The State of Texas: May 17, 2016

Quote of the Day

“The company did nothing wrong. I was wrong to pursue this matter and use the media to perpetuate this story.”

—Jordan Brown to Whole Foods in a statement, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Brown, an openly gay pastor in Austin, accused the grocery store of writing a homophobic slur on a cake he purchased at the Austin flagship store last month. He filed a lawsuit, and Whole Foods swiftly filed a countersuit. “Cakegate” is officially over now, though, because Brown dropped the lawsuit and apologized for making the whole thing up. Whole Foods dropped its lawsuit, too. We still have no idea why any of this happened.

Daily Roundup

One Year Later—It’s been a year since the lunchtime shootout between the Cossacks and Bandidos biker gangs at a Waco Twin Peaks restaurant left nine people dead and wounded dozens more, and justice is dragging. Out of the 192 people arrested, 154 have been indicted by a McClennan County grand jury on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity, but not one of those bikers has had a case heard in court or even a trial date set, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. The Tribune writes that prosecutors in the case say that they won’t be ready to go to trial for possibly “many months.” “The wheels of justice may not turn as fast as some people may like them to, but this is not a TV movie. This is reality,” a Waco Police Department spokesperson told the Tribune. “The unfortunate part of this is it takes a while for things to occur. That is the nature of the justice system.” Actually, it kind of is a TV movie—at least, in the form of a TV documentary/retrospective that aired on CNN last night. There’s not much new information in the movie, and the Tribune has pretty comprehensive coverage online and in papers today, but if you’re the type who likes to watch instead of read, then the CNN doc is for you.

ISIS Fighters—Thousands of Westerners have attempted to travel to the Middle East to join and fight for the Islamic State, including about 250 Americans. Most never make it overseas, according to NBC News, but a handful have, and that includes two Texans. According to documents NBC received from some dude who said he was an ISIS defector (the docs were verified by an expert), Omar Kattan and Talmeezur Rahman were living near Dallas when they disappeared and later resurfaced as ISIS fighters. Kattan graduated from University of North Texas with a biology degree in 2011 and went back to his native Syria in 2013, when he was 23-years old. NBC says the records show Kattan was a “suicide fighter,” and he’s believed to be dead now. Rahman, meanwhile, was a computer major at Collin College in McKinney when he disappeared in 2014. The 22-year-old’s “fighting name” popped up in the document trove, NBC says. It’s unclear where Rahman is at the moment.

No Deal—Surprise! Governor Greg Abbott says he is rejecting one of President Barack Obama’s requests. This time, it’s a months-old suggestion from the feds asking Texas to review the state’s sanctions on Iran, since, you know, the rest of the country and the federal government lifted most of their sanctions on the nation way back in January. But Abbott is a stubborn guy. Perpetually stewing in a broth of spirited Lone Star defiance and anti-big-government angst, Abbott decided he’d show that ol’ Obama feller what’s what, and sent a strongly worded letter to the president informing him that Texas would not be dropping its sanctions, no sir, no way, but would instead be making its existing sanctions even sanction-ier. “Because your administration has recklessly and unilaterally removed critical sanctions, I have called on the Texas Legislature to strengthen the Iran sanctions that Texas already has in place,” Abbott wrote in the letter. As it stands, Texas law prevents pension funds from making investments in Iran, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Abbott wants to expand that divestiture policy to all state entities.