Thumbs up, down
Good and bad of Californians; Houston’s top barbecue honors; Patrick on the Iron Throne.
There’s good news and bad about the trend of Californians, and in particular those who lead big companies, moving to Texas — land of low taxes, sleepy industrial oversight and, well, elbow room. Thumbs is keeping a list, and leading our “bad news” ledger is Tesla founder Elon Musk’s move from Silicon Valley. It’s not Musk himself that is giving us headaches — he’s been officially a Texan since he moved to Austin last year. And we’re just fine with his relocating Tesla HQ to the Lone Star State. What we wish would go away, though, are any plans for the new Giga Bier that Musk announced while in Berlin recently. Texas Monthly reports it’s not yet clear whether the new brew would be made in Texas, or if so, where. Frankly, we’d rather not be bothered. Texas needs a lot of things — maybe even a rocket that takes rich guys to space — but when it comes to getting high at the bottom of a glass, our honky-tonkin’, hard-partying state has that covered.
On the “good news” list is the welcome fact that those folks coming from California are making smart decisions about where to live. And after abandoning the Pacific Ocean views and the Sierra Mountains’ pristine air, not to mention high taxes, terrible traffic and ravenous wild fires, most of these newcomers are coming to Harris County — and not Dallas, Austin or other rumored urban hot spots. We’re glad of the company and of the cash offers on our homes in this bustling real estate market. We’re not as thrilled about our fellow travelers adding to Houston’s traffic woes. We just hope they’ll stick around even after they find out that, no matter how much they hate the hard-right politics in Austin, they can’t just circulate a petition and play recall roulette like they can back in Cali. Even if we could, the deck is stacked here and the house always wins.
Maybe it was Texas barbecue that has helped steer the Californians to Houston. Thumbs’ first reaction might have been to give the Golden State evacuees directions to Taylor, where they’d find Louie Mueller’s ribs, or to Lexington for a Saturday morning feast on pork butt. But that’s old thinking. Among the Top 50 BBQ joints on Texas Monthly’s annual ranking are no fewer than 11 in the Houston area — plus some honorable mentions. Many are familiar names: the Pit Room, Gatlin’s, Killen’s. But in the No. 3 spot is Heights sensation Truth Barbecue, which editors called “transcendent.” We don’t know if that transcendence covers 1,500 miles but we’re willing to bet that they’ve got some drippy, smokey, melty brisket even a Californian could like.
Speaking of eating and drinking, the rich-as-Midas princelings who comprised House Lannister in the “Game of Thrones” series (and novels) sure did a lot of both. They were also known for the phrase: “a Lannister always pays his debts.” The lords and ladies of Westeros’ most wicked house escaped no end of troubles by simply reminding any wouldbe allies that if they helped, they’d be assured of gold — and quickly. It appears that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick may abide by a similar creed. He had made a promise, last year pledging to pay up to $1 million for proof of fraud in the 2020 president election. Now all he had to do was keep it. Which admittedly, is often the harder part of the bargain. It got even harder when the first verified claim of true election fraud arrived from Pennsylvania, and didn’t appear to buy Patrick any of the partisan advantage he was hoping for. The man seeking the reward was a Democratic poll worker, and he presented proof that an elderly man voted twice for Donald Trump. On Monday, the man announced he’d received a $25,000 check from Patrick, making him the first person to publicly claim part of that prize. We can think of a few ways Patrick might have preferred to spend that money. But hey, at least he spent his own gold in the fruitless search for voter fraud. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton funds his on the taxpayer’s dime. Maybe comparing Patrick to the
ruthless, violent Lannisters goes too far. Then again, Patrick has emerged from the third special session in Austin more powerful than ever. The state’s new legislative redistricting will almost certainly leave one less Democrat in the Senate chamber, where the minority party is barely hanging on. And Patrick’s iron grip of his own caucus will surely tighten with the disappointing news that three-term state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, won’t seek reelection. Seliger, a former Amarillo mayor and chairman of the Senate higher education committee, earned a reputation as a results-oriented legislator willing to stand up to Patrick — and even to Trump, who sealed Seliger’s fate recently by endorsing his primary opponent. We’ll miss him, and also that quaint old trait he demonstrated every now and then that has become so rare among today’s Texas Republican senators: free will.