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Texas Tag

Late Sunday night, under cloak of night, the University of Texas at Austin sneakily removed three Confederate statues from campus. No prior notice was given, but construction crews toiled through the night beneath bright lights behind the protection of police-guarded fences to remove statues of Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, and John Reagan.

The Texas legislature failed to pass a bathroom bill that regulated the use of public restrooms for transgender people after a 29-day special session. There's a possibility that Republican Governor Greg Abbott will call another special session to address this bill along with other issues. From The Associated Press:
When asked if the governor plans to call another special session, a spokesman referred to a Monday radio interview during which Mr. Abbott said, “Obviously, all options are always on the table.”

Monday night, Texas A&M University released a statement saying the university had canceled a campus event reservation held by Preston Wiginton. Wiginton helped organize white nationalist leader Richard Spencer's campus visit late last year and promised Spencer would attend the upcoming rally scheduled for September 11.

Thirty-eight people, eight of whom were deceased, were found in the back of an 18-wheeler in a San Antonio Walmart parking lot.  Temperatures reaching as high as 100 degrees and a lack of water are believed to have been the cause of the deaths. Authorities are calling it a "horrific" human trafficking case involving the smuggling of illegal aliens across the porous Southern border.  San Antonio is suing Texas Governor Gregg Abbott over the state's law banning sanctuary cities. Fox News reports:
Eight people were found dead Sunday morning inside a sweltering 18-wheeler parked outside of a San Antonio Walmart in what police called a horrific human trafficking case.

In March of 2015, more than twenty armed agents rolled up to Mii’s Bridal & Tuxedo in Garland, Texas. The store's owners, Tony and Somnuek Thangsongcharoen, were given two hours to cough up $10,000 to avoid seizure of their property for a tax bill of $31,422. When they were unable to provide the IRS with a check, agents proceeded with the seizure and auctioned off everything of value.

I have to admit, I love love love these stories.  It's sweltering hot in Texas at this time of year, so when Andy Mitchell learned that Justin Korva was walking three miles to work each day, he posted about it on Facebook. The community rallied around the industrious and dedicated fast food worker and bought him a car. CBS News reports:
When Andy Mitchell spotted a young man in a fast food uniform walking along the side of a road on a 95-degree summer day in Rockwall, Texas, he felt compelled to pull over.

In February, California decided to ban state-funded travel to Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee after officials deemed laws in these states discriminate against the LGBT community. California has now added Texas, Alabama, South Dakota, and Kentucky to that list for the same reasons.

While the 2018 Texas Senate race is slowly simmering on the backburner, fundraising and campaign efforts on the ground are in full swing. Beto O'Rourke, the young Democrat Congressman from El Paso has emerged as the only challenger to incumbent Sen. Cruz thus far. Thanks to social media, O'Rourke landed on the radar of one of Hollywood's most vocal left-wingers -- Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell proudly tweeted her support for O'Rourke and boasted giving the max contribution to his campaign.

As emblems of the Confederacy all across the country are being dismantled, a Texas Antifa group has picked an odd target for their angst -- a well-loved statue of the Republic of Texas' first President, Sam Houston. Sam Houston was a badass if ever there was one. Not only was he an honorary Cherokee, but it took him a measly 18 minutes to defeat Mexican General Santa Anna, effectively ending the Texas Revolution and creating the greatest Republic that ever was.

Today was the last day of the Texas legislative regular session. But before the typical closing ceremonies were held, a near brawl broke out between lawmakers. Stoked by anti-SB 4 protestors, Democrat and Republican lawmakers exchanged harsh words and a few shoves. Senate Bill 4 is the state's Sanctuary City bill, which would require local and campus law enforcement to comply with federal immigration communication laws, or be subject to civil and criminal penalties. Governor Abbott signed the bill into law earlier this month. At the center of the SB-4 conflict was Republican state Rep. Matt Rinaldi, who said he called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on protestors carrying "I am illegal and here to stay" placards. After being manhandled and harassed (Rinaldi claims), he responded to an alleged threat on his person by saying he would respond to any attempts on his life by shooting the offending Representative in self-defense.

A federal court has thrown out a lawsuit against Irving, TX, and the local school district brought on by Ahmed "Clock Boy" Mohamed and his family after authorities arrested him in September 2015. From Fox News:
The lawsuit alleged that the city of Irving and Irving school district discriminated against Ahmed Mohamed at Irving MacArthur High School in September of 2015. Mohamed, a Muslim teenager who was 14 years old at the time, brought a homemade clock to school to show his engineering teacher. But an alarm on the clock went off in his English class and the teacher confiscated it. He was sent to the principal’s office.

Hey, give Joy Reid credit. At least she didn't go full Hitler analogy . . . On her MSNBC show this morning, Reid claimed that a recently-adopted Texas immigration law sounds "almost like an apartheid-era law." To support her alarmist claim, Reid badly mischaracterized the law, suggesting that under it, "any person can be stopped for any reason and asked essentially [to] show their papers." Her ACLU guest seemingly agreed, saying, "that's right." But she added that immigration-status inquiries can be made "once a person is legally detained," thus debunking Reid's suggestion that a person could be stopped and asked "for any reason."

On Sunday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill to ban sanctuary cities in the state. The law “also requires police chiefs and sheriffs — under the threat of jail and removal of office — to comply with federal requests to hold criminal suspects for possible deportation.” Today, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a "lawsuit in [the] U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas" that "names Travis County, the city of Austin and several local officials as defendants." Paxton wants "the court to uphold the constitutionality of the new law" and hopes it will help "avoid a multiplicity of suits in various forms."