This is a weekly feature produced by my friend Ginger. Let us know what you think.
This week in Dallas-area news, we have a lot more on Harlan Crow and the Six Degrees of Clarence Thomas, the Bryan Slaton scandal, various other bad bills and bad ideas coming out of the Lege and the Governor’s office, problems with beer distribution in Texas over spring break/St. Pat’s/SXSW (!), and a laugh at the expense of some Texas figures courtesy of the Barbie selfie generator. No baby animals this week, alas.
This week we’re starting with Harlan Crow once again. As I was writing this post, ProPublica came out with a new piece of the puzzle: Billionaire Harlan Crow Bought Property From Clarence Thomas. The Justice Didn’t Disclose the Deal. Makes you wonder what else is missing from Thomas’ disclosures, doesn’t it?
Another of the big stories is in the Washingtonian: Clarence Thomas’s Billionaire Benefactor Collects Hitler Artifacts. This is not local but the photos are real and they do link to a DMN report on the house. I have never been in the house; we don’t run in those circles. But danah boyd and Ethan Zuckerman have visited and have some things to say.
The DMN has some items for your reading pleasure as well. Harlan Crow, who gave lavish trips to Clarence Thomas, has donated $13M to GOP (Archive link.) Note that he does occasionally give to Democrats, like Henry Cuellar. Also there’s Inside Harlan Crow’s ‘Garden of Evil’ and his collection from Washington to Monet (Archive link), which contains the line “They’re not a celebration of repressive regimes, Crow has said.” See also: I am not a crook. Crow’s collection also inspired this meditation on collections, which poses the question: “[H]ow prestigious is owning a piece of a Supreme Court justice?”
Last, but not least, from the DMN is today’s editorial: Harlan Crow, Clarence Thomas and a diminished Supreme Court (Archive link.) I’m glad DMN’s editorial board is calling for a code of conduct. But if they really believe Crow and Thomas didn’t know what they were doing was wrong, though, I’ve got some NFTs I’d like to sell them.
I have some questions about about Thomas’ response to the ProPublica investigation: he describes the Crows as “close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court”. Specifically, I’d like to know how Thomas thinks of business before the courts. I’d also like to know whether Crow, or any person or entity involved in Crow’s holdings and investments, was involved in suits before the Supreme Court directly or indirectly, for instance by an amicus curiae brief, in the years when Crow hosted Thomas. I’m sure someone out there is doing that research, which I look forward to reading, especially after the latest revelations.
Our second DFW-area hot topic is this week’s scandal in the Lege, which our host has already covered: House Representative Bryan Slaton of Royse City getting caught having an underage female intern (archive link) over to his condo in Austin for late-night drinks. Calling a young staffer over for drinks and then pressuring her to keep her mouth shut about it is gross, even if there’s nothing more to it.
But some GOP reps have called for his resignation and between the tweets linked there and the language in the Texas Tribune story, I suspect we’re going to find out there’s quite a bit more. Personally I wish the young intern all the best and the least traumatic way out of this situation she can get. I wish Slaton all the justice a man who calls queer folks predators while grooming a minor deserves.
In other news:
- Also in Six Degrees of Clarence Thomas, Crowe’s real estate empire is hosting a UATX symposium this summer. UATX is the not-yet-established University of Austin started by conservatives to rival UT Austin; the Forbidden Courses summer program will be held at the Old Parkland Campus, which is one of the signature properties in the Crow Empire. No word on how much, if anything, UATX is paying Crow for the use of his property.
- With Tarrant County’s congressional districts ‘carved to bits,’ who represents us? DFW is as carved up in the current round of gerrymandered redistricting as Austin, where I lived for a decade. When I lived in NW Austin, I was in CD-10 along with folks all the way down 290 to Prairie View; when I lived in SE Austin, I was in CD-35 all the way down 35 to San Antonio; when I moved to near NE Dallas, where I now live, I was in CD-5 with half of East Texas. Now I’m in CD-24 with parts of Fort Worth and a lot of the suburbs in between. I didn’t realize CD-30 (Jasmine Crockett’s district, which I think of as South Dallas because it was Eddie Bernice Johnson’s old seat) also extended into Fort Worth, but I’m not surprised.
- A Good Friday funeral in Texas. Baby Halo’s parents had few choices in post-Roe Texas. Baby Halo was diagnosed with anencephaly (parts of her brain and skull never developed) at 20 weeks. In a civilized state where people have access to abortion care, her mom would have terminated the pregnancy. In Texas, she had to carry an additional three months, undergo labor and give birth to a child who survived only a few hours. And of course there’s no charitable care for her mom or assistance for Baby Halo’s funeral. This is what the Republican party wants. The cruelty may not be the point but it’s certainly not a problem.
- A story I’m looking forward to is whatever comes of KXAN’s search for stories about TxTag, the central Texas toll authority (found via the Austin subreddit). When I lived in Austin, my only significant problems with TxTag were with NTTA (DFW’s toll authority) failing to read my tag on Dallas tollways. Apparently it’s gotten a lot worse in recent years. I’d rather get rid of some of the toll roads but barring that, I’d at least like my toll tag to work properly.
- In North Texas legislature news: Police ID person who took Bhojani’s family Qur’an but won’t tell us who it was. That’s not even slightly weird!
- In another gross story from the Lege, our only governor is poised to pardon a convicted murderer (Archive link) despite his record of “stingy clemency”. If you need more information on why our so-called law-and-order governor would do such a thing, Radley Balko has all the details.
- In case you were wondering: Texas Legislature’s education savings accounts proposal won’t cover tuition at most Fort Worth private schools. I took a quick look at the tuition numbers from the article. When I sorted them by cost, it looked like the $8000 the Lege is considering would pay the cost of tuition at fewer than 20% of the schools.
- In sad medical news, Shelley Luther, the woman who broke lockdown in DFW during the height of the pandemic, has apparently suffered a brain aneurysm and is on a ventilator in the ICU. I wish her well and hope she has a complete recovery and a return to private life. Also, I would like to note that a quick Google for research about brain aneurysms and COVID turns up a lot of hits, including this case report and literature review on the NIH site whose abstract concludes “COVID-19 infection could be considered as one of the possible risk factors leading to instability and rupture of intracranial aneurysm.”
- News from Plano: Plano gets details of long-awaited overhaul of Shops at Willow Bend mall (Archive link). Today I learned that the Shops at Willow Bend was the last enclosed mall built in Texas. It was completed in 2001. I remember visiting it when it was fairly new and we had family living in the area; it’s already obsolete only two decades into its lifecycle.
- You Had One Job — Country’s Largest Beer Distributor Doesn’t Deliver, Causing Rocky Start in Texas. Reyes Beverage Group, which bought into Texas last year, screwed up deliveries to Austin in March, which means during SXSW, St. Patrick’s, Rodeo Austin, and spring break. In North Texas they also screwed up during the Country Music Awards. I know beer distributing issues in the Lege have been a long-time interest of our host’s so perhaps he’ll have something more on this when it wends its way back to Austin at some later date.
- You need a laugh! Enjoy these Texas politicians and other notable figures in the Barbie selfie generator for the upcoming movie.
- Last but not least: 10 Texas Music Museums Worth the Stop on Your Next Road Trip. Austin and Houston both get a look in here so if you’re local to them, check them out.
I believe the original ProPublica article on Crow/Thomas identified at least a few amicus briefs authored by groups that Crow contributed to, but nothing more direct than that.
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