Militia Matters, Texas Monthly, and January 6th Accusations
Hello Friends,
As we write this odds are that some of you have already seen a Texas Monthly article which has kicked up some dust locally and in “Texas Journalist Twitter.” It’s actually a small sphere of folks, but one with some outsized influence. As we write these words, it’s still too soon to tell if the article will find any true resonance with the public at large.
NBC’s Mike Hixenbaugh sums up the piece somewhat handily below, though one might accuse him and others of trying to make a little too much out of what they call “pro-secessionist” leanings on the part of the County Attorney. More on that in just a bit.
Essentially, the piece tries to connect certain dots between the arrest of a January 6th protest-connected individual in Kinney County, months ago, and ranch property where Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith resides. Some online have even leapt to the conclusion that Smith must’ve been “harboring” a fugitive from justice. Readers will surely recall that Smith is the local figure most responsible for prosecuting trespassing cases related to Operation Lone Star. Some have even started suggesting he may somehow be one of the architects of the whole thing. Hilarious if false. Amazing if true: the idea that someone in a small town in the forgotten hinterlands of Texas has somehow bent the entire state to his will.
The Texas Monthly article in question was written by a reporter named James Dobbins, who we’ve gotten to know superficially as he comes and goes covering events in Kinney County and elsewhere along the border for the New York Times and Texas Monthly.
Personally, we find him to be very persistent and aware, and believe that he conducts himself with integrity. For instance, when submitting questions by email, he doesn’t shy away from asking hard ones. Some reporters will think to be sly, submitting softballs in the hope they’ll be able to sit down with a subject in person later, and really nail them with the high hard ones then. Dobbins, that devil, comes at his subjects head-on. What times are we living in, that a straightforward approach like this feels so refreshing and rare?
In his defense, for those who want to outright dismiss the story as a left-leaning hack-job, it is not as if Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith or others were willing to speak with him and correct any misapprehensions. It may be that they believed it a waste of time to do so. Given how polarized anything and everything with a whiff of political consequence has become in these times, it’s hard to disagree. One must note that Texas Monthly has made few attempts to lean in any direction but solidly Austin blue for decades.
In any event, lets dig in to the thing, and see what more may be said about matters. It should be stressed, that while we do sometimes function as a public information officer for the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office, any writing here in this newsletter is entirely our own opinion, and should not be mistaken as any official utterance on behalf of the County or any officials in it. Indeed, we have not spoken to Mr. Smith since the 14th.
Firstly, it should be noted that the new news here, isn’t that a January 6th adjacent figure was arrested in Kinney County. That actually came out months ago. The new news here, is that Texas Monthly was able to get DPS-sourced documentation linking the matter to property where the County Attorney apparently resides.
We’ve seen the document. We’ve checked the address. It’s appears to reference a parcel of land suggestive of a hunting lease next door to the County Attorney’s residence. It is safe to assume that the land is owned by the County Attorney or his family. It is also reasonable to assume, based on the timing of his arrest, and coverage at the time, that Lucas Denney and other individuals were part of volunteer militia folk attempting to work with local land owners and property managers as temporary ranch hands— that they were there to provide a certain amount of security and peace of mind as folks struggled with still-ongoing foot traffic of illegal aliens coming through the county. Remember— 4,000 just in the month of May.
You can see some of our earlier coverage of militia and militia-related activity in Kinney County here. Here. and here. And also here:
The above ‘special’ link has the militia-relevant material at the end. But it also happens to include some relevant material about the Governor of Texas shipping illegal aliens to Washington D.C. which has seen some new developments we will touch upon later.
As you investigate this militia matter for yourself— also realize that the FBI first interviewed this Lucas “Rooster” Denney just weeks after the January 6th incident, and let him go for whatever reason.
It’s not until almost a year later, in Dec. of 2021 that they decided to arrest him. By then, he was apparently working on a ranch in Kinney County. According to the article, Denney knew he was wanted. The source for that, by the way, is an unnamed individual who goes by the online nom-de-guerre “Teach,” who answered an email sent to an email account that Denney was apparently once associated with. It’s not clear how Denney knew he was wanted, but one can imagine family and friends back home in North Texas might’ve been questioned about his whereabouts.
Is it safe to assume Teach is correct, that Denney knew he was wanted by the time he came to Kinney County and was trying to hide out here? Maybe. Given what any US Military Veteran must know about the Government’s ability to track people down, one would have to be an idiot to think they’d be able to hide, even in Kinney County. But whatever. Let us presume that this anonymous individual named “Teach” is correct and that Denney was knowingly hiding out.
Is it possible that the County Attorney didn’t know Denney was wanted? Yes. It is possible. Some will want to insist that it is somehow unlikely, however.
Realize— by the FBI’s own actions, Denney was theoretically a free man, and a citizen in good standing in the months after questioning him and letting him go. Anyone performing a casual consumer-grade background check on the man would not be privy to whatever suspicions the FBI or others might have had. It’s also possible that a law-enforcement background check would’ve come up empty, if it was performed before the FBI decided to formally charge the man. Witness the efficacy of FBI background checks as applied to many of the recent mass shooters.
It should be noted, that once Denney was identified and located, he was peacefully and compliantly turned over to authorities without incident.
The article does seem to have some traction in this section:
How long Denney stayed at the ranch, and whether Smith knew he was there, is unknown. When Texas Monthly emailed the official account of the Patriot Boys, a replier identified only by the nickname “Teach” said Denney had stayed on the ranch three months. The emailer wrote that Denney knew the FBI wanted him, and that that Sam Hall, leader of the Patriots for America militia, an armed group that was welcomed by Kinney County officials to help patrol the border, introduced Denney to Smith. Hall declined an interview request. In February, Smith said he does not have, “nor have I ever had any relationship with Lucas Denney.”
A casual reader could easily assume there’s no way Smith didn’t know Denney’s name, or not have some kind of a relationship with him, if he was on the ranch for 3 months as some kind of licensed agent, theoretically legally able to detain trespassers.
Smith may speak to that in time— or he may not. One suspects its entirely possible that someone else in a managerial position on the family ranch was dealing with the nuts and bolts of any militia folk and Smith was busy going about the business of trying to prosecute trespassing cases.
At this point, folks in the County and elsewhere can rest assured that the FBI and other state and federal agencies probably have some better notion of what doings were in play and active on the ranch with Denney and other possible militia types coming and going from Kinney County. And, as we’ve seen in just this one case— months of seeming inaction can go by before charges are suddenly levied and arrests are made. Will they be arresting the County Attorney or his family members at some point? All things are theoretically possible, but one would like to think they would’ve already done so if they were going to. It’s possible that a calculation has been made that it would be better to surveille the County Attorney and other figures electronically so as to better map out individuals and organizations that might deserve closer scrutiny, even if no laws are known to be broken.
In the end— articles such as this one will more than likely mostly serve certain individual interests. They burnish credentials, for one. We have no idea what the mandarins at Texas Monthly and the New York Times might feel on the subject— but they probably ought to think about some kind of promotion for Mr. Dobbins. If one isn’t in store— perhaps the calculation is that one must keep the hounds hungry if they are to hunt for their meat. It’s a shame— Mr. Dobbins surely deserves a place at the table with the rest of the grass-fed reporters out there.
It also burnishes the credentials for Mr. Smith in a fashion many may not appreciate at first. The article, and certain breathless exclamations being made on the internet in some quarters make Mr. Smith seem to be some kind of outsized extreme right-wing up-and-comer. By their words online, one might think Smith is a fascistic Leonidas on the horizon. If they keep it up, he just might be able to run for statewide office some day. If he wants it. No such thing as bad press, if notoriety in some quarters is as good as approval in others. If you think that’s a joke— recall, Governor Rick Perry once made headlines for joking about Texas Secession. Except maybe he wasn’t? Or he was? Wasn’t he? Weird.
We may be the only ones bothering to recall, but didn’t it seem like the only times Rick Perry got any national heat while running for President were those times he was saying seemingly off the wall crap? Kind of like Trump, later, when you think about it. What are the odds that Trump noticed that back in 2008 and 2009? One wonders.
We mentioned addressing perceived pro-secessionist leanings attributed to the County Attorney earlier. Much is being made about reporting that Brent Smith is labeled as some kind of a legal advisor to the Texas Nationalist Movement, which advocates for the secession of Texas. We forget where we read the interview originally, but the County Attorney’s side of that story is that some people came up to him at an event, identified themselves as members of the TNM, and asked if they could consult with him for legal advice. He said sure. Next thing he knows there’s a website out there with his picture, calling him a senior legal advisor— as if there are meetings and payrolls and he’s on retainer. It’s a great story. Wacky enough to be true, when truth is so often stranger than fiction.
In any event, we’ll see what happens next. There has been speculation in some quarters of the internet that the Federal Government might seek to make an example out of individual Texas State Troopers presently sending illegal aliens to the ports of entry— possibly accusing them of depriving illegal aliens of their civil rights under color of law. It should be noted however, that this speculation has not quite risen to the level of possibility where any major news sources seem willing to report on it. Perhaps it’s just political swamp gas fever dreaming.
Speaking of Governors— an apology is owed to Texas Governor Greg Abbot. Readers may recall we dismissed his busing illegal aliens to Washington D.C. as a stupid little border stunt. See our earlier link above.
Well, turns out it may’ve been more cunning than we thought. It’s entirely possible that the Governor and his staff had a much better read on what would eventually happen in Washington, as D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser went on the CBS News Sunday Morning show this weekend to complain about the practice.
She’s not the only one. Elites are squeaking about it in New York too:
Enjoy the schadenfreude. Time will tell if folks will be able to take what’s happening in New York and Washington, and apply it to the collective months and months of misery folks living along the border have seen. And even if they can manage that, it remains to be seen what they’ll be willing to do about it, when so far the most they’ve done is gaslight folks, telling them that everything is actually fine on the border and that there is no crisis- it’s a figment of political creation.
Until the next time— keep it high and tight, and stay positive. Despite all the bad news out there, this remains a fine time to be alive and kicking. As always, we hasten to point out that this newsletter is something that predates our employment at Kinney County, and is maintained out of a sense of obligation to our readers and our own personal enjoyment. Keeping current with the issues is frankly a lot easier when we’re producing the newsletter, so we’re going to keep on keeping on. Readers should not mistake any words here as being official statements on behalf of Kinney County.
Have a great Wednesday and we’ll see you again soon.
I like tongue-in-cheek.
Hard to believe the masterminds of operation lonestar operating in such austere and remote conditions so far removed from the rest of the State.