The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance didn't have a vote in the Bracketville primary, but is picking some favorites anyway.  It's not just NCAA tourney week; it's also spring break, and there's even baseball in Florida.  What a time to be alive.

Here's the progressive blog post and lefty news roundup from last week's whirlwind of primary elections and the aftermath.

Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer thinks the biggest election in Texas is next January, and that perhaps a hundred or so Republicans may be the only ones voting in it.  In that vein, the Lewisville Texan Journal says that area state Rep. Tan Parker has thrown his hat into the ring for Speaker of the Texas House, joining extremist Phil King on the far right side of the GOP caucus, and in opposition to the more moderate Rep. John Zerwas.

Three TPA bloggers offered their post-primary thoughts: Off the Kuff, Socratic Gadfly (the Senate and gubernatorial races), and Neil at All People Have Value (focusing on Harris County).

Grits for Breakfast analyzed Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and county district attorney primary outcomes, and DBC Green Blog saw mixed results for progressives in the Democratic primary.

Ted at jobsanger doesn't believe that Elizabeth Warren isn't running for president in 2020, and is carrying a torch for her in hopes she will stop a repeat of 'Bernie's fiasco'.  Now that's what you call a sore loser.

While Ted sucked on his lemon, Sanders came to Texas and spoke at South by Southwest, at Trinity University in San Antonio (the Current and the Rivard Report were there), and in Lubbock, accompanied by Our Revolution chief Nina Turner and political satirist Jim Hightower.  It was a  rousing experience for listeners at all three locations.



The Rivard Report also watched as the Bexar County district attorney's race -- with incumbent Nico LaHood moved to the sidelines -- shifted into a more civil phase.

The Hayride, a conservative website devoted to Southern politics and culture, went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (aside to Bethany Blankley: they're trying to rebrand -- har har -- with a corporate name) and videotaped the animal rights activists protesting the treatment of the horses, steer, calves, and mutton being terrorized by rednecks.

The Texas Tribune chose to devalue the 23.7% of the vote Democratic US Senate candidate Sema Hernandez received last Tuesday, alleging that many of those votes were due to her surname.  Meanwhile, Vox covered the "raging controversy" of Rafael Cruz making fun of Robert O'Rourke's nickname, without the slightest hint of irony (or implied racism).  And Truthout reported on Hernandez's filing experience.

"When I arrived to Texas Democratic Party headquarters in December 2017, I was asked if I was sure I wanted to run because there was already two other people in the race," she said.

When Hernandez paid in cash the $5,000 fee to be put on the ballot for the Democratic primary, she said that the Democratic Party official who accepted the fee jokingly asked if it was drug money. The Texas Democratic Party did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

With respect to O'Rourke's 'problem' in South Texas, Stace at Dos Centavos doesn't think he has one.  And he also addressed the topic of Latin@s on the ballot (or rather, people with Latin@ surnames).

In Tarrant County, the Texas Standard reports on a state district judge who ordered stun belts to be attached to an uncooperative defendant in his courtroom.  That defendant has subsequently been granted a new trial.  But the question -- as with the unprofessional conduct of Harris County Judge Michael McSpadden -- remains: when defendants are pre-judged too harshly, or mistreated in court ... who polices the judges?

A federal lawsuit filed in Amarillo charges that the city is forcing homeless persons out of their gathering place on the outskirts of town and into shelters against their will, according to Christopher Collins at the Texas Observer.

Zachery Taylor sees a trade war as a massacre for the middle class.

The Rag Blog advanced the International Women's Day Music Fest in Austin last Thursday.

And Texas Vox collected signatures on an open letter to Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston, requesting partnership in the battle against pollution and climate change.