40 U.S. Government Lies, Coverups & Abuses
The United States Government is no stranger to Lies, Coverups & Abuses. Here is a list of just 40 well-known examples.
We love our country, but we hate our government…and for good reason. The government of the United States is one of the most lying and corrupt governments on earth. We take comfort in a false belief that the things our government does is for our protection. After all, that’s why the government exists. But the truth is that there is no technology that our government possesses, that it will not eventually use on its own people.
Below is a summary, in no particular order, of 40 times our government has lied or covered up it’s own abuses against citizens or humanity … and that’s not even including the obvious one of the invention of nuclear weapons.
1. CIA Mind Control Program – MKULTRA – The CIA illegally administered drugs such as LSD to thousands of people without their knowledge and often ran experiments on them. Many people died and their families would never know how/why. The agency destroyed all files in 1973 so we will never know the full extent of the program or who was involved. Nobody was ever prosecuted or fired for the illegal destruction of files.
2. My Lai Massacre – American soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry; 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry; massacred as many as 500 Vietnamese civilians on March 16, 1968. Before murdering them, some women as young as 12 were gang raped. The government covered it up until they were busted by journalists in late 1969. Only 26 soldiers were charged … but only one was convicted on 22 counts. That man, Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader, served 3 1/2 years under house arrest. His sentence was commuted by President Richard Nixon.
3. Republican President Eisenhower authorized the CIA plot to kill Cuban citizens (communists) and Fidel Castro, as well as foment a rebellion in a program called Operation Mongoose in 1960.
4. In the 1920’s during prohibition, the Government forced companies that manufacture alcohol used for cleaners & solvents to include poison in the mixtures to stop people from distilling it for drinking. Over 10,000 people died as a result.
5. Area 51 Environmental Catastrophe. It’s not just about aliens. The U.S. Government denied the existence of the military base, known as Area 51 near Groom Lake in Nevada, from 1955 until 2013. The government would burn toxic materials on the base leading to dozens of military personnel with health problems, including cancer. But because the base didn’t officially exist, the service members had no recourse. The government just let them die without taking any responsibility. In 1993, Democrat President Bill Clinton signed an executive order that exempts Area 51 from all environmental laws, furthering the injustice that future service members will face.
6. Under the direction of Attorney General Janet Reno, the FBI murdered 80 people; men, women & children, in an attack on a church compound in Waco, TX in 1993. With little to no evidence of a minor weapons charge, the FBI led a misinformation campaign against a church leader, David Koresh, in order to gain public support for a raid on the compound. They burned the people alive inside the building.
7. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. From 1930’s to the 1970’s, the U.S. Public Health Service conducted experiments on unwitting poor, black citizens in order to study the effects and progression of untreated syphilis. The government lied to them and promised them free medical care but instead gave them syphilis in order to monitor the effects.
8. Cigarettes are good for you. All the way into the 1960’s, tobacco companies bought and paid for politicians who created policies to encourage smoking, even lying to the Public by getting doctors to endorse the products as an aid to increase lung capacity. This all occurred while it was already known of the dangers. While we blame the tobacco companies, the Government was just as much involved in the deception.
9. CIA torture. Following 9/11, the CIA engaged in “enhanced interrogation” (ie: Torture) with suspected “terrorists”. They manipulated the definition of “terrorists” to include any person who might have the information needed to conduct an investigation into a terrorist plot. The details of the CIA operation were withheld from President Bush for 4 years.
10. DARPA hacks the weather for war. In 1993, the government built a facility in Gakona, Alaska known as HAARP (High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) in order to heat the ionosphere and manipulate the weather to enhance military objectives of war. Many now believe that it may be partly responsible for global warming and is used to feed the narrative for green initiatives.
11. In 1955, The FBI stalked Martin Luther King Jr. because of his involvement with the Montgomery bus boycott. They accused him of being a communist without any evidence. They assigned undercover operatives to infiltrate his inner circle and try to convince him to kill himself. King was just the highest-ranking member of the government’s widespread illegal tracking of “black activists”.
12. The Pentagon Papers. The DOD commissioned a study of the Vietnam War and the United States’ involvement from 1945 to 1967. It detailed how the government manipulated the public through the media into supporting the Vietnam War and how it lied not only to the public but to Congress. When journalist Daniel Ellsberg published the story, he was rewarded with criminal charges of conspiracy, espionage, and theft of government property.
13. “The Nayirah Lie” of George HW Bush. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 and Bush Sr. was looking for a way to justify a war. Kuwait is a non-NATO ally that we had no duty to defend or protect … unless we wanted to keep our greedy hands on their oil. Bush Sr. trotted out a 15-year-old girl named “Nayirah” who spun a horrific tale of Iraqi soldiers bursting into a hospital in Kuwait and removing babies from their incubators, to leave them dying on the floor. But it was all a lie. Nayirah was the daughter of Kuwait’s ambassador to the U.S. and was coached into a false story to gain sympathy for Bush’s war. In the end, it was Bush Sr. that killed babies when the U.S. bombing knocked out power to hospitals and those babies who were on ventilation died.
14. Weapons of Mass Destruction. Following 9/11, the government needed a scapegoat. Even though Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, they perpetuated a lie that he had weapons of mass destruction and was likely to use them against U.S. Allies. This gave President George Bush Jr. the excuse needed to invade Iraq. Aside from a few, inoperative gas projectiles, no “mass destruction” devices were ever found…. Bush made up the whole thing to justify an invasion.
15. Roswell Aliens, Not Aliens. In 1947, a crash of an alien spacecraft allegedly occurred in Roswell, NM. The Roswell Army Air Field reported in a press release that they recovered a “flying disk”. Within hours the story was recanted and the government proclaimed it was only a weather balloon. In 1994, the military admitted that they deliberately lied to the public and that the “weather balloon” was actually a top-secret military surveillance balloon code-named, Project Mogul. Once a liar, always a liar. There is no reason to trust anything they tell the public about this.
16. The USS Scorpion. In 1968 the U.S. Navy submarine USS Scorpion went missing in the Atlantic. The government lied to the public that the ship was lost due to an unexplained failure. 99 crewmen died. In 2010 it was revealed that the ship was likely destroyed by a Soviet submarine and that the government had known this since July of 1968 when the wreckage was found.
17. Agent Orange, Vietnam. More lies about Vietnam. The government used a chemical agent “herbicide” to deforest areas of Vietnam between 1962 & 1971. They dropped more than 19 million gallons, covering not only forests but people and animals. The government denied the cancerous effects of the material until 1983, when a settlement was reached. For their service and sacrifice, veterans were given approximately $3800 each.
18. Freedom of the press. The Nixon administration illegally wiretapped journalists put them on enemies lists and audited their tax returns. They censored news stations by threatening to revoke their broadcasting licenses. Seems oddly familiar with events today.
19. Democrat President Woodrow Wilson signed the “espionage act” which he used to imprison journalists and shut down newspapers that disagreed with his policies. It worked so well in stifling speech that the government continues to use that act to this day. Seems oddly familiar with events today.
20. Watergate. Young people may not be familiar with President Richard Nixon and “Watergate”. In 1972, Nixon authorized the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C., Watergate Office Building to steal documents and tap phone lines. Witnesses testified against Nixon in Senate hearings. Ultimately, the coverup was worse than the crime and Nixon was forced to resign from office.
21. Obamacare. In an effort to push a socialist-style, single-payer health care system down the throat of the American people, President Barak (Barry) Hussein Obama (Soetoro) lied to the American people over and over about how they would be able to keep their doctor. Except, most wouldn’t be able to and Obama knew it at the time. You can’t keep a doctor that is either out of business or is not part of the “approved” system.
22. Nord Stream 2. Pulitzer prize journalist Seymour Hersh reveals that Joe Biden ordered the destruction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea in September 2022. Biden all as much admitted his intent to do so if Russia invaded Ukraine … which they did, just 4 months later. Backing up Biden, Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Lt. Col. Garron J. Garn told The Post “The United States was not involved in the Nord Stream explosion.” The report from Hersh reveals that they ALL lied to the American public because blowing up a vital supply line to a NATO ally could break up the coalition… not to mention it would open up U.S. targets to Russia as justifiable retaliation … causing WWIII.
23. PRISM. Edward Snowden, a CIA data analyst blew the whistle to reveal that the NSA had a secret program called PRISM, which is used to spy on U.S. Citizens’ email, internet activity, phone calls, and more. For his trouble, he has been living in exile in Russia while not one person in our government has been held accountable for their illegal & unconstitutional activity. Nobody, not even President Trump, has put a stop to this policy. The program marches on to this very day with the government spying on Americans for no legitimate reason.
24. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Nobody of sound mind believes that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 … or at least nobody believes that he did it alone. Witnesses testified to hearing shots from multiple locations. A “magic bullet” theory had to be concocted to explain the multiple wounds from the limited number of shots fired by Oswald’s location. Classified documents were supposed to be released in 1992 but every President since that time has extended the deadline. The last President to extend the deadline was Joe Biden who pushed it one last time to December 15, 2022 … Following that deadline, the national archives released 13,000 worthless documents. Keeping the juicy, top-secret stuff that reveals the truth, hidden from the public…probably forever.
25. Monica Lewinsky was hired as an intern for President Bill Clinton. Clinton took advantage of her naivete and engaged in oral sex (at least) with her in the oval office. He lied to the American People, as well as his wife, about the affair and was impeached. His famous line, “I did not have sex with that woman, Mrs. Lewinsky” rings in infamy and taught us how politicians can twist language… ie: “sex” is only “intercourse” and not “oral” … if that is what you believe when you give sworn testimony.
26. The “Iran-Contra Affair” was a secret U.S. arms deal that traded U.S. missiles and other arms to free some Americans held hostage by terrorists in Lebanon but also used funds from the arms deal to support armed conflict in Nicaragua. The scandal might have brought down President Ronald Reagan if not for the loyalty of Oliver North … who took the brunt of the scandal on behalf of the President.
27. The “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal was headed by Attorney General Eric Holder, under the direction of President Obama in 2009. Fast and Furious was a Justice Department program that allowed government-owned assault weapons to be sold to Mexican drug cartels, allegedly as a way to track them. But internal documents later revealed the real goal was to gin up a crisis requiring a crackdown on guns in America. Fast and Furious was merely a pretext for imposing stricter gun laws.
28. The Man-Made Global Warming Lie. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been busted in tampering with temperature statistics by lowering previously measured temperatures to show cooler weather in the past and raising more recent temperatures to show warming in the recent present. This “green agenda” is a trillion-dollar gravy train that nobody wants to stop. But it’s not just about money, it’s also about control … control over your life. Because you can’t be trusted with making decisions for yourself.
29. The nuclear agreement with Iran by President Barak (Barry) Hussein Obama (Soetoro) sold to Congress & the American public permits Iran to possess nuclear weapons in about ten years (ie: 2026). The justification was that Capitalism had made the new Iranian government more moderate and proposed that the Iranians deserve to have Nuclear power (whilst it is being blacklisted in our own country). Ben Rhodes, a National Security Adviser in the Obama administration, bragged about the lies and stated that the intelligence community knew it was a lie all along.
30. 3 weeks to flatten the curve. “Flattening the curve” was a public health strategy to slow down the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The People were told that if we would all just mask up and stay home for 3 weeks, we would stamp out the virus… or at least enable our medical centers to keep up. It was all a lie to calm people with the bonus of taking away civil liberties. The lockdowns would last for 2-3 years, crushed many middle-class families, and shuttered tens of thousands of small businesses…while big business chains were barely affected.
31. “Operation warp speed” was a partnership between the Government and pharmaceutical companies to accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine by January 2021. To accomplish this, President Donald Trump allowed himself to be duped by the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Anthony Fauci, into believing that tens of millions of people would die from the virus unless he (Trump) allows people to be injected with an experimental biological agent.
The began a campaign to deceive the public by redefining a “vaccine” to include the experimental biological agent. Not only did the “vaccine” not stop the spread, but it didn’t prevent infection either. In fact, it has massive side effects, including death… which the government refused to let people know about and continues to cover up to this day. Hundreds of thousands of people have died from the “vaccine” already and yet mandates for its continued use continue in some places.
32. The Russian Collusion Hoax. The Democrat National Committee (DNC) conspired, with funding from Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to slander and frame President Donald Trump with a conspiracy to steal the 2016 election with the help of the Russians. Many outlandish claims were made which have all been revealed to be false. Yet the media, in actual collusion with the DNC and the Biden administration, refuse to cover or investigate the truth.
33. Don’t get droned. “Anwar al-Awlaki” was targeted for assassination by the CIA for his suspected involvement in Al-Qaeda. He was considered “too dangerous” due to his lecturing and publications as an American-Yemeni imam (religious leader) and some people even referred to him as the “Bin Laden of the Internet.” On September 30, 2011, President Obama ordered his assassination and the CIA fired multiple missiles at his vehicle in Yemen, killing him and everybody else in the vehicle. While it is probably likely that Anwar al-Awlaki was indeed a terrorist, he was also an American citizen who was deprived of his right to due process and a trial by jury. He could have been captured, as many terrorists were, but instead, he was intentionally murdered by a President of the United States in order to send a message.
34. Ruby Ridge. In 1992 Randy Weaver was a doomsday prepper and a self-professed white separatist. He fled to his Ruby Ridge, Idaho home after failing to appear in court on ATF charges he received when he sold two sawed-off shotguns to an ATF agent. When U.S. Marshals and the FBI confronted his family outside his property on August 21, 1992 a brief gun battle ensued. Marshals shot Weaver’s dog, then shot Weaver’s 14-year-old son in the back as he ran away, killing him. Weaver’s friend, Kevin Harris then shot and killed a federal marshal. A standoff ensued and the next day an FBI sniper killed Weaver’s unarmed wife while she was holding her 10-month-old daughter. Weaver was wounded as well as a friend. Weaver surrendered two weeks later.
The jury acquitted Weaver of all charges except two, one of which the judge set aside. He was found guilty of one count, failure to appear, for which he was fined $10,000 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was credited with time served plus an additional three months, and he was then released. Kevin Harris was acquitted of all criminal charges.
In August 1995, the US government avoided trial on a civil lawsuit filed by the Weavers by awarding the three surviving daughters $1,000,000 each, and Randy Weaver $100,000 over the deaths of Sammy and Vicki Weaver.
No FBI agent or Marshal was ever held accountable for the murders of Weaver’s wife, son or dog.
35. “Project Serpo” was an alleged top-secret alien exchange program between the United States government and an alien planet called, “Serpo” which is located in the Zeta Reticuli star system.
In reality, Project Serpo was a disinformation campaign by United States Air Force Sergeant Richard C. Doty at the direction of the D.O.J. Office of Special Investigations (O.S.I.). The purpose of the campaign was to infiltrate the UFO circuit and slowly feed an ever-increasing absurd story in order to discredit discussions about alien civilizations and visitation. The real questions are, “Why did the government lie?” and “Why did the government feel the need to lie?” … to the American people about this issue.
36. “Stuxnet” was the world’s most sophisticated, mutating, computer virus ever created, sometime between 2005-2010. Developed by the NSA & Mossad (Israel Intelligence) under a program called “Operation Olympic Games”, this self-replicating virus was designed to infect a specific component in Iran’s uranium enrichment facility to cause them to self-destruct. But to get the virus into the air-gapped computer system, they literally and intentionally infected hundreds of millions of computers all over the world, probably even your own home computer, knowing that eventually it would affect a single USB flash drive and be inserted into the Iranians centrifuge system.
It cannot be understated … these governments were literally willing to infect the entire world to ensure that the virus would get into a single USB drive. And now this technology is being used by every nation-state in the world to attack the infrastructure of every other nation.
37. “Operation Northwoods” in 1962 was a false flag operation proposed by the U.S. Military to shoot down American planes and to bomb U.S. bases & cities (ie: Kill Americans) to create the illusion that the United States was under attack by Cuba and thus create a reason for a U.S. invasion. Fortunately, President Kennedy rejected the plan … of course, things didn’t work out too well for him.
38. On January 16, 1893, armed naval forces of the United States led a coup d’état to oust Queen Lili’uokalani of Hawaii. The queen surrendered under protest in order to avoid bloodshed. In 1898 the island territory was officially annexed as a U.S. Territory. Hawaii finally became the 50th State in 1959. The United States officially apologized to native Hawaiians in 1993…but offered no reparations.
39. Entrapment. FBI manipulates, entraps, and then arrests 4 individuals in a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in October 2020. Two of the four were acquitted and the other two defendants ended up in a mistrial. Court records show that the FBI targeted the “militia group” (ie: an organized group of citizens upset with the Governor’s actions regarding COVID). The FBI infiltrated the group with no less than 4 federal agents who manipulated and radicalized the group into planning to kidnap the Governor. The group never actualized the plan. When it became clear that they were not going to follow through, the FBI arrested them on “conspiracy” instead.
40. A “Family Planning Program” was implemented in the 1970s in some African countries by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to curb the “problem” of African birth rates. Under the guise of “vaccines”, people were given high doses of Depo-Provera without their knowledge in order to cause permanent infertility. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, funded the operation through the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation”.
These are just 40 of the most well-known lies & abuses that the United States Government has perpetrated upon the American People and the world. Our founding fathers did the best job they could in the creation of our governmental system, but they can only go so far. Mankind has a natural proclivity to corruption and susceptibility to evil. We must never lose sight of that and never get so lost in our own patriotism that we shut our eyes to our own government’s abuses.
Council
Fate Council Opens the Door on Executive Session Secrets, Revealing Why Greenberg Was Cleared
Fate, TX – Monday night’s Fate City Council meeting pulled back the curtain on something that had puzzled residents for weeks.
Why would four members of the council vote against finding an ethics violation or imposing sanctions against Mayor Andrew Greenberg after attorney Ross Fischer had concluded there was probable cause to believe Greenberg may have violated the city’s code of ethics?
The answer, it turns out, was hidden behind deliberative privilege that some members of the Fate City Council didn’t want you to know about.
City Council Meeting for June 15, 2026, Agenda items 6G and 6H called for the council to consider waiving attorney-client privilege concerning ethics complaints involving Mayor Andrew Greenberg, former Councilman Mark Harper, and former Councilwoman Codi Chinn… for the June 1st meeting. The council voted 4-2 to waive deliberative privilege and allow discussion of what had previously occurred behind closed doors.
The June 1 vote had left many residents, particularly those of Karen Keiser, who supported the recall effort against Greenberg, confused. Council members had voted 4-2 not to pursue sanctions or make findings of an ethics violation, with Councilman Allen Robbins and Councilwoman Ashley Rains voting in the minority.
What the public, and Mrs. Keiser, didn’t know was that in executive session, there was great disagreement about the Ross Fischer report.
According to a phone interview Pipkins Reports had with Mayor Greenberg on Tuesday, one of the central issues involved allegations that he had improperly disclosed confidential employee information concerning former City DPS Chief Lyle Lombard to this investigative journalist, by releasing audio of a phone conversation he had with Councilwoman Codi Chinn.
In a conversation with Greenberg on Tuesday, Greenberg said that attorneys within the Texas Attorney General’s Office had previously determined that only three minutes (approximately) of an audio recording between Greenberg and Chinn contained personal or confidential information, none of which formed the basis of these ethics allegations as stipulated by Fischer.
Greenberg further argued that Fischer’s conclusions relied on assumptions rather than evidence showing that any “deliberative” information had actually been provided. Even more, Mr. Fischer refused to seek guidance from the Attorney General to determine if any of his assertions about confidential information were actually “deliberative”.
For context, the words, “deliberative information” are in reference to any “confidential” information that city officials might discuss regarding a city employee. But not all information about an employee is to be considered “confidential”, and this is a very important point of the discussion.
Under the Texas Public Information Act (Government Code Chapter 552), information concerning public employees is presumed public unless a statute or recognized exception applies. Merely discussing an employee does not make the information “deliberative” or “confidential”, unless and until the city requests and receives an exemption from the Attorney General. In this case, none of the information alleged by Mr. Fischer was determined by the Attorney General to be “confidential” or permitted to be withheld.
Sidebar: How did Autumn Lobinsky know what was in those three minutes that were never released to the public?
Texas Government Code §552.111 protects certain interagency and intra-agency memoranda reflecting advice, recommendations, opinions, and policymaking discussions. This is often called the “deliberative process privilege.”
However, the exception generally applies only to communications involving policymaking, not routine personnel matters. The Texas Attorney General has repeatedly distinguished between:
- Policy deliberations → potentially protected.
- Routine administrative or personnel matters → generally not protected.
Thus, discussions about: performance evaluations, discipline, complaints, hiring decisions, salary matters, are not automatically considered to be “deliberative information.”
Therefore, the Council Members argued in executive session that Fischer failed to make the case that the information exchanged met those qualifications.
Furthermore, Fischer’s investigation provided no other corroborating evidence.
Emails between Michael Pipkins and Ross Fischer show that Fischer sought information from Pipkins concerning the investigation. In a May 27 email, Fischer volunteered to Pipkins that Greenberg had acknowledged allowing Pipkins access to the recording, and asked whether Greenberg had provided a copy or merely played portions of the audio.
(Would Fischer’s release of information to Pipkins about his conversation with Greenberg be a release of confidential information? )
Regardless, Pipkins declined to answer, citing journalistic policy and the protection of confidential sources absent a subpoena or court order. Fischer then acknowledged to Pipkins that Greenberg had admitted playing portions of the recording and indicated he was attempting to verify Greenberg’s account. Part of this exchange was cited in Fischer’s report. We are providing the full context of the email exchange below.
[Email Exchange Between Ross Fischer and Michael Pipkins]
According to Greenberg, no evidence was produced showing that any of the information disclosed by Greenberg was in fact, “deliberative information” (ie: confidential). Yet, Mr. Fisher’s report would go on to recommend that he violated the City’s Code of Ethics, regardless of the actual fact that none of the information had been, or would be, considered privileged.
“Conclusion. Assuming Mayor Greenberg’s response is accurate, he still released deliberative information about personnel decisions a month before Council waived that
privilege. Based on Mayor Greenberg’s admissions alone, there is credible evidence that he violated Section 2-309(6) of the City’s Code of Ethics.”
Ross Fischer Report
[Copy of the report by Ross Fischer. ]
Armed with information that the report was potentially faulty, four members of the council ultimately voted against finding a violation or imposing sanctions against Greenberg. Now we know why the council voted the way they did.
Meanwhile, another controversy emerged during public comments in the June 15th meeting.
Residents Lance and Lorne Megyesi addressed the council concerning the ongoing recall effort. While Lorne attempted to chastise and lecture the council, Lance cited Sections 3.06 and 3.10 of the City Charter and argued that government could continue functioning even if four council members are removed in November.
Section 3.06 clearly states that a quorum must consist of four council members. while Section 3.10 indicates that a majority of the council is considered a quorum.
“Governments cannot be allowed to collapse due to vacancies,” Megyesi told the council.
Megyesi argued that a group smaller than the normal quorum would possess limited authority to restore a quorum through appointments or by ordering an election. He further stated that a Texas Attorney General opinion supported that position, though he provided no opinion number or supporting document to substantiate his claim, and the evidence discovered by Pipkins Reports, indicates the exact opposite.
As a relevant sideline, former Mayor David Billings recently advanced a similar argument in a Rockwall Times opinion piece titled “The City Will Go On,” arguing that a successful recall would not halt Fate city government.
That assertion, however, has drawn criticism from residents who argue that elected offices are far more than ceremonial titles, as the former “retired” mayor would suggest.
Under Section 2.09 of the City Charter, the City Council possesses authority to compromise and settle claims and lawsuits involving the city. (ie: Wrongful Termination Lawsuits). Section 2.13 authorizes the council to require bonds from city officials and employees. (ie: New hires) The council also possesses authority over appointments and hiring decisions involving key city personnel.
Critics note that if a loss of quorum persisted and the city manager, city secretary, or city attorney departed unexpectedly, there would be no mechanism for replacing those positions without council action. And without a quorum, that simply can’t happen.
The mayor’s office also carries real statutory responsibilities beyond just presiding over meetings.
Under Section 32-45 of the city code, the mayor serves as floodplain administrator or appoints a designee. In addition, Section 10-20 establishes the mayor as the city’s emergency management director. What happens if the City suffers a natural disaster?
Billings argues that essential functions of government would continue and that legal mechanisms exist to preserve continuity. Opponents counter that continuity and normal governance are not the same thing.
Consider the precedent of the 2004 Haltom City recall, where the recall and loss of a quorum of five of seven council members effectively halted normal council operations for three months (Feb – May) until elections restored the vacancies. In that situation, Attorney General Opinion GA-0175, concluded that recalled officials did not hold over and that the city effectively was without a quorum until elections restored the vacancies.
Haltom City’s Charter is not that different to that of Fate.
Critics of the recall note that Fate could face an even longer period of uncertainty. If four members were removed in November and vacancies were not filled until the next uniform election date in May, the city could potentially spend roughly six months without a fully functioning council… unless a district judge were to step in and order an election.
While day-to-day city services would likely continue, critics argue that Billings characterizing the loss of a majority of the governing body as little more than an inconvenience understates the practical consequences. Settlements, appointments, policy decisions, and unforeseen emergencies do not operate on election calendars.
And while contingency plans can be devised for almost anything, critics contend that improvisation in the middle of a crisis is hardly the same thing as having a fully functioning government.
Government may survive without a quorum. Haltom City proved that. But survival and governance are not the same thing, and it is the citizens who will suffer by being caught in the middle.
Opinion
There is something remarkable about the coalition that has formed around the effort to remove Mayor Andrew Greenberg and three sitting council members, Mark Hatley, Martha Huffman and Rick Maneval.
Councilwoman Ashley Rains and Councilman Allan Robbins support the effort. Former Mayor David Billings supports the recall and uses his platform to assert that the city government would continue uninterrupted after a successful recall. Former Councilman Lance Megyesi and his brother, former Mayor Lorne Megyesi, support the recall and have publicly discussed their own legal theories concerning how a reduced council might restore a quorum through “appointments”. Former Councilman Mark Harper and former Councilwoman Codi Chinn have likewise remained active voices in the city’s political battles.
Residents can draw their own conclusions, but the cast of characters is familiar. These are all current and former officeholders; they are all political allies; they are all responsible for the current state of social unrest as well as the development disaster that grips Fate at this time. And they have all united in a common cause to oust the current council and restore their power. They appear to be, to a common observer, as bitter, angry individuals hell-bent on revenge. Their childish antics on social media and feigned outrage at the podium are proof of that.
Make no mistake, these are not strangers united by coincidence. They are experienced political figures with a common bias and a shared interest in their vision of the future direction of the city. A vision that does not match that of the current council majority. In my opinion, citizens are witnessing an orchestrated coup in real time. Many people don’t even know that they are being manipulated by a group of washed-up, failed politicians.
Supporters of the recall have been convinced that they are trying to save Fate from an unethical council. And supporters of the current council argue the exact opposite. They see the current recall effort and false ethics complaints as an attempt by a network of present and former officials to reverse political defeats that occurred at the ballot box.
Why is it that the new and former members of the Council consistently advocate for Less Open Government, instead of More Open Government? Why are their supporters so angry and hateful on social media?
One fact should concern every voter, regardless of whose sign sits in their front yard.
This group organizing the recall is already trying to steer the conversation away from whether four officials should be removed to what happens afterward, how a quorum could be restored, and what powers a reduced council might possess. That is not an academic debate. It is a debate about who governs. And they are positioning themselves to be “appointed” to fill that gap.
And that’s where citizens should become very skeptical.
Because in a republic, political power is supposed to flow from elections, not from creative interpretations, procedural maneuvers, or the hope that voters won’t notice the difference.
The people of Fate have every right to vote to remove elected officials, or to retain them, as they see fit when they go into the polling place.
But when people go into that voting booth, they should take stock of which side has been fighting for actual transparency, reporting facts, and working to do what is right for the citizens, and which side is for keeping things behind closed doors, acting like children … and trying to stir up anger among the citizens.
RED OAK, Texas — It was standing room only, overflow rooms packed, and tempers running high. Yet after hours of objections from residents, a divided Red Oak City Council voted around midnight to approve a massive data center project, leaving many citizens convinced their elected officials had already made up their minds long before the first speaker approached the podium.
The May 11 meeting drew such a crowd that even reporters struggled to get inside. According to Fox 4 News, the council chamber seats 136 people, and at least 70 additional residents had to wait outside or gather in a separate room because of capacity limits. The issue before the council was a proposal to rezone more than 800 acres of farmland for what would become another large data center development. Residents packed the meeting to oppose it. By multiple accounts, no organized speakers appeared in support of the project.
According to Fox 4, city leaders allotted one hour for supporters and one hour for opponents to speak. Residents later complained that the process appeared tilted against citizens because there were virtually no supporters present, while opponents continued lining up to address the council.
The proposal ultimately involved rezoning approximately 830 acres and included a tax abatement package approved by a 4 to 1 vote. Fox 4 reported the council entered executive session for nearly an hour before returning shortly before midnight to cast the decisive vote. Residents who remained said they were willing to stay until 2 a.m. if necessary.
Mayor Mark Stanfill and council members Willie Franklin Jr., Ricardo Miller, and Tim Lightfoot formed the majority approving the measure. Councilman Jeffrey Smith cast the lone dissenting vote. Critics say the four officials effectively ignored overwhelming public opposition and pressed ahead anyway.
Residents repeatedly raised concerns about noise, electrical demand, water consumption, and the location of the facility near schools. City officials argued the project would not use city water for cooling and emphasized the economic benefits and tax revenue expected from the development.
Those assurances did little to calm residents.
“How many of these data centers are next to your house, Mr. Mayor? How many are on the east side of town?” resident Martel Edwards asked during the meeting.
Kim Sterman expressed concern about children attending nearby schools.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen to the children who are going to be going to schools,” Sterman said. “All of our schools over there, the high school and the junior high are going to be pretty close to this new patent board facility. Y’all don’t know what’s going to happen.“
Residents also complained that city officials threatened individuals displaying anti-data center signs on their property, allegations reported separately by local media and discussed by residents during and after the controversy. Those claims could not be independently verified by Pipkins Reports.
The battle in Red Oak reflects a growing national trend. Data centers are essential to modern computing and artificial intelligence systems. But communities across Texas and the country have increasingly questioned the rapid expansion of these facilities.
Critics point to concerns over electricity demand, environmental impacts, noise, and the industrialization of previously rural land. Some studies and utility reports have warned that rising AI related power consumption could place additional stress on electric grids and contribute to higher costs for consumers.
Residents expressed frustration that another major project was being approved despite widespread opposition. Some expressed that the process to replace the Mayor and other City Council members, began last night and that the action they have taken regarding the Data Center has sealed their fate.
Sources: Red Oak YouTube; Fox 4 News; City of Red Oak records;
Fate, TX — Monday night’s Fate City Council meeting delivered another dose of controversy and intrigue. Residents who came expecting routine municipal business instead witnessed discussions involving a recall election, disputed recordings, ethics complaints, charter interpretations, and an ongoing struggle over the future direction of city government.
Among the most controversial topics was that of a proclamation declaring June as, “Nuclear Family Month”.
Many people showed up to express their displeasure with the Mayor’s Proclamation. Among the dissenters was former Councilman Mark Harper. Harper tried to express that the proclamation would be a First Amendment violation. In the days leading up to the meeting, Harper and his wife, Sonya, used social media to rally opposition to the proclamation.
Several advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community came out in protest. They believe that the proclamation was exclusionary to same-sex couples with children. But praising one model is not the same thing as declaring other models illegitimate, inferior under the law, or unworthy of respect.
Just as a city may issue a proclamation recognizing military families, such does not exclude civilian families. A city may celebrate small local businesses, but it doesn’t mean they are attacking large corporations. Governments frequently highlight specific groups, traditions, or institutions because they believe those groups have made valuable contributions. Recognition is not necessarily exclusion. This applies to same-sex couples.
Supporters of the proclamation reject claims that the Proclamation violated the First Amendment.
First, government officials are not required to be secular. The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that religious references are deeply embedded in American public life. Every City Council meeting opens with a prayer; virtually all of them from a Judeo-Christian perspective. Proclamations recognizing Christmas, Thanksgiving, National Days of Prayer, and similar observances have existed throughout American history. Our national motto is “In God We Trust.“
Second, a proclamation is not a law. The Fate proclamation does not compel anyone to believe anything, attend church, adopt a particular family structure, marry, have children, or embrace Christianity. It creates no penalties, no regulations, and no government program. It is merely a symbolic expression of values. The Supreme Court has consistently distinguished between government coercion and government expression.
Third, elected officials have First Amendment rights too. Mayor Andrew Greenberg and the City Council are allowed to express viewpoints. Governments issue proclamations all the time recognizing Pride Month, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Veterans Day, and countless other causes and constituencies. The fact that some residents in the LGBTQIA+ community disagree with the message does not make it unconstitutional. The First Amendment protects speech people dislike just as much as speech people support.
In fact, in this same meeting, Mayor Andrew Greenberg presented a proclamation to declare June 2nd, 2026, as Codi Chinn Day. This follows Chinn’s removal from office through the recall process earlier this year. Some residents have criticized Chinn’s social media activity, referring to her social media style as, “toxic”, while others have defended her conduct. Many residents question whether a recalled councilperson deserves an appreciation award at all.
Mayor Greenberg acknowledged that initially, he let his own personal anger and frustration get the better of him as he first decided that Chinn would not get a proclamation. He acknowledged that he made that decision as “Andrew”, not as, “Mayor”. After he settled on allowing the proclamation to go forth, he had missed the deadline for the previous meeting, thus causing a delay that some in the community interpreted as a slight. After reflection, he wanted to make it right.
Thus, a proclamation is not a law. It is a symbolic expression of opinion that residents are free to agree or disagree with.
Another significant action before the council was the consideration of an ordinance ordering a special election to determine whether Councilwoman Martha Huffman should be removed from office through the recall process. Huffman elected not to have a hearing over the matter, and thus her recall is the first to be considered. The motion passed, and her recall will be on the November general election ballot.
Mayor Andrew Greenberg presented information and research concerning charter provisions governing council vacancies, an issue that has arisen following the recall of former Councilwoman Codi Chinn. The presentation included discussion of Charter Review Commission deliberations, prior council actions, public records, meeting minutes, and constitutional considerations regarding the city’s vacancy procedures.
According to Greenberg’s presentation, several past appointments, including that of former Councilman Scott Kelley, may not have complied with the charter’s vacancy provisions.
Going forward, as the council follows the written & approved language of the charter, appointments will be made for only the 6-month period between November and May elections.
The council voted that an appointment will be made for Place 1, which will last until November, when an election will be held to finish out the unexpired term to May 2027 … which will then culminate in the regularly scheduled election for that seat.
Transparency was another major theme of the evening.
After Mayor and Council reports, the Council adjourned once again into executive session to discuss with attorney, matters of ethics complaints filed by Former Councilman Mark Harper against Mayor Greenberg, Ethics complaints against Mark Harper, and Codi Chinn by Darcy Gildon. This executive session ended just before midnight.
Upon return, Councilman Allan Robbins moved to find that Greenberg had violated ethics and asked that the council proceed with sanctions against the mayor. The motion was 2nd by Councilwoman Ashley Gains. The mayor expressed that there was no credible evidence that was sufficiently explained. The motion failed on a 4-2 vote, ending the matter without sanctions against the mayor. The complaint is now closed.
Initial screening of ethics complaint against Codi Chinn by Darcy Gildon. The Council found that investigation of the complaint is sufficient and that an investigative report will be submitted to the Council at the July meeting.
Initial screening of ethics complaint against Mark Harper by Darcy Gildon. The Council voted to dismiss the complaint after determining that the evidence presented was insufficient to warrant further action. Motion submitted by Robbins and 2nd by Rains. Only Mark Hatley voted against the motion. The matter is now closed.
The meeting concluded Tuesday morning, just after midnight.
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