Posts Tagged ‘2026 Texas Senate Race’
Friday, June 6th, 2025
Today’s the 81st anniversary of D-Day. Trump and Musk fight over the “big beautiful bill,” the Dutch government collapses, a whole lot of megacorps decide that “Pride Month” is over, hot Skynet on Skynet action, a fake Titanic, “nose ring theory” and a white Black Panther.
It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
Elon Musk is not a fan of the “big, beautiful bill.”
Elon Musk, the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency, on Tuesday dismissed President Trump’s “big, beautiful” spending bill as a “disgusting abomination.”
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” he said in a post on X.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” he added.
Musk’s comments on Tuesday represent an even harsher reaction to the bill than his previous criticisms. Last month, he said he was “disappointed” by the House passage of the bill because it undermines the work he has done as the head of DOGE.
“The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. “It doesn’t change the president’s opinion.”
While the bill aims to cut $1.5 trillion in government spending, it also increases the debt limit by $4 trillion. The U.S. government is more than $36 trillion in debt.
The bill would extend the 2017 tax cuts, introduce new tax cuts such as Trump’s signature “no tax on tips” policy, and add work requirements to Medicaid, among other provisions.
The measure passed 215 to 214 in the House, largely along party lines after Speaker Mike Johnson was able to overcome opposition from members of his caucus who argued the bill should include further spending cuts to offset tax cuts that will add to the country’s deficit.
Musk thoughts mirror my own. They should not have used reconciliation on a bill that doesn’t balance the budget.
Jim Geraghty offers some ideas for balancing the budget. Skipping over things that would break Trump campaign promises:
Beyond entitlement reform, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget offers users an option in a fix-the-debt-yourself game. Among the options are medical-malpractice reform (saving the U.S. government $40 billion over ten years), allowing private plans to compete with Medicare ($360 billion over ten years), banning state Medicare matching gimmicks ($830 billion over ten years), rescinding Inflation Reduction Act climate tax credits ($780 billion over ten years), and repealing and replacing student-debt cancellation ($320 over ten years). Enact all of those, and that’s another $233 billion per year or so.
California’s Governor Hairgel is sucking up to the ChiComs.
The administration of California Governor Gavin Newsom held closed-door talks on trade cooperation with Chinese officials on Monday, ahead of the anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s massacre at Tiananmen Square.
The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the China-California Business Forum, an annual summit hosted by the Chinese consulate general in Los Angeles at the city’s ritzy Biltmore Hotel. That annual gathering gives local and state politicians an opportunity to rub shoulders with their Chinese counterparts.
The Newsom administration’s participation in the meeting comes just ahead of the June 4 anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, which is commemorated by Chinese pro-democracy advocates and human rights advocates.
Should we be relieved that Newsom isn’t actually sleeping with any of them?
You know that illegal alien scumbag gangbanger Democrats were all outraged over his getting deported to El Salvador? Well, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being returned to the U.S….to face charges on human trafficking.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, has returned to the United States to face criminal charges for allegedly transporting illegal immigrants within the U.S., the Department of Justice said Friday.
Last month, a federal grand jury in Tennessee indicted Abrego Garcia, who was deported two months ago from Maryland to El Salvador.
Prosecutors say Abrego Garcia was involved in a nearly decade-long conspiracy to transport thousands of illegal immigrants from Texas to other areas around the country. The illegal immigrants, some of whom were members of the MS-13 gang, came from Mexico and Central America.
“The grand jury found that over the past nine years Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday. “They found this was his full-time job. Not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women. He made over 100 trips, the grand jury found, smuggling people throughout our country.”
While the allegations were not included in the May 21 indictment, Bondi said that Abrego Garcia also solicited nude images from a minor and was linked to the murder of a rival gang member’s mother. Co-conspirators also accused Abrego Garcia of assaulting women whom he transported across the country and claimed he was also involved in trafficking firearms and narcotics.
No wonder he’s a poster child for Democrats…
There’s not an Alanis Morissette joke big enough: “A once-prominent Harvard University professor was stripped of her tenure and fired this week for outright fabricating data on numerous academic studies of dishonesty and unethical behavior.”
Francesca Gino was regularly cited as an authority by prominent left-leaning outlets such as National Public Radio and the New York Times. Both outlets now admit that Gino’s research was likely fabricated. Disturbingly, the flaws in her research were exposed not by the allegedly robust university system of peer review, but by a series of posts by science bloggers.
No professor has had tenure revoked at Harvard since the 1940s, when the rules for doing so were formalized, according to the Harvard Crimson. This is the academic nuclear option.
Gino’s first retracted study showed evidence of data fabrication all the way back in 2021, and an investigation into her academic dishonesty lasted for the following two years.
“Paxton Smokes Cornyn 50-28 Percent in Latest 2026 GOP Primary Poll.” Only 600 Republican primary voters, which is on the small side for a poll sample.
Is wokeness dying? A whole lot of Fortune 500 companies have decided that they can now sit “Pride Month” out, including IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, Disney, Target, Starbucks, BMW, Bank of America, and even Google. I think most Americans were willing to let adult “LGBs” go off and do their own thing, but every single letter they’ve added to that acronym since (especially the “T”) has marked them as enemies of the people.
Despite the power-sharing cabal ruling the Texas House, a lot of conservative priorities did get get passed and sent to Abbott’s desk. Here’s a roundup.
The Texas Senate succeeded in pushing a majority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s legislative priorities through both chambers during the regular legislative session. Patrick released a list of 40 pieces of priority legislation in the first three months of the year, covering a variety of issues.
Here is the status of the Senate priority bills in the 89th Legislative Session:
- Senate Bill 1 – Senate’s Budget for Texas: Passed both chambers.
- Senate Bill 2 – Providing School Choice: Signed into law.
- Senate Bill 3 – Banning THC in Texas: Sent to Gov. Greg Abbott.
- Senate Bill 4 – Increasing the Homestead Exemption to $140,000 ($150,000 for Seniors): Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 5 – Combatting Dementia and Alzheimer’s – Establishing DPRIT (Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas): Signed into law.
- Senate Bill 6 – Increasing Texas’ Electric Grid Reliability: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 7 – Increasing Investments in Texas’ Water Supply: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 8 – Requiring Local Law Enforcement to Assist the Federal Government’s Deportation Efforts: Passed both chambers.
- Senate Bill 9 – Reforming Bail – Keeping Violent Criminals Off Our Streets: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 10 – Placing the Ten Commandments in School: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 11 – Protecting the Freedom to Pray in School: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 12 – Establishing a Parental Bill of Rights in Public Education: Passed both chambers.
- Senate Bill 13 – Guarding Against Inappropriate Books in Public Schools: Passed both chambers.
- Senate Bill 14 – Texas DOGE – Improving Government Efficiency: Signed into law.
- Senate Bill 15 – Removing Barriers to Housing Affordability: Passed both chambers.
- Senate Bill 16 – Stopping Non-Citizens from Voting: Left in House Calendars Committee.
- Senate Bill 17 – Stopping Foreign Adversary Land Grabs: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 18 – Stopping Drag Time Story Hour: Left on House General State Calendar.
- Senate Bill 19 – Stopping Taxpayer Dollars for Lobbyists: Left in the House State Affairs Committee.
- Senate Bill 20 – Stopping AI-Generated Child Pornography: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 21 – Establishing the Texas Bitcoin Reserve: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 22 – Establishing Texas as America’s Film Capital: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 23 – Removing the Cap on the Rainy Day Fund to Secure Texas’ Long-term Financial Future: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 24 – Educating Texas Students on the Horrors of Communism: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 25 – Making Texas Healthy Again: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 26 – Increasing Teacher Pay: Left in the House Public Education Committee.
- Senate Bill 27 – Establishing a Teacher Bill of Rights: Passed both chambers.
- Senate Bill 28 – Banning Lottery Couriers: Left in House Licensing and Administrative Committee.
- Senate Bill 29 – Texas: Open for Business: Signed into law.
- Senate Bill 30 – Curbing Nuclear Verdicts: Conference committee appointed.
- Senate Bill 31 – Life of the Mother Act: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 32 – Business Tax Relief: Left in the House Ways and Means Committee.
- Senate Bill 33 – Stopping Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Travel: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 34 – Wildfire Response: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 35 – Competing for Quality Roads: Left on House General State Calendar.
- Senate Bill 36 – Establishing a Homeland Security Division within [the Department of Public Safety]: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 37 – Reforming Faculty Senates: Passed both chambers.
- Senate Bill 38 – Stopping Squatters: Sent to Abbott.
- Senate Bill 39 – Protecting Texas Trucking: Left in the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee.
- Senate Bill 40 – Stopping Taxpayer-Funded Bail: Sent to Abbott.
Not every conservative priority passed, and I don’t agree with every bill (much less every part of every bill), but a lot of progress was made this legislative session. Dan Patrick’s senate seems much better at delivering conservative results than David Dewhurst’s senate ever was.
Columbia U finally gets to the “find out” stage: “Columbia University Failed to Meet Accreditation Standards, Department of Education Finds.”
Columbia University failed to meet accreditation standards due to its inability to uphold civil rights law and punish harassment against Jewish students, the Department of Education announced Wednesday.
Office of Civil Rights (OCR) officials have notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the body that sets Columbia’s accreditation standards, that the university is “in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore fails to meet standards.” Administrators’ unwillingness to address months of anti-Israel activism on Columbia’s campus created an unsafe environment for Jewish students, the department added, putting the university in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Hey, remember that New York hospital shenanigans Dwight reported on? Well, “10 hospital executives from Nassau University Medical Center, including its CEO, have put in their resignations in response to what they called a “hostile takeover” by Gov. Kathy Hochul, according to sources in the hospital.” Got to think someone wants to rake off some graft there…
“The Dutch government collapsed on Tuesday after the Party for Freedom led by Geert Wilders pulled out of the coalition over the government’s asylum policy. Wilders had been adamant leading up to the collapse that without strict restrictions on immigration, his party would leave the coalition government. Wilders made good on those threats Tuesday.” Europe’s political elites evidently love unassimilated Muslim immigration more than they love life itself.
Marcos Lopez, the Democratic sheriff of Osceola County, Florida decided that, instead of busting an illegal gambling operations, it was a lot more profitable to run it.
Charmless professional liar Karine Jean-Pierre leaves Democratic Party, writes book on Biden White House. Honestly, I found her so inconsequential that I didn’t even bother creating a tag for her before today.
“Nose ring theory.” Also tattoo theory.
“Young man wins $20,000 from high school that suspended him for saying ‘illegal alien.'” No doubt BattleSwarm would give them a full-blown case of the vapors…
Speaking of lawsuits, The Babylon Bee is suing Hawaii over a law that makes it illegal to use satirical images to make fun of politicians. Like this one:
Someone asked me why UK Labour PM Keir Starmer was suddenly sounding like an uberhawk, talking about expanding UK’s nuclear submarine building program, etc. Actually, this is nothing particularly new, as he made similar points in February, and even last year. But I think the release of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review is driving much of the current chatter. A lot of it just the usual high-minded blather and buzzwords you find in any such doc, but there’s some meat here. Such as this “list of technologies redefining warfare” on page 27:
- Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data science, improving the quality and speed of decision-making, the resilience of
digital networks, and operational effectiveness. Forecasts of when Artificial General Intelligence (Where AI matches or surpasses humans’ ability to understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a range of situations unaided) will occur are uncertain but shortening, with profound implications for Defence.
- Robotics and autonomy, with armed forces increasingly using uncrewed and autonomous capabilities to generate mass and lethality.
- Enhanced precision weapons that mean targets can be struck with greater accuracy from ever
greater ranges.
- Directed energy weapons, such as the UK’s DragonFire, which have the potential to reduce collateral damage and reliance on expensive ammunition.
- Hypersonic missiles, which, travelling at over five times the speed of sound, may offer greater range and greater ability to evade defences.
- Space-based capabilities that enable all aspects of modern operations. States are rapidly developing ways to disrupt military and civilian assets in and from space.
- Quantum. Advances in quantum computing offer the potential to break encryption, making secure communications much more difficult. Quantum technologies have the
potential to reduce dependence on satellite-based GPS, which may be vulnerable to interference.
- Cyber threats that will become harder to mitigate as technology evolves, with AI, quantum technology, and the increasing dependence on satellite communications likely driving the most disruptive changes to the cyber threat landscape.
- Engineering biology that creates the potential to enhance the capacity of the armed forces through advances in medicine, healthcare, and wellbeing, possibilities for new energetic and explosive materials, as well as avenues for enormous harm in the shape of new pathogens and other weapons of mass destruction.
A nice list of science fiction story ideas, some even with near-term defense applications.
They’re also buying more subs and planes…
Speaking of future warfare, Lockheed Martin has launched AI “fight club” to test AIs against each other. This is a god idea, if they have their little Forbin Projects properly sandboxed, and if they remember that the map is not the territory. There are always radical surprises in warfare… (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Democratic governor of Arizona Katie Hobbs just vetoed a bill that would’ve prevented communist China from buying land next to military sites in her state.”
“The Florida state university system’s Board of Governors voted 10-6 to reject former University of Michigan president and DEI fanatic Santa J. Ono’s candidacy for the presidency of the University of Florida.”
Ono, who curiously was the only finalist advanced by the search committee for the job, came with their unanimous recommendation on May 4 and was unanimously approved by the university’s Board of Trustees on May 27. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has pledged that Florida is “where woke goes to die,” remained oddly reticent about Ono—stating first that he trusted the process, and later that the governors (15 of the 17 governors were appointed by DeSantis), should follow their consciences in deciding Ono’s fate.
Other Florida conservatives, including Senator Rick Scott and Congressmen Greg Steube, Byron Donalds, and Jimmy Patronis, denounced the appointment and outright called for a negative vote.
Ono’s rejection by the Florida Board of Governors is an unprecedented, but legally and procedurally correct, use of its powers. Ono’s demise followed a polite but charged meeting in Orlando on the campus of Central Florida University. Public comments included scathing denunciations and trenchant questions about his candidacy based on his well-documented record for supporting DEI, critical race theory, and radical gender ideology, among other leftist shibboleths.
DeSantis should have done more to nip this candidacy in the bud.
Here’s a deep dive into Japan’s complex subsidy system for growing rice, and how it’s resulted in much smaller growth in rice harvests than competing countries that don’t have such subsidies.
The New Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi is about to open after years of delay. It has numerous innovative features, and I’m including it here for the blog’s bridge and infrastructure enthusiasts (you know who you are).
Did you know that some company in China was building a full-scale Titanic replica mansion that’s now in bankruptcy?
Critical Drinker: Just when you think Disney has learned their lesson about the M-She-U, along comes Fantastic Four to prove they haven’t.
But wait, get ready for a white Black Panther.
“Disney laying off several hundred employees worldwide.” Funny what another string of bombs will do to you…
Speaking of which: “‘Andor’ Creator Says Disney Spent ‘$650 Million for 24 Episodes’ and ‘We Fought Hard’ for Money After Being Told in Season 2: ‘Streaming Is Dead. We Don’t Have the Money We Had Before.’”
Did FOX 26 in Houston just eliminate their entire sports department?
“Republicans Unveil New Plan To Fix National Debt Sometime After The Return Of Christ.”
“Trump Aides Shocked To Find Biden’s Autopen Still Signing Bills In Storage Closet.”
“Federal Judge Blocks Deportation Of Terrorist’s Family, Orders Jews Lit Back On Fire.”
“Fashion Faux Pas As Two Texans Both Attend Wedding Wearing The Same Gun.”
“Hamas Agrees To Surrender If Europe Will Take Greta Thunberg Back.”
“USS Harvey Milk To Be Renamed ‘USS No Homo.'”
Put down the phone.
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
I’m still between jobs. Feel free to hit the tip jar if you’re so inclined.
Tags:2026 Texas Senate Race, 89th Texas Legislature, agribusiness subsidies, AI, anti-semitism, Arizona, Babylon Bee, bridges, Budget, China, Columbia University, Communism, Corpus Christi, Critical Drinker, Dan Patrick, debt, DEI, Democrats, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Disney, dogs, Florida, Francesca Gino, fraud, Gavin Newsom, gay, Geert Wilders, Greta Thunberg, Guns, Hamas, Harvard, Harvey Milk, Houston, Israel-Hamas War, Japan, Jim Geraghty, Joe Biden, John Cornyn, Karine Jean-Pierre, Kathy Hochul, Katie Hobbs, Keir Starmer, Ken Paxton, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, LinkSwarm, Lockheed, Marvel, Media Watch, Mike Johnson, Military, MS-13, Nassau University Medical Center, Navy, Netherlands, polls, Ron DeSantis, Santa J. Ono, sex offender, sexual slavery, Social Justice Warriors, Star Wars, Texas, Title VI, UK
Posted in Border Control, Budget, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Guns, Jihad, Media Watch, Military, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Texas, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, May 28th, 2025
This is some pretty freaking big news.
Attorney General Ken Paxton continues to lead Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in polling for the 2026 U.S. Senate race, according to a new survey released on Wednesday.
The poll conducted by the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University puts Paxton up 43 percent to Cornyn’s 34 percent in a head-to-head matchup among likely GOP primary voters.
The poll surveyed 1,200 registered voters, which is a pretty decent sample size this far out. The demographics of the poll (page 3) slightly oversamples women but otherwise isn’t too far out of line, and that mild oversample shouldn’t skew things Paxton’s way.
The race is already one of the most anticipated across the country with tens of millions of dollars expected to be spent just in the primary.
If Congressman Wesley Hunt (R-TX-38) — who is flirting with a run himself and is already running personal ads across the state — is thrown into the mix, Paxton polls at 34 percent to Cornyn’s 27 percent and Hunt’s 15 percent. Hunt is behind Paxton head-to-head by 30 points, while he’s only 8 points behind Cornyn.
Net favorable ratings among those Republican voters show Paxton at +46, Cornyn at +23, and Hunt at +30 — with 46 percent of respondents saying they don’t know enough about the last to have an opinion.
Cornyn has the highest percentage, 23 percent, of GOP respondents who said they would never vote for him, and Paxton has the highest percentage, 42 percent, of those who would “definitely consider” voting for him.
Half of GOP respondents said that an endorsement by President Donald Trump is likely to influence for whom they ultimately vote.
The survey included net favorable ratings for six potential 2026 U.S. Senate candidates — three Republicans and three Democrats — which showed among likely general election voters:
Colin Allred: +7, with 17 percent unknown
Ken Paxton: EVEN, with 12 percent unknown
Beto O’Rourke: -6, with 8 percent unknown
John Cornyn: -8, with 14 percent unknown
Joaquin Castro: +7, with 40 percent unknown
Wesley Hunt: +9, with 53 percent unknown
I really only want to focus on the Republican numbers but, man, sure seems like Texas voters are suffering from Beto fatigue, doesn’t it?
All three Republicans are ahead of each potential Democratic candidate in head-to-head matchups, with the closest margin coming between Paxton and Allred, the former being 2 points up on the latter.
So far, the only two candidates in the race are Cornyn and Paxton, while Allred, O’Rourke, and Hunt have publicly stated their consideration of a run; Castro has only been evaluating the prospect behind the scenes.
I often say that polls this far out are meaningless, but a poll showing a challenger up big over an entrenched incumbent is the exception to that rule. The usual dynamic is that potential donors sit on the sidelines when a challenger goes after an entrenched incumbent out of fear that they might be throwing their money away. A poll result like this, showing Paxton significantly ahead of Cornyn, is likely to knock those fundraising spigots wide open. If memory serves, at this point in 2011, Ted Cruz was polling single digits against David Dewhurst.
Some will point out that Paxton, having successfully run statewide before, goes into the race with significantly more statewide recognition than the average challenger. This is true, but it wasn’t sufficient for Kay Baily Hutchison in her 2010 gubernatorial run against Rick Perry; save one margin of error 2 point lead for Hutchison, the polls in the race constantly showed Perry ahead. Likewise, it didn’t help George P. Bush in his primary attempt against Paxton in 2022, and I don’t remember a single poll showing Bush ahead.
Some readers have been asking for an update on this race. Well, now you have one. Cornyn is in serious trouble.
Tags:2026 Election, 2026 Texas Senate Race, Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center, Beto O'Rourke, Brad Johnson, Elections, John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, polls, Republicans, The Texan News
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 7 Comments »
Friday, May 23rd, 2025
Memorial Day weekend looms, $96 billion in green fraud, two terminal cases of prostate cancer revealed, Bernie admits Democrats are a threat to democracy, the Supreme smacks down the idea than transsexual rights are more important than democracy or free speech, plus Chinese doctor hanky-panky, revenge porn, a weed heist and a Nazi Muslim Only Fans model.
It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
“Joe Biden Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.”
Former President Joe Biden, the oldest president in U.S. history, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his personal office announced on Sunday afternoon.
Biden, 82, was diagnosed last week after he had dealt with increased urinary symptoms and is currently reviewing treatment options.
“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” a spokesman for Biden’s personal office said in a statement….
The Gleason score of 9 in Biden’s diagnosis suggests an aggressive form of cancer likely to spread quickly. He will likely require chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and forms of pain management to tackle the illness.
What are the odds they’ve known he had cancer for years and didn’t tell the American public so the ghost in the machine could keep pumping out billions in graft? Speaking of which…
The Biden Administrations shoved $93 billion in graft green energy loans on its way out the door.
During a blistering Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) was visibly floored after Energy Secretary Christopher Wright dropped a bombshell: the Department of Energy handed out a staggering $93 billion in loans and commitments during the final 76 days of the Biden administration, a figure that more than doubled the loan total from the previous 15 years combined.
Kennedy, in classic fashion, drilled in with precision. “The 76-day period you’re talking about, that’s the period between the time that President Trump was elected and President Biden left office. Is that right?”
“That is correct,” Wright confirmed.
Kennedy didn’t mince words when he asked how any agency could properly vet such massive spending in such a short window. “How do you do due diligence on one loan, much less $93 billion?” he asked.
Wright’s answer was damning.
“I think it’s probably pretty clear it wasn’t done in many cases,” he said. “There were commitments made from businesses that provided no business plan, no numbers about their own financial solvency, or how this project actually worked.”
The senator appeared almost incredulous and asked for clarity: “So, so you’re telling me that the Department of Energy in the 76-day period before their boss was gonna leave office, gave or loaned money to, to entities that had no business plan?”
“Correct,” Wright replied bluntly.
(Hat tip: Charlie Martin at Instapundit.)
Andrew Schultz gets Bernie Sanders to admit that the Democrat Party is a threat to Democracy.
Andrew: Over the last four elections, Democrats – we felt – that we didn’t have a say on who could be president … I felt like the Democratic Party completely removed the democratic process from its constituents, and I think they need to have some accountability of that.
Bernie: No argument here.
Andrew: 2016 … it felt like they stole it from you. And I’ll be honest, it broke my heart when you supported them.
…
Akassh [Singh]: Could we not also say ostensibly there hasn’t been a fair primary for the Democrats since 2008, are they not also a threat to democracy?
Bernie: Yes. Fair enough. That is, yeah. I’m not gonna argue with that point.
The Supreme Court rules that, no, you can’t overthrow democracy just because someone disagrees with the radical transexual agenda: “Supreme Court Orders Maine House to Restore Vote of Lawmaker Censured over Post Criticizing Trans Athlete.”
The Supreme Court ordered the Maine House of Representatives on Tuesday to restore the vote of a Republican lawmaker who was censured after she wrote an online post defending fairness in women’s sports and criticizing the intrusion of a trans-identifying male athlete into female competition.
Maine Representative Laurel Libby filed the emergency appeal to the Supreme Court while a lawsuit over the social media post plays out. In the post written earlier this year, Libby criticized a male high school athlete who won a girls’ track meet, and included in the post the male student’s name.
The Democrat-controlled Maine House decided that Libby’s post violated ethics in identifying the student, and when she chose not to apologize, Libby was subsequently banned from speaking and voting on the House floor.
Supreme Court justices sided with Libby 7-2 with Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting.
“The U.S. Supreme Court just restored the voice of 9,000 Mainers!” Libby said on X. “After 2+ months of being silenced for speaking up for Maine girls, I can once again vote on behalf of the people of House District 90. This is a win for free speech — and for the Constitution.”
“Mexican National Indicted on Charges of Human Trafficking, Material Support for Drug Cartel. Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez allegedly trafficked humans and narcotics on behalf of the cartel.”
A Mexican national was charged for allegedly providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization by the Western District of Texas — the first indictment of its kind in the nation.
Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez allegedly assisted the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) with obtaining grenades, as well as trafficking humans, firearms, and narcotics “on behalf” of the criminal organization.
The 39-year-old Mexican woman was charged by the court with “conspiracy to smuggle and transport aliens in the United States, straw purchasing and trafficking in firearms, bulk cash smuggling conspiracy, and conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute,” the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) shared on Friday afternoon.
Navarro-Sanchez was joined in her indictment by two other co-defendants: Luis Carlos Davalos-Lopez and Gustavo Castro-Medina, also both Mexican nationals facing similar smuggling, trafficking, and straw purchasing charges.
The Democrat Party’s confederacy of dunces.
Three hundred years ago, the remarkable satirist Jonathan Swift wrote, “When a true Genius appears in the World, you may know him by this infallible Sign; that the Dunces are all in Confederacy against him.”
Now, you might not be President Trump’s biggest fan. Perhaps you are glad that he has returned to the White House but look forward to one of his capable lieutenants succeeding him in four years. But I would argue that never has a larger collection of absolute idiots assembled to oppose an American leader, and for that reason alone, Donald J. Trump is probably a genius. (And a very stable one at that!)
Right now, Democrats are waging a public relations campaign in support of criminal illegal aliens. They are trying to make military-aged males with gang tattoos look sympathetic. Sure, many of them have been accused of engaging in human-trafficking, drug-smuggling, identity theft, and fraud, but Democrats say these “new” Americans are just like us. Sure, foreign nationals are regularly accused of rape and murder across the United States, but Democrats are quick to point out that “old” Americans commit heinous crimes, too. Sure, illegal aliens are a huge financial burden to the prison system, welfare programs, health care, public schools, and local communities, but Democrats insist that it’s “racist” to tell the truth out loud.
While President Trump is rounding up violent criminals who have no right to be in the United States, Democrats are crying in front of cameras and promising to bring them back to a neighborhood near you. In four months, they’ve shown more love for foreigners who broke into our country than they’ve ever shown for American victims of transnational cartels!
(Hat tip: Director Blue.)
“The Texas House voted overwhelmingly to approve a proposed state constitutional amendment that will allow denial of bail to certain violent suspects.”
In a Monday bipartisan vote of 133 to 8, House members approved Sen. Joan Huffman’s (R-Houston) Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 5 that allows judicial officers the discretion to deny bail to defendants charged with murder or capital murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery, aggravated sexual assault, indecency with a child, trafficking of persons, and continuous trafficking of persons.
Bail may also be withheld for aggravated assault if the person caused serious bodily injury or used a weapon.
Hopefully this will result in fewer citizens being killed by the criminals that Soros-backed prosecutors love letting back out on the street.
President Trump and congressional Republicans have ended California and other blue states war on internal combustion cars.
Congressman Kevin Kiley’s resolution to save gas cars from extinction in 2035 in California has passed Congress and heads to President Trump’s desk, where he will sign the measure.
The resolution revokes the EPA waiver secured in 2020 by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and eleven other states, aimed at getting rid of gas cars and attempting to switch to all-electric vehicles.
Guess which party rules over the woke states blindly following Newsom’s disastrous proposal.
- California-Socialist
- Colorado-Democrat
- Delaware-Dummocrat
- Maryland-Dummocrat
- Massachusetts-Taxocrat
- New Jersey-Democrat
- New Mexico-Democrat
- New York-Democrat
- Oregon-Socialist
- Rhode Island-Democrat
- Vermont-Communist
- Washington-Communist
- District of Columbia-Stupidcrat
Newsom sought the waiver from the Executive Branch. Now he’s suing the Executive Branch to say it doesn’t have the right to take away his waiver.
Gavin Newsom’s presidential ambitions hardest hit…
(Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
“Two Israeli Embassy Aides Murdered Outside Capital Jewish Museum; Suspect Chanted ‘Free Palestine.'” Acceptance of Jew murder seems to be rapidly climbing the list of core Democratic Party ideological beliefs…
Curioser and curioser: “Father Of DC Shooting Suspect Was Democrats’ Honored Guest At Trump Congressional Address.”
The father of the suspected gunman in the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday, was the honored guest of a far-left lawmaker at President Trump’s joint address to Congress back in March, the New York Post reported.
Eric Rodriguez is an anti-Trump SEIU member who also spoke at a Democrat press conference ahead of Trump’s address.
His son, accused killer Elias Rodriguez, 30, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after allegedly gunning down Yaron Lischinsky, 28, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, who were about to become engaged.
“Eric Rodriguez was our guest during the President’s Joint Speech to Congress, but we don’t know his family,” a spokesperson for Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.) told the Post Thursday night.
In the wake of the Biden announcement, Scott Adams announces that he too has metastasized prostrate cancer and only months to live. Presumably numerous other Scott Adams will continue to run on other simulations…
“A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students.” Of course they have.
“Trump Signs Cruz’s ‘TAKE IT DOWN’ Act Banning ‘Revenge Porn’ Into Law. Both President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump threw their support behind the bill prior to its passage.” Like many attempts to regulate cyberspace, the bill is long on good intentions and shorter on the ability to actually regulate a global Internet.
“Texas House Passes $140,000 Standard, $60,000 Elderly Homestead Exemption Increases.” Good. Business tax relief is evidently still pending.
Five Supreme Court justices recuse themselves from a case because they all had publishing deals with one of the companies involved. The last time that happened, Learned Hand was writing decisions…
Cop spawn-camps active shooter in Las Vegas.
“Gun Owners of America Endorses Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate.” That’s a good endorsement, as anyone challenging an incumbent senator needs all the help they can get. It’s also insufficient; Jerry Patterson had the pro-gun vote locked up in his four-way Lt. Governor’s race against David Dewhurst, Dan Patrick and Todd Staples in 2014, and he still came in fourth place…
Interesting story about a leading married doctor in China who just got kicked out of his job and the CCP because he pulled strings for not one but two of his would-be baby mommas.
Was social justice games ruiner Sweet Baby Inc. created by the Canadian government? Some evidence suggests so, but this seems far from conclusive.
Bill Maher and Woody Harrelson’s Hollywood weed shop ransacked by thieves. Is this enough to finally make Maher vote Republican?
Asmongold has been highlighting the case of pro-jihad Twitch streamer Hasan Piker for quite some time now, saying that his support for terrorism could be a big danger to Twitch’s advertising revenue screens. Following the DC jihad shooting, Piker was called out by name on CNN
Good news! The movie adaptation of Howard Waldrop’s A Dozen Tough Jobs is going forward with a script by Joe R. Lansdale and George R. R. Martin producing.
Dispatch from the crazy years: “Hijab-clad Muslima who gave National Socialist salutes is OnlyFans model.”
I’m still not entirely convinced that D-Wave has a functional quantum computer, but their revenue is up 509%, so someone sure seems to think they do.
“Democrats Considering New Strategy Of Complaining Loudly Every Day About Trump.”
“Trump Asks When He’ll Get To See The Elves And Hobbits On His Middle East Tour.”
“America Is Just As Unprepared Now For A Giant Monkey Climbing Skyscrapers As We Were In 1933.”
“Experts Say AI Unlikely To Replace Government Bureaucrats As It’s Not Soulless Enough.”
“New Subscription Service Sends Dads A New Pair Of Cargo Pants Every 9 Years.”
This dog obviously lacks Red Bull:
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
I’m still between jobs. Feel free to hit the tip jar if you’re so inclined.
Tags:2016 Presidential Race, 2020 Presidential Race, 2026 Texas Senate Race, AI, Akassh Singh, Andrew Schulz, anti-semitism, Asmongold, Babylon Bee, Bernie Sanders, Bill Maher, California, cancer, cars, China, Christopher Wright, Communism, Crime, D-Wave, Democrats, Department of Energy, DHS, electric cars, Elias Rodriguez, Eric Rodriguez, fraud, Gavin Newsom, George R. R. Martin, green subsidies, Gun Owners of America, Guns, Gustavo Castro-Medina, Harvard, Hasan Piker, Holly Hansen, Hollywood, Howard Waldrop, Internet, Israel, J. R. R. Tolkien, Jihad, Joe Biden, Joe R. Lansdale, John Kennedy (LA), Ken Paxton, Kevin Kiley, Las Vegas, Laurel Libby, LinkSwarm, Luis Carlos Davalos-Lopez, Maine, Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez, Mary Elise Cosgray, Mexico, movies, murder, National Socialism, New Generation drug cartel, property tax reform, quantum computing, Regulation, Scott Adams, SEIU, Supreme Court, Ted Cruz, Texas, Twitch, Woody Harrelson
Posted in Budget, Crime, Democrats, Guns, Regulation, Republicans, Social Justice Warriors, Supreme Court, Texas, Waste and Fraud | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 9th, 2025
As previously rumored, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is running against incumbent John Cornyn for the 2026 Republican senate nomination.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made his long-rumored bid for U.S. Senate official, looking to knock off Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) from the seat he’s held for two decades.
“I’m excited to do this here, I am running for U.S. Senate against John Cornyn,” Paxton said on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show on Tuesday night. “We have a great senator in Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). But it’s time we have another one who stands up for America and stands by Donald Trump.”
In the brief interview, Paxton hit Cornyn over his 2022 gun reform package that resulted in the senator being booed on stage at the Texas GOP convention, and the senior senator’s “opposition to funding a border wall.”
His official campaign statement read, “I’m running for U.S. Senate to fight for President Trump’s agenda and take a sledgehammer to the D.C. establishment. John Cornyn has been in Washington for over two decades, and he has turned his back on President Trump and the America First agenda time after time.”
“He’s said President Trump’s ‘time has passed him by’ and called President Trump’s border wall ‘naive.’ Texans deserve far better than a Senator who thinks it’s ‘naive’ to build a border wall to protect our citizens. It’s crystal clear that it’s time for a change. I’m a battle-tested Attorney General and conservative warrior who’s secured major victories against the establishment, the corrupt Biden Administration, and woke corporations. Now, I’m ready to take that same toughness to the U.S. Senate.”
Paxton’s campaign website went live shortly before his Fox appearance.
The attorney general foreshadowed this move last month, telling Punchbowl News that he would jump in if he could collect $20 million in commitments by June.
The matchup is both titanic and long expected. Paxton and Cornyn have traded blows frequently on social media, including the senator telling the attorney general, “It’s hard to run from prison, Ken,” amidst the 2023 impeachment proceedings.
Paxton was acquitted on all counts of impeachment by the Texas Senate after a 12-day trial in September.
Yeah, that prison quip may turn out to be as ill-advised as Obama’s slam of Donald Trump in 2012.
This is likely to be a bruising, big-money race, and Texas hasn’t had two such high profile incumbents run against each other since Kay Baily Hutchison unsuccessfully tried to eject Rick Perry from the governor’s mansion in 2010.
With his record of suing both the Obama and Biden Administrations for their unconstitutional, radical left-wing policies, Paxton is much more popular with the Republican base than Cornyn. With all his previous legal issues resolved and the dramatic failure of the Dade Phelan-led impeachment effort against him, Paxton is better positioned to run than ever, and Cornyn is arguable the most vulnerable he’s ever been. But Cornyn still have all the advantages of incumbency, including juicy campaign contributions from a wide variety of business and special interest PACs.
This will be a very interesting race.
Tags:2026 Election, 2026 Texas Senate Race, Donald Trump, Elections, John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, Republicans, Texas
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 12 Comments »
Monday, March 24th, 2025
Compared to most states, Texas has seen a very little recent change in office-holders elected statewide:
Republican John Cornyn has been a Senator since December 2, 2002.
Republican Ted Cruz has been a Senator since January 3, 2013.
Republican Greg Abbott has been Governor since January 20, 2015.
Republican Dan Patrick has likewise been Lieutenant Governor since January 20, 2015.
Republican Ken Paxton has been Attorney General since January 5, 2015.
Republican Glenn Hegar has been Comptroller of Public Accounts since January 2, 2015.
Republican Dawn Buckingham has only been Land Commissioner since January 10, 2023, since previous Land Commissioner George P. Bush unsuccessfully tried to primary Paxton for Attorney General in 2022.
Republican Sid Miller has been Agriculture Commissioner since January 2, 2015.
The Railroad Commission and statewide court races haven’t been quite as static. Republican Jim Wright managed to successfully primary Ryan Sitton for his Railroad Commission spot in 2020, and some retirements and federal appointments have resulted in a bit more change in the Texas Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals, but even there reelection has been the norm.
This year, however, the logjam at the top of the ticket finally seems to be breaking up. Hegar is stepping down to become A&M system chancellor, with Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick running to succeed him as Comptroller, along with former state senator Don Huffines. And now Paxton is saying that he might run for Cornyn’s senate seat in 2026.
Attorney General Ken Paxton is nearing a 2026 bid for U.S. Senate against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), depending on if he can obtain $20 million in fundraising commitments in the next couple of months.
On a trip to Washington, D.C. during which he met with various parties, including the White House, Paxton interviewed with Punchbowl News to discuss the long-rumored 2026 bid.
“I think I can win if I have $20 million. I’ve run these primaries in Texas before. I honestly don’t see how [Cornyn] overcomes his numbers,” he told Punchbowl.
Public polling has been fairly scant on the matchup. The Texas Politics Project’s poll earlier this month put Paxton’s net approval rating at +51 percent among Republicans compared to Cornyn’s +28 percent.
A Hobby School of Public Affairs poll from February showed both candidates registering around 70 percent among Republicans who said they’d “definitely consider” or “might consider” voting for them in the 2026 primary; 15 percent said they’d never vote for Cornyn in the primary, while 19 percent said that about Paxton.
Paxton added, “I think it’s just time. He’s had his chance. He hasn’t performed well, and the voters know it. You can go a long time without people paying attention. And they’re paying attention now. If the numbers were the other way, I wouldn’t be sitting here.”
The coveted endorsement from President Donald Trump will be key in the race. Three years ago, Paxton eventually received Trump’s backing after the then-former president very much considered backing his primary challenger George P. Bush. Cornyn received Trump’s backing in 2020 when he dispatched Dwayne Stovall and the GOP primary field by a mile.
Paxton has long cozied up to Trump, and has been among his most active allies in legal fights across the board. But Cornyn has increasingly appealed to Trump as the 2026 election gets closer, and he’s expected to have the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee with its deep pockets supplementing his own.
There’s long been disgruntlement about Cornyn among movement conservatives who think he’s a squish on a wide range of issues, from the Second Amendment to limiting illegal immigration, though Cornyn seems to have repented of his previous record of playing footsie with “comprehensive immigration reform” (i.e. illegal alien amnesty). Despite those misgivings, Cornyn has consistently trounced underfunded primary challengers like Dwayne Stovall and Steve Stockman by comfortable margins.
Paxton would be a different kettle of fish.
With his record of suing both the Obama and Biden Administrations for their unconstitutional, radical left-wing policies, Paxton is much more popular with the Republican base than Cornyn. Also, with all his previous legal issues resolved and the dramatic failure of the Dade Phelan-led impeachment effort against him, Paxton is better positioned to run than ever. But, as the above list of long-tenured officials shows, successfully primarying a statewide Republican in Texas is an extremely difficult proposition. Cornyn has already said that he’s running for a fifth term, and he’ll still have all the advantages of incumbency, including juicy campaign contributions from a wide variety of business and special interest PACs.
Another potential Cornyn primary challenger is U.S. Representative Wesley Hunt. Hunt is sufficiently conservative, but I don’t see him gaining much traction against two heavyweight opponents like Cornyn and Paxton, both of whom have already run multiple successful statewide campaigns.
If Paxton runs, the 2026 senate race will be very interesting…
Tags:2026 Election, 2026 Texas Senate Race, Brad Johnson, Donald Trump, Elections, fundraising, Glenn Hegar, John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, Republicans, Texas, The Texan News, Wesley Hunt
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 3 Comments »