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.

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