Texas Bans College Criticism of Jews

Texas issued this Executive Order:

WHEREAS, Texas will continue to stand with Israel and support our Jewish neighbors in Texas; ...

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, hereby direct all Texas higher education institutions to do the following:

1 . Review and update free speech policies to address the sharp rise in antisemitic speech and acts on university campuses and establish appropriate punishments, including expulsion from the institution.

2. Ensure that these policies are being enforced on campuses and that groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine are disciplined for violating these policies.

3. Include the definition of antisemitism, adopted by the State of Texas in Section 448.001 of the Texas Government Code, in university free speech policies to guide university personnel and students on what constitutes antisemitic speech

That refers to this definition of antisemitism:

Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to: ...

especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions. ...

Accusing the Jews ... of ... exaggerating the Holocaust.

claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor. ...

Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

There probably is a sharp rise in Texas students comparing Israel to the Nazis. Aren't the students entitled to their opinions?

Why would the Texas governor do this? Texas Jews do not vote Republican. Neither do Texas Rrabs. Apparently the Jews have a lot of power over the governor's office. Except that saying that could get this blog banned at Texas colleges.

The Jews do not need this. They can defend Israel's war in Gaza on the merits.

Electric Vehicles still not Economical

The Texas Public Policy Foundation released this report:

Setting aside some of the questionable assumptions used in deriving such favorable economics for EVs, no one has attempted to calculate the full financial benefit of the wide array of direct subsidies, regulatory credits, and subsidized infrastructure that contribute to the economic viability of EVs. In this paper, we show that the average model year (MY) 2021 EV would cost $48,698 more to own over a 10-year period without $22 billion in government favors given to EV manufacturers and owners.

EV advocates claim that the cost of electricity for EV owners is equal to $1.21 per gallon of gasoline (Edison Electric Institute, 2021), but the cost of charging equipment and charging losses, averaged out over 10 years and 120,000 miles, is $1.38 per gallon equivalent on top of that. Adding the costs of the subsidies to the true cost of fueling an EV would equate to an EV owner paying $17.33 per gallon of gasoline.

If this is true, electric vehicles (EV) are being propped up by subsidies.

The EVs continue to be a big disappointment for Detroit car makers. They are nowhere close to making their sales estimates.

The Last of Us, Not Infected

The hot tv show is the Disney/HBO/Canadian The Last of Us.

It is based on a video game about some parasitic infection like Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite hijacks the brain and turns people into zombies.

The real lifs T. gondii is spread by cats and affects the behavior of animals, and makes people sick. There appears to be some debate over whether having cats causes people to become feline slaves.

After reading about this disease, I would not live in a house with a cat. Of course cat owners, once infected, say that they are happy to have their minds controlled by a cat parasite.

The show seems to be a metaphor for how woke disease is spreading all over the human race, controlling their behavior, and turning them into zombies.

The potential savior in the show is an infected virgin girl I don't think that they are allowed to extol virginity or moral purity on tv anymore, so she is a lesbian.

I do think that wokeness is like a mind-altering infectious parasite. Once infected, people are no longer capable of rational conversation.

Texas makes it a Felony to Pay for Sex

I previously posted:

I am convinced that legal trends will result in legalized prostitution.

Texas is bucking the trend:

On Sept. 1, Texas will become the first state in the country where paying for sex will be a felony offense. The new law, HB1540, was passed unanimously and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in June.

Proponents say the law is designed to crack down on so-called "johns" who pay for sex. Additionally, they say it shifts punitive blame away from those engaged in prostitution, many of whom are often victims of trafficking. ...

Those involved in human trafficking support the new law.

They mean that those opposing human trafficking support the new law.

If you believe that consensual sexual activity should be regulated by the state, in the form of marriage and related laws, then prohibiting prostitution makes sense. If you believe in migrating toward a matriarchal society, then you might want to punish the male customers, instead of the female vendors.oo

This is like harshly punishing drug addicts, and not illegal drug dealers.

We live in a world that increasingly blames men for consensual sexual behavior. NY Gov. Cuomo had to resign for flirtation that no one had complained about at the time. Harvey Weinstein is in prison for a consensual sexual affair. Bill Cosby just got out of prison for it.

Today's lame denials

Here are some lame denials in the news today. Yahoo reports:

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said Wednesday the fire was not set on purpose.

“We did not intentionally burn down that cabin to get Mr. Dorner out,” he said.

No, I assumed that they intentionally burned down the cabin in order to kill Dorner. If there was ever a perp that the LA cops did not want to take alive, it was Dorner. But maybe no reward:

LA’s mayor offered the hefty sum for the “capture and conviction” of Dorner. But, since he was presumably killed in Tuesday night’s fire it would be nearly impossible to convict him.

Now there is a lame technicality. The tip did lead to the cops getting their man.

The NY Times was busted wtih a fake car review:

Broder emails regarding the Musk charge that "While the vast majority of journalists are honest, some believe the facts shouldn’t get in the way of a salacious story."

We're preparing a detailed response to the factual assertions in Mr. Musk's post, but I don't think we're going to respond to these and other ad hominem attacks.

Ah hominem? Broder is the one who wrote the false and nasty review. Musk just told the facts.

A supremacist judge complains:

The governor has been criticizing what he calls “the prison lobby” that profits from lawsuits filed against the state over substandard conditions in state prisons.

The administration said in a court filing last month that special master Matthew Lopes may be requiring the state to meet more strin­gent requirements as a way to ensure that “this revenue stream will continue.”

U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacra­mento ordered the state to consider withdrawing what he called “a smear.”

“Defendants’ attack con­sists of a raw assertion of unethical conduct, with no supporting evidence nor even any hint that defen­dants actually believe the attack they make,” Karlton wrote. He added later that “the court can only be dis­mayed by the cavalier man­ner in which defendants ... level a smear against the character and reputation of the Special Master.”

He said he takes legitimate allegations of unethical con­duct seriously, but suggested the administration’s filing may violate a court rule that allows sanctions for court filings that are intended to harass or are without any evidence.

Karlton gave the admin­­istration until next week to withdraw the assertion or show why he should not strike it from the court record.

No, it is not a smear to say that the prison lobby profits from these lawsuits, and judge Karlton would recognize that if he were acting ethically. He is acting defensive because he has no good excuse for sticking his nose where it does not belong.

I knew that it was unethical for marriage counselors to seduce their clients, but I just learned that it is a crime in Texas:

A marriage counselor in Texas is on trial for allegedly using a couple’s therapy sessions to convince the husband to have sex with her. She is being charged with sexual assault.

Sheila Loven, 45, was a counselor for an Arlington couple who was having marital difficulties. After advising them to begin attending counseling sessions separately, she and the husband began having sex.

Ultimately she convinced the husband it was best to get a divorce, what with them sleeping together and all. ...

Loven’s attorney said the relationship was real and came from romance. He claims that there was no emotional coercion.

“It had all the elements of any other romantic relationship. They went out at nightclubs and dinner, and they spent almost every night together. What you will not see in this case is any evidence of manipulation,” attorney Adam Burny said.

No, it did not have all the elements. It was missing marriage, honest disclosure, unpaid dating, and the lack of home-wrecking manipulation.

Convicted man has alibi

The Houston Texas newspaper reports:

Sentenced to life in prison in November for armed robbery, LaDondrell Montgomery insisted he was not the shadowy figure on surveillance video. He swore the eyewitness identifying him were flat wrong.

If only the 36-year-old habitual offender had an alibi. If only he could remember exactly where he was that day of the robbery.

A week after jurors sentenced Montgomery, his attorney was researching the felon's lengthy rap sheet.

In that file was a report that had details about a 2009 arrest and an iron-clad alibi: He was in jail.

Released from custody about nine hours after the December 13, 2009 crime, Montgomery was actually innocent.

The judge's excuse is, "Both sides in this case were spectacularly incompetent." Maybe so, but the judge failed to give the man a fair trial.

No more last meals in Texas

Texas has ended the last meal:

Before Mr. Brewer was executed by lethal injection in the Huntsville Unit on Wednesday, he was given the last meal of his request: two chicken-fried steaks with gravy and sliced onions; a triple-patty bacon cheeseburger; a cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapeños; a bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecued meat with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas; a meat-lover’s pizza; one pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream; a slab of peanut-butter fudge with crushed peanuts; and three root beers.

The meal outraged State Senator John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. In a phone call and letter to the executive director of the state prison agency, Mr. Whitmire asked that the agency end the practice of last meals or he would get the State Legislature to pass a bill doing so.

I am all in favor of executing the creep, but every man should eat a meal like that at least once in his life. Denying this last meal is like denying a last confession.

Texas tries to justify its raid

Here is how the Texas CPS justifies seizing kids from the FLDS YZR. In its own brief before the Texas Supreme Court, it cites its own experts:

Angie Voss, supervisory investigator of the Department... The girls refused to answer questions ... The children gave no explanation ...

Ms. Voss testified it would not be safe for "any child to return to the ranch" because the adults on the ranch expressed that they "aren't doing anything harmful to their children", and that the "practice of children being united and having children is part of their culture and belief system".

Dr. Bruce Duncan Perry is a child psychiatrist who specializes in child maltreatment and child development. ... Dr. Perry testified that when you are raised in an environment where it is a blessing to have children and to be compliant to your father and the prophet, free choice is not really possible.

I think that it is clear that the authorities want to shut down the cult for its beliefs. If they could prove criminal charges, then they would do so, and skip these other bogus arguments.

Don't-mess-with-Texas justice

Texas news:

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Darrell Roberson came home from a card game late one night to find his wife rolling around with another man in a pickup truck in the driveway.

Caught in the act with her lover, Tracy Denise Roberson -- thinking quickly, if not clearly -- cried rape, authorities say. Her husband pulled a gun and killed the other man with a shot to the head.

On Thursday, a grand jury handed up a manslaughter indictment against the wife, not the husband.

In a case likely to reinforce the state's reputation for don't-mess-with-Texas justice, the grand jury declined to charge the husband with murder, the charge on which he was arrested by police.

Wow, a woman might actually suffer an adverse consequence to making a false rape charge. Besides her lover getting shot, that is.