Showing posts sorted by date for query voter suppression. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query voter suppression. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Friday, March 04, 2022

The Weekend Runoff Wrangle


Everybody else has posted their takes and takeaways, so if you're not tired of that yet, I'll get started with the not-trending-but-ought-to-be hashtag.


Judge Hidalgo, fresh off a convincing primary win, is going to wait for the investigation to determine precisely what the issues were and what action she should take to fix them.  The haste with which she decides will probably be determined by the amount of screeching from her runoff-bound Republican challengers.  So thirty days, maybe 60 or 75 (when her fall opponent is chosen) or soon thereafter, because the caterwauling will certainly increase in volume then.  Longoria is heavy baggage and getting heavier every day, and the judge doesn't need that.

Besides her more obvious problems, the elections admin has a tin ear for PR.


Anyone working in the central counting station who is urinating blood has a greater health concern than the stress caused by 'voter errors with new machines', and needs to be at the doctor's office stat.

Let me post this in Longoria's defense.


Absolutely correct.  The days of election returns being mostly in for reporting on the 10 p.m. local news are long gone.  Accuracy over speed is the better choice.  If we wanted the most secure elections possible, then hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots would be what we ought to do.  And everyone sitting around eating cold, shitty, unhealthy food and hitting 'refresh' on the SoS website, and the counties', could find something better to do with their life.

Mrs. Diddie and I had a wonderful, fun, Mardi Gras dinner with lots of booze.  We wore masks and toasted our table guests, thanking them for not being those people who kept checking their phones for election results, or the State of the Union, or whether World War Three was about to be launched. (Everywhere else, as they say, it was just another Tuesday; in New Orleans, it was Phat.  And unlike the Catholics I didn't have to bother getting up early to get ashes on Wednesday, and I'm not giving up anything for Lent.  Religion can be such a downer.)

Conflicting takes on turnout, but the almost-final analysis says it was ahead of 2018 -- the proper comparison -- with the GOP up and the Dems down.  Yes, the SB1 suppression effects were felt everywhere but nowhere greater than the mail ballots.


Captain Obvious with two weak takes.  On to a few results:


Harris County DA Kim Ogg -- and her minions down the Democratic judicial ballot -- are Republicans in camo.  Undervote accordingly in the fall.  Houston DSA struck out twice, and I'm truly sorry about that.  I don't know if they're falling in the Donkey line for the runoffs or in the fall, but the Texas Greens could sure use their help if they don't (or don't want to).  Sure, there's Greg Casar and Jessica Cisneros and Claudia Zapata and a few others, but the path to social progress in the Texas Democratic Party leads to the cemetery, and the sooner the younger generation understands that, the better off we all will be.

A personal appeal:  Please.  For the love of whatever higher power you do or do not believe in, don't waste 45 years of your life trying to change the Dems from within like I did.  There just isn't that much time left for starters, and the fact is they don't want to change, and they certainly don't want you trying to change them.  Let them fail.

The most competitive US House race in Texas this year could come in the 15th, a South Texas district that stretches from towns east of San Antonio to the Rio Grande Valley. Republican Monica De La Cruz, who came within 3 percentage points of defeating Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in 2020, (won) the Republican nomination ... Democrats will choose her opponent on May 24 in a runoff between Ruben Ramirez, an attorney and Afghanistan war veteran, and Michelle Vallejo, a progressive favorite.

More of a Warren progressive than a Bernie one.  The 15th is probably flipping blue to red in November no matter who, which is why incumbent Vicente Gonzales is running in the 34th.


I'm with her.  I'll have more on the Dems later, but probably next week, and also some Tweets about the Republican clowns, the cops behaving badly as usual, the environment, and some social justice updates, one of those possible before the Funnies on Sunday.
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Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Texas Chainsaw Early Voting Massacre Wrangle


Or is it?


That's the data from Longhorn Derek, and it's also Kuffner's point this morning, i.e. 'all caught up'.  Frankly when the state ranks in the bottom five in voter turnout and the media is begging people to vote because everyone knows that the ones who do are crackpots ... maybe "we're on pace with previous years" isn't good news.  For anybody.


Nobody like Turd Blossom, but nobody ignores him either.


Democrats are wailing loudly about rejected mail ballots.


But turnout in the RGV's GOP primary doesn't seem affected.


Turncoat Pena, hoping to get on the appeals court down south.


I should probably mention that this development comes as a shock to the TDP chairman.


Shell Seas watched the debate between Gilberto Hinojosa, Kim Olson, and Carroll Robinson and has a lengthy, insight-filled review.

I have so many posts for 'Texas Republicans behaving badly' that they will appear separately, following this one.  Let's look at the latest polling.


No real movement in these numbers over the past thirty or so days.  Texas 2036 also shared the results of their fourth Texas Voters Poll.


More of the latest developments regarding Texas women's reproductive freedom in the Social Justice Wrangle, forthcoming.

And SocraticGadfly offered a trio of politics and voting posts from last week, but candidly none of his unhinged, incoherent, rambling rants make any sense.  Go read them if you like but keep in mind he's a former Green who has now apparently decided he hates the Greens and just voted in the Republican primary.  (You've been warned.)
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Wednesday, February 02, 2022

Groundhog Day Wrangle


The next few days will reveal whether Abbott and company will coast to re-election in March -- and November -- or whether the weather can turn the tide from red to blue.  If the Lone Star version of Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, it's four more years of winter in Deep In The Hearta.


Hope is not a strategy, but when you're as far behind in the polling and the fundraising as Beto is today ... what else is there?

We'll come back to Texas Democrats' failing downpost; let's catch up with the TXGOP, still doing what they do.


With the price of oil soaring, these guys will have millions more to throw away on hyper-extremist conservative politics this year.


Ted's presidential ambitions are going to be thwarted again by Trump.  What a tragedy.


Moving on to more of the foibles of Governor Fish Lips that don't include the grid.


And wrapping this segment with the egregious laws passed in the 87th Texas Lege that are coming home to roost.


The damage wasn't limited to Republicans, however.  Some of your favorites on Team Blue really disgraced themselves, and it's only Wednesday.


ICYMI.  Truly smells like desperation from Rodriguez.  It was revealed by Tribune of the People that his primary opponent Greg Casar made his own lurch to the right, and reported at nearly the same time that Amnesty International called out the government of Israel.  Lining up with an apartheid state is a bad move no matter when it occurs, but right before voting is to begin for a brand new, solid D seat just reeks of pandering for the Jewish vote.  This move also came in the wake of the federal court ruling that Texas' anti-BDS law violates the First Amendment (injunction .pdf).

A very coincidental series of events.


Not as difficult to understand given Garcia's other progressive failings, but another echo -- on the heels of the no-vote taken in the California Assembly yesterday -- of Democrats' inability to choose the will of the people over the will of their donors.  It's an extension of Gene Green's legacy she's settling into.


I suppose that will be my segue to the legal, criminal, and social justice updates.


A couple of labor updates, segue-ing into the soothers to end today.

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Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Hump Day Wrangle


Texas Republicans' bad week is stretching into a month.


Buc-ee Aplin is a big buddy of Dan Patrick.  The $65 million question is: does any of this matter to the TXGQP primary voter?  I am inclined to say 'no'.


After all, there are things happening that this subset of humanity is very likely applauding.


The largest corporations in Texas and the nation are complicit.

A pair of watchdog groups called out companies and trade groups that continued to financially support the 147 congressional Republicans who voted last year to overturn the 2020 presidential election results even after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. [...] General Dynamics ($233,500), and Valero Energy ($207,500) are (among) the top corporate donors to those who objected to the election and their party committees,” the report says.

More:

Irving-based ExxonMobil and San Antonio-based Valero Energy joined other Fortune 500 corporations and trade groups in 2021 in spending $8.1 million to financially back these members. [...] The recipients include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and nine Texas lawmakers: Reps. Brian Babin, Jodey Arrington, Randy Weber, John Carter, August Pfluger, Beth Van Duyne, Troy Nehls, Ronny Jackson, and Michael Cloud.

More:

Pharmaceutical company Merck signed a pro-voting rights statement that was published as an advertisement in the New York Times on April 14. [...] After signing the ad, Merck donated $1,000 in October to Texas Republican state Senator Lois Kolkhorst, the primary sponsor of one of the state’s two new voter suppression laws and a cosponsor of the other one. [...] JPMorgan Chase also donated to a cosponsor of SB 1, giving $1,000 from its PAC to Sen. Dawn Buckingham in September.

Then there's the rich country folk who aren't all that fascist-freaky but still send Greg Abbott millions of dollars like it was loose change in their pocket.


Unlike Michelle, I see no path to anything for Texas Democrats but "a few small wins in targeted races", which I've been hearing since Boyd Richie was chairman.

Still, the young and the brave soldier on.


Best of luck to those good guys and gals.  I won't be holding my breath that the TexTrib is suddenly going to realize there's more than two political parties, however.


Here's a few more Tweets that point to the challenges we're all facing.


Need to jump that Bloomberg paywall?  Here you go.

In climate developments: what's good for Texas is often bad for the planet.


A few criminal and social justice updates which add to the litany of grim news in this post.


So we should find a laugh where we can.




At Wednesday’s meeting of the Dallas City Council, the people of Dallas were greeted with perhaps the most perplexing public comment yet: a man dressed in blue surgical scrubs, shouting a pro-vaccination song.

Alex Stein, a YouTube comedian, hit the podium and performed a rap to the tune of Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady,” with lyrics including “vaccinate me in my thong” and “Dr. Fauci, give me that ouchie.” His audience: some two dozen council members in a largely empty and silent conference room.

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Monday, January 17, 2022

MLK Day Wrangle

A few things to celebrate today:


Not so much for Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton.


Or some of the GQP supporting cast.


Their pain is not necessarily our collective gain.


Emily Eby also shows how the new voter suppression law will affect your voting experience.

The omicron variant is wreaking havoc with public school teachers and students.


But not just them.


And not just omicron affecting the supply chain, either.


Here's a few climate headlines.


SocraticGadfly blogged about getting to an all-electric-car future in light of discussing, or not discussing, the environmental N-word.


And some Texas music news to close today.

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Monday, December 20, 2021

A Wrangle Before Christmas


I'll be adding to that list, here in this post and in the coming days.  Yes, there's lots of ground to cover; I'll open with the exploding omicron variant/COVID numbers.


Distressing news as we approach the holidays and planned gatherings.


We are three times jabbed, with the Pfizer following two Moderna shots exactly on schedule (one month ago, 7 months ago, and the first last April).  We are masked, KN95, every time we leave the house, and have recently stopped dining out again despite all these precautions.  I support mask mandates, but I oppose vaccine mandates.  People who don't want to get the shot shouldn't be forced to.  Neither should their employers keep them on payroll, or their health insurers pay for their treatment if they contract the virus.  These are the choices.  Everybody should clearly understand by now what's at stake.

The greed of Big Pharma, the waiver of liability from damage, the federal government's refusal to share the vaccines with poorer nations, the patents being protected and all of that bullshit also extends the pandemic.  For some reason we cannot compel people to do the right thing.


This does not give me hope for resolving climate change or social inequality.  Way down the list from there is worrying about whether the Democrats can figure out how to appease Joe Manchin in order to save their asses in the midterms.  As Tony Soprano might say, "Whaddaya gonna do?"

Be of good cheer anyway.  Mine comes from laughing at the foibles of the intellectually feeble, the terminally corrupt, and the uber-demagogues.





After all, I'm just here to document the atrocities.


There have been some developments regarding redistricting -- or gerrymandering, if you prefer -- since my last Wrangle.  Also the new SOS has been efforting to "clean up" (sic) the voter rolls.


Will Wilder and Elizabeth Hira for the Brennan Center show how the Freedom to Vote Act would defang Texas' voter suppression law.  Too bad that's not going to happen.  And Ken Paxton has a sad that he will not be able to go after these "criminals".  If they should break the law, that is.  His track record was poor anyway.


The War on School Libraries is the new War on Christmas.


Our school board trustees do have other things to worry about.  "Things" being legal problems of their own making.


It's not as if potential school shootings are a concern, after all.


The power grid has been in sharp focus recently.  Let's round up the latest.


I've run long here, so I'll put the criminal and social justice news in the next Wrangle.  And more calm-me-downs.  Here's one to close.

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