Politics + extremism
@TexasTribune
. I like Hip Hop, em dashes & Midwest Emo. Used to and still occasionally write about Southern Baptist sexual abuse.
🧵🧵In leaked audio, Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine says his all-GOP colleagues are "brainwashed" and "would sacrifice the Republic for the sake of the (legal) process."
More on his comments + 30-year rise from anti-abortion activist to jurist:
Texans, with the freeze coming, wrap your pipes, cover your plants, stay off icy roads & keep your family safe.
And, if it gets too damn cold, join me in Cancun!
A man who was approved to bring his anti-"woke" training to Texas school boards previously served 60 months in federal prison for scamming Veterans Affairs + the Dept. of Education. via
@brianlopeztx
@TexasTribune
Ron DeSantis — who in July announced an investigation into Bud Light for partnering with a trans influencer — apparently ended his presidential bid by accidentally quoting Budweiser.
After being swept by Democrats, a Pennsylvania school board backed by Moms For Liberty approved a $700,000 exit deal for a superintendent who backed their books bans and other far-right policies.
‼️‼️‼️ Rep. Charlie Geren, a member of the House investigative committee, just said Ken Paxton called "several" Texas House members and threatened them if they voted for his impeachment.
#Txlege
Live updates here:
#BREAKING
a Texas House committee voted Thursday to recommend that Attorney General Ken Paxton be impeached and removed from office, citing a yearslong pattern of alleged misconduct and lawbreaking. w/
@James_Barragan
@zachdespart
@TexasTribune
NEW: Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes - who was just found guilty of seditious conspiracy - told the Jan. 6 committee that roughly **20 percent** of his right-wing militia worked in law enforcement.
@TexasTribune
Mauricio Garcia, who killed 8 people outside of Allen Premium Outlets, was reportedly wearing a "Right Wing Death Squad" patch. The phrase is popular among neo-Nazis and other extremist groups.
New House Speaker Mike Johnson previously led a never-opened law school named after Paul Pressler, the Southern Baptist leader and Texas Appeals Court judge who has now been accused of molesting numerous teen boys and soliciting young men for sex.
The person behind this semi-viral Great Replacement Theory tweet recently moved to Texas for a job at Pale Horse Strategies, a consulting firm that works with far-right groups/candidates funded by West Texas oil tycoons Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks.
Also: Seeing a lot of blowback to WaPo and WSJ saying Mauricio Garcia may have had white supremacist ties, given his race. So periodic reminder that there's a long history of POCs advancing and supporting Nazi/white supremacist goals/ideology.
#BREAKING
An internal complaint obtained by the
@TexasTribune
accuses Rep. Bryan Slaton of a potentially “inappropriate relationship” with an intern. The Capitol has been abuzz about Slaton, a far-right lawmaker, since his unexplained absence last week.
#BREAKING
The Department of Justice is investigating the Southern Baptist Convention over its handling of sex abuses, months after a third-party report that was prompted by 2019 reporting by the
@HoustonChron
Story via me
@John_Tedesco
#SBCtoo
#ChurchToo
#BREAKING
the Texas House just unanimously voted to expel far-right Rep. Bryan Slaton for allegedly getting a 19yo staffer drunk and having sex with her. His name was just taken off the roll call board.
Story coming
@TexasTribune
#txlege
#BREAKING
An explosive 400pg investigation finds Southern Baptist leaders silenced/disparaged abuse survivors, ignored calls for policies & dismissed reforms that might cost the SBC money in lawsuits.
#SBCtoo
Much more to come in thread below:
🧵🧵For years, Jared Woodfill has led extreme anti-gay campaigns in Texas, comparing LGBTQ people to child molesters.
And for years, he's known of child sex abuse claims against his longtime law partner and Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler.
NEW: White supremacist Nick Fuentes spent Friday at a company owned by Jonathan Stickland, who leads a major PAC that’s funded by West Texas billionaires and has donated millions of dollars to top Republicans. Kyle Rittenhouse was there. So were we.
“I don’t wanna have to listen to stupid, mouthy bitches. Because I am a man. And in public life, women need to shut the fuck up. That’s a conservative position.”
-Nick Fuentes, who was recently hosted by a major Texas GOP fundraiser
#BREAKING
Far-right "anti-groomer" Rep. Bryan Slaton has resigned after an investigative panel found he had sex with a 19yo staffer. Slaton allegedly gave her enough alcohol that she felt dizzy and had double vision. via
@James_Barragan
#txlege
🧵🧵 A new company is secretly recruiting Gen Z influencers to defend Ken Paxton and promote a QAnon-adjacent movie. Meet Influenceable, a "network of digital activists" with ties to a far-right Texas billionaires and Trump's 2020 campaign chair:
JUST IN: Texas Republican Rep. Bryan Slaton is accused of giving alcohol to an intern who is under 21 and then having “sexual relations” with her two weeks ago. via
@RenzoDowney
@TexasTribune
HOUSTON: My dog SAMO broke out of a gate on Aug. 16 on Oakdale Street (between Museum District and Third Ward)
#HarrisCounty
He is about 40 pounds, kinda looks like a lab mix, is very friendly and hopefully wearing a camo collar.
Pls help me find him :(
#BREAKING
The Southern Baptist Convention and others have settled a high-profile sexual assault lawsuit against former leader + Texas judge Paul Pressler, ending a six-year legal drama that prompted a reckoning over child sex abuse in evangelical churches.
JUST IN: In the latest fallout from the Ken Paxton impeachment saga, the executive committee of the Republican Party of Texas just voted to censure outgoing Rep. Andrew Murr, who led the House committee that brought the impeachment charges. 61 yays, 0 nos, 2 abstentions.
#txlege
👀 Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk in tax year 2021 gave $50,000 to Conservative Baptist Network
@BaptistNetwork
the hard-right group that has backed but failed to elect Southern Baptist Convention president to push its conservative agenda
Meanwhile, in other "conservatives in drag" news:
@JohnMone
got surveillance footage of anti-trans/drag influencer Taylor Hanson dressed as a woman while "undercover" at a church fundraiser for trans teenagers. The church pastor also says he went into the women's restroom.
Good morning from Houston City Hall, where ~200 people are rallying in support of Azerbaijan, which is currently one month into an increasingly violent military spat with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
#BREAKING
The Texas GOP's executive committee just rejected a proposed ban on associating with Nazi sympathizers and Holocaust deniers. Vote came two months after we reported that a major GOP fundraiser and activist hosted white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
NEW: The leader of a group that's given millions of dollars to AG Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick hosted white supremacist Nick Fuentes on Friday. Also there: Kyle Rittenhouse + Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi, who denied meeting Fuentes.
STORY:
Some personal news: After five years at the Houston Chron, I’m headed to the
@TexasTribune
to cover extremism, disinformation and conspiracies — basically my dream job, and one that seems immensely important in this moment and place.
We spent months looking at hundreds of sexual abuse cases and allegations involving Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers.
We found more than 700 victims since 1998.
#churchtoo
#SBCtoo
Read Part 1 on Sunday. w/
@chrondigger
&
@John_Tedesco
HOUSTON: My dog SAMO broke out of a gate on Aug. 16 on Oakdale Street (between Museum District and Third Ward)
#HarrisCounty
He is about 40 pounds, kinda looks like a lab mix, is very friendly and hopefully wearing a camo collar.
Pls help me find him :(
Got a story coming tomorrow about, among others, Trump's former campaign chair, a West Texas oil tycoon, Nick Fuentes, "Sound of Freedom," Ken Paxton, PragerU, Gen Z influencers and a Super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
@TexasTribune
GEREN: “I would like to point out that several members of this House, while on the floor of this House, doing the state business received telephone calls from general Paxton personally, threatening them with political consequences in their next election."
#txlege
Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine, who rules on election disputes: “Do you really think the Democrats are gonna roll over and let Trump be president again? You think they’re just gonna go away, all of a sudden find Jesus and be an honest election?”
1/ Got thoughts on pirates? Like petty drama and/or care about abuse in the nation’s 2nd-largest Christian denom?
GOOD NEWS: I have an absurdly long and meticulously sourced
#thread
for you thats crucial to understanding that historic report on Southern Baptist abuse
Southern Baptist leaders have long declined to track sexual abuses and predators who worked in affiliated churches.
So we started doing it for them.
Search our database, which includes prison records and news stories for hundreds.
#SBCtoo
#churchtoo
NEW: We've confirmed that Chris Russo – who leads the influential group Texans For Strong Borders – is also a prominent figure in Nick Fuentes' white supremacist movement. Russo ran multiple anonymous accounts filled with hate speech and slurs.
#txlege
Southern Baptist Pres
@jdgreear
notes SBC’s founding in support of slaveholders, denounces phrases like “all lives matter.”
“Southern Baptists, we need to say it clearly as a gospel issue: Black lives matter. Of course black lives matter.”
#GeorgeFloyd
#BLM
#BlackLivesMattter
🧵🧵A 2017 email accused Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler of being a pedophile – and sheds new light on the role that Jared Woodfill, who is running for Texas House with Ken Paxton's backing, played in providing Pressler access to potential victims.
JUST IN: Almost 60 members of the Texas House Republican Caucus call on "all elected officials" to redirect donations from Defend Texas Liberty to charity following our reporting that the group's president Jonathan Stickland hosted Nick Fuentes for almost 7 hours.
#txlege
The Southern Baptist Convention lost almost a half-million members last year - the largest annual drop in more than a century. Once with +16M members, the SBC has declined by 1.5 million members since 2018, and by more than 3 million members since 2006.
Bands pull out of SXSW over U.S. Army sponsorship.
Bye. Don’t come back.
Austin remains the HQ for the Army Futures Command.
San Antonio is Military City USA.
We are proud of the U.S. military in Texas.
If you don’t like it, don’t come here.
NEW: I spoke to Jewish Texans, experts and historians about skyrocketing antisemitism/hate rhetoric, rising fascism and old white supremacist conspiracy theories that continue to stoke violence– against both Jews and non-Jews.
@TexasTribune
Gov. Greg Abbott has blamed mental health, not guns, for the 7 mass shootings that have occurred since he took office. In 2022, the state ranked dead last in access to mental health services. via
@Steve55Simpson
@TexasTribune
#txlege
More than 25% of Texas professors plan to look for positions in other states this year because of political interference and widespread dissatisfaction on college campuses. via
@williammelhado
@TexasTribune
A sincere and morbid word of caution regarding that
#Uvalde
video:
Awhile back, I covered a mass shooting. Was one of the first reporters there, and connected with a family as they were rushed into a gym with a handful of families, largely unaware of why at the time.
#BREAKING
House impeachment managers have released 4,000 pages of exhibits that "provide granular detail of how Ken Paxton allegedly abused his office."
We will update this story throughout the day + I will Tweet occasional details below:
I know it’s normalized at this point. But this type of rhetoric — which frames political rivals as enemies of a God-ordained plan — is exceptionally dangerous coming from anyone, let alone the second in line to the presidency.
Just to clarify, since my phrasing was a little confusing: The $700K package was a parting move by the Moms For Liberty-backed board before they are replaced by Democrats who just swept them.
#BREAKING
a Texas House committee recommends expulsion for far-right Rep. Bryan Slaton after finding he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a subordinate - and that he "systematically" tried to obstruct their investigation.
The former city manager of a North Texas town is now living in a park after her campaign against two taco-shop-owning gay dads ended with money laundering charges and a mysterious fire that destroyed city hall - and potential evidence.
#BREAKING
Whistleblowers fired by Ken Paxton vowed Monday to continue their lawsuit and expose Paxton by forcing him, Nate Paul, Paxton's wife and former girlfriend to publicly testify. "We are not going away," they said.
@TexasTribune
We spent months looking at hundreds of sexual abuse cases and allegations involving Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers.
We found more than 700 victims since 1998.
#churchtoo
#SBCtoo
Read Part 1 on Sunday. w/
@chrondigger
&
@John_Tedesco
Statement from Sen. Roland Gutierrez: "A broken and corrupt system allowed Ken Paxton to abuse the powers of his office. Hard-right Republicans decided today that it’s okay to take bribes and lie to the public, as long as you are the Republican Attorney General of Texas."
#txlege
A Border Patrol center for migrants in Eagle Pass was evacuated after threats to burn it down were made by people who joined the 'Take Back Our Border' trucker convoy.
#BREAKING
Texas lawmakers have OK'd allowing unlicensed religious chaplains to work in mental health roles in schools, despite concerns the bill is a "Trojan horse" for evangelism & will worsen the state's mental health crisis.
@TexasTribune
#txlege
A dear friend, the closest thing I’ll ever have to a little brother, died yesterday
I’m five feet from the letter I started to him in Oct. but never finished because “life, etc.”
Now it’ll never leave that desk.
Dont be me. I’m begging you: Write that letter. Like right now.
Y’all. I appreciate the shout outs re: Jerry Falwell, but many, many people have spent many, many years speaking out/reporting on issues at Liberty University — often at great personal cost.
All I did was tweet some publicly available photos that I thought were odd.
#Falwell
Nick Fuentes discusses beating a woman so hard that she falls like one of the buildings on 9/11. He was hosted Friday by the leader of a PAC that gives millions to top Texas Republicans — including
@KenPaxtonTX
, who hasn’t said anything about the scandal.
And this month, a lawsuit accusing Paul Pressler of decades of rape is expected to go to trial. Pressler - a longtime anti-LGBTQ crusader - has now been accused of grooming, soliciting or sexually abusing at least six men, including two who were underage.
NEW: Some Republicans - including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick - have downplayed white supremacist Nick Fuentes' recent meeting with Defend Texas Liberty as a "blunder" or said the PAC has no other ties to extremists. That is simply untrue.
#txlege
Just talked to a local doctor about Abbott's mask order.
"I had a visceral reaction - like PTSD. I can think of no other word but incomprehensible... Everybody is hurting, but gosh man. The masks were doing a lot for us."
#COVID19
#COVID
#Texas
And here's the back of that shirt, which is fairly common at Proud Boys and other extremist rallies. These folks have made zero secret of what they're down with, and we really ought to stop pretending these are just memes to "trigger the libs"
The leaders of True the Vote - a key election denial group based in Texas - raised money to build a $25M hospital for Ukrainian war victims. But "the Freedom Hospital" was never built.
Great reporting from
@cassandrajar
@lmcgaughy
&
@MorrisReports
NEW: Texas' Jewish, former House Speaker says far-right billionaire Tim Dunn once told him he only wanted Christians in leadership. Last year, we uncovered close ties between avowed antisemites, including Nick Fuentes, and Dunn's network. w/
@jaspscherer
🧵🧵 In Texas, lawmakers and Christian nationalists are openly calling church-state separation a "myth" and blaming it for school shootings, crime and growing LGBTQ acceptance. Those beliefs could soon be codified in Texas law.
In a statement, Rep. Andrew Murr - who led the investigation and impeachment of Ken Paxton - says Paxton has "admitted to what many in the Texas House have known in our hearts to be true: he flagrantly broke the law" and is trying to "dodge" having to testify under oath.
#txlege
Defend Texas Liberty is funded by Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, two oil billionaires who have spent +$100 million to push their ultraconservative views. Ken Paxton has received more $$ from them than any other donor.
Rep. David Spiller praises Ken Paxton's legal mind, but says he "violated" his oath. "No one person should be above the law. Least not the top law enforcement officer of the state of Texas...We should not be complicit in allowing that behavior. We should not ignore it."
#txlege
NEW: Nine days after the
@TexasTribune
reported that he hosted white supremacist & Hitler admirer Nick Fuentes, Jonathan Stickland is no longer listed as president of Defend Texas Liberty, a major donor to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton & others.
#txlege