Texas AG mistress identified as republican operative

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Wednesday August 02, 2023 · 11:19 AM PDT

2023/08/02 · 11:19

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 26: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton talks to reporters after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case Texas brought against the Biden Administration about Title 42 on April 26, 2022 in Washington, DC. Paxton and Schmitt, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Missouri, are suing to challenge the the Biden Administration's repeal of the Trump Migrant Protection Protocolsâ€”aka â€œRemain in Mexico.â€ (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) — Indicted Impeached Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

The Dallas Morning News identified (paywall) the accused mistress of indicted/impeached Texas AG Ken Paxton as a Laura Olson from San Antonio. Ms. Olson was identified as having worked on the staff of another Texas State Senator which may further complicate the Senate’s trial. More details in the San Antonio press.

Olson is closely linked to Paxton’s impeachment as she was allegedly hired by Nate Paul, an Austin developer and major donor to Paxton. The attorney general is accused of giving preferential treatment to Paul, while also providing him with access to FBI documents after a raid on the developer's home and businesses in 2019.

Paxton is seeking to have most charges in the impeachment dismissed claiming the actions were prior to his latest election.

Paxton is currently facing long standing securities fraud charges which have recently become more active.

Cowards of Uvalde--different approach needed

pasco2c

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Friday May 27, 2022 · 9:59 AM PDT

2022/05/27 · 09:59

Cowards of Uvalde, TX

Events of the last two weeks show the futility of our current efforts to stay safe. Unfortunately, we are already seeing moderate democrats try to give republicans cover by proposing milktoast, completely ineffective gun control measures such as expanded background checks and better mental health services through a bipartisan approach.

My first instinct is that anyone who wants to make a difference in protecting our children and our innocent bystanders should support at a minimum the following 5 measures:

Ban on ownership of AR-15 type weapons by anyone under 21.
Ban on high capacity magazines for both rifles and pistols.
Ban on private ownership of body armour
Licensing and registration of all AR15 type weapons in private hands
Federal weapons buy back program

There are many other changes that make sense but Republicans are not going to support anything cause “freedom.” We need to be fighting on a hill that says if we do this we will make a real difference. Current measures being proposed will make almost no improvement.

Also,we need to call out Republican candidates as child killers every time we confront them—every town hall every public meeting unless they sign on to these or similar changes.

Are there other measures you guys think should be on my list of 5?

Where's the beef (from?) Who knows! NAFTA takes away!

pasco2c

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Monday December 21, 2015 · 10:23 AM PST

2015/12/21 · 10:23

I have not seen coverage here on DK—If I missed it my apologies. I think it is a big deal and a harbinger of things to come.

As part of the spending bill passed by Congress and signed by Pres Obama, labeling of where the animals were raised that is now disclosed on the meat labels will be eliminated despite the fact that 90% of American consumers want to know.

Canada and Mexico filed a complaint under NAFTA with the World Trade Organization and won approval to impose $! billion of tariffs on American products if the labeling wasn’t ended. For more details from Yahoo news (sorry couldn’t figure out how to link to full story):

Thanks to a label that reads “Product of the USA,” consumers have been able to find out a package of steaks or pork chops in the freezer section at their local grocery store came from America. But soon meat lovers will be hard-pressed to figure out whether the animals on their dinner plates were raised and slaughtered—in the States or halfway around the world.

Live streaming in DK5--some issues

pasco2c

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Tuesday November 10, 2015 · 7:20 PM PST

2015/11/10 · 19:20

As I tried to follow tonight’s debate on DK, several things about the way DK5 presented it were troubling. I’d be interested if others had the same views.

I find that there is no new information on the screen when you call up the new thread. Between the GIANT photos and vertical list of candidates, that is it. Right away you have to scroll.

Way too much white space!!

Comments are way too spaced out and replies are hidden.

Cop skates--kills unarmed black man

pasco2c

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Friday October 30, 2015 · 12:58 PM PDT

2015/10/30 · 12:58

I just saw press report where a federal judge relying on an obscure 1899 law gives an Austin detective a pass on a state manslaughter charge for killing a black man who ran from by hitting him with his gun while trying to arrest him. Gun went off, civilian dies. From the "" Austin Statesman :

Amid debate in Austin and nationwide over police use of force against African-Americans, a federal judge on Thursday dismissed the manslaughter case against Charles Kleinert in the deadly shooting of Larry Jackson Jr., finding the former Austin police detective deserved a special immunity from prosecution that can be granted to federal officers.

The prosecutor has not decided whether to appeal. (Video is included but not of shooting but earlier contact.)

Here is the text of the judges opinion

pasco2c

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Thursday September 24, 2015 · 3:29 PM PDT

2015/09/24 · 15:29

This morning it was reported in the local paper that the 3 officers involved in the much publicized shooting of a rock throwing disturbed (and possibly suicidal) man, Antonio Zambrano-Montes were cleared by the Pasco, Washington police department and a "police consulting agency." Earlier the local prosecutor declined to file charges. More detail:

Two reviews of the fatal shooting of Antonio Zambrano-Montes determined that the three officers who fired 17 times at the rock-throwing man at a crowded intersection did not violate police department policy.
The reports, released Wednesday, clear the way for officers Adam Wright and Adrian Alaniz to return to full-time duty immediately. The third officer involved in the February shooting, Ryan Flanagan, resigned from the department in July.
One report was conducted internally by Pasco police. The other was completed by a police research and consulting agency in New Hampshire, Police Policy Studies Council.
The internal investigation found the use of force was appropriate because of the potential for serious harm or death from the large rocks Zambrano-Montes threw, according to a copy of the report.

Other investigations continue. My thoughts below the orange fleur de lis

pasco2c

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Tuesday July 01, 2014 · 12:04 PM PDT

2014/07/01 · 12:04

Much has been made of the Hobby Lobby case only applying to specific facts and the specific methods that the owners objected to such as Plan B and IUDs. Well, according to Scotusblog, the Court has issued 6 rulings on other pending cases where various owner objection were upheld. These appear to reach much farther than the particular products in the Hobby Lobby case to include all aspects of the mandate and perhaps other preventative services such as vaccines and physical exams, pap smears, mammograms, etc.

The Supreme Court sent a fairly strong signal on Tuesday that its ruling giving some for-profit businesses a right not to provide birth control services to their female workers goes beyond the specific methods at issue in that decision. It issued a series of orders on six cases, each of which involved owners who objected to all of the pregnancy-related services mandated under the new federal health care law.

Look below the orange IUD for details Read More

Feds seizing tax refunds for parents debts

pasco2c

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Thursday April 10, 2014 · 9:00 PM PDT

2014/04/10 · 21:00

As you are reading Dailykos because you are tired of working on your tax return with only 5 days to go before you give up and send in the extension, I would recommend an outrageous (and long story) in the Washington Post about a program now on the radar where the feds are seizing Federal and State tax refunds to satisfy old social security overpayments sometimes made to the deceased parents of the targets. The Post reports that " The Treasury Department has intercepted $1.9 billion in tax refunds already this year — $75 million of that on debts delinquent for more than 10 years.... " Apparently the farm bill, in addition to cutting SNAP benefits, also relaxed the 10 year Statue of Limitations on going after government debts. SSA referred 400,000 cases to Treasury. Seizing refunds

In the main case discussed in the article. The Treasury seized $2,996 dollars from a woman for survivor benefits paid to her mother more than 30 years ago for an alleged overpayment in 1977. She is suing to recover the funds. Social Security claims they have no records to document the alleged overpayment that Treasury seized.

The craziest part of this whole thing is the way the government seizes a child’s money to satisfy a debt that child never even knew about,” says Robert Vogel, Grice’s attorney. “They’ll say that somebody got paid for that child’s benefit, but the child had no control over the money and there’s no way to know if the parent ever used the money for the benefit of that kid.”

ACA Washington State numbers: Updated--10k signups

pasco2c

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday October 07, 2013 · 9:35 AM PDT

2013/10/07 · 09:35

Out here in Washington State, we have our own exchange with about 35 different options from 7 insurers. The site had problems its first day but seems to have got things under control. The couple of times I was on the site, it proceeded fairly smoothly. According to an October 4th email, the site had already had about 185,000 visits.

Key numbers since the Oct. 1 (as of Oct 4) launch include:

Unique Visitors: 43,629
Total Site Visits: 184,810
Page Views: 850,284
Unique Page Views: 61,263
Accounts Created: 28,374
Call Center Volume: 20,363
Call Center Wait Time Average: 14 minutes

Seven insurers are selling individual policies through the Washington Healthplanfinder:

Bridgespan
Community Health Plan of Washington
Group Health Cooperative
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest
LifeWise
Molina Healthcare of Washington
Premera Blue Cross

The insurers will offer 35 individual policy options, but not all options are available in all counties.

I have not made it far enough through the site yet to see what options are and how the rates look but will update this diary when I do so. I encourage other Kossacks to let us know how their states are doing.

Data from Oct 7 email below the squiggly.

pasco2c

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Saturday December 15, 2012 · 12:35 AM PST

2012/12/15 · 00:35

Where do we stand?

The current round of gun violence is just a road too far. The progressive community needs to adopt a program of first identifying all guns and equipment with no valid hunting or defense purpose such as assault weapons, high capacity magazines, .50 cal rifles, etc.; second , requiring that these weapons be turned in for appropriate compensation and then destroyed. Furthermore, manufacture or importation of such weapons or equipment would be banned. Third, we need to require registration, training and securing.

Politically we need to not support any politician who does not endorse some measure of reasonable gun control. No current democratic candidates stand up for gun restrictions for fear of NRA. They are a paper tiger in any districts where a progressive candidate has a prayer of winning. If the constituents are “gun nuts” then they are probably also fervent right to life, 6000 year old earth types and we will never win anyway.

The final step is to blame the politicians when the violence happens. How many congressmen want to have their town halls and facebook pages covered with people calling them “baby killers?”

Poll

888 votes Show Results

Assault weapons and 30 round mangazines should be confiscated with compensation?

888 votes Vote Now!

Assault weapons and 30 round mangazines should be confiscated with compensation?

Agree

15 votes

Disagree

357 votes

This is only the first step

14 votes

No gun regulation is needed

500 votes

No opinion

2 votes

Saturday morning at the Washington caucus

pasco2c

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Saturday March 03, 2012 · 4:41 PM PST

2012/03/03 · 16:41

I thought I would draft up a short diary for you interested big city folk. I attended the local eastern Washington caucus at the local high school cafeteria today to support operation hysteria. The caucus is only for the Presidential nomination process--other offices are handled with a "top two" primary. Our Franklin County caucus brought out about 500 people for most of a strongly republican county with about 100k residents. Our precinct had 14 voters--7 Santorum, 4 Paul, 2 uncommitted, and 1 Romney. Statewide totals are supposed to be reported tonight but it is essentially meaningless--as explained below, it is really a straw poll. My guesstimate from applause lines is we will have 300 Santorum, 100 Paul, 80 Romney, and 20 Gingrich.

The caucus selected delegates to a county convention on March 24, our precinct will send 4. The county convention selects state delegates and they decide the 50 delegates for Tampa. The delegates that we selected are not bound to vote according to the precinct results.

Big push at the caucus to circulate petitions to get blocking same sex marriage initiative on the ballot. Lot of support for the initiative in the mostly 50 to 80 crowd. We also got to express views on how strongly we wanted the state republican platform to reflect typical wingnut provisions.

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Texas AG mistress identified as republican operative

Cowards of Uvalde--different approach needed

Where's the beef (from?) Who knows! NAFTA takes away!

Live streaming in DK5--some issues

Cop skates--kills unarmed black man

Rock Thrower's shooters cleared

Buy your own damn birth control pills--Supreme court is going farther

Feds seizing tax refunds for parents debts

ACA Washington State numbers: Updated--10k signups

Gun Confiscation with Compensation

Saturday morning at the Washington caucus