Texas Progressives have a pre-election run-up

Off the Kuff eagerly awaits the outcome of Rep. Vikki Goodwin's complaint against Dan Patrick for his illegal AI deepfake ads. 

SocraticGadfly talked about which Republicans have and have not called out Bo French and about Texas Monthly writing a clickbait article on this.

Mondoweiss has all the dirt on Robert Kraft's decades-long massive support of Israeli Zionism.

Where's the beef, prices that is? Could be going even higher. Why? Because of ICE, per various Southern Plains livestock associations. Possible hidden lining? People eat less of the climate-wrecking bovine meat.

The Observer reports on what could be Santa Ana's last stand — the one-n is for the wildlife refuge in the Valley. 

The Monthly looks under the hood of evangelical Christian TEA Commish Mike Morath's takeover of Fort Worth ISD, and notes how Senate Bill 1882 has charter school control (read: evangelicals or Catholics) under its own hood.

Neil at Houston Democracy Project spoke at City Council about possible city application for Trump Justice Department Model Cities funds. Accepting these funds would tie HPD to Trump immigration & racial policies. It goes as far as policing "loitering."

The Tech Edvocate does a deep dive on why the oil and gas industry has stood by Bo French.

The Dallas Observer writes about AI-powered cameras on Dallas garbage trucks, and how few citations for alleged code violations have resulted from them.

Steve Vladeck untangles what the Eighth Circuit did in their bizarre Missouri redistricting ruling.

The Current has a look at the first segment of the border wall being built on private property in Big Bend.

Fetterman says he could take Senate Democrats hostage after midterms

John Fetterman lied about his political self at the Texas Tribune's annual Trib Fest, and probably didn't get much pushback. Even worse, he's indicated he could hold Pennsylvania and national Senatorial Democrats hostage after the midterm elections.

In a statement earlier this month, Fetterman said he would “still be the 51st vote that I ran on” if Democrats take the Senate, referring to the tie-breaking vote. But closing out the festival, he said speculation about the next Congress was irrelevant until after the November election. “Wait till the midterms. See what I do,” Fetterman said. “Let’s revisit after the midterm and see what happens if I happen to be 51.”

Great: Dems will have another Yachtsman Joe Manchin in their midst, and will probably coddle him as much as Manchin.

Meanwhile, as part of the hostage-taking, he's already all but daring Dems to expel him from the party, as part of a longer conversation, that starts with just how much he has one foot in the Keystone State GOP tank, starting here:

Nearly two-thirds of Pennsylvania Democrats view Fetterman unfavorably, according to a poll conducted last month by The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena University. Although Pennsylvania Republicans view him more favorably than they do their GOP senator, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, Fetterman said he has “no path as a Republican.”

Then this:

Fetterman’s trip to Texas comes less than three weeks after he introduced McCormick in a surprise video at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas.

OK now. 

Now this:

It's like he's daring them. 

“If the Democratic Party votes me out or expels me, they’re always entitled to do that,” he continued.

He also had a telling Freudian slip, when asked by an audience member, but NOT the moderator, why he didn't flip:

“Because I’m a lifelong Republican,” he said, raising his hand to his head, embarrassed after he realized the slip. “I guarantee you that will break through. That will get clipped.”

Oops. 

Meanwhile, even while daring Democrats to boot him, he's taking Republican money as I type, and he's not up for re-election this year.

Another fundraising email sent this month from the gopsquad handle came with Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah listed as the sender. It was focused on Fetterman, and began, “I just got an email from John. He's basically a Republican now.”

Oy.

Already in July, he was getting big bucks from Tex-ass Republican Harlan Crow. 

But Dems, even if they had a two-seat Senate majority, wouldn't have the balls to boot him. 

Forest Service dumping Maroon Bells Scenic Area

This is in part the fault of BOTH hands of the duopoly 

Wikipedia photo, Creative Commons license, user Rhododendrites.

CRAP.

And, yes, this is the camel’s nose in the tent of privatization, per the High Country News story.

Fortunately, in this case, it’s not actually going to fall into the hands of vulture capitalists. USFS gave a “right of first refusal,” if you will, to Pitkin County, Colorado, and the county commission said yes.

On Sept. 23, Pitkin County, Colorado, commissioners unanimously approved a special use permit to take over operation of the Maroon Bells Scenic Area. They also approved a new fund, raised from site fees, to cover maintenance and other costs associated with upkeep of the heavily trafficked area.

Why? The largely (but not entirely, hold on to that thought) Trump-based cuts:

The U.S. Forest Service currently manages the area but says it lacks the personnel and resources to do so properly. The agency lost almost 6,000 employees in 2025, and President Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 would slash its budget still further, cutting it by 75%. The White River National Forest has lost a third of its year-round staff since 2024, going from 169 to 111 employees, according to an analysis by Aspen Journalism.

As I noted, not entirely. Let’s pick back up the end of that paragraph above:

Its budget has been declining for over a decade, and Forest Supervisor Brian Glaspell says that Maroon Bells is running in the red by more than $300,000 a year.

OVER a decade? That would not only cover all of the Dementia Joe/Genocide Joe presidency, it would go back PAST Trump 1.0 to the tail end of Dear Leader’s second term.

That’s the thing that more people need to get through their thick heads. Their left-hand-of-the-duopoly tribalist thick heads.

The sub-Reddit of r/nationalpark banned me for pointing out Dear Leader’s National Park Service cuts as contributory to the incineration of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon a year ago. And, in fact, those started in his FIRST term. So, too, did him making a backdoor push for privatizing NPS.

The left hand of the duopoly doesn’t like this? People like this guy probably is?

Roaring Fork Valley residents and organizations appear to support the county even as they criticize the conditions that forced the transfer. “The county is responding to unfortunate circumstances on behalf of our community,” said Will Roush, executive director of Wilderness Workshop, an environmental watchdog group based in the Roaring Fork. “The real tragedy is this administration’s failure to adequately invest in and staff our federal land-management agencies and the places that are so fundamental to our state’s identity.”

Or Gary Tennenbaum, director of Pitkin County Open Space and Trails. Or Aaron Weiss, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities.

According to Tennenbaum, the Forest Service had said that if the county couldn’t take over management, it would have to ask for bids from private concessionaires. Critics warned that under a private concessionaire, given the need to make a profit, access fees would likely increase even more than is expected under county management.

“The Trump administration is pulling a ‘That’s a nice mountain you got there, it would be a shame if something happened to it’ routine,” said Weiss.

I.Don’t.Care.

I know that maintenance there isn’t cheap. I’ve hiked there, a little ways into the wilderness. MASSIVE traffic. One of those non-national park places getting loved to death.

Budget cuts have led to deferred maintenance and repairs, and Pitkin County has already helped repair and reopen the area’s bathroom facilities and clean up mudslide debris, according to Gary Tennenbaum, director of Pitkin County Open Space and Trails. Tennenbaum dismissed concerns that the management transfer sets a worrisome precedent, noting that “the precedent has already been (set) that the federal government is not going to fund these things.”

So, why weren’t fees raised under any and all presidential administrations of, say, the past 20 years? Or 30, per Tennenbaum?

Tennenbaum pointed out that prices have not changed since 1997, so the increase merely brings them in line with similar areas. The cost for vehicles will go from $10 to $30, and camping will rise from $15 to $33, though shuttle fares will stay the same.

And, why won’t people who surely have looked at federal budgets, while still primarily blaming Trump, also call out Biden and Obama?

As for Congress? Biden controlled both halves of it his first two years. Ditto Obama. Next two were split, as were first two of Obama’s second term.

It is true that the Trump Admin's attempt to fast-track such moves is something Obama or Biden didn't do, per information near the tail end of the story. But, both their administrations backed smaller, more subtle workarounds on various environmental regulations. 

As for what's being lost, no, it's by no means near the totality of the area. But, yes, it is a precedent setter. That said, the Forest Service, albeit with the normal paperwork, offered the state Sweetwater Lake in the same general area. 

The state of play on 2026 Texas elections from the Trib Fest etc

Per the header, much of this is observations and takes on various comments at last week's Tribune Festival by the Texas Tribune.

Per the Trib, multiple polls show Talafreako Talarico leading Kenny Boy Paxton by an amount larger than the polls' margin of error, and two of them, if we give him one polling vote above 50 percent, give him a majority not a plurality. 

Turd Blossom Karl Rove, without saying he WOULD vote for Talafreako, unlike promising to vote for Railroad Commish Democratic candidate Jon Rosenthal, said Paxton can't win but that Big John Cornyn would already be across the finish line. 

Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach said Paxton should stop being chickenshit and agree to debate Talarico. Odds are he won't, even though Talafreako even said he was OK with Fox's Bret Baier being the moderator.

Rosenthal and French HAVE agreed to such a debate — according to Rosenthal but not French, as of Sunday. 

Contra the Observer, I think Joe Rogan knows more about both candidates, and politics behind them, than he lets on, and rather, he is willfully acting like a stereotypical politician. Just like Talarico, who told Rogan that "purple" is the best political color for Texas. (Sidebar: How many people are actually fooled by such statements?)

Contra the Observer, you don't have to go way out to west Texas, to a place like Crane, to see 80-20 party voting splits in more rural counties. Also contra the Observer, Politico, and Texas Democrats, they're not flipping a dozen or more state House seats. Flipping the governor's spot is just possible, beyond Talarico beating Paxton; don't hold your breath for more. The story does well in distinguishing between real Democrat candidates and "ghosts," something that has plagued the Texas Green Party.

 

Final -30- thoughts on Pretendian Ward Churchill

Via Nick Estes, I didn’t know he died about 5-6 weeks ago. Nick writes about one thing, ultimately, the NYT’s obit and its whitewashing of Churchill being a pretendian.

He was.

Counterpunch had a member of his defense team from his wrongful dismissal suit against the University of Colorado do his obit there. No mention of “Pretendian,” just the suit. Managing editor Joshua Frank republished a 2014 piece with no mention of “Pretendian” in the update header and no asking him about it in the original interview of Churchill, even though it was pretty well known by then.

As for that suit? Yeah, the university was wrong, and may have perjured itself too.

My focus is mainly on this issue.

I’ve said before at Blogger and in comments on Substack that American Indians are not Rousselian noble savages and were not such, nor, if you don’t like the philosophy term that way, “Rousselian nobles,” before 1492, or even circa 1000 CE with Norse contact. My piece there and comment here, is mainly about American Indians and environmentalism, legend vs reality.

But, back to the main.

First, it’s long been known to other Whites besides me. High Country News wrote about it in 2019 before they went down the Rousseau road during COVID. Beyond the likes of HCN, non-skeptical leftist environmentalists like Wrong Kind of Green, have done the same.

Second, Gary Kamiya, way back in 2009, fired a blunderbuss. He indirectly tackled the Pretendian angle, noting that the Rocky Mountain News had covered it even further, but also took on the Rousselian noble savage angle in ways far beyond me, and did so both in Churchill’s own allegedly historical work and beyond. He also had a potshot five years into the future for Frank, who claimed Churchill was being picked on by librulz as well as conservatives. Actually, Churchill played tribalist librulz like a violin. And even academics, or maybe I should say especially academics, liked being played, and like those at Reddit’s r/AskHistorians, reverberated Churchillian notes.

Per Kamiya, Churchill repeated the BS passed along by librulz, some non-skeptical leftists, and yes, some actual American Indians.

By overreaching, Churchill did damage to his field — and that is the thing that is hard to forgive. … The ultimate lesson of the Churchill case is that no cause, however just, benefits from being taken up by a propagandist.

That’s true, period.

Beyond Kamiya, to wrap it up with a bow? Being a capitalist propagandist while pretending you’re not — which is usually the Pretendian bottom line — does even more damage.

ADDENDUM Per Counterpunch's search bar, the word "pretendian" isn't even in the entirety of Counterpunch online.  

Nuclear porn and cancer

Inside Climate News has the details on the status of decommissioning New York State's Indian Point nuclear power plant and how that relates to the congressional race there. Per my piece on Substack about the bullshit from Stewart Brand, cosigned by James Hansen, about wanting even breeder reactors, and about how they're so much safer than other power, and going back way back when, how coal plants kill so many more people?

This: 

A recent study led by Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health found higher cancer mortality rates in counties near operating nuclear plants.

Wrong.

And, in the paragraph before that, if you're a real environmentalist, not a fake one like Brand, and I don't know what Hansen has written about conservation and wildlife biology, this:

Over the years, the plant leaked radioactive waste into groundwater, vented an estimated 600,000 gallons of radioactive steam into the atmosphere, spilled some 3,000 gallons of dielectric fluid and 100 gallons of oil into the river and on occasion raised nearby water temperatures by 15 degrees, killing fish and triggering environmental concerns.

Real environmentalists talk about the real issues with nuclear power. Period. 

I will have a more in-depth piece at Substack. 

A preliminary Tex-ass election preview and "Gadfly slate"

Location: Ranch fence line along US Highway 82, Texoma area of North Texas. Author photo.

Yes, I’m a third-party voter, but seeing a Talafreako sign on a ranch fence line is something. That’s even more when it’s not alone, and it’s accompanied by a Hinojosa one.

I think the issue of yard sign counts is overstated, as I said in a comment to another post in last week’s Texas Progressives round-up on my Blogger site. I remember Beto-Bob, aka R.F. O’Rourke, had lots of them in 2018 and some Havana/Cancun/Calgary Ted backers started freaking out. Well, 8 years later, R.F. is trying to make a reputation as a political influencer or whatever the hell he’s doing these days, because he’s not sitting in the upper half of the U.S. Senate.

Anyway, here’s a roundup of stuff from Blogger that I’ve written recently.

On the Talafreako sign? I still have my doubts that rural voters will turn Texas blue, having heard and read a full decade of former Texas Democrats’ jefe Gilberto Hinojosa claim that demographic destiny would turn Texas blue.

Second, I have proof positive that Democratic Comptroller candidate Sarah Eckhardt is a squish on BDS. (Texas Greens are generally dead to me right now over Proposition 4, but I will vote Green in this race.) That said, ANYbody would be better than interim head Dreamy Don Huffines, who has taken the politicization of the office to new levels. (I have filed an official complaint.)

Third, “All things Paxton” (thanks, NPR) details Kenny Boy’s ongoing struggles for money as compared to Talarico, plus his most recent ethics violation.

Democratic Ag Commish candidate Clayton Tucker has a boatload of bad stocks unethical investments, including multiple oil companies.

Here’s part 1 and part 2 on Talafreako the hypocritico.

Next, per one of those Pergressuves roundups, the Monthly mildly called Hinojosa for a recent campaign ad that it noted was essentially a pro-life ad and even more, stressed that her ad that the Tex-ass Lege’s anti-abortion law has pretty much eliminated the medical assistance she had to take a problematic pregnancy to term.

From earlier this summer, I’ll eat my hat, I said, if Texas Dems flip TWELVE state House seats. (That would still leave them one short of a tie.) And, even if Kenny Boy, or Trump’s gas prices, or Strangeabbott’s see-through hypocrisy on data centers and Flock cameras, or all of the above, are boat anchors, I’ll stand by that.

From last week, contra this Siena / Recon poll, which says it polled likely voters, I will doubly or triply eat my hat if Vikki Goodwin defeats incumbent Lite Guv Danny Goeb. It also has a lead for Talafreako outside the polling margin of error and for Hinojosa, right at that. Marist has now released its latest poll and it too has Talarico with a lead outside the margin of error (even as a majority of respondents think Kenny Boy will win) and Hinojosa ahead. In both polls, the Democrat is still at a plurality, not a majority, but as pundits and pundit-watchers know, for incumbents to be underwater this late, even if their opponent does not have a majority, is not good news for them.

On the GOP side, people who know something about Texas probably HAVE heard of the Railroad Commission. And, yes, Bo French is that nuts. Karl Rove, yes, Turd Blossom himself, has said he’s not undervoting the race, he’s voting for Democrat Joe Rosenthal. And, the lying liars at the Texas Monthly claim Republicans as a class have repudiated French when they haven't.

==

My preliminary “Gadfly ballot” is:

Undervote Senator

Undervote Congresscritter (gack)

Undervote Gov

Possibly undervote Lite Guv, depending on what answer Green Kevin McCormick has about 2025’s Proposition 4, per my latest callout of Texas Greens on this issue; I webmail contacted him last week.

Possibly undervote AG

Green Shela Faizi for Comptroller

Probably undervote General Land Office.

Probably vote Rosenthal for RRC.

Definitely undervote Ag Commish.

"Iran’s president says Tehran wants a deal with U.S. before midterm elections"

#BigIfTrue but …

But why would you, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, say this out loud? TRUMP saying the similar? No surprise.

But, Iran, which has kept the upper hand? Aren’t you surrendering it?

“We don’t want it to get to the midterm elections,” Pezeshkian said Thursday in a brief meeting with NBC News and other news organizations on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

“We wish Americans to return to the MOU before the midterms,” Pezeshkian added, referring to a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran that laid out plans for a temporary ceasefire.

Sure sounds to me like a surrender.

One option of what’s behind this? Wrongfooting Trump’s comments at the UNGA:

“I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” Trump said. “They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election.”

In this case, we’re in the world of Shrub Bush strategery. Pezeshkian thinks Trump’s comment reflects that he’s worried about the midterms, and somebody is telling him that he’s got one week, no more, left before it’s too late to even mildly and consistently influence downward oil, gasoline and diesel prices before the election, and definitely before early voting starts in many states.

And, that bolded “consistently” is key.

We’re in the world of Trump peddling the latest round of Norman Vincent Peale vs Pezeshkian peddling the latest round of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khoumenei or something. And, since the ultimate audience for Trump’s peddling of Peale is one person — himself — Pezeshkian should know better.

I mean, even during Trump 1.0, it was pretty much a mug’s game for anybody trying to outthink him. Now, in Trump 2.0, the word “think” isn’t even operative.

Option 2 is that Iran is worried that in the “lame duck” session, Trump will be more pissed than now, especially if Democrats retake the Senate as well as the House in midterms. In that case, they must be looking at Kalshi and other predictions markets.

Option 3? Hardliners in the mullahs, Revolutionary Guards or other elements are pushing Pezeshkian and this is ultimately a statement for internal public consumption. Exactly what that pressure might be, I don’t know. I’m not an Iran expert, but, that said, I’ve heard nothing recently about such pressure.

There had been pressure before the UNGA, but that appears to have abated, per this piece. Note this:

A notable signal came from Yahya Rahim Safavi, a former commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who now serves as military adviser to [Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei].

“If the leader of the revolution has now deemed it in the country’s interest and has left the government open to negotiations, that is a very important act of prudence,” Maj Gen Safavi said, leaving room for talks without requiring Iran’s security establishment to describe them as a retreat.

So, right now, he’s OK again. Or is he?

Also from the same piece, note this:

The ultraconservative Kayhan newspaper warned that “New York is not a place for smiles and negotiations”, urging Mr Pezeshkian instead to turn the UN into “a courtroom for American crimes”. Other hardline voices have questioned whether Iran should have attended the General Assembly at all.

There you are.

Option 4 could be trying to further undercut Netanyahu’s UNGA visit, but per this piece, I don’t think that needs much help.

==

More from Drop Site News, as Iran is threatening to attack Gulf Arab states' airlines over them participating in a new round of sanctions. 

And more Substack blocks — vile Islamophobia and antisemitism

Gary Bolyer, a fundagelical who includes Islamophobia as part of his fundagelicalism.

Boatsailor566, an all-around creeptard. 

Nurit Steinfeld, an Israeli Zionist exceptionalist. 

Shirli Ganske — low-level Zionist, big level Trump Delusional Syndrome parader. 

==

Jordan Nuttall. Antisemitic not anti-Zionist with multiple "Rothschild" pieces. General conspiracy theorist about "great families," and adenochrome and other nuttery.

Books Behind Borders. Holocaust denialist. Damn, I need to remember to pull the trigger quicker; she blocked me first, and Substack blocking is non-reciprocal, another teh suck. I did report her before quote-stacking her.

==

Ronin: Supports BBB's Holocaust denialism, and is a 9/11 falser. 

==

Texas Progressives

Off the Kuff covered the most favorable poll Democrats have seen in many years. 

SocraticGadfly, from taking a wrong turn on summer vacation, wrote about "breeder reactor porn," of relevance with the continued push for data centers and such.

The Monthly notes that many Big Bend businesses are refusing service to people associated with border wall construction, and that this in turn is part of a larger division in the area. 

The Trib profiles the wingnut diaper dandy (and chickenshit friend of Mucus) who is the Dreamy Don Huffines' right-hand man in his overt politicization of the comptroller's office as its acting head. 

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project said upcoming October 17 No Kings protests have themes of early voting & election protection. Just the program. There will be No Kings protests across the Houston region. You can set one up on your corner. The next action is when you organize it.

Your Local Epidemiologist explains what AI can and cannot do in biosecurity.

The Dallas Observer notes Rep. Jasmine Crockett's Chris Brown troubles

 Space City Weather tells you what you need to know about Super El Nino.

Suzanne Bellsnyder reminds us that a state income tax is expressly forbidden by the constitution, no matter what those ads on TV say.

The Current argues that Trump's mass deportation scheme has left us a weaker nation.

Clickbait liars at the Texas Monthly vs Bo French's weaselshits and defenders

Texas media inaccuracies alert! Contra the header, and as the Monthly admits in the body of the story, no "Republicans" (as a body) have NOT NOT NOT "rebuke[d]" Bo French's racism.

More accurate? The Trib notes the awl bidness, the guys he could be regulating, have been largely silent about French's racism. 

More accurate yet? The Observer does a roundup of Rethuglicans still explicitly defending him. 

Among French’s defenders in the GOP is Matt Rinaldi, former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, who lauded French for “pushing the Overton window on immigration.” Texas state Representative Andy Hopper, who represents a North Texas district, attacked Cornyn as a “smug globalist” after the senator spoke out. State Republican Executive Committee member Rolando Garcia wrote that French’s post was not evidence of successful assimilation—the students are all wearing burnt orange and celebrating the sport of American football—but rather the problems of “mass migration” and “ethnic enclaves.” Monty Bennett, the publisher of the Dallas Express and a major Republican donor who has contributed $5,000 to French’s campaign, shared French’s post with a statement that appeared to endorse French’s assessment: “The problem is much bigger than UT. … America must prioritize Americans, always.” Brandon Hall, an elected member of the State Board of Education, wrote that he stood with French and asserted that the issue wasn’t about “skin color” but rather “preserving our Texas way of life.” And Jake Lloyd Colglazier, president of the Fort Worth Young Republicans, who was reported to have ties to white nationalists in 2022 and previously worked for a group Bennett quietly funded, wrote that French’s “perfectly reasonable post demonstrates the deleterious effect of mass immigration on our democratic system.”

And, re the Trib's "silence" of the oil and gas world, the Monthly goes on to note the silent weaselshits in the GOP. 

Instead of clearly picking a side, two of the most influential statewide Republicans also found ways to make statements without saying much about French at all. Governor Greg Abbott, who backed French’s opponent in the primary but has since endorsed him, didn’t condemn French, instead saying “that’s not my message,” calling the photo “selective,” and touting his recent freeze of H-1B visas at Texas universities. Texas Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton condemned “racism in all of its forms” without mentioning French while accusing his Senate election opponent, James Talarico, of being racially divisive.

Finally, there's past backbone, current weaselshit. 

At least once in the past, French backed down in the face of criticism over a similarly offensive post. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick demanded French resign from his role as the Tarrant County GOP chair last year after French published a poll on X asking whether Jews or Muslims were a bigger threat to America. French deleted the post and said he regretted it. (Patrick has so far remained silent on social media regarding French’s latest post.)

There you are. 

Clutching pears, without tots, at Lone Star Left

Lone Star Left, which I consider meh at best, has a callout of Republicans for calling out Bo French's racism in the past while allegedly being racist themselves. Fail on the major premise that mid-decade redistricting was prima facie racist, but not shocked by Michelle Davis making the claim. It's also funny, with a photo showing an anonymous lady clutching "pearls," for Davis' text to repeatedly say "pears." Now, Rethuglicans WILL clutch pears when offering "tots and pears" for people killed in gun violence, but that's about it.

Davis is also one of those tribalist Dems who have quit Shitter but stay on Fuckbook, Hucksterman, or whatever you want to call it. You know, like hypocritical Popehat Ken White. Of course, being on Substack would itself be hypocritical.

The decline and fall of John Whitmire

The Observer does a deep-dive takedown of Houston Mayor John Whitmire, and even more, the position in which he's in, both on the state and feds eroding more and more of Houston's strong-mayor powers, and with the city of Houston itself not what he — and maybe not just Sly Turner before him but Annise Parker before that — have claimed about it. 

Speaking of that? This pull quote:

Taken altogether, Whitmire is a nominally “strong” mayor with a relatively meager voter mandate, presiding over a once-mighty fiefdom in decline. And while Houston is no stranger to tragedy, he appears hardly able to confront the torrent of problems washing over his city. Municipal procedure here has for years been captured by the “task force” that goes nowhere, the “committee” that solves nothing. In those all-too-brief moments when the council chambers suddenly show signs of life, state Republicans are quick to intervene. How, then, did the strongest mayor in America become so weak? And even if Whitmire could get his way, what would that way look like?

Is a good summary. Read the whole thing. 

I knew Whitmire was a fair chunk of ConservaDem, but didn't know the details. 

ON the other hand? The idea that Houstonians are fleeing for the outer suburbs? Per Wiki, Houston's rate of population growth since 2020 has been faster than Phoenix, albeit slower than San Antonio. Here in Tex-ass, it's the same rate as Austin. Among major suburbs, it's faster than Plano and Houston's own Pearland and almost as fast as League City, both of which are outer suburbs if not exurbs. And, it's not losing population, unlike Sugar Land.

As with the Observer in the past, like the Monthly and the Trib, I've tagged the mag and the author on Shitter. As in the past, I expect no response, and even told Russek this.  I have created a new tag: Texas media inaccuracies.

Your latest callout of Democraps and Greens as well as Rethugs for backing Prop 4

This study from the Texas Water Journal says that on-site detailed inspection at sites in Texas shows:

[P]ermitting of surface discharges of produced water must be carefully regulated, and the downstream water quality containing signature produced water constituents must be continuously monitored.

Boom. I don't normally bold pull quotes, but this one needed it.

Continuously monitored? Yeah, sure, the Railroad Commission that can't even keep track of abandoned oil wells will do that, right? Or the Texas Water Development Board, in the middle of development? 

Here's the full abstract of the piece; the sentence bolded above is the last.

West of the 98th meridian, sufficiently treated produced water from oilfields can be legally discharged into surface water for beneficial reuse. However, its long-term impacts on the water quality of downstream waterways are poorly understood. 

In this study, we investigated the water quality evolution for segments of the receiving streams in the Nueces River watershed, namely the Lower Atascosa River and the Petronila Creek. The former site is associated with the permitted discharges from an active oil extraction operation, while the latter site represents a “legacy” site that is known to have been contaminated despite oil and gas operations being terminated in 1987. 

We analyzed datasets, including the historical water quality data from selected upstream and downstream locations relative to the discharge outfalls, to characterize the temporal and spatial trends of the key water quality parameters, including chloride and total dissolved solids. We also conducted correlation analyses between upstream and downstream water quality to describe the spatial relationship of the constituent concentrations and their association with hydrologic dilution effects. 

At both sites, the concentrations of key constituents were consistently and significantly higher than the upstream counterparts. Correlation analyses suggested the influence of additional downstream processes or inputs rather than simple longitudinal transport. Precipitation influences solute concentrations episodically, whereas the dominant drivers appear to reflect longer-term changes in solute inputs rather than hydrologic variability alone. 

While the causality of the worsening downstream water quality must be interpreted cautiously, the analyses showed a strong influence of external inputs impacting the water quality of these receiving streams. As such, permitting of surface discharges of produced water must be carefully regulated, and the downstream water quality containing signature produced water constituents must be continuously monitored.

There you are. 

This shit is why I called out the Texas Green Party's executive committee for backing Prop. 4. Texas Democrats are mainly urban and pretty clueless about agriculture in West Texas, even more, west of the 100th meridian than the 98th. I mean, even the Sierra Club, which ALSO SUPPORTED Prop. 4, admitted that the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas allows fracking wastewater, aka produced water, projects and that Prop 4 tax money would go to that. It's why I am officially no longer a Green at the state level as well as the federal.

For the unknowing, the 98th meridian is a bit west of Fort Worth and Austin, but east of San Antonio.  

Texas Progressives talk this and that

Off the Kuff interviewed four Democratic statewide candidates: Rep. Jon Rosenthal, Sen. Nathan Johnson, Clayton Tucker, and Sen. Sarah Eckhardt. (Your author wrote about Eckhardt yesterday and Tucker last week.)

SocraticGadfly, with author Jack Herrera providing his email on Twitter and asking for feedback, strongly critiqued and fact-checked Texas Monthly's piece on the Rio Grande water crisis, and got no response from Herrera — and, unsurprisingly, none from the Monthly, either. (Side note: Not for this reason, but others, no Monthly links this week; its updates since last week are meh.)

John Cornyn and a few other Republicans have condemned Bo French's latest racism. Too little, too late, especially since Strangeabbott was always in his corner and Dannie Goeb flip-flopped after he won the GOP primary for Railroad Commish.) Karl Rove said he's doing more than condemning, and voting for Democrat Joe Rosenthal.

Texas Supreme Court tosses out Galveston County's midsummer redistricting. 

US Senate Majority Leader John Thune's Super PAC is finally dropping some money for Kenny Boy Paxton.

What the Trib calls "public pressure" other people would surely call "corporate pressure" as the PUC approves yet more 765 kV power lines.  It does disclose its sponsors at the bottom, but doesn't disclose, as these lines are supposed to help the Awl Bidness, that it has pulled its punches there in the past.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project noted that Mayor Whitmire & HPD changed city policy on mandatory investigation of shootings involving federal law enforcement not long after Trump started his 2nd term. Maybe this action had a part in Whitmire saying off the bat that the city had no role in the ICE killing of Salgado.

Paradise in Hell did a yard sign survey. (Your author's note: Yard signs mean little; Beto-Bob outnumbered Havana/Cancun/Calgary Ted by about the same ratio in certain areas. Plus, per the infamous Literary Digest poll, this is nowhere near scientific. The link even admits that, then tries to deny it admitted that. I leave it in part for the possible mocking should Talafreako lose to Kenny Boy.)

Laura Rodriguez considers a lesson she learned from 9/11.

City of Yes reflected on the absence of the Twin Towers.

The TSTA Blog finds no moral imperative to send public funds to private schools.

Chris Tackett documents the polling place closures ordered by the Republicans on Tarrant County Commissioners Court.

Proof Sarah Eckhardt is a squish on BDS in the Texas Comptroller's race

I've already said this about the Comptroller's race, where the Austin-area state senator is the Democratic candidate vs interim Dreamy Don Huffines, that compared to Green Party candidate Shehla Faizi, Eckhardt is a squish on the issue of pledging the state to stop being anti-BDS on its investments.

ConservaDem Charles Kuffner recently interviewed her, and it may be in part that Kuff, himself being very much a squish on BDS or anything anti-Zionist, didn't ask her, but in the Word document transcript of the interview, neither "BDS" nor "boycott" is there. Kuff even says in one question that the comptroller's office has gotten in trouble at times in the past for "policymaking." Perfect place to ask about BDS, right?

Shehla Faizi has already adamantly pledged to trash that shit, as I noted back in March, as the Green candidate. I also noted back then Eckhardt being a squish. I don't know the position of Libertarian V. Alonzo Echavarria-Garza. For places like Community Impact and other media sites, he's refused to answer questionnaires. Maybe he's afraid the city of Hearne will fire him as city manager.

Climate and environmental news roundup

Two from the group of young Hawaiians who sued the state over climate change several years ago, with the case eventually settling out of court, talk to Yale Climate about where they're at today.

Otherwise? The year 2045 is too far out for the state's transportation department to target on "decarbonization," even without a likely scrambling for loopholes.

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Reminder: The feds' Colorado River Compact update plan is voluntary. Remember, part 2: Even more than his general not understanding shit about shit, Trump really doesn't understand this. 

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New England, as well as the western states, faces new firefighting challenge, some climate-driven, others related to Trump's cuts and reorganizations (which build on earlier, duopoly-bipartisan handling of the U.S. Forest Service). 

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Corpus Christi hates birds while still loving green lawns. 

Sure, rural voters will turn Texas blue

That's what Politico is claiming.

Sure. 

Looking at the two main statewide races?

Talafreako consistently has a small lead on Kenny Boy Paxton. That could change with Trump's big ad buy. Or it could not. In most cases, the lead is within the margin of polling error.

Gina Hinojosa and Strangeabbott keep flip-flopping, and neither one has posted a lead beyond the margin of error in any poll.

And, where have I heard this before?

Oh, yeah, already 20 years ago, jefe Gilberto Hinojosa was bleating about Hispanic demography turning Texas blue. 

I first wrote about that issue, not quite 20 years ago, but yes almost 15. My most in-depth follow-up was two years later.

It's like finding a pile of hay and thinking that means a pony is inside it. Kuff isn't alone among Texas Democrats believing this shit.

Could it happen? Yeah, but I'll believe it when I see it. It's like the Hood County voters butt-hurt about data centers but refusing to vote to incorporate themselves to give themselves at least a modicum of control.

A lot of speakers at meetings and such are anti-virtue signaling. Maybe that's the same in polls. 

Many of these folks are "Yellow dog Republicans," to riff on an old phrase. They're telling Abbott they'll vote him out. They're telling the polls that. They're even smartly not trusting him on his data center "audits." The high-voltage power line additions? Strangeabbott is out of step even with non-rural elected leaders in his own party. I know Lite Guv Dannie Goeb explicitly asked the PUC not to approve them and let next year's Lege take a further look.)

But actually vote for Hinojosa? Many will stay home, sure. A few savvy ones may vote Libertarian or write-in.

But, actually pulling the D lever? I doubt it. 

If I'm wrong, I'll admit it after Election Day. If Dems, or Politco, are wrong I invite them to do the same. I won't hold my breath. Otherwise, as I told Kuff, this is like actual AI, or nuclear fusion power. It's always going to be just around the corner.

Back to the story, first with Greg Torres from rural McCulloch County:

Torres in McCulloch County said Texans are going to have to make a choice about the state’s future. 

Do they want the romanticized version of Texas — with cowboys and wide open spaces — or a Texas that’s hyperfixated on business? 

“Are we just going to sell off our version of Texas for money?” Torres asked. 

Torres said he still plans to vote for Abbott. He said Abbott is responsive to public pressure, even though he doesn’t think Abbott is sincere in his attempts to regulate data centers or lessen the impacts of the 765-kV lines.

There you are. 

As for the rural voters? Especially if you live west of I-35, climate change is coming for your farms and ranches. The "hollowing out" will only continue. 

As for Suzanne Bellsnyder? She's a hypocrite on water use, and surely knew that Strangeabbott was a fake on rural understanding back in 2014. 

And, if Hinojosa DOES win? She'll be one-term. GOP talking heads will find somebody better than Strangeabbott. She'll be stuck with a Lege in opposition, to boot, and Goeb perhaps relishing the opportunity to play obstructionist and also to play gov kingmaker. (Hell no he doesn't want it himself. Get a clue.)

Finally, the story was two weeks old when Kuff posted it. (That's where I saw it.) Things change near the election finish line. 

Roger Waters is dead to me as an anti-Zionist

Tucker Carlson, or Cucker Tarlson, has never meant anything to me politically other than being a capitalist chattering class talking head willing to say anything to increase his Swanson heirship big bucks that he already has.

So, I don’t care if he’s promoting yet another conspiracy theory.

I do care, though, if Roger Waters is promoting that conspiracy theory, as both reportedly are.

“There is no way the North and South towers and Building Seven came down because of airplanes hitting. Just not possible,” Waters said during the interview.

Waters suggested the buildings were brought down in controlled demolitions and questioned who might have been responsible. He also raised the possibility that elements within Israel or the US government had prior knowledge of, or involvement in, the attacks.

First, per my piece, your first paragraph is ignorance. Willful ignorance, just like other 9/11 Falsers. That, with link to the Popular Mechanics story refuting your ignorant ass, is in my 9/11 anniversary piece.

Also at that link? Since I called “Israel did it” type 9/11 conspiracy theories antisemitism, not anti-Zionism, you’re dead to me.

The full shebang? Listed here. The International Center for 9/11 Justice is an official falser group.

“9/11 was the first step in the plan for US-Israel hegemony in the Middle East.”

I wish I had a better link than Times of Israel, but I’m not wasting that much time. That said, apparently Waters has been a falser for some time. Had I known so, I wouldn’t have defended him in the past. That said, it has one interesting point. $150 a pop to go to this event. So, some good capitalist grifting as a sidebar.

To look at a few more known names?

Dennis Kucinich continues to deny being a 9/11 falser. More and more, though, it rings about as hollow as Dr. Jill Stein denying being an antivaxxer. He’s also a UFO falser of some sort and other things.

Bret Weinstein? GACK. Even if not a 9/11 falser, he’s a definite conspiracy theorist and general nutbar.

Jimmy Dore? GACK. General conspiracy theorist, including JFK assassination, 9/11 and Seth Rich.

Karen Kwiatkowski? Member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, presumably part of the majority who endorsed the Guccifer 2.0 idea and thus, by default and silence, also endorsed, or gave a pass to, the odious Seth Rich conspiracy theory. Indeed, her Wiki says she was a founder of the group.

William Rodriguez? NOT the “last survivor,” but that apparently hasn’t stopped his capitalist grifting either.

Meryl Nass? Low-grade COVID conspiracy theorist and general nutter, part of an early summer round of Substack blocks.

For extra shits and grins, speaker James Li is apparently a Charlie Kirk killing conspiracy theorist.

9/11, conspiracy theories and more

This is a pretty highly edited and reorganized version of a recent newspaper column. Paywalls don't exist here on Blogger, but it's enough different from the original that I did not paywall a similar version on Substack. (I almost totally omitted Trump refusing to adhere to Santayana’s dictum about learning from the past — namely, Shrub Bush’s past — and emphasized other things more, namely, the "conspiracy theories" angle.

Two things about 9/11 need to be put up front on this 25^th anniversary.

The first is that 19 hijackers connected to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a degree that both duopoly parties still try to hide to some degree took control of the two planes that flew into the World Trade Center, the one that was flown into the Pentagon, and the one that passengers force-crashed in Pennsylvania.

Period and end of story. More on that down below. But, no, Mr. Drain the Swamp Trump has no desire to touch this swamp with his Saudi friends and Abraham Accorders involved. Neither did Genocide Joe, after trying briefly to mildly push back against the Bone Saw King, Mohammad bin Salman.

No, it was no false flag, nor similar, “9/11 Falsers,” and that’s what I usually call you. Deal with it.

The two worst conspiracy theories are claims of a false flag controlled demolition and the claim that Mossad or some other agency of the nation of Israel did it.

As for the former? Popular Mechanics’ story, written in 2005 after a preliminary investigation and follow-up report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, explains in detail just how the two jet collisions could have caused what they did, including the collapse of WTC 7. It was eventually included in a larger book about 9/11. Lightly updated, still online, and without a paywall, it’s easily available.

Second, the spooks and snoops of the CIA and NSA? The ones who didn’t figure out Snowden until it was too late, a dozen years later? The ones who missed CIA, NSA and FBI spies, for Russia, Israel and other countries, for years? They couldn’t have pulled off a false flag.

As for the latter? It deserves no more comment. And I consider it antisemitic, not anti-Zionist, at bottom line and in most versions. That's especially with the "dancing Israelis" subtheme, or the "Jews didn't show up to work" subtheme. That said, the "dancing Muslims" claim is just as loathsome.

Within the Middle East, though, beyond Israel and Iraq, the ongoing whitewashing of Saudi Arabian connections should not be forgotten. With Mohammad bin Salman hopping in bed with Trump and vice versa, and Abraham Accords papering over the Middle East and further kicking Palestinians down a shithole, this cannot be emphasized enough. And, the House of Saud will continue to give Palestine the back of its hand for the foreseeable future.

The second main thing is 9/11’s role in conspiracy theorizing in general.

For a younger generation, I think 9/11 has replaced the John F. Kennedy assassination as the most popular conspiracy theory. (Well, that is, other than the “Zionists whacked Jack” asshattery.)

Spoiler alert: Lee Harvey Oswald did it, acting alone, six months after nearly killing Gen. Edwin Walker with the same Carcano rifle. It’s not that hard a shot for a Marine-trained sharpshooter at best rating, especially if you go to the Sixth Floor Museum, or even on the ground at Dealey Plaza and scope the scene. I’ve done all of that, and walked Dealey Plaza many a time, including on a Nov. 22 that fell on Thanksgiving Day.

That said, for some far-righters and a few far-lefters, the far more odious Seth Rich conspiracy theory may also be in the running as the most popular one today. Spoiler alert: The Russkies hacked both DNC and RNC servers. See my long and detailed piece, building off Duncan Campbell, refuting various nutters within “Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity,” refuting Patrick Lawrence (who has never written again for The Nation, good, even though it’s duopoly), and refuting various Greenies within VIPS like Ray McGovern, who was already way behind the 8-ball in my world.

Even more than 9/11, the Internet drove that conspiracy theory, and especially the social media world.

Otherwise, I reject conspiracy theories in general.

First, I know the difference between a conspiracy and a conspiracy theory. Beyond that, which covers specific actual conspiracies as well as conspiracy theories, I wrote about third parties and conspiracy theories. (That, in turn, ties indirectly to my David Keith Cobb obit.)

Otherwise, per the World War II cautionary dictum of “Loose lips sink ships,” most conspiracy theories have way too much faith in the ability of, or the desire to, keep secrets by participants in the alleged conspiracy. Even Saudi involvement in 9/11 partially reflects that, as a lawsuit continues its slow journey. Meanwhile, the pretendian tankies at r/AskHistorians really show they’re not leftists by running flak.

That’s more true than ever in today’s social media world.

Per the World War II cautionary dictum of “Loose lips sink ships,” most conspiracy theories have way too much faith in the ability of, or the desire to, keep secrets by participants in the alleged conspiracy. That’s more true than ever in today’s social media world.

Speaking of? Via Joe Costello, Hunter S. Thompson used that phrase in the last paragraph of his column written in the immediate aftermath.

The lid is on. Loose Lips Sink Ships. Don't say anything that might give aid to The Enemy.

So, was he gonzo? Or was he going over to the dark side? Or rather, was this calling out the dark side? A closer read shows he was calling out the dark side one last time, but with dashes of his gonzo style.

Otherwise? Good old Occam’s Razor, named after the medieval theologian though going back as far as Aristotle, otherwise still holds true, and the average conspiracy theory multiplies ideas way beyond necessity. Speaking of medieval worlds, conspiracy theory in general reminds me of the ancient religious movement called Gnosticism. I wrote about that as further thought vis-a-vis the Seth Rich conspiracy theory’s ongoing legs and related issues. Being a theoretically secret party to insider knowledge is attractive, along with being able to move up the rungs of a movement by becoming devoted to the conspiracy theory cause. In a nation now over the 340 million mark, feeling “in” in such ways surely has its social psychology attractions.