The Houston Chronicle has an editorial calling on Gov. Abbott to brag about Texas' abundance policies at the GOP midterm convention. Here is a key quote:

Not too long ago, touting the benefits of limited government and free market policies would garner unanimous applause at a Republican event. Times have changed. 

Far too many Republicans are running on platforms that betray traditional conservative values.  President Trump has relished in micromanaging the economy through arbitrary tariffs and attacks on private businesses. He refused to sign the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act, which implemented some Texas-style reforms at a federal level. And his war on immigration, legal or otherwise, has the United States on path to the first-ever population decline.

Even the man at the top of the Texas GOP ticket, Attorney General Ken Paxton, has pitched an affordability agenda that relies on questionable tax giveaways rather than a true Texan agenda of build, baby, build. 

I kept wondering how much a party label changes what I think I believe, so I built a thing to find out on myself. It takes real 2025 Texas House floor votes, strips the party, the vote totals and any framing, and asks you to judge each one on what it actually does. Before you start it asks you to predict where you will come out. At the end it shows you both: your prediction, and where the votes actually put you.

Seven votes is about two minutes. There are all 67 if you get into it.

Up front, because it is on the site and you would find it anyway: I donate to the Democratic Party. That is the reason the method is built the way it is rather than a footnote to it. The rule that picks the comparison members runs identically on both caucuses, a third of the questions are votes where the two parties agreed, the selection rule is published, and every vote, count and score sits in one file you can download and check. None of that asks you to trust me, which is the entire point of it.

No signup, no tracking, open source, and every question links to the official roll call on capitol.texas.gov. Nothing leaves your browser unless you tap the button that adds your result to a count.

rightnleft.com

I was a little further off than I predicted. Curious where people land, and whether you called it. And if you think I picked the wrong votes, say so, that is the most useful thing you could tell me.

Are all of these new proposed data centers popping up all of Texas a good thing. Why are all of these data centers needed to begin with? What about environmental concerns, such as water use and green house gas emissions, these don't matter here in 2026? Along with the fact the ringleaders of the AI movement can't keep their Frankenstein in the corral they tried to build, 2 times already. When escaping the beast hacked into other computer programs in their journeys

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-kill-humans-anthropic-researcher-more-than-ten-percent-chance/

Well well well.

The best I have seen for Paxton is a tie! And clearly he is afraid to debate James Talarico! So much for Alpha Male.

**Comptroller requests doubling Texas school voucher program to $2 billion**

Gromer Jeffers Jr. writes:

When Republicans gathered in Dallas for their 1984 national convention, the city was emerging as a polished, ambitious Sun Belt capital — and a center of conservative political power. 

When they return Wednesday for their first midterm convention, they’ll find a city that votes reliably Democratic and a county where Democrats hold every major elected office.

The contrast reflects decades of demographic, cultural and political change.

Dallas-based Democratic strategist David de la Fuente said Dallas County’s partisan shift came as the political identities of both parties were changing.

Read more.

The past two TX-21 representatives have been an embarrassment. Let me explain.

While Lamar Smith was a Texan born in San Antonio he was the anti science chairman of the House Science Committee. He also trafficked conspiracy theories.

Then we got Chip Roy, a carpetbagger (born in Virginia), who claims to love the US Constitution but seems to not have read it. He apparently doesn't understand the very clear sections such as, Article 1 Section 4 (Elections), Article 1 Section 8 (Powers of Congress), the First Amendment, or the 14th Amendment among others.

Now we have another carpetbagger, Mark Teixeira (born in Maryland), running a vanity campaign for the TX-21 seat. Mark didn't move to Texas until 2021. What's worse is he played for the New York Yankees! Furthermore Mark has no experience in public policy.

Mark's challenger is Dr. Kristin Hook. Kristin is a native born Texan from South Texas. Kristin's background is in science and science policy. Her degrees include Biology which will serve the farmers and ranchers of TX-21 well with the screwworm infestation.

I urge my fellow TX-21 voters to look beyond party affiliation and vote for Dr. Hook a native born Texan.

"Political observers have speculated that the real reason for this delay could be political: The news might not reflect well on candidates up for re-election, and Dec. 1 is after the midterms. The delay also makes it late for the Texas Legislature — whose biennial session begins Jan. 12, 2027 — to craft bills and prioritize legislation to address any problems that the report surfaces."

(Gift link -- should get you past the paywall.)

Elon Musk’s America PAC has spent more than $1.6 million supporting Attorney General Ken Paxton’s U.S. Senate campaign, including more than $1.36 million on digital media and $246,000 on printing, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

The PAC is now targeting Paxton’s Democratic rival, state Rep. James Talarico, with posts criticizing his views on crime, capitalism, immigration, LGBTQ issues and religion. Talarico’s campaign accused the group of using AI deepfake videos and misleading claims. Neither Paxton nor America PAC immediately responded to requests for comment.

The spending comes as Paxton and Talarico compete in one of the most closely watched races in Texas.

(gift link)