Tuesday, September 29, 2020

An actual pissing match



Trump and Biden meet tonight in Cleveland for their first of three debates -- a socially distanced affair in which the candidates won't shake hands. Fox News host Chris Wallace is the moderator.

The audience, at about 70, will be limited compared with previous debates, and everyone attending the event at Case Western Reserve University will undergo testing for Covid-19 and follow other health safety protocols.

The debate is set for 9 p.m. Eastern time, and will last 90 minutes without any commercial breaks. The topics for the debate are "The Trump and Biden Records," "The Supreme Court," "Covid-19," "The Economy," "Race and Violence in our Cities" and "The Integrity of the Election," according to the Commission on Presidential Debates.


That Trump is not rehearsing is a strong hint about his strategy.

Efforts to focus the preparation-averse Trump on the upcoming debate have occurred in sporadic bursts, including one 30-minute session last weekend. This past Sunday they resumed with a short question-and-answer period utilizing the flashcards campaign advisers prepared to try and hone what have so far been unwieldy attempts to define Democratic rival Joe Biden. Trump did less than two hours of prep total, a person familiar told CNN.


(Trump) has expressed a desire to get under Biden's skin by waging brutal personal attacks against members of his family, including his son Hunter and brandishing questions about Biden's past -- from old plagiarism incidents to more recent allegations of sexual misconduct -- that he hopes will rattle the former vice president. He has already baselessly accused Biden of taking performance-enhancing drugs ahead of the debate and some aides expect him to raise it during the event itself.



This might work, since Biden has demonstrated a severe irritation to these questions.


So there's one thing we can count on ...


“I will be strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the Debate on Tuesday night. Naturally, I will agree to take one also,” Trump wrote. “His Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly. Only drugs could have caused this discrepancy???”

[...]

“Vice President Biden intends to deliver his debate answers in words. If the president thinks his best case is made in urine he can have at it,” said Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager. “We’d expect nothing less from Donald Trump, who pissed away the chance to protect the lives of 200K Americans when he didn't make a plan to stop COVID-19.”


Sounds a little golden shower-y.  I'll be watching baseball (and following the debate on Twitter).
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, September 28, 2020

The Weekly TexLeftBlog Wrangle


Texas lefty bloggers and Tweeters are gearing up for the first Biden-Trump debate after steeling themselves from being triggered by the first half of "The Comey Rule", which aired last night on Showtime.  Brendan Gleeson -- starring as The President -- makes his grand entrance tonight on the last episode of the two-part docu-drama.  To say that there's been some PTSD suffered across the nation is understating the situation.


Anyway, we have lots of Lone Star Tweets and news to read and talk about (mostly election- and COVID-related today; other topics at the end of the week).  First and again from the courtroom:


Kuff stayed on top of the voting litigation news with updates about the wingnut assault on early voting, and the probably short-lived reinstatement of straight-ticket voting.  Corona Connor drew some interesting maps of CD10, one of the three Congressional districts that Beto carried in 2018 but the Republican incumbent won.  In your best-read of the week, Ben Wofford at Wired (republished at Portside so you don't have any paywall issues) details the decades-long give-and take between Travis County Clerk Dana Debeauvoir and Rice University professor Dan Wallach -- and many others -- over secure voting machines.



A few SD30 special election updates.


Ross Ramsey at the TexTrib via Progrexas says "keep calm and vote on".


The Texas Politics Project has the executive summary of several of the above news items for those of you with limited reading time.


And looking past November ...


Following up on the growing divide between Texas Republicans, this next story was first referenced in the Friday 9/18 Round-up (scroll down to "Speaking of stupid").


As James Barragan Tweeted in last Friday's Round-up, the Lege must deal with the most ominous revenue shortfall (related to COVID and the crashing of oil, of course) in almost a century.  All tax streams must be on the table.  A full legalization of casino gambling and cannabis, with an appropriate taxing mechanism, should be under careful consideration.  The TXGOP cannot continue to allow the Evangelical Caucus to hinder progress for the sick (Medicaid expansion) the young (our public school system) and the old (our seniors' assisted living challenges during these crises).

In one of the more ridiculous election-related developments last week, Texas Monthly has a few questions about that Dan Crenshaw ad.


And the TexTrib provides the segue between politics and pandemic.


Erin Garcia de Jesus at the San Antonio Current worries about the "twindemic" of COVID plus influenza.


And we all hope we don't have a new environmental problem to be concerned about, after the weekend brought this tragic news.


More economic, ecological, and social justice headlines later.  Ending here today on as upbeat a message as possible.

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Sunday "Trump 200,000" Funnies

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, September 25, 2020

Friday Far Left Texas Round-Up


Governor Rolling Blunder is not a fan of the First Amendment, specifically "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances".


I doubt whether a Democratic majority in the Texas House -- with a Democrat as Speaker -- is going to be carrying this water, but we'll wait and see.


Among the very few down-ballot Texas Democrats I'll be voting for is my statehouse representative, Shawn Thierry, because she has been an effective warrior against the ignorance of Republicans like Abbott and company.


Yeahno.  Not no but hell no.  My tax dollars will not continue to support this nonsense.


DeSantis should be nobody's role model.

As Grits has taken note of, this is another distraction from Abbott's failures in managing the response to the COVID outbreak.  Ross Ramsey at the TexTrib, via Progrexas, softpedals the incomprehensibility of the toll of the pandemic on us all.  But even a few members of the GOP are breaking away from the governor now.


And not just on the coronavirus, either.


(Braddock meant 'unilaterally', but sometimes typos are best left for their humor value.)

Between Abbott’s mask mandate, the shutdown of bars and the extension of early voting, the governor has received an unusual amount of criticism from his own party.

The suit argues that Abbott, without addressing the state Legislature, does not have the power to extend the voting period. An Abbott spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

“Abbott’s Executive Orders are unprecedented and have had life and death implications, destroyed small businesses and family’s livelihoods, have had a crippling effect on every single community, and now have the ability to impact local, state and national elections,” the lawsuit said.

Notable Republicans listed on the lawsuit include state party Chairman Allen West and state Sens. Pat Fallon and Charles Perry along with state Reps. Cecil Bell Jr., Dan Flynn, Steve Toth and Bill Zedler.

Sen. Donna Campbell, who was originally listed on the suit, wrote a letter to the plaintiffs' attorney stating that she did not agree to be involved in the suit.



Despite the TXGOP's best efforts to restrict voting, many more Texans have signed up to do so than in years past.


And it's a good thing, because as we all know, there are going to be considerable challenges to voting this year.  Beyond COVID19 and mail delivery problems, that is.


Kuff made an argument for voting in person.  Whether you're voting by mail, at an early voting location, or on Election Day, make a plan.  Don't wait until the last minute.  And don't run afoul of Ken Paxton's Vote Cops, either.


Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that authorities arrested Gregg County Commissioner Shannon Brown, Marlena Jackson, Charlie Burns, and DeWayne Ward on charges in connection with an organized vote harvesting scheme during the 2018 Democratic primary election.

According to a press release, to increase the pool of ballots needed to swing the race in Brown’s favor, the group targeted young, able-bodied voters to cast ballots by mail by fraudulently claiming the voters were “disabled,” in most cases without the voters’ knowledge or consent.


Here's a few more election-related items worth your time.


Here's my randomly-sorted social justice headlines and stories.


Socratic Gadfly notes that PRO Gainesville, the group protesting the Confederate statue and other things in Cooke County, appears to have shot itself in the PR foot, as part of recent updates about events there.  Schaefer Edwards for the Houston Press writes that the Nic Chavez case points up the need for both HPD reform and mental health assistance.  John Coby at Bay Area Houston calls Fort Bend County Sheriff (now Congressional candidate) Troy Nehls one of the reasons why we need police reform.  And Jacob Vaughn at the Dallas Observer covers the latest in the Dallas city budget's cuts to cop overtime, but not much else in the way of actual changes.


With a follow-up to a post in Tuesday's Wrangle:


"It puts the whole (Alamo restoration) project in jeopardy."

Thanks, Dan Patrick!


And here's my Texas environmental collation for the week.  It opens with a seven-count thread on Joppa -- more than an environmental abuse tale, and more even than a social injustice story.


A few weeks ago, the HouChron op-ed board wrote that the TCEQ should be more heaviliy penalizing Texas companies who pollute.  Public Citizen follows up.


The Conversation says that it is time for states that got rich from oil, gas, and coal to figure out what comes next.  Texas has a good head start.

There are several examples of successful just transition programs. One is Project QUEST in San Antonio, which highlights the benefits of “local contextualization” and has helped workers transition from manufacturing to health care, information technology and other trades.

And I'll close with these.

Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Election 2020 Update: SCOTUS and the Senate

As surely as the seasons change from summer to fall and the Gulf clears itself of tropical disturbances; as certainly as 2020's hurricanes went from boys and girls to non-binary; and as absolutely as there will be a new Justice seated before November 3rd, will President Donald Trump be "re-elected", in the most marginal definition of the word.

Prove me wrong, Donks.  It's all up to you.  No amount of scolding is going to get it done.  The polls all say you've got this, just as they did right up until the afternoon of November 8, 2016.  So this is a "no excuses" election for you.  Not that you won't make all of the same stale ones if I'm right.

And I really don't want to be right.  I'm just not going to be helping you, or many of your down-ballot candidates, like I have in decades past.  That ship has sailed.

As for the Supreme Court: maybe you all can motivate Schumer, et.al. to throw a block.  I'm not seeing it, even if Mark Kelly wins and jumps the seniority line, because of Mitt now.  Amy Coney Barrett (or Barbara Lagoa, or whomever) will have ordered the drapes for her new office by then, her robes having come back from the tailors.  Seat on the bench adjusted and ready to cast her vote on approving the incumbent president's legal pleading for "election tampering", or vote "fraud", or whatever.  Negotiations are open for a third term.  A second one IMHO is no longer in question.



What are you gonna do about it, riot in the streets?



You could use it as a learning experience in how to wield power once you get it back.  Maybe not sign off on Trump's judges or undeclared wars, to start.  Sure sounds like anything more radical than that -- like changing the crusty rules of the upper chamber -- are out of your reach.



One thing I would suggest not doing is giving any more money to Bitch McConnell's opponent.


Personally I would have donated if Charles Booker had won the KY D primary.  And I'm voting for David Collins here in Deep-In-The-Hearta, since he's back on my ballot.  Consider the rest of Kate Willett and Ryan Grim's advice on a case-by-case basis if you've got political cash to burn.

And rank Lisa Savage first if you live in Maine.  Sara Gideon is still going to win, and Susan Collins is still going to lose.  So is Cory Gardner in Colorado.  The other seats Democrats ought to capture are North Carolina (Thom Tillis, R inc. versus Cal Cunningham); Montana (Steve Daines, R inc. versus Steve Bullock); Iowa (Joni Ernst, R inc. versus Theresa Greenfield) and Georgia's regularly scheduled US Senate election (David Perdue, R inc. versus Jon Ossoff).  It's a longer shot, but if a blue wave has been underestimated, the Donks could sweep out Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, replacing him with Jaime Harrison.  But they will lose Alabama's Doug Jones to Auburn's Tommy Tuberville.  The GA special election, Kansas, and yes, Texas, are out of reach.

But the ones I've predicted are enough to give Donks a 53-47 margin, which is what Moscow Bitch has been working with, and if I'm also wrong about Trump being re-elected then it's a new blue day in Washington.  They can do whatever they want.

Just don't forget that Joe Biden wants to work with Republicans because America needs the GOP.  That's why I #ListenToBernie.

Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

The Weekly TexFarLeft Wrangle


While there are things to be sad about and things to be mad about, this round-up of the best of the left of, about, and from around our Great State chooses a few things to celebrate.

To mark today as National Voter Registration Day, as well as to highlight the ongoing Hispanic Heritage Month ...


And before moving on to politics, some more good food news.


The sunny side for Democrats:


And for Greens:


Bad news for Republicans, though.


Much more stupid from Coronavirus Cornyn later.


Springer, generally viewed in this jungle primary as Luther's main Republican competition, is in quarantine after his wife tested positive for COVID.


"Can we get back to the good news, PDid?" Yes we can.


And while I have plenty of the regular reporting for another Wrangle later in the week -- you know, cops and Republicans behaving badly, environmental and criminal justice postings -- I'll close today with these.

Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Sunday "Rest in Notorious Peace" Toons

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, September 18, 2020

Friday Lone Star Lefty Round-up


Keep your eyes on the Gulf again.


Governor Abbott has folded to the disaster capitalists who are the base of his financial support and opened up the state's businesses for more COVID spreading.


Including assisted living facilities.


But not the bars. Vox caught up with an Austin liquor store owner who described how his business has continually made adjustments through the six-month-long pandemic.

Teachers and students are adjusting as well.


With just a few of the most recent election headlines ...


Here are those details (Facebook Live, tonight at 7 p.m. CT).


(Remember: in last Saturday's weekender, Senator Lucio tweeted about the Pharr-B-Q. tomorrow.)


Last month the San Antonio Report posted some renderings of the restored battlefield and the relocated Cenotaph.


Ralph Bivens for the Texas Realty News Report snarks on Tesla's choice of a rural outpost for its truck factory, making the case that Houston would have been smarter.

Speaking of stupid:


A short wrap-up this Friday. Here's a few social justice posts.

Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, September 17, 2020

White House Update: Greens and Blues see red (w/*updates)


Donks win some (Wisconsin, *Pennsylvania), Sunflowers fight back (Texas).


Plenty blogged already about that legal case.


There's been a lot of the geek fighting Twitter is famous for, so I'll just post some of my favorites.


I suppose that's enough blinding hypocrisy for one week.

-- While the Democrats and the Greens fought it out in court, Kanye also had to do battle for ballot access. The stress is getting to him though, and he's ... well ...


I was going to put "seeing yellow" in the headline, but it looks like he's properly hydrated, as it's more straw-colored. I would like to know if he was holding his own phone for this video. His hand -- if it's his -- is remarkably steady.

-- What's Sleepy Old Joe been up to? Latinx outreach.


Keep in mind that he hired all these new people with Latin surnames after being criticized for failing with the Browns, and this is what they came up with.


I don't know. I don't know what this is, either.


I was the quartermaster for my Scout troop at summer camp in 1969. I think that's the last time I've heard the word spoken. Ladies' department managers have lived a little longer than quartermasters, but they're going the way of department stores and dinosaurs also. Maybe Joe should go down to the Bijou and watch a newsreel, catch up on current events.

*Update: Biden's drive-in town hall on Thursday evening went well for him, although Politico thinks it was a softball session. Personally I wasn't thrilled, or surprised, at his support for fracking.


"Nothing will fundamentally change", except Kamala's shoes.


-- So let's mention Trump's town hall, where he got told to shut up by the Black woman, confused herd immunity with herd mentality, and a few other lies and ignorant comments.



*Update: Cash strapped Trump campaign awaits bailout from big donors

-- Just listen to this man.


Who needs a yard sign?
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)