Texas Republicans Inch Closer to Secession

Listen to Military Veteran Talk Radio iHeart.SmythRadio.com
Facebook.com/SmythRadio

www.motherjones.com

If the nationalists get their way, this November might be the last time Texans vote for a US president.

On Wednesday, the Platform Committee of the Texas Republican Party voted to put a Texas independence resolution up for a vote at this week's GOP convention, according to a press release from the pro-secession Texas Nationalist Movement. The resolution calls for allowing voters to decide whether the Lone Star State should become an independent nation.

Texas was, in fact, its own country for nine years before joining the United States in 1845, and while the idea of returning to independence has never been taken seriously by most people, it remains popular as a romantic notion and marketing hook. Lone Star beer is the "national beer of Texas." Texas Monthly is the "national magazine of Texas." In a 2009 rally, then-Governor Rick Perry hinted that the state could secede if "Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people." He later backed off of the idea. (Representatives of the state GOP and Texas Nationalist Movement could not be reached for comment.)

The Texas Nationalist Movement, once considered a quixotic fringe group, has added hundreds of members in the years since the election of Barack Obama. According to the Houston Chronicle's Dylan Baddour, at least 10 county GOP chapters are coming to the convention supporting independence resolutions. But this will be the first time in the state's 171-year history that they will actually vote on one. It's very unlikely to win. Then again, that's what people said about Donald Trump.

COMMENTS

Rape Trees, Dead Migrants and the Consequences of an Open Border

Listen to Military Veteran Talk Radio iHeart.SmythRadio.com
Facebook.com/SmythRadio
citbart Texas/Bob Price
by BRANDON DARBY AND BOB PRICE25 Apr 20161,260

Many of the most caring people in the U.S. think they are helping the poor from Latin America by leaving our Southwest border wide open between ports-of-entry, but they are not. Several of the transnational criminal organizations (cartels) operating in Central America and Mexico make an estimated one-third or more of their profits from illegal immigration. Specifically, two groups below Texas, the Gulf and Los Zetas cartels, are largely fueled by the trafficking and smuggling of human beings.

The brutality of these criminal groups, from incinerating innocents in a network of ovens to their near complete control of state and local governments, is largely paid for by funds generated from illegal immigration–a shadowy economic engine that is only possible because we refuse to properly secure our border with Mexico.

Women and young girls from Central America are routinely given birth control or morning after pills by their mothers in anticipation of the likely sexual assaults that will occur on their illicit journey to the United States.

These females are often raped immediately upon making it to their first stop once they arrive in a Mexican stash house from Guatemala. They then are shipped to the U.S.-Mexico border, usually to Reynosa, Mexico, immediately south of McAllen, Texas. In the process of making it from the first stash house to the second, the women and young girls are often sexually assaulted or raped again by the smuggler–or group of smugglers–taking them between the two locations. The sexual assaults and rapes then often happen again in the second Mexican stash house of their journey.

They are then trickled into the U.S. across the porous border and brought to a third stash house in a U.S. border town, usually in or near McAllen, Texas. They are often sexually assaulted or raped again by the operator of the stash house, if they are deemed attractive by the criminals operating the clandestine facility. They are stockpiled until the cartel wants to send a large load of narcotics across the Rio Grande. The cartel then sends a large load of humans across in one area and then a drug load across in another.

Once the human beings are in Texas, another smuggler then picks up the women and young girls and drives them with a coyote to a point along Highway 281 just before the Border patrol checkpoint immediately south of Falfurrias, Texas. The checkpoint is approximately 85 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Rape trees

The women and young girls exit the vehicle with their coyote and attempt to make their way around the checkpoint. Most of the apprehended illegal migrants say they were told it would be a 30-minute hike and that they were given a gallon of water for their trip. The reality is that the hike usually takes 3-4 days. It is common for the coyote to sexually assault or rape the females on this stretch of the journey as well. These coyotes usually remove an article of clothing from the female they rape and they tie it tightly to a tree—a rape tree.

“The rape trees are a common practice in this area,” said Daniel Walden, a human trafficking investigator and instructor who founded a team of volunteer police officers who donate their time to help patrol in Brooks County, which is among Texas’ poorest counties. “The women are warned in Mexico that they likely will be raped and assaulted during the trafficking process. It is common for mothers to put their young daughters on the pill or some other form of contraception before sending them north.”

“Human trafficking is about the smuggler having power and control over their victims. The rape trees send a signal to those who follow about what will happen if you get out of line. The women are terrorized into submission,” Walden explained during an interview with Breitbart Texas. “While I have only seen one rape tree personally, we get reports from inside the ranches about them on a regular basis.”

Articles of female clothing often left hanging on a “rape tree” as a trophy. (AP File Photo/Eric Gay)

Linda Vickers is one of those ranchers. Her ranch is located just north of the Border Patrol checkpoint south of Falfurrias. These smuggled aliens are led across her property on a regular basis.

“Many years ago, I used to see bras and women’s jeans hung in trees on our property, but I didn’t know why,” Vickers told Breitbart Texas in an interview on Saturday. “I do now.”

A rape tree discovered on the Vicker’s ranch near Falfurrias, Texas. (File Photo Courtesy of Linda Vickers)

“It is common to find not only these rape trees, but condoms as well,” the Texas rancher explained. “I find these rape trees and condoms to be unnerving and it is a reminder of the unsavory character of the criminal trespassers on my ranch. It makes me very angry.”

Vickers said she is often asked if she feels safe on the ranch she calls home. “I would not if not for my pistol, my own alertness to my surroundings and my K-9s,” she explained. “These dogs let me live a normal life out here without fear.”

The South Texas rancher recounted episodes on her ranch where they found groups of women and young girls. “These women and girls would huddle up together away from the men after the groups were captured,” Vickers said.

Norma and Delia (age 12), both from Mexico waiting for Border Patrol agents. (Photo Courtesy of Linda Vickers)

She described a scene where a Mexican woman named Norma had teamed up with a 12-year-old girl named Delia. They were not related but Norma had taken Delia under her wing to protect her. The two had become separated from their smugglers the day before being found on the Vicker’s ranch. “I thought it was nice of her to take care of the young girl as they were traveling through this very dangerous territory.”

The injured and tired left to die

Some of the women and young girls get hurt; an ankle gets sprained, a foot broken, or they simply get exhausted and can’t physically continue. They are then left to die by their coyote—and they often do. The county that the Falfurrias checkpoint is in is Brooks County. They have six deputies to patrol nearly 1,000 square miles. Forty-four bodies were found in the area in 2014 alone, with 129 found last year. Some are men, some are women, but all were left to die after an injury or the inability to keep up with the group they were traveling with.

The Salvadoran woman being interviewed by volunteer Brooks County deputy Daniel Walden was left behind to die in Brooks County because she twisted her knee. (File Photo: Breitbart Texas/Bob Price)

Some of the illegal migrants make their way to a road and get rescued by law enforcement, others are not so lucky and they are found dead under a tree, usually half-eaten by vultures and other animals. Some of the women and young girls are picked up by sex traffickers who patrol the area looking for vulnerable prey.

“The woman from El Salvador was very lucky that morning when we found her,” Walden said recalling the 2014 incident. “First she was lucky to find her way to a roadway where she could be discovered. The brush land all looks the same and experienced hikers get lost in minutes without navigational aids. The temperature that day was heading to the high 90’s and water is scarce.”

“She was also lucky it was us that found her and not one of the human trafficking coyotes in the area that routinely drive along this particular road,” the deputy continued. “They are looking for women just like her they can turn into sex slaves in one of Texas’ larger cities.”

The women and young girls who are lucky enough to get apprehended by law enforcement often refuse to talk about their assaults until much later. Many of them express fear for themselves or their families, as the coyotes have often threatened to kill them if the victim talks about the ordeal.

Breitbart Texas witnessed first-hand, the horrible deaths that befell many of the travelers through this region. The photo above is one of two Mexican men left to die along the trail after they became too weak to keep up. After receiving a 911 call at the Brooks County Sheriff’s office, Border Patrol BORSTAR rescue teams searched for more than a day to find the two men. The one pictured above was found first. About 12 hours later, the second man was found further up the trail.

In the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office, Chief Deputy Benny Martinez is no stranger to the death and suffering caused by our country’s open border policy. His department’s small staff of deputies are routinely sent out to recover the remains of the victims or pick up the survivors. His very small and underfunded department is supplemented by the volunteer efforts of those like Walden and his Border Brotherhood of Texas volunteer deputies.

“Fortunately, because of the efforts of our deputies, the Border Patrol’s presence, help from the State of Texas with Texas Rangers, Department of Public Safety Troopers, and members of the Texas State Guard, the number of deaths this year is lower,” Martinez told Breitbart Texas in an interview. “We have worked hard to do as much as we can with the limited resources we have and have pushed state officials to send us help. The lives saved as a result speaks to how well our people are doing.”

Countless Border Patrol agents and county law enforcement officers from across the entire 1,994-mile Southwest border with Mexico have repeated their versions of these same stories—ad-nauseam. The journeys and time spent by Breitbart Texas in border communities from the coast of Texas to the coast of California all share commonality in that women and young girls are exploited in a similar fashion by the coyotes who bring them into the U.S. illegally. There are minor differences, dependent upon the region, but they all share the same core: Mexican cartels and the human smugglers to whom they lease routes exploit the porous U.S.-Mexico border and humanity’s most vulnerable always suffer the most.

Follow Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon Darby on Twitter: @brandondarby

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter: @BobPriceBBTX.

Read More Stories About:

Big Government, Breitbart Texas, Border,Human Trafficking, Human Smuggling

Ted Cruz Will Get Crushed In New Hampshire

Brian Frank / Reuters

TIM MAK

02.04.161:00 AM ET

Republican operatives from inside and outside New Hampshire agree: Sen. Ted Cruz is all but doomed to finish below the top tier in the Granite State.

The winning coalition Cruz put together in Iowa won’t work in New Hampshire, they say, pointing to the fact New Hampshire has the second-lowest rate of church attendance in the country. So the edge that Cruz had amongst evangelicals isn’t particularly applicable there. 

“I would advise Cruz to skip New Hampshire and go to South Carolina. I believe you shouldn’t compete anywhere where it’s not a favorable battlefield to win,” said Stuart Stevens, a top advisor to Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign.

“History suggests there isn’t much of a momentum carryover from Iowa to New Hampshire,” added Fergus Cullen, the author of a book on the New Hampshire primary and a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party (Cullen is personally supporting Gov. John Kasich, but holds no formal role). “Cruz doesn’t need to do well in New Hampshire. He has earned a bye week.”

While Cruz has a held a similar number of events in New Hampshire as, say, Sen. Marco Rubio, he has visited the state fewer times. For a period of two months, from Nov. 12 to Jan. 12, Cruz didn’t hold any events in the state, according to a New England Cable News tracker.

“Cruz cannot [recreate his Iowa coalition there],” said Charlie Black, who has served as a political advisor to Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and John McCain. New Hampshire, he said, “could be a traffic jam among four or five candidates.”

As of now, the Real Clear Politicspolling average has Cruz in second in the Granite State. But observers say Cruz’s in-state organization is noticeably weaker in New Hampshire than in Iowa.

“The Cruz ground game in Iowa is not evident in New Hampshire,” said Bob Walker, a lobbyist and former GOP Congressman.

Cruz’s team is already tamping down expectations of a win: “I would be thrilled with second place in New Hampshire,” Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said on PBS. “And third would certainly be acceptable.”

However, Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary for George W. Bush, said he wouldn’t rule out a scenario in which non-Cruz candidates divide the vote so much that Cruz wins a tight plurality in the state.

“What Ted possibly could do is win the lion’s share of the very conservative voters. If Trump and Rubio and Bush and Christie and Kasich divide the remaining moderate and liberal [Republican] voters, Ted can squeak in a victory,” said Fleischer. “That’s the only way Ted could win a state like New Hampshire.”

Veterans of the state’s primary say the contest unfolding over the next week won’t really come down to conversations about policy issues, but rather personality—with the exception of heroin addiction, which is a serious problem in the state.

“A lot of it depends on personal engagement with the candidate [and] if you like that candidate,” Sen. John McCain, a two-time New Hampshire primary victor, told The Daily Beast. “It’s more about their impressions.”

Not to mention that the candidates remaining in the race are generally similar on the issues that matter most to New Hampshire Republicans.

“There’s not a lot of difference on the issues: Who is in favor of opioid addiction? Who is in favor of leaving ISIS alone?” Cullen said. “I don’t think there’s going to be a substantive policy disagreement that’s going to move a lot of voters that is different with what’s been talked about over the last few months.”

The next few days are going to be brutal for voters and candidates alike—the New Hampshire primary is to be held next Tuesday.

“If someone has a bomb to throw against their opponent, this is the week to throw it,” Cullen said

Texas Governor Introduces Groundbreaking Plan to Override Obama’s Tyranny

www.infowars.com

Texas Governor Greg Abbott made good on his promise to challenge President Obama’s gun control initiatives Friday, calling for a Constitutional Convention of US states to create several new amendments aimed at reasserting states’ rights.

Among nine proposed amendments, “The Texas Plan” aims to prohibit Congress from regulating activity that occurs wholly within one state. Another amendment requires Congress to balance its budget, and another allows a two-thirds majority of states to override a US Supreme Court decision.

"Congress is unable to control itself. So the people must impose control."@GregAbbott_TX #TXPO2016

— Texans for Abbott (@AbbottCampaign)January 8, 2016

“Congress is unable to control itself. So the people must impose control,” Governor Abbott said during a speech before the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Abbott explained that federal lawmakers were out of step with the “Constitutional principles” our Founders put in place, and urged other states to join Texas in helping to “fix the cracks in our Constitution.”

“The increasingly frequent departures from Constitutional principles are destroying the Rule of Law foundation on which this country was built,” Abbott said, specifically citing President Obama’s recent executive authorizations infringing on the Second Amendment.

“We are succumbing to the caprice of man that our Founders fought to escape. The cure to these problems will not come from Washington D.C. Instead, the states must lead the way. To do that I am adding another item to the agenda next session. I want legislation authorizing Texas to join other states in calling for a Convention of States to fix the cracks in our Constitution.”

Abbott’s declaration and 92-page proposal follows an appearance by the president in a televised town hall-style meeting hosted by CNN, in which the Commander-in-Chief attempted to convince Americans that executive orders infringing on the Second Amendment were a good idea.

Responding to the announcement, Abbott – a strong advocate for gun rights – promised, “Texas will take every action to protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”

“The Bill of Rights was added as a specific safeguard to prevent the federal government from denying Americans those guaranteed rights,” Abbott said in apress release Tuesday. “Today, the President trampled the purpose and substance of the Bill of Rights by unilaterally imposing Second Amendment restrictions.”

The outspoken Republican governor made his intent to disobey executive orders imposed by the president clear over the weekend in a pointed tweet, challenging Obama to “Come and take it.”

Obama wants to impose more gun control. My response.#? COME & TAKE IT@NRA #tcot #PJNEThttps://t.co/RUPbcev5jYpic.twitter.com/8VNwisj966

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX)January 1, 2016

Read Governor Abbott’s “Texas Plan” 

HOUSTON TEXAS "2nd What?" Caves to Gun Control

Houston Police Prepare Texans for New Open Carry Law

File Photo: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

by BOB PRICE21 Dec 2015188

HOUSTON, Texas – The Houston Police Department is preparing for the new year and Texas’ new open carry law by publishing information designed to help eliminate confusion on the law.

The Q&A below was prepared by Houston Police Chief Charles A McClelland, Jr., Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson and Houston City Attorney Donna Edmundson. The Q&A was developed out of public hearings the department held with citizens.

Beginning January 1, 2016, people who hold a Texas Concealed Handgun License will be allowed to openly carry their handgun. Current law allows anyone to openly carry a rifle or shotgun. Only CHL holders will be allowed to openly carry a handgun under the new law signed in June by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

On December 9th, an open carry information meeting was held to present more information and take questions from the public about the new law. Following is a video of that event published by the Houston Police Department:

The police website lists the following legislation as background for the answers to the questions below: HB910, SB11 andSB273.

Following is the Q&A directly from the Houston Police Department’s website:

Question: If a person is open carrying a handgun, how does a police officer determine if he is carrying the handgun legally?
Answer: Constitutional carry did not pass in Texas, so a police officer has the right to ask you to prove that you have a CHL (Concealed Handgun License). If you are asked by a police officer to prove that you are allowed to carry a handgun, you must produce identification.

Question: If I see a person open carrying a handgun, should I call the police?
Answer: Yes you can call the police, but before you call, observe how the person is acting. If they are acting suspicious, or enter a building such as a school, then please give us a call. But, if they are simply at a gas station filling up their car, then they are probably a law abiding citizen who is legally open carrying.

Question: If you are walking down a street, and an officer approaches you, is it a voluntary encounter, or at this point am I “detained”?
Answer: Technically, you are temporarily detained so that the officer can check your license and make sure that you are legally able to carry a handgun.

Question: If I am open carrying a handgun, am I allowed to get out of my car, take the holster off my belt, and place it into the trunk of my car?
Answer: Yes you are able to do that.

Question: As a parent, I am concerned with my kids being around people open carrying a handgun. What do I tell my kids to do when they see someone with a pistol on their hip?
Answer: Again, it is situational. If your kids see someone in a grocery store shopping, they should not be alarmed if that person is carrying a handgun. But if they are at school, and they see a person (who is not a Police officer) carrying a gun, they should immediately tell someone and/or call 911.

Question: In a government building such as a police station, can someone carry a handgun?
Answer: Yes you can, but only in the areas that are open to the public. So if that person has to go to a portion of the building where a normal citizen would not be allowed, they are not allowed to carry a handgun. If you are in this position where you are not sure if you can carry or not, it is recommended that you leave your handgun in your vehicle.

Question: I am a teacher in an early college that is held within a Lone Star College campus. Early colleges count as an educational facility which means that since there are minors present in a school setting it is illegal to carry any type of weapon. Since I teach students who range in age from 14-18 years old, how will they be affected by “Campus Carry”?
Answer: These areas will be counted as an education facility where you will not be able to carry a weapon. The biggest thing that needs to be done is to have signs posted in the buildings designating where you can carry a concealed handgun and where you cannot.

Question: Will the presence of an open carried handgun during a verbal altercation between two people, elevate this altercation to an aggravated assault because a handgun has been “exhibited”?
Answer: No, it will not be considered aggravated assault as long as the person carrying the weapon was not threatening to use it.

Question: Since an open carried weapon must either be carried in a shoulder holster or a belt holster, will there be a set standard that constitutes what is considered a shoulder or belt holster?
Answer: Currently there is no standard that constitutes what is a shoulder or belt holster.

Question: If an officer sees me openly carrying a handgun in a shoulder or belt holster, is that officer legally able to ask me for proof that I have a CHL?
Answer: Yes, since constitutional carry did not pass, the officer is within his or her right to ask you for your license. Also, when you get your CHL, you are instructed that if a police officer asks you for your CHL license, you must provide it.

Question: If I am carrying a handgun, and I am approached by a police officer, what steps should I take to ensure that the police officer and myself both feel safe during this transaction?
Answer: Do as the officer asks. Tell the officer you are carrying a weapon and have a license to do so. Do not reach for the weapon, have the officer tell you what to do with the weapon. On houstonpolice.org there are videos that illustrate what you should when you are in contact with a police officer.

Question: Will we have access to information that simplifies the penal code down into easily understandable facts for the general public?
Answer: The police department will have information available on the basic facts of the open carry laws.

Question: Once a police officer determines that you are carrying a handgun legally, does the situation turn from the person being detained, to being a casual encounter?
Answer: Yes. After the person has proved that they are carrying a weapon legally, they are free to go as long as they only reason they were stopped was for proof for a CHL.

Question: If I want to prohibit both concealed carry and open carry in my private business what signs do I need to have displayed?
Answer: You must have the 30.06 (concealed carry) and the 30.07 (open carry) signs posted in the front windows of your business.

Question: If I am a private business owner and I do not have the proper 30.06 and 30.07 signs posted and I ask someone to leave my store who is carrying a weapon, are they still legally required to leave even though I don’t have the proper signs?
Answer: Yes. As a private business owner you can tell someone to leave if they are carrying a weapon whether you have or don’t have the proper signs posted.

Question: Since the zoo is often frequented by school field trips, are the zoo and other similar places trying to establish themselves as educational facilities or at least be considered that when there is a school field trip present?
Answer: It will be a case by case basis. If it is a city owned business, there should be something in the future that when a school field trip is present, you will not be able to carry a weapon. Again, it is up to private business to designate if they allow weapons or not.

Question: If I use a “drop leg” holster that holds my gun around the middle of my thigh, will I get arrested for having an improper holster?
Answer: No you will not be arrested for that type of holster. It is still mounted to your belt which is the requirement in the law.

Question: If my private business has multiple entrances, can I post the 30.06 and 30.07 signs at the main entrance, or do I need to post them at every entrance?
Answer: You must have them posted at all entrances.

Question: Does a citizen have the right to ask a CHL carrier for proof of licensing?
Answer: No. A citizen does not have the right to ask a CHL carrier for proof that he or she is legally carrying a weapon.

Question: Since open carry is now legal, does that mean that I am no longer able to conceal my handgun?
Answer: The open carry law gives you the option to conceal your handgun or carry it out in the open.

Question: How will deaf people be kept safe when they are approached by a police officer and there is difficulty telling the officer that they are reaching for their CHL license rather than their gun?
Answer: Police cadets are currently being trained in proper ways to interact with deaf people during a traffic stop or an occurrence where they are being asked to provide identification for a CHL.

Question: What advice would you give to someone who is feeling anxious or intimidated in an open carry environment?
Answer: Open carry is going to be something that everyone will have to get used to. Initially it will be weird to see someone carrying a handgun in the grocery store, but it is important to know that the people who are open carrying a gun are law abiding citizens and are not there to intimidate or hurt you.

Question: Since the public is not allowed to open carry a weapon, will you allow off duty police officers to be able to open carry their handgun?
Answer: No. Off duty police officers will still be required to conceal their handgun. However, if an officer wants to go and get their CHL, they will be allowed to carry a handgun out in the open as long as they are not carrying it under the authority or general orders of the Houston Police Department.

Question: Some organizations that are in opposition to open carry, have said that if they see someone openly carrying a handgun, they will call 911 and say that person is being aggressive and threatening people with the weapon. How will the police handle situations like this.
Answer: The police will act with caution when approaching the person, they will collect the facts, and when it is found that this person was doing nothing wrong, the investigation will be turned towards the person who made the false 911 call.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.

 

Read More Stories About:

Big Government, Breitbart Texas, 2nd Amendment

ClockBoy Part II Muslim Inventions Explode

‘Zero Tolerance’ Brings Arrest of Another Teen for ‘Bomb Threat’ Device at Texas School

Screenshot: DMN YouTube

by MERRILL HOPE21 Dec 20152,229

A Texas middle school-aged boy was arrested on Friday, Dec. 11 for allegedly threatening to blow up his suburban Dallas public school in Arlington. The incident is now bubbling up with conflicting stories, a comparison to “Clock Boy” Ahmed Mohamed, and no mention of school zero tolerance policies behind these situations.

Armaan Singh, a student at Nichols Junior High in the Arlington Independent School District, was arrested last Friday on the charge of making a terroristic threat following a classmate’s report that Singh threatened to detonate a bomb at Nichols Junior High School. Singh’s “charging backpack,” had wires to charge electronics. Arlington PD said Singh admitted twice to telling another student he was going to blow up his school, using his backpack but Singh told officials he was only joking when he told a classmate he had a bomb in his backpack. Authorities kept Singh at juvenile detention through the weekend, released to house arrest,according to KDFW 4, who spoke to the 12-year-old.

“On Thursday, I was doing my test in my class and then the student behind me saw inside my backpack,” said Singh. “He saw this battery thing I have for charging electronics and he assumed that it was a bomb, and I said, ‘No, it’s not.’”

Arlington police spokesman Lt. Christopher Cook said it doesn’t matter that Singh told them he was joking, KDFW 4 reported. “People have got to learn they cannot make these types of threats, which cause alarm, which cause evacuations,” noted Cook. “Just because you say it’s a joke, it doesn’t get you out of trouble.”

At the time of the incident, police evacuated the classroom and quickly determined that there was no credible threat without calling in the bomb squad.

“Unfortunately, nowadays you cannot do that,” said Cook. “When speech crosses that line, whether it’s written, like on social media, or it’s verbalized, like it was in this manner, we take that very seriously.”

Singh and his family insisted that the other student made the whole thing up, and that authorities overreacted because of his Indian ethnicity, keeping him in custody for three nights. The Washington Post chimed in by asking if Singh was “Another ‘Clock Kid,'” referencing “Clock Boy” Ahmed Mohamed and drawing “parallels” between the two arrests: “The two cities near Dallas neighbor one another,and the circumstances of their arrests are similar.” They highlighted that Mohamed was Muslim and Singh, Sikh. Singh, of Indian descent, was born in San Antonio, according to the Dallas Morning News, which reported police said the Singh family’s faith and ethnicity were irrelevant to the case.

Breitbart Texas reports on the school-to-prison pipeline and the often devastating outcomes of these choking zero tolerance policies that criminalize typical kid behavior nationwide, which played a pivotal role in the Ahmed Mohamed incident in Irving ISD. The Associated Pressagreed.

In November, local law enforcement arrested Arlington ISD high school student Shalaria Jones for multiple alleged social media threats in which she was connected to tweets calling out a campus shooting. Breitbart Texas reported Arlington PD Police Chief Will Johnson emphasized they took that threat serious. The Arlington ISD Student Code of Conduct handbook defines a terroristic threat as a “threat of violence to any person or property with the intent to cause a reaction by an official or volunteer to deal with emergencies, prevent or interrupt the occupation or use of a building, place others in fear of serious bodily injury, or impair or influence activities of the government or school.

Texas public school Student Code of Conduct handbooks are often posted online in school districts. They include a whole slew of potential violations written in accordance with the state’s 1995 Safe Schools Act and Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code, including threats, hoaxes, plus perceived and sometimes even discretionary threats and their often harsh blanket consequences. In Texas, the education code grants school districts broad discretionary leeway and the authority to refer students for those discretionary offenses deemed “disruptive.”

Arlington ISD spokeswoman Leslie Johnston told Breitbart Texas: “When children claim to have bombs or threaten to do harm to students and tell other students this, we don’t consider it unreasonable to call the police. In fact, we work with the Arlington Police Department to investigate all threats and determine if they are legitimate.”

She emphasized, “We did attempt to contact the parents (last) Friday afternoon. We also had a meeting scheduled with the parents Tuesday, but they did not arrive for the meeting. There was a meeting with the parents held this morning.”

Johnston pointed out that that the district will do “whatever is necessary to maintain the safety and security of its students, and we are confident that our actions are appropriate in all respects.” Because of the student privacy law, Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), she cannot divulge information pertaining to specific disciplinary matters unless the parents sign a release to share such information and records, something that Ahmed Mohamed’s parents never signed for their respective school district in Irving.

Breitbart Texas reached out to Arlington police but did not hear back before press time.

 Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter@OutOfTheBoxMom.

Read More Stories About:

Big Government, Breitbart Texas, Education,"Clock Boy" Ahmed Mohamed, Arlington ISD