Nearly 100 Million Americans Voted Early; Hawaii, Texas Already Exceed 2016 Turnout

Roughly 100 million early votes already were cast before the first polls opened Tuesday morning, Michael McDonald, professor at the University of Florida, says. He runs the Election Project, which tracks polling and election data by state.

“These reports will include early voting activity from the proceeding day,” McDonald said in the latest analysis published Nov. 1. “It is also likely reports by Tuesday morning will fail to capture all of the pre-election voting activity since there are sporadic reports of election officials experiencing delays in processing the unprecedented number of mail ballots.”

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Over 30 Illegal Immigrants in Texas Who ‘Threaten Public Safety’ Arrested in One Week

A five-day operation in south Texas resulted in 0ver 30 arrests of illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds deemed possible public security threats, border officials announced Thursday.

The operation targeted illegal immigrants who allegedly pose a threat to public safety and are subject to deportation, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Report: Some Public Schools Obstructing Parents’ Efforts to Withdraw Children for Home-Schooling

Some public schools are telling parents they can’t withdraw their children to home-school or aren’t following the TEA guidelines for withdrawal, according to a new report published by the Texas Home School Coalition Association (THSC).

The largest statewide advocacy organization for home educators in the state sent a written notice to 9,500 school administrations in August, clarifying the Texas Education Agency policy for student withdrawal.

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Texas Mayoral Candidate Arrested on 84 Counts of Mail-In Voter Fraud

The Daily Caller reports Zul Mohamed, a Carrollton, Texas mayoral candidate was arrested and charged with more than 100 felonies related to voter fraud after he allegedly sent 84 mail-in ballot applications, authorities said.

In a news release, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that his Election Fraud Unit assisted the Denton County Sheriff’s Office in arresting Mohamed on 84 counts of mail-in ballot application fraud and 25 counts of unlawful possession of an official mail-in ballot.

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Hurricane Laura Thrashes Louisiana, but Damage Is Less Than Predicted

One of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S., Laura barreled across Louisiana on Thursday, shearing off roofs, killing at least six people and maintaining ferocious strength while carving a destructive path hundreds of miles inland.

A full assessment of the damage wrought by the Category 4 system was likely to take days. But despite a trail of demolished buildings, entire neighborhoods left in ruins and more than 875,000 people without power, a sense of relief prevailed that Laura was not the annihilating menace forecasters had feared.

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Texas A&M Professor and NASA Researcher Zhengdong Cheng Arrested for Alleged China Ties

Texas A&M professor and NASA researcher Zhengdong Cheng was arrested Sunday for alleged conspiracy, false statements, and wire fraud.

According to a United States Department of Justice press release, Cheng allegedly “willfully took steps to obscure his affiliations and collaboration with a Chinese University and at least one Chinese-owned company.”

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Texas Test Rate Drops as Schools Reopen, Prepare for Football

by Paul J. Weber   AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Anyone can get a coronavirus test at the CentroMed clinic in San Antonio, but on a recent day, the drive-thru was empty. Finally two masked people in a maroon SUV pulled straight on through with no wait. With hundreds of deaths reported each day, students returning to class and football teams charging ahead with plans to play, Texas leaders who grappled with testing shortages for much of the pandemic are now facing the opposite problem: not enough takers. “We’re not having enough people step forward,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said. The number of coronavirus tests being done each day in Texas has dropped by the thousands in August, mirroring nationwide trends that has seen daily testing averages in the U.S. fall nearly 9% since the end of July, according to The COVID Tracking Project. The problem is dwindling demand: Testing centers like CentroMed are no longer inundated by long lines that stretch for blocks, or closing hours early because tests run out. The dropoff comes as the U.S. has surpassed 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and is closing in on 170,000 deaths. It threatens to put the U.S. even further behind other countries…

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Counselor in Texas School District Shares List of Marxist Literature as ‘Tool’

A lengthy email from a counselor in Plano Independent School District (PISD) sent to colleagues contained three attachments including, among other things, a list of overtly Marxist media for use in classrooms, and a study guide for those “trying to become better allies.”

The attachments highlight materials like The 1619 Project (which claims America’s history is based on racism and slavery), talking points concerning the deaths of George Floyd; Breonna Taylor; and Ahmaud Arbery; and suggested reading lists including Marxist and Communist literature.

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Commentary: LARPers Lament as Real Life-and-Death Consequences Come to Austin

There’s a term, and an acronym, that every American interested in following the rank stupidity of this summer’s occurrences in America’s blue cities ought to be familiar with.

The term is Live-Action Role Playing, and the acronym is LARPing. What you’re seeing on the streets of Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Austin, and other cities are textbook examples of this phenomenon playing out.

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Gov. Abbott Orders Texas Bars to Close Again Amid Coronavirus Surge

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered that bars be shut down across the state for a second time on Friday amid a growing surge in coronavirus cases in his state.

Abbott also ordered restaurants to scale back their operating capacity from 75% to 50% starting Monday. In addition, Abbott ordered that outdoor gatherings of 100 people or more must also receive approval by local governments before taking place. Rafting and tubing businesses in the state have been ordered to close as well.

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Target, Best Buy Declare Juneteenth Company Holiday, GOP Senator Moves to Make Federal Holiday

Both Target and Best Buy have announced plans to make Juneteenth a company-wide holiday, an idea that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) wants to institute on the federal level.

“One of the most defining days in our nation’s history was when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, finally freeing all slaves in Confederate territory. But slaves in Texas wouldn’t learn this life-altering news for two and a half years,” Cornyn said during a Senate floor speech Thursday.

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‘Don’t Mess with the Alamo,’ Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush Warns Protesters

by Peter Hasson   Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush warned protesters not to “mess with the Alamo” on Saturday as vandals have targeted other historical sites around the country. Bush said his office is monitoring “social media posts and rumors from protesters who are threatening to come to The Alamo” and said law enforcement stands ready to protect the historical site, which is located in San Antonio, Texas. “The Alamo is the Shrine of Texas Liberty. And it will be defended. My office is closely watching the social media posts and rumors from protesters who are threatening to come to The Alamo,” Bush wrote in a statement he posted to Twitter and Facebook. “Rest assured we have already deployed, for several weeks and will continue to do so, the Alamo Rangers in partnership with SAPD, The Department of Public Safety and The National Guard to protect this sacred site,” he added. “My message to the protesters is simple: Don’t mess with The Alamo.” Vandals around the country have recently defaced or destroyed historical monuments. Protesters in Richmond and Boston have toppled statues of Christopher Columbus, and protesters in Richmond tore down a statue of Confederate leader Jefferson Davis. Vandals have attacked statues abroad…

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Federal Court Cites Emergency Powers, Backs Texas Abortion Ban

by Mary Margaret Olohan   A federal appeals court backed Texas’s right to ban abortions during the coronavirus crisis. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the state’s right to temporarily prohibit abortions until April 21 during the coronavirus pandemic in a Tuesday ruling, Politico reported. The court threw out a previous ruling from a lower court blocking Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that all non-essential medical procedures temporarily cease — including abortions. “I thank the Fifth Circuit for their attention to the health and safety needs of Texans suffering from this medical crisis,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. “Governor Abbott’s order ensures that hospital beds remain available for Coronavirus patients and personal protective equipment reaches the hardworking medical professionals who need it the most during this crisis.” He added: “Texans must continue to work together to stop the spread of COVID-19, and we must support the health professionals on the frontlines of this battle.” But acting Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson called the decision “unconscionable” in a Tuesday statement. “Patients are already being forced to put their lives in harm’s way during a pandemic, and now will be forced to continue doing so…

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Moderate Democrats Are Trying to Distance Themselves from Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal

Moderate Democrats who are working on getting reelected in a partisan environment are doing their best to keep a distance from the so-called Green New Deal.

Democratic Reps. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Harley Rouda of California are keeping their distance from the GND as they campaign for reelection in Republican-leaning seats. Cuellar called the group supporting the measure “Justice Socialists.”

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Music Spotlight: George Ducas

When I initially heard George Ducas sing at Bluebird café, I didn’t realize he was an accomplished songwriter with quite a few songs under his belt.  What I did immediately perceive was what strong, smooth vocals he had and how was completely at ease he was in the intimate setting. When I interviewed Ducas a few weeks later, I was shocked to find out that he had no previous formal musical training. Here is his story.

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Sheriff Andy ‘AJ’ Louderback from Jackson County Texas Joins the Tennessee Star Report LIVE in DC and Describes the ‘Corridors of Criminality’ and How It Affects His Community

On Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – live from radio row in Washington, D.C. Leahy chatted with Sheriff Andy Louderback from Jackson county Texas to talk about the issues his county faces in relation to illegal immigration.

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Suspect in Texas Shooting Reportedly Lost Job Before Rampage

by Matt M. Miller   The suspected gunman in the West Texas shooting Saturday was reportedly fired from his trucking job hours before he opened fire along an Odessa roadway, killing seven people and wounding 22 others. Police pulled over the 36-year-old suspect for a routine traffic stop along a highway connecting Midland to Odessa, Saturday, when the suspect opened fire, killing both law enforcement officers and civilian drivers. Officials stated that the 36-year-old suspect had been fire from his job with a trucking business Saturday morning, only hours before the shooting, the New York Times reports. The 36-year-old man who terrorized 2 West Texas towns with an assault-style rifle Saturday had been fired from his trucking job a few hours before he led the authorities on a chaotic high-speed chase that ended with his death and the deaths of 7 others https://t.co/Hc3IeGjMdb — The New York Times (@nytimes) September 2, 2019 Authorities initially refused to release the identity of the gunman to refrain from giving him notoriety, Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke explained. But later, the department released the identity of Seth A. Ator of Odessa as the sole gunman responsible for the shooting. Police officers shot and killed Ator in the parking lot of a…

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Steve Gill Talks to OANN’s Neil McCabe About Antifa’s Influence Behind the Dayton Mass Shooter and Their Protected Status

On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – with Leahy on out of studio, Gill talked to Neil McCabe of One America News Network about the recent mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio and the shooters disturbing background.

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Neil McCabe from OAN Joins the The Tennessee Star Report to Discuss AOC’s Lies About Detention Facility Toilet Conditions

  On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy talked to One America News Networks Neil McCabe about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s false claims regarding women being forced to drink out of toilets at border detention centers. Towards the end of the segment, the men discussed how she will be able to get away with her lies as a phenomena for the Democrats and left wing lunatics. Gill: One story that we’re going to talk about a lot today Neil McCabe from One America News Network is joining us. We have a story up at Tennessee Star. Fifty nine percent of Americans oppose government provided health insurance for illegal migrants. Now, this is a CNN poll so you know it’s actually worse than that. Here’s two things that I would point out in the poll. That actually reflects, and Neil weigh in on this as well. They’ve understated the opposition to providing healthcare to illegals. And there’s two ways you know that in the way they’ve framed the question. Do you think health insurance coverage provided by the government. Leahy: Government.…

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Incoming Texas Freshmen Threatened with Doxxing if They Join Conservative Campus Groups

by Jon Street   The Autonomous Student Network in Austin, Texas, a group that was previously suspended from Twitter after posting private information belonging to supporters of then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, is now threatening to do the same to incoming University of Texas-Austin freshmen who join conservative student organizations. “Hey #UT23! Do you wanna be famous? If you join YCT [Young Conservatives of Texas] or Turning Point USA, you just might be. Your name and more could end up on an article like one of these,” the group tweeted earlier in June, linking to a page on its website, on which it previously posted the private information, including emails and phone numbers, of Kavanaugh supporters. Hey #UT23! Do you wanna be famous? If you join YCT or Turning Point USA, you just might be. Your name and more could end up on an article like one of these 👇https://t.co/kJq6zJHwEGhttps://t.co/AGa4n2tHfC So be sure to make smart choices at #UTOrientation — ATX Autonomedia kolektiva.social/@ATX_Autonomedia/ (@Bevo1312) June 6, 2019 “So be sure to make smart choices at #UTOrientation,” the group added. A separate tweet read, “the best #LonghornStateOfMind is an antifascist one. If you begin to spot the young racists trying to join YCT or…

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Nineteen Arrests Later, a Texas Town Is Torn Apart Over Voter Fraud

by Fred Lucas   The story that thrust a Rio Grande Valley city into the national spotlight is hardly a new anomaly, say residents such as Richard Monte. “Down here, voter fraud is not all that unusual,” says Monte, a city planning consultant in a brown suit jacket, sitting with other activists at a table in Coffee Zone on McColl Road. “It’s unusual when they get prosecuted.” Now, for this south Texas town, that unusual moment has arrived. A November 2017 mayoral election has been under scrutiny from local and state officials, and 19 arrests have been made over alleged voter fraud. The mayor – and winner of the 2017 election – was indicted earlier this month, along with his wife. Only 8,400 votes were cast in the mayoral election, and Mayor Richard Molina’s final vote count (pictured, left) was more than 1,200 votes ahead of the No. 2 candidate, 14-year incumbent Richard Garcia. From what’s known now, the election result couldn’t have been changed by the number of suspicious votes identified. But Molina reportedly is the first elected official in Texas to face a felony charge under a 2017 statute against vote harvesting, casting the midsize city into the national debate…

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Commentary: The Entitled Uninvited

by Pedro Gonzalez   On a Sunday afternoon in May, Etta Nugent found Marco Cobos, a Mexican national, at her doorstep in Houston after his truck had broken down nearby. Cobos knocked and Nugent, described by friends as “gentle soul” and a “good Christian woman,” answered. When Cobos asked her to help him fix his truck, the septuagenarian politely declined, citing her age. Feeling entitled to a different answer, Cobos forced his way into Nugent’s home and stabbed her in the chest. He proceeded to show himself to kitchen to look for “more knives,” he told prosecutors, while his victim lay grievously wounded. As Nugent attempted to flee, Cobos killed her in her home of 50 years, across the street from St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church where she had worshiped for most of her life. With cash stolen from the house, Cobos drove Nugent’s car to an auto parts store to buy a new battery for his truck. He stopped for food before returning to Nugent’s home, where he ate and lounged for hours, helping himself to Nugent’s credit cards, even paying his phone bill with one of them. Nugent’s horrific fate has become all too common in an America…

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