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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Repub Venality Open Thread: Keep A Sharp Eye on Ken Paxton

Repub Venality Open Thread: Keep A Sharp Eye on Ken Paxton

by Anne Laurie|  June 8, 202212:16 am| 34 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Economics, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Politics

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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:

https://t.co/pAsGnMBHZd

— Rochelle Garza (@RochelleMGarza) June 7, 2022

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Reader Interactions

34Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    June 7, 2022 at 8:18 pm

    Kudos to Garza.

  2. 2.

    sab

    June 7, 2022 at 8:19 pm

    For a state with low taxes, Texas GOP politicians certainly are generous with limited taxpayer money.

  3. 3.

    Gravenstone

    June 7, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    She Se Puede! Nice touch.

  4. 4.

    Citizen_X

    June 7, 2022 at 8:44 pm

    How the fuck does Ken Paxton avoid trial for seven years after being indicted?

  5. 5.

    Mike in NC

    June 7, 2022 at 8:47 pm

    Matthew McConaghey was at the White House today and urged Congress to get off its dead ass. He was born in that town.

  6. 6.

    MagdaInBlack

    June 7, 2022 at 8:49 pm

    @Mike in NC: I just watched that. Matthew made me cry.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    June 7, 2022 at 8:54 pm

    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

  8. 8.

    Peale

    June 7, 2022 at 8:58 pm

    So if twitter dissapears…then what? I’m not sure what the crime of bots are.

  9. 9.

    bbleh

    June 7, 2022 at 9:08 pm

    @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 …

  10. 10.

    BellyCat

    June 7, 2022 at 9:13 pm

    @Peale: Balloon-juice drys up?

    Killer promo from Rochelle Garza.

  11. 11.

    Roger Moore

    June 7, 2022 at 9:14 pm

    @sab:

    For a state with low taxes, Texas GOP politicians certainly are generous with limited taxpayer money.

    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?

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    June 7, 2022 at 9:17 pm

    @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?

  13. 13.

    bbleh

    June 7, 2022 at 9:19 pm

    @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’

  14. 14.

    Roger Moore

    June 7, 2022 at 9:22 pm

    @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?

  15. 15.

    Sanjeevs

    June 7, 2022 at 9:26 pm

    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

  16. 16.

    dmsilev

    June 7, 2022 at 9:28 pm

    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.

  17. 17.

    Roger Moore

    June 7, 2022 at 9:28 pm

    Never Mind. The hamster is overstressed today.

  18. 18.

    WaterGirl

    June 7, 2022 at 9:29 pm

    @Roger Moore: WordPress suddenly seems to think you are SPAM. ‍♀️

    I released all 3.

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    June 7, 2022 at 9:30 pm

    @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.

  20. 20.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 7, 2022 at 9:32 pm

    @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.

  21. 21.

    Sanjeevs

    June 7, 2022 at 9:41 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Yes you’re correct. In fact I think Matt Levine correctly analysed the Musk/Twitter situation before the FT did.

  22. 22.

    debbie

    June 7, 2022 at 9:44 pm

    Ohio’s AG Dave Yost does the same kind of frivolous lawsuits. Isn’t there some way to stop this?

  23. 23.

    Geminid

    June 7, 2022 at 9:44 pm

    @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.

  24. 24.

    James E Powell

    June 7, 2022 at 9:45 pm

    @debbie:

    Other than electing Democrats, no, there is no way to stop this.

  25. 25.

    RaflW

    June 7, 2022 at 9:45 pm

    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.

  26. 26.

    Geminid

    June 7, 2022 at 9:53 pm

    @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.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    June 7, 2022 at 10:11 pm

    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.

  28. 28.

    bbleh

    June 7, 2022 at 10:22 pm

    @RaflW: Keep fighting. All 50 states.

    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).

  29. 29.

    RaflW

    June 7, 2022 at 11:04 pm

    @bbleh: I know! How could John Cornyn be unserious about negotiation. It’s so unlike him!

  30. 30.

    Cthulhu

    June 7, 2022 at 11:34 pm

    @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”

  31. 31.

    The Oracle of Solace

    June 7, 2022 at 11:44 pm

    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.

  32. 32.

    Jackie

    June 7, 2022 at 11:46 pm

    @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.

  33. 33.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    June 8, 2022 at 2:38 am

    @Cthulhu: With the fight between Musk and Twitter, I’m just rooting for injuries.

  34. 34.

    VOR

    June 8, 2022 at 10:23 am

    @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.

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