How Faith Language Gets Weaponized In Texas Politics

A single sentence can go viral, but it can also hide the real story. We dig into the resurfaced James Talarico podcast clip where he calls himself “a Christian who hates Christianity,” then pull it apart the way voters should: what he means, how the context changes the claim, and why conservatives lose ground when they argue about isolated soundbites instead of the underlying pattern.

From there, we shift to public safety and accountability with the federal convictions and massive prison sentences tied to the July 4 Antifa attack on an ICE detention facility, including the attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer. I also wrestle with the uncomfortable overlap between modern tracking tools (cell data, cameras, broader surveillance capabilities) and the reality that organized extremist cells exist and do real harm. You can reject a surveillance state and still demand swift justice for violent attacks, and we try to hold that line clearly.

We hit Houston news too: the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announces a roughly $300 million expansion with a new arena and agricultural complex aimed at splitting events between NRG and a second site by 2029. Then it’s back to Texas policy and money, with the state seeking reimbursement for billions spent on Operation Lone Star after the Biden-era border crisis, plus a frank discussion of Washington’s spending habits and the national debt problem nobody seems willing to solve. We also cover the Fort Bend County fight over interim county judge authority, the Texas SBOE vote on a new required reading list that includes Bible passages, and a Texas Senate hearing focused on ESG and DEI influence, voter registration enforcement gaps, and abortion pill ban enforcement.

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Transcript

Morning Rundown And Today’s Lineup

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Respect, kulice Market Surgery Michael Wilson.

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Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative this fine Thursday morning. Good to be with you this morning, by the way. Thanks everybody for being here so early, tuning into the show. Uh, you will be rewarded for showing up so early, and you'll be rewarded because you'll get access to the news that comes out at the early part of the show. Which, for all of you who are tuned in already, we will be talking about James Tallerico again because new stuff keeps emerging. And it's not that any of it's overtly surprising. It's not. It's the same kind of stuff that you'd hear in general from this style of quote unquote Christian. But I think it's worth addressing and saying this is who's attempting to get the Senate seat in the state of Texas. We're also going to talk about the Antifa terrorists, I think there were seven of them, who've now been convicted over the July 4th attack on an ICE facility and, by the way, the attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer. Houston Rodeo has made a massive announcement that they're building this fancy new $300 million arena. Yeah, I don't know. I guess I'm not on the inner circle of Houston conversation. Or maybe this was really, really well hidden. I had no clue. And maybe they've even announced it before, and I just forgot, or I just missed it. I couldn't tell you. But I had no idea the rodeo was planning a $300 million. And they came out and they were like, ah, well, we don't worry, we're not replacing. So we'll talk about all the details in that, what that means, what that looks like. Also, Texas is now trying to recover billions of dollars that were spent on the Biden-era border crisis. We'll talk about the dynamics of that, the fungibility of money, all that sort of stuff. Oh, by the way, we'll also get to Fort Bank County. I know we have some Fort Bank County listeners out there. I have some news for you guys, and that is uh that Grady Prestige is saying that Daniel Wong no longer has any authority as the interim county judge. Uh basically, this guy is trying to preside over the court meeting after the dismissal of the lawsuit that led to Wong's appointment. It's a big, it's a big mess, and I'll kind of go a little bit more in depth when we actually get to the story. I just wanted to kind of tease what we have going on here on the show. Uh the State Board of Education has now given the preliminary approval to the new reading list in a vote. The final vote is slated for tomorrow. But once they get preliminary approval, that's usually a sign of what's to come. Obviously, there's still a couple days left for anything to change for them to have final discussions. But usually, once you already agree, the odds of you actively changing your mind, especially given they've had months to come up with all of this and to then vote on it, and they've known about it for a while. So the odds of that changing are low. I don't say take it as a final vote, but we'll go over the vote and uh we'll talk about what that means. Meanwhile, Cybers Fairbanks has uh now announced their new budget. They approved their new budget, and they also approved a budget deficit with that budget, which we'll talk about. We'll go over a Senate hearing. I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm realizing I'm I'm counting out the amount of prep I did, and I'm looking, and we're not even halfway through the stories I have sourced and researched and ready to go. So the odds of us making it through all these, I want to say, I don't want to say are zero, because the odds are never zero. What's what's just a modicum above zero? How many, how many decimal points do I need? Because already the odds of us making it through all of those stories are already low. And I look, I I don't do that on purpose. I I don't intentionally take 30 minutes on a story. But sometimes, like when I get into this James Alarico story, there's just no way I'm gonna keep

The Case Against James Talarico

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it under five minutes. There's just I don't think there's a way to do that. Unless there was a hard, I guess there is. If there was a hard break, I'd have to. But I almost wouldn't even do this story if I had a hard break coming in five minutes. Because the story that we're about to go over, it it just again highlights what we're fighting. That this is a spiritual battle of wolves in sheep's clothing and how you have people out there that are that are, I don't want to say false prophets, but that are, that are false leaders, that are manipulating people, that are actively deceiving people. And we already know that. That's not news in a certain sense. Because Taller Rico, we've known for a very long time, as long as I've known Taller Rico existed, I've known that Taller Rico was the guy that Taler Rico is. Right? We we that's not new. If you if you saw him talk, you know, a years ago on transgender issues, or even more recently on the Elon Musk podcast, or not Elon Musk podcast. Elon Musk has been on the podcast, but it's not the Elon Musk, the Joe Rogan experience. If you watch anything he's just said, you just you just watch what he talks about, you know who James Tallerico is. You know what he justifies, you know how he twists scripture. And so we already know those things about him, but it just further cements that and shows how brazen he's being with his words. And so we'll get into it. Uh James Talerico, now there's this resurfaced podcast appearance uh that he was on with a progressive theologian, which I think we need to be better with our standards for our words. I keep saying when when that whole situation happened with that church, I don't remember what kind of church, United Universalist, they called it a church, this United Universalist, which combined the United Whatever and the Universalist Church back in the 70s, they their beliefs are universalism in general is the belief that everyone can go to heaven, that everyone does go to heaven. It's universalism. Uh, that there's nothing special about Jesus, really. And they wouldn't say there's nothing special about Jesus, but they would say that there is nothing saving about Jesus. Not really. Because every pathway, it's not even that there are multiple pathways to heaven, it's that every pathway ultimately leads to heaven. That a good God, and they don't even say God. I think at this point they just say a good all-being, right? A good being, supreme, uh, a good whatever's in charge. That they might even say that, you know, it's not even they they they they're totally content with like pagan mysticism that would say, well, we're all ultimately God and we're all part of the same tree, right? That's sort of pagan mysticism from the East. All of those things all lead to heaven. Or or to the positive version of the afterlife, if they even believe in that. And so to call them a church, I think, is unfair. I certainly think it would be much clearer to just call them a social gathering of weirdos. I think that would be a much clearer statement. But it's the same thing here. When you're a progressive theologian who's known for advocating for transgender and quote unquote queer theology, you have to wonder does that qualify as the word theology? Do you qualify as theologian? Uh because because theology as a word, it it you you can't just throw it around. It's kind of like marriage as well. You you the word marriage, they've tried to redefine it after Obergefeld, right? They they said, well, we have to change the meaning of the word. And I still contest that to this day. I say that gay marriage cannot physically exist. You can have a gay partnership, you can have two gay dudes who are in a relationship together, they're relation, they're relationally together. Uh, but marriage is a very specific thing. It is one man and one woman, definitionally. And as much as they want to change the definition, I know words evolve, I refuse to allow that word in my vocabulary to evolve to mean that. And so for me, gay marriage doesn't exist. Kind of the same thing with theology, right? Theology is about God. That's theos, right? We understand that it's the study of God. And for us, I guess you could have Islamic theologians, but theology in America, in our country, is used as a definition to describe people that believe in the God of the Bible. And you can have a variety of b different beliefs about scripture and still be a theologian. We can disagree on certain facets of what the Bible means and still be Christians and still be theologians. You look at a lot of the great theologians and they had disagreements. But you also had people uh throughout the not only the early church, but even today, you have people who disagree so fundamentally with the truths of scripture that you say, well, that's not a theologian, that's a false prophet. Right? You have to draw that distinction somewhere. And this, I think, certainly qualifies. You're not a theologian if you're espousing something called queer theology, is another one of those things that just cannot exist. It can't be a thing. Nevertheless, in a new report that came out about this free service podcast appearance, it was this March 2021 appearance on the Activist Theology podcast. He described himself, quote, as a Christian who hates Christianity. Uh the podcast is hosted by Roberto Che Henderson Espinoza, a so-called theologian who identifies as transgender and non-binary, whose work focuses on progressive and queer interpretations of Christianity, which are not interpretations, they're twists. Tellerico expressed admiration for his work, saying he was a big fan and the author's book, Activist Theology, had been an inspiration to him. The podcast discussion covered a range of topics, which included race and gender identity, Christianity and political activism. Um, he not only did he say that he's a Christian who hates Christianity, uh, but he also argued that Christianity could serve as a powerful vehicle for advancing political change because many Americans already identify with the faith tradition. He said, quote, the reason I think Christianity can be powerful in our context in this country is because so many of our political opponents share that kind of tradition. And so he's already kind of admitting he's planting the seeds back all the way back in 2021, five years ago. That you can already see the position that Taler Rico's taking, which is to twist Christianity so much that the people who are Christians can can look at Talarico and say, okay, well, at least he's a Christian, right? And at least he's trying to follow scripture. We have some disagreements, but this is a good guy. That was always his goal, was to be a goody two shoes Christian who says, Well, I went to seminary and I'm a pastor, basically, and I know the Bible, and we just disagree a little. But that's that's not who Taler Rico is. Talarico is using Christianity, which he admits in this old podcast. He's using it as a powerful tool to sway people who identify with Christianity. And so he was asked about the comments uh in his campaign spokesman, J.T. Ennis, uh, said the remark was not an expression of hostility toward the faith, uh, but those who distort it, right, for personal or political gain. Ennis said, quote, the Christian seminarian who's dedicated his life to the teachings of Jesus Christ obviously doesn't hate Christianity. James is a devout Christian who fights religious and political corruption when he sees it, because there's nothing Christ-like about powerful people twisting the teachings of Jesus justify hate, violence, and greed. So basically his own spokesman came out against him. Probably not intentionally, but the phrasing he used, I think, was certainly a good choice. There's nothing Christ-like about powerful people twisting the teachings of Jesus. That's true. And that is exactly what James Talarico is doing. Enos added, I think it's Enos, that quote, while billionaire bot politicians like Ken Paxton attack James for his faith, he will continue encouraging Texans across the political spectrum to come together by loving their neighbors as themselves. Right? Again, just a blatant twist of what scripture actually means. Though the Paxon campaign came out and also put out a statement, they said every time one of these comments resurvices, James Halarico claims it's being taken out of context or written off as another cringy comment. But after years of saying the same things, Texans can see the pattern. His record is a long history of fighting for the most progressive causes in the name of Christianity. The truth is he uses it as a shield to justify his crazy ideas. And again, right, we he he was recently revealed that the library of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin, where he attends and where he's preached before, uh, contains several books that have been challenged or removed from public school libraries over concerns about sexually explicit content that's in their church library, uh, which includes titles like Gender Queer, All Boys Aren't Blue, and This Book Is Gay at his church. And so again, it's it's not that it's breaking news really when stuff resurfaces. And it's especially not breaking news when the stuff that resurfaces is stuff that is directly in line with everything we already know about Tylerico. He wouldn't have had to use the statement, I'm a Christian who hates Christianity, for me to know that's already the kind of person that James Talerico is, right? Especially in the context of Talerico, that's not coming out as saying, wow, can't believe he said that. Can't believe that's how he feels about Christianity. No, we we already knew that. That's not some sort of shock or surprise to basically anyone. That is, of course, what you'd expect from the person who has twisted the story of Mary to somehow mean that abortion is acceptable and consent was the primary concern of God. It certainly doesn't take somebody who's well informed on Christianity, even, to understand that when he says God is non-binary, that he can then turn that around and say, well, I I know that that sounds provocative, but it's true. And I've actually had people uh who who will hear that statement, and I I urged concern at the time too, that we have to be cautious on what we attack, because of course some of these things that we're going to to attack, and this is why I actually like what the Pakistan campaign has done here, is are they very difficult things, right? Because I I think it's fair to be a Christian who's frustrated with the state of Christianity. Right, because Christianity is, of course, the the overall religious structure. And I think it's totally fair to be distraught by the structure of the modern church in America. Whether you're Catholic, Roman Catholic, or you're Reformed, or you're Presbyterian, or you're Methodist or you're Baptist, when you look across the spectrum and you you take a peek inside the curtain at what the church is doing right now overall, all across the globe, but especially here in the United States, I think you immediately have to face the reality that we should be very upset with the church. I've made this argument countless times in reference to how we deal with poverty. Before the reason that you didn't need any sort of government involvement is that not only is is like 90% of government involvement actually negative, because it's it's stealing money away from people who didn't choose to give it. And on the receiving end, it's given to people who don't deserve it. People who it's not that they can't work, it's that they don't want to. It's that they just want the benefits. They just don't want to work harder. We know that about the welfare state. That's why the church was largely encouraged. The church and the people in the church were largely encouraged to handle these things. When you look at all the hospitals, why do you think the hospitals are named after churches? This Methodist hospital or this St. John, why do you think they're named that way? Well, because we understand, oh, it turns out, the church was largely in charge of medicine, of poverty, and of aid. We were very good at that because we had standards for who we assisted and why we assisted them. It was usually members of your church because everybody was a member of a church a long time ago. And the culture has shifted, and the church kind of let that fall by the wayside of influencing the culture and of being a part of it. And then the government said, Well, there's a ton of poverty now, and the church isn't doing their job. I guess we'll take over. And that's not a good excuse because the government still shouldn't have done that. That's still outside their sphere of authority. It's still not their role. That they should have never touched it in the first place. But the church bears responsibility for how they've not been participating in the culture at large. And I've said that for a long time. So when you attack Talerico, you have to attack the pattern. You have to showcase his real beliefs. Because again, and I said the same thing back when he said God is non-binary. The reason that I urge caution on that is if you're not very careful and you say, Well, no, God is not non-binary. I I've had people who said, Well, God's not non-binary, he's a father, right? And and I always try to tell people, look, yes, God relates to us through male pronouns. But but if you study scripture and you study our confessions and you understand what the Bible says, well, God is a spirit, infinite, eternal. We understand that God can't be binary. God is not male nor female. Even if we relate to him using male pronouns because of headship, we understand God as a being, not Jesus on earth, but God as a being is not a male because he is a spirit. He can't be a male. We have to use pronouns for him because God related to us that way. But he's not actually male in any sort of biological sense that we would look at a male. He is a spirit infinite and eternal, genderless by definition. He can't have a sex because he's not a biological being. And so while provocative, Talerigo's comments were technically true. And so rather than attacking and saying, well, he said that Christians, he's a Christian who hates Christianity, instead of attacking that, we should attack what he means. Because it's easy for him to come out and say, No, no, no, I I don't hate the religion. I hate what the church has twisted the religions mean. And he has an easy out if we don't address the real problem, the real underlying issue. If we don't say so, the issue is not that you said that you're a Christian who hates Christianity, because while, again, provocative sounding, I can certainly see how that's totally fair. If you're a believer, a genuine believer, who looks at the state of the modern church and says, what a disorganized mess, what what a failure the church has been. I I think that's a totally fair complaint to have. Even if you don't agree with it, I think it's a fair complaint to hold. And so instead of attacking the single sentence, as I'm seeing people do, he says, Well, that's out of context. Well, the context actually makes it worse. Out of context, you can defend it. In context, it gets a lot harder because it's where you're talking about gender activism and queer theology and racial, like all of these things that are absolutely insane. That's what you view real Christianity as, as being supportive of those things. Well, I hate your version of Christianity because it's a twist of what God said. It's a twist of scripture, it's a twist on the moral law of God. I I actually do, if if that was what Christianity was becoming, I too would hate the state of the church, of Christianity. And so we have to, when we attack things, we need to attack them logically, we need to attack them analytically, and we need to attack them with the full force of truth. And so instead of going after Jim Jelly for saying God is not binary, I think it would be way clearer to say, yeah, but you you didn't use that wording because it was provocative. You used that wording because of what it implied. You decided to take God as non-binary and then say, so we're made in the image of God, therefore we're non-binary. That's what I would attack and say what you're using it to twist into meaning for people. When you say that, oh, uh, I am a Christian race Christianity. Fair. Why? Oh, well, because the the modern church doesn't support queer rights and race this and sexual identity that. Okay, yeah, that's crazy. You're actually insane. That's not Christianity at all. That you're not actually a Christian by by any stretch of the word. That should be our criticism of Talerico. Our criticism can't go after it, it's it's it's a losing battle to go after these clips on social media. Because the only people that you're convincing are people that are already convinced. If our goal is to be persuasive and to move the needle culturally, we have to be more, we have to provide more clarity than that. We can't just say, well, he said this crazy thing, and then his campaign gets come out and say, Well, it's not a crazy thing. Obviously, a lot of people understand this, right? It's it's a Christian who hates the state of how the church has behaved and how powerful Christians have behaved and how it's been twisted as a religion to justify things. That's an easy out for them if we give it to them. We shouldn't be giving it to them. It's a layup if all you do is is criticize a single comment made in the podcast. Instead, say, yeah, but when you say that, what you mean is that the church you're not disagreeing with what the church has become today and saying you hate the modern state of Christianity. You hate what the church has been since the church started. You just hate Christianity in general. That's what you meant. You don't you're not which means that you're lying when you say you're a Christian. You hate everything the church has ever stood for. You hate everything that Christians have ever believed. Every historic belief about Christianity and the faith and who God is and who man is. You hate all of those things. Eight tenants of our scriptures and our beliefs. That's what you go after Talerico for. You provide clarity by providing scripture and truth. It's not gonna happen. This guy's not dumb. I I know that we we like to look at the left and say there's there's dumb people. And there are dumb people, right? You there are there are plenty of people on the left who are genuinely not bright. There's others who may play dumb or that may have such abhorrent beliefs that we can say, well, that's a that's a foolish belief. But when we write these people off as dumb, we put ourselves in a terrible position because then we don't fight them tactfully. We don't we don't employ any sort of strategy. And so that's again why I like Paxton's campaign comments, right? Well, it it's not that you know James Alarico's claiming is being, you know, taken out of context or written off, but after years of saying all these things that come to cut come together, right, there is a very clear pattern of the abuse of the word of God. When you say that Mary is an example of why you're okay with abortion, because Mary consented to the pregnancy that she had. When you do that, and you do that with transgender theology and you do that with racial theology and all these other things that you employ as your beliefs, that's not that's no longer even a form of Christianity. It's not that you're a different denomination than me and we disagree on the finer points of of doctrine. You threw away what scripture teaches, you threw away the whole law of God in pursuit of political power as a leftist and as a progressive. That is how you have to go after Talerico. Because his whole shtick is I'm a Christian who stands for these things. So don't go after him for a single comment. Go after him by saying, hey, here's your actual list of legitimate beliefs that aren't out of context. These are what you claim to believe, and here's why scripture cannot agree with those things. And when you get some of these things, they're so outrageous that you can't even call yourself a Christian anymore. That's how you go after Talerico. Now, with that being said, we get back from the break. We'll talk about those Antifa terrorists, seven of them who were have now been convicted over the July 4th attack on the ICE facility. Seven members of Antifa have now been sentenced to prison in connection with the attack on an ICE facility and the attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer. We'll go over all the details of that story. We get back. If you would like to text us to the show, the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. And Lord willing, I'll be right back with that update after the break. So stick around.

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Antifa Sentences And Surveillance Fears

SPEAKER_15 28:48

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative. Seven additional defendants have now been convicted on a litany of charges in connection with the July 4th attack that Antifa perpetrated on the Prairie Land Detention Center. The charges include attempted murder of officers and employees of the United States, providing material support to terrorists, rioting, discharging a firearm in relation to a violent crime, corruptly concealing a document or record, and conspiracy to conceal documents. The court sentenced the group to a collective 450 years in prison. Benjamin Song, who shot an Alvarado police officer, responding to the attack, received a 100-year sentence. The FBI director came out this week and said today's sentencing shows the FBI remains committed to identifying, locating, and dismantling Antifa and its funding networks across the country. Acts of violence against our law enforcement partners will not be tolerated, and we continue our work to protect communities across the country from domestic terrorism. According to the GOJ's DOJ statement, the sentencing follows a 12-day trial earlier this year, which included testimony from 46 witnesses and the exhibition of 210 pieces of evidence. Seven additional members of the cell pleaded guilty before trial on one count of providing material support for terrorists, and are scheduled to be sentenced on July first. The trial brought to light that each defendant was part of the North Texas Antifa cell, which explicitly called for the overthrow of the U.S. government as well as federal law. Testimony established that on the night of July 4th, eleven defendants attacked the detention facility, which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement utilized to detain illegal aliens for deportation. All members dressed in black block, which involves wearing black clothing from head to toe to hide identities. Evidence introduced to the trial included body armor, rifles, and military-style first aid kits used to treat gunshot wounds. Fingerprint and cell phone evidence also linked the perpetrators to the crime. The cell arrived at the facility, began throwing fireworks and vandalizing government property, including slashing the tires of a facility van. After police arrived on scene, the officers' body cam captured Song yelling, get to the rifles. Song then opened fire on the officers and struck one person in the neck. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch said, Quote, the sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement in federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice. Their violent extremism has no place in our country, and the Department of Justice will continue to aggressively investigate, disrupt, and prosecute those who threaten law enforcement officers or undermine the rule of law. Now I wanna I want to broach a slightly difficult topic because the the reality of cases like this are that and a lot of people feel like this creates a dichotomy and it doesn't. So that's why I want to be careful as I broach this. Because a lot of people will hear, you know, about the flock cameras, and they'll hear about the cell phone tracking, and they'll hear about the kill switches in vehicles, and they'll hear about the AI algorithms that are tracking you everywhere you go these days. And I think rightfully people start to view that as this dystopian wasteland of government patrol. And as a conservative who's studied history, I think it's fair to be reasonably concerned about those things and to speak out against them. In the same breath, we also have to say there is a time and place for swift and for harsh justice. I think there's a time and place to say, hey, you know what? If if you're in one of these Antifa groups, or the same type of Antifa groups that have for years, had for years been calling for the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who'd been calling for the assassination of Donald Trump, uh, and and and many others, right? I I've had Antifa folks respond to me on comments, threaten me, you know, whatever. It's not it's it's I don't even want to say right of passage, it's just expected with the job. If you're a conservative spokesman, right? Again, I've said before I've been taken out of context so many times, it's it's almost funny. When you listen to the the things people will say about you on social media, you you also need to stay away from the comments, right? Because for for most people it would be I I can certainly see how it'd be very bothersome. Right. You you look at your comments and you'll be accused of a variety. If if you have ever defended Donald Trump at all, you will be called a legitimate pedophile and and they will call for an investigation into your hard drive, which the hard sure, have the hard drive on my laptop. You're gonna find a bunch of documents written for Texas scorecard, and you're gonna find some old college documents, and you're gonna find a bunch of history tabs researching breaking news. That that's what you'll find on mine. That's that's all that's on my hard drive. But that's expected. You expect violence and extremism and threatens and intimidation and bullying. Those things are just par for the course because we are in a battle and we have to understand that if we're gonna understand where we go from here. If we still think that we're in the comfy US of old that allows us to just do what we need to do and move on with it, it's not happening. The people who are willing to do these sorts of violent extremist crimes, they're out there. They're they're they're all around you. Every day, by the way, especially if you're here in Houston, even if you don't know, they're there. They're present and they're willing to use violence and intimidation and terroristic tactics in order to get you to back down. And so we have to do two things. Actually, three. We have to one say we're aware that that's going to happen to us. We're aware they're gonna be targeting and harassing and threatening. And two, we have to say, and and not that it's okay, I'll use different wording. We understand that and we're we are we accept it. We are not that that's not going to that's not going to intimidate us. It's not gonna scare us into submission. It's not going to force us to relent from our positions, right? You have to go into it saying this is going to happen and it's not gonna scare me off. And the third thing we have to do is we have to allow the government to prosecute these people to the fullest extent of the law. These people need to be taken off the streets, they need to be held for a very long time, they need to be taken as far away as possible from civil society, never allowed to return again. In fact, I'd be okay with deportations for these folks. Yeah, you know what? You support you you're so anti-ICE, okay. All right, feel free to face them. Go away. We'll send you to some country you'll never leave. Have a good time. Right? We'll see how they treat you. You see, we'll see if you like it better in the countries you're defending. Have a good time. We have to allow them to do that. The actually there's a fourth thing, and that is that you need to be able to defend yourself. Should God forbid there ever be a situation where you are faced with those sorts of choices, where you are faced with not just threats, but legitimate violence and use of force that you have to defend yourself. And that's why you should become a member of our sponsor, Gun Owners of America. Gun Owners of America is fully standing in defense of your Second Amendment rights. They understand that there is violence, there is tyranny, there is oppression, there is intimidation, and you have a right to defend yourself and your family from those things. A God-given right to do so that cannot be taken away and shall not be infringed upon. That means no compromise. It means no compromise on who they campaign for. It means no compromise in who they l and what they lobby for and against. And it certainly means no compromise when laws do get passed, when ordinances do go through, when executive orders do get signed and they violate your rights, that they have to take it to court and say this is an unconstitutional violation of your rights. But they can't do that by themselves. They're not just a group of rich folks that can just do it all. They need your support. We all have to stand behind them. Both both from the perspective of they needed people in their corner from not only the monetary perspective, but also from having people stand with them and alongside them in this fight. And to do that, you can go to goahhouston.com, sign up for their annual membership. It is $25 not a month, but a year. $25 per year, which of course allows gun owners of America to continue doing all the fighting they're doing right now. Again, that is goahhouston.com. With that being said, we get back from the break. We're going to talk about this Rodeo Houston expansion, this uh this announcement of this $300 million arena, barns, and office space that's going to be south of Reliant Park. We'll talk about it when we get back. Text it 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, we'll talk about that, that Rodeo Houston expansion after the break. So hang tight. We'll be right back.

SPEAKER_07 37:55

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.

SPEAKER_19 38:10

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We talk to a lot of people who will literally come up and say, I hate shopping for Medicare plans so much. And I'll say, What's happened? And they'll say, My gosh, my phone won't stop ringing. I've got people showing up at my door. My mailbox is full of garbage. It's just so unpleasant. And I'm like, I get it, and I'm sorry. But you know what? Don't let that keep you for demanding the best out of the plans that you have. These are available to you. You earned these. So do not allow those practices to discourage you from reaching out to somebody who can help you understand what your options are and change each year when it's appropriate to do so. Did you know that these plans they change kind of a lot? So if you've been in a plan for a long time, there's a good chance that thing has degraded a lot since you put it in place. Not a guarantee, but you got to get it reviewed so you know because you deserve to be in a plan that is on the cutting edge of whatever your needs happen to be. So pick up the phone, call a trusted agent, or call senior health services. We do this every day for free. There's no reason to fear it, and do not settle.

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SPEAKER_15 40:25

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SPEAKER_21 40:55

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SPEAKER_01 41:25

Have you thought about buying a gun or even carrying a gun? But you don't know if that's smart or where to start. I can help. I'm Tom Gresham, host of Gun Talk. Call in Sundays between 1 and 4, right here on Houston's Leader for Gun Owners, Patriot Talk 920.

SPEAKER_15 41:53

Welcome

Houston Rodeo Unveils $300M Expansion

SPEAKER_15 41:54

back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo plans to spend roughly $300 million to build a new arena and agricultural complex a few miles south of Reliant Park, which was NRG, the largest investment of the nonprofits' history, and one that cements its future in that part of Houston. The rodeo announced just yesterday that it's going to expand with a 5,000-seat arena to replace the aging one at Reliant Park, along with two large barns and an administrative building that it will amount to more than one million square feet in new space. The new complex will be on the land the rodeo owns west of 288 between Reed Road and Airport Boulevard. It is expected to be ready come the 2029 rodeo, which is not very far away with how time moves. The rodeo's annual event will then be split between Reliant Park and this complex, with this one hosting the horseshoes, the auctions, and the agricultural events. Meanwhile, the bulk of the programming, including the concerts and the carnival, will still be at the NRG. Though the new arena could host concerts, comedy shows, and other events in the offseason. Additionally, Chris Bowman, the rodeo's president and CEO. So the organization started discussing this project before COVID-19 hit. He described it as an expansion, not a relocation, that will allow the rodeo to program year round in addition to its marquee annual event in March. And the rodeo's headquarters are not going to move. They're still going to be there at NRG. He said Home for Us is still Reliant Park, and specifically the center. Our commitment is to be at Reliant Park long term. It's really about creating the best environment possible for our horse and livestock exhibitors. This is the next chapter in our evolution. So pretty exciting stuff. I'm actually quite excited to see where it goes from here. I think it'd be pretty cool to have even more room. You guys, if you've been to the rodeo anytime in the past few years, you know it gets incredibly busy. And I'm not saying it's going to get less busy or or whatever, but you you understand that it would be nice to have a little extra space. Especially if a lot of what you're going for is not the concert. If you're going it gets so messy, especially come in the afternoon at the rodeo. If you have a separate area that still has access to food and agriculture and the horse shows and the auctions, It'd be very cool to have that in a separate location where you can say, hey, maybe it'll be a little less busy over here and you can switch off where you want to go. I don't know what tickets are going to look like. I don't know if it's going to be you buy it and you can go to either one, what the process getting between the two would look like. We don't have any of those details whatsoever right now. We have no idea. All we know is massive cool expansion, $300 million. That's that's basically the extent. Expansion, not relocation. That's basically all we know. But it's still a cool update, and we'll keep you guys updated on the rest of the updates that come out as we get closer to 2029. Assuming I'm still here on the show, can't imagine why I wouldn't be, but you know, 2029 is a long time, but also not so long. So we'll keep you guys updated on that here on the morning show. In the meantime, when we get back from the break, we're of course going to jump over. You know what time it is. It's now the final segment of the first hour. And that means that coming up we will have the weather report. As I said yesterday, massive spoiler alert, but things are not very different today than they have been or will be. And so we will give you guys a weather report, but you can go ahead and probably take a fair guess, a reasonable guess as to what the weather's going to look like. And you have a pretty high chance of being right unless you start thinking that there's randomly going to be massive thunderstorms rolling in today. If you'd like to text in the show as we're going through this segment, feel free to text in at 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and Lloyd Willing. I'll be right back to wrap up the first hour of the show with our weather report after this break. So stick around. We'll talk soon.

SPEAKER_08 45:36

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SPEAKER_04 45:51

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SPEAKER_21 48:25

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Why is my Medicare supplement so expensive?

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My prescription drug plan sucks.

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SPEAKER_07 49:24

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.

Saharan Dust And Houston Heat Pattern

SPEAKER_15 49:53

Dust from the hot sands of the world's largest desert is making its way to Houston once again. That's the update we're getting from the weather report. Each summer, we did about it last summer. I don't know that we really did a weather report the summer before, but last summer we talked about it. Massive plumes of dust from the Sahara in North Africa. I actually had somebody ask that. They said when they call it Saharan dust, it's just because it's just, you know, sand, and so we get it. And no, it's it's actually from the Sahara. It's real Saharan dust that is going to travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic before reaching us. The phenomenon can turn our skies hazy, worsen the air quality, and create vivid sunsets, as well as influence patterns, by the way, especially here during hurricane season. And so the Sahara produces an estimated 400 million to 700 million tons of dust each year, making it the world's largest source of airborne mineral dust. The strongest dust outbreaks are often triggered by thunderstorm complexes over the Sahel region of the Sahara. As thunderstorms collapse, they produce powerful outflow winds that sweep across the desert floor, lifting enormous amounts of dust into the atmosphere. The dust then becomes trapped within the Saharan air layer, where it is carried westward across the Atlantic. Pushed westward by prevailing easterly winds, the dust can travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of America, and of course the southern United States. Now, for most Estonians, the first sign you'll get is a hazy sky. When dust concentrations increase, the atmosphere can take on this whitish or more milky appearance even on otherwise sunny days, so you'll be aware of it. Saharan dust overlaps the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs, of course, June 1st through November 30th. The Saharan air layers, typically hot, dry, and often accompanied by stronger winds higher in the atmosphere. Those conditions can suppress cloud formation and thunderstorm development while also making it more difficult for tropical disturbances to organize and strengthen into tropical storms or hurricanes. So, in other words, you hate the dust, but you love what the dust does, right? And so we're in that season right now. You also need to be aware, along with this air and dust, what often accompanies it is warm, dry air. Not dry in the sense that it's not muggy. It will certainly be muggy, though actually less humid than normal, but it will be dry in the sense that we're not expecting any rain. We're expecting, again, those highs in the low to mid-90s, those lows barely getting into the 70s overnight, not giving you much relief, and the same spell of muggy but no rain conditions that we've gotten the past few days. That'll be going on at least through the weekend, according to current expectations. And if that changes, of course, I'll update you guys tomorrow. In the meantime, when we get back at the top of the next hour, we'll start off with Texas trying to recover billions of dollars that were spent on the Biden era border crisis. We'll talk about the dynamics of that, what that looks like, and so much more. Text in 713-779-5978. Otherwise, I'll be back at the top of the next hour.

SPEAKER_17 53:17

Screaming, welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.

Texas Seeks Border Cost Reimbursement

SPEAKER_15 53:24

Texas has formally submitted its request to the federal government for reimbursement of billions spent on Operation Lone Star, according to an announcement yesterday from Governor Greg Abbott. Welcome back to the show, by the way. It's good to have you guys here in the second hour. If you missed the first hour, you missed out on some great stuff. We talked about Taller Rico, we talked about these Antifa terrorists who have finally been convicted and sentenced, and some more sentencing coming up on July 1st. Uh, this brand new $300 million NRG, it's not really, it's not NRG, it's the Houston Rodeo is expanding to a new location. They're not relocating. They said the rodeo will still be held uh primarily at the Reliant Park NRG Stadium, but that they will be uh announ that they will be building this $300 million project that'll allow them more space, be able to host more events throughout the year than just their March event, and kind of get into having two different locations during the March event so that, you know, if you're only looking at attending a few different things, you could go to one over the other and not be caught in the massive, terrible, terrifying crowds. So this segment we're talking about this, and I already kind of kind of gave you the tie-in here, but this this reimbursement of billions of dollars that we had to spend as a state when the Biden administration was not doing their job. According to Abbott, the state has provided the Department of Homeland Security with the documentation required to seek repayment for border security costs that Texas incurred during the Biden administration. And so here's what he here's what he said about it. He said In March of 2021, I launched Operation Lone Star to fill in the dangerous gaps created by the Biden administration's refusal to secure the border. For four years under Biden, Texas spent more than $10 billion of taxpayer money to secure the border ourselves. I have formally submitted Texas's application to the Department of Homeland Security for reimbursement of costs Texas had to incur because President Biden refused to do his job. Last year, Congress included $13.5 billion in funding in President Trump's one big review bill to reimburse states for border security costs incurred during the Biden years. Abbott had previously asked the federal government to repay Texas for roughly $11 billion spent on Operation Lone Star. And so Abbott's office said Texas has borne the largest share of those costs and that the DHS submission puts the state in a position to recover taxpayer funds. The governor's office also said Texas plans to submit a separate reimbursement request to the U.S. Department of Justice in the near future. But we got to talk a little bit about this. On the one hand, yeah, I I think it should be undebatable and undeniable that Washington should reimburse Texas. I that that should be very clear. Border security is not some bonus hobby that we came up with as a state and said, hey, we want to do this thing. Hope you give us money back. Uh that is a core responsibility of the federal government in the United States of America. Really in any country, but the way that we have it set up here, especially, it is a very clear federal obligation, right? The federal government is tasked with securing the border, controlling entry, and then enforcing immigration law in order to protect the national security and the sovereignty of the U.S. That's their job. When they refuse to do that, and then Texas taxpayers are then forced to spend our own state billions of dollars to do the job for them, it's not asking for a handout to go back and say, we did your job, can you now pay us back? That's what any employee would do, by the way. If you go and you do something that you know your boss is supposed to do or your friend is supposed to do, you expect a level of trade-out. If I sw if I take a shift switch with somebody, I expect to a reasonable degree that I get paid for the shift I worked, right? That would make sense. And and again, this is one of those moments where we have to be able to hold two thoughts at the same time. I talked about dichotomies earlier in the show, where a lot of times you start thinking, well, we need to spend we we I'll give you the example I gave. I said we don't have to say that surveillance is good and the surveillance state is good to also say we should surveil Antifa cells and go after them with the full force of the law. Those two things can both be true at the same time. And so, yeah, the spending of Operation Lone Starp deserves a level of scrutiny. And yeah, we should we should evaluate every every dime spent and account for it. And that doesn't mean that Texas should get some sort of blank check uh just because we say it was for border security. All right, we should not become liberals that are just dressed up in Texas attire. We should we should not be okay with unlimited spending. Uh but the bigger issue is not Texas and our spending. The bigger issue, as we're all well aware, is the federal government. Because not only did they they make us do their job for them, but they're the ones actually that that created the crisis in the first place, that let that crisis hit us and then acting like we should just eat the cost for it. Right? And we know this because Washington, it's not a it's not a money problem, not really. Because Washington just spends trillions of dollars a year on some sort of autopilot where no one does anything different or tries to fix it. Right? It funds welfare programs and health entitlements and foreign aid and bureaucracy and their climate activist programs and they'll call it refugee resettlement. And I mean, how much goes to debt interest? And by the way, agencies that nobody even knows still exist, that are just out there operating and we don't even know what they're doing or what we're getting out of them. There's no benefit at all given to the taxpayers. But when we say, hey, you failed at one of the very few things that the federal government is actually supposed to be doing, and we had to spend our money to clean up that MS, suddenly everyone's like, well, that's we don't need it. We can't reimburse $10 billion, you decided to do it, so we can't reimburse you. All of a sudden, all the leftists are fiscal conservatives. All of a sudden, they're these free market capitalists that say, Well, you spent the money, we're not, we don't have the money for that. We have to be we have to be fiscal in how we spend. We have too much of a debt crisis. Now you care? No, you just hate taxes. You just hate border security. You just hate that we spent our money because you didn't do your job and now you're being held accountable for it. That's what you hate. Because, again, you spend these trillions of dollars on all these things that are not your job. I I know that this is going to become as a shock to the system. The federal government's job is not welfare. The federal government's job is not foreign aid. The federal government's job uh is not climate research or refugee resettlement. Those are not roles the federal government has. Border security is one of the few limited scope things that the federal government is actually supposed to do, according to the founder's vision for this country, and they didn't do the one big thing they were supposed to do. We had to do it for them, and then they're saying, well, we don't want to pay you back for it. We don't want to give you money, right? And that's why I just can't take it seriously. You can't tell us there's no money to reimburse border security while you're running a spending machine that looks like it was you it's being run by some drunk guy that has your dad's credit card. Like that's not how this works. You you don't you don't get to spend money like you're you're a valley girl who's who doesn't even know what money is because she's never been hit with a credit limit, and then come at us and say, imagine, imagine you have somebody whose dad is a billionaire. And they have they have a trust fund in this credit card that they've they've they don't even know what you know your card's decline is unless their card is just old and they need to order a new one because it expired. You you take that person and then hey, could you buy me lunch? And they say, No, sorry, don't have money. No, can't buy you. I know we're out hanging out and I invited you, but no. Or if or if you mow their yard and then say, hey, could you you didn't want to owe your yard this week. I'm I mowed it. Could you could you reimburse me? No, I'm not paying you to mow my yard. Not gonna, I'm not paying you for your services, no. I I mean it it it literally makes no sense. It is just insane. And and look, that ties into a bigger conversation about the federal budget. I don't often talk about federal issues because if you want to hear about federal issues, I don't want to have to compete with big names in the space. There are so many people you could go listen to if you want some of the best coverage on national news. I don't often do it. I usually say, hey, not only do I not want to have to compete with the big guys, because I think there's people that you'd rather listen to on national news that are probably more informed and more connected than I on those issues. But also, there's not enough people talking about local news and state news. But this is tying directly into it, so I I gotta talk about it for a minute. And that is that is the budget situation in general. Right? I look, the national bet, it's not getting paid off. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it's not. Somebody has to come out and say it, somebody has to be honest about it. The budget's not going anywhere. The deficit is not disappearing, right? Nobody in Washington is going to run now decades of what it will require. No one, no one for the future of this country is going to run decades of massive surpluses and cut everything to the bone and end all these things and get the debt clock to go back down to zero. That's never gonna happen. I don't even think we're gonna pay off a dime of it. And if we do, it's gonna be for maybe one year we had a randomly phenomenal year where we did something great and we paid off one fiftieth of the debt in a year. That that's the best case scenario. The debt's not going anywhere, ever. Right? And and saying that that could happen one day is not a plan. I'm sorry to the Thomas Massey's and the fiscal conservatives and the libertarians uh to have to say this, uh, but none of your plans will end the debt. You may stall the deficit from growing, but I'm not really sure. Once I I think that I don't know what the line is, and it's probably a little arbitrary. I don't know if the line is 30 trillion or 20 trillion or 50 trillion, but at some point you reach such an absurdly high number that it just ceases to really matter that much. I I mean, can anyone tell me why it matters if we're 30 trillion or forty trillion in debt? Either way that we're not gonna pay off 30 trillion dollars, either way we're gonna stay roughly with similar interest, either way we're gonna have the same issues and the same kind of it doesn't it it look, I'm not trying to be somebody who says, well, uh we we we gotta pay, we gotta pay. No, I'm I'm just saying it's not gonna happen. They don't have a plan for it. At some point, the real question has to be are we gonna keep pretending that the debt system is the sacred thing that we can't mess with uh while everyone's getting taxed and inflated, or are we going to admit that being a powerhouse on the global scale as a country matters? And what do I mean by that? Well, look, I'm not saying that the cleanest answer is let's just cancel the debt tomorrow, uh like some TikTok finance guru that tells you everything that you don't need to know. But I am saying this. If Washington can treat the Constitution like a suggestion, which they do all the time, and if I can treat the border like an inconvenience, which and it can treat Texas taxpayers, we the people, like an emergency reserve fund, uh then I'm not gonna sit here and partake in these pretending games where the debt regime is some holy object that's outside politics. The first duty of government, just so people are aware, is not to protect the the spreadsheets and other countries' debt, right? It's to protect the people. So yeah, reimburse Texas, audit the spending, uh demand the receipts, make sure the money goes back to where it belongs. Make sure that the spending that you're doing goes first and foremost to your primary obligations, which is reimbursing people who did your job for you, right? But but don't let them hide up in Washington, don't let them hide behind this fake pretend restraint after years of overbloated spending deficits and years of requiring states to do their job for them. Don't let them go, well, well, we don't, we don't, we can't afford to repay you. I mean, yes, yes, you can. I'm sorry, yes, you can. And if you can't, then we have a much larger problem on our hands than the $10 billion you owe us. We have a much bigger one. And again, like at some point on the national debt issue, I gotta be honest, right? I'm I'm not an economist. And I understand there would be massive fallout as a result, but one day the debt is going to the debt is undeniably going to continue to grow, even if under one administration it stalls, even if we manage to kind of get it under control in one administration, even if we have a plan, by the way, to get it under control in general, like if we have a 50-year plan that for 50 years keeps us from spending more and putting ourselves in debt, even if you could do that, which the odds of that happening are near zero right now, even if you could manage that, that doesn't pay off tens of trillions of dollars in already existent debt. What we need to do is and I I again I don't want to come out and sound like I'm being insane here, but correct me if I'm wrong. You don't even have to like it to understand there's not really another alternative. At some point I have to say, hey, we're the US and we're bigger than you, we're meaner than you, we're more powerful than you, and the debt's canceled. We're not paying it. So sue us. Right? Send us the check. We're not we're not we'll throw it in the shredder. Like I I'm being dead serious. I'm I know it sounds funny, but we don't actually have any other real plan. I I know that they want to pretend like we do. We don't have a plan. In a hundred years from now, even if we fix our spending problem in general, we're still gonna have uh with interest, we're gonna have, again, forty trillion, fifty trillion dollars in debt. Where does that gonna come from? Because it's not coming from me. It's not coming from the people. We can't afford that. I know the leftists want to take it from the billionaires. That's not gonna happen. The the real only plan that could actually work if you want to get rid of the debt, you have two options. You either just say, well, the debt's gonna always be there, and we'll just treat it like it doesn't matter, and just never touch it and never talk about it, and just pretend like it's over there and it is. Just leave it alone and it'll do what it needs to do. And if the countries come to collect, we just tell them no. Or we come out first and we say the answer's no, and we just stab our fingers and the clock goes to zero. And I know people will talk about insolvency and the the inflation of the dollar and countries switching and all out just recession. But but we don't you you don't have to like the idea to admit there isn't another one because none of the fiscal conservatives and the libertarians that want to address the debt issue ha have any semblance of a real plan for getting us back down to zero. None of them, not a single one of them has a realistic plan for doing that. So the I I and I thought about this a long time, and I just don't see another plan. I I really don't. I don't see a plan where America is ever gonna have the surplus of funds to pay off $40 trillion. That's never gonna happen. It is never going to happen. And I don't like that as much as you like that. I would much prefer to pay off the debt. I I I in a in a in a in in in in every lifetime. I'd either pay off the debt 100%, but I'm also being realistic and saying that's just never gonna happen. And we have to have some other idea other than the completely unrealistic one. Now, with that being said, of course, we have to talk about what's going on in Fort Bend County because one of the commissioners' name is Grady Prestige. Prestige? Prestige. I don't know how to pronounce his name. I don't really care. He's saying that Daniel Wong no longer has any authority as the interim county judge after the dismissal of a lawsuit that originally led to Wong's appointment following KP George's suspension. We'll talk all about the details of that, how they're trying to force him off, how much they don't like Daniel Wong and so much more. After the break, as always, if you would like to text into the show, let us know your thoughts on anything we're covering, feeling I'm crazy for the debt thing, feel free to pitch an alternative that would actually work at 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 cover the rest of that story out of Fort Bend County. So hang tight. We'll talk soon.

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So

Fort Bend Power Fight Over County Judge

SPEAKER_15 1:13:19

Fort Band County Precinct II Commissioner Grady Prestige says that he's going to preside over today's commissioner court meeting after county officials concluded that Daniel Wong's appointment as interim county judge expired following the dismissal of the civil lawsuit that led to his appointment in the first place. The move comes in the aftermath of former Fort Band County judge KP George's sentencing and suspension from office, setting off a legal dispute over whether Wong continues to have authority to serve as interim judge. In a statement released just yesterday, President said that county officials had been advised that the legal basis for Wong's appointment no longer exists. He said, quote, yesterday, my fellow commissioners and I were formally advised by County Attorney Bridget Smith Lawson that the legal basis for Daniel Wong's appointment as interim judge is no longer valid. According to state law, there are now only four members of the Commissioner's Court with legal authority to hold office and conduct county business. As the most senior of Commissioner's Court, I will be responsible for presiding over county business until a replacement is made. A person who has seen the email sent to Commissioner's Court noted that the message from Smith Lawson was not sent to Wong, which is kind of an interesting person to not tell. Um President added that county operations would continue uninterrupted. He said the people of Fort Bend County should be assured that the county will continue its regular order of business and continue to deliver the quality services they have come to expect. I would like to thank Mr. Wong for his brief service to the county and wish him the best of luck. I how passive aggressive can you really be? I mean, come on. I want to I want to thank Mr. Wong for his brief service and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. Is it's just the most HR-coded language possible to bully somebody. So while I was appointed, of course, interim county judge for a little bit of background on April 10th. I actually got to have him on one of our afternoon shows. Great guy, very energetic, very fun, very focused on fixing a lot of the crises going on in Fort Band County. The appointment was made under section 87.017 of the Texas Local Government Code, which allows a district judge to temporarily suspend an officer and appoint another person to perform the duties of the office while a removal case is pending. According to the Fort Band County Democratic Party, the legal basis for Wong's appointment ended on June 17th when the plaintiff in the civil removal case filed a notice of non suit, dismissing all claims against George. The party argues that because Wong's appointment was tied to the pending civil removal lawsuit, the dismissal of that lawsuit automatically dissolved the interlocutory of order that appointed him. The Democratic Party further points to a June 16th order signed in the 458th Judicial District Court, suspending George from office without pay, pending the appeal of his felony convictions. Under the party's interpretation of state law and relevant court precedent, Wong's temporary appointment expired on June 17th when the notice of non suit was filed. During an interview, President said the dismissal of the civil lawsuit eliminated the legal foundation. He said when the case was withdrawn and non-suited, that means the interim appointment went away. That's the gist of it. It went away. He no longer has the authority to be the interim county judge. That expired on June 17th. And the important part for us is that any action that he tries to take or is taken since June 17th can now be brought into question. So we want to sort of rectify the situation right now. Now, Wong, however, has come out and has rejected claims that his appointment has expired and maintains that he remains the lawful county judge. He said, County judge Daniel Wong continues to be the county judge for Fort Bend County. His appointment remains in effect, and County Judge Wong will continue to serve the people and execute the duties of the office. Contrary to those who are now trying to sow division and chaos, Judge Wong remains committed to doing what is best for Fort Bend County. And so this kind of sets up a potential legal and procedural battle over who has authority to preside over county government until a permanent replacement is selected. Statement from the county attorney, uh, here's what she said quote The temporary appointment of former interim Fort Bank County Judge Daniel Wong, arising from case number twenty-five DCB, and then it's a long number, has concluded. Mr. Wong was appointed as interim county judge on April 10th and has served Four Bank County pursuant to that appointment. On June 17th, the district judge signed an order of non-suit disposing of all matters in controversy. This order officially concluded the litigation and dissolved the temporary appointment. Consequently, Mr. Wong no longer possesses the legal authority to act as county judge. Currently, there are only four lawfully seated members of the commissioner's court, the elected precinct commissioners. Because these four members constitute a legal quorum, the court can and should proceed with county business without a presiding county judge. Mr. Wong cannot legally participate in commissioner's court meetings or hold himself out as the current judge unless he secures and presents a new active court order. To date, no such order has been delivered to the county. The guidance from this office is entirely based on Texas law, free from partisan politics. It would be irresponsible for the county to ignore the existence of the nonsuit, which could expose the county to unnecessary risk. After seeing that statement, Wong Seam also put out their own new statement The County Attorney's opinion cites no section of Texas law and carries no weight whatsoever. County Judge Daniel Wong is the county judge. In accordance with the Texas Constitution and state laws, Judge Wong will continue to execute his lawful duties and faithfully represent the people of Fort Bank County. The only unnecessary risk we are seeing is from the actions of the county attorney and her meritless and partisan press release. The county attorney provided the public with the order which judge put Judge Wong in office, and she cites no document that actively removes him. In other words, the argument from the county judge is, well, the original order that that made it necessary for you to be the county judge interim is gone. So you're not. And the argument from the interim county judge says, but I'm in there now. You can't just say, well, the original background for the lawsuit ended, therefore your appointment ends. That's not how it works. You need a new court order to actively remove me. You don't just get to say, well, that lawsuit ended, so it's just automatically over. If you're gonna do that, then you have to cite active course court precedent for why that happens. We've not seen that happen in any other case. To be fair, we don't actually have the court precedent because we haven't seen another case quite like this one. It's not often that you have a county judge suspended, an interim put in by a judge around a specific lawsuit pertaining to that other county judge, even after he's been removed separately. It's it's a whole procedural and bureaucratic mess. And so there's not really, I'm gonna be completely honest, and this isn't anti-Daniel Wong at all. I hope he's right. But there's not really the court president to say that he is. There's also not the court president to say that he's wrong, which means that as common sense logic would proceed, if we want to be logical about this, the common sense way to do this is to say that we keep the status quo, which is he's the interim county judge, and we take it specifically to court to set the precedent so that we are fair, so that we don't have any if because I I understand the argument for unnecessary risk. If the non-suits filed and all these things, you could open yourself up to future litigation. And if you search for the next, say, three months, well, those three months of of decisions could be reversed, and then contracts get voided, and then they sue. It could be a disastrous mess. I totally get that. It could also be a disastrous mess if you do the opposite. You remove the interim county judge, and the court president finds in the future that you shouldn't have done that, and then those three months of things being presided by this commissioner Grady, those could be brought into question. Either way, you're taking on unnecessary risk if you don't just take it before a judge. You just need to take it to court and find out what the answer is. That's what you're gonna have to do. This is going to have to go to court to battle it out. And we'll we'll see the conclusion of that. We don't really have an answer until then because we don't know. We can't, we can't, we can't do that. Now, do I largely think that Daniel Wong's point makes more sense? Of course I do. I think it makes and it's not a partisan reason that I believe that. Of course I think it makes more sense. I would say the same thing if it was a Lena Hidalgo situation and she was in trim. I I despise Lena Hidalgo's policy decisions, but I can still sit here and say that that's the status quo. You don't just remove the old suit, have no county judge, and assume a commissioner would take it and remove somebody that was lawfully appointed. You have to have a process to do that. The process can't just be, well, we don't want him anymore. You you have to do something. So either way, I would stand in defense of status quo, because that's what you have. That's how law works. You proceed with what you're already doing that was lawful until it's determined it's not. You don't just say it's not based on no court precedent or actual law, which is what they're trying to do because they don't like Daniel Wong. So we'll see where it goes from here. I I again, this is the issue with blatant bureaucracy. This is also the issue, and I've said this before, this is all created because of KB George. This is not Daniel Wong's fault, this isn't even the other commissioner's fault or the county attorney's fault, though they're participating now in partisan politics. This is the fault of KP George. The only reason we need an interim county judge is because KP George couldn't act in uprightness and righteousness and acted with ill intent and broke the law. That's the reason this all exists as an issue in the first place. Which is why I've consistently said, you know, one of the one of the things that should come with the justice of KP George's sentencing should have been that he is voided from running for office again. That he has lost the privilege to be an elected official in the United States of America. That should have been a part of the case. That should have been a demand from the prosecutors to say, hey, you're no longer trustworthy. Not just because what you did was wrong, though that alone would have been enough, but look at the messes this leaves behind. Now we have possible lawsuits and risk and county failures and disorganized chaos and dissension. All because even if we didn't like you and prefer somebody else, it's not beneficial because you were the one elected and you threw it away in the garbage. That's the issue. And we don't want people like that ever having any sort of, even if it's representative authority, any level of authority in our country whatsoever. That needs to be completely taken away. That needs to be completely changed. No one like that should be able to run for office. That should be an automatic disqualifier from serving the people. Period. That that's as simple as it gets. So what's the conclusion, ladies and gentlemen? The conclusion is uh our county judges should not commit crimes and felonies and break campaign law. And also stop assuming you can interpret the law yourself as a county attorney and take it to court. If you have an issue, take it before a judge and do get out and find the appropriate conclusion so that you don't take on any unnecessary risk. If that's your primary concern, then either way you could be taking on risk. That's just the facts of the case, and you need to address those concerns. You have to. Otherwise, you are taking on the unnecessary risk that you're claiming you care so much about. With that being said, we get back from the break. We'll jump over top of the State Board of Education that is now giving this preliminary approval to a new reading list for the state of Texas. Uh the list passed in a 9 to 5 preliminary vote with a final vote slated for tomorrow, uh, which of course I won't be able to give you the update tomorrow because it won't be before 8 a.m. So you won't get an update. But come Monday, I'm sure that we'll have all those details and I'll probably present that on Monday during the morning show. But in the meantime, we'll go over the preliminary vote, what the reading list is, what that looks like, and our expectations, even though they're just guesses, they're pretty educated guesses for what we expect to come out of tomorrow in that finalized vote. All that coming up after the break. In the meantime, if you would like to let us know your thoughts, disagreements, concerns, maybe a point, you know, maybe you're a lawyer and you say, hey, I actually know a lot about this Daniel Wong situation, text in and let us know. It's 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 will return right after the break. So hang tight and we'll talk soon.

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SPEAKER_15 1:29:19

This new

Texas Reading List Vote And Bible Debate

SPEAKER_15 1:29:20

list will determine the titles that kids enrolled in government schools are now required to read. The reading list focuses on classic literature, U.S. and Texas history, and includes some passages from the Bible. The new required reading list is a result of House Bill 1605 passed a few years ago, which overhauled how instructional materials are approved and reviewed in Texas government schools and mandated the creation of a required reading and vocabulary list. The Texas Public Policy Foundation reports that the list not only seeks to teach literacy and literacy skills, but also to build students' knowledge of the world, especially America, because this is our heritage in our country. During public testimony, several individuals, critical of the reading list, argued that it exclusively favors Christianity and underrepresents several cultures, thus undermining American history. Because obviously, if you want to study American history, you have to know all about some random third world country that we don't care about at all. Those in support of the new standards and reading list highlighted its rigor, use of biblical references in a culturally and historically relevant manner, and preservation of both classical Western literature and American founding documents for civic literacy and moral formation. Service Salman Bojani, you can probably guess his party affiliation, just by the name, just not, you know, being problem. I'm just saying that's probably true. He's a Democrat. He protested the list and argued it exceeds what the legislature authorized. State Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey provided clarity, noting that HB 1605 only set minimum requirements, meaning the proposed reading list is still within the board's legislative and statutory authority. Now, during the board's discussion on the list, multiple amendments were suggested to delete titles, move them to a different grade level, or fix technical formation. Mary Elizabeth Castle, director of government relations for Texas Values, provided real-time updates of changes made to the reading list. Among the changes proposed was an amendment by State Board of Education Member Pam Little to remove You Are Special by Max Lakato. She argued that the title would promote bullying in schools. State Board of Education Member Kevin Ellis argued that the book would do the opposite, and the book remained on the list. Limit Little also proposed the striking of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost and Noah's Ark. Noah's Ark was removed along with a Catholic tale of St. George and the Dragon. The Road Not Taken was originally struck from the list, but was later moved instead of being stricken, stricken from the list from fourth grade to seventh grade. State Board of Education member Stacey Childs, a Democrat from here in Houston, proposed an amendment to remove several titles, including The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Little Red Hen, because they were edited by political commentator William Bennett, which means they must be bad automatically. Castle boarded this was due to a testifier the day before we testified about Bennett's political background and his possible financial benefit for adopting these. Childs withdrew her amendment, but Castle posted that it seems there will be research done to find similar titles from different publishers. After the amendments were made, the reading list, including the Bible references, passed in a 9 to 5 preliminary vote, and a vote for final approval will be taken on Friday. Now, a few of the things that I want to say is, and this is something that I've I've long had an issue with progressivism for, is that they they do this thing where they can't it's so funny. It's it's it's so blatantly illogical, it's not even funny. They can't understand that Christianity as more than just a religious ethos, as more than just theology, is also historically part of our country. I I mean, on top of the fact that it is objectively true, which is a separate discussion that we should have anyway, but on top of that, it's also historically relevant. Even if even if you're not a Christian, and even if you're a Thomas Jefferson type, uh that or a Richard Dawkins type, who has now come out in favor of what he calls cultural Christianity and the ethics of the Bible. Even in those cases, you have to understand that that Christianity is fundamentally tied into the founding of our country and really the founding of Western civilization as a as a whole for the past 2,000 years. Since the death of Christ, it has quickly expanded in the first few hundred years of the church and has taken the Western side of the world by storm. I mean, just absolutely insane how it worked. And so when you look at Western history, you can't actually study anything related to Western history without acknowledging the biblical formation of those countries and their heritage. You can't do it. And so whenever I hear leftists complaining that the Bible is being used as instructional material, I would argue two different things at the same time. I would say not only, even if it wasn't a part of our heritage, should we teach it because it's objectively true, but it's also historically accurate. And so you can't you cannot accurately teach the history of America, the history of our country, or the history of where our country came from in terms of just Western civilization as a whole in Europe, without teaching Christian doctrine. You can't do it. You would be leaving out 80% or more of our history. It would be it would be impossible to accurately teach history while ignoring and this is a lot of why when I talk about how history's been become a kind of a bored subject for a lot of people, I've said before, it's kind of actually very, very sad and disappointing that it has, because history is one of the coolest subjects to study. It is one of the most fascinating topics you can devote time to because of how much you learn, how it expands your critical thinking, your perspectives, your judgment, your ability to, I don't want to say see the future in some weird prophetic sense, but to see patterns and understand what they mean and what that looks like. You have to study history. And history has been turned in the government schools into a who can memorize numbers the fastest and and recall them the best. That's a very terrible way to study history. It is very unfortunate that that's how our country decided to teach history in the modern day. A lot of the reason for that, I would argue, is because they didn't want Christianity in there. If you take out all the Christian stuff from history, all you're really left with are dates and specific events. If you can't give a justification for the events and teach the story, which is what you have to take out. If you take out Christianity, you're taking out the reason for the events and the story, then all you're left with are events and dates. And so of course that's what we teach now. And it's frustrating because it means that students are not interested in history, they don't learn patterns, they don't understand, and it it seems like there's this intentional intentional rejection of Christianity so wholesale that they they can't even accurately teach real subjects because to do so would be to teach Christian doctrine and truth. And so of course they need to take those things out. So any leftist that's really mad that we're teaching Bible passages, uh, be aware that they are culturally and historically relevant. On the fact that we should be teaching them anyway, even if you lose that argument. For the sake of argument, saying, No, we're not teaching religion at all. Well, you're not teaching religion, you're teaching history. And history requires you to understand the intentions and the motives and the determining factors and the claims of the founders. How many is providence used or God? All of these things are essential to not only our faith, but to our understanding of our our own heritage and our country and why we set up ourselves the way that we did. And so it's it's it's very important that we have these things. Same thing with all these books. We want to remove Noah's Ark. Why? Our founders believed in Noah's Ark. We understood why God destroyed the world. We understood what the rainbow was actually supposed to be for. Those are things that kids should learn. They should certainly learn about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. That is a historical event. It's not just biblical, it's just objectively true. And I know that that again this rejects the mainstream consensus of macroevolution and billions of years and how the Grand Canyon was formed through billions of years of just random acts coming together to create these things, men meteor showers over billions of and so it rejects those things. But those things that's because those things are not historically accurate and there's no evidence for them, other than starting with consensus and then moving into evidence. They start with, it's like the Reddit post I saw the other day where the guy says, Hey, I know that pregnancy crisis centers are bad. I just don't know why. Well, then how do you know they're bad? You assume it because that's the mainstream consensus of the left. That's the same thing with macroevolution. It's just they start with, I don't believe in God, so there has to be another answer. And then they start to say, well, here's how the evidence could align with my theory. Um and so that's what they're doing in the government schools. Hopefully this gets passed, and hopefully they keep as many historical literature books as they can, and they do add the Bible passages in it, the final vote tomorrow. I do expect that to be the outcome, that they'll probably just approve what they've already really approved. Uh, but I'm sure that we'll talk more about that on Monday. With that being said, to wrap up the show, to talk about this Texas Senate hearing, we'll talk about what was kind of dominating the conversation in the Senate hearing. It was an hour-long committee hearing where Texas senators were questioning policy experts and officials on issues like proxy advisory firms, influence over ESG and DEI decisions, enforcement gap in Texas voter registration system, and shortfalls in enforcing the state's abortion pill ban. We'll talk about that meeting after the break. This will be the final segment. If you'd like to text in, the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative, and Lord willing to be back to wrap up the morning show with that Senate hearing after this last break. So text in, tune in, and we'll be right back.

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SPEAKER_15 1:42:54

Chairman

Senate Hearing On ESG Voting And Enforcement

SPEAKER_15 1:42:55

Brian Hughes of the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee opened the hearing by outlining the committee's concern that proxy advisory firms created to give companies neutral guidance on shareholder votes have increasingly pushed political and ideological positions rather than financial ones. And so Texas, according to Brian Hughes, is trying to rein that in. So that requires this new Senate bill, requires proxy advisors to disclose when their voting recommendations are based on nonfinancial factors like ESG or DEI considerations. But the senators expressed deployment in the firm's refusal to show up and raise the possibility of issuing subpoenas to compel them to appear. Quote, the fact they're not here speaks volumes to what their position is. If we're going to question if your motives are clear and fair and justifiable, and then you don't show up, it just doesn't speak well to what your position is. That's a coming out from Paul Betancourt from Houston. And so they also went over a lot of other things. The state elections division with voter registration, making sure that they're trying to fix the issue of people who are voting who shouldn't be voting in certain elections. Betancourt offered an example of Harris County having verified approximately 1,700 registered voters, uh, though the state team system shows 80, 8181,000. So big, big issues there that we don't have time to get into. Uh they went into other things like the abortion pill as well, but it kind of again shows you the direction the Republican Party is moving, which I think is very important to address. We don't have as much time as I wanted to give this story here on the show, but I wanted to bring it to you anyway, just to give you a basic understanding of what our committees are already starting to prepare for, from election security to continued DEI in the workplace to the abortion issue. Those are big topics. Uh they're obviously all under the banner of the 10 planks, the 10 not planks, but priorities of the Republican Party of Texas. So it's important that we address those things, that we make better laws, and that we're able to enforce them. I know you heard it's on ongoing litigation. Texas needs to take a stand and take our sovereignty back and saying we're not gonna let judges tell us that we can't do our job. Okay, that's not what you get to do. We're the states, and unless the Constitution says we can't do this, we're doing it, and you can, again, sue us for it. Vended over

Final Thoughts And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_15 1:45:10

the show today. I want to thank everyone for tuning in, texting in, being a part of the show. As always, it was a pleasure to have you here with us this fine Thursday morning. Lord Elima back bright and early tomorrow at 6 a.m. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your Thursday and Godspeed.