One of Tulsa Today’s favorite other investigative Oklahoma sites, “How to Steal a State” is back with, “The final season of How to Steal a State“ which we greatly admire, for example, with this gem, “If Americans had access to the revealing personal texts and emails from all candidates that Oklahoma has from current gubernatorial candidate Joy Hofmeister (D), due to her four previous felony indictments, the nation would have much stronger and more sincere leadership.” Yes, it gets better.

Highlights of this season ending series include:

• The audience: Hofmeister adopts Joe Biden’s playbook and hires his consulting firms to get inside the heads of Oklahomans.
• The script: The real “values” behind the buzzwords Hofmeister’s campaign machine is pushing and who’s really writing them.
• The cast: Rancher Craig – The star of Hofmeister’s campaign is a condescendingly cloaked dog whistle for the education establishment.
• Costume design: Hofmeister gets a make-under and mileage as a measure of your child’s success.
• Backstage chatter: In Hofmeister’s own words when the cameras are off.
• The rehearsals: Acting lessons for Hofmeister.
• The show’s funders: In-state special interests and out-of-state fundraisers.
• No critics allowed: Concealing Hofmeister’s lacking performance as state superintendent.
• The final act: Oklahoma’s PAC lady strikes again.
• The curtain call: Roses from DA Prater to Hofmeister.

As the writer details, “With the November elections only weeks away, the stakes are at an all-time high. Thieves are targeting the highest seat in Oklahoma. If you live in Oklahoma, you’ll want to share this series with every friend, family member, co-worker and neighbor while strongly recommending they start with Season One and make it their October read.

“If you’re from another state, the series will provide a rare opportunity to compare one candidate’s carefully crafted campaign for governor, dripping with commitment to faith and family, with her private communications among the political powerbrokers and education union progressivists seeking total control of Oklahomans and their children. Behind the scenes, they express open disdain for the conservative values held by the majority of Oklahomans whose votes they will need in order to secure power for themselves and the billionaires and special interests funding their efforts.” Click here for more of How to Steal a State, Season 6.

,Pursuit of Power as Performance Art
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor has joined Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry in calling on President Joe Biden to rescind his Executive Order 14019 (EO), which authorizes the executive branch to utilize all federal executive agencies’ power, resources, and reach to carry out voter registration and voter mobilization activities.  

“I am a big supporter of increased voter participation in elections, but I am also a big supporter of States’ rights,” said Attorney General O’Connor. “I am just as passionate about stopping the growth of the federal government. This executive order directs the use of taxpayer dollars to promote voter registration and participation. The state chief legal officers’ opposition is based in law, noting that the U.S. Constitution does not provide this power to the executive branch and arguing that this responsibility falls on state legislatures.

“As Oklahoma’s Attorney General, I am committed to preserving the state’s right to free and fair elections.”

In a letter to the President, the attorneys general explain that regulating the registration process has been a state legislative function. Biden’s plan grants his political appointees, who lead the hundreds of federal agencies with offices across the country, the power to intervene in elections in unprecedented ways.

“President Biden’s executive order allowing federal agencies to engage in electioneering is illegal, unethical, and unconstitutional,” said General O’Connor. “This is an attempt to use the massive power of federal government agencies and our federal tax dollars to recruit voters in areas which have majority Democratic party members. It could also be used to promote the recruitment of Republican voters under a Republican administration. We cannot start a new activity of government, the buying of voters.”

The AGs’ letter to the President states, “Perhaps the most troubling aspect of your executive order is its command for federal agencies to support ‘approved’ third-party organizations as they conduct voter registration efforts, by allowing them to do so on federal agency premises in states across the country. The executive order provides no details as to which groups will be approved, who will approve them, and what criteria will be used for approval. Obviously, there is a legitimate concern that only those groups aligned with the political party of the current administration, your political party, will receive approval and be granted this unprecedented support and access.”

The letter highlights the real concern of third-party organizations improperly injecting themselves into the election process by using Biden’s Executive Order to circumvent state election laws. These federally backed third party-organizations may create the appearance of corruption, thus undermining the integrity and public trust in elections. 

Joining O’Connor and Landry in this call to rescind EO 14019 are the attorneys general from Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.

,AGs demand repeal of Biden’s electioneering
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

‘It’s a mass poisoning’: Images show rainbow-colored fentanyl disguised as Skittles and Nerds CANDY – as ex-DEA official warns parents that dealers are peddling the drugs to kids on social media

If there is any story that must be included in every national news program until the crisis ends, it is the poisoning of America by a chemical concocted in China and criminally delivered by Mexico across President Joe Biden’s open border – just in time for Halloween – Fentanyl, now in colorful commercial packaging.

As the Daily Mail begins in their story on topic, “A drug that’s contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans [107,622 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2021, an increase of nearly 15% from the 93,655 deaths estimated in 2020] has been found hidden in candy packaging – and could be peddled to young children via social media, experts say.

“The DEA said drug traffickers have expanded their inventory to sell fentanyl – a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin – in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes.

“A recent seizure in Connecticut found 15,000 fentanyl pills stashed in Skittles and Nerds packaging, and with Halloween just weeks away, the DEA is urging parents to be vigilant.

“The agency have sent a stern warning to parents to educate themselves as children prepare for the spooky season, with a former specialist warning that ‘this is not a drug issue, it’s a mass poisoning.’

“During the period of May 23 to September 8 this year, 10.2 million fentanyl pills and about 980 pounds of fentanyl powder were seized by the the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as part of the One Pill Can Kill initiative.

“Of the 390 cases investigated during this period, 51 cases have been linked to overdose poisonings and 35 cases link directly to one or both of the primary Mexican cartels responsible for the majority of fentanyl in the United States – the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).” Click here for more of this story from The Daily Mail.

DEA administrator warns parents of fentanyl crisis impacting children: Cartels ‘targeting everyone’

Mexican cartels and Chinese drug networks are behind fentanyl crisis, DOJ and DEA say

DOJ seizes 10 million fake fentanyl-laced pills from May to September this year

Overdose deaths spurred by fake pills containing fentanyl — and some are designed to look like candy, DEA says

,China-Mexico poison for Halloween
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

The mystery deepens with current interviews

Gertrude Marshall Blakey was attacked October 13, 1981, in the doorway of her home in one of the most exclusive wealthy neighborhoods in Tulsa. Forty years later, it remains an unsolved open case of homicide and, oddly, many who could describe the events surrounding her death have never been questioned by police.

According to Gertrude’s grandson Marshall Johnson, T.H. Rogers, with his wife, Nevada Wolfe Rogers, began a lumber business in Missouri in 1896 and then moved to Oklahoma City. He incorporated in 1901. Oklahoma became a state in 1907.

T.H. Rogers had three daughters one of which had no children. Those having heirs are Ada Justine Rogers Kennedy and Mable Wolfe Rogers Marshall. Ada’s husband, William Bernard Kennedy worked for his father-in-law in management of the lumber company. Mable Marshall lived in Oklahoma City and her daughter, Gertrude Caroline Marshall after college moved to Tulsa.

Gertrude married Carl Walter Blakey and in 1944 they adopted Ann Lee Blaket as an infant who later married Richard Edward Elder. Ann had six children: Caroline (Carrie) Truit (born 1963), Everett Elder (born 1965), Alyssa (Lysa) Elder (born 1971), Edward Marshall Elder (born 1975), Ehren Walter Elder (born 1977) and Wendoline (Wendy) Elder (born 1980). At 18 years Marshall Johnson changed his legal name from Edward Marshall Elder to Marshall Johnson the name of his most significant foster family he said.

Ann told her son Marshall Johnson she was raped by a Kennedy when she was twelve and that was the reason Gertrude set up the Mable Marshall Trust to formalize her permanent position as a part of the family. Ann died September 10, 2012.

Significant Family Events

• June 26, 1945, Kennedy vs. Marshall decided in the Oklahoma Supreme Court, a case of dispute on stock decided in favor of Marshall.

• September 1978, there was a house fire at Ann Blakey Elder’s home. Lysa, then seven-years-old, as an adult later tells Marshall she was playing with matches in the closet and started the fire. Lysa and Marshall escaped on their own as children. Ann was severely burned rescuing Ehren, then nine months old.

• 1979, Gertrude loans Ann $4,000.00 for home repair after fire.

• May 1979, Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) removes four children from Ann’s care. At the time of his removal, Johnson was 4 years old and says his DHS records document he had ninety-six fist size bruises all over his body. Intervention by DHS occurred after Lysa told public school officials that she was raped by brother Everett.

• August 1979, Gertrude changes GMB Trust to specifically exclude Ann from any benefit.  Gertrude signs Last Will and Testament that also excludes Ann but includes Ann’s children.

• Also in 1979, Everett (age 14) begins living with Kennedy Family in Arkansas.  In just over a month in the home, he is accused of molesting Elisabeth Kennedy Riedel who was close to his age.

• 1979-80, Gertrude retains her existing (since 1976) Attorney Robert Huffman to defend Everitt.

• 1980 – 81, Ann and Richard’s parental rights terminated.  Oklahoma Court System was aware of multiple issues with the family.

As “Justice for Gertrude, Part 1” details, Gertrude Blakey was found by neighbors including, Rob Shofner, then 13-years-old in 1981. In a recent exclusive interview, Rob Shofner recalled the event to this reporter and declared facts the Tulsa Police Department has never gathered.

Rob Shofner said, Gertrude Blakey lived next door when I was growing up. She was a very private person. She would come and go. Mrs. Blakey drove a huge older car that she always parked in the garage. It was a land yacht and her friends drove similar cars. They were always well dressed and going somewhere. From a 13-year-old’s perspective they were sophisticated older women.

If you kicked a soccer ball in her yard and went up to the door, she would not open the door. She would talk to you through the door to give you permission to get the ball in the backyard. She didn’t come over and talk on the front porch. She was a very private person and kept to herself. That is how I remember her.

The night she was attacked, my dad and I were coming in the back door as my mom was opening the front door and talking to a lady apparently in her 70s. She was supposed to go out that night with Mrs. Blakey, but the screen door and door to [Gertrude’s] house were ajar and that concerned her friend. She asked if we could come check with her.

We walked around and when we got there Mrs. Blakey was unconscious on the floor inside the door with her feet sightly outside the main door. It looked as though she had hit the back of her head on the floor and there was a pool of blood, she was lying in. When we found her, she was partially on her side.

She was still breathing, but with a very raspy labored breath. My dad and I rolled her over carefully keeping her head immobilized and opened her airway as best we could. Then my dad sent me down the street to a neighbor’s house who was a doctor to get help.

I ran down there; the Doctor grabbed his medical bag and we both hurried back to Mrs. Blakey’s house.

There was a mark on the front of her head like a crease that was less noticeable because it wasn’t bleeding. She looked like she had fallen straight back – kind of like the old Nestea “plunge” commercial where they would fall straight back into a pool. It wasn’t like she collapsed down, but straight back [stiff as a board].

At the time she had a little dog which had tracked pawprints of blood throughout the entryway and down the hall.

Nobody was thinking of foul play at the time. We were just trying to get her help. At some point an ambulance was called, but I don’t remember who made the call. It was a Monday night and at some point, my dad sent me home to get ready for school the next day. My bedroom was closest to Mrs. Blakey’s house, and I remember flashing emergency lights while I was trying to do my homework.

These memories Rob has carried for a lifetime, but he was a young teen. His mother, Renita Shofner has additional adult perspectives she shared, but as with Rob, the Tulsa Police Department have never interviewed her.

Renita Shofner said, I had two other children besides Rob. I was so grateful when my husband Jim arrived and I’m glad I didn’t send my son next door alone after what they discovered. Rob and his dad both went over with the friend of Gertrude.

Jim and Rob, both vividly remember her little dog (that we referred to as her little yappy dog) had left bloody paw prints all over the entry way from where he had run through her blood. Mrs. Blakey was alive when they found her but not communicative at all. Her breathing was labored and gurgling.

We had several neighbors who were physicians and Jim had Rob ran over to a doctor’s house who was just across the street and down about three houses on the west side of Yorktown. He came over and he must have been the one that called the ambulance because Jim and Rob have no recollection of calling. No one had cell phones at that time.

Gertrude was a very private person. We knew her as a neighbor and would see her over the fence, but I didn’t go have coffee with Gertrude or anything like that. I had other neighbors across the street that were Gertrude’s age that we had good relationships with – two neighbors across the street in both directions that were Gertrude’s age and we had good relations with them. She was just a more private person.

I didn’t remember this, but Jim did (we were talking about your article just this morning) that after Gertrude died, a police officer came and talked to him. I must not have been there because I don’t remember that at all. I couldn’t have told you that, but he mentioned that this morning.

I do recall that there was some connection between Gertrude and, what I thought, was a niece by marriage or something that was my contemporary and that I knew, and I do recall that she had access to Gertrude’s house after Gertrude died.

Mrs. Shofner is apparently referring to Beth Kennedy Dunkin who lived approximately three city blocks from the Shofner family and Gertrude. During the interview, Shofner was asked about Dunkin directly, and she then declared that she was a good friend saying, “I knew that Beth was not close to Gertrude, but I knew that after Gertrude’s death, she had some role in resolving the estate. She could give you more information – I couldn’t possibly speak for Beth. But I do know that Beth is well respected. I respect her. I like her. She is funny and she has certainly done a lot of volunteer work in Tulsa.”

Both Rob and Renita Shofner asserted to this reporter that Jim Shofner would interview, but he did not call as promised or return repeated calls. His son, by text, said Jim decided not speak. One can only wonder what changed or who if anyone, may have told him not to speak on this story.

Six months before Gertrude Blakey’s ex-husband who was the trustee of her GMB Trust, Carl Blakey died in 1985, he appointed John Dunkin (Beth Kennedy Dunkin’s husband) the trustee. That appointment certainly implies an active financial relationship. Shofner asked if this reporter had talked with Beth and while this writer had not at the time, an attempt was soon made.

Beth Kennedy Dunkin now lives in an apartment at Methodist Manor in Tulsa, but she did not answer calls to schedule an interview. When this reporter visited at her door, Kennedy was not forthcoming. After I introduced myself and identified as a reporter to talk with her about Gertrude Blakey she said:

I have been told not to talk with you. I’m 80 years old, and I do not care to talk to you if you’d like to look further you may call Mr. Daniel or an attorney. Because we’ve just been frightened, harassed, and scared by the whole thing.

Arnett: Well, Gertrude was murdered, and no one’s ever figured out what happened.

That’s not anything to do with me. I have nothing to do with it except I was a Kennedy. So that’s all I can tell you.

Arnett: Did you help clean up the house after she was gone?

I have nothing to say to you.

Arnett: There’s an item on the probate records where it appears you were paid to help clean up.

Well, that’s all erroneous. I’ve never been paid. I never received any money. I’ve never done anything.

Arnett: So, you were a child when she died?

No, I was not a child. I lived at 2894 South Utica. That’s what – I’m not even supposed to tell you that. I had barred her from my house because she was a blackout drunk.

Arnett: I’m sorry.

Well, I’m sorry too.

Arnett: I do hear your husband made great sausage back in the day.

Yes, he surely did.

Arnett: I didn’t mean to disturb you in anyway, but I was and am continuing to investigate.

My heart is just pounding ninety miles an hour because this whole thing has been nothing but harassment. It’s been terrifying to me.

Arnett: How have you been harassed?

I’ve been harassed with emails. I’ve been harassed and my family has been accosted.

Arnett: I’m so sorry, but that is not what I am doing.

I know, you’re an investigative reporter for some newspaper, and I don’t know what you’re up to, but I don’t want anything to do with it.

Arnett: Okay.

God bless you.

Arnett: Thank you.

Please don’t come to my door again.

Arnett: I will not.

Thank you, sir.

It is regrettable that Dunkin does not welcome inquiry. Further questions include: Who told Beth Kennedy Dunkin not to talk to this reporter on this story? If a horrific event has nothing to do with her, why not talk about a related victim of an unsolved homicide? Dunkin says she has been “frightened, harassed, and scared by the whole thing” which is odd that inquiry into a murder causes distress, but apparently not the murder itself. Her objection also omits that she engaged in email correspondence with Johnson in 2015. How does she know Sam Daniel and why would she tell a reporter to call him? Was Sam Daniel the one that told her not to talk?

Dunkin’s stated fright from inquiry does mirror that expressed by Sam Daniel and his wife Tulsa Judge Millie Otey in their stalking report to the Tulsa Police Department and the protective order request and as noted in the interview posted in “Justice for Gertrude, Part 1.”

As Daniel says that the murder of Gertrude has nothing to do with him and he and his wife just bought a house, why then is he the point-man for Beth Kennedy Dunkin?

There is no indication in the Gertrude Blakey Autopsy of alcoholism or heavy drinking which would have been present at age 73 if she was a “blackout drunk.” This apparently false charge was first proposed by Dunkin to Johnson by email during their exchange in 2015. Dunkin is the only one saying this about Gertrude. “Even her daughter Ann never said a bad word personally about Gertrude,” Johnson said. Both Rob and Renita Shofner said they never saw drunken behavior or indications of heavy drinking by Gertrude.

Johnson said, I believe Richard and Ann were involved in the murder of Gertrude. In addition, I have been told by my sister Lysa’s foster father, Bob Rogers, that he had a private investigator investigate Richard and Ann at one time. Richard was a TPD Officer from 1967 to 1975 from records we have been able to find. Richard was removed from the Tulsa Police Department because he and Ann were running a crime ring. Ann was working as a dispatcher for TPD and would have a crew of minions rob some business at night and when the alarms went off, Ann would send the call to Richard, and he would go allegedly investigate. While that may be hearsay, Bob Rogers had no reason to lie to me and lives still in Bixby.

As kids, Lysa and I were not raised at all from the time we were babies. We were left to our own devices and Lysa who is 4-years older basically raised me.

Ann would have the kids stealing prescription pads from doctor’s offices so she could get pain pills or other drugs.

Lysa says she was with the family one day and to distract whomever, they reached over and started abusing Lysa. She started screaming hysterically and that allowed Ann to get away with whatever she was trying to steal.

From stories told to me by his biological father and stepmother and what he has said himself to me, after Everett was accused of molesting Lysa in 1979, Gertrude sent him to Arkansas to live with her cousins by marriage Bruce and Louise Kennedy. The Kennedys soon sent him back because he got caught molesting or trying to molest their daughter. The story Everett tells me is that Bruce Kennedy, walked down the stairs to the basement TV room to discover Everett and Betsy on the couch in ‘a very compromising situation.’ Well, the father wasn’t having any of that and they sent Everett packing back to Oklahoma where he went back to the Tulsa Boys Home and the streets until he went to live with his biological father in Garland, Texas when he was 15 or 16 years old. Everett was never punished and Lysa still suffers.

Justice for Gertrude, Part 2
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

When I was young, popular music was mostly about love, in stark contrast to today’s rap. “All you need is love,” sang the Beatles. Or “you need somebody to love,” is in a Jefferson Airplane number still popular 55 years later.

No one needs love more than an expectant mother. But a frightened woman heading to an abortion clinic has likely learned that the father of her child doesn’t love her and will abandon their child—and probably her too even if she aborts. Her parents, rather than being doting grandparents, might disown her—or so she fears. Her friends may be supportive, but only of the decision to abort. She fears interruption of her education or her career. If she cherishes hope of finding a husband who will love her for life, the prospects are probably less if she is a single mother.

But she may not have considered that she is carrying the very person who will probably love her more than anyone else, for her whole life.

Babies love their mommy. Her baby is already learning her heartbeat, her voice, and her smell, and will recognize and cling to her immediately upon arrival. Most mothers immediately fall in love with their baby and are ready to die for it.

A 95-year-old mother told me a story I can never forget—one she might have never told anybody else. I usually made home visits, but her son prevailed upon her to come to my office for an electrocardiogram. She didn’t want the EKG, but she wanted her son out of the room.

The story started out to be about living as an immigrant in New York City in the 1920s. Life was hard, and she and her husband already had a baby when she found herself pregnant again. She was walking with a supportive girlfriend to an illegal abortion clinic.

“I stopped. I asked myself what I was doing. I decided: I am not going to kill my baby. So, I went home and had my baby.”

“Him!” she pointed toward the waiting room.

Without him, her life would have been immeasurably impoverished—and the world too, as he was brilliant and made many valuable contributions. He helped her write a couple of books. Though he lived in another city, he visited her often in her old age and saw to her every need. He cooked the meals she liked and filled the freezer with them. Her first-born, a daughter, just wasn’t very interested in her. Apparently, the thought that she might have aborted her only son had haunted her for more than 70 years.

Expectant mothers normally start to bond with their babies even before birth, and post-abortive women report feeling “empty.” There is no joy—only sobbing—in abortion recovery rooms. Some women may wear a “Shout Your Abortion” T-shirt. One has posted a video about building an altar, complete with a jar of fetal remains, to her sacred abortion. But countless women grieve their loss in silence, perhaps for the rest of their lives.

Daddies love their babies too and have laid down their lives for them. To protect an unborn one from an abortionist, however, might be a crime. Babies love their daddy, and countless children have pressed their noses against the glass, watching for Daddy to come home.

If, like the Black-Eyed Peas, you are asking “Where is the love?”, don’t look for it at a pro-choice rally. You will see rage and hatred and even violence. The militant, extremist group, Jane’s Revenge, encourages and claims responsibility for acts of firebombing, vandalism, and arson, targeting crisis pregnancy centers, a church, and a congressional office, in protest that the U.S. Supreme Court no longer recognizes abortion as a constitutionally protected right.

The babies whose remains are in jars, landfills, or sewers might have loved and been loved by many: adoptive parents, brothers or sisters, grandparents, aunts or uncles, a potential spouse—and their own offspring. Those strangers who loved enough to pray for their mother, bring her a red rose, or counsel her about alternatives might be in jail.

What have we become? If we have no love, we are a sounding brass, a tinkling cymbal. Without love, we are nothing.

About the author: Jane M. Orient, M.D. obtained her undergraduate degrees in chemistry and mathematics from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and her M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1974. She completed an internal medicine residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital and University of Arizona Affiliated Hospitals and then became an Instructor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and a staff physician at the Tucson Veterans Administration Hospital. She has been in solo private practice since 1981 and has served as Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) since 1989. She is currently president of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness. She is the author of YOUR Doctor Is Not In: Healthy Skepticism about National Healthcare, and the second through fifth editions of Sapira’s Art and Science of Bedside Diagnosis published by Wolters Kluwer. She authored books for schoolchildren, Professor Klugimkopf’s Old-Fashioned English Grammar and Professor Klugimkopf’s Spelling Method, published by Robinson Books, and coauthored two novels published as Kindle books, Neomorts and Moonshine. More than 100 of her papers have been published in the scientific and popular literature on a variety of subjects including risk assessment, natural and technological hazards and nonhazards, and medical economics and ethics. She is the editor of AAPS News, the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness Newsletter, and Civil Defense Perspectives, and is the managing editor of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

,We Need a Pro-Love Movement
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

Friday September 23 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm at Asbury Church Community Life Center in Tulsa Congressman Troy E. Nehls will discuss his new book, “The Big Fraud: What Democrats Don’t Want You to Know about January 6, the 2020 Election and a Whole Lot Else.”

Congressman Nehls was one of the individuals “protecting the Chamber” on January 6 and has stated that coverage of the event is not consistent with reality. Patriots will be able to hear his inside story about the attempt to breach the U.S. House and compare that to the ongoing off-track Congressional hearings.

Congressman Nehls is a proud America First Patriot. He stands against the Washington Swamp and stands for the Constitution, fiscal conservatism, small government, and Texas values. Nehls is proudly endorsed by President Donald Trump.

Congressman Nehls said, “Throughout my entire career, all I have known is public service. I enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve and proudly defended my country on multiple combat tours overseas. I spent the following years serving my community in a law enforcement capacity. Every day, I stood with my brothers and sisters in blue and held the line to protect and serve Fort Bend County. As Representative of Texas’ 22nd Congressional District, I have embarked on a new type of service: service to my country, my state, and my district.”

“I am a public servant at heart. It has been the honor of a lifetime representing the constituents of TX-22 in Washington, D.C. We have had good days and bad, we have had victories and defeats, but the fight is not over yet. That is why I am running for re-election to keep representing the good people of Texas’ 22nd Congressional District.

During his first term in Congress, Nehls has met the moment and been on the frontline for many issues facing TX-22 and the nation. At the height of the border crisis, Nehls visited the southern border to take a first-hand look at the consequences of the Biden Administration’s America-LAST immigration policies.

While the United States experienced a sharp rise in crime, Congressman Nehls introduced legislation for law enforcement agencies to receive the funding and manpower they need to prevent crime and protect their communities. While Joe Biden and Democrats were trying to pass their backwards “social” infrastructure bill, Troy Nehls was fighting for the real infrastructure needs: updated roads, expanded broadband in rural areas, hurricane preparedness, and allowing local governments to have flexibility in addressing their own infrastructure needs. And when Joe Biden oversaw the collapse of Afghanistan, Congressman Nehls and his team worked tirelessly to get Americans home safely.

Congressman Nehls serves the 22nd District of Texas that encompasses an array of urban and rural communities in the south-central region of Houston. The district is one of the most diverse and fastest growing congressional districts in the country. TX-22 boasts exceptional expansion and economic prosperity that can largely be attributed to numerous industries in the district, including healthcare, energy, and engineering.

Mike and Jim Mazzei invite you to attend this special event.

A conversation with Congressman Troy E. Nehls

Asbury Church Community Life Center

6767 South Mingo Road, Tulsa, OK

Friday September 23, 2022 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm

Click here to register on Eventbrite.

,Congressman Nehls on Jan. 6 and more
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve been living in a frenzied political atmosphere of inflation worries, unaddressed crime, Covid, monkeypox, and a variety of social issues. These are distractions from thinking about the big picture: the march toward government and corporate control over our lives, including absorbing medical practice into the statist-corporate complex.

While many say that COVID-19 brought out the flaws in public health, it has also highlighted the joys and advantages of private practice medicine. People who are disappointed in the oft-times unscientific public health recommendations and mandates have benefited from seeking advice from private practitioners. Sadly, we are on the road to losing private practice, the heart of good medicine.

A recent article about a private equity purchase of a small rural hospital chronicled in great detail how the firm ran the hospital into the ground. The residents were left with no hospital in their area. That was but one example. Until the last 10 or 15 years, most hospitals were owned either by mainly religious nonprofit entities or by states and cities, with ties to medical schools. Private equity ventures have quadrupled over the last 10 years, and have spent approximately $750 billion during that time period. As Bain Capital put it, 2021 was a “banner year” fueled by an aging population and more chronic illnesses. Private equity firms now control a large swath of hospitals, physician practices, ERs, nursing homes, and hospice centers.

For years, health policy experts have been warning about the dangers of private equity and consolidation in medical services. The focus on return on investment by private equity owners puts profits over patients. One study found that hospitals increased their prices after being acquired by private equity firms. Additionally, studies in nursing homes and dialysis centers have found private equity ownership is associated with not only higher prices, but a decrease in quality of care.

Concurrently, consolidation has been on a roll. Five for-profit insurers now control 43 percent of the market, more than 60 percent of community hospitals belong to a health system, and less than half of physicians own part of a private practice. A large California study found that consolidation of the hospital, physician, and insurance markets increased prices of services as well as ACA premiums. Broader research shows that hospital mergers increase the average price of hospital services by 6 percent to18 percent. One industry group places some of the blame on the increase in government programs with the 55 percent increase in consolidation correlating with the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).

Of course, consolidation reduces patient choice.

We need more choice but is expansion of big companies into providing health services the answer? Amazon just made a $3.9 billion agreement to buy One Medical. How ironic given that One Medical is a primary care service offering 24/7 personalized care. This adds to their purchase of PillPack pharmacy in 2018. Walgreens drug stores will now have in-store clinics staffed by VillageMD personnel and ultimately will own 30 percent of VillageMD.

CVS’s new venture is downright scary. CVS is seeking to purchase Signify Health, a managed care company and/or some other primary care provider group by the end of the year. Some even speculate that CVS wants to buy Teledoc, a major telehealth service. Teledoc already is the exclusive telehealth provider for Aetna. Why is this beyond disconcerting? CVS began its expansion by purchasing multiple drug store chains. In 2006 it added “Minute Clinics” to the stores. In 2007 CVS Corporation and Caremark Rx, Inc. merged, creating CVS Caremark, CVS’ own pharmacy benefits manager. In 2018 CVS merged with the health insurance company, Aetna. (The antitrust judge did rule that as a condition of the approval, Aetna had sold its Medicare prescription insurance plans to WellCare Health Plans). That is called vertical consolidation – one company controls the whole stream of commerce.

Legally, there is not much we can do about it except protest with our feet. Seek out private practices where you are treated as an individual human being, not an income generator. The ideal practice is a cash-based practice or direct primary or specialty care practice. With direct primary care, a monthly fee covers all doctor visits, drugs dispensed at the office at wholesale prices, and 24/7 access to your doctor. Odd as it may seem, paying cash to see the doctor or have outpatient surgery can be less expensive than buying insurance with its co-pays and high deductibles. All you really need is hospital insurance (unless you are a billionaire). If there is not such a practice near you, find a second opinion via telehealth.

It is up to us to save the patient-physician relationship – and just maybe our republic!

About the author: Dr. Singleton is a board-certified anesthesiologist and Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) Board member. She graduated from Stanford and earned her MD at UCSF Medical School.  Dr. Singleton completed two years of Surgery residency at UCSF, then her Anesthesia residency at Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital. While still working in the operating room, she attended UC Berkeley Law School, focusing on constitutional law and administrative law.  She interned at the National Health Law Project and practiced insurance and health law.  She teaches classes in the recognition of elder abuse and constitutional law for non-lawyers.

,Private Medicine trumps Private Equity
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

In a release today, Rep. Terry O’Donnell announced that Joe Echelle, Deputy Director of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) has “confirmed” that the interchange of Pine Street and the Will Rogers Turnpike in east Catoosa will be improved.

Currently, the Pine Street interchange at the Will Rogers Turnpike only allows for exit from the turnpike southbound and entry onto the turnpike from northbound. To gain better access to Interstate 44, “access from Pine in all four directions will coincide with a longer-term plan to widen the Will Rogers Turnpike to six lanes from I-44 up to the State Highway 20 interchange,” O’Donnell said.

The first portion of the widening should include the expanded access from Pine Street. The Turnpike Authority will likely begin the process by widening the bridges over the Verdigris River.

O’Donnell said, “In my recent meeting with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Rogers County and the City of Catoosa, one of the transportation priorities we discussed is better access to the Will Rogers Turnpike in east Catoosa. This is again something on which I’ve been working since I was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2012.”

Both County Commissioner Ron Burrows and Catoosa City Manager John Blish indicated certain improvements would need to be made to Pine Street to accommodate additional traffic between the turnpike and the City of Catoosa.

“I believe the access from east Catoosa to I-44 will open up a great deal of property in Catoosa for both commercial and residential development.  The improvement of this interchange with the turnpike will make Catoosa a better place to work and live,” O’Donnell added.

,Pine interchange at turnpike to improve
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

In a news release Friday afternoon, a group of state representatives and senators called on the State Department of Education and State Board of Education to investigate whether House Bill 1775 was violated by a teacher who claims she willingly broke the law and would do it again.

The group of lawmakers pointed out that if it is determined that HB 1775 was indeed violated, the SBE’s rules state they “shall initiate proceedings to revoke the license or certificate of any school employee for ‘willful violation of” House Bill 1775.”

A Norman Public School teacher resigned recently after saying she intentionally skirted the law regarding House Bill 1775 and would do it again. While it is unclear whether HB1775 itself was violated, the school district did determine the teacher violated district policy and used her classroom to make personal political statements and displays. The district began an investigation after a parent complained the teacher encouraged her students to visit a website featuring books depicting what the parent described as “pornographic material,” – an issue not addressed by HB1775.

“We have a teacher who in her own words said she violated the law and claimed to be a ‘walking HB 1775 violation’ and ‘would do it again in a heartbeat. No regrets. Would do it again. Will do it again,'” said the group of lawmakers.  “It is incumbent upon the State Department of Education to place this matter on the State Board of Education’s agenda to determine whether any violations of law actually occurred, and if they did, discuss whether this teacher’s certification should be revoked.

“Oklahoma parents are not interested in having teachers’ personal political beliefs forced upon their children,” the group continued. “They simply want their children to receive a quality education and to keep politics out of the classroom. Teachers who willingly and repeatedly break the law have no place in our schools.”

The group of lawmakers calling for action by the State Department of Education include: Reps. Chad Caldwell, R-Enid; Sherrie Conley, R-Newcastle; Denise Crosswhite Hader, R-Piedmont; Tom Gann, R-Inola; Jim Grego, R-Wilburton; Jim Olsen, R-Roland; Marilyn Stark, R-Bethany; Wendi Stearman, R-Collinsville; Kevin West, R-Moore; Rick West, R-Heavener; Danny Williams, R-Seminole; Sens. George Burns, R-Pollard; Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain; Cody Rogers, R-Tulsa.

,Lawmakers call to investigate teacher
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.

Reception hosted for new exhibit exploring Black slavery in tribe’s history.

On the 70^th annual Cherokee National Holiday, Cherokee Nation stood firm in its commitment to reconciliation for Cherokee Freedmen and their descendants.

A special reception was held immediately following the tribe’s State of the Nation address to commemorate the new exhibit at the Cherokee National History Museum.

 “Cherokee history is full of rich moments, full of great triumphs, full of Cherokee people acting collectively to overcome tragedy, work through trauma, and build a great nation. But we have to tell the whole of the story,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. “We have to recognize that there were times that we imposed trauma on others; we have to acknowledge that we enslaved African-Americans under our own law. If we ignore or suppress that, we do to Freedmen and their descendants the same things that have been done to Cherokee people. Our story has been suppressed; our story has been denied. Any nation is a stronger nation if they tell their whole story: the tragedy, the triumph, and the chapters that are dark and difficult.”

“We Are Cherokee: Cherokee Freedmen and the Right to Citizenship” features the stories, histories, images and documents of Cherokee Freedmen, alongside nine original artworks by Cherokee Nation artists.

Presented as part of the Cherokee Freedmen Art and History Project, established in November 2020, the exhibit seeks to broaden Cherokee Nation’s understanding of the Cherokee Freedmen experience through the Freedmen perspective.

That perspective is shared from the earliest known participation of chattel slavery in the 18th century on through various historical milestones in the decades that followed, including the adoption of plantation-style slavery among Cherokees, Indian Removal to the West and the American Civil War. It also shares how the Treaty of 1866 granted freed slaves in Cherokee Nation all the rights of Native Cherokee.

The exhibit also discusses the steps taken by the tribe to strip Freedmen and their descendants of tribal citizenship and examines the 2017 U.S. District Court ruling that upheld the Treaty of 1866 and reaffirmed Cherokee Freedmen as citizens of the Cherokee Nation.

The reception featured virtual remarks from Chief Hoskin, who was isolating after a confirmed case of COVID-19. Chief Hoskin has championed the tribe’s efforts for reconciliation alongside other event speakers such as Deputy Chief Bryan Warner, Freedmen advocate Marilyn Vann and Freedmen community advisor Melissa Payne.

“To me, as I always knew I belonged, being a Cherokee citizen makes me proud,” said Payne. “I can smile and say I am Cherokee, and my mother worked extremely hard for the rights of herself, her children, her family and all of us. And so I must say, I’m thankful. I’m thankful that we’ve moved forward, and I’m proud to say I am Cherokee.”

Cherokee Nation will continue working with the public and its community advisors to further advance the Cherokee Freedmen Art and History Project through extended content, special programs and events that will elevate the Freedmen voice within the Cherokee story.

“Today we celebrate more progress in Cherokee Nation’s path towards reconciliation, towards equality,” said Chief Hoskin. “The Freedmen exhibit at the Cherokee National History Museum is so powerful. It is a gateway for understanding some difficult truths about Cherokee history that we all must face. This exhibit helps bring healing to our nation and makes us stronger, but it is just the first step.”

The Cherokee National History Museum is located at 101 S. Muskogee Avenue and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on the Cherokee Nation and its many tourism offerings, including award-winning event tours and six Cherokee Nation museums, please visit www.VisitCherokeeNation.com.

,Cherokee reconciliation with Freedmen grows
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.