TX Progressives look at oil bidness, other non-COVIDIOT idiots

There's plenty of plain old idiots out there. There's also people struggling just to get by and to do other things.

Kick the idiots.

Help the strugglers when we can.

Salute those already helping.

And dig into the Roundup.

Texana

The case of Joe Exotic (loonnngg read from Texas Monthly) is one of a truly warped mind, exploiting exotic animals for money. #CapitalismKills and not just people. (The movie, OTOH, is pretty crappy.)

Texas farmers and their stresses. (A long-ish read by Meredith Lawrence. She apparently doesn't recognize, contra her screed last year against wind farms, that this is why farmers and ranchers look for alternative sources of income. Including wind turbine siting leases.)

The oil and gas bidness was in deep shit even before COVID. DeSmog Blog has an in-depth look. In a second piece, it notes that many refineries are likely to be shuttering in weeks ahead. The typical refinery can't cut production below about 65 percent without shutting down whole units. The problem is a complex one, and more complex than in previous hydrocarbon gluts. This only increases the likelihood that the Texas economy is really imploding as you read this, and that Greg Abbott is fiddling while the state burns by refusing to call a special session of the Legislature. And, I've editorialized about this in my day job, too.

Arts

SocraticGadfly returns to his second blog this week to say RIP Krzysztof Penderecki.

Texas politics

Mustafa Tameez warns about the need for election protection.

National

A Texas GOP hack who's unofficially been running USDA's meat inspections programs since 2018 is now official.

A great long read here about how, from the inside, Shell basically admits that its greenwashing is all kabuku theater.

Biden is running on the most progressive platform ever. By a Washington Monthly stanner, Nancy LeTourneau. Assumes he will be nominated; he's not more progressive than candidate Sanders; ignores third parties.

World

Bibi Netanyahu has nine lives, it seems.