Showing posts sorted by date for query texas. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query texas. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

😬

Things are not going all that well for Paxton.
Yeah, about that: Paxton has earned “six figures” every 18 months since 2006 for a cell tower in Frisco, Texas located on the Baylor, Scott & White clinic campus. Paxton acquired the leasehold when he was on the board of directors of the clinic. In other words, he took care of himself. The response of the Paxton campaign is telling:
"The New York Times is not a newspaper anymore; it is an opposition research slop shop," Senior Paxton advisor Nick Maddux said in a statement. "It hired a journalist with a long history of manufacturing fake stories that have all been debunked to continue its slop on the Texas Senate beat."

"Last week, every major publication in Texas covered the overflow crowds at Attorney General Paxton's 'Protect the Texas Promise' tour, and the Times spent that same week combing through 20-year-old lease paperwork on a cell tower that Ken Paxton has disclosed publicly for many years," he continued. "That is not journalism; that is a search for a story that does not exist."
That’s not a denial of anything in the story. At best, it’s an attempt to call it old news. But I don’t recall Paxton publicizing his income from that lease; or how he got it. And he’s not answering those questions now; or denying the reporting.

And since I started it, let’s talk about “overflow crowds.” Talarico drew over 1000 people in Pasadena, not exactly a deep blue area; neither is Port Arthur, but: Paxton filled up a Mexican restaurant in Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb. The crowd did over flow the restaurant, but there is no report on the crowd estimate. I know of at least one Mexican restaurant where an overflow crowd would, indeed, be a lot of people. But it’s one of the largest Mexican restaurants I know. And it is in Austin. This restaurant in Allen could be that big, but that would be unusual.

It was Paxton’s third trip to Allen.

You can’t draw any solid conclusions from this. But Paxton is running against his own record, and not outrunning his record of corruption and self-dealing.

All in all, I’d rather be in the Talarico campaign.

BTW, that phone call was worse than I thought:
TOWN HALL CALLER: Hi Paxton, nice to meet you. I'm just wondering -- why did you cheat on you wife?

KEN PAXTON: Um. I'm not going to talk about personal issues that relate to my family, just like I don't think you would want to discuss your marriage on a call with thousands of people. All I can tell you is that I'm proud of my kids.
Still don’t know how that ended on “I’m proud of my kids.”
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“Accountability” Is The New…Orange

Trump rants:
“Chandler Hall, representing, on Television, the foolish Center for American Lack of Progress, stated that adding the National Guard to Cities, including our now Great Again, Washington, D.C., had ‘NO impact on Crime.’ How crazy is that,” Trump posted.

“Hall was met with furious dissent. The report is just another Radical Left SCAM, as are the people who fund this gaggle of Lunatics, including George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates, Google, Apple, Visa, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, WellsFargo, Bank of America, Walmart, Toyota, T-Mobile, and NBC Universal. Foreign support includes the Embassy of Japan, the Korea Foundation, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (Taiwan), and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates,” he continued. “The Dumocrats love it, and are against anything ‘TRUMP.’ These people, and others like them, are so bad for our Country. Their stated course is anything to hate or demean ‘TRUMP.’

I am also strongly considering adding some of the contributors to this Fake Organization. Crime is way down since I took Office, and they know it. Liars, at this level, must be held accountable! President DONALD J. TRUMP.
Unfortunately for Trump, not every “lie” is actionable. Libel law is a little more particular than “I don’t like what he said!” Trump’s remedy at law is to publish this post, in disagreement with the findings of CAP. It’s then up to the public to decide who has more credibility.

It’s as simple as that. But Trump wants to hold CAP “accountable.” And there the problems, such as they are, arise. 

“Accountability” is the new black: everyone wants to be wearing it. But accountability is responsibility, and nobody wants that. I’ve noticed the rise of demands for criminal punishment for decidedly non-criminal actions. Some people demand Mitch McConnell and all who serve him be charged with crimes simply because…the Senator wants some privacy? I think we should know the medical condition of the President. We only have one at a time; we provide him a house, staff, a private plane and helicopter. He’s on call 24/7. If McConnell misses a floor vote in ordinary circumstances, who even notices? Are we entitled to know the private lives of all 100 Senators the way we should know about the POTUS? Even the President withholding his medical information is not a crime, not even a misdemeanor. I get the frustration over McConnell’s absence; but calling for criminal punishment is Trump’s favorite distraction. When he can’t get that, he threatens to sue. It’s another cudgel the rich have.

It’s easy to forget NYT v Sullivan was decided in the context of local, racist governments suing civil rights organizations for alleged libel, the better to shut them up. Fortunately, the NYT had the money to fight the common use of the libel law, which, as a common law tort, was the privilege of the privileged. No commoner could ever claim damages to his reputation; only the landed gentry and public figures had that privilege. Libel laws were never about lies (despite truth being the “absolute defense”); they were always about preserving privilege. Which is how Sullivan was using it, when the Supreme Court democratized libel law under the First Amendment.

Trump can’t possibly sue CAP (not credibly, anyway), and he really should be penalized if he tries to. But plaintiffs are generally too privileged to face that consequence, either.

There are fair distinctions to be made here, though they seldom are. Accountability at the ballot box is one thing. Accountability in the court of public opinion, another. Accountability under law should be handled carefully, and sought judiciously (pun intended). But if you want to scream and yell about it, then there really is no difference between you, and Trump.

I’ve noticed the most “radical” politicians: AOC, El Sayed, Hong, Mamdani, are labeled such by inflammatory GOP rhetoric. The politicians I listed aren’t screaming for blood or demanding Trump’s head on a pike or swearing loyalty to a legal jihad/ass kicking. They are promising, or working towards, concrete solutions to problems average people are facing. Here in Texas, Paxton quit talking about “Talafreako” and started talking about helping Texans…through federal tax credits. Something most working Texans can’t access, because they don’t have the money and tax bracket Paxton (and Trump) does. Talarico is pointing out how corrupt Paxton is, but that’s to win the election, not a promise of retribution. Paxton’s not going to lose his homes if Talarico wins; except as a consequence of no longer being a government official who can help his rich friends. And I’m okay with that.

Accountability is a good thing, and a Democratically controlled Congress needs to apply it to Trump. But if that Congress doesn’t do what the “radical” candidates promise, accountability will just mean failure. Accountability won’t put food on their tables; or raise the minimum wage; or lower inflation and shrink the deficit. Gotta do what the people need, like Mamdani is doing.

Screaming on social media about “accountability” may make you feel better. But it won’t win horse races. 🏇 
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Idiocracy

 Yup:

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines autism as a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and social interaction. Other characteristics often associated with autism are: engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements; resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines; and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The characteristics of autism are generally evident before age three, but a child who manifests the characteristics after age three could be identified as having autism if the eligibility criteria are satisfied. Texas has also published Commissioner’s Rules regarding autism eligibility (§ 89.1040).

In the 2025-2026 school year, 160,218 Texas students received special education services due to the disability condition of autism (TEA 2025-2026 Special Education Reports).
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed under Ford in 1975, and amended in 1990 to include autism as a covered condition. It literally became a diagnosed condition rather than “difficult child,” or the reprehensible “mentally retarded.”

Maybe someone should remind RFK that “idiot” and “moron” were once legal terms of art, tied to IQ scores or, in the case of Carrie Buck (and others), simple social opprobrium. Maybe someone should ask the Secretary why we don’t have any “idiots” and “morons” around anymore.

When your argument is that weak (“We didn’t have them before!”), you don’t have an argument.
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Let Me Put It This Way

Trump lost 60+ cases trying to reverse the 2020 election. He has yet to produce evidence that it was “rigged.”

Trump’s DOJ has lost at least 20 cases seriatim trying to get voter rolls from states that refuse to bend the knee. (Texas did early on, then had to tell DHS it’s “analysis” had massive errors, and Texas didn’t make any changes pursuant to that DHS “finding.”)

Trump not only has no “right” to declare a national emergency over elections, he has no authority under statute or the Constitution to do so. “National security” is not a secret Presidential superpower that brushes away all legal opposition; otherwise his ballroom would be out of the ground by now, and Trump would be declaring all his EO’s national security measures.

Trump can make all the declarations he wants about the midterms. He can’t get 50 states to go along with him, and the example of Texas is that few would be foolish enough to suspend, or substantially alter, their voting procedures this close to Election Day. After all, even Texas refused to purge their rolls when DHS alleged Texas needed to. Performative actions are one thing; actual performance is where the rubber meets the road. Even the Congress wasn’t willing to give Trump what he wanted in January, 2021. A few said they’d oppose accepting the results, but that’s because they knew it was a futile gesture. They didn’t really want to be responsible for throwing the presidential election into chaos.

Trump’s DOJ is so hollowed out and useless, it makes the legal teams led by Giuliani in late 2020 look like legal juggernauts.
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Sunday, August 09, 2026

Dems In Disarray

Tim Scott says Democrats want to turn DC and Puerto Rico into states/Pack the Supreme Court and the only way to stop them is by preventing James Talarico from becoming Michigan’s next senator….

“We have to stop Talarico in Michigan by electing Mike Rogers”

Talarico is running for the Senate in Texas
Are Republicans that desperate to avoid mentioning Ken Paxton’s name?
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Friday, August 07, 2026

Yeah, About That…

Touch grass.
Fox News melts down on live TV over Ken Paxton’s failing campaign: “WHERE IS PAXTON?! I’ve seen Mitch McConnell more than Paxton... Get out of your hole Paxton and DO SOMETHING! I can’t win this race for you! It’s not on Fox! ... Talarico is younger and has energy... THIS CANNOT HAPPEN!”
This is the most aggressive attack on Black political power since Jim Crow. You look at the last 12 months, you look at these Supreme Court cases, you look at this racist redistricting map in Texas — and I say racist because it is systematically diluting the voting power of Black and Brown Texans.

When you look at how the districts are now drawn, a white Texan has a lot more political power. Their vote matters more than the vote of our Black and brown neighbors. It’s why, a year ago yesterday, my colleagues and I in the Texas House took the extraordinary step of breaking quorum.

We left the state of Texas and we went up to Illinois in order to prevent them from getting quorum. They couldn’t take up these new maps because we were gone. They called the Texas Rangers on us to find us and and arrest us and bring us back to the Capitol.
The only people paying attention to the pundits are…the pundits.
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Thursday, August 06, 2026

What We Now Call Communism

The young people here might not remember this, but those of you who are a little older might. Not so long ago, you could afford to live a good life here in America.

You could buy a home in your 20s. You could go to college for cheap or free. You could support a whole family on one paycheck. You could afford to get married, have kids, and retire comfortably. You could fulfill your God-given potential.

We called it the American Dream.

In the middle of the 20th century, we invested in healthcare and education. We built homes and highways. We protected workers' rights and paychecks. We blocked consolidation and encouraged competition. We built the largest, strongest middle class in the history of the world.

But today that middle class has disappeared. For too many of our neighbors, the American Dream has become an American Nightmare.

We can't afford a home, but Jeff Bezos has at least a dozen. We can't afford to fill up our tank, but Mark Zuckerberg is launching helicopters from his mega-yacht. One in five Texas children live in poverty — but one of our residents became the world's first trillionaire.

The top 1% put the American Dream behind a paywall.
50 years ago, a corporate lawyer named Lewis Powell circulated a memo around DC — a blueprint for how corporations could amass political power, reverse the gains of the Great Society and the New Deal, and rig the system for themselves.

The Powell memo outlined a strategy. Unite corporate special interests, privilege corporate perspectives in the media, appoint sympathetic judges to the court, and buy politicians in both political parties.

And it worked. Republicans and some Democrats sold the false gospel of trickle-down economics. Trickle-down economics is not a theory, it is theft.

Since the late 1970s, mega donors and corporate special interests have been buying politicians in both political parties. And then those politicians turned around and rigged the economy to benefit their wealthy donors at our expense.

We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis.
We are getting screwed. Whether you're a little more conservative or a little more progressive — none of us can afford groceries, none of us can afford gas, none of us can afford healthcare.

The billionaires buying politicians like Ken Paxton don't care who you are. They don't care about your politics. They only care about their profits.

They see us as one opposing team — so we might as well start acting like one.
When Greg Abbott starts sounding like James Talarico, the Overton Window is moving:
We cannot let artificial intelligence become yet another arena where billionaires write the rules for the rest of us. Working people must get a say and a share of that AI future.

We can start by cracking down on the data centers that are jacking up our utility bills and using up all our water.

And we can establish an AI dividend, so every American citizen owns a piece of these American AI companies. If they are going to use our human ingenuity and our collective intellectual property, then we want our royalty checks.
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Wednesday, August 05, 2026

Data Centers Are GOOD For You!

Abbott is up for reelection in Texas. Data centers are wildly unpopular in rural Texas, where GOP support is strongest.
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Tuesday, August 04, 2026

🐕

Since taking office, Ken Paxton has become a multi-millionaire — all while most Texans’ pay has remained stagnant for decades. He now owns 15 homes, while most Texans can't afford one. He's taken bribes from wealthy donors, all while he blocks overtime pay for Texas workers and guts our healthcare. He was one of the Attorneys General who led the fight against the Affordable Care Act, which has led to premiums skyrocketing for Texans all over the state. He's taken these lavish vacations to Iceland, to England on the 4th of July… Most Texans can't afford to take a vacation.

Ken Paxton's corruption is costing us in the state of Texas. It's why the people closest to Ken Paxton know he's unfit for office. His own party impeached him in the Texas House. His own staff reported him to the FBI. His own defense attorney just endorsed me in this race. I'm kind of expecting his family dog to run away and head over to my house any day now.

In a time when we're all so divided, there is one thing that Texans — Democrats, Independents, and Republicans — can agree on: We can't afford Ken Paxton's corruption.
It’s the “family dog” line that makes it art.

In the video, Talarico analyzes the present time in terms I completely agree with. What he says is worth reading; but this is also worth listening to.
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When Someone Tells You Who They Are…

...believe them. I keep thinking of how this might have affected Cornyn if he were the one running against Talarico. Especially with Maxwell in Bryan, Texas.
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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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Friday, July 31, 2026

Old Times There Are Not Forgotten

Texas has, intentionally, a non-centralized system of state records. It’s largely a byproduct of Reconstruction. Which is why DHS is issuing subpoenas to all 254 Texas counties, for information on voter registration applications and signatures.

The subpoenas appear to be linked to a series of efforts by the Trump administration to verify the citizenship of registered voters. In December, Texas turned over the state’s voter roll to the Justice Department. The transfer included voters’ identifiable information such as dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, and partial social security numbers. It did not include, however, voters’ registration applications or signatures — the state does not have access to that information, which is kept by county voter registrars.
Translation: DHS fucked up the first time with the information it got from Texas SOS, so they’re trying to get another bite at the apple. Now they have to go to each of Texas’ 254 counties, and ask for information. So far, they aren’t doing that very well.
Lubbock County’s elections administrator, Roxzine Stinson, said she met with a Homeland Security representative who informed her she would soon receive a subpoena seeking additional information for at least 10 voters, and potentially up to 30. Stinson said she’ll seek guidance from the county’s legal department on how to respond.

The Homeland Security representative told Stinson “all 254 counties will be contacted,” she said.

Election officials in Brazos County received a subpoena by email this week, Trudy Hancock, the county’s elections administrator, confirmed to Votebeat. Hancock said the subpoena specifically requests voter registration records, including voter registration applications, signatures, and voter history, but doesn’t list the names of individual voters. She said she’s asking for legal advice on how to respond “because the request is open-ended.”

Suzie Harvey, the election administrator in Montgomery County confirmed she has also received a subpoena that was delivered in person, but similarly to Hancock, it isn’t specific about which voters’ records it’s seeking.
This is the inverse of Trump’s demand of Raffensperger to “find” 12,000 votes. The DHS wants to “find” illegal voters, but without even a reasonable suspicion that such people exist. It’s a fishing expedition.  And it has to go county by county, requesting information 19 courts have already said it has no right to have.

The DOJ has lost 19 such attempts so far. I don’t know how they’ll fare in Texas. My guess is the larger counties, being “blue,” will probably defy the DOJ/DHS, especially since 19 states have spurned them successfully, so far. Smaller counties might be more reluctant, or more financially constrained. But they could band together and share the burden of going to court. And winning.

This is just a fucking fishing expedition: looking for people to call criminals. That’s such a violation of due process, it’s like due process has no purchase. I’d really like to see the courts disallow it 254 more times.

We live in hope, right?



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Monday, July 27, 2026

The Edsel The Cybertruck

 Well, now I know why Elmo is screaming about a movie and melting down about an interview:

Tesla investors got a brutal reminder last week that ambitious targets can curdle into cautionary tales. A Bloomberg report published July 22, 2026 argued the Cybertruck has eclipsed the Ford Edsel as the auto industry's benchmark commercial flop on a target-versus-actual basis. Hours later, Tesla posted a Q2 earnings miss, and the stock logged its worst week since 2022.

Ford launched the Edsel in 1957 with projections of 200,000 units in its first year. It sold less than one-third of that target, and its vertical grille (mocked as resembling a toilet seat) became shorthand for corporate failure that has endured nearly seven decades.

Elon Musk set a higher bar. He projected the Cybertruck could reach 250,000 units annually and called it Tesla's "best product ever." In its first full year, the truck sold roughly one-sixth of that target. Per Bloomberg's chart, Year 2 sales fell to well under 25,000, a steeper proportional miss than the Edsel's.

Cox Automotive figures show the trajectory. Cybertruck sold 38,965 units in 2024, then 20,237 units in 2025, a 48.1% year-over-year decline. Q4 2025 volume was 4,140 units, down 68.1% from 12,991 a year earlier. Q1 2026 hit a record low of 3,519 deliveries, and only 7,133 Cybertrucks were registered in the U.S. through May 2026, per S&P Global Mobility data cited by Bloomberg.

The truck posted the steepest sales decline of any EV nameplate in the U.S. in 2025. Tesla's earnings materials list the Cybertruck alongside Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Model X, Cybercab, Semi and Roadster, but it has not appeared as a growth driver in the last four quarterly reports.

The Cybertruck story is one strand in a broader unraveling. Tesla shares fell 17.81% in the week ending July 24, 2026, closing at $313.03. The single-session drop after earnings ran to 14%, sending the stock to an 11-month low.
Tesla is now spending on making driverless cabs.  How’s that working out?
Tesla confirmed that Cybercab production has begun at Gigafactory Texas, with Robotaxi now operating across seven major metropolitan areas. Musk acknowledged that Robotaxi expansion is being constrained not by demand but by the reliability standards required for safety, with battery packs and electronic components cited as key supply-chain bottlenecks, while the integration of SpaceX's (SPCX) Starlink into Tesla vehicles was also floated as a future connectivity catalyst.
“Reliability standards required for safety.” My route home from the “Y” in the morning requires I take a six lane road, and exit it by a left turn (across traffic, IOW). The left turn arrow is often flashing yellow and while line of sight down the road (oncoming traffic) is good, it’s not perfect. And cars in the opposite turn lane create something of a blind spot. So it may seem the road is clear, when in fact there are cars coming rapidly down the street that you can’t see until you’re in the middle of the intersection.

Not a situation I’m willing to trust a robot to navigate.

And I wonder how they handle 4 way stops when some asshole decides he has the ROW.

I know Tesla deployed those things in Austin. In a strictly geofenced area. Austin traffic is a bear. Austin is not Houston or Dallas Metro or San Antonio. It isn’t built around freeways. Meaning it was never designed to carry the traffic it has. I find it perilous enough when I’m driving. I’d never trust a robot in that traffic. There are times I can’t even trust the sensors in my own car.

So, sure: driverless cars are certainly the flying cars we were promised in the future. I think Tesla should invest more heavily in them. With luck, Elmo will turn the entire Tesla brand in the new Edsel. Or maybe even the Tucker.  Or the Dymaxion. Fuller intended that one to fly. Maybe Elmo should consider that feature.
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Sunday, July 26, 2026

What Are Political Parties For?

So, the DNC is a mess. (The voters decide who makes the gains, not the DNC.) How bad is it?, you ask.

No; worse than that: NYT. NOTUS. The Bulwark. Sounds like a three alarm fire. And yes, the GOP has a huge money advantage. Except donors in Texas don’t want to back Paxton. And so far all he’s come up with is “Talafreako” (which Talarico turned into a t-shirt); “Low-T Talarico” (Talarico said that’s something old guys worry about); and running away from reporters. While Talarico’s so far ahead of Paxton in fundraising the distance can be measured in terms of the moon’s distance from the earth.

Had I not read these tweets, I wouldn’t know the DNC was in trouble. Then again, the RNC cash isn’t buying the GOP a shot at holding Congress. The DNC may be in serious financial trouble by November. But the GOP is done for after 2028, and everybody knows it. No Trump, no MAGA. Period. And the GOP is all MAGA, all the time.

So, the question is: what are political parties for?

Aside from political reporters, does anyone care that the DNC is broke? Does anyone think it fundamentally shifts the predictions for November? Seems unlikely, as the disaster outlined in the articles has been going on for awhile, but nobody seems to have noticed until now. Apparently Ken Martin is bad at his job. But you know what? So is Donald Trump. Which failure do I think is more consequential?

I mean, the DNC has been low on funds long enough to mortgage its building for a line of credit, and yet no one reading the polls thinks Democrats are going to lose because of it. 

Or maybe they will after this story percolates. But, you know, narratives are fickle that way. Especially the ones that disappear on Election Night, never to be heard from again. Really, the very worst part about election year politics is the stupidity narratives that won’t die; until election night, and then it’s like they never were. Political parties persist; but more and more, nobody can explain why.

🧟‍♂️
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Be Careful What You Wish For 😎🗳️

 It’s perfectly clear that MAGA took over the GOP, and that the majority of the time (the fate of the SAVE America Act in the Senate is the exception that proves the rule. Tillis and Cornyn are done, but will they vote against Blanche’s nomination in committee? Don’t hold your breath.) the GOP does what Trump says. So:

Earlier this month, Trump claimed that if his controversial voter ID bill known as the SAVE America Act became law, Republicans would maintain control of Congress for 100 years. He also told Christian GOP voters that if they supported him in 2024, they “don’t have to vote again” as he and Republicans would have it “fixed so good.”

“Almost three in four Democrats in this country say this is the most important midterm in their lifetimes, extraordinary enthusiasm about getting out to vote in this election. On the other hand, Republicans, their enthusiasm is very soft this election cycle,” Taylor said.

“It's because there's been a guy at the head of their party for the past two years who's said, 'if you re-elect me, you'll never have to vote again,'" Taylor said. "Unfortunately for him, they seem to be listening! They seem to be thinking, 'maybe we don't need to vote again!' This is the same man who weeks ago on July 3 said, 'if you let me pass the SAVE America Act, Republicans will win for 100 years' – he's telling his side, 'we don't need you to show up, we've got it covered!'”

Taylor continued, “That's showing up in the data, and if that holds until election day, it's gonna be a rout for Donald Trump.”

Eugene Daniels, “The Weekend" co-hi concurred with Taylor’s prediction, noting that Trump’s claims about supposed Chinese efforts to influence the 2024 election could also have a suppressing effect on GOP voter turnout.

“And he's telling his voters that your vote won't count, he's telling them over and over again that they're gonna steal the election! So if I'm a voter, why would I vote?” Daniels said.

“If China or Venezuela or these random countries that he chooses are going to make my vote not count, why would I vote? I've talked to Republican strategists who would love for him to stop talking about this, but it's been 10 years and I don't think he's going to.”

Taylor argued that while Trump’s own words may very well suppress GOP voter turnout, they were also a key factor in Democrats’ enthusiasm heading into November.

“If you look at the data right now, there is a remarkable enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans, and it's largely driven by Trump himself,” Taylor continued. “Donald Trump has made Democrats feel like the fundamental right to vote is at stake, and a lot of folks worry that would result in voter suppression.”
Let me put it this way. The GOP is holding a “convention” in Texas in October to inspire voters and boost Paxton. Paxton is not winning friends and influencing people at the moment, so Texas GOP voters need all the boosting they can get. 

Trump is pushing AI data centers hard, but even ruby red East Texas isn’t buying; and Abbott has swung to the side of the rural voters on that issue. (Abbot is promoting people over Big Money. He’s that worried about keeping his job.) Texas is one of the largest producers of wind energy in the country. In West Texas it’s a good way for landowners to make money.by leasing their land. It’s a lot cleaner than oil production, and you don’t need oil on your property. Trump hates windmills with an almost incendiary passion.

None of this means Trump loses Texas; but especially in the midterms, it’s part of the enthusiasm gap. 😎
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Thursday, July 23, 2026

🗳️ Run In Circles! Scream And Shout!!

 The people on the Intertoobs who are “election experts” are terrified by what Trump will do to the midterms. The election officials actually in charge in the states? Not so much:

In interviews with CNN, more than a dozen election officials from both parties said Trump’s address surfaced little new in terms of evidence. Several GOP officials even scoffed at his presentation, pointing to the data that the administration released to try to bolster its case that there are massive numbers of non-citizens voting in US elections.

Matt Crane, a Republican who runs the Colorado County Clerks Association, said his text chat with a bipartisan group of colleagues was filled with “a lot of laughing emojis, and like, ‘you got to be kidding me?’ that this was all it was.”

A GOP official from a state Trump won three times also panned the speech, which included the declassification of intelligence reports that Trump said posed an “unprecedented election security nightmare” with threats from China and Venezuela. (Trump didn’t mention that the reports also made clear that neither country ever tampered with US election results.)

“I read the documents,” the official told CNN on the condition that his state not be identified. “It was old. I’ve already seen this stuff. It wasn’t new to me. We already had most of this information.”
But, but, but! Voter rolls! Dead people!!
Trump has long peddled false and fantastical claims that thousands and perhaps even millions of undocumented immigrants are voting in US elections. Isolated cases do exist, but comprehensive studies from right-wing and left-leaning think tanks have concluded that this occurs on a tiny scale.

Still, the administration said it had reviewed public data and uncovered hundreds of thousands of non-citizens on the rolls in Pennsylvania and Nevada, and in California and New Jersey, which are Democratic strongholds. Some officials in those states have called for more transparency, demanding to know how DHS arrived at those numbers.

Even some red states that voluntarily turned over their voter lists to the Trump administration for examination were swept into the president’s latest push. The administration said more than 28,000 non-citizens had been found on rolls in states with GOP election officials.
Texas turned theirs over. Then flagged over 2000 voters DHS wrongly considered non-citizens.
The DHS citizenship database being used to review voter rolls – called SAVE, or Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements – has a record of overstating the number of registered non-citizens. DHS itself acknowledges that states using the system voluntarily for voter-roll maintenance must further investigate any matches.
???? But Plumber Mullin said that’s why DHS was taking over the election process.
Sam Hayes, the GOP executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections who has aggressively backed several of Trump’s election policies, said his team wouldn’t rubber-stamp the administration’s findings. He said the state, which DHS claimed had 1,599 non-citizens on its rolls, would conduct its own verification, which takes time and requires contacting registrants.

“There’s nothing we accept at face value and just start removing folks” from the voter rolls, Hayes told CNN. “We’ve got to make our own independent assessment of this. … We still have to do the due diligence on our end.”

Hayes also threw cold water on Trump’s desire for quick answers, saying: “It’s going to be tough to get it done by the midterms, but we’re working toward that goal.”

Georgia election officials told CNN the administration’s claims about non-citizens on their rolls appear inflated. Of the 2,549 registrants flagged by DHS, they said, only about 20 had ever cast a ballot in the state.
Not that Trump isn’t threatening people who are simply doing their jobs;
At a follow-up press conference Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened fines and even potential “prison time” for election officials who don’t comply with the Trump administration’s demands for voter rolls and other election overhauls.

Election officials told CNN they take these threats seriously, especially after seeing the Trump-era Justice Department indict several of his political opponents. But at the same time, officials said, their focus is on their work.

“There is the concern about, ‘Could I be made the example of?’” said Crane, the Republican who runs Colorado’s bipartisan election clerks’ association. “But I think, by and large, it’s become somewhat white noise at this point.”

A Democratic election administrator from a battleground state told CNN, on condition of anonymity, that he got a concerned call from his mother after she heard Mullin’s comments about possibly prosecuting election officials.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department sent similar warning letters to all 50 states. Idaho’s Republican attorney general was among those who pushed back, rebuking the DOJ in a sharply worded reply letter that said the “insinuations of criminal violations of the federal election laws are not well taken.”

“Stop threatening your friends in Idaho,” wrote James Craig, a top lawyer from the Idaho attorney general’s office.

A GOP election official from another state told CNN that even some officials in red states don’t feel safe, because of the Trump administration’s unpredictability.

“It’s extremely concerning when they talk like that, and we have no idea what they’re going to do,” the official said.
But it’s more likely Trump will send DOJ lawyers with indictments of state officials, than he’ll send ICE to every polling place in all 50 states.  Although it might be amusing to see local law enforcement enforcing state voter protection laws.

It’s even more likely Trump has convinced his voters to stay home in November:
But Trump’s unpopularity is only part of the story. The real headline is that the president is sabotaging his own side’s turnout in the very act of seeking to meddle in the election. It’s like a burglary that’s backfiring in real time. Trump is trying mightily to break into democracy’s back door but making such a racket with his crowbar that he’s woken up the whole neighborhood. And now, the neighbors are shouting over the fences and grabbing their baseball bats. Democrats and Independents are more motivated than they’ve been in decades to defend their rights.

Indeed, Democratic enthusiasm is higher than it was even in the 2018 “blue wave” election, when they turned out in historic numbers and crushed Trump’s side with a gain of 40 seats in the U.S. House. Today, a whopping three-fourths of Democrats say it’s “more important” to vote in 2026 than in previous midterms. That’s energy, if I’ve ever seen it.

And it gets worse for the president. Every lever he pulls to “tilt” the playing field risks convincing his own voters they don’t need to show up at all. Remember when he told MAGA faithful that if they re-elected him, they wouldn’t need to go to the polls again? “We’ll have it fixed so good,” he boasted, “you’re not gonna have to vote.” It seems like they took it to heart.

Data shows Republicans aren’t nearly as animated about the midterms as Democrats. In fact, the same Post-Ipsos survey from this month finds that GOP voters are ten percentage points less likely to say they’ll vote in the elections in November. That means if the vote were held today, millions more Republicans than Democrats would be staying home — the type of enthusiasm gap that could decisively sway the outcome.
😎
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“Justice” Kavanaugh Says This Is Fine

BREAKING: ICE agents showed up at a work site in Brownsville, Texas, claiming to be looking for two people… and ended up illegally handcuffing TWO U.S. CITIZENS, throwing one of them against a truck, threatening to arrest him again, and scanning everyone’s faces to determine their “status.”

In the video, ICE showed up looking for two people. They asked the foreman if he knew them. He said no.

Then, they asked if they could talk to the other workers about the people they were looking for.

The foreman said, “If they want to talk to you, they can.”

And then an ICE agent tried to scan the foreman’s face to run him through their system.

The foreman told him he was not allowed to just scan his face.

The foreman then walked over to one of his workers’ trucks, where ICE agents were surrounding the work vehicles at their work site.

He asked what was going on.

He repeatedly asked who they were looking for, and told them the people they claimed to be looking for were not there.

The agent responded, “Well, we want to make sure.”

The foreman told them, “Well, we aren’t them. You all need to leave.”

And then an ICE agent threatened to arrest him.

“You need to settle down or I have to put you in cuffs.”

Except this man was not threatening them. He was not attacking them. He was not even raising his voice.

He was standing there, asking questions and telling government agents to leave his workplace, after they had already expanded their investigation beyond the two people they claimed to be looking for.

So, the ICE agent threw him against a truck and handcuffed him.

A U.S. citizen.

And after they released him, he asked for the agents’ badge numbers.

And the agent responded by threatening to handcuff him AGAIN.

The government cannot simply show up, invade your workplace, surround your vehicles, demand access to people who are not the subjects of their investigation, scan your face, and then arrest you because you object to what they are doing.

The First Amendment protects your right to question government agents and verbally protest their actions.

The Fourth Amendment protects you from unreasonable searches and seizures.

And an arrest cannot simply be used as punishment because an officer does not like the fact that you are standing there, asking questions, or asserting your rights.

Then the foreman saw another person ICE had in handcuffs…

He told them they needed to let him go because he was not the person they were looking for.

The agents eventually released the person they had in handcuffs… after scanning his face and discovering that he was also a U.S. citizen.

The government is creating situations where people are expected to silently obey armed agents, who refuse to explain what they are doing… while they violate your constitutional rights… and then punishing anyone who dares to ask questions.

When the government tells you that your only options are blind obedience or punishment… you are not living in a free country.
BREAKING: ICE agents blocked in a U.S. citizen’s car… and then threatened to arrest her for not moving.

In the video, a U.S. citizen was sitting in a public parking lot when ICE agents pulled up directly in front of her car, and blocked her from leaving.

Then, they accused HER of “impeding” them.

She told them she literally couldn’t move because THEY had blocked her in.

The agent said they would back up… and if she didn’t move, “that’s your chance.”

Her response…

“My chance for what?”

The agent then cited “18 USC 111,” a federal law that makes it a crime to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with certain federal officers while they are performing their official duties.

But, the law is not a magic phrase that allows federal agents to arrest anyone who annoys them. The statute includes a forcible-act requirement.

Sitting in a public parking lot is not “impeding” a federal officer.

So, she asks…

“How am I impeding you when you just pulled up in front of my car?”

The agent then yelled:

“Move your car or it’s over!”

She told him they couldn’t move.

He started yelling, “Back up, or you are under arrest. We aren’t playing anymore.”

She responded…

“Well, you can’t arrest me.” While she backed up.

The agent gets mad and… while walking next to her car as she was backing up… replied,

“Yes I can. Try me.”

This is an absolutely insane abuse of power.

The government cannot create the circumstances that make it impossible for you to leave, accuse you of “impeding” them, because you cannot leave, and then threaten to arrest you for not doing the impossible.

Because that is coercion, and it’s illegal.

And the most terrifying part is… this is how ICE agents are trained to operate.

They create confusing, threatening situations where people don’t even know if they are being lawfully detained, if they are free to leave, or if they are about to be arrested for simply existing in the wrong place.

And then the government expects people to calmly trust that everything they are doing is legal.

Which is exactly why constitutional protections exist.

Because “I’m a federal agent” is not a magic phrase that makes your constitutional rights disappear.
BREAKING: Tom Homan says if you don’t want to be killed by ICE agents, you should just comply…. So here is an example of what he wants you to comply with.

In this video, a woman noticed vehicles in a parking lot that she believed could be ICE vehicles… So, she started filming.

The people noticed she was filming, and drove past her.

She was alone, so she decided to leave.

Then, they started followed her.

But here’s the thing… she wasn’t even 100% sure they were ICE agents.

They were in unmarked vehicles, and they weren’t using emergency lights.

As she was driving down the street, being followed by these unmarked cars, one of the vehicles pulls up beside her, cuts her off, and the cars box her in.

She had nowhere to go without hitting the curb, or hitting the vehicle that had just cut her off.

She honked, but the vehicle just sat there.

Eventually it moved, and the vehicles drove away.

Now, imagine being a woman, alone in your car.

A group of cars, you cannot clearly identify as law enforcement, start following you.

They don’t turn on emergency lights. They don’t clearly identify themselves. And one of them cuts you off and blocking your vehicle from being able to drive away.

What are you supposed to think is happening?

Because from your perspective, it looks like you are being kidnapped by random people.

And that is the terrifying part of what ICE is doing.

They are creating situations where people have no idea whether the people surrounding them are legitimate law enforcement officers, or strangers attempting to abduct, or rob them.

And Tom Homan’s answer to being kidnapped, or robbed, is…

“Just comply.”

Don’t try to drive away. Don’t defend yourself. Don’t try to escape.

Just calmly allow unidentified people, in unmarked vehicles, to follow you, box you in, and potentially kidnap or rob you…

Because if they happen to be ICE agents, and you react like a normal person who believes they are being kidnapped, you could be assaulted, detained, or even shot.

Do you understand how dangerous and insane that is?!?

“Just comply” means women are being told to surrender to potential kidnappers, and hope they turn out to be government agents.

And if they don’t?

Tom Homan says it’s their fault for not complying.
This is not just Trump’s Amerika. This is not just Stephen Miller’s Amerika.

This is the GOP’s Amerika.

Abolish the GOP. Abolish ICE.
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Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Thanks To Trump’s War

"Affordability" is a hoax.
Oil prices were about 4% higher on Wednesday morning following the eleventh consecutive round of U.S. strikes against Iran overnight, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Strait of Hormuz remains a sticking point between the two sides.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, traded about 4% higher at $94.76. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 3.9% to trade at $87.61.
But we can affird war crimes:
Trump: "From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
What Amnesty International said about this threat in March is still relevant 4 months later:
International “Intentionally attacking civilian infrastructure such as power plants is generally prohibited. Even in the limited cases that they qualify as military targets, a party still cannot attack power plants if this may cause disproportionate harm to civilians. Given that such power plants are essential for meeting the basic needs and livelihoods of tens of millions of civilians, attacking them would be disproportionate and thus unlawful under international humanitarian law, and could amount to a war crime.

“By threatening such strikes, the USA is effectively indicating its willingness to plunge an entire country into darkness, and to potentially deprive its people of their human rights to life, water, food, healthcare and adequate standard of living, and to subject them to severe pain and suffering.

“When power plants collapse, horrific consequences cascade instantly. Water pumping stations would stop functioning, clean water would become scarce, and preventable diseases would spread. Hospitals would lose electricity and fuel, forcing surgeries to be cancelled and life-support machines to shut down. Food production and distribution networks would collapse, deepening hunger and causing widespread food scarcity. Many businesses would also shut down with devastating economic consequences including mass unemployment.

“Causing catastrophic harm to the civilian electrical capacity – at a time when the Iranian authorities’ deliberate prolonged internet shutdown has already left Iran’s population isolated – would sever people’s last remaining connection to the outside world, including access to satellite television, at a time of extreme danger.

“President Trump must immediately retract these dangerous threats and commit the US to upholding international humanitarian law.”
Trump is working hard to cement that international pariah status for America.
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Sunday, July 19, 2026

🤖

Colorado is a desert. The state relies on snow melt from the Rockies for the bulk of its water supply. Despite what the governor implies, AI doesn’t produce water as a byproduct. It doesn’t even produce snow.

And AI centers that produce their own electricity, lower consumer rates how, exactly? Isn’t that like saying rooftop solar panels make more electricity available to everyone else, and that supply lowers prices? Anybody who sold solar panels that way would be guilty of fraud. 🤔

Similarly, much of Texas relies on aquifers for water, aquifers which are not replenishing as fast as urban areas and agriculture are taking water out. But AI is necessary because….reasons.

Trickle down economics: the owners of AI get the oats; the residents of the arid West get what trickles down from the back end of the horse. In this case, whatever trickle of water is left behind.
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Saturday, July 18, 2026

It’s What Trump Would Do

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