Tag: texas

Texas Crime Labs Say They Don’t Have Enough Resources To Test Hemp Products For THC As Lawmakers Consider Ban

As Texas lawmakers debate whether to regulate or ban THC products, officials with the state’s crime labs say they don’t have the resources currently to enforce whatever law is passed.

“From a crime lab perspective, mercifully, we don’t have a dog in that fight. I really don’t care. Just tell me what I need to test, and then I need resources to be able to provide that result,” Peter Stout, president and chief executive officer for the Houston Forensic Science Center, told The Texas Tribune after he testified before the House Public Health Committee on Wednesday. “Otherwise, I become the reason the wheel falls off this wagon, which has basically been the last six years now.”

Wednesday’s committee hearing centered on House Bill 5, which would create a blanket ban on products containing any “detectable amount of any cannabinoid” other than cannabidiol and cannabigerol, better known as CBD and CBG, non-intoxicating components of cannabis. This bill would eliminate the majority of hemp products, including those that are legal under the federal definition.

”There’s been countless reports of artificial and synthetic cannabinoids and their effects on the consumer, and these products have become readily available,” said Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, the committee’s chair and HB 5’s author. “Some of these products are marketed in a way that is attractive to children, for example common food products, like candy.”

The Senate’s version of the bill also calls for a ban, but since Gov. Greg Abbott (R) earlier this year vetoed similar legislation that would have banned THC, some lawmakers have signaled they’d support more regulations over a ban.

Kim Carmichael, spokesperson for House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, told The Texas Tribune that the House hasn’t committed to a ban.

“HB 5 was filed as a similar bill to what the House passed in the regular session, because that’s the most logical starting point for negotiations,” Carmichael said. “Since it passed in that form, members believed they should resume debate where it ended up. It would still go through the process of a public hearing and floor debate, so where it ends up is unknown at this time.”

Experts invited by lawmakers on Wednesday to talk about THC largely focused on the health dangers of THC, the possible criminal networks that underlie the industry, and the impossible task of enforcement.

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AWOL Texas Democrats Unveil New Plan to Strongarm GOP Amid Redistricting Fight

AWOL Texas Democrats unveiled a new plan to strongarm Republicans amid a redistricting fight.

The Democrats fled to Illinois last week to block the Republicans from voting on a new congressional redistricting map.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatened the derelict Democrats with arrest and removal from office if they didn’t return to the Capitol.

Texas Democrats will reportedly return to the Capitol for Governor Abbott’s 2nd special session to vote on the GOP’s redistricting effort, however, the timing is unclear because now they are making new demands.

According to the Associated Press, Texas Democrats won’t return home unless “Texas Republicans end a special session and California releases its own redrawn map proposal.”

The Associated Press reported:

Texas Democrats on Thursday moved closer to ending a nearly two-week walkout that has blocked the GOP’s redrawing of U.S. House maps before the 2026 election and put them under escalating threats by Republicans back home.

The Democrats announced they will return so long as Texas Republicans end a special session and California releases its own redrawn map proposal, both of which were expected to happen Friday.

Democrats did not say what day they might return.

On Wednesday, an Illinois judge denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request to enforce arrest warrants against derelict state House Democrats.

Judge Scott Larson said Paxton failed to “present a legal basis for the court to obtain subject matter jurisdiction over this cause of action…”

Governor Abbott laughed at the Democrats as they made all kinds of demands for a second special session from Chicago.

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Jasmine Crockett’s Racist Redistricting Comments Get Fact Checked by Greg Abbott

Texas Governor Greg Abbott responded Sunday to Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett’s claims that the state’s new redistricting maps would silence minority voters, pointing to recent Republican gains among Hispanic, Black, and Asian voters as evidence to the contrary.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday with host Shannon Bream, Abbott addressed remarks Crockett made a day earlier on MSNBC, where she argued the GOP proposal would strip minority communities of political influence.

Democrats in the Texas Legislature have left the state for Democratic strongholds such as New York and Illinois in an effort to block the Republican-backed redistricting plan, which analysts say could result in the GOP gaining as many as five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“First of all, it wouldn’t be a day that ends in the letter Y if Jasmine Crockett didn’t say something racist,” Abbott told Bream.

“But second, her ‘facts’ are wrong, because the facts in Texas are under the maps that we are drawing, four of the new seats will be predominantly Hispanic seats. The problem that Democrats have in the state of Texas is Hispanics, black voters and other voters, they have learned now that the ideas that Democrats stand for are contrary to the ideas that the Hispanic community and black community stand for. They all want secure borders, they don’t want men and women’s sports and they want support for law enforcement.”

Abbott said GOP outreach has increasingly resonated with minority voters in recent election cycles.

“What we are finding is these Hispanics are voting for Republicans,” Abbott said.

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Report: Texas Democrat Fugitives Concede, Will Return to Austin

The Texas House Democrats who abandoned their state in protest of the Republican-led redistricting effort will return home after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) took “emergency action” to begin removing the absent legislators as they refused to show up for work.

Multiple sources revealed the news to ABC13 on Tuesday, though the exact date the Democrats will return to the state capitol in Austin was not confirmed. 

The state House had only 95 members present for the second day in a row on Tuesday, with Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) predicting that the session will end and a new one will start assuming there is no quorum on Friday, the outlet noted.

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Rep. Jasmine Crockett Says Republicans Want to ‘Systemically’ Remove Black ‘Electeds’

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) claimed Monday that Republican-led redistricting efforts are aimed at reducing the number of Black members of Congress, asserting that these moves violate constitutional protections and the Voting Rights Act.

Speaking during an appearance on CNN’s The Lead, Crockett alleged that Republican lawmakers in multiple states are working to “systemically get rid” of Black elected officials as part of their strategy to secure political victories.

“When it comes to our base, they want to see a fight,” Crockett said.

“They don’t want to see us just lay down and say, OK, well, the Republicans want to do whatever they want to do. They want to minimize voices. They want to systemically get rid of those black electeds.”

Crockett pointed to several states she says are already engaged in these tactics.

“When I look at the numbers, and to be clear, Florida is already in this thing. We know that Texas is in this thing. We know that they’re putting pressure on Indiana as well as Missouri,” she said.

According to Crockett, these efforts are part of a broader Republican plan to win elections by altering congressional maps in ways that reduce minority representation.

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Texas DA known for naked stunts faces five years in prison after posting video of herself smoking weed in her garden

Best known for a viral video in which she straddled an oil pumping jack while topless and bottomless, a Texas elected official now faces jail time after smoking a joint on TikTok.

District Attorney Sarah Stogner, 41, could be incarceration after she posted a social media video of herself smoking weed in protest of a state ban on THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. 

The Republican made headlines in 2022 when she posted the viral clip of her riding the oil pump jack at the time she was running to be the state’s railroad commissioner.

Stogner, now the DA of Texas’s 143rd judicial district near Pecos, hopes her latest stunt might shame Texas into legalizing weed – especially if she is arrested and made a martyr for the cause. 

‘I did this to raise attention,’ she told Newsweek. 

‘Its silly that our elected officials want to completely ban THC when that’s not what our constituents want.’

Medical marijuana is legal in Texas, but recreational use of the drug is not. 

And in recent weeks, Lone Star State lawmakers passed a bill banning any products containing any ‘detectable amount of any cannabinoid.’

If signed into law, the bill would outlaw the majority of hemp products, including those that are legal under the federal definition in Texas. 

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Election Fraud May Have Seated Indicted Democrat

Serious irregularities in the 2024 congressional election in Texas’s 28th district have raised significant concerns about the security and validity of the vote. 

The district is already in the national spotlight because incumbent Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX), now in his eleventh term, faces a federal investigation over more than $600,000 in payments from foreign entities. 

The central controversy, however, centers on the conduct of the vote count and compliance with Texas election law.

During the recount, one ballot box went missing for some time. 

Under Texas law, a chain of custody breach is a serious violation that can be sufficient to void an election result. No explanation has been provided for the disappearance, and no action has been taken to determine why the box was removed or whether its contents were compromised.

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California Moves Forward With Special Redistricting Election To Counter Texas’s Plan

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday that the state will move forward with a ballot measure in November to redraw its congressional map in response to a Republican-backed redistricting plan in Texas.

Speaking alongside state Democratic leaders, Newsom said they would call for a special election in the first week of November to vote on redrawing the congressional map, a move that could potentially add five more U.S. House seats to the Democratic tally.

“We are talking about emergency measures to respond to what’s happening in Texas, and we will nullify what happens in Texas,” the Democratic governor told reporters.

“We will pick up five seats with the consent of the people, and that’s the difference between the approach we’re taking and the approach they’re taking. We’re doing it [on a] temporary basis,” he added.

Newsom also reaffirmed that the state will remain committed to its independent redistricting process. The Democrats said they expected to have a newly agreed-upon map, based on previous plans reviewed by the state’s independent redistricting commission, ready for public scrutiny next week, three months before it would go to voters.

Former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who attended the conference, backed Newsom’s decision and praised Texas Democratic lawmakers for their efforts to block the GOP’s redistricting plan.

“It’s not wrong in what we’re doing. This is self-defense for our democracy,” Pelosi said. “I thank again our Texans for their leadership, for their courage, and most of all, for their patriotism.”

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Counterterrorism and Special Ops Forces Deployed to Protect Ghislaine Maxwell’s Life in Texas Prison

Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and accomplice to Jeffrey Epstein, should be safe from any potential threats against her life.

The New York Sun has revealed that special ops and counterterrorism forces have been deployed to her prison facility in Texas after she received a barrage of death threats.

Their report states:

Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime paramour and closest associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, has received death threats since her surprise transfer to a minimum-security prison camp at Bryan, Texas, prompting federal corrections officials to call in the Bureau of Prisons’ Counter Terrorism and Special Operations units to considerably beef up its security at the facility, The New York Sun has learned.

“There have been death threats received,” a source close to the investigation tells the Sun. “They are focused on the outside looking in, as opposed to the happenings inside the camp.”

Members of the BOP’s Special Operations Response Team have been working around the Federal Prison Camp Bryan’s entrance and perimeter to monitor outside threats against Maxwell. The French and British socialite is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking and is trying to negotiate a commutation of her sentence amid enormous, renewed public interest in the Epstein case that has put pressure on President Trump.

The BOP has also deployed its Counter Terrorism Unit, typically used to monitor the communications and activities for “terrorist offenders” incarcerated in its system, to monitor threats inside Camp Bryan. Both teams have been working inside Camp Bryan since Maxwell’s transfer there last week.

A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons refused to confirm the operation, saying they do not comment on specific cases.

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New Report Reveals Truth About Rep. Jasmine Crocket, She’s a ‘Diva’ Who Brutalizes Her Staff

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a rising Democratic voice known for her attacks on Donald Trump, is facing allegations from former staffers that she mistreats employees, avoids work, and demands VIP treatment at taxpayer expense.

Key Facts:

  • Multiple former aides told the New York Post that Crockett rarely shows up to her D.C. office and berates staff.
  • Allegations include demanding luxury rental cars like Escalades, requiring staff to open doors for her, and refusing to use personal vehicles for official duties.
  • Sources say she focuses on media appearances rather than district issues.
  • Past incidents include skipping ahead of disabled passengers in an airport line and dismissing concerns from gay staffers over derogatory language.
  • Staff turnover is reportedly high due to what sources describe as a toxic work environment.

The Rest of The Story:

Crockett, elected to represent Texas in 2023, has gained national attention for her fiery committee speeches and frequent televised criticism of Trump, calling him “a piece of s***” and an “enemy to the United States.” While this has boosted her profile online, former staffers paint a different picture of her off-camera conduct.

One ex-aide told the Post she often “lays around her apartment” instead of working from the Capitol, showing little interest in staff or local matters. Another source described her as “more focused on, ‘Get me on The View,’” than on serving constituents.

Staff say Crockett operates from a luxury office building rather than her official office, instructs aides to rent high-end SUVs for short trips, and insists on door service. These demands, they say, divert attention and resources from policy work.

The Post report also detailed past controversies, such as Crockett cutting in front of wheelchair-bound passengers to board a flight and brushing off staff complaints over her use of the term “butch” toward GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. One aide recalled her telling critics, “You’re stupid if you think so.”

Multiple former employees say the office culture leaves Black female staffers feeling disempowered, with confrontations sometimes ending in tears. In one instance, Crockett reportedly told a staffer, “Do you really want to be here? And if not, you can leave!”

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