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Texas judge arrested for 'organized criminal activity' in cattle rustling scheme: report
May 21, 2022
Special rangers in Texas have reportedly broken up a cattle rustling scheme involving a public official.
"The top seated official in the least populated county in the state of Texas was arrested Friday. Loving County Judge Skeet Jones is accused of livestock theft and organized criminal activity," News West 9 reported. "A special ranger with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association confirmed Judge Jones and three others, including a county employee, are accused of picking up estray cattle and selling them."
Jones was arrested along with Cody Williams, Jonathon Alvarado and Leroy Medlin.
"By law, if an estray (loose) livestock animal roams onto a property, the property owner must report the livestock to the the sheriff. The sheriff's office would then contact the livestock's owner and work toward reunification," the station reported. "Jones and Williams are officially charged for theft of three head of cattle and organized crime. Alvarado is charged for theft of one head of cattle and organized crime. Medlin is charged for organized crime."
Jones is the son of Elgin “Punk” Jones, who was the county sheriff for 28 years.
"For decades, a handful of prominent families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local government, with the Joneses finally largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as the judge for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. His nephew is the constable," NBC News reported.
Texas election lawyer Susan Hays says the scheme was "asinine."
“You can’t make this sh*t up,” she told NBC News. “It’s a pain in the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. And then to risk real trouble for it? It’s just asinine to me.”
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Notorious political dirty trickster Roger Stone will have to choose between prison and his longtime friend, Donald Trump, a former federal prosecutor argued on Saturday.
"It was known as F.O.S. — or Friends of Stone — and while its members shifted over time, they were a motley cast of characters," The New York Times reported Friday. "At least three members of the group chat are now facing charges in connection with the riot at the Capitol in January 2021. They include Owen Shroyer, the right-hand man of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones; Enrique Tarrio, the onetime chairman of the Proud Boys; and Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia."
The group chat was on the encrypted communications app Signal.
At least two members of the group are cooperating with investigators.
"While little is known about what was said on the chat, the membership list of Friends of Stone, provided to The New York Times by one of its participants, offers a kind of road map to Mr. Stone’s associations, showing their scope and nature in the critical period after the 2020 election. During that time, Mr. Stone was involved with a strikingly wide array of people who participated in efforts to challenge the vote count and keep Mr. Trump in the White House," the newspaper reported. "At least one of Mr. Stone’s Oath Keeper bodyguards, Joshua James, has pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy charges in the Capitol attack and is cooperating with the government’s inquiry. Kellye SoRelle, a lawyer for the Oath Keepers, was part of the Friends of Stone chat as well and is also said to be cooperating with prosecutors in the riot investigation."
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner suggested that will create a dilemma for Stone while analyzing the case on his "Justice Matters" podcast.
"So this is also a really good development, that people are flipping on Roger Stone, because one day — one day — Roger Stone is either going to prison or he's flipping on Donald Trump," he said.
Watch:
Giuliani testifies; friends of Stone are flipping; Ginni Thomas insurrects & Loudermilk gets quiet www.youtube.com
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GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana was lectured by a member of the Congressional Black Caucus for his statements dismissing maternal death by African American women.
“About a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. So, if you correct our population for race, we’re not as much of an outlier as it’d otherwise appear,” Cassidy told Politico.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) blasted Cassidy in a thread posted to Twitter.
"A third of Louisiana's population is Black. The Senator's statement is rooted in white supremacy," she wrote.
"I’ll paraphrase the Senator’s statement. Sen. Cassidy is saying that his state’s maternal death rate wouldn’t be so high if you didn’t count Black women. He suggests that 'correcting' the data means eliminating Black maternal health outcomes entirely," she explained.
"Due to structural inequities built into our health care system. Black mothers are 3 times as likely to die due to complications from pregnancy than white mothers. In Louisiana, that number jumps to 4," she coninued.
"GOP elected officials like Sen. Cassidy have no desire to dismantle these inequities — it’s easier for them to ignore them. Because dismantling health inequities means acknowledging systemic racism, and it’s against his best interests to do that," she wrote. "It’s no surprise that a member of the party that scores political points by spewing conspiratorial 'great replacement' rhetoric and fomenting moral panics about so-called critical race theory in schools is perfectly comfortable ignoring the plight of Black American mothers."
"A truly 'pro-life' Senator should have a vested interest in ending maternal health disparities. Instead, Sen. Cassidy seems content to let Black mothers die as a result of pregnancies that his party would like to force them to carry," she argued. "To call this hypocrisy unacceptable would be a gross understatement. I am saddened, disgusted, and appalled that a *sitting U.S. Senator* in the year 2022 can make this statement so nonchalantly."
"Black lives matter. Black mothers matter. And I will not stop fighting until ALL of my colleagues — House and Senate, Democratic and Republican — acknowledge that," she concluded.
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