Texas Progressives update the Lege, other Tex-ass stupidity

What? Republican Congresscritters using the Ill Eagles issue for political grift? I am shocked. But, in a man-bites-dog story, one of their own, San Antonio GOP Congresscritter Tony Gonzales, claims that and went after fellow Tex-ass Rethug Chip Roy directly.

Gus Bova calls Strangeabbott's State of the State "a weird, alarming infomercial." Scott Braddick also nailed it. Strangeabbott likes the cocooned environments, like the private biz where he delivered this.

The GOP in the Lege hates cities lobbying, loves big biz lobbying, but hates one of its own lobbying. Busted: Chris Paddie. Actually, everybody hated this, and the Texas Ethics Commission actually had its blind hog and acorns moment.

SocraticGadfly has a Swiftian modest proposal for the PUC and its employee shortages and turnover: just hire some child workers! (He also notes our Lege is behind the ball here.)  

Stace reports on what Americans United for Separation of Church and State found regarding the funders of the Super Bowl Jesus ads. (They're disgusting and laughable both?)

Executing the mentally ill, in this case, Andre Thomas by name? How Tex-ass.

School vouchers going to rich kids? It's what Aridzona does, and per the Observer, probably part of what wingnuts in Tex-ass hope to do, among other portions of their ongoing attack on public schools.

Doesn't matter if Robb Elementary School doors were propped open or not, if they either couldn't be latched or master keys couldn't be found, in the latest laundry list of problems at the Uvalde school.

Not sure why the Drunkenville School Board voted to go beyond UIL sanctions against last year's state hoops team and not let this year's team go to the playoffs, which just punishes players, not cheating coaches already suspended. Anyway, the Monthly profiles this year's Panthers. OTOH, per other stories, the girls team had to forfeit its regular season finale due to its head coach being investigated. Maybe the board needs to fire an AD.

Off the Kuff reports on how to help Democratic judges in Harris County who are defending against those bogus election contests.

A HUGE child trafficking ring busted in Dallas reminds us that, Pizzagate nuttery aside, this is an actual and serious issue.

The Austin Chronicle writes on the firing of Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk following that city's power problems in the recent winter storm.

The TSTA Blog calls out the TEA official who was caught advocating for vouchers.

Reform Austin notes that the Texas Senate committee that is tasked with oversight of the power grid is still not sure how the PUC's proposed reforms will help it.

Texas Monthly investigates the right wing transphobia campaign going on at the Lege.

Jef Rouner argues against taking away schoolkids' cellphones.

Russia-Ukraine: One year on

Poland wants to further escalate the Russia-Ukraine War, not with weapons but with explicit NATO security guarantees to Ukraine. Hard pass. Unherd takes a deeper look at the new Polish nationalism behind this.

In an even deeper dive, Unherd looks at Ukraine provoking escalation in the first place.

Huckleberry J. Butchmeup (R-South Carolina Dogpatch) wants to escalate the Russia-Ukraine war with the sale of F-16s to Ukraine. Hard pass. 

==

 Meanwhile, via Patrick Cockburn, Substacker Simplicius has a major update of the expected new Russian offensive.

Could East Palestine happen in Gainesville?

Gainesville,  Texas, is on the main line of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) from Houston and the Gulf after it goes through the Metromess.

Gainesville's main city park, next to the under-known Great Hanging site, runs on the east side of the railroad. And, one train I saw last Saturday (of four in less than an hour's time) was ALL tank cars, as shown in the picture.

I didn't attempt an exact count, but 50-60 would be a conservative guess.

And, tying back to East Palestine, Ohio? A "pusher" locomotive on a later train? Norfolk Southern.

Sadly, Will Bunch, who I thought was better than this, went #BlueAnon by blaming it only Trump, even though a Jacobin piece he linked noted that the Obama Administration weakened its original train safety regulations, Trump got rid of the braking issue but not all of what Obama did do, and Biden didn't reinstate what Trump killed.

Bunch also ignores Amtrak Joe signing into bill the law trying to force railway workers back on the job just before Christmas without most of what they had been striking for.

Gonna give Hucksterman a copy of your driver's license?

That's the price to pay for his version of Twitter Blue at Facebook, reportedly just around the corner.

According to Morning Brew, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is launching a subscription service for Instagram and Facebook that will allow users to purchase blue badges that mark them as verified. Known as Meta Verified, the service will launch in Australia and New Zealand this week and hit other countries “soon.”

Similar to Twitter Blue, Meta Verified eschews the traditional concept of the blue checkmark as a gift bestowed to notable people like politicians and celebs. Now, it’s open to anyone who’s willing to pay. But there are differences between Twitter’s and Meta’s plans:

• Meta’s is more expensive, costing $11.99 on the web and $14.99 on mobile. Twitter’s costs $8 and $11, respectively.
• Meta will also require Meta Verified users to confirm their identity using a government-issued ID,
  
• something Twitter doesn’t require.

What your $15 gets you with Meta Verified: You’ll get higher “visibility and reach” on the platforms and increased access to customer support, among other perks.

Zoom out: This is a big deal—not only for Meta, but for your experience on social media. By promising increased reach in exchange for $$$, Zuck is cementing social media’s evolution from a tool to keep up with your high school friends to a pay-to-play entertainment medium catering to professional content creators. As Bloomberg’s Sarah Frier noted, “Get your good friends a group chat if you haven’t already.”

And, yes, there will be people dumb enough to trust Huckersterman's security protections and do this.

Are the Paxton Four barking up the wrong money tree?

Arguably yes.

Kenny Boy Paxton's four ex-assistants who settled their lawsuit with him are perhaps worried that the Lege won't pay up on the money it needs to for the settlement, if they're essentially lobbying it not to kill the funding. Given that House Speaker Dade "Dade" Phelan is among the Legiscritters raising questions? Hey, Rethugs, the way to do that is to "defund" Paxton's budget by exactly this amount.

There's an interesting twist. The state Supremes paused the case until April 3 for settlement to continue. What if the Lege passes a funding bill just before April 3 .... but Strangeabbott vetoes it afterward? 

That said, per state law and other issues, why would the four expect the state to pay out, since their lawsuit was against Paxton, not the state AG's office? Given Kenny Boy still dodging trial on securities issues, securities as in financial instruments, why aren't they trying to get $3.3 million from him and Angela? And, it's not just Rethugs. That Trib story notes that in the Senate, people like Royce West are also perturbed.

I'm not sure if Justin Miller agrees with me at the Observer that the four should have gone, and should be going, after Paxton's personal wallet, but he does have this to say:

The settlement—which would be footed by taxpayers—isn’t final until legislators sign off, but if approved it would mark yet another act pulled off by the most talented political escape artist in Texas

Bingo.

OTOH, the Lege gave Kenny Boy extra money for outside lawyers in a suit against Google, whom he needed in part from losing the help from one of the fired four. (Remember when wingnuts attacked Dan Morales for outside lawyers' help on the tobacco lawsuit?)

That said, two wrongs don't make a right. And, per Miller's plaint, if non-payment by the Lege leads to yet more drawout of this suit? Then anti-Paxton Republicans should help pay the Paxton Four's legal bills.

On the third hand, while Kenny Boy is an individual, he was operating as an individual in charge of a state agency, and the state law is bad as currently written. I'd be find if the Lege footed the bill — if it also changes the law AND dings the individual bad actor's agency the amount, not just now but in the future.

On the fourth hand, the Lege should impeach Paxton. And, yes, per the state constitution, an AG can be impeached.

Seymour Hersh's "Crap on the Wall"

 

That's what he's calling it, not me. (Pictured above: A pile of crap-foam floating on the surface of either the Baltic Sea or Seymour Hersh's Substack.)

Sy's now doubled down on his Nord Stream nodderings with a new piece called "The Crap on the Wall." How much crap, whose crap, and how widely apportioned it should be, probably are in the eye of the beholder, or believer, and their degree of tribalism, or non-tribalism.

Sy is also doubling down on the dinero, as that's a subscriber-only piece, and everything past his journalistic scene-setting intro, per John Helmer, is behind the paywall screen. No doubt sort-of editor Matt Taibbi is walking him through the details of Substack.

Shock me.

Speaking of subscribers? Nobody can comment on the Nord Stream piece. Likely also the idea of sort-of Taibbi. Only subscribers could comment on the original.

Speaking of "crap on the wall"?

Numero Uno commenter on his "hello, I'm here" initial piece is "I invented that vaccine but I'm an antivaxxer" Robert Malone, MD. (Manic-depressive? Old Hawkeye Pierce joke.) He's followed downstream by more than one COVID denier or minimalist. Apparently, he referred many here. Others said Aaron Maté sent them here. Natch. Might be some tie with Taibbi, too. And, others said noted British nutter Russell Brand sent them.

Others of note? Gun nut, Assange cultist, and promoter of a weird conspiracy theory that the feds are out to get the Amish, Betsy McDonel Herr.

Doug Henwood, with whom I've tangled before, and maybe is himself a COVID minimalist or worse if he also follows Vinay Prasad's Substack. He's also a paid subscriber to Modern Monetary Theory tout Stephanie Kelton's Substack, and Doug used to laugh at MMT touts like Michael Hudson and Yves at Naked Capitalism. I might have to do a separate small piece about Doug. No, I will.

Lesser names/aliases? A "Blackbear" favorably cites Seth Rich conspiracy theorist nutter (and nutter about other things) John Mark Dougan. And a Jill Klausen, ready to believe Sy, but calling the likely Chinese surveillance balloon a "weather balloon."

Among more trustable people of note? Asa Winstanley of the Electronic Intifada. And, that's about it.

As for the grifting for money? Sy's Substack front page says "Over 99,000 subscribers." That's a lot of grifting in less than a month, even if only 10 percent are paid. Speaking of, as of April 1, Helmer, at the end of this piece, estimates Sy has already NETTED $200-$500K.