Cruz sticks with Francis

"A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."
Proverbs 18:24

Inbox yesterday:

Francis Announces Major GOTV Rally with Sen. Ted Cruz in HD-60 Runoff

(Cisco, TX) On Monday, conservative businessman and candidate for State Representative of House District 60 Jon Francis announced he will hold a major campaign rally featuring special guest, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, encouraging conservatives in House District 60 to get out the vote.

“Ted Cruz is a conservative outsider who knows what it’s like to be an underdog and defeat the establishment favorite,” said Francis. “We’re excited to energize conservatives across House District 60 with this one of a kind special event ahead of this important election.”

Cruz, the conservative firebrand, endorsed Francis for the State Representative position in the primary, but is now heading into the district to stump for Jon personally in the July 14 Republican Primary Runoff Election.

“If anarchists, leftists and marxists can pillage major cities across America in strong numbers, I can pretty much guarantee conservatives will show up for our rally and head to the polls at full strength on Election Day,” said Francis.

The rally is set to be held at the beautiful, new event venue, La Bella Luna in Hood County on Sunday, July 12. The 2:00 PM afternoon gathering will be totally free of charge for a general admission ticket; however, seating is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Jon Francis Campaign highly encourages potential attendees to RSVP as soon as possible in order to secure their seat. Tickets are required for entry to the rally.

Francis made headlines in his announcement by pledging to only take contributions from individuals in his campaign and not a dime from lobbyists or PACs.

Francis won the Republican Primary on March 3, finishing just shy of the 50% +1 vote mark needed to avoid a Runoff Election. Due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has moved the Republican Primary Runoff Elections to Tuesday, July 14. Early Voting will be held June 29 through July 10. House District 60 includes Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Eastland, Hood, Palo Pinto, Shackelford and Stephens Counties. The 87th Legislative Session is set to gavel on January 12, 2021.

Early Voting begins Monday, June 29 and runs through Friday, July 10. Election Day is Tuesday, July 14.

In other words, Abbott's endorsement of Jon Francis' opponent had no impact on Ted Cruz.  This is interesting for a whole host of reasons (have Cruz and Abbott ever been on opposite sides of a primary before?!?).  But the most interesting aspect is what says about the Empower Texans kerfuffle.

Which is, for the most part, nothing.

Obviously, a cynic would argue that Ted Cruz wants to remain in the good graces of the Wilks family for a future presidential run. Of course, the cynic is completely correct. But that's the point.
Had the Empower Texans kerfuffle had the impact their enemies' had hoped, Ted Cruz wouldn't get anywhere near Jon Francis. Which shows you the long-term impact of the Empower Texans kerfuffle.

In a word: Bupkus.

Nothing's changed.

(Except for the fact that Abbott now needs to run the table.)

Bottom Line: If anything had materially changed in the past ten days, this event wouldn't be happening. But it IS happening. Sorry phony outrage crowd.

Abbott (kinda sorta) Declares (half-assed) War

"The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
But the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.
Proverbs 15:14

Abbott makes it official:

Gov. Greg Abbott was on the receiving end recently of some jokes about his use of a wheelchair — and his alleged kowtowing to liberal Texas cities on COVID-19.

Now, he’s going on offense.

In a two-week early voting period for the July GOP runoffs beginning Monday, Abbott’s using his broad popularity among Republican voters, lists of likely voters and elaborate campaign organization to try to propel three state or county-level candidates past rivals associated with Empower Texans.

And?!?

This is expected.

Greg Abbott has been taking on water because of his own indecisive, weak, "leadership." Greg Abbott, and Greg Abbott alone, made the decision to hire Mike Toomey. Greg Abbott, and Greg Abbott alone, made the decision to giveaway a no-bid contract...allegedly for so-called "contract tracing." Greg Abbott, and Greg Abbott alone, did these things.

But Greg Abbott, being notoriously thin-skinned, can't abide discussion of Greg Abbott's job performance.  Greg Abbott has to play Mr. Burns to a revolving cast of legislative Smithers'.  The Empower Texas kerfuffle just gave Greg Abbott a pretext to do what Greg Abbott always wanted to do.

But here's the thing: Abbott's not actually doing much.

(Which is, of course, typical for Abbott.)

Last three paragraphs of the DMN piece:

The governor’s political operation, conceded “endorsements are not the silver bullet or anything.”

In all of the races, Texans for Greg Abbott will deploy “digital advertising to our universe, texting to our folks and emails” — but not radio or cable-TV ads, Carney said. Turnout is likely to be low, he added.

“Hopefully, they’ll get out there and vote and support the governor’s candidates,” Carney said.

Soo...they're going to send a bunch of spam text messages. People hate those.  But keep on keeping on Dave Carney.

Speaking of Dave Carney, that quote is astonishingly weak. "Hopefully?!?"   Hopefully, lots of stuff happens.  But it usually helps to have a plan beyond spam text messages.

Then there's this: Why run your mouth in the first place?!?

A mob boss who knows how to keep his mouth shut only needs to whack one enemy from time to time to be feared.  But a mob boss who says he's going to whack four specific people on a specific timeline...better whack all four (on time).   Anything less looks weak.

In other words, Abbott better run the table.

Anything short of that is a loss.

A bad one.

Bottom Line: This is an awfully high-stakes fight to pick to not have a plan beyond Dave Carney, spam text messages, and the word "hopefully."

"You're going to be disappointed": An open letter to Peter Rex about Austin Texas

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me:
Ezekiel 3:17

Dear Mr. Rex,

I read, with great interest, your Wall St. Journal op-ed "I’m Leaving Seattle for Texas So My Employees Can Be Free." You sound like me a decade ago. The only difference is that I moved to Austin from New York City, not Seattle.

Allow me to break some news you need to hear: If perceived differences in public policy are your primary reason for relocation to Austin, you're going to be disappointed. VERY disappointed. It's not 2006 anymore. Dazed and Confused was a quarter century ago.

I understand the urge to flee the Seattle city council. Unfortunately, Austin's city council is no better. Where Seattle has Kshama Sawant and her allies, Austin has Greg Casar. Austin today is Seattle five years ago.

And the trend lines are, unfortunately, identical.

Allow me to illustrate: In 2019, the Austin city council passed an ordinance to encourage camping by the homeless. Homelessness predictably skyrocketed. Sound familiar?!?

Unfortunately, homeless encampments are just the most tangible, visible, manifestation of misgovernance in Austin. They're hardly alone. Over the past decade, Austin has been a laboratory in how to NOT run a city.

Off the top of my head, within recent memory Austin has seen:

• The Uber debacle.

• The assault on short-term rentals.

• Entitlement programs at the municipal level...funded by employers.

• Multiple attempts at rewriting our land use development code that, while laudable in intent, have descended into lawless farce in practice.

• A coordinated assault on the integrity of police chief Brian Manley, the only remotely competent official in the entire city government.

But at least they got their boondoggle soccer stadium...and they want to spend $10 Billion on some trains.

Again, you're from Seattle, does any of this sound familiar?!?

-------

But a ha, you say, Texas is a Republican state. And surely the Republicans at the state level will protect me from Democrats at the local level!!!  Right?!?

LOL.

The only difference between the Travis County Democrats and the Texas GOP is that the former will stab you in the front.

When you observe it up close, you will rapidly discover that the Texas legislature is a uniquely wretched collection of cowards, drunks, imbeciles, and perverts. Far too many Texas legislators are more interested in sexually harassing young women than in protecting entrepreneurs and taxpayers. To be fair, there are also plenty of run of the mill financial criminals. Carlos Uresti was all of the above.

The Texas to which you think you are moving is a figment of the collective imaginations of Fox News, Political consultants, and the self-serving politicians who hire them.

Speaking of self-serving politicians, Governor Greg Abbott is worthless and weak.  He has no core convictions beyond Dave Carney's tracking poll. There is a lot that could be said on this topic, although the fact that Greg Abbott put a lobbyist named Mike Toomey in charge of Texas' COVID policy encapsulates it all.

While Greg Abbott's poll driven COVID dithering brought his fecklessness into public view, it's hardly the only example. When Austin passed the afore mentioned homeless camping ordinance, Greg Abbott vowed swift and decisive action. Unfortunately, by Greg Abbott's standards, swift and decisive action means nothing more than running his mouth on Fox News. Greg Abbott could have called a special legislative session to override the Austin ordinance. But Greg Abbott didn't. And Greg Abbott won't. Because Greg Abbott is worthless and weak.

If you're looking for a visual manifestation of Greg Abbott's callow failure, check out the intersection of Burnet Rd. and U.S. Hwy 183...and understand that the state of Texas has 100% jurisdiction over this right of way:

Burnet and 183 - Aweek ago vs. Today.

(But @GregAbbott_TX sez he wants to help w/ #AustinHomless)#TXLEGE #atxcouncil pic.twitter.com/Uw4bZartWD

— cahnman (@cahnman) February 7, 2020

In terms of grandiose rhetoric accompanied by meager results, Greg Abbott is the right-wing Bill DiBlasio.

The less said about Lt. Gov Dan Patrick and house speaker Dennis Bonnen, the better.

-------

There you have it.

That's not to say that everything is bad in Austin anno 2020. Longhorn baseball looks solid. One of these years, the football team is going to click.  Evil MoPac has his moments.

Then again, for one of the highlights to be a parody Twitter account that was founded to ridicule our leaders' inability to fix Austin's endemic traffic speaks volumes.

I wish I had better news to report. I really do. But that's reality. And that's what you're getting yourself into if you relocate here.

Consider yourself warned.

Sincerely, 

Adam Cahn

East Riverside

Austin, TX

P.S. Do feel free to forward this letter to Elon Musk and Joe Rogan.

Abbott/Dead Armadillos: An Ongoing Series (Part 3 of ?!?)

"So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."
Revelation 3:16

PushJunction this morning:

GOVERNOR ABBOTT, continuing on a theme, moved yesterday to limit elective medical procedures in four large counties, and pause reopening at current levels.

Today, the governor is closing bars, rolling back restaurant capacity, and over-regulating public gatherings.

At least one doctor in the DFW area is calling the governor's latest maneuvering a needless reaction and political posturing, and he's not alone "harshing the narrative."

Following dire reporting and handwriting about hospital capacity in Houston, leaders of the sprawling Texas Medical Center said the COVID surge is manageable.

As has been the case for the past week, cases continue to increase, but deaths are not keeping pace. This under-reported good news gets in the way of Abbott's reaction to fear porn habit.

While the governor has encouraged the use of face masks, he's stopped short of mandating use (more on this below). Tarrant County, after promising not to force masks wearing, has forced mask use.

It’s rumored that law enforcement isn’t interested in enforcing the nanny state mandate.

Honestly, it's not even his position on the issue (does he really have one?!?).  It's that he can't stick with one once he takes it.   He's indecisive and weak.

The worst part, unfortunately, is that the uncertainty this sort of political dithering creates is the worst of all possible worlds for a business.  It's challenging enough to navigate the virus.  Adding politicians' mood swings complicates things further.

In the first entry in this series, we wrote:

Abbott's already pissed off the stay-home-forever crowd. Now, he's pissing of a not-insignificant part of his base. He's creating a rather difficult needle to thread for himself.

We could have understood the case for a longer original lockdown.  We could have understood the case for a much more decisive reopening.  Lukewarm piles of suck, however, help nobody.

Then again, what would you expect when you don't understand your own data and put lobbyists in charge?!?

But...but...keep Texas red (and send the GOP money)...otherwise...something, something, Alexandra Occasio-Cortez!!!

Bottom Line: We're not going to insult dumpster fires by comparing them to Greg Abbott, but sheesh....

SAEN proves our point about Morrow's campaign

"Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:"
Luke 18:9

Remember, a month and a half ago, when we pointed out how Robert Morrow's SBOE campaign has ended up serving an unintentionally useful function by forcing the education establishment to line up behind the type of conservative they would otherwise vehemently oppose?!?

San Antonio Express News editorial this morning:

After a lengthy tenure, Ken Mercer is leaving the state Board of Education. We tepidly recommend Lani Popp in the Republican runoff for this seat. This is mostly because we reject the other candidate, Robert Morrow. After a lengthy tenure, Ken Mercer is leaving the state Board of Education. We tepidly recommend Lani Popp in the Republican runoff for this seat. This is mostly because we reject the other candidate, Robert Morrow. Photo: Michael Minasi /Contributor In the Republican runoff for the District 5 seat on the State Board of Education, we give an extremely tepid recommendation to Lani Popp, a speech pathologist in the Northside Independent School District.

We have major disagreements with Popp on a number of issues, but there really is no choice in this race. Her opponent, Robert Morrow, the former chair of the 2016 Travis County Republican Party, is unqualified for any elected office. A crude provocateur, Morrow has said, if elected to the SBOE, he would advocate that a false conspiracy theory about President John F. Kennedy’s assassination be placed in Texas textbooks.
....

We vehemently disagree with Popp on these statements and viewpoints. Our recommendation of her is really a rejection of Morrow, who has no business serving on the SBOE.

We don't have a lot to add. It's kinda obvious how the SAEN editorial proves our original point. That being said, we find it amusing that the SAEN remains so far up Lyndon Johnson's posterior (48 years after his death), that they hide Morrow's views about what happened in Dallas behind the euphemism "false conspiracy theory."

Bottom Line: Control the options

A Teachable Moment re: Who's Allowed to say Mean Things about Abbott

"Do not be deceived: 'Evil company corrupts good habits.' "
1 Corinthians 15:33

For those who aren't aware, last week Empower Texans accidentally released an outtake from their podcast that included some R-rated (although factually accurate) comments about Governor Abbott's recent job performance.  The comments were certainly in poor taste.  Regrettable, tacky, etc.  That being said, the comments in question aren't anything anyone wearing big boy pants hasn't heard before.

Of course, this hasn't stopped the caterwauling banshees of insincere outrage from taking advantage of the situation.

That's fine, you can't really blame them for exploiting an opportunity that fell into their lap.

This morning, however, a certain columnist from the Houston Chronicle got in on the act:

Grieder: Texas GOP needs to separate itself from heavy-handed activists at Empower Texans

Erica GriederJune 24, 2020 Updated: June 24, 2020 6:44 a.m.

Grieder's column is a fairly boring act of concern trolling. You're welcome to read it for yourself. But, Greider's claims to have engaged in original reporting over a meeting that's been public knowledge for almost a year notwithstanding, her column contains nothing new.

Here's what's so gobsmacking about the situation: Erica Greider, in the not very distant past, has done the exact same thing.

Erica Greider used to be one of the higher-ups at Texas Monthly. In 2016, she left that position under bizarre circumstances. Whether she was fired or she quit has never truly been resolved. Either way, the details of who initiated her departure aren't relevant except to the degree to which they highlight the oddness of the whole situation.

Once she departed from Texas Monthly, you'll never believe who Erica Greider went after while using some grown up language:

[Note: This tweet log is in reverse chronological order.]

There you have it.  Two situations.  Both involving irritation with Abbott.  Both, probably regrettably, producing some strong language.

The difference, of course, is that only one of these incidents begot howls of phony outrage.

It's almost like the issue has nothing to with saying mean things about Greg Abbott and everything to do with who opposes bidness as usual.

Or is that too cynical?!?

Bottom Line:  Last week's comments were obviously not good, but for someone who's done the exact same thing to condescendingly lecture the rest of us speaks volumes about how government in this state operates.

Apparently, Abbott doesn't even know his data

"The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,

But the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.
Proverbs 15:14

Apparently, the Governor was on (where else?!?) Fox News yesterday.  Due to formatting issues, we can't embed the video.  But you can watch it for yourself here.

More from PushJunction:

After his hollow flex, Abbott went on Fox News and biffed. When asked for specifics about the virus spread in Texas, Abbott, like a kid called on unexpectedly in class, told the anchor he left his stats at home.

And this:

How can @GregAbbott_TX not be able to answer basic questions about hospitalizations on @marthamaccallum? “I did not check with the data before I came on your show.” What kind of an answer is that? If you choose to control the lives of millions by edict, know the data.

— Matt Rinaldi (@MattRinaldiTX) June 23, 2020

Didn’t know basic questions about hospitalization data on a national news appearance. But you can always be confident he knows the poll numbers like the back of his hand. https://t.co/85gSporDPd

— Matt Rinaldi (@MattRinaldiTX) June 23, 2020

Bottom Line: When your decisions impact the economy and public health for 29 million people, you need to know this stuff...unless you want to admit that lobbyists are running everything.