Lubbock: The Eyes of Texas are Upon You
by Sandy Szwarc, guest commentary to Pratt on Texas
Lubbock is currently the epicenter of efforts to turn Texas blue. As the largest conservative city in West Texas, if they can turn Lubbock blue and get marijuana decriminalized, it would score a big win for flipping the State. But the good people of Lubbock are learning discernment and seeing past the agendas trying to abolish their long-held values.
They’ve also learned how to come together to preserve their community, as five ladies with their own money organized Project Destiny in 2020 to fight for the sanctity of life against powerfully-funded outside abortion interests. Tens of thousands of residents and people of faith worked together in the long fight, even packing the City Council chambers during a record public hearing that went long into the night. They resoundingly succeeded in making Lubbock a Sanctuary City for the Unborn.
They’ve come together once more for the upcoming election on May 4th as their community is again at risk. There are two key decisions for Lubbock voters: electing a Mayor who will support Lubbock values, and fighting against heavily-funded interests introducing decriminalization of pot. The intervening years have been eye-opening.
The Mayoral candidates include a Lubbock councilman who had stood with pro-abortion advocates and the Mayor against the citizens in the Sanctuary for the Unborn fight. This same candidate worked with the Mayor and Texas Municipal League lobby to increase the size and authority of the government and grow the city’s debt, which was cited by the Texas Comptroller in 2020 as one of the highest of any city in Texas. Now in 2023, with city administrators vastly spending beyond inflation or population growth, Lubbock has the fifth highest debt among Texas cities, at $6,382 per capita, according to Texas Public Policy Foundation. Yet city leaders are looking to increase already skyrocketing property taxes again.
Moving Lubbock further from limited government, this candidate also pushed for imposing the monstrous 461-page Universal Building Code (after hiring TML consultants) that essentially eliminated private property rights, in line with the World Economic Forum’s Cities of Tomorrow and the UN’s Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development, as Tom DeWeese of American Policy Center explained.
To return Lubbock to its small town roots, voters are looking for a new Mayor with sound business experience who will bring the community together without potential racial divisions.
One candidate is also Chair and Managing Director of Lubbock Compact, a political nonprofit lobby for North and Northeast Lubbock, and a leader in Freedom Act Lubbock, behind the initiative to decriminalize pot. It’s on the ballot this election as Proposition A. The massively-funded network of NGOs and pot lobbies, backed by billionaires such as George Soros and Peter Lewis, had organized in Texas a few years ago. For this latest campaign, Lubbock Compact is also aided by Ground Game Texas PAC, launched after 2020 for year-round activism for weed and Democrat causes, Sunrise Movement, Greene Peace, ActBlue Texas, and others.
The Colorado Connection
In the effort to flip Texas blue, Progressives are following The Blue Print, a handbook of the tactics successfully used in Colorado during the 2006-2008 elections. Well-organized and heavily-financed private funding and nonprofit “charities” focus on local politics and young people and proved they can fundamentally transform a State when communities haven’t realized the game plan or been paying attention. Lubbock and other conservative Texas towns, however, have been getting educated.
The path to destruction of an entire State (and Nation) is to do everything to destabilize communities, break down family values, Biblical teachings and standards of decency; normalize depravity; root divisive calls of systemic racism, systemic police bias and racism police killings, and anti-Semitism; transform populations and swing the democrat voter base and overwhelm infrastructures with unchecked immigration; overpower and cripple police, and increase violent crime. Soros has funded at least 253 global news and activist media organizations and succeeded in taking control of mainstream, radio, Spanish-language conservative talk radio, and social media in advance of the 2024 election. Through funding untouchable private nonprofits, George Soros and his son Alex, and Bill Gates and a contingency of progressive foundations have spent massive amounts in Texas, including the Texas Majority PAC, Voter Registration Project, Soros’ Open Society Foundations, and Democratic parties. Since 2016, Soros has funded radical District Attorneys across the country, including five in Texas, as documented in a Capital Research report, succeeding in reducing convictions, releasing criminals and increasing violent crimes.
Every effort to expand Progressive ideologies is accompanied by efforts to increase drug use, beginning with decriminalization and legalization of pot. Why? Because it can fundamentally transform a community towards those globalists’ goals simultaneously.
The crude cardboard signs for Proposition A scattered around Lubbock give the impression of a small local initiative. Freedom to smoke weed envisions a world where small anti-corporate hippies grow a little Mary Jane in their backyards to share with their friends. In reality, the legal marijuana market is currently a $21 billion industry in the U.S. and most pot is grown by corporate Big Cannabis, little different from Big Tobacco. By 2020, U.S. cannabis industry growing operations represented about 30 million square feet. Not only is pot big business, so is pot advertising. Meaning, getting past the marketing to uncover the truth of pot takes a clear head, critical thinking and homework. You can’t do that stoned.
Lubbock residents had been taken in by “Compassionate Use” marketing that had legalized CBD (legally to have nearly undetectable THC content), under the guise of “medicinal.” It was a scam designed by the pot lobby with one purpose: to put everything in place (grow facilities, supply chain distribution and retail shops) in anticipation of legalized pot, when they’ll all be instantly poised to enter the “legal” market. Lubbock voters aren’t alone, of course, as 22 state attorney generals are fighting back on the deceptions that legalized intoxicating cannabis products under ambiguities in the Farm Bill and hemp products. The legislation also knowingly impeded law enforcement efforts because it’s impossible to tell the difference between pot and hemp.
Lubbock voters are back in the game and have learned the lesson with pot legislation. It’s not based on facts, but mistruths and falsehoods.
A few years ago, Pastor Mark Lee Dickson, leader of Sanctuary for the Unborn movement, published an in-depth six-part series at Crit-Large [Doing the Right Thing for Texas Part One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six.] that reviewed the effects of marijuana on Texans and their families and how to decide whether we should support pot legalization. By decriminalizing pot, young people are given the message that it’s okay to do drugs. Lubbock residents have been educating themselves and know that pot is not okay and is not good for their bodies, children or families. Project Destiny has been hard at work trying to share information on Proposition A.
Fallacies of Proposition A
The most blaring fallacies surrounding Proposition A are in the ordinance itself.
Even a beginner’s guide to writing municipal codes notes, they cannot conflict with the laws of the State in which the municipality is located. Marijuana is a Schedule 1 controlled substance under both federal and Texas State levels, according to Texas State Law. State statutes make possession of 2 oz or less a Class B misdemeanor and up to 4 oz a Class A misdemeanor. Popular vote doesn’t change law. And law-breakers most certainly can’t tell local police what laws they can and cannot enforce! Municipal police departments legally must enforce State laws as they take precedence over local laws.
Proposition A uses a slick sleight of hand, telling the public that possession of “small amounts” of pot will be free from arrest or citation. What it doesn’t explain is Class A and B misdemeanor amounts defined in the ordinance mean up to 4 ounces of pot.
The handful of States that have decriminalized “small, personal-consumption amounts” refer to half an ounce, ¾ of an ounce, 3 grams, or up to 14 grams, according to the latest National Conference of State Legislature report. Four ounces of pot as in Lubbock Proposition A = 113.4 grams! This is not a small amount.
Proposition A is based on two policing myths: the false premise that police are discriminating against minorities in pot arrests and citations, and the fabrication that jails are filled with minor offenders imprisoned for simple pot possession.
Fact: People are not being imprisoned simply for possessing pot. For years, only 0.46% of federal prisoners were in for possession of pot, 99% were for hardened drug offenses, including violent felonies or trafficking massive amounts of narcotics. As of January 2022, there were NO offenders in federal prisons for simple possession of pot, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. That’s also true at Lubbock County jail.
Fact: Propositions A incorrectly equates higher rates of pot arrests among Blacks and Hispanics, as a percentage of the population, as evidence of racism. But it doesn’t reveal that pot is part of violent crime arrests.
Lubbock PD is dealing with murders that nearly tripled in Lubbock between 2019-2020, while statewide violent crimes increased 8%, according to Texas Department of Public Safety. The simple fact is, rates of violent crime among Blacks and Hispanics are higher than whites, according to all national crime data, as well as in our State prison and jail populations, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Pot-related offenses typically accompany narcotic manufacturing, drug trafficking, and other serious felonies. Texas DPS mentions no criminal arrests for pot possession alone. Police are not “wasting resources” pursuing minor pot misdemeanors.
Claims of systemic police bias have fostered anti-police hatred and put law enforcement officers and their families at risk, and forced police to undergo countless hours of “implicit bias” training. But it’s a myth that’s been repeatedly shown to be false. Dr. Joseph Cesario, professor of Psychology at Michigan State University, explained why disparities are not evidence of racism. Studying two years of police shootings, adjusting for crimes, their research found no evidence of anti-Black disparities in shootings. Criminals encountering police in the course of committing violent and gun-related crimes were more likely to become involved in a shooting. That’s a simple no-brainer.
SEE ALSO: Americans are watching legal weed’s promise go up in smoke
Cornell University analyzed U.S. fatal police shootings reported in mainstream media and also found no evidence that racial discrimination was a factor. Researchers at the University of Nebraska and University of South Carolina analyzed crime data from 2015-2017 and found that Blacks were actually less likely to be shot by police, when factoring violent criminal arrests or weapons offense arrests. In other words, Blacks were involved in more gun-related and violent crimes and more likely to encounter police. Using population demographics alone give a false impression of disparities. They even found that fatal police shootings when benchmarked against arrests were evenly distributed in terms of race. They emphatically concurred that “disparity does not mean bias.”
Proposition A addresses a nonexistent problem. Meanwhile, its mandates attempt to override City and internal police policies on how police do their jobs, eliminate PD’s ability perform THC testing as they deem necessary (the only way to differentiate CBD being used under Texas CUP from illegal street pot), determine police training and discipline, and places oversite of police compliance with the pot activists’ demands under the oversight of the City Council. Proposition A essentially makes enforcement of any pot-related criminal activity next to impossible.
Proposition A fails to disclose the costs of its petition for the community. It has been so poorly thought out, it does not begin to address the endless costs the community will face with decriminalization of pot. Colorado, for example, has documented the impact for years. The negatives to the community on public health, safety, suicides, school academics, crime and gang activity, insurance and jobs far exceeded any potential benefits.
If the signs and gatherings across Lubbock are any indication, Lubbock citizens have come together with Project Destiny again and are fighting to let it be known they do not want illegal drugs in their city, just as they fought against abortion. They believe it’s the right thing to do.
Sandy Szwarc, BSN, RN, retired emeritus, is a U.T.-Austin graduate and researcher and writer on health and science.
From your own link in the last paragraph:
‘Overall, the authors concluded there was “virtually no statistically significant long-term effects of recreational marijuana legalization or retail sales on violent or property crime rates, except for a significant decline of burglary rates in Washington. There were some immediate increases in crime at the point of legalization, but these did not result in long-term effects” (Lu et al, 2021)
Is there no FB page to comment on? To dispute your other claims? You don’t allow public comments on your FB page? Are you not really open to debate on a non moderated forum? I could write out a screed as long as yours and it may not see the light of day.
Obviously there is a Facebook page for the show but it’s hard to see the link when one is out of one’s mind on pot. And frankly, I’m not interested in comments from non-listeners.
There is a Robert Pratt FB page with links to all your shows, but there is no way to comment on posts. But thanks for letting me know that you have no desire to actually engage people on the merits of your arguments. Quite the bastion of intellectual curiosity!!
Comments are indeed allowed under every post at Facebook. If you will look you will see posts/comments from listeners. The pot must have messed with some cognitive ability.
Apparently Nathan is on to something here. Your Facebook page link is to another moderated page by you and for you, so YOU can pick and choose what YOU WANT to hear. I love how every single person supporting this anti Prop A movement only wants to pick and choose what people may have to say about it and what the public can see. It’s not coincidence at all. It’s incredibly clear y’all support censorship of the voices of our great city. Only people who agree with you are allowed to speak and be heard. No room for open discourse for public conversation. Oh, and regardless of what you don’t want to appear on here or any of your other socials, I can still document our attempts at conversation with you, Project Destiny, or any others that support the Anti Prop A movement. You can continue trying to hide our questions about yalls movement and where you get your data. We don’t silence, block, or delete anyone or their posts. We are always open to public conversation in unmoderated forums, where anyone can ask questions and have conversation whether they support Prop A or NOT. People are not so simple and naive. They see how Y’all operate. Y’all can try and control everything that people see, but you can’t hide it all. If you show this post, let everyone know my other post is still sitting in limbo waiting for the gate keeper’s approval XD
First of all, I do not host a debating society and I have no idea why you all believe that there is some inherent right to post your thoughts. I deliver my thoughts for a living, not the other way around.
Second, I do not have the Facebook set to any restrictive item other than one may have to be a “friend” to post and there are 5000 of those. My Facebook page predates “pages,” etc. with all the modern settings. People post there all the time, it takes very little effort to see that they do.
Thirdly, I am not particularly interested in what people outside of my audience have to say.
And lastly, you really do not have a handle on what censorship means. I am only approving your comments on my (private property!?) website out of the desire for others to see how the other side thinks, or doesn’t think.
Way to show your ass Pratt. You only want to hear from people that will blindly listen to your false claims backed by ZERO EVIDENCE. The ones that are “heavily funded” are the anti Prop A folks with their million bright yellow signs and enormous signs draped over the 2 largest churches in Lubbock. There are laws to keep churches in check from keeping state and church separate, if they want to claim to be a tax exempt entity. All the “statistics” being thrown around don’t have any actual source other than “trust me bro”. People who are conservative and don’t smoke weed or use it in any of its other many forms, are tired of being lied to and told what to believe and are in fact VOTING FOR Prop A. This will pass because of the droves of Lubbock citizens showing up to vote for something they want to vote for and know their voice can actually make a difference. These anti Prop A people are not only infesting churches who are openly willing to break the law, they are trying to talk to kids at our elementary schools as they walk up to the front doors. It’s disgusting and repulsive to see. Parents ARE NOT HAPPY. These people are literally ruining their own heavily heavily funded campaign to scare and shame the citizens of Lubbock into doing what they tell them to do, or they’re called cartel supporters and filthy drug addicts or out-of-town liberals. Y’all need to realize the newer generations have grown up and are completely sick and tired of blatant government lies around a plant that has SOOO much evidence that it is not only safer than alcohol and nicotine, but it’s also one of the most, if not the most medicinally beneficial plants on the planet. Keep sticking your fingers in your ear, but y’all will be long gone before we ever are. Resort to your dispicable antics of accusing the good citizens of Lubbock and the rest of Texas claiming they’re all out of their minds on weed. If we were all out of our minds, then y’all wouldn’t be so scared of Prop A or any marijuana laws finally changing. Y’all are a dying breed and just completely outnumbered by people who aren’t just buying what your selling with NO FACTS OR SOURCES to back up what YOU CLAIM to be true. You just throw words around and expect the people of Texas to be these simpletons and just trust what you say. We are calling all of you out! Y’all just keep turning off the comments and blocking people. See how far that gets you lol. This isn’t 1930 anymore.
Frankly I do not understand where you get the idea that I “want” to hear from anyone. I present a point of view, others are free to present their point of view. You have a skewed idea of how this works. And notice, I happily posted your screed without objection despite your vitriol and accusation.
I honestly appreciate you allowing my “vitriol screed and accusation” to be viewed by the few who may ever see it. Seriously, that is huge for me. Project Destiny has never allowed any opposing view or dispute of their blatant lies and scummy tactics (not an accusation, this is a fact). What would you think if Freedom Act activists were showing up to churches, having them bear our political banners for all to see? Or if Freedom Act Lubbock was standing in front of elementary schools talking to our children about the politics of marijuana reform? Pretty scummy right? Or would you argue otherwise? What if we were handing out pamphlets to the same school children, to bring home to their parents full of false statistics? Would that be vitriol screed and accusations? We have always shown where we get our data and sources from, where Project Destiny just throws statistics into pamphlets as fact, and has church leaders and superintendents in their pockets, spreading their false information to further their agenda to maintain control over our right to vote opposingly? If we do so, we are called drug addicts, cartel supporters, or dangerous to the youth of our city. I mean, this isn’t even about turning a blind eye to it all, it’s about sinking to new lows that are disgraceful to the community of Lubbock and violating our children at their places of learning. It has been disgusting to witness and they are just driving a wedge in their voting pool, to the point that people are voting for Prop A because they are appalled at the extent Project Destiny is willing to go in order to push their agenda.
And as to your comment of “Frankly I do not understand where you get the idea that I “want” to hear from anyone.” you certainly imply you would only be interested in comments by your listeners when you said…
“Obviously there is a Facebook page for the show but it’s hard to see the link when one is out of one’s mind on pot. And frankly, I’m not interested in comments from non-listeners.”
Pretty vitriol and accusatory if you ask me, but that’s just my opinion. After reading the vitriol screed you presented to your audience, I only find it fair, that you, as a person with a platform and influence, would have to “suffer through” people posting comments you do not agree with and objectively view as vitriol screed. Everyone gets to have an opinion and I respect that. What I don’t respect, and 10’s of thousands of other Lubbock citizens don’t respect, is being blatantly lied to, using tactics from the era of Reefer Madness and Just Say No, and having people with a platform spreading these lies as facts knowingly. Unless you don’t ever do any due diligence in vetting your sources? I may not agree with you and will continue to call out these lies no matter who spreads them, but I respect the fact you “allowed” my comment to post. The anti Prop A people don’t like unmoderated forums for conversation and debate. They have shown time and time again, that they don’t want to hear any opposing debate and are unwilling to back up their “claims” and have a conversation with the citizens they claim to care about, when asked where they are getting their statistics and “facts” from about cannabis. We have been accused of being funded by Soros and the Cartels. We have been accused of being out of state liberals trying to ruin Lubbocks “safe community”. We ARE the community and have supported this movement from the start. There’s no evidence of George Soros money or Cartel money. It’s a ludicrous accusation that provides zero evidence to support it. However, it doesn’t stop the anti Prop A people from continuously stating it as fact. Our city isn’t safe. We only want to make it safer and keep people out of jail for low level, non violent, minor possession of a plant. There is no factual evidence that shows marijuana reform, of ANY kind, directly links to an increase in crime rates. Yet this is claimed as fact. There is no evidence, anywhere in the world, let alone or state or country, of weed being laced with fentanyl. But Project Destiny claims we have cases reported right here in Lubbock. When asked for their sources, they silence you by turning off comments and blocking you from their social media pages. Are we supposed to accept what anyone says as true? Are we not allowed to question these claims? If you want sources on anything I have stated as factual, I am more than happy to provide as many as your heart desires.
Mr. Pratt, if my follow-up comment is “allowed” to post here, it will show that at least you’re open to allowing other people to share the opposing view without discrimination. Our citizens of Lubbock are being accused of many things. I’m just not quite sure why anyone who has an opposing opinion to Project Destiny’s campaign is either seen as “out of one’s mind on pot” or the other multitude of insults being presented to anyone that may think differently about this topic.
I simply do not understand your reasoning. Why should a private group opposed to your position “allow” an opposing viewpoint within their group? They exist to express their viewpoint, not that of others.
Mr. Pratt, you generously let them write some 1700 words against Project Destiny. But none of the comments addressed the article you published!
Mr. Bell’s tirade against this article makes no sense, as he did not and could not counter a single argument made in the article. He says they “only want to make it safer and keep people out of jail for low level, non violent, minor possession of a plant.” That popular myth (both nationally and locally) was soundly debunked in the article from multiple sources, which he does not appear to have read.
He goes on to complain about Project Destiny (the author of this article is not a member nor a spokesperson for Project Destiny), for warning parents that unregulated cannabis products could be laced with fentanyl. Traffickers of illicit marijuana regularly also traffic fentanyl and meth (as Lubbock news reported on Nov 3, 2023, for example) and LPD’s 2023 report cites the anti-gang center recovered 433 grams fentanyl and 11,591 grams of pot. But Lubbock County Sheriff Kelly Rowe did report in the news in February, along with EMS personnel, that fentanyl has been found in vape pens, to look like gummies and candy, and laced in all sorts of illegal drugs and pills across the South Plains. LC Sheriff Rowe has spoken out repeatedly about why Prop A will undermine law enforcement in Lubbock and how pot has been involved in multiple arrests, criminal activity and shootings. I trust his first-hand expertise over pot lobbyists.
Ryan Bell failed to disclose that he is an activist, pot “patient” and has spoken for the Texas Cannabis Collective (see podcast #94). The TCC is widely reported (in Cannabis industry news such as Texas Hemp Reporter) since its inception in 2016 as working with outside pot lobbies including NORML and the large lobbying coalition, Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy. These are not local, nor is the push to decriminalize and legalize pot in Texas. His assertion that the pot legalization movement in Texas is not receiving outside funds is unsupportable.
It’s no secret that, nationwide, Soros has been and continues to be the kingpin of pot legalization, spending massive hundreds of $$$ millions. Texas Tribune and even MSN headlined stories just a few months ago about how he’s funding $$$ millions in efforts to turn Texas blue. Armstrong Economics reported in February, he’s spent about $3million alone on five different groups in Texas to push pot. Soros funded Harris County DA’s Ogg’s campaign, for example, with $1.4 million in ads to help get her elected for her commitment to lead legalization of hemp and pot, and stop prosecuting pot cases. As Texas Monthly reported, Houston Police Officer’s Union called her “the most criminal-happy DA in history.”
Pot activist, Nathan Lewis, also appears to not have read the full report sourced in the article. Colordo’s Rocky Mountain HIDTA has followed and reported extensively for years on the negative consequences of pot in Colorado, as were mentioned in a Texas Scorecard article two weeks ago. It stated that Colorado found, for example, traffic deaths nearly doubled and pot accounted for over 20% of traffic fatalities; poison control calls tripled and increased 10-fold among children; suicides quadrupled among those testing positive for marijuana; schools encountered more problems and violence; marijuana abuse increased, as did opioid use and overdose deaths; and black market crime and organized crime and gang activity all increased.
To honestly report the facts and findings of other communities across the country that have liberalized pot regulations would make voting against Proposition A in Lubbock a slam dunk for any educated and caring adult in Lubbock. Thank you, Mr. Pratt for supporting Lubbock.
Of course I’m an activist Mr. Sheldon. I don’t believe I’ve hidden that all, but I’ll state it clearly since you seem baffled by the concept. Someone has to fight for the people. There is 0 proof of Soros funding the Freedom Act and they’re will never be, of him or Cartels doing so. That’s a simple fact that has never been proven. Statements like this are thrown around to manifest fear. It’s textbook Reefer Madness tactics. My concerns are not mine alone. I know plenty of people who were first for the anti Prop A movement, who are concerned about the sheer lack of open communication being had. If y’all want to keep everything private and block or simply ignore anyone asking questions, so be it. That alone, shows the citizens that Project Destiny wants to CONTROL their narrative. I will repeat myself, Freedom Act has done no such thing and we will continue having the OPEN conversation for the people to see and make up their OWN educated and caring adult decisions for themselves. We are the under dog with only local Lubbock citizens funding our efforts. I speak for many who are concerned about the depths that Project Destiny is willing to sink to and placing people on school property to speak with CHILDREN of the elementary age. If that’s not concerning to y’all, then that alone speaks for itself. Who are willing to violate the sanctity of our churches we attend just to push a political agenda, which is in fact, against the law. Again, no one with, or for Project Destiny has allowed open discussion of any kind with citizens of Lubbock. I document all attempts to do so and the lack of response or the outright banning of anyone who brings questing to any of their campaign. I can only get a comment to show here if allowed. There’s no true audience here that consists of all people of Lubbock. We have been silenced time and tone again, trying to have an open conversation or debate. This isn’t going unnoticed. I’m honored you researched me. I have nothing to hide and I am transparent. We are educated, we are caring, and we don’t silence or have private pages where we limit or restrict comments from anyone.