Three Weeks
It does not surprise Commentary that MAGA blames the Ukraine president for the meltdown with Donald Trump on Friday and Democrats blame Trump and JD Vance. I blame the hosts of the meeting for allowing this meltdown to be viewed by a worldwide audience. What were they thinking? Dumbarses for sure.
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On “What’s Your Point” yesterday, the Breitbart fella called out the president of Ukraine for not wearing a coat and tie to the scene of the meltdown. Fellow panelist Tomaro Bell pointed out to the Breitbart fella Elon Musk’s attire when he was in the same room last week. No response of course from the Breitbart fella.
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On a couple of previous occasions, I have mentioned the rising cost of home insurance in the H-Town area. It is also a state problem that could affect Texas state government revenue soon. The Chron today has a front-page story on the effort to cut property taxes in Texas. Here is from the story:
The state has mostly paid for property tax cuts using its cash surplus. Lawmakers started the year with a $24 billion surplus, following a “once-in-a-lifetime” surplus the previous session.
But the surplus isn’t guaranteed to last. On Tuesday, Brad Reynolds, the chief revenue estimator at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, cautioned lawmakers that the excess cash represented “a historical anomaly.”
The surplus was not a “structural” one, Reynolds said — the result of revenue increasing faster than spending. Instead, it was due to an unusual confluence of events sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic — an infusion of federal cash and record inflation that led to higher sales tax revenue.
More than half of the state’s revenue comes from sales tax collections, which are expected to weaken in coming years. That’s because Texans are spending more money on things that don’t contribute to the sales tax base, Reynolds said, noting the high cost of home insurance and rental housing.
Here is the entire Chron read: Texas lawmakers want to cut property taxes again. Can they afford it?.
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Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick certainly has our well-being front and center. See this from KHOU Channel 11:
President Donald Trump renamed a body of water. Now, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says he wants to change the name of a steak.
In a post to X on Friday afternoon, Patrick said a resolution will be filed to rename the “New York Strip” to the “Texas Strip” at restaurants and grocery stores here in the Lone Star State. He noted that Texas leads the nation with around 12.2 million head of cattle.
Patrick floated the idea to Texas Cattle Feeders and Cattle Raisers this week.
“Out of curiosity, I asked each of them their favorite cut of meat,” Patrick posted. “A few said New York Strip. I asked why we didn’t call it a ‘Texas Strip’ because New York has mostly dairy cows. Just because a New York restaurant named Texas beef a New York Strip in the 19th Century doesn’t mean we need to keep doing that.”
According to Patrick’s post, the Texas Senate will file a resolution to make it official. He said he’s asking restaurants to change the name on menus next time they’re printed. He said he’s also asking grocery stores to do the same and hopes it catches on around the country and worldwide.
I don’t think the price of steak would change with a name switch for a cut of beef. You have to wonder how much effort Patrick has put into this initiative. Certainly, more effort into this than to combat the measles outbreak. Pitiful.
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It was a pretty good Oscars show last night. I like the way they handled some of the category presentations. For the tribute to James Bond flicks, I would have included the singing of “Goldfinger.”
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My Beatles wall calendars for the month of March has the four wearing ruffle collars, you know, the kind Sir Walter Raleigh wore, and the other calendar is the record sleeve for “Free as a Bird.”
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MLB baseball returns to The Yard three weeks from this evening. My season tickets are already loaded into my account. The featured photo is what I hope to be doing in three weeks.
