Thursday, November 12, 2020

More Texas Left Wrangling

The words from me on the Latinx vote -- which intertwine with polling lapses and TexDem foibles -- are still on the way, but while you wait, take in this from Elizabeth Findell of the Wall Street Journal.  It's a multi-Tweet thread for you quick-scanners, or those unable to polevault the paywall.


And a bit more from other sources, collated.


And before moving on, the snark.


We're Number One Million (and more, by now).  Take a bow, Governor.


You can read the Tweets before and after that one to get the full picture, but the one person that needs to be held accountable is Greg Abbott.

Considering all of the mistakes of Texas Democrats exposed in the election just concluded, that will be a tall task.  Still no reason to leave defining the narrative to the likes of Mark Jones.  Twenty twenty-two is going to present a different battlefield, but some things never change: Republicans will run against the status quo (Joe Biden) and Democrats ...?  Well, they should as well, obviously (Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton, and all of rest of the corrupt and incompetent Republican leadership in Austin).

The scandals swirling around the state's attorney general -- that he has forced out all the whistleblowers in his office, that he sent an armed guard to intimidate them prior to that, that he had an affair with a woman hired by his donor, whose home and office was raided by the FBI, all while he remains under indictment on securities fraud charges -- are enough to turn a mouldering Richard Nixon into a different shade of green (envy).  That the likes of George Pee Bush is already angling to take his job tells you exactly what Texas Republicans are.

With the elections mostly settled -- one seat in the state Senate will be resolved in five weeks -- and the Speaker's contest over before it started, and revenue shortfalls projected due to the pandemic, the Lege has enormous issues to address.  Monday was the first day for legislators to file bills, and the dais is loaded already.

As pre-filing of bills begins, Texas legislators focus on emergency powers of the governor, police reform, abortion, and more

Lawmakers came out swinging on their first day of pre-filing for the 87th legislative session, filing bills on Medicaid expansion, COVID-19 death benefits for first responders, and shell bills for the state’s redistricting plans.

As of mid-afternoon, #txlege watcher Tanner Long –- who charts these things in detail –- was hinting the 87th legislature was closing in on the all-time high for first-day filings set during the 85th session: 525 bills. Today’s filings already surpassed the first-day record of the 86th session, which was 472 bills.


Donks: Hold. Their Feet. To the Fire.


Moving on to environmental Tweets:


And a few social justice stories.


And to wrap, some Texas music news (of a sort).

Ivan Koop Kuper at The Rag Blog writes about Texas blues legend Lightnin' Hopkins and his ground-breaking appearance on "Austin City Limits" in 1978 (broadcast in '79), how it was facilitated by a member of the Lege, and more about his fame thereafter.

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