OKLAHOMA CITY - After noticing an increased use of unmarked police cars for routine traffic enforcement, Sen. Cody Rogers, R-Tulsa, announced on Monday that he has filed Senate Bill 1109 calling for municipal police departments to use clearly marked vehicles.

“The concern is that these vehicles are being used for revenue generation as opposed to tools for public safety on our roads,” Rogers said. “I’ve heard from many constituents who have had encounters with law enforcement and had no way of identifying their vehicles or if they were even actual officers at all.”

Cheyenne, OK (Nov. 23rd) – Congressman Frank Lucas (OK-03) released the following statement in response to President Biden’s decision to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve:

“In just two years, the United States has gone from energy independent and net exporter to energy dependent. After canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and greenlighting Russia’s Nord Stream II, President Biden is now tapping our strategic reserves and imploring OPEC to produce more oil to mitigate a self-inflicted energy crisis.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 22, 2021) – Governor Kevin Stitt has appointed Mark Wood to serve as Oklahoma Tax Commissioner. Wood’s appointment fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Clark Jolley.

“Mark brings a wealth of tax experience from his impressionable career spanning over nearly four decades in the private sector,” said Governor Stitt. “I have every confidence in his ability to serve Oklahomans well in this new role.”

“I am honored to be appointed by the governor to this position. I have worked in public accounting and tax for over 35 years. I look forward to utilizing this experience to serve the citizens and taxpayers of the State of Oklahoma. I will work with the other commissioners to ensure the OTC operates fairly and efficiently,” said Wood.

GOVERNOR KEVIN STITT SIGNS SIX REDISTRICTING BILLS INTO LAW

OKLAHOMA CITY (November 22, 2021)— Today Governor Kevin Stitt signed legislation approving new maps for Oklahoma’s five congressional districts and one new district map for the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The new congressional maps keep nearly 90 percent of Oklahomans in the same district, as well as major military bases. The legislation was passed with overwhelming support in the House and the Senate.

“I am grateful to members of the Oklahoma Legislature who carried out their constitutional responsibility and redrawing these district maps,” said Governor Stitt. “Following an open and transparent process that included public input, these maps were passed with majority support in both the House and the Senate and I am pleased to execute the will of Oklahomans by signing these new maps into law.”

The redistricting legislation includes:

OKLAHOMA CITY - Attorney General John O’Connor announced today the State won its suit against the U.S. Department of Treasury over a provision in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that prohibits states accepting ARPA funds from cutting taxes.

“This is a great victory for the State and for our new State Reserved Powers Protection initiative started by the Legislature, which fights federal overreach,” said General O’Connor.

"States set state tax policy, not the federal government. Once again, a court stopped national Democrats from another attempted unconstitutional infringement on states' rights. Oklahoma could grant tax relief for businesses and all citizens this year while also making record education and savings investments because our state manages its own finances extremely well. Even though Oklahoma never would have been subject to the attempted restriction due to surplus state revenues, it was important to stand up and challenge this obvious federal overreach. We appreciate the attorney general's office for continuing to push back against unconstitutional federal policy by using the authority and funding authorized by the Legislature for that important purpose,” said House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Several members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and state Senate sent a letter to state Superintendent Joy Hofmeister on Tuesday asking her to begin the process of promulgating permanent rules to implement House Bill 1775, which prevents schools from teaching certain theories, such as one race or sex is superior to another.

The full text of the letter reads:

The Honorable Joy Hofmeister

State Superintendent of Public Instruction

2500 N. Lincoln Boulevard Oklahoma City, OK 73105

Superintendent Hofmeister:

As you are aware, H.B. 1775 took effect July 1, outlawing the teaching of race and sex-based discriminatory ideologies to students in Oklahoma schools. There is continued opposition to these ideologies from parents, educators, students and citizens statewide. We write today to urge you to immediately begin the process of promulgating permanent rules to implement H.B. 1775 and to do so by posting the State Board of Education’s existing emergency rules for public comment.

Given that we are now halfway through the 2021-22 school year, the members signed below believe it is past time for the permanent rules to be published for the 30-day public comment period, as required by the Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act. Given the importance of these rules, members of the Oklahoma legislature will be closely monitoring both the substantive changes the State Department of Education makes to existing emergency rules and the process the Department utilizes to submit permanent rules to the legislature for final approval.

Time is of the essence given the continued public interest in this topic and the need for the timely submission of permanent rules ahead of the upcoming regular session of the Oklahoma Legislature. We hope the adoption of permanent rules is not unnecessarily delayed. We certainly hope that you will faithfully discharge your duties as State Superintendent of Public Instruction and comply with and enforce the provisions of 70 O.S. § 24-158

The letter is signed by:

WASHINGTON, DC- Senator James Lankford (R-OK) issued a statement after a leaked memo from the Department of Health and Human Services seeks to repeal certain protections for religious freedoms and directly calls out Members who have been outspoken of HHS’ mishandling of conscience and religious freedom protections.

The leaked memo from HHS states, “Groups who share the prior Administration’s broad view of the application of RFRA or who will interpret this action as an indication that the Department is abdicating its responsibility for compliance with RFRA will likely issue strong negative reactions. This includes members of Congress who have been outspoken about OCR’s conscience and religious freedom activities and who have repeatedly asked questions about changes to OCR’s organizational structure and legal authority.”

Lankford responded, “The memo is correct, I am an outspoken advocate for religious liberty, and I have a very ‘negative reaction’ to this Administration ignoring the First Amendment and failing to protect Americans of conscience. Americans do not support President Biden and his team’s absolute lawlessness when it comes to upholding Americans’ Constitutional rights—including our right to freely live our faith. The HHS memo leaked today is the second leaked document out of this administration in a week, which contradicts public statements from now two Cabinet secretaries, and illustrates the absolute disregard this Administration has for the American people. We, as Americans, do not discriminate against people of faith. This move by Secretary Becerra shows he will not keep the commitment to protect religious freedom for every American that he made during his confirmation hearing.

“This action from HHS means that the Office for Civil Rights will no longer uphold the civil rights of religious Americans. HHS clearly intends to go back to the days of light to no enforcement of the law that protect the rights of people of any faith.”

The following press release comes from Nicole Kish, candidate for mayor in the city of Norman:

Norman — An OU Daily article two-and-a-half years ago instructs us on who Bob Thompson really is, and more importantly, what his plans would be if elected Mayor of Norman.

Despite carving himself out as a centrist tired of divisive politics on both his own website and to “OU Nightly,” and suggesting to The Norman Transcript “the need for non-partisan deliberation,” Midway Bob in his own words previously claimed to be among the most liberal of liberals.

In a 2019 OU Daily article, in his own words Thompson boasted that he owns “the most liberal spot in the most liberal town in the most liberal county in Oklahoma, and we’re like ground zero,” Thompson said happily.

But the biggest surprise? He’s a huge fan of Socialism.

Even we had to look twice, to make sure we were reading it correctly.

He talked at length, glowingly, about Socialism.

According to the OU Daily article, dated March 24, 2019, hanging in Thompson’s deli is “a framed picture of this political activist Eugene V. Debs on the wall” — whom Thompson claimed is his favorite author.

Thompson boasted of having at least 30 works of his favorite author — a known Socialist activist, founder of the Socialist Party of America and a Socialist Party candidate for President. After serving time in prison, the author became radicalized to Marxism and vowed a war on Capitalism. The Socialist author and activist was also a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, a Socialist group which Brittanica calls “radical,” even by Socialist standards.

“I've read all the books about (Debs') speeches,” Thompson said in the OU Daily article. “I probably have 30 volumes at home,” Thompson said. “People think that socialism is all… that it's all about people not working. I was always a worker and I got to be an owner, but I didn't have any desire to be that kind of person that got where he was going by making other people do his work. To me, socialism is a very work-ethic oriented deal.”

While Thompson appears to be more of the “workers unite!” brand of Socialism, he does in fact appear to be a Socialist.

In addition to boasting about his tomes on Socialism, he has posted multiple photos on Social Media promoting Socialist materials including a copy of Eugene V. Debs’ book on Socialism, which Thompson said is his “Morning Devotional.” While some laughed at the photo, Thompson did not appear to be joking.

Additionally, photos of Bob’s Midway Cafe prominently show at least one famous Socialist propaganda poster, that of Che Guevara, a Marxist revolutionary credited with killing people.

So, WHO IS BOB THOMPSON?

OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 18, 2021) – Pursuant to Article 6, Section 10 of the Oklahoma Constitution, Governor Kevin Stitt today issued Executive Order 2021-25 to commute the death sentence of Julius Jones, who was tried and convicted for the first-degree murder of Paul Howell, to life imprisonment without the possibility for parole, on the condition that he shall never again be eligible to apply for, be considered for, or receive any additional commutation, pardon, or parole.

Governor Stitt released the following statement regarding his decision:

“After prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case, I have determined to commute Julius Jones’ sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.”

OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 15th) - Attorney General John O'Connor today wrote the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in support of its efforts to reduce illegal robocallers’ access to legitimate phone numbers to make unending robocalls that scam people out of their hard-earned money. The comment letter to the FCC was led by North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

"Illegal robocalls are not only a nuisance but can also lead to Oklahomans falling victim to fraud and scams. I'm proud to join this coalition of attorneys general to urge the FCC to take action to prevent and investigate illegal robocalls," said Attorney General John O'Connor. 

Earlier this year, phone companies were required to implement STIR/SHAKEN – caller ID authentication technology to combat spoofing by ensuring that telephone calls originate from verified numbers. Because the technology prevents robocallers from spoofing phone numbers, scam robocalls have dropped by 29 percent since June as the phone industry continues to put STIR/SHAKEN into effect.

Robocallers are now successfully evading caller ID authentication by purchasing access to legitimate phone numbers to conceal their identities. They typically do this by providing false identifying information to, or otherwise shielding their identities from, the companies that have access to legitimate numbers.