Columns/Opinions

by ED STERLING

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton on April 11 sent a joint letter to eight state criminal justice agencies and associations, urging them to review their processes for reporting criminal history to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or “NICS.”

The NICS checks available records on persons who may be disqualified from receiving firearms. Abbott and Paxton said a recent study found that only 68 percent of arrests in state criminal history files nationwide were reported to the NICS. But Texas’ overall rate is 84 percent, with a 95 percent reporting rate for arrests within the past five years.

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by ELLIS KNOX

April’s Lyrid meteor shower, when, where and how to see it.

One of my passions is astronomy. Looking at a starry sky is a great pastime. If you’re interested in science or at least generally interested, soon or later, astronomy will usually peak your interest, at least in passing. I learned most of the constellations in Boy Scouts.

Scouting taught me how to find the direction of North, or how to find north if Ursa Major or the “Big Dipper” was not visible. To find the North Star, the two edge stars opposite the handle of the dipper are the pointer stars. By drawing a mental line straight through the two pointer stars for about five times the distance between the pointer stars, one will find the North Star.

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by ED STERLING

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott on April 4 welcomed the announcement by Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen that the federal government would deploy some 4,000 National Guard personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border to assist in stemming the flow of illegal immigration.

“Today’s action by the Trump Administration reinforces Texas’ longstanding commitment to secure our southern border and uphold the rule of law and I welcome the support,” the governor said. “Going forward, Texas will continue to implement robust border security efforts and this partnership will help ensure we are doing everything we can to stem the flow of illegal immigration.”

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By ELLIS KNOX

I’m often ask what I did at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and with the news and the Fake News full of talk about it. I thought this would be a good time to talk about my experiences and what I saw on the inside. I was hired by a contracting firm, away from the old Department of Defense Mapping Agency where I worked as a Federal employee. These contractor companies would turned over every few years, during those years I remained in the same job.

I worked for The Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis, a school in CIA University. Yes, the CIA has an in-house university. There are universities that teach the preliminaries needed, but the nuts and bolts of the job are taught in-house. I was the facilities manager, of all the school’s equipment, classrooms, printers, copiers, and computers. I also arranged to have it cleaned. I traveled with equipment and set it all up during off-site training.

By ED STERLING

AUSTIN — Ted Cruz of Texas was one of three United States senators who requested that respondents to the 2020 decennial census be asked if they are citizens of the United States.

When Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross responded in the affirmative last week, Cruz said, “I applaud Secretary Ross for honoring this request by my colleagues and me. It is imperative that the data gathered in the census is reliable, given the wide-ranging impacts it will have on U.S. policy. A question on citizenship is a reasonable, commonsense addition to the census.”

On March 28, state Sen. Sylvia R. Garcia, D-Houston, who chairs the Texas Senate Hispanic Caucus, took issue with the question. “Adding a question on citizenship at this time would only seek to fan the flames of fear and distrust in the Census, further risking depressed response rates,” Garcia said.

by ED STERLING

AUSTIN — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on March 13 praised a ruling by a panel of the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upholding a new state law that bans sanctuary cities.

The Legislature enacted Senate Bill 4 in 2017 to set a statewide policy of cooperation with federal immigration authorities’ enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws.

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