Trinity Wants to Have Its Cake and Eat It Too

The administration at Trinity University has made it clear that it wants to put temporary safety over the eternal liberty and trust of its faculty, students, and staff. It will charge students the full price of tuition to attend a limited university. Trinity claims to offer one of the highest quality educations in the United States, but it is not allowing students and staff the ability to take full advantage of that high-quality education.

Over these past two weeks, the administration of Trinity University has sent out two emails to all students outlining the new COVID-19 restrictions that will be on campus, despite giving the impression in the Spring Semester that there would not be a return to COVID-19 restrictions in the Fall. These new restrictions include an indoor mask mandate for everyone regardless of vaccination status, a maximum of 4 persons in a residence hall room (with masks), no outside group or visitors to campus, limits on event sizes, and a requirement of Trinity’s version of a COVID-19 green pass to access campus.

There needs to be mass civil disobedience and non-compliance over these new regulations.

Nathan Darsch, Class of 2022

Trinity stated that some of these policies would be re-evaluated come mid-September, but that only leaves open the possibility for even stricter regulations.

The problem is not just what Trinity will do but also what Trinity has failed to do. It did not even consider getting feedback from the student body on what COVID-19 measures, if any, should be implemented. I know as a club president that I was never consulted over this past summer on what the university needs to do to make sure their student organizations remain active. 

How many student organizations have effectively died because they were unable to meaningfully recruit new members, because they were unable to host events, because they were unable to maintain interest and required membership numbers? My student organization was lucky to have enough members to survive and get through the past year, but I know others cannot say the same.

The university has also not given students any information on how it is expanded its health services–if it has expanded at all. Many students need additional support, especially in the form of counseling, during this time.  How many students now suffer from chronic depression and anxiety, and suicidal thoughts because of the university’s draconian lockdown measures over the previous year? How many students lost their scholarships because they were unable to maintain the GPA needed because of their worsening mental health?

Trinity is once again going down the road that will kill its student body’s spirit and sense of community.

Trinity says it is following CDC guidance and “trusting the science,” but how can we fully trust the guidance given when the chief people in charge of it have either undermined the very science they now promote or have flip-flopped on too many issues to keep track of? Trinity needs to trust its students to be mindful of their own health, not health and policy experts that have shown they are willing to lie to the American people. 

Trinity University has already reached effective herd immunity, in part due to its strong “recommendations” to students to get the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the American Lung Association, 70-90% of a population needs to have some form of immunity for herd immunity to be reached. Trinity University is currently 91% vaccinated (as of the last update on August 9), and at least 81% of the San Antonio adult population has had at least one dose (as of the last update on August 4). When combined with natural immunity, Trinity University and San Antonio have effective herd immunity or will have it very soon.

I am very thankful for the student body’s work to vaccinate themselves, especially those with risk factors, but we need to recognize when enough is enough. There needs to be mass civil disobedience and non-compliance over these new regulations. If we roll over and allow the university to take these measures freely, it signals that they can continue to make restrictions with impunity. We are a young and healthy student body, and it is time we start acting like it instead of allowing our lives to be dictated by fear.

Trinity University Reinstates Masks and Other COVID-19 Safety Procedures

Article updated on 8/5/2021 at 10:45pm CT. We included new information from an email sent to students earlier this morning.

Trinity University detailed its COVID-19 safety measures for the upcoming semester in an email sent to all students on July 30. While over 80% of students and faculty will be fully vaccinated by the beginning of the semester and had few COVID-19 cases during the spring semester in 2021, Trinity University decided to impose further restrictions on students, faculty, and staff. These new restrictions are due to the impact of the Delta variant and for Trinity “to promote a healthy and safe semester as we return to in-person learning and living.”

New restrictions include: 

• the wearing of “well-fitting masks… by both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in indoor public settings at all times” and the wearing of masks outside if one finds himself in a setting in which he is in a crowded space or cannot social distance
• The testing of all students and staff regardless of vaccination status upon returning to campus
• Weekly testing of all unvaccinated students and staff
• A green badge from the ProtecTU Daily Health Check for all students, faculty, and staff for entry into public spaces or classrooms
• Completion of the vaccination status form to be let onto campus and register for classes

Trinity stated in the email that it would re-evaluate these protocols come mid-September, but the university left the possibility of stricter protocols open. This may only be the beginning of stricter COVID-19 regulations due to the Delta variant.

Tess Coody-Anders, VP For Strategic Communications and Marketing at Trinity University, informed The Tower that the university currently stands at an 86% vaccination rate that continues to climb. However, these vaccinations do not entirely protect them from getting infected and carrying the “same viral load as unvaccinated persons.”

When asked about whose guidance they are following for these protocols and if they are imposing a mask mandate, Coody-Anders said that Trinity “will follow CDC guidance as we have throughout the pandemic and return to universal mask wearing for all” and that after a few weeks of testing unvaccinated individuals they will “re-evaluate the need for the vaccinated to wear masks.” Trinity University will also be checking statements and figures provided by the South Texas Regional Advisory Council to understand better how COVID-19 is affecting San Antonio.

Coody-Anders also informed The Tower that Trinity University is “fully committed to providing students in-person learning” but did not say whether or not the university is planning on potentially going partially or fully online again this semester.

However, Coody-Anders was unable to answer many, perhaps just as important, questions at this time. Of the questions asked, she did not provide answers to the following questions: 

• If the university has expanded mental health services to accommodate students struggling due to the impact of COVID-19
• If the university received feedback from students before finalizing the COVID-19 safety procedures
• Whether students can have off-campus guests in their dorm rooms
• Whether students can have guests who live in other residence halls in their dorm rooms (this was forbidden in Fall 2020 and for the beginning of Spring 2021)
• Under what circumstances the university will remove the mask mandate
• Whether students are able to report one another for not following these rules, as they did during the last school year
• Why Trinity requires students to report their vaccine status if the vaccine is not required
• What will happen to professors who do not enforce or check whether or not their students completed the Daily Health Check and got a green badge
• What will happen to students if they are unable to display a green badge due to not having an electronic device on their person
• Whether Trinity University believes these new rules are an infringement on the liberties of students, staff, and faculty?

Trinity University and Coody-Anders did try to make it clear that the administration at Trinity does care about its students and wants them to have as close to a normal semester as possible. However, the university has created many unanswered questions, and students are looking for answers that the university can not give at this time.

Update 8/5/2021: Trinity University sent a follow-up email to students on Aug. 5 to clarify some of the new COVID-19 procedures. The email stated that on-campus meetings will be limited to 50 persons for indoor settings and 250 for outdoor events. Off-campus guests and visitors will not be allowed on campus. Furthermore, residence hall dorm rooms will be restricted to 4 people maximum, and masks must be worn while guests are over. They reiterated that these rules will be reconsidered in mid-September.

The Darsch Report: July 26 to August 1

Bexar County Mental Health

On Mon. July 26, Bexar County officials announced that a pilot program that brings mental health professionals together with Bexar County sheriff’s deputies will expand less than a year after its formation.

    In October, the Bexar County Commissioner’s Office allocated $1.5 million toward the Specialized Multidisciplinary Alternate Response Team (SMART). Under SMART, dispatchers who identify a mental health call send a clinician and trained paramedic to the scene. Deputies will respond to the scene if they’re needed, but the goal is to keep people suffering from mental health crises out of jail.

Initially, the group was operating on a limited basis, but they will now operate for longer hours after refining the process.

    Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar stated that the program has “surpassed expectations” and that “working with our other partners, it just fell together.”

The full briefing can be watched here.

Texas Bans Mask Mandates

    On Thurs., July 29, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order prohibiting local governments and state agencies from mandating vaccines, saying that protection against the virus should be a matter of personal responsibility, not forced by a government mandate.

    “To further ensure that no governmental entity can mandate masks, the following requirement shall continue to apply: No governmental entity, including a county, city, school district, and public health authority, and no governmental official may require any person to wear a face-covering or to mandate that other person wear a covering,” the executive order read.

    Local government entities that institute mask mandates may be fined up to $1,000.

    The order also specifies that government entities cannot “compel any individual to receive a COVID-19 vaccine administered under an emergency use authorization.”

Governmental agencies, public entities, and private entities that receive public funding cannot require people to provide proof of vaccination as a condition of receiving services.

The order, however, does not stop nursing homes or living facilities from requiring residents to be inoculated.

Abbott defended the move in a statement, arguing, “Today’s executive order will provide clarity and uniformity in the Lone Star State’s continued fight against COVID-19. The new Executive Order emphasizes that the path forward relies on personal responsibility rather than government mandates.”

Biden, Congress Allow Eviction Moratorium to Lapse

A nationwide moratorium on residential evictions expired on Saturday, July 31, after a last-minute effort by the Biden administration to win an extension failed, putting hundreds of thousands of tenants at risk of losing shelter, while tens of billions in federal funding intended to pay their back rent sit untapped.

    Unable to fight the Supreme Court on further extending the moratorium, the Biden Administration gave the responsibility to Congress on Thursday. However, after an unsuccessful rally by Democrats on Friday, the House of Representatives went into Recess and could not draft any quick legislation.

    The Senate, meanwhile, has been focusing its efforts on finishing the bipartisan infrastructure plan.

    Efforts to bring relief to renters and homeowners have been further struggling. To date, only $3 billion of the $47 billion Emergency Rental Assistance program has been disbursed.

“Really, we only learned about this yesterday,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had publicly and privately urged senior Biden Administration officials to deal with the problem themselves.

Many Democrats are still voicing anger and frustration, though, with Democratic leadership.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Sunday, Aug. 1, that Democrats have to “call a spade a spade” after the deadline expired.

“We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have a majority,” Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the chair of the Financial Services Committee, said Saturday on CNN: “We thought that the White House was in charge.”

“We are only hours away from a fully preventable housing crisis,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) during a floor speech in a rare Saturday session as senators labored over an infrastructure package.

“We have the tools, and we have the funding,” Warren said. “What we need is the time.”

US Economy

The stock market did not do well over the past week. The Dow Jones decreased to 34,935.47 on Friday, decreasing by -126.08 points, or -0.36 percent over its July 23 close of 35,061.55. The S&P 500 increased by -16.53 points or -0.37 percent on Friday. In addition, the Nasdaq decreased on Friday by -1.11 percent.

DOJ vs. Texas

    The U.S. Justice Department, on Friday, July 30, filed a lawsuit against Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott over an order the Republican governor signed barring ground transportation of migrants who could be carrying COVID-19.  

In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District in El Paso, the Justice Department said Abbott’s order interferes with the federal government’s ability to deal with immigration.

“In our constitutional system, a State has no right to regulate the federal government’s operations,” the DOJ argued in a motion asking the judge to block Abbott’s order, adding “this restriction on the transportation of noncitizens would severely disrupt federal immigration operations.”

Governor Abbott argued that the order was necessary to counter the rise in illegal immigration under the Biden administration and to help stop the spread of COVID-19 across the US Southern border, going so far as to accuse the Biden administration of being complicit in the spread of COVID-19 across the southern border.

“The Biden administration is knowingly admitting hundreds of thousands of unauthorized migrants, many of whom the federal government knows full well have COVID-19,” Abbott said in response to Garland’s lawsuit. 

He also said he would not back down because his “duty remains to the people of Texas, and [he has] no intention of abdicating that.”

San Antonio Urgent Care Reaching Capacity

In San Antonio, both hospitals and local clinics are feeling the effects of increasing COVID-19 cases, with some local urgent care clinics reaching near capacity.

    “We are up about 30% in terms of patient visits from the last week of June, first week of July,” said Dr. David Gude, Texas MedClinic chief operating officer, and practicing physician.

Gude said they are seeing more COVID-19 patients, more COVID-19 testing, and even an increase in vaccinations.

The wait times on their website show just how busy they are.

“We’ve never let go of social distancing. So we either get people into an exam room, or if we’re full, we may ask them to wait in the car, or we may ask them to come back in an hour so,” Gude said.

Gude said staff members are also feeling the pressure. According to Gude, one staff member recently told him it felt like he is “going through the stages of grief right now.”

“He can’t believe that we’re back at the point that we were at. We were just at this point a few months ago and certainly last year,” Gude said.

The Darsch Report: June 28 to July 4

Protester Sues San Antonio

Alexander Lance, along with three of his friends, is suing the city of San Antonio over claims that a police officer used excessive force during one of last year’s protests in downtown San Antonio following the murder of George Floyd.

Following a protest on May 30, Lance spent three days in a hospital for injuries caused by a pair of paint bullets, according to the lawsuit.. Lance and his two friends reportedly went to “witness the march.”

According to the suit, Lance told a San Antonio Police Department officer “that the rifle he was carrying better have the safety on.” The officer then allegedly shot Lance twice with paint bullets, once in the arm and once in the leg. 

Other officers then allegedly rushed toward him following the shooting “Not to provide medical attention to the badly injured plaintiff but to surround (the officer) and use flashlights in an attempt to blind the cell phones of other citizens recording the aggravated assault.”

He accused both the city of being “deliberately indifferent” to treat his injuries and the officers of negligence. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages for medical expenses, lost wages, and physical and mental injury.

Allen West Announces Bid for Texas Governor

On July 4th, former Texas GOP Chairman Allen West declared that he is running for Texas Governor. 

A former U.S. congressman from Florida and retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, West made the announcement in a short video shown to a congregation at Sojourn Church in Carrollton, Texas.

“I’ve not been in elected political office for about a decade, but I can no longer sit on the sidelines and see what has happened in these United States of America and … the place that I call home,” West said in the video. West also read aloud the Declaration of Independence to the churchgoers. 

About a month before making this announcement, West resigned as state party chairman. The resignation is effective July 11, when the State Republican Executive Committee is set to meet to pick West’s successor.

Despite making frequent remarks criticizing Governor Greg Abbott, West did not directly mention Abbott in his remarks Sunday in the church or in the video. West used the video to sketch out a platform focused on shielding the state’s energy resources against the Green New Deal, securing the state’s southern border “to ensure that Texas is for Texans” and combatting sex trafficking.

Other possible gubernatorial candidates include actor Matthew McConaughey and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke.

California Recall Election

After the Gavin Newsom recall petition cleared the remaining procedural hurdles Thursday, California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis announced recall election day would be Sept. 14.

The recall election ballot will have two questions. The first question will be something along the lines of, “Should Gavin Newsom be recalled?” and the second question will then ask voters to pick a candidate to replace Newsom.

The date is earlier than expected, as many early plans had the election set for early-mid November. State officials sped through a cost review process, and legislative Democrats moved up the timeline in an effort to ride Newsom’s rising approval ratings.

Newsom’s “best opportunity to beat this reckless recall,” Democratic State Sen. Steve Glazer wrote more than a month ago, “is to have an early election.”

“No reason to delay and give opposition any more running room,” he added.

GOP lawmakers in the state are already crying foul regarding actions the governor took to get this done. Earlier this week, Newsom signed a bill that waives a 30-day period for the legislature to review the estimated costs for a special recall election if lawmakers appropriate funding. The same law earmarked $250 million for elections officials to administer the recall.

“Every child knows the word for changing the rules in the middle of the game. It’s cheating,” said GOP state lawmaker Kevin Kiley, who is considering a run to replace the governor. “Gavin Newsom is cheating in the recall, and this legislature is his willing accomplice.”

US Economy

The stock market did well over the past week. The Dow Jones increased to 34,786.35 on Friday, increasing by +352.51 points, or +1.02 percent over its June 25 close of 34,433.84. The S&P 500 increased by +71.64 points or +1.67 percent on Friday to another record high of 4,352.34. In addition, the Nasdaq increased on Friday by +1.94 percent.

Queen Victoria and Elizabeth Statues Toppled in Canada

Due to growing anger over the discovery of the remains of hundreds of children in unmarked graves at former indigenous schools, protesters in the Canadian city of Winnipeg toppled and defaced statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, July 1.

The action took place on Canada Day–a day when celebrations traditionally occur across the country–with a crowd chanting “no pride in genocide” before pulling down the statues.

The timing may have been intentional as Canada Day took place one week after news broke that the remains of more than 700 people, most of them Indigenous children, had been found at the site of a former school in Saskatchewan.

According to the New York Times, almost 1000 unmarked graves have been found across British Columbia and Saskatchewan, all at the sites of former government-funded “residential schools” mainly run by the Roman Catholic Church.

That night, one protester also removed the head of Queen Victoria and threw it into the nearby Assiniboine River. It was, however, fished out the next day by kayaker Tom Armstrong.

Police say they did not intervene when a small group toppled the statues during mostly peaceful events to avoid further inflaming the situation. They are investigating the incident.

Trump Heads to the Border

On Wednesday, June 30th, former President Donald Trump visited the US-Mexico border for the first time since he left office and accused current President Joe Biden of being the cause of the surge in illegal crossings.

“We did a hell of a job, and we had it down to really a science. It was down to a point where people just weren’t getting in unless they came in legally,” Trump said at a roundtable discussion with Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) and local law enforcement.

“The drugs had dropped by 70, 80, 90% in some cases, and fentanyl, it’s true, it almost dropped to nothing for whatever reason. But I guess the reason was we were tough. This is a great group. And all they had to do was go to the beach. If they went to the beach and did nothing, they would have been fine.”

The indoor roundtable resembled events from Trump’s presidency and was followed by a trip to the physical border — where Trump spoke to a crowd of congressmen and journalists with a half-finished section of border wall as his backdrop.

“All Biden had to do is go to the beach,” Trump repeated near the incomplete border wall while claiming that “Biden is destroying our country.”

Bexar County Commissioner Goes After Elder Abuse

Bexar County Precinct 3 Commissioner Trish DeBerry wants to spend $200,000 to address a backlog of cases involving elder abuse, fraud, and neglect affecting senior citizens.

“We need to protect this very vulnerable population that is preyed upon on a regular basis,” DeBerry says.

“The problem that we have is that you have senior citizens that have been waiting for justice. Unfortunately for a senior who might be 80 or 90 years old, time is running out regarding prosecution and restitution.”

She says these cases have been pending for far too long.

DeBerry is proposing the district attorney’s office add both a prosecutor and investigator to pursue crimes against seniors. She was told there are 100 cases backlogged, some going back eight years.

After she heard more about the issue at a recent Elder Abuse Task Force meeting, “I was on it in a hot second,” she says.

“This happens to thousands of seniors across Bexar County, and we need to do a better job protecting them.”

DeBerry estimates the cost of a top-level prosecutor at $100,000, with another $85,000 for an investigator. She says District Attorney Joe Gonzales is excited about the idea too.

DeBerry expects the positions to be approved this fall when the county budget is confirmed.

The Darsch Report: June 21 to 27

Armed man barges into Bexar County Elections Office

On Friday morning, June 25, a 24-year-old man, whom authorities suspect was hallucinating from drugs, barged into the Bexar County Elections Office after he had fired shots inside a nearby hotel room

According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, Jouwan D. Williams Thomas jumped over the counter in the office on South Frio Street around 10 a.m. and said he was being chased. The suspect went into a secured area before a SWAT unit and other law enforcement personnel quickly arrived and apprehended the suspect. No injuries were reported.

While Thomas didn’t open fire inside the elections office, he did fire several shots of a 9mm handgun that penetrated some rooms at a Quality Inn nearby, Salazar said. No injuries were reported at the hotel. Salazar said the suspect had a high-capacity magazine in the gun and a similar magazine in the hotel room.

Salazar said it was initially believed that Thomas fired shots because of a drug deal gone bad, but it now appears that he may have been suffering from a drug-induced incident. High-grade marijuana and possibly synthetic marijuana were found in the room.

State Sen. José Menéndez was in the back of the elections office for a meeting with officials when the incident happened, Salazar said.

“They were pretty scared,” Salazar said of the election staff. “They locked down, sheltered in place. Kudos to the elections staff.”

Texan Voter Fraud

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Friday, June 25, that the Election Fraud Unit arrested and booked Monica Mendez into the Victoria County Jail on June 23, 2021, after a Victoria County Grand Jury returned an indictment against her on 31 counts of election fraud.

Mendez is being charged on 7 counts of Illegal Voting (a 2nd Degree Felony), 8 counts of Unlawfully Assisting Voter Voting Ballot by Mail (a 3rd Degree Felony), 8 counts of Unlawful Possession of a Ballot (a State Jail Felony), and 8 counts of Election Fraud (a State Jail Felony).

The charges relate to eight mail-in ballots in a May 2018 water district board election in Bloomington, a town of around 2,500 residents near Victoria.

According to the press release, the Texas Secretary of State referred the case to the Attorney General’s Office after Bloomington residents raised allegations of illegal voting and other election code violations. One specific concern being that about 275 people, out of a town of 2,500, tried to register as new voters using the same mailing address, according to local government officials.

Other residents of Bloomington were supposedly threatened with rent increases if they did not vote for their landlord’s preferred candidate in the local water department elections.

Miami Condo Collapse

Rescue efforts continue in the search of all those missing after Thursday’s June 24 tragedy in which a Surfside condo collapsed.

As of Sunday, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced the death toll had risen to 9, and the number of people missing was reduced to 152. “We were able to recover four additional bodies in the rubble as well as additional human remains,” the mayor said.

Additionally, although the investigation has just begun, experts who have examined video footage of the disaster outside Miami are focusing on a spot in the lowest part of the condominium complex—possibly in or below the underground parking garage—where an initial failure could have set off a structural avalanche.

Called “progressive collapse,” the gradual spread of failures could have occurred for a variety of reasons, including design flaws or the less robust construction allowed under the building codes of four decades ago, when the complex was built. But that progression could not have occurred without some critical first failure. Close inspections of a grainy surveillance video that emerged in the initial hours after the disaster has given the first hints of where that might have been.

“It does appear to start either at or very near the bottom of the structure,” said Donald O. Dusenberry, a consulting engineer who has investigated many structural collapses. “It’s not like there’s a failure high, and it pancaked down.”

US Economy

Supported by positive news from the Federal Reserve and hopes that a good infrastructure deal would be announced soon, the stock market did well over the past week. The Dow Jones increased to 34,433.84 on Friday, increasing by +1,143.76 points, or +3.44 percent over its June 18 close of 33,290.08. The S&P 500 increased by +114.25 points or +2.74 percent on Friday to a record high of 4,280.70. In addition, the Nasdaq increased on Friday by +2.35 percent.

China Announces Crewed Missions to Mars

Last week the People’s Republic of China announced plans to send its first crewed mission to Mars in 2033 as it continues to boost its space ambitions in a battle with the U.S.

Wang Xiaojun, head of the state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, outlined the country’s Mars plans for the first time this month at a space conference in Russia, according to the academy.

It comes just weeks after China landed a remote-controlled rover called Zhurong on Mars, making it the only country after the U.S. to do so.

Wang said the first step in China’s plans is to use robots to explore Mars to sample its surface and help select a place to build a base. The next stage would be to send astronauts up to Mars to build a base station there. Then China wants large-scale Earth-to-Mars cargo missions.

China has earmarked 2033, 2035, 2037, 2041, and 2043 for such missions and said it would explore technology to fly astronauts back to Earth.

The revelation of China’s Mars goals comes after a string of successful space missions. China has begun construction of its own space station and earlier this month sent the first astronauts up there. It was the first time China sent a crewed mission to space since 2016.

NASA says it plans to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

The Texan Border

Over the weekend, nearly 100 days after being appointed by President Joe Biden to address the immigration crisis at the southern border, Vice-President Kamala Harris visited an El Paso border facility.

During a press conference, Harris touted “extreme progress” made by the Biden administration in tackling the migrant surge despite inheriting a “tough situation” due to the “disastrous effects” of the Trump administration’s border policies. 

When asked why she visited El Paso instead of areas that have been more acutely hit, like the Rio Grande Valley Sector, Harris explained that El Paso was where a number of Trump policies, like the Remain-in-Mexico policy and child separation policies, were implemented. 

This comes as more than 180,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border in May, an increase over the 178,000 encountered in April and 173,000 encountered in March—all representing the highest numbers in years. In addition, 173,000 in March was a big increase from the 100,000 migrants encountered in February.

With or without help from the Biden Administration, Governor Greg Abbott is continuing to promote the continued building of a border wall along the Texan-Mexican border. Over the span of about a week, Texas received $459,000 in private donations for the state’s planned wall at the southern border, the governor’s office said Wednesday.

This comes after the governor promised a $250 million “down payment” in state funds for the project.

The Darsch Report: March 8 to 14

San Antonio Restaurant Vandalized

Early Mar. 14,  a San Antonio man’s ramen restaurant was vandalized with anti-Asian slurs and death threats following a CNN interview in which the man spoke out against Gov. Greg Abbott’s rollback of the mask requirement in Texas.

After the interview, Mike Nguyen, owner of Noodle Tree, was prepared for plenty of online hate comments but not for something like this.

“I’m still a little shocked that this would actually happen,” Nguyen said Sunday. “When I got here, that’s when it actually sunk in.”

Nguyen moved to San Antonio 5 years ago and started off with a food truck that eventually turned into a restaurant staple of UTSA Boulevard. He has made headlines before for refusing to open his business despite loosening COVID-19 restrictions because as he says the “money was not worth losing lives over.”

Nguyen, who is currently battling lymphoma, lost his grandmother recently after she contracted COVID-19 and he refuses to put any of his customers or employees at risk.

Nguyen says he believes that the Governor’s decision to repeal the mask mandate hurts business owners who now have to bear the burden of enforcing rules and the backlash that may follow.

“I will say that the governor doesn’t have us Texans’ interest at play at this point. I think it’s more of a personal interest,” Nguyen said Wednesday on CNN. “I think the decision to drop the mask mandate is selfish and cowardly, and there’s no reason to do it.”

Crisis at The Texan Border and FEMA Deployed

According to the Daily Mail, ICE is requesting additional personnel to be deployed to the US-Mexico border as a south Texas migrant complex is seven times overcapacity and reports are surfacing of children being forced to sleep on floors of detention centers. 

More than 3,500 unaccompanied teens and children have been held in Customs Border Patrol (CBP) detention centers with reports that many are spending an average of 108 hours in the facilities when they are only allowed to be there for 72 hours. 

Children at one facility in south Texas were reportedly going hungry and were only able to shower once every seven days as the center was at 729% of its legal capacity.

In response to the crisis, the Biden administration is mobilizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help take some of the pressure off of CBP, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Saturday evening.

The FEMA deployment will support what DHS called a 90-day government-wide effort at the border, where the Biden administration is struggling to care for a record number of minors arriving without their parents.

“The federal government is responding to the arrival of record numbers of individuals, including unaccompanied children, at the southwest border,” DHS said in a statement.

Soon after taking office, the Biden Administration quickly ended many of the Trump administration’s border policies put in place to deter illegal immigration and has relaunched the Obama-era policy of “Catch and Release.” However, the administration has not responded to questions concerning why they did not anticipate or better prepare for the unprecedented surge that has occurred since then in the Rio Grande Valley.

AstraZeneca Vaccine

As early as this month or early April, AstraZeneca will be filing for U.S. emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine according to sources who informed Reuters on Friday. This vaccine has already been authorized for use in the European Union and many countries but not yet by U.S. regulators.

The British drugmaker completed enrollment in its trial of more than 32,000 volunteers in January and now has data on at least 150 cases of Covid-19, two sources familiar with the trial told Reuters.

“The U.S. Phase III study results are necessary for the FDA’s evaluation of an EUA request for our vaccine,” a company spokeswoman said, without confirming trial details being reported by Reuters. “We expect data from our U.S. Phase III trial to be available soon, in the coming weeks, and we plan to file for emergency use authorization shortly thereafter.”

There are safety concerns, however, regarding reports of serious blood clots in some vaccine recipients that have led several nations to pause administering the vaccine.

AstraZeneca is defending the vaccine, saying in a Sunday statement that more than 17 million doses have been administered in Europe and U.K., with no evidence that the shot increased the risk of blood clots.

The number of blood-clotting events are lower than what would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of that size, AstraZeneca’s Chief Medical Officer Ann Taylor said. In studies, participants getting the vaccine had fewer clots than those given placebo.

The UK Takes a Stand to China?

At the end of February, the Hong Kong government charged 47 democracy activists and protestors under a new national security law that prohibits “conspiracy to commit subversion.” The law criminalizes four types of activity: secession, subversion of state power, terrorism, and collusion with foreign entities. In practice, it severely curtails whatever autonomy that Hong Kong had previously enjoyed under Chinese rule.

Many of those arrested were Hong Kong’s most vocal democracy activists and if convicted could face up to life in prison.

In response, the UK government sent out a press release on Mar. 13 stating that China is in “a state of ongoing non-compliance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration.”

“Beijing’s decision to impose radical changes to restrict participation in Hong Kong’s electoral system constitutes a further clear breach of the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in the statement.

The statement does not indicate what actions the United Kingdom will take against the People’s Republic but does come a day after a joint statement from the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., the U.S., and the European Union denouncing the undermining of Hong Kong’s autonomy by the Chinese government.

The US Economy

Over the course of the past week, the US stock market has been doing very well. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by +976.20 points, +3.07%, and closed at a record high on Friday, March 12th, of 32,778.64. The S&P 500 Index, not wanting to be outdone but just barely falling short, increased by +121.99 points, +3.19%, over the course of the week and closed at a new record high of 3,943.34 on Friday. The NASDAQ, having been on a decline over the past month made, increased to 13,319.86 making a remarkable gain of +710.71 points, +5.64%, but still way below its Feb 12th high of 14,095.47.

Gas prices in the US also continue to see rapid price increases with the current national average according to AAA at $2.859 for a gallon of regular gas. This is a near 10 cents, ~3.2%, increase over last week’s average of $2.768 and a 35 cents, ~14%, increase over the national average from a month ago. This is likely due to a combination of three factors all at once; Saudi Arabia cutting oil production in February, increasing gas and oil demand as more vaccinations are leading to more people traveling, and Biden canceling the Keystone pipeline which would have allowed for more domestic oil refining.

New Covid Relief Bill

On Thurs., Mar. 11, President Joe Biden signed a new covid relief bill totaling $1.9 trillion in spending.

In the plan are some major spending changes, including:

• Extending a $300 per week jobless aid supplement and programs making millions more people eligible for unemployment insurance until Sept. 6
• $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans and their dependents with checks starting to phase out at $75,000 in income for individuals and are capped at people who make $80,000. However, these checks are not protected from debt-collection agencies.
• Expanding the child tax credit for one year and increasing it to $3,600 for children under 6 and to $3,000 for kids between 6 and 17.
• $350 billion in relief to state, local and tribal governments and more than $120 billion to K-12 schools.

The bill passed the House by a 220-211 margin without a Republican vote and Democrats also approved the plan on their own in the Senate through the special budget reconciliation process.

Biden celebrated the passing of the bill in a Wednesday statement stating “This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation – the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going – a fighting chance.”

Republicans are arguing though that with this massive increase in spending we may see rising inflation, especially with an economy on the road to recovery with vaccines rolling out and many states now reopening.

“There is a real risk here, of this kind of massive stimulus overheating the economy. … I just think it’s sad because we could’ve done, I think something much more targeted and focused on Covid-19,” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) told CNBC on Wednesday morning.

Texas Tax-Payer Funded Lobbying

As of Mon., Mar. 15, there are 77 days left in the Texas legislative session, and 10 Texas State Senators, led by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–7), chair of the Local Government Committee, have joint authored Senate Bill 10 to stop Texas cities’ and counties’ use of public funds to lobby the state Legislature.

SB 10 joint authors include State Sens. Brian Birdwell (R-22), Donna Campbell (R-25), Charles Creighton (R-4), Bob Hall (R-2), Kelly Hancock (R-9), Bryan Hughes (R-1), Angela Paxton (R-8), Charles Perry (R-28), and Drew Springer (R-30).

“Taxpayer-funded lobbying diverts funding from local governments’ ability to provide local needs and results in money being used to advocate for policies not always in Texans’ best interest,” said Bettencourt. “The Texas Ethics Commission data showed that an estimated $32 million was spent on lobbyist compensation in 2018, a non-session year. We can’t have tax dollars being used to advocate for greater spending, more taxing authority, and increased regulatory power at the local government level without taxpayers’ consent.”

SB 10 does not prohibit city or county elected officials, officers, or employees from providing information to members of the Legislature, appearing before committee hearings at the request of a member, or advocating on legislation while acting in their official capacities.

The vast majority of Texans support this policy, and it is a legislative priority for Texan Republicans and conservative groups like the Young Conservatives of Texas. Because of staunch support for the policy, it has a high chance of passing the Senate. But it could also end up like similar legislation from the last session that was proposed and passed in the State Senate but was ultimately voted down in the House.

CPS Energy vs San Antonio Family

Following the death of San Antonio resident Esequiel Mendoza during the February winter storm, the man’s family is suing CPS Energy over his death.

The wrongful death suit, filed Mon., Mar. 8, in the 166th District Court, accused the San Antonio utility company of negligence that caused his death.

In the week before his death, Mendoza was not able to receive his usual life-saving dialysis treatment due to controlled outages imposed by CPS Energy at the request of the state grid, which is run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Instead of receiving between four and five hours of treatment, Mendoza only received two, according to the lawsuit.

It is at least the second wrongful death suit filed against CPS Energy related to the winter storm. The first lawsuit was brought by the husband of a woman who is believed to have died of hypothermia.

According to the lawsuit, the family is seeking financial compensation for their loss, and as of Friday morning, attorneys for CPS Energy declined to address the pending litigation.

“Unfortunately, these types of deaths require a thorough investigation into the relevant environmental conditions as well as assessment of the individual’s underlying health conditions, often including additional laboratory testing,” according to a statement from the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office. “Therefore, these deaths take several weeks to adequately investigate and determine. Thus, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office does not currently have an accurate count of these types of deaths and may not for some time.”

The Darsch Report: January 25 to 31

Ken Paxton Goes After San Antonio Mayor

According to KSAT, in an amended petition regarding an ongoing lawsuit on San Antonio’s sanctuary city’s status, Mayor Ron Nirenburg has been implicated for the first time in the case. The lawsuit accuses the city of defying a state law requiring local governments to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

In the petition Attorney General Ken Paxton accuses Nirenburg of instructing city staff not to contact federal authorities after 12 people believed to be immigrants without documentation were found inside a tractor-trailer in Dec. 2017.

The claims made in the petition state that the mayor told high-ranking officials that he “does not want ICE called,” and that releasing them without being handed over to federal immigration officials as a “Christmas gift” for their families.

This decision to release the suspected illegal immigrants by SAPD Chief William McManus’ has been described by Paxton as in violation of Senate Bill 4. Nirenburg called the criticism of the release as “nothing more than political theater based on a fictitious narrative.”

Texas vs Biden

On Tues., Jan. 26, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared “Victory” on Twitter after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to stop President Joe Biden’s deportation freeze.

According to U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton in the Southern District Court of Texas, the Biden Administration will not be allowed to pause deportations of illegal immigrants. Biden had tried to do so on his first day in office, but Paxton sued the administration, arguing the president’s move was “unlawful and perilous.”

In the order, Tipton wrote that the Biden Administration had failed to “provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations.”

“*This* [sic] was a seditious left-wing insurrection. And my team and I stopped it.” Paxton stated on Twitter.

This executive order was one of many the Biden Administration has signed attempting to overturn many Trump Administration policies. Other orders include stopping funding for border wall construction, reentering the Paris Climate Accord, and canceling the Keystone XL pipeline project.

After Tipton’s order, Paxton celebrated the decision to “prioritize the law and safety of our citizens.”

“The Court’s decision to stop the Biden Administration from casting aside congressionally enacted immigration laws is a much-needed remedy for DHS’s unlawful action. A near-complete suspension of deportations would only serve to endanger Texans and undermine federal law,” Paxton said in a press release.

Reddit Takes on the Stock Market

Over the past week, the internet and the stock market have both been on fire as thousands upon thousands of Reddit users from r/WallStreetBets (WSB) have decided to take on hedge fund Melvin Capital and save GameStop.

Investors from the Reddit page noticed that Melvin Capital was attempting to heavily drop the price of GameStop stock ($GME) by shorting around 140% of the $GME stock that they owned. In response, they gathered as many WSB users they could and told them to buy the stock as a meme with the potential of the rise in price hurting Melvin and leaving them with some capital gains in the end. This meme has now spread to all corners of the internet and $GME as of Friday closed at a price of $328.34 compared to the price from a month ago of around $17.

Short-selling hedge funds have suffered heavily from this buying of $GME with a year-to-date mark-to-market loss on the stock of around $19.75 billion, according to data from S3 Partners

In response to the dramatic increase in stock price, brokerage apps such as E*Trade, RobinHood, TD Ameritrade, etc halted and/or limited trading of dozens of different stocks with the heaviest limitations placed on stocks being targeted by WSB like $GME, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. ($AMC), Blackberry Ltd ($BB), Nokia ($NOK), etc.

Still, though, short-sellers are holding onto their bearing positions or are being bought by other short sellers willing to take the bet. However, WSB is still claiming to hold or buying more of the stock and will refuse to sell.

This new week may prove who has the greater resolve, who is more stubborn, or both.

US Economy

The stock market has not been responding well to the news of Reddit taking on hedge funds as over the week the Dow Jones decreased to 29,982.62 on Friday, decreasing by -977.38 points, or -3.16 percent over its Jan. 25 close of 30,960.00. The S&P 500 decreased by -141.12 points or -3.66 percent on Friday. In addition, the Nasdaq decreased on Friday by -4.15 percent.

Military Coup in Myanmar

As of this moment, a military coup is taking place in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). Myanmar’s military has detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders of the country and has declared a one-year state of emergency.

The move follows a landslide win by Suu Kyi’s party in an election the army claims was marred by fraud.

In a letter written in preparation for her impending detention, she said the military’s actions would put the country back under a dictatorship and has urged supporters to not accept this coup and to protest against it.

Aung San Suu Kyi was one of the leading voices pushing for democratic reforms in Myanmar during the military rule that ended in 2011. She was internationally hailed as a beacon of democracy and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. However, her reputation heavily suffered after an army crackdown on the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority that some have described as a genocide.

Time will tell how this will change Myanmar but for now, the military has replaced all of the ministers, arrested many leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), and have installed former vice-president and retired Gen. Myint Swe as the temporary president.

The Darsch Report: January 11 to 17

Election Fraud at Home

On Wed., Jan. 13, a San Antonio woman, Rachel Rodriguez, was arrested for election fraud, illegal voting, unlawfully assisting people voting by mail, and unlawfully possessing an official ballot, according to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Because each charge being is a felony under Texas legal code, Rodriguez could face up to 20 years in prison. 

The arrest happened after a video from Project Veritas appears to show Rodriguez engaged in vote harvesting leading up to the 2020 election. 

“Many continue to claim that there’s no such thing as election fraud. We’ve always known that such a claim is false and misleading, and today we have additional hard evidence. This is a victory for election integrity, and a strong signal that anyone who attempts to defraud the people of Texas, deprive them of their vote, or undermine the integrity of elections will be brought to justice,” said Paxton. “The shocking and blatantly illegal action documented by Project Veritas demonstrates a form of election fraud my office continually investigates and prosecutes. I am fiercely committed to ensuring the voting process is secure and fair throughout the state, and my office is prepared to assist any Texas county in combating this insidious, un-American form of fraud.”

Abortion Abolition

With the Texas legislature’s 87th session having begun on Jan. 12, we are bound to see some odd occurrences and bills enter the House and Senate. On Thursday, Jan. 14, Freshman State House Representative Bryan Slayton (R-Royse City) introduced an amendment to the House rules that would have forced the House to vote on abolishing abortion before they could take up any bills or solutions with the naming of bridges or streets. According to Slaton, the purpose of the amendment was to prioritize legal protection for unborn children.

The Amendment was voted down 41 to 99

However, following Slaton’s remarks on the Amendment, Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) proposed including a list of seven other conservative priorities along with abolishing abortion.

Another Covid Relief Plan

On Thurs., Jan. 14, President-Elect Joe Biden laid out another COVID-19 relief plan totaling an estimated $1.9 trillion and focusing on stimulus checks.

In the plan, more than $1 trillion would be allocated towards raising the stimulus check totals from that last relief package to $2,000 instead of $600. The plan would also allocate about $400 billion towards “pandemic response,” including expanding testing, emergency paid leave, and school funding. Additionally, another $440 billion would be allocated to small businesses, local communities, and transit systems that are struggling.

The bill targets these areas and seeks to expand the social safety net in America significantly. In Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan, unemployment benefits would be raised by $400 and along with eviction and foreclosure moratoriums and the increased SNAP benefits would last through the end of September.

However, probably the most costly for the nation would be the added proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. The CBO estimates that such an endeavor could lift about 1 million workers to wages above the current poverty line, but it would also cost the US economy an estimated 1.3 million jobs. This comes only days before Biden said that he would bring forward “legislation his first day in office to provide a path to citizenship for… the roughly 11 million people in the U.S. illegally”.

A Texan Demonstration

On Sun., Jan. 17, a group of demonstrators, calling themselves “libertarian”, held a demonstration for a second day outside the closed-off Texas Capitol. The demonstration consisted of dozens of people, many of whom were openly carrying semiautomatic weapons, rifles, and knives, but remained peaceful through the afternoon.

Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw said in a press release before either demonstration that the “Texas Department of Public Safety is aware of armed protests planned at the Texas State Capitol this week and violent extremists who may seek to exploit constitutionally protected events to conduct criminal acts.”

Individuals at the event said they were taking the DPS Director seriously and had walked around the capitol grounds to make sure no “provocateurs” took over the event.

“The big worry was we were gonna have tons of MAGA, QAnon people here to come and disrupt it, but it hasn’t been the case,” said Stephen Hunt, who had traveled from the Abilene area to attend this event.

Hunt did not want to identify the groups involved but did mention to KXAN that he was neither a Trump nor Biden supporter in the presidential election and he hopes that “this election has proven to people we need some change in our election laws.”

Capitol Raiders in San Antonio

On Sun., Jan. 17, FBI agents raided the home of and arrested Matthew Mazzocco, a local loan officer, following his appearance at the raid on the United States Capitol Building on Jan. 6.

According to MySA, Mazzocco posted a TikTok that was later reported to the FBI, appearing to show him as part of the raid on the US capitol but instructing others not to break or vandalize anything while inside the building.

“Don’t break or vandalize anything,” Mazzocco is seen saying in the video. “We’re probably all going to get in trouble for what we’re doing at some point in time.”

Following his trip to the US capitol, CMG Financial, the company listed as Mazzocco’s employer, commented stating “This person is no longer employed by CMG Financial. Our HR team has requested that he remove CMG Financial from his profiles as he does not work here.”

The FBI has confirmed that the arrest was made Sunday and will provide public documentation regarding the case soon.

Special Agent Michelle Lee told News4SA that there is “no immediate threat to the community at this time.”

US Economy

The stock market stayed mostly flat over the week as the Dow Jones decreased to 30,814.26 on Friday, decreasing by -149.43 points, or -0.63 percent over its Jan. 11 close of 31,008.69. The S&P 500 decreased by -31.36 points or -0.83 percent on Friday. In addition, the Nasdaq decreased on Friday by -0.29 percent.

Chip Roy: Texas’s Rising Star

With the 2020 election coming to a close and the 2021 Texas legislative session beginning, conservatives have begun reflecting on the past year’s election results. One thing is clear: Chip Roy is something special. Representing the 21st congressional district, considered a toss-up going into election night, he easily won by seven points even while his competitor Wendy Davis outspent him $10.3 million to $5 million. Chip Roy was able to win a changing, increasingly suburban district that Republicans have struggled to stay relevant in. A fiscal and social conservative hawk, he was able to articulate a conservative message that appealed to swing voters. Of a boring, tame, and weak Texas congressional delegation, he is the shining star for conservatives. 

This begs the question: what is next for Congressman Chip Roy? With a law degree from the University of Texas, his conservative voting record, and previous experience in the Attorney General’s office, he is a strong candidate to replace Ken Paxton — who has shown himself to be a legal (and moral) liability to the conservative movement as a revolving door into and out of the courtroom. 

His conservative voting record makes him a conservative dark horse to take on Governor Greg Abbott, who is more and more at war with his party’s conservative base. Greg Abbott, originally embraced by Texas conservatives for suing President Obama, has gone on to infuriate conservatives by endorsing moderates in the 2020 Republican Primary Runoff. Additionally, Abbott has flip-flopped on his stance on the coronavirus pandemic, initially supporting similar lockdown measures being pushed by the left and Democratic governors like Gavin Newsom and Andrew Cuomo, and now is saying he does not plan on enforcing another statewide lockdown.

Abbott’s flip-flopping stance contrasts with Chip Roy, who has been a staunch supporter of reopening the economy and making sure lockdowns and mandates do not exceed their constitutional parameters or unnecessarily harm the economy and local businesses. With the current virus, we need leaders who will not exceed their own powers and make sure that actions taken during disasters like this do not cause more harm than good.

Winning either of these races would also bring younger and fresher faces to either position. If elected, Chip Roy, 48 years old, would not only be the first Gen Xer to hold the Attorney Generalship or Governorship in Texas, but would also be a decade or more younger than the incumbents.

Texans right now are looking for a conservative leader that can take them through this next decade. A leader with a fresh pair of eyes to tackle the upcoming issues and that will not buckle when put under pressure or exceed their constitutional authority when given the opportunity. Having proven himself as an attorney, a Congressman, and a firm believer in the United States and Texan constitutions, Chip Roy is that leader.

An Interview with Daphne Dabney

On Sat. Dec. 19, 2020, outside of the chancery for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, the main office for the Catholic Church in San Antonio, a prayer rally was held in favor of a prominent priest who has been persecuted by the hierarchy, Father Clay Hunt. Fr. Clay was a priest in Del Rio and significantly grew the church in that area. More recently he served in prison ministry, before ultimately having all of his faculties removed. Here is a recent video of his sister describing the rally.

Below is an interview with Fr. Clay’s sister, Daphne, which took place on Friday, Dec. 18, 2020.

Q: What is Fr. Clay being accused of? 

A: I can’t speak on the details, but what I can say is that there are no sexual charges, there are no abuse charges, there are no major charges of substance in anything like that. And those are the things that get priests removed. When you think of a priest getting stripped of his faculties, what’s the first thing you think of? The main ones that you think of, those do not apply in this case. Any little thing that might have happened, they have brought that to light to make it seem like a huge thing, which is where we are now. There is nothing of substance of any major magnitude that they have against Fr. Clay.

Q: What do you think is the reason that they don’t like Fr. Clay?

A: Fr. Clay is faithful to the core to the teachings of the Catholic Church. His inability to be swayed and to be controlled and to have any other agenda put upon him but the agenda of leading people toward Christ, the inability of leadership in the diocese to do that, that is where the rub is. They’re given specific topics to not preach on, and those are the exact topics that need to be talked about. They are the things of the soul, especially in our times, when things are getting crazier by the minute, as far as morality goes. And, he’s the kind of priest that makes people squirm in their seat, because he tells it how it is. He’s not interested in being politically correct. He’s interested in leading people to Christ, which is the ultimate responsibility of a priest. Unfortunately, the leadership of the diocese seems to have other interests in mind, and more worldly views. It’s no secret that Fr. Clay tells it how it is. There are two resources that anybody needs to look at it to know the truth, and that’s the Bible, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Anything against that, he’s not gonna be silenced.

Q: As Fr. Clay’s sister, do you have any stories of his virtue when he was growing up?

A: Well one thing is, this guy doesn’t stop. He never stops. In fact, to the point that his family has been like, ‘OK, you have to sleep. You cannot keep burning the candle at both ends.’ He would completely deteriorate his own health before letting someone be without him. He would be at the hospital at all hours of the day and night. He would go to people’s houses. Of course this is before all this stuff happened, because now he’s literally shackled. But yeah we will tell him, look you have to take care of yourself, but he will just go and go and go. That’s always been very impressive to me. He puts himself last, after everybody else. On a more personal note, I was fortunate, as the sister 17 years younger him, to have been at home when he was discerning the priesthood and when he was in school. There was a period of time when I was in my most formative years, probably in junior high, when he was home for awhile, and he prayed with me every day. You know, when you’re a kid, that might not be the main thing you would want to do, but he would just be so encouraging and I knew that I didn’t have an option. It would be every night, we would lay on the couch together, and we would pray the divine mercy chaplet, every night. And he would say for the sake of his sorrowful PASSION! very loudly because I would fall asleep, and I would jump up awake again and say ‘have mercy on us and on the whole world.’ That’s a very endearing time to me, a time that I know my faith was being formed very solidly and solely because of him. You know, he’s wonderful with children, bringing the youth to the faith. It’s incredible watching him with young people and how influential he is with them. It’s very cool.

Q: Why are you having the rally tomorrow? What’s the desired effect?

A: So, for the rally tomorrow, really at this point, Fr. Clay’s faculties are completely removed. He can’t do anything as a priest, besides his own personal Mass that he says for himself every day. Being the kind of person that he is, that he puts everybody before himself, this is especially excruciating. Not because of any other reason than that he wants to serve. He wants to do what he was called to do, his mission that he was put on this earth for. I don’t think the leadership in the diocese realizes how serious we are about Father Clay. He is in danger of being completely removed from the priesthood, which in a way he is already, but is still technically a priest. But it is to the point that they want him completely out of the priesthood. So he could be completely removed. It is our time for us, as the laity, to come forward and say, ‘this is not ok. Enough is enough. This is a good priest, and he only wants to do good by people.’ It’s time for the voices of the people of the Archdiocese of San Antonio to be heard, and for them to see the impact that he has had and the amount of lives he has changed. Pope Benedict XVI said, ‘The laity is co-responsible for the Church’s being and acting.’ We have a responsibility to the church. We are co-responsible, with the leadership, the priests, the clergy, and the laity. It is time for us to step up, because the acting part right now, how the leadership is acting, is contrary to the mission of the church.

Q: Are you optimistic for Fr. Clay?

A: I’m very optimistic. Absolutely. I know, I know, we know, as faithful Catholics, as Christians, that the Lord has a plan. We know that. I believe that, Fr. Clay believes that, our family is very at peace knowing this, and also knowing the amount of love and support that he has. I truly pray that there is conversion of heart, and that the Lord softens hearts in the diocese who are responsible for these decisions, and that there is a reconciliation. That’s the ultimate goal in all of this, to have a reconciliation. I hope that we can co-exist and be in peace and on the same mission with each other. I have so much faith that he will have his faculties back. He has way too much good left to do on this earth as a priest.

Q: How specifically do you think a solution will be reached for Fr. Clay?

A: I believe that it has to come from the laity. From our prayers for the softening and reconciliation, but also in our voices. It has to. If we stay silent, this will get pushed under the rug, just like it has for many other good clergy in the diocese before Fr. Clay. I think they picked on the wrong priest, to be honest. I think the influence and love that Fr. Clay has with the people of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, I don’t think they considered that when starting all of this.

Q: What ministry do you think Fr. Clay would do well in if he could get his faculties back?

A: I know he would be so happy to serve anywhere. Just put him anywhere and he would be so happy and grateful for it. He was a missionary priest for many years, so he served in all different capacities as a priest, and he just loves to serve God’s people wherever he is. Personally, like I said earlier, he has a very unique perspective when it comes to the youth, especially the years when you typically make bad decisions. He was a wild child, and then he had a major conversion to come to the priesthood, and that shocked anybody who knew him. It was like, ‘what? Clay Hunt is becoming a priest?’ Because of those experiences and because he knows that life, he would be an amazing priest to have working with youth in any capacity. I think he would be incredible at college ministry, I think he’d be incredible at putting on retreats for the youth and just bringing people in. Because people love Fr. Clay for a reason. He’s real. He will not hide things from his past. He’s open about it and he shares so that he can spare others from making decisions that may be harmful. That is so needed with the youth, these days, especially now. Now, more than ever, we need somebody speaking major truths to the youth, whether that’s junior high, high school, college, whatever. Those years are so formative for the rest of your life. I think he would be incredible and the kids would love him. He would be really fulfilled by doing that work. When I was in college, my priest was not very good at all. He was like 90 years old and very wishy washy. I prayed, ‘man, we need someone powerful in here to share the gospel in a powerful way.’ So yeah, I think he would do amazing in that capacity.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

A: Well, just like I said, this problem is a lot bigger than just Fr. Clay. It’s something that even if people don’t know Fr. Clay, everyone should unite behind. The silence and oppression of the clergy is real. If we are going to uphold the integrity of the Church and be that co-responsibility in our acting and our being as a Church, we have to unite behind this. For all of them, not just for him.

Before the rally and Fr. Clay had his faculties removed, the Catholic Student Group at Trinity University requested to have Father Clay as a priest in three separate letters to the Archbishop of San Antonio. That request was denied.