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Pete Hegseth in his war department video, alongside a map of western Bastrop County highlighting the massive Pacifico project involving a gas plant and data center campus. Yesterday's Bastrop Commissioners Court meeting was not televised or even streamed. So far, LIV News might be your only way to know what happened. The Court appears to be listening and taking a breath -- however short -- as Commissioner Butch Carmack wisely tabled Item 4, the court's resolution on data centers. We hope the Court is taking in the brilliant and heartfelt testimony from citizens for a more well-crafted resolution that we at LIV can support. Despite the freight train of big money and big pressure on local officials and citizens from those in high office, from Governor Greg Abbott to the President himself, citizens are getting a clue. We cannot sit around and hope someone notices the nexus between the AI data center gold rush and an off-the-wall demand by the Department of War for a federal budget busting $1.5T. AI is in this mix of economic madness and America's $40T debt spiral. No one we know supports feckless reckless war. (This Politico report is helpful to show the cracks -- thankfully -- in the armor among Republicans.) We must educate and organize across the divide and get ready as elections are coming. A place we can do this is at LIV. However modest LIV is today, we are beginning to move the dial. We believe in the promise of the "LIV Hub" where voters (and to-be-voters) can congregate to make sense in a world of confusion and partisan influence. Please review attorney Nick Leolos' submission to the court here. Be sure to review attorney Michele Gangnes submission for LIV to the court here. Then make sure you've signed the Bastrop Bill of Rights and share away! We highly recommend this Quorum Report excellent article on the Governor's maneuvers seemingly in opposition to Trump on data centers. It's from behind their paywall, for which we are grateful.

Watch Luke Hayes Bastrop farmer and Liz "Sumter" Gajdos, independent for Hays County Judge as they discuss LIV Hubs -- and rural areas -- at Southern Family Farms Conference, TX State, Aug. 2026 It was a great treat playing games with attendees at this year's Southern Family Farms Conference at Texas State University. LIV is there every year. Bastrop farmer, Luke Hayes, is a new member of LIV. He and Liz "Sumter" Gajdos worked together at our booth to entice visitors to join LIV and to consider organizing a local LIV Hub. Supporters and members are creating a place for people of all persuasions to work together on common concerns. Right now, the hot topics of energy, water, farming and industrialization (especially via AI data centers) are forging new alliances to push for more local control and against pay-to-play political machines in both parties. This is the only pay-to-play game that LIV engages in. Guess who wins? She's not yet eligible to vote. A special thanks to member Charlotte Gilman for donating three beautiful photos of her late husband, Lawrence Gilman, for the farm conference silent auction raising more than $250. More homework for you! Please sign the Bastrop Bill of Rights if you live in Bastrop County. Read LIV's news report on the Bastrop Commissioners Court meeting, Monday, August 10. Are they listening? If so, it's because citizens are educating and organizing, asking lots of great questions and listening too!

Mike Collier, Texas independent. LIV can't wait to hear about his plans for the next round. Today, US District Court Judge Robert Pitman issued an order refusing to place Mike Collier, Texas independent on the ballot as an independent for Lt. Goveror against Dan Patrick. That said, this case will proceed on its merits! Read the court's order. It's also apparent to us that Judge Pitman is aware that the Texas ballot access laws raise real questions of law that deserve to be heard. LIV members! Get ready for the next rounds in court and in this election. There are a few, but exceptional, independents running down ballot who can set the bar for many three-way races in Texas to proceed. One of them is Liz "Sumter" Gajdos who is helping LIV start an LIV Hub in Hays County as she runs as an independent for Hays CountyJudge. Meanwhile, LIV News look forward to following Mike Collier, Texas independent wherever he travels throughout the great state of Texas!

Data Center Protest organized by Don't Drain Texas, with Sid Miller and Clayton Tucker, South Capitol Steps, Austin July 27, 2026. Photo credit Texas Tribune Texans keep hearing about how Texas Democrats will "turn Texas blue." But Texas independents see a mixture of red and blue, the color purple, as Democrats appear to be gaining a competitive advantage in this election. We at LIV want at least two viable options as we seek a third option -- for the 8 million Texas independents not aligned with any single party. We believe electoral competition is the cure for our many problems in the way of policy, not politics we so desperately need in Texas. The color purple was on full display on July 27 with Agriculture Commissioner and Republican, Sid Miller, standing together at a protest with the Democratic nominee for his seat, Clayton Tucker. The protest took place just as the Texas Senate Finance Committee deliberated on the billions of dollars in tax exemptions wallowed in by the disgraceful data center industry hogs at the public trough. This giant sucking sound of public dollars is the work of state government at its highest levels, especially Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Try not to regurgitate when you read how we, the people, pay for AI slop in this Texas Tribune article about July 27's Texas Senate hearing hearing: "Texas’ multibillion-dollar sales tax exemption for data centers is growing, while audits lag." Did you hear the one Big Tech giant -- Google -- stepping in to help Anthropic deal with those pesky Hill County Commissioners trying to assert local control? Grab your dramamine quick and help LIV gently herd those 8 million Texas independents on how to shop the ballot in November for policy not politics! RSVP HERE for the Monday night Zoom This Monday night's regular LIV meeting @8 pm on Zoom, will focus on the fight for local control and data center tax abatements reform. What's Next for the Independent Movement? LIV's Linda Curtis, Mike Collier and Preston Love, Texas Forward Party on June 25, filing day at the Secretary of State. In very few races (like Hays County's independent for County Judge -- Liz "Sumter" Gajdos), will you see independents on your ballot in November. This is wholly due to severely restrictive ballot access laws petition rules both parties have put in place. Litigation has been ongoing since 1994! We currently await a decision in federal court by Judge Robert Pitman who just heard the case taken by Mike Collier for a place on the Texas ballot to run an independent for Lt. Governor. We expect a ruling very soon! Though Mike's ballot access is a long shot, it could happen. Moreover, our fingers are crossed for relief to open the door for Texas independents in the next cycle. The Wild Wild West of Western Bastrop County The Bastrop Town Hall on July 22 -- attended in person and online by nearly 500 people -- is reverberating across the county and officials are feeling the pressure of our cross-partisan -- purple --- movement. The results were seen at the Bastrop Commissioners Court meeting on July 27, the same day as the Senate Finance hearing. There was a tense, but productive, dialogue between commissioners and residents about tax abatements for data centers. This conversation will continue as EdgeConneX and Pacifico data center developers are pushing for abatements. Check out the video from the Bastrop Commissioners Court and the residents who showed up! Bastrop Commissioners Court video, July 27. (Apologies to those who commented, but had to be edited out due the video's audio problems beyond our control. Thanks to Jenai Marek for video production.) More about what you can do. =>Sign the Bastrop Bill of Rights Petition now online HERE at LIV. =>Reach Linda Curtis at 512.360.8754. She's got work for you! AND....last but not least: Click here to become a member of LIV. Dues start as low as $10 for the year and entitle you to join a local LIV Hub for local organizing and to vote on candidate endorsements..

Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Sid Miller with LIV Advisor, Andy Griffith. Click on the picture to watch the Bastrop Town Hall for All last Wednesday night. It was s smashing success. We apologize for this late email alert. We have been overwhelmed with people just hearing about the data centers running amok in our home county of Bastrop. As the only statewide elected official to call for a statewide moratorium and special session on data centers, Texas Ag Commissioner, Sid Miller is teaching millions of Texans what policy, not politics looks like. It's so rare, it was a joyful experience for all who witnessed the Bastrop Town Hall! Click on the picture to watch the video -- the time stamped segments make it easily digestible. One of Sid's points you also may have missed is this. He wants a 3-mile setback from Map provided by LIV fact-checkers. data centers. Got that? There are 4-5,000 people living within 3 miles of just the EdgeConneX facility you see in this map. We agree with Sid Miller on the set- backs too. Add to this picture the data centers and facilities like SpaceX in western Bastrop County, and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the problem. This problem was highlighted in this short video shown at the Bastrop Town Hall -- Data Center Fire Risks -- provided to us by fire expert, Gary Oldham of Protect Round Rock. Can you spell public safety? BTW, did you catch Mark Cuban saying that "A lot of data centers are going to be turned into pickleball courts?" Solutions for Bastrop County will also be provided on Monday, July 27, to the Bastrop Commissioners court by attorney, Nick Lealos. LIV's Linda Curtis will be speaking at the hearing on tax abatements. Data Center abatements are as popular as head lice! You can access the meeting on the webex portal under the agenda HERE.and hop on Zoom on Monday night at 8 pm for a full report. KVUE (ABC) News, reporter Jose Alonzo, did a great job covering the Bastrop Data Center Town Hall on last Wednesday, "Bastrop County Residents Concerns" is a good hint. Community Impact News, reporter, Amanda Cutshall, did an excellent piece as well in Bastrop County Residents Organize for Data Center Transparency; Local Guardrails. Hang in, Texas! ________________________ Who and How to Reach Your officials HERE.

This event is sponsored Republicans, Democrats and independents working together for policy, not politics...and open government. RSVP! Now that Sid Miller is on board to speak, make sure to reserve a seat. We expect a more than full house! RSVP NOW! We will also stream this event for out-of-towners, so you should sign in as well. The Bastrop Commissioners Court has called a Special Session for Monday, July 20 at 9 am. Join us there. We support decorum at these meetings. Don't get angry -- get organized!

We thank the Bastrop County Democrats and the Bastrop County Republican Club for co-sponsoring this event with LIV! RSVP for July 22. The Texas Forward Party has just joined us too! This morning Lee County passed a resolution for a data center moratorium and a special session to be called by Gov. Greg Abbott. Meanwhile, Bastrop County is a work in progress. We'll explain tonight how this happened and what open government has to do with it related to Bastrop County's decision to seek DOJ/Homeland Security funding. Area residents and local officials are invited to attend this Data Centers Bastrop County Town Hall on Wednesday, July 22 at 6 pm at The Hampton Inn. RSVP for a real Town Hall in Bastrop and share the Event page. We want to see counties across the state join Lee County and others to call upon the Governor for a special session or a data center moratorium. We also need open government in Bastrop County. See Linda Curtis' for. LIV comments today to the Bastrop Commissioners Court. We have more to say about the problems with open government that has raised its ugly head in the gold-rush for data centers. Join us tonight on Zoom. RSVP HERE

Texas Commissioner of Agriculature, Sid Miller. Bio here Our ballsy Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Sid Miller. issued a press release urging the Governor to call a Special Session stating: "Is Governor Abbott genuinely committed to slowing this unchecked expansion, or is he sending a signal to data center developers, their investors, and campaign contributors that they still have a window to accelerate projects so they can be grandfathered in before the Legislature has an opportunity to act?" Please also note at the bottom of the full release page, Miller's urgent concerns about the screw worm. We hope the feds and the Governor are listening. Now, of the millions of words about AI, we turn to independent writer, Charles Hugh Smith's whose own work was -- legally -- expropriated by AI. Smith, so simply makes the case for our claim that War and AI are not free in, "Without Subsidies, AI is Unaffordable." So, what do we regular folks do? We get together and we examine the facts. Meanwhile, might the ballsy Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller be going independent? We hope to find out. That's what our July 22 Real Data Center Town Hall is about. Reserve seat now as seating is limited: RSVP

Has Texas Ag Commissioner, Sid Miller gone independent? LIV thinks so. Two days ago, our ballsy Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller, issued a press release urging the Governor to call a Special Session, "Is Governor Abbott genuinely committed to slowing this unchecked expansion, or is he sending a signal to data center developers, their investors, and campaign contributors that they still have a window to accelerate projects so they can be grandfathered in before the Legislature has an opportunity to act?" Of the millions of words about AI, we turn to independent writer, Charles Hugh Smith's whose own work was -- legally -- expropriated by AI. Smith, so simply makes the case for our claim that War and AI are not free in, "Without Subsidies, AI is Unaffordable." The agenda for the Real Town Hall will soon appear on this page. RSVP to reserve a seat now. So, what do we regular folks do? We get together and we examine the facts. That's what our July 22 Real Data Center Town Hall is about. Reserve seat now as seating is limited: RSVP We have local, state, national and international independent news facts to share below. Read, share, become a member of and get active in LIV. LIV. Team LOCAL: Bastrop residents! Please attend the next Bastrop County Commissioners Court meeting on Monday, July 13 at 9 am. On the agenda is a discussion (no action to be taken) of the County's policies for tax abatements. Also, there is Item 11 on the appointment of a steering committee that will work with the newly hired legal/lobbying powerhouse (Holland & Knight) to address "regulatory authority," by the County. What they do will be front and center at the July 22 Real Town Hall. We will have a Sunday afternoon meeting on Zoom to discuss these items. If you're interested in joining us contact us at contact@livtx.org or call 512.360-8754. Texas: Harvey Kronberg (Quorum Report), at 3:16 tells us why Secretary of State, Jane Nelson is not leaving. She is unwilling to be replaced by Gov. Abbott's pick, election denier Nate Schaltzine. Thanks Jane. National: Politico, July 8, 2026: On the current health crisis of former Senate Majority Leader: Mitch McConnell’s absence is throwing Trump’s Pentagon budget boost in doubt. " "McConnell — who chairs the Senate Appropriations panel that controls Pentagon spending — has been a powerful critic of the administration’s approach to securing a $1.5 trillion boost for the military. His support will be key in moving any funding plan forward, and his absence could stall or kill those hopes." Stay tuned for this big news! International: Watch this extraordinary show or read the transcript here. Prof. John Mearsheimer on the Glenn Diesen show, July 3, 2026: There is no "truth" in war, just gamesmanship on both sides. But, are we done yet, with fake war news by the NY Times? The Times recently reported 150,000 Ukrainian deaths since 2022. Mearsheimer explains how the horrific body count is likely closer to 1 million. The entry of some NATO countries into the Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil are now dangerous to Europe. Let's walk this back and get a real Pentagon audit. Can we turn our attention to the most important issue in Texas and the world? How to grow healthy food and to protect our water and land? Hope to see you at this annual event -- LIV is always an exhibitor. Will you join us August 4-5 in San Marcos at Texas State University for the Southern Family Farmers & Food Systems Conference? Check out the Speakers. Volunteer opportunities at our booth.

Four years ago a YouTube guy caught Carlson fishing in Central Park, legally. So, you may have caught the announcement by Tucker Carlson that he has left the Republican Party and is pledging his support for a new independent party. No, I don't think he's running for President, but someone might be. Who knows. Some otherwise smart people in independent media are kicking sand on the idea of a new independent party and the so-called "spoiler effect" of third parties. This piece with Krystal Ball on Breaking Points who acts like she does have a crystal ball is blatant political bias. High off NYC Mayor Zoran Mamdani and DSA's wins in New York last week, Ball was not her usual bright self, scoffing about a third party getting 10-20% of the vote and calling it a "spoiler." That's one helluva a spoiler effect, ya think?! No one in the world that we know of thinks starting a new party can win elections...yet, unless there is a tectonic shift in American politics the likes of which haven 't been seen since Abe Lincoln. It has happened, folks, and it was one of America's most tumultuous times. It doesn't take a genius to realize that we are now in a time of tumult and two-party systemic failure. Ironically, the rise of Mamdani and DSA is a tectonic shift in NYC politics. But, that's OK so long as you stay inside the Democratic Party. (That's why we used to call DSA the "democrat's socialists.") Anyway, I'm guessing that Krystal and other naysayers have not yet read Lee Drutman's book, published in 2019, for crying out loud, "Breaking the Two-Party Doom-Loop." And, for another crying out loud, Drutman is a self-identified Democrat who cherishes democracy first. He also is a leading academic voice for a full break with two-party politics. If the libertarian Republicans are breaking out of the GOP, we applaud them and urge them to help bust down the door of the two-party monopoly. Let's just hope, whatever they do, it is in service of all us independents who may not find them exactly our cup of political tea. Drutman argues there's room in American politics for five parties. Might that be because he noticed that 45% of American voters call ourselves independents! See Ballot Access News' Rich Winger's review of the book on the LIV blog, get you a copy and become a member of LIV.

July 4th is the 250th birthday of the United States of America. We'll talk about how independents can celebrate it at this Monday night's meeting with Mike Collier, independent candidate for Lt. Governor.. LIV meets every Monday night at 8 pm online: RSVP now Our June 29th meeting with special guest, Mike Collier, will focus on his court battle on petition obstacles to place his name on the November ballot. Mike is running as an independent for Lt. Governor, arguably the most powerful seat in Texas Government. In this discussion, we will make the connections between fair ballot access for independents and what has emerged as a, if not THE, top issue in the Texas midterm election -- AI data centers. Topics include: • Mike Collier's legal battle from the man himself on behalf of distinguished plaintiffs. • How to get a statewide moratorium on data centers. • Which candidates are taking AI/Data center donations? •. Why the "security establishment" was given invited testimony at last week's hearing on water and data centers held by the Natural Resources Committee. To prepare for this meeting: Please read LIV's recent posts HERE and HERE. If you signed up with us for a "real" town hall at a recent EdgeConneX open house sponsored by Bastrop County, you have not been put on our general email list. IF you want to be, please sign in at LIVTX.org. SAVE THE DATE for a real Town Hall tentatively scheduled for Wed., July 22 at 6:30 pm, Location TBA. We will keep you informed. If you attended at least one of the three EdgeConneX sessions, please use the form posted on our RSVP page to share your experience. If you learned something, we want to know! Thank you.