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Why didn't the Democrats release the Epstein client list?
  • The obvious is that Dems are on the list too. Which is undoubtedly true. Even more importantly than that donors. But the fact that Merrick Garland was involved and he'd never to anything to make Trump look bad ever should also be remembered.

  • Why didn't the Democrats release the Epstein client list?
  • The obvious is that Dems are on the list too. Which is undoubtedly true. Even more importantly than that donors. But the fact that Merrick Garland was involved and he'd never to anything to make Trump look bad ever should also be remembered.

  • Rat King
  • Yeah man it's totally unreasonable all he did was take pictures of the rich people who hung out with him at private exclusive parties. Just Bros hanging out in their private jets on the way to private islands. Totally normal stuff. Just the uber wealthy congregating to discuss things and indulge themselves and totally normal vices. There's no way merely being at this party indicated you were into certain lifestyles. You just had to be ultra wealthy to be there. We all know they are normal people who just like to have normal fun.

  • www.texastribune.org Rep. Jasmine Crockett drops bid for influential post on House oversight panel

    The Dallas Democrat had said her party should respond more aggressively to the Trump administration and pitched herself as the best messenger for the job.

    Rep. Jasmine Crockett drops bid for influential post on House oversight panel

    U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett withdrew from the race to become the top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight Committee, marking the Dallas Democrat’s second defeat in her attempt to climb the ranks of congressional leadership.

    Crockett confirmed her decision to bow out of the race in a text to The Texas Tribune early Tuesday.

    House Democrats picked Rep. Robert Garcia as their ranking member on the 47-person panel later Tuesday morning. The California Democrat defeated his remaining rival in the race, Rep. Stephen Lynch, after winning the support of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.

    The high-profile Oversight Committee handles issues related to government efficiency and accountability and would likely spearhead investigations into President Donald Trump if Democrats gain control of the House in 2026.

    Crockett, who has cultivated a large social media following and is widely seen as a rising star in the party, officially jumped into the race to replace the committee’s former top Democrat, U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, after he died in May.

    In a letter to colleagues announcing her bid, Crockett advocated for a more aggressive Democratic response to the Trump administration.

    “Every hearing, every investigation, every public moment must serve the dual purpose of accountability and must demonstrate why a House Democratic majority is essential for America’s future,” Crockett wrote.

    Many Democrats considered Crockett for the post but found her messaging style to be overzealous. Crockett previously faced criticism after referring to Gov. Greg Abbott as “Governor Hot Wheels.” For the past 40 years, Abbott has been in a wheelchair after being paralyzed by a falling tree.

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    www.texastribune.org With only 8% built, Texas quietly defunds state border wall program

    Texas officials suggested the federal government could pick up construction. However, during President Trump’s first term, his administration built about one-third of what the state was able to put up in the same amount of time.

    With only 8% built, Texas quietly defunds state border wall program

    Four years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas would be the first state to build its own border wall, lawmakers have quietly stopped funding the project, leaving only scattered segments covering a small fraction of the border.

    That decision, made in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session, leaves the future of the state wall unclear. Just 8% of the 805 miles the state identified for construction is complete, which has cost taxpayers more than $3 billion to date. The Texas Tribune reported last year that the wall is full of gaps that migrants and smugglers can easily walk around and mostly concentrated on sprawling ranches in rural areas, where illegal border crossings are less likely to occur.

    State leaders suggested the federal government could pick up the effort. However, during President Donald Trump’s first term, when wall building was his top priority, his administration completed just 21 miles in Texas — about a third of what the state was able to build over the past four years.

    The Tribune reported last year that the state’s wall program would take around 30 years and more than $20 billion to complete.

    4
    www.texastribune.org After years of tension, Texas House emerges as cooperative partner for Dan Patrick and his conservative agenda

    A 2024 war among Republicans tilted the House to the right. Now more closely aligned with the Senate, Speaker Dustin Burrows has accelerated action on bail, school vouchers and social issues.

    After years of tension, Texas House emerges as cooperative partner for Dan Patrick and his conservative agenda

    >A 2024 war among Republicans tilted the House to the right. Now more closely aligned with the Senate, Speaker Dustin Burrows has accelerated action on bail, school vouchers and social issues.

    >With tensions boiling over in the final days of the 2021 Texas legislative session, Rep. Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican and a top House lieutenant, went out of his way to throw shade at the Senate and its leader, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, for letting too many House bills languish.

    >From the back microphone on the House floor, Burrows rhetorically asked then-Speaker Dade Phelan if he was aware that “less than 50% of the House bills that we sent over were passed by the Senate” — much worse than the success rate for Senate bills sent to the lower chamber. It came shortly after Patrick had flayed the House for killing several of his top conservative priorities.

    >Four years later, Burrows’ first session wielding the speaker’s gavel is winding down with little of the same inter-chamber acrimony. Conservative priorities that had failed in session after session in the House, from private school vouchers to stricter bail laws, have cleared the Legislature with time to spare. So have once-thorny issues, like property tax cuts, school funding and immigration, that in years past had generated bad blood between the chambers and needed overtime sessions to address.

    >Many of those now-imminent laws were in the sweeping agenda Patrick unveiled near the start of the session in January, marked by several issues that Gov. Greg Abbott also championed as “emergency items.” All but a handful of Patrick’s priorities — from conservative red meat to top bipartisan priorities to the lieutenant governor’s own pet issues — have made it across the finish line or are poised to do so in the closing days of the session, which ends June 2.

    >The lack of discord reflects the collegial relations Patrick and Burrows have worked to maintain from the start; Burrows’ apparent desire to avoid drawing Patrick’s wrath and the political damage it inflicted upon his predecessors; and the reality that the House, thanks to the turnover wrought by a bruising 2024 primary cycle, is now more conservative and more receptive than ever to Patrick’s hard-charging agenda.

    3
    Exclusive: Pakistan's Chinese-made jet brought down two Indian fighter aircraft, US officials say

    >ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - A top Chinese-made Pakistani fighter plane shot down at least two Indian military aircraft on Wednesday, two U.S. officials told Reuters, marking a major milestone for Beijing's advanced fighter jet.

    >An Indian Air Force spokesperson said he had no comment when asked about the Reuters report.

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    www.texastribune.org Gov. Greg Abbott showing no rush to replace late U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner

    Republicans hold a tiny majority in the House, creating an incentive for Abbott to hold off on calling an election for Turner’s seat, which would likely be filled by a Democrat.

    Gov. Greg Abbott showing no rush to replace late U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner

    "Republicans hold a tiny majority in the House, creating an incentive for Abbott to hold off on calling an election for Turner’s seat, which would likely be filled by a Democrat."

    "Three weeks after U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner’s death and just over a month before the state’s next uniform election, Gov. Greg Abbott has not yet called a special election to fill the seat representing parts of Houston, a Democratic stronghold, in Congress.

    Turner, who previously served in the Texas House for nearly three decades before becoming mayor of Houston, died March 5, two months into his first term representing Texas’ 18th Congressional District. His funeral was held in Houston on March 15.

    Turner was elected to Congress last year after his predecessor and political ally, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, died in office after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

    Abbott has the sole authority to call a special election to fill Turner's seat for the rest of the two-year term. State law does not specify a deadline for the governor to order a special election. If called, the election must happen within two months of the announcement.

    But the Republican governor has little incentive to send another Democrat to Congress."

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    www.texastribune.org In Texas, Christian right grows confident and assertive

    Emboldened by court rulings and election victories, the Christian right is outspoken as it pushes its moral views through the Texas Legislature.

    In Texas, Christian right grows confident and assertive

    Emboldened by court rulings and election victories, the Christian right is outspoken as it pushes its moral views through the Texas Legislature.

    Testifying this month against bills that would put more Christianity in Texas public schools, the Rev. Jody Harrison invoked the violent persecution of her Baptist forefathers by fellow Christians in colonial America.

    Harrison hoped the history lesson would remind Texas senators of Baptists’ strong support for church-state separations, and that weakening those protections would hurt people of all faiths.

    Instead, she was rebuked.

    “The Baptist doctrine is Christ-centered,” Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, responded sharply. “Its purpose is not to go around trying to defend this or that. It is to be a disciple and a witness for Christ. That includes the Ten Commandments. That’s prayer in schools. It is not a fight for separation between church and state.”

    Harrison was not allowed to reply, but in an interview said she was stunned that a lawmaker would question a core part of her faith. The exchange, she said, perfectly encapsulated why she has fought to preserve church-state separations — the same religious protections that Campbell said are a distraction from bills that might bring school kids to Christ.

    “It was a wake up call,” she said. “I don’t think people — even many churches — realize that this is going on right now, and that is alarming.”

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    www.texastribune.org U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz defeats Democrat Colin Allred

    U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker and civil rights lawyer from Dallas, repeatedly broke fundraising records in his campaign, raising more than $80 million by mid-October.

    U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz defeats Democrat Colin Allred

    >U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz easily defeated U.S. Rep. Colin Allred on Tuesday, defying another spirited and well-funded effort to turn Texas blue and preserving his status as a leading conservative voice in American politics.

    >"The results tonight, this decisive victory, should shake the Democrat establishment to its core," he said in a speech to supporters at his campaign watch party in downtown Houston.

    >The Associated Press called his victory after 10 p.m. as Cruz was leading by more than double digits.

    >Shortly after, Allred told his supporters at his election night party in Dallas that he had conceded to Cruz.

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    Moldova accuses Russia of meddling ahead of its elections and EU referendum

    "Moldovans will be asked on Sunday to decide whether EU membership should be designated a strategic goal in the country’s constitution, a move that would further distance the former Soviet republic politically from Russia. The EU referendum coincides with Moldova's presidential election, where the country’s pro-Western leader Maia Sandu is seeking a second term against a field of mostly pro-Kremlin candidates. Both votes will take place against a backdrop of Russian meddling, including evidence of vote buying and disinformation, according to Moldovan authorities. The Kremlin has denied the allegations.

    The European Commission accepted Moldova's candidacy to join the EU in 2022 and opened accession negotiations in June this year. The EU has pledged almost $2 billion in economic support for Moldova to help the country accomplish the necessary reforms to achieve membership, and improve infrastructure badly in need of an upgrade.

    While various opinion polls over recent months show that most Moldovans support EU membership, residents in predominantly Russian-speaking regions like the north, or Gagauzia in the south, still favor stronger ties with Russia over EU membership."

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    Mortgage rates were supposed to come down. Instead, they're rising. Here's why

    "You might expect that mortgage rates would be falling right now after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a half-point last month.

    Instead, mortgage rates jumped higher. The latest data from Freddie Mac showed that the average 30-year mortgage rate had increased to 6.4%, more than a quarter-point higher than it was two weeks ago.

    The news is probably an unwelcome surprise to the folks who had been hoping for lower interest rates to finally come off the sidelines and start shopping for a home.

    Here’s what’s going on — and what it means for those trying to buy a home now."

    3
    www.reuters.com How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

    An invisible detonator and wafer-thin plastic explosives turned batteries into bombs

    How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah

    BEIRUT, Oct 16 (Reuters) - The batteries inside the weaponised pagers that arrived in Lebanon at the start of the year, part of an Israeli plot to decimate Hezbollah, had powerfully deceptive features and an Achilles' heel.

    The agents who built the pagers designed a battery that concealed a small but potent charge of plastic explosive and a novel detonator that was invisible to X-ray, according to a Lebanese source with first-hand knowledge of the pagers, and teardown photos of the battery pack seen by Reuters.

    To overcome the weakness - the absence of a plausible backstory for the bulky new product - they created fake online stores, pages and posts that could deceive Hezbollah due diligence, a Reuters review of web archives shows.

    The stealthy design of the pager bomb and the battery’s carefully constructed cover story, both described here for the first time, shed light on the execution of a years-long operation which has struck unprecedented blows against Israel's Iran-backed Lebanese foe and pushed the Middle East closer to a regional war.

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    Swing state map: Polls move in Trump’s direction, but the race remains tight

    "Former President Donald Trump once again appears to be in the driver’s seat in this presidential election.

    When looking strictly at the polls, Trump now has the edge in two states and the other five most closely watched states are toss-ups. At the end of August, Vice President Harris had leads large enough in three of the seven states for them to lean in her direction, according to an NPR analysis of polling averages at the time.

    Now, Trump has taken over the lead in an average of the polls in the seven swing states for the first time since Harris got in the race."

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    www.texastribune.org Many Americans say immigration is out of control, but 24 hours on the Texas-Mexico border showed a new reality. Will it last?

    The Texas Tribune and The Associated Press visited five locations along the 1,254-mile span to separate the facts from the political narrative during a heated election year.

    Many Americans say immigration is out of control, but 24 hours on the Texas-Mexico border showed a new reality. Will it last?

    "As midnight nears, the lights of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, fill the sky on the silent banks of the Rio Grande. A few months ago, hundreds of asylum-seeking families, including crying toddlers, waited for an opening to crawl through razor wire from Juarez into El Paso.

    No one is waiting there now.

    Nearly 500 miles away, in the border city of Eagle Pass, large groups of migrants that were once commonplace are rarely seen on the riverbanks these days.

    In McAllen, at the other end of the Texas border, two Border Patrol agents scan fields for five hours without encountering a single migrant.

    It’s a return to relative calm after an unprecedented surge of immigrants through the southern border in recent years. But no one would know that listening to Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump talking about border enforcement at dueling presidential campaign events. And no one would know from the rate at which Texas is spending on a border crackdown called Operation Lone Star — $11 billion since 2021."

    7
    South Alabama defeats Northwestern State 87 - 10.
    www.espn.com South Alabama 87-10 Northwestern State (Sep 12, 2024) Final Score - ESPN

    Game summary of the South Alabama Jaguars vs. Northwestern State Demons NCAAF game, final score 87-10, from September 12, 2024 on ESPN.

    South Alabama 87-10 Northwestern State (Sep 12, 2024) Final Score - ESPN

    Yes you read that correctly. 87 point. In a football game.

    1
    Just Make It A Punt

    Seriously. I'm watching these new kickoffs and it's just silly. Like I'm not against the concept but it's so clearly almost a punt. It's it's just a hair away from it. Just make it a punt it'd be so much simpler.

    2
    www.texastribune.org Colin Allred’s understated campaign strategy draws mixed reviews from fellow Democrats

    Allred’s sharp divergence from Beto O’Rourke’s more active campaign style has stirred dissent among some Democrats. His allies say it’s working.

    Colin Allred’s understated campaign strategy draws mixed reviews from fellow Democrats

    >Allred’s sharp divergence from Beto O’Rourke’s more active campaign style has stirred dissent among some Democrats. His allies say it’s working.

    >Six years after Beto O'Rourke’s electrifying Senate campaign set the standard for Texas Democrats seeking statewide office, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred is taking a completely different approach in his own bid to oust U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

    >Allred, a third-term Dallas congressman, has been far less visible on the campaign trail, opting for events with smaller and more curated audiences in the major cities and select suburbs, rather than the casual town hall-style rallies O'Rourke held in every corner of the state. And instead of O’Rourke’s unapologetic liberal stands which activated legions of young voters, Allred has adopted a more calibrated message aimed at winning over moderates. He’s running ads that portray him as "tough" on the border and willing to work across the aisle, while keeping his distance from his party's standard-bearers, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

    >Allred's sharp divergence from O'Rourke's more active and freewheeling style has stirred dissent and even signs of panic among a segment of Texas Democratic activists who say Allred should be holding more rallies, small-dollar fundraisers and other publicly accessible events. The more buttoned-up approach, they argue, is unlikely to inspire the sort of grassroots energy that helped O'Rourke build a juggernaut volunteer turnout operation and come within three points of ending Texas Democrats’ statewide drought

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    www.texastribune.org After six years of low scores for students learning English, Texas educators say it’s the test’s fault

    Students’ scores in a test that gauges their English skills have been low since a redesign introduced computer scoring.

    After six years of low scores for students learning English, Texas educators say it’s the test’s fault

    "English-learning students’ scores on a state test designed to measure their mastery of the language fell sharply and have stayed low since 2018 — a drop that bilingual educators say might have less to do with students’ skills and more with sweeping design changes and the automated computer scoring system that were introduced that year.

    English learners who used to speak to a teacher at their school as part of the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System now sit in front of a computer and respond to prompts through a microphone. The Texas Education Agency uses software programmed to recognize and evaluate students’ speech.

    Students’ scores dropped after the new test was introduced, a Texas Tribune analysis shows. In the previous four years, about half of all students in grades 4-12 who took the test got the highest score on the test’s speaking portion, which was required to be considered fully fluent in English. Since 2018, only about 10% of test takers have gotten the top score in speaking each year."

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    www.texastribune.org How a lack of supervisors keeps new mental health workers from entering the field

    Future Texas therapists must complete internships to start their careers, but there’s not enough providers to mentor all of the students.

    How a lack of supervisors keeps new mental health workers from entering the field

    "It was early 2022, and Kiany Casillas was in a panic. It had been two years since she and her newborn daughter had followed her husband from California to the Texas Panhandle, and during that time, she had enrolled at Texas Tech University Health Science Center to pursue a career as a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner.

    Casillas is considered the perfect student for Texas Tech’s online program because she lives in the rural city of Dalhart, an hour and a half northwest of Amarillo, and is willing to work there when she graduates. However, a year had passed, and Casillas and the school had yet to find a supervisor for her necessary clinical hours, and the deadline was fast approaching.

    “I was anxious, nervous, and baffled. How can I help people if nobody is willing to help me? You know, I was just kind of sad,” Casillas said.

    Supervised clinical hours are considered an essential part of the mental health field. They allow students to learn on the job while the supervisor, known as a preceptor in the medical field, assumes the risk of liability. However, only a limited number of mental health providers seem willing to take on this responsibility."

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    www.texastribune.org Colin Allred keeps Kamala Harris at arms length as he makes a play for the center

    U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who is facing off against Allred in his reelection campaign, has worked to tie Allred to Harris’ political record.

    Colin Allred keeps Kamala Harris at arms length as he makes a play for the center

    "On a recent appearance on MSNBC, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred was asked how Vice President Kamala Harris’ presumptive rise to the top of the party’s ticket was affecting his campaign in Texas to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

    Allred’s response was polite, but muted: “Vice President Harris was a member of the congressional Black Caucus and I’ve known her for some time and I support her nomination.”

    That five-second comment was all the time Allred spent discussing Harris. He quickly pivoted for the rest of the seven-minute segment to attacking Cruz for blocking bipartisan border security and immigration bills, opposing abortion access and leaving the state for Cancun when millions of Texans had lost power in their homes in 2021.

    Harris’s impending nomination has injected the November election with renewed enthusiasm among Democrats, who are hoping the historic nature of her candidacy as a woman of color could also boost down-ballot candidates. But in Republican-dominated Texas, Allred — who has been running his campaign as a centrist — is not flocking to her side."

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    www.texastribune.org Biden says Texas officials delayed request for Beryl federal aid

    Gov. Greg Abbott has spent the duration of the hurricane on a pre-scheduled trip to meet with foreign diplomats in Asia, leaving Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as acting governor.

    Biden says Texas officials delayed request for Beryl federal aid

    >Texas is receiving federal aid for Hurricane Beryl later than needed because state leaders were slow to request an official disaster declaration from the White House, President Joe Biden told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday.

    >With Gov. Greg Abbott out of the country on an economic development trip in Asia, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has served as acting governor amid the storm, making him responsible for putting in the state’s request for aid.

    >A White House spokesperson told the Chronicle that officials had tried multiple times to reach Abbott and Patrick, and Biden said he only connected with Patrick Tuesday, after which he issued the disaster declaration. Beryl came ashore on Texas' Gulf Coast early Monday morning, bringing heavy rain and winds that wreaked havoc over Houston and other parts of southeast Texas.

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    www.texastribune.org Abortion on the ballot: Amarillo set to vote on abortion travel ban this election

    After the Amarillo City Council balked at such an ordinance last year, residents collected signatures for a ballot measure.

    Abortion on the ballot: Amarillo set to vote on abortion travel ban this election

    >Amarillo residents will vote on a so-called abortion travel ban in November, one of the few times Texas voters will have a say on abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

    >Supporters of the measure, who gathered 6,300 verified signatures to petition for approval of the ordinance, submitted their request to city officials to have it placed on the Nov. 5 ballot after the Amarillo City Council rejected it last month, per local rules.

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    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)NJ
    njm1314 @lemmy.world
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