Tag: texas

‘Stain on our community’: Texas judge indicted in ‘Fake Racism’ scandal used bogus Facebook name to target opponent, prosecutors say

A Texas judge and his former chief of staff have been indicted for allegedly making racist posts against the judge’s political opponent through fake Facebook profiles using the name “Antonio Scalywag.”

Fort Bend County Judge Kyle Prasad “KP” George was indicted on a misdemeanor charge of misrepresenting identity as a candidate, court documents show. George is accused of working with his former chief of staff, Taral Patel, to post racist remarks during the 2022 election that pretended to be targeting George, a native of India and the first person of color to serve in the role when he was first elected in 2018.

Law&Crime has previously reported about Patel’s arrest for fake comments he allegedly made about himself. He was a candidate for county office who allegedly impersonated racists online — attacking himself with racist and xenophobic posts — to bring attention to his campaign. Frank Yeverino, an attorney for Patel, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.

George, a Democrat, was running in his reelection against Republican Trever Nehls, who said the judge “weaponized racism.”

“The fact that our current county judge allegedly conspired to spread fake racist posts, not only to smear my character but also to manipulate voters and distort the truth, is a stain on our community and our political process,” Nehls said in a statement, the Houston Chronicle reported. “This is not only an attack on me personally but an attack on every voter who deserves a fair and transparent election.”

Fort Bend officials are calling for George to resign.

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Former Houston Drug Cop Convicted of Murder After His Lies Resulted in Two Deaths

A jury on Wednesday convicted former Houston narcotics officer Gerald Goines of two murder charges for instigating a January 2019 drug raid that killed a middle-aged couple, Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, he falsely accused of selling heroin. Goines admitted that he lied in the affidavit supporting the no-knock search warrant that authorized him and his colleagues to break into the couple’s home, describing a heroin purchase that never happened.

The prosecution argued that Goines’ lies made him criminally responsible for the deaths of Tuttle and Nicholas, who were killed after Goines and several other officers broke down the front door and immediately shot the couple’s dog. Tuttle, who according to prosecutors was napping in a bedroom at the time, reacted to the tumult and gunfire by grabbing a revolver and shooting at the intruders, injuring four of them, including Goines. The cops responded with a hail of at least 40 bullets, killing Tuttle and Nicholas, who was unarmed but allegedly looked like she was about to grab a gun from an injured officer.

The two murder charges against Goines were based on a statute that applies when someone “commits or attempts to commit a felony” and “in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt…commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual.” That charge was inappropriate in this case, the defense argued, because Goines’ underlying felony—producing the fraudulent search warrant affidavit—did not cause the deaths of Tuttle and Nicholas, which they brought on themselves.

“This case is overcharged,” defense attorney Mac Secrest told the jury during closing arguments on Tuesday. “It should never have been charged [as] felony murder,” he said while pointing at the prosecutors. “It got amped up to it because of the politics in their office, because of the media outcry, the pressure.”

Goines’ lawyers argued that Tuttle and Nicholas would still be alive if they had surrendered instead of resisting. While the prosecution emphasized that the cops fired first, Secrest emphasized that Tuttle fired “the first shot at a human being” (as opposed to the dog). “These officers didn’t fire upon anyone until they were fired upon themselves,” he said. “Nobody shot at Dennis Tuttle until he started putting bullets into peoples’ faces and necks.”

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Venezuelan Gang Is Reportedly Terrorizing North Dallas

A video went viral earlier this week depicting the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua allegedly assaulting a man in a North Dallas neighborhood.

Several multiple local outlets have covered the video, connecting  it to assertions that a Venezuelan gang is taking over a neighborhood in North Dallas.

It should be noted that this video is a year old according to Dallas police sources that were in contact with WFAA. Law enforcement sources also claimed that this was an isolated incident and not related to organized gang activity 

However, in a separate instance, law enforcement officials announced that the Dallas police department is investigating gang activity in the North Dallas area connected to Tren de Aragua.

“Our department is collaborating with other agencies to address possible crimes linked to this and other gangs in our city,” Dallas police announced in a statement. 

The aforementioned video was recorded in October 2023 and the case is apparently close. The video footage shows a group of Spanish-speaking males brutally pummeling a man. Gang unit officers launched an investigation of the incident and swept through the apartments in the Haverwood Lane area of North Dallas. Law enforcement initially believed that the assault was not connected to gang activity. 

Libs of TikTok reposted this video on X on September 3. This same account also disseminated information about the Tren de Aragua gang moving into several apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado. This incident has sparked uproar as allegations of the Venezuelan gang taking over these complexes have begun to proliferate across the web.  These claims gained steam after the release of a video showing armed individuals inside one of the apartment buildings. 

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Dallas Police Confirm Venezuelan Gang That Took Over Aurora, CO Apartment Complex is Now Wreaking Havoc in Texas

Slowly but surely, Biden has turned America into a Third-World hellscape, where violent armed thugs run the streets with impunity.

According to the DailyMail, Dallas police have confirmed the dangerous Venezuelan gang that overtook apartment complexes in Aurora, CO and Chicago, IL has made its way into Texas, and is now wreaking havoc in yet another American community.

“We have had gang activity in the north Dallas area linked to the Tren de Aragua gang from Venezuela,” Jennifer Pryor, the spokeswoman for the Dallas Police Department told the DailyMail in an interview. ‘Our department is collaborating with other agencies to address possible crimes linked to this and other gangs in our city,” she added.

Just last week, shocking video footage circulated online showing members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua seizing an apartment complex while armed with assault rifles. Since the video emerged, there have been several reports of Venezuelan gangs and other undocumented aliens causing chaos in multiple states.

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Texas Governor Greg Abbott Removes Over One Million Ineligible Voters, Including Nearly 500,000 Dead People and Thousands of Non-Citizen from State’s Voter Rolls

Governor Greg Abbott announced today that the state has successfully removed over one million ineligible voters from its voter rolls since the enactment of Senate Bill 1 in 2021.

This decisive action includes nearly 500,000 deceased individuals and thousands of noncitizens.

“Election integrity is essential to our democracy,” said Governor Abbott.

“I have signed the strongest election laws in the nation to protect the right to vote and to crackdown on illegal voting. These reforms have led to the removal of over one million ineligible people from our voter rolls in the last three years, including noncitizens, deceased voters, and people who moved to another state.

“The Secretary of State and county voter registrars have an ongoing legal requirement to review the voter rolls, remove ineligible voters, and refer any potential illegal voting to the Attorney General’s Office and local authorities for investigation and prosecution. Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated. We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting.”

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Texas investigates reports of noncitizens being illegally registered to vote

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Wednesday that he has opened an investigation into reports that groups in the state may be registering noncitizens to vote in violation of both state and federal laws.

Investigators with the Texas Attorney General’s Election Integrity Unit conducted undercover operations to identify potential voter registration of noncitizens in the state, with the investigation already confirming “that various nonprofit organizations have been located outside Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License offices, operating booths offering to assist in voter registration for persons doing business at the driver’s license offices,” a press release from Paxton’s office stated. These undercover operations are ongoing.

The press release noted that “all citizens have already been presented an opportunity to register to vote as part of the process of renewing or being issued an identification card or driver’s license, so there is no obvious need to assist citizens to register to vote outside DPS offices—calling into question the motives of the nonprofit groups.”

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Sues General Motors for Illegally Harvesting and Selling Drivers’ Private Data to Corporate Giants, Including Insurance Companies

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against General Motors (GM), alleging that the automotive giant engaged in deceptive and unlawful business practices by collecting and selling private driving data from over 1.5 million Texans without their knowledge or consent.

This lawsuit follows Paxton’s announcement in June 2024 that he had launched an investigation into several car manufacturers suspected of improperly harvesting vast amounts of data directly from vehicles.

The findings have been alarming, revealing a disturbing trend among companies leveraging invasive technologies to exploit unsuspecting consumers.

“Our investigation revealed that General Motors has engaged in egregious business practices that violated Texans’ privacy and broke the law. We will hold them accountable,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Companies are using invasive technology to violate the rights of our citizens in unthinkable ways.”

The crux of the lawsuit centers around GM’s use of technology installed in most vehicles manufactured since 2015. This technology allegedly collects, records, analyzes, and transmits detailed driving data every time a driver uses their vehicle, according to the press release.

Shockingly, GM sold this sensitive information to various third parties, including insurance companies, who used it to generate “Driving Scores” aimed at influencing insurance premiums.

“A customer’s Driving Score was based on a series of “factors” developed by General Motors that were supposedly indicative of “bad” driving behavior and included behavior such as (1) unique identifiers of a trip; (2) trip mileage; (3) hard braking and acceleration events; (4) speed events over 80 miles per hour; and (5) other behavior tracked by OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics (“OVD”). Under the Verisk Agreement, GM provided Verisk with the Driving Data necessary to determine whether a customer exhibited any “bad” driving behaviors,” according to the lawsuit.

This sensitive information includes location tracking, driving habits, personal communications within the vehicle’s system, customer ID, name, and home address.

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Texas school bans all-black clothing because colour ‘associated with depression’

A school in Texas has changed its dress code to forbid “black tops with black bottoms” citing concerns about mental health and criminality.

The principal of Charles Middle School in El Paso, Nick DeSantis, wrote in a letter to parents that an all-dark ensemble can be “associated with depression and mental health issues and/or criminality.”

The school is “eliminating a look that has taken over on campus with students wearing black tops with black bottoms, which has become more associated with depression and mental health issues and/or criminality than with happy and healthy kids ready to learn,” read the letter, obtained by KVIA.

“I understand that it is a concern, but keep in mind that students’ safety is our number one priority, and so anytime there are concerns that are brought forward about student safety, it’s important for us to take those seriously,” Sarah Venegas, executive principal of the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), told the outlet.

She explained the school allowed black pants last year but going forward, students will only be allowed to wear khaki pants and blue jeans.

“Wearing your uniform is a part of the school rules, at every campus,” she added. “If they’re in uniform violations it can be a disciplinary infraction but that is up to every administrator.”

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Shahzia Sikander Sculpture Beheaded at the University of Houston

A Shahzia Sikander statue at the University of Houston was vandalized following previous protests by right-wing groups.

The 18-foot-tall bronze monument to women and justice was beheaded in the early morning on July 8 while the campus was experiencing harsh weather and power outages due to Hurricane Beryl.

Footage of the vandalism was obtained by campus police, according to the New York Times, which first reported the news.

“We were disappointed to learn the statue was damaged early Monday morning as Hurricane Beryl was hitting Houston,” Kevin Quinn, the university’s executive director of media relations, said in an email to ARTnews. “The damage is believed to be intentional. The University of Houston Police Department is currently investigating the matter.”

The female figure, whose braided hair forms a pair of horns, wears a lacy collar in allusion to similar ones worn by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Supreme Court justice.

The sculpture was installed in a plaza at the University of Houston after five months of display to critical acclaim at Madison Square Park in New York City. But when it traveled to Houston, it drew criticism from the anti-abortion Christian group Texas Right to Life, which called for a campus-wide protest “to keep the Satanic abortion idol out of Texas.” The University of Houston responded by cancelling a planned opening and artist talk, as well as choosing not to show an accompanying video work also by Sikander.

It’s worth noting that Sikander’s artist statement about the work contains no mention of Satanism. “The rams’ horns are universal symbols of strength and wisdom,” Sikander told Art in America earlier this year. “There is nothing Satanic about them.”

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Federal Court Blocks Title IX Expansion to Include Gender Identity in Texas and Montana

A district judge has granted Texas and Montana’s request for a preliminary injunction against the federal government’s attempt “to impose a sweeping new social policy” that allows for Title IX coverage for gender identity.

The ruling follows others in which federal judges have brought Title IX revisions to a halt.

In this most recent decision, Texas District Judge Jeremy Kernodle ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can’t force state health care providers to fund gender-affirming care by threatening them with the loss of federal funding.

In May 2024, HHS issued a press release on its Final Rule, which expanded the definition of Title IX protections in 2016 to include “discrimination based on the basis of gender identity” to fit in with Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Title IX was initially established in 1972 to protect women from discrimination in public education.

“When Congress enacted the ACA in 2010, no agency—or court—had ever interpreted ‘on the basis of sex’ to mean ‘on the basis of gender identity,’” Judge Kernodle wrote. “But in 2016, HHS began to do so, issuing a rule purporting to implement Section 1557 and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of ‘gender identity.’”

Texas and Montana, two states that exclude gender-affirming care procedures from their Medicaid programs and prohibit doctors from performing them on minors, sued HHS, arguing that the federal health department has no authority to mandate that the states adhere to these revisions.

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