I don’t even know what to say. It’s like we live in Russia now.
Paxton urges Texas judge to jail Beto O’Rourke over fundraising related to redistricting fight
Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked a Texas district court judge to jail former Rep. Beto O’Rourke over his fundraising pitches connected to the state’s intensifying redistricting battle.
Paxton’s request accused the Texas Democrat of violating a court order that the judge, Tarrant County’s Megan Fahey, issued last week that barred fundraising by O’Rourke and his nonprofit Powered by People intended to bankroll the efforts by Texas Democratic lawmakers to derail the redistricting effort.
In support of his claim, he highlighted a remark O’Rourke made at a Saturday rally — a day after Fahey’s order — saying “there are no refs in this game. Fuck the rules.”
But an attorney for O’Rourke says Paxton’s characterization of O’Rourke’s remark was an “outright lie.” O’Rourke’s comment, she noted, was a reference to the broader nationwide fight over redistricting — a call for Democratic states to counteract Texas’ redistricting push by undertaking their own partisan redrawing of political boundaries.
“In their zeal I guess to intimidate a political rival, they are actually lying to the court,” said O’Rourke’s attorney, Mimi Marziani, who said she would quickly alert the court to the context of O’Rourke’s comments and her intention to seek sanctions against Paxton.
Paxton’s request to jail a political rival comes amid calls by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Paxton and their allies to arrest dozens of Democratic state lawmakers who left Texas to prevent Abbott from holding a special session to pass his ultra-partisan redistricting measure — one expected to net Republicans five seats in Congress.Paxton’s motion to hold O’Rourke in contempt accuses him of raising funds to directly cover the expenses and fines of the dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers who bolted from the state to deprive Republicans a quorum to conduct legislative business. Fahey ruled that such fundraising would violate Texas laws against deceptive practices.
Open thread.
War for Ukraine Day 1,265: The Next Part of Russia’s Maskirovka
Sister Golden Bear
I’m only surprised Paxton didn’t call for the firing squad first, to be followed by the show trial later.
piratedan
fuck the Texas GOP!
I say Judge, how dare the Democrats attempt to fight by non-violent means our attempts to politically disenfranchise them! It would be misleading to Texas voters to actually believe that Democrats would actually have those voters best interests in mind, going against a long legacy of “fuck you pay me” that we, the GOP have instituted as the de facto way of doing political business here in the Great State of Texas.
WaterGirl
We have to fight hard for the House and the Senate in 2026. I am so grateful for the known entities who are stepping up to run for Senate.
WaterGirl
Can everyone do me a favor and google “buffalo wild wings server bathroom gender” to help make this the first thing that comes up when someone googles buffalo wild wings?
From Cole’s social media:
After I read that a fucking server told a woman she had to leave the women’s room because she was male or trans or something, I googled Buffalo Wild Wings and saw only normal things about hiring, ordering, locations, etc. Maybe we can change that, make it toxic for these companies.
Jackie
Abbott and Paxton are full in supporting FFOTUS. I’m not sure if Abbott is still pondering running for the presidency as the future MAGA candidate, but we know Paxton was a speaker at FFOTUS’s J6 rally prior to the insurrection.
Both are 100% FFOTUS/MAGA supporters. FFOTUS yells jump! And Abbott and Paxton ask How High!
hueyplong
@Jackie: Paxton, as a crook, is Trump’s natural political heir.
Torrey
I haven’t been able to find out why Powered by People raising money to support the Democratic lawmakers is deceptive. Would it be deceptive if it were raising money to re-elect those lawmakers? Perhaps the lawyers and law-adjacent among us could clarify the judge’s thinking on the original order.
And, just a reminder that there are, as far as I can tell, two unmet matches for Four Directions Virginia: one for $500 and one for $250. If you want to do something that will make Ken Paxton and Judge Fahey mad and earn you the disapproval of Gov. Abbot whilst Molly Ivins smiles at you from heaven, toss in a few dollars and let WaterGirl know about it in the comments. I’m sure WaterGirl will let us know when the two matches are met and when, perhaps, someone else might add a match.
NotMax
Open thread?
Wheels within wheels within wheels within wheels. Invested in watching the series Departure on Prime.
PsiFighter37
Yeah he’s terrible, but so are the majority of voting Texans who keep voting this human flesh bag who is the epitome of lawlessness and corruption in public office back into a position of power.
lamh47
@WaterGirl: DA FUQ!
Chacal Charles Calthrop
Yes another reason to never, ever get involved in anything to do with crypto:
nymag.com/intelligencer/article/william-duplessie-john-woeltz-nyc-clubs-crypto-soho-torture.html
WaterGirl
@lamh47: I wish the woman would have taken a picture of the server who had the balls to do that to her and put it all over on social media. I wish that server would lose her fucking job. I wish all these entitled people who shut the fuck up and let people live their lives.
Shame these individuals who do this shit.
Gin & Tonic
Ive mentioned this several times and will probably continue harping on it because it’s the goddamn truth. A couple of weeks ago Ukraine’s President proposed, and the legislature (where his party has a supermajority) passed a very unpopular law neutering the independence of two anti-corruption bodies. By the end of that day, there were tens of thousands of protesters in the streets of several major cities denouncing that law. The next day their numbers increased. The day after, the President began his withdrawal. Within a week the law was a dead letter.
Ukraine has been an independent democracy for 34 years, while the United States has been an independent democracy for 249 years – yet here the President is one step away from declaring martial law in the nation’s capital, and Americans are sitting on their hands. Tell me again who understands freedom and democracy.
Deputinize America
@Torrey:
I fully intend to send her a message via my work email tomorrow that will generate a bar complaint against me in Kentucky.
I will delight in it. She will learn that the reach of GOP Textards isn’t absolute.
Sister Golden Bear
@WaterGirl: @lamh47: Unfortunately this sort of restroom policing isn’t uncommon. The vast majority of the time against cisgender women who aren’t deemed “feminine” enough. Often queer and BIWOC.
WaterGirl
@Torrey: It’s true. We have one match of up to $50 per person and another match for anyone who donates $250. Both have external matches, so you can multiple your donation by 4.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: It’s shameful.
WaterGirl
@Deputinize America: I’m confused. How does a bar complaint against you hurt her, and teach her that the reach of GOP Textards isn’t absolute?
Geminid
@Jackie: Also, Ken Paxton is trying to knock Sen. Cornyn out in next year’s Republican primary. He’s locked in a bitter divorce fight as well. So Paxton will expoit any opportunity to distract and rabblerouse.
The Paxton/Cornyn contest is hard-fought and rancorous. I don’t expect the winner to be so cut up the Democrat will win, but it will at least suck up plenty of money and maybe create some lasting hard feelings in the Texas GOP.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
I asked this last night and didn’t get much of a response, but I feel I need to ask it again:
Has any foreign government, any of our allies or otherwise, or any noteworthy international body like the UN condemned what Trump is doing in DC, practically declaring martial law on DC? Or any of the Trump Admin’s abuses of human rights here in the US, like shipping people to El Salvador? Did I miss it? Or has not enough time elapsed?
It seems like if, for example, the North Korean government did something horrible, they’d waste no time denouncing them for it
Jackie
@Geminid: Has FFOTUS endorsed Paxton, yet? I fully expect he will, even while Cornyn is shamelessly kissing up to FFOTUS trying to get the endorsement.
That’s gonna be an ugly, ugly primary.
WaterGirl
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): That’s a good question.
I’m guessing that if any country had done that, we would have heard about it. But I don’t know.
Jackie
@WaterGirl:
I think that as it JUST happened yesterday, (really only yesterday!) it’s too early for an official statement, but I sure hope the EU makes a statement of condemnation.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: hope so!
Harrison Wesley
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): If such a denunciation has taken place, I have zero confidence that Our Liberal Media would see fit to report it.
Jay
bsky.app/profile/juansaaa.com/post/3lwaegzah522y
It’s now Officially the United States of Ghislane Maxwell, Jeffery Epstein and Donald Trump.
So glad that the Girl Guides of Canada has barred travel to the the United States of Pedophiles.
WaterGirl
@Jay: Ossoff on our side, doing this, gives me hope.
Mai Naem mobile
I heard some news guy(he was not a Dem, just a news guy) talking on the radio about how the new districts the Texas GOP is creating are majority Hispanic districts. Their assumption is that the Latino turn to TFG is a turn towards the GOP which may end up being a very poor bet.
Timill
@Torrey:
I think that raising money for their re-election and using it to pay their fines or expenses in leaving the state would be deceptive. Raising money for their expenses in general would not be.
Of course, I’m not sure what actually happened, so I’ll assert this in the expectation of correction…
WaterGirl
@Mai Naem mobile: We can only hope!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
I haven’t either. I’ve come to believe that they haven’t because it wouldn’t be as politically convenient to do so as it would be to condemn the likes of NK or Iran.
I also think they’re all burying their heads in the sand about what’s happening in the US. I don’t think any of them want to truly contemplate the possibility that the US could have a civil war or suffer some kind of collapse in the relatively near future that could lead to a humanitarian disaster, that could displace tens of millions of Americans
@Jackie:
Granted, but I don’t really recall anyone outside the US officially condemning what was done to Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the others wrongfully imprisoned in the El Salvadoran torture prison. Or the Admin’s actions against Trans Americans, trying to eliminate them from public life. Or the treatment of those placed in the internment camps like “Alligator Alcatraz.
ETA: Entities like the EU, etc are supposed to care about democracy and human rights. Where are they? Why aren’t they speaking up about what’s happening here in the US? I fear the reason is because they don’t want to anger the Trump admin and have them pull out all American troops and defenses from Europe or push even more punishing tariffs onto them, completely cratering their economies
Jackie
@Jay:
As an Old, this doesn’t inspire me to live to 99, as my dad did. I can only hope my kids and grandchildren fight against what’s happening to THEIR country. I don’t think America will fully recover in my lifetime. I’m thankful daily that my WWII serving Veteran dad isn’t here today.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Harrison Wesley:
Maybe. But foreign media certainly would. And I doubt the Trump administration wouldn’t have some kind of response
Deputinize America
@WaterGirl:
There’s a smug certainty that people agree with them in their overreach – which is what the original ruling was.
Knowing that they can’t bend other jurisdictions to their whims hurts.
Geminid
@Jackie: I don’t think Trump has endorsed Paxton. I expect John Thune is lobbying Trump to support Cornyn or at least stay neutral. But yeah, it’s a nasty primary with no holds barred, and there does seem to sort of faction fight going on in the Texas GOP. Maybe some Texas jackal knows more about this.
prostratedragon
@Chacal Charles Calthrop:
Naked Lunch: The Documentary
Geminid
@Jackie: I don’t know if you saw this, but the NRCC has recruited a candidate to run against Marie Gluesenkamp Perez next year. It’s state Senator John Braun, who I think is Washington’s Senate Minority Leader.
So after radical Joe Kent came up short two cycles in a row, the Congressional campaign committee wants to knock out Rep. Perez with a more conventional challenger. For some reason this makes me think of Wile E. Coyote going to Acme Candidates to try out a different model.
It will be an interesting contest. I’ve got it paired with OR05 across the Columbia River. That’s where Rep. Janelle Bynum will defend her seat for the first time, so these are two important races. I’m not familiar with politics in the Pacific Northwest and that’s one reason I am interested in these races.
The two districts have a lot in common demographically and they’re both swingy, Reps. Bynum and Perez have very different personal profles and political styles and that interests me too.
I’ll try to follow OR05 and WA03 through the Northwest Progressive Institute’s Cascsdia Advocate. They cover Washington an Oregon politics, and reporter Andrew Villenueve seems like a perceptive guy.
gene108
@Gin & Tonic:
Ukrainians remember living under a one party dictatorship.
I think most Americans want an ultra conservative one party authoritarian state. They’ve been enabling this authoritarian take over for decades.
gene108
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
The EU is ultimately about facilitating trade and cooperation in member states. They aren’t very good at condemning actions by other countries or organizing a collective response.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@gene108:
The EU member states themselves could say something. Canada could say something. The UK, Australia, or New Zealand could say something
Geminid
@gene108: Also, the Europeans are fairly reaistic about the impact of any criticism they make of Trump. It might cheer up some Democrats, but I don’t think it will hurt Trump and it might even help him. I believe their attitude is: Trump is a Yankee problem, and it it’s up to the Yankees to solve it
Aziz, light!
@Geminid: Bynum is my rep and I think she is a pretty good bet for the district when facing a Trumpy opponent, but who knows?
Jackie
@Geminid: Thanks for the heads up! It’ll be interesting to see how Perez fares against a more “conventional” republican. (Is there such a thing, anymore?) We’ll have to see if Perez can adjust her campaign accordingly.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Geminid:
I’ve said it before, but I think that approach is incredibly cowardly and self-serving. It makes them look like total hypocrites. I believe in doing the right thing and if the roles were reversed and one of our close, longtime allies was experiencing democratic backsliding or deliberately harming its own vulnerable populations, I’d expect our government to call their government out and do everything in it’s power to help those targeted by that regime as well as bring about it’s end, hopefully peacefully. It’s a moral duty as far as I’m concerned
Geminid
@Aziz, light!: If you would, please keep us posted about next year’s OR05 race. I’m really interested in politics at the Congressional district level, especially purple districts.
Geminid
@Jackie: Do you you ever read the Cascadia Advocate? I’ve mainly read it for news about WA03 and Rep. Perez, but Andrew Villenueve seems to have put together a decent site covering Washigton, Oregon and Idaho politics.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
G
Jackie
@Geminid: I haven’t. Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll bookmark it. My Congressional district is so MAGA red, I’m always rooting for the more swingy districts. It’s hard to believe (and remember) my district actually used to be predictably blue in the early 70s. It shifted red sometime in my early/mid 20’s.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jackie:
I had a similar experience to you. NE Ohio used to be fairly blue 10-15 years ago and now it’s ruby red
Geminid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The Europeans aren’t even even giving Turkiye a hard time despite Turkish authorities arresting the leading opposition presedential contender ladt April. I’ll try to link to Ragip Soylu’s* article about this sometime because it’s s good example of European realpolitk.
One thing going on there is the Europeans are really scared of Russia and they need Turkiye on their side. Besides Turkiye’s key geographical position and it having Nato’s second biggest army and air force, Turkiye has developed a strong miltary industrial complex over the last decsde. Ironically, that was in response to Western sanctions over human rights rights violation.
* Ragip Soylu is Istanbul bureau chief for London-based Middle East Eye, and a pretty sharp journalist.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Kayla Rudbek
@Mai Naem mobile: the Latino community has been going Protestant fundamentalist/evangelical for a while, which I think is pushing them towards voting GOP. I think Kent was saying that many of the Latino people in Texas regard themselves as basically white/white adjacent. But with the virulent racism of this maladministration, who knows what will happen?
prostratedragon
@Chacal Charles Calthrop:
The exploitation of young women, in many ways, is a feature of the world in that article that plays out in now-familiar ways. I was particularly struck by the term “Brandy Melville girls:”
I imagine that in olden days some teen pageant contestants had similar questions. Brandy Melville is a chain of fast fashion shops that appeal/pitch to that age group. Recent reporting about the shops suggests that Zakkour’s use of them as a recruiting venue is on-brand:
“Brandy Melville employees describe racism, Hitler memes, and sexual exploitation at the ‘evil’ cult teen brand”
There is also thought policing as well as body policing in this cult, as writers call it. From a review of HBO documentary Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion:
Pipeline to FOX News and the 🤡-like administrations of the future, without some major social redirection.
Soprano2
@Gin & Tonic: We take freedom for granted as something we just have; Ukrainians have living memory of that not being true. That’s the difference. We don’t understand how fragile it really is, even here
I think a lot of white people have decided, that now that they aren’t the vast majority in this country anymore, that democracy isn’t that important compared to making sure white people stay in charge. (Yes, I know we’re still the majority, but it’s shrinking and they know it.)
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@prostratedragon: thks!
im sure a lot of the obsessed-with-Epstein crowd really just want to be a part of that scene.
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
Sue
Sue
Sue 😡😡😡
Paul in KY
@Gin & Tonic: They understand it more than us, it appears. Very sad. Glad though that change happened for Ukrainians.
Soprano2
@WaterGirl: OK yeah that was stupid. I thought a customer might have complained about a man in the women’s bathroom, but if that server just followed her in there then she needs more to do IMHO. Ugh…..