FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT

 

With elections a mere week away, it’s time for laser focus on the races right here in our state that matter the most. Texas has added over 700,000 voters to the rolls since the presidential election, much of that increase occurring in our largest urban counties. But some big exurb counties outside major cities, and the Rio Grande Valley counties have seen double digit growth as well.

 

Overall, since the last midterms in 2018, Texas voter registration is up 12%. While voter registration drives have traditionally been the purview of Democrats, I find reason to believe that this time the tables have turned.

 

The top five counties who’ve added the most voters (Comal, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall and Williamson), all have Republican majorities. Exurb counties around big cities have seen 20% increases. This seems to highlight the fracturing between urban progressives and their more conservative suburban counterparts. Most importantly perhaps, the Valley has seen double digit growth in voter registration.

 

And here’s an important signal as to who those voters may be: Derek Ryan, a consultant for the GOP, analyzed early voting results to date and found that of these early voters, “46 percent had singular GOP voting histories compared to only 31 percent with a singular Democratic voting history.” What that indicates to me is an energized Republican base.

 

And there’s more to be optimistic about. AG Paxton has just announced that his Election Integrity Division is devoting a special team of agency lawyers, investigators, and support staff to oversee the midterm election and give rapid response to concerns of election officials and the public.

 

“The foundation of our constitutional republic is a secure and transparent ballot,” Paxton said. “It is why my office remains ever vigilant in defending the integrity of our elections. We are committed to following and ensuring compliance with all relevant state and federal laws.”

If you have any suspicion of election irregularities to report at any time in this election season, you can simply click on this link to report to the Paxton task force.

                                                electionintegrity2022@oag.texas.gov

 

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THE TOP TEN

 

With that in mind, I want to focus our attention on The Top Ten to Watch in Texas. Big shoutout to Brad Johnson at The Texan for compiling this list. I’ve put stars by the races that most need our support, whether financial or activist.

 

1.  Gubernatorial: Obviously top of ticket for us, with Abbott vs. O’Rourke. It does appear that Abbott is pulling further ahead, as his lead in polling approaches double digits after the debate last month.

 

2.  Attorney General: Sitting Attorney General Paxton vs. Rochelle Garza. Polling numbers look comfortable for the incumbent, but suffice it to say this is one we have to win. Non-negotiable.

 

*3. U.S. House Representative, Congressional District 28:  The incumbent, moderate Democrat Henry Cuellar vs. Cassy Garcia in a district that covers a lot of the border and stretches up to San Antonio. Even though Cuellar is on the right side of the border and abortion issues, as Congressman Chip Roy pointed out, Henry would still be voting for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker. That dog won’t hunt.

 

*4.  U.S. House Representative, Congressional District 34: Incumbent and MAGA upstart Mayra Flores is angling to be the poster child for a South Texas swing to the right as she faces Vicente Gonzalez, an incumbent from another district. The newly redrawn 34th is on the Gulf Coast. The race is currently considered a toss-up. This is a must-win.

 

*5.  Texas State Senator,  Senate District 27: In a race with no incumbent, Democrat Morgan LaMantia faces Republican Adam Hinojosa. This district is close to home, as it stretches from the Valley to north of Corpus.

 

*6.  Texas State Representative, House District 37: In another race with no incumbent, this one is a hope-to-flip in a district that encompasses Brownsville as Republican Janie Lopez faces Democrat Luis Villareal. Lopez is a San Benito ISD board member.

 

*7.  Texas State Representative, House District 118: In this San Antonio district, incumbent John Lujan (R-San Antonio) faces Democrat challenger Frank Ramirez.

 

*8.  County Judge, Tarrant County: Republican Tim O’Hare vs. Democrat Deborah Peoples, in a bid to rescue Ft. Worth’s red roots from the purple dumpster.

 

**9.  County Judge, Harris County: This is a personal grudge match, so I gave it two stars, feeling this race deserves special attention—Democrat Lina Hidalgo vs. Republican Alex Mealer. Incumbent Hidalgo should have already resigned. She is a complete disaster.Three of her staffers have been indicted for corruption allegations. The Texas Comptroller has found conclusive evidence of illegal police defunding in Harris County at Hidalgo’s behest. And now the secretary of state has found in its forensic audit “serious breaches” in Hidalgo’s conduct of the 2020 elections. Enough already. This is our “throw the bum out” race.

 

10.  Austin Mayoral race: Republican retread Kirk Watson vs. Celia Israel. I didn’t put any stars on this one because, frankly, I feel that at this point Austin is a lost cause, no matter who they vote in. Both candidates are former State Reps. I fail to see anything worth fighting for in this race. I apologize for the cynicism. And to the city that broke my heart I say, Austin, you well deserve whatever you get. Lots of luck.

 

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ELECTION HYGIENE

 

Just a quick checklist for all you voters on how to keep it clean:

 

1. Vote in person on the day of the election. This is simple guidance to help defeat machine cheating: overwhelm the algorithm.

 

2.  Check with your local election official, usually the County Clerk, to ensure that all races are listed on the ballots, and that there is an adequate number of Republican ballots. Running out of Republican ballots has become a favorite rouse of opposition operatives.

 

3.  If when at your polling place you are told you already voted, inform them immediately that you are filing a police report for stolen identity. Call the police and file the report, then notify the AG’s Election Integrity task force at electionintegrity2022@oag.texas.gov

 

4.  If filling out a paper ballot, use a blue pen. We’ll explain later.

 

Keep it clean, y’all.

 

 

TAKE ACTION NOW

 

This is the week that undecided and independent voters are swayed, and complacent Republican voters are energized. It’s time to get out the vote and you can help!

 

You can phone bank for the worthy candidates above no matter where you live. It’s simple. Go to our fellow Texan’s website below (Mighty American Strikeforce) to fill out the form to volunteer.  They need your help.

 

And let ‘em know, Texas Fights Outloud sent you.

 

www.masf.online

Last week the Texas Criminal Appeals Court refused to rehear an appeal by Attorney General Paxton, effectively denying the AG the right to unilaterally prosecute election law violations in criminal court. Judge Scott Walker cited the Texas Constitution’s separation of powers mandate, opining that, “The framers of the Texas constitution believed it was best to clearly separate power into three distinct branches of government, and as an executive branch official the attorney general is not a prosecutor,” and so may only prosecute election fraud cases if a county or district attorney permits and invites him to do so. 

 

In the last session the Texas Legislature begged to differ, and emphasized that very authority in Senate Bill 1, the Election Integrity Bill, reaffirming election reform law passed in 1951 which expressly granted authority to the Attorney General to originate the prosecution of election law violations.

 

An Amicus Brief filed last year by the Republican Party of Texas following the disappointing initial court decision states, “This opinion circumvents the work of the Texas Legislature and affects the security, fairness, and integrity of elections in Texas.”

 

More than that, at first blush it also appears to render a whole swath of the Texas Election Code unconstitutional. How will that work?

 

If you don’t like the system, says Walker, then amend the Constitution: “The remedy is not for the courts to water down the Texas Constitution from the bench.” One wonders if it’s more in their line of work to water down duly passed legislation that’s been working for 70 years.

 

Walker went on to assert that election offenses, voter fraud and campaign violations “can and should be prosecuted by duly elected district and county attorneys.”

 

But in today’s political climate, that sounds a lot like coulda, shoulda, woulda. In the Age of Soros, the local election apparatus has been largely captured, particularly in larger cities. And there’s the rub. In the last 15 years, the majority of election fraud convictions have been won by the Attorney General, not district or county attorneys. Those are the cold hard facts of a color revolution years in the making. While we were focusing up ballot and electing Republicans, we were ceding the trenches of real politick—the school boards, the county attorneys, the DA’s, the local boots on the ground—to the radical left.

 

Paxton clearly realizes that if we don’t handle this now, we will unwittingly cede the rest of the government, the up ballot, to the likes of Beta O’Rourke by empowering the incompetence and fraud in places like Harris and Dallas counties where the tide of elections can most easily be turned blue, regardless of the actual color of the wave.

 

Just last week the Office of the Secretary of State in its forensic audit of the 2020 election found “serious breaches” in Harris County elections management, detailing multiple problems with the county’s “extralegal drive-thru voting,” including chain of custody disruptions with mobile ballot boxes, and discrepancies in the cast vote records of voting machines. Rather than signaling their cooperation with the findings of the Secretary of State, however, the Harris County Commissioners are mobilizing a legal challenge against the audit. That speaks volumes about their ethics and allegiances.

 

Meanwhile, early voting starts today, and while drive-thru voting and multiple mobile ballot boxes have been discontinued pursuant to the passage of SB1 last year, the Secretary of State says the Harris County audit “still leave(s) many questions unanswered.”

 

Paxton took to Twitter to take umbrage:

 

“The CCA’s shameful decision means local DAs with radical liberal views have the sole power to prosecute election fraud in TX—which they will never do. The timing is no accident—this is devastating for the integrity of our upcoming elections. Time for #txlege to right this wrong.”

 

But with an all Republican high court prefiguring unconstitutionality in any such corrective legislation, where are we to turn?

 

Here’s what the court essentially said: get the local attorneys to do their jobs, or amend the Constitution. Easy for him to say. But for us? Talk about a rock and a hard place. In Democratic jurisdictions, it isn’t even rational to expect Soros-backed judges, prosecutors, DA’s or county attorneys to be anything but militantly partisan—that’s their primary job description.

 

And as far as amending the Constitution goes, it’s fairly cumbersome. The Texas Legislature first passes a joint resolution proposing the amendment with a minimum of 100 members of the House and 21 members of the Senate. Then a majority of Texas voters must approve the amendment in a special election.

 

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Perhaps even more cumbersome is the recommendation of the Texas Public Policy Foundation to establish an Office of Election Integrity whose primary mission would be to investigate election crime. Additionally, the Office of Election Integrity would regularly conduct audits of the Texas electoral system to identify problems, then report findings to the legislators so they can reform electoral code.

 

The TPPF also proposes creating new regional District Attorneys and Judges vested with the criminal authority to prosecute election crimes and the civil authority to enforce election code requirements against non-cooperating government entities.

 

Don’t get me wrong. All this would be enormously helpful. But aren’t we ignoring, pun intended, the elephant in the room? Texas is a deep red state. What tints our elections purple is electoral malfeasance, enabled by the consent decree that shut Republicans out of the election integrity process for 40 years and emboldened the Democrats to brazen thievery. Those days are over.

 

Judge Walker is right in one sense—we have an apparatus in place to investigate and prosecute election violations, but we have given over that mechanism to our most radical political opponents. It would be nice if Daddy AG could ride to our rescue on this colossal conservative fail, but isn’t there a simpler way? Elect ethical Republicans to these positions! Come to grips with the late dawning realization that no race is “down ballot.” Every race is at the top of the roster, and it is our complacency that has conspired with the Soros agenda to turn our state purple. We can protect our elections by taking back every DA and county attorney election in the state.

 

The longer the leftist juggernaut is deployed, the more I see that the remedy lies deeply embedded within our grassroots. The actual antidote to communism, fascism, socialism or statism of any kind, is decentralization, through the power that resides in the hands of the people. We would better serve the future we would like to create by stepping up to fill those shoes, rather than empowering our leaders to do it for us. By taking responsibility rather than delegating it, by firmly grasping the levers of power readily available, rather than adding to the already bulky machinery of government.

 

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This recent story illustrates the point. Michigan Citizens For Election Integrity reviewed thousands of hours of surveillance video from 19 Detroit drop boxes used in the 2020 election during the 37 days of early voting. Certain images lend a new meaning to the phrase “stuffing the ballot box,” as footage shows one woman holding the box open for another who seems to have difficulty cramming all the envelopes down its throat.

 

But after the derisive reception of the DeSousa film, “2000 Mules,”  by both Dems and RINOS it was clear to many citizens that video surveillance as proof and after-the-fact attempts at rectification of election fraud were both moot.

 

So in a truly grassroots effort, Clean Elections USA was formed to enlist hundreds of Americans to volunteer to legally observe ballot drop boxes in several swing states.  This is the type of decentralized, grassroots, citizen driven local action that can throw a fatal wrench in the well oiled fraud machine.

 

Fortunately Texas does not have drop-off boxes for absentee ballots. In order to drop off a mail-in ballot, a voter must present an approved form of identification to a poll worker and may not turn in any one else’s ballot. We dodged that bullet.

 

But rather than counting our chickens, let’s keep our eyes on the eggs. Every race is of paramount importance. Secure a voter’s guide for your district now. Thoroughly familiarize yourself with the candidates and the issues. Do your research. And remember, there are no down ballot races, only outcomes that safeguard our Republic or that threaten it, from the bottom up.

To get a sample ballot for your district in Nueces County, visit:

 

https://www.nuecesco.com/county-services/county-clerk/elections-department/find-your-ballot

 

Dear Governor Abbott:

 

The State of Texas is being invaded. Since Biden took office the Mexican cartels have so increased their presence on our southern border that they threaten the very social fabric of Texans’ way of life—the protection of property rights, freedom from crime, and peaceful enjoyment of our communities.

 

We are proud that you have called out these criminal organizations for what they are—narco-terrorist syndicates. Further, we acknowledge the support that Operation Lone Star has given our besieged law enforcement personnel and departments who are on the frontlines of what is a new war. Their stalwart and tireless service in the face of an onslaught with impossible odds is not only commendable, it’s characteristically Texan, and we’re proud of them too.

 

Much has been said about the failure of the federal government to enforce our immigration laws. When we recognize that this is not a symptom of ineptitude but part of a broad strategy to subvert the rule of law and undermine our Constitution, we must regrettably concede that this war is also being waged across our nation. We are simply on the front lines.

 

We cannot sustain, let alone win a war, with our hands tied behind our backs. Allowing the narco-terrorist cartels to make greater gains daily creates strongholds on our soil and in our culture. We know now without question that this is a battle for the sovereignty and soul of not only our state, but our nation.

 

The situation is grave, and if we do not readily admit that reality and take all measures to reverse

it, we will find ourselves, like our Mexican neighbors who have capitulated to these Mafioso, in a war that is no longer winnable. Even the full force of an army will not rout the corruption, violence and degradation that attends the rampant drug smuggling and human trafficking that is even now changing the tenure and tone of our cities and countryside.

 

Further belaboring of federal dereliction of duty is not productive. The facts are starkly clear. We must use the full force of Texan resources and will to stop the incursion that threatens us. It begins with you, dear Governor. Without your declaration of this incursion as an  “invasion,”  we are sentenced to fighting a rear guard action. To be blunt, we are doomed to failure.

 

Capitulation is so foreign to the spirit of this great state that it is entirely unacceptable. We urge you to reassert our sovereignty, to claim our authority, and to allow Texas to enforce our citizens’ security by any and all means necessary. Declare an invasion now.

 

This is what is required. The time is late.  As our chosen elected Governor, representative of the citizens of Texas, we are entrusting you with our future and our fate.

 

For Texas and Texans,

 

Office of the Governor

P.O. Box 12428

Austin, Texas 78711-2428  

https://gov.texas.gov/apps/contact/opinion.aspx

Seventeen Attorney Generals have written a letter to Senate Majority and Minority leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, voicing their “strong opposition” to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022. 

 

Sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders, the Act is a ham fisted sleight of hand to reintroduce Obama’s failed Clean Power Plan, which the Supreme Court ruled illegal, through what the AG’s call “procedural gamesmanship.” Though that 2015 EPA ruling would have forced states to adopt cap and trade energy policies, the letter maintains that the “misnamed” Energy Independence and Security Act sounds “uncannily” like it. The “hurried and agenda-driven” bill is currently being hustled through Congress without public comment or even committee hearings.

 

The bill amounts to a frontal assault on our federalist system that for over 100 years has allowed states to determine their own resource and utility policies.

 

• It provides “an unrestrained mechanism” for a private company’s takeover of State owned land through the use of eminent domain.

 

• It allows the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to command utilities to construct entirely new transmission facilities whenever and wherever FERC deems necessary.

 

• It authorizes companies to spread costs of transmission infrastructure to residents of other states.

 

These provisions “eviscerate states’ ability to chart their own land-use and energy policies.” In truth, they conclude, “the Act should be renamed the “Sacrificing Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022.”” As should be named all the policies of the Biden administration, which sacrificed the energy independence we as a nation enjoyed as a country only two years ago and now, without even a trace of irony,  “requires that the US be energy independent by 2024.”

 

The proposed legislation is a rubber stamp for the federal government to nationalize energy policy, and to “commandeer companies to construct facilities.” One is hard put to say whether this model more resembles the command economics of communism or fascism, but in practice, it is indistinguishable.

 

The AG’s letter goes on to spell it out clearly: the bill would “permit FERC to authorize massive takings of private lands…displacing and replacing the American farmer with federally-facilitated solar farms, composed of panels manufactured from Chinese-mined minerals from foreign countries.”

 

Additionally, spreading the cost of transmission to other states requires that one state pay for the policies determined by the politicians and bureaucrats of another, allowing companies to charge tariffs for  a “broad range of reasonably anticipated benefits,” ie. supposed climate change mitigation. This provision, the Attorney Generals state, may be used as “a justification for imposing potentially back- breaking costs on residents who may see no true energy benefit whatsoever.”

The Attorney Generals close their letter with a passage worth repeating: “these drastic and draconian changes are being rushed through without committee hearings, markups, and the full debate expected of the world’s greatest deliberative body. This utter lack of transparency is a manifestation of Congress’ “new normal,” under which laws are passed before the several States and their citizens can find out what is in them. Such hurried and agenda-driven laws provide the public no explanation of what the new laws are, why they are necessary, or how they will affect our Nation and the States.”

And this is the “procedural gamesmanship” which has utterly supplanted governance in the halls of Congress, where legislators engage in “rushed backroom deals” instead of the processes and procedures of true representative government.

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Texas Fights Outloud acknowledges the leadership of the states whose AG’s have signed this letter of opposition and signaled to Washington the legal challenges that lie ahead should they ram this legislation through:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia

We can avert such a costly, divisive, time consuming and wasteful legal battle by heading this off at the pass.

Write our U.S. Senators and tell them in no uncertain terms that the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022 is not only ill advised, it is illegal, and that we categorically reject the threat to our state sovereignty that it poses. We will not allow Washington to nationalize energy policy and to dictate it to Texas. There is a reason we have our own grid, and this bill strikes at the heart of that reason.

If we are genuinely interested in regaining our nation’s energy independence, the path before us is clear. Stop the prosecution of the war on domestic oil and gas. Let Texas do what it does best, supplying our needs at home and helping to meet those abroad.

If we are genuinely interested in our national security, it is obvious that reliance on foreign oil, depletion of our strategic oil reserves, and dependence on China for the minerals and materials required by wind and solar mitigate directly against it.

Neither energy independence nor security will be achieved by forcing our nation and our states to rely on “green” energy strategies that have only proven their insufficiency and unreliability. The conversation this proposal engenders is one we must engage as a nation, but with the unavoidable conclusion that it is, at root, disingenuous.

We urge Senators Cruz and Cornyn to not only reject this proposed legislation out of hand, but to take this opportunity to enjoin the public in the painful but necessary process of unmasking the Green New Deal fraud.

Your constituents deserve no less.

 

Senator Ted Cruz

9901 IH-10W, Suite 950

San Antonio, TX 78230

Phone number: (210) 340-2885

southcentral_texas@cruz.senate.gov

 

 

Senator John Cornyn

600 Navarro

Suite 210

San Antonio, TX 78205

Main: 210-224-7485

https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/contact