Jen Rice

@jenrice.bsky.social

9924 Followers 1098 Following

Reporter @democracydocket.com // from the floodplain // bad at sleeping // Texan in DC // signal: jenrice.77 // rice@democracydocket.com

USA Today Co., the largest newspaper chain in the country, announced Thursday that it is partnering with technology company Palantir to better monetize its customer data.
THE COURT: Okay. So even though the 2026 primary, the candidates -- the nominees chosen by the two parties were working under a different map, the primary was held under the 2021 map and the general election is going to be held under the 2026 map? That's the County's position? MR. NIXON: Yes.
Tweet: "Former State Rep Lon Burnam arrested at county commissioners court" + photo of him on the ground
Speaker at the mic
I'm in danger
"In an interview this week, Mealer addressed the shooting in detail for the first time, expressing full confidence that ongoing investigations by the Texas Department of Public Safety, FBI and Houston police will produce a “fulsome accounting” of what happened."
Houston City Council meeting schedule - July 28 meeting, 5pm council meeting/public session
“If elected, I will continue Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia’s fight to demand answers, accountability, and justice for the family of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo,” Gutierrez said in a statement. “No family should have to bury a loved one without knowing the truth, and no federal agency should ever be above accountability.” Salgado Araujo’s killing “raises deeply troubling questions that demand an independent investigation,” Gutierrez continued. “To every resident of District 9, especially those living in mixed-status households, I want you to hear this: you deserve to live with dignity, not fear. I want our neighbors to know they are not alone,” Gutierrez added. “And to everyone who is eligible to vote this November: your voice matters. Change only happens when ordinary people stand together and demand it.”
Previously in District 29, now in District 9
Thirty advocacy organizations, community members, faith leaders, and elected officials from across Texas are joining forces for a mass march and rally to demand the end of ICE and seek justice for the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was killed by ICE in Houston earlier this month. The ICE Out of Texas Marchamos Por Lorenzo event starts at 10 am at 1121 Franklin St, Houston, TX 77002. The action centers those impacted by ICE violence, including those in our local communities. As leaders and allies at the intersection of worker and immigrant justice, we know that true progress can only be achieved when workers can make it back home safely after every shift without the fear of detention, deportation, or death. “When three immigrant men - all family patriarchs and hardworking contributing members of society- can be killed in broad daylight by a federal agency without clear reason or investigation, we fail to uphold our government accountable to its actions and convey the message to everyday people that their lives don’t matter,” said Workers Defense Action Fund Executive Director Lizeth Chacon. “We must do better. For Lorenzo. For all victims and all impacted families. We must end ICE and demand justice for these brutal killings.” “Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was just trying to go to work and provide for his family when masked agents pulled him over and shot him. He could have been any of us,” said Antonia Escamilla, a Houston Janitor and member of SEIU Texas. “That’s why we are united throughout Houston and across the country for transparency, accountability and to get ICE out of our communities.”
Screenshot of many hats attending a Paxton press conference
Houston City Council meeting schedule (shows upcoming meeting Tuesday 7/21 starting 1:30pm)
Rally/march Justice for Lorenzo Salgado Sunday July 19, 2026, 2pm, Ervan Chew Park
“We’re not going anywhere,” Connor said. “We don’t think a thing like that will happen again in our lifetime.”
Tweet from Jennifer Jacobs: BREAKING via @CBSNews: Part of Trump's speech Thursday night will touch on previously unreported Chinese meddling in U.S. elections, sources told me. Some evidence shows Beijing compromised U.S. voter data -- and evidence the CIA knew about the action and didn't share that information with Trump during his first term, per sources. Cabinet officials are expected to be in the audience during his remarks. Among those invited are the heads of CIA, FBI, ODNI and DHS, as well as other agencies and staff. Some cabinet members will not be there due to scheduling conflicts, I'm told.
Letter from DPS to HPD describing how the Texas Rangers will be involved in investigating the fatal ICE shooting
There is nothing he can do. Pay attention, take a civics class, educate yourself. Local politics can’t stop the federal government. Reach out to your congressman and representatives, leave city council to handle our local issues!
I’d never send a deputy out in the field if he or she was not properly trained and equipped to do their jobs safely and correctly, with transparency and pride. ICE’s own directives state that cameras “increase officer and public safety, accountability, and transparency,” the Department of Justice prohibits federal agents from discharging firearms at moving vehicles merely to stop an escape. Federal officials claim that Salgado was a threat because he “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.” But if a vehicle is moving toward the agent in a threatening way, rather than firing, the agent is supposed to move out of the way if at all possible. And at what point would Salgado even have been sure that the agents in ICE’s unmarked vehicles were, in fact, law officers who he should obey? He lived in a neighborhood that sees its share of crime. How would any of us react if an unmarked SUV, with no sirens or flashing lights, tried to run us off the road?
As a former Harris County sheriff and someone who has been a cop for most of my adult life, I know what responsible policing requires and what it takes to protect the public trust. Too much about ICE’s account of Salgado's does not add up, and the lack of detail creates questions and strong frustration. Until we have a full and transparent accounting of what happened, Houston’s sense of safety will be harmed. The federal unwillingness to welcome an independent investigation raises serious doubts and encourages conspiracy theories. That should concern us all, regardless of political party. But still, politics appears to be playing a role. The Department of Homeland Security issued comments that “back-to-back Democrat shutdowns” are to blame for the lack of bodycams and are the reason the public can’t see what happened. That is no excuse. In April, Congress gave Homeland Security $20 million for “the procurement, deployment, and operations of body-worn cameras” for immigration officers, but according to Rep. Sylvia Garcia, the acting head of ICE says that fewer than a third of officers currently wear them. Failure to buy this equipment puts agents who want to do their job right in a losing situation.
map of the old district (District 29) and map of the new district (District 9)
Neighbor recalls seeing victim's family at scene of shooting Cecelia Humiston, 22, lives on Chapel Street. She was asleep with her two-year-old son when she woke up to the sounds of a commotion on surrounding streets. When she went to investigate, she saw what appeared to be a person lying on the ground on Pool Street. She remembers hearing an older woman with a distressed family, yelling, “You took her dad, you took her dad!” “They were with a little girl, she couldn't have been older than three,” Humiston said. “She was still in her Bluey pajamas.” Humiston described law enforcement as “rude,” and said they barricaded family’s car from leaving. Another yelled at the little girl, who was trying to smell flowers. “This is Biddeford, things like this never happen here,” Humiston said.
Was silence not an option?
Legal experts, former police chiefs and former prosecutors all agree that Houston police and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office unquestionably have the authority to conduct their own investigation into Salgado’s death. In past fatal shootings caused by federal officials, like one involving an FBI agent in 2018, Houston police conducted a parallel investigation and Harris County prosecutors made their own charging decisions.
Houston City Council meeting schedule
Houston Mayor John Whitmire declined to seek a city-led investigation into the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, saying there cannot be a city investigation while a federal investigation is ongoing.
HB 1443 "Relating to creating the criminal offense of promotion or possession of a child-like sex doll"
The deepest harm is not the sum of what has already been taken, but what the country is being asked to accept. Left unanswered, the methods catalogued in these pages do not expire with this anniversary; they become a manual, usable against any institution, any commemoration, any store of public trust a future administration finds inconvenient or lucrative. So, the question this record calls to answer is larger than the conduct of any one official. It is whether a self-governing people, shown in detail how the corruption of its own founding milestone was carried out, will shrug and conclude that this is simply how things are done now. The semiquincentennial was meant to remind Americans of what they hold in common. Let the record of how it was abused remind them of what they must never consent to lose.
"Well now I am not doing it"
DC voter guide i just got in the mail
"That sign can't stop me because I can't read!"
Cat saying "I voted now let me sleep"
The courts’ institutional “reluctance . . . to involve themselves in contests of factional political power,” a reluctance we reiterate and reinforce today, is a check on the judicial power “of ancient standing,” not an optional preference we are at liberty to discard
“This is about fear,” Davis said. “Not just any fear — panic — the kind of panic that comes from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when the ground is shifting beneath you and you can’t win in a fair fight. Fear of losing power. Fear of losing control. Fear so deep it changes the rules, bends the Constitution and has the nerve to call it strategy. Because when you can’t persuade the people, when you can’t inspire the voters, when you can’t defend your record, when you can’t ignore the Epstein files, you change the map.” “So the plan becomes simple: if you can’t win with the people, you cheat the people,” Davis continued. “And the impact of this is not abstract. It is targeted…Black and brown voices that have fought to be heard are now being weakened. That is not coincidence. That is design.”