Satsuma Zed Texas Public

Crypto backer Rep. Brandon Gill violated STOCK Act with Bitcoin trades - OpenSecrets News Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), a first-term House member bent on placing President Donald Trump’s face on the $100 bill, appears…

OpenSecrets reports today that Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), who represents a Dallas-area House district, recently violated the STOCK Act by failing to properly report two Bitcoin transactions that were collectively worth as much as $500,000.

www.opensecrets.org/news/2025/06...

A photo from a GoSanAngelo article showing police stopping a car from going down a street toward the Blue Bonnet Detention Center. A confederate flag can be seen in the background.

Earlier this week, a group of protesters gathered outside of the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas. Protesters alleged mistreatment and violation of due process of immigrants held there. Incidentally, the detention center is down the street from a home with the Confederate flag outside

Conspiracies About Furries in Schools Got Laughs. The Texas Lege Is Taking Them Dead Seriously. Is “radical” furry culture taking over Texas public schools? One lawmaker says: Maybe, I’m not sure, but let’s ban it just in case.

Does licking Cheeto dust off your fingers count as a "non-human behavior" since it's kinda like how cats groom? A Texas lawmaker trying to ban furries, litter boxes and "non-human" behavior in schools says no, that's fine. But he still can't cite a single confirmed incident to justify his bill:

In Tarrant County, considered a Texas bellwether, the Tarrant GOP's endorsements went 0-11 in the county's three largest cities. Includes councils, schools, juco and Keller ISD, which is mostly in FW. The GOP was 0-5 in David Cook's Mansfield, where Allen West headlined a rally #txlege

One point that's going to get lost in the discussion of #SCOTUS's intervention in the Alien Enemy Act case:

This is the *value* of nationwide injunctions. Without them, you have to go district by district, and the government can try to play games by moving people to districts without relief (yet).

The Trump administration has just filed the response brief the Supreme Court ordered late last night:

www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...

I expect the ACLU will file a reply, at which point the ball will be back in the Supreme Court's ... court.

When we were finalizing this report I thought that one of two things would happen. Either a racist fascist would be held accountable, or the Trump administration would reveal what they're willing to tolerate.

Hundreds of veterans can be fired quickly, but not this guy? I think we have our answer.

Since Trump has claimed Elon doesn’t run DOGE, we wanted to make sure you know who is running our government. This list has been updated with 15 names.

El Capitan displays a massive American flag upside down—the traditional signal of distress or extreme emergency.

ICE attorney in Dallas accused in complaint of allegedly making "racist, bigoted, xenophobic, hateful" posts on X The Texas Observer claims it has identified James Rodden as an attorney employed by ICE who has allegedly posted racist content on an X account.

ICE attorney in Dallas accused in complaint of allegedly making "racist, bigoted, xenophobic, hateful" posts on X

www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-att...

Texas courts blocking jury trials for 30,000 victims of 2021 winter storm Four years later after a devastating winter storm swept through Texas, not a single witness deposition has been taken and not a single case has been set for...

AAAAaaaaaahhhhhHHHHHHHHHH

Texas courts blocking jury trials for 30,000 victims of 2021 winter storm: Legal experts predict that none of those cases will ever be heard by a jury of Texas citizens.

www.dallasnews.com/business/202...

ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account The Observer has identified the operator of “GlomarResponder,” an overtly racist social media account, as ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James Rodden, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.

REVEALED: we identified the operator of an overtly racist X account, "GlomarResponder," as ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James Rodden, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT No. 25-5028 September Term, 2024 1:25-cv-00385-ABJ Filed On: February 15, 2025 Hampton Dellinger, in his personal capacity and in his official capacity as Special Counsel of the Office of Special Counsel, Appellee V. Scott Bessent, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Treasury, et al., Appellants BEFORE: Katsas*, Childs, and Pan, Circuit Judges ORDER Upon consideration of the emergency motion for stay and the opposition thereto, it is ORDERED that this appeal be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, the emergency motion for stay be dismissed as moot, and the alternative request for mandamus relief be denied. This case comes before the court on the government's appeal of a temporary restraining order ("TRO") entered by the district court on February 12, 2025, and the government's request that we stay the TRO pending resolution of the appeal. The TRO mandates that Hampton Dellinger "continue to serve as the Special Counsel of the Office of Special Counsel," even though the President, acting through the Presidential Personnel Office, sought to remove Dellinger from that position on February 7, 2025. Order Granting TRO, Dellinger v. Bessent, 25-cv-385 (ABJ), at 26 (D.D.C. Feb. 12, 2025), ECF No. 14. The TRO is in place for only fourteen days, until February 26, 2025, when the district court will hold a hearing on Dellinger's motion for a preliminary injunction. If granted, a preliminary injunction would extend relief through the pendency of the case, i.e., until the case is resolved on the merits.

Although a TRO ordinarily is not an appealable order, the government asks us to make an exception and hear its appeal because the TRO "works an extraordinary harm" and is set to last for fourteen days. Stay Mot. 8-9. Alternatively, the government requests that we construe its stay motion as a petition for a writ of mandamus and grant the petition, which would have the effect of reversing the TRO. The government filed its appeal and stay motion on the evening of February 12, 2025, and requested a ruling from this court within two days, by noon on February 14, 2025, so that the Acting Solicitor General "has the opportunity to seek expeditious review from the Supreme Court if this Court denies relief." Id. at 3. The relief requested by the government is a sharp departure from established procedures that balance and protect the interests of litigants, and ensure the orderly consideration of cases before the district court and this court. … the normal course would be for us to wait for the district court to issue a ruling on the preliminary injunction, which would be immediately appealable. Indeed, many of the issues raised in the stay motion will be addressed by the district court at the preliminary-injunction hearing on February 26, 2025. The district court has promised to issue its preliminary-injunction ruling with "extreme expedition." Moreover, that ruling will rest upon a more complete record for our review, and an appeal of the preliminary-injunction decision will not require us to act within the fourteen-day lifespan of a TRO, in a case that raises weighty constitutional Issues. Because it would be inconsistent with governing legal standards and ill-advised to hold that a TRO is appealable based solely on unsubstantiated claims of "extraordinary harm" for fourteen days, we decline to treat the TRO as an appealable injunction. … We therefore dismiss the appeal, dismiss the stay motion as moot, and deny the petition for a writ of mandamus.

KATSAS, Circuit Judge, dissenting: The President removed Hampton Dellinger from his position as Special Counsel, the sole head of a federal agency that wields executive power in prosecuting enforcement actions before the Merit Systems Protection Board. The district court then ordered the President to recognize Dellinger as the agency head for two weeks. Despite the limited duration of that order, I would stay it immediately. As explained below, the President is immune from injunctions directing the performance of his official duties, and Article Il of the Constitution grants him the power to remove agency heads.

BREAKING: On a 2-1 vote, the DC Circuit rejects the Trump administration’s request that Trump be allowed to immediately fire Hampton Dellinger, the head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. DOJ asked the appeals court to stay a TRO, which the majority notes would be a “sharp departure” from norms.

My colleague @francescadnunz.bsky.social got some records back from a request to the Texas Department of Safety for emails that included any of the names of Texas Observer reporters. One of the emails she got indicates that Texas DPS has been monitoring my tweets. See the email and my tweet below

With up to 2" of snow and sleet expected for Austin on Monday night/Tuesday morning, here are the 5 biggest snow events the city has seen in 50 years:
January 1985: 7.5
February 2021: 6.4"
November 1980: 2"
January 1982: 2"
February 2004: 1.6"

#FOIA Fun: A lot of Qs have been raised this week about how Texas lawmakers make and spend their money.

Best place to start is with annual personal financial statements. Here are the latest (from mid-2024) for all 181 Texas House and Senate members.

www.documentcloud.org/projects/220... #txlege

Donald Trump has promised to restart workplace immigration raids. How may that happen? Presidents from both parties have raided businesses alleged to have hired people who are in the country without legal status. Here’s what we know about how they may work under a second Trump administr...

Will Donald Trump order workplace immigration raids on Day One of his administration? Where might they occur? What happens to workers, and employers, who get raided?

@stellamchavez.bsky.social answers these questions and more in our next immigration EXPLAINER. 👀

www.keranews.org/news/2025-01...

The Contrarian, the new media outlet from Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen, can be found here:

contrariannews.bsky.social

Black Sci-Fi Writer Octavia Butler Predicted The Dystopia of the LA Fires By Studying History This week, her hometown of Pasadena has seen at least 5 killed, and 5 schools burned to ash.

my latest @teenvogue.bsky.social

my heart broke watching Pasadena, Octavia Butler's hometown, where her middle school is named for her, burn. 5 schools have been damaged.

"Octavia knew"—so did Mike Davis—from studying history. denialism and targeting libraries got us here. what will we do?

Talked with Rep. Veronica Escobar, who opposed the Laken Riley Act, about why so many Dems caved and supported it. Among the answers...

Capitol Hill. January 6, 2025.

🤔🧐

This. 👇

Tell Blaise to get himself on here 😏

@aaron-torres.bsky.social
(Dallas Morning News)

@nolandmccaskill.bsky.social
(Dallas Morning News)

Might consider Chris Tomlinson (Houston Chronicle, primarily business commentary but often tied to Texas politics and culture)

The Reunion. Via @mstodaynews

#JimmyCarter #RosalynnCarter

RIP Jimmy Carter

At risk of repeating myself: The Luddites weren’t against technology. They were against getting put out of work by a technology that did a version of their job faster but worse, in the service of increasing profits for their bosses.

well