Sunday, December 23, 2018
Saturday, December 22, 2018
A cup of kindness, yet: Facebook, Flynn, Schwertner, and Melania
This post tried to get blogged all week, and it reads a little dated in the wake of the Trump shutdown and RBG's latest cancer scare, but I'll throw it up anyway: in the spirit of giving, I should direct a few good wishes at some of those beyond our crappy local Democrats. Just a bit to starboard.
-- Facebook has been sued by the attorney general of the District of Columbia on behalf of the city-state's residents harmed by the company's data breaches, authorized and un-. Other states will surely follow, ah, suit.
IANAL but this sounds remarkably similar to Texas' DTPA, which contains a provision for punishment of three times damages for guilty verdicts. Let's ask Ken Paxton to do something for us instead of to us for once.
This will be the end of Facebook, ladies and gentlemen. They'll be forced into bankruptcy under a blizzard of litigation of this kind if the state attorneys general get their acts together on some mass class action. But the fact is that we the people can move faster than any court of law to end Mark Zuckerburg's foul corporation. If you haven't deleted your Facebook account ... what exactly is it going to take? Pretend you hear Zuck speaking in Arnold Schwartzeneggar's voice (as Dutch Schaefer from Predator): "Kill me! Do it NOW!"
-- Michael Flynn is stewing in his own traitorous juices over the holidays after Judge Emmet Sullivan trashed him at his sentencing hearing last Tuesday. It's going to be a terrible Christmas and a horrible New Year around that dude's house. Sullivan was apparently having none of Robert Mueller's recommendation of no prison time for Flynn's cooperation in his investigation, a gambit I figured was aimed at short-circuiting a Trump pardon. If Flynn gets time in the Big House, Trump is bound to throw more gas on his dumpster fire by giving him a 'get out of jail free' card.
-- State Sen. Charles Schwertner is going to keep insisting he didn't text that UT co-ed right to the end of his political career. Which we all hope is sooner than four years from now. Borris Miles, the other sexual predator still in the Texas Senate, is up for recall in 2020, but since African Americans in southwest Harris County last month re-elected Ron Reynolds, currently sitting in jail on a barratry conviction, I have my doubts as to whether any good Christian can unseat Miles for being too aggressive about his nearly-constant side chick hustle.
-- FLOTUS reports (to an unnamed 'close' source, who is whispering to Hollywood Life's Bonnie Fuller) that POTUS is "under immense stress" because of all the concurrent witch hunts (sic) going on and that she is concerned for his health.
I Really Don't Care. Do You?
-- Facebook has been sued by the attorney general of the District of Columbia on behalf of the city-state's residents harmed by the company's data breaches, authorized and un-. Other states will surely follow, ah, suit.
DC Attorney General Karl Racine on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Facebook, accusing the social-media giant of “unfair and deceptive” practices that violated consumer privacy and led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The first lawsuit of its kind in the United States, the move could result in billions of dollars’ worth of fines for the company and pave the way for states around the country to file similar complaints.
[...]
The lawsuit also comes on the heels of a New York Times report published Tuesday night that revealed that those same data practices allowed at least 150 other companies to access consumer data, including Facebook users’ private messages. The sharing of data with third parties continued well past a 2011 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission that required Facebook to disclose its data practices more transparently and improve its privacy practices. Racine says his office will be updating its suit to include the new allegations.
The lawsuit could take years to wind its way through the courts, but if it’s successful, Facebook could be on the hook for serious civil penalties under DC’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act, a blanket law that allows for damages for a number of trade violations, including data security breaches. Under the law, a company can be fined up to $5,000 per violation. According to the DC attorney general’s estimates, as many as 340,000 District residents were affected by the Cambridge Analytica incident.
If the lawsuit is expanded to include more recently revealed violations, which gave parties ranging from Netflix to Russian search engine Yandex access to consumer data, fines could possibly reach into the billions of dollars and could top the nearly $1.7 billion fine Facebook is currently facing in the European Union, where consumer data protections are much more stringent. On Tuesday, Facebook settled for $450,000 a lawsuit brought by Washington state alleging the company had violated political advertising laws.
IANAL but this sounds remarkably similar to Texas' DTPA, which contains a provision for punishment of three times damages for guilty verdicts. Let's ask Ken Paxton to do something for us instead of to us for once.
This will be the end of Facebook, ladies and gentlemen. They'll be forced into bankruptcy under a blizzard of litigation of this kind if the state attorneys general get their acts together on some mass class action. But the fact is that we the people can move faster than any court of law to end Mark Zuckerburg's foul corporation. If you haven't deleted your Facebook account ... what exactly is it going to take? Pretend you hear Zuck speaking in Arnold Schwartzeneggar's voice (as Dutch Schaefer from Predator): "Kill me! Do it NOW!"
-- Michael Flynn is stewing in his own traitorous juices over the holidays after Judge Emmet Sullivan trashed him at his sentencing hearing last Tuesday. It's going to be a terrible Christmas and a horrible New Year around that dude's house. Sullivan was apparently having none of Robert Mueller's recommendation of no prison time for Flynn's cooperation in his investigation, a gambit I figured was aimed at short-circuiting a Trump pardon. If Flynn gets time in the Big House, Trump is bound to throw more gas on his dumpster fire by giving him a 'get out of jail free' card.
-- State Sen. Charles Schwertner is going to keep insisting he didn't text that UT co-ed right to the end of his political career. Which we all hope is sooner than four years from now. Borris Miles, the other sexual predator still in the Texas Senate, is up for recall in 2020, but since African Americans in southwest Harris County last month re-elected Ron Reynolds, currently sitting in jail on a barratry conviction, I have my doubts as to whether any good Christian can unseat Miles for being too aggressive about his nearly-constant side chick hustle.
-- FLOTUS reports (to an unnamed 'close' source, who is whispering to Hollywood Life's Bonnie Fuller) that POTUS is "under immense stress" because of all the concurrent witch hunts (sic) going on and that she is concerned for his health.
I Really Don't Care. Do You?
#Beto2020 explodes on launch pad
I L'dMFAO when I read this earlier in the week.
Coba-rrhea-vias has had a couple of bilious posts about Bernie in the past week, so you can tell he's mad/scared about the prospect of possibly having to vote for him in November of 2020. I haven't checked in with Ted at jobsanger in months; I'll guess he's graphed a few polls that had Biden in the lead earlier in the month.
As for John Coby, facts have a way of destroying one's fantasies. Here's your 'real Democrat'.
(What's ironic is that John, in his capacity as a GS-13 with NASA as of 2017, knows more than the average Bear about things burning up on re-entry. He was part of the team that designed the shuttle's robot arm camera, used to look for missing heat tiles on the underbelly of the space shuttles in the wake of the Challenger disaster. So while I cannot confirm that he is working for a federal government socialism program today *update: his bio says he has recently retired*, the link above shows that he did so for many years. This makes his problem with socialism seem a little ... I don't know, confused. But maybe that's just because he's an Aggie. I had almost forgotten it had happened; it's been over a decade since John got suspended for six months without pay from that job for blogging at work.)
Hope Beto's 15 minutes of fame as a presidential candidate was a few calf cramps for everybody who was into it over the past month.
By the by, that New Democrat Coalition mentioned in the last line of the excerpt above would be the same one that both Colin Allred and Lizzie Fletcher promptly joined the instant they got to Washington. As I thought might happen, she got elected without my vote, so she's not going to be caring much about what I petition her for over the next two years. I presume the same is true of Allred. They'll both be reachingaround progressives across the aisle for moderate GOP support in order to hang on to those hard-won seats in 2020. And unless the winner of the presidential primary taps him to be his/her running mate, they won't have Beto's coattails to ride on again.
Not even if Bob decides he would rather run against John Cornyn. Heavier lift than Cruz this year.
And if anybody thinks Julian Castro has any chance for any thing other than ticket balance for geographic and/or (hopefully) ideological balancing purposes ... think again.
Once Beto O'Rourke decides to run (Bernie) Sanders will lose his followers. When you have a choice of a real Democrat that does not have "socialist" stamped on his head, and is 40 years younger than Sanders the real Democrat will win every time.
Coba-rrhea-vias has had a couple of bilious posts about Bernie in the past week, so you can tell he's mad/scared about the prospect of possibly having to vote for him in November of 2020. I haven't checked in with Ted at jobsanger in months; I'll guess he's graphed a few polls that had Biden in the lead earlier in the month.
As for John Coby, facts have a way of destroying one's fantasies. Here's your 'real Democrat'.
... O’Rourke has voted for GOP bills that his fellow Democratic lawmakers said reinforced Republicans’ tax agenda, chipped away at the Affordable Care Act, weakened Wall Street regulations, boosted the fossil fuel industry and bolstered Trump’s immigration policy. Consumer, environmental, public health and civil rights organizations have cast legislation backed by O’Rourke as aiding big banks, undermining the fight against climate change and supporting Trump’s anti-immigrant program. During the previous administration, President Barack Obama’s White House issued statements slamming two GOP bills backed by the 46-year-old Democratic legislator.
O’Rourke’s votes for Republican tax, trade, health care, criminal justice and immigration-related legislation not only defied his national party, but also at times put him at odds even with a majority of Texas Democratic lawmakers in Congress. Such votes underscore his membership in the New Democrat Coalition, the faction of House Democrats most closely aligned with business interests.
(What's ironic is that John, in his capacity as a GS-13 with NASA as of 2017, knows more than the average Bear about things burning up on re-entry. He was part of the team that designed the shuttle's robot arm camera, used to look for missing heat tiles on the underbelly of the space shuttles in the wake of the Challenger disaster. So while I cannot confirm that he is working for a federal government socialism program today *update: his bio says he has recently retired*, the link above shows that he did so for many years. This makes his problem with socialism seem a little ... I don't know, confused. But maybe that's just because he's an Aggie. I had almost forgotten it had happened; it's been over a decade since John got suspended for six months without pay from that job for blogging at work.)
Hope Beto's 15 minutes of fame as a presidential candidate was a few calf cramps for everybody who was into it over the past month.
By the by, that New Democrat Coalition mentioned in the last line of the excerpt above would be the same one that both Colin Allred and Lizzie Fletcher promptly joined the instant they got to Washington. As I thought might happen, she got elected without my vote, so she's not going to be caring much about what I petition her for over the next two years. I presume the same is true of Allred. They'll both be reaching
Not even if Bob decides he would rather run against John Cornyn. Heavier lift than Cruz this year.
And if anybody thinks Julian Castro has any chance for any thing other than ticket balance for geographic and/or (hopefully) ideological balancing purposes ... think again.
Monday, December 17, 2018
T'was the Week Before Wrangle
With the next-to-last week of 2018's best lefty blog posts and news round-up, the Texas Progressive Alliance is hoping Mueller Time is a bigger celebration than was Fitzmas (some thirteen years ago).
A federal judge in Texas accepted the arguments of Attorney General Ken Paxton and struck down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, in a ruling that will face years of appeals and create lots of uncertainty for millions of Americans over their healthcare insurance.
But at a time when we spend $3.5 trillion every year and are still uninsured, underinsured, being bankrupted by medical bills, co-payments, remainder bills that the insurance company did not pay, and even dying because we cannot afford our medications ... is the ACA really worth saving?
The smartest healthcare activists realize that this court decision hastens the day when America can have Medicare for All. But does our new Democratic Congress have the political will to force the issue? Can they even make it a campaign issue for 2020? Time will tell, but there are certainly reasons to be pessimistic.
Off the Kuff posted some extremely long and boring spreadsheets full of statistics that nobody except a few political consultants in Harris County could possibly give a shit about.
SocraticGadfly took a skeptical look at the Betomania 2020 Kool-Aid, one of dozens of articles about the phenomenon that shows no sign of ebbing. O'Rourke himself has marveled at his rock star hysteria, teasingly suggesting "it's a great question" whether he is ready for a run at the White House. As he rose in the early polling, many Democratic activists began questioning his progressive bonafides. (You will recall that this blogger answered that for himself last January.) The NYT dug out -- and published in October -- the story behind his family's shady real estate deal in El Paso, and the Segundo Barrio residents who never forgot his role in it.)
PDiddie at Brains and Eggs exposed the oozing neoliberalism of Houston mayor Sylvester Turner in two posts, the first excoriating his interference in the developments surrounding HISD's legacy African American schools ...
... and the second, reminding Houstonians of the only consistent talents Turner has demonstrated over the last three years: his leadership void and political courage deficit.
Democratic infighting over whether to monetize voter data for 2020 spilled out into the open.
In more 2020 musings, John Coby at Bay Area Houston -- the mangeist, most flea-bitten blue dog in the Alliance -- declares who shouldn't be running for the Democratic nomination. Tip: they're all well to the left of him. David Collins had the counterpoint using Beto/Bob as the repetitive example, which centrists like Coby just can't understand.
Kyle Kulinski at Secular Talk deconstructed Julian Castro's announcement of presidential exploratory committee formation.
The Dallas Observer's Stephen Young snaps some of the corporate media (and associated sycophants like Frank Luntz) back to reality with their weird infatuation over Ted Cruz's beard.
Better Texas Blog updates the status of public school finance one month away from the next legislative session. And Progrexas wishes to remind you that it can't be fixed until everybody agrees on the definition of the word "fix".
Texas Leftist notes the worries of the Texas Vietnamese community in the wake of the latest Trump administration deportation threats.
Texas Standard read a DHS report and noticed how a portion of SpaceX's south Texas launch facility will get cut by Trump's border wall.
A child speech pathologist who worked with elementary school students for 9 years in the Pflugerville Independent School District (which includes part of Austin) lost her job after she refused to sign an anti-BDS oath, reports Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept. A lawsuit on her behalf was filed in federal court, alleging a violation of her First Amendment rights to freedom of expression.
San Antonio had a week of swirling political winds; read more about them at the Rivard Report.
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/c7546e92a6ae06ec7ac67b0400646551/2018-09-15_HIGHSPEEDRAILTEXAS_012_TT.jpg)
The critics of Texas Central, the bullet train between Dallas and Houston, want the Lege to administer more oversight of the project via limiting the use of eminent domain, writes Matt Zdun for the Texas Tribune. (But in a Republican, pro-business, 'less government is best' environment, there is probably not much appetite for that.)
Emotions ran high at a public hearing on the coastal spine proposed along the Bolivar Peninsula, as residents and property owners decried the massive project. It's intended to protect Houston and Galveston from future hurricanes and storm surges, but the concerns are that it will leave the sparsely-populated Galveston and Chambers County vacation and fishing communities surrendering their livelihoods. Areas north and east of where the 'Ike Dike' would end would also be unprotected.
Texas Vox celebrated the closing of the filthy coal-fired Deely plant, on the southeast side of San Antonio and operated by CPS Energy.
Joe Nick Patoski at the Texas Observer asks if Texas' overcrowded and underfunded state parks are being loved to death.
Somervell County Salon followed up on an obscure comedian's strange take about Trump's sniffling being a symptom of his crushed-Adderall snorting habit.
Elise Hu reported on brain-machine interfaces at the University of Houston.
The Bloggess presents the Ninth Annual James Garfield Christmas Miracle.
Swamplot has the perfect gift for the Astrodome-phile in your life.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub re-visits Banksy's seminal modern Nativity portrait, and alludes to Trump's border wall.
Dan Solomon at Texas Monthly ponders the demise of the breastaurant.
And Harry Hamid's story moved ahead to 3 a.m.
A federal judge in Texas accepted the arguments of Attorney General Ken Paxton and struck down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, in a ruling that will face years of appeals and create lots of uncertainty for millions of Americans over their healthcare insurance.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth sided with the argument put forward by a coalition of Republican-leaning states, led by Texas, that Obamacare could no longer stand now that there's no penalty for Americans who don't buy insurance.
The U.S. Supreme Court had upheld the law in 2012, by classifying the legislation as a tax. But since Congress removed the individual mandate in 2017, O’Connor ruled, there's no way the ACA can be allowed to stand.
"The Individual Mandate can no longer be fairly read as an exercise of Congress's Tax Power and is still impermissible under the Interstate Commerce Clause — meaning the Individual Mandate is unconstitutional," O'Connor wrote. "The Individual Mandate is essential to and inseverable from the remainder of the ACA."
Without the system being upheld by a wide pool of mandated participants, the ACA cannot stand, O'Connor ruled.
But at a time when we spend $3.5 trillion every year and are still uninsured, underinsured, being bankrupted by medical bills, co-payments, remainder bills that the insurance company did not pay, and even dying because we cannot afford our medications ... is the ACA really worth saving?
Republicans should be careful what they wish for. If the Supreme Court ultimately strikes down the Affordable Care Act, it will speed the day when America finally moves to Medicare for All. https://t.co/ZrcPobPB3U— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) December 15, 2018
The smartest healthcare activists realize that this court decision hastens the day when America can have Medicare for All. But does our new Democratic Congress have the political will to force the issue? Can they even make it a campaign issue for 2020? Time will tell, but there are certainly reasons to be pessimistic.
Off the Kuff posted some extremely long and boring spreadsheets full of statistics that nobody except a few political consultants in Harris County could possibly give a shit about.
SocraticGadfly took a skeptical look at the Betomania 2020 Kool-Aid, one of dozens of articles about the phenomenon that shows no sign of ebbing. O'Rourke himself has marveled at his rock star hysteria, teasingly suggesting "it's a great question" whether he is ready for a run at the White House. As he rose in the early polling, many Democratic activists began questioning his progressive bonafides. (You will recall that this blogger answered that for himself last January.) The NYT dug out -- and published in October -- the story behind his family's shady real estate deal in El Paso, and the Segundo Barrio residents who never forgot his role in it.)
PDiddie at Brains and Eggs exposed the oozing neoliberalism of Houston mayor Sylvester Turner in two posts, the first excoriating his interference in the developments surrounding HISD's legacy African American schools ...
In 2015, Bell got tarred and feathered by Turner and the whole La Griglia crowd for being a MO-ron because he proposed getting the COH more involved with HISD.— Texan Jake Barnes (@TxJakeBarnes) December 16, 2018
Sly should’ve taken his own advice. #TxLege
... and the second, reminding Houstonians of the only consistent talents Turner has demonstrated over the last three years: his leadership void and political courage deficit.
Democratic infighting over whether to monetize voter data for 2020 spilled out into the open.
.@DNC Chair @TomPerez goes to war with state parties over voter data https://t.co/Gr6Zhe4QBm @HinojosaTX: what's your response? @TexasDemocrats #DNC #ToShareOrToSell #ThatistheQuestion #CapitalismOrSocialism #IstheLargerQuestion— More Powerful Than Putin (@PDiddie) December 16, 2018
In more 2020 musings, John Coby at Bay Area Houston -- the mangeist, most flea-bitten blue dog in the Alliance -- declares who shouldn't be running for the Democratic nomination. Tip: they're all well to the left of him. David Collins had the counterpoint using Beto/Bob as the repetitive example, which centrists like Coby just can't understand.
Kyle Kulinski at Secular Talk deconstructed Julian Castro's announcement of presidential exploratory committee formation.
The Dallas Observer's Stephen Young snaps some of the corporate media (and associated sycophants like Frank Luntz) back to reality with their weird infatuation over Ted Cruz's beard.
Better Texas Blog updates the status of public school finance one month away from the next legislative session. And Progrexas wishes to remind you that it can't be fixed until everybody agrees on the definition of the word "fix".
A preview of 2019 Austin and Washington attractions?
Texas Leftist notes the worries of the Texas Vietnamese community in the wake of the latest Trump administration deportation threats.
Texas Standard read a DHS report and noticed how a portion of SpaceX's south Texas launch facility will get cut by Trump's border wall.
A child speech pathologist who worked with elementary school students for 9 years in the Pflugerville Independent School District (which includes part of Austin) lost her job after she refused to sign an anti-BDS oath, reports Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept. A lawsuit on her behalf was filed in federal court, alleging a violation of her First Amendment rights to freedom of expression.
San Antonio had a week of swirling political winds; read more about them at the Rivard Report.
The critics of Texas Central, the bullet train between Dallas and Houston, want the Lege to administer more oversight of the project via limiting the use of eminent domain, writes Matt Zdun for the Texas Tribune. (But in a Republican, pro-business, 'less government is best' environment, there is probably not much appetite for that.)
(click to enlarge)
Emotions ran high at a public hearing on the coastal spine proposed along the Bolivar Peninsula, as residents and property owners decried the massive project. It's intended to protect Houston and Galveston from future hurricanes and storm surges, but the concerns are that it will leave the sparsely-populated Galveston and Chambers County vacation and fishing communities surrendering their livelihoods. Areas north and east of where the 'Ike Dike' would end would also be unprotected.
Texas Vox celebrated the closing of the filthy coal-fired Deely plant, on the southeast side of San Antonio and operated by CPS Energy.
Joe Nick Patoski at the Texas Observer asks if Texas' overcrowded and underfunded state parks are being loved to death.
Somervell County Salon followed up on an obscure comedian's strange take about Trump's sniffling being a symptom of his crushed-Adderall snorting habit.
Elise Hu reported on brain-machine interfaces at the University of Houston.
The Bloggess presents the Ninth Annual James Garfield Christmas Miracle.
Swamplot has the perfect gift for the Astrodome-phile in your life.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub re-visits Banksy's seminal modern Nativity portrait, and alludes to Trump's border wall.
Dan Solomon at Texas Monthly ponders the demise of the breastaurant.
And Harry Hamid's story moved ahead to 3 a.m.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Sunday 'Hung by the Chimney' Funnies
He's seen what you've been Tweeting!
He knows that you're a fake!
He knows you know that what he knows has been keeping you awake!
Oh, he's made a long list, redacted it twice,
Putin bought you and he knows the price,
Robert Mueller's poking around!
‘(Mulvaney) would have given up a very valuable appendage to get that job’
Friday, December 14, 2018
Sylvester Turner's leadership crisis
The reason people like Boykins (and Buzbee) keep stepping up with suggestions to resolve the dispute between the city and the firefighters is because there is a paralysis of leadership in the mayor's office.
Mayor Turner turned this down flat, as he has in the past. He is simply too terrified to raise a tax or a fee in an election year. He used "fiscal conservative" language to dog-whistle to the moderate Republicans that he will need to be re-elected that he stands by their side.
So the city -- in cahoots with the police officers' union, which has inserted itself into the dispute against the firefighters, buying the mayor's bluff/threat of layoffs -- will keep litigating, in the hopes that their lawyers might eventually get them a favorable legal ruling where the court of public opinion and referendum has failed them.
Here's more on the details of CM Boykin's proposal, and some history.
The longer this drags out, the greater the ill will between the parties grows.
I thought it was bad enough months ago that Turner, a Democrat, chose to bully a Democratic constituency, a civil workers union, with Republican strong-arm tactics. He's also enabled conservatives to rally behind the firefighters and form an organized opposition to him, a pretty stupid thing to let happen. And in what may have been from the unintended consequences department, the dispute has exasperated a simmering animosity between police officers and firefighters and the lack of respect each appears to have for the others' job. In short, the vitriol has reached toxic levels. Perhaps the judge will recommend binding arbitration for the two parties at today's hearing (and the mayor's attorneys won't decide to challenge that with another lawsuit).
Speaking of third parties, someone ought to be polling Houstonians regarding Boykins' proposed garbage fee increase. Because if the city or the firefighters have some of their cronies doing it, we'll just get spin. Not that more public opinion against him seems to influence this mayor.
In the meantime, Sylvester Turner needs to focus on this and not on HISD. This is his real challenge for 2019; why he chose to meddle in the school issues demonstrates, on its best day, a political attention deficit disorder on the part of the mayor. You would think he had staff smart enough to advise him of this.
Fresh ideas -- and perhaps fresh leadership downtown around the horseshoe on Bagby -- appear to be more greatly needed with each passing day.
Houston City Councilman Dwight Boykins on Thursday proposed charging property owners a monthly garbage collection fee to finance raises for firefighters while avoiding job cuts for other city staff.
Under the proposal, most Houston homeowners would be charged a flat, monthly fee between $25 and $40 to help the city absorb the cost of raises for firefighters mandated by the pay parity charter amendment approved by voters last month.
Unveiled at a Thursday press conference, Boykins' proposal comes amid a legal challenge by the city over the constitutionality of Proposition B, the charter amendment granting firefighters equal pay to police officers of corresponding rank and experience. The amendment was approved last month by 59 percent of voters.
"I believe the issue of pay parity was settled at the ballot box," Boykins wrote in a Thursday letter to Mayor Sylvester Turner and his colleagues on council. "As elected leaders, our primary mission is to settle on an appropriate and responsible way forward. To this end, I am convinced that introducing a garbage collection fee is the most plausible plan to provide firefighters a pay raise while ensuring that no city worker loses their job."
Mayor Turner turned this down flat, as he has in the past. He is simply too terrified to raise a tax or a fee in an election year. He used "fiscal conservative" language to dog-whistle to the moderate Republicans that he will need to be re-elected that he stands by their side.
Turner’s office issued a statement in which the mayor said he was opposed to the idea: “Council Member Boykins and the Firefighters Association's proposal to enact a $25 monthly garbage collection fee to pay for a firefighter’s 29% pay raise, underscores what I have been saying for months. The City cannot afford Proposition B. This measure will cost the city more than $100 million each fiscal year. I will not support forcing Houston homeowners to pay a costly new tax on trash collection to pay for firefighters’ salaries.”
So the city -- in cahoots with the police officers' union, which has inserted itself into the dispute against the firefighters, buying the mayor's bluff/threat of layoffs -- will keep litigating, in the hopes that their lawyers might eventually get them a favorable legal ruling where the court of public opinion and referendum has failed them.
In response to a lawsuit by the Houston Police Officers Union, which opposed the parity amendment, a state district judge earlier this month issued a temporary restraining order blocking implementation of the measure. A hearing is scheduled for (today).
Here's more on the details of CM Boykin's proposal, and some history.
Boykins estimated the proposed fee could raise $107 million to $172 million annually. Disabled veterans would be exempted from the fee and senior citizens would pay a to-be-determined discounted rate, he said.
[...]
He said trash collection could occur twice a week if city council adopted a $30 monthly fee; a $40 fee would allow heavy trash pickup twice a month.
Houston is the only big Texas city without a garbage fee. Austin charges a monthly garbage fee of between $25 and $50, San Antonio charges roughly $20, Dallas charges $27 and Fort Worth charges between $12.50 and $23.
[...]
It’s not the first time local officials have eyed — or killed — garbage fees: Turner shot down the idea in 2016, when it was suggested as a way to offset a new contract with trash haulers. Boykins floated the idea at an October council meeting, and previously has suggested a garbage fee as a way to raise money that would not count against a voter-imposed revenue cap.
Former Mayor Annise Parker also floated a garbage fee in 2014 to plug a budget deficit, an idea that was shot down by the city council.
The longer this drags out, the greater the ill will between the parties grows.
I thought it was bad enough months ago that Turner, a Democrat, chose to bully a Democratic constituency, a civil workers union, with Republican strong-arm tactics. He's also enabled conservatives to rally behind the firefighters and form an organized opposition to him, a pretty stupid thing to let happen. And in what may have been from the unintended consequences department, the dispute has exasperated a simmering animosity between police officers and firefighters and the lack of respect each appears to have for the others' job. In short, the vitriol has reached toxic levels. Perhaps the judge will recommend binding arbitration for the two parties at today's hearing (and the mayor's attorneys won't decide to challenge that with another lawsuit).
Speaking of third parties, someone ought to be polling Houstonians regarding Boykins' proposed garbage fee increase. Because if the city or the firefighters have some of their cronies doing it, we'll just get spin. Not that more public opinion against him seems to influence this mayor.
In the meantime, Sylvester Turner needs to focus on this and not on HISD. This is his real challenge for 2019; why he chose to meddle in the school issues demonstrates, on its best day, a political attention deficit disorder on the part of the mayor. You would think he had staff smart enough to advise him of this.
Fresh ideas -- and perhaps fresh leadership downtown around the horseshoe on Bagby -- appear to be more greatly needed with each passing day.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Put down the non-profit and back away, Mayor *updated*
*See update at bottom.
News item:
The reveal:
More from HPM.
Durrel Douglas at Houston Justice has mentioned this topic but his most recent post is from June. Ashton P. Woods re-Tweeted the link to Jacob Carpenter's Chronic story; Sam Oser has been all over it, with this last week at KPFT and this primer from April. Excerpt from Oser's first, skipping what we already know above. It gets a little deep in the policy weeds.
One more thing.
Let's overlook Sylvester Turner's festering neoliberalism rupturing like an infected boil. Let's disregard the fact he's waded into a policy area in which the city has no business being by "offering" to award a handful of wealthy Republicans control of HISD's legacy black high schools (Turner, a product of Acres Homes, was valedictorian of his class at Klein High School. But don't hold this against him; he came of age during America's forced integration/bussing period.)
What's difficult to believe is that the mayor would do this in (what everyone expects the Texas Supreme Court is eventually going to tell us is) an election year already made difficult by various other questionable decisions. It looks like he's "reaching across the aisle" with both hands for big-dollar campaign contributions, quid pro quo style.
Maybe he just doesn't care how it looks, of course.
You know what the problem in running as a centrist in a non-partisan election is? You're going to take shots from both the left and the right. I thought the mayor would have been smart enough not to touch this hot potato, leaving it to the out-of-favor Republicans in Austin, election year or no.
No matter who he names to the rest of his board now in order to try to salvage it -- I'd expect a few African American Democratic faces; a pastor like Bill Lawson or someone with political and education background, maybe Carroll Robinson -- this proposal is going to fly like a lead Zeppelin.
Everybody understands you'll need a shitpile of money running against Tony Buzbee, but this isn't the way to earn it. Put down the non-profit and back away, Mayor Blue Dog.
Update:
News item:
Months ago in May, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced that he wanted the city to get directly involved in local schools.
Now that desire has evolved into a new nonprofit, created by Turner’s education office.
[...]
The city-related nonprofit is called the Coalition for Educational Excellence and Equity in Houston. News 88.7 obtained state records that show Turner’s education chief Juliet Stipeche and three civic leaders are heading up the coalition.
Under the state law known as SB 1882, the Houston Independent School District could give the nonprofit temporary control of some Houston schools. That in turn would give the district a two-year pause on steep sanctions, including a potential state takeover.
The board has to decide by early February if it wants to pursue this effort or any other partnership for struggling schools. This week, the HISD board added a new agenda item for its meeting Thursday to decide if they want to request any outside partnerships.
On Tuesday, Turner issued new details on the objectives of the coalition and defended it at City Hall.
He outlined in a statement that the nonprofit aims to administer 15 HISD schools. They would include struggling schools that could trigger state sanctions and their related schools in their neighborhoods, or feeder patterns. Turner also said that he plans to appoint six more board members to the nonprofit. So far, three business executives are the only voting members: Corbin J. Robertson Jr.; Trinidad “Trini” Vasquez-Mendenhall; and Stephanie Nellons-Paige.
The reveal:
*Corbin Robertson, Jr.*— HISD ParentAdvocates (@HISD_Parents) December 5, 2018
Heir to the Cullen family fortune, he multiplied his family’s money through coal mining. He’s a climate-change denier and Republican mega donor who has ties to the Koch brothers. #HISD pic.twitter.com/0l2CdVSrLF
*Trinidad (Trini) Mendenhall*— HISD ParentAdvocates (@HISD_Parents) December 5, 2018
A Republican who made her fortune as owner of Fiesta Mart. pic.twitter.com/usUDC4fura
Who will these appointed, wealthy and politically connected listen to when they dictate (or rubber stamp) changes to our children’s schools? Parents? Students? The historic neighborhood community? #HISD— HISD ParentAdvocates (@HISD_Parents) December 5, 2018
the final authority for curriculum, the final authority for hiring/firing teachers/principals, the final authority for discipline standards and discrimination policies. #HISD #txed— HISD ParentAdvocates (@HISD_Parents) December 5, 2018
More from HPM.
About half a dozen people protested the idea at City Hall. Bobbie Cohen called it an effort to privatize public education.
“I don’t know why the city has decided to involve itself in a nonprofit coalition with three board members none of whom seem to have any real expertise in education, unless, of course, you count lobbying for ALEC which is an organization that has never met a government entity it did not want to privatize,” Cohen said.
Still, Turner defended the effort: “It is an offer, it is up to HISD. No one here is trying to force HISD to do anything. No one.”
HISD Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones told News 88.7 that the board will vote on issuing an RfP (meaning a Request for Proposal) on Thursday. “After then we will know how to move forward,” said Skillern-Jones.
Earlier this year, when the HISD board considered approving an outside partnership for struggling schools, the controversial measure sparked protests and arrests at the public meeting.
Durrel Douglas at Houston Justice has mentioned this topic but his most recent post is from June. Ashton P. Woods re-Tweeted the link to Jacob Carpenter's Chronic story; Sam Oser has been all over it, with this last week at KPFT and this primer from April. Excerpt from Oser's first, skipping what we already know above. It gets a little deep in the policy weeds.
In emails between Alan Bernstein, Director of Communications for the Mayor’s office, and me, Bernstein did not answer questions about who appointed the board members to this educational non-profit run by corporate interests.
However, Bernstein did say the HISD board of trustees will make the decision on whether or not the non-profit would be used to run the failing schools.
There has been no transparency by the HISD board of trustees into who they are considering to run the failed schools. The deadline to get a contract to TEA for approval is February 4.
Not only did Bernstein not answer the original questions, he dodged characterizing the non-profit as a charter.
While this non-profit would not be an open-enrollment charter school, the non-profit still has to apply to have the same rights as a charter. It’s written out in Sec. 97.1075 and 97.1079. Under 97.105, the non-profit would be an “operating partner… eligible entity as defined by TEC, §12.101(a). ”
When you look at TEC, §12.101(a), an “eligible entity” that can apply for a charter application includes a non-profit. Never mind that the whole chapter is titled “charters.” A detail Bernstein missed when dodging calling the non-profit a charter.
After applying to have charter school rights, the TEA, who oversees the Texas Education Code (TEC), defines what type of charter the non-profit will fall under, and the Coalition for Educational Excellence and Equity in Houston would fall under Subchapter C Campus or Campus Program Charters.
Charter schools 'partner' with districts to take over failing schools. It's common for one to hear the use of 'partnerships' in reference to charters.
One more thing.
The activists behind this resistance are HISD Parent Advocates, Black Lives Matter: Houston, Pantsuit Republic: Houston, Houston Rising, Indivisible Houston, and Public Citizen Texas. These groups have called for suing the TEA for discrimination based on race through the accountability system and over failure to comply to state testing laws. This year Texas’ Third Court of Appeals ruled that parents can sue the TEA.
Let's overlook Sylvester Turner's festering neoliberalism rupturing like an infected boil. Let's disregard the fact he's waded into a policy area in which the city has no business being by "offering" to award a handful of wealthy Republicans control of HISD's legacy black high schools (Turner, a product of Acres Homes, was valedictorian of his class at Klein High School. But don't hold this against him; he came of age during America's forced integration/bussing period.)
What's difficult to believe is that the mayor would do this in (what everyone expects the Texas Supreme Court is eventually going to tell us is) an election year already made difficult by various other questionable decisions. It looks like he's "reaching across the aisle" with both hands for big-dollar campaign contributions, quid pro quo style.
Maybe he just doesn't care how it looks, of course.
You know what the problem in running as a centrist in a non-partisan election is? You're going to take shots from both the left and the right. I thought the mayor would have been smart enough not to touch this hot potato, leaving it to the out-of-favor Republicans in Austin, election year or no.
No matter who he names to the rest of his board now in order to try to salvage it -- I'd expect a few African American Democratic faces; a pastor like Bill Lawson or someone with political and education background, maybe Carroll Robinson -- this proposal is going to fly like a lead Zeppelin.
Everybody understands you'll need a shitpile of money running against Tony Buzbee, but this isn't the way to earn it. Put down the non-profit and back away, Mayor Blue Dog.
Update:
BREAKING: Houston ISD trustees vote 5-4 to not seek partnerships with private organizations at long-struggling schools, setting the stage for potential campus closures or a state takeover of HISD's school board if 4 underperforming campuses don't all meet state standard in 2019.— Jacob Carpenter (@ChronJacob) December 14, 2018
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
#SD6 seats Alvarado
Barely.
It was remarkable how fast the city's best-connected neoliberal could spin it.
The Republican was over-praised by her fellow traveler -- natch -- but spoiled the goodwill quickly by complaining of ... *yawn* voter fraud.
Alvarado's reputation as the Bluest of Dogs didn't damage her prospects at all. She did, after all, give Sylvia Garcia a close run for the money almost six years ago when Mario Gallegos passed away, so in general terms the La Raza in the East End like to reward the Latina whose turn it is. You also have to tip your cap to Carol's machine, headed up by her sister, the chair of SD-6, who pulled out all the stops. (You may recall that Patrona Yolanda, a staunch Hillarian, vindictively punished a Bernie Sanders delegate to the 2016 state convention.)
Here's the cautionary tale for Democrats.
So much cleaner and revealing than Kuffner's eye-glazing spreadsheet graphs.
Update: Isn't bipartisanship hawt?
The special election to fill Alvarado's seat in the Texas House needs to happen in the next 20 days, so it remains to be seen whether Greg Abbott will call the voters of HD-145 back to the polls between Christmas and New Year's. If he does, that means we can't retire the #FireStanStanart hashtag yet.
Let's all hope Diane Trautman gets to supervise her first election in January.
There it is: @RepAlvarado145 finishes with 50.4% with all precincts in. Avoids a runoff by 60 votes, out of 15,084. #SD6 #txlege— Jasper Scherer (@jaspscherer) December 12, 2018
It was remarkable how fast the city's best-connected neoliberal could spin it.
— Kris Banks (@KrisBanks) December 12, 2018
The Republican was over-praised by her fellow traveler -- natch -- but spoiled the goodwill quickly by complaining of ... *yawn* voter fraud.
A very impressive performance in her 1st campaign for public office by @Fierro4Texas in the #txlege #SD6 Special Election! She won 23% of the vote, only 1% behind the 2nd place finisher in the heavily Dem SD6. I suspect we may see Fierro as a #TXGOP candidate in 2020 here in #HOU— Mark P. Jones (@MarkPJonesTX) December 12, 2018
According to sources there has been blatant & organized voter fraud in #SD6 spc election. We have also had several anecdotal reports of only 2 individuals being on the ballot, as well as Martha Fierro being listed as Libertarian. There will be no concession as of tonight. #txlege— Martha Fierro (@Fierro4Texas) December 12, 2018
Alvarado's reputation as the Bluest of Dogs didn't damage her prospects at all. She did, after all, give Sylvia Garcia a close run for the money almost six years ago when Mario Gallegos passed away, so in general terms the La Raza in the East End like to reward the Latina whose turn it is. You also have to tip your cap to Carol's machine, headed up by her sister, the chair of SD-6, who pulled out all the stops. (You may recall that Patrona Yolanda, a staunch Hillarian, vindictively punished a Bernie Sanders delegate to the 2016 state convention.)
Here's the cautionary tale for Democrats.
Full Results from #SD6:— USA Election Watch (@electionwatchus) December 12, 2018
Carol Alvarado (D): 7,602 (50.40%) [Hold]
Ana Hernandez (D): 3,670 (24.33%)
Martha Elena Fierro (R): 3,493 (23.16%)
Mia Mundy (D): 319 (2.11%)
Partisan Totals
Democratic Candidates: 11,591 (76.84%) -13.76%
Martha Elena Fierro (R): 3,493 (23.16%) +14.16%
So much cleaner and revealing than Kuffner's eye-glazing spreadsheet graphs.
Update: Isn't bipartisanship hawt?
Feeling like @RepAlvarado145 will need a new Twitter handle!!! #BipartisanBlanketCaucus in both chambers! pic.twitter.com/owzoCHvdNs— Sarah Davis (@SarahforHD134) December 12, 2018
The special election to fill Alvarado's seat in the Texas House needs to happen in the next 20 days, so it remains to be seen whether Greg Abbott will call the voters of HD-145 back to the polls between Christmas and New Year's. If he does, that means we can't retire the #FireStanStanart hashtag yet.
Let's all hope Diane Trautman gets to supervise her first election in January.
Monday, December 10, 2018
The Weekly Wrangle
In bringing you this week's round-up of the best blog posts and news from the left of Texas last week, the Texas Progressive Alliance understands the value of standing fast for -- and not compromising, or negotiating -- progressive principles.
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/e703b5cdd2aa3bda3d7c2e58885cecd6/Alvarado_Hernandez_Mundy_Fierro_TT.jpg)
The special election to fill the #SD6 vacancy left when Sylvia Garcia was elected to Congress in November concludes tomorrow, but is widely expected to feature a runoff between the two Democratic state representatives vying for the job (among four candidates). Ana Hernandez, this blog's endorsee, and Carol Alvarado have the short odds to move on to a head-to-head matchup for the right to go to Austin for a seat in the upper chamber; the loser will return to the Texas House.
The state legislature is still Republican but a fresh moderate breeze might be blowing through the Pink Dome, writes Ross Ramsey at the Texas Tribune. Whether it's a case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" or not remains to be seen next year. In another preview of the forthcoming legislative session by Ramsey and republished at Progrexas, freshmen lawmakers are about to find out exactly what they won.
Texas Vox takes a first look at the environmental bills filed for the 86th Lege.
The TSTA Blog reminds us that funding public schools is the state's responsibility.
Andy Canales explores how Latin@ schools are performing, particularly those in the RGV. (Since 2005, there’s been an increase of 800,000 Latino students in Texas. Their success -- or lack thereof -- will influence the future of our state.)
Texas Standard links to the sickening report in the Austin American Statesman about the 3000+ cases of abuse and neglect in children's day care centers, many of them unlicensed. The worst news was that nearly 900 kids have died over the past ten years.
After a state district judge issued a temporary restraining order halting the implementation of the voter-approved 'pay parity' proposal, Houston attorney (and mayoral candidate) Tony Buzbee offered to mediate the dispute between the city and the firefighters. That drew a quick 'no comment' from the incumbent mayor Sylvester Turner, who was recently praised for his ability to reach across the aisle in Texas Monthly's 'Power' issue.
By these and other appearances, Turner again reveals himself as enjoying the working company of Republicans more than that of rank-and-file labor, a Democratic constituency. This is one of the hallmarks of neoliberalism, which this blogger deems to have been a failure for Democrats, through and through. (More to be blogged later.)
Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson made a rare public appearance at a Houston fundraiser for MD Anderson, and made news when he talked about some of his conversations with the president in a dialogue with retired CBS correspondent Bob Schieffer.
Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer writes about Texas voter turnout in the 2018 election: much improved, but with a long way still to go.
Grits for Breakfast rephrases the question of whether not jailing people for failure (or inability) to pay the fines associated with Class C misdemeanors excuses the punishment of those crimes.
Better Texas Blog warns of the dangers of short-term health insurance plans.
Paradise in Hell wants to see that Confederate plaque in the Capitol taken down now.
Zachery Taylor is concerned that the conspiracy theories have been overtaken by the absurdist mainstream media narratives.
David Collins joined the chorus of those calling for a halt to the canonization of GHW Bush.
The hunt for Bigfoot in Daingerfield State Park, 136 confiscated snakes in San Antonio, and revenge on a 12-foot alligator in Livingston top the Texas Observer's 'Strangest State' stories from December.
And Sir Elton John's farewell tour passed through Houston Saturday night (no fighting, all right?) and was a rollicking march through five decades of songs for all time. Both Matthew Keever of the Press and Johnston Farrow of CultureMap documented the history.
l to r: Alvarado, Hernandez, Mia Mundy (D), Martha Fierro (R)
The special election to fill the #SD6 vacancy left when Sylvia Garcia was elected to Congress in November concludes tomorrow, but is widely expected to feature a runoff between the two Democratic state representatives vying for the job (among four candidates). Ana Hernandez, this blog's endorsee, and Carol Alvarado have the short odds to move on to a head-to-head matchup for the right to go to Austin for a seat in the upper chamber; the loser will return to the Texas House.
I was expecting this to end with a little stronger endorsement of @AnaHdzTx. She remains the best choice for the voters of #SD6. https://t.co/e3M4tYxEV8— More Powerful Than Putin (@PDiddie) December 10, 2018
The state legislature is still Republican but a fresh moderate breeze might be blowing through the Pink Dome, writes Ross Ramsey at the Texas Tribune. Whether it's a case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" or not remains to be seen next year. In another preview of the forthcoming legislative session by Ramsey and republished at Progrexas, freshmen lawmakers are about to find out exactly what they won.
Texas Vox takes a first look at the environmental bills filed for the 86th Lege.
The TSTA Blog reminds us that funding public schools is the state's responsibility.
Andy Canales explores how Latin@ schools are performing, particularly those in the RGV. (Since 2005, there’s been an increase of 800,000 Latino students in Texas. Their success -- or lack thereof -- will influence the future of our state.)
Texas Standard links to the sickening report in the Austin American Statesman about the 3000+ cases of abuse and neglect in children's day care centers, many of them unlicensed. The worst news was that nearly 900 kids have died over the past ten years.
Tony Plohetski and Sean Collins Walsh are members of the team investigating an alarming series of incidents at Texas day care centers, and what the state is and isn’t doing to respond to allegations of abuse, poor conditions and child deaths. The Statesman series is called “Unwatched.”
After a state district judge issued a temporary restraining order halting the implementation of the voter-approved 'pay parity' proposal, Houston attorney (and mayoral candidate) Tony Buzbee offered to mediate the dispute between the city and the firefighters. That drew a quick 'no comment' from the incumbent mayor Sylvester Turner, who was recently praised for his ability to reach across the aisle in Texas Monthly's 'Power' issue.
By these and other appearances, Turner again reveals himself as enjoying the working company of Republicans more than that of rank-and-file labor, a Democratic constituency. This is one of the hallmarks of neoliberalism, which this blogger deems to have been a failure for Democrats, through and through. (More to be blogged later.)
Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson made a rare public appearance at a Houston fundraiser for MD Anderson, and made news when he talked about some of his conversations with the president in a dialogue with retired CBS correspondent Bob Schieffer.
"So often, the president would say here's what I want to do and here's how I want to do it and I would have to say to him, Mr. President I understand what you want to do but you can't do it that way. It violates the law," Tillerson said.
Trump would get very frustrated when they would have those conversations, he said.
Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer writes about Texas voter turnout in the 2018 election: much improved, but with a long way still to go.
Grits for Breakfast rephrases the question of whether not jailing people for failure (or inability) to pay the fines associated with Class C misdemeanors excuses the punishment of those crimes.
We're left to wonder: why is debt to the government somehow such a big deal that it warrants incarceration of those who cannot pay? Clearly, non-carceral methods are sufficient for these same judges to declare "justice" done if the beneficiary of court-declared debt is a person, not the government.
The government has created a double standard to benefit itself. Ethical qualms about the private sector excessively squeezing the poor are routinely ignored in the public sector when it comes to criminal-justice debt, particularly Class C misdemeanor traffic fines.
[...]
The use of incarceration to punish the poor for non-payment of traffic fines appears flat-out ironic when one considers that wealthier people are more likely to commit traffic offenses. So the class of folks facing the harshest punishments for Class C misdemeanors is also the least culpable. In a nation where 40 percent of the population, according to the Federal Reserve, cannot afford a surprise $400 bill without going into debt or selling something, that makes little sense.
There's nothing sacrosanct about debt to the government, certainly from the point of view of the debtor. From the perspective of the stone, it doesn't matter who wants to squeeze blood from it; none is forthcoming.
Better Texas Blog warns of the dangers of short-term health insurance plans.
Paradise in Hell wants to see that Confederate plaque in the Capitol taken down now.
Zachery Taylor is concerned that the conspiracy theories have been overtaken by the absurdist mainstream media narratives.
David Collins joined the chorus of those calling for a halt to the canonization of GHW Bush.
The hunt for Bigfoot in Daingerfield State Park, 136 confiscated snakes in San Antonio, and revenge on a 12-foot alligator in Livingston top the Texas Observer's 'Strangest State' stories from December.
And Sir Elton John's farewell tour passed through Houston Saturday night (no fighting, all right?) and was a rollicking march through five decades of songs for all time. Both Matthew Keever of the Press and Johnston Farrow of CultureMap documented the history.
Sunday, December 09, 2018
Sunday Funnies
"Faster than a sinking stock market! More powerful than many GM factories closing! Able to incite an international trade war and crash the economy in a single bound!"
Backlash as more radio stations ban "Baby, It's Cold Outside" over lyrics
Monday, December 03, 2018
The Weekly Wrangle
In the spirit of not saying anything mean about someone when they pass on, the Texas Progressive Alliance stands agog at the hagiography surrounding the demise of the nation's 41st president, and wonders what the media will report when Trump finally dies.
Funeral services in Washington, Houston, and interment at College Station will occur all week.
SocraticGadfly takes a critical look at the public service of George H.W. Bush; then describes his visit to Tsarskoe Selo, where an ex-spook told him a conspiracy theory about why Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, eventually triggering Bush's Gulf War.
Tarrant County Republicans, still gasping for breath after being swamped in 2018's blue wave, seem intent on doubling down on their mistakes by whipping up a bad batch of Islamophobia ... just in time for Christmas.
Barack Obama, speaking at the 25th anniversary of Rice's Baker Institute, gave himself a pat on the back for not having anyone in his administration indicted for crimes. He also reminded the crowd of wealthy philanthropists -- many of whom have no doubt made fortunes in the oil and gas business -- who was responsible for America becoming the world's largest producer of petroleum products.
Fossil fuel's effects on climate change, meanwhile, remained the elephant in the room.
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/8a875d96ba67202371e0f3b340a8d8a0/Pelican_FULL_TT.jpg)
The surge of oil and gas flowing to the refineries along the Texas coast has produced a boom of construction projects ...
... while simultaneously straining local infrastructure and creating concerns about livability.
How long will it be before we elect leaders that understand you cannot breathe or drink money?
Early voting in the #SD6 special election to replace US Rep.-elect Sylvia Garcia in the Texas Senate continues this week. Pathetically low turnout to date suggests that the winner -- or the two runoff finalists -- will be the campaign(s) that can most effectively turn out just a small base of supporters.
Off the Kuff did a deep dive into straight ticket voting from the 2018 election. (Straight ticket voting was eliminated by the Lege for the 2020 election.)
Jim Schutze at the Dallas Observer thinks the 2019 race for mayor of Big D is too boring and suggests a few potential candidates who ought to jump in.
Texas attorney general Ken Paxton is celebrating the 8-year prison sentence of a woman convicted of accidentally voting illegally.
In his weekly aggregation of criminal justice news, Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast takes note of the indictment on murder charges of the Dallas police officer who shot and killed Botham Jean in his apartment. And also advances the premeire, on HBO this evening, of the documentary of the life and death of Sandra Bland. (Here's a review from the SAEN.)
Progrexas sees the Trump administration looking admiringly at Texas as a model for its criminal justice reform bill.
The Texas Observer reports new revelations about the source of the drugs used in Texas executions -- specifically a small compounding pharmacy nestled in-between West University and Bellaire in Houston -- underscoring the risks of a capital punishment process shrouded in state secrecy.
HPM says that Harris County officials plan to fix the area's floodplain maps with new topographic and predictive rainfall data. The end result will likely be that more people's homes will be mapped into the floodplains.
Ty Clevenger at Lawflog files suit against the Texas DPS, alleging corruption and cronyism.
David Collins carefully explains the concept of dichotomism to the chronic sufferers of acute binary thought disorder. (It's easily cured; no medication necessary.)
Raise Your Hand Texas lists the five things needed in any school finance plan.
Texas Vox gives courage to the cautious Capital Metro leaders, showing them that Austin is indeed ready for a mass transit plan.
The Texas Standard has details about the Tyler Loop. Not a transportation story but a new media one, and perhaps a model for small-town newspapers that need help filling their investigative-reporting gaps.
The Austin Chronicle has the news about Jim Hightower's syndicator balking at his recent column critical of hedge funds that own newspapers, like Gatehouse Media and Digital First Media.
The Rivard Report laments San Antonio's 20th-century mindset for urban planning and design.
Therese Odell at Foolish Watcher is all over the 60 Minutes report on the damage caused by family separations.
Julien Gomez, opining for the Chron in the wake of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, implores allies of the trans and nonbinary community to speak out.
Harry Hamid writes about the new emperor.
And Sarah Martinez at the San Antonio Current has important Buc-ee's restroom news.
Funeral services in Washington, Houston, and interment at College Station will occur all week.
SocraticGadfly takes a critical look at the public service of George H.W. Bush; then describes his visit to Tsarskoe Selo, where an ex-spook told him a conspiracy theory about why Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, eventually triggering Bush's Gulf War.
Tarrant County Republicans, still gasping for breath after being swamped in 2018's blue wave, seem intent on doubling down on their mistakes by whipping up a bad batch of Islamophobia ... just in time for Christmas.
Barack Obama, speaking at the 25th anniversary of Rice's Baker Institute, gave himself a pat on the back for not having anyone in his administration indicted for crimes. He also reminded the crowd of wealthy philanthropists -- many of whom have no doubt made fortunes in the oil and gas business -- who was responsible for America becoming the world's largest producer of petroleum products.
“American energy production ... went up every year I was president. And ... suddenly America’s like the biggest oil producer, that was me, people,” eliciting cheers.
Fossil fuel's effects on climate change, meanwhile, remained the elephant in the room.
The surge of oil and gas flowing to the refineries along the Texas coast has produced a boom of construction projects ...
More than 80 plants, terminals, and other projects are in the works up and down the state’s Gulf Coast, from Port Arthur to Brownsville, according to a Center for Public Integrity and Texas Tribune review of corporate plans. Companies have been laying enough pipeline in Texas in the last several years to stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific three times over, more than 8,000 miles in all.
... while simultaneously straining local infrastructure and creating concerns about livability.
Heavy (petrochemical) industry pumps out greenhouse gases warming the climate, upping the risks of powerful storms that in turn endanger those same facilities and everything around them. Harvey, which dumped more rain than any other U.S. storm on record, damaged hundreds of thousands of homes in Texas last year, killed at least 68 people and, particularly around Houston, sparked industrial spills, air pollution, and explosions.
How long will it be before we elect leaders that understand you cannot breathe or drink money?
Early voting in the #SD6 special election to replace US Rep.-elect Sylvia Garcia in the Texas Senate continues this week. Pathetically low turnout to date suggests that the winner -- or the two runoff finalists -- will be the campaign(s) that can most effectively turn out just a small base of supporters.
Off the Kuff did a deep dive into straight ticket voting from the 2018 election. (Straight ticket voting was eliminated by the Lege for the 2020 election.)
Jim Schutze at the Dallas Observer thinks the 2019 race for mayor of Big D is too boring and suggests a few potential candidates who ought to jump in.
Texas attorney general Ken Paxton is celebrating the 8-year prison sentence of a woman convicted of accidentally voting illegally.
Although Paxton has presented (Rosa Maria) Ortega’s conduct as evidence that voter fraud is a genuine problem in Texas, her case bears no resemblance to the paranoid myth of immigrants covertly swinging elections. Ortega is a lawful permanent resident who was brought to the United States as a baby. She has a sixth-grade education and did not know that she could not legally vote. In October 2014, she sent a voter-registration application to the Tarrant County Elections Administration, in which she indicated that she was not a citizen. When the office sent her a rejection letter, she called to ask why. An employee, Delores Stevens, explained that Ortega had checked the “No” box for citizenship and could not register unless she checked “Yes.” Ortega mailed in a new application, this time checking the “Yes” box to indicate U.S. citizenship.
The office was fully aware of the discrepancies between her two applications. It still registered her to vote.
In his weekly aggregation of criminal justice news, Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast takes note of the indictment on murder charges of the Dallas police officer who shot and killed Botham Jean in his apartment. And also advances the premeire, on HBO this evening, of the documentary of the life and death of Sandra Bland. (Here's a review from the SAEN.)
Progrexas sees the Trump administration looking admiringly at Texas as a model for its criminal justice reform bill.
The Texas Observer reports new revelations about the source of the drugs used in Texas executions -- specifically a small compounding pharmacy nestled in-between West University and Bellaire in Houston -- underscoring the risks of a capital punishment process shrouded in state secrecy.
In inspections by state regulators, Greenpark has been cited for 48 violations over the past eight years, according to documents obtained by BuzzFeed News. The violations included keeping out-of-date drugs in stock, using improper procedures to prepare IV solutions, and inadequate cleaning of hands and gloves.
HPM says that Harris County officials plan to fix the area's floodplain maps with new topographic and predictive rainfall data. The end result will likely be that more people's homes will be mapped into the floodplains.
Ty Clevenger at Lawflog files suit against the Texas DPS, alleging corruption and cronyism.
David Collins carefully explains the concept of dichotomism to the chronic sufferers of acute binary thought disorder. (It's easily cured; no medication necessary.)
Raise Your Hand Texas lists the five things needed in any school finance plan.
Texas Vox gives courage to the cautious Capital Metro leaders, showing them that Austin is indeed ready for a mass transit plan.
The Texas Standard has details about the Tyler Loop. Not a transportation story but a new media one, and perhaps a model for small-town newspapers that need help filling their investigative-reporting gaps.
The Austin Chronicle has the news about Jim Hightower's syndicator balking at his recent column critical of hedge funds that own newspapers, like Gatehouse Media and Digital First Media.
The Rivard Report laments San Antonio's 20th-century mindset for urban planning and design.
Therese Odell at Foolish Watcher is all over the 60 Minutes report on the damage caused by family separations.
Julien Gomez, opining for the Chron in the wake of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, implores allies of the trans and nonbinary community to speak out.
Harry Hamid writes about the new emperor.
And Sarah Martinez at the San Antonio Current has important Buc-ee's restroom news.
Sunday, December 02, 2018
Sunday 'Tough Calls' Funnies
News item: Rice University professor under investigation for role in 'world's first gene-edited babies'
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