For the record, 295 people had signed up to testify on HB3.
— Alexa Ura (@alexazura) July 11, 2021
I don’t believe we got anywhere near that, which, you know, is to be expected when public testimony begins at 1:41 a.m. for a hearing that began at 8 a.m. the day before https://t.co/agSo3pxgzg #txlege
Bus loads of people from southeast Texas were among the crowd as they waited to testify at a Saturday committee hearing on the issue. https://t.co/lvDnA34REc
— ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston) July 11, 2021
Bus loads secured by Sen. Borris Miles.
A Texas House committee voted early Sunday morning to advance to the floor a GOP-backed voting bill in the Texas Legislature that includes extensive new voting restrictions, the Texas Tribune reports.
Right along party lines.
Beto is now testifying before the Senate on the Texas election bill pic.twitter.com/DPpm58EfMO
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) July 10, 2021
That's Sen. Bryan Hughes, far right, looking at the ceiling. He of the egregious exaggerations.
In defending his controversial voting bill on CNN on Sunday, Texas state Sen. Bryan Hughes claimed half a dozen times that the attorney general's office had 400 open voter fraud cases.
“That's the fact,” Hughes, R-Mineola, said in an interview with CNN host Pamela Brown. “It's documented. There's no question about that.”
Yet that number is almost 10 times larger than the number of people with pending voter fraud charges in Texas, which is 43, according to data from the attorney general’s office. Only one of those pending cases stems from the 2020 election, in which more than 11 million Texans cast ballots.
Sorry, Sen. Hughes; that's not the fact. There are more than questions about that, especially regarding your -- and Ken Paxton's -- continued insistence that this falsehood is true.
To be clear, those 511 counts are part of 44 currently pending cases. The office has resolved about 150 cases since 2005, most through prosecution diversion.
— Taylor Goldenstein (@taygoldenstein) July 11, 2021
A single case can involve multiple counts, i.e. alleged violations of law. One AG fraud case alone involved 134. https://t.co/Lbg1vttlRY
Sen. Royce West took his (graceful) shot.
For those looking for #txlege @SenRoyceWest's "44 out of 11 million" comments: here ya go. https://t.co/BGpUXwy9av
— Bee Moorhead (@BeeMoorhead) July 10, 2021
You'll see and hear (I have to read with closed captions) Sen. West say '43 cases'. The 44th occurred at the end of last week.
Hervis Rogers captured national attention in March 2020 when he waited for hours to vote on Super Tuesday.
— Houston Public Media (@HoustonPubMedia) July 9, 2021
Now, Rogers is being prosecuted by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office for allegedly voting illegally.https://t.co/eyT0B4SeuK
Greg Abbott went on Chris Wallace's Sunday morning program and chose to get, shall we say, exotic with his rationalizations.
One of @GovAbbott's more creative excuses to suppress the vote #TXLege https://t.co/8Lh1Re0uqO
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) July 11, 2021
Good interview by Chris Wallace this morning—Abbott suggests Rs want to ban 24 hour voting because it’s hard to find (partisan!) poll watchers for the overnight shift— #txlege https://t.co/8l1T9ge9ne
— EricaGrieder (@EricaGrieder) July 11, 2021
Abbott, Paxton, Hughes, et.al. are obviously gaslighting, but Texas Democrats are trying to teach these pigs to sing by offering actual facts, truth and logic to them. They are not going to be persuaded. Because if it ain't in the Bible, they don't need to know it. Exhibit A:
At the morning prayer at CPAC, the pastor says that God made heaven and earth, “and that’s all the science we need to know.” On brand. pic.twitter.com/UpcsKkEXHy
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 11, 2021
Back to Reality: do you think Abbott and Luis Saenz and the rest of the governor's brain trust sit around and spitball these, or does he just make them up off the French cuff? Because I'm beginning to wonder who he/they think they're fooling.
On the other hand, I -- and everybody else -- know exactly who he's fooling.
#ICYMI Exclusive: Amid a primary fight, internal polling for the @AbbottCampaign shows @GregAbbott_TX with a big lead over his 2 major challengers @AllenWest & @DonHuffines among Republican primary voters. Polling also shows what all voters think. https://t.co/V7XSqJxBng @CBSDFW
— Jack Fink (@cbs11jack) July 9, 2021
In a survey of 446 Republican primary voters conducted between June 14-17 by Public Opinion Strategies, 77 percent of primary voters said they would vote for the Governor, while 15 percent said they would select another Republican candidate.
[...]
The poll found in a hypothetical primary race, Abbott won 69 percent of the vote, while (former RPT chair Allen) West received 13 percent and (former state Sen. Don) Huffines had 3 percent. Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also received 3 percent, but since the poll was conducted, he has decided against running for governor and will instead run for re-election.
Abbott fares better among those who consider themselves “strong” Republicans, who represent 61 percent of primary voters. He received 75 percent of the vote, while West won 11 percent, and Huffines had 3 percent. Eight percent were undecided.
All of this business, or con job if you prefer (I do) regarding the voter suppression bill is leading in one direction; a path we've been down before.
The possibility of Texas Democrats staging a second walkout to again stop one of America’s most restrictive new voting measures is getting bigger.https://t.co/7ie13e9QNY
— KXAN News (@KXAN_News) July 10, 2021
I don't think they're bluffing, Governor.
Update: And sure enough, they weren't.
Breaking: A plane has taken off carrying at least 51 Texas Democrats.
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) July 12, 2021
Democrats are leaving to block the special session and a GOP voting restrictions bill that would ban drive-thru voting, enhance access for partisan poll watchers and more. https://t.co/2YCdDNg202
Since I've run long here, I'll put the bail bill (hearings and passage out of committee also done over the weekend), summaries of the laundry list of other neo-fascist legislation, a few more election items, the spike in COVID's Delta variant cases, criminal and social justice news -- including the surge of gun-related deaths -- and whatever else I have left in posts later this week. Also Part 2 of the environmental collation. Soothers to close.
Glasstire's 20th Anniversary Auction is here! Work from over 30 artists is available for bidding. To see all pieces available in this years auction, click the link below.#texasartist#artauction#goseesomearthttps://t.co/ES9lT79N14 pic.twitter.com/gh6GqkDnCd
— Glasstire (@Glasstire) July 10, 2021
After more than nine years in the works, a documentary about Houston's legendary Numbers nightclub is finally set to debut later this monthhttps://t.co/odjXY366Ki
— Eater Houston (@EaterHouston) July 11, 2021