Thursday, September 23, 2021

Thursday's Wrangle from Far Left Texas


Not enough yesterday to post, and too much today.  Let's begin with Beto.


The math hasn't changed.  The Freedom to Vote Act, watered down to get Joe Manchin's approval but still too injurious to the Greens to get my approval -- not that I matter) still needs ten Republicans ... because Manchin isn't down with killing the filibuster.

Don't take my word for it; do take Ari Berman's.

(O'Rourke) predicted Democrats would lose their congressional majorities if they failed to pass federal legislation protecting voting rights.

“If we, as Democrats or pro-democracy Americans, are not willing to use every tool available to us—while Republicans are using every tool available to them to constrict and reduce and perhaps demolish the right to vote altogether—then we become complicit in the outcome,” he added. “And I’m not in for that one.”

Sounds clear to me.  Joe Biden made his pitch to King Manchin on the $3.5T spending bill last week, got nowhere.  This week he's begging.  So as it relates to busting out the filibuster ... I read this as wishful thinking at best, delusional at worst.

On to redistricting and the rest of the slate at the Lege.


It should come as no surprise that legislators are bailing out; ridiculously long hours, low pay, the frustrations of having to negotiate with freaks -- this can be taken from either extreme, mind you -- quickly leads to burnout.


Two other empty statehouse seats, HD10 and HD118, are holding special elections to fill vacancies as this is published.  And Celia Israel, who postponed her wedding during the quorum break, might enter the scrum for Austin mayor.  She would possibly join former state senator and more recently former dean of U of H's public policy school's Kirk Watson and conservative real estate broker Jennifer Virden, who declared in June.  CM Greg Casar and attorney Adam Loewy are also said to be thinking about running.

More politics in the next post; here's more Lege, new business.


According to this conservative source, COVID funds can't be used to lower taxes.  So once again we see the state's leaders acting defiantly.

Or just stupidly.


This could be stupid or just plain old lying.  Hard to tell.


So ... kinda not surprised at this polling.


More updates on the abortion law include:


And the Texas Standard spoke to Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at UT-Austin, who explains why suits filed against SB8 may not result in a SCOTUS showdown.

Sepper says that when the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to block SB 8, it set up the likelihood that state suits against the law would begin working their way through Texas courts. The Supreme Court could eventually hear one of those cases and could then rule on whether the law is constitutional.

Before that happens, Sepper says Texas courts might look at issues raised by the law, like who can actually file suit.

“SB 8 purports to allow anyone, anywhere to file a lawsuit,” she said. “Texas courts might not be able to go along with that. Usually in order to file a lawsuit you have to have standing, which requires some kind of injury.”

Beyond the standing issue, Sepper says SB 8 effectively bans abortion in the state.

“SB 8 is an unconstitutional law,” Sepper said. “It is unconstitutional because it has banned abortion in the state of Texas, contrary to the basic rule of Roe v. Wade for the last 50 years.”

Sepper says the lawsuits against (San Antonio physician Alan) Braid could move through Texas courts and eventually end up at the U.S. Supreme Court, or a lower court could dispatch the case before that happens.

“It is entirely possible that Texas courts won’t be played in this way, and they will say that these plaintiffs don’t have standing, and that the Legislature does not have the power to grant everyone in the country, or everyone in the state, the ability to use the courts to bounty-hunt against other citizens,” Sepper said.

I'll take that as my segue to these criminal and social justice updates.


As promised earlier, a longer post coming on this disaster.  Here's a couple of environmental pieces.


And since I haven't posted anything about COVID lately ...


(New Mexico reached 70% of its adult population vaccinated this week.  Just two died of invermectin poisoning.  If you're thinking of relocating, there are lots worse places.)

Okay then.  It's a beautiful day, looks like it will be a beautiful weekend.  You should get outside, feel the grass, do something fun, eat some delicious food.

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