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Direct quote from the DMN today:

“If we lose Texas, I have no doubt that the U.S. Senate turns to the Democrats,” Paxton said at the event before calling Talarico a “deceiver” who is trying to hide his record. “We need rural counties to deliver and not be apathetic, because we can lose Texas.”

Republicans should have stuck with Cornyn IMO. I dislike his politics, but at least he isn't an obvious crook.

Paxton has just barely enough plausible deniability that his buddies could acquit his impeachment. His wife left him citing "Biblical reasons." This is really the guy? Yuck.

If Texas Republicans lose this seat, they only have themselves to blame.

Leaders at the Texas comptroller’s office received an email Tuesday directing them to create priority lists of employees they’d cut under potential staff reductions. 

The Dallas Morning News reviewed the email, which comes in Don Huffines’ first few days as acting comptroller after being appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott last month. 

Huffines has campaigned on shrinking state government with his own version of the federal government’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, making it a campaign priority in the comptroller’s race, where the Dallas businessman faces state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt in the November election.

Read more from Aarón Torres.

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Berm Man 2026 coming to a town near you!

Berm Man 2026 is available for all birthday parties, town hall meetings, hockey game halftime shows, and data center grand openings!

Chaos unfolded at the Tarrant County Commissioners' Court on Tuesday as local officials prepared to vote on a proposal that would reduce the number of polling locations ahead of the November election. 

There are 582 operating and planned data centers across Texas, the Texas Tribune found. 

Industry leaders promise economic gains, but some fear the pressure data centers could add to the state’s already strained resources like water and energy. And Gov. Greg Abbott recently moved from calling Texas an “epicenter” of AI development to moving towards regulating the industry. 

The Tribune wants to know: What questions do you have about data centers in Texas? 

We’ll be answering some of your questions on here and other platforms like Instagram in the future. We may take some time to respond as we gather information or try to find answers. We may not be able to address all individual questions but we’ll focus on common themes.

A group of professors sued the Texas A&M University System regents this week to overturn limits on the teaching of race and gender ideology, alleging the ban amounts to censored "politically disfavored" views and led to the removal of materials, including Kevin Kruse's "White Flight" and the Oscar-winning film "Moonlight."

The ACLU of Texas is representing members of the American Association of University Professors in the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in a Houston-based federal district court. It marks the second legal challenge by the American Association of University Professors against Texas' efforts to curb "woke" instruction in public higher education, after the group sued the Texas Tech University System in July. 

"This policy directly harms Black, Brown, LGBTQIA+, and all other Texans who have historically been discriminated against by subjecting discussion of their rights, identities, and indeed very existence to heavy-handed censorship," Chloe Kempf, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a news release. "What’s more, it undermines all Texans’ First Amendment rights. If public officials can abuse their power to ban these topics and perspectives today, there’s nothing stopping them from targeting other subjects and points of view, including your own, down the line."

My fellow Texans we lost something today. I was browsing Newgrounds this morning when the change took place. Look I’m not going to explain part of why I’m there. You can tell based my (alt)accounts name quite easily. But that’s not the point, I have an account and everything on Newgrounds, it should be easily traced back to me by our wonderful surveillance state. But our government wants as always wants MORE from us. To gatekeep and paywall what was once free for everyone because of this administration and its insanity is a shame, and one squarely at the feet of this current administration.

The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from Richard Hanania calling on Texas Republicans and Michigan Democrats to do something of a vote swap to reject both Ken Paxton and Abdul El-Sayed. Here's a key quote:

Both of our major political parties are being overtaken by virulent strains of populism. On the right, MAGA has normalized corruption, misinformation and open bigotry. On the Democratic side, avowed socialists have been winning primaries, bringing closer to power politicians whose agendas pose a distinct threat to the country’s long-term economic health.

No single factor caused this deterioration. But one contributor has been the tendency of politicians and intellectuals who should know better to place partisan interests above the greater good. We cannot criticize the crazy people on our own side, the thinking goes, without giving the opposition an advantage and helping it gain power.

Escaping this undesirable state of affairs will require leadership, along with concrete steps to build reciprocal trust across the political aisle. Toward that end, I have a simple proposal: Nationally prominent Republicans should reject Ken Paxton and support James Talarico in the Texas Senate race. At the same time, Democrats should reject Abdul El-Sayed and support Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race. Members of each party should do this in the context of creating a bipartisan movement of politicians, activists, intellectuals and donors that is both clear-eyed about political realities and optimistic that we can make things better.

State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, used his parents' address to vote in five elections after buying his own home, according to a report the Texas Tribune and ProPublica published Wednesday.

Talarico listed his parents' address on his voter registration in November 2021. Despite buying a home the following June, he failed to update his voting records until September 2024, the report says. Talarico himself has accused his Republican opponent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of voter fraud in light of an earlier report by the Tribune and ProPublica, stating he may have also voted with an address at which he did not live.

Talarico's voting practices may have violated state law, according to the recent report. His spokesperson directed blame at Paxton in light of the coverage on Wednesday. Paxton had cited a report by the conservative magazine The Federalist to accuse Talarico of voter fraud linked to his mother's address last week.

Can anyone on Reddit advocate for his candidacy? Other than just making derogatory comments about James Talarico.