Tag: texas

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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Appetite for Destruction: US Gambles on New Texas Factory to Churn Out Ammo for Ukraine

The Ukraine proxy conflict continues to feed the insatiable US cycle of arms spending and production, with yet another newly-unveiled manufacturing facility joining its ranks.

A Texas factory that reportedly cost US$500 million to build is geared towards boosting the gravy train of US warmongers.

NATO’s proxy conflict in Ukraine has an avid appetite for ammunition and has eaten its way into both US and EU stocks with lackluster results to show for it. The Pentagon is hoping the General Dynamics facility in Mesquite, Texas, will help satiate this ammo craving.

American factories in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, together produce about 36,000 155mm shells per month. Managed by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD.N), the new Universal Artillery Projectile Lines facility jam-packed with cutting-edge machinery can churn out 30,000 units per month for the Kiev regime.

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Texas Children’s Hospital Shuts Down Child Sex Change Clinic After FBI Agents Intimidate Whistleblower, AG Lauches Investigation

The ongoing backlash against Texas Children’s Hospital was exacerbated this week after footage showing two FBI agents going to the home of a whistleblower went viral.

Since then the children’s hospital has closed its pediatric sex change clinic, according to a source who spoke with City Journal’s Christopher Rufo.

This decision to close also comes on the heels of a statement from a spokesman for Attorney General Ken Paxton, confirming an investigation into alleged Medicaid fraud at the hospital.

Rufo has been spearheading this story, revealing earlier in the week that special agents Paul Nixon and David McBride appeared outside the home of Vanessa Sivadge.

He reported that Sivadge helped expose an illegal gender program at the hospital after noticing alarming problems like depression, suicide attempts and discomfort with puberty amidst the “dramatic” rise in the number of trans children.

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‘His followers who worship Monkey and Elephant’: Democrat charged with felony for allegedly creating fake Facebook account to harass himself with racist, xenophobic messages

A candidate for county office in the far-flung Houston suburbs allegedly impersonated racists online — attacking himself with racist and xenophobic posts — in order to bring attention to his campaign.

Taral Patel, 30, has been the Democrat running for Fort Bend County Commission Precinct 3 since last year. As of this week, he stands accused of one count each of online impersonation, a third-degree felony, and misrepresentation of identity, a Class A misdemeanor.

On Sept. 18, 2023, Patel authored a lengthy Facebook post that contained an image collage of several different Facebook posts. Among those posts were instances of anti-Asian, anti-Pakistani, anti-Indian, anti-Hindu, anti-Chinese, anti-George Soros, anti-taxation, anti-Democrat, anti-curry, and anti-communist rhetoric. The collage featured multiple users often extolling the virtues of Christianity, America, and the GOP — as well as the Republican incumbent in the race — though a few such identities were redacted.

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Feds: Over 52,000 “special interest aliens,” including potential terrorists, have crossed the Texas border since October

Authorities recently reported that over 50,000 “special interest aliens” (SIAs) have been encountered at the United States’ borders since Oct. 1, 2023, and Syrian nationals were among those who have illegally entered the Texas border.

The announcement came on the same day the Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS) apprehended 31 illegal migrants in Maverick County, right on the border with Mexico. The migrants included two Syrian nationals who had been living in Venezuela. The other 29 were from Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. They were taken into custody and brought to the Val Verde Processing Center in Del Rio.

The video that was posted on X, formerly Twitter, by TxDPS spokesperson Chris Olivarez included the Syrians talking about their plight to reach Texas.

One follower commented: “Just walked from Syria wearing a perfectly starched and spotless white shirt,” referring to the border crosser who was wearing a clean shirt despite claiming to have walked from Venezuela to Colombia, rode a boat from Colombia to Nicaragua, walked again from Nicaragua to Honduras to Guatemala to Mexico until they reached the Texas border.

Meanwhile, another social media user replied in the thread saying: “Isis undercover operatives.”

Chief of U.S. Border Patrol Jason Owens also revealed the significant number of SIAs encountered this fiscal year, with the San Diego Sector accounting for 88 percent of the apprehensions. He referred to them as “special interest migrants,” a term initially introduced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). According to DHS, an SIA is a non-American who, based on travel patterns, might pose a national security risk to the U.S. or its interests, often linked to potential terrorism.

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South Texas Judge Overturns City Council Election Due to Voter Fraud and Allegations of Fake Addresses on Voter Registrations

A visiting judge has overturned the results of the November 2023 Edinburg City Council election, declaring Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano the rightful winner over incumbent David White, myRGV.com reported.

The lawsuit, brought forward by challenger Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano, contested the narrow victory of incumbent David White, alleging widespread irregularities, including illegal assistance to voters and the use of fake addresses in voter registrations.

The central issue in Lozano’s suit involved allegations against ‘politiqueras’, paid campaign workers accused of illegally aiding voters both in-person and through mail-in ballots. Some accusations extended to voters allegedly using fake addresses on their voter registrations.

The court’s findings revealed that these politiqueras assisted numerous voters who did not meet the legal criteria for such help. According to myRGV, citing Texas Election Code, assistance at the polls is strictly reserved for voters who are either illiterate or physically incapable of filling out ballots on their own. This assistance can extend to physically disabled voters eligible for curbside voting.

In his ruling, Senior Judge Jose Manuel Bañales confirmed that several voters received unlawful help filling out their ballots and participated in unauthorized curbside voting. Notably, the judge highlighted instances of individuals voting curbside from a van, despite being physically able to enter the polling place.

After conducting a three-day bench trial, Judge Bañales determined that more than a dozen illegal votes had been cast for incumbent David White, surpassing his narrow victory margin.

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Dallas Voters Could See Marijuana Decriminalization On November Ballot Under New City Council Plan

Dallas voters could decide whether to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana if City Council members approve a plan to put the measure on the November ballot, several council members said Friday.

Council member Chad West will propose the Dallas Freedom Act at a June 26 meeting, he said in a news release. A petition supporting the change garnered more than 50,000 signatures, organizers said.

“Voters in our city and across the country want to decriminalize marijuana,” West said. “Our already burdened police should focus their attention on serious crime, not arresting people with small amounts of marijuana. Bringing this to voters through a City Council-proposed Charter amendment instead of a petition will save the city time and resources.”

The proposal would direct police to stop writing tickets or making arrests for less than four ounces of marijuana. Possessing two to four ounces is a class A misdemeanor that can carry a one-year jail term and holding under two ounes is a classor B misdemeanor that can come with a 180-day sentence.

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Texas judge blocks Biden ATF rule expanding gun background checks

A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked the Biden administration from enforcing its gun background check rule in the Lone Star State on Sunday evening, one day before the national measure took effect.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, granted a temporary injunction against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to block the federal rule in Texas, though not in other states that challenged the rule.

The rule was scheduled to go into effect on Monday and shutters the “gun show loophole” for firearms sales, requiring dealers selling guns for a profit to be licensed and requiring background checks for buyers.

“I am relieved that we were able to secure a restraining order that will prevent this illegal rule from taking effect,” Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who challenged the Biden administration rule, said in a statement. The challenge to the ATF measure was also joined by the Gun Owners of America, a pro-Second Amendment group.

“President Biden and his anti-gun administration have aggressively pursued an agenda meant to harass, intimidate, and criminalize gun owners and dealers at every turn,” said Erich Pratt, senior vice president of GOA.

Plaintiffs argued the ATF rule violated the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 and the Second Amendment. Kacsmaryk did not rule on the constitutional claim but agreed with the plaintiffs that it ran afoul of the 2022 law.

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