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Posted
Quote

She questions how the state plans to regulate PFAS — also known as “forever chemicals” — in fracking water, when it hasn’t been able to do so in biosolids.

“TCEQ is also the permitting authority for biosolids, and they say that they’re not able to regulate PFOs in the biosolids. So how are they going to regulate PFOS and fracking?” she asked. “There would be number one, no criminal charge that could be brought. There would be no civil case that could be brought. And that is very, very wrong."

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/abbott-signs-law-permitting-use-of-fracking-wastewater/287-89df9861-29c7-4faa-b658-d651f94013ae

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Posted
Pretty sure you’re the one who’s missing the point. The starting point is that nothing in LA is a “riot” same with all of the George Floyd protests. With every large gathering there will be some bad actors who either support the cause using violence or who don’t care about the cause and see an opportunity to cause trouble. Local police know how to handle this without tear gassing and rubber bulletins the entire crowd (in theory at least). His other point was that anything the left protests get defined by the few while the right gets away with whatever the fuck because we are officially a shithole country. The very fact that we’re still having this conversation is obnoxious because even non troll regular contributors around here seem to be falling for the right’s tactics of defining the group by the acts of a few and more egregiously outright lies with photos of other events and bs stories from lying liars.  At minimum there should be agreement that nothing justifies national guard and fucking marines but here we are still debating what should be an open and shut question. No US military action against people on US soil. Period.

A protest adjacent to property destruction and fires is a riot. Especially at night, it doesnt matter sides or who started it; its no longer a peaceful protest.

I remember an NBA ad that was celebrating BLM, and it showed a masked rioter on top of a burnt out vehicle. Once you get that point, you can’t say the police shouldnt take action.

There are rules for protesters and the article I shared showed what they were
Posted
1 hour ago, Eskimohorn said:

A protest adjacent to property destruction and fires is a riot. Especially at night, it doesnt matter sides or who started it; its no longer a peaceful protest.

Except if it's by right-wingers intent on decapitating and overthrowing our government.  Then 1) it is absolutely a peaceful protest, and 2) anyone who the authorities dared to arrest/charge must be pardoned.

 

The right has absolutely succeeded in creating and imposing a double standard.  Not only is the right not answerable for violent conduct, it is REWARDED for it.

The opposition should learn.  You win by 1) repeated and consistent violence and threats of violence (congresspersons are legit fearful for their lives if they vote against the Regime), and then 2) using that violence and threats of violence to take power.

Those are the rules.  They've been written, and demonstrated to be true.

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Posted

Will be interesting to see what Abbott does with the THC bill.  He said earlier this week (first time he's addressed the issues as far as I know) that he'll 'put on his judge's hat and consider evidence from all sides' or something like that.  I'm sure the decision will go to whichever side contributes the most.  Patrick is gonna lose his shit if Abbott vetoes. 

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Posted
2 hours ago, Gale Snoats said:

Will be interesting to see what Abbott does with the THC bill.  He said earlier this week (first time he's addressed the issues as far as I know) that he'll 'put on his judge's hat and consider evidence from all sides' or something like that.  I'm sure the decision will go to whichever side contributes the most.  Patrick is gonna lose his shit if Abbott vetoes. 

Hes just gonna not sign and let the time limit go up and the law to go into effect

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Posted
2 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Except if it's by right-wingers intent on decapitating and overthrowing our government.  Then 1) it is absolutely a peaceful protest, and 2) anyone who the authorities dared to arrest/charge must be pardoned.

 

The right has absolutely succeeded in creating and imposing a double standard.  Not only is the right not answerable for violent conduct, it is REWARDED for it.

The opposition should learn.  You win by 1) repeated and consistent violence and threats of violence (congresspersons are legit fearful for their lives if they vote against the Regime), and then 2) using that violence and threats of violence to take power.

Those are the rules.  They've been written, and demonstrated to be true.

Except for the inconvenient fact that the opposition lacks power in the first instance as the minority party

Posted
2 hours ago, Gale Snoats said:

Will be interesting to see what Abbott does with the THC bill.  He said earlier this week (first time he's addressed the issues as far as I know) that he'll 'put on his judge's hat and consider evidence from all sides' or something like that.  I'm sure the decision will go to whichever side contributes the most.  Patrick is gonna lose his shit if Abbott vetoes. 

Yep. With the way Abbott's  operating these days, I took that to mean, "let the bribing commence."

Posted
On 6/10/2025 at 11:39 AM, South Austin said:

See edits to the reality of their perception.

Sure, I agree wholeheartedly that racial bias is the primary lens through which MAGA nation views these protests.  But if TV coverage shows beaten protesters who are white like them, the reaction is most likely not outrage, but "Good, crack some lib skulls while you're at it!"

But, again, we're not trying to reach the MAGAts.  They're irretrievable.

There are some, though, that are more middle of the road but still susceptible to propaganda.  For us upper-middle allies, I think it's important to present that image.

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Posted
11 hours ago, safe sex said:

Who tf is celebrating that?

forrealz. I sorta avoid this thread because I don't shit where I eat, but I don't recall anyone in this thread taking any victory laps save maybe our resident trolls.

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Posted

Behold, the 2025 Texas Legislative Session’s Cockroach

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-lege-brian-harrison-2025/?fbclid=IwY2xjawK9dBJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFsNDF3b2ZyV2xRd3NORUVxAR6r1jAIGc_2wa9rEIexZavSb4Jr1MyWiKk7nrNyHh-5iI70PtVtuafcMtD5Zw_aem_ewTqLTFzmHf31Wkvz4priA

Quote

A GOP chief of staff damned Representative Brian Harrison with the faintest possible praise when he told us that the Midlothian Republican would be “good for Congress.” There’s a certain type of lawmaker—like Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and Republican Congressman Jake Ellzey—who turns a short, unproductive Texas House stint into a ticket to D.C. In the state legislature, being useless is cause for embarrassment. In Congress, it can be the foundation of a lengthy career.

Harrison’s last big job was as a Trump-administration bureaucrat. He used to brag that he worked “closely” with Dr. Anthony Fauci and the team that accelerated COVID vaccine production. This is not promising material for a Republican congressional campaign. So Harrison dedicated his session to waging a futile war against Speaker Burrows from his right flank. He passed no bills and made about as many friends. But he forged something rare and inspiring in the House: bipartisan consensus. Most everyone agreed that Brian Harrison is unbearable. 

As such, he is the successor to former state Representatives Jonathan Stickland and Bryan Slaton, past winners of our honorary title of “cockroach,” an old Lege term for a figure who mucks up lawmaking the same way vermin sully a kitchen. Even compared with the antics of his bomb-throwing predecessors, Harrison’s behavior was uniquely tailored to the X feeds of the Texas GOP’s most conspiratorial far-right voters.    

While his colleagues debated legislation, Harrison often paced the chamber’s outer ring, chatting on his cellphone. During a hearing on one of his bills, he was excoriated by a fellow conservative who accused him of scrolling on his phone as other lawmakers asked him questions. He tweeted or retweeted more than 3,500 times during the 140-day session and made regular appearances on Steve Bannon’s show to claim that the House was secretly controlled by Democrats. He is an “insufferable combination of hair gel, studio makeup, and narcissism,” one Texas GOP executive committee member said. 

That Harrison accomplished nothing stands in contrast to his main charge that the House was too lazy. Early in the session, he attempted to force lawmakers to work on Presidents’ Day, claiming that the Texas constitution prohibited three-day weekends. (If having a cold one by the grill on a Monday is unconstitutional, call us Santa Anna.) But he made little of his weekdays, too, favoring stunts over legislating: going “undercover” at what he described as a “transgenderism” conference and leaving the Abbott-appointed chair of a state agency, a Black woman, in tears after grilling her on diversity hiring practices.  

The loneliest point in Harrison’s session came when he tried to unseat Burrows by forcing a mid-session recall vote. “I’m not here to fight for Brian Harrison’s interests,” Harrison said, drawing mocking laughter from his colleagues. Just one member voted with him. Even Arlington Representative Tony Tinderholt—once the king of the solitary right-wing stand—condemned the effort: “Representative Harrison stood for himself.”

With enemies like Brian, Burrows must have thought, who needs friends?

 

Posted
What could possibly go wrong?
 
 

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/abbott-signs-law-permitting-use-of-fracking-wastewater/287-89df9861-29c7-4faa-b658-d651f94013ae

So basically the TCEQ will be responsible for monitoring that the fracking water meets certain safety standards, and we just have to trust that this process is sound and that no one will cut corners or turn a blind eye, because oil companies and our state government have a long history of caring about public health and putting the public’s best interests ahead of profits.

And HB 49 apparently protects the oil companies, landowners, and water treatment companies in the event the water causes harm.
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Posted

Don’t worry. Our almost 70 year old Agricultural Commissioner says it’s ok because of the AI. 
 

Quote

Miller said technological advancements are bringing the state closer to being able to fully clean and reuse produced water. “I don’t know that we’re all the way there yet, but with the technology and AI and everything that we’ve got available to us now, we’re in the technology age, so it’s certainly doable and it’s, you know, probably doable pretty quick, I would think.”

 

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Posted

In the name of recycling/reusing, I’d love to be able to clean up dirty water and use it for other purposes. It’s valuable.  And I’m sure the technology is available, but like desalination is too expensive to be profitable. So my guess is they’ll be setting cleanliness standards that the o&g boys choose based on cost, and the water won’t be very clean. 

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Posted (edited)
46 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

giphy.gif

Post of the monh. Its just so fucking perfect.

Will we at least get labels on our produce  telling us what it was watered with?

Meh, back to my morning bowl of paint chips.

Edited by MissingInAction
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Posted (edited)

Way back when, our CSA contract was with Carlos and Suzanne Santos, and their farm in Kyle. On one of my trips there, during the flow of a typical conversation, Suzanne told me I didn’t have to spend extra on organic milk, that HEB brand milk was equally organic, and that HEB had made the decision too not label their milk as organic. I had no reason to doubt her. You can’t make more money selling organic stuff if you are all in on selling as much stuff as possible, and selling HEB milk as organic at a lower price (to sell as much as possible) would kill that higher priced niche.

Suzanne later started and managed the Austin Farmer’s market.

All that to say, I have trusted HEB for forty years. But Republicans are so malevolently corrupt, they have given me reason to be start being suspicious of the food sold at HEB.

Edited by Willfully Horn
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Posted (edited)

What an absolute piece of shit little bitch of a man. Tim O'Hare, Tarrant County Judge

edit: it gets better. He's a Texas alum.

 

Edited by crash_davis
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Posted
39 minutes ago, speed817 said:

Should get all those guys that ICE is picking up to work on this wall.....

hell....make 'em pay for it while we're at it. 

Posted
On 6/16/2025 at 10:00 PM, wild_turkey said:


https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/abbott-signs-law-permitting-use-of-fracking-wastewater/287-89df9861-29c7-4faa-b658-d651f94013ae

So basically the TCEQ will be responsible for monitoring that the fracking water meets certain safety standards, and we just have to trust that this process is sound and that no one will cut corners or turn a blind eye, because oil companies and our state government have a long history of caring about public health and putting the public’s best interests ahead of profits.

And HB 49 apparently protects the oil companies, landowners, and water treatment companies in the event the water causes harm.

I also bet that the Texas Lege will eventually pass a law to prevent any restaurant/grocery store in providing information whether any food product is tied to fracking wastewater. This could be Dan Goeb's senate bill 1 in the next go-round.

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Posted
7 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I also bet that the Texas Lege will eventually pass a law to prevent any restaurant/grocery store in providing information whether any food product is tied to fracking wastewater. This could be Dan Goeb's senate bill 1 in the next go-round.

Thanks for putting that out there in the universe, you twisted asshole. 

Posted (edited)
On 6/16/2025 at 10:26 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

In the name of recycling/reusing, I’d love to be able to clean up dirty water and use it for other purposes. It’s valuable.  And I’m sure the technology is available, but like desalination is too expensive to be profitable. So my guess is they’ll be setting cleanliness standards that the o&g boys choose based on cost, and the water won’t be very clean. 

It’s actually not available. Even when the expense was put forth. I was significantly involved in litigation between Antero and a French company called Veolia that spent a quarter billion building a “state of the art” facility in West Virginia called Clearwater to try and clean up all the saltwater typically disposed in disposal wells in Marcellus. The idea was to stop injecting and instead create river quality water. They spent a ton of money and then spent a ton more money…and then a ton more trying to make it work. It ultimately led to them just having to buy up the global supply of fly ash because the shit didn’t work. And even then they had to transport all the radioactive shit coming off the water (to Texas by the way). 

they put the money in, hired the global leading firm to build it for them, and it did not even come close to working. 

we are still not able to technologically achieve the processing of SWD water into river quality water. This bill is utterly fucking insane and will absolute make some lawyers rich after some people die. 

edit: if you want to read about it, long story here (as someone more than intimately familiar with the facts and issues of the case, I’d say this article gets it about 95% right which isn’t bad for these type of advocacy websites):

https://www.desmog.com/2023/09/19/radioactive-fracking-waste-west-virginia-veolia-antero-clearwater/

Edited by sidis
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Posted
8 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

I'm just glad i have no idea what a shaboozey is.

 

You do, but I'm not going to put that awful ear worm in anyone's head. 

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Posted
15 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

I'm just glad i have no idea what a shaboozey is.

 

Are you at the bar getting tipsy?

Posted
1 minute ago, MissingInAction said:

I wish. Cant be in public until my wbc is normal next week.

There’s a party downtown near 5th Street.

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Posted

Sorry if I'm slow with my thoughts, but I'm going to assume that a law allowing wastewater to be reused is not really about finding a reuse of the water or frankly even disposing of it. If O&G can "safely" reuse wastewater for agriculture, then why not allow them more access to more groundwater. They'll return x% of it back to the river or agriculture canals at a later date. Let's face it, O&G wants 100% of Texas water so they need to identify how to sell that argument. 

In a way, it reminds me how the chemical industry came up with the idea of plastic recycling. Not because they wanted to reduce landfill waste or that they wanted to buy recycled plastic. They wanted to shift the blame of plastic waste in our environment away from them. Chemical companies aren't the bad guy, it's your neighbor who refuses to separate their trash. This gives the chemical companies more of a market because the consumer doesn't feel bad about choosing plastic.

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