Gregg Abbott and Ted Cruz are both such attention-seekers, and so blatantly comically corrupt, that it’s easy to overlook Texas’ Attorney General.
As long as the Kakistocrats are paying attention, that’s exactly what Paxton wants!
He should go on trial- Texas is corrupt. https://t.co/R8IW409yFk
— Robin Quon (@Robin_Quon) June 6, 2022
If the worst Republicans, such as Ron DeSantis and Ken Paxton, are working so hard to aid Elon Musk’s Twitter bid, shouldn’t we be doing everything we can to thwart it?
The power hungry predators know how important Twitter is to the balance of power.
https://t.co/2VZnfoN1sB— Duty To Warn (@duty2warn) June 7, 2022
Probably a hopeless cause, and yet:
— Rochelle Garza (@RochelleMGarza) June 7, 2022
Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Gosh, Who Could Resist?
Baud
Kudos to Garza.
sab
For a state with low taxes, Texas GOP politicians certainly are generous with limited taxpayer money.
Gravenstone
She Se Puede! Nice touch.
Citizen_X
How the fuck does Ken Paxton avoid trial for seven years after being indicted?
Mike in NC
Matthew McConaghey was at the White House today and urged Congress to get off its dead ass. He was born in that town.
MagdaInBlack
@Mike in NC: I just watched that. Matthew made me cry.
Elizabelle
Here’s the C-Span link to Matthew McConaughey’s remarks today at White House today.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?520803-1/uvalde-native-matt-mcconaughey-joins-calls-gun-laws
Peale
So if twitter dissapears…then what? I’m not sure what the crime of bots are.
bbleh
@Gravenstone: ¡Lol claro! I didn’t even notice the “she” until you pointed it out! Very cool. Ok I donate.
&btw, Paxton is an authentic American Nazi. Humorless, authoritarian, pathologically fixated, corrupt to the core, and suffused with bad-faith religiosity. People like him are why in my bad moments I wonder whether Lincoln was right after all …
BellyCat
@Peale: Balloon-juice drys up?
Killer promo from Rochelle Garza.
Roger Moore
@sab:
Texas doesn’t actually have low taxes, or at least not particularly low. They have no income tax, but they make up for it by having relatively high property and sales taxes. If you look at the overall tax rate in Texas, it’s middle of the road. OTOH, it has the second most regressive tax systems in the country, topped only by Washington. Is it any wonder an asshole like Musk wants to move there from California, which has the least regressive state taxes in the country?
Roger Moore
@sab:
Texas doesn’t actually have low taxes. It has no income tax, but it makes up for it by having relatively high other taxes, so the overall tax rate is middle of the pack. Of course that means the tax burden is very regressive; the poor pay a much higher percentage of their income in tax than the rich. Is it any wonder an asshole like Musk wants to move from California, the state with the least regressive tax system, to Texas, the state with the second most regressive tax system?
bbleh
@Peale: Won’t someone think of the poor bots? Just fulfilling their nature, laboring incessantly, and still nothing but the objects of scorn!
Please! Give today to SaveTheBots! Your probably-tax-deductible* donation will go to helping uncounted** numbers of otherwise helpless bots have a better, um, life, or something!
* not a legal opinion; consult your tax professional
** might be a whole bunch, might be zero, just sayin’
Roger Moore
@sab:
Texas isn’t a particularly low tax state, at least if you look at total tax revenue compared to total state income. What Texas has is no income tax, so they make up for it with high sales, excise, and property taxes. It gives them the second most regressive taxes in the country. Is it any wonder a rich asshole like Musk wanted to move there from California, the state with the least regressive taxes?
Sanjeevs
FT had an article basically saying that the Musk takeover offer is likely watertight.
He is not just on the hook for the 1 billion breakup fee. He can be forced to complete the deal – or else.
https://www.ft.com/content/7fd36ef6-b29f-45a3-91ed-172459110879
dmsilev
So, Elon ‘I is serious libertarian’ Musk wants a bailout from big government to save him from his own stupidity(*)? Sounds about right.
(*) ‘I waive the right to perform due diligence’ means that, more or less, you’re a moron who deserves whatever large financial losses are coming your way.
Roger Moore
Never Mind. The hamster is overstressed today.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: WordPress suddenly seems to think you are SPAM. ♀️
I released all 3.
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
I wonder if it’s because I called Musk a rude name. Can you please delete all but the first comment? They’re redundant.
Gin & Tonic
@Sanjeevs: Can’t link, but Matt Levine at Bloomberg is essential daily reading on the Musk fiasco. You can get his newsletter for free by email, you don’t need a Bloomberg subscription.
Sanjeevs
@Gin & Tonic: Yes you’re correct. In fact I think Matt Levine correctly analysed the Musk/Twitter situation before the FT did.
debbie
Ohio’s AG Dave Yost does the same kind of frivolous lawsuits. Isn’t there some way to stop this?
Geminid
@Citizen_X: I haven’t had the patience to read the whole story of Paxton’s criminal case. The Texas Tribune probably has a summary, somewhere. Right now the prosecution is appealing an order denying them a change of venue. I think Paxton wants to be tried in his home county, and the prosecution wants the trial moved elsewhere.
James E Powell
@debbie:
Other than electing Democrats, no, there is no way to stop this.
RaflW
Neither Beto nor Garza would be my top priority dollars, but I’m doing alright, so I gave to each shortly after the horrible day in Uvalde – when they made strong moves for gun sense.
Sometimes funding a narrow-chance candidate is still about making a moral statement and hoping they have the resources to fight hard and gain more Dem votes in TX. There have to be candidates worth showing up for, and maybe there’s a chance.
Keep fighting. All 50 states. I think there’s enough grassroots energy and money to make viable candidates in just about any spot. Yeah, losing sucks. Having “uncontested R” win sucks more, IMO.
Geminid
@BellyCat: Rochelle Garza is the only woman and the only Latino among the six candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General. That surprises me some. Hopefully it will help the Democratic ticket.
NotMax
Paxton is crookeder than Lombard Street but however thin and wan it may be, there’s always a sliver of silver lining.
He did stomp out what the The Texas Tribune aptly called “the last remaining Bush to serve in public office” in May’s primary.
bbleh
This. Howard Dean was right. And even if they lose, the message gets out. Beto seems to be one of the few willing to step up and fight the good fight for gun control (which I notice to everyone’s complete surprise is totally bogged down and likely to get almost nowhere or nowhere at all).
RaflW
@bbleh: I know! How could John Cornyn be unserious about negotiation. It’s so unlike him!
Cthulhu
@Peale: Basically Musk thinks his best way out of the deal is the bot %. Twitter would love for this overpriced deal to go through so you can bet they have given Musk the best info they have about the situation (I recall they estimated 5%). Musk’s stated intention is to take the % down to 0. (Some sort of underpants gnomes plan AFAICT). He also intends to better monetize users. If the bot % is 5% or even 10% that doesn’t really undermine those plans. But if it is closer to 50% or 90%, well you could see why the only sensible thing would be for Musk to back out. And that’s what he might hope to convince a judge/jury of and dammit Twitter just wouldn’t tell him “the truth.”
Not sure it will get him out of anything but this clearly seems to be his strategy.
Side note. If you type “for” and “Musk” without the space, it autocorrects to “foreskin”
The Oracle of Solace
I went to college in Texas, and I gotta say it could be a great state if they got rid of the white supremacists who are running the place into the ground. A girl can dream.
Jackie
@Elizabelle: I’ve watched it multiple times. His emotion and anger was real. Especially describing the little girl only identified by her green Converse high tops. Brought me to tears EVERY TIME.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Cthulhu: With the fight between Musk and Twitter, I’m just rooting for injuries.
VOR
@Cthulhu: Not all bots are comment trolls. I follow a bot on Twitter which simply copies pictures of a cat from another site and posts the pictures on Twitter.