Inside The Texas GOP Convention And The Grassroots Push To Win November

Unity gets preached a lot at political conventions, but we’re not interested in unity as a slogan. Broadcasting from the Republican Party of Texas convention in Houston, we talk about what we’re seeing on the floor, what Texas leaders are calling for heading into November, and why grassroots conservatives cannot be treated like a mailing list that only matters at election time. We make the case that unity is only worth having when it’s built around truth, conviction, and accountability, not comfort or consultant-approved silence.

Then we pivot hard into Houston headlines that reveal how messy power can get. We break down the ex Turkey Leg Hut owner pleading guilty to a federal arson conspiracy tied to the firebombing of a rival bar, and we explain why plea agreements happen so often and what they do and do not prove. From there, we take on the AI boom from a Texas perspective: data centers, electricity demand, ERCOT’s load queue, and why natural gas and nuclear energy keep coming up in any serious conversation about reliability and national security.

Our weekly local recap features Charles Blaine from Urban Reform, covering Houston’s budget debate, transparency amendments, Chapter 380 incentives, and the real-world cost of overlapping law enforcement agencies. We also dig into local pushback on data centers, World Cup frustrations, and the spread of Flock cameras and mass surveillance. We close with the New World Screwworm response effort and Ken Paxton’s opinion on so called skill-based gambling machines, plus why the modern gambling industry is designed to exploit desperation.

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Transcript

Welcome From The Texas Convention

SPEAKER_08 0:04

From D in the heart of Texas, it's Houston's gun loving the voice of reason. This is the most star conservative, Michael Wilson.

SPEAKER_18 0:32

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative here on Patriot Talk 920 AM. I'm going to kick it off. There's actually something that came out from Taxi Scorecard, because of course Taxi Scorecard was at the GOP convention, as well as Patriot Talk 920 and Gun Owners of America. Lots of other great groups as well, by the way. These are just, you know, the ones that we're actually very close with. But there were, there were, I mean, so many great groups. We had the Abolish Abortion Group, just a few booths down, uh, that are doing absolutely excellent work. Uh very excited for the way the Republican Party is headed. It it certainly, depending on how the votes go, um, a lot of the recommendations for the party platform when it comes to pro-life is certainly still heading in the right direction rather than the wrong direction it could have been heading. But there again, there's so many great booths, um, all down, up and down the exhibit hall. I didn't actually get the chance to go to general session. I kind of expected to, by the way, yesterday. I kind of expected to get to go to general session or to go to some of the me the meetings. But then at the booth, there were so many people. Uh uh probably one of the busiest, even though we've been to bigger conventions, this particular one is I I suppose the people that are attending are are just so, so interested. It's great. I I'm very head, it's very energetic, are so interested in politics and and what have you, that they'll stop by the booth and they'll say, Hey, you guys are a radio station, haven't heard of you. Or or you know, they'll live in in Dallas or San Antonio or or God forbid they live in Austin. And uh and and you know, they they want to tune in. And so, you know, we'll say, Hey, you can tune in, you know, through the radio, but we also have a website, we also have an app. We, you know, we also have at least the the morning show also has a pot a lot of our other shows also have podcasts. If you ever miss anything and you want to go back and listen. And so it was it was certainly very busy. And it was busy enough that I did not really get the chance to leave the booth much yesterday. Uh we had our social hour live broadcast. We got more going on today, but I want to get off reading kind of through this excerpt the Texas Scorecard put out. Actually, Brandon Walton specifically put this out. And it's kind of talking about yesterday. He said, uh, as thousands of Republicans gathered in Houston for the Republican Party of Texas Convention Thursday, party leaders repeatedly stressed a message of unity ahead of what they expect to be a fiercely contested November election cycle. The biennial convention brings together delegates from across Texas to elect party leadership, update the party platform, and select legislative priorities for the upcoming legislative session. But much of the opening day focus centered on the elections that come first. Republican Party Texas Chairman Abraham George framed the political fight in spiritual and cultural terms, urging activists to remain engaged despite challenges. Quote, every walk matters, every phone call matters, every conversation matters, every election matters. The future of Texas will not be decided by people who are sitting on the sidelines. Abraham George also called on Republicans to remain steadfast in their principles, telling attendees to be strong and courageous as they work to preserve faith, family, and freedom. The race for the chairmanship, however, is currently among the more immediate issues, obviously, as he's being challenged in a five-way race. His primary opponent for the chair position is the current vice chair, the Rinda Randall. While highlighting what she described as successes under the current administration, she argued the party could do more to support grassroots activists and local organizations. She said it's not about the chair, it's about you and me, but it also is about the chair. I think she's wrong on that. Randall praised precinct chairs and county leaders for their work across Texas, saying their efforts should be highlighted more frequently to encourage additional involvement in the party. You also had State Senator Bob Hall, who addressed delegates and also focused on grassroots participation. Again, j the people, the way this government is fomented, the way this government works, the way this government operates, the people. I think that that was a consistent theme throughout the day, uh all around the commission, not even just in the general session and in some of the smaller meetings, but in the booths in the exhibit hall. I think there was a very common theme. And uh he said, you know, he recounted historical examples of elections and political outcomes decided by a single vote. He also compared votes to the famous for want of a nail proverb, arguing that seemingly insignificant actions can have major consequences. He said for the want of a vote, a precinct was lost. For the want of a state, a nation was lost, referring

Unity Message From Party Leaders

SPEAKER_18 5:10

obviously to Texas. You also had Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick who warned delegates in Senate district caucuses not to take November for granted, arguing that Democrats are poised to spend heavily in statewide races. I also got to uh hear from Ken Paxton, uh, who who at a kind of dinner event, I say dinner event, it wasn't really dinner. I kind of hoped it would be a dinner event, which makes me sound fat, but it was it was more of an appetizer event. It was a great event, but the food, I don't know, I don't know that I can call it dinner. Nevertheless, at this dinner event, he also mentioned uh the Talerico is going to raise an absurd amount of money by the end of June. I think it's like expected fifty million dollars by the end of June. And you'll still have what, four months left? So absolute insanity. Uh he said, I would have told you in every other general election we've had that it's a 100% chance we're going to win. This time I put it at 95% or so. He specifically warned against divisions lingering from Republican primary contests, arguing that supporters of unsuccessful candidates must unite behind the party's nominees. He said, When it's over, we come together. We have to work hard to get our neighbors to understand we have to come together as one. The convention continues through, of course, today and tomorrow, with delegates expected to elect party officers, consider amendments to the party of Texas platform, and determine legislative priorities for the upcoming session. And we talked with Brandon about all that yesterday or day before yesterday as well. I do want to mention, since we're talking about it, that today at the convention, if you come to booth 210, that is the Patriot Talk 920 booth, kind of connected to our Gun Owners of America Friends booth, if you come out to our booth today, I think 12 to 1 is our social hour today, uh where we'll have more bourbon tastings. And by the way, I tried the bourbon right before the show, which was the what is the opposite of a mistake? A good idea. It was a great idea. I did not anticipate how how absurdly strong the bourbon was. And it did not impact the show. I was I was not feeling it or anything, as far as I was aware. But it just a tiny little sample. I got one sample before the show. And it was about five it was about five minutes before the show. And I I I drank it and I it was I think I think I did the lowest proof, the one that was proofed down. And he kind of illustrated me because I'm I'm not generally a big bourbon drinker. I think if I'm gonna go with any sort of liquor at all, rum is usually my choice. I usually go rum. I'm more of a rum guy, generally. But he highlighted that most bourbon is about 80 proof. Some will get up to 90 proof. Uh the proofed down one from this company, Blue Bolt Spirits, was like 107 proof. So uh absurdly higher. And after I tried the 128-proof, uh, which you could tell I thought the 107 was was hot. The it was not comparatively uh to the 128-proof. Uh nevertheless, that was awesome. So if you want to come try some if you if you do drink bourbon, or even if you don't, come try it. But if you do drink bourbon, it was uh everybody that I talked to that was at the booth who drank bourbon said it was excellent. We're also giving out free cigars from Lucho Cigars. By the way, excellent cigars. As someone who knows more about cigars than bourbon, I I uh I found out Galvison doesn't let you smoke on the beach, they have no smoking rules. A lot of beaches do, a lot of the more touristy beaches do. Um, if you go down to surfside, there are not no smoking rules. And so I got to go down to surfside. I smoked one of those cigars, I got a couple of them, and they are they are quite good. They're quite enjoyable. The bourbon might be better with a cigar. I might pair them sometime. But come on out, that's 12 to 1. We're gonna have, again, free cigars, free bourbon tastings. You can get all the information you want. And uh then from 4 to 6 p.m. today, I'll be doing another live broadcast this afternoon from the floor of the GOP convention, which will be uh should be very good. Yesterday went very well. Uh we had a lot of excellent guests. One of the guests we had I actually was most excited about uh going into it when I found out that he was going to be on because we had great and again, I mean, this is not this is not going after anybody else. We had phenomenal guests. We had Brian Harrison, we had Don Huffeins, uh, we had Brandon Herrera, we had excellent people that came on, but we also had a 15-year-old named Benjamin. And I I mean, it just gives me a lot of hope and optimism for the future. I know every generation, I said this on the show afternoon yesterday, you know, every generation you look at and you get concerned, you say, I don't know if they're gonna make it. I don't know if they're gonna one generation away from extinction, that might be that might be the generation. Um, but he he still he gave me a lot of hope in that interview and talking to him before and afterwards about the future of the country and where we're gonna go. Because I I know my time's limited. We all know that. And I know it's easy when you're young just to not think that way, but I I I intentionally think that way and I I try to work that way as if my time is very limited. That I understand the reason a lot of the reason why I push as hard as I do, sometimes when I when I, you know, speak about things so aggressively or speak about policies is not just because it's true, it's also because I know the time is short. And I don't want to waste a second of it throwing it away by being by being a coward or being afraid to say things that are true because they could get me in trouble. And Benjamin gives me a lot of hope for what comes next, uh, you know, ten years after I'm gone, what's still happening and and and the children they raise and the children they raise, and so on and so forth. Um and I can tell you this is again, this is not something I was watching from a distance, even though I didn't get to go to the general session, I I was at the convention. And so I, you know, and I'll be back there again today. And we had a great crowd around our booth literally all day. Like I mentioned, I didn't actually go to the general session, not because I didn't want to go, but because we were so unbelievably busy at the booth basically all day. We had meet and greets, all the stuff going on. It was such a good opportunity to meet our listeners and those who who I think will become our listeners, uh, to talk with the delegates and spend time with real grassroots, just average conservatives from across the state of Texas who are very serious about what happens to our state. And um the word we heard repeatedly yesterday, and it wasn't just in the general session, it was all over the place, was unity. Um and Dan Patrick mentioned this, and I think he's right that Republicans can't afford to kind of sleepwalk their way uh into

Unity Without Selling Out Truth

SPEAKER_18 11:30

November. That will be disastrous for us. If we if we're complacent or we say, oh, I don't really love so-and-so, in whatever race, if you voted if you love John Cornyn, you're like, ah, I don't know. I don't know if I love Ken Pax, whatever the case may be, in any in any election, in any of them, I I think it's fair to say that it'll be very dangerous if we grow complacent or we just don't like somebody that much. Democrats have money, they have a lot of organization this year, uh, they have a lot of institutional support, as they always do, um, and they have this relentless, no-give up appetite for power in the state of Texas, especially. Uh, and they're not gonna surrender Texas. They're they're not doing that. And so we have to vote, we have to knock on doors, we have to talk to our neighbors, we we have to support the Republican nominees who who will stand against the radicalism that has become a part of the Democrat Party. But I want to qualify that because I I talk about unity and we hear about unity, but unity cannot come at the cost of truth, conviction, and and or principle. We can't we can't do that. Uh conservatives are frequently told over and over that it's time to come together immediately after the establishment gets what it wants. We're told to stop fighting, stop asking questions, stop demanding accountability, and simply support the team. And and I get it going into a November election, but unity is not the highest Christian or conservative virtue. I want to be clear, truth is not in submission to or or or subordinate to any sort of party harmony, I'll say. Um the Tower of Babel had unity, right? The mob that was demanding Christ be crucified certainly had a lot of unity. Uh a group can be perfectly united and still be perfectly wrong, still be very evil. And so biblical unity is unity around truth and principle. Uh it's not pretending that that very serious disagreements don't exist. It's not it's not silencing the grassroots so that all the consultants and the donors and the elected officials can operate without any sort of scrutiny or or eyes on what they're doing. It's not asking that faithful Christians abandon all of our morals, all of our moral objectivity and moral clarity and beliefs in exchange for this sort of temporary political comfort we get for a couple of years, because there is a very large difference between what I'll call unity and surrender. We should unite against the political left because the political left is increasingly hostile to the created order. They are chaotic and they are radical and they are, by any moral standard, absolutely evil. They attack, we know, the family. They mock biblical morality. They they intentionally undermine parental authority. Just yesterday on the afternoon show, we talked about the medical establishment and how doctors and CPS are are immune from any sort of lawsuit. When they make poor decisions that separate families, um they they they are celebrating, as we're well aware in Pride Month, sexual confusion. They they tolerate lawlessness, and in fact, they don't only tolerate it, they they enjoy lawlessness and they treat Christianity because it is as an obstacle to their vision of what they want America to look like. And it is, by the way, a hurdle. It is it is something that's stu currently standing in the way of what they want this country to look like. And that threat is real and we have to recognize it. But just beating Democrats can't be it. That that can't be our only vision, right? If we win elections and then what happened over and over and over again where we refuse to govern according to the principles that we believe and that often these elected officials campaign on, then what are we preserving really in the end? I I mean it seems like we're we're we're focused on managing the decline more slowly. Like we're stalling it. A lot of these a lot of times these elections turn into a stall tactic where sure, if you elect Democrat, it's gonna go downhill in a day. And if you elect Republicans, they say, well, we'll give you a week. Right? It it it's just stalling a lot of the decline. Whereas Republicans should be protecting and defending the family, children, uh, restoring a sense of order, securing the border, restraining the government, right, protecting the unborn. And I Brennan Herrera talked about this excellently yesterday on the show when he highlighted, he said, look, a lot of the reason if if something bad comes out of the midterms, if it doesn't go the way that we want it to, he said the number one reason is going to be because people became disenfranchised with the Republican Party. Because people saw, well, you have you already have the governor's house and the lieutenant governor position and the speaker and and the house and the senate. And in in in the federal sense, you have the executive branch and you have you have all of these things. You have the House, you have the Senate, and yet none of our priorities are actually there. Nothing's getting met. We're not doing anything great. He said, and I would understand when people say I I'm a little bit out of this. I this doesn't this doesn't benefit me as much as I'd like it to. This this this seems like all that you do is, well, at least we're not the left. At least we're not that bad. And that that just it can't be it. It can't just merely be at the convention, they say faith, family, freedom, and then move on. There has to be content behind the words you're speaking. You have to actually believe what you're saying. Faith means understanding and recognizing that rights are not coming, they're not given to you by the government, they're coming from God. And of course, the government's job is to defend them. The government's job is is is to, you know, operate within them. But but it's not to give you rights. Family means that you defend the natural household of one man, one woman, and their children as a foundational institution of a civil, good moral society. Uh, and freedom does not mean the absence of any sort of restraint. I know that that's a commonly misused word all the time among the right and the left, freedom. What does freedom actually mean? Uh it means the liberty to pursue what is good and what is right under a government that also punishes what is evil and protects those who do good. It's not just endless free ability to do whatever you desire. It is a it is a moral decision. So, yes, we do need unity in November. I'm not, I'm not debating that. Um, but we can't we can and we can't allow our bitterness, if our chosen candidate didn't win, uh, to to to allow us to hand the primaries over to people who despise literally everything that we stand for. Um but the call for unity has to go both ways. It just it can't just come from the elected officials to us. It also has to come from us, to our elected officials, and say, yeah, there needs to be unity. How about you unify behind grassroots principles? How about you unify behind what the people believe and what the people desire? We should support principled nominees. And those who hold office must remember and must be reminded where their power comes from because it's representative of the people. And if you're not representing the people, then you actually don't have any power at all. They need to listen to the precinct chairs and the delegates and leaders and the volunteers and the ordinary voters, everyday voters, instead of treating them like a mailing list that only matters during the election period, during a campaign season. It's it's a very real concern. Political parties become unhealthy when this leadership position starts to view we the people, the grassroots activists, as nuisances to whatever their actual agenda is rather than the foundation, the thing that they actually get their power from. Because the Republican Party doesn't actually belong at all to the office holders or the big donors or the lobbyists, right? It actually belongs to us. It actually belongs to people who are willing to give their time and their energy and frankly, in a lot of cases, our reputations to advance the principles that we actually believe in. And that's why uh a lot of this convention is so important. Um the platform matters, the legislative priorities certainly matter, the leadership elections matter. But those things also matter because they reveal whether the party, the Republican Party here in Texas, intends to just try to try to keep and claw whatever power they have or if they intend to use that power faithfully for the people. And I think Bob Hall kind of mentioned that greatly. He said elections and political movements can turn on actions that appear insignificant. One vote, one share, one volunteer, a single conversation, or or just one courageous individual can alter the direction of the party. And we can't afford as Christians and as conservatives to just sit on the sidelines and then complain when you have Christless conservatism as it's so coined, or godless Republicans in office. We're not called ultimately to place our hope or our faith in princes or in parties or in any political institutions, though we do believe in them. Christ is king, regardless of who's in office in any in any office. Um, and that certainly does not exclude passivity. That is that does that does not mean that you get to sit around and just say, I hope for the best, but there's nothing really I can do. What it should mean, saying that Christ is king, it should drive us uh to be courageous and to participate uh without worshiping any of the the politics and to tell the truth, even when it could result, and especially when it could result in consequences. Uh so sure, let us have unity. But let's make sure that that unity is around what's true. Uh sure, let's support the Republican ticket, but let's also demand after November that Republicans actually act like conservatives. Let's defeat the left. Uh, but but let us be very clear that victory is not just about possessing the office beating the left, that there's a reason we despise the left. There's a reason we need to beat them, and it's because of the principles they espouse. And if you're going to be no better than them ultimately and you're just you're just slowing it down, you're just slowing down the decline a little bit, then that's then that's not something that I want to unify around. That is the kind of unity that the state of Texas needs. Not a unity of silence, of compromise, but one that's that's rooted in Christianity and in courage. And uh, I'm sure we'll be talking a lot more about that today with a lot of people. With that being said, when we get back from the break, we're gonna jump over and talk about Turkey Leg Hut. We finally have an update from Turkey Leg Hut coming out, and uh, it's a good one. The ex-Turkey Leg Hut owner has now pleaded guilty to arson and admits his role in the firebombing of a rival business. You guys might remember the whole story of the Bar 5015 fire and all of the stuff that's gone alongside it. We'll talk about the conviction and what comes next after this break. As always, if you would like to text into the show, let us know your thoughts on anything we're covering or anything you'd like to hear more about. Feel free to text in at 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. You're listening to the Lone Star Conservative, and Lord willing, I'll be right back after this break. So hang tight and we'll talk soon.

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Turkey Leg Hut Arson Guilty Plea

SPEAKER_18 27:31

The former owner of the Turkey Leg Hut, once one of the most popular restaurants in Houston, just yesterday pleaded guilty to the federal arson charges more than a year after he was originally accused of organizing the firebomb of the rival business. His name is Lynn Price, Lindell Price. He's 44 years old. He pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit arson yesterday. Back in April of last year, Price was arrested and accused of planning a 2020 arson at Bar 5015, a third ward bar owned by a former Turkey Leg Hut business partner. Four other men who allegedly work for Price were also arrested and accused of setting the fire. Standing before U.S. Judge Sim Lake in a green prison jumpsuit, he admitted to organizing a crew to set the fire. He also acknowledged that one of the men he hired planned to testify about calling Lynn Price moments after the fire was set and about being paid for the deed. Price briefly objected to an assertion that he actually paid the men. His attorney told Lake that Price had agreed to acknowledge what witnesses planned to testify. An FBI agent previously testified that Price paid the men fourteen hundred dollars to set the fire. Before the bot the fire, the owner of Bar 5015, that his name is Steve Rogers, not Captain America, different guy. He had declined Price's offer to buy into the bar, according to the Justice Department. He'd also refused to sell his own interest in the Turkey Leg Hut, an establishment he co-owned with Price. The two businesses were about two blocks away from each other on Almeda Road, there in South Houston. The Turkey Leg Hut was located at the edge of the museum district, and in the third ward, the area where Lindell Price was born and raised. Again, the restaurant was held as one of Houston's most successful homegrown businesses and drew reviews from celebrities, athletes, media outlets, but it just it just wasn't enough. The flattering coverage of the restaurant omitted Price's criminal history, which included convictions for arson and tax fraud. He'd done this stuff before. According to the Justice Department, Price used the business as a front for criminal activities, including selling drugs in Turkey leg hut branded baggies. Prosecutors declined to comment on the plea following the hearing. Speaking outside the courthouse, I had the lawyer held back from sharing details about the decision because of sentencing proceedings that are have still not, you know, happened. Uh sentencing has not happened yet. He said, We're not going to walk you through the considerations. There's a lot of work still to be done and a lot of arguments still to be made. In court filings and in hearings, the Justice Department said that it held price to the fire using cooperating witnesses, phone records, location data, and surveillance. Authorities said they had evidence that Price made threats towards Rogers and then he made payments to the men accused of setting the fire. He was also charged in connection to another arson, separate arson, which he was accused of ordering the burning of a classic car that he had allegedly stolen as part of a chop shop operation. He was also accused of gun offenses tied to alleged drug trafficking. And so all the other charges, the drug trafficking, guns, the other arson, those were all dropped as part of the plea agreement. He's been held in federal custody since his original arrest. He originally pleaded not guilty, but over the last year, uh, with everything going on and all the cooperating witnesses and all the evidence, I think it kind of became clear they already had him. And so, you know, they don't really want to go to trial because you just never know. I always say this whenever you hear about a plea agreement or you hear about uh I mean in any sort of court, whenever you hear about any sort of outside of the court agreement at all, right? Whether that's a settlement or it's uh a plea, whatever it is, I like to remind people that's actually not it does mean to a degree. I mean, a settlements obviously are a little different because you have civil and it's not uh criminal, you know, there's no guilty verdict in general. Um, but these things don't necessarily work the exact same as actually going through trial because you never know what a jury is going to do. You you just don't. You can hear all of the facts and all of the evidence, and maybe you'll come to a completely different conclusion than the members of that jury. And so both sides of a trial, often, if at all possible, don't want to go to trial. That's you usually want to avoid that if at all possible, because trial's almost never good. You just you just it it leaves so much unknown, as opposed to a plea agreement or a settlement. That's why when you hear a lot of uh uh about some of these, you know, millionaires and billionaires, and now we have a trillionaire, when you hear about these people that have settlements with people, you say, Well, they must have done it. They must do the thing they're accused of. Not necessarily. In in a lot of cases, it just means that the alternative of having to deal with the trial in the first place, or maybe a jury ruling incorrectly, which has happened many times in the past. And I'm gonna say this is what's happening here. I just wanted to highlight that this was a plea agreement. It was not a a criminal trial uh that resulted in this. And so you know, this all goes along with the rest of the story we've highlighted before that the Turkey Lake Hut declared bankruptcy back in 2024. Um Price's ex-wife and business partner announced plans to host her own food day pop-up, though they they went through a divorce. So it's been a whole mess for his life in general. Um and a copy of his agreement was not immediately available, but he will be sentenced in September. That's the current sentencing date. Which again, I don't know why we're waiting three months for sentencing. It doesn't make any sense to me. He's he pleaded guilty. It should be fairly straightforward to say, okay, so we know what he did, we know the sentencing guidelines, because they're between five to twenty years in prison and a fine of up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I get, hey, I gotta think about it. Give me give me twenty-four hours to really go over this, to look through the trial. Maybe give me a week. Right now, even that I I I think it's crazy to need a week once someone has pleaded guilty to sentence that person. But if you if we wanted to make it a week, I could be I could be convinced. Three months is is insanity once you have a conviction. Once you have a guilty plea. That's it's just insane. But again, that will range from five to twenty years in prison and a fine of up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars restitution. Um and I I hope to see that be the case. You know, we need to make sure that especially with the prior criminal convictions, even if those weren't there, I think it's fair to say this is dangerous. Uh, but adding that in and having a criminal history and doing other things that they dropped, but that you were also accused of with quite a bit of evidence, I think is evidence of its own that we need to make sure that this guy is not just hanging around and and able to do this again. With that being said,

Why Plea Deals Replace Trials

SPEAKER_18 33:40

when we get back from the break, the U.S. Energy Secretary has said that natural gas is needed to power the AI boom. Uh Secretary Chris Wright said that he's working to address electricity concerns amid the AI expansion that's coming all across the country, all the data centers, all the energy usage. And I know that people are talking a lot about water and renewable, sustainable energy, quote unquote. Uh but I I think there is a real conversation to be had about the need for natural gas and what they'll call fossil fuels, which I'm still not sure I buy. Maybe I'm a conspiracy theorist that I don't think it all comes from fossils. I don't know. With that being said, we'll talk about it in the next segment. As always, if you would like to text into the show, let us know your thoughts if that means that you have a disagreement or something I've said. I'd be happy to hear it. I I like to get into those conversations. I think they're very important for us to have as a party and as people who largely agree with each other. Hey, we actually disagree on some things. Let's let's go over and find out where we where we agree, why we disagree, maybe one of us is wrong, the other's right, and get into it. If you want to text in, the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. You're listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and Lord willing, I'll be right back to talk all about natural gas in the next segment.

SPEAKER_11 35:00

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Natural Gas To Power The AI Boom

SPEAKER_18 39:05

You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative here on Patriot Talk 920, and I'm your host, Michael Wilson. As power-hungry data centers continued to come to communities across the U.S., especially here in Texas, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright addressed concerns surrounding the slow growth of the electricity production. He was speaking at the 10th annual Global Energy Forum this week, and he noted that despite the increase in oil and natural gas production of the last 20 years, electricity production has not really grown synonymously with that other growth. He said, My focus is on fixing that problem so we can grow our electricity production as fast as we can grow our primary energy production. So we can reshore American industry here, and we can make sure the United States, not China, leads in AI. This is important for national security. He's cited natural gas as the key to growth. Quote, the fuel that will drive data centers and leading us leading AI is natural gas. Data centers, of course, continue to be constructed all across Texas, despite concerns from communities regarding the impact on the grid, the environment, noise pollution, everything. And the U.S. Energy Information Administration has cited data centers as being one of the main contributors to the growth in demand for electricity in the state of Texas. In a hearing back in April, you had ERCOT, uh the officials said that they're tracking about 410 gigawatts of large loads seeking interconnection, of which 87% are data centers. So almost 90% of our large loads are now coming from data centers already. Uh Governor Greg Abbott just recently, we talked about it, I think yesterday on the show, directed state regulators, including ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas, to safeguard ratepayers from forcing the the basically having to foot the bill for all of these massive loads coming from data centers. While solar, wind, and energy storage make up a large amount of the generation. ERCOT did note that there is a 271% growth of gas project capacity in the queue since the Texas Energy Fund was passed back in 2023. You also had Wright highlighting the growing importance of nuclear energy in the coming years, after knowing that nuclear energy is currently the second largest energy source in the U.S. behind natural gas. He said it's not growing yet, but it will be growing in the next few years. And so um he also kind of talked on Iran, he said kind of the the analysis of the oil prices and everything coming

Dominion And Stewardship For Energy

SPEAKER_18 41:22

out of there. But as with a lot of things, there's a temptation to divide any topic into just two camps, and it gets super simplistic and boiled down and frustrating and not nuanced at all, which things are, uh, because you have the one camp where you have the climate change activists who believe that every new factory, every pipeline, every power plant, every data center, or or literally anything is an affront and an assault on our planet, on pl on Mother Earth, right? That's the that's the line that comes from those people. But on the other side, you often have people who who treat any economic development that has uh you know big price tags as just an unquestionable blessing, manna from heaven, it's just good, it's there, glad to see it. And I don't think either position is actually good or or sufficient for what we're talking about. Um, a properly ordered conservative approach, I think, has to start with with two foundational biblical principles that you have to kind of bring together, that is dominion on the one hand and stewardship on the other. Right? God commanded us to be fruitful, to multiply, to replenish the earth, to subdue it, and to exercise dominion over all of creation. That means that developing, whether that's technologically or economically, those things are not evil. Right? Building things is not inherently greedy. Extracting natural resources is not a violation of what God called us to. In fact, it's an example of what God has called us to. Oil, natural gas, uranium, timber, metals, literally everything, they're resources that God has placed within creation for us to cultivate, for us to use, for us to be good stewards of. But that, again, be good stewards of, right? And I think Chris Wright is is correct about the basic problem, right? We cannot restore our industrial strength, we can't compete with China, we can't bring all of the manufacturing back to this country and and lead in any way while our electricity production is just staying in the same place. It's just stagnating. Right. You're not gonna re rebuild American industry on slogans and political claims. And so I think it's it's also true that natural gas is gonna be indispensable, right? We possess enormous natural gas resources here in Texas. We have the workers, we have the the expertise, and we have the industrious base we need to produce reliable energy, undeniably. Um we should be building more gas generation, right? We should be strengthening pipelines, we should be expanding. I think nuclear power is actually an excellent idea. Um and so a nation that I think refuses to produce energy is going to become dependent upon other nations that are the ones producing the energy. And so that's that's that's na that's not like being good stewards, that's just being negligent of what God's called us to. But but to quick balance this before we go to the break, Dominion does not mean that we allow these enormous corporations to descend in our communities and to go after everyday Texans and to consume vast quantities of electricity and water and receive preferential treatment and send the bill to anybody else. Biblical dominion should never be exploitation, right? This is what I've said. We're talking about environmentalism. I'm not an environmentalist in the modern sense, but I am in the conservative sense like Teddy Roosevelt where we should preserve our land and our heritage for our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren. It does mean actually that we should prioritize the American workers. It does mean that we should have standards and regulations in place to protect people. It does mean that we don't dump oil there are a lot of things that go into this, but it does mean that we take care of what God's given us. So that yes, we exercise dominion, but we also have to exercise stewardship. That applies to environmental policies, it applies to corporations, even if a data center is economically good, artificial intelligence could have tremendous impacts, right? And we we do have a national security threat in preventing China from dominating the technology. That's true. But we can't let that silence every concern that we have we can't do that. We can't say oh national security and then we don't talk about it and say it just must be fine. We just have to let it happen. We should not be forced to subsidize as American families or Texas families the electrical infrastructure of some of the richest companies that have ever existed in the history of the world. That's not good, that's not beneficial and it's not being good stewards of the power and the resources that God has given us that'll do for this segment. In the next segment to wrap up the first hour of the show we're going to come back and give you guys the weather report going on throughout the day and as this is the last show of the week bar of course the afternoon show today we'll uh we'll make sure you guys know what's coming out from the weather over the weekend so you can aptly prepare your weekend. With that being said, we'll cover all that when we get back so text in at 713 7795978. That is 713 779 KYST I'm your host Michael Wilson. You're listening to the Lone Star Conservative and Lord willing I'll be right back at the bottom of the hour to wrap up the first hour with the weather report.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

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Weekend Heat And Gulf Moisture Outlook

SPEAKER_18 50:16

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen I'm your host Michael Wilson and you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative here on Patriot Talk 920 Houston's first stretch of truly summer like heat and humidity is going to arrive this weekend with heat index values possibly climbing above 105 degrees. Early June records are safe in Houston today, but today marks the beginning of a hotter and more humid pattern that's going to peak over the weekend. Beyond the heat confidence is increasing that a disturbance developing over the Gulf of America could bring tropical moisture and a renewed threat of heavy rainfall to southeast Texas early next week. Now today should bring partly sunny skies and afternoon temperatures in the mid-90s across much of our region. Combined with the humidity it's going to feel closer to 100 to 105 degrees during the hottest part of the day today. None of this unusual for using in June still it will be one of the first stretches this year featuring widespread triple digit heat index values and so you do need to be aware it's going to be hot. The bigger concern also you know as high pressure is strengthening over Texas temperatures are expected to climb into the upper nineties inland tomorrow and Sunday while humidity stays high. As a result, heat index values could exceed 105 degrees in some locations during the afternoon and early evening hours. These conditions can also you know of course you gotta stay they'll dehydrate you fast, you gotta be drinking plenty of water, especially if you're going to be outside for for much of any time at all. Overnight lows in the upper seventies and lower eighties is not going to offer a ton of relief because it's still going to be warm overnight. Also beyond the weekend heat, again Gulf of America forecast models continue to indicate that a broad area of disturbed weather could develop over the Western Gulf over the next several days. While questions remain about the system's development confidence is increasing that deep tropical moisture will return to southeast Texas early next week. We're not quite sure what kind of cool off that will offer just yet we'll have more details about that coming up on the Monday show. I just want to make sure you guys at least knew what to generally expect coming next week and over the weekend. Then I don't know for the first time of the show we have Charles Blaine from Urban Reform for our weekly local recap here on the show at the top of the next hour. So hang tight and Lord willing I'll be right back from deep in the heart of Texas it's Houston's God loving patriot and the voice of reason this is the Lone Star Conservative Michael Wilson Welcome back ladies and gentlemen I'm your host Michael Wilson and you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative here on Patriot Talk 920 air with us this morning is our good friend Charles Blade from Urban Reform here for the weekly

Houston Budget Fights And Accountability

SPEAKER_18 53:05

local recap. Welcome to the show Charles Thanks for having me glad to be back. Glad to have you back very excited for the segment this morning we have a lot of stuff to get into one of the biggest I say one of the biggest like these aren't all big stories. It's the point of a local recap. But one of the biggest of the biggest ones we'll talk about which are all of them is the budget which was passed. We had a couple of amendments uh but the budget was passed so can you kind of walk us through that whole debacle?

SPEAKER_17 53:30

Yeah so this is the kind of lead up to the budget they had initially delayed it a week and and there were some guessing that there might be some fighting surrounding it there wasn't really much fighting surrounding it there were just some interesting amendments that had been added onto the budget. They didn't materially change the budget um in any significant way but they did kind of do some tweaking around the edges that could benefit folks so for instance um council member Amy Peck she's district A which is like over the Spring Branch area she was I mean she fought hard for a lot of amendments actually but the one one of the ones that she got was to reduce the or a year from now have a sunset um committee essentially review the city's uh leasing fee for their trash cans how folks have to lease their trash cans from the city for um like a dollar fifty something like that a month and so she wants them to review it a year from now and either justify it or force it to be repealed and the the good part about that is that it would just automatically be repealed council would actually have to take an action to extend it. So it increases the likelihood of it being repealed and so while it doesn't actually reduce that $5 fee that the uh that they're taxing on for the for the trash um fee it actually will kind of eat away at some of that um down the down the road. And so there's some positives that came out of that and then there were some other interesting ones that Councilmember Ramirez thought a lot about uh transparency and accountability um when it comes to how much overtime we're spending and the kind of the different schemes that some of the employee groups are using to rack up overtime dollars as well as um trying to disclose some of the information regarding chapter 380 agreement. So those are the uh big tax incentives that they give big hotels and and other businesses that would likely come anyway. Well a lot of times they make promises to these cities about jobs or economic development and then they never materialize and so he wants them to be forced to dis to forced to disclose that information so that the public can really assess those projects.

SPEAKER_18 55:13

Right I think a lot of this goes back and we need a lot more of it honestly to the fact that the issue in Houston and in Texas and in the federal government and and really all over the place is not an issue of income. It's an issue of spending and I used to got to talk you know Don Huffines he's running for a com troller yes I got to talk to him yesterday because I had an afternoon show at the GOP convention and we did an interview and he his big thing is doging Texas but it's it's far more than just calling it doge. Walking through it a lot of it is well there's so much waste fraud and abuse between corporate welfare and tax incentives that actually turn into more than just tax incentives and so many contracts that are wasted and useless. He's like if we look at all of that we're saving I I mean arguably tens of billions every year. He's like in every city should be doing that. And so when we look at Houston it's like we're always implementing new fees and we have to raise taxes. What if we just like look at all the bad contracts and look at all of the tax incentives and all the corporate welfare and we say hey actually we could we could cut the budget I don't want to say in half but I would I think there's an argument to say we could cut the budget significantly if we would just do that instead of raising prices.

SPEAKER_17 56:17

Well exactly and that was actually one of the points that um counselor Amy Peck made was that she does this thing every year where she looks in the budget and she finds these funds that have been untouched and she tries to push them to either you know give them back to the city give them give them back to citizens or actually use them for something so that you can offset other costs. And so she found this like eight million dollar fund that hadn't been touched and they had this huge fight over it where everybody's like no well we need it. These are for future projects and she's like it's been sitting in this fund for years and it has been untouched like why are we holding on to eight million dollars? Like it's it just makes no sense. Like let's do something with it. And it was just ridiculous because it's that same argument it's like they've got all these different funds and projects and contracts that just either do nothing or are overly expensive or just parking money when they really could be cutting expenses for for themselves and then for taxpayers.

SPEAKER_18 57:00

Right and then unrelated but seriously related is also like how many times we've seen corruption scandals in the greater Houston area. How many times we've seen okay so it's not even just that you're kind of wasting money you're not spending it elegantly a lot of it is no there's actual corruption where you're giving friends expensive contracts that aren't getting finished and it's happening so consistently that at some point it actually is a budget line it actually is a line item the corruption line item needs to be there. Right. And so and so kind of along that same train of thought I think is these questions about the overlapping police forces or or

Overlapping Police Agencies And Red Tape

SPEAKER_18 57:32

or agencies. Can you kind of walk us through that conversation?

SPEAKER_17 57:35

Yeah so this one came up a couple of weeks ago I mean it's an existing conversation but it reared it said again a couple of weeks ago um the legislature the Texas House Committee on uh public safety and homeland security had an interim hearing on really just policing overall and the Texas Commission on law enforcement but what ended up coming out of that was this a discussion about the overlapping agencies and the redundancy that we see across the state. And so this conversation has happened a couple times in Harris County even though the the county or the nor the city really has like the jurisdiction to address it it would have to be from the state level but it with it happened a couple times here locally where you look and you see just how many overlapping agencies that anyone any of us are in at any given point where at you know right now where I'm sitting I could be in uh HVD and in whatever console precinct and then obviously the county and then still DPS but also like Rice University police and I'm close enough to UH where I might be you know by in UH police's boundaries and then so on and so forth HIV and like Metro like you just keep lots lots layering them on and you get under a lot of them and I think they they said there's something like 80 to 90 overlapping ones here in Harris County. And that's similar across the state they just keep piling on and so you have redundancies you have misinformation you have overhead a lot of costs associated with that. And then not to mention all these agencies are short on staffing and so if they're short on staffing they can't do the job they need to do it's because we haven't spread too thin in too many different agencies possibly and so that conversation is one that started at the legislature and it might be picked up this next legislative session.

SPEAKER_18 59:02

Yeah and I think uh people anytime they hear you know reducing any sort of law enforcement presence or force or agency they automatically assume the worst that it's uh back to the the we all get the flashbacks especially those of us that were growing through it you know relatively young flashbacks to defund the police and we all kind of we all you know you immediately think oh is that what's happening again but I think it's also fair to say hey you know at some point it goes from being law enforcement to being a bureaucracy of supposed law enforcers and those are very different things. And when you're talking about saving money and taxpayer money and and actually I would argue if you want to be the safest you can, it means being working as a cohesive unit. And the more agencies you have the less cohesive necessarily you're gonna be that's why bureaucracies are so poor and so bad. And so I think it's a fair conversation at least to start saying hey there are a lot and maybe maybe we need to talk about having some more authority or or or kind of offering that between less agencies so that there can be and I say reduce the force maybe even have more people hired into a different agency and cut one from doing a specific job so that we can have more cohesion.

SPEAKER_17 1:00:11

Well exactly and I think one of the interesting things that stands out to me about this is I remember um hearing from the uh Houston Science Center director a couple of years ago where he talked about this issue, but it was just kind of the downstream effect of it and he was talking about how when you go to say you're arrested and you go to the um joint processing center and you say you're arrested for DUI, depending on which agency you're arrested by they go into this room and they have all these like DUI packets where it's just like the information from the the that they need to file and all this stuff and the kit and this and that. But they have one for every agency because none of the agencies want to just use the others. And so now you're just adding all this extra overhead to the person who's just trying to process this because then they got to go search for this. They can't process the same way there's like no joint in information there. And that's how it is with just that piece of information but it's also when it comes to communication the district attorney's office previously talked about how they don't communicate with each other kind of um through like communication channels. So there's things that could be missed there. So there's just a lot of things that could flip through the gaps or that add on cost or delay or anything like that because we have so many um overlapping agencies that don't really work with each other or communicate very well with each other.

SPEAKER_18 1:01:14

Right. Now also on that uh speaking of agencies and spending and overhead new massive fight it's like the thing of the day but it's been the thing of the week and the month and it's I think it's gonna continue to be because it's such a big deal.

Data Centers And Local Pushback

SPEAKER_18 1:01:27

And that is the fight over data centers uh from big cities to small cities to rural areas everything from noise pollution to electricity grid costs and reliability lots of different conversations I was actually talking earlier today uh about how Governor Abbott has talked about regulatory standards uh for ERCOT and Public Utility Commission and saying hey this better not end up on ratepayers this better not go we're not we're not doing that and so this is a massive fight how do you how do you see this going especially around the Houston area?

SPEAKER_17 1:01:53

Yeah so there's this massive fight here as well right so there's a um conversation going on everywhere in the Houston area of one in Alvin where they are moving to restrict the data centers because they don't I mean just residents have been complaining. And so what they're seeing is that they want to move to oppose any new built ones. I'm not sure how many they currently have but they want to oppose any new built ones while Missouri City is changing their zoning regulations to force any new ones to uh disclose kind of water and electricity usage and things like that. And so we're all told in the greater Houston area we have supposedly of uh 55 currently and they said that we're going to have at least um a quarter of these states and so and that's before all of these local regulations start coming into place. And so I wouldn't be surprised if you see a lot of other local jurisdictions start to move to do this before um if they start to come because if one's doing it next to them then obviously you know the next city is going to be the next likely place that that data center moves. And so you're probably going to start seeing a lot of these local governments pop up with different regulations or restrictions or transparency regarding these data centers happening across the state but apparently Houston is going to be I wouldn't maybe say the epicenter of it but certainly a big part of that conversation.

SPEAKER_18 1:03:00

Especially because I mean in terms of energy production we're also up there on the list. And and one thing I do want to highlight it kind of reminds me I remember when um you had the big push it was because I was homeschooled the big push to allow homeschoolers to participate in certain sports or or whatever it was that came out like a year or two ago and I remember there was only like one city that or one ISD that either forgot or lapsed or whatever that didn't prohibit homeschoolers. And so there was like there was like hundreds of homeschoolers that wanted to go to that one district. And and everyone was like okay this we're even if you were okay with homeschool this is bad. This is this is overwhelming. And I'm just thinking to myself what if just one city outly outside of Houston forgets or just doesn't do anything and they get like 50 data centers. Every house has a data center next to it. I mean could you imagine?

SPEAKER_17 1:03:45

I wouldn't be surprised when I think might start happening I mean I a lot a lot of things are going to start shifting with this because who knows where this conversation is going to go. But I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing some deals be cut where these data centers maybe give like some sort of cost sharing. So if they move into a city residents get like I don't know some sort of monthly stipends as i in relation to them living there kind of like similarly to how Alaska gives their like I forgot what it's called but that they're essentially a monthly uh stipend or annual stipend to their residents for the the production of oil and gas and things like that. So I wouldn't be surprised if you start to see that because they have to go somewhere and I do think they want to really move to Texas and I mean Virginia's had a lot of them as well but with them popping up and now the state responding and local governments responding they're gonna have to figure out some way to quell that concern and I think they're they might start moving in some direction if not that somewhere in that direction.

SPEAKER_18 1:04:33

And you know where the uh the politics are at right now can you imagine the backlash they start paying residents to let them move in. I mean even if it's what they have to do you already know you're gonna hear from major people on the right saying if they have to pay off people to live there, this is bad. Like this is automatically evil even if it wasn't before so it's the whole thing the whole fight is a mess. Uh but I want to get into the World Cup obviously FIFA World Cup happening here in Houston there's been some backlash an investigation from Paxon's office a lot kind of going into this can you walk us through the biggest updates there?

World Cup Spending And Ticketing Probe

SPEAKER_17 1:05:07

Yeah so this um is obviously World Cup is is here in the region if people are not seeing it yet they certainly will be seeing it this weekend as a kind of big big kickoff. And what's going on is that a lot of people are growing increasingly frustrated because when you look across the city and across the region you're seeing a bunch of improvements and from everything from um the homelessness uh it being I wouldn't say eradicated but you're starting to see a little bit less of it in places that used to see a lot of a lot more of it. You're uh the transit system is operational and actually expanded. It's like all these things that people want had to have done throughout the year when we don't have a major event they don't get and now they're suddenly getting and a lot of people are frustrated because some of those things are going to go away. Most of those things are probably going to go away the things we're gonna be left with are like the increased surveillance that came like the bad stuff is what sticks around. Exactly so a lot of people are really frustrated about that and have been voicing some concern and then similarly um attorney general Paxton is now investigating um I think that because it's uh it's it's quote unquote effective ticketing practices for the world. Because they claimed that when fans were um when they regularly raised the tickets and fans to buy them into the first premium category, it would be good fees and people would get them for deeper prices, and what ended up having allegedly we have people were buying tickets and they were getting kind of like downgraded or lesser than feet for those same prices or even increased prices and some interesting things. And so uh the I'm actually opening the investigation into them, but it's um also in terms of things popping up in New York and New Jersey and California as well. And so um, I think Arthur Journal has inquired into those things to issues of penos. So it could be a bigger thing than just you know kind of a flash in the pan if it turns out to be true, or if it turns out to even kind of be remotely true, because the cities have spent a ton of money and got no return on having these um games. And and I mean, I say no fiscal return on having these games. And so if it turns out that now they're also robbed and who go to the games, then you're gonna have some real issues. Not a good look.

SPEAKER_18 1:07:04

Not a good look at all. And I want to highlight, by the way, I this is a tangent, but we have just a little bit of time here. And uh, we had some one of the things we could get to, but I want to mention this because I think it's really important. You mentioned that a lot of the good stuff that there might be when regards to homelessness and transit systems might go away afterwards, which is frustrating in itself because it reminds you hey, what are you really here for? Are you serving the people or are you serving your own economic benefit potentially? But I think the bigger thing you mentioned, the bad thing standing around, one of those is the Flock camera system, right? Yeah.

Flock Cameras And Growing Surveillance

SPEAKER_18 1:07:30

They they approved this. Flock is is nationwide, right? Like they they've been building this mass surveillance network. I think they've now installed over a hundred thousand cameras across the United States since they started in 2017. Um they they perform over 20 billion vehicle scans every month. Uh they have license plate, vehicle make, model color, characteristics, time, location data, and then they add that into a database uh that collects new information. They know everything from scratches or defects on your car that are new to specific information about your travel habits. They know about fender vendors. If you change your job because time and location, they can tell you work at a different place now. Um they're insisting we don't use facial recognition, though we could, uh, which is on the list. And so I think one of my friends from up in Massachusetts, he was posting about this because he's one of the only Republicans left up there. Uh he he said this is no longer just like a conception of some sort of dystopian fiction like by Orwell. This is actually like a harsh reality that's happening right now. Um but for sure it will of course only be used for like scanning vehicles and it's just gonna stop there and nothing's gonna get worse. That's I think one of the big no one's talking much about Flock. And we just did it, and it's just there, and it was like a small budget eye, and we're like, what are we doing? Right.

SPEAKER_17 1:08:42

And and no, yeah, you're right. No one's talking about it, everybody just kind of accepted it as kind of like a necessary, not even a necessary evil, just accepted as a necessary. Like, this is good, and no one has had the conversation about it. And it is it's really interesting to see just how quickly that uh that that company has expanded and just taken over like everything and and and just has not even, I mean, in some cities has gotten pushed back, but here has not. It's just been widely accepted as this is what we need to do to protect ourselves. And I saw something where they were talking about wanting to tap into um uh the uh ring doorbell camera so they can create a network there too to look at. Like not uh illegally, but asking these homeowns, homeowners if they would allow them to tap into them so that they can then create kind of this massive like net to then help the police track. And it's like so you're we're never gonna be off camera. Like no matter where you go, you will always be on a camera.

SPEAKER_18 1:09:26

Right. It's like minority report, literally. That is exactly this is insane. Uh but that'll have to do it for our segment. Charles, as always, we appreciate you coming on. Can you tell everyone how they can keep up to date with everything that you're putting out when you're not here on the show?

SPEAKER_17 1:09:38

Yeah, so when I'm not here every Friday for the minority report, you can check out Charles Vlay. Or renaming it. You can check out Charles Vlain on social media or Urban Report Org, all across social media. We post everything that we do there.

SPEAKER_18 1:09:50

Perfect. Well, as always, we appreciate you coming on. And Lord Willing, we'll talk to you again next Friday. We'll talk to you next Friday. With that being said, when we get back, we're going to quickly talk about uh Don Buckingham also offering support amid this response to the New World Screw, where I'm texting 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. You're listening to the Lone Star Conservative here on Patriot Talk 920. And Lord willing, I'll be right back after the break.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:23

Patriot Talk 920 is your Houston base camp for the America first movement. I'm Todd Starns, and join me weekdays at 11 on Patriot Talk 920 and online at PatriotTalk920.com.

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New World Screwworm And Sterile Flies

SPEAKER_18 1:14:50

The first infestation case of the flesh-eating parasite was confirmed in a calf from Zabala County near the Texas-Mexico border. Since then, four additional cases have been confirmed in animals in Zabala, LaSalle and Edwards counties. Cases have also been confirmed in uh, I think a goat from Gillespie County and a dog from New Mexico, though we actually had on the Republican nominee for ag commissioner, that would be Nate Sheets, who kind of addressed at least the dog concern and said, well, technically, yes, it's still a concern. I'm not denying it. But when you're trying to track everything, it's kind of an outlier in the sense that that dog actually was down in Mexico. And so it's not actually related to the other cases, even though it is its own concern, and we need to be aware of it. It's not traveling, like it's already moved from Texas to Mexico and it's unstoppable. We still have it relatively confined as of now from a concern perspective. Uh in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, and Governor Abbott, Buckingham highlighted the General Land Office, the GLO, is uniquely positioned to support in the prevention, reporting, and eradication of the pest and stands ready to coordinate with both state and federal agencies to quote, identify and prioritize parcels of GLO managed land best suited for rapid operational deployment. She wrote, the GLO stands ready to partner with the USDA and the state of Texas by proactively offering access to our lands deemed beneficial for the rapid response to eliminate the New World Screwworm. Agriculture plays a vital role in our state and national economy, and the GLO is always happy to offer solutions that safeguard our state and citizens. By working together and remaining vigilant, we can protect our food supply and preserve the health of our livestock and wildlife populations. Her offer includes access to GLO controlled land for the placement of trapping infrastructure, deployment zones for the sterile flies that they're producing, uh field staging areas for the animal and plant inspection services, uh livestock monitoring, specimen collection sites, temporary quarantine zones, so all of the landability is going to come from that office. She said by working together and utilizing every available resource, we can protect our livestock, support our ranchers, and safeguard one of the most important sectors of our state's economy. The GLO stands ready to be a helpful partner. According to the USD's USDA's website, there have been no new confirmed domestic cases of the infestation since Monday, June 8th, just a few days ago. No detection of the pest has been confirmed yet in wildlife or in fly traps. Yesterday, Rollins met with ranchers and cattle producers from the area where the first detection was made and spoke with reporters to highlight the expanded surveillance effort, sterile fly production, and the continued coordination with Texas officials and producers. Four million sterile flies have been dispersed aerially in the area of the first detection, along with an additional four million being released through ground release chambers. Uh and again, for just a little bit of background for just a moment. Essentially, because the screw worm are the maggots, the larva laid by flies, when you release sterile male flies, right, they'll mate with the females, but then the female can't actually lay these larva. And so the result, of course, is the slow, but but consistent, slow and steady eradication of the issue in the first place. And so Rollins said, other than that initial second detection, which was about five miles away, we've had no other detections in the area. It doesn't mean there won't be more, but this technology works and it works well, and it is proven over and over again. Um obviously there's also the backlash, and I actually had to talk with I I forget who specifically brought it up. Maybe it was Nate Sheets, uh, maybe it was Brandon, maybe it was Brandon Herrera who highlighted that that, of course, the left and the mainstream media is very quick to blame Trump and the Trump administration for what's happening, saying that the doge cuts are the reason that this is happening. That we uh that that actually the Trump administration cut federal funding for screw worm monitoring programs as a part of the doge cuts. Um Rollins said doge cuts had zero to do with it. When we walked in the door in late January of 2025, there were only 10 full-time USDA staff focused on New World Screwworm. Today we have more than 120 full-time staff focused on this issue, a 1,000% increase. Not only that, but you have to remember we drove the screw worm back beyond the Darien Gap, what, f 60 years ago? 50 years ago. It's been a long time. And they didn't cross until 2023. Now, maybe it's just me. Trump wasn't in office in 2023. It was a different administration. And so you can be as upset that maybe we we we cut some of the spending here and there in late, you know, late January of 2025, going into you know, February, you know, last year. But all of the actual monitoring stuff that was cut was beneficial for making sure they stayed beyond the Darien gap, which they had already moved past almost two years prior to any of that. And so that was relatively pointless in the first place. What we need now is active prevention more than just monitoring, right? And by the way, just so everyone's clear, the monitoring was not the issue. Because we all I I was reporting on this months and months ago when they had a case down in southern Mexico. And beyond that, by the way. So that hasn't been the problem. The problem is that it got past the dairy gap in the first place and was able to move up. And that happened because of a lapse during the Biden administration years, right? That that's where that came from. Now, the real reason I brought up this story, because we've all talked about the screw

Cooperation Without Compromise

SPEAKER_18 1:20:04

worm. I've had multiple guests talk about the screw worm, right? It's a big thing, it's a big concern, and it should be, right? Our agriculture industry is very important, our cattle industry is very important. Um, of course, as uh Nate Sheets helpfully pointed out, this is not some sort of food disease in the sense that you know the cows that get infected, you know, it's not like gonna endanger any of our food supply in this in the sense that your food is not unhealthy if you still get it. The bigger concern is the supply itself, not the safety of the supply, if that makes sense. You don't have to worry going to the grocery store that you're gonna have, you know, screw worm stakes. That's that's not a concern. Uh the concern is just the amount of stakes that are gonna come out if this doesn't get under wraps. But the reason I wanted to bring it up again this morning, uh because of Don Buckingham's announcement that came out yesterday, is because again, it highlights the biggest part of the response to this and the biggest response to a lot of things, which has to be a level of healthy cooperation between agencies and institutions. And that's true across the board for significantly more than just the New World Screwworm. We have to understand that a lot of the cultural cultural issues that we're dealing with, they're not gonna get solved because you have a really good attorney general, even if you have the best attorney general in the nation, which we had. They're not gonna get solved just because you have a good person in the House or a good person in the Senate, or if you have a really good governor, or if you have a really good person on city council, or your school board, or your commissioner's court, or you have a phenomenal executive, you have a great president, uh or you have, you know, uh a few good ones on the Supreme Court, that's not gonna magically fix anything if there's not a level of cooperation and a willingness from all parties at the table to cooperate and to be willing to fix these issues. And when you talk about uh a a variety of the massive cultural issues that are in play right now, from immigration to the LGBTQ issues, people like Talarico, it is going to require consistent effort from everything from the gubernatorial office to the Senate, to the House, to the presidency, to the White House, all the way, of course, to your average person, to your pastors who need to be involved. It it is very far reaching if we want to have an impact here. Because again, you look at the impact the leftists had, they didn't have it just because they were president. You know, it wasn't a two-term Obama that made a variety of these problems. It was a two-term Obama mixed with Hollywood being the wokest thing on the planet, mixed with the mainstream media in terms of news that that were running what people heard and believed, being run by radical leftists mixed with the House, mixed with the Senate, mixed with you know, uh the the only pastors that were really speaking politically for a while largely were overwhelmingly woke pastors who weren't being targeted because they were woke, so they were safe. All of those things in tandem, the the New York Times bestseller list, the libraries, the school districts, all of these things, capturing the the higher education institutions like our colleges, all of those things worked together to create the issues that we're facing today. It was not one office. And in similar fashion, whether it's the screwworm or it's immigration or it's LGBTQ, whatever it is that we're facing from a cultural perspective, it's only gonna be solved if we're willing to work together. And I'm not saying that requires compromise, but it goes back to the conversation we started off the show with, which is unity. That that's what it's going to require. And that doesn't mean that we give up on the truth. That doesn't mean that we're gonna sit idly by and say, well, I don't agree with that guy, so I guess I can't work with him. That's not gonna happen. There has to be a level of cooperation while still maintaining our principles. But we're not gonna be able to do it alone. Right? I I I I I I would like to believe that I everything that I say is true. I can't know that, right? I obviously I get things wrong and I'm imperfect, and there are gonna be times where I'm mistaken on things, and I've changed my mind on a variety of issues over the past couple years. Um not major, you know, biblical moral issues, but just questions and concerns and accountability and government operations. I change my mind. It happens. We all in fact you should be willing to change your mind on things because we're again imperfect human beings. But regardless of how much truth I speak, it's not gonna happen just because I do. That's just I I the the egotisticalness of some people to think that I can have a I would like to believe that I can have a big impact, but I can't believe I can't have the only impact. I I I can't be the the forefront of the fight. We need everybody. It it i I I I think my biggest impact is that I bring other people to the table that our listeners are educated and informed and are are motivated by what I say to get involved in politics, to stop sitting idly by. Like, yes, I want my show to be entertaining, I want it to be enjoyable. I want people to want to tune in, and you're not just tune in because, well, that's a guy I trust to get my news from, so I guess I'll listen. But goodness gracious, that is one boring guy. I don't want that. I want you guys to enjoy the show. I I I I make sure that I do my best to make sure everybody enjoys the show. But I I I don't have the power, the authority, the influence to change anything. Bar people listening. Bar people doing things in tandem, bar cooperation with our listeners, with our donors, with our sponsors, with people who desire to see this country fixed and return to an era of greatness. That that is a prerequisite to anything I'm saying is that I can only have as much influence as you guys, the listeners, can grant me. And I I I want to say, you know, I hope that with the opportunities God has blessed me with, that I can have a big impact. I I do want that. I want to see this country changed, and I I want to be able to say, and not for selfish gain that I contributed to it, I want to say that because I I want to have a good future for my children and my grandchildren, for my posterity, for for the the things that I leave behind. I want to say that I was in the fight and I was willing to to fight and die for what I believed, because I am. But I think so many people in politics elevate themselves on a pedestal. And it's hard assuming they're the man, they're the guy, they fixed it. And that's not how this works. That's not how societies work, that's not how communities work, that's not how people work, that's not how government works, that's not how the world works. The world works when people are willing to work together. The the most successful nations on earth are people where you you have people adhering to a general social code of norms and ethics and culture. And that's why I've said immigration is one of my biggest issues, legal and illegal, because I think that it's eroding the cultural cohesion and social trust that we have as a society. If we can't trust each other and we can't rely on each other and we can't look to each other in not some Marxist, communist, you know, societal way, but in a legitimate American way. If we can't do that with each other, then we're going to fail. This is not a single man venture. And even in a monarchy, it's not a single man venture, much less in a constitutional republic, which is what we have, if we can keep it. But keeping it requires fight. And it requires the General Land Office being willing to work with the USDA and the Texas Department of Agriculture. It requires cooperation with all branches of government, and it requires cooperation with all of us. Right again, even on the New World Screwbird's a good example of this. They only know where the cases are because the ranchers are willing to find out and then report it where they can confirm it as a case. That's the only way this happens. And so it same as everything else in the culture, it's going to require that we work together. That we're willing to I don't want to say put aside our differences, because I think differences are actually worthy of being discussed. And in many cases, differences do grow large enough that you just you just gotta say, No, that's not happening. I'm not compromising on this, that, or the other. Right? Yeah. You know, if James Halarico came out today and he had all these resources and wanted to work together on the New World Screwworm, but his qualification was that we allow boys and girls sports. No, I'm not going to unify behind just the screw. It's not going to happen. Right? We have to have standards and principles while working together. But we have to work together. That's one of the biggest things that I want to do on this show. I I want to bring people together. I want to remind people there's hope for the future. And I that's why everything else falls under one giant banner. I desire to speak the truth. That people may hear it, that people may listen to it, people may be influenced by it. Not by me, but by God through me speaking the truth. Now, with that being said, when we get back from the break, we're gonna jump over because uh Attorney General Ken Paxton has now come out and said that skill gaming machines, those those sort of gambling machines, um, that they've kind of gotten around with with variety of loopholes, he's come out and he's said that they still might violate Texas gambling law. These slot style amusement games are not legal simply because of the inclusion of a skill-based component. And it kind of gets into some messy concepts. But I think it's important, especially if we're gonna oppose mass gambling in our state, that we say, hey, are these actual loopholes or are they maybe things that should not be operating either? And we'll talk about all of that when we get back from the break. If you would like to text in, we're getting close to the wrap-up, not quite yet, but if you'd like to text in, you're running out of time, feel free to text in at 713-779-5978. One more time. That is 713-779-KYST. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. You're listening to the Lone Star Conservative, and Lord willing, I'll be right back to talk all about gambling after the break.

SPEAKER_11 1:29:44

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SPEAKER_09 1:33:15

Patriot Talk 920 is your Houston base camp for the America First Movement. I'm Todd Starns, and join me weekdays at 11 on Patriot Talk920 and online at PatriotTalk920.com.

Sterile Mosquitoes And Social Trust

SPEAKER_18 1:33:50

I got a couple of things. We're gonna have to save this story for the last because we get a text in that I want to I want to reply to. It says, Good morning, Lone Star Conservative. Can we release sterile male mosquitoes? And I think this also, by the way, gets back into that social trust I was mentioning. You know, there are a lot of big companies like Google that wants to do that, um and people have talked about it for a long time. And of course, we don't trust them for good reason. I'm not denying that. I'm not saying trust the Google, right? That's not that's not my claim. What I am saying is that if we had the social trust from everybody, th that certainly is something that we have the resources and the technology to do. And we that should be something that I think the mosquitoes that can actually bite and inflict itch, right? That that that can that can actually pull from you and infect you, those mosquitoes are actually a a pretty small portion of the the total mosquito population. So anybody that says, well, we need mosquitoes and they have benefits to the the the environment and uh to the eco culture, well, yes. But we don't need biting mosquitoes, right? We don't need those. So um actually But the problem is that we don't trust the corporations that have the resources to do it to do it. Which goes back again to the ability to cooperate, the ability to regain that social trust, which requires a level of regulation and auditing and transparency. If we could get back to that era where you trusted people and we were all kinsmen and countrymen together, uh I certainly think we could wipe out that problem in Harpy. I do not think that would even be that big of a problem. I think we I think it would certainly be manageable if you released sterile male fly uh sterile male mosquitoes out there uh to end biting mosquitoes or at least completely drain them back, uh push them to the dairying gap too, make all the Darien's deal with it. I think that's certainly manageable. But that requires social trust, which requires us holding the government accountable in a variety of ways. You know the main mechanism we used to hold the government accountable, and I hope it never comes to this, but it is the Second Amendment. And I know that doesn't necessarily connect well to mosquitoes, but it is true that we have to have a country that is ruled by accountability and transparency. And that's what the founders fought for. That's what many of the founders died for, and it's what we should be fighting for every single day. But that requires our God-given constitutionally enshrined rights, which is where our sponsor, Gun Owners of America, comes in. Gunner's America understands the reality that you have to fight for the Second Amendment if we want any of the rest of our rights. If we if we want to keep them. That yes, they are granted to us by God, they're inalienable, but they must be respected by government, and there's only one amendment that makes sure they are, and that is our Second Amendment rights. Gunner's America is finding that through campaigning for candidates right now. Uh coming in the legislative session here before you know it, they'll be lobbying for good bills. They already have their legislative priorities, they already have bills they're planning to file for or stay of filing, they already have all those sorts of plans on the agenda. They know what they're dealing with and they're already prepared to go, but they can only do that preparation. They can only continue to do that work, continue to face, you know, lawsuits with the support of their members. You guys. You can go to G-O-A-Houston.com become a member. That is G Oahuston.com. It's a $25 annual membership, $25 per year, which goes right back to the continued fight across the board from gun owners of America for your rights. That is GOAHouston.com. With that being said, we will be wrapping up the show in the next segment, talking about these skill-based gambling machines, whether they're still gambling, and uh, I'll be kind of highlighting the difference and my opinion on gambling in general. Text in this is your last chance at 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. You're listening to the Lone Star Conservative. And Lord willing, I'll be right back to wrap up the morning show after this last break. Stick around, we'll talk soon.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:32

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Paxton Targets Skill Based Gambling

SPEAKER_18 1:40:11

Here on Patriot Talk 920. Quick, quick reminder for everybody. Today is the second, I guess there's more days before, but the second big day of the GOP State Convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center here in Houston. And Patriot Talk 920 will be at booth 210. We're doing a social hour from 12 to 1 at Patriot Hour, where we're having free cigars, free bourbon tasting, get to meet the team, lots of cool stuff going on. I'll also be doing a live broadcast this afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. that if you even if you're not going to attend, if you want to attend, we'd love to have you. And you can come out and actually be there at the booth while I'm doing the live broadcast. I say hi, or you can, if you're missing out and you want to hear about what's going on, hear some great interviews, hear the reporting. Uh, you can definitely tune in still from from your car, your radio, the website, or the app from four to six p.m. today. With that being said, Ken Paxton. He is uh issuing a formal legal opinion declaring that skill-based gaming machines are illegal if chance plays any role in the outcome. Industries have allegedly been attaching a memory game to slot style gambling machines and arguing that just adding that section automatically made it legal. So the opinion from the Paxton's office interprets Texas Penal Code 47, which is a law prohibiting promotion and operation of gambling activities, and clarifies that the presence of the label skill-based does not exclude the game from the law. He said so long as chance plays any role in determining whether the player obtains something of value, the device satisfies the statutory definition. And so while it's not a court ruling, it is a written interpretation of the law guiding government agencies and law enforcement officers to stay out of harm's way from legal problems. Um that aft that came after a request for clarification from State Senator Bob Hall. Um, a music games that operate like a video slot machine have been attaching a Simon says style game called Follow Me in an attempt to circumvent Texas law, claiming the machine is no longer classified as gambling. Uh law enforcement officers in Harris County have said that in addition to raising gambling concerns, illegal gaming grims can find more serious criminal operations as well. And I want to talk about that with our last couple minutes here because I I have a real issue with with the way that things are happening and and the way the conversation's even being had. What he's doing here is more than just a technical question. And I think it's very important that we understand this. It's not just whether somebody can slap a memory game onto a slot machine and then call it legal. This is about whether the law means what it says, and more importantly, why the law means what it says. Texas law defines a gambling device based on whether chance plays a role in determining whether you, the player, receive something of value. So these companies cannot simply put a follow-me game onto a plainly what is a stop slot style machine and call it skill-based, and then boom, we're good. Uh that's not some sort of innovation and creativity that's just uh manufacturing your own loophole, which is wrong. And I want to be very cautious because here's what I want to get into.

Gambling Industry And Exploitation Concerns

SPEAKER_18 1:42:56

I don't actually think that gambling is wrong. That's that's I'm gonna clarify that because I I I I know that that can sound a little bit controversial. I know that that can sound a little bit provocative. Um, but a friendly poker game that you have with your friends is not the same thing as someone building an entire commercial industry uh around machines that are specifically engineered and designed to keep you sitting down, pressing buttons, losing, and and feeding in your next five, ten, twenty dollar bill. Right? The modern gambling industry is not primarily making its money from a group of good, disciplined men who are having a fun time with their friends. That's not what's happening. It is making its money by encouraging repetition, impulsive behavior, and people fantasizing that you can escape your financial problems through one what just one lucky spin will get you there. That's where my concern comes from. Scripture repeatedly condemns greed, the desire to get rich quickly, uh, the the refusal to work hard and faithfully, the slothful man, right? And the exploitation of the weak, and all of those things are happening in the gambling industry. And again, that doesn't mean that every card game you play with your friends is bad. Um, but an industry that's designed to monetize covetousness and impulsivity and desperation is not morally neutral and it's not the same thing. Right? And that's not even talking about how law enforcement, not just in this article, but over and over and over again, they warn that these operations attract theft, drugs, prostitution, human trafficking, other types of all sorts of organized crime and money laundering and violence. And that's that's why the rooms keep getting raided and a lot of them keep reopening. There's so much money involved. And and I think it's it's very important that we understand those sorts of differences. Everyone someone can look at gambling and say, all gambling's the same, but it's not the same as all of these sorts of sins that are happening in our country. It's a misunderstanding of what the sin is and and the exploitation of people and greed and covetousness. They're

Final Thoughts And Weekend Signoff

SPEAKER_18 1:44:47

not the same thing. That'll do it for the show today and this week, bar, of course, the 4 to 6 p.m. segment this afternoon. So, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the rest of your Friday. Enjoy the weekend. I'll be back this afternoon, four to six, and then Monday at 6 a.m. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend and Godspeed.