not to make a prediction but i really don’t think cruz is talented or charismatic enough to come back from “went to cancun while his constituents froze to death”
i’m not even saying a democrat will beat him. it’s an opening for anyone in texas politics who wants a senate seat
who said anything about beto? i can think of a few high profile texas republicans who have the juice to run a primary campaign
through his office and campaign, ted cruz has thousands of contacts across the state and direct access to the kinds of people who can help organize and deliver relief. for someone who isn’t in the texas government itself, he is uniquely positioned to help.
it’s all “we don’t need government only charity and personal initiative” until we actually need charity and personal initiative and then it’s “well what do you expect him to do”
a united states senate seat isn’t a platform for shitposting. it’s a public trust. and ted cruz is violating it.
sometimes i think about the incredibly strange teenaged mutant ninja turtles rip-offs from my childhood. you know, your “street sharks” and “bike mice from mars”.
*biker mice
once tried to explain street sharks to my wife and she gave me a look of “oh no what did i get myself into”
even the slow-ass northeast regional is so much better than flying that when traveling to DC or New York from central virginia i will take it each time over a flight
anyway Cato is just doing the bidding of their fossil fuel masters. in the real world, forward-thinking states (like Virginia!) are planning big expansions of passenger rail because it is a) more cost-effective than new highways and b) very popular
connecting the nation's major metro areas by *any* passenger rail, to say nothing of high speed rail, would be transformative
i'm about halfway through @ProfEFP's book "Ku-Klux: The Birth of the Klan During Reconstruction" and it is absolutely fascinating uncpress.org/book/978146965…
in particular, the ways in which mass media helped spread the idea of "ku-klux" violence which in turn shapes how victims and perpetrators of violence in the reconstruction south present their experiences and motives
it's that relationship to media which seems to be a real point of continuity between the reconstruction klan and the "second klan" of the 1910s and 20s.