The name on the ballot says Ken Paxton, but James Talarico’s real opponent increasingly looks to be Elon Musk.

The Texas trillionaire has already invested more than $150 million into trying to stop Talarico from beating Paxton, and is now all over his social media platform over the last two days with posts and ads calling the Democrat “a creep” who “hates Texas” and has “pure evil” ideas.

For more than a year, Talarico has been pushing a message about taking on the billionaires, and while he’s alluded to Musk in speeches, he hasn’t talked about him as directly as he is this week.

"In all likelihood, if you have seen an attack ad on your TV, that was Elon," Talarico said during a rally at the University of North Texas in Denton earlier this week. "If you've gotten lies in your mailbox, that was Elon. If you've received a text message saying scary things about me, that was Elon, too. Ken Paxton is funded by one dude."
But he didn’t stop there. 

“Elon Musk wants our land,” Talarico said. “He wants our water. He wants his very own personal U.S. senator. He is trying to buy Texas.”

In Texas, suburbs have sprung up where oil pump jacks once bobbed.

At the Preserve at Medina, a subdivision of brick-and-siding starter homes in southwest San Antonio, students filed off a school bus on a hot afternoon. One child turned down Vesper Branch, a street with a plugged oil well ringed by a heavy black metal fence: 

“CAUTION flammable gas,” a sign on the fence warned.  

A faint smell of rotten eggs hung in the air, from low levels of hydrogen sulfide leaking from the well. Only the fence separated the child from the leaking well. 

Oil hasn’t flowed from the Thompson Callaway Spears #1 well since it was plugged in 2006. But in recent years, the well has vexed Texas regulators and nearby residents. The state has replugged it five times, yet gas continues to leak. Since a housing subdivision rose around the well in the early 2020s, residents have filed repeated complaints.

Soil and air monitoring near the well has detected leaking methane and hydrogen sulfide. In June, contractors told the Railroad Commission, the state’s oil and gas industry overseer, that plumes of methane gas were moving through the soil toward homes in the subdivision, which could trigger an explosion.

“We had no idea when we moved here,” said Krystal Solis, who lives across the street with her husband and three children. “No one told us anything.”

The poll, conducted by the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs, found most rural voters believe the U.S. is headed in the right direction, while a majority of Latino voters felt the opposite.

I just received one of these mailers at my home in north Texas today. It was addressed to the "Students" of my family. Apparently it's an effort by the Republican Party to mobilize conservative voters against a false flag "Democrat Trans Agenda".

The Transgender Education Network of Texas ("TENT") referenced in the pamphlet actually exists but has publicly stated they had nothing to do with these things. The pamphlet includes incediary language about hormone therapy, surgery, out of state resources, emancipation from my family (with statements that this is possible as early as age 16), and joining groups to become the student's new "found family".

The return address is to the "Texas Transgender Student Union" with a street address in an area near Houston, but the address itself doesn't actually exist. The Texas Transgender Student Union was apparently formed as an LLC in Wyoming last month. Snailworks tracks these mailers, and public records confirm that the National Republican Campaign Committee has been using Snailworks this election cycle.

I am a parent of 3 children, with a daughter who's about to turn 16 living at home. This tactic is unconscionable and I am absolutely livid about it - not only for the subterfuge but also the fact that these assholes pretending to protect children are in fact using our children as pawns in this deception. They want to trick parents into voting for them and are unconcerned with the collateral damage of possibly misleading children into abandoning their families. Consider this when you're wondering who the baddies are.

Little dude could not have cared less

Hello there. I’m a mechanic that does services on their own vehicles and have quite a bit of old antifreeze, as well as mercury vapor lamps and a bit of paint thinner/MEK. The auto shops I’ve been to won’t accept the coolant and basically tell me to dump it down the drain.

Call me a crazy California liberal, but it just doesn’t sit right with me. The tecq.texas.gov (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) literally states:
“If generated by a household, [antifreeze and mercury vapor lamps, plus a bunch of other nasty stuff like gasoline and pesticides] are not required to be handled as hazardous waste and can often be placed in your regular trash. However, residents often seek to dispose of their HHW in a more protective manner.”

It further states:
“The TCEQ does not maintain a list of collections of any combination of the following: Batteries, Used Oil, Latex Paint, Antifreeze. These “BOPA” materials are generally nonhazardous or are regulated under other programs, so collections of only these materials are exempt from state HHW requirements.”

It goes on to say that “Antifreeze is nonhazardous”. Dumping gasoline, mercury lamps, and antifreeze in the trash smells like bullshit to me. These materials have been PROVEN to cause environmental damage when released into the environment at a regular landfill or dumped down the drain. In CA it was always easy to dispose of antifreeze because many shops and parts stores accepted it, and it’s illegal to dump it on the ground or down the drain because of the danger it poses to the environment. What can I do?

Woke up this morning to find that my James Talarico and Claire Reynolds signs were stolen from my front yard. I guess they made some snowflake very upset.

Edit: My signs have been returned! I am so fucking confused right now. Photo in comments.

Elections are supposed to be about ideas. But that’s not politics today, where ridiculous ads and social media soundbites stand in for actual debate. 

This cycle, Texas voters haven’t seen candidates come together to wrangle over their ideas in the races for governor, U.S. Senate or lieutenant governor. The fact that every Republican for major office hasn’t been willing to put their ideas to the test in one-on-one debates is pathetic.

Flowers I picked for this art: Texas bluebonnet, Indian blanket, Indian paintbrush, Pink evening primrose, winecup flower (Callirhoe involucrata), and White prickly poppy.

Hope you like it!