These days, my “non essential” email read time is minimal at best, as I’ve recently been diagnosed with stage 4A prostate cancer which didn’t even register on a PSA 6 months ago, and normally takes years before one even needs to consider metastasis as an issue. So that’s what I mean by “non essential”.
That being said, your extremely in depth article not only confirms what I’ve known for a good decade + about the levels of institutionalized corruption in this state and the public’s utter lack of knowledge to the degree it exists, but you have taken the time to dig under the hood, drilling down into what had to be an immense amount of research to compile the list of bills presented.
It’s folks like you who not only have opinions on the subject, but do the insanely tedious work to locate and highlight all the moving parts of how corruption works.
In my younger years, I had such energy, (I taped the entire watergate hearings by taping a old school “piano key” cassette recorder microphone to the TV at age 9) and have always been pretty “woke” decades before the term even existed.
We need people like you, who are willing to do the heavy lifting to do this kind of research to give the rest of us tactical and factual ammunition to bring the awareness of this kind of crap our “elected” officials do (and I use that term lightly as TX has the corner in the market on voter suppression). and is the beta site for ensuring the public’s voice is never heard, nor acknowledged by the media.
As a result of the hideous costs of healthcare in this country (that little 20% co-insurance clause until you hit the ridiculous max out of pocket number that’s so conveniently buried in your insurance plan, wherein the tests and procedures that actually matter fall under either “out of network” or “deemed not medically necessary” (spoiler alert: PSMA’s (the main useful test to not only find metastatic movement but also see if whatever treatment you have is actually working, have been deemed a “one and done” meaning they’ll only cover one of these and you’re on the hook for the rest at $16K a pop), we haven’t exactly got a lot of free cash to support the good works people like you are doing, and god knows it’s needed as I’ve got north of $5K out of pocket this month alone in incoming bills.
So with all that in mind, I upgraded to a paid subscriber anyway.
Sometimes you just have to call the ball. I may not survive this, but your work needs to.
Mark, I don’t have words big enough for the weight of what you’ve shared here. Thank you not only for subscribing, but for giving your time and energy to encourage me in the middle of such a fight. I can only imagine how much you’re carrying right now, and I’m honored that you’d spend even a sliver of that energy with me.
Knowing this work reaches you makes it worth every hour I put into it.
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 on your health. You said exactly how I feel about Michelle. I’m not sure when I started to read her but as soon as I could I felt she is worth every penny her subscription cost. So I too paid her. Only to wish I could afford others. I keep trying to get my local Democratic Party to read her but I don’t think they are. I get it. We are busy getting out the vote. I’m trying to figure out if any of Zaffirini’s constituents are my friends/family so I can share with them. Without writer like Michelle; I would be ignorant. 🙏🏼
I worked at the Senate in 2019, I noticed that Lucio Jr. frequently aligned with repubs in his committee votes. I worked again in the regular session this year, and after you mentioned Zaffirini and Hinojosa's voting on the floor, I began looking up their records--woah. Thank you for exposing these pseudo-GOPers, for your research, and for exposing the truth, Michelle!
Thanks for the run-down of the ugly Republican bills. Their agenda is to turn Texas into a wholly-owned corporate subsidary of the worst kinds of corporations. And to make us pay for it.
All the while they are jerking working people around rented mules. This is the dream of Republicans. None of it makes sense in the long-run for this state and its citizens. Republicans, if left unopposed, will turn us into a meaner, more hostile version of West Virginia where corporations extract their profits, kill the environment and leave the people immiserated. Then they will tell us it is "democracy".
As to Zafarini, heroism and idealism (not ideology) are always in very short supply when dealing with politicians. Especially politicians in the Republican gerrymandered world. They are crammed into a district with constituents who aren't in a position to hold them accountable. But, place-holders like Zafarini have a cushy job. And that cushy job is seen to depend on not bucking the Republican patrons who created that job, basically.
This article provides a slice of reality and real talk that must break through. I am going to digress and then come back to how horrible Republican bills are. I went to the rally on the capitol steps yesterday. It was announced there were 5,000. in attendance. I am a soon to be 65 year old native Texan with some physical issues that I need to manage in order to do these kinds of outdoor activities. We made it work yesterday. I went because I am now more free to be out and about and am looking for an effective outlet for my talent and energy. So, yesterday was a test.
I saw hundreds, if not a thousand or more people exactly my demographic. Which is fine. They had cutesy signs, cutesy shirts and were all clubbing it up together. Great! Pep rallies are great. But, I am displeased with the lack of deep political engagement my generation manifested. The speakers were all organizers. They were young. They were minority. They were smart, capable and spoke to the kinds of real world, practical problems that Republican policies are causing. These organizers need help. They need support.
How did my cohort react? Sort of meh. This isn't what they came for. These are not issues they like to meme about. They didn't have any signs or shirts about the lack of state resources in Sandy Creek. They weren't aware there is a Texas AFL-CIO, etc. But, they sure shouted for Beto, not that there is anything wrong with that!. However, I get the distinct impression they have mistaken the performance for the action. I suspect they are donating like crazy to all those begging emails that funnel dollars into PACs that won't move the dial in Texas.
I get it. I see how easy it is to sit in front of MSNBC, with the socials open on the laptop and just have a grand old time hating on Abbott or whoever. But, that will never do a darn thing for those organizers or the problems they are trying to solve. What my cohort does have is disposable income and an interest in spending some of that on politics. Beto, in particular, has been pretty good about threading the needle between remaining the olds' darling while getting money where it needs to go.
Someone, and I don't know who, because I'm just sitting here in a rocking chair playing at politics as a hobby needs to get to work re-directing people like me into much more meaningful avenues. There is a lot of energy and life experience there to be used. It starts with publicizing the nitty-gritty reality of how place-holders like Zafarini obstruct Democratic policies.
I agree with you that the organizers doing the hard work on the ground need more real support. I hear that from organizers all the time. There are some in areas of Texas, who in their off time, spend the rest of that time begging for money. I wish I knew the answer.
Roger that, across the board. I’ve done a few protests (not nearly enough), called some officials (not nearly enough) and voiced my outrage (again, not nearly enough).
I’m also painfully aware that living in a sea of ticTok videos about these things, doesn’t do a goddamn thing about putting the brakes on any of this shit that’s already so far past the tipping point already. It’s hard. It’s hard when you’re over 60 and trying to hold on. It’s hard with your health suddenly becomes your #1 job. But it doesn’t change the fact that it isn’t doing squat for changing the current course to a bad post apocalyptic movie in the making.
When I was a kid, my folks were in Germany right after WWII. Dad was in the air force. They saw first hand the aftermath. Mom had hundred of amazingly shot 35mm slides of all the camps, all the destruction, and all the human tragedy. As a grade schooler I was reading up on that stuff voraciously. Other kids were reading typical grade school kid stuff, and I was churning through Mien Kampf and the survivor accounts of the Sondercommandos and how Goebbels propaganda machine became so effective.
This was partially because I was an Aspby (which I didn’t even know until I was 58 and the term didn’t even exist then) but mostly because I was struggling to understand why human beings could have allowed any of that to happen in the first place. My folks had wondered the same question as well.
I remained aware throughout my life, and the shift starting with Reagan and the Koch Bro’s and what would become the juggernaut of the heritage foundation clawed their way into existence was not lost on me. The gradual chewing away at all those gains that had cost so much to get in place gnawed at me for years, yet I found few who could grasp the significance of them at the time.
Fast forward to the last decade. All the little components for the en masse shift began to take effect. The frog had already began to boil and was utterly unaware of it. Along with that we as a society were changing. The “bunch of neighbors came over for coffee and discussed current events and what those signified when looked at from a critical thinking standpoint” that I listened to with rapt attention as a grade schooler all pretty much vanished.
People stopped knowing their neighbors. The over the fence “we brought you some leftovers, and what’s going on” chitchats largely have disappeared from the American experience. We got soft. We got isolated. To borrow a Roger Waters lyric, we amused ourselves to death.
So looking back to the question I pondered in grade school: “how could we have allowed this to happen?”.
Well now I know.
Unlike WWII the damage isn’t instantly visible. In fact, a good bit of it is already done and will probably take the better part of a decade or so before anyone realizes the real implications of just what has happened already, and continues to happen on a daily, sometimes hourly basis until we’re all just collectively numbed into submission. On any given day, with the stroke of any given utterly ignored executive order, years if not decades of hard fought work by hundreds if not thousands of people is uprooted and tossed in the trash under patently illegal and unconstitutional means, but they’ve already jettisoned those who could have brought it to light.
The billionaire owned media has totally acquiesced and willing gone along with playing it down.
“We The People” are acting as though it’s business as usual while simultaneously sucking down the C02 from the flames of norms being torched by the thousands and are asking for a second helping while cheering it on bucket brigading gas cans to the torchers.
Yesterday, while picking up a prescription, I had to spend 20 minutes in line behind a guy in a t-shirt that read “Jesus Christ is My Lord and Savior” with “Trump 2028” under it, while his wife or girlfriend or whatever’s shirt read “Deport Em All. Period. Shoot Those Who Won’t Leave” with “Trump 2028” under it.
Well said. This all mirrors my experiences. Our generation remembers what it used to be like when WWII was fresh in everyone's minds. It is said that when the last of a generation to experience a historical reset like WWII dies, then people start sliding right back into a similar mistake.
I went through the journals all day yesterday and based everything on her third vote, except for two bills, which I went on memory. The Bitcoin Reserve and the THC bill. I’ve made the correction, and will note in the next newsletter.
WOWIE, Michelle!!! This is precisely the piece I needed today! Omg, thank you!!!
Did you know? ;)
This was a terrific reminder of important Senate votes, it was exactly the framing I need right now.
Been having a back & forth with Zaf's loquacious granddaughter & you've given me more grist for my mill. I'm not sure what to do regarding that contact.
So I got this in my email.
These days, my “non essential” email read time is minimal at best, as I’ve recently been diagnosed with stage 4A prostate cancer which didn’t even register on a PSA 6 months ago, and normally takes years before one even needs to consider metastasis as an issue. So that’s what I mean by “non essential”.
That being said, your extremely in depth article not only confirms what I’ve known for a good decade + about the levels of institutionalized corruption in this state and the public’s utter lack of knowledge to the degree it exists, but you have taken the time to dig under the hood, drilling down into what had to be an immense amount of research to compile the list of bills presented.
It’s folks like you who not only have opinions on the subject, but do the insanely tedious work to locate and highlight all the moving parts of how corruption works.
In my younger years, I had such energy, (I taped the entire watergate hearings by taping a old school “piano key” cassette recorder microphone to the TV at age 9) and have always been pretty “woke” decades before the term even existed.
We need people like you, who are willing to do the heavy lifting to do this kind of research to give the rest of us tactical and factual ammunition to bring the awareness of this kind of crap our “elected” officials do (and I use that term lightly as TX has the corner in the market on voter suppression). and is the beta site for ensuring the public’s voice is never heard, nor acknowledged by the media.
As a result of the hideous costs of healthcare in this country (that little 20% co-insurance clause until you hit the ridiculous max out of pocket number that’s so conveniently buried in your insurance plan, wherein the tests and procedures that actually matter fall under either “out of network” or “deemed not medically necessary” (spoiler alert: PSMA’s (the main useful test to not only find metastatic movement but also see if whatever treatment you have is actually working, have been deemed a “one and done” meaning they’ll only cover one of these and you’re on the hook for the rest at $16K a pop), we haven’t exactly got a lot of free cash to support the good works people like you are doing, and god knows it’s needed as I’ve got north of $5K out of pocket this month alone in incoming bills.
So with all that in mind, I upgraded to a paid subscriber anyway.
Sometimes you just have to call the ball. I may not survive this, but your work needs to.
Thanks.
Mark, I don’t have words big enough for the weight of what you’ve shared here. Thank you not only for subscribing, but for giving your time and energy to encourage me in the middle of such a fight. I can only imagine how much you’re carrying right now, and I’m honored that you’d spend even a sliver of that energy with me.
Knowing this work reaches you makes it worth every hour I put into it.
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 on your health. You said exactly how I feel about Michelle. I’m not sure when I started to read her but as soon as I could I felt she is worth every penny her subscription cost. So I too paid her. Only to wish I could afford others. I keep trying to get my local Democratic Party to read her but I don’t think they are. I get it. We are busy getting out the vote. I’m trying to figure out if any of Zaffirini’s constituents are my friends/family so I can share with them. Without writer like Michelle; I would be ignorant. 🙏🏼
I worked at the Senate in 2019, I noticed that Lucio Jr. frequently aligned with repubs in his committee votes. I worked again in the regular session this year, and after you mentioned Zaffirini and Hinojosa's voting on the floor, I began looking up their records--woah. Thank you for exposing these pseudo-GOPers, for your research, and for exposing the truth, Michelle!
Thanks for the run-down of the ugly Republican bills. Their agenda is to turn Texas into a wholly-owned corporate subsidary of the worst kinds of corporations. And to make us pay for it.
All the while they are jerking working people around rented mules. This is the dream of Republicans. None of it makes sense in the long-run for this state and its citizens. Republicans, if left unopposed, will turn us into a meaner, more hostile version of West Virginia where corporations extract their profits, kill the environment and leave the people immiserated. Then they will tell us it is "democracy".
As to Zafarini, heroism and idealism (not ideology) are always in very short supply when dealing with politicians. Especially politicians in the Republican gerrymandered world. They are crammed into a district with constituents who aren't in a position to hold them accountable. But, place-holders like Zafarini have a cushy job. And that cushy job is seen to depend on not bucking the Republican patrons who created that job, basically.
This article provides a slice of reality and real talk that must break through. I am going to digress and then come back to how horrible Republican bills are. I went to the rally on the capitol steps yesterday. It was announced there were 5,000. in attendance. I am a soon to be 65 year old native Texan with some physical issues that I need to manage in order to do these kinds of outdoor activities. We made it work yesterday. I went because I am now more free to be out and about and am looking for an effective outlet for my talent and energy. So, yesterday was a test.
I saw hundreds, if not a thousand or more people exactly my demographic. Which is fine. They had cutesy signs, cutesy shirts and were all clubbing it up together. Great! Pep rallies are great. But, I am displeased with the lack of deep political engagement my generation manifested. The speakers were all organizers. They were young. They were minority. They were smart, capable and spoke to the kinds of real world, practical problems that Republican policies are causing. These organizers need help. They need support.
How did my cohort react? Sort of meh. This isn't what they came for. These are not issues they like to meme about. They didn't have any signs or shirts about the lack of state resources in Sandy Creek. They weren't aware there is a Texas AFL-CIO, etc. But, they sure shouted for Beto, not that there is anything wrong with that!. However, I get the distinct impression they have mistaken the performance for the action. I suspect they are donating like crazy to all those begging emails that funnel dollars into PACs that won't move the dial in Texas.
I get it. I see how easy it is to sit in front of MSNBC, with the socials open on the laptop and just have a grand old time hating on Abbott or whoever. But, that will never do a darn thing for those organizers or the problems they are trying to solve. What my cohort does have is disposable income and an interest in spending some of that on politics. Beto, in particular, has been pretty good about threading the needle between remaining the olds' darling while getting money where it needs to go.
Someone, and I don't know who, because I'm just sitting here in a rocking chair playing at politics as a hobby needs to get to work re-directing people like me into much more meaningful avenues. There is a lot of energy and life experience there to be used. It starts with publicizing the nitty-gritty reality of how place-holders like Zafarini obstruct Democratic policies.
I agree with you that the organizers doing the hard work on the ground need more real support. I hear that from organizers all the time. There are some in areas of Texas, who in their off time, spend the rest of that time begging for money. I wish I knew the answer.
we know all that...ur a gal in a pct...what's ur advice how to reach the other non-voters in ur pct
i got half a dozen ideas, wouldn't cost u a cent
Roger that, across the board. I’ve done a few protests (not nearly enough), called some officials (not nearly enough) and voiced my outrage (again, not nearly enough).
I’m also painfully aware that living in a sea of ticTok videos about these things, doesn’t do a goddamn thing about putting the brakes on any of this shit that’s already so far past the tipping point already. It’s hard. It’s hard when you’re over 60 and trying to hold on. It’s hard with your health suddenly becomes your #1 job. But it doesn’t change the fact that it isn’t doing squat for changing the current course to a bad post apocalyptic movie in the making.
When I was a kid, my folks were in Germany right after WWII. Dad was in the air force. They saw first hand the aftermath. Mom had hundred of amazingly shot 35mm slides of all the camps, all the destruction, and all the human tragedy. As a grade schooler I was reading up on that stuff voraciously. Other kids were reading typical grade school kid stuff, and I was churning through Mien Kampf and the survivor accounts of the Sondercommandos and how Goebbels propaganda machine became so effective.
This was partially because I was an Aspby (which I didn’t even know until I was 58 and the term didn’t even exist then) but mostly because I was struggling to understand why human beings could have allowed any of that to happen in the first place. My folks had wondered the same question as well.
I remained aware throughout my life, and the shift starting with Reagan and the Koch Bro’s and what would become the juggernaut of the heritage foundation clawed their way into existence was not lost on me. The gradual chewing away at all those gains that had cost so much to get in place gnawed at me for years, yet I found few who could grasp the significance of them at the time.
Fast forward to the last decade. All the little components for the en masse shift began to take effect. The frog had already began to boil and was utterly unaware of it. Along with that we as a society were changing. The “bunch of neighbors came over for coffee and discussed current events and what those signified when looked at from a critical thinking standpoint” that I listened to with rapt attention as a grade schooler all pretty much vanished.
People stopped knowing their neighbors. The over the fence “we brought you some leftovers, and what’s going on” chitchats largely have disappeared from the American experience. We got soft. We got isolated. To borrow a Roger Waters lyric, we amused ourselves to death.
So looking back to the question I pondered in grade school: “how could we have allowed this to happen?”.
Well now I know.
Unlike WWII the damage isn’t instantly visible. In fact, a good bit of it is already done and will probably take the better part of a decade or so before anyone realizes the real implications of just what has happened already, and continues to happen on a daily, sometimes hourly basis until we’re all just collectively numbed into submission. On any given day, with the stroke of any given utterly ignored executive order, years if not decades of hard fought work by hundreds if not thousands of people is uprooted and tossed in the trash under patently illegal and unconstitutional means, but they’ve already jettisoned those who could have brought it to light.
The billionaire owned media has totally acquiesced and willing gone along with playing it down.
“We The People” are acting as though it’s business as usual while simultaneously sucking down the C02 from the flames of norms being torched by the thousands and are asking for a second helping while cheering it on bucket brigading gas cans to the torchers.
Yesterday, while picking up a prescription, I had to spend 20 minutes in line behind a guy in a t-shirt that read “Jesus Christ is My Lord and Savior” with “Trump 2028” under it, while his wife or girlfriend or whatever’s shirt read “Deport Em All. Period. Shoot Those Who Won’t Leave” with “Trump 2028” under it.
Well said. This all mirrors my experiences. Our generation remembers what it used to be like when WWII was fresh in everyone's minds. It is said that when the last of a generation to experience a historical reset like WWII dies, then people start sliding right back into a similar mistake.
I believe I need to read it again. Maybe take notes. This is too much to comprehend. Thank you for your hard work. It is truly educational. 🙏🏼
I thought Zaffirini voted against SB3 (hemp ban). Am I looking at the wrong thing?
https://legiscan.com/TX/rollcall/SB3/id/1522173
I went through the journals all day yesterday and based everything on her third vote, except for two bills, which I went on memory. The Bitcoin Reserve and the THC bill. I’ve made the correction, and will note in the next newsletter.
My south Austin precinct that's in her district voted 70% for Harris. Most probably aren't aware of her Republican leaning voting record.
I know. She’s in a safe blue seat, and has been for decades. There’s no reason for her to lean so far to the right. I figured most were unaware.
WOWIE, Michelle!!! This is precisely the piece I needed today! Omg, thank you!!!
Did you know? ;)
This was a terrific reminder of important Senate votes, it was exactly the framing I need right now.
Been having a back & forth with Zaf's loquacious granddaughter & you've given me more grist for my mill. I'm not sure what to do regarding that contact.
Any advice? Already shared this column.
I’m actually not a fan of debating the unmovable, but I still get baited into the abutments. 🤣
lol, thanks. I think you told me what I needed to know.
peanuts...peanuts....$3 ...$3
https://data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-mothership-vortex-an-investigation
apply a little common sense Dear Readers
Beto didn't work as a bricklayer in his off years....
he is a wholly behoden subsidary of someone
its sinister as all get out
Konsultant Ken and TDP are rite there in the middle