Writer, @TexasMonthly. Formerly @texasobserver. Piss and vinegar. Native Texan. Plus: fishing, kayaking, gardening and climbing. @forrest4thetrees@bsky.social
Austin, Texas
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The people who create and promote these soul-crushing technologies deserve more than just our contempt, they deserve to be held accountable. The negotiations with tech CEOs should start with, Why shouldn’t you be in jail?
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This Politico headline falls right into French's very, very thin ruse, where he pretends to just be anti-immigrant. In fact, his whole shtick is old-school racism served up with a dollop of unoriginal internet edgelord-ism. He wants to deport Native Americans, for godsakes.
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Matthew McConaughey narrated the "Deep in the Heart," the TX wildlife film; he goes to Marfa to "recharge"; he says he loves West Texas. Yet he has nothing to say while the region is decimated. In this, he's no different than most TX elected officials.
nytimes.com/2026/08/11/style…
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My daughter is 4 years old and we are already receiving crap like this in the mail—a whole industry devoted to making parents neurotic and children miserable. I dunno, maybe let’s see how she does in kindergarten first.
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I obtained audio of a Langtry-area landowner asking a rep with Fisher about this. His answer: "I don't know."
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If you think your child's future would be brightened by measles or polio, here's a handy list.
The state just released vaccination rates by district and county here: dshs.texas.gov/immunizations…
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Well, this pretty much settles it. The U.S. "precisely" bombed a school full of children and teachers in Iran. The NYT figured it out with photos and social media; meanwhile Pete "Stupid Rules of Engagement" Hegseth is "investigating" the matter. They know exactly what they did.
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Bo "Deport Native Americans" French, perhaps the most online guy in Texas politics, edgelorded himself into a runoff. Inshallah, he will run our railroads.
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Adding "Fat" to the front of a name like "Matt Smith" is like putting on a boa while wearing a suit.
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God help us, there's going to be a Cornyn-Paxton runoff. It's just a question now of who takes the lead. Thanks a lot Wesley Hunt.
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So, MAGA sheriff Troy Nehls stepped down from his Houston-area congressional seat and now his identical twin, Trever [sic], will take his place. Let's at least hope hijinx ensue at some point. There could be some SICK pranks.
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I must remain objective here, but I'm a little disappointed in Tia Angie. She's currently losing to a guy who dropped out of the race.
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Big BAD John's lead statewide has a lot to do with how well he is doing in the big cities, at least the ones reporting. Right now he's beating Paxton in Harris, Dallas, and Tarrant.
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Talarico-Crockett Watch: You could call Hays County (San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs) a bellwether for the larger Austin area. So far, Talarico is crushing. 74-20.
Looking statewide, Crockett has a narrow lead, 51-47. Kinda think Talarico has the edge right now.
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Good results for Talarico in Webb County (Laredo) early vote, a very Hispanic area. He's up 65-31 over Crockett.
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Not great for Crockett. Looks like most of the vote is from Dallas-Fort Worth area, her stronghold.
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Isaac says she was standing up for private property rights, and accuses the groundwater district of being incompetent. She questions whether there is even a water crisis.
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They are quick to note that her chief of staff was director of business development at Aqua.
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There were lots of twists & turns but in the end SB 1253 passed with unanimous support in the Senate and a large majority in the House. That's despite fierce opposition from @CarrieIsaac, who reps part of Hays County. She said the bill was an assault on private property rights.
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I cover how the lessons learned from the '15 Wimberley floods weren't applied in Kerr County. Residents had little warning, in part b/c of the dearth of upstream flood gauges. Kerr officials knew this but a gauge was never installed on the South Fork where Camp Mystic is located.
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This is a blow to open government, no doubt, but in a concurring opinion, Greg Abbott-appointed justice Evan Young really wilds out, contemplating that the governor of Texas is a "unitary executive." What?
Texas Supreme Court rules that trial courts do NOT have the authority to compel the governor and attorney general to release info under the public information act.
Nonprofit @weareoversight had sought records about Jan. 6 and Uvalde. Background: houstonchronicle.com/politic…
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I'm not in the prediction business buuuut, I did kinda call this one
texasmonthly.com/news-politi…
Breaking: Gov. Greg Abbott has vetoed a contentious state ban on THC products, keeping the Texas hemp industry alive while spiking a top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. bit.ly/45vxdfa
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I went into the story knowing little about gambling—not really my thing—and even less about the wild history of clashes between fundamentalism and vice in TX. I love that an infamous casino—rivaling anything in early Vegas—is now controlled by a Baptist seminary.
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3) While the shit hit the fan at the Lege, Las Vegas Sands (Adelson's co.) moved forward with plans to bring a casino to Irving. The company ran into a buzzsaw of opposition from a cadre of conservative Catholics—and Midland oilman-billionaire Tim Dunn. Things did not go well.
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And the Legislature was already a tough environment, thanks in large part to one man, @DanPatrick, the savviest politician in the state. In my feature, I relate an incredible story about how he spoiled a pro-sports-betting event with the Cowboys.
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NEW from me: A deep dive into why casino gambling and sports betting isn't coming to Texas any time soon.
The short answer is that Miriam Adelson's attempts to strong-arm her way into Texas are backfiring spectacularly.
texasmonthly.com/news-politi…
#txlege
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It's been a terrible night for TX Democrats but, hey, there's a silver lining: Henry Cuellar, under indictment for accepting bribes in exchange for doing favors for Azerbaijan & a Mexican bank, is barely winning against a Republican who received very little help from nat'l Rs.
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It's early but this is an abysmal result for Democrats in Cameron County (Deep South Texas, Brownsville), a 90% Hispanic county that went 65% for Hillary Clinton in 2016. We'll see how much this shifts as the votes come in.
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In EV in Harris County (Houston), the state's most populous:
Harris 52
Trump 47
In 2020, Biden won Harris County 56-43
(Don't read too too much into EV. There are a lot of votes to count.)
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Travis County (Austin) EV:
Harris 70%
Trump: 28%
Final vote in 2020 was 72% Biden - 27% Trump
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In early voting, Harris is winning Bexar County (San Antonio):
Harris 55%
Trump 44%
In 2020, Biden won 58-40.
(Again, don't read too much into EV. Election Day data will change things, maybe a lot.)
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Looks like Allred is outrunning Harris by around 4.
In Collin County for example, Cruz is leading 50-48 while Trump is up 52-46.
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Early vote in Tarrant County, where Biden narrowly won in 2020:
52.3 Trump
46.5 Harris
I wouldn't read too much into these EV totals just yet. As has been said many times, 2024 voting patterns are different than 2020, mainly Rs voting early this year and Ds shifting to E Day.
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Williamson County (Austin burbs) early voting is showing basically 50-50 between Harris and Trump
This is very close to the final margin in this very purple suburban county
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Early vote for Dallas County:
Harris: 61%
Trump: 38%
The 2020 final margins were:
Biden 65%
Trump 33%
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They're not even pretending like they care anymore. The response to getting caught from the allegedly corrupt senator is, "I disclosed it, so what?" and the lieutenant governor wants us to thank him for the public-policy benefits of rampant conflicts of interest and corruption.
He wrote four bills that benefitted electricity monopoly Oncor at the expense of its ratepayers. Meanwhile, Oncor paid at least $31 million to a company King cofounded. The story, from @russellgold
texasmonthly.com/news-politi…
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Old media is dying and in its place, rising like a phoenix from the ashes, are new-media sites such as the Dallas Express—where reporters get assignments like "tell the owner how cool he is" and "get dunked on by queer witches." Don't forget to chug olive oil!
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MAGA saw Tony Hinchcliffe launder unadulterated bigotry into "jokes" at Trump's rally last night and now they're all road-testing their best material. Here's the Tarrant County GOP chair's turn at the open mic.
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This month, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit agreed with Abbott: Jack was too biased toward the plaintiff foster children and must be removed from the case. As evidence of her bias, they pointed to her "caustic remarks."
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One of the lawyers is Allyson Ho, who clerked for Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith and is married to Justice James Ho, a highly partisan "originalist" who is friends with Ted Cruz. The web of personal and professional ties here is astounding.
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Christopher Brown has one of the best descriptions of the “vibe” of our new, weird weather
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Looking forward to Bret Stephens' column in 2044: "Twenty Years On, I Don't Regret Supporting the Iran War"
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At this point, it's just embarrassing. How is Biden surprised that Netanyahu says one thing and does another? The rest of us are Malcom McDowell in 'A Clockwork Orange' strapped to a chair, eyes clamped open, forced to watch this same ridiculous charade over and over and over...
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Robert Morrow's filing for #txlege speaker is up on the TEC site: ethics.state.tx.us/data/sear…
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