Saturday, September 12, 2020

Week-ending Lone Star Lefty Wrangle

The most distressing news of the week:

Luby’s, the beloved Texas cafeteria that had spent years trying to rebuild its niche in a crowded marketplace for fast-casual dining, announced in June that the company was up for sale. Then, today, the 73-year-old company announced that -- as no buyer has yet been found -- Luby’s will be liquidating its assets and dissolving.

Raise a farewell iced-tea toast to fried fish on a LuAnn Platter, with fried okra and mac and cheese on the side, jalapeno cornbread, and a slice of chocolate creme pie.

In election news being battled in the courts:


Bradblog helps explain.

The voting news out of Texas this week is only slightly better. First, the good news: A federal judge there has ordered state election officials to notify voters within one day after a "perceived signature mismatch" is determined on absentee ballots, and to allow voters a "meaningful opportunity" to correct the issue. Previously, after officials who are not handwriting experts decided a signature was not a match to the voter's registration application (often years old), the ballot was simply rejected without notifying voters until 10 days after the election. In other voting news from the Lone Star State, a state judge has determined that the Clerk in Harris County is in fact allowed to send out absentee ballot applications to all registered voters in the nation's 4th largest city (and surrounding suburbs). The state's Republican attorney general had sued to block the effort. I suspect he'll appeal, but we'll see.

But the war on voting in Texas doesn't stop with those two victories for democracy, unfortunately. The mayor of Houston wants to know why more than a dozen local U.S. post offices have refused to allow volunteers from the non-partisan League of Women Voters to make multilingual voter registration materials available at those facilities.


TXElects has more on the Fifth Circuit's order and state district Judge R.K. Sandill's ruling also.  And here's more from The Hill:

Texas was of particular concern to the (Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis), with the state one of the six that has refused to expand mail-in voting to allow coronavirus concerns to count as a reason to vote absentee. The panel noted that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had taken steps to sue counties trying to circumvent this. 

In addition, the subcommittee revealed that, according to documents obtained by the panel, previous poll workers in 127 out of 254 Texas counties do not plan to work elections this year, and that election officials have concerns around ensuring the safety of polling places and the ability to prevent long lines. 

“In effect, the state is forcing most voters to show up in person if they want to exercise their right to vote, which could lead to longer lines and more crowded polling sites on Election Day,” the subcommittee wrote.



With less litigious election developments ...


In the Valley today -- and the two Saturdays after -- Senator Lucio is helping a get-out-the-census drive with free barbecue.


The never-ending skirmish between the state Board of Education's right-wing freaks and the actvists who desire a sane, sensible public education for their children was renewed this week.


Sanity was defeated.


Sanity -- and sensibility -- are primed for another defeat in next year's legislative session.


Our two Senators tried to outdo each other this week. Both lost.


Why Mayor Turner tried to out-jackass Cruz and Cornyn is ... inexplicable.


He's not this stupid, so he must be a jerk. Maybe he's been conferencing with Dallas mayor Eric Johnson, with whom he served in the Lege.

That, I suppose, brings me to "Cops Behaving Less Badly Than Usual".


"Less badly than usual" is relative, especially if you have been reading Grits for Breakfast regularly.


Here's a variety of unrelated social justice Tweets.


And I'll finish with the human interest stories.

The Rio Grande Guardian marks Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15) with a well-deserved salute to the early Tejas history. The San Antonio Report has Episode 22 of 'Cabeza de Vaca: Crossing the Divide'. And Jesse Sendejas Jr. of the Houston Press wrote a fitting tribute to the legendary Heights music venue, Rockefeller's.
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