After yesterday’s news that Ken Paxton has been referred to the full Texas House for impeachment, my only question was, which crime was finally bad enough to finally tip the scales of justice against him? Did Republicans finally awake from an 8 year coma? Did they finally turn on the news? Identifying crimes and conduct that have been obvious to normal Texans for years, the House General Investigating Committee filed 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton listing crimes and corrupt conduct such as bribery, misuse of funds, abusing employees, using the power of his office to help a friend in a private lawsuit, lying on the record, and dereliction of duty, among other acts not generally associated with a state’s top law enforcement officer. Paxton’s defense? It’s rich – you can’t impeach me for any crimes I committed BEFORE the last election. His argument is that each election washes away any prior misdeeds from previous terms. This claim not the only issue, though.
Paxton has been under felony indictment for securities fraud, among other crimes, FOR EIGHT YEARS. He has successfully buried that case for that extended period after the legislature passed a 2015 law at Abbott’s urging to dismantle the Public Integrity Unit run by the Travis County DA and move cases against statewide officials to the Texas Rangers and local prosecutors in officials’ home jurisdictions. Paxton’s felony case was moved from Austin to Collin County and was buried and remains bogged down to this day. In fact, since that law was enacted, prosecutions of state officials have virtually disappeared. 90% of investigations result in no charges, and the people who are charged are generally low level employees. This is not a flaw in the law – it’s a feature; the legislature and Abbott successfully blunted the only tool Texas had to prosecute corruption by taking away the only independent watchdog in the state. Paxton’s unchecked corruption and criminality is the logical (and obvious) result of dismantling the existing justice system. And it’s not just Paxton – high level officials in Austin can pretty much do what they want as long as their local DAs protect them, and that is exactly what’s happening.
What kicked off this entire episode this session was a request by Paxton that WE, the taxpayers, pay $3.3 million to settle one of the lawsuits against him that had been filed by his former employees for abuse and retaliation. House speaker Dade Phelan had opposed the payment and the investigation into this settlement was begun. That investigation then turned into an impeachment inquiry as the evidence against Paxton became so mountainous that not even Republicans could ignore it.
So the question is, which crime tipped the scales of justice? Was it one crime, or did the collective weight of them all finally do the deed? In my view, any of these well known crimes should have resulted in Paxton’s removal and jailing years ago. That it hasn’t happened is a direct result of Republican corruption and the Texas Rangers looking the other way while local prosecutors selectively charged other low level officials.
I’ve believed since Rick Perry that Texas was lost. It’s still lost, but have we finally reached bottom after 30 years of decline? I’m a long way from popping champagne and tossing babies in the air, but maybe we’ve finally gotten there. There’s no way but up from here.
There are occasionally moments that make you smile. They are hard to explain. We shouldn’t smile in these moments and we often feel guilty about not feeling guilty about someone else having a hard time. The Germans came up with a name for it. They called it schadenfreude. The closest English translation I have heard when describing this uniquely German word is “shameful joy.” It seems the notorious MTG was wielding the gavel for some stupid reason and she was trying to bring the House to order. As you might suspect, it went about as well as any of us could imagine.
I’m usually not one to laugh at other people’s misery. It’s like watching someone stumble down the stairs. You want to make sure they are okay first. After all, none of us really aims to be that big of an asshole at the end of the day. We aren’t rooting for bodily injury here. However, if someone just has a bruised ego we find ourselves unable to suppress at least just a tiny chuckle at their expense. The beauty of schadenfreude is that others feel it about us in equal proportion. Paul McCartney once said, “the love you take is equal to the love you make.” In this case, the bad vibes you take are equal to the bad vibes you create.
MTG is the kid in the back of class that heckles the teacher every day and makes his or her life a living hell. Then, suddenly when the teacher is gone the assistant principal gives her a dose of her own medicine and puts her in charge for a day. Suddenly, she gets to feel the way that just about every other adult in that room feels when they have to deal with her performance art. Normally, I wouldn’t condone this kind of behavior from anyone. Normally, I would say you need to rise above it all and show the world you are the adult party. That would ignore the fact that these are not normal times.
I couldn’t tell you how all of this ends. A part of me wonders whether this is just the natural course of things. I have to wonder if my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents felt the same way about their elected leaders. Did they see a few statemen mixed in with a whole group of performance artists that couldn’t care less about doing actual good? Was it always like this? Were we always somehow represented by the worst among us? Deep down, I know this isn’t true, but I keep holding out hope that we can somehow bypass these idiots to keep this thing going. In the meantime, enjoy a good laugh.
And logic. And coherent reasoning. And trustworthiness.
But, she really good at being damn silly.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO): “I left a prescription at a pharmacy once. I went to get birth control … The price was very, very high … And I said, 'It’s cheaper to have a kid.' And I left it there, and now I have my third son.” pic.twitter.com/5aUut9DBg8
I remember, way back in 6th grade (1963), a lot of stuff happened. Mrs. Libby was our teacher. I really liked her. She was strict but she would let me do extra science experiments from the big box when I was getting too far ahead in my reading program. Most of my classmates don’t remember her so fondly. Probably the biggest bad thing that happened was JFK being assassinated. The biggest good thing (to me) was when daily recitation of the Lord’s Prayer was halted, thanks to Madelyn Murray O’Hair.
The Most Hated Woman in America was My Shero. I hated having to recite this every morning, after the Pledge of Allegiance (which I did not hate). It was bad enough that this was my PUBLIC school, but it was extra bad because we Catholic kids were not supposed to say the last phrase (“for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory …”) because that was the PROTESTANT version. Oh no. Way to divide tweens when all they want to do is blend in, right? Say The Lord’s Prayer in Church? No problem. At home, or during the rosary with Cardinal Cushing’s mumbling drone? We were ready. But NOT in school, in the rules of life according to young Fenway Fran.
Today’s article in the WaPo about the latest shattering of the line between Church and State brought it all back to me. I believe the Texas Lege has drunk too much holy water. Pop those 10 Commandments in every classroom! Replace those trained school counselors with ‘chaplains’! These hypocrites have forgotten what Matthew said about loudly praying in public. They’ll have some ‘splainin’ to do when they meet their Maker.
The advisory comes as a direct response to what the Board says is an “aggressive attempt to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools” by Governor DeSantis.
Equity Florida reminded everybody that Florida ain’t safe for LGTBQ people either. Or women. Or children.
The Governor of Florida quickly issued his usual statement.
“We aren’t going to waste our time worrying about political stunts. We will continue doing what is right for Floridians.”
Oh Honey, check your self-awareness. You know Disney has offered you your own new character: Mr. Political Stunt. Nobody can ever challenge your right to that crown. The good news is that your stunts are never very good – even a mouse can beat you.
Welcome to The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.
My name is Susan DuQuesnay Bankston. I live in Richmond, Texas, in the heart of Tom DeLay's old district. It's nuttier than squirrel poop here.
I am honored and privileged to know Miss Juanita Jean Herownself, hairdresser extraordinary and political maven. Since she does not have time to fiddle with this internet stuff, I type her website for her and you can read it if you want to. If you don't, she truly does not give a big bear's butt.
A lot of what I post here has to do with local politics, but you probably have the same folks in your local government.
This ain't a blog. Blogs are way too trendy for me. This is a professional political organization.
