Monday, August 03, 2026

Moving The Overton Window

Some clever dick in Twitter replies to Talarico (not this post), pointed out that Paxton was a lawyer before he was the State AG; and yes, he was. Wikipedia tells me he worked for Strasburger and Price out of law school, and then as general counsel for JCPenney. After 11 years of that, he opened a “boutique” firm doing probate and real estate work. Then he was in the Texas House and Senate for 13 years; but that’s part-time work, 6 months every two years. So he was still running his legal practice; but he wasn’t a rain maker partner at a major firm, so he wasn’t making (honest) money to afford houses like that.👆

Evidence of his corruption and how he lived large in houses his AG full-time salary couldn’t afford came out in his impeachment trial. Paxton owns 15 houses. He hasn’t worked as a private lawyer for 11 years. He was never making “fuck you” money. The lawyers I knew in Austin making real money were too busy year round to spend 6 months down the street at the Capitol, much less move to Austin from parts beyond every two years. Lawyers don’t make “fuck you” money unless they are attached to major firms with major clients paying major $$ for the representation. Lawyers are not CEOs. They don’t get paid by the corporation, they get paid by their billable hours. No work, no money. Paxton didn’t wisely invest some nest egg he made over a decade ago. Not running an estate planning firm.

The problem of the tolerance for corruption, or rather the lack of tolerance, is what Trump hath wrought. And I think, now, that just as it’s right to see WWII as the conclusion of WWI, just interrupted by the time between those wars (what led to the first one, and especially what wasn’t resolved about Europe until the end of the second; a resolution only finally completed by the collapse of the USSR allowing for the establishment of the EU), on a much smaller scale, as what happened after 1968 in America, where Covid is analogous to WWI, and now we’re finally ending what that started, with WWII. Not in terms of armed conflict, but in terms of who we are as Americans, and whether we want to live in the world 1968 promised, or return to the 1950’s; maybe even the 1920’s.

We’re still fighting what Covid (right now) started, IOW. You may recall one result of Covid was hints that the poorest paid (garbage collectors, waitstaff) would not return to their poor income positions, without at least better income. Unfortunately, that pseudo-labor union hope never materialized; but the desire was awakened. I don’t think we should discount that as dead and gone. And like the Germans accepted Hitler because of the dolchstosslegende (to grossly oversimplify), so we reaccepted  Trump because Biden didn’t save us from the economic crisis Covid prompted (we blamed Biden for not saving us. Which may indicate how bad things were beyond the statistics and the people pundits talk to.  I think that explains a great deal now, too.) We only had two choices, so we overlooked the fact we were relying on the guy who created this mess.

Now we’re paying attention to that little problem.
Q: You’ve been Republicans for most of your voting lives. Who’s voting for James Talarico?

Republican moms: *all raise their hands*

“I like him. He was a middle school teacher in a public school in Texas, and they started cutting all his funding and he said, ‘Well, if I can’t change my school, then I’m gonna need to change my state.’ And that’s so becoming of a leader.

I want a middle school teacher who’s like, hey, this is broken. Somebody needs to fix it. Why not me?”

“This is not what I signed up for. Give me somebody who’s not extremist. I don’t care what party they are. I’m going to vote for whoever is the most common sense and who I think would be the most likely to protect my kids.”

“You’re never going to vote for a candidate that thinks exactly like you… You need to get on the bus that’s driving closest to where you want to end up. Talarico, I find him to be pretty moderate, and I think that is telling of what’s happening in the state of Texas. The Republicans should be worried.”
Trump did that, too.

Me, I think Talarico is “moderate” the way Mamdani is moderate. 
@JamesTalarico on Texas officially banning THC:

“This bill is insane.

Texans aren’t going to stop smoking weed and eating edibles because politicians in Austin say so. Texans will still use THC — but instead of getting it safely from a local small business, they’ll go back to getting it from the black market. From the drug cartels.


This ban is a gift to the cartels.

We are now telling full-grown adults how to live their lives. This is the nanny state at its worst; this is big government at its worst.

Instead of fully funding our schools, guaranteeing healthcare, or making childcare more affordable — this Legislature is focused on banning a product that gives people a little peace.

We’re making people’s lives harder, not easier.

I want to leave you with a quote: ‘It is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use.’ That wasn’t a Democrat. That was President Donald Trump.

To my Republican colleagues, I’m asking you to oppose the cartels, stand with President Trump, and vote no on this insane bill.”
Not so long ago, banning THC in Texas WAS the moderate position. Seems that Overton window moves in both directions.
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