https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ted-cruz-nervous-lose-senate-seat-iheartmedia-1234998992/
Ted Cruz is facing ethics questions regarding his relationship with iHeartMedia amidst a tight race against Rep. Colin Allred for his Senate seat.
The odds are certainly some of the best we can hope for:
Higher political engagement in general from Millennials and Gen Z than in the past.
It's a general election, so higher voter turnout in general.
Trump has been banging the drum of fascism (or at least authoritarianism), so people will turn out just to vote against him.
Republicans have been glibly attacking women's reproductive rights and medical procedures like IVF. Both issues will increase turnout.
They showed their ass when they acquitted Paxton.
He's not running against someone like Beto. He's running against a former football player, and if there's one thing Texans love, it's football. Cruz is already unpopular by virtue of being himself.
All those Conservative folks moving from California to Texas are moving to Florida, now.
All those Conservative folks moving from California to Texas are moving to Florida, now.
This was always mildly funny. Conservatives like to talk about democrats importing voters to turn the state blue, but from my point of view it was out of state republicans moving in keeping it red.
All those Conservative folks moving from California to Texas are moving to Florida, now.
Literally family of mine is doing this right now. It's weird.
I hope so. Texas is somewhat purple and still has a chance of turning eventually, but Florida is a lost cause.
It'll be a perfect place for hateful libertarian types to suddenly learn that they have been taking everything for granted their whole lives.
I fear that he's going to under-perform his party, but still squick out a win. People dislike him almost universally, but the GOP folks who don't respect him can still count on his vote and they know that he will kiss the ring to keep his job.
Also, I've decided "squick" is probably a good verb to use for most things that Ted Cruz does.
Let's make sure people have a plan in place so they can get out there and vote. He can squick the fuck off.
For those that don’t know (I didn’t) iHeartMedia is the company formally known as Clear Channel.
I guess Clear Channel sullied their name so badly they had to rebrand.
They were kind of the Sinclair Media of the mid-1990s - 2010s
Basically after the 1996 Telcom Act lifted restriction, they started consolidating and monopolizing terrestrial radio markets and enshitifying the airwaves. They brought back payola and started destroying local and regional diversity and pushing homogenous playlists and centralized DJs.
Looks like the rebrand happened a decade ago
Interesting. I knew the enshitifying consolidation happened, but I learned it with the new name, not the old one.
“The Democrats are coming after me, they are gonna spend more than $100 million this year, George Soros is already spending millions of dollars in the state of Texas,” Cruz told Sean Hannity.
Oh no, Soros is like Sauron from LotR!
Anyway, sounds like I’ll need to cut iHeartMedia from my supported podcasts if they turn up in an audit (I support a lot of shows, so I’ll have to check). Too bad there isn’t a market for podcast piracy.
Fuck Cruz.
What do you mean, podcast piracy?
Do you pay for your podcasts?
I haven't paid anything for mine..
Yes, I subscribe to get bonus episodes for some and to avoid ads for others. For some, I don't pay and I skip over the ads. Some of my favorite content is the extra eps that I get from private feeds.
God I can only fucking hope so hard.
Then again, Texans voted for him to begin with so who knows.
Maybe they learned their lesson. Surely.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
On Wednesday, Cruz begged for donation on Fox News while complaining that Allred is out fundraising his 2018 challenger, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, by leaps and bounds.
Last week, The Houston Chronicle reported that the radio network paid out $630,850 to a Cruz-affiliated super Pac, Truth and Courage.
The LoseCruz PAC, a political action committee challenging the senator’s reelection, first reported a $214,752.98 transfer from iHeartMedia to Truth and Courage in March.
“It really is sad what’s happening to the media,” Cruz said when asked how he could reconcile the payments with his claims he isn’t compensated for the podcast.
Cruz barely managed to eke out a win against O’Rourke in 2018, and the Republican Party at large is showing their concern that Texas — once a reliable red state — is quickly becoming a purple battleground.
“When you vote early, Democrats can’t engage in last-minute games like running out of paper ballots,” Cruz says in a promotional video for the website.
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