The Texas Children's "detransition clinic" settlement is out and among its many requirements is that TCH keeps two lists of patients who have any mention of “gender dysphoria” in their medical records: a "Break the Glass" list and a "potential GAC patient list" with an unspecified purpose

Cora Neas@corabora.bsky.social · 4h ago

Paxton just released the settlement agreement between Texas and Texas Children's Hospital, the one that sets up a "detransition clinic": www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/defaul...

Abbott has already started:

Jay D Johnson@refusenik.bsky.social · 4h ago

Here's a question for @robertdownen.bsky.social I wonder how Islamophobic Texas Republicans will attempt to use Abdul El-Sayed in their attack ads against Talarico and the Democratic Party in general? The same really applies nationwide. It's why establishment Dems solidly backed Stevens.

Days after letting a contract expire with a network of 100 legal groups for child immigrant law services, the Trump Admin is awarding a $150 million contract to a Houston law firm that was co-founded by two Trump appointees.

Houston firm gets $150M contract for child migrant legal services

A Burke Law Group founder was a former Trump appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior.

texastribune.org

"It was unclear how much additional cost or time the latest changes would add to the $5 million-plus project, which is being paid for by Lockheed Martin. It owns the company that manufactures the helicopters."

Dan Diamond@ddiamond.bsky.social · yesterday

Scoop: Trump has ordered workers to redo weeks of work on his planned White House helipad new WaPo photos show how past work was removed over weekend Trump is contemplating changes to White House lawn's slope, raising bigger Qs about project and cost

Terrence Howard, of "Crash," not believing in the mathematical concept of zero and insisting that 1 x 1 = 2 fame, is apparently eyeing the University of Texas-RGV for his new "omnidirectional flight" company. “Imagine a drone that could move at any degree necessary,” his nephew said.

Right now, for $25, you can get two years of Texas Monthly in print + two unlimited digital subscriptions + access to a half-century of online archives. For. Twenty. Five. Dollars. subscription.texasmonthly.com/servlet/Orde...

Ken Paxton has spent months calling James Talarico a soyboy vegan and religious extremist. It isn't working: He's getting killed in fundraising, his scandals are mounting, and most polls show the race is either a toss-up or favors Talarico. So now, he's pivoting. The latest:

Ken Paxton Is Acting Like He Thinks He Could Lose

After calling his opponent a vegan freak for months, Paxton is finally pivoting to issues voters care about.

texasmonthly.com

Right now, for $25, you can get two years of Texas Monthly in print + two unlimited digital subscriptions + access to a half-century of online archives. For. Twenty. Five. Dollars. subscription.texasmonthly.com/servlet/Orde...

NEW: Nate Schatzline is a voting fraud conspiracy theorist who believes he is at war with demonic forces and has close ties to a movement of "prophets" that helped spark Jan 6. So why did Gov. Greg Abbott just give him a $275,000 job as a senior advisor on "election integrity" issues? (Gift link).

He Sees Politics as a Spiritual Battle Against Demonic Forces. Now He’s Advising the Governor.

Meet Nate Schatzline, the Christian nationalist and former state representative who is helping Greg Abbott manage “election integrity.”

texasmonthly.com

"for most of his life, the Fort Worth pastor has been intimately involved in a movement that asserts conservative Christians are in an existential war with satanic forces, including Democrats, for the soul of America." via @robertdownen.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

He Sees Politics as a Spiritual Battle Against Demonic Forces. Now He’s Advising the Governor.

Meet Nate Schatzline, the Christian nationalist and former state representative who is helping Greg Abbott manage “election integrity.”

texasmonthly.com

Ken Paxton has spent months calling James Talarico a soyboy vegan and religious extremist. It isn't working: He's getting killed in fundraising, his scandals are mounting, and most polls show the race is either a toss-up or favors Talarico. So now, he's pivoting. The latest:

Ken Paxton Is Acting Like He Thinks He Could Lose

After calling his opponent a vegan freak for months, Paxton is finally pivoting to issues voters care about.

texasmonthly.com

NEW: Nate Schatzline is a voting fraud conspiracy theorist who believes he is at war with demonic forces and has close ties to a movement of "prophets" that helped spark Jan 6. So why did Gov. Greg Abbott just give him a $275,000 job as a senior advisor on "election integrity" issues? (Gift link).

He Sees Politics as a Spiritual Battle Against Demonic Forces. Now He’s Advising the Governor.

Meet Nate Schatzline, the Christian nationalist and former state representative who is helping Greg Abbott manage “election integrity.”

texasmonthly.com

But housing, government, and international trade are more or less headwinds to growth. And given that real disposable income is flat and personal savings are about as low as they ever get, spending by middle- and lower-income households is under significant pressure.

The longer the Iran war drags on, and the higher energy prices and interest rates go, the more likely these consumers are to pull back – and take the rest of the economy with them.

The economy is soft and vulnerable. This is the clear message in today’s GDP, income, and spending data. Abstracting from the vagaries of the data, real GDP growth is at best 2%, driven largely by AI-related investment and wealth effects that support consumer spending among the well-to-do.

For those wondering if this was supposed to be a hostile crowd: Ramaswamy is one of three people with a featured testimonial currently on the Young Americans For Liberty website. (Other two are Rand and Ron Paul.)

Dom Ervolina@dominicervolina.com · 6d ago

Vivek Ramaswamy tells a crowd of young Libertarians in Ohio "The truth of the matter is, people in my generation have already made it. We're gonna be fine." He is then booed off of the stage

In the last week, a GOP nominee for statewide office: -Apparently invoked the conspiracy theory that led to the Holocaust -Called to round up Chinese people -Quoted an obscure white nationalist novel -Called the nonworking "low IQ parasites" We asked GOP leaders to respond. None did. (Gift link).

A GOP Nominee for Texas Office Keeps Peddling Fascist Ideas

Bo French was once criticized by members of his party for his offensive posts. Now that he’s the nominee for the Railroad Commission, they’re silent.

texasmonthly.com

Just learned about the new "White Rose Resistance," named after executed German antifascists Sophie and Hans Scholl, that seeks to fight what it has proclaimed a modern version of Nazi evils: abortion and "the sexual revolution."

writing these words in this order made me feel like i was having a stroke, i am pleased to share it with all of you

Robert Downen@robertdownen.bsky.social · 7d ago

www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

NEW: Under Bari Weiss, CBS News has shifted to the right to try to grab some of Fox News' audience. Not only have they failed to do that, but they've driven off so much of their core audience that CBS Mornings is now perilously close to getting beaten by Fox & Friends. zeteo.com/p/mamdani-de...

Last year Gov. Greg Abbott designated the Council On American Islamic Relations a terrorist group. Emails obtained by Texas Monthly indicate that it was influenced heavily by the anti-Muslim Center For Security Policy.

Greg Abbott’s CAIR Terrorist Designation Looks Awfully Similar to an Anti-Muslim Think Tank’s Work

Months before the governor’s proclamation, a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy emailed DPS a report that levies similar evidence against the Muslim civil rights group.

texasmonthly.com

I’m going to be sick. Even the photo they chose — I painted in that exact spot during a concert one of my summers. From the 1970s to the 2010s, which includes the three years I attended. When my friends were there. Back to when some of their *parents* were campers. www.mlive.com/news/2026/07...

Epstein, 46 others linked to decades of sex assaults at Interlochen, over 70 victims

An investigative report two years in the making was released Tuesday, July 28, detailing decades of sexual abuse at Interlochen Center for the Arts by staff, trustees, visiting artists and Jeffrey Eps...

mlive.com

Still one of the most brutal articles I've ever read.

gwen howerton@kissphoria.bsky.social · last wk.

Fun tidbit in the Fauci diary stuff: In April 2020, Dr. Fauci complained about a "very unfair" Reuters article detailing none other than Texas Rep. Brian Harrison's dog-breeding business in Dallas. Harrison was HHS chief of staff. The past is a foreign country, etc.

"As we celebrate our Nation's semiquincentennial, consider how the judiciary is doing when it comes to upholding certain self-evident truths. For example: What about the Biblical truth that marriage is the union of one man and one woman? What about the Biblical truth that men are not women?"

Lawrence Hurley@lawrencehurley.bsky.social · last wk.

Judge Jim Ho out there airing his opinions on a bunch of legal questions, including those he thinks SCOTUS got wrong (gay marriage, birthright citizenship, etc): reason.com/volokh/2026/...

When I say "Texans are the driving force of Christian nationalism": Here's Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick echoing a call by Plano's Kelly Shackelford that Aledo activist David Barton's ideas be brought to Trump, at a hearing of the DOJ's Religious Liberty Commission held at Harlan Crow's Dallas mansion.

“I just love a captive audience.”

Evangelists say they are heeding a biblical command to preach on flights

In-flight evangelists have preached sermons and busted out guitars in recent years. Some travelers lament that they “can’t even walk away.”

washingtonpost.com

“Their 14-month-old daughter, Giovanni, was found crying beside her mother’s body in southern Guatemala.”

Overland couple shot dead in Guatemala after local ICE stop led to deportations

The couple’s 14-month-old daughter was found crying beside her mother’s body in a sugarcane field last week, according to Guatemalan authorities and media.

stlpr.org

Brand-new sentence just dropped:

Robert Downen@robertdownen.bsky.social · last wk.

Meanwhile, over on the other site, Governor Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are being attacked as Soft on Islam RINOs by... ....Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo star Rob Schneider.