Let's hold on here on Clayton Tucker for Ag Commish

When I first read his bio, per his website, I thought, good stuff. Being secretary of the Texas Farmers Union, part of the National Farmers Union, and much better than Texas/American Farm Bureau Federation and not on the take for Big Ag, was a key note. Opposition to data centers is of course good.

That said, his small business? Grassroots Nation is a spin off Netroots Nation, in part, though it also has nonpolitical clients. 

And, on the issues? On water, does he think Proposition 4 was a good deal or not? It wasn't.

Glyphosate? The problem is Roundup Ready crops create Roundup Resistant weeds. The cancer angle is still overstated, I think.

Health care? He supports better access, but I see nothing about single-payer, or even pushing the Lege to opt into Obamacare Medicaid expansion.

Climate change? I see climate-smart farming practices. His family raises goats. Where's he stand on cows and cow farts?

Or, where's he stand on Big Oil, since wingnut Rethuglican Nate Sheets says he wants to cover all farmland with renewable energy?

Well, Nate links to Clayton's financial disclosures.

It's under 100 shares in both cases, but Devon Energy, and even more, Energy Transfer, isn't so good a sign. Vitesse Energy bills itself as a non-owner investor in oil and gas wells. Three strikes, you're out on climate change.

And, I'm one of those environmental leftists who opposes expanding nuclear power without a LOT more safeguards, contra the likes of James Hansen. So, owning stock in a uranium company is also not good. 

This isn't a "gotcha" the way Nate thinks, but it is problematic. 

So, let's not stop there.

Three JP Morgan funds. One private equity fund if not more. Multiple real estate investment trusts. Invesco, which is listed as an ethically responsible investor.

Royalty Pharma is not Big Pharma, but is a bit tangential.  

And, this isn't because he's left hand of the duopoly.

Two years ago, I called out Jill Stein for being an investments hypocrite. (Yashar Ali and Hillz screwed the pooch on that in 2016 by forgetting about early voting.) In 2000, I undervoted rather than vote Ralph Nader, for similar reasons. 

Also, while all of these are less than 100 shares, we're talking more than 40 different holdings. For someone who's just 35, he's doing pretty well.

Let's say 40 investments, 50 shares each. That's 2,000 shares. Let's say $6 per share per year. 

He's got $12,000 per year in investment income. 

Texas Progressives talk elections and suits

Off the Kuff analyzes the two most recent polls of the Senate race.

Strangeabbott's "pause" (not "halt," and the Trib correctly uses the first word) on state grants for Flock cameras appears to be about as much of an election-driven stunt as does his "vaunted" audit of data centers for electricity needs. (My county's sheriff has one such grant, and he gets ever more defensive about it, and engages in ever more obfuscation, talking about the protections his office has without ever mentioning Flock other than admitting it's Flock cameras.) 

Joe Joplin still hasn't forgotten about Kenny Boy Paxton stealing his Montblanc pen. And yes, "stealing" is the right word; Joplin said he considered filing charges.  

Former Alamo Trust CEO Kate Rogers had her suit against Patrick and Land Commish Lindsay Dawn Buckingham OKed to proceed. 

Also in the legal world, Talafreako wants to see Paxton's depositions from his securities fraud case. 

Jon Ossoff — 2028 Democratic presidential candidate? 

How WILL the "Farm Belt" vote? 

"No money for you!" Big John Cornyn tells Kenny Boy Paxton. 

Contra new Comptroller Don Huffines' politicized claims, Texas schools and cities are hurting for money. The Observer keeps its head up the ass of the left hand of the duopoly on this race, though, and doesn't name Green Shehla Faizi. 

Can MAGA Moms win the gov's office for Gina Hinojosa? The Observer weighs in. (Calling out Strangeabbott on Flock cameras is a nice sidebar to the focus on public schools.) That said, I still think it's Abbott's race to lose, and even though he's a fucktard with fingers in the edges of the cookie jar of corruption, he's not an openly corrupt fucktard, unlike Kenny Boy Paxton. 

 

 

Foreign policy roundup — Robert Kagan denialism and more

Responsible Statecraft has a great and eviscerating interview with Bob Kagan. Highlights include his still-ongoing defense of the Iraq War and claims for its necessity, denial that he's a neocon while (natch) claiming the whole idea is antisemitic and more. He does say US foreign policy is too guided by Islamophobia.

"They Saw it Coming" is a long, hot read by Amerikanets, an up-and-coming hot foreign policy Substack. It's quite interesting, but, given degrees of dislike and or distrust of half the Substacks they follow, I haven't followed them yet. (Kit Klarenberg and Simplicius top that list.) Especially given that said person has been on Substack since 2024, and they write in this depth and don't follow more people raises a bit of an eyebrow.

This Mark Ames tweet is from Aug. 2, but it would confirm that Zelensky's war as PR offensive, or vice versa, has once again failed on the ground, and in the context of Donald J. Trump, though not with mainstream media. That's as Russia figures out how to make cruise missiles cheaper than its old ones, but that can also evade more Ukrainian defenses, per Bloomberg. And, yes, links from Simplicius. Meanwhile, some European media wonder if taste for supporting Ukraine is finally drying up.

THe reality behind the snark of semi-fake bison burgers

Last week at Substack, I wrote this bit of snark about bison burgers at Yellowstone.

Sadly, per a comment I left, the reality is even worse outside of Yellowstone.

The last bit of the snark in the story is courtesy of something I saw on Shitter about 10 days ago. Sprouts, a company I wouldn't have associated with such an idea, has started selling meatballs with lab meat. For some of my latest thoughts on the economics of lab meat (and, the healthiness of plant meat and a callout against Grist on that), go here.

For a callout of neoliberal Mother Jones ignoring some of the costs of lab meat (maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised by Sprouts) go here.

For more yet on the costs of lab meat, go here.

Finally, per the theme of this piece, it should be added that Sprouts' meatballs are primarily plant "meat" with just a dusting of lab meat. Shock me. It's all capitalist turtles, all the way down.

I warned you about Proposition 4 and now the "produced water" shit is about to hit the fan

Proposition 4 being the Texas constitutional amendments 2025 election Proposition 4.

I called out the Trib and librul blog sites like Lone Star Left. I called out Gang Green enviros at the Sierra Club. I called out Suzanne Bellsnyder for being a hypocrite. I called out the Texas Green Party. This year, I called out the Observer.

I said again this year, as I had before the election, that it would be an economic boondoggle as well as environmentally damaging. 

Now, especially on the latter, companies wanting to "recycle" fracking wastewater are pushing, pushing, pushing to go full speed ahead with minimal oversight from TCEQ, as well as minimal discussion of electric needs. Shocked? Why? 

Aridzona's day of water reckoning has come; or has it?

(My Photoshopped version of Glen Canyon Dam, above.)

Or, at least, the day of reckoning has come for the Valley of the Sun. Or has it?

The climate change deniers and minimalists will probably try to poo-poo this, starting with saying it's only for two years. Which moves back to the rhetorical question ending the paragraph above.

But, Aridzona losing one-third of its Colorado River water rights in the next two years, per the official Department of the Interior announcement, is serious. It takes the largest haircut among the three Lower Basin states as the price it paid to get the Central Arizona Project, which delivers water to Phoenix and Tucson.

Per a link in that story and discussion elsewhere, will the state actually sue? If so, between "slim" and "none," what are the odds of success? 

Beyond that, the day of water reckoning isn't enough. Per this New York Times piece:

The river’s flow is diminishing and reservoirs are drying up, but communities and farms still use unsustainable amounts of water.

That's the bottom line. 

Another version?

"The water usage is still too damned high." 

On the suits? The current proposal just makes firm, that same piece says, voluntary offers already on the table. 

Beyond that, as I said 15 years ago, Obama blew a chance to further cut water usage. He could have made Phoenix and Las Vegas recent homebuyers "whole" by letting them out of mortgages if they moved (back) to where the water is — Cleveland, St. Louis, Omaha, et. And, he could have done the same for homebuilders, mortgage brokers etc., to make them whole IF they took a "haircut" on how many houses they could build in places like Phoenix with federal mortgage guarantees. 

Beyond that? "Water banking" is semi-fraudulent in my opinion, and in some day will have an unpayable real bill to be paid. Sorry, California's Colorado River water sherpa, but be more honest than this.(At least he admitted California is way behind Nevada on cutting water use, while also saying nothing about WHY it’s way behind.)

Interestingly, on the issue of lawsuits, the first one has been filed — by Nevada. The reason they’re suing? No mandatory cuts for the Upper Basin.

Fully fraudulent? The Big Oil companies as climate denialists, who took a page from Big Tobacco. A new Inside Climate News piece says that Big Oil is responsible for half the Colorado River basin’s water loss in 2014-24 due to climate change causes. 

As for Aridzona? Per the second link, I have little doubt that groundwater pumping will only accelerate more, and that alfalfa farmers will beg the state for monetary help to pay for deeper and deeper wells. Soil subsidence will continue, and homeowners will ask for help on that.

Sadly, a super El Niño may provide enough snowpack for the seven basin states to continue to dodge a long-range new deal on the river. Per this story, that's why we're at where we are now — a two-year imposition by Interior based on a ten-year planning document. 

I've written before, most recently a few months ago, about the reality of the seven Basin states willing to continue to deny reality. 

Of course, Glen Canyon Dam was itself built on a lie, a lie that's inside the visitors' center:

Oops! And, maybe we should call the refusal to be skeptical about the water flow numbers used to create the Colorado River Compact a century ago a lie themselves.

If "water's for fighting over," per the old western bon mot, in modern terms, and contra Kumbaya John Fleck, who doesn't like my comments on his site. it's also for suing over. 

Per Nevada’s lawsuit, another thing Kumbaya John gets wrong is being wedded to the Upper Basin/Lower Basin division. If there’s going to be a lawsuit rumble over basin supply anyway, elect me president and my federal government will knock heads on this issue.