tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post4150632328248565699..comments2024-03-15T05:45:01.402-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: DPS outsourced key border security tasks to shadowy private contractorGritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-50524409943661458502012-03-29T10:06:16.638-05:002012-03-29T10:06:16.638-05:00i hv a story that REALLY needs attn brought to it ...i hv a story that REALLY needs attn brought to it b4 its too late.. how can i share it w/ Grits for Breakfast? mayb u can help?Wyle Outzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16761094527423602886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-77618490124531674312012-03-16T14:23:15.745-05:002012-03-16T14:23:15.745-05:00Agreed. Thanks for putting up with me, Grits.
-5:3...Agreed. Thanks for putting up with me, Grits.<br />-5:32 / 8:42Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-38857880302528114522012-03-16T10:20:31.335-05:002012-03-16T10:20:31.335-05:00As the legislature follows Congress' lead of c...As the legislature follows Congress' lead of corruption & deceit, it's pretty frightening to bring in still more lobbyists and bribe-extravaganzas.<br /> The Exec. Branch should not be able to buy stuff without Legislative approval and oversight.<br /> Even once it gets reported (and I assume they tried to keep it covered up), what oversight can We The People citizens DO to hold back these greedy flaming flying monkeys throughout the gov??? They're already taxing, feeing & fining us to tears--and using it against us. Now they can all hardly wait to take over Hutchison's Senate seat--making someone the still-yet-most-corrupt SOB.<br /> Could BORDER wars be kept secret to hide them from the current feds, who are out to maim Texas in particular? If so, just the opposite stance <b> needs to be taken: MORE transparency, MORE news releases, seeking out SOME quasi-honest reporters</b> (from where, who can imagine?) TO <i>GET THE NEWS TO THE PEOPLE so they can react</i> on any elected officials whose power has not been usurped by communitarian committee.<br />(CANNOT read the 'captcha' crap)johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02808884177035705472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-34515533230089069302012-03-16T09:19:42.037-05:002012-03-16T09:19:42.037-05:00Actually 5:32/8:42, I suspect it means there was a...Actually 5:32/8:42, I suspect it means there was a common whistleblower, likely unnamed in the stories, who turned several media onto it at once.<br /><br />The same sort of thing happened with the TYC sex scandal stories. The Texas Observer and the Dallas News fought over who deserved the "scoop" (TO published first, DMN more extensively over time), but really the original source for both stories was a legislative staffer (Alison Brock in Rep. Sylvester Turner's office) who'd been fielding and following up on complaints.<br /><br />It takes folks about the same time to get back their open records requests after they're first informed, and if we're to be entirely generous about the "three months" characterization, that may explain the four-day lag from Barry's piece to the Statesman's as much as them following up on his scoop, though him publishing surely moved up their timeline.<br /><br />Also, IMO a reporter who went to the meetings and watched the agendas would have at least been aware of the contracts to follow up on. (If you actually attend, you also pick up scuttlebut from other attendees, and there's talk of dissension at DPS from 2008 on that even showed up in the LAR.) I recall a <a href="http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2009/08/dps-spending-millions-on-tdex-database.html" rel="nofollow">Grits "scoop"</a> on a contract related to the TDEX database (think "Total Information Awareness" with a drawl) just because I showed up at the PSC meeting that day (to discuss Driver Responsibility rules) and nobody else did. Somebody who attended meetings and followed up routinely with open records requests, interviews, etc., IMO would have uncovered the story much sooner, but DPS just isn't covered as thoroughly as it was, say, 20 years ago when there were so many more reporters around.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-41307901458516876372012-03-16T08:42:47.622-05:002012-03-16T08:42:47.622-05:005:32 here ... agreed on that, and I find the timin...5:32 here ... agreed on that, and I find the timing of the AAS story curious. Think it was because of Mr. Barry's scoop?<br /><br />It's not even clear that attending the PSC meetings would have necessarily helped, as Mr. Barry says, because contracts were approved "...without any public discussion and without any evaluation" and the program has operated "without any oversight or review."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-2397006664766974542012-03-16T07:29:11.212-05:002012-03-16T07:29:11.212-05:00@ nocretedetentioncenter, I think Littlelfield, TX...@ nocretedetentioncenter, I think Littlelfield, TX may be your <a href="http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/07/wanna-buy-prison-private-prison-market.html" rel="nofollow">poster child</a> for a worst case scenario. Here are some <a href="http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/03/private-prison-bubble-bursting-empty.html" rel="nofollow">other examples</a>. Good luck!Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-61504725220238860942012-03-16T06:45:14.410-05:002012-03-16T06:45:14.410-05:00Since this all started six years ago that's no...Since this all started six years ago that's not all that comforting, 5:32, and in any event, if that's so, Mr. Barry scooped the hell out of them.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong: I missed it too. But the reason this wasn't covered earlier is that neither the Statesman nor any other media outlet regularly sends a reporter to the PSC meetings.<br /><br />The contractor, 6:24, is Abrams Learning & Information Systems (ALIS).Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-69401100486682390152012-03-16T05:32:12.815-05:002012-03-16T05:32:12.815-05:00Statesman would claim to have been reviewing this ...Statesman would claim to have been reviewing this for "more than three months": <a href="http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/dps-outsourced-border-security-to-private-firm-via-2240981.html?viewAsSinglePage=true" rel="nofollow">http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/dps-outsourced-border-security-to-private-firm-via-2240981.html?viewAsSinglePage=true</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-11135281178224932892012-03-15T18:24:35.490-05:002012-03-15T18:24:35.490-05:00So who is the contractor? Blackwater, Triple Canop...So who is the contractor? Blackwater, Triple Canopy?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-37413832418347734952012-03-15T12:30:09.355-05:002012-03-15T12:30:09.355-05:00Guess this ties into the grossly exaggerated repor...Guess this ties into the grossly exaggerated report of Texas-side border violence in the study from Gen.Barry McCaffrey last Fall. The study was probably paid for by ALIS in some form or fashion.MaxMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02374787544584744902noreply@blogger.com