Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

*facepalm*

What we have here is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is under Federal investigation for numerous abuses of office, either unable to understand the statistics behind drug studies - which are complex - or not caring and just wanting to drum up some attention for himself. He's suing Pfizer for $10mil because the pandemic didn't end as soon as the vaccine came out.

Now, the fact that the Texas government is run by Republicans, and as a rule Republicans poo-poohed the precautions of masking, getting vaccinated, social distancing, etc. to reduce the spread of the virus - that surely has nothing to do with the fact that the disease continued to spread and kill.

I'm thinking that Pfizer has more than a large enough war chest, not to mention willingness to make Paxton look like a complete idiot in a court room.

https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/12/texas-sues-pfizer-with-covid-anti-vax-argument-that-is-pure-stupid/

You never let me down!

"Since teachng this course, I have caught and seen cheating, been told to 'chill out,' 'get out of my space,' 'go back and teach,' [been] called a 'f***ing moron' to my face... listened to many hurtful and untrue rumors about myself and others... I am frankly and completely disgusted. You all lack the honor and maturity to live up to the standards that Texas A&M holds, and the competence and/or desire to do the quality work necessary to pass the course... All are being awarded a failing grade."
—Professor Irwin Horwitz, in an email to the students in his strategic management class

Now, I'm honestly not Texas-bashing on this one. I think this is more reflective of Wall Street and general trends on greed. But I still found it interesting and it will be fascinating to see what kind of kerfuffle it causes.


THIS is the best news from Texas that I've read recently: THEY'RE BEING INVADED BY THE U.S. ARMY!

http://www.salon.com/2015/04/30/right_wing_lunatics_think_the_military_is_planning_to_invade_texas_heres_why/

The Army is conducting a multi-state training exercise in the Southwest. including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, etc. to simulate war in a variety of environments and will be run on military reserves and on private land for which the military has obtained permission. Apparently a map was seen that labeled Texas as hostile.

The governor was quoted by Associated Press as follows:

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday asked the State Guard to monitor a U.S. military training exercise dubbed “Jade Helm 15″ amid Internet-fueled suspicions that the war simulation is really a hostile military takeover…

“It is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed,” Abbott wrote. “By monitoring the Operation on a continual basis, the State Guard will facilitate communications between my office and the commanders of the Operation to ensure that adequate measures are in place to protect Texans.”

Yes, the Texas State Guard will keep an eye on what the U.S. Army is doing, because they'll be so effective at stopping M1 Abrams tanks and helicopter gun ships.

The article goes on to mention that Texas has 15 army bases, one is about 80 miles south of where I live.

You know, if this is what it takes to get Texas to redistrict fairly, I say go for it. ;-)

"He's going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the U.N., and what is going to happen when that happens? I'm thinking the worst. Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. And we're not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations, we're talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy."
—Texas county judge Tom Head, on President Obama

He goes on to say: "OK, what do you think he is going to do when that happens? He is going to call in the U.N. troops, personnel carriers, tanks and whatever." And your evidence on this is what, exactly? Why hasn't he done this already in his term if he was going to do it? Head is the county judge in Lubbock county, which is the highest county elected official, and he's been in office since 1999. Among other things, he's in charge of sanity hearings. In a fuller version of the quote, he says that Obama will bring in U.N. troops. Most countries know how many guns are in the U.S., somehow I don't think they'd send their troops in here. Much less the fact that, contrary to how most people think, the U.N. doesn't really have a standing army.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-lubbock-judge-20120824,0,2611163,full.story

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/23/us/texas-judge-warning/index.html

NPR did a little study at the ramifications of Texas seceding from the United States. It would have the 13th largest economy in the world. But they didn't mention a couple of things that I wish they'd addressed. One was infrastructure costs: the United States government, meaning the 49 other states, paid for a bunch of roads, airport upgrades, military bases, etc. How much would it cost Texas to buy all that back. I think the remaining 49 would be due a rebate, which might help quite a bit with the deficit.

And while on the topic of military bases, Texas doesn't have a lot of manufacturers of tanks and jeeps and jets as far as I know. I know they have some aerospace. NASA would probably have to move their Texas operations to Florida or elsewhere since Texas would be a sovereign nation.

And what about agriculture? I don't think Texas produces everything they might want for a varied diet.

But most of all, I'm curious about border control. Considering that Homeland Security now requires a passport or border card to enter or return from Mexico or Canada, I'm sure the same requirement would be made for The Nation of Texas. But what about flights going through DFW or Houston? Would you be able to change planes as long as you didn't leave the international area, or would you have to be re-screened? Speaking of which, Homeland Security just announced that Brits flying to Canada or the Caribbean have to be pre-screened PRIOR to leaving the UK, even though they're not touching American soil. But I'll leave that for another post.

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/30/149094135/lone-star-state-of-mind-could-texas-go-it-alone?sc=17&f=1001

We've been doing a little bit of traveling recently, and along with some exploration of local restaurants, I've accumulated a few business cards and wanted to pass along some decent places to eat. I'm going to group 'em by city, just for the heck of it.


Landry's Seafood House
6801 Gateway Blvd. West
El Paso, TX
915-779-2900

Upscale fish place with good lunches. We had a half order Oysters Rockefeller with a crab/shrimp fondue as appetizers, along with a chicken sandwich (me) and IIRC a stuffed pasta/ravioli dish (Russet) for lunch. The Oysters Rockefeller were fantastic! I had never had them until about a year ago when I saw a Good Eats episode where Alton made them and decided that I really had to try them. I had them in Phoenix at Fish Market (recommended -- their cheesy garlic bread is great!), and though I liked them there, what I had at Landry's simply blew Fish Market's away. They were simply great. The fondue was also excellent: I've never been a huge fan of cheese sauce dishes because of the propensity of people to use inferior cheeses, but this was very nice. Recommended. My sandwich was good, and it was a HUGE piece of chicken! Effectively it was 1.5 or 2 sandwiches, in fact, the poodle got some of my chicken. And Russet's meal was also very good. I'd like to go back for dinner some time: they have a Chilean Sea Bass that I really want to try, though Russet says that it is an endangered fish. I had sea bass in San Diego during ComicCon a few years ago and fell in love with it then.

Price: it's not cheap. Entres are in the $15-30 level, but the portion sizes are very generous. And with good quality food, an occasional indulgence is nice and well worth it.

Location: it's on the N side of I-10 east of the airport. Unfortunately I don't recall the exit that you'd take to double-back on. You'll see a shopping center with a Target and Mervyn's, Landry's, then a Sam's Club/Wal Mart followed by another shopping center. I'm sure Russet will chime in with the name of the second mall's exit.


Oh, almost forgot to mention: Landry's is a chain, apparently including a New Orleans location. So there might possibly be one near you.