Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Why Russia Miscalculated in Ukraine: A Self-Inflicted Disaster in Three ...

I posted an article regarding intelligence and counter intelligence - click here for it - and pointed out that a principle justification for the creation of a strong national government was to protect against foreign invasion. There is always a need for reliable intelligence about the military capabilities of other nations - friend or foe, but this can be difficult to acquire. 

The video below explains what went wrong regarding Russia's assessment of its ability to swiftly take over Ukraine.



For more on military intelligence, you might want to read through the following report from the Federation of American Scientists. 

Military Intelligence.

Throughout its history, the United States has maintained an intelligence capability principally to meet the needs of its military. These needs have been, and are today, wide-ranging and substantial. They include information on the size, capabilities, location, disposition, and plans of foreign military forces, as well as information about foreign countries and events in foreign countries required to plan for and carry out military operations.

A variety of intelligence organizations help to meet these needs. Producing military intelligence analysis is chiefly the responsibility of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the intelligence elements of the military services and the Unified Commands, and tactical intelligence units organic to the fighting forces. Other intelligence organizations (e.g., the National Security Agency, the Central Imagery Office, and the Central Intelligence Agency) also make significant contributions by providing support to current operations.

Together these organizations provide a broad range of support. They advise defense policymakers on political-military matters, major acquisitions, and force planning. They provide threat projections that guide the military services in how best to "organize, train, and equip" their forces, and warn of potential crises. Finally, they support the employment of the armed forces across a broad continuum of operations, from disaster relief, to peacekeeping, to combat operations. The principal consumers of such information are U.S. combat forces, the military departments, the Secretary of Defense, and the President, but those responsible for foreign policymaking often have need for such information as well.


- Here is more on the FAS

The Federation of American Scientists is a nonprofit policy research and advocacy organization founded in 1945 to meet national security challenges with evidence-based, scientifically-driven, and nonpartisan policy, analysis, and research.

After the devastating bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a group of atomic researchers, deeply concerned about the use of science for malice, created an organization committed to using science and technology to benefit humanity. The group they created – the Federation of Atomic Scientists – soon became the Federation of American Scientists in recognition of the hundreds of scientists across diverse disciplines who joined together to advance science policy and counter scientific misinformation.

Over 75 years later, the Federation of American Scientists is still working to minimize the risks of significant global threats, arising from nuclear weapons, biological and chemical agents, and climate change. The organization also works to advance progress on a broad suite of contemporary issues where science, technology, and innovation policy can deliver dramatic progress, and seeks to ensure that scientific and technical expertise have a seat at the policymaking table.

From Inside Higher Ed: A Step Toward Outcomes-Based Funding for Texas 2-Year Colleges

Texas may change how it finances its share of community college education.

- Click here for the article.  

State funding for Texas community colleges, long distributed based mostly on student credit hours, would reward institutions for helping students transfer, graduate and move into high-demand fields under a new model proposed by a state commission. The recommendations, in a report released Thursday by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, would, if approved by state legislators, create a much more outcomes-focused approach that is expected to result in more funding, especially for small and rural community colleges.

The proposal has widespread support among community college leaders who believe the move would markedly increase state allocations and aid dollars to their institutions and help them build capacity to meet the workforce training needs of the state’s growing population.

“Our Commission believes the new funding model must do three things: reward colleges for positive outcomes, especially in credential completion and transfer, ensure equitable access through financial aid, and help community colleges increase capacity to meet rapidly changing workforce needs,” Woody Hunt, chairman of the Texas Commission on Community College Finance, wrote in the report. The commission, made up of lawmakers, community college leaders, business executives and policy experts, was tasked last year by the Texas Legislature to suggest a new funding system.

Texas Commissionon CommunityCollege Finance


Links 1/31/23

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buc-ee%27s

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Jackson,_Texas

- https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/pdf/ED.130.pdf

- https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=206274

- https://www.houstonsports.org/

- https://study.com/learn/lesson/ca-population-growth.html

- https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/census.html

- https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_permitting_noncitizens_to_vote_in_the_United_States

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-citizen_suffrage_in_the_United_States

- https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/07/01/noncitizens-are-slowly-gaining-voting-rights

- https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/constitution/text4/antifedphil.pdf

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogue

- https://www.infoplease.com/primary-sources/government/anti-federalist-papers/president-military-king

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Union

Boomhauer talks for 1 hour




- Napoleonic Code.

- Louisiana Constitution

Chapters in Houston's Code of Ordinances

A work in progress: 

 ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
AMBULANCES
AMUSEMENTS
ANIMALS AND FOWL
ANTIQUE DEALERS, COMMON MARKETS, SCRAP METAL PROCESSORS, SECONDHAND RESELLERS AND RELATED BUSINESSES
AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS AND AUTO WRECKERS
AVIATION
BUILDINGS AND NEIGHBORHOOD PROTECTION
BURGLAR AND FIRE ALARM PROTECTIVE SERVICES
CONVENTION AND ENTERTAINMENT FACILITIES DEPARTMENT
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
IVIL SERVICE
CONTRACTS
MUNICIPAL COURTS
FAIR HOUSING
ETHICS AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
FLOODPLAIN
FOOD AND DRUGS
HEALTH
STREET VENDORS
LAKE HOUSTON
LIBRARIES
SPECIAL EVENTS—GENERALLY
PARKING
MINI-WAREHOUSES
MISCELLANEOUS OFFENSES AND PROVISIONS
MANUFACTURED HOMES AND RECREATIONAL VEHICLES
NOISE AND SOUND LEVEL REGULATION
OIL AND GAS WELLS
PARKS AND RECREATION
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
POLICE AND FIRE PROTECTION
PRISONERS AND PRISON FARM
PUBLIC CHARITIES AND TRUSTS
PUBLIC UTILITIES
RAILROADS
SOLID WASTE AND LITTER CONTROL
STREETS AND SIDEWALKS
STREET NAMES AND SITE ADDRESSES
SUBDIVISIONS, DEVELOPMENTS AND PLATTING
POOL AND SPA SAFETY
TAXATION
TRAFFIC
VEHICLES FOR HIRE
WATER AND SEWERS

Robert Moses: The Man Who Built the Modern New York

A classic example of an unelected individual's ability to accumulate significant power. 

He did so through the use of special districts that he cleverly designed to provide him an independent ability to accumulate and redistribute money. 





For more: 

Wikipedia Robert Moses.

Wikipedia: The Power Broker.

From Community Impact News: Local officials look to Legislature for lobbying reform

A look at local government and the constitutional right to petition government for a redress of grievances. 

Some in Texas would like to minimize the ability of local governments to use lobbyists to effectively argue for their interests at the state level.

- Click here for the article

Texas lawmakers have filed several bills relating to reforming the role of lobbying in the state government as some local officials are concerned about their voices being heard at a state level.

As of Jan. 30, a total of 11 bills have been filed relating to lobbying in the state House and Senate, with two being attached to Texas District 11 Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Wallisville, who represents Brazoria, Galveston and a part of Harris counties. The Texas Ethics Commission defines lobbying as “making direct communications with members of the legislative or executive branch of Texas state government to influence legislation or administrative action.”

Middleton filed a bill with a description stating “Relating to the use by a political subdivision of public funds for lobbying activities,” and another one described as “Relating to lobbying by former members of the legislature; creating a criminal offense.” He described the topic as an important issue for him for this legislative session.

“What [lobbying] does is it diminishes [voters’] voice, because someone's paying to lobby against the things that you believe in with your property taxes,” Middleton said.

Pearland Mayor Kevin Cole said it is important for the city of Pearland’s voice to be heard by lawmakers in Austin. He said he and the council rely on the Texas Municipal League, or TML, as a third party for vouching for the city’s needs at a state government level.

For more: 

Legislation to Ban Taxpayer-funded Lobbying Filed in the Texas Senate.

Lobbying in Texas - A Guide to the Texas Law.

State Law Resources - Texas: Lobbying Disclosure.

Monday, January 30, 2023

Financing the British Monarchs

How did British monarchs collect revenue?

I'll add more, but here's a start

- Henry 8


Henry inherited a vast fortune and a prosperous economy from his father, who had been frugal. This fortune is estimated at £1,250,000 (the equivalent of £375 million today).[195] By comparison, Henry VIII's reign was a near disaster financially. He augmented the royal treasury by seizing church lands, but his heavy spending and long periods of mismanagement damaged the economy.[196]

Henry spent much of his wealth on maintaining his court and household, including many of the building works he undertook on royal palaces. He hung 2,000 tapestries in his palaces; by comparison, James V of Scotland hung just 200.[197] Henry took pride in showing off his collection of weapons, which included exotic archery equipment, 2,250 pieces of land ordnance and 6,500 handguns.[198] Tudor monarchs had to fund all government expenses out of their own income. This income came from the Crown lands that Henry owned as well as from customs duties like tonnage and poundage, granted by parliament to the king for life. During Henry's reign the revenues of the Crown remained constant (around £100,000),[199] but were eroded by inflation and rising prices brought about by war. Indeed, war and Henry's dynastic ambitions in Europe exhausted the surplus he had inherited from his father by the mid-1520s.

Henry VII had not involved Parliament in his affairs very much, but Henry VIII had to turn to Parliament during his reign for money, in particular for grants of subsidies to fund his wars. The dissolution of the monasteries provided a means to replenish the treasury, and as a result, the Crown took possession of monastic lands worth £120,000 (£36 million) a year.[200] The Crown had profited by a small amount in 1526 when Wolsey put England onto a gold, rather than silver, standard, and had debased the currency slightly. Cromwell debased the currency more significantly, starting in Ireland in 1540. The English pound halved in value against the Flemish pound between 1540 and 1551 as a result. The nominal profit made was significant, helping to bring income and expenditure together, but it had a catastrophic effect on the country's economy. In part, it helped to bring about a period of very high inflation from 1544 onwards.

Sunday, January 29, 2023

From Wikipedia: 1917 Bath riots

Part of Texas' racial history.

- Click here for the entry

The 1917 Bath Riots occurred in January 1917 at the Santa Fe Bridge between El Paso, Texas and Juárez, Mexico. The riots are known to have been started by Carmelita Torres[1] and lasted from January 28 to January 30 and were sparked by new immigration policies at the El Paso–Juárez Immigration and Naturalization Service office, requiring Mexicans crossing the border to take de-lousing baths and be vaccinated. Reports that nude photographs of women bathers and fear of potential fire from the kerosene baths, led Carmelita Torres to refuse to submit to the procedure. Denied a refund of her transport fare, she began yelling at the officials and convinced other riders to join her. After three days, the discontent subsided, but the disinfections of Mexicans at the U.S. border continued for forty years.

Active Learning Assignment #3

Alvin Community College is a single purpose local government. It exists because the Texas state government created it, and provides a significant funding for it. This is why it is relatively cheap, at least compared to UH and Rice. 

As a public institution, it has to follow a variety of laws - both state and federal. In this assignment, I want you to find at least 10 laws which impact ACC. The major source of this information will be the ACC website. 

- You can find it here.

These pages might be especially useful: 

- Financial Aid.
Bacterial Meningitis Vaccination.
Pathways Advising.
Required Disclosures and Consumer Information.
- Form 1098‐T.
Foster Care Alumni Support Program.
Students Rights and Responsibilities.
Veterans Services.

That's just a few. There are many more. List as many as you wish, but please list at least ten, and tell me a bit about them.


As you know, these are the requirements:

- It is due for full credit at the end of the semester.
- It will be subject to a penalty if turned in late.
- Is can be turned in for partial credit until the end of the semester.
- The grade is commensurate to the quality of the work.
- There is a 150 word minimum requirement.
- You may write as much as you wish.



___________

Past Assignments: 

(don't do these) 

Read the material contained in this post:

- Barbers Hill Independent School District vs Texas's CROWN Act.

Approach this as a civil liberties issue, especially in terms of the unenumerated rights mentioned in the 9th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as applied to the states in Section 1 of the 14th Amendment. 

Do we have a right to our hairstyles in the same sense as we have a right to free speech.

Let's also consider that Texas voters recently ordained an amendment to the state constitution that created a right to farming and ranching. Are these equivalent?  

- It is due for full credit at the end of the semester.
- It will be subject to a penalty if turned in late.
- Is can be turned in for partial credit until the end of the semester.
- The grade is commensurate to the quality of the work.
- There is a 150 word minimum requirement.
- You may write as much as you wish.

______________________

Click on this link.

It provides full information about ACC's budget, including where and how revenue is collected and how it is spent. 

Read through it and help me understand it. Provide a brief but accurate summary about what's going on. Keep in mind that these are your tax dollars at work here.  

You know this stuff: 
- It is due for full credit at the end of the semester.
- It will be subject to a penalty if turned in late.
- Is can be turned in for partial credit until the end of the semester.
- The grade is commensurate to the quality of the work.
- There is a 150 word minimum requirement.
- You may write as much as you wish.
___________

Past Assignments

Fall 2023

For GOVT 2305:

There are three parts to this question.

1 - Can Donald Trump be disqualified from running for president in 2024 under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution? 

2 - Who makes that decision? 

3 - How would this be implemented?

For background, click here.

Here is the relevant part of the 14th Amendment, Remember that it was passed soon after the insurrection.

- Click here for the whole thing.

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.


Do your own investigation.


__________

For GOVT 2306:

We have an impeachment going on right now - 9/6/23. These are crucial parts of the system of checks and balances. It allows the legislature to check the executive and judiciary. The legislature can check itself by expelling a member. 

I want you to address the following questions about what's going on: 

1 - What is impeachment? What is the process in Texas?

2 - What are the charges against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton?

3 - Given what you know about the impeachment process, how likely is it that he will be convicted?

4 - What are the consequences of a guilty verdict?

The Texas Tribune has an entire section dedicated to the impeachment, click here for it.

Article 15 of the Texas Constitution details the process, click here for it. Or here.

Feel free to find information wherever you might find it.


__________

As will all written assignments:

- It is due for full credit on midnight the following Monday.
- It will be subject to a penalty if turned in late.
- Is can be turned in for partial credit until the end of the semester.
- The grade is commensurate to the quality of the work.
- There is a 150 word minimum requirement.
- You may write as much as you wish.

Vagrancy Laws

This is  work in progress.

- United States Vagrancy Laws.

- Vagrancy Act of 1866.

- An Act to define the offence of Vagrancy, and to provide for the punishment of Vagrants.

- 1876 Texas Constitution: Article 3, Section 46.

- Wikipedia: Vagrancy.

Camping Bans: The New Vagrancy Laws.

- TSHA: Black Codes.

From the New York Times: Former Senior F.B.I. Official in New York Charged With Aiding Oligarch

It seems like Russia has done quite a job infiltrating American institutions. 

Something to consider when we discuss foreign policy in 2305

- Click here for the article

A former senior F.B.I. official in New York who oversaw some of the agency’s most secret and sensitive counterintelligence investigations was accused on Monday of taking money from a former Albanian intelligence employee and from a representative of Oleg V. Deripaska, a Russian oligarch.

The charges against the former official, Charles F. McGonigal, came in separate indictments unsealed in New York and Washington, D.C., after an investigation by his own agency and federal prosecutors. In the New York case, he was charged with violating economic sanctions that the United States has imposed on Russia because of its aggression in Ukraine.

Before he retired in 2018, Mr. McGonigal had been the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s counterintelligence division in New York. In that post, he supervised investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Mr. Deripaska, whom the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan charged him with aiding. Mr. Deripaska is an aluminum magnate with ties to President Vladimir V. Putin.

Federal prosecutors said Mr. McGonigal, 54, broke U.S. law by agreeing to help Mr. Deripaska, who was indicted himself last year on sanctions charges, investigate a rival oligarch and try to get off the sanctions list.

Terminology: 

senior F.B.I. official
counterintelligence investigations
Albanian intelligence employee 
Oleg V. Deripaska
Russian oligarch.
charges
Charles F. McGonigal
indictments
unsealed
investigation
federal prosecutors
violating economic sanctions
F.B.I.’s counterintelligence division in New York
U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan
aluminum magnate
Federal prosecutors
U.S. law
investigate a rival oligarch and try to get off the sanctions list.
American law enforcement.
Jonathan C. Poling
Justice Department’s national security division.
secret cash payments
foreign lobbying
confidential informant.
global malign influence
Kremlin
bribery, extortion and violence.”
the bureau’s director,
Christopher Wray
the public’s trust
Federal District Court in Manhattan
charges
one count of violating U.S. sanctions
one count of money laundering
two conspiracy counts
Paul Manafort
campaign chairman
financial fraud
McGonigal’s lawyer
Seth D. DuCharme
pleaded not guilty
discovery
evidence
Sergey Shestakov
U.S. attorney’s offices for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
public servants
Damian Williams
U.S. attorney for the Southern District
Russian counterintelligence
organized crime
counterespionage
Russian interference in the 2016 election
Robert Mueller III
asking judges to renew wiretaps on
Carter Page
Trump campaign adviser
Treasury Department’s office of foreign assets
New York Police Department
counterterrorism,
intelligence gathering
“international liaisoning”
one count of concealing material facts
six counts of making false statements
two counts of falsification of records and documents.

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Captain James Cook: The World's Most Famous Explorer

I'm not sure if that is true, but he's the reason why Anglo - America became aware of the existence of the Hawaiian islands.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_prerogative_in_the_United_Kingdom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Rule

https://www.evergreenbeauty.edu/blog/why-do-cosmetologists-and-manicurists-need-to-be-licensed/

https://newrepublic.com/article/163863/big-pharma-revolving-door-reconciliation

https://rollcall.com/2023/01/25/lawsuits-show-focus-of-abortion-battle-shifting-to-medication/

https://rollcall.com/2023/01/26/drug-company-middlemen-likely-to-be-a-focus-in-118th-congress/

Catching up with local government

Some random stories involving area local governments. 

Lots on roads and sidewalks.

- Houston's plan to avoid orphan sidewalks would let developers opt out of building them.

Some homeowners and developers soon may be able to opt out of requirements to build sidewalks and instead pay a fee into a new fund the city would use to build sidewalks across Houston.

City Council on Wednesday is scheduled to consider a proposal to create a “sidewalk-in-lieu fee” to give developers another way to comply with the sidewalk ordinance.

Under current regulations, property owners and developers are required to build a sidewalk in front of a property unless the project meets certain exemptions. This approach, however, has led to disconnected segments, known as “sidewalks to nowhere,” that do not contribute to a network needed by pedestrians, according to David Fields, chief transportation planner at the Houston Planning and Development Department.

 - Montgomery County Hospital District adds day off, paramedic training program to retain staff.


James Campbell, chief of emergency medical services for the Montgomery County Hospital District, said he is focusing on two things in 2023: employee retention and recruitment.
He has already adopted a schedule change for his employees.

Emergency medical technicians and paramedics for the hospital district will now get an additional day off in their rotation. The change, Campbell said, essentially amounts to five days off in a row after working two 24-hour on-and-off shifts. The schedule change will reduce annual employee hours by approximately 600 hours.

“We're hoping to give them more work-life balance,” he said. “We want our employees to have more time with their families and friends and allow them to rest and recover before they come back to work. Our call volume is higher than it's ever been, so we feel like this is the perfect time to focus on our employees and take care of them.”

Campbell said retention is more important than ever as well due to the nationwide paramedic shortage.

- HCTRA proposes to cut toll rates by 10%, offer EZ tags at no cost.


County officials outlined a proposal to reduce the cost of tolls by 10% at a news conference Jan. 24.

Pending approval by Commissioners Court, which next meets Jan. 31, the rate reduction would go into effect by Labor Day, according to Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis. The Harris County Toll Road Authority also proposed providing up to eight free EZ TAGS per household.

“There are people who live in every precinct in Harris County who many times have no choice but to take a toll road to get to where they’re going,” Ellis said at the news conference. “This will make it a little bit easier for all of them, and this change in policy will reduce barriers to access and make it easier for anyone who wants an EZ TAG to get one.”

HCTRA Director Roberto Treviño said the 10% discount would apply to those driving two-axle vehicles, which he said make up 95% of HCTRA’s transactions. He added that drivers can choose to apply the discount on each individual transaction, or after aggregating transactions on a monthly basis.

As part of the transition to all-electronic tollways, the county will also be phasing in several options for residents to obtain EZ TAGs at retail stores, open cash-backed accounts and pay at EZ TAG retail stores, according to Ellis.

- Planning continues for FM 518 project in Pearland.


A project to widen and reconstruct Broadway Street, also known as FM 518, from four to six lanes with a raised median, will seek additional right of way this year for the project’s proposed design, Texas Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Danny Perez said.

TxDOT is projected to lead the project’s Phase 1 construction in 2025.

Phase 1 involves the west section of Broadway from Hwy. 288 to Cullen Parkway, and construction is projected to cost $54 million. Progress on design is dependent on when the funding is secured, Perez said.

Phase 2, which also does not have funding secured yet, includes Cullen Parkway to McLean Road and Walnut Street.
TxDOT seeks approval for new Hwy. 288 frontage road in Brazoria County.


The Texas Department of Transportation is seeking public input on a proposed change to a Hwy. 288 improvement project that will add a southbound frontage road from north of Rodeo Palms Parkway to north of Hwy. 6.

TxDOT representative Ian McBride gave a virtual presentation March 1 on the proposed change. The project is a part of an ongoing bigger program to improve Hwy. 288 from Hwy. 59 near downtown Houston to CR 60 in Brazoria County, McBride said.

After more detailed engineering design and drainage studies, a change was proposed to construct a two-lane southbound frontage road north of Rodeo Palms Parkway to just north of Hwy. 6, McBride said.

Additionally, it would include the construction of one stormwater detention pond northwest of Hwy. 288 and Rodeo Palms Parkway and three detention swales between the southbound frontage road and main lanes, according to McBride’s presentation. The frontage road would be within the right of way TxDOT already owns for the project, McBride added.

The proposed project is consistent with the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s long-range 2045 Regional Transportation plan, McBride said. If approved, the $38 million frontage road project would be funded by federal and state sources, McBride said.

State Highway 288 Corridor Master Plan Improvements.


A key initiative in both the Pearland 20/20 and Pearland Prosperity community strategic plans is the beautification of key Pearland corridors and gateways. Utilizing the City Gateways Beautification Strategy and the SH 288 Master Improvements Plan, PEDC, along with the City of Pearland, Pearland Management District No.2, and other community partners, is making progress on the implementation of the proposed improvements, ensuring a quality corridor that will increase our community’s competitiveness for talent, jobs & investment.

In 2013, PEDC, the City and local commercial property owners worked with legislators to have the State create a Municipal Management District to improve aesthetics of the 288 corridor and the surrounding commercial areas. The Pearland Municipal Management District No. 2 (PMMD#2), which runs along the 288 corridor between Beltway 8 and County Road 59, will reinforce a positive image of the City and supplement public services by funding infrastructure, beautification, mobility/transportation, security and economic development projects along the corridor.

From the Peterson Foundation: 10 LARGEST BUDGET FUNCTIONS

A good introduction to the U.S. budget. The numbers are from 2021.

- Click here for it.

Bottom Line: 

Income Security ($1,648 billion).
Social Security ($1,135 billion).
Health ($796 billion).
National Defense ($754 billion).
Medicare ($696 billion).
Net Interest ($352 billion).
Commerce and Housing Credit ($308 billion).
Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services ($298 billion).
General Government ($274 billion).
Veterans Benefits and Services ($234 billion).

Britannica provides a brief summary of the history of the U.S. budget. We will build off this over the course of the semester. Click here for the source.

In the United States, when the federal government was formed, it assumed the debts of the states and various other obligations incurred during the American Revolution, all of which were funded into a single debt issue of $75,000,000 in 1790. The government was highly successful in avoiding additional borrowing in the early years, except for the War of 1812, and during 1835 all federal debt was eliminated. The years 1835 and 1836 were the only ones in the history of the country during which there was no federal debt at all. The American Civil War, only 25 percent of which was financed by taxation, pushed the debt to a total of $2,678,000,000 in 1865. Most of this debt was retired by budget surpluses during the following decades; debt reduction proceeded so far that bonds available for security behind national bank notes became inadequate. The debt remained relatively constant in the 1890s and during the early 1900s. World War I brought an increase to $26,000,000,000, consisting in part of short-term and intermediate-term securities and in part of Liberty Loan bonds. In the 1920s the government was able to reduce the debt; the low point reached was $16,185,000,000 in 1930, primarily by budget surpluses.

The 1930s brought budget deficits because of the Depression and the efforts to stimulate recovery. Despite extensive borrowing, which raised the total debt to $42,968,000,000 by 1940, interest rates fell sharply as a result of the surplus of money capital and federal reserve action. A substantial part of the borrowing was on a short-term basis, partly because the interest on such loans was extremely low. With the outbreak of World War II, borrowing rose sharply and by 1946 the debt had reached $269,000,000,000.

In the postwar period the debt fell to a low of $252,000,000,000 in 1948, then gradually rose. This increase was caused by budget deficits arising primarily from a high level of defense spending and the unwillingness of Congress to hold taxes to rates high enough to meet the expense and in some years from a desire to stimulate economic activity. During the 1970s the debt increased each fiscal year; by the mid-1980s it had passed $1,400,000,000,000, and it continued to grow, although some factions sought legislation that would put a ceiling on the national debt.

The states incurred substantial debts in the early part of the 19th century, largely for public improvements, and some found themselves in financial difficulties. As a result, borrowing came nearly to an end until after 1900; after that date there was further borrowing, particularly for highways. After 1945 the state debt increased sharply and had passed $167,000,000,000 by the mid-1980s. Much of this additional borrowing was for highway purposes. The local governments have traditionally borrowed more than the states, largely because of the nature of their functions. Local debt in the 20th century increased steadily and had passed $287,000,000,000 by the mid-1980s.

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

From Wikipedia: James T. Callender

A controversial media figure from the founding era.

We've always had an unruly press. All that changes in available technology.

- Click here for the entry.

James Thomson Callender (1758 – July 17, 1803) was a political pamphleteer and journalist whose writing was controversial in his native Scotland and later, also in the United States. His revelations concerning George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and later Thomas Jefferson, led to his marginalization politically. His contemporary reputation as a "scandalmonger" has overshadowed Callender's frequently perceptive analyses of revolutionary events.[citation needed] He wrote against the continuing influence of the British Crown, and he warned that Adams, Washington and Hamilton planned to impose a titled aristocracy and hereditary positions in the Senate and the Executive.[1] In the United States, he was a central figure in the press wars between the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties. After Jefferson won the presidency, Callender solicited employment as a postmaster, which was denied by Jefferson. Callender then published existing rumors claiming President Jefferson had children with slave Sally Hemings.

Self-educated, Callender worked as a recorder of deeds in Scotland when he began publishing satire. He turned to politics, some thought to sedition, in a pamphlet, The Political Progress of Britain, which caused a furor and led him to flee Great Britain for America. He gained notoriety in Philadelphia in the 1790s with reportage and attacks on Alexander Hamilton. Subsequently, he was imprisoned under the Alien and Sedition Acts, and later turned against his one-time Democratic-Republican patrons. In 1803, he drowned, apparently falling in the James River due to intoxication — although there was some speculation among Federalists that his death may not have been an accident, as he was due to testify in a highly publicized trial later that month.

From the New York Times: Defamation Suit Against Fox Grows More Contentious

This story allow us to examine a variety of subjects we cover in class including civil liberties, the free press, defamation, the judiciary, civil law, elections, business interests, among others. 

- Click here for the article

Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of the Fox Corporation, is expected to be deposed on Monday as part of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News for amplifying bogus claims that rigged machines from Dominion Voting Systems were responsible for Donald J. Trump’s defeat in 2020.

Mr. Murdoch will be the most senior corporate figure within the Fox media empire to face questions under oath in the case so far. And his appearance before Dominion’s lawyers is a sign of how unexpectedly far and fast the lawsuit has progressed in recent weeks — and how contentious it has become.

Fox and Dominion have gone back and forth in Delaware state court since the summer in an escalating dispute over witnesses, evidence and testimony. The arguments point to the high stakes of the case, which will render a judgment on whether the most powerful conservative media outlet in the country intentionally misled its audience and helped seed one of the most pervasive lies in American politics.

Although the law leans in the media’s favor in defamation cases, Dominion has what independent observers have said is an unusually strong case. Day after day, Fox hosts and guests repeated untrue stories about Dominion’s ties to communist regimes and far-fetched theories about how its software enabled enemies of the former president to steal his votes.

“This is a very different kind of case,” said David A. Logan, dean of the Roger Williams School of Law, who has argued in favor of loosening some libel laws. “Rarely do cases turn on a weekslong pattern of inflammatory, provably false, but also oddly inconsistent statements.”

Dominion, in its quest to obtain the private communications of as many low-, mid- and high-level Fox personnel as possible, hopes to prove that people inside the network knew they were disseminating lies. Fox hopes to be able sow doubt about that by showing how its hosts pressed Trump allies for evidence they never produced and that Dominion machines were vulnerable to hacking, even if no hacking took place.

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Declaration of Independence - Texas

- Click here for full text from Avalon

- From much more: Texas From Independence to Annexation 1836-1846.

The Texas Declaration of Independence : March 2, 1836

The Unanimous Declaration of Independence made by the Delegates of the People of Texas in General Convention at the town of Washington on the 2nd day of March 1836.

When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression.

When the Federal Republican Constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a consolidated central military despotism, in which every interest is disregarded but that of the army and the priesthood, both the eternal enemies of civil liberty, the everready minions of power, and the usual instruments of tyrants.

When, long after the spirit of the constitution has departed, moderation is at length so far lost by those in power, that even the semblance of freedom is removed, and the forms themselves of the constitution discontinued, and so far from their petitions and remonstrances being regarded, the agents who bear them are thrown into dungeons, and mercenary armies sent forth to force a new government upon them at the point of the bayonet.

When, in consequence of such acts of malfeasance and abdication on the part of the government, anarchy prevails, and civil society is dissolved into its original elements. In such a crisis, the first law of nature, the right of self-preservation, the inherent and inalienable rights of the people to appeal to first principles, and take their political affairs into their own hands in extreme cases, enjoins it as a right towards themselves, and a sacred obligation to their posterity, to abolish such government, and create another in its stead, calculated to rescue them from impending dangers, and to secure their future welfare and happiness.

Nations, as well as individuals, are amenable for their acts to the public opinion of mankind. A statement of a part of our grievances is therefore submitted to an impartial world, in justification of the hazardous but unavoidable step now taken, of severing our political connection with the Mexican people, and assuming an independent attitude among the nations of the earth.

The Mexican government, by its colonization laws, invited and induced the Anglo-American population of Texas to colonize its wilderness under the pledged faith of a written constitution, that they should continue to enjoy that constitutional liberty and republican government to which they had been habituated in the land of their birth, the United States of America.

In this expectation they have been cruelly disappointed, inasmuch as the Mexican nation has acquiesced in the late changes made in the government by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who having overturned the constitution of his country, now offers us the cruel alternative, either to abandon our homes, acquired by so many privations, or submit to the most intolerable of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the sword and the priesthood.

It has sacrificed our welfare to the state of Coahuila, by which our interests have been continually depressed through a jealous and partial course of legislation, carried on at a far distant seat of government, by a hostile majority, in an unknown tongue, and this too, notwithstanding we have petitioned in the humblest terms for the establishment of a separate state government, and have, in accordance with the provisions of the national constitution, presented to the general Congress a republican constitution, which was, without just cause, contemptuously rejected.

It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long time, one of our citizens, for no other cause but a zealous endeavor to procure the acceptance of our constitution, and the establishment of a state government.

It has failed and refused to secure, on a firm basis, the right of trial by jury, that palladium of civil liberty, and only safe guarantee for the life, liberty, and property of the citizen.

It has failed to establish any public system of education, although possessed of almost boundless resources, (the public domain,) and although it is an axiom in political science, that unless a people are educated and enlightened, it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty, or the capacity for self government.

It has suffered the military commandants, stationed among us, to exercise arbitrary acts of oppression and tyrrany, thus trampling upon the most sacred rights of the citizens, and rendering the military superior to the civil power.

It has dissolved, by force of arms, the state Congress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged our representatives to fly for their lives from the seat of government, thus depriving us of the fundamental political right of representation.

It has demanded the surrender of a number of our citizens, and ordered military detachments to seize and carry them into the Interior for trial, in contempt of the civil authorities, and in defiance of the laws and the constitution.

It has made piratical attacks upon our commerce, by commissioning foreign desperadoes, and authorizing them to seize our vessels, and convey the property of our citizens to far distant ports for confiscation.

It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a national religion, calculated to promote the temporal interest of its human functionaries, rather than the glory of the true and living God.

It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defence, the rightful property of freemen, and formidable only to tyrannical governments.

It has invaded our country both by sea and by land, with intent to lay waste our territory, and drive us from our homes; and has now a large mercenary army advancing, to carry on against us a war of extermination.

It has, through its emissaries, incited the merciless savage, with the tomahawk and scalping knife, to massacre the inhabitants of our defenseless frontiers.

It hath been, during the whole time of our connection with it, the contemptible sport and victim of successive military revolutions, and hath continually exhibited every characteristic of a weak, corrupt, and tyrranical government.

These, and other grievances, were patiently borne by the people of Texas, untill they reached that point at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. We then took up arms in defence of the national constitution. We appealed to our Mexican brethren for assistance. Our appeal has been made in vain. Though months have elapsed, no sympathetic response has yet been heard from the Interior. We are, therefore, forced to the melancholy conclusion, that the Mexican people have acquiesced in the destruction of their liberty, and the substitution therfor of a military government; that they are unfit to be free, and incapable of self government.

The necessity of self-preservation, therefore, now decrees our eternal political separation.

We, therefore, the delegates with plenary powers of the people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby resolve and declare, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, Sovereign, and independent republic, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to independent nations; and, conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the issue to the decision of the Supreme arbiter of the destinies of nations.
Richard Ellis, President of the Convention and Delegate from Red River.

Charles B. Stewart
Tho. Barnett
John S. D. Byrom
Francis Ruis
J. Antonio Navarro
Jesse B. Badgett
Wm D. Lacy
William Menifee
Jn. Fisher
Matthew Caldwell
William Motley
Lorenzo de Zavala
Stephen H. Everett
George W. Smyth
Elijah Stapp
Claiborne West
Wm. B. Scates
M. B. Menard
A. B. Hardin
J. W. Burton
Thos. J. Gazley
R. M. Coleman
Sterling C. Robertson
James Collinsworth
Edwin Waller
Asa Brigham
Geo. C. Childress
Bailey Hardeman
Rob. Potter
Thomas Jefferson Rusk
Chas. S. Taylor
John S. Roberts
Robert Hamilton
Collin McKinney
Albert H. Latimer
James Power
Sam Houston
David Thomas
Edwd. Conrad
Martin Palmer
Edwin O. Legrand
Stephen W. Blount
Jms. Gaines
Wm. Clark, Jr.
Sydney O. Pennington
Wm. Carrol Crawford
Jno. Turner
Benj. Briggs Goodrich
G. W. Barnett
James G. Swisher
Jesse Grimes
S. Rhoads Fisher
John W. Moore
John W. Bower
Saml. A. Maverick (from Bejar)
Sam P. Carson
A. Briscoe
J. B. Woods
H. S. Kimble, Secretary

Declaration of Independence - United States

- Text from Avalon.

A Loyalist’s Rebuttal to the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;

For imposing taxes on us without our consent;

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;

For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses;

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments;

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in our attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

[Signed by] JOHN HANCOCK [President]


New Hampshire
JOSIAH BARTLETT,
WM. WHIPPLE,
MATTHEW THORNTON.

Massachusetts Bay
SAML. ADAMS,
JOHN ADAMS,
ROBT. TREAT PAINE,
ELBRIDGE GERRY

Rhode Island
STEP. HOPKINS,
WILLIAM ELLERY.

Connecticut
ROGER SHERMAN,
SAM'EL HUNTINGTON,
WM. WILLIAMS,
OLIVER WOLCOTT.

New York
WM. FLOYD,
PHIL. LIVINGSTON,
FRANS. LEWIS,
LEWIS MORRIS.

New Jersey
RICHD. STOCKTON,
JNO. WITHERSPOON,
FRAS. HOPKINSON,
JOHN HART,
ABRA. CLARK.

Pennsylvania
ROBT. MORRIS
BENJAMIN RUSH,
BENJA. FRANKLIN,
JOHN MORTON,
GEO. CLYMER,
JAS. SMITH,
GEO. TAYLOR,
JAMES WILSON,
GEO. ROSS.

Delaware
CAESAR RODNEY,
GEO. READ,
THO. M'KEAN.

Maryland
SAMUEL CHASE,
WM. PACA,
THOS. STONE,
CHARLES CARROLL of Carrollton.

Virginia
GEORGE WYTHE,
RICHARD HENRY LEE,
TH. JEFFERSON,
BENJA. HARRISON,
THS. NELSON, JR.,
FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE,
CARTER BRAXTON.

North Carolina
WM. HOOPER,
JOSEPH HEWES,
JOHN PENN.

South Carolina
EDWARD RUTLEDGE,
THOS. HAYWARD, JUNR.,
THOMAS LYNCH, JUNR.,
ARTHUR MIDDLETON.

Georgia
BUTTON GWINNETT,
LYMAN HALL,
GEO. WALTON.

News Items for 1/24/23

From the Texas Tribune: 

- Three Texas counties are suing the attorney general to get clarity on when the public can access post-election ballots.

- Accused El Paso shooter will plead guilty to federal hate crime charges.

- Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick unveils committee assignments with one Democratic chair.

- Conservative lawmakers push for review of school board group’s guidance on transgender students.

- New Texas foster care report shows both improvements and continued deficiencies.

- Bill to ban Chinese citizens and government from buying Texas land gains steam among Republicans.

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Active Learning Assignment #2

For Fall 2024

Who Represents You on the State and National Level? Tell me something about them.

For state and national Office click here.

Some other options: 

- Ballotpedia: Who Represents Me?

- Texas Tribune: Who Represents Me?

- 270 Top Win: Who Represents Me?

- Read this for hints on how to search for more: Harris County Law Library:  Who Represents Me

Requirements - again.

- It is due for full credit on the last day of class.
- It will be subject to a penalty if turned in late.
- Is can be turned in for partial credit until the end of the semester.
- The grade is commensurate to the quality of the work.
- There is a 150 word minimum requirement.
- You may write as much as you wish.

___________
For Spring 2024: 

For GOVT 2306 IM2B

Read the following article: Court hears Texas city council member’s retaliatory arrest claim.

And catch up with the court case Gonzalez v. Trevino.

ScotusBlog: Gonzalez v. Trevino.
|Oyez: Gonzalez v. Trevino.

Explain the conflict within the case as best you can.

What do you think makes this interesting to the U.S. Supreme Court?

________________
For GOVT 16 week classes

I want you to get familiar a case he United States Supreme Court will hear in about a month: Trump v. Anderson.

For info: 

- Scotusblog: Trump v. Anderson.
- Wikipedia: Trump v. Anderson.

You can look anywhere you want.

This is a case from Colorado concerning whether that state can prevent Trump from being on the ballot as a consequence of his attempts to prevent the 2020 vote from being counted in the United States Senate on January 6, 2021.

Here are the questions

For GOVT 2305: What disputes exist regarding the interpretation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment? Click here for assistance.

For GOVT 2306: What arguments is Colorado making that the U.S. Constitution allows states to determine who can and cannot be on its ballots for national office? What parts of the document are they saying make that case?

Requirements - again.


- It is due for full credit on the last day of class.
- It will be subject to a penalty if turned in late.
- Is can be turned in for partial credit until the end of the semester.
- The grade is commensurate to the quality of the work.
- There is a 150 word minimum requirement.
- You may write as much as you wish.
___________
Mini Semester Winter 2023-4

Please click on this link.

This page discusses recent changes to how community colleges - like ACC - are funded. It mentions recent legislation that has introduced new attitudes towards what determines funding. Read through it and tell me what you learn.

___________
Fall 2023

This assignment applies to both GOVT 2305 and 2306

In it I want you to apply the information available on political culture with the questions of what governments do, and what they do not do. Let's call it: 

Political Culture and the Essential Services of Government.

Read through the material on the three types of political culture as defined by Daniel Elazar. Get comfortable with the differences between the individualistic. moralistic, and traditionalistic political cultures.

- Click here for my post on the subject.

And also read through the list of essential government services - as defined by the Department of Homeland Security. 

- Click here for the appropriate post.

I want you offer your reasoned analysis what someone who holds each of the three cultural attitudes above would is argue is and is not an essential service of government.

Got a question? Are you uncertain about this? Ask me.

Don't overthink it. But don't underthink it either. Just-right think it. And no, I have no idea what that means. 


A response from the Department of Justice to the House Judiciary Committee's request for all documents related to investigations of President Trump

The committee wants information about ongoing investigations from the Department of Justice. The DOJ sent back a letter explaining why it will not. It's a great look at separated powers, and checks and balances. 

- This appears to be the letter the responded to by the DOJ.

There are others, click here for a list

While each branch can serve as a check on the others, they are not allowed to interfere with each other's basic functions.

- Wikipedia: House Judiciary Committee.

- Wikipedia: Department of Justice

- Click here for the letter.

Here are parts of the letter. 

We are in receipt of your January 17, 2023, letters to the Department of Justice (Department), as well as three of our law enforcement components, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), regarding information requests that you sent during the 117th Congress. 1 In light of your appointment as Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary (Committee), the Department would like to take this opportunity to review our practices with respect to congressional engagement for the benefit of both new and returning Members of the Committee. We look forward to a productive relationship in the 118th Congress.

. . . The Department stands ready to provide expertise as the Committee considers potential legislation. We often provide technical assistance on draft or introduced legislation to ensure the drafters are aware of how it may impact civil litigation, criminal investigations and prosecutions, grant making, and other matters within the Department’s purview, and to ensure its constitutionality. We encourage you to share legislative drafts as early as possible because our review can be time-consuming. Early consultation with the Department will help prevent instances in which drafters are inconvenienced by late feedback from the Department, or are left altogether unaware of significant Department concerns.

. . . Sufficient advance notice enables the identification of a mutually agreeable date that meets the Committee’s needs while taking into account the operational responsibilities of Department representatives, including overseeing criminal and national security investigations. The Committee should include information about the focus of the hearing and any specific matters the Department should be prepared to address. Two weeks is the minimum advance notice required for the Department to identify an appropriate witness and prepare testimony, which must be cleared through the Office of Management and Budget. The Department will be better able to meet your needs at hearings if your request is specific concerning the information the Committee seeks.

. . . Once the format of the hearing or briefing is established, and the relevant topics and number of panels have been determined, the Department will identify one or more officials to appear after consideration of all factors, including their schedules, their position, and other suitability concerns.

. . . With respect to oversight requests for information and documents, we share your belief that congressional oversight is vital to our functioning democracy and we are committed to cooperating with the Committee’s legitimate efforts to seek information, consistent with our obligation to protect Executive Branch confidentiality interests. As President Reagan explained in his 1982 directive on responding to congressional requests for information, the “tradition of accommodation” should be “the primary means of resolving conflicts between the Branches.”3 The Constitution “contemplates such accommodation” and requires each Branch to engage in a “realistic evaluation of [one another’s] needs.”

. . . The Committee can assist the Department in making this process as efficient as possible by helping the Department understand the scope of its interests, by discussing the potential use or protection of the information, and, especially importantly, by prioritizing requests.

. . . Consistent with longstanding policy and practice, any oversight requests must be weighed against the Department’s interests in protecting the integrity of its work. Longstanding Department policy prevents us from confirming or denying the existence of pending investigations in response to congressional requests or providing non-public information about our investigations. 7 The Department’s obligation to “protect the government’s ability to prosecute fully and fairly” is vital to the Executive Branch’s core constitutional function to investigate and prosecute criminal matters. The Department’s mission to independently and impartially uphold the rule of law requires us to maintain the integrity of our investigations, prosecutions, and civil actions, and to avoid even a perception that our efforts are influenced by anything but the law and the facts. So does the Department’s obligation to protect witnesses and law enforcement, avoid flight by those implicated in our investigations, and prevent additional crimes and attacks.

. . . Your January 17 requests—made now in your position as Chairman—initiate the constitutionally mandated accommodation process. Under this process, the Legislative and Executive Branches have a constitutional obligation to negotiate in good faith to meet the informational needs of Congress while protecting the institutional interests of the Executive Branch.

. . . Finally, the Department is committed to protecting the rights of whistleblowers (i.e., employees or applicants for employment who have made a protected disclosure), and to complying with both the letter and spirit of the Whistleblower Protection Act, 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8). Nothing in the foregoing is intended to impact the requirements, obligations, rights, sanctions, and liabilities created by controlling executive orders and statutory provisions.

We hope this information is helpful, and we look forward to a productive relationship. Please do not hesitate to contact this office if we may provide additional assistance regarding this or any other matter.

From Inside Climate News: Inside Clean Energy: Texas Is the Country’s Clean Energy Leader, Almost in Spite of Itself

Despite Texas' commitment to the benefit of the oil and gas industry, Texas' similar commitment to free enterprise has led to the development of the renewable energy industry as well.

- Click here for the article.

In the race to build renewable energy projects in 2021, Texas lapped the competition.

The state had 7,352 megawatts of new wind, solar and energy storage projects come online during the year, according to a report issued this week by the American Clean Power Association, a trade group.

The runner-up, California, brought 2,697 megawatts online.

But what got my attention wasn’t Texas’ dominance in 2021. It was that Texas also is the leader when ranking the states on how much wind, solar and storage they have under construction or in advanced development; Texas has 19,918 megawatts, followed in the distance by California, with 13,663 megawatts.

Texas can claim, with ample evidence, to be the renewable energy capital of the United States. This is despite also being the fossil fuel capital of the United States, and having political leaders who go out of their way to defer to oil and gas.

Joshua Rhodes of the University of Texas at Austin told me that the state’s rise as a renewable energy leader is notable because it happened almost completely because of the low costs of renewable energy, not because of concerns about climate change.

“We’re doing this because it makes financial sense,” he said. “As long as it continues to make financial sense, we’ll do it.”

But there is some altruism. Many of the energy buyers contributing to the boom in wind and solar development in Texas are large corporations that are trying to meet their own goals for relying on clean energy and reducing emissions.

Texas helped to set the stage for the current boom with legislation in the 1990s that deregulated the electricity market in most of the state, forcing owners of power plants to compete based on who could offer the lowest prices. As the costs of wind and solar power have plummeted, those sources gained an edge in the market over older fossil fuel power plants.

In contrast, most other states have fully regulated electricity systems in which utilities have monopolies and guaranteed profits, and power plants can continue to operate as long as regulators allow them to.


Wikipedia: Wind Power in Texas.

Wikipedia: Solar Power in Texas.

- Texas’s Oil and Gas Industry Is Defending Its Billions in Subsidies Against a Green Energy Push.

- GOP accepted millions from oil and gas ahead of Texas primary.

- Texas Democrats try to convince voters they aren’t bad for oil and gas.

From the Houston Chronicle: As legislator and real estate mogul, Gates seeks to disband management districts

As 2306 students will learn, the Texas legislators are paid very little - $600 per month. And they only meet for 140 days in the year following following each election. They are allowed to continue to hold outside employment.

This is to ensure that the legislature is composed of "citizen legislators." That may be, but it also guarantees that only people who can afford to spend time away from work are able to serve. It also means that people with outside interests can vote to support those interests.

This appears to be an example.

The story is from 2021.

- Click here for the article.

Before state Rep. Gary Gates was elected to the Texas House, the Republican real estate executive launched a petition drive to disband the Southwest Management District, one of 39 special districts across Houston that collect taxes from commercial property owners to fund extra police patrols, sidewalk improvements and other hyper-local services.

Gates, who also has taken aim at a management district in the Hobby area where he owns apartment properties, has continued his efforts to dissolve the special districts since taking office early last year. In January, he filed a bill that would make it easier to dissolve most management districts, including the two he has targeted, then weeks later circulated petition forms to business owners in the Sharpstown area.

Under state law, a management district must disband if its board receives dissolution petitions from property owners who own at least two-thirds of the district’s assessed property value. Gates’ legislation, House Bill 1219, would lower the threshold from 67 to 55 percent for districts created before September 2017, meaning it would apply to the Hobby Area District and Southwest Management District that Gates has sought to dissolve.

The bill passed out of the House Committee on Urban Affairs last week.

Houston Councilman Robert Gallegos, whose council district includes the Hobby Area District, has urged lawmakers to reject the bill and, in written testimony to the Urban Affairs Committee, highlighted the convergence of Gates’ roles as a property management owner and state representative.

“House Bill 1219 is misguided at best and may present a potentially serious conflict of interest at worst,” Gallegos wrote.

Gates, R-Richmond, acknowledged his business stands to benefit from the legislation, but he insisted the bill is needed because the current threshold to disband management districts is too high. Property owners often are reluctant to sign petitions because they fear retaliation from the district board or are board members themselves, Gates said, adding that many property owners are difficult to track down because they live in other states or countries, or are large multinational corporations that have little desire to meddle in local politics.

- Click here for the House Bill 1219.

Overview of Municipal Management Districts.

- Southwest Management District.

- City of Houston Boards and Commissions: Southwest Management District.

- Texas House: Gary Gates.

- Wikipedia: Gary Gates.

- Texas Tribune: Gary Gates.

- Wikipedia: Texas Real Estate Commission.

- Transparency USA: Texas Association of Realtors.

Thursday, January 19, 2023

From Houston Public Media: Grand jury to determine whether to bring charges against Houston taqueria customer who shot attempted robber

For our look at due process, an example of a grand jury being used to determine whether a case should go to trial. 

This is a process described in the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, thought it does not as yet apply to the states through the 14th Amendment.

- Click here for the story.  

The restaurant customer who shot and killed an attempted robber last week in Southwest Houston met Monday with homicide investigators from the Houston Police Department, which said a Harris County grand jury will decide whether the man should be charged with any crimes.

. . . The shooter’s attorney, in a statement published by Houston TV station ABC13, said the man acted in self-defense and “fully intends to continue cooperating” with police and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which confirmed it is referring the case to a grand jury.

“In fear of his life and his friend’s life my client acted to protect everyone in the restaurant,” the attorney said, according to ABC13. “… We are confident that a grand jury will conclude that the shooting was justified under Texas Law. This event has been very traumatic, taking a human life is something he does not take lightly and will burden him for the rest of his life.”

Free Application for Federal Student Aid - FAFSA

I'm sure you are familiar with this program. 

It determines your eligibility for financial aid, and it was created in 1965 as part of the 1965 Higher Education Act (HEA) signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. It was a significant part of the Great Society which increased national involvement in various state affairs, in this case higher education.

- History


FAFSA originally came from the 1965 Higher Education Act (HEA) by President Lyndon Johnson, this established the United States Government as the primary provider of financial aid for students.[18] For years the application was called Financial Aid Form (FAF), which was an optional form used by some—but not all—colleges and universities. When Congress reauthorized the HEA in 1992 they created a standardized federal form for all prospective students seeking aid.[19] The stated goal of FAFSA and other government funded education programs was to create equal opportunities for students seeking higher education. When the HEA was reauthorized again in 2008 lawmakers added a clause that schools must report information about who is receiving financial aid.[18] Subsequent studies revealed continued inequality for students of color, who often had to take out more student loans than more privileged counterparts.[19]

Recent updates have been made to increase accessibility of financial aid.[20] The original FAFSA form had 108 questions, which was a significant barrier for many low-income families seeking financial aid.[19] The questions were broadly seen as excessively detailed and unnecessarily complicated, with students being required to dedicate several hours to completing their application. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 shortened the FAFSA from 108 questions to 36, to encourage more eligible students to fill out the form.[21] In addition, students now have the option to link their IRS account with their FAFSA account to make the application simpler to complete accurately. The Consolidated Appropriations Act also opened financial aid eligibility to students that had previously been excluded from the program.

For more:

Higher Education Act of 1965.

- Great Society.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974

AKA - FERPA

Another piece of federal law that impacts colleges and universities.

From ACC's website: 

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) helps protect the privacy of student education records. The Act provides for the right to inspect and review education records, the right to seek to amend those records and to limit disclosure of information from the records. The intent of the legislation is to protect the rights of students and to ensure the privacy and accuracy of education records. It is intended that students’ rights be broadly defined and applied. Therefore, consider the student as the “owner” of his or her education record, and the institution as the “custodian” of that record.

School officials may not disclose personally identifiable information about students without their consent. However, school officials within the institution may obtain information from educational records when having a legitimate edcuational interest. School officials must take appropriate measures to protect student records stored on office computers, personal computers/laptops, office file cabinets or any other form of storage. Do not release any information about a student without checking if the student has given consent.

"If in Doubt, don't give it Out!"


For more: 

Wikipedia: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.