Bait and Switch
We have heard the term “bait and switch.” Here is the definition:
the ploy of offering a person something desirable to gain favor (such as political support) then thwarting expectations with something less desirable
Now see this from the front page of the Chron hard copy today:
Gov. Greg Abbott has spent much of the summer working to quell a roiling backlash to data centers in rural parts of the state where Republicans need to maintain strong support in the upcoming midterms.
He’s called on lawmakers to strip their lucrative tax breaks next session, and ordered regulators to set new restrictions and conduct an audit before permitting any more projects to break ground.
But those efforts aren’t winning over all skeptics. Several rural Republicans say they don’t trust the governor whose biggest donors are increasingly invested in the data center boom and who praised Texas as the “epicenter of AI development” as recently as November.
“Rural Texas is not buying Abbott’s thing,” said Mason McAllister, a resident of a small town in Grayson County in North Texas. “The guys around here are fired up. ‘The king of bait and switch,’ is what they’re saying.”
The 34-year-old North Texan started a group called Save Rural Texas with the mission of organizing grassroots opposition to data centers into a “powerful voting bloc” willing to go against Republican politicians many of its members have long supported. He said about 1,000 people have subscribed to its newsletter so far.
“Come voting time, we’re going to let people know who was helpful and who was not,” McAllister said.
Here is the entire read: Greg Abbott has moved on data centers. Will it stop a rural revolt?
The hard copy headline on the front page reads:
Some distrust Abbott on data centers
Abbott being the “king of bait and switch” is fine by me. The article is a good read. One would think that some of these folks have had enough and are ready to send a message with their vote. That really is their only choice Abbott is not listening to them on data centers. He is also not listening to folks on their opposition to the Big Bend border wall construction. Election Day is 11 weeks from tomorrow.
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Folks know I watch KPRC Channel 2 News. See this from the Chron:
Another new face is joining Houston’s TV news scene.
Taylor Bruck announced Thursday that she is joining KPRC 2 as a reporter, making her the latest addition to the NBC affiliate amid a busy year of staffing changes.
The Ohio native is already getting acquainted with her new workplace and her new city. Bruck shared photos on social media from a tour of KPRC’s offices, including a shot with Houston Life host Derrick Shore.
“LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN,” she captioned the post.
Bruck has also been documenting her first adventures around Houston, including one particularly Texas discovery: “yellow” queso.
The Emmy Award-winning and GLAAD-nominated journalist most recently worked as an anchor and multimedia journalist at Spectrum News 1 in Columbus, Ohio. She is a graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism.
Her career began at WOUB Public Media, where she spent three years as an anchor and reporter. Bruck also interned twice with NBC’s Today, working in both New York City and Los Angeles.
Bruck drew national attention in 2023 after sharing a clip of herself coming out as gay during a live broadcast and revealing to viewers that she had a girlfriend. The video later went viral on social media. Bruck’s girlfriend is singer-songwriter Lauren Lanzaretta.
It is a good hire. I wonder if she went to the parade on Saturday evening.
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My nephew David and I went to the ballgame at Daikin Park last night and David got a foul ball. See the featured photo. Too bad we lost the game. New Astro Daulton Varsho struck out with the bases loaded last night prompting David to comment “Daulton No-show.” We went 1-2 against the Mariners and still have a 2-game lead in the AL West with 37 games remaining. We have today off.