7.25.23

“Leftist News Media Goes After Tex. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick”

By Donna Garner

We in the public are having to learn to “read between the lines” of anything that comes from the mass media.  This means we have to learn to read “LEFTIST, WOKE-SPEAK.”   

The Texas Tribune and the national media are at it again. This time their “prime target” is Tex. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, but at the same time they want to take down Texas A&M University.

The Texas Tribune is a master at covering itself legally from being sued by burying a few facts among lots of leftist rhetoric. 

That is the case today in this article: 7.25.24 – “Texas A&M Suspended Professor Accused of Criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in Lecture” 

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/25/texas-a-m-professor-opioids-dan-patrick/?utm_source=Texas+Tribune+Newsletters&utm_campaign=41a24ec2ea-trib-newsletters-thebrief&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-41a24ec2ea-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=41a24ec2ea&mc_eid=0a4ed7a887

If the Texas Tribune were reporting on the facts, the headline should have been “Texas A&M Professor Alonzo Gives Misleading Opioid Information to University of Texas Medical Branch Students.”

Instead the Texas Tribune decided to keep pounding on its leftist theme of blackballing every conservative leader and/or institution in our state. 

This time they chose Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and continued their usual theme of degrading Texas A&M University. (The Aggies have a strong military presence and emphasize patriotism and service to our country. The leftists cannot stomach this!) 

MY QUICK VERSION OF THIS LONG TEXAS TRIBUNE ARTICLE

To save you valuable time, here is my quick version:

If you were to read today’s long, verbose, repetitive Texas Tribune article, you would see that its main purpose is to vilify Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas A&M.  

The leftist/woke people regard both of these entities as conservative targets. 

The Texas Tribune and the other leftist media are presently in the process of publicly “crucifying” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who is the best and most conservative TAG we have ever had during my lifetime. He has won 90% of his cases against the Biden administration. In the minds of the liberal leftists, “He must be taken out.” 

To continue their efforts to denigrate anything that appears to be conservative such as Texas A&M University, the Texas Tribune has worked in concert across the country to misrepresent what actually happened when UT Professor Kathleen McElroy so badly wanted to be in charge of Texas A&M’s School of Journalism where she could produce many more left-leaning, woke journalists just like herself. 

When McElroy’s vocal support for Diversity/Equity/Inclusion (which is now illegal in Texas schools K-16), LGBTQ, and Wokism were documented, Texas A&M withdrew its employment offer. 

McElroy (who is Black) immediately ran to the mainstream/social media with her race-baiting tale, and they were only too glad to “roast” Texas A&M nationally. 

Please bear all of this in mind as you consider today’s efforts by the Texas Tribune to continue its diatribe against anything or anybody “conservative.” 

FACTS BURIED UP IN TEXAS TRIBUNE ARTICLE:

Joy Alonzo is a professor at Texas A&M. She is considered to be an expert on opioids. 

She spoke at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) on March 7, 2023. 

Evidently Alonzo said something to the effect that because of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s legislative priorities, he was responsible for people dying of opioid overdoses. 

Many Texas legislators believe the way to stop the illegal drug crisis in our country is to hold people individually accountable and to give stiff penalties to those who distribute illegal drugs. Legislation of that type was passed on May 2023. 

To see the very stiff penalties in HB 6 for drug pushers which go into force on 9.1.23, please go to: 

https://hro.house.texas.gov/pdf/ba88r/hb0006.pdf#navpanes=0  

and also: 

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HB6#

Since UTMB produces many doctors, Alonzo’s statement (or insinuations) caused much confusion among the medical students by introducing a popular theme held by some public health workers that builds the case for the harm-reduction method rather than the case for holding individuals (e.g., illegal drug sellers) accountable for their actions. 

Harm reduction has become a movement for social justice (i.e., drug users should have the right to use drugs) and includes such methods as syringe exchange programs.   

Of course, UTMB was very concerned about Alonzo’s comments and how they might be interpreted by the medical students.  

UTMB conferred with Texas A&M which then put Alonzo on paid suspension leave for two weeks while they investigated her comments. Her lecture had not been recorded.

Because it is illegal in Texas to reveal information while an educator (such as Alonzo) is being investigated, the Texas Tribune was not given private information. In their article, they tried to make it look as if Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others were guilty because they “held back information.”  

At the very end of the lengthy Texas Tribune article, the journalists finally got around to telling the readers (who almost never read to the end of a long article) that Alonzo was reinstated by Texas A&M in full on March 21, 2023. She basically got a paid vacation for two weeks.

Lesson Alonzo Should Have Learned:  Never use an anecdote in a lecture to medical school students that deliberately puts the blame for opioid deaths on elected leaders, many of whom are doing their very best to pass legislation (e.g., HB 6) to stop the fentanyl and opioids that are pouring  into the United States because of Biden’s open borders policies.