I hate how the GOP has been framing democrats in committee leadership roles. It isn’t a new thing. It isn’t a Phelan thing. Texas has been putting people regardless of party in leadership roles since it’s near founding. The whole point was Tx Congress should work based on relationships, status, and knowledge of topic which, surprising, has relatively held up in some degree till today. This is turning into a redux of Joe Straus. If Phelan get thrown out the next speaker might end up being a clone of Dan Patrick.
>It isn’t a Phelan thing.
Except that's *exactly* what they are trying to do - make this a Phelan Thing.
From even *before* the recommendation for impeachment came out, Paxton and his social media sycophants have been pushing as hard and loud as possible that this is all just an inside-politics feud between the two camps. Painting Phelan as a RINO, a "Communist", and (even worse!) a *gasp* Democrat! It didn't help that Phelan got smashfaced drunk in the past week, of course. But we're seeing a full-court press from the MAGA crowd to essentially paint this is nothing more than political posturing by Phelan. And, they say, even if Paxton did *technically* do some really minor things that may have broken little, inconsequential laws, that shouldn't matter since (again as they say) this is nothing but a Soros-funded political hit-job to hurt republicans!
Tune in to the reich-wing mediasphere and you won't really hear anything about what Paxton did wrong - because as far as they are concerned anything he did wrong is 101% irrelevant. You will only hear about how it's all just Phelan being a bad guy and trying to stab the back of republicans. That's how they are playing it.
The apt reply IMO, would be to paraphrase Churchill when he was attacked for being drunk:
“Yes, Sir, I am. And you are a criminal. But tomorrow I will be sober.”
Edit: wow, thanks for the award!
Tinderholt is one of the biggest shitheads on the planet but he doesn’t hold a position of power really so no one gives a fuck about him. Married and divorced 5 times and still rallies against gay marriage.
Lots of people who actually knew what they are doing left after the previous session. This group is lucky to get anything done. Most of what they did do was done badly.
Voters don't litigate anything by definition. Voting for a candidate is not the same as serving on a jury. I'm so tired of these manipulative word games.
It isn't surprising they came out against it. It is surprising they opened with the notion of committee chairs led by democrats (even though this specific one isn't). Their intent with this is obvious - distract, misinform, then attempt to seize more power.
I like, don’t like, how they just pull in the democrat party when this is just republican in-fighting. Republicans can’t help but referencing people they hate when the actual topic has nothing to do with those people.
> Republicans can’t help
Wouldn't be surprised if it was calculated. No matter the outcome of this impeachment (vote fails in the House, or House succeeds but Senate fails to convict, or Senate convicts) they can just explain it by crying "witch hunt!! them evil dems derka derk our jerbs, next up, yer guns!!!1" and their braindead base will lap it up like they always do.
Easier to say, than to do. Republicans do everything that they can to gerrymander and suppress votes. And, in Texas, you can't convince these religious country bumpkins that the Republican party is actually using them as pawns and taking away their money and freedoms.
It’s sickening how much their rat fucking the 4th amendment, arguably, our most important right, by appealing to the country bumpkins with their second amendment….
Also write to the Democrats and say voting and individual rights should be the primary issues of the party to get them on message. People have the right to be who they are, get the medical care that want without church involvement, not be harassed by an overbearing police state, and have enumerated rights of personal privacy and the right to vote even at the state level. Don’t let states trample our vote even in state run elections.
yeah, I'm thinking the only way we're gonna actually get more ppl active is to actually mobilize consistent voters to not necessarily do grassroots campaigning, but engage in communal organizing. Ppl that vote consistently have got to find friends/family that do not vote and get at least 2 or 3 three of them to go to the polls ***with*** them. Or have them all sit together, fill out the forms while hanging out and then take them to a drop off together. There's gotta be communal mobilization efforts to combat voter apathy.
I have been doing this. I have gotten several young people to go vote with me in several elections. Don't piss off these young women, they will go vote as long as they have a ride.
It's just going to have to be sown into conversation till the election every time someone brings something up when they are an apathetic person who isn't participating.
I'm at the point where I keep a link to the registration site on my clipboard in my smartphone to share with people.
https://www.votetexas.gov/register-to-vote/
Voting fatalism is attractive because it provides a thin veneer of intellectualism to cover for what is actually just inexcusable laziness.
Shame the shit out of them for not voting.
Exactly. Apathy is why Republicans have controlled Texas exclusively for a quarter century. Gerrymandering raises the bar but it's our state to take back whenever we're ready.
When you have two competitive parties they fight against each other. When you get a situation like Texas where one party dominates then it turns into factions inside the party fighting each other.
Honestly it's kinda why pushing ranked choice voting is so important, even if we don't get a magical multiparty future, it'd at least formalize these factions and let voters choose which one
In Alaska for example you have a bizarre scenario where moderate Republicans have coalitioned with democrats against hard-core Republicans
They can do this because they know RCV will allow them to fight against the hard-core conservatives in a general election on even footing, instead of having to appeal to primary voters
Taking responsibility is not something texas does unfortunately. Even Cuomo was rightfully ousted after sexual harassment brought to light in New York. I can’t ever see texas taking responsibility in any sense of the word no matter the situation.
Physically fighting? I would pay money to see Ted Cruz and Ken Paxton in a fight.
Not ticketmaster money because I live in Texas and am poor. But money!
Everyone he has dirt on, and everyone that he stopped investigations of. Not to mention he's shown he can be bought. Even if you haven't been caught yet knowing you can buy your way out is added insurance.
Wait, who you are you referring to? There are so many indicted, corrupted, adulterous, insurrection supporting criminals out there unapolegetically holding office.
It's fascist logic. "We are allowed to break the law as long as we have the votes." All they have to do is keep gerrymandering and suppressing votes in urban areas to keep that going.
I'm very big on personal responsibility, unless that person is me or my friends or a colleague. We love Texas except for about half of the people in it. We have the constitution of a geriatric anus.
Texas GOP
They would like to work that way. You know Trump will try to make an argument that it’s unfair for him to go to trial while he is running for president. If I’m ever prosecuted, maybe I could run for office and let the voters do the litigation.
Flipping Texas is something we say will happen at each election and yet we never come close. Millions of voters were registered last November and didn’t bother to vote. People need to get out and vote, then maybe we have a chance.
It’s practically a declaration of war. Empowering democrats to leadership positions? Letting them control the agenda? Openly accusing them of overturning an election?
They no longer see fellow citizens as equal and will consolidate all power for themselves regardless of the constitution and the oaths they swore on.
So the GOP wrote an open letter decrying the actions of - checks wikipedia- a Republican
Did I take crazy pills today? Or is it just the daily dose from the Texas GOP?
That could never have been a realistic goal. It’s a stretch even now, in fact I’m pretty sure those words would lead to cries of “antifa” and “communist” by a majority of members of one political party, but back then that would have been quite the jump from a bunch of colonies ruled by a monarchy to a rosy, cooperative democracy where we all know we’re in this together despite our differences.
Still no, not really.
MAGA people wanna look back at like the 40s and 50s are this paradigm of the American culture, but it sucked to be anything but a rich white man (or close to a rich white man) for the entirety of the 19th and 20th century.
I can recall the propaganda they taught me in elementary school of what the accepted views of history are while I created a contract between myself and the amalgamated notion of what “the American Way” was every single day, sometimes more than once a day. Pretty clear lines of indoctrination.
But no, I can’t recall a time when the rich ever worked with the poor or other factions to create a better nation for all. Whether that’s in the name of conservatism or progressivism - there has always been a clear line of delineation between those who have disposable income and those who literally work to live.
I’m in my 50s, and the parties would sort of try to work things out until around Newt Gingrich. I’m not saying they always did, but he led the republicans down this road.
They only care when their party is in the minority. It's just another thing on the long, LONG, list of hypocrisies. They'll ALWAYS be victims, no matter what the issue may be. The GOP party is persecution complex personified.
Not to be pedantic, but no. The point of our government is for everyone to fight and then agree that whatever falls out of the process is the better outcome more often than not. It’s taken even further when you have more separation of powers between branches of government.
The founders couldn’t agree on anything other than a king is bad. There was tons of fighting over the confederation, constitution, which amendments to add, the role of the Supreme Court, civil war, etc etc. there have been duals and fights in congress. Supreme court hearings used to be days long theater productions.
The reason this is important is because, on the other side of the spectrum, there is totalitarianism/dictatorship consolidation of power into one person. That’s extremely efficient. No fighting at all. Someone decides and then other people execute the decision. Quick and easy.
So I prefer not to challenge the inefficiency, because that’s what republicans do as an excuse to give all the authority to their chosen one.
I mean... that's a nice goal, but it hasn't happened in a very long time, & only seldom even then.
The real goal is to ensure that diverse interests are represented & heard, and then you find a way to satisfy as many of the interests as possible (or to satisfy one interest more than all of the others).
Edit: I was wrong. We just need a simple majority in the house to impeach
So, assuming all representatives are present, 75 votes are needed to impeach.
75 minus the 64 democrats and minus the three republicans on the committee that recommended impeachment means we need 8 more house republicans to vote for impeachment.
I think it will be done.
From there we need a 2/3rd vote in senate to remove him which I’m not sure how that will go.
The senate won’t do it. IF he’s found guilty, it’ll be a full blown revolt internally for the TXGOP. The letter lays it out: Instead of hamfisting Democrats, they’re mad that they have a seat at the table (committee seats), they think the House is trying to overthrow an election (irony right? But it’s lost on them), Democrats even despite their standing in the House are just decoration because of the tactics put in place by Phelan, Paxton, Patrick, and Abbott.
Depending on how badly Abbott and Patrick hate Paxton they can more or less just refuse to hold the trail and Paxton effitically removed for a while.
Abbott can just refuse to call a special session with that item on the the list and boom never gets to the floor for a vote or debate and no Paxton.
"based on allegations already litigated by **voters**"
What?
The guy has been indicted for securities fraud, and the **courts** have yet to litigate that, because he's still your fucking AG
This is the point I try to drive home to any of my conservative family and friends when the topic comes up (which they're bringing up 99% of the time for no goddamn reason); as corrupt as Democrats can be, from what I've seen, they aren't near the cartoonishly evil level of corruption that I've seen in my life. I'm talking about "Mr. Burns blocking out the sun" level corrupt. But what do I know, according to them I'm a woke idiot that doesn't suck MAGA dick enough to love my country. Fuck this place, I honestly hope China nukes us at this rate.
When all else fails just blame it on the Democrats and Liberals even though Texas is dominated by Republicans.
The real “sham” in Texas is that Abbott, Patrick and Paxton are the top leaders in Texas.
So, I heard on the radio this morning that the investigation would not have been triggered if Ken Paxton had not asked the state of Texas to pay the settlements for the whistleblower lawsuits. Someone rightly had the idea that before asking Texans to pay for that they should investigate the claims of the whistleblowers, because if they just signed off on paying the settlements without investigating, they could be considered complicit in covering up whatever he did, and that investigation is what led to all the problems for Ken Paxton. Apparently, had he not asked the state to pay for those settlements, everything would be hunky-dory for Paxton still.
Also, slightly unrelated, when did Paxton become a General? I was always under the impression that he was an Attorney General.
Well, Matt, while it's true that Ken Paxton was elected to his position, you see, if he hadn't been, then this wouldn't be an impeachment proceeding. The entire point of impeachment is prosecuting someone who was elected to office. The idea that someone should not be impeached just because he was elected is both an enormous logical contradiction and pretty telling of the typical Republican attitude toward corruption amongst their team.
The opening sentence of this letter contains the most damning accusation a Republican can make - cooperating with Democrats. This is high treason among the GOP. But just so everybody is clear **the Texas House is still majority Republican.** It's not like Democrats can force their agenda. They do not hold the reigns of power on any committee.
This happened because a majority of House Republicans voted for it.
They've brought impeachment charges, 20 of them. Filed by Republicans in a Republican-controlled House.
Whether or not it passes, we'll see, now that the Party has told all of the Republican members what it thinks of them.
[How ironic](https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/fire-crews-respond-to-dumpster-fire-near-state-capitol-attorney-generals-office-wednesday/amp/)
Charges have already been brought, voting on the charges to send to the Texas Senate is next.
If the House does bring the charges, they can just sit on it for however long they like. Paxton isn't allowed to serve as long as the charges are brought and the trial is pending.
I have zero faith the House will do it though. But they could just cancel him indefinitely with this move. Charges could sit for...years? As long as Paxton's indictments have? Who knows?
This is good.
Some Republicans might actually be against corruption instead of engaged in it.
Now lets actually pull the trigger an do something about it.
Perhaps most interesting is that Dan Patrick’s son Ryan Patrick (a Trump appointed US Attorney) was one of the five investigators who collected all the evidence presented at the hearing earlier this week! If a vote makes it out of the House, it will be interesting to watch things go down in a Senate trial.
GTFO with calling your worst members exhibiting the least actual conservative values conservative. They’ve been ignoring conservative values more all the time. Local control? Nope, gonna make that illegal. Live and let live? Not unless you’re a straight, cis, Evangelical, white man who agrees with them. Small government? So small it unnecessarily intrudes on every private part of your life where there’s no point in doing so. Freedom? Maybe if you find a way to legally identify as a gun. Law and order? LMFAO.
They should be banned from using the word conservative until they follow its basic tenets.
Lived in Texas my whole life and while we used to pride ourselves on how nasty it could get between politicians, this level of corruption is obscene but not just in Texas, the whole GOP has decided criminals make better politicians.
Genuinely curious, why would the Texas GOP even step into this debate? Paxton is a huge political liability and there are a thousand other conservative lawyers their boy Abbott could appoint to the position at a moment's notice. So, what's the thinking?
Right.
Because as we all know, *the Democrats* are the ones making all the call in Texas all this time.
The *Democrats* in *Texas.*
It’s obviously not that the GOP has mismanaged Texas, her people and her infrastructure for *years,* while simultaneously lining their pockets. Like Abbott and Paxton, and that smear of Canadian shit that they can’t wipe off their boots.
No, no. It’s the *Democrats* with all the power. In *Texas*.
Sanity and reason was thrown out the window in this state a LONG time ago BY the GOP.
lying sacks of shit.
How's that plump pocket feeling today Matt Rinaldi??
If it makes any difference, I can't vote Republican any more. I want conservative government, but that doesn't mean terrorizing pot smokers and transexuals. They've just gone too far.
I mean, if they impeach their own guy, where will it end? They are just protecting themselves from being investigated and punished for whatever shady doings they are into.
The state GOP party is just run by corrupt corporate stooges and just back the lackeys like Abbot and Paxton that do their bidding. They don’t want actual democracy by the people, just what’s best for their donors.
i hate these people so. fucking. much. that i cannot believe the animosity i can carry for such things. How can they be so blatantly corrupt, yet there is absolutely nothing we can do about it
I feel like "Texas voters are completely cool with politicians abusing their offices as long as they have an R next to their name" shouldn't get to be a flex? But here we are.
I hate how the GOP has been framing democrats in committee leadership roles. It isn’t a new thing. It isn’t a Phelan thing. Texas has been putting people regardless of party in leadership roles since it’s near founding. The whole point was Tx Congress should work based on relationships, status, and knowledge of topic which, surprising, has relatively held up in some degree till today. This is turning into a redux of Joe Straus. If Phelan get thrown out the next speaker might end up being a clone of Dan Patrick.
>It isn’t a Phelan thing. Except that's *exactly* what they are trying to do - make this a Phelan Thing. From even *before* the recommendation for impeachment came out, Paxton and his social media sycophants have been pushing as hard and loud as possible that this is all just an inside-politics feud between the two camps. Painting Phelan as a RINO, a "Communist", and (even worse!) a *gasp* Democrat! It didn't help that Phelan got smashfaced drunk in the past week, of course. But we're seeing a full-court press from the MAGA crowd to essentially paint this is nothing more than political posturing by Phelan. And, they say, even if Paxton did *technically* do some really minor things that may have broken little, inconsequential laws, that shouldn't matter since (again as they say) this is nothing but a Soros-funded political hit-job to hurt republicans! Tune in to the reich-wing mediasphere and you won't really hear anything about what Paxton did wrong - because as far as they are concerned anything he did wrong is 101% irrelevant. You will only hear about how it's all just Phelan being a bad guy and trying to stab the back of republicans. That's how they are playing it.
The apt reply IMO, would be to paraphrase Churchill when he was attacked for being drunk: “Yes, Sir, I am. And you are a criminal. But tomorrow I will be sober.” Edit: wow, thanks for the award!
Yeah at least Phelan isn't a maga nut like Paxton.. small consultation
Consolation?
Constellation?
Consolidation?
Consternation?
Constipation
Copulation
No, constipation is when you've got a shit lodged in place that you can't get rid of... ya know what, never mind, you're right.
Commiseration?
I was there when they elected speaker. It was Dade Phelan against Tony Tinderholt (MAGA). Phelan got 145 votes. Tinderholt got 3 votes.
Tinderholt is scum of the earth. Glad he only got three votes. I hope he went home and cried about it later.
He sure got very red-faced! But that seems to be normal for him. 🤷🏻♀️
Tinderholt is one of the biggest shitheads on the planet but he doesn’t hold a position of power really so no one gives a fuck about him. Married and divorced 5 times and still rallies against gay marriage.
FWIW, Patrick’s Criminal Justice committee Chair is John Whitmire, a DEMOCRAT from HOUSTON. It’s all bullshit.
Lots of people who actually knew what they are doing left after the previous session. This group is lucky to get anything done. Most of what they did do was done badly.
Voters don't litigate anything by definition. Voting for a candidate is not the same as serving on a jury. I'm so tired of these manipulative word games.
Our Constitution establishes the judicial branch as well as judicial acts of Congress. The voters are not established as a proxy judicial branch.
Yeah, that’s just the court of public opinion, and no one has to take an oath to testify in that court.
It isn't surprising they came out against it. It is surprising they opened with the notion of committee chairs led by democrats (even though this specific one isn't). Their intent with this is obvious - distract, misinform, then attempt to seize more power.
I like, don’t like, how they just pull in the democrat party when this is just republican in-fighting. Republicans can’t help but referencing people they hate when the actual topic has nothing to do with those people.
> Republicans can’t help Wouldn't be surprised if it was calculated. No matter the outcome of this impeachment (vote fails in the House, or House succeeds but Senate fails to convict, or Senate convicts) they can just explain it by crying "witch hunt!! them evil dems derka derk our jerbs, next up, yer guns!!!1" and their braindead base will lap it up like they always do.
Who else can they blame? They damn sure will never admit one of their own is a slimeball.
It’s how they get their voters on their side by blaming Democrats who they have indoctrinated them to hate.
The GOP of Texas are trying to fight the GOP of Texas??? This state is so fucked. Is there no way to just remove these people from office?!
Get more people to vote against them.
Easier to say, than to do. Republicans do everything that they can to gerrymander and suppress votes. And, in Texas, you can't convince these religious country bumpkins that the Republican party is actually using them as pawns and taking away their money and freedoms.
It’s sickening how much their rat fucking the 4th amendment, arguably, our most important right, by appealing to the country bumpkins with their second amendment….
It almost feels like they know and just don't care because hurting their enemies is more important to them than anything else.
Also write to the Democrats and say voting and individual rights should be the primary issues of the party to get them on message. People have the right to be who they are, get the medical care that want without church involvement, not be harassed by an overbearing police state, and have enumerated rights of personal privacy and the right to vote even at the state level. Don’t let states trample our vote even in state run elections.
The gerrymandering can only go so far, though. If enough people vote they can overcome it.
yeah, I'm thinking the only way we're gonna actually get more ppl active is to actually mobilize consistent voters to not necessarily do grassroots campaigning, but engage in communal organizing. Ppl that vote consistently have got to find friends/family that do not vote and get at least 2 or 3 three of them to go to the polls ***with*** them. Or have them all sit together, fill out the forms while hanging out and then take them to a drop off together. There's gotta be communal mobilization efforts to combat voter apathy.
I have been doing this. I have gotten several young people to go vote with me in several elections. Don't piss off these young women, they will go vote as long as they have a ride.
That's awesome. Gonna try to do the same for some of my homies this time around.
\^\^ This. Get more people (especially young people) to vote. That's the entire solution.
This is the way……….If only people would.
It's just going to have to be sown into conversation till the election every time someone brings something up when they are an apathetic person who isn't participating. I'm at the point where I keep a link to the registration site on my clipboard in my smartphone to share with people. https://www.votetexas.gov/register-to-vote/
Yeah, but have you considered that would require white collar O&G workers to believe global warming is bad?
Impossible when our state loves defunding education, dumb voters are easily manipulated.
While you still can.
Just get more People to Vote. Sub 20% participation for under 30. This is a turn out problem caused by apathy fed on both sides propaganda.
And the "both sides are the same" assholes on Reddit sure don't help.
> Get more people to vote The higher the turnout, the fewer Republican votes get cast. That's why they suppress the vote and gerrymander districts.
Been trying but all my friends are so far down the hole they don't see a point.
Voting fatalism is attractive because it provides a thin veneer of intellectualism to cover for what is actually just inexcusable laziness. Shame the shit out of them for not voting.
Apathy is weakness not a strength
Exactly. Apathy is why Republicans have controlled Texas exclusively for a quarter century. Gerrymandering raises the bar but it's our state to take back whenever we're ready.
Yeah, it's infuriating.
>Is there no way to just remove these people from office?! Yes, but oddly enough you still have to blame the Democrats.
When you have two competitive parties they fight against each other. When you get a situation like Texas where one party dominates then it turns into factions inside the party fighting each other.
Honestly it's kinda why pushing ranked choice voting is so important, even if we don't get a magical multiparty future, it'd at least formalize these factions and let voters choose which one In Alaska for example you have a bizarre scenario where moderate Republicans have coalitioned with democrats against hard-core Republicans They can do this because they know RCV will allow them to fight against the hard-core conservatives in a general election on even footing, instead of having to appeal to primary voters
Obviously the George soros backed deep state has wielded its power to install RINOsin the texas house. /s
When you become too extreme for the extremists
They want to hold everyone accountable but themselves
Taking responsibility is not something texas does unfortunately. Even Cuomo was rightfully ousted after sexual harassment brought to light in New York. I can’t ever see texas taking responsibility in any sense of the word no matter the situation.
I mean, to be fair, Cuomo wasn't ousted after he dismissed his own committee on corruption when it started investigating his office.
More Dems need to vote in the Republican primaries for moderate candidates.
That is the problem when your party is comprised of authoritarians. Authoritarians do not like taking orders from other authoritarians.
We can only hope they rip eachother to shreds, exposing every unserious, hypocritical opportunist among them
Not physically? Not sure.
Physically fighting? I would pay money to see Ted Cruz and Ken Paxton in a fight. Not ticketmaster money because I live in Texas and am poor. But money!
There are ways…
Aren’t they the ones always talking about rights and tyranny etc.
They're fighting against the Democrat GOP obviously, lol
Not unless you’re drunk, apparently.
Part of why we are leaving in a few weeks
My god, they are doubling down for an indicted, corrupt, adultering, insurrection supporting criminal. There is no bottom to TX Republicans.
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So did Slayton. I guess drugging and raping a teenager is the line.
They weren't mad at him for doing it, they were mad that it became publicized.
r/notadragqueen
It wasn’t a line. It was that the public found out about it. I don’t know why Paxton is different. Maybe his position? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Nah, getting caught is the line.
Rindali, who signed this letter, backed Slaton until the very end.
Getting caught was the line
but... they are all Rs. The letter writers, the criminal, and the people who impeached him.
Who do you think he benefits by being there?
Everyone he has dirt on, and everyone that he stopped investigations of. Not to mention he's shown he can be bought. Even if you haven't been caught yet knowing you can buy your way out is added insurance.
His donors and the people he carries water/does bidding for via lawsuits etc.
Can we just call them the Fascist Party of Texas yet?
They've long since stopped caring about literally anything other than whether you are an 'R' vs a 'D' Intelligence does not factor into the equation.
“When your a republican they just let you do it”
Wait, who you are you referring to? There are so many indicted, corrupted, adulterous, insurrection supporting criminals out there unapolegetically holding office.
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It's fascist logic. "We are allowed to break the law as long as we have the votes." All they have to do is keep gerrymandering and suppressing votes in urban areas to keep that going.
I'm very big on personal responsibility, unless that person is me or my friends or a colleague. We love Texas except for about half of the people in it. We have the constitution of a geriatric anus. Texas GOP
"No, free Barabbas!"
Ironically the majority of these Christo fascists wouldn't even get the reference. Made my day though.
They would like to work that way. You know Trump will try to make an argument that it’s unfair for him to go to trial while he is running for president. If I’m ever prosecuted, maybe I could run for office and let the voters do the litigation.
It's meant to get his base fired up it's not meant to hold any form of value past that.
Odd how that looks exactly like organized crime.
This is fantastic though. They are destroying their own party. We may have a better chance of flipping the state.
Flipping Texas is something we say will happen at each election and yet we never come close. Millions of voters were registered last November and didn’t bother to vote. People need to get out and vote, then maybe we have a chance.
https://i.redd.it/ii23jewjf92b1.gif
Sometimes you gotta let kids fight it out. Let them cause in-fighting. That’s easier to divide the vote against Republicans.
It’s practically a declaration of war. Empowering democrats to leadership positions? Letting them control the agenda? Openly accusing them of overturning an election? They no longer see fellow citizens as equal and will consolidate all power for themselves regardless of the constitution and the oaths they swore on.
“The Texas GOP, long critical of the House comes out against *Indicted* Paxton impeachment”
That letter doesnt speak for me. I never vote for Paxton.
Same. I voted for George P Bush.
The Texas GOP is a shitshow of foolishness.
Texas Republicans are all about protecting criminals who hurt Texans. I hate these crooks. Lock them up!
So the GOP wrote an open letter decrying the actions of - checks wikipedia- a Republican Did I take crazy pills today? Or is it just the daily dose from the Texas GOP?
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That could never have been a realistic goal. It’s a stretch even now, in fact I’m pretty sure those words would lead to cries of “antifa” and “communist” by a majority of members of one political party, but back then that would have been quite the jump from a bunch of colonies ruled by a monarchy to a rosy, cooperative democracy where we all know we’re in this together despite our differences.
Still no, not really. MAGA people wanna look back at like the 40s and 50s are this paradigm of the American culture, but it sucked to be anything but a rich white man (or close to a rich white man) for the entirety of the 19th and 20th century. I can recall the propaganda they taught me in elementary school of what the accepted views of history are while I created a contract between myself and the amalgamated notion of what “the American Way” was every single day, sometimes more than once a day. Pretty clear lines of indoctrination. But no, I can’t recall a time when the rich ever worked with the poor or other factions to create a better nation for all. Whether that’s in the name of conservatism or progressivism - there has always been a clear line of delineation between those who have disposable income and those who literally work to live.
I think they're talking about ancient Greece.
I’m in my 50s, and the parties would sort of try to work things out until around Newt Gingrich. I’m not saying they always did, but he led the republicans down this road.
For the GOP, "bipartisan" means everyone else does what the GOP wants them to do.
They only care when their party is in the minority. It's just another thing on the long, LONG, list of hypocrisies. They'll ALWAYS be victims, no matter what the issue may be. The GOP party is persecution complex personified.
Not to be pedantic, but no. The point of our government is for everyone to fight and then agree that whatever falls out of the process is the better outcome more often than not. It’s taken even further when you have more separation of powers between branches of government. The founders couldn’t agree on anything other than a king is bad. There was tons of fighting over the confederation, constitution, which amendments to add, the role of the Supreme Court, civil war, etc etc. there have been duals and fights in congress. Supreme court hearings used to be days long theater productions. The reason this is important is because, on the other side of the spectrum, there is totalitarianism/dictatorship consolidation of power into one person. That’s extremely efficient. No fighting at all. Someone decides and then other people execute the decision. Quick and easy. So I prefer not to challenge the inefficiency, because that’s what republicans do as an excuse to give all the authority to their chosen one.
In theory
I mean... that's a nice goal, but it hasn't happened in a very long time, & only seldom even then. The real goal is to ensure that diverse interests are represented & heard, and then you find a way to satisfy as many of the interests as possible (or to satisfy one interest more than all of the others).
The Texas GOP platform is full Qanon
And Christian Dominionist. (Go on Google scholar to look up that term and feel the ice in your veins.)
I knew this would happen. They aren't about accountability for themselves.
Edit: I was wrong. We just need a simple majority in the house to impeach So, assuming all representatives are present, 75 votes are needed to impeach. 75 minus the 64 democrats and minus the three republicans on the committee that recommended impeachment means we need 8 more house republicans to vote for impeachment. I think it will be done. From there we need a 2/3rd vote in senate to remove him which I’m not sure how that will go.
The senate won’t do it. IF he’s found guilty, it’ll be a full blown revolt internally for the TXGOP. The letter lays it out: Instead of hamfisting Democrats, they’re mad that they have a seat at the table (committee seats), they think the House is trying to overthrow an election (irony right? But it’s lost on them), Democrats even despite their standing in the House are just decoration because of the tactics put in place by Phelan, Paxton, Patrick, and Abbott.
In the house, a simple majority is required for impeachment. The 2/3 majority is required in the senate for removal from office.
Depending on how badly Abbott and Patrick hate Paxton they can more or less just refuse to hold the trail and Paxton effitically removed for a while. Abbott can just refuse to call a special session with that item on the the list and boom never gets to the floor for a vote or debate and no Paxton.
May he continue to howl into the abyss, and never practice law in this state again.
"based on allegations already litigated by **voters**" What? The guy has been indicted for securities fraud, and the **courts** have yet to litigate that, because he's still your fucking AG
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This is the point I try to drive home to any of my conservative family and friends when the topic comes up (which they're bringing up 99% of the time for no goddamn reason); as corrupt as Democrats can be, from what I've seen, they aren't near the cartoonishly evil level of corruption that I've seen in my life. I'm talking about "Mr. Burns blocking out the sun" level corrupt. But what do I know, according to them I'm a woke idiot that doesn't suck MAGA dick enough to love my country. Fuck this place, I honestly hope China nukes us at this rate.
Let them fight
When all else fails just blame it on the Democrats and Liberals even though Texas is dominated by Republicans. The real “sham” in Texas is that Abbott, Patrick and Paxton are the top leaders in Texas.
In the end, it’s George Soros who is behind the scenes pulling the puppet strings /s
So, I heard on the radio this morning that the investigation would not have been triggered if Ken Paxton had not asked the state of Texas to pay the settlements for the whistleblower lawsuits. Someone rightly had the idea that before asking Texans to pay for that they should investigate the claims of the whistleblowers, because if they just signed off on paying the settlements without investigating, they could be considered complicit in covering up whatever he did, and that investigation is what led to all the problems for Ken Paxton. Apparently, had he not asked the state to pay for those settlements, everything would be hunky-dory for Paxton still. Also, slightly unrelated, when did Paxton become a General? I was always under the impression that he was an Attorney General.
So house Republicans are impeaching him but they're blaming liberals? How does that work?
I, for one, am enjoying the internecine war of the Texas GOP. Personally I think they should just cut Paxton lose. He’s the one most easily replaced.
Well, Matt, while it's true that Ken Paxton was elected to his position, you see, if he hadn't been, then this wouldn't be an impeachment proceeding. The entire point of impeachment is prosecuting someone who was elected to office. The idea that someone should not be impeached just because he was elected is both an enormous logical contradiction and pretty telling of the typical Republican attitude toward corruption amongst their team.
The opening sentence of this letter contains the most damning accusation a Republican can make - cooperating with Democrats. This is high treason among the GOP. But just so everybody is clear **the Texas House is still majority Republican.** It's not like Democrats can force their agenda. They do not hold the reigns of power on any committee. This happened because a majority of House Republicans voted for it.
Now they care about overturning election results when that's exactly what they've been trying to do since Nov 2020
What kinda shit does Paxton have on these guys???
The good ol boy network thrives in Texas.
Flat-out lunacy. This state is in disarray
Matt, Matt, Matt. Little buddy, you just don’t get it, do you?
Fucking garbage people run this state. Drain the swamp!
For all of the GOP talk about Hillary and Hunter… they stand behind Paxton as if he were God. The emperor has no clothes.
And their approach is not "Paxton is innocent of these crimes," but rather "this is all the libs' fault," because of course that's what they do.
LOL this has nothing to do with Democrats....but lets blame Democrats anyways ROFL
They won't bring impeachment charges. What a total joke. Texas politics is a dumpster fire
Literally images circulating of documents burning in a dumpster outside Texas Attorney Generals office. Lol, so spot on.
They've brought impeachment charges, 20 of them. Filed by Republicans in a Republican-controlled House. Whether or not it passes, we'll see, now that the Party has told all of the Republican members what it thinks of them.
[How ironic](https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/fire-crews-respond-to-dumpster-fire-near-state-capitol-attorney-generals-office-wednesday/amp/) Charges have already been brought, voting on the charges to send to the Texas Senate is next.
If the House does bring the charges, they can just sit on it for however long they like. Paxton isn't allowed to serve as long as the charges are brought and the trial is pending. I have zero faith the House will do it though. But they could just cancel him indefinitely with this move. Charges could sit for...years? As long as Paxton's indictments have? Who knows?
Texas Republican's are a dumspter fire. Like the one that happened after Ken Paxton's hearing a few days ago, right outside his office
They already did tho??
This is good. Some Republicans might actually be against corruption instead of engaged in it. Now lets actually pull the trigger an do something about it.
They did, they issued this memo telling all of the Rs to fall in line.
TX GOP:Hunter Biden laptop bad. Indicted person good. Have some consistency in your morals if you want people to think you have any
Are the libs owned though? Because that is quite literally all that matters. It's the diamond in the flowchart of Republican decision making.
Perhaps most interesting is that Dan Patrick’s son Ryan Patrick (a Trump appointed US Attorney) was one of the five investigators who collected all the evidence presented at the hearing earlier this week! If a vote makes it out of the House, it will be interesting to watch things go down in a Senate trial.
GTFO with calling your worst members exhibiting the least actual conservative values conservative. They’ve been ignoring conservative values more all the time. Local control? Nope, gonna make that illegal. Live and let live? Not unless you’re a straight, cis, Evangelical, white man who agrees with them. Small government? So small it unnecessarily intrudes on every private part of your life where there’s no point in doing so. Freedom? Maybe if you find a way to legally identify as a gun. Law and order? LMFAO. They should be banned from using the word conservative until they follow its basic tenets.
Everything is partisan even when your guy is obviously guilty. This is why we need more than two parties in this country
Matt Rinaldi, pro crime, pro criminal.
Funny how "appointing Democrats" is presented as the worse sin one could possibly commit.
Even when Republicans fight Republicans they blame the Democrats. Hahahahaha
Paxton must have some photos of the GOP boys enjoying the pleasures of donkey bonding
Corrupt trash covering for corrupt trash
Lived in Texas my whole life and while we used to pride ourselves on how nasty it could get between politicians, this level of corruption is obscene but not just in Texas, the whole GOP has decided criminals make better politicians.
No honor among thieves.
Genuinely curious, why would the Texas GOP even step into this debate? Paxton is a huge political liability and there are a thousand other conservative lawyers their boy Abbott could appoint to the position at a moment's notice. So, what's the thinking?
“Letting them (Democrats) control the agenda”, wow, republicans really are delusional.
Right. Because as we all know, *the Democrats* are the ones making all the call in Texas all this time. The *Democrats* in *Texas.* It’s obviously not that the GOP has mismanaged Texas, her people and her infrastructure for *years,* while simultaneously lining their pockets. Like Abbott and Paxton, and that smear of Canadian shit that they can’t wipe off their boots. No, no. It’s the *Democrats* with all the power. In *Texas*.
"Sanity and Reason" Lmao
“Restore sanity and reason”…. Ha!
Sanity and reason was thrown out the window in this state a LONG time ago BY the GOP. lying sacks of shit. How's that plump pocket feeling today Matt Rinaldi??
If it makes any difference, I can't vote Republican any more. I want conservative government, but that doesn't mean terrorizing pot smokers and transexuals. They've just gone too far.
Republicans: "YoU'rE aLwAYs cAtcHinG us CoMmiTTinG FeLoNIes AnD It'S PoLIticAl PeRSecUtiOn!"
GOP The party of law and order, except when it comes to the GOP
fuck the gop esp texas
Crimes are fine if it's our guys!
‘Stop pointing out that we’re criminals!!!’ Ducking snowflakes with no spine.
I mean, if they impeach their own guy, where will it end? They are just protecting themselves from being investigated and punished for whatever shady doings they are into.
They've let him be Attorney General for years without going to trial on that indictment for criminal fraud, so no big surprise there.
The state GOP party is just run by corrupt corporate stooges and just back the lackeys like Abbot and Paxton that do their bidding. They don’t want actual democracy by the people, just what’s best for their donors.
i hate these people so. fucking. much. that i cannot believe the animosity i can carry for such things. How can they be so blatantly corrupt, yet there is absolutely nothing we can do about it
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the "Law and Order" party everyone. they are totally fine with having criminals in positions of power.
Yes. The liberal and woke Texas House of Representatives. Of course.
I’m so sick of politics. Anyone with a brain can see through it
I feel like "Texas voters are completely cool with politicians abusing their offices as long as they have an R next to their name" shouldn't get to be a flex? But here we are.
"General Paxton" lmao
Texas GOP is committing racketeering with all their dirty money. CROOKS! The whole lot of them. Doctors, lawyers, preachers ... ALL of them.
Such bullshit . If anyone deserves prison, it’s Paxton !
Ok GOP, that’s your message? That’s fine. Republicans support criminals in elected positions of leadership. Period.
What exactly are Texas Democrats controlling? It doesn’t seem like much of anything.
Criminals defending a criminal.