Not that it matters but Jews literally worship the same g-d that Christians worship. Muslims worship the same g-d as Jews and Christians worship. Muslims consider Jesus an important component of their faith, not that Christians seem to know or care. I get so tired of reading Christian statements about “their g-d” when discussing Jews and Muslims because yeah.
Texas republicans are tiresome, as is the constant financial enabling. All republican enabling is tiresome for sure. Especially the corporate propping up.
The way LGBTQ+ people, actual human beings hurting no one, are being discussed is disheartening and dehumanizing.
Excuse me! all that "Welcome the stranger, love love stuff;" began with the "Old testament!" Or as we call it the Torah! please become educated before just lumping all of the hate of the Despicables (as Hillary rightly called them,) into the "old" testament. That is not true. Everything that Jesus said; he learned from his teachings as a young boy from the Rabbis.
I'm a Jew and in no way was the comment meant to slight the Jews or even the Torah. But there was a whole lot of smiting, and there were the Leviticus rules and other nonsense. As far as I know much of the hate-filled R talking points ( the authorities on how our secular country should be theocratic) are from the old Testament and yet those same "Christians" are often anti-civil rights, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, anti-women's rights, etc. with no compassion. They are also anti-science cloaked in fossil fueled religiosity. They treat the bible and the constitution like a smorgasbord, extracting what they deem righteous.
If you are Jewish; then you realize that quoting from the Torah using the "violent" episodes is a type of justification of the importance of the "new Testament." There is no New Torah....Of course i realize that the hypocrisy of those who rant about Jesus's teachings and then commit evil is notable. To educate you; the "hate-filled R talking points," are NOT from the "old" testament. Perhaps you could read the Torah and attend Synagogue services and hear and see the facts of love, charity, kindness and acceptance of all peoples that we pray for and try to accomplish.
Absolutely, Jews have a big social justice consciousness, the largest percentage per-capita of any people involved in the civil rights struggles in the '60s were Jews. Many of those are secular Jews. We are brought up to understand right and wrong but I think many of those folks have not read the Torah or need a God to tell us to do what is fair and just. I object to Rs using the lousy stuff in the Torah to sell their very unjust agenda.
Nothing is "lousy" from the Torah..If it is historical then that is what happened. As a wise Rabbi once told me; remember mankind is evolving; and those were very early and primitive times. Many stories were told to teach and help peoples to become more of what the Almighty wants us to do. The Charitable donations fro, Jewish people are probably statistically higher than other religions; i bet.
This refusal to dis-associate from Nazis is so ignorant. It’s also incredibly frightening for those of us who have studied history. A slippery slope, indeed.
For those who have not seen "Why is this Happening?" with Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow at Town Hall, please, learn MORE history: America was the major inspiration to Hitler. We should know more about this. Rachel continues to be a state of the art history sleuth. Their show (from Nov. 24 on MSNBC) may be available "On Demand" or maybe YouTube.
The miniseries "The US and the Holocaust" is essential viewing here on the American influence on Nazi race rules etc. A brilliant and damning indictment.
Thank you. Sounds worth a viewing. Did they mention the investigations of Heinrich Krieger who came to U of Arkansas law school, and Henry Ford's influence?
Hi. Sorry, I don't remember any mention of Heinrich Krieger. As for Henry Ford, I think he was mentioned because the role of American industry was discussed to some extent. However, it's some months since I saw it so I can't be sure. The general focus was more on the right wing and pro German movements, and on the shenanigans within government. Also on Jewish attempts to escape Germany that were thwarted when no-one let them land (not just USA, UK and other European countries were equally guilty).
Thank you Judd! You take on the multi-faceted dark side and expose their operations. Anti Humane beliefs pervade so much of Texas. "Texas Liberty" means freedom to be inhumane. The cast of characters from openly despised Ted Cruz to John Cornyn who learned in the last 20 years to operate more subtly; from the indescribably nastily unkind Greg Abbot to the criminally flagrant Ken Paxton and proudly cruel Dan Patrick. What leaders they have! Beto O'Rourke seemed to come close to winning, but these excessively rich (from fossil fuel) funds support the worst in humanity. May Roland Gutierrez or Colin Allred, whoever can, beat Cruz!
We Americans seem to be an assemblage of tribes, some of which appear to operate lawlessly, and which are a proven direct danger to others. How have things gotten so bad? Guns, money and legislators for the Nazi-White Supremacist-Bigots, while the poor and minorities are easy targets for violent police, for-profit prisons, and the rich. The rich and powerful? They appear almost untouchable, and can drag out the system endlessly, and even run for president while they are at it.
Justice in America is an increasingly rare and putrid rubbish. Starting with the SCOTUS.
Thank you for this reporting. I'll be forwarding this to everyone I know, especially in Texas.
The decent people in Texas need to stand up loudly against the disgusting Texas GOP, just as the rest of the country needs to stand up for Democracy and vote out, in great numbers, those who support nazi views and authoritarianism.
We try to “stand up.” It’s extremely difficult. Where I live, we flipped blue in ‘20 and in ‘22 my district was a whole new crazy shape and of course... back to red. Chip Roy’s district cuts into south Austin, ostensibly one of the most liberal areas in the entire state! Our AG is a criminal. We have 3 billionaires in west Texas who have funded 2/3 of the Texas GOP. (These guys also have a church and somewhere online you can find a PDF of the rules of it. Suffice it to say, women can’t be in power.) The corruption is so rampant. It’s extremely difficult to out-organize voter suppression and corruption.
And I don’t know why no one seems to seriously consider the possibility that some of these “elected” officials have flat-out cheated. We know what they did for orange guy and you know they secretly freakin hate his guts. They didn’t all suddenly become insurrectionists because of him to benefit him. Imagine what they’ve done when they thought it would benefit themselves. Ted Cruz was the original Cambridge Analytica/Steele dossier guy. No way I think he’s above any ruthless thing. I mean, what an extreme transition that would have been from honest politician to trying to overthrow democracy when it would help someone else. I don’t buy that. They had so so so many plans in place and so many things that they tried. Really didn’t seem like it was their first time. They’ve painted Dems into a corner with this because if you DO have a real question about an election, you now look like you’re just behaving like a Republican.
All this to say, we are trying but we don’t get much help from the outside and a lot of people have written off millions of fellow Americans. And it sucks.
I have not written you off, and I really feel bad for all the honest Texans subjected to the nightmare you have described. I wish there was something I could do to help you folks in Texas, but for now, I can only do everything I can to enact change from where I live. All I can say, Tess, is keep fighting and be careful.
I encourage everyone to write to their own Senators and Reps, and also the White House, in solidarity with Texas and the other states who are being run ragged by corruption. We cannot let our fellow citizens fight this alone.
Finally, and I don't have to tell everyone, VOTE BLUE AND GET YOUR FRIENDS TO DO IT TOO.
I’m quite delayed in this response but wanted to say thanks. It is appreciated. The divisive talk where we lump tens of millions of people into a group because they live near them... that is doing Putin’s work FOR him. That’s exactly the goal of our enemies. To break us apart.
Also - an easy way to write one’s reps is by using Issue Voter. They’ll email you when bills come up and you can just click whether you support or oppose. There are brief explainers and it shows who sponsors/supports a bill.
Saw an excerpt of CBS Mornings about an organization in GA going through voting lists to find people who have a glitch in their address--all to find people who should not have voted. Single individuals are able to submit up to 10,000 individual complaints. They highlighted a man who gave his barbershop as his home address in 2008 after serving in the Gulf War, and became homeless except for his job at the barbershop. Now he has a home. The self-righteous woman who investigated him and found that his address was his place of business felt justified--"he should be happy to make his voter id corrected." When asked, she answered that she believed that Donald Trump did win the 2020 Presidential election (of course!).
Your writing is overflowing with the truth and realities that honestly can’t be overcome without open and unified defiance; it doesn’t seem like there is any help in one damned court in Texas. We can’t give up so can someone please give us a playbook that will work. Something!? Anything!?
Thank you. I think we need to pressure the US Senate to stand up (codify abortion rights, strengthen voter protections federally). Call for more scrutiny of SCOTUS bc they make a lot of this possible. Call for journalists to do this kind of work where stories get told and spread rather than just mentioned. Make, for lack of a better word, a fuss. The DOJ supposedly sued TX over our bounty-hunter law.... or did I freaking dream that? Bc as far as I know, nothing came of it. Keep supporting journalists who are digging into the right-wing hypocrites and bigots (Venn diagram that is almost if not a complete circle). Again... thank you. Spread the word on all the corruption. Call out bad framing and support good journalism. Those things, in addition to what you’ve done, are all helpful.
First we need to crash the Republicans, then the Democrats. What this country needs is a set of political parties that are based on common shared principles. The Democrats as now constituted include everything from pure socialists to neoliberals, while the Republicans appear to have no principles at all. Well, maybe anarchy. If you want to call nihilism a principle.
I'll stand with those Democrats you term as socialists & neo-liberals! I consider most all Democrats as decent people working to maitain & safeguard a democracy!
Those who "cannot afford" rent, food, and other ways of sustaining their lives must be taken care of--that is not actually Socialism but addressed by government as relief.
True, but first things first. The republicans need to go. Then, citizens can begin to vote for individuals, not party. Hopefully, there are principled, moral people willing to serve.
This kind of talk is extremely unhelpful. You would turn 15 million people into refugees? In our own home country where we pay the same federal taxes that you pay? We should leave our homes? Uproot our kids? What about those of us who would leave but we have step kids who have another parent who would refuse that? Or those of us who have relatives who need state assistance who would not be able to get it if they relocated? Or how about people who just flat out don’t think it’s ok to be displaced? What about the decades we have spent building our lives and homes? And where would we all go, really? And would you do Florida next? Or what?
No. The answer is for everyone to pressure our federal govt to pass laws that would protect people in places like Texas. And to stop fantasizing that there is some blue utopia somewhere. FFS every state has hillbillies and racists. Georgia gave us two Dem senators. There is no geographic divide or solution.
The Texas GOP is the alt-right. The top elected officials have shown us over and over that they are racist, misogynist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, anti-LGBTQ+ bigots. It's no wonder the executive committee couldn't pass this resolution.
The divide in Texas is rural vs city. Rural Texans have never met a Jewish person in their lives. They are just not there. Evangelicals rule in rural Texas, and although I have no evidence for this, I'm going to bet that vote was split rural vs city.
Rural Texans have never met a person of color as a neighbor or a peer either. The only people of color they know of are the farm and ranch workers they depend on while screaming about the invasion of the caravans.
That’s actually a little off base. My husband is from rural Texas and went to school with way more Black kids than I did in suburban Maryland. However, people he went to school with were still using the n-word as recently as a few years ago.
Yes.... I just wrote a long explainer somewhere on here a second ago. It’s not a face-to-face explicit bigotry in most cases. There are even some open minded genuinely kind rural white people. BUT mostly it’s people with a little chip on their shoulder (“you think you’re better than me?!”) who were raised by racists. They cannot fully separate from it because it was their granddaddy who was so sweet to them. And they think it’s ok to overlook that “sweet” old man’s racism as if it just couldn’t be helped. They will be nice to POC in their community. However, they believe that these POC are different from those in urban areas. They listen to preachers and FOX. Misogyny is as prevalent as the racism, too. So there are strange alignments. Some people tolerate one ism so they can benefit from the other. If you try to reason with them they don’t believe you. They get defensive. They are so far dug in to the identity of “conservative” that many of them don’t know how to back away and say “that’s too far” (much less “I was wrong”). When it’s their kid who is gay, they’ll say stuff like “well I can’t vote anymore because the Dems are so bad with money.” Like... what? But ok - If you’re gonna either vote red or not vote, then I hope you don’t vote. In 8 years I have persuaded NO ONE. It’s crushingly depressing. But repetition works and I wish someone would outbid the “pro-life” (misnomer) people and put on those billboards: REPUBLICANS DON’T CARE IF YOUR KID GETS SHOT and other facts. But where is the money for that? I don’t know.
We owned a cattle ranch in east Texas for a decade or so — we sold it two years ago and I’m so glad we did. I love my TX family and friends but the political culture there depresses me. I used to drive past Louie Gohmert’s office on my way to my favorite running trail and couldn’t resist an audible expression of disgust every single time I saw his name.
This is closer to the truth. I live here. In an area that a few years ago was considered rural but is increasingly suburban. I’m speaking in general terms but general terms apply... generally.
They have met Jews. They know and love LGBTQ people too. On a one-on-one basis, the bumpkins are not generally openly hateful. (And not all people in rural areas are bumpkins. I am using that term to describe people who are what I would call bigots in denial.) About THOSE people: They’re gullible. Yes there are the openly hostile. But for the most part, it’s more subtle. It’s snide remarks in hushed tones, usually. And most of the time they are satisfied just feeling superior. They don’t usually want to harm people. BUT they do fall for everything Fox says and they can’t apply what their every day behavior/life experience is to a broader view. So while they love to say “I have Black friends,” meaning they are friendly with someone they have superficial interactions with in their small town, they are also saying stupid shit like “one of the good ones” because they’re still believing that the POC in Chicago are all murderers or whatever. They’re AFRAID. They believe they’re being persecuted. They say things like “I have nothing against gays. I just don’t think it should be shoved down kids’ throats.” As if a) that’s happening or b) saying that is having “nothing against” people. Their religious beliefs hold them back in making progress here because they lump everyone who isn’t them as part of “woke” culture or whatever. Between Dallas and Austin there are more than half a dozen (maybe many more... I was on this road Saturday and counted at least six though) signs lying about pregnancy. They have adorable babies’ photos and they have all this stuff about how early fetuses “feel pain” and “have a heartbeat.” The pictures make it look like people literally kill babies, which is of course absurd. They are afraid Biden is coming for their hunting guns. They are just generally afraid of everything but whatever/whoever they think Jesus is, which varies depending on their preacher and what Fox/Trump/whoever their favorite extremist is. The weird thing is that the gullibility makes them untrusting because they think everything is a conspiracy. They see it as “us or them” when really they’re enabling the people who abuse them the most.
You are correct about the vote split. The divide in most states definitely occurs across the fault line of population density. Rural areas in all states tend to vote R, while areas that are more populated lean D.
"Pale Horse Strategies" is an interesting choice for an organization's name, to say the very least.
"When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." Revelation 6:7-8
Of course they couldn't bring themselves to vote in favor of the resolution. Where we are at now in America is that these extremely conservative groups are, in fact, clearinghouses and supporters of Nazism, white supremacy and it is chilling to think that just 80 years after America joined a war to eradicate Nazism & fascism that same Nazism & fascism have a very good stronghold in America. May we somehow find the courage to fight back against this Nazism & fascism wherever it raises it's ugly head. Great reporting Mr Legum!
It never fails that a state that relies so incredibly on migrant labor for their state to actually function think "strong borders" is a legitimate position for them. That bootstrap yt American myth really must have disintegrated Texas GOP's feeble minds completely.
The Texas GOP are invoking the spirit of fascism thinking they can contain and control that demon all in an effort to swell their campaign chests with white supremacist cash. The GOP will not be able to control fascist anarchy. Fascist solutions lead to a shallow grave for everyone.
Since Republicans run the state of Texas, I would be leaving the state if I were Jewish. In fact, really I would leave the state if I were a Democrat. Let them secede like they want to and just have all of the White Supremacists in it with their own White Nation.
Linda, in many ways it would be great for them to secede! All fed money would have to be removed. They would become a third world state and we would built a razor wire fence to keep them out of the US. 😀 They would find out rapidly how much of our tax dollars go to them and any sane person would leave and become a welcomed refugee here. Of course, we go to war with Fascists, so there’s that!
I feel like keeping states from seceding is not always the way to go. While they dream of riches untold from their oil wealth, they would not longer be getting green plan money as the rest of the USA speeds towards a fossil free future. The richest businessman in Texas would be Elon Musk, and he might be too busy setting up the new nation-state to bother with Twixt aka Twitter-X. He can also fund their military which they are going to need as they fend off Drug Cartels, I am not naming any country, but seems like easy pickins for a whole lot of bad guys. The whole idea makes me so whistful for this to happen. -------
My other suggestion would be to sell Texas back to Mexico, with the same set up that was offered to Mexicans when Texas became part of the USA. We would offer anyone who wanted to stay a US citizen to move elsewhere in the USA, and otherwise they could keep their property if they choose to stay in Texas and become Mexican. Still, could or would Mexico want Texas? I don't know, but it would probably not make a huge difference in the lives of people there, except that they could get more easy access to a Mexican abortion.
Honestly so tedious.
Not that it matters but Jews literally worship the same g-d that Christians worship. Muslims worship the same g-d as Jews and Christians worship. Muslims consider Jesus an important component of their faith, not that Christians seem to know or care. I get so tired of reading Christian statements about “their g-d” when discussing Jews and Muslims because yeah.
Texas republicans are tiresome, as is the constant financial enabling. All republican enabling is tiresome for sure. Especially the corporate propping up.
The way LGBTQ+ people, actual human beings hurting no one, are being discussed is disheartening and dehumanizing.
Thanks for what you do.
The Rs sure do like the Old Testament and they seem to ignore the New Testament with its welcome the stranger, love, love stuff.
Excuse me! all that "Welcome the stranger, love love stuff;" began with the "Old testament!" Or as we call it the Torah! please become educated before just lumping all of the hate of the Despicables (as Hillary rightly called them,) into the "old" testament. That is not true. Everything that Jesus said; he learned from his teachings as a young boy from the Rabbis.
I'm a Jew and in no way was the comment meant to slight the Jews or even the Torah. But there was a whole lot of smiting, and there were the Leviticus rules and other nonsense. As far as I know much of the hate-filled R talking points ( the authorities on how our secular country should be theocratic) are from the old Testament and yet those same "Christians" are often anti-civil rights, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, anti-women's rights, etc. with no compassion. They are also anti-science cloaked in fossil fueled religiosity. They treat the bible and the constitution like a smorgasbord, extracting what they deem righteous.
If you are Jewish; then you realize that quoting from the Torah using the "violent" episodes is a type of justification of the importance of the "new Testament." There is no New Torah....Of course i realize that the hypocrisy of those who rant about Jesus's teachings and then commit evil is notable. To educate you; the "hate-filled R talking points," are NOT from the "old" testament. Perhaps you could read the Torah and attend Synagogue services and hear and see the facts of love, charity, kindness and acceptance of all peoples that we pray for and try to accomplish.
Absolutely, Jews have a big social justice consciousness, the largest percentage per-capita of any people involved in the civil rights struggles in the '60s were Jews. Many of those are secular Jews. We are brought up to understand right and wrong but I think many of those folks have not read the Torah or need a God to tell us to do what is fair and just. I object to Rs using the lousy stuff in the Torah to sell their very unjust agenda.
Nothing is "lousy" from the Torah..If it is historical then that is what happened. As a wise Rabbi once told me; remember mankind is evolving; and those were very early and primitive times. Many stories were told to teach and help peoples to become more of what the Almighty wants us to do. The Charitable donations fro, Jewish people are probably statistically higher than other religions; i bet.
Isn't the New Testament kinda more important for Christianity? Oh the irony...
This refusal to dis-associate from Nazis is so ignorant. It’s also incredibly frightening for those of us who have studied history. A slippery slope, indeed.
For those who have not seen "Why is this Happening?" with Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow at Town Hall, please, learn MORE history: America was the major inspiration to Hitler. We should know more about this. Rachel continues to be a state of the art history sleuth. Their show (from Nov. 24 on MSNBC) may be available "On Demand" or maybe YouTube.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonus-live-with-chris-hayes-and-rachel-maddow/id294055449?i=1000636440649
The miniseries "The US and the Holocaust" is essential viewing here on the American influence on Nazi race rules etc. A brilliant and damning indictment.
Thank you. Sounds worth a viewing. Did they mention the investigations of Heinrich Krieger who came to U of Arkansas law school, and Henry Ford's influence?
Rachel did mention Henry Ford's hatred of Jews. And of course Lindbergh. Rachel's new book is called Prequel.
Hi. Sorry, I don't remember any mention of Heinrich Krieger. As for Henry Ford, I think he was mentioned because the role of American industry was discussed to some extent. However, it's some months since I saw it so I can't be sure. The general focus was more on the right wing and pro German movements, and on the shenanigans within government. Also on Jewish attempts to escape Germany that were thwarted when no-one let them land (not just USA, UK and other European countries were equally guilty).
Thank you Valerie- will look for that!
The way Bob Hall lumped together the LGBTQ community and White Supremacists is abhorrent. These are disgusting people.
Thank you Judd! You take on the multi-faceted dark side and expose their operations. Anti Humane beliefs pervade so much of Texas. "Texas Liberty" means freedom to be inhumane. The cast of characters from openly despised Ted Cruz to John Cornyn who learned in the last 20 years to operate more subtly; from the indescribably nastily unkind Greg Abbot to the criminally flagrant Ken Paxton and proudly cruel Dan Patrick. What leaders they have! Beto O'Rourke seemed to come close to winning, but these excessively rich (from fossil fuel) funds support the worst in humanity. May Roland Gutierrez or Colin Allred, whoever can, beat Cruz!
We Americans seem to be an assemblage of tribes, some of which appear to operate lawlessly, and which are a proven direct danger to others. How have things gotten so bad? Guns, money and legislators for the Nazi-White Supremacist-Bigots, while the poor and minorities are easy targets for violent police, for-profit prisons, and the rich. The rich and powerful? They appear almost untouchable, and can drag out the system endlessly, and even run for president while they are at it.
Justice in America is an increasingly rare and putrid rubbish. Starting with the SCOTUS.
Thank you for this reporting. I'll be forwarding this to everyone I know, especially in Texas.
Were it not for the fact that there are many decent people in Texas, I'd say PLEEEEEEEEEEZE let them secede.
The decent people in Texas need to stand up loudly against the disgusting Texas GOP, just as the rest of the country needs to stand up for Democracy and vote out, in great numbers, those who support nazi views and authoritarianism.
We try to “stand up.” It’s extremely difficult. Where I live, we flipped blue in ‘20 and in ‘22 my district was a whole new crazy shape and of course... back to red. Chip Roy’s district cuts into south Austin, ostensibly one of the most liberal areas in the entire state! Our AG is a criminal. We have 3 billionaires in west Texas who have funded 2/3 of the Texas GOP. (These guys also have a church and somewhere online you can find a PDF of the rules of it. Suffice it to say, women can’t be in power.) The corruption is so rampant. It’s extremely difficult to out-organize voter suppression and corruption.
And I don’t know why no one seems to seriously consider the possibility that some of these “elected” officials have flat-out cheated. We know what they did for orange guy and you know they secretly freakin hate his guts. They didn’t all suddenly become insurrectionists because of him to benefit him. Imagine what they’ve done when they thought it would benefit themselves. Ted Cruz was the original Cambridge Analytica/Steele dossier guy. No way I think he’s above any ruthless thing. I mean, what an extreme transition that would have been from honest politician to trying to overthrow democracy when it would help someone else. I don’t buy that. They had so so so many plans in place and so many things that they tried. Really didn’t seem like it was their first time. They’ve painted Dems into a corner with this because if you DO have a real question about an election, you now look like you’re just behaving like a Republican.
All this to say, we are trying but we don’t get much help from the outside and a lot of people have written off millions of fellow Americans. And it sucks.
I have not written you off, and I really feel bad for all the honest Texans subjected to the nightmare you have described. I wish there was something I could do to help you folks in Texas, but for now, I can only do everything I can to enact change from where I live. All I can say, Tess, is keep fighting and be careful.
I encourage everyone to write to their own Senators and Reps, and also the White House, in solidarity with Texas and the other states who are being run ragged by corruption. We cannot let our fellow citizens fight this alone.
Finally, and I don't have to tell everyone, VOTE BLUE AND GET YOUR FRIENDS TO DO IT TOO.
I’m quite delayed in this response but wanted to say thanks. It is appreciated. The divisive talk where we lump tens of millions of people into a group because they live near them... that is doing Putin’s work FOR him. That’s exactly the goal of our enemies. To break us apart.
Also - an easy way to write one’s reps is by using Issue Voter. They’ll email you when bills come up and you can just click whether you support or oppose. There are brief explainers and it shows who sponsors/supports a bill.
Saw an excerpt of CBS Mornings about an organization in GA going through voting lists to find people who have a glitch in their address--all to find people who should not have voted. Single individuals are able to submit up to 10,000 individual complaints. They highlighted a man who gave his barbershop as his home address in 2008 after serving in the Gulf War, and became homeless except for his job at the barbershop. Now he has a home. The self-righteous woman who investigated him and found that his address was his place of business felt justified--"he should be happy to make his voter id corrected." When asked, she answered that she believed that Donald Trump did win the 2020 Presidential election (of course!).
I'm in FL, I feel your pain...
Your writing is overflowing with the truth and realities that honestly can’t be overcome without open and unified defiance; it doesn’t seem like there is any help in one damned court in Texas. We can’t give up so can someone please give us a playbook that will work. Something!? Anything!?
Not sure how to help. I have donated to Texas campaigns, especially judges, but I'm not a billionaire or corporate treasurer.
Thank you. I think we need to pressure the US Senate to stand up (codify abortion rights, strengthen voter protections federally). Call for more scrutiny of SCOTUS bc they make a lot of this possible. Call for journalists to do this kind of work where stories get told and spread rather than just mentioned. Make, for lack of a better word, a fuss. The DOJ supposedly sued TX over our bounty-hunter law.... or did I freaking dream that? Bc as far as I know, nothing came of it. Keep supporting journalists who are digging into the right-wing hypocrites and bigots (Venn diagram that is almost if not a complete circle). Again... thank you. Spread the word on all the corruption. Call out bad framing and support good journalism. Those things, in addition to what you’ve done, are all helpful.
First we need to crash the Republicans, then the Democrats. What this country needs is a set of political parties that are based on common shared principles. The Democrats as now constituted include everything from pure socialists to neoliberals, while the Republicans appear to have no principles at all. Well, maybe anarchy. If you want to call nihilism a principle.
I'll stand with those Democrats you term as socialists & neo-liberals! I consider most all Democrats as decent people working to maitain & safeguard a democracy!
Those who "cannot afford" rent, food, and other ways of sustaining their lives must be taken care of--that is not actually Socialism but addressed by government as relief.
True, but first things first. The republicans need to go. Then, citizens can begin to vote for individuals, not party. Hopefully, there are principled, moral people willing to serve.
Nice Reporting Judd.
We need to set up a GoFundMe for left and center Texans to relocate and then let the state secede.
This kind of talk is extremely unhelpful. You would turn 15 million people into refugees? In our own home country where we pay the same federal taxes that you pay? We should leave our homes? Uproot our kids? What about those of us who would leave but we have step kids who have another parent who would refuse that? Or those of us who have relatives who need state assistance who would not be able to get it if they relocated? Or how about people who just flat out don’t think it’s ok to be displaced? What about the decades we have spent building our lives and homes? And where would we all go, really? And would you do Florida next? Or what?
No. The answer is for everyone to pressure our federal govt to pass laws that would protect people in places like Texas. And to stop fantasizing that there is some blue utopia somewhere. FFS every state has hillbillies and racists. Georgia gave us two Dem senators. There is no geographic divide or solution.
Um, yeah, there's no good reason to meet with white supremacists. The Texas GOP needs to be hammered on its associations with the alt-right.
The Texas GOP is the alt-right. The top elected officials have shown us over and over that they are racist, misogynist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, anti-LGBTQ+ bigots. It's no wonder the executive committee couldn't pass this resolution.
The divide in Texas is rural vs city. Rural Texans have never met a Jewish person in their lives. They are just not there. Evangelicals rule in rural Texas, and although I have no evidence for this, I'm going to bet that vote was split rural vs city.
Rural Texans have never met a person of color as a neighbor or a peer either. The only people of color they know of are the farm and ranch workers they depend on while screaming about the invasion of the caravans.
That’s actually a little off base. My husband is from rural Texas and went to school with way more Black kids than I did in suburban Maryland. However, people he went to school with were still using the n-word as recently as a few years ago.
Yes.... I just wrote a long explainer somewhere on here a second ago. It’s not a face-to-face explicit bigotry in most cases. There are even some open minded genuinely kind rural white people. BUT mostly it’s people with a little chip on their shoulder (“you think you’re better than me?!”) who were raised by racists. They cannot fully separate from it because it was their granddaddy who was so sweet to them. And they think it’s ok to overlook that “sweet” old man’s racism as if it just couldn’t be helped. They will be nice to POC in their community. However, they believe that these POC are different from those in urban areas. They listen to preachers and FOX. Misogyny is as prevalent as the racism, too. So there are strange alignments. Some people tolerate one ism so they can benefit from the other. If you try to reason with them they don’t believe you. They get defensive. They are so far dug in to the identity of “conservative” that many of them don’t know how to back away and say “that’s too far” (much less “I was wrong”). When it’s their kid who is gay, they’ll say stuff like “well I can’t vote anymore because the Dems are so bad with money.” Like... what? But ok - If you’re gonna either vote red or not vote, then I hope you don’t vote. In 8 years I have persuaded NO ONE. It’s crushingly depressing. But repetition works and I wish someone would outbid the “pro-life” (misnomer) people and put on those billboards: REPUBLICANS DON’T CARE IF YOUR KID GETS SHOT and other facts. But where is the money for that? I don’t know.
I can attest to that. I have cousins in rural Texas and have spent time there throughout my life.
We owned a cattle ranch in east Texas for a decade or so — we sold it two years ago and I’m so glad we did. I love my TX family and friends but the political culture there depresses me. I used to drive past Louie Gohmert’s office on my way to my favorite running trail and couldn’t resist an audible expression of disgust every single time I saw his name.
This is closer to the truth. I live here. In an area that a few years ago was considered rural but is increasingly suburban. I’m speaking in general terms but general terms apply... generally.
They have met Jews. They know and love LGBTQ people too. On a one-on-one basis, the bumpkins are not generally openly hateful. (And not all people in rural areas are bumpkins. I am using that term to describe people who are what I would call bigots in denial.) About THOSE people: They’re gullible. Yes there are the openly hostile. But for the most part, it’s more subtle. It’s snide remarks in hushed tones, usually. And most of the time they are satisfied just feeling superior. They don’t usually want to harm people. BUT they do fall for everything Fox says and they can’t apply what their every day behavior/life experience is to a broader view. So while they love to say “I have Black friends,” meaning they are friendly with someone they have superficial interactions with in their small town, they are also saying stupid shit like “one of the good ones” because they’re still believing that the POC in Chicago are all murderers or whatever. They’re AFRAID. They believe they’re being persecuted. They say things like “I have nothing against gays. I just don’t think it should be shoved down kids’ throats.” As if a) that’s happening or b) saying that is having “nothing against” people. Their religious beliefs hold them back in making progress here because they lump everyone who isn’t them as part of “woke” culture or whatever. Between Dallas and Austin there are more than half a dozen (maybe many more... I was on this road Saturday and counted at least six though) signs lying about pregnancy. They have adorable babies’ photos and they have all this stuff about how early fetuses “feel pain” and “have a heartbeat.” The pictures make it look like people literally kill babies, which is of course absurd. They are afraid Biden is coming for their hunting guns. They are just generally afraid of everything but whatever/whoever they think Jesus is, which varies depending on their preacher and what Fox/Trump/whoever their favorite extremist is. The weird thing is that the gullibility makes them untrusting because they think everything is a conspiracy. They see it as “us or them” when really they’re enabling the people who abuse them the most.
You are correct about the vote split. The divide in most states definitely occurs across the fault line of population density. Rural areas in all states tend to vote R, while areas that are more populated lean D.
"Pale Horse Strategies" is an interesting choice for an organization's name, to say the very least.
"When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." Revelation 6:7-8
Thank you Judd for this eye opening reporting. I am forwarding this to friends who live in El Paso. Keep spreading the word! This needs to stop.
Of course they couldn't bring themselves to vote in favor of the resolution. Where we are at now in America is that these extremely conservative groups are, in fact, clearinghouses and supporters of Nazism, white supremacy and it is chilling to think that just 80 years after America joined a war to eradicate Nazism & fascism that same Nazism & fascism have a very good stronghold in America. May we somehow find the courage to fight back against this Nazism & fascism wherever it raises it's ugly head. Great reporting Mr Legum!
Another great exposé, Judd. There is enough heat here to start a fire.
It never fails that a state that relies so incredibly on migrant labor for their state to actually function think "strong borders" is a legitimate position for them. That bootstrap yt American myth really must have disintegrated Texas GOP's feeble minds completely.
The Texas GOP are invoking the spirit of fascism thinking they can contain and control that demon all in an effort to swell their campaign chests with white supremacist cash. The GOP will not be able to control fascist anarchy. Fascist solutions lead to a shallow grave for everyone.
Only the GOP would parse anti-semitism. I-N-S-A-N-I-T-Y
Since Republicans run the state of Texas, I would be leaving the state if I were Jewish. In fact, really I would leave the state if I were a Democrat. Let them secede like they want to and just have all of the White Supremacists in it with their own White Nation.
Linda, in many ways it would be great for them to secede! All fed money would have to be removed. They would become a third world state and we would built a razor wire fence to keep them out of the US. 😀 They would find out rapidly how much of our tax dollars go to them and any sane person would leave and become a welcomed refugee here. Of course, we go to war with Fascists, so there’s that!
Seeking Reason, I have been thinking about this for years since I learned about the Lone Star State Succession Movement.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/15/texas-secession-texit/
I feel like keeping states from seceding is not always the way to go. While they dream of riches untold from their oil wealth, they would not longer be getting green plan money as the rest of the USA speeds towards a fossil free future. The richest businessman in Texas would be Elon Musk, and he might be too busy setting up the new nation-state to bother with Twixt aka Twitter-X. He can also fund their military which they are going to need as they fend off Drug Cartels, I am not naming any country, but seems like easy pickins for a whole lot of bad guys. The whole idea makes me so whistful for this to happen. -------
My other suggestion would be to sell Texas back to Mexico, with the same set up that was offered to Mexicans when Texas became part of the USA. We would offer anyone who wanted to stay a US citizen to move elsewhere in the USA, and otherwise they could keep their property if they choose to stay in Texas and become Mexican. Still, could or would Mexico want Texas? I don't know, but it would probably not make a huge difference in the lives of people there, except that they could get more easy access to a Mexican abortion.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/world/americas/mexico-abortion-women-border.html