Texas Outlaw Writers Newsletter: All the Blowing Up of Things Edition

News anchor careers, big-ass rockets, possibly an old hotel, maybe the debt ceiling, and hopefully the DeSantis campaign. All Blowed up. Blowed up real good.

Texas Outlaw Writers Newsletter: All the Blowing Up of Things Edition
Blowed up real good. (Is Dr. Freud in the building? "Sigmund, paging Sigmund Freud.") 

It wasn't long ago that pundits said it was DeSantis' campaign to lose. Apparently, he's taking up that challenge. He's already down by double digits in most polls, and he's losing endorsements to Trump even in his home state. DeSantis has the personality of (and is as modern as) a pet rock. He makes Trump look charming and personable, warm and fuzzy. He likes to play the role of bully-boy just like the Don, but it's like watching the Young-Tough from Jr. High take on Vito Corleone. DeSantis would rather engage Disney in the culture wars but is finding out that scapegoating one of the largest employers in the state and a beloved brand is not winning him friends or voters. He knows enough not to fuck with the Don, and now he's learning something more important, you don't ever, EVER fuck with the mouse. And now, it has been revealed that DeSantis eats pudding (publicly) with his fingers.  Boom. Blowed up.

Blowed up real good!

The debt ceiling deadline is closing in, with both sides refusing to back down. It should have been resolved in January, but now faces a possible June deadline. The GOP is at once smug that they believe they can hold the debt limit hostage, while at the same time are nervous that their risky games could crash the world economy. Boom? Fuse lit, could be blowed up real soon.

Don Lemon's career blowed up on Monday. He and CNN "parted ways," and CNN "wished him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.” We have no idea who Don Lemon is or what his position was at the network. Probably one of those behind-the-scenes guys. Blowed up.

Tucker Carleson and his network have also "parted ways." FOX will be his third firing after CNN and MSNBC. Why was he fired? Who cares. Probably didn't help that there are a couple of lawsuits coming to FOX with Tucker's name all over them. Most of his coworkers hated him, and he hated them. Curiously, he hated Trump, "passionately" according to some emails uncovered through the Dominion lawsuit discovery process. But his audience will never hear that, FOX would never report it. The Hydra has many heads, and another will grow to take Tucker's place. But for the moment, Blowed up.

Our intrepid Outlaw Roger Gray was going to take a deep dive on Tucker Carleson but he thought it was shooting fish in a barrel. He decided to get serious on us, and you'll be glad he did. That's because, Texas is in danger of losing yet another beautiful, historic building unless people show more creativity and determination than Houston has with the Astrodome. We're hoping this one don't blowed up.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place | Texas Outlaw Writers
The dilemma of the Luther Hotel in Palacios is an illustration of why we can’t have nice things.

The loudest, largest, and most lavish blow-up occurred in Boca Chica last Thursday when Elon Musk's Space X Starship exploded in spectacular fashion. The 40-story tall rocket got off the pad in a launch so forceful that huge chunks of concrete separated from the foundation and were thrown about like pebbles. A cloud of rock and debris rained down on nearby homes. All 11,000,000 pounds of Muskian manhood accelerated with an unbelievable roar, the engines sending their plumes of fire downward until the ship began spinning and seconds later blew up in a breathtaking fireball. The whole thing lasted about 4 minutes. Elon Musk and men everywhere said, "4 minutes? Hey, that's not bad, really."    

The running joke that day was that Musk's team referred to the explosion as a "rapid unscheduled disassembly." This was said without detectable irony. The other straight line that was fed repeatedly to the media was that the massive explosion, considered a failure by some, was considered a "successful failure" by SpaceX. "To get this far is amazing... And the goal is to gather the data and as we said, clear the pad and get ready to go again."

Outlaw Jim Moore isn't having it. He knows when something blowed up real good.

The Rocket’s Dead Glare | Texas Outlaw Writers
After the explosion, the female narrator, apparently without irony, told the audience, “There, as you saw, and as we promised, an exciting end to the Starship Inaugural Integrated test flight.”

Some issues seem to be blowing up real good in various political campaigns. The abortion issue alone seems to be motivating progressives to really push back against the draconian legislation being passed in red states where abortions are being limited. And now, originating here in Texas there is an attempt to outlaw the sale of mifepristone, the abortifacient. Women are being forced to shop out of state for abortion care and panicking that mifepristone is on the chopping block.

Myra Jolivet finds that OB/GYN medical students are avoiding states like Texas and Florida when choosing residency (training) options. The laws of unintended consequences can be as severe as the punitive laws themselves.

A Wake-Up Call for the Un-Woke: Drop in OB/GYN Applicants | TX Outlaw Writers
Scrapping a medical residency application is no small act. Med school grads send out dozens of applications because they’re trying to “match,” or get accepted into a program---the greatest fear is not being picked up. Why risk being shut out when applying for residency in an anti-abortion state?