Wednesday, May 26, 2021

A skirmish won


Update: Big battles yet to come, even as Little Guv Dan Patrick throws a temper tantrum and demands a recount of the ones he was beaten on yesterday.


The war, alas, mostly lost already.

Lay it at the feet of the scowly-faced man with the gavel in the video above, along with statehouse Democrats who slid fearfully to the right, and all who trusted Speaker Forehead to be a fair arbiter this session.  Dade Phelan is no Joe Straus.  Back another horse in 2023, Donks.

Between now and then you need to fight like hell for a few more days, then again in a special session on redistricting, and whatever else Gov. Helen Wheels adds to the call -- undoubtedly some of the trash y'all defeated this time -- and then win some goddamned elections.  And don't blame or throttle the Green Party in your efforts to do so, or by Dishrag I'll stop voting for your judicial candidates down the ballot in reprisal, and encourage as many as possible to do the same.

Here's your platform.


(ICYMI: Patrick's 1991 vasectomy, broadcast live on his Houston radio station)

Moving on to other topics ...

Greg Abbott has had a winner of a session by anybody's scorecard, and he's setting up the special to capture a few more flags.


Yeah, just trust him.


If a meteor struck the Capitol today and ended the session early, Abbott would at the very least be able to claim Trump-ish bonafides like outlawing abortion, freeing guns from the tyranny of licensing and training, and some extra helpings of steak tartare to his donors like Kelcy Warren.

It won't be enough for Allen West and Sid Miller and MQS and the rest of the Lafitte privateers in the GQP (don't forget about their big shindig in Dallas this weekend) but that's a fight we can wait to watch next year.  Today the chattering class is excited about who former Prezdint Agolf Shitler might endorse between Ken Paxtoon and George Pee Bush.

"I like them both very much," Trump said in a statement Tuesday. "I'll be making my endorsement and recommendation to the great people of Texas in the not-so-distant future."

Bush has said he is "seriously considering" a primary challenge to Paxton and has scheduled a campaign kickoff for an unspecified office on June 2 in Austin. Bush spoke with Trump about the race Monday.

I really don't care.  Do you?  In more immediate Texas election news, voting has begun in the municipal runoffs across the state, and the most prized for Democrats is the Fort Worth mayoral.


And CD-10 progressive Dem Mike Siegel calls your attention to a like-minded candidate in the runoff with a conservative incumbent in Grand Prairie.

I have a backlog of criminal and social justice news.  First: more photos and video from marches and rallies in the Lone Star State in support of the cause of Gaza and Palestinians living there under the boot heel of Israeli ethnocide.


And Sam Russek's thread with video of the Houston rally that turned into a march is remarkable.  Read the whole thing; here's where the crowd quite gently took down the police barricades and filled Post Oak in front of the Galleria.


HPD's response was incredibly muted compared to past actions I've attended and witnessed.  I believe that's unlikely to be the case in the future, given the recent bill passed in Austin.


Also: laws decriminalizing the driving into and running down of protestors in other states are bound to head our way too soon.  Then there's the bills that penalize cities for defunding their police departments; these didn't need any Democratic votes, but they got them anyway.


Grits for Breakfast hypothesized that "anti-defund" legislation could have the effect of redefining what it means to be a "police officer".

With respect to the statewide camping ban law -- an action taken in response to Austin's efforts -- we know now that cruelty is the point.


And the same with cash bail.


Having run long again here, I'll post environmental updates -- the spat between George Pee's GLO and Harris County's non-existent portion of Harvey funding, Coastal Bend Queen Diane Wilson's ongoing struggle against the Big Chem polluters, and some other items -- tomorrow.  Here's my collection from the softer side.

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