Wrong, Wrong | Ballot Secrecy 

Wrong, Wrong | Ballot Secrecy 

Jun 8, 2024 | GAWTP Blog

Bazooka vs. Laser? Stop Committing Unconstitutional Acts!

Hat tip and applause to Laura Pressley and Larry Korkmas for putting a spotlight on this.

The Problem:  A federal lawsuit filed in April 2024 by Dr. Laura Pressley, Robert Bagwell, Teresa Soll, Thomas Larry Korkmas, and Madelon Highsmith claims ballot secrecy was breached for over 60,000 Williamson County, Texas, voters in the November 2023 election.

According to court documents, the Plaintiffs obtained Williamson County election records through the Public Information Act.  In those records, repetitive algorithmic patterns were discovered that map over 60,000 voter names to the exact ballot they cast in Williamson County in the November 2023 election.

Redacted federal court documents reveal that included in the 60,000 voters are the exact ballots cast by prominent elected officials including:  Williamson County Sheriff, County Judge, County Attorney, District Attorney, County Commissioners, District Judges and more.

“Solutions” from the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Secretary of State Destroy the Ability to Audit Elections; Fail to Solve Problem

On June 6, 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a legal ruling in response to a request for records under the Public Information Act, reiterating that governmental entities have a legal duty to redact any personally identifying information on voters’ ballots when a Public Information Act request is made.  Read 6.6.24 AG Opinion here.

Unfortunately, Paxton’s opinion on countywide polling gives a green light for counties to redact the polling location from election records and is open to interpretation to allow county redaction of precinct information from ballots. This quote is from the 6.6.24 OAG Opinion, page 2:

“…regarding the locations at which some of the voters cast their ballots constitutes personally identifiable information that could tie a voter’s identity to their specific voting selections. Accordingly, the personally identifiable information of voters contained in the requested information must be redacted.”

Redacting the polling location and/or precinct information from election records released to the public will 1) destroy the ability to complete an audit of election results, and 2) enable county employees and their agents to continue to breach ballot secrecy for some voters who cast ballots at countywide locations.

Later, on June 6, 2024, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson issued an “Emergency Guidance on Voter Privacy” Advisory through Christina Worrell Adkins, Director of Elections to Texas Counties.  The SOS advisory demonstrates just how much this wrong-headed approach will convolute and slow down the entire public information process as well as destroy the ability to audit election results.  See 6.6.24 SOS Advisory. 

Summation of the Matter

Once again, this is the state government taking a bazooka approach to something that could be resolved with a pinpoint laser!  All the State of Texas needs to do is remove the computerized ballot numbering system for in-person voters and get back to the ballot numbering specified in the law – in the Texas Election Code!

The consecutively numbered ballot laws in Texas – Tex. Elec. Code Sections 52.062, 51.006, 51.007, 51.009, 51.010, 62.007 and 62.009 – all work together to preserve ballot secrecy and enable the detection and prevention of ballot fraud. 

Instead of adhering to those laws, counties are using illegal voting system software and hardware to assign, print, and store random unique identifiers/ballot trackers on in-person ballots cast at the polls.  Why are counties doing this?  Because the Texas Secretary of State unconstitutionally issued waivers of the law to allow it!

From the Williamson County federal lawsuit press release: “The Texas Secretary of State has waived many ballot numbering laws in the state since 2019 as seen in Election Advisory 2019-23 Section 13, and in lieu of those laws, created its own computerized ballot numbering system for in-person voters. 

“Secretary of State Jane Nelson, through her Elections Division Director Christina Adkins, has authorized election administrators across the state to uniquely number each ballot with what they call “ballot tracking through the voting system software” with over 200 counties using some form of ballot numbering through the voting system software. Court documents claim such authorization by the Secretary of State violates both state and federal law, as described in detail in Plaintiffs’ Original Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction.”

The unconstitutional waiving of law by the Texas Secretary of State is a prolonged, tiresome, and unnecessary problem.  The Texas Constitution, Article 1 | Bill of Rights, Sec. 28., clearly states, “SUSPENSION OF LAWS.  No power of suspending laws in this State shall be exercised except by the Legislature.”

As we see it, this week’s two proclamations from the AG and the SOS have actually made the case for the Pressley, Korkmas et al federal lawsuit.  They’ve actually admitted what the Plaintiffs claim, but in no way do they remove the method by which ballot secrecy is destroyed via the SOS-sanctioned ballot numbering, ballot tracking method!

What is Grassroots America doing about it?
Today, we sent a written inquiry with our assessment to members of the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee (and Senator Bob Hall).  At the time of this writing, Chairman Hughes and three other state senators had acknowledged receipt.

The Texas Senate State Affairs Committee is currently working on an “Interim Charge on Elections” from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. They have the ability to address ballot secrecy AND face down the usurpation of their legislative authority by the Secretary of State. This is a matter of urgency.

Bottom line Solution
Simply stop issuing waivers, Secretary of State, and follow the laws we already have on the books!  We repeat – the consecutively numbered ballot laws in Texas – Tex. Elec. Code Sections 52.062, 51.006, 51.007, 51.009, 51.010, 62.007 and 62.009 – comply with the Texas Constitution, which requires consecutively numbered ballots. These parts of the Texas Election Code all work together to preserve ballot secrecy and enable the detection and prevention of ballot fraud.

Whether we title it “Bazooka vs. Laser” or “Just Stop Doing Unconstitutional Stuff,” this caused great angst, extra work, and a super-pressurized Friday for the already exhausted Texas conservative grassroots.  Meanwhile, some elected officials just cannot understand why we’re so “out of sorts!”

You just can’t make this stuff up!

Be safe. Mind how you go. Hang in there with the Lord,

Fleming: The Giant is Awake

Fleming: The Giant is Awake

Jun 3, 2024 | GAWTP Blog

JoAnn Shares Her Answers to Various Media Questions About the Trump Verdict

 Your reaction to the Trump verdict? Although I am not surprised, make no mistake – this is a very dangerous, historically significant fork in the road for the United States. Blowing through all due process norms previously afforded to defendants, the judge instructed the jury they didn’t have to find an underlying crime or come to a unanimous decision.

Such brazen abuse of legal and judicial institutions by both the district attorney and a judge in an attempt to politically damage and delegitimize a political opponent can and will dramatically destabilize this nation. The American people need a swift, strong, detailed rejection of the sham trial from respected constitutional “rule of law” experts. The American people instinctively know this was unfair, but they need to be shown every single way the rule of law was bastardized and trampled.  Why? Because if this can happen to a former US President, it can happen to any of us.

What about the hush money, sexual relations, falsifying business records? I haven’t seen the evidence allegedly presented to the jury; therefore, I will not comment on Trump’s alleged actions, but prosecutors can and do win convictions in cases that shouldn’t have been brought in the first place. This case should never have made it to a jury. Bragg’s inflation of alleged actions that were classified as misdemeanors in order to morph them into a felony charge was an unprecedented contortion of the law to “get Trump.” They wanted a conviction and worked backwards to construct the convoluted scenario to get them to the desired outcome.

If Trump’s alleged “crimes” from 2016 and 2017 were so egregious, why weren’t they brought forward in 2018? 2019? 2020? 2021?  It’s 2024.  Political manipulators know timing is everything; but they have sorely misread the American people on this matter.

How do you think Trump being convicted of felony crimes will impact how Smith County residents and Texans overall vote in November?  Smith County citizens are very well informed and will overwhelmingly vote for Trump in November.  Grassroots America intends to work with its statewide coalition to turn out the strongest vote possible all across Texas. The “people connector” turnout tool used in the primary and runoff elections was demonstrably effective. We’re gearing up.

What are the political consequences of the verdict? The lasting consequences go far beyond the political. This “lawfare” verdict is just more evidence that we are living in post-Constitutional America. When personal animus becomes the standard of condemning people and the justice system is perverted to carry out political hatred via convictions based on everything but the rule of law, we are well into Banana Republic territory.  The American people have had a two-tiered justice system shoved in their faces for long enough.  They are looking for candidates and elected officials who understand what time it is in America and fight back – not just talk about it. Historical awareness dictates that this threat to our justice system must be destroyed at every level of government.

As to political consequences, Republicans in Congress need to get a clue. The American people are angry and fed up with political posturing with no results.  Year after year after year, we see the likes of Lindsay Graham and other Uni-party Republicans with veins popping out on their foreheads, pounding the table to assure us that they are going to “investigate” Democrats and their bureaucratic lap dogs for all manner of crimes against the American people. Have we ever seen any of these judiciary committee investigations produce one iota of justice for the American people?  No. Not one.

Thinking, aware Americans are sick of any Republican who is willing to be nothing more than controlled opposition.

How will this impact Trump’s electability?  Yesterday was the day Donald Trump’s election as the 47th President of the United States was confirmed. His small dollar donations are soaring.  People laboring under today’s growing economic distress who will sacrifice to donate to any political campaign will crawl over broken glass to get that candidate elected.  The giant is now fully awake.

Alert: New TEA Instructional Materials 

Alert: New TEA Instructional Materials 

May 30, 2024 | GAWTP Blog

Announcing! 
TEA’s New Open Education Resource  Instructional Materials 

Grassroots America and our Texas Conservative Grassroots Coalition’s trusted Education Subject Matter Experts are excited about the possibilities we see in the new instructional materials!  It is absolutely critical to get this right! 

Why This Matters
Holding public education accountable is a top priority! For all of the political cheerleading about “school choice,” the fact remains that MOST children will remain in public schools.  We DO NOT want to see the legislature pass just any school choice bill and use that “checked box” as a “get out of jail free” card to wash their hands of the problems in public education. 

This is especially important when recent rhetoric from Republican leadership has stripped the “free market” incentives from the debate. When Republicans pound the table, promising to “make public schools whole” with more taxpayer funding – even when public schools lose students to parental choice – all financial incentives for schools to improve go out the window!  Today’s school choice models bear little resemblance to the “first step” reform vision of Milton Friedman. True educational freedom AND measurable academic improvements from Texas public schools are a must!  

Background | The Pursuit of Transparent, Academic-based Education
During the “Plan-demic” shutdown of schools, parents and grandparents were better able to see what their children were being taught (or not).  Horrified adults took a stand (and continue to do so) – fighting indoctrination, low academic standards/expectations, overuse of electronic devices in the classroom, dangerous data collection, and the outright sexualization of children.

Resulting Legislative Action
Last year the Texas Legislature passed, and Gov. Abbott signed into law, HB 1605. Among other things, HB 1605 mandated the Texas Education Agency to create and publish its own curriculum.

[Note: Serious concerns about HB 1605 are acknowledged; however, the most urgent focus is the TEA’s response to the mandated creation of open education resource instructional materials, period.  HB 1605 is the law.  Until such a time that law is amended or repealed, we will focus on what the TEA has produced and whether or not it is an improvement over the status quo. We will not waste time obsessing over the fact that the bill passed.  We must deal with reality – the instructional materials – as currently before us. ]

Briefing Notes About the TEA’s New OER Instructional Materials
We are excited to see the strong approach to phonics and classical literature! The materials are built upon a fact-based academic model rather than concentrating on shifting  “feelings” and opinions. We love the foundation laid with historical, character, art, and poetry references from the Bible.  We cheered to discover the presence of CS Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aesop’s Fables, Wind in the Willows, and many rich references to our nation’s founders and founding documents!  Click here to find our helpful briefing notes about this important education project!

Click here to see a few exciting examples from the TEA OER that remind us of classical instruction from places like Hillsdale and Abeka Academy.  

Excited?  What You Can Do!
To begin reviewing the instructional materials yourself, click here.  Scroll down to “Access Materials Under Review” and click the section you wish to review first.  You will be asked to read a notice to reviewers.  Click “accept” to access the materials.  This does NOT commit you to submit a formal review.  If you do wish to participate with others to submit corrections, recommendations, and supportive comments,  we will provide more information on that coordination within the next couple of weeks.

Local School Districts – Know the Facts – Then Effectively Act!
It is a forgone conclusion that public education overall is sorely lacking in rigor and measurable academic results. This is not new. See historic performance reports here.

WOKE-ism is certainly pushed in some school districts. Some school district leaders are condescending, arrogant, and have the self-control of toddlers; however, we urge you to find out the FACTS about your own school district before you paint with a broad, misleading brush. All school districts, superintendents, and school boards are NOT the same.  First, KNOW the facts;  then address the facts to work toward solutions. Speaking from raw emotion and projecting the latest horror story onto your local school district without the facts will make you look hysterical and foolish.  Instead, study, arm yourself with facts, and don’t back down. 

Good News! School District Removes Dirty Books, Rejects Biden Title IX
How about a school district that uses “civil disobedience” in its rejection of the Biden Title IX overreach?  Although there are improvements to be made in Tyler ISD, we are thrilled with this letter from Tyler ISD Superintendent Marty Crawford to the Texas Association of School Boards’ Legal and Policy Services Division (TASB). Dr. Crawford has also cooperatively worked with Christin Bentley (Stop Sexualizing Texas Kids) to remove sexually graphic, pervasively vulgar books. Click here to read the letter.

Find out what your school district is doing to comply with the Reader Act and to protect female students and teachers from Biden’s Title IX rewrite.  Christin Bentley is a terrific resource for you, but be patient!  She’s a busy lady! Email Christin Bentley: thedaughter@protonmail.com.

The Left will explode over these instructional materials. Let’s pull together to make these classical education materials the very best they can be!

The Five Things I Learned in Writing Grassroots Priorities

The Five Things I Learned in Writing Grassroots Priorities

Apr 10, 2024 | GAWTP Blog

The Five Things I Learned in Writing Grassroots Priorities

By Brett Rogers | April 3, 2024

GrassrootsPriorities.com is the website I built with the guidance and support of JoAnn Fleming and Robert Shulter. It was a monumental task that took the better part of three months (March to May 2023). It endeavored to bring to life and connect the dots given to us by the Texas Legisature Online.

Thankfully, it was well-received and very much used. Thousands and thousands of times you queried the website to learn about votes, legislators and committee testimony. I’m glad it helped.

We also saw the use of our map, your capture of the way we color code votes to make it easier to see, and your use of a legislator’s Quick Summary. A picture can truly be worth a thousand words.

But I learned some things in building the website, and I thought I would share that with you.

1. “Big Government” is Much Bigger than We Thought.

There’s a great meme that starts out asking “Should the government…” and then immediately moves to a big “NO!”

It’s funny and gets shared because it’s true. It might be that we say we want the government to do far less, but the sad truth is that there are 11,807 bills on the website. Government isn’t doing less; it’s doing more, and often without our knowledge.

A few Republican legislators brag that they have the “most bills authored” or the “most bills passed!” Unless those bills have the word “repeal” in them, we should never be impressed by anyone who wants to pass more bills. That’s just more government, which means more meddling in your life, which means more taxes you have to pay. I fail to see how that’s a good thing.

And almost all of the bills should just have a heart emoji stuck to them. Because “the legislator cares, don’t you know?” or because we should “do something about this.” Except that the government almost always screws it up and its solutions cost twice as much as they would have otherwise.

When the government spends money on a “solution,” you’re the source of revenue to pay for that solution. Always remember that.

2. Lobbyists and Legislators Like that the Grassroots Fight the Culture War.

One of the epiphanies I had was when I looked at what bills brought the top 50 paid lobbyists with five or more clients before committees. Not one of them was a GOP priority bill. They were generally what I call money bills or permission bills.

A money bill is where a corporation or a municipality tries to access “state funds” (aka your taxpayer money) for their pet project.

A permission bill is where they want to expand the law to allow them to do something they legally couldn’t do
before. They want their hurdles removed or their jurisdiction broadened.

For the last several legislative sessions, the conservative grassroots have focused on bills that apply to the culture war or to ensuring that government adheres to the rule of law.

The lobbyists, I think, love that we fight in a different arena than they do. They get away with a lot of money movement and permission that works for ambitions of their clients. Meanwhile, we fight to keep porn out of schools and make sure that we don’t surgically remove the genitals of children. It’s important and good that we do, don’t get me wrong, but the less we see where the lobbyists spend their time, the better for the lobbyists – who also give a lot of money to powerful people throughout government.

Fifty thousand dollars in donations to help the legislature greenlight a two-million-dollar project is a great return for the money spent.

When the government spends, the government taxes you to pay for the spending. We need to watch this activity in our government like we watch the GOP Priority bills that focus on rule of law and culture. (Hint: With GrassrootsPriorities 2.0, we’re about to help you do just that!)

3. Republicans Who Disagree More with Other Republicans Than They Do Democrats are No Republicans.

If I stand in a room with nine other people and there are no labels, the people with whom I disagree most are not on the same side as me.

That seems kind of obvious to say, doesn’t it?

But if I stand in a room with nine other people and half are labeled “Republican” and half are labeled “Democrat,” and if a couple of the people with whom I disagree most are labeled “Republican,” some Republicans don’t like that I say there are Republicans who are not on the same side as me.

To them I ask, on what issue do you join with the Democrats more than you join with the Republicans? Because that’s what disagreement with other Republicans means – you’re siding with the Democrats.

When working to figure out how to explain this, I realized that we all feel betrayed when Chief Justice John Roberts sides with the liberals on the Supreme Court. I’ve never met a Republican who said, “Thank goodness John Roberts sided with Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.” Have you? Then why should any Republican think it’s a good idea to join with Democrats in our legislature?

Some might be tempted to say that some elected Republicans have to be flexible because of the liberals in their district. If that were true, then how can we explain West Texas representatives Ken King, Dustin Burrows, Stan Lambert, and Drew Darby? Each of them strongly disagrees with other Republicans before they ever disagree with Democrats. And it’s not just West Texas – but let’s just stop saying something that isn’t true. It’s not because of the strong liberals in their district who need representation. It’s because these representatives agree with Democrats on too many things.

4. Republican Representatives are Smart Enough to Vote for GOP Priority Bills that Make It to the Floor.

Many of you queried to see how a Republican legislator voted on our priority bills. Here’s the short answer: Yes, maybe they did.

But here’s the back story: there were 216 priority bills. Only 13 passed. Election integrity, border security, banning Democrat chairs… these got no real traction during regular session.

Most priority bills die before they get to the floor for a vote. Granted, some are companion bills, meaning that they have the same language or try to do the same thing. But look at this screenshot for election integrity bills:

Notice a pattern? This is from the House Elections Committee chaired by a Republican – Reggie Smith, who was just defeated by Shelley Luther.

Republican State Rep. Todd Hunter has the dubious distinction of being the only Republican to vote against any Priority Bill in its final passage, and that was HB 1243 – the bill that made voter fraud a felony again!

It’s not about whether our Republicans vote for the bill if it makes it to a floor vote; it’s about how hard they fight to make sure it gets to a floor vote.

5. How Some State Reps. Game the System to Make Themselves Look Better.

Some representatives got busted during the session doing things to make themselves look more conservative…such as signing up to coauthor long-dead bills. Or registering a “No” on Local and Consent bills to increase their rank on the Rice University survey. Or using Statements of Vote to obfuscate how they really feel about a bill. Let’s discuss each one.

First, “coauthor” is a misnomer. It makes it sound as though a representative sat with the author and, together, they struggled through the language of the bill to get it right. That’s not it at all. Being a coauthor is a high five. A thumbs up. You, from your kitchen table at home who agree with a bill, do as much “authoring” on the bill as a coauthor does. If it were better labeled, it would be “supporter,” and not “coauthor.”

When a bill dies in committee in April, what’s the point of becoming a “supporter” in late May? There is no point, except to be able to tell your constituents that you “coauthored” a bill. Do you see how that is disingenuous? And yet, many do it. We will continue to point that out.

Second, Local and Consent bills are going to pass. That’s why they are in Local and Consent. These bills are passed in groups, omnibus-style, and they should only be included if they need no debate whatsoever.

Bills get into the Local and Consent committee because the House Speaker puts them there. When the vote happens, you vote for all of the bills in a single vote, but you’re allowed to register an objection, a “No,” if you would not have voted for a bill in the bundle had it been all by itself.

The Rice University survey at first used these “No” objections when ranking the representatives. The more a representative voted “No,” the higher they would appear in the rankings. So, Jared Patterson registered a “No” 769 times. Primary defeated Kronda Thimesch registered a “No” 558 times. As a result, each bragged about their initial placement in the survey.

Then Rice University redid their rankings, disregarding the Local and Consent objections, and Jared Patterson fell from 1st to 15th. Kronda Thimesch fell 33 places. Mitch Little just defeated her!

If they’re actually against the majority of the bills placed into Local and Consent by the Speaker who put these bills there to pass, why be so enthusiastic about the Speaker who places bad bills into Local and Consent for passage? According to the two of them, well over five hundred deserved debate and not passage. And yet, Patterson and Thimesch have remained very supportive of the Speaker.

Perhaps they didn’t really disagree at all, really. Perhaps it was just for show.

Third, a Statement of Vote is a way to put into the House Journal after a vote, “Oops – I voted the wrong way.” It doesn’t change the vote. It’s kind of a mulligan and is sometimes used to placate a constituent who is disappointed in the representative’s vote.

Being a representative is complicated, no question. It’s very demanding. But what’s not demanding is pushing the “Aye” or “Nay” buttons.

Democrats, on average, use a Statement of Vote 20 times during session.

Republicans, on average, use a Statement of Vote 40 times during session.

Are Republicans far less capable of accurately pushing buttons than Democrats? And why do some representatives, like Jeff Leach, have over 200 Statements of Vote?

Sometimes, a legislator who steps away from the desk has their desk mate vote for them and the desk mate doesn’t vote correctly. It’s probably a good idea to ensure that you either give your desk mate explicit instructions, or simply don’t vote. Having too many Statements of Vote is a bad look.

All of these things are hinky. We don’t need hinky in our legislature.

I’ve been asked what the future is for GrassrootsPriorities.com. You should know that it will continue, whether I’m here or not. It belongs to Grassroots America – We the People. They have the database and the code and all of the algorithms that populated it. It will be a permanent part of the political landscape in Texas as long as Grassroots America exists.

We’re looking to expand it. Transparency is essential to governing government. The intent of the founders was never to limit the people, but to limit government. It’s time to start limiting government again.

If you have ideas and recommendations, please send them to me (email address below). Part of the reason that you have the “no cost to you” legislative transparency tool that you have today is because of your input as it was being built.

Grassroots America means what it says when it says, “We the People.” The mission remains to Unite, Educate, and Empower, and we built GrassrootsPriorities.com for exactly that reason.

See you in the trenches for Liberty,
Brett Rogers
brett@shootmealready.com

After the 2024 Primary, Will Our Legislators Try to Hide Their Actions from You?

After the 2024 Primary, Will Our Legislators Try to Hide Their Actions from You?

Feb 29, 2024 | GAWTP Blog

After the 2024 Primary,

Will Our Legislators Try to

Hide Their Actions from You?

By Brett Rogers | Feb. 28, 2024 

What government – any level of government – does in secret, it does without the consent of the governed.

If ours is truly a government of “We the People,” then transparency is prerequisite. Transparency holds those who commit bad actions accountable. Publication of the actions of government officials provides essential transparency.  Transparency  safeguards citizens, thereby undergirding enduring liberty.

In this past year, Grassroots America We the People created something unique – a legislative transparency tool that connected dots, and summarized for understanding, the network of actions of the actors from within our Texas legislature. The website highlighted the good and the bad, and made all of this available for free to the people of Texas. We call this website Grassroots Priorities (grassrootspriorities.com).

What we learned is that an overwhelming amount of information available at Texas Legislature Online (TLO) makes it easier for our government to act in secret. For example, very few people knew what a “Statement of Vote” was prior to the development of Grassroots Priorities. Now, during the 2024 Primary Election cycle, this legislative addendum to record votes on the floor of the House is a central topic in some races.

By making such information transparent to the public, it’s almost certain that legislators will curb future use of a “Statement of Vote,” which allows a legislator to state in the House journal that his/her vote “yes” really should have been a vote “no” – or vice versa. 

The people also learned that this action by a legislator changed nothing. A vote miscast is forever an error. What’s cast is cast.

Our legislators should be careful about their votes. It’s a major part of what they are hired at the ballot box to do on our behalf. And whether miscast or not, they should be judged on their actual voting record.  Why? Because their actions have long-term consequences for the people of Texas and future generations. 

Many other aspects of the legislature’s activity were exposed, and our legislators were then called to answer for their actions. This is good and necessary – and most importantly – it must continue. And if anything is to change, it must be made easier to obtain this public data, not more difficult. 

Having taken “heat” from their constituents, legislators might be tempted to make the transparency we achieved harder to achieve in the future. Political actions taken in darkness endanger every Texan. 

Grassroots America – We the People believes the 2024 Texas Republican Party Platform should include a plank that calls for this public legislative data (bills, actions, testimonies, committee actions, journal activities, record votes in both chambers, fiscal notes, etc.) to simply be available as files for download for any citizen to obtain. Anything less must be unacceptable.

We’ve heard from many other states that they would love a tool such as we now have in Texas. The citizens of those states should push for such data to be available for summary and analysis.

And yes, the same should be true at the federal level.

Any legislator who wants to curb our access to the records of our government should be reprimanded and hopefully removed in a robust primary.

We’ve made every effort to ensure that the massive amount of information we made available through Grassroots Priorities was accurate and lined up with the information found with the public record at Texas Legislature Online (TLO). Much of what we produced, links or points directly back to the TLO itself, so that people would not have to just take our word for it.  Grassroots America WANTS the people to see the facts and reach conclusions for themselves.  Why? Because this builds a strong, independent, informed citizenry – the essential ingredient for enduring liberty!

We strongly believe that if data is made available to the public, then those who summarize and analyze the data should also be held accountable – just as any news organization. This is why we have an FAQ section on our Grassroots Priorities website, which explains any changes we make on the website. If any corrections need to be made, we’ll always post those.

Truth. We are all better off when we have the truth made known to us. No one can make good decisions without good and accurate information.

From those elected to “govern,” we must insist upon a renewed respect for and commitment to this First Founding Principle of Liberty – Consent of the Governed.  

In order to give or withhold informed consent, We the People must have access to the data needed to fully review both the planned and completed actions of those elected to act on our behalf – because only that can be called “good” government.    

                                                                                                        BR 2024

The Attempted Purge of “America’s Bishop” Bishop Joseph Strickland

The Attempted Purge of “America’s Bishop” Bishop Joseph Strickland

Nov 12, 2023 | GAWTP Blog

The Attempted Purge of

“America’s Bishop”

Bishop Joseph Strickland

11-12-23 | JoAnn Fleming

The enemy is already here.

Make no mistake.  What just happened to a Bible-believing, Christ-KNOWING Catholic Bishop in the pseudo fairy-tale city of Tyler, Texas, is part of a PURGE – a purge planned and orchestrated by global elites determined to force everybody to accept all manner of chosen deviancy as normal, acceptable, faux god-approved behavior dressed up in “me-ism” – the first doctrine of moral relativism.

The purge’s mission is to rid this world of any who dare speak boldly about the existence of absolutes.

Removal of absolute Truth blesses prideful, pleasure-seeking hedonism.

Hedonism eats the soul, creating hopeless victims who create ever more miserable victims. It’s an evil spawned in Hell and distributed by rebellious evil-doers motivated to win a spiritual battle they can never eternally win.

On Saturday, November 11, 2023, the purge hit very close to home.  We learned that the fiercely brave, yet gentle giant – Tyler’s Tweeting Bishop Joseph Strickland had been fired by the Pope. Why? Strickland refused to recant, apologize, or resign.

Though we prayed it would not be so, this was inevitable – for Joseph Strickland is a man of God who long ago counted the cost of truly following Jesus.  He believes with every fiber of his being and to the uttermost depths of his soul that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, yesterday, today and forever. He can do no less than submissively serve his King and Master – no matter the cost.

Bishop Strickland often said, “All the efforts to change and twist the truth will fall to dust.”  This reality is indelibly engrained in his being.  He cannot shirk from it.  He cannot sit quietly by while others dilute the Cause and Ways of Christ.

What were Joseph Strickland’s “crimes” you might ask?  He dared say aloud that desecrating human life will have consequences. He dared call abortion murder and publicly called for the Church to denounce Biden’s fake Catholicism. In May, Strickland wrote on the X social media platform, “I believe Pope Francis is the Pope, but it is time for me to say that I reject his program of undermining the Deposit of Faith. Follow Jesus.”  Then, Strickland dared join the June 16 protest at Dodger Stadium, denouncing the mocking, vilely blasphemous Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – a troupe of drag queens. This is when the Vatican pressure unmistakably escalated against Bishop Strickland.

Bottom line – Joseph Strickland dared to speak out against evil – especially the kind that destroys children. Joseph Strickland’s true north is always Christ, and as he stands against evil, he never fails to point mankind to Christ as the ONLY source of Truth.  Strickland’s unrelenting focus on the Christ of Holy Scripture (not the man-made, “rabbit’s foot” jesus) got him into trouble.

We admire Joseph Strickland and thank God for his courageous devotion to Christ and his visibly courageous active faith. He fears God rather than man.  How refreshing!

Frankly, it is the deepest prayer of our hearts that strong, brave Christian men would rise up to join Joseph Strickland.  Our culture, our local community, Texas, and our nation are crumbling for lack of strong, wise, vocal manly men!

Those who claim Christ are the least Christ-like when they embrace a God-less culture because of sheer cowardice. Silence from Christian pulpits in the face of our nation’s cultural rot is blasphemous to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit they claim to serve.

Condoning sin because it is chic, trendy, popular, and applauded is weakness cloaked in counterfeit love. Stripped down, it is a determined, yet futile prideful rebellion against God’s Ways. The Lord God Almighty will not change His mind about willful sin – any willful, unrepentant sin – no matter how loud the demon-inspired protests to Truth become nor how much society excuses and glorifies that sin.

We are so happy and blessed to know a man who will not recant the Truth established in his heart by His Lord and Savior.  God’s Ways are alive in the heart of Joseph Strickland and the Peace of Christ rests upon him.

No doubt, at the end of his earthly sojourn, Joseph Strickland will hear Christ Jesus warmly say,  “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Those with the spiritual eyes to “see” and the spiritual ears to “hear,” understand all that they are  discerning. They know the hour.

The enemy is already here. 

We are to occupy until King Jesus returns – not pacify.  The purge only works if we are intimidated into silent acceptance.

May you boldly seek the Author and Finisher of the only faith that will stand.