Share this comment
This story caught my eye in September 2022 about what an unscrupulous man Paxton is. His wife, who helped him evade the process server, is in the Texas State Senate. So hand in glove corruption. Here’s the link texastribune.org/2022/0…
I hope they fry his ass in the impeachment hearings. He deserves no less. Thank you, Heather, as always for shining the light on darkness.
This story caught my eye in September 2022 about what an unscrupulous man Paxton is. His wife, who helped him evade the process server, is in the Texas State Senate. So hand in glove corruption. Here’s the link https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/26/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-subpoena-abortion-lawsuit/?utm_source=articleshare&utm_medium=social
I hope they fry his ass in the impeachment hearings. He deserves no less. Thank you, Heather, as always for shining the light on darkness.
'A decade ago, in a courthouse north of Dallas, a lawyer forgot his $1,000 Montblanc pen in a metal detector tray and returned to find that it had been taken. A review of surveillance footage turned up the culprit: Ken Paxton, who was a Texas state senator.'
'A few years later, Mr. Paxton, by then the state’s attorney general, suffered a more serious political blow when he was indicted on charges of securities fraud. Then in 2020, several of his most senior staff members at the attorney general's office accused him of bribery, corruption and abuse of office.'
'Mr. Paxton has managed to survive it all, in large part because of the key role he has played as one of the most aggressive figures in the conservative legal movement. His challenges to the Obama and Biden administrations and his willingness to contest the results of the 2020 election garnered him the loyalty of Republican primary voters and the endorsement, during his re-election to a third term last year, of former President Donald J. Trump.' (NYTimes) See link below. Sorry that gift option is not available.
'How Fighting for Conservative Causes Has Helped Ken Paxton Survive Legal Woes'
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/26/us/ken-paxton-texas.html
I assume one gets a nice pen for $1000, but where is the point of diminishing returns, to the point that the only remaining value is being able to display an object that others cannot afford? Some watches are absurdly expensive, and some, seemingly in an effort to be uniquely recognizable, wind up (in my opinion) often being weirdly unattractive (such as Rolex). Around the year 2000 I bought a cleanly styled Timex marked down to $5 even, and used it for about two decades. I set it twice a year at the time change, and found it always accurate to the minute. What would I get for several thousand dollars more? Surely the vastly more expensive devices are are a matter of indulgence rather than need; which brings into question why the wealthy should need so many tax cuts and loopholes?
Status Signaling. It used to be watches, pens, shoes, trophy wives, law school degrees, etc. Now it seems to be: How unaccountable are you? How corrupt can you be and get away with it.” It’s still just a status game, but its effects poison our lives, and the complete body-politic.
Don't forget all the ladies with their botox and lip filler!
There are always those who prefer feudalism. The founders rejected the tyranny of titled gentry, yet may kept feudal estate-like slave plantations, which was morally far worse. I see the "Robber Barons" of the "Gilded Age" as yet another assertion of plutocracy. "We" spent decades trying to tame that one, as well as improving women's and minority rights, and then the Empire struck back. The battle continues.
Perhaps stop at Starbucks for a cup of Joe and discuss the merits of standing in line for a $12 cup of crappy bitter mud while admiring each others expensive watches!!
'...diminishing returns,...' We don't need a mathematician to figure that out. I enjoyed touring luxury goods and lack of decency with you, J L. Let's go some place nice next time.
Excellent points. I buy only Timex watches.
Me, too, but I noticed the fake gold buckle on my latest one is beginning to cause a rash on my arm.
Well stated JL - "Surely the vastly more expensive devices are a matter of indulgence rather than need; which brings into question why the wealthy should need so many tax cuts and loopholes?"
More is better than less.
yep, that's the attitude of many
Timex - "the watch that takes a licking and keeps on ticking."
Great ad campaign & ended up being culturally co-opted to mean overcoming tough times. Have used it more than once myself in that regard & most folks know exactly what you mean!
It was a great ad campaign. My father worked in industrial advertising for which the aim was (as he put it) to "sell the benefits". He complained that TV gave advertising a bad name. I bristle at ads that treat me as a fool or lie by implication; especially political ones where they lie straight out (which even large companies cannot do with complete impunity). I believe in a robust enterprise sector, where appropriate, AND a robust public sector, where appropriate. I believe in fair trade and a "square deal", and penalties for substantial cheating. I want to err on the side of free speech, but hate substantial. provable lies, and note as in war, COVID, and racism (among other things) lies can kill.
Mine was discounted, but a bargain at a substantially higher price. I put a nicer watch band on it out of vanity and having a large wrist.
People who use pens for writing more than their names should all have Montblancs. If I hadn’t had one to write 1000 GOTV postcards, I wouldn’t have known that the ease of writing with it was phenomenal. After I wrote the first batch of postcards, wrote the next 1000 with a different pen. How I miss the Montblanc! Does anyone know an affordable ($25) substitute?
The reason that any Montblanc is such a delight to write with is that really serious design work went into creating the pen -- from the extraordinary feel in the hand while you write (balance, shape, heft) to the durability and elegant beauty of each component (pen, ink feeder, barrel, cap, trim, clip). I'm a fountain pen fancier, but not an "elitist." In addition to a few pricey pens, I have a few in my every day carry that didn't cost more than $25. If you have $12 to spare, pick up a Pilot Kakuno. For $8 more, you can get a Lamy Safari. And for only $4 more (ringing in at $24), you can have the pleasure of a Pilot Metropolitan. Of course, they won't have ebonite caps and barrels, 18K gold trim and clips, or gold and iridium nibs, but they will give you a good deal more than a BIC can.
I have not used BIC pens since college but they were awful, and they leaked, but yet it was a functioning pen for ten cents. I have since been partial to pedestrian Pilots.
I am aware that a high quality tool and therefore a substantially more expensive one, can be sometimes be worth every penny of the price. My guess would be that could be done for significantly less than $1000, but I have not had your experience with it. I'm not sure how much writing by hand a politician but I imagine that they have to sign a lot of stuff.
Conspicuous Consumption - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorstein_Veblen
Fern - Wow. The Montblanc pen story is sooo telling. In things small and large we see people with a deep character flaws believing they have certain inalienable rights not to be enjoyed by the mere common mortal working stiffs. The sense of entitlement runs so deep one wonders “What happened to you?” about Paxton. And to drop the title of a most relevant, and revealing book by Bruce Perry, MD, MPH, and Oprah Winfrey, I’m dropping it. “What Happened to You? Conversations on Healing, Trauma and Resilience” is a best selling book I reviewed two years ago and have shared scores of times in dozens of places.
https://www.pacesconnection.com/blog/what-happened-to-you-by-bruce-perry-and-oprah-winfrey-a-book-that-resonates-with-us-in-the-paces-world
Both authors have some Texas in their life stories, and would likely ask their seminal question of Paxton and his wife, Paxton and his friends. Probably not unlike Donald Trump (as you can learn from the writings and work of his niece, Mary Trump, PhD, whose book “The Reckoning” ( The Reckoning: Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal By Mary L. Trump ) is a must read for people who want to know the history of our racial trauma with Native and African Americans) we might find people who had tragedy, trauma, a sense of superiority coupled with intense inferiority (megalomania with an inferiority complex as some of us deeply familiar with addictive personalities and the sense of shame-yet-entitlement that rolls into that overriding belief that we are special, above the law, entitled due to harsh or tragic upbringing or some birthright issue, to special treatment).
It would all be funny, as in “A Confederacy of Dunces” if it didn’t involve the perpetrator’s ability to screw over, with death, pain, and impunity, millions upon millions of people, including mothers and children, and to keep legal such horrors as the rights of underaged and mentally ill people to buy and carry weapons of war to WalMart, for crying out loud (“Biohazard clean up on aisle 3; in-store shooting in school supplies” could be an any-day announcement drawing little attention but indicative of much that is wrong, since we’d be wise to take everything back down to root cause of wealthy old white men thinking they can lie, cheat, steal with impunity. There’s a trauma connection, I’d bet.)
Carey, your experience, reflection and concern were echoed in what you wrote here. I have thought about some of what you have mentioned. "What happened to you?" Is as a chorus to or hymn of our troubles. Morality is a key -- missing right from wrong; What happened to you? There has been so much tolerance of lying; making jokes about abuse and cruel behavior towards others with the label of anger around it. What happened to us?
I somewhat buy the morality angle. What I don't see most plainly though is honor, the absence of honor. That plays hard on my mind this weekend especially as I 'shall' spend some time this weekend visiting with the most honorable man I ever knew in my life, my Dad; a Korean War Marine who lived his oaths till his last breath. Mom joined him just a year ago at the Western Reserve Veterans Cemetery in Rittman, Ohio.
D4N it is telling that you must repair to a cemetery to find honor based on a code of morality. May your time there refresh your strength for the ongoing battle with the world as we increasingly know it.
Thank you JohnM. I find honor other places like this space as well John; I've learned that I have to look for it to find 'it' anywhere. Honor exists John - I feel that it's important to accept that and believe it, rather than painting folks with broad brushes. I feel that honor begins with self honesty and humility; I in no way have 'all that' down pat, but I honestly self check myself and seek out others for kinship / fellowship. May this holiday find you refreshing your intents and resolves.
D4N, just in case you missed it, here is a response that I wrote to you a little while ago.
'I saw your 'like' reply to me just minutes ago. Please say, 'hello' some time soon.'
'Your response about honor to JohnM brought forth a smile, which is all yours.'
Hi Fern !
Good speed, D4N. I think that our angles are the same, at least I feel that way.
D4N, I saw your 'like' reply to me just minutes ago. Please say, 'hello' some time soon.
Your response about honor to JohnM brought forth a smile, which is all yours.
🌿
Hi Fern. Apologies; I was pretty deep in reading, responding elsewhere. Hope you understand the delay. I will remain on this for a bit hoping to see a response from you. *edit - Just a thought bubble her... Do you know if this medium allows or has a vehicle for private contact, like instant messaging ? *edit - I see a chat thing.. do you know how that might work ?
Hi D4N. Response time doesn't matter to me. I don't think there is an instant messaging service connected to Substacks. I understand the appeal of instant bubbles. We could be characters in a comic book. I'm satisfied with this means of communication between us, D4N. So glad you dropped by.
See you, again.
I see a chat thing mentioned, but I've no knowledge of how it works. At some point I'll investigate it, and yet hope one of the souls here will elaborate if they know. Cheers !
All things are connected. What happened to us is spot on.
Democracy is fragile. Our ecosystems are fragile. Our hearts, for sure.
I think of communities with yaks as their “everything”. Waste nothing.
Years ago I saw a commercial tjat only played once or twice. Actress Natalie Wood spoke of how nothing is thrown away. It goes “somewhere”. It was an awareness being addressed that didn’t last long, at least for tv viewing, and many viewers.
I love this Fern, and as a person who DREAMS of writing a musical about all of this — seriously, I have a “treatment” for one — that chorus could truly be the resounding theme. Along with the Maya Angelou quote about “now that we know better, we do better.” I forget the exact quote. But you’ve inspired me to add this to the treatment. I’ve sent it to a few people along the way — in the midst of my more than full-time job and recovery from trauma-evoked gut miseries — and I just get that I must keep going in these several directions to advance this. I dream of Heather Cox Richardson, Bruce Perry, Oprah Winfrey, and the CEO of PACEs Connection, Igrid Cockhren, who is a psych adjunct professor at Tennessee State University, having studied so much history and African American parenting and trauma, doing a webinar or show together on “What Happened to US” (as in us and the U.S) as was mentioned with Ingrid and our colleague Mathew Portell interviewed Dr. Perry in a webinar I produced last summer. Adding HCR and OW to the mix? How powerful and SEEN that would be!
https://youtu.be/YxI1OVVBGSw
This really is worth the watch.
❤️🦋❤️. Imagine if HCR or HRC and OW were with them and they all did it together! “To understand history, you have to know trauma. To understand trauma, you have to know history.”
The root cause of all the trouble in history is trauma. We can help prevent it. We know this. Preventive Justice is available. We just have to get people to understand we all — ALL of us — can have and deserve better. Also recommend we add Mathew Desmond, author of “Poverty by America” to the conversation. Brilliant new book. Highly highly recommend. There is a lot here, my friends!
"Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can negatively influence development. However, the lifelong effects of positive childhood experiences (PACEs) can mitigate the detrimental effects of adverse ones."
Carey & Fern, one is inclined to consider that "the intellect is a cheap party trick" for so many of these folk who appear to have no moral or ethical compass or who have most certainly lost theirs.
Amen
Likely true, but all who suffer trauma don’t become monsters to their fellow man. More these days seem to try…
Truth! Absolute truth. Many who suffer trauma continue to suffer. Or cause the kind of suffering seemingly limited to their family — violence, domestic abuse, alcoholism, drug abuse, over eating, working, or any other compulsive or impulsive behavior including thrill-seeking behaviors. Truth? “Undigested trauma” gets thrown up all over ourselves and others. There are people who turn trauma into purpose to help prevent more trauma. I would like to think that is the case myself and many of my fellow 59,000+ members of https://www.pacesconnection.com/ a free community of practice for people with lived experience, social workers, physicians, teachers, law enforcement, the judiciary, parents, researchers, sociologists, you name it! Any group wanting to start a PACEs (for positive and adverse childhood experiences) can sign on for a free 16-hour live course on building community in a trauma informed way. Please join us!
Carey - the connection you listed sent me to a "claim your domain" site. This one worked for me https://www.pacesconnection.com
Great catch! Thanks, runragged (NC). As I am in NC too, and feel pretty run ragged sometimes, and we agree on a lot, and we aRe living in one of the strangest times possible, are we sure we’re not the same person? 😜
Carey - very well stated. I like your "A Confederacy of Dunces" analogy.
Thanks, Linda. With regard to our current state of affairs, if we are considering the GOP, that book comes in handy too damned often.
Anyway, to wrap it up, thanks, Fern!
Thank you, Carey. We are working together.
Indeed! And I welcome another conversation about if.
Mostly displaying a sense of superiority is all compensation for a deep feeling of inadequacy. Seeking a way to feeling worthwhile through posturing and money is an endless task, since none of that actually helps one feel worthwhile. The narcissist is usually a damaged person who can't or won't take an actual look at themselves, so instead uses other people to try to make themselves feel better. If they weren't so dangerous, they'd just be pathetic.
LOVE Dr. Bruce Perry's work! My guide for much of my career! Thank You.
Can you imagine him and HCR having a conversation on history and trauma and how they are INSEPARABLE?
I have the venue and people to bring more context re: https://youtu.be/YxI1OVVBGSw
Fern, thank you for that info. Why am i not surprised? A thief on every level….I hope he rots somewhere at some point….
Paxton seems so small and menacing at the same time.
Fern, thanks for the story and link. So true to type; those who are corrupt in big matters seem to be corrupt in small ones as well. Perhaps Paxton needed an adult to tell him in nursery school that just because he wanted something, he couldn’t use that as a rationale to grab it from another child.
WOW! The corruption of the GQP just never stops and people keep falling for it. It's probably the best scam ever played on people. These evil people must be voted out!
You never fail to amaze me Fern. Thx for sharing.
Thank you, D4N. You've seen the rivers and the creatures. That is helpful. 🌿
The article brings up a most telling bit of info: the two infamously known defenders of him vocally are Stephen Miller and Jr. Trump. That tells you everything you need to know about Paxton.
OMG that link is hilarious - thank you!
But ultimately, “...former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman and Land Commissioner George P. Bush, tried to unseat him. But Republican voters chose him over his intra-GOP challengers, who criticized his legal and personal scandals on the campaign trail.”
Voters. “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”
People who have committed crimes tend to excuse others who committed the same crimes.
Using state money to pay his $3.3M fine is the height of bald-faced corruption. This guy thinks he's Roscoe Conkling.
I think of corruption as abuse of entrusted power, and and it seems to have become a way of life for the whole @#$%& "Republican" Party. Lord Acton was not the first to observe that power tends to corrupt, as it seems that corruption in it's many forms is the ancient curse of humanity, and power out of balance seems to corrupt absolutely. Reagan launched a systemic attack on the very psychology of republican (SMALL "r") rule of law with big lies, treachery, contempt, and the preponderance of the press and the public fell for it. The overall trajectory of the "Republican Party" has been downhill from there. At long last, does a party that defines the Jan 6th insurrection as "ordinary citizens engaged in in legitimate political discourse" and subsequent investigation and lawful prosecution of the participants as "persecution" have left any shred of decency? And that's a clear and present danger to our whole republic.
Paxton is a piece of,,, well, work, but so was South Dakota attorney general Jason Ravnsborg who reported hitting deer but killed man, and it gets much worse from there. To say nothing of Bill Barr. So many creepy criminals somehow rammed into public office; and it can't go on without becoming a total nightmare. The "GOP" really can pick 'em.
JL, Don’t forget they had a little help from their very rich and very evil and very corrupt friends: The Federalist Society, Harlan Crow, The Kochs, Leo Leonard and the others. I get sick just thinking about it....
Oh yes. Follow the money (and the "love of money") back to the sociopathic source of "GOP" systemic corruption.
I am reminded of a famous quote by Napoleon Bonaparte: "In politics, stupidity is not a handicap."
Psychologically speaking, people who tolerate criminal behavior in others have or intend to commit similar crimes.
Ravnsborg - great comp. Literally getting away with murder. Like shooting someone on 5th Ave., ne?
I worked in the Pete Wilson govt. in Calif., and realized then, Republicans lie, and they don't care. But Reagan started it all out there. He made it ok to be mean.
And yet the press repeatedly described him as "The Great Communicator" and "a nice guy" and even to the present I encounter comments from liberals describing him as the last responsible "Republican" president. In 2019 Reagan's racist remarks about the Tanzanian delegation to the UN were released:
“To watch that thing on television, as I did, to see those, those monkeys from those African countries – damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” Reagan tells Nixon, who erupts in laughter.
Nice guy. The Guardian ( https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/31/ronald-reagan-racist-recordings-nixon ) noted that Reagan died in 2004 and "that the conversation between the two men had been originally released in 2000 with the racist portion removed 'to protect Reagan’s privacy ' ”.
Yet the restoration of feudalistic plutocracy was Reagan's true project along with the smearing and rejection of democracy. He was also the first modern openly anti-environmental president. And unlike Nixon, who embarrassed even Republicans, Reagan was corrupt and incompetent, yet got away with brazening it out, the now universal strategy of the "GOP". Reagan was not a real "nice guy", but he played one on TV.
'Reminds me of the lucrative relationship enjoyed by McConnell, long-time Republican leader of the Senate, and Elaine Chao, long-time Republican head of the federal Department of Transportation, who could be counted on to flood Kentucky with highway dollars right before her husband stands for re-election.
"I hope they fry his ass"
When is the last time we saw a large group of Republicans do the right thing?
I don't think they will remove him, but I would love to be wrong.
AJT, The state representatives voted 120 to 23 if I recall to impeach. I think the Texas Senate has no choice but to try him and convict him. I want the sob to do hard time. He is the bottom of a bottomless Maga barrel.
I sorta don't think he will suffer.
I am an incurable optimist, Sabrina…..
The story was covered in a fair amount of detail both in the NY Times and on NPR a few days ago, especially the accusation of drunkenness made by Paxton and his claim that the uber-righty-but-not-MAGA Phelan is a secret Democrat. I have been enjoying the schadenfreude but also have lived too long to believe that the Texas Leg will do the right thing. And also, even though I hate both-side-ism as a general rule, HCR's description of Texas also perfectly encapsulates Chicago politics for most of its existence . . . The corruption of power-mongers occurs because of the lust for power and the greed for lucre. It's when you add the inhumanity of these modern-day f**kers to the mix that it becomes really scary. Tom Pendergast, the infamous Kansas City Boss who had Harry Truman in his pocket for many years, was a horrible person, but because of his embrace of the Black community--who were not that far from the immediate trauma of the Civil War (remember: MO was a slave state)--they thrived in ways that would have been impossible if he had been a typical privileged white man. And the backlash against them after Pendergast's fall was all too real.
Yes Elisabeth, but it is not just an AG in Texas. Perhaps Paxton will get impeached, but then what?