Enjoy! I'm waiting for the revival of Texas' proud liberal tradition (remember Ann Richards, Molly Ivins, Ralph Yarborough, and many more) when voters in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and other, smaller cities like Brownsville and Corpus Christi, defy the voting restrictions imposed by Republicans.
Agree; there are lots more, e.g. Sissy Farenthold and my Lion's Head drinking buddy when he was visiting New York, Jim Hightower. I'd even add Lyndon Johnson, signer of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but for the Vietnam debacle.
I thought of both Jims, Wright and Hightower, in the same breath, but since those you named have gone on to that great ranch in the sky I scratched the (I believe) quite sentient Mr Hightower. Sissy Farenthold deserves to be named for sure, and how could Barbara Jordan not be high on any list! Johnson crossed my mind too; I'll leave him to Caro. —diane
BTW, I danced the Cotton-Eyed Joe with Sissy Farenthold and twenty or so other of her best friends at a fund raiser for Jim Hightower's campaign for Chair of the Texas Railroad Commission at the Lone Star Cafe in Greenwich Village.
It was an afternoon event. I was there with my then girlfriend, a Nashville gal named Charleen. Music was by a Brooklyn Jewish C&W band called Hank B. and the Coney Island Cowboys.
Am so glad I read through this thread, because I was afraid Kinky Friedman had been forgotten! And...Barbara Jordan. We could really use her now, instead of the Marjorie Trailer Queens festering through our political system.
Jim Mattox. I encountered him on the Capitol grounds once (I worked in an office there) and shook his hand and said, "Glad to meet the next governor!" It was one of those years he was running. Didn't win, tho'. A flawed candidate, perhaps, but a fighter for citizens.
A wise retired federal administrative judge comments prolifically in another Substack forum. He claims that racism, subconscious and conscious, drives Republican dynamics. He is persuasive. A generational reversal of the current imbalance seems to me the best hope, but Florida tyrant #2 is certainly working fiendishly to frustrate that.
Good ol' Lloyd Doggett is still there, fighting the good fight, in the US Congress now. Despite repeated efforts by Texas Repubs to gerrymander him out of his seat.
Thank you for the potato asparagus sheet pan recipe. I have an unusually large amount of asparagus in my garden this year and looking for recipes. Your recipe looks great! Definitely will make it. Cheers on the Paxton impeachment!! He should have been in jail for the last several years, but at least this is a step in the right direction. 🥂
Spoke about your writing today in synagogue, and l mentioned Substack as a portal for sharing ideas and evaluating challenges.
We were celebrating Shavuot , the festival of the harvest., this weekend. We eat dairy and recall the Ten Commandments (not the movie), and the importance of civil society based on shared beliefs. I prefer to think of the list as The Ten Suggestions.
Respect the rights of others to make their own decisions, is Numero Uno in my humble opinion. But nobody consulted me!
Fortunately when l was growing up, girls were permitted to attend school. Not so my grandparents who were raised in homes without secular books, in Eastern-European villages without schools that Jewish children were permitted to attend.
Love the celebration dinners! What a nifty idea - especially with the Trump people getting deeper and deeper into the metaphorical soup. (Y'all have my word that when Lardass is sentenced to prison, any prison will do, I'm going to dine on only Osetra (no blinis, maybe a touch of crème fraiche.)
This was a lovely turn of phrase, Mr. T.: "I almost broke my arm this afternoon patting myself on my back for having chosen the subject of this morning’s column yesterday."
I liked seeing that Mr. and Mrs. T. read at meals -- unless that pile of papers is for Tazzie.
I remember years ago (like 50) I was having lunch outside at La Colombe d'or in the south of France and happened to look inside the bar. There I saw Yves Montand and Simone Signoret both reading newspapers. I was young, and then only married twice, and I thought: "That marriage is over." Well, it wasn't, dummy me.
That wonderful old pile is somehow soothing to me because I went there to recover from Trump. He had the last laugh, though, because I never did. Haven't to this day.
I've gotten pretty far from dinner at the Truscott manse, as he likes to say, so apologies.
Wander wherever your mind takes you Margo, it’s what we all do, so no apologies please. I enjoyed being in the south of France with you. Speaking of the south of France, the Canes Film Festival finished today, some very interesting and hopeful films did very well, it’s encouraging to know that our mindset is engaged all over the world.
There may be some sanity after all in Texas, they are starting to eat their own, now that the knives are out we shall see just how sane Texans want to be, they have a lot of room for improvement.
That's a fine feast for such a worthy celebration. For the conviction dinner, may I suggest a couple of special side dishes: grilled scorpions and pickled rattlesnake.
My wife and I have cut back on the alcohol. But my neighbor informed me of the Paxton impeachment. We hadn't believed it would really happen. So tonight we had a celebration cocktail before dinner: first Coho of the season, buttered purple potatoes and and parsley, and green and purple slaw with vinaigrette. I like sherry vinegar, but if you can find it, an feel like splurging, look for Vinegar of Banyuls.
Vote rather surprised me, considering the lengthy rap sheet appeared to be mostly ignored for a long time. Time will tell what the senate will do but for now Paxton is out of his job. Celebrate every victory! Thanks for photo, recipe and the fine writing.
My compliments to the chef! And to the Texas House for finally getting around to holding their indicted Attorney General to account. How embarrassing to have an indicted Attorney General?
Not embarrassing enough to have not elected and re-elected him. Despair over our fellow citizens and neighbors was a reason why we moved from Texas (Austin) two years ago.
Yes, Kozmo, every time he has been re-elected I have been so disappointed! It's terrible that you had to leave your home. Hopefully, the majority will rule in Texas some day soon.
Never say never again -- fate or financial necessity could see us called back to South Texas, at least -- San Antonio or Corpus Christi are the likeliest possibilities. It could never be Austin again. These things will manifest as they will. Meanwhile, enjoying what Badgerland has to offer.
Well, two great minds think alike, (Okay one great mind, yours, and one a shade less great (mine :) but I was going to write you and suggest Paxton as a subject for an article. I had seen a segment on CNN about his dark deeds. I never liked the guy from brief glimpses of him and things he said on TV clips.
Perhaps you could clarify the roll the State Senate will play in this as someone they interviewed said Paxton is already out of office, and can only be reinstated by a senate vote (I forget the percentage required). ,
"Under the Texas Constitution, Paxton is suspended from office pending the outcome of the Senate trial. The Senate had recessed before the House voted to impeach, and Patrick, who presides over the Senate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about a timeline for an impeachment trial.
Because Paxton was impeached while the Legislature was in session, the Texas Constitution requires the Senate to remain in Austin after the regular session ends Monday or set a trial date for the future, with no deadline for a trial spelled out in the law."
I bet the Texas State Senate meets to acquit him long before he faces a trial from his 2015 indictment. Such is the sad state of "justice" in my former state.
I don’t understand why, if he was indicted for securities fraud in 2015, he has yet to be tried. Is it because he is an office holder? And if he is booted from his position, will he then be tried (probably for many more crimes)?
I wish I knew these answers. What I've read in the past, it is a very confusing situation and there seems to be an equal amount of obstructionism and institutional inertia/lack of urgency to blame. Paxton has learned well at the feet of his cult idol Drumpf.
The truth will come out. It always does. I wonder if his wife, who is a Texas Senator, had anything to do with it? Part of his dirty dealings with Nate Paul had to do with Paxton's mistress. A woman scorned?
That would be entertaining. But I also have to think, looking at Paxton and what his character is like, I think, "Sheesh, what woman would *want* an affair with a rancid weasel like that?" I have no idea what his wife is like or what she may think.
Yes, he is certainly NOT "easy on the eyes". But I've learned that affairs are usually not about how someone looks as much as what they represent to the other person.
Thrilled to hear this about Paxton. What a massive sleazeball....hope he goes down in flames! Great dinner. I hope you enjoyed every, well-deserved, mouthful. Thanks for writing!
Enjoy! I'm waiting for the revival of Texas' proud liberal tradition (remember Ann Richards, Molly Ivins, Ralph Yarborough, and many more) when voters in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and other, smaller cities like Brownsville and Corpus Christi, defy the voting restrictions imposed by Republicans.
… Jim Wright (belongs on the named list).
Agree; there are lots more, e.g. Sissy Farenthold and my Lion's Head drinking buddy when he was visiting New York, Jim Hightower. I'd even add Lyndon Johnson, signer of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but for the Vietnam debacle.
I thought of both Jims, Wright and Hightower, in the same breath, but since those you named have gone on to that great ranch in the sky I scratched the (I believe) quite sentient Mr Hightower. Sissy Farenthold deserves to be named for sure, and how could Barbara Jordan not be high on any list! Johnson crossed my mind too; I'll leave him to Caro. —diane
BTW, I danced the Cotton-Eyed Joe with Sissy Farenthold and twenty or so other of her best friends at a fund raiser for Jim Hightower's campaign for Chair of the Texas Railroad Commission at the Lone Star Cafe in Greenwich Village.
I loved that joint! What a night that must have been.
It was an afternoon event. I was there with my then girlfriend, a Nashville gal named Charleen. Music was by a Brooklyn Jewish C&W band called Hank B. and the Coney Island Cowboys.
Sorry I forgot to mention Barbara Jordan. For shame!
Am so glad I read through this thread, because I was afraid Kinky Friedman had been forgotten! And...Barbara Jordan. We could really use her now, instead of the Marjorie Trailer Queens festering through our political system.
Having done some time myself in trailer parks, I don't mind being called elitist for finding "Marjorie Trailer Queens" inspired.
Jim Mattox. I encountered him on the Capitol grounds once (I worked in an office there) and shook his hand and said, "Glad to meet the next governor!" It was one of those years he was running. Didn't win, tho'. A flawed candidate, perhaps, but a fighter for citizens.
I wish I could share this optimism, but 30 years of losing has been a hard knock to overcome. I'll believe this when I see it, alas.
A wise retired federal administrative judge comments prolifically in another Substack forum. He claims that racism, subconscious and conscious, drives Republican dynamics. He is persuasive. A generational reversal of the current imbalance seems to me the best hope, but Florida tyrant #2 is certainly working fiendishly to frustrate that.
You would know better than most, Kosmo, sad to say
Good ol' Lloyd Doggett is still there, fighting the good fight, in the US Congress now. Despite repeated efforts by Texas Repubs to gerrymander him out of his seat.
Thank you for the potato asparagus sheet pan recipe. I have an unusually large amount of asparagus in my garden this year and looking for recipes. Your recipe looks great! Definitely will make it. Cheers on the Paxton impeachment!! He should have been in jail for the last several years, but at least this is a step in the right direction. 🥂
What's prompting the Texas Legislature to step up now to do what should have been done five years ago. Skeptical minds want to know.
I love watching the GOP cannibalize its own!
Spoke about your writing today in synagogue, and l mentioned Substack as a portal for sharing ideas and evaluating challenges.
We were celebrating Shavuot , the festival of the harvest., this weekend. We eat dairy and recall the Ten Commandments (not the movie), and the importance of civil society based on shared beliefs. I prefer to think of the list as The Ten Suggestions.
Respect the rights of others to make their own decisions, is Numero Uno in my humble opinion. But nobody consulted me!
Fortunately when l was growing up, girls were permitted to attend school. Not so my grandparents who were raised in homes without secular books, in Eastern-European villages without schools that Jewish children were permitted to attend.
Thank you for this, Babette.
This made me laugh:
"and recall the Ten Commandments (not the movie)"
Thank you, Babette!
Love the celebration dinners! What a nifty idea - especially with the Trump people getting deeper and deeper into the metaphorical soup. (Y'all have my word that when Lardass is sentenced to prison, any prison will do, I'm going to dine on only Osetra (no blinis, maybe a touch of crème fraiche.)
This was a lovely turn of phrase, Mr. T.: "I almost broke my arm this afternoon patting myself on my back for having chosen the subject of this morning’s column yesterday."
I liked seeing that Mr. and Mrs. T. read at meals -- unless that pile of papers is for Tazzie.
I remember years ago (like 50) I was having lunch outside at La Colombe d'or in the south of France and happened to look inside the bar. There I saw Yves Montand and Simone Signoret both reading newspapers. I was young, and then only married twice, and I thought: "That marriage is over." Well, it wasn't, dummy me.
That wonderful old pile is somehow soothing to me because I went there to recover from Trump. He had the last laugh, though, because I never did. Haven't to this day.
I've gotten pretty far from dinner at the Truscott manse, as he likes to say, so apologies.
Wander wherever your mind takes you Margo, it’s what we all do, so no apologies please. I enjoyed being in the south of France with you. Speaking of the south of France, the Canes Film Festival finished today, some very interesting and hopeful films did very well, it’s encouraging to know that our mindset is engaged all over the world.
There may be some sanity after all in Texas, they are starting to eat their own, now that the knives are out we shall see just how sane Texans want to be, they have a lot of room for improvement.
That's a fine feast for such a worthy celebration. For the conviction dinner, may I suggest a couple of special side dishes: grilled scorpions and pickled rattlesnake.
My wife and I have cut back on the alcohol. But my neighbor informed me of the Paxton impeachment. We hadn't believed it would really happen. So tonight we had a celebration cocktail before dinner: first Coho of the season, buttered purple potatoes and and parsley, and green and purple slaw with vinaigrette. I like sherry vinegar, but if you can find it, an feel like splurging, look for Vinegar of Banyuls.
We'll be right over!
Sorry the cupcake eating bear got the salmon and then went on for dessert at the bakery. https://www.npr.org/2023/05/27/1178575851/an-avondale-bakery-had-an-unwelcome-visitor
Vote rather surprised me, considering the lengthy rap sheet appeared to be mostly ignored for a long time. Time will tell what the senate will do but for now Paxton is out of his job. Celebrate every victory! Thanks for photo, recipe and the fine writing.
My compliments to the chef! And to the Texas House for finally getting around to holding their indicted Attorney General to account. How embarrassing to have an indicted Attorney General?
Not embarrassing enough to have not elected and re-elected him. Despair over our fellow citizens and neighbors was a reason why we moved from Texas (Austin) two years ago.
Yes, Kozmo, every time he has been re-elected I have been so disappointed! It's terrible that you had to leave your home. Hopefully, the majority will rule in Texas some day soon.
As you say!
Never say never again -- fate or financial necessity could see us called back to South Texas, at least -- San Antonio or Corpus Christi are the likeliest possibilities. It could never be Austin again. These things will manifest as they will. Meanwhile, enjoying what Badgerland has to offer.
I could celebrate with just the potatoes!
buon gusto, lucco!
Well, two great minds think alike, (Okay one great mind, yours, and one a shade less great (mine :) but I was going to write you and suggest Paxton as a subject for an article. I had seen a segment on CNN about his dark deeds. I never liked the guy from brief glimpses of him and things he said on TV clips.
Perhaps you could clarify the roll the State Senate will play in this as someone they interviewed said Paxton is already out of office, and can only be reinstated by a senate vote (I forget the percentage required). ,
Excellent article from The Texas Tribune:
"Under the Texas Constitution, Paxton is suspended from office pending the outcome of the Senate trial. The Senate had recessed before the House voted to impeach, and Patrick, who presides over the Senate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about a timeline for an impeachment trial.
Because Paxton was impeached while the Legislature was in session, the Texas Constitution requires the Senate to remain in Austin after the regular session ends Monday or set a trial date for the future, with no deadline for a trial spelled out in the law."
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/27/ken-paxton-impeached-texas-attorney-general/?utm_source=Texas+Tribune+Newsletters&utm_campaign=12c5227bf2-trib-newsletters-top-story-alert&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d9a68d8efc-12c5227bf2-103021596&mc_cid=12c5227bf2&mc_eid=d48c53a155
I bet the Texas State Senate meets to acquit him long before he faces a trial from his 2015 indictment. Such is the sad state of "justice" in my former state.
I don’t understand why, if he was indicted for securities fraud in 2015, he has yet to be tried. Is it because he is an office holder? And if he is booted from his position, will he then be tried (probably for many more crimes)?
I wish I knew these answers. What I've read in the past, it is a very confusing situation and there seems to be an equal amount of obstructionism and institutional inertia/lack of urgency to blame. Paxton has learned well at the feet of his cult idol Drumpf.
Lucian’s latest column explained everything.
Thank Gail, really clears it up. Will be interesting to see how the drama unfolds.
Baked salmon and ratatouille for me😎
So Paxton as a criminal has been completly obvious for years. So whats up with him being tossed out of his own criminal group. Texas Republicans.
Was he skimming?
" I suspect he was about to become an embarrassment."
Joubert
The truth will come out. It always does. I wonder if his wife, who is a Texas Senator, had anything to do with it? Part of his dirty dealings with Nate Paul had to do with Paxton's mistress. A woman scorned?
That would be entertaining. But I also have to think, looking at Paxton and what his character is like, I think, "Sheesh, what woman would *want* an affair with a rancid weasel like that?" I have no idea what his wife is like or what she may think.
Yes, he is certainly NOT "easy on the eyes". But I've learned that affairs are usually not about how someone looks as much as what they represent to the other person.
Thrilled to hear this about Paxton. What a massive sleazeball....hope he goes down in flames! Great dinner. I hope you enjoyed every, well-deserved, mouthful. Thanks for writing!