Monday, October 28, 2019

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance encourages you to enjoy Halloween -- and to be sure you vote -- as it brings you this week's roundup of the best lefty blogs, Tweets, and news from around and about the Lone Star State from the past week.


Despite the toppling of the Republican leader of the Texas House, the work of the Texas Legislature (unfortunately) goes on.  Kuff bid adieu to soon-to-be-former Speaker Dennis Bonnen, brought low by his dumb decision to trust Michael Quinn Sullivan and his own trash mouth.

(Bonnen) will be the first Speaker to serve only a single term since Price Daniel (D) in 1973-75. Ironically, Daniel also lost the support of his political base during the interim following what was widely viewed as a successful legislative session. In Daniel’s case, it was a right-to-work compromise with conservatives during a failed constitutional convention and a falling out with organized labor, which Daniel blamed for the convention’s failure. However, Daniel had pledged to serve only one term as Speaker, so his political miscalculation did not cost him the gavel.




TXElects has more election news.

HD36: Mission insurance agent Abraham Padron re-established his campaign committee for a potential Democratic primary rematch against Rep. Sergio Muñoz Jr. (D-Mission). Padron spent nearly $400K on an unsuccessful 2016 primary challenge, losing to Muñoz, 60%-40%.

HD76 open: El Paso council member Claudia Ordaz Perez announced she would seek the seat being vacated by Rep. Cesar Blanco (D-El Paso), who is running to succeed the retiring Sen. Jose Rodriguez (D-El Paso). By announcing, Ordaz Perez has resigned her council seat, though she will continue to serve until a successor is chosen in a special election.

Ordaz Perez won a four-way 2014 special election outright (65%) before being elected to a full term in 2015 (73%). She was re-elected in 2018 (72%). Just eight of the 45 precincts comprising HD76 are located within Ordaz Perez’s council district, representing about 18% of votes cast in HD76 in the 2018 general election. She faces Elisa Tamayo, a former aide to Blanco who has been endorsed by most of the El Paso legislative delegation.

HD126: Houston petroleum field service technician Pete Salas established a campaign committee for a potential challenge of Rep. Sam Harless (R-Spring) as a Libertarian.

HD25 open: Angleton attorney and council member Cody Vasut announced he would seek the seat being vacated by Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton). Lake Jackson nurse Rhonda Seth is already in the race.

HD138: Harris Co. Dept. of Education board member and former State Republican Executive Committee member Josh Flynn, son of Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van), re-established a campaign committee for a potential run for the seat being vacated by Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston). Flynn was elected to the county school board in 2018 (50.3%). We previously reported that Josh Flynn was “very interested” in the race.

As Houston's municipal elections head for the finish line, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs posted P-Slates 1 (mayor and at-large), 2 (district city council), and 3 (state constitutional amendments).




There was yet another shooting in Texas over the weekend, at a Halloween/homecoming party attended by college-aged students in the northeastern region of the state.

Two people were killed and 12 others injured when a gunman opened fire at an off-campus college party in Texas.

Authorities are searching for the gunman in the shooting that happened around midnight Saturday. They believe he may have been targeting just one person at the party of about 750 people outside Greenville, some 15 miles from Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Authorities had originally said two people were killed and 14 others were injured, but later revised that figure.

A spokesman for the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office says the injured included six people who were trampled or hurt by glass in the melee.

More shooting broke out at a memorial for one of those who died.

The vigil took place Sunday night at a park in Dallas. Local media outlets say attendees and reporters on hand for the event took cover. Multiple gunshots can be heard in video posted by one reporter. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the vehicle for one station was struck by bullets.

It’s unclear how many people were shooting.

Family members told local media that the vigil was being held for 23-year-old Kevin Berry Jr. of Dallas.

As the Democratic presidential primary seems to be in a state of flux, G. Elliott Morris examines the value of 2020 general election polls at this point in the cycle.  PDiddie wasn't the only one that noticed the Clinton wing of shitty liberals completely lost their minds.


In the race to replace John Cornyn in the US Senate, the Texas Signal hosted a forum with six of the candidates.  Here's their Q&A with Sema Hernandez.


Sanford Nowlin at the San Antonio Current noted Cornyn's latest deep dive up Trump's ass.


Nonsequiteuse, on Twitter, reviews the Astros' front office debacle.


The Daily Texan decries UT's lack of action against professors who have been accused of sexual misconduct with students.



In Austin, at the Texas Book Festival:


SocraticGadfly did his alt-history schtick again and imagines a world that never had American Indians indigenous Americans.

The TPA congratulates Noah Horwitz -- as Noah congratulated himself -- for passing the bar exam.

And the TPA celebrated the life of Houston activist C. J. Yeoman.


Last, to observe the season of scary things, Asher Elbein of the Texas Observer visited one of the most haunted towns in Texas, Jefferson.  Its nostalgia tourism these days elides the complicated history of East Texas racism.


And Nicholas Frank at the Rivard Report writes about the update given Centro Cultural Aztlan’s Día de los Muertos celebration this coming weekend.

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Sunday, October 27, 2019

Sunday Spooky Funnies








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Friday, October 25, 2019

The Weekly 2020 Update: Shitlibs lost their minds

It's truly been a lousy week to be an establishment Democrat.


But as bad as all that was, things got worse.


A few days ago, after Hillary Clinton projectile-vomited at Tulsi Gabbard and Jill Stein, #TulsiIsARussianAsset was a trend.  This despite the fact that Gabbard holds the rank of major in the Hawaii Army National Guard and serves on both the House Armed Services Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which means she likely holds one of the highest security clearances available to any American.

It is not only ludicrous but defamatory -- and I would hope libelous -- for anyone to question Gabbard's patriotism in so vile a manner.  This sort of smear has been modus operandi toward Jill Stein for several years, as everyone knows.  And just when we thought the fever had broken ... this morning, after Gabbard announced she would not seek re-election to her Congressional seat, #TulsiStein becomes a trending topic.

I have plenty of issues with Gabbard now after previously being a supporter earlier this year.  But Gabbard has said repeatedly she won't go third party, and many states have 'sore loser' laws preventing that anyway.  Let me suggest that Hillary Clinton allowing her rumor mill to to expel some foul grist that she might run for president next year is a greater threat to Democratic hopes of winning the White House than anything else that could possibly occur.

If Clinton actually does run (and I don't think she is masochistic enough to do so; Hillary is more of a sadist, after all) her votes deny front-runner No Dough Biden and/or No Plan For That Yet Warren the nomination.  This would be a godsend for my candidate.  She does not take one single vote away from Bernie Sanders.  So maybe I ought to be cheering for her to throw her big fat hat in.

Sorry, no can do.  It's just a scam for people to buy her book.  But if you'd like to go see her tonight at U of H and maybe ask her, tickets are $38.  She's over before she gets started anyway.


There were plenty of other items to blog about, namely:

-- Why the polling leader fails to draw any crowds to his (very infrequent) rallies, or raise any money, such that he has to break his promise and start looking at organizing a SuperPAC;

-- Why the other polling leader still cannot answer how she is going fund her healthcare proposal, and that it may be weeks before she can;

-- The guy that the establishment hates drew 30,000 to a rally last weekend, raised $600,000 in the hours before, during, and after (average contribution $15), and released a plan to legalize cannabis and expunge the criminal records of those convicted of possessing it ... at 4:20 p.m. yesterday;

-- Some guy dropped out;

(Before you say, "That's Michael Bennet", click and read the thread.  It's worth it.)

-- And I'm sure something obnoxious was said and done by Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, but I just don't care to link to it.

Not to be outdone in this regard, there's also an escalation of the infighting among Green Party presidential candidates.


And maybe the name 'Don Blankenship' rings a bell for you.  If not, here you go.

The Constitution Party’s national committee held a meeting in Pittsburgh, PA on October 18-19, 2019. One of the speakers was Don Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy Company, the sixth largest coal company in the nation. Blankenship told the group that he will seek the party’s presidential nomination next year. He was the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate in West Virginia in 2018, but he was unable to get on the ballot because of the “sore loser” law.

Blankenship is currently suing Donald Trump, Jr., for libel. Trump Jr. had tweeted that Blankenship is an ex-felon, but Blankenship was never convicted of a felony. He was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2016 involving mine safety rules. The libel case is in U.S. District Court in West Virginia, Blankenship v Trump, Jr., s.d., 2:19cv-549. His lawsuit recently survived a motion to dismiss. A trial is set for October 6, 2020.
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Tuesday, October 22, 2019

P Slate: Texas Constitutional Amendments

I perhaps made this post more difficult on myself than it needed to be.

First, the League of Women Voters has the comprehensive guide.

  1. Municipal Judges
  2. Assistance for Water Projects in Distressed Areas
  3. Tax Relief for Disaster Areas
  4. Personal Income Tax
  5. Sporting Goods Tax to Support State Parks
  6. Cancer Prevention & Research
  7. Funding Public Education 
  8. Flood Control
  9. Tax Exemption of Precious Metals
  10. Law Enforcement Animals

A couple of organizations have weighed in with their recommendations; among them:

 -- Progress Texas (Yes on 2, 3, 5, 8, and 10; No on 1, 4, 6, and 9, with a toss-up on 7).

-- Harris County Democrats:


I will vote Yes on 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10.  I will vote No on 4, 6, and 9.

Prop 6 is a no for me not because I think cancer should go unfunded but because CPRIT has been wasted and abused by both Rick Perry and Greg Abbott, and there is little good that will come from giving the governor extra billions of dollars to play favorites with (on his best day).  Let's begin the process of allowing capitalism, especially healthcare capitalism, to pull itself up by its bootstraps rather than rely on handouts from the government.

(See how crappy that sounds?  Don't worry; corporations aren't people.)
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More P Slate

I'll give these Houston council suggestions for your voting consideration a similar treatment as I did earlier, adding a prediction as to how our Bayou City leadership may tilt -- left or right -- following their (that is to say, my projected) outcomes.


I'm listing in bold the names of the Democrats for whom I would vote if I lived in the district.

With respect to the city controller race, Chris Brown is now taking seriously the challenge from Orlando Sanchez, and his own ethics kerfuffle may dent his prospects, but I still feel it's about turnout, and specifically Latinx turnout, that will either hurt him or not.

Prediction: Brown should be able to hang on to Sylvester Turner's coattails and return to his office on Bagby, but if the World Series, the weather, or disinterest in these elections dampens Democratic turnout, he could be in trouble.

District A: ... is for Amy Peck, who's been waiting to take a seat downtown for a long time.  She will be replacing her boss, Brenda Stardig, and whether she is an improvement, conservatively speaking, or not ... I leave to the insiders.

District B:  I believe Tarsha Jackson has punched a ticket to the runoff, with the TOP organizers out in force working the precincts for her.  The Chron picked her over the many solid candidates in the running here.  And with the most money raised, spent, and left to spend, I'll guess that Renee Jefferson Smith joins her.

Prediction: A smooth transition from longtime CM Jerry Davis to either woman -- or one of the others -- should benefit the district.

District C:  I would still mark this one Abbie Kamin and/or Shelley Kennedy from the left and Mary Jane Smith or Greg Meyers from the right, though Daphne Scarbrough has raised some money and may have some input on the outcome.

Prediction: There will be one Democrat and one Republican in the runoff to replace Ellen Cohen.

District D:  Brad 'Scarface' Johnson and one other to December.

Prediction: CM Dwight Boykins, about to have some extra time on his hands and about as conservative an African American Democrat as they come, may have some influence on who wins this race next month.  Maybe the district isn't ready for Jordan.  If anybody wants to give me some feedback off the record, you know how to reach me.

District E:  Dave Martin.

Prediction: The seat is safely conservative for another term.

District F:  As unpredictable as ever.  Tiffany Thomas and Giang "John" Nguyen (party affiliation undetermined by primary voting history) have a little bit of money to spend.  Richard Nguyen, the former council member, and Van Huynh, the COS to the current one, are likely best known to consistent voters.  But handicapping the race without inside intelligence is impossible.

Prediction: A runoff.

District G:  Incumbent Greg Travis will slide back in.

Prediction: Bizness as usual.

District H:  Blogger nonsequiteuse has discovered that incumbent Karla Cisneros has been "hoping" against the I-45 expansion while taking money from its developers.  That's reason enough for those who are opposed to the massive rebuilding project to vote for Isabel Longoria.  (Ejecting a Moron Campos client just for his shitty blog would be reason enough for me, but YMMV.)

Prediction: I suppose we'll see.  I hope Cisneros is jammed into a runoff.

District I:  Incumbent Robert Gallegos looks to be in good shape.

Prediction: He's about as progressive as Houston city council allows.

District J:  Edward Pollard has had the highest visibility among these.  Without some some inside skinny, though, it could still go to one of Nelvin Adriatico, Freddie Cuellar, or Sandra Rodriguez, all of them Democrats who've raised a little money and worked at getting elected.

Prediction: Maybe a runoff with one of the Dems and the one conservative, Barry Curtis.  Maybe not.  It will be difficult to replace Mike Laster's progressive voice on Council.

District K:  My CM, Martha Castex-Tatum, is also safe.

Prediction: She's done a good job after taking over for the late Larry Green.

Even if Council adds a few Democrats in these alphabet district contests, it may not get more liberal, much less progressive.  The best hope for that lies in the At  Large races, where defeating Knox and Kubosh and replacing Christie offer the best chance for improvement.

And yes, my view on constitutional amendments is still in the pipeline.  Check the Twitter feed at the top-right hand column for everybody else's POV; I'll offer mine shortly.
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Monday, October 21, 2019

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance sends condolences to all who are mourning the untimely passing of Congressman Elijah Cummings.


Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings will lie in state in National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, ahead of a funeral service.

There will be a public viewing in the two-story chamber following a formal ceremony for members of Congress, the Cummings family and invited guests on Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced.

In this week's edition of the best of the left from around and about Texas, Trump held a rally in Dallas, while Beto countered it with one of his own.


“Texas is not in play,” he said to raucous chants of 'four more years' from a packed crowd of supporters at the American Airlines Center. “Donald Trump is not going to lose Texas; I can tell you that.”

Unsurprisingly, O’Rourke had a different assessment on Texas in 2020, telling supporters that the work they did in his near-miss U.S. Senate race last year put the state in play.

“You ensured that the 38 Electoral College votes here in Texas can be won and can put Donald Trump away forever,” O’Rourke said.

Addressing a smaller crowd at an counter-rally in Grand Prairie, O’Rourke called on Texans to reject the “false bullshit fear of Donald Trump,” especially when it comes to immigration and the rhetoric that fueled the deadly August shooting in his hometown of El Paso.

Recent polling, as well as the words of the speaker of the Texas House -- on a clandestine tape recording finally released this past week -- suggests that Beto is right and Trump is wrong.  And it wouldn't be a Trump rally without something stupid said by Trump.


Trump's ignorance notwithstanding, the 'Ike Dike' is generating concerns about its expense and functionality, as the Chron reported.


Circling back, Scott Henson at Grits -- no partisan, he -- ties two things together.


Regarding l'affaire Bonnengate, the matter that has had all of Austin's Lege watchers a-Twitter for weeks now ... the boil was lanced, and statehouse Republicans who would like to install a Freedom Caucus fire-and-brimstoner in 2021 were finally allowed to erupt in righteous indignation.  Their Democratic counterparts opted to keep their powder dry for now.

Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer considered the effect of the tape on the speaker's political future.  Kuff rounded up reactions to Bonnghazi.  Matt Goodman at D Magazine dug into the hatred expressed towards cities and counties by Bonnen, and the Rivard Report compared him to his predecessor, Joe Straus, and found him lacking.

In the aftermath of last week's Democratic presidential debate -- PDiddie at Brains and Eggs scored the winners, losers, wieners and loosers -- the two favorite sons of the Lone Star State aren't faring particularly well.  SocraticGadfly blogged about Beto (aka Bob on a Knob) O'Rourke batting 0-2 on recent constitutional issues.  And poor Julián Castro is threatening to drop out again if he can't collect enough cash by the end of the month.


Dos Centavos explained his previously-presented Stace Slate for H-Town's elections.  And PDiddie also posted his P Slate (for mayor and at large council races, with more to come).

Some environmental news:



And in social justice (or the lack thereof) headlines ...





And a Texas federal judge ruled that medical doctors could refuse care to transgenders as a violation of their religious freedom, striking down part of Obamacare in the process.

Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas vacated an Obama-era regulation that prohibited insurers and providers who receive federal money from denying treatment or coverage to anyone based on sex, gender identity or termination of pregnancy.

It also required doctors and hospitals to provide “medically necessary” services to transgender individuals as long as those services were the same ones provided to other patients.

O’Connor, the same judge who last year ruled that the entire Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, said the rule violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

His ruling is likely to be appealed.

TransGriot celebrated the opening of an LGBTQ center at Prairie View A&M.

Spanish language media pioneer Emilio Nicolás -- he founded what has grown into Univision -- passed away earlier this month.  Services are this afternoon.

“His contributions go beyond even just Spanish language media,” said Luís Patiño, his former understudy at Univision San Antonio and now the president and general manager at Univision Los Angeles. “I think his contributions for the Hispanic community, in general, are probably understated in most cases. People need to realize how important it was in the 1950s -- when in most places in South Texas you weren’t even allowed to speak Spanish -- that he and his partners went out of their way to create the first Spanish radio broadcast station.

Some lighter stories to close this Wrangle.


And a new biography of Janis Joplin by Holly George-Warren, reviewed by Karl Richter at the Texas Observer, explores the iconic singer's 50-year legacy.



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The P slate

Ahead of today's usual TPA Wrangle, here's my suggestions for Houston's municipal elections, with early voting opening this morning.  It's worth noting that Clerk Trautman has expanded these hours for the working class.


For Mayor: Sue Lovell

This seems like a safe protest vote in light of yesterday's UH polling, which reveals Mayor Sly almost within reach of being re-elected without a runoff.

The poll, published on the eve of early voting, shows Turner with 43.5 percent support among likely voters, followed by lawyer and businessman Tony Buzbee at 23.4 percent. Bill King, Turner’s 2015 runoff opponent, trails with 7.8 percent, while 6.8 percent of voters said they support Councilman Dwight Boykins.

Turner's numbers have strengthened since the last survey was taken.


Lots more of this Tweet thread for you crosstabs kind of people.  Buzbee's millions spent on media has them rooting for a runoff for sure.


Way back here I was considering casting my ballot for Derrick Broze, whose website is ... entertaining, to say the least.  But I cannot in good conscience vote for someone who was convicted of felony meth possession because he violated parole.  That is supposed to make him and others ineligible for the ballot, but somebody at City Hall apparently isn't doing their job.  Another thing for me to hold against Turner, I suppose.  If the mayor gets pushed into a runoff with Buzbee, I'll vote for him, but not under any other circumstance.

For At Large 1:  Raj Salhotra

Everybody likes him, so let's get Mike Knox outta there.  Still, with all the others bidding this is probably a runoff, and if Democrats fracture the vote too much -- a typical mistake for them -- Knox could ease his way back around the horseshoe.

For At Large 2:  David Robinson

Conservative pastor Willie Davis took him to a runoff last time, but Griff and the others may make it possible for Robinson to avoid that this go-around.

For At Large 3:  Marcel McClinton

The young activist gets the nod over Janaeya Carmouche from me because of all of his tribulations, and because I don't have any use for age-related discrimination.  (John Coby sucks; that's why his blog no longer appears here).

For At Large 4:  Nick Hellyar

I wouldn't have predicted Hellyar would be the liberal favorite last month.  I thought Bill Baldwin, the deep-pocketed, well-connected fellow Realtor would have swamped him.  But Baldwin hasn't raised -- or loaned himself -- much money, leaving me to wonder if he isn't quietly conceding the race to his earnest, well-qualified, and (frankly, overlapping demographical) challenger.  Hellyar picked up the Chron's endorsement, making a good impression on them.  Dr. Leticia Plummer may still get enough votes to put Nick into a runoff with Nepotism Dolcefino despite the latter's questionable residency qualification.

For At Large 5:  Ashton P. Woods

My favorite candidate this cycle.  I much prefer radical activists over establishment robots like Sallie Alcorn, who is probably favored to win here, but either would be a vast improvement over Jack "You don't Die from the Flu" Christie.

Dislodging or blocking these conservatives from Council goes a long way to a better city.  Let's hope those suburbs and exurbs have purpled up, like the analysts keep telling us.

I've got the alphabet council races, state constitutional amendments, and more coming.
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