TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalHD 32 Democrat Ryan Morales: Russians hacked my campaign
House District 32 Democratic candidate Ryan Morales said Friday morning his campaign website and a couple of other servers he runs were hacked overnight and early evidence suggests the hacker may have been from Russia.
Morales could only speculate why hackers, and potentially Russian hackers, might target a longshot Democratic candidate in an obscure Florida House District race. But the message he comes away with is that political hacking is going to new levels, local races.
Morales is taking on Republican state Rep. Anthony Sabatini in a district that covers much of Lake County. Republicans have an eight-point voter registration advantage and Democrats haven’t come even that close in more than a decade.
“We know there was supposed to be federal government funding for this very purpose, to stop this. Nothing has been done. The President hasn’t done anything about this. And it’s going to continue to happen,” Morales said. “I probably caught somebody’s attention, and they wanted to come down on me. But this won’t be the last.”
Read more: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/297688-hd-32-democrat-ryan-morales-russians-hacked-me
Ron DeSantis formally signs bill banning anti-Semitism in schools
JERUSALEM — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Wednesday in Jerusalem banning anti-Semitism in Florida’s public schools.
The legislation was effective upon signing, the first bill in Florida history signed on foreign soil.
The Governor was flanked by leading legislators and Cabinet members, a symbol of the enthusiastic support for this legislation among elected officials.
By his side while he signed the bill was state Rep. Randy Fine, the House sponsor of the legislation whose efforts were key to the bill becoming law.
Read more: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/297275-desantis-signs-anti-semitism-bill
Florida man gets a bear on the beach birthday surprise
OKALOOSA ISLAND — Jacob Aland thought he was alone on the beach as he waited in darkness for the sun to rise over the Gulf of Mexico on Friday.
Aland said he was amazed, however, when the sun rose to reveal a black, furry figure a few yards away. There, sitting on a sand dune also looking up at the orange, yellow and pink painted on the horizon was a bear.
“There he was just hanging out and watching the sun rise, too,” Aland said. “After the sun rose I don’t know where he went. It was great. It was not a bad way to start the day.”
What made the experience even more special was that it was Aland’s birthday. He almost snoozed through his alarm, but said he was thankful he mustered up the willpower to head to the public beach access east of The Boardwalk.
Read more: https://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20190531/florida-man-gets-bear-on-beach-birthday-surprise
(Daytona Beach News-Journal)
Gov. Abbott signs bill banning red light cameras in Texas
AUSTIN -- With a swipe of his pen, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill Saturday that bans red light cameras in Texas into law.
In a video posted to Twitter, Abbott gave people a close-up look at the last step a bill needs to become law: his signature.
“Hi, Governor Greg Abbott here at the capitol on Saturday, signing bills,” he said.
And just a few seconds later, Abbott held up the bill with his signature as proof. With that, the bill, “is now law,” Abbott proclaimed.
Read more: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article230697554.html
Disbarred former El Paso judge, previously convicted of fraud, accused of practicing law
Former district court Judge Manuel Joseph Barraza, who served six years in prison for allegedly trading sexual acts for favorable rulings, was arrested after being accused of continuing to practice law despite being disbarred.
Barraza, 64, was arrested Wednesday by deputies at a home in the 200 block of Riverside Drive, El Paso County Sheriff’s Office officials said.
Limited details were released on his arrest, but he was taken into custody in connection with an outstanding felony warrant on a charge of falsely holding oneself out as a lawyer.
An indictment filed against Barraza states that despite not being licensed as an attorney in Texas, he allegedly tried to represent himself as a lawyer to another person for the "economic benefit for himself."
Read more: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/crime/2019/05/31/man-arrested-lower-valley-allegedly-pretending-lawyer-el-paso-county-sheriffs-office/1297988001/
El Paso migrant processing facility 'dangerously overcrowded,' DHS Inspector General says
An El Paso migrant processing center designed to hold 125 detainees was, at one point, holding 900 in dangerous conditions, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The overcrowding at the processing center at the Paso Del Norte International Bridge in Downtown El Paso requires “immediate attention,” the report states, warning of the potential for violence.
The report released Thursday by the department’s Office of Inspector General states that an inspection of five U.S. Border Patrol stations and two ports of entry in the El Paso Sector revealed “dangerous holding conditions” for migrants at the processing center.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in the El Paso Sector directed all questions to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Officials there declined to comment.
Read more: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/immigration/2019/05/31/el-paso-migrant-processing-center-overcrowded-dhs-border-patrol-ice/1300160001/
Big Oil's message to Permian strugglers: We won't bail you out
Big Oil probably won’t be buying up the Permian Basin’s struggling independent drillers any time soon.
Years of costly exploration and frantic buying sprees have gutted shareholder returns in the world’s largest shale basin. And management teams and their financial backers can’t count on shale-hungry, cash-rich supermajors to buy them out.
Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips are all on record saying they are wary of scooping up smaller rivals at a time when would-be sellers are demanding premium payouts and global crude prices are under pressure from ample supplies.
There is “not always alignment among buyers and sellers,” Exxon Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said Wednesday. He suggested Permian drillers may have to be squeezed by weak prices for a bit longer before they dial down their expectations.
Read more: https://www.mysanantonio.com/business/energy/article/Big-Oil-s-message-to-Permian-strugglers-We-13910202.php
GOP turn toward unity leaves Empower Texans unhappy -- and eyeing primaries
On the last day of the 140-day legislative session hailed as a success by Republicans and Democrats alike, House Speaker Dennis Bonnen was asked about criticism from Empower Texans, the well-funded group that has helped shape the Republican Party in Texas over the past decade. Lawmakers had failed to expand gun rights and further restrict access to abortion, among other state GOP priorities, the criticism went.
“You will never please or appease those folks, and I’m sure as hell not going to waste my time trying,” Bonnen, R-Lake Jackson, told reporters Monday.
“I am incredibly comfortable with my conservative record,” Bonnen continued. “But more significantly, they are a group that you are fooling yourself and you are not respecting your constituents, you are not respecting this institution, if you are chasing their wants and their desires because you will never meet their wants and their desires. They are a group that is based on attacks and disrespect to raise money. They are not based on issue ideology.”
Bonnen was asked if he had ever talked to Tim Dunn — the Midland oil and gas man with deeply held small government, libertarian and Christian beliefs — whose deep pockets keep Empower Texans and its tall, theatrical CEO, Michael Quinn Sullivan, in business.
Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190601/gop-turn-toward-unity-leaves-empower-texans-unhappy---and-eyeing-primaries
Gavin Newsom invites women to have abortions performed in California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is welcoming women across the country who are seeking abortions to come have the procedure done in his home state.
In a Friday letter, Newsom joined Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee in urging states "to review their laws and enact their own protections" after states such as Alabama, Georgia, Missouri and Mississippi recently passed stringent laws that would curb access to abortion.
"In the absence of federal leadership on this issue, states must step up and put in place their own protections – both in statute and in their state constitutions, and through the expansion of family planning and education – to defend every American's right to reproductive freedom," the governors wrote. "Roe is settled law, but newly enacted and clearly unconstitutional laws in a handful of states compel our states to act now to reaffirm longstanding commitments to safeguard the fundamental rights of women."
Newsom took it a step further, inviting women in conservative states to come to California to "fully exercise their reproductive rights."
Read more: https://www.mysanantonio.com/politics/article/Gavin-Newsom-abortion-California-laws-Alabama-Roe-13914531.php
Hartford councilman who works for MDC suggests taxing the city's major nonprofits
Budget season has ended, but one city leader says now is the time to revive the age-old idea of taxing Hartford’s nonprofits — including his own employer.
Democratic City Councilman James Sanchez wants state lawmakers to craft a bill that would require private universities, hospitals and other major nonprofit organizations in Hartford to pay property tax on 20 percent of their assessed value, according to a resolution he entered this week.
Sanchez said that he would like to tax approximately 15 organizations, but his proposal cites only three examples — St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, the Bushnell Performing Arts Center and the Metropolitan District Commission, his employer of nearly 19 years.
Sanchez, the council’s majority leader, started at MDC working with hazardous waste and now does community outreach. He said he referenced the tax-exempt, quasi-public agency because he thinks all major entities in the city should contribute at least some property taxes.
Read more: https://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-news-hartford-nonprofits-property-taxes-20190601-tq6syltyizfphae7kjjhthnhea-story.html
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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Current location: Bryan, Texas
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