AUDIO:
POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTETEXAS.GOV—Voter Information; The January 6 Committee hearings. Not to do an analysis; Pearland could soon outlaw entering into business contracts with current council members; State Rep. Dan Huberty unveils gun violence proposals at Kingwood address; Two candidates remain in search for Harris County elections administrator; No, Texas can’t legally secede from the U.S., despite popular myth; Out With Oklahoma Flag; Cherokee Nation Flag Takes Prominence On Its Reservation; A Russian journalist sold his Nobel to help Ukrainian kids – the $103M price shattered records; Romania Sees an Opening to Become an Energy Power in Europe; More.
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- MIKE: We’re going to break out usual sequence here to discuss the “Elephant” in the room: The January 6 Committee hearings. Not to do an analysis of the information released so far, but a question I hear a lot: “Why should I care if they’re not going to refer to the DoJ for charges?” Or, “Why isn’t the committee going to refer people to the DoJ for charges?” So, two flavors of the same question.
- Will the committee pursue charges? Can they?
- So, what’s the point?
- When will DoJ act?
- Outcomes:
- Merrick Garland has already dropped a few hints about ongoing investigations; that he follows every word of every hearing; that the “January 6th Prosecutors” are also following every word of every hearing.
- DoJ has requested ‘work product’ of the committee. The committee has allowed DoJ personnel to see some documents ‘in camera’. The DoJ has requested all the committee’s findings, but they won’t turn it over until July, after the hearings. There are a couple of possible rationale’s for this from the committee’s POV.
- REFERENCE: ‘What the F-ck Is This?’: Team Trump Blindsided by Jan. 6 Committee Getting Doc Footage; Former administration and campaign officials tell Rolling Stone they had no idea a film crew had months of access to the former president and his family. By Nikki McCann Ramirez & Asawin Suebsaeng | ROLLINGSTONE.COM | June 21, 2022, 11:30AM ET
- Pearland could soon outlaw entering into business contracts with current council members; By Andy Yanez | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 6:00 AM Jun 16, 2022 CDT | Updated 1:32 PM Jun 16, 2022 CDT
- Current Pearland City Council members, and any business entity they have a substantial interest in, could soon be barred from entering into contracts with the city.
- Pearland City Council at its June 13 regular meeting passed in a 4-1 vote the first reading of an ordinance that would restrict the city from agreeing to contracts with current council members and any business entity in which that person has a substantial interest, if approved in the second reading. …
- The amendment to the ethics ordinance is not official until the passing of the second reading, which is expected to be held June 27. The item originated several council meetings back when City Council considered doing some initial changes to the ethics ordinance dealing with former council members …
- Council Member Joseph Koza, who was the lone vote against the first reading, brought up the concern that the amendment change could hinder small businesses in the city from entering into smaller deals, like purchase order contracts, with the city. …
- Koza used his Koza Inc. business, which focuses on embroidery, screen-printing and more services, as an example of a business that could potentially be negatively impacted from the blanket ordinance. …
- MIKE: Of course, Councilor Koza misses the anticorruption point here. Would his small business (however he defines that) even get that business if he wasn’t on the council? It’s a question of both appearances and actual corrupt influence. Was he getting this business from the city before he was elected to the Council? I don’t know. The story, and Kozar, don’t say.
- State Rep. Dan Huberty unveils gun violence proposals at Kingwood address; By Wesley Gardner | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:10 PM Jun 16, 2022 CDT | Updated 4:10 PM Jun 16, 2022 CDT
- Texas state Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, touched on several proposed measures related to gun violence during a June 14 State of the State address in Kingwood, including beefing up school security and expanding mental health services in schools and communities throughout the state.
- Huberty, who announced his retirement [planned for this coming] October …, said he believes the recent school shooting in Uvalde … demanded the attention of lawmakers. …
- Huberty’s call for action came on the same day Harris County Commissioners Court voted to create a commission to investigate area gun violence involving youth members.
- While Huberty said he did not support an outright ban on assault weapons, he questioned whether an 18-year-old should be allowed to legally purchase one when the legal age to buy a handgun remains at 21. …
- Huberty said that while he acknowledges many individuals are tired of hearing about mental health, it is still a chief concern lawmakers are aiming to address next year.
- “We’re only funding about 50% of what we need for counselors and about 25% of what we need for social workers in our school systems,” he said. “If a kid’s dropping out of school, it’s still our responsibility to figure out what’s going on with that kid and get them the help and the resources that we can.”
- Huberty also said expanded access to telemedicine, a roughly $30 million effort to expand psychiatric inpatient bed capacity, and additional pediatric crisis stabilization units—which provide therapy to individuals at risk of admission to psychiatric hospitals—are being proposed to assist children and adults throughout the state.
- Additionally, he said he proposed a statewide increase in multisystematic therapy teams, which provide family-focused treatment to juveniles with serious criminal offenses. Huberty estimated the state would need 140 teams deployed at a cost of $575,000 per team each year.
- At a public hearing scheduled for July 26, Huberty said he plans on proposing a measure that would require the state to provide funding for police and security services at every school district in Texas. …
- Huberty also proposed a measure that would require the state to provide funding to school districts for additional training for police forces, panic systems for each school and tactical gear for officers.
- “It sounds like we’re preparing for a war,” Huberty said. “That’s where we’re at. That’s what we’re dealing with.” …
- The Texas 2023 legislative session is scheduled to begin Jan. 10. Heading into the session, Huberty’s replacement will be determined in the Nov. 8 midterm election.
- In March, Charles Cunningham won the Republican nomination to fill the vacancy left by Huberty. Cunningham will not face an opponent from the Democratic party in November. …
- MIKE: So, a Republican State legislator, makes some remarks that sound on the edges of reasonable and helpful, where some meeting of the minds might be possible, but he waits until his planned October retirement to get there. I wish Huberty deserved more kudos from me, but what took you so long, and why did you wait until you had one foot out the door of the State House to be helpful? This seems to be the way with some many politicians these days, particularly Republicans. They only seem to reclaim their concern for the public good when they no longer will have the power to do anything about it.
- Two candidates remain in search for Harris County elections administrator; By Rachel Carlton | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:31 PM Jun 16, 2022 CDT | Updated 4:31 PM Jun 16, 2022 CDT
- Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced that two candidates are under consideration for the elections administrator position during the June 15 meeting of the Harris County Election Commission.
- Both candidates are from out of state, so neither would be able to start until Aug. 1, according to Hidalgo. By law, Chief Director of Voting Beth Stevens will serve as interim elections administrator once current Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria exits on July.
- No, Texas can’t legally secede from the U.S., despite popular myth; The theme of independence has recurred throughout the history of Texas, which was a republic from 1836–45. But the Civil War established that a state cannot secede. Author: Texas Tribune Staff | KHOU.COM | Published: 2:26 PM CDT June 20, 2022, Updated: 6:35 PM CDT June 20, 2022
- In June 2022, the Texas State Republican Convention adopted a resolution urging the Legislature to put a referendum before the people of Texas in November 2023 “to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.”
- Secession and independence have been perennial themes throughout the history of Texas, which broke away from Mexico in 1836 and was an independent republic before it was annexed by the United States in 1845. [MIKE NOTE: Whole the US technically annexed Texas, The Republic of Texas actually ceded itself to the US.] As the United States was torn apart by divisions over whether slavery could expand into the nation’s western territories, Texas in 1861 voted to secede from the Union. In the ensuing Civil War, up to 750,000 people — more than 2 percent of all Americans — died. Following the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, Texas was formally readmitted to the Union in 1870, during the Reconstruction Era.
- Despite perennial talk of another secession, the law is clear that Texas may not leave the union. …
- Even if the Legislature were to act on the new Republican Party proposal to put an independence referendum on the general election, it would not be legally valid.
- “The legality of seceding is problematic,” Eric McDaniel, associate professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Texas Tribune in 2016. “The Civil War played a very big role in establishing the power of the federal government and cementing that the federal government has the final say in these issues.”
- Many historians believe that when the Confederacy surrendered at Appomattox in 1865, the idea of secession was forever defeated, McDaniel said. The Union’s victory set a precedent that states could not legally secede.
- Even before Texas formally rejoined the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that secession had never been legal, and that, even during the rebellion, Texas continued to be a state. …
- When Texas entered the Union, “she entered into an indissoluble relation,” Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase wrote for the court. “All the obligations of perpetual union, and all the guaranties of republican government in the Union, attached at once to the State. The act which consummated her admission into the Union was something more than a compact; it was the incorporation of a new member into the political body. And it was final. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration, or revocation, except through revolution, or through consent of the States.”
- Chase added: “The ordinance of secession, adopted by the convention and ratified by a majority of the citizens of Texas, and all the acts of her legislature intended to give effect to that ordinance, were absolutely null. They were utterly without operation in law.”
- Another source of confusion and misinformation over the years has been language in the 1845 annexation resolution that Texas could, in the future, choose to divide itself into “New States of convenient size not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas.” But the language of the resolution says merely Texas could be split into five new states. [MIKE: So-called “Splithood”. Which was arguably annulled as a treaty when Texas was readmitted to the Union after the Civil War, and which would also require consent of Congress in any event.] [The Tyler-Texas Treaty of Cession] says nothing of splitting apart from the United States. Only Congress has the power to admit new states to the Union, which last occurred in 1959 with the admission of Alaska and Hawaii.
- If there were any doubt remaining after this matter, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia set it to rest when he asked by a screenwriter in 2006 whether there was a legal basis for secession. In his response, he wrote: “The answer is clear,” Scalia wrote. “If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. (Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, ‘one Nation, indivisible.’)”
- MIKE: Two quotes from episode 9 of Ken Burns’ “The Civil War” (1990)” are perhaps of interest here:
- “It is *the* event in American history in that it is the moment that made the United States as a nation. And I mean that in different ways. The United States was obviously a nation when it adopted the Constitution, but it adopted a Constitution that required a war to be sorted out, and therefore required a war to make a real nation out of what was a theoretical nation as it was designed at the Constitutional Convention. ~ Barbara Fields, Historian (“The Civil War” (1990) {The Better Angels of Our Nature (1865) (#1.Episode 9)})
- “Before the War, it was said ‘the United States are’. Grammatically it was spoken that way and thought of as a collection of independent states. And after the War, it was always, ‘the United States is,’ as we say today without being self-conscious a’tall. And that sums up what the War accomplished. It made us an ‘is’.”~ Shelby Foote, Writer (“The Civil War” (1990) {The Better Angels of Our Nature (1865) (#1.Episode 9)}
- MIKE: The dispute over the territory that Mexico ceded as the Republic of Texas versus what Texas claimed as its territory, plus the US annexation of Texas and the further assertions of that claim as territory of the United States, were the precipitating factors of the Mexican-American War.
- REFERENCE: The Tyler-Texas treaty, signed on April 12, 1844, was framed to induct Texas into the Union as a territory, following constitutional protocols. To wit, Texas would cede all its public lands to the United States, and the federal government would assume all its bonded debt, up to $10 million. — From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Out With Oklahoma Flag; Cherokee Nation Flag Takes Prominence On Its Reservation; By Levi Rickert | NATIVENEWSONLINE.NET | June 09, 2022
- In a move to display the prominence of tribal sovereignty, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. issued an executive order on Wednesday limiting the use of state of Oklahoma flags on the Cherokee Nation reservation.
- The executive order notes that the Oklahoma flag “should not ordinarily be displayed” on Cherokee Nation property or at Cherokee Nation public events, but also outlines when the state flag can or should be displayed.
- As leader of Indian Country’s largest tribe, Hoskin said it is time for the Cherokee Nation to show its strength and determination when it comes to tribal sovereignty. Hoskin is quick to clarify that Wednesday’s order is not the result of frayed feelings between the Cherokee Nation and the state of Oklahoma.
- “The Cherokee Nation remains a close partner and ally of the state of Oklahoma, and the executive order is not intended to send any message to the contrary,” Hoskin said in a statement to Native News Online.
- “The Cherokee Nation is a sovereign entity with jurisdiction over our reservation, and the use of the Cherokee Nation flag on our land should reflect the strength and determination of the Cherokee people over these 113 years,” Hoskin said.
- The Oklahoma state flag remains in use at events involving Oklahoma government leadership or honoring visiting dignitaries and service in the Oklahoma National Guard.
- The executive order reads: “The flag of the State of Oklahoma should not ordinarily be displayed on Cherokee Nation property or at Cherokee Nation public events.”
- [The executive order lists exceptions where the Oklahoma state flag can or should be flown.]
- The executive order extends to properties owned by the Cherokee Nation, including the Hard Rock Cafe in Tulsa, Okla., and other casinos at various locations on the Cherokee Nation Reservation.
- The executive order also calls for flags flown by the Cherokee Nation to be made on the reservation or domestically.
- MIKE: The photo accompanying the article shows 3 flagpoles in front of the Cherokee Casino. The US flag is tallest center. The Cherokee flag is on the left. An empty flagpole is on the right.
- MIKE: If you’ve followed some of the better-covered stories over the last couple of years, the Cherokee won a major lawsuit attempting to enforce a 19th century Indian treaty defining their reservation. Turns out, Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Areas make up more than half of Oklahoma. This has led to certain political tensions in a politically Red State that’s now territorially more than half is what is sometimes referred to as Indian Country. The are practical, legal, political, historical, and property ramifications. This flag issue is, IMHO, just a token. Sort of a ‘shot across Oklahoma’s political bow’.
- REFERENCE: Are Native Americans Dual Citizens? — unitedstatesnow.org. “[T]ribal territories are not recognized as separate and sovereign nations. They are considered “domestic dependent nations …”]
- REFERENCE: Indian Citizenship Act [1924] – Wikipedia
- REFERENCE: Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Area, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- FYI REFERENCE: “Dark Winds” on IMDb
- FYI REFERENCE: Dark Winds is an American psychological thriller television series created by Graham Roland based on the Leaphorn & Chee book series by Tony Hillerman. The first season will consist of six episodes. It premiered on AMC and AMC+ on June 12, 2022.[1] — Wikipedia
- REFERENCE: ‘Dark Winds’ carries a moody Native-American crime thriller onto AMC — Review by Brian Lowry, CNN | Updated 7:52 PM ET, Sun June 12, 2022
- A Russian journalist sold his Nobel to help Ukrainian kids – the $103M price shattered records; Dmitry Muratov said the proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in its efforts to help Ukrainian child refugees. Author: BOBBY CAINA CALVAN | ASSOCIATED PRESS via KHOU.COM | Published: 5:30 AM CDT June 20, 2022, Updated: 7:59 PM CDT June 20, 2022
- The Nobel Peace Prize that Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov was auctioning off to raise money for Ukrainian child refugees sold Monday night for $103.5 million, shattering the old record for a Nobel [by almost $100 million].
- A spokesperson for Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale, could not confirm the identity of the buyer but said the winning bid was made by proxy. The $103.5 million sale translates to $100 million Swiss francs, hinting that the buyer is from overseas. …
- Muratov, who was awarded the gold medal in October 2021, helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publication’s editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid the Kremlin’s clampdown on journalists and public dissent in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- It was Muratov’s idea to auction off his prize, having already announced he was donating the accompanying $500,000 cash award to charity. The idea of the donation, he said, “is to give the children refugees a chance for a future.”
- Muratov has said the proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in its efforts to help children displaced by the war in Ukraine.
- Melted down, the 175 grams of 23-karat gold contained in Muratov’s medal would be worth about $10,000. …
- MIKE: The moral of this story is one that bears constant repeating across countries and generations: Don’t condemn an entire population in your mind by conflating the actions of a national government with every person in, or descended from, that nation.
- Romania Sees an Opening to Become an Energy Power in Europe; The Ukraine war could lead to breakthroughs in nuclear power and natural gas, with Washington’s help. By Stanley Reed | NYTIMES.COM | June 15, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET
- MIKE: You may now ask, Romania? Why am I talking about Romania? This story touches on 3 aspects of a larger story.
- MIKE: There’s the geopolitical; the socio-politico-economic; and the technological. So, bear with me.
- … Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which shares a nearly 400-mile border with Romania, has strengthened Romania’s push for energy independence. Its ambitious energy plans include completing two of the Cernavoda [nuclear] plants and leading the way into a new type of nuclear technology called small modular reactors. It also wants to take full advantage of substantial offshore gas fields in the deep waters of the Black Sea.
- Some see Romania, a nation of 21 million roughly the size of Oregon, as having the potential to become a regional energy powerhouse that could help wean neighbors in eastern and southern Europe from dependence on Moscow. It is a goal shared in Washington and among some investors …
- “For Romania, I will definitely tell you, these projects are super important,” said Cosmin Ghita, Nuclearelectrica’s chief executive. Mr. Ghita said nuclear power could help Romania achieve a variety of goals, from reducing carbon emissions to “countering Russian aggression in the region” on energy matters.
- The war in Ukraine has created momentum to break years of stalemate and step up drilling in the Black Sea to unlock potentially rich troves of natural gas that Romania could export. …
- Romania’s [oil] industry is one of the world’s oldest, dating to the drilling of wells as far as back the 1860s and centered on the vibrant hub of Ploiesti [PRON.: ploy-ESH-stee], about 35 miles north of Bucharest. While the venerable oil fields are on the wane, industry executives say drilling in the Black Sea could produce enough natural gas to turn Romania, now a modest importer, into the largest producer in the European Union. …
- [Romania’s] nuclear industry … receives high marks from the global industry.
- This potential has drawn the interest of the United States. In 2020, with encouragement from the Trump administration, Romania broke off negotiations with China to complete the reactors at Cernavoda and turned to Washington as its main source of nuclear support.
- While plans for Cernavoda are grinding forward, the Romanian government and the Biden administration announced in May a preliminary agreement to build a so-called small modular reactor at the site of a shuttered coal-fired power plant.
- The provider would be an Oregon company, NuScale Power, which has received more than $450 million in support from Washington to develop what the nuclear industry hopes will be a new technology to revive reactor building.
- The idea is to build components for the plants in factories and then assemble them at the site with the hope of cutting the enormous costs and long construction times that have hampered the nuclear industry. Over time, these reactors could provide European countries with an alternative to polluting coal and imported gas from Russia. …
- For a country like Romania with a well-trained, low-cost work force, experts say, making equipment for this new type of reactor could turn into an export industry, not to mention the chance to export surplus electricity. …
- Yet the Romanian government is likely to keep close watch on investors and try to insulate Romanians from global economic forces. … Romania is a relatively poor country, its median income ranking near the bottom in the European Union. …
- Such principles appear to have been at work in 2018 when the government raised taxes and imposed export restrictions on offshore petroleum production. Exxon followed that move by putting up for sale its share of the Neptun field, believed to hold tens of billions of dollars’ worth of gas. On May 3, Exxon said it would sell its share to Romgaz, a state-controlled firm, for about $1 billion.
- If development of the project had gone ahead in 2018, Romania would perhaps be close to nearly doubling its current gas production. Instead, at best, the project isn’t expected to come onstream for another five years. The government’s moves “significantly undermined the competitiveness of Romania’s offshore for investors,” said Ashley Sherman, research director for Caspian and Europe at Wood Mackenzie, an energy consulting firm. …
- Developing Neptun, estimated at $4 billion, is likely to be more difficult and expensive than if the work had begun a few years ago. With high oil and gas prices, costs of drilling and steel and other inputs have soared. The Black Sea is a risky area now with mines floating around and the perils from Russian military activity adding to insurance rates. Exxon also has far greater expertise in operating in deep water than Romgaz or OMV Petrom, which has taken over from Exxon as operator of the project.
- Despite those issues, concerns over energy security are so strong that the project seems likely to go ahead, even with Exxon gone, analysts say. It may even help that two Romanian companies are in charge. …
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