(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post)
Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done, and where Momma's in the kitchen, she ain't got no shoes.
Once the authoritarian impulse is released, and then legitimized, at the top of society, it filters down to anyone in authority over anyone else. Which is why we begin this week in Texas, where the principal of a school — and some prosecutors out of the Torquemada School of Law, seem to have been luxuriating in it. From the Texas Observer:
After the Texas Observer first reported last month that 11-year-old Timothy Murray was arrested by the Brownsville Independent School District police and detained in solitary confinement just days after he reported being bullied by his school principal, Myrta Garza, Timothy’s mother Nadia Rincon had hoped prosecutors would drop the charges against her son. But during a status hearing today, Cameron County Assistant District Attorney Rene Garza made it clear the office is hell-bent on building a criminal case against Timothy, asking for more time to gather evidence after school administrators who previously worked under Garza filed another criminal charge against the student earlier this month.
There seems to be a bit of a homefield advantage on behalf of the wrong people in this situation.
But Garza remains in her position as principal at Palm Grove Elementary School; her ties in the district run deep. Her mother, Rachel Ayala, served as area superintendent for 45 years. At Canales Elementary, she served as principal for four years, from 2018 to 2023, before she was removed by then-district superintendent Rene Gutierrez, who targeted the school, saying it needed improvement. A day before Assistant Principal Gabriel Rodriguez, who previously worked under Garza, had a Brownsville ISD police officer file a report charging Timothy with aggravated assault, another student reported to Principal Patricia Chacon that Timothy pulled his hair and tried to cut his finger with scissors. Timothy said Chacon brought both boys into her office and told the students she would report the incident to their parents. Timothy apologized for pulling the student’s hair but clarified he had pretended to cut the student’s paper and was not aiming for his finger. Chacon later informed Rincon that the student later retracted his accusation when school administrators called his parents. But the district police still filed the report thereafter.
Parent Jennifer Vasquez said she was relieved when Garza left Canales Elementary, where her daughter attends. She described seeing Garza often scream at parents and students. “A lot of parents don’t know where to report problems or where to go, so they don’t say anything,” Vasquez said “[Garza] has a lot of people to back her up. She has people in high places. So I guess she can basically do whatever she wants and she receives no consequences for it. But how are we going to trust a person like this with our kids?”
Back to Timothy Murray. After the educational bureaucracy was finished grinding him up, and the police were finished tossing him into solitary, the wagons began to circle.
After the district repeatedly ignored Rincon’s requests to review any investigative reports on her son, she filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency, which referred the matter back to the district. In an October 4 letter from the state agency reviewed by the Observer, Jurisdiction Review Manager Naomi Roach wrote, “After further review, the agency has determined that you should pursue this matter through the school district’s local grievance process.” The day after the Observer reported what happened to Timothy, Brownsville ISD released a public statement stating, “Rest assured that we are committed to transparency and accountability. We will conduct a comprehensive review of the situation and take any necessary actions based on the findings of our ongoing investigation.” But the district still has not provided Rincon with copies of their threat assessment findings, if there was one conducted, from Timothy’s first arrest. The district said it was asking the attorney general for a ruling on the Observer‘s inquiries about the report. Media relations officer Jason Moody did not immediately respond to the Observer’s request for comment. We will update this story if he does. After this story was published, board member Denise Garza responded to Rincon’s complaint stating interim Superintendent Jesus Chavez is “looking into this concern.”
Power is authority's heroin. The addiction can be unshakable.
We move along to Georgia, where the Republican Party's sudden interest in letting people vote for whom they want doesn't appear to extend to the grassiest of grassroots. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
It’s not an idle concern. GOP committees in Chattooga County and nearby Pickens County have adopted rules that give party leaders the final say on whether candidates for county office are eligible to run as Republicans. Pickens County Republicans adopted the so-called “accountability” platform in August with little outcry. There’s been far more backlash in Chattooga County, another GOP safe haven where Gov. Brian Kemp captured 84% of the vote in last year’s midterm.Chattooga County GOP chair Jennifer Tudor said the rule requires candidates to earn the blessing of a five-member committee to run as a Republican for countywide offices, though it can’t reject contenders for state or federal seats from running on the party’s ballot. “Should we be forced to accept a candidate who claims to be Republican but supports abortion, gun control, big government and high taxes?” asked Tudor, who added: “Deceptive politicians should not be allowed to take advantage of poor, low information voters.”It’s a miniature version of a failed statewide effort by hardline conservatives to pass rules that could have blocked state candidates from qualifying as Republicans if they’re deemed to be insufficiently conservative.
First, you decide you don't really give a damn about governing. Then, you decide you don't really care about running a political party, so someone else takes the wheel. Republicans are more of a backwater frat than a political party these days.
We skip west to Kansas, where the Wichita Eagle has discovered that, for all the current talk about the 14th amendment, the Fourth Amendment has been run over by the threshing machine.
Kansas law enforcement have committed numerous violations of Fourth Amendment rights over the past decade, an investigation by The Star found. At least 25 times since 2014, courts either ruled that Kansas law enforcement trampled search and seizure protections; or lawsuits alleging Fourth Amendment violations have led to payouts, court-ordered remedies, or remain ongoing. The number almost certainly significantly undercounts the true number of violations because it includes only incidents that have made their way into the courts.
This is some admirably straightforward newspaper writing. No "alleged"'s. No "sources say."
The Star’s investigation began after police raided the Marion County Record in August. Gideon Cody, then the Marion police chief, obtained search warrants for the Record’s newsroom, as well as the homes of the publisher and a city councilwoman. Cody’s investigation quickly fell apart and he resigned weeks later.
The rap sheet only starts there.
The City of Sabetha paid a couple $105,000 after police arrested one of them following what the family alleged was a warrantless search of their home. The Thomas County Sheriff’s Office aided in the repossession of a resident’s vehicle despite having no court order authorizing a repossession. The sheriff’s office later agreed to require additional training to settle a lawsuit over the incident. Buhler police conducted a warrantless search of a rental home after the landlord let an officer in. The police found marijuana, but a state appeals court said the police violated the renter’s Fourth Amendment rights and ordered the evidence suppressed. The Kansas Highway Patrol engaged in a pattern of Fourth Amendment violations in how troopers conducted traffic stops, a federal judge ruled this summer.
This always has been a problem with modern examples of what Radney Balko calls "warrior" policing. There's little room in that mentality for constitutional niceties, and the forfeiture laws add a financial motive for cutting corners, especially in obscure places far from the media spotlight.
Several key factors make Fourth Amendment violations more likely, The Star found, including insufficient experience among officers and a lack of coordination between law enforcement and prosecutors before searches. Across Kansas, law enforcement experience with searches and seizures varies dramatically. Officers, especially in rural areas, can go a whole career obtaining as few as a dozen search warrants, which must be approved by a judge. Others may handle a dozen or more a year. Officers are required to take continuing education each year, but Kansas imposes no rule that any of it focus on Fourth Amendment issues. While some law enforcement officials say most training in some way touches on the Fourth Amendment, it’s up to individual departments and agencies whether to mandate specific instruction.
Yeah, good luck with that.
And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, whence Blog Official Hall-Decker Friedman of the Plains brings us the tale of a Christmas miracle. From News4 in Oklahoma City:
Thanks to conservation efforts, the number of North American bison is now estimated to be upwards of 600,000 and growing. Those same conservation efforts have also led to the discovery of a rare type of bison — one that the Quapaw Tribe of northeast Oklahoma says they’re extremely lucky to have in their care.
Mitch Albright, the Director of Agriculture for the Quapaw Nation, is responsible for looking after 175 head of bison located on tribal land. Albright noticed one of the bulls in his care looked different from the rest. His name is Frosty — a name that suits him well because his fur, from head to toe, is white. “We tested our white buffalo bull when we first got him. I think it has been four years ago now. We sent a sample off to Texas A&M, and the results that came back showed he’s genetically pure,” said Albright. According to the National Buffalo Association, the odds of a female birthing a pure, white buffalo, were at least 1 in 10 million historically. These white calves are likely a result of albinism.
And, as befits the season, there is an element of ancient spirituality involved here.
According to the National Parks Service, a white buffalo is among the most sacred animals on earth to many American Indian tribes. The bison’s reverence goes back to an ancient story about a beatific presence known as the White Buffalo Calf Woman, who arrived during a time of famine and promised to “restore harmony.” The legend dictates that the birth of a white bison is a sign that the White Buffalo Calf Woman is hearing her people’s prayers and that good fortune is on the horizon.
I sure hope that's the case. We could all use a break.
This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.
Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.
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