Monday, August 03, 2020

The TexProgBlog Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance will not be delaying the publication of this week's round-up of the best from around and about the Lone Star left from last week.


"Heightened tensions" is an understatement.


This underscores the need for independent media and journalists on the scene; those who are willing to risk the police abuse, tear gas, pepper spray, and "non-lethal" (sic) munitions fired upon the protestors in order to document and report on what is actually happening.

Corporate-funded media simply isn't going to do that.


Socratic Gadfly, in light of ongoing protests about policing, talked about bad cops he has personally known.  And in Dallas, a drive-through rally for police supporters inexplicably chose an African American church to stop at and antagonize people.


The COVID crisis in the Rio Grande Valley has been severely exacerbated by Hurricane Hanna.


Dos Centavos looks at the national reporting of the effects of the virus on the Mexican American population in South Texas.  A combination of bad public policy, bad leadership, and bad personal decisions has made the region a pandemic nightmare.  And the Texas Signal brings news of a mutual aid effort for Hanna victims in the RGV.

COVID-19 is, as we are all acutely aware, changing how we live our lives -- now, in the short-term future and in the long-term.  And our elected leaders are demonstrating that they are completely unable to meet the challenges at hand.


The most appalling thing to this blogger appears in the form of those calling for change who understand what the problems are, but have stridently declared that they have no intention whatsoever of doing anything meaningful about solving them.


"Access to healthcare" IS NOT healthcare.  Expanding Obamacare does nothing for people who cannot afford an insurance policy that barely covers a portion of hospital medical expenses.  Fortunately there are some candidates on your ballot that get it.  Most of them are not Democrats.


I do have some political headlines.

SD14: Sen. Sarah Eckhardt was sworn in following Rep. Eddie Rodriguez’s decision to withdraw from the special runoff election. There are now 10 women serving in the Texas Senate for the first time in state history.

CD23 open: Raul Reyes Jr. will seek a recount of his 46-vote Republican runoff loss to Tony Gonzales II. “We want to ensure all ballots were counted properly through an expeditious recount process as allowed under law.”

Texas Libertarian Convention: At its convention in Big Spring, the state's Libertarians nominated Kerry McKennon as its candidate for U.S. Senate. He received 2% of the vote in 2018 as the Libertarian nominee for lieutenant governor. The party’s delegates elected four women to its top leadership positions, including Whitney Bilyeu as chair and Bekah Congdon as vice chair. 

TXElects has also has some analysis of statehouse races in Collin and Denton counties.  Kuff pondered the implications of having a Democratic majority in the Texas House on the redistricting process.  Jon Fischer, writing for Quorum Report and republished at the PAAT, lays out the possible ways that the 87th Legislature could operate differently under pandemic conditions. And Reform Austin urges greater vigilance in protecting the right to vote.


With the latest environmental developments:


Kendra Chamberlain at the New Mexico Political Report writes about the concerns of worsening air quality in the Permian Basin.

Let's talk about teachers.


Has this Wrangle been long enough for ya?  Let's end here with something cool and refreshing.

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