OK, What Now? Gridlock! In Austin (Part III of an Occasional Series)

Ah Texas Republicans. After being in almost full political control of Texas for the last three decades or so they really felt that they had the car barreling down the road at 100MPH with no traffic in sight.

Then Texas Voters did the political equivalent of throwing the car in reverse without popping the clutch. As Ron Burgundy would say "Wow, that escalated quickly."

I've mentioned it in prior posts so I won't totally recap here but, Democrats went from the political wilderness to pretty much controlling every state wide elected office, The Texas House and making great inroads into the Texas Supreme Court.

The one thing Republicans have left? A majority, albeit a dwindling one, in the Texas Senate.

Democrats do have the Governor's office however and, most importantly, the power of the appointment that the office holds. Figure on Gov. Hinojosa using this power to remake the State Board of Education and several other Executive departments over which she has control. She also has a bully pulpit now. One that, it should be noted, does come with a substantial voter mandate.

And what is that mandate?

1. Lower costs. When they joke the "Rent is too damn high" they mean it. Also, the cost of food is too damn high, along with medical costs, automobile costs and (increasingly in Texas) the tax burden. Realistically there's not much State Democrats can do lower many costs. Fuel is being driven by the Iran war, which also places price pressure on Food costs, so that's going to be a DC issue primarily. Rent is typically caused by supply and demand. They could increase the supply, in the long term if not the short term, by streamlining regulation and removing hurdles to the building of new residences but that's not historically been in their playbook. It would take a new brand of Democrat to accomplish that.

Nor do I expect Democrats to take a serious look at Texas tax structure. As a matter of fact, I don't see any major tax bills,  outside of the revocation of business tax credits, to occur until after the 2028 elections. Texas Democrats top goal in 2028 is going to be to maintain their gains everywhere, and somehow gain control of the Texas Senate. But that's going to happen in the future and I don't think it will greatly affect tax policy until then. IF they can grab TX Senate control, then I would imagine almost anything is on the board. Taxes on the wealthy, a State income tax you name it.  But that's not for now.

2. Stopping ICE operations in Texas. This is a big one, and it's one that I think local municipalities are going to drive more change than is Austin. There are now more City Councils, County Courts and other local government groups who oppose ICE state wide. I predict they will stop coordinating, without the threats that used to come from Austin Republicans when they did so.

3. Data Centers - This is actually the one area where I think change is going to happen. Already some Republicans have filed bills to remove the tax abatements from Data Center operators. If Hinajosa wants a quick win this could be an area that she gives a lot of attention to. Making the Data Centers pay for their own energy and water costs would be a start. Eliminating the aforementioned tax abatements is probably another area where both parties will work together. After that I'm unsure what could be done. An outright data center ban feels unlikely, and possibly unwise.

There are other issues, to be sure, where Democrats will focus. The Expansion of Medicare is one, targeted lawsuit "reform" (meaning: moving the needle in the area the Trial Lawyers Association would like) and probably looking at cutting at the edges of oil and gas company profits by rolling back, or reducing, tax incentives that the industry currently takes advantage of.

There biggest hurdle? As previously stated, Texas Republicans still have a majority in the Texas Senate and early signs skew toward them taking a Scorched Earth approach. People forget that the ONLY THING the Texas Congress is required to do by the Constitution every session is pass a biannual budget. That's it, nothing else.

It's already been said that Texas Republican Senators view themselves as the last Bulwark between Texas and a transmogrification into the People's Republic of Texas. Because of this belief, a LOT of people feel that the Republicans could decide to go one of two ways.

1. (Less Likely) Try to work with the Democrats to move a few things across the finish line in-line with the voter desire to lower costs.  As I stated earlier, there might be some movement on Data Centers, and possibly some smaller wins for Governor Hinojosa if the Democrats choose the correct bills.

2. (More Likely) The Republicans in the Texas Senate decide to go scorched Earth. In this scenario even a budget becomes a slog, with some Republicans being willing to extend the session in what they believe will be a black-eye for Democrats. One early sign of which way they are going to lean is when they meet to decide what power they're going to give to Lt. Gov Vicki Goodwin. IF they vote to strip the power of the office bare, then it's going to be one of THOSE types of sessions.

The thing is, I really could see the Republican Senators trying to dig their heels in here. Republicans spent 30+ years working, negotiating and horse-trading for what gains they got in Texas, I don't see them just rolling over and letting Democrats roll them back in a session, or even three. All of this is provided the Republicans maintain a majority in the Texas Senate that is.

And here's the rub. When he was Lt. Gov, Dan Patrick railed against the presence of the "Rosebush Bill" and he was successful. Now, the Republicans can certainly attempt to bring this back, and I suspect they will. But the toothpaste has already been squeezed out of the tube so to speak so they run the risk of this backfiring in the public eye. "Rules for thee but not for me" is always a political ploy that plays poorly with the electorate.

Either way, the 2027 Texas Legislative Session is sure to be a doozy. The only question remaining is just how much of one the Republicans are going to push to make it. 

The 2026 College Football Playoff. Where the Rules are Made Up and the Points Don't Matter.

Unfortunately, it's that time of the year again. The time of year when ESPN rolls out the wheezing interim rankings from the incompetent College Football Playoff Committee and uses them as content fodder.

And that is all these are, just material to fill content hours on a 24 hour "sports" network that is more of a gossip rag now than anything else. Yes, ESPN still does good live sports content. They, sadly, dominate most of College Football, they put on some good College Basketball broadcasts and, without them, a ton of other College Sports would go all but unnoticed.

But, and this is important, the four-letter, Disney owned, network is an engine of destruction in College Sports. And they have set their sites on ruining College Football whether the fans like it or not. Case in point the CFP.

A couple of weeks back the Athletic (hid behind a firewall) ran a reader poll on fans attitude toward expanding the CFP to 24 teams. More than 80% of fans disapproved. Of course, ESPN trotted out their faithful mouthpieces to swear up and down on a stack of Bibles that ESPN was not the driver of this change. Then the Mouse House proceeded to plunk down $1.7 Billion dollars for exclusive broadcast rights. Rights that they can farm-out to other networks (for a profit one hopes) sure, but they own the CFP and to suggest that the CFP is not going to do their bidding is preposterous and requires a suspension of disbelief that even Trump could not hope to achieve.

And we haven't even gotten fully to the fact that the interim ratings are ridiculous. They're not based on "games played" but on "feel" and some mystery called "eye-test" which allows the committee to do silly things like place Tennessee (who beat Alabama) waaaaay behind the Crimson Tide and knocking Indiana down 9 spots despite them having an off-week.

Why do they do this?

Spoiler: It's not because this band of nit-wits truly believe this is where the teams should be ranked, although their belief in the mythical "SEC Gauntlet" (All Hail Coach SABAN!!!) is unwavering (and incorrect) what this is really about is giving the talking heads something to put in their mouths for the week. Instead of talking about the games and the rivalries and regional matchups College Football talk has devolved into "What is their path the the playoff?" or "Are they done?"

Yes it can be mildly fun to listen to some commentators lament the lack of intelligence in the CFP Committee room but eventually that gets tired. You can only hear former players and coaches talk badly about doddering old men for so long. It's like putting the Pat McAfee show on an endless loop. Eventually you just get tired of it all.

And, here's the rub. It's very possible that there are not 12 GOOD teams in the Country this year. At least, not Playoff caliber. Imagine how bad it's going to be NEXT year when the Playoff expands to 24 and they're debating which 4-5 loss SEC team should be included at the expense of a 2-loss ACC or BigXII team?

As for the Group of 6? Forget it. You get your 1 team, and pretty soon I'm sure they're going to take that away.

What this is leading to is the ultimate transformation of College Football into NFL-Lite. I predict the B1G and the SEC will, eventually, expand to 24 teams each, take their toys and walk away. They will sever fully from the NCAA and "College" Football will replace the UFL as the true minor-league feeder for the NFL.

What's left behind in the NCAA will continue to limp along, supported by ESPN+ until the House of Mouse decides they are no longer profitable and end that coverage. Don't believe me? Look at what has happened to FCS.

Last year you could find a multitude of FCS games streaming on ESPN+. Almost (but not quite) every game. It was fun, exciting football that often went late into the night as the West Coast teams had late kicks. This year? It's gone. You cannot find an FCS game almost anywhere on the streaming service, despite their multiple price increases.

There is no more "Pac 12 After Dark" on TV, or "Mountain West After Dark" or even Eastern Washington kicking off late against Idaho State. It's just not there anymore. Disney came in and decimated it. It's the same thing they're going to do to College Football.

Now, I'm not here to say that College Football is going to die. It's not, there will still be viewers for this, there will still be a TON of money to split among the 48 teams that make the Cut and most viewers will still turn in. But, and this is a big but, ESPN is risking losing the core fan of College Football, something NASCAR has learned is kind of a bad idea.

There will come a time when a not-insignificant portion of the audience just decides that they have better things to do on their Saturdays than watch a lesser version of the NFL when they can get their chores done, or other fun things, and watch the real deal on Sunday. Think about it, how many people are paying big bucks to watch the NBA G-League, or Minor League Baseball? Again, I'm not suggesting that Semi-Pro er..."College" football is going to sink that low, but it will be diminished from what it was.

The fault for that all lies at the feet of the College Football Playoff and ESPN. There is no escaping that fact.

Oh, the Georgia Bulldogs are ranked #1. But now you understand just how little that matters.

News Round-Up (11/11/2026)

Happy Veteran's Day to all who served. Thank you for your service.

Now, a lot to get through today as, you can imagine, it's been quite the few news cycles. And yes, this is going to be politics heavy because we're coming off the election. I expect this to change soon and we'll get back to things that actually matter.

Texas Senate Republicans should just get out of the way and let the Democrats do what they want. Because of the "will of the voters" or something like that.  I'm sure this person was also vociferously AGAINST the Democrats absconding to a casino in Oklahoma when they were trying to block what was then seen as "the will of the voters" right?  Oh wait, she wasn't?  Color me shocked.

Let the erasures begin (again). Ah Joy Sewing. Apparently there's only one type of minority that needs to be heard.

New Community in Katy expanding. To the Chron the lede is that it's "backed by a Billionaire". I wonder how long before they pen a follow up piece from an activist complaining about the lack of affordable housing in this development?

Evan Mintz takes a Victory Lap. I mean, he's leaning on some pretty flimsy arguments on why the Chron's endorsements mattered but hey, let them have it I guess? I've long said that a better use of the funds the Editorial Board chews up would be better redeployed into actual news gathering.

We're starting to get the bones of a legislative agenda from Democrats. If you're progressive you're going to say they are not going far enough. If you are conservative (there are still some of you around right) you're going to say they're overreaching. While "Medicare for all" is gaining some support, I predict that will collapse once people realize what that really means (i.e. the elimination of their employer health plans).

The Graft Stays, it's just the beneficiaries who change. American politics (and by extension Texas politics) has long been about paying-off your big donors and political patrons at the expense of the taxpayer. This is not going to suddenly change under the Democrats, only those who benefit.

Blue Tsunami aside, Texas voters did NOT like school bonds and tax increases. Here's the rule about increasing taxes. People hate them UNLESS they only affect those exactly one tax bracket above them and upward. Raise everyone else's taxes but me.

Dan Patrick is a petty little man. He's also not that smart, but that's for another day.

Government is traditionally a jobs program for the unemployable.

James Gunn and Peter Safran are out at DC. I lot of think pieces on why this happened. I'll make it easy for you: Their content sucked.

Why did California's Billionaire Tax fail to surf the Blue Wave? Because it was bad public policy?

Lina Hidalgo is the gift that keeps on taking. The end of this error cannot come soon enough.

Even in a Blue Tsunami election, the Chron Ed Board STILL finds more bad R's than D's who got elected. Seriously, shutter this joke of an Ed Board.

This ran two days after the election, and all of the votes still aren't counted. It. Never. Ends.

Elon Musk, Public Enemy #1 It will be interesting to see just how hard they go after him given the amount of jobs that he, admittedly, creates with SpaceX, Tesla and the Boring Co. Is Texas willing to concede their place in the space race for a political vendetta?  We shall see.

Admitting wrong-doing while claiming to have done nothing wrong. American society in a nice bow.

And finally.....

I'm going to file this under "Things that will probably never happen." I'm also curious how this is much different than Trump's $5000 payments?  Bad Policy is bad policy regardless of what letter is behind the person's name.

OK, What Now? The Happy Myth of the Fiscal Discipline of Harris County (Part II of an Occasional Series)

In case you weren't paying attention, although judging by the voter turnout you probably were, Democrats control pretty much everything in Harris County, Texas now.

As it stands they control the office of the County Judge, 3 of the 4 seats on the Commissioner's Court, The District Attorney's Office, The County Clerk, County Attorney, The District Clerk, The Harris County Treasurer (more on that office later), The Tax Assessor-Collector, the Sheriff, most of the Constables, and a solid majority of judgeships on both the Civil and Criminal side of the courts.

In short, Harris County is now the Bluest of the Blue counties in Texas.

Don't believe me?

In most races the Democrats in Harris County outpaced the Republicans by around a 2-1 margin. That means that out of every 100 votes case, 60-70% were Democratic. That means that only around 30-35 out of 100 Harris County Residents cast a Republican vote. That's not a win, that's a Mollywhopping. In football terms the Harris County Republican Party got boat raced in what they used to view as their home stadium. There might still be some Republican opposition to their policy goals but it is going to be isolated, pocketed, and unlikely to have any impact.

Harris County is now the single-party entity that dishonest players on both sides pretend to dislike. 

Of course, they don't. Not really. 

The Chronicle has been begging for the State of Texas to turn 'Purple' for decades now. But they have never once cried that Harris County is deep, deep blue and not purple. In fact, the only Purple they liked was the sartorial choices of late Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, who had a liking for the color. In fact, what the Chron is most giddy about is that both the County and the State are now politically aligned bringing in a new age of, they hope, increased political spending and funding from the State to the County to allow the Commissioner's Court members to even more greatly reward their political patrons. Watchdog media? Yeah, whatever.

But, and this is the important bit, here is my projection for Harris County after the recent Mid-Term elections.

1. Spending will skyrocket. Harris County is going to ramp up their spending spree to 11 on a scale of 10.  there will be almost nothing that is off-limits for them now. They just enacted the largest property tax, to the highest rate, in recent history and now they're hoping to get even more money. Expect them to spend every penny of it.

2. That spending will NOT go to flood control, at least, not in a meaningful manner. If you want to get updated on the depth and breadth of the problems with Harris County Flood Control I encourage you to become a reader of Reduce Flooding Now! and it's author Bob Rehak. Mr. Rehak's website does yeoman's work in detailing the issues with Harris County's flood response to date, and will probably continue that work into the future.

3. With the extra money, expect to see a return of some of Lina Hidalgo's ideas.  Remember her early child care tax increase failure? I predict that comes back in some form or fashion. I also expect the district of the remaining Republican Commissioner Tom Ramsey to get totally squeezed out of the funding pie. To the victor go the spoils in politics after all, and Tom Ramsey's constituents will continue to be spoiless until they get the message and start voting the correct way.

4. There is one, kind of odd, thing about some of this. As elected officials are making inroads about contemplating further tax increases and greatly expanding public school funding, voters roundly said NO in the same election where they voted in the same people who passed the tax increases in the first place. This leads some credence to the theory that folks in this election were voting more against the Republicans than they were FOR the Democrats. Not all, of course, but a probably not insignificant amount.

5. Will the Office of the County Treasurer ACTUALLY go away? Color me skeptical. While I agree that almost everyone with a pulse and one active brain cell agree that Carla Wyatt should not be elected to any elected office, imagining Texas Democrats mustering up the will to cut government in ANY fashion feels like a stretch. Look, it very well COULD happen, it SHOULD happen, but I'll believe it when I see it. Wyatt's best chance for survival is to cozy up to some deep-pocketed Democratic donor and have them advocate on her behalf.

Out of all of these items one thing is for certain: Harris County Government is most likely about to go on a spending spree. They just got a credit card with no oversight, no media watchdog to speak of, very few spending limits and pretty much free hand to do what they wish, when they wish, with very little chance of being held accountable by an opposition party that no longer exists in any meaningful form. It's a politician's wet-dream come to life.

What you're seeing in Harris County Government now is the closest thing in the State that you will see to the old, machine political system. They have a huge one and it's purring along just as they feel it should with Commissioner Rodney Ellis now firmly in control. They won't have much luck reducing funding for law enforcement, at least, not for another electoral cycle or two as the Democrats try to wrest control of the Texas Senate, the last bastion of Texas Republicans, and get those laws reversed, but they do have a sympathetic Sheriff, DA and judges who will be more than willing to de-facto reform the Criminal Justice system in a manner of their choosing.

All that said, do I think Harris County is going to change all that much? No, I don't. The reason for this is because a lot of the changes they wanted to make have already happened. There will be some new stuff, sure, as laws change and opportunities to enrich political patrons increase sure, they'll take advantage of those. For the rest of their items they'll just continue to push things further. In Districts under Democratic Control, spending will continue to increase despite citizens gaining little from it. In the last District represented by a Republican?  Again, if you are on the losing side, politically (and monetarily) you ALWAYS pay the price.

One thing IS certain. In American politics when elections happen and things go either wrong, or right, the electorate has no one to blame except themselves. This is going to be especially true in this situation. IF things go right then the politicians are going to take a victory lap. If things in Harris County go pear-shaped, they're going to scurry around and look for scapegoats, someone who did something that ran counter to their vision of Harris County Nirvana. The truth is that the people who voted them in should take both the credit OR the blame, whatever happens.

OK, What Now? The Democrats are on the clock. (Part 1 of an occasional series)

As opposed to Sally Fields, you REALLY, REALLY DO NOT like Donald Trump.

The election results made that perfectly clear.

Congratulations to the Democrats who are celebrating what is probably the greatest party collapse since the 1974 post-Watergate elections that gave us.....Jimmy Carter. (Eventually)

Yeesh.

For me, given that I still live in the Houston area, the biggest change lies in Texas, where the Democrats here finally found a Blue Wave so-large, and a Republican contingent so inept, that they could ride it to power.

And not just by winning a State-wide race or two. They won all of them. U.S. Senate, Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Land Commissioner, Ag Commissioner, Pick-ups in the US House, control of the Texas House, every contested seat on the Texas Supreme Court, several county judgeships (including in my Home Harris County where pretty much every elected official now carries a D after their name) and getting rid of most of the good judges on the benches. It was so bad, and the voters voted so blindly, that even the odious Carla Wyatt (her of the alleged DUIs, breaking into other's vehicles and getting into multi-car collisions {possibly while driving without insurance}) won her re-election to Country Treasurer.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement for an intelligent, informed electorate.

But the Constitution of the US does not place any intelligence test on voting. You can fog a mirror, with some restrictions such as felonies, etc. (Many of which the winning members of the DSA would be A-OK getting rid of {although, to be fair, not many other Democrats for now}) and you can vote. And you did. Overwhelmingly, especially in Harris County, those votes were for the Blue team.

But, what does all of this really mean?

That then is the issue with elections. Sure you have electoral promises from politicians while they're trying to convince you to vote for them but, as we've been in the past, what's stumped for on the campaign trail is usually not what we see when they get into office and start drinking the smoothies of political power. It tastes good, it goes down easy, and all of those people who paid a lot of money to get you into office in the first place start approaching you with their hands out looking to realize a positive ROI.

Of course, every politician will deny this "I'm not beholden to the special interests!" they claim, but they are. Maybe not Elon Musk, Dunn and all of the other Billionaire's that they railed against on the campaign trail, but they have their own roster of politically active wealthy folks to whom they now owe favors, people with different interests and different priorities that they would prefer you not take too deep a dive into for now.

Flowery campaign promises aside, the graft, payola and pay-offs to political cronies never ends, the names of the beneficiaries just change.

That is why Elon Musk is probably in for a rough few years but the wealthy donors with ties to Brazilian Billionaire George Soros were dancing a jig on their breakfast tables Wednesday morning. Of course, our staunch, watchdog media writes exposes, fainting couch opinion pieces, investigations and op-eds masking as news on some, all while writing the accusations of others are just a bunch of political hodge-podge. Sometimes the ire directed toward some of these figures doesn't even depend on the Party, it depends on the issues that the media prefers. If they agree with you, journalistic cover is provided. If they don't? Well then you're just about the worst thing since Yellow dye #5 or 6.

I will admit that what comes next in Texas is somewhat of a mystery to me. There will be some changes obviously, but the big mystery is going to be the remnants of the Texas Republican Party. Yes, they got knocked down, and it was a 9 count for sure. But it wasn't a full 10 count knockout because they do still have one very important lever of power remaining to them. They still retain control of the Texas Senate.

Harris County is easier to predict. The blueprint is already there and the architect of the destruction, Rodney Ellis, is in even firmer control now than he was before AND he replaced the erratic Lina Hidalgo with a much more predictable Letitia Plummer, who will understand which side of the bread the butter is on and will certainly play a more team oriented game than did Hidalgo, who was more interested in personal grandstanding too many times. In short, Ellis is a very happy man right now.

Which brings me (finally, I know) to the future. In short, what does it hold? What are the Democrats going to do now that they have a grasp on many (not all and that's important) levers of power at the various levels of Government that you interact with?

In the future I'll handle this in three parts: 

1. Harris County

2. Texas

3. Federal

And yes, it's true. I find divided government to be way more interesting than single-party governance. It's more fun this way. Partially this is why I've been disinterested in political blogging for quite some time now. I'm not much in the way of Federal Government (boring) and, to be honest, the State and local political scene has been boring and predictable for quite some time now.

Tuesday changed that.

Now, for the first time in a long time, things are about to get fun.

I think it's time to start talking about it again.

I will promise you this. What you've going to get on here is not the normal "One side good, the other side bad" type of blogging. I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. As a matter of fact, I don't even vote any more. I quit voting around 15 years ago because every single politician that I have met is a horrible, horrible person. I don't like either side, nor do I believe that either side is going to "ruin" the Country. I am neither MAGA nor "Orange man BAD". What I do enjoy is taking a look at the policies that both sides put forward and what I see as probable after an election.

Also, when I do decide to speak up, it's as a counterpoint to the media, who you do not hate enough. (To quote my friend Kevin, who deserves full-credit for that statement.)

So let's buckle up and start taking a look at what we (probably) have to look forward to. One thing is for sure, it's not going to be business as usual in Texas or Washington D.C. any more. (Although in Harris County it will be, just on overdrive.)

News Round-Up (09/24/2026)

 And that's the way it is.......

Bo French is a horrible candidate, he should lose. But if you think that changing the name of the Texas Railroad Commission to the "Texas Oil and Gas Commission" is the MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE in this race? You might be an idiot as well. Clearly the author is.

Horrible people doing horrible things. This Carrot Top situation is weird. The problem is I think there are no good actors on either side.

A quick note to the marijuana legalization folks: Legalization does not eliminate the black market. If anything it can strengthen it. As illegal bookies and offshore books what the elimination of PAPSA did for them. Hint: It did not hurt them. That's not to say there's not some benefits to going down this path, but poking the cartels in the eyes is not it.

Democrat Socialists avert your eyes. The best say to get things done is sometimes by utilizing the resources of the private sector who have skin in the game. I suspect that might be the case with the Colorado River watershed.

Just another reminder that The WNBA is NOT a sports league. It's a grievance machine for certain groups. Nothing more.

My feeling is that Deion is done. Yes, Colorado will let him craft the circumstances of his exit, but I'd be very surprised if he was the coach of the Buffalos next year.

Big Plans for Greenspoint. Of course, you'll have to root out the gangs who have set up shop in the former Macy's location first.

This is a good read on ESPN College GameDay and how it's contributing to the fall of College Football. They've changed their mission from highlighting the glory of the sport, to becoming a marketing arm for ESPN/SEC.  That's bad for everyone. (Same with FOX and Big Noon Saturday)

This season of America's Got Talent taught us that NO, it really doesn't. 8 of the top 10 finalists were not American, and the winner was Thai. Don't get me wrong, this is not a nativist rant, just an observation.

Once you get your claws into Houston area government, there's always a place to continue your grift off of the taxpayers. Mary Benton understands that, how to play the local game an endear herself to Houston's ruling class.

This is possibly the most racist article you'll read today. From the idea that Hispanics cannot compete, that all White's are exploitive to providing a sounding board to a fringe Democrat Socialist activist who wants to dismantle Capitalism. It's bad. I'm not sure why it's just a given that the local Hispanic population lacks the intellectual chops to thrive in this boom?

The thing about running a con is this, You have to possess at least a modicum of intelligence. It's becoming increasingly clear that Dr. Malcom Tanner does not. Popcorn time.

FIFA DOES have the intelligence to run a con. And, judging by the tax bills that American's are going to have to foot for their quad-annual Futbol extravaganza, they've perfected the art.

And finally,

This is from a couple of weeks back but I thought it worth mentioning: Las Vegas Tourists are Richer, middle-aged and gambling less.

Based on my last trip to Las Vegas (August 2026) this checks out. I saw fewer younger folks and more people my age (mid-50's, so middle-aged). And while there was foot traffic the casino floors were not near as full as usual. I know that I cut my gambling budget in half, and found myself having much, much more fun as a result.

When I want to gamble I go to Tulsa, or Coushatta (not Lake Charles, LA anymore, a subject for a future post) or Florida. I still like going to Las Vegas, but not primarily to gamble. I would even say it's 4th on my list of things to do there. Just incidental to other activities.

Las Vegas biggest problem is that it is no longer "The Gambling Capitol of the World". Hell, it's probably not even in the top 5 these days. In terms of sports betting Nevada is fringe top 10. Think about that.

What this means is that Las Vegas is going to become way, way more recession sensitive, and many of the things they took for granted won't be able to be taken for granted any longer.