Category Archives: Show Business for Ugly People

Time for the biennial salute to the new Secretary of State

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

So long, John. Hope the next guy is better than you were. Texas Secretary of State John Scott will step down from his role as the state’s top elections official at the end of the year. “When I took office … Continue reading →

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The Paxton subpoena-fleeing saga gets more ridiculous

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Because of course it does. Lawyers in an abortion lawsuit tried for days to subpoena Attorney General Ken Paxton before sending a process server to his home Monday, and notified his office that their server was there before Paxton fled … Continue reading →

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In which I indulge in a bit of schadenfreude

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A base instinct, I admit, but I’m going to do it anyway. The district director for Texas’ newest congresswoman, Mayra Flores, R-Los Indios, recently resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment. The far-right website Current Revolt first reported a series of … Continue reading →

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More on the Gillespie County elections office resignations

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

From Votebeat, how this mess got started. Last November’s sleepy constitutional amendment election nearly came to blows in Gillespie County, a central Texas county known for its vineyards. A volunteer poll watcher, whose aggressive behavior had rankled election workers all … Continue reading →

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Whither the Log Cabin Republicans

Posted on August 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A whole lot of words about a group of people that make no sense to me. In June 1998, a group of gay and lesbian conservatives, pushing for greater representation at the Texas Republican Party convention in Fort Worth, found … Continue reading →

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All of Gillespie County’s elections staff resigns

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Who could blame them? Citing threats and even stalking, all three employees at the Gillespie County elections office have resigned from their positions, leaving the office empty with less than three months before the primary election in November. The Fredericksburg … Continue reading →

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Vote No and take the credit anyway

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a tale as old as time. Republicans in Texas are proud to stand and announce local grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The problem is they all voted against it. All of them. For the second time in two … Continue reading →

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Texas is sooooooooo gerrymandered…

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

How gerrymandered are we? By this measure, we’re literally as gerrymandered as we could possibly be. But just how biased have modern-day maps become in the state of Texas? The map that was approved last October is so highly biased, … Continue reading →

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Meet the new billionaires in charge of Texas

Posted on July 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Somewhat worse than the old billionaires, who were already pretty bad. Gun owners allowed to carry handguns without permits or training. Parents of transgender children facing investigation by state officials. Women forced to drive hours out-of-state to access abortion. This is Texas now: … Continue reading →

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Grifters always stick together

Posted on July 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Two shitty tastes that taste even shittier together. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is pretty familiar with Catherine Engelbrecht. He’s been a guest on her podcast, chatting about their shared passion: rooting out voter fraud. They both have gone to … Continue reading →

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There’s only so much that Austin (or any other Texas city) can do to protect abortion rights

Posted on June 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I appreciate this, I really do, but it’s important to remember that it can only ever be a band-aid, and very likely a temporary one. The city of Austin is attempting to shield its residents from prosecution under a Texas … Continue reading →

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It’s called “talking out of both sides of your mouth”

Posted on June 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s an old and effective trick, but that doesn’t mean it has to work. For a moment Friday afternoon, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was in two places at once. At about 3:30, the National Rifle Association played videotaped remarks from … Continue reading →

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Another look at how Galveston County disenfranchised its voters of color

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib takes a deep dive. Carver Park in Texas City, created during segregation, is considered the first African American county park in the state. It sits on land donated by descendants of freedmen who survived slavery and pioneered one … Continue reading →

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Ken Paxton finds a new thing to lie about

Posted on May 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This counts as personal growth for him. The state police made him do it. That’s the excuse Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton gives on his Texas ethics disclosures in place of revealing, as required by law, the addresses of properties … Continue reading →

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The polling data on abortion in Texas

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

From the Trib: At a time when Texas is poised to outlaw the vast majority of abortions if the nation’s highest court overturns constitutional protections for the procedure, a recent University of Texas at Austin poll shows most Texan voters … Continue reading →

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Texas misses the train

Posted on May 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Greg Abbott’s border hostage-taking has a cost. The Mexican government said it intends to shift long-range plans to build a trade railway connection worth billions of dollars from Texas to New Mexico in the wake of Gov. Greg Abbott’s stepped-up … Continue reading →

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Keeping the world safe from low tire pressure

Posted on April 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Such a visionary. State troopers ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott to inspect every commercial truck coming from Mexico earlier this month — which clogged international trade with Mexico — found zero drugs, weapons or any other type of contraband, according … Continue reading →

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Abbott ends his border hostage-taking

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I cannot get over how stupid and cynical this was, and yet it may be politically successful. Gov. Greg Abbott reached a fourth and final deal — this one with Tamaulipas’ governor on Friday — to end state troopers’ increased … Continue reading →

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Abbott’s awesome border “emergency” cash-a-palooza

Posted on April 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

You get a lucrative contract! And you get a lucrative contract! Gov. Greg Abbott’s border crackdown is producing a private contractor bonanza, showering tens of millions of dollars on staffing companies, technology firms and builders, including one business that sold … Continue reading →

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Greg Abbott is still a threat to international trade

Posted on April 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This is at best window dressing. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott relented Wednesday, agreeing to ease the additional safety inspections of trucks at the busiest border entry point near Laredo in exchange for promises of more border security by Mexican officials … Continue reading →

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Our new school library standards

Posted on April 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I am casting a gimlet eye at this, at least for now. The Texas Education Agency released statewide standards Monday for how school districts should remove and prevent “obscene content” from entering Texas public school libraries. In the agency’s model … Continue reading →

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Even Sid Miller thinks Abbott is being an idiot

Posted on April 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I mean… Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller called on Gov. Greg Abbott to halt his recent policy of additional commercial inspections at the border, calling the measure “political theater” and predicting it will leave grocery store shelves empty within weeks. … Continue reading →

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We don’t have to treat political performance art as news

Posted on April 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This is a story in the Chronicle about one of our Senators, who made some whiny petulant statements on social media about a celebrity best known for work in the 1980s who had posted about getting his second booster but … Continue reading →

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Greg Abbott is a threat to international trade

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We live in such strange times. Commercial traffic at a key South Texas border crossing has stopped after Mexican truckers on Monday blocked north- and southbound lanes on the Mexico side of the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in protest of Texas … Continue reading →

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Guess who’s paying for Ken Paxton’s defense against those state bar complaints?

Posted on March 31, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

You are, of course. What did you expect? Texas taxpayers are on the hook for $45,000 so far in legal defense for Attorney General Ken Paxton as he attempts to ward off multiple complaints to the State Bar over his … Continue reading →

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How anti-trans are Republicans anyway?

Posted on March 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

There’s polling evidence to suggest the issue is more nuanced than you might think, but actions always speak louder than poll numbers. Republicans surveyed by the left-leaning polling firm Data for Progress are nearly evenly split on whether the government … Continue reading →

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Abbott and Paxton step up their attack on trans kids

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Brutal. The state’s child welfare agency says it will begin investigating instances of transgender youth receiving gender-affirming health care as possible child abuse, after direction from Gov. Greg Abbott based on a recent legal opinion issued by Attorney General Ken … Continue reading →

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Yet another State Bar complaint filed against Paxton

Posted on February 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Put it on his tab. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton might have crossed an ethical line after inciting members of the public to pressure The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals into issuing a ruling in his favor. Micheal Shirk, a … Continue reading →

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Yes, most people will generally support the idea of decent election reforms

Posted on February 12, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

But that doesn’t mean they’ll vote for politicians who support them, and that right there makes all the difference. From the UH Hobby School, here’s part four of their January 2022 public opinion fest, which began with their election poll. … Continue reading →

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Vote No and take the dough

Posted on January 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s as Republican as insurrection and hydroxychloroquine. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, last year left little doubt why she was voting against a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure measure, calling it nothing more than a “socialist plan full of crushing taxes and … Continue reading →

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Please watch over the fraudit

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good idea. A group of Democratic members of Congress from Texas has sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting that it closely monitor the ongoing election audit in four Texas counties. Last September, Texas Republicans began an audit in Harris, Tarrant, … Continue reading →

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Fraudit fizzling

Posted on January 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Who could have ever predicted this would be a big ol’ nothingburger? The Texas secretary of state’s office has released the first batch of results from its review into the 2020 general election, finding few issues despite repeated, unsubstantiated claims … Continue reading →

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Nobody bullshits like Greg Abbott

Posted on December 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Some stories I blog about require subtle thought and detailed analysis. Others pretty much speak for themselves. The two most powerful people overseeing Texas’ electric grid sat next to each other in a quickly arranged Austin news conference in early … Continue reading →

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How’s that online voter registration thing going?

Posted on December 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Pretty well, it seems. So well, perhaps, that the state of Texas doesn’t want to tell you how well. Since a federal judge forced Texas nearly a year and a half ago to offer limited online voter registration, 1.5 million … Continue reading →

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