Trust in Whitmire
I am sure some major news organizations are looking into the Donald Trump pardon process. A drug kingpin, crooks, and now Cong. Henry Cuellar. I am sure there is a hustle in there someplace.
In the Cuellar case, don’t forget that a businessman and Cuellar’s longtime political consultant pled guilty and were cooperating with the feds in the case against Cuellar. I am sure they are both feeling like dumbarses this morning. Oh, well.
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I have said it before. Evan Mintz, the Chron’s Editor for Opinion and Community Engagement, doesn’t think much of H-Town Mayor John Whitmire. Here is today’s hard copy Chron E-Board take headline:
Whitmire needs to rebuild trust in City Hall
Huh?
Let’s see. The Mayor is now working on fixing our heavy trash pickup delays. He has brought in an outside contractor to get us caught up. Check out KPRC Channel 2 News. He is continuing to address water bill issues. Again, check out KPRC Channel 2 News.
The recall attempt failed because folks didn’t think it was a priority.
I get that there are some folks who would rather have another mayor in charge, but I think a substantial majority of voters approve of the mayor’s work. Here is how today’s E-Board take ends:
We endorsed him with the expectation that he would be a shrewd pragmatist with the humility to avoid protracted fights, not court them. It’s high time he get to work rebuilding the public’s trust.
Here is the entire E-Board take: Mayor Whitmire’s Austin playbook isn’t working for Houston.
Evan is dead wrong. Voters have trust in Whitmire.
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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, as usual, has it wrong. See this from the Trib:
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday proposed a state program to give every baby born in Texas $1,000 invested in the stock market, modeling the idea off a federal plan created as part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation.
Patrick said on social media he would prioritize a measure during the 2027 legislative session to create the investment accounts, dubbed the “New Little Texan Savings Fund.” The program would invest $1,000 in public funding in the stock market for every baby born in Texas.
The initiative, Patrick said, would cost the state around $400 million per year — less than 1 percent of Texas’ current two-year budget. Patrick added that he would seek to pass a constitutional amendment making the state’s program permanent.
“If I see a great idea from the President that helps Texans, my first question is always, ‘why not do it in Texas, too?’” Patrick posted on social media. “This is a great way to return money back to families and to teach the value of savings and compound interest to young Texans.”
Patrick’s proposal faced backlash online from conservatives, who argued that the program would increase state spending and grow government.
“We are opposed to this idea before the bill is even filed,” Texas Policy Research, a nonprofit focused on advancing “liberty-based” policies, posted on social media. “Creating state-run wealth accounts for every newborn violates key liberty principles: It expands government rather than limiting it, replaces personal responsibility with state dependency and undermines free enterprise by turning the state into an investor. Texans deserve lower taxes, not new programs that grow government indefinitely.”
Here is the entire Trib read: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to give Texas newborns $1,000 each.
It is good to see conservative pushback on this. I would prefer that the $400 million be put into early public education.
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I saw this on ABC News online:
Spotify’s highly anticipated Wrapped series — the annual roundup of Spotify’s top artists, songs, and statistics — has returned.
According to the media platform, Grammy winner Bad Bunny was crowned the No. 1 most-streamed artist of 2025, with nearly 20 billion streams worldwide.
We will certainly be talking about Bad Bunny heading into the Super Bowl in a couple of months.
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The featured photo is the 2025 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree that was lit on NBC last night.