital operated for 10 years from a converted residence and 46 beds leased in a Houston hospital before moving to its current location in 1954. The center would later become one of the leading cancer research and treatment institutions in the world.
From Lawfare: Eleventh Circuit Grants Justice Department's Motion for Partial Stay
The decision allows the investigation of the records seized from Mar-a-Lago to continue.
- Click here for the article.
On Wednesday evening, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion granting the Justice Department's motion for a partial stay. The department's motion, which was filed only last week, had asked the court to stay that portion of Judge Aileen Cannon's order that enjoined its review and use of approximately 100 classified documents.
Second, the court concluded that denying the stay would result in irreparable harm because the national-security review led by the Director of National Intelligence, which Judge Cannon's order allowed to proceed, is "inextricably intertwined with [the government's] criminal investigation." The court also agreed with the government's contention that allowing the special master and former President Donald Trump's counsel to review the marked classified documents would separately constitute irreparable harm.
Third, the court held that Trump had failed to establish that he would suffer a substantial injury as a result of the stay. The court found that Trump "does not have a possessory interest" in the marked classified documents and that these documents likely do not contain privileged information such that the government's use of them would harm him. The court further found "unpersuasive" Trump's claim that he would suffer irreparable harm as a result of the criminal investigation against him.
Finally, the court held that because it is "self-evident" that the public has a strong interest in insuring secure storage of classified materials, public interest favored a stay.
From Oyez: Buckley v. Valeo
This will set up our discussion of campaign finance.
- Click here for the page.
George Washington's Farewell Address
- Click here for it.
Washington's refusal to run for a third term reinforced the principle that there is a difference between the president and the nation.
This section is especially important:
I have already intimated to you the danger of
parties in the state, with particular reference to the
founding of them on geographical discriminations.
Let me now take a more comprehensive view and
warn you in the most solemn manner against the
baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our
nature, having its root in the strongest passions of
the human mind. It exists under different shapes in
all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or
repressed; but in those of the popular form it is
seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst
enemy.
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to
party dissension, which in different ages and coun-
[16]
WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS
tries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is
itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length
to a more formal and permanent despotism. The
disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose
in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner
or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more
able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns
this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this
kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely
out of sight) the common and continual mischiefs
of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and the duty of a wise people to discourage
and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the public councils
and enfeeble the public administration.
It agitates
the community with ill founded jealousies and false
alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against
another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and
corruption, which find a facilitated access to the
government itself through the channels of party
[17]
WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS
passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
There is an opinion that parties in free countries
are useful checks upon the administration of the
government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true—
and in governments of a monarchical cast patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor,
upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular
character, in governments purely elective, it is a
spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of
that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there
being constant danger of excess, the effort ought
to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a
uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a
flame, lest instead of warming it should consume.
From The Niskanen Center: The Case for Shortening Medical Education
The medical profession has done a great job preserving its elite status, and the compensation that goes along with it.
Has this harmed the public good? Do we make it too difficult to become a medical doctor?
Some examples of trade associations
It seems that there are many interests groups - trade associations - representing the businesses that use different building materials.
We've been exploring these in class.
They don't all get along with each other.
Examples:
- The California Straw Building Association.
- The Western States Clay Products Association.
- The American Iron and Steel Institute.
- The Stainless Steel Rebar Association.
- The Earthen Construction Initiative.
- The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association.
- The Timber & Forestry Foundation.
- National Hardwood Lumber Association.
From Wikipedia: M142 HIMARS
The weapons system that seems to be changing the tide in Ukraine.
- Click here for the entry.
Development
HIMARS: The rocket system the US is sending to Ukraine explained
Links - 9/22/22
https://www.stonesandandgravelreview-digital.com/nsas/0522_september_october_2022/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=1819819#articleId1819819
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1172/vote_117_2_00325.htm#position
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/19/fact-sheet-the-inflation-reduction-act-supports-workers-and-families/#:~:text=The%20Inflation%20Reduction%20Act%20will%20protect%20Medicare%20recipients%20from%20catastrophic,for%20the%20first%20time%20ever.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5376/text
https://www.csg.org/2022/08/16/understanding-the-inflation-reduction-act/
https://www.strawbuilding.org/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infrastructure
https://www.brick-wscpa.org/index.php
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/22/texas-social-studies-state-board-of-education/
https://www.steel.org/
The Inflation Reduction Act
- Council of State Governments: Understanding the Inflation Reduction Act.
- White House: FACT SHEET: The Inflation Reduction Act Supports Workers and Families.
- Senate Democrats: SUMMARY: THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT OF 2022.
- Wikipedia: Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Links - 9/21/22
https://www.stainlessrebarassociation.org/applications
https://www.ebaa.asn.au/about/earth-building/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_against_left-handed_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogue
https://www.nssga.org/
https://rollcall.com/2022/09/21/food-industry-wary-of-mandates-ahead-of-hunger-conference/
https://rollcall.com/2022/09/21/midterm-elections-could-set-another-turnout-record-this-year/
https://thediplomat.com/2022/04/loyalty-for-luxury-how-the-kim-family-buys-support-from-north-korean-elites/
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/north-koreas-power-structure
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/feb/14/tweets/those-titles-arent-banned-statewide-could-be-distr/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summary_execution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials
https://billofrightsinstitute.org/primary-sources/danburybaptists
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington%27s_Farewell_Address
https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/fact-check-a-viral-tweet-claims-1984-and-other-books-banned-in-texas-but-not-mein-kampf/
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/feb/14/tweets/those-titles-arent-banned-statewide-could-be-distr/
https://rollcall.com/2022/09/21/food-industry-wary-of-mandates-ahead-of-hunger-conference/
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/20/ken-paxton-says-not-to-trust-biden-administration-in-trump-investigati/
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/20/brent-webster-texas-bar-discipline/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milam_County,_Texas
https://www.law.com/texaslawyer/2021/09/07/beaumont-trial-lawyer-who-helped-negotiate-texas-17-3b-tobacco-settlement-dies/?slreturn=20220821121247
https://www.lbb.texas.gov/Documents/Publications/Issue_Briefs/3107_Tobacco_Settle_Proceeds.pdf
https://www.lglawfirm.com/archives/3271
https://www.tceq.texas.gov/p2/recycle/texas-residential-recycling-programs
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/paxton-reaches-agreement-tobacco-companies-resulting-195-million-awarded-texas#:~:text=01%2C%202021%20%7C%20Noteworthy-,Paxton%20Reaches%20Agreement%20with%20Tobacco%20Companies%20Resulting,195%20Million%20Awarded%20to%20Texas&text=Texas%20Attorney%20General%20Ken%20Paxton,%24195%20million%20paid%20to%20Texas.
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-11/final-national-recycling-strategy.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/23/juul-pods-fda-ban
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/24/juul-fda-e-cigarettes-ban-court-appeal
https://www.nrmca.org/
https://timberandforestry.org/about/
https://www.nhla.com/about-us/
https://main.knesset.gov.il/en/About/History/Pages/KnessetHistory.aspx?kns=24
https://www.texaslandcan.org/local-resources/National-Forestry-Association/1425
https://www.electproject.org/election-data/voter-turnout-data
https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/index.html
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
From the National Constitution Center: America Is Living James Madison’s Nightmare
Interesting analysis: Has the constitution been successful in breaking and controlling factions?
- Click here for the article.
Madison’s reading convinced him that direct democracies—such as the assembly in Athens, where 6,000 citizens were required for a quorum—unleashed populist passions that overcame the cool, deliberative reason prized above all by Enlightenment thinkers. “In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever characters composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason,” he argued in The Federalist Papers, the essays he wrote (along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay) to build support for the ratification of the Constitution. “Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.”
Madison and Hamilton believed that Athenian citizens had been swayed by crude and ambitious politicians who had played on their emotions. The demagogue Cleon was said to have seduced the assembly into being more hawkish toward Athens’s opponents in the Peloponnesian War, and even the reformer Solon canceled debts and debased the currency. In Madison’s view, history seemed to be repeating itself in America. After the Revolutionary War, he had observed in Massachusetts “a rage for paper money, for abolition of debts, for an equal division of property.” That populist rage had led to Shays’s Rebellion, which pitted a band of debtors against their creditors.
Madison referred to impetuous mobs as factions, which he defined in “Federalist No. 10” as a group “united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” Factions arise, he believed, when public opinion forms and spreads quickly. But they can dissolve if the public is given time and space to consider long-term interests rather than short-term gratification.
To prevent factions from distorting public policy and threatening liberty, Madison resolved to exclude the people from a direct role in government. “A pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction,” Madison wrote in “Federalist No. 10.” The Framers designed the American constitutional system not as a direct democracy but as a representative republic, where enlightened delegates of the people would serve the public good. They also built into the Constitution a series of cooling mechanisms intended to inhibit the formulation of passionate factions, to ensure that reasonable majorities would prevail.
From Britannica: Political theory of Aristotle
More on his approach to politics.
We've covered this before, and will again.
- Click here for it.
. . . Government, Aristotle says, must be in the hands of one, of a few, or of the many; and governments may govern for the general good or for the good of the rulers. Government by a single person for the general good is called “monarchy”; for private benefit, “tyranny.” Government by a minority is “aristocracy” if it aims at the state’s best interest and “oligarchy” if it benefits only the ruling minority. Popular government in the common interest Aristotle calls “polity”; he reserves the word “democracy” for anarchic mob rule.
If a community contains an individual or family of outstanding excellence, then, Aristotle says, monarchy is the best constitution. But such a case is very rare, and the risk of miscarriage is great, for monarchy corrupts into tyranny, which is the worst constitution of all. Aristocracy, in theory, is the next-best constitution after monarchy (because the ruling minority will be the best-qualified to rule), but in practice Aristotle preferred a kind of constitutional democracy, for what he called “polity” is a state in which rich and poor respect each other’s rights and the best-qualified citizens rule with the consent of all.
The First Amendment and the Political Institutions
- abridging the freedom of speech
- or of the press
- or the right of the people peaceably to assemble
- to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
_______________________________________________
- abridging the freedom of speech
- - public opinion
- or of the press
- - the media
- or the right of the people peaceably to assemble
- - political parties
- - interest groups
- to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
- - lobbying
- - electioneering
- - advocacy
- - testimony
A timeline of the Mar-a-Lago search
I'll build this up slowly.
It'll allow us to watch the due process of the law as it unfolds in this specific case.
8/5/22 - Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart approves the FBI’s request for a search warrant.
- Judge Bruce E. Reinhart.
- Federal Judicial Districts of Florida.
- History of Magistrate Judges.
8/8/22 - The FBI executed the search.
8/12/22 - Judge Reinhart unsealed the warrant that authorized the FBI to search Mar-a-Lago.
8/22/22 - Trump's lawyers request a special master.
8/30/22 - The Justice Department responded to Trump's request for a special master.
9/5/22 -A federal judge agreed to appoint a special master to review records seized by the FBI, the FBI is ordered to stop reviewing records.
- ORDER.
- Judge appoints special master, rejects DOJ bid to delay Mar-a-Lago ruling.
9/15/22 - Raymond Dearie appointed special master.
- ORDER APPOINTING SPECIAL MASTER.
9/16/22 -
- MOTION FOR PARTIAL STAY PENDING APPEAL.
- Trump discovers he’s not in Cannon-land anymore.
Monday, September 19, 2022
Key Terms: Campaigns and Elections
elections
campaigns
democracy
times, places, and manners clause
frequent and fixed elections
elections in a federal context
520,000 elected officials
suffrage
barriers to vote
campaign finance
impact of funding
political action committees
Super PACs
527 groups
limits on funding
free speech
Federal Election Commission
McCutcheon v FEC
Citizens United v FEC
bundling
candidates
presidential elections
party nominations
caucus
closed primary
open primary
Super Tuesday
Winner-Take-All elections
Proportional representation
nominating conventions
electoral bounce
the general elections
winning the presidential election
red, blue, and swing states
electoral college
congressional elections
candidates
incumbency advantage
midterm elections
midterm loss
reapportionment
gerrymandering
safe districts
call list
open seat
candidate centered campaigns
party centered campaigns
political operatives
advance teams
field operations
GOTV
name recognition
retail campaigning
wholesale campaigning
negative campaigning
opposition research
The Culture Wars
Still figuring out the best way to present this information.
More to come
- Culture war.
- Young conservatives, politicians and media stars convene near Houston to “win the culture war”
- Skirts-only charter school seeks Supreme Court review in latest SCOTUS culture war.
- Fighting unwinnable battles in an American culture war.
Cannabis Consumer Watch
These guys have been advertising on Roll Call.
They claim to focus on the adverse effect of cannabis and its medicinal limits.
- Click here for their website.
Not sure where their financing is coming from though.
From George Orwell's 1984
― George Orwell, 1984
Links - 9/19/22
- Why does Texas have so many elections, and why do few people vote in them?
- James Madison.
- Texas social media “censorship” law goes into effect after federal court lifts block.
- Publius Valerius Poplicola.
- Christian nationalism.
- When the MAGA Movement Comes for Your School.
- A Texas County Clerk’s Bold Crusade to Transform How We Vote.
- 87 (R) H.B. No. 1623 - PERSONHOOD RIGHTS.
- Anti- Federalist Papers.
- Rollcall: Conservatives’ ire over stopgap spending presages budget wars to come.
- Rollcall: Panels in both chambers to take up presidential elector overhauls.
- Rollcall: Spending talks morass.
- Rollcall: Same-sex marriage bill stalls in Senate amid GOP opposition.
- Rollcall: Biden says freight rail carriers, workers have tentative deal.
- The Federal Budget Timeline & Process.
- Policy Basics: Introduction to the Federal Budget Process.
- What's at stake in Supreme Court battle over controversial legal theory about who controls elections.
- Cisco faces U.S. Supreme Court appeal after overturning $2.7 bln patent award.
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Crimes punishable by death
For our look at cruel and unusual punishments.
- Early History of the Death Penalty.
- The History of the Death Penalty: A Timeline.
- Overview of the Death Penalty and Capital Trials: History, Current Status, Legal Procedures, and Cost.
What is an immigrant? What is a refugee?
- one that immigrates: such as
- a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence
refugee
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Who is Aileen Cannon?
She is a U.S. district court judge know mostly for agreeing that a special master must be appointed to review the files taken from Mar-a-Lago.
- Click here for more.
Aileen Mercedes Cannon (born 1981)[1] is a Colombian-born American lawyer and jurist who serves as a U.S. district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2020.Aileen Mercedes Cannon was born in 1981 in Cali, Colombia. Her mother had fled Cuba under Fidel Castro.[2] She attended Ransom Everglades School, a private high school in Miami, Florida.[3]
After graduating from Duke University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts, Cannon worked as a paralegal for the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division from 2003 to 2005. She then attended the University of Michigan Law School, where she was an articles editor for the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. She graduated in 2007 with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude and Order of the Coif membership.[1][4]
After law school, Cannon was a summer associate at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (now Gibson Dunn) in its Washington, D.C. office. From 2008 to 2009, she was a law clerk to judge Steven Colloton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She then returned to Gibson Dunn from 2009 to 2012.
From 2013 until her judicial appointment in 2020, Cannon was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.[4] Cannon worked in the district's major crimes section from 2013 to 2015, then in its appellate section from 2015 to 2020.[1]
Cannon has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2005.[1]
On April 29, 2020, Trump announced his intent to nominate Cannon to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.[4] She was nominated to the seat vacated by judge Kenneth Marra, who assumed senior status on August 1, 2017. On May 21, 2020, her nomination was sent to the United States Senate.[5] The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on her nomination on July 29, 2020.[6] On September 17, 2020, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 16–6 vote.[7] The Senate voted 56–21 to confirm her nomination on November 12, 2020.[8] She received her judicial commission on November 13, 2020.