Scatterlings of Texas

"Who made me here and why, beneath the copper sun..." - Johnny Clegg

My title and the above lyric, is from a song by Johnny Clegg and his band Savuka called "Scatterlings of Africa." He was perhaps the most famous white South African fighting against apartheid in the 80's and 90's. I was introduced to him and this addicting song by a good friend and great newspaper columnist, the late Ken Hoffman. The song is an absolute earworm...

Anyway, to answer the above question for any Texan, only God could have put us here, and it doesn't matter why. And yes, the hot, copper sun is an annoying feature of being a Texan.

I confess, I wasn't born here, but in Baton Rouge while my Dad finished his electrical engineering degree at LSU. But we moved almost immediately when he got a job in Fort Worth at Chance Vought refurbishing Corsairs for Korea. In other words, he got me out before I was old enough to look around and scream, "Holy crap, I appear to be in Louisiana!"

But as I sit here on Memorial Day, the eve of the Republican Senatorial Primary Runoff, I can only speculate. If the polls are to be believed, by the time you read this, Attorney General Ken Paxton will be the nominee ending a 22-year career for John Cornyn in the Senate.

Paxton is usually described as "ethically challenged." That's like saying Jeffrey Dahmer had an eating disorder.

For example, Paxton resolved long-running securities fraud charges in March 2024 through an 18-month pretrial diversion agreement that dismisses the felony indictments without an admission of guilt. To avoid trial, Paxton agreed to pay nearly ($300,000) in restitution, complete 100 hours of community service, and take 15 hours of legal ethics education.

He survived an impeachment thanks to the friendly trial management of said case by Lieutenant Governor Dan "Luv Ya Blue" Patrick.

The impeachment revolved around favors Paxton did for developer Nate Paul in return for, not only campaign money, but giving his mistress a job. Look up the word "awkward" and you'll find this photo composite.

Oh, and this is the first mistress. There has since reportedly been another. Needless to say, the divorce is underway. Paxton settled a lawsuit from 6 of his staff members for firing them for blowing the whistle on all this. They got a cool million each. Oh, and on the petty side. He once was caught on tape stealing another lawyer's $1000 Mont Blanc fountain pen left inadvertently in the tray at a courthouse x-ray machine.

But if you are sufficiently MAGA, all that can be forgiven, and let's face it, that's a lot. So why would members of the Trump cult vote out an experienced veteran Senator like John Cornyn? It seems they accuse him of wanting to take away their guns.

Now lest you take me for a gun hater, I am not. Exhibit A...

I have always enjoyed shooting, but only old stuff like you see here. I'm not a hunter and never would be. If you gave me an AR-15, I'd sell it to buy an antique Winchester. But the judgement of some ammosexuals is so absolute, Cornyn is a "gun grabber" in their eyes. His sin? Supporting a gun safety bill in 2022 in the wake of the tragic killing of 19 kids in Uvalde. It included...

• Enhanced Background Checks: Allows the FBI up to seven additional days to review juvenile and mental health records for gun buyers under the age of 21.
• Anti-Trafficking Measures: Establishes the first federal penalties for straw purchasing and illegal gun trafficking.
• Domestic Violence (Boyfriend Loophole): Prevents convicted domestic abusers in current or recent romantic relationships from purchasing firearms for five years.
• Crisis Intervention: Provides billions in funding for community behavioral health clinics and earmarked grants for states to implement crisis intervention programs (such as red-flag laws).

That's it, folks. So, making sure questionable kids can't guy guns, domestic abusers can't buy guns, fake buyers can't buy guns and your crazy uncle has guns removed before he hurts himself or others, is beyond the pale. That's the definition of a "gun grabber" to some Republican Texans. Cornyn was even booed at the state Republican Convention that year.

So, seemingly sensible rules that don't remove anyone's gun rights, unless you're a wife beater or crazy, outweigh the bloody murder of 19 elementary school kids.

Welcome to Texas.

I have interviewed John Cornyn over the years and always found him, well until he put his manhood in a blind trust for Trump, a reasonable, standard issue conservative. It seems, that's nowhere nearly enough now.

Most pundits have been punditing that if Paxton is the ethically deficient nominee, it improves the chances of the democratic nominee and part-time choirboy, State Representative James Talerico, who looks like he is running for class President.

The other disturbing thing I read this weekend was that a lot of legendary Texas Barbecue joints are closing due to the price of meat. I had a personal experience recently with one of those legendary places in the town of Henderson.

When I was doing investigative reporting for a TV station, my photographer took me to a place for lunch up in East Texas called Bob's.

Bob is an older African-American gentleman who with his family, served up simply the most mouth-watering brisket my watering mouth has ever tasted. He's done it for 31 years. My brother-in-law had to travel to Henderson on business last week and I asked him to grab us some Bob's while he was there. Alas, he found it was closed forever.

In fact, the Washington Post reports that's happening all over the state. One Houston restaurant just raised it's price for a pound of brisket to $35. It's enough to make you go veggie. The reason is a combination of things, including climate change, creating droughts which impact growers of feed. US cattle supply hasn't been this low since the early 1950's. And of course, you can throw in tariffs and trade wars.

Inflation and high interest rates have made ranching, land maintenance, and agricultural loans significantly more expensive. Supply has also been throttled by international trade constraints and tariffs on foreign beef. Hey, loving Texas isn't always easy.

For example, the idiotic border wall is still planned for the beautiful Big Bend State and National Parks. Yes, we are going to ruin the pristine and majestic Big Bend with an ugly, and in terms of wildlife migration, deadly 23-foot wall, which ultimately won't work.

Well, let me take that back. There is a real business opportunity for someone in manufacturing.

Simply produce 24-foot ladders.