Paxton's Constitution Day Challenge

"But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,"
2 Peter 1:5

This is fantastic:

Dear Adam, 

Happy Constitution Day!

We are blessed to live in a nation where we have a Constitution that protects our liberties. On this Constitution Day, I encourage you to read it again. 

I sought the office of Texas Attorney General because I believe this document, which guarantees our liberty and truly makes the United States exceptional, is under attack.

Since you elected me, I've fought for these freedoms by standing up to President Obama's job-killing EPA and by leading a 26-state coalition to stop his unlawful amnesty plan -- which would have granted citizenship to millions here illegally.  

I'm also fighting to protect our religious liberties which are under attack. Many will not be happy until they've completely removed any reference of faith from the public square. And being 100% pro-life, protecting the life of innocent unborn children will always be a top priority.

Please forward this email to at least 5 friends and encourage them to re-read the Constitutionas well.

In liberty,

#ATXCouncil Majority Rubber Stamps Adler/Ott Budget....

"And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!"
1 Kings 12:11

At this point...it's not surprising anymore:

Approved Austin 2017 budget comes with higher tax bill, new programs

After months of debate over the 2017 Austin city budget recommended by staffers, most of the changes the City Council made to the $3.7 billion budget were incremental compromises. Increasing the homestead exemption for seniors to $82,500 instead of $85,000. Adding several hundred thousand dollars in health and human services increases instead of a few million.

Once all the details were hammered out Wednesday night, the City Council approved a budget that will charge the typical resident about $87 more in city taxes and fees next year. The fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

Next year’s operations include a 2 percent pay increase for city employees, to kick in during the pay period before Christmas. There’s funding for a new curbside composting program, at a cost of $4.2 million to the city and a phased-in cost of $64.80 to homeowners after five years. There’s $600,000 more for housing aimed at reducing homelessness.

The $970 million general fund also includes money to hire eight new employees to test DNA evidence for police, one facet of the rape kit backlog that prompted emotional testimony before the council two weeks ago. Austin also set aside $475,000 to help keep live music venues and $400,000 to extend healthy food options.

The new property tax rate of 44.18 cents per $100 of property valuation will be a decrease from last year’s rate of 45.89 cents. The council also voted earlier this summer to increase the homestead exemption, knocking 8 percent off the taxable value of a home, up from 6 percent. But with rising property values, most homeowners will receive higher tax bills. For the typical homeowner, that will mean a $46 increase in the annual property tax bill.

Fees in most areas of the city will also increase, including an average water cost increase of $35 for the year. But, thanks to a deal approved last month between ratepayers and Austin Energy, annual electricity costs will decrease an average of $44 for the year.

Council Members Don Zimmerman and Sheri Gallo voted against the budget, saying they couldn’t support the associated tax and fee increases. Council Member Ellen Troxclair, who recently gave birth to a daughter, didn’t attend the vote, but issued a written statement detailing her opposition.

The budget speaks for itself; nevertheless, THIS is an extraordinary act of chutzpah:

Translation: I totally just increased your taxes across the board, but y'all better thank your lucky stars I didn't increase them even further...#ANewWayForward.

Wonder Woman Ellen Troxclair says it best:

Amidst a record population influx, record development revenues, and record levels of tourism, our City is benefitting from over $40 million in additional revenue this year. Yet, our city government spending is greatly outpacing this growth, meaning current residents are still being asked for more.

Bottom Line: However you define it, every single person on that dais campaigned on the issue of "affordability." We can quibble over the relative importance between housing costs and direct governmental levies in driving Austin's affordability challenges, but the fact remains that BOTH matter. And, over the past two years, the incumbent council majority has made both issues worse...#ANewWayForward.

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Update: Amen, Matt Mackowiak...

Cruz: Dangers of U.S. surrendering internet protocols to international bureaucrats.....

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."
Ephesians 5:11

[Author's Note: While Senator Cruz focuses on the security aspects, there's also an economic component that bears consideration.  Will turning internet protocols over to 'international' bureaucrats lead to regulatory capture by incumbent industries?!?  In a post-AirBnB, post-Uber world it doesn't take a genius to see how horribly the untended consequences of this sort of move could backfire.]

We don't often get involved on Federal issues, but this one's important; kudos to Senator Cruz:



Highlights:

• "[The internet] wasn't invented by any politician."

• "It was invented by the ingenuity of the American people with the financial support of American taxpayers."

• "Since the internet's inception, the United States' government has stood guard over critical internet functions; in almost any other country that power could have been used to deny internet access to websites that were deemed politically undesirable."

• "Because of the first amendment to the constitution...the United States' government; as long a it has authority to oversee the infrastructure of the internet, has a duty to ensure that no website is denied internet access on account of the ideas it espouses."

• In 16 days, USG relinquishing "historic guardianship" in favor of international body.

• ICANN = Global bureaucracy with blurred lines of authority.

• "Sadly, ICANN officials have already begun showing extraordinary affinity for China; the world's worst abuser of internet freedom."

• Reporters weren't allowed to cover ICANN conference.

• "Why risk it?!?"

• "What is the problem that is trying to be solved here?!?"

Texas Exes' latest gambit to brainwash Senators....

"He who walks with integrity walks securely,
But he who perverts his ways will become known."
Proverbs 10:9

[Author's Note: Our commentary is in red.]

LOL, from yesterday's Daily Texan:

Longhorn Advocates, a mentorship program through Student Government and Texas Exes, is urging students from all over the state to apply to represent the University in legislative work. 

[So they don't even come up with a cover story, they're just 'representing the University.']

The program connects students with alumni to try and resolve University conflicts, sometimes by changing University policies and procedures. Members are also connected with Texas senators from their hometown districts and partake in projects and events like the Texas Tribune Festival. Applications for the Longhorn Advocates program close tonight. 

[Notice, post Houston expansion and tuition hike, that they're targeting Senators not House members.]

Ashley Alcantara, Plan II and government senior and one of the organizers for the program, said no background in government or public policy is necessary. 

[Because who needs someone who understands how the legislature actually works when you can fill young skulls full of mush full of UT Politburo propaganda?!?]

“The biggest thing is just bringing your experience of the University to the table and just talking about it,” Alcantara said. 

[Filibuster...ALL THE THINGS!!!]

Alcantara said she hopes students from all 31 districts in Texas join the program in order to show the government how serious students are about how their university functions. 

[We're gonna put a mole in every. single. Senate. office!!!] 

[On a more serious note, this is actually an insidious plan to brainwash individual Senators.]

“We just wanted to show [alumni and legislators] that Longhorns are all over the state and that UT issues are really important to constituents in all of these districts,” Alcantara said. 

[Because UT politburo propaganda was totally a winning issue for Governor Kay Bailout Hutchinson and Attorney General Dan Branch...oh, wait.]

Mentees get free passes to the Texas Tribune Festival, a three-day event from Sept. 23–25 where they can meet with politicians and hear speakers examine social and political issues. 

[We totally want to LOL about the Trib being in on this, but they just comped our own Tribfest admission this afternoon...soo, glass houses, stones.]

“I think it’s a really good idea to get them exposed to state politics,” Alcantara said.

Last year, mentees Carolyn Soucie and Emily Burns researched on-campus sexual assault with their alumni mentor Tom Taylor and Texas State Sen. Don Huffines’ staff. Burns, a psychology junior, said she enjoyed the program because it made her more knowledgeable about how the University works with the government. 

[So that's why Huffines voted for Abbott's UT Regents.]

“I really learned a lot about the University bureaucracy and how UT interacts with Texas legislation,” Burns said. “We had this awesome privilege to work with Texas Exes and the University administration to promote UT’s legislative goals.” Both Soucie and Burns also looked into the University’s programs to see what else could be done to improve how the University handles sexual assault. Soucie found the University provides adequate help for its victims, but fails to publicize such information to the student body in a simple way. 

[More accurate statement: We had this awesome privilege to serve as useful idiots for cost explosion and left wing bias in higher education!!!]

“It seems like UT does have a good process of handling complaints made by sexual assault victims,” said Soucie, a Plan II and biochemistry junior. “I think the issue that was brought up a lot throughout this whole process was that the information isn’t really out there as well as it could be.”

Read the whole thing here.

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A couple thoughts:

1) This is brilliant in a diabolical way; the fact that they have the audacity to try a stunt like this illustrates why UT is such an entrenched force in the legislature.

2) That being said, any Republican in the Texas Senate who accepts allows a corrupt, liberal, organization like the Texas Exes to place an intern in their office is either foolish or willfully blind.

Team Straus telegraphs LATEST Property Tax Misdirection....

"As a dog returns to his own vomit,
So a fool repeats his folly."
Proverbs 26:11

They never change, but they are predictable:

Straus also said the House can assist the state's economic situation by looking at the cause of growing property tax rates, particularly whether the process of setting the rates is open and transparent.

This is such a typical Straus move.

Nobody is mad about property tax rates. People are mad about the property tax appraisal system.  It's called "appraisal creep": as property values go up, people's property tax assessments are so high that their tax bills increase even though the tax "rate" goes down.

To solve appraisal creep requires appraisal caps.  Last session, HB 365 would have capped appraisal.  Naturally, HB 365 was killed without a hearing by Dennis Bonnen, Straus' anti-property tax reform hatchet man.

Also last session, Straus and Bonnen introduced a dopey scheme to cut a sales tax that nobody is complaining about.  The point was to chew up time and attempt to derail property tax relief.  While some property tax relief did emerge, Straus and Bonnen were able to use that effort to water it down.

Bottom Line: Talking about property tax 'rates' is a distraction.  The real issue is the property tax appraisal system.  Anyone who confuses the issue is deliberately killing time to enrich greedy local governments and their taxpayer funded lobbyist industrial complex.

Is Malik Jefferson a legit Heisman contender?!?

"And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."
1 John 5:15

The short answer: Too early to tell.

The longer answer: He's worth three guys on defense and guys like that tend to be in the discussion.

We don't know how it comes across on TV, but watching up close against both Notre Dame and UTEP it's becoming obvious that he's in the middle of every single important play.  What's impressive is his diversity on the field.  Depending on the situation, he can backup the run defense, drop into pass coverage, or rush the quarterback.

His stats aren't overwhelming, but they're pretty good and it's still early.

The Longhorn defense remains a work in progress, but in the meantime Malik Jefferson helps overcome a multitude of shortcomings.

He was an All-American as a Freshman and this would be a logical progression.

Bottom Line: If he keeps playing the way he's been playing, it's going to become an unavoidable discussion.

#TroxRox: September 2016 District 8 Newsletter....

"For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of[a] love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister."
Hebrews 6:10

Leave it to Ellen Troxclair to have a baby yet not miss her next constituent newsletter.  We're not gonna say she's Wonder Woman, but we will note that we've never seen her and Wonder Woman in the same location.  Important stuff here:

Austin City Budget
Budget adoption is underway, for the next three days the Mayor and Council will vote to adopt fiscal year 2016/2017 budget. The City Manager recently presented his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2016/2017 to Council. This preliminary budget includes an additional $56M more in General Fund spending, 435 (!) new city employee positions, and is expected to cost the "average" homeowner an additional $150 more in taxes, bills and fees next year.  Despite a clear mandate to address affordability in Austin, this Council is nearing adoption of a budget that raises taxes, utility rates, and fees for every Austinite, despite record revenues from growth.

This increase would have been even more if it wasn't for the additional increase in the homestead exemption I was able to pass.  The proposed Budget adopts the rollback tax rate, which is the highest rate the City can adopt under state law without triggering an election.  It also includes increases to utility bills and fees.

As you know, addressing affordability by keeping spending under control was the main reason I ran for City Council, and remains my priority. I have presented my Council Colleagues with a budget plan that would reduce your tax bill. I am not giving up on the desperate necessity for Council to focus on affordability in Austin. 

.... 

Expedited Permitting 

The Zucker report noted that Austin’s building permitting process was one of the worst in the nation. Included in the list of recommendations in the report was one to create an expedited permitting process. This would be an elective program for commercial permits, which would allow applicants to pay an additional fee to use the expedited line. 

By creating this new line for permitting (which would pay for itself), the process is sped up for those in the regular line as well as those in the expedited line. However, at last week’s meeting, the majority of the Council elected to add multiple additional requirements to this new expedited permitting process, which include third-party on-site monitoring of construction sites, local hiring requirements, wage requirements, among other requirements. Those additional requirements would be paid for, with yet another fee, by the applicant who seeks a permit. It was passed despite deep concerns raised by a broad range of stakeholder groups that included builders, the real estate community, small and local business associations, and Goodwill, who alone lost $600,000 in revenue due to delays caused by the permitting process. 

The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce noted in frustration, “it’s like the Council sees a traffic jam, adds a toll lane and then restricts it to a 5 mph speed limit, yet expects folks to use it.” [Author's note: We oppose any attempt to create a pay to play "fast line" for permits in lieu of fixing the permitting process for everyone. 

.... 

Meet Interim City Manager: Elaine Hart

City Council has selected Elaine Hart, the city's current Chief Financial Officer, as interim city manager.

Hart has had a more-than-20-year career with the city, including as the Assistant Finance Director, the City Controller, a Deputy City Auditor, and in management at Austin Energy.

Hart will serve as interim city manager when current City Manager, Marc Ott, leaves Austin to head to Washington DC. Ott has accepted a new position as executive director for ICMA, the International City/County Management Association.

Read the whole thing here.