Texas
Texas has the tools to stop Temu, a Chinese app
Texans don’t shy away from a fight.
The Lone Star State leads the nation in protecting our citizens and assets against malign foreign influence. With today’s digitized economy, one of the most critical layers of protection is for our data and privacy.
Washington has moved too slowly on data and privacy protection. That’s why our state legislators took matters into their own hands by enacting the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, which passed Texas’ House and Senate unanimously and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2023. The TXDPSA is a bipartisan, good-government win.
The TXDPSA went into full effect on July 1, just in time to protect Texans against threats from China’s government. The law ensures that Texans have rights over their own personal data, along with privacy protections against corporations, both foreign and domestic, that do business in the Lone Star State.
As we enter into a new era of cyberwarfare and espionage, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is America’s most comprehensive foreign threat. The party views digital applications as espionage tools to seize as much American data as possible for Beijing’s use. Unbeknownst to many Texans, Temu, the Chinese e-commerce giant that has spent billions of dollars marketing to Americans, is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arsenal of such tools.
While Temu is not explicitly mentioned in China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, as a company based in the People’s Republic of China, Temu and its parent company are subject to the law’s requirement to turn over consumers’ data to the Chinese government, as outlined in a Department of Homeland Security report: “A PRC intelligence agency may request that any PRC firm or entity secretly share access to a U.S. business or individual’s data, or otherwise face penalties.”
Like TikTok, Temu is another Trojan horse for the Chinese.
Temu is part of a long-term, comprehensive strategy that China has been implementing in the United States for the better part of the last decade, using social media, advertising and e-commerce platforms to gain access to our data. The Temu app has infiltrated our homes, schools, military bases and hospitals, and that’s just the beginning.
As of May 2024, Temu had approximately 50 million users in the U.S. — approximately one third of all users across the globe, according to Sensor Tower.
To be blunt: The Chinese won’t stop unless we stop them.
The good news is that Americans are beginning to take notice and take legal action. According to a high-profile class-action lawsuit filed in Illinois, Temu has “wiretapped the electronic communications of its website visitors and failed to alert customers of a data breach.” The lawsuit continues saying that Temu “is purposefully and intentionally loaded with dangerous malware and spyware activities on user devices … all while going to great efforts to intentionally hide the malicious intent and intrusiveness of the software.”
It’s time for Texas to get in the fight.
Gov. Abbott has led the fight against China’s technological influence by enacting a Model Security Plan for Prohibited Technologies, which has become a national blueprint. Abbott banned TikTok and a series of other applications on official state devices and broadband. Abbott should add Temu to this prohibited list. In fact, the app should be banned as broadly as possible in any interaction with Texas’ government, which the security plan allows.
Next, Texas should eliminate its financial exposure to Temu and other adversary companies. For example, Texas’ ERS pension fund holds shares of PDD Holdings, which owns Temu.
Recently, Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a Data Privacy and Security Initiative to protect Texans from foreign companies attempting to harvest American data. Paxton should immediately use his authority to launch a consumer protection investigation into Temu and its ties to Beijing. If evidence justifies it, Temu’s activities should be broadly curtailed within the Lone Star State to protect Texas consumers. Giving China’s government access to our cellphone data provides seamless access to our biometrics, home addresses, credit card information and more.
In addition to investigating Temu, Paxton should also lead the charge against China’s infiltration by rallying other states’ attorneys general into taking a stronger stance against Temu. Turning a blind eye to China’s proxies puts all states in danger.
Texas must make it unequivocally clear that if China wants to launch a spy campaign in the Lone Star State, they’ll be met with the full force of our government. Unlike Washington, D.C., here in Texas, we know how to quickly and decisively recognize and eliminate threats. With a crystal-clear Chinese threat in our state, it’s time to act.
Michael Lucci is the Founder and CEO of State Armor, a research nonprofit focusing on state policy solutions to global security threats.
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Texas
Texas man accused of killing pregnant wife allegedly cuts off ankle monitor and flees to Italy
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A Texas man facing charges for allegedly killing his pregnant wife has reportedly cut off his ankle monitor and fled abroad.
Lee Mongerson Gilley, 39, is accused of murdering his wife, Christa Bauer Gilley, and the couple’s unborn child in Houston in 2024, according to KPRC.
Gilley was set to appear in court Tuesday, but instead flew from Texas to Canada, and finally Italy, where he told authorities he was seeking asylum after being “wrongfully prosecuted” and is fearful of receiving the death penalty, his attorney told the outlet.
“I’m concerned that the prosecution will try to say that it’s evidence of consciousness of guilt that he’s running from it, but I think he’s just scared,” defense attorney Dick DeGuerin reportedly said.
NAVY RESERVIST ON ACTIVE DUTY ACCUSED OF MURDERING WIFE BELIEVED TO HAVE FLED TO HONG KONG
Lee Mongerson Gilley, 39, is accused of murdering his wife, Christa Bauer Gilley, and their unborn child in Houston in 2024, according to KPRC. (Christa Bauer Gilley/Facebook)
Gilley, whose murder trial was set to begin later this month, is reportedly in the custody of Italian authorities. His ankle monitor alerted authorities it had been tampered with on Friday, according to the outlet.
DeGuerin told the outlet that before Gilley can be returned to Texas, the state must certify to Italy that he is not eligible for the death penalty — which the prosecution is not seeking in his case.
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Gilley is accused of killing his wife, Christa, and their unborn baby by “applying pressure to [her] neck and upper back” on Oct. 7, 2024, according to charging documents obtained by People.
HUSBAND CHARGED IN PREGNANT PHYSICAL THERAPIST WIFE’S MURDER AFTER GIVING POLICE A DIFFERENT STORY
Defense attorney Ed McClees and his client, Lee Mongerson Gilley, appear in the 497th District Court at the Harris County Justice Center in Houston on Oct. 17, 2024. Gilley is charged with capital murder in the death of his wife, Christa Gilley. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Prosecutors reportedly allege Gilley initially claimed Christa, who was nine months pregnant, had overdosed and that he had tried to save her with CPR, but a medical examiner later pointed to evidence of strangulation and ruled her death a homicide.
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After he was arrested days later, Gilley allegedly admitted his wife was not a drug user or suicidal, and that the couple had been arguing before her death, KPRC reported.
In 2025, while out on bond, prosecutors reportedly allege Gilley and an unnamed woman, whom he had an affair with in 2023, devised a scheme to flee to Mexico and other countries, according to the outlet.
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Prosecutors allege Lee Mongerson Gilley killed his wife, Christa Bauer Gilley, who was nine months pregnant, in Houston in 2024. (Christa Bauer Gilley/Facebook)
“The Defendant also inquired as to whether she knew of a Mexican identity he could acquire to facilitate his departure from the country,” the document said.
Gilley also allegedly “provided a detailed plan” to remove his GPS monitor and perform a sham marriage to obtain a new identity, prosecutors reportedly said.
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Authorities are working to extradite Gilley back to the country, according to KPRC.
Gilley’s defense attorney and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) announced on Monday that Texas baseball pitcher Dylan Volantis will share this week’s Pitcher of the Week award with LSU’s Zac Cowan. From Texas Athletics’ announcement:
“Against No. 10 Mississippi State, Volantis registered a co-career-best 12 strikeouts and scattered three singles across six scoreless innings. After the Bulldogs notched a two-out infield hit in the first, the 6-foot-6, 220-pound left-hander retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced. Volantis capped off that stretch by punching out the side on only 10 pitches in the fourth. Overall, the Thousand Oaks, Calif., native threw 107 pitches, which marked the most by a Longhorn this year. In Texas’ 3-1 victory, the Longhorns totaled 19 strikeouts, tying their most in a nine-inning game in program history.“
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Texas
‘Muslim only’ event at taxpayer-funded Texas waterpark gets major splash back: ‘Should we expect a Christians only day?’
A taxpayer-funded Texas waterpark is getting splash-back for a “Muslims only” event next month after a local Islamic group rented out the facility.
A flier for the DFW Epic Eid event on June 1 noted three times that attendance was strictly for Muslims — and modest swimsuits are required.
“Seems like a civil rights violation,” one outraged commenter said.
“Should we expect a ‘Christians Only’ day?” another commenter asked.
Radio host Dana Loesch asked, “How is a taxpayer-funded, city-owned entity allowed to discriminate against non-Muslims at a public water park?”
After the backlash, the organizer of the event, Aminah Knight, told The Post that she is backtracking on how she is advertising it — “to make it clearer that this is a modest dress-only event centered around celebrating Eid.”
The third-annual event is being held at Epic Waters in Grand Prairie, outside Dallas, a massive, 80,000-square-feet indoor waterpark opened in 2017 at a cost of $88 million.
The park was funded by a 0.25% sales tax residents approved at the ballot box in 2014.
The FAQ for the event says “the entire waterpark has been exclusively reserved for Muslims.”
Although the event website says men and women will not be separated during the event, it notes “we ask all attendees to uphold Islamic etiquette just as they do in other mixed gender spaces,” and encourages all visitors to follow a “modest” dress code and lower their gaze around members of the opposite sex “to help preserve a spiritually mindful and welcoming atmosphere for all.”
The website offers suggestions, including an entire “what to wear” section of the site, complete with purchase links for modesty-approved swimwear for women, girls, boys and toddlers.
Event tickets are being advertised for $55 a pop, or $65 with food included, all of which will be certified halal, according to the flyer.
Also advertised is a private prayer room, which will be available between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. on the night of the celebration.
A new flier for the event — released on Monday — removed the worlds “Muslim only” and replaced it with “modest dress only” and added the line “come and celebrate Eid with us, all are welcome!”
Knight told The Post that she did not mean to exclude non-Muslims in organizing the event.
“The core intention behind this event is to create a space where individuals and families who value modest dress and a modest environment can come together and feel comfortable enjoying a recreational space that often doesn’t naturally accommodate those preferences,” she said.
“While the event is rooted in celebrating Eid within the Muslim community, the guiding principle for attendance is the modest dress code.
“Guests are expected to follow that guideline; such as burkinis for women and swim trunks with shirts for men.”
Knight said the park regularly rents out the space for private events, and that this event is no different.
A spokesperson for the water park said the event is “not hosted or organized” by Epic Waters, and that it makes its space available for rent to a variety of groups, including faith-based orgs like DFW Epic Eid.
“These groups regularly book our venue for birthday parties, celebrations, youth events, corporate programming, and other activities, including full-park buyouts for large-scale private or ticketed events. As with all rentals, the hosting entity, not the waterpark, determines the event’s programming,” the spokesperson said.
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