Tag Archives: Ken Paxton

The SOS voter purge may be over, but Ken Paxton is unaccounted for

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Keep an eye on this. After the judge approved the settlement, the original list of voters was scrapped. Under the agreement, Texas officials now will only flag names of people who have said they’re not citizens after they have registered … Continue reading →

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House passes bill to legalize fantasy sports

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Hey, what do you know? The Texas House gave an initial stamp of approval Wednesday to a bill that would classify fantasy sports as games of skill, not of chance, that are therefore legal. House Bill 2303 by state Rep. … Continue reading →

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A closer look at how Texas strongly discourages voting

Posted on April 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Well, it strongly discourages some people from voting. Julieta Garibay, a native of Mexico City, was brought to Texas by her mother when she was 12. For 26 years, she was told to assimilate and stay quiet so people wouldn’t … Continue reading →

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Settlement officially reached in lawsuits over bogus SOS advisory

Posted on April 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Great news. Three months after first questioning the citizenship status of almost 100,000 registered voters, the Texas secretary of state has agreed to end a review of the voter rolls for supposed noncitizens that was flawed from the start. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Chick-fil-A follies, part 2

Posted on April 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record. The city of San Antonio voted 6-4 in late March to exclude Chick-fil-A from its renovation of the airport food court offerings due to the company’s “legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior.” Shortly after the city’s decision, public outcry in Buffalo, N.Y., … Continue reading →

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Congressional Republicans seek to halt SOS voter purge inquiry

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I know, I’m as shocked as you are. Republicans are challenging the authority of a U.S. House panel to investigate the Texas effort to purge thousands of suspected non-citizens from voter rolls, contending in letters Monday that a recent request … Continue reading →

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Paxton gives the middle finger to House Oversight Committee

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure you’re as shocked as I am. Facing an investigation over the state’s botched efforts to screen its voter rolls for noncitizens, the Texas Attorney General’s Office is declining congressional leaders’ request for information about the review. In a … Continue reading →

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Using floodplain rules to force environmental safety compliance

Posted on April 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

A county’s gotta do what a county’s gotta do. Harris County officials are using flood control regulations passed after Hurricane Harvey to delay the reopening of two chemical companies where fires erupted in recent weeks, killing one worker and sending … Continue reading →

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Failing upward

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Must be nice. The day after David Whitley took office as Texas secretary of state on Dec. 17, he received a 49 percent pay raise thanks to his friend and political patron, Gov. Greg Abbott. In a Dec. 18 letter to the Legislative … Continue reading →

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Chick-fil-A follies

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating the city of San Antonio for potential First Amendment violations after the City Council voted to prevent Chick-fil-A — a franchise known for opposing same-sex … Continue reading →

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Explode, rinse, repeat

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go again. A massive explosion at a chemical plant in northeast Harris County on Tuesday killed one person and sent two others to the hospital in critical condition, sparking a blaze that sent yet another plume of dark … Continue reading →

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Trump goes all in against health care

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Game on. The Trump administration wants the federal courts to overturn the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, an escalation of its legal assault against the health care law. The Justice Department said in a brief filed on Monday that the administration supports a … Continue reading →

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State sues over Deer Park fire

Posted on March 23, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Too big to ignore. Late Friday, the state of Texas sued Intercontinental Terminals — the Houston-based company whose petrochemical storage facility in the suburb of Deer Park caught fire last weekend and burned for days, sending a dramatic plume of … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit wants to see how much it can gut abortion rights before it acts

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the takeaway you should have from this. A Texas law banning a common second-trimester abortion procedure will remain blocked after federal judges Wednesday postponed a decision until the Supreme Court takes action on a similar case. A federal district … Continue reading →

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The family that grifts together

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I am utterly flabbergasted. In what state Sen. Angela Paxton describes as an effort to safely expand Texas’ burgeoning financial tech industry, the freshman Republican from McKinney has filed a bill that would empower the office of her husband, Attorney … Continue reading →

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Paxton double-talks on that SOS advisory

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Ken Paxton really can’t be trusted. Not exactly earth-shattering, I know, but always good to remember. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton assured lawmakers on Friday that his office hadn’t launched criminal investigations into nearly 100,000 voters flagged by the secretary … Continue reading →

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Paxton manages to restrain himself from prosecuting anyone on the SOS list – yet

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Mighty decent of you there, Kenny boy. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told lawmakers Friday that his office has yet to take action on a deeply flawed list of nearly 100,000 Texas voters flagged last month for citizenship review. Paxton … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People, That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Paxton asks for summary judgement to end DACA

Posted on February 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Not much coverage of this, and I’m not sure what that means. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday asked a federal judge to strike down Obama-era deportation protections for immigrants whose parents brought them to the United States illegally … Continue reading →

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Paxton wants power to pursue political prosecutions

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the only rational interpretation of this. As he begins his second term, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is looking to expand the prosecutorial power of his office, asking the Legislature for more resources and expanded jurisdiction to go after … Continue reading →

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Second lawsuit filed over bogus SOS advisory

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Keep ’em coming. A group of Latino voters is suing top state officials who they allege unlawfully conspired to violate their constitutional rights by singling them out for investigation and removal from the voter rolls because they are foreign-born. Filed … Continue reading →

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SOS walks its advisory back even more

Posted on February 2, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Just rescind the whole damn list and let’s pretend this never happened. A week after it flagged tens of thousands of voters for citizenship checks, the Texas secretary of state’s office is now advising counties on how to check their … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

A trio of updates about that bogus SOS letter

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Most counties reacted skeptically, as well they should. The Texas Tribune reached out to 13 of the 15 counties with the most registered voters on Monday; Galveston was the only one that indicated it would immediately send out letters, even … Continue reading →

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Civil rights groups push back on bogus SOS letter

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Lawyers with 13 organizations — including the Texas Civil Rights Project, the ACLU of Texas, the League of Women Voters of Texas and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund — are demanding that the state rescind an advisory sent to … Continue reading →

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It’s “Let’s lie about vote fraud” season again

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib wrote about this in the best possible way, but the shrieking ghouls are out there in force doing what they can to whip up fear. The Texas secretary of state’s office announced Friday it would send local election … Continue reading →

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Omnibus lawsuit against Texas abortion laws begins

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Gotta say, I’m less optimistic about this now than I was when it was filed. State attorneys and lawyers representing reproductive rights groups argued in federal court Monday over whether a sweeping lawsuit challenging more than 60 Texas abortion regulations … Continue reading →

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Anti-Obamacare ruling appealed

Posted on January 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

The big non-Mueller story to follow for 2019. The Democratic coalition of states battling Texas over the fate of the Affordable Care Act has formally begun the process of challenging a Dec. 14 decision ruling the law unconstitutional in its … Continue reading →

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Ridiculous anti-Obamacare ruling remains on hold

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It is what it is. The federal judge in Texas who ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional said today that the law can stand while his judgment is under appeal. In his order issuing a stay and final partial judgment … Continue reading →

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Paxton prosecutors take their shot at a do-over

Posted on December 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good luck. In a fiery filing that amounts to a legal Hail Mary, the attorneys appointed to prosecute Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton implored the state’s highest criminal court to take the unusual step of considering their case again because … Continue reading →

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The ACA decision

Posted on December 16, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Utterly ridiculous, and likely to be short-lived. A federal judge in Texas threw a dagger on Friday into the Affordable Care Act, ruling that the entire health-care law is unconstitutional because of a recent change in federal tax law. The … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: The two types of statewide candidates

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

When we look at the precinct data in Harris County, we can separate the statewide candidates into two groups. Here’s the first group: Dist Abbott Valdez Tipp Abbott% Valdez% Trump% Clinton% =============================================================== CD02 146,399 112,272 4,345 55.66% 43.40% 52.38% 43.05% … Continue reading →

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Paxton prosecutors want another shot

Posted on December 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good luck. The attorneys appointed to prosecute Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton indicated in a court filing this week that they aren’t giving up a long-running fight to take the state’s top lawyer to court — at least not yet. … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Paxton sues San Antonio over “sanctuary cities” law

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This is gonna be ugly. Texas is suing the city of San Antonio for an alleged violation of the state’s new anti-“sanctuary cities” law, in the state’s first enforcement action against a city under the controversial statue. The lawsuit, filed … Continue reading →

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CCA may have killed the Paxton prosecution

Posted on November 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. Just, ugh. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday potentially imperiled the long-delayed criminal prosecution of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, ruling that payments to special prosecutors were outside legal limits. If they cannot get paid, the prosecutors … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Two possible straws in the wind

Posted on November 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Ken Paxton seems a little nervous. Less than 36 hours before Election Day, the race for attorney general is showing signs of competition that have been absent in just about every other statewide contest. Republican incumbent Ken Paxton, who was … Continue reading →

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