Daniel opens this midweek coffee talk with a fight he says he has been waiting for. Facebook began blocking the texitnow.org link as a violation of its rules, first scrubbing old posts from TNM group admins, then flagging the link under the “dangerous individuals and organizations” standard. The same category, Daniel notes, that the platform uses for groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda. His read is blunt: a movement that openly rejects violence and works a peaceful political process is not dangerous to public safety, it is dangerous to a power structure. He announces that TNM has contacted legal counsel to pursue action under Texas’s new law against social media censorship, plus a slander claim, and he asks supporters to document the block with screenshots and consider their own claims under the same law.
The bigger news of the day is Edwards County. Its Commissioners Court passed a resolution laying out a case for Texas withdrawing from the Union and calling on the Legislature to enact planks 33 and 225 of the Republican Party platform, the language that would put independence to a vote of the people. Daniel calls it the first county to do so and predicts it will not be the last as pressure builds heading into the legislative session.
He then takes apart a new Texas Monthly piece by Peter Holley. Daniel argues the reporting was solid but that editors cherry-picked the polling, citing a 2009 Rasmussen number and 2012 figures while omitting the 2014 Reuters/Ipsos poll and the June 2022 SurveyUSA poll showing 66 percent of likely Texas voters would vote to leave. He pushes back on the recycled “shutting off the fire hose of federal dollars” framing, restating that Texas overpays into the federal system, and on professors quoted to wave the movement away. His verdict: if that is all the opposition has, the article backfired as a hit piece.
Questions answered in this episode
- Can you explain the Edwards County resolution that went out today, and what effect does it actually have?
- Will the coming Republican wave dissuade legislators or voters from considering Texas independence in the near future?
- Is TEXIT going to be on the ballot this November?
- After independence, should Texas elect statewide offices by Senate district or county rather than by statewide popular vote?
- Did Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick actually donate to the CalExit movement as he claimed?
- Why are you so hard on Governor Abbott, and does that mean you prefer Beto?
- Was the Daniel Miller credited on a 2000 Modern Marvels episode about video games the same Daniel Miller hosting this show?
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