Opening today with the growing crusade by Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton to prosecute Texans for raising their children in a manner of their own choosing. Those efforts have been blocked for now.
A Texas appeals court sided with the parents of a transgender teenager in a ruling Wednesday, rejecting Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to allow a child abuse investigation to proceed. | via @TexasTribune https://t.co/TG2GcqsMMp
— KUT Austin (@KUT) March 9, 2022
.@MayorAdler proclaims March 9 as Transgender Youth and Family Safety Day. 🏳️⚧️ The City stands in solidarity with our LGBTQIA+ community and will protect their rights to seek care + feel physically and mentally safe in our community. pic.twitter.com/IeZ6Rz3fJN
— City of Austin (@austintexasgov) March 9, 2022
Thousands have remained in the shadows following Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive calling for parents of transgender youth to be investigated for child abuse if they support medical interventions. But one family is speaking out against “state terrorism.” https://t.co/W1KhKVZ3KD
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) March 9, 2022
Texas Lawyers who specialize in LGBTQ family law say the number of families reaching out in fear of potential child abuse investigations is unlike anything they’ve ever seen. https://t.co/LP88XFoNqR
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) March 8, 2022
NEW: The only specialty clinic for transgender youth in Texas closed last year with little explanation.
— Azeen Ghorayshi (@azeen) March 8, 2022
I obtained phone recordings of hospital executives discussing political pressure they were under to close it, including from Gov. Greg Abbott's officehttps://t.co/B6paZT72re
A business alliance of large TX employers like Microsoft and Amazon released a joint statement condemning the AG and Governor's attack on trans kids.
— Gillian Branstetter (@GBBranstetter) March 3, 2022
But according to @JuddLegum, 11 of their companies donated $138,000 to Abbott and Paxton's campaigns. https://t.co/zMp3FcCF6a
This week's #politicalcartoon by @Branchtoon.#Abbott #Paxton #transrights pic.twitter.com/DkaFcdrNYX
— Houston Chronicle Opinion (@ChronOpinion) March 1, 2022
"We realized we wouldn't feel comfortable asking LGBTQ+ voices from the Clubhouse community to come to Texas...and if we feel that way, we shouldn't be there at all," a Clubhouse spokesperson said. | via @NPR https://t.co/MLKjcWjKXW
— KUT Austin (@KUT) March 4, 2022
We are proud to have @TLDEF Exec. Director @AndyMarra on the @SXSW panel "Trans Texans Need Us: Hear From the Front Lines" along with @TransTexas, Charlie Apple, @DiamondStylz of @MarshasPlate, & @jessicashortall. #SXSW2022 #txlege Join us on March 13: https://t.co/hn1iI0XCaY https://t.co/27NloGkcw0 pic.twitter.com/8O6yYEEt01
— Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (@TLDEF) March 8, 2022
Concern for the burden of Texas teachers has also surged.
This is a joke right? After all that manufactured outrage about CRT and potentially criminalizing educators? Or helping gender challenged kids. Banning/burning books? Why would anyone who cares about kids want to teach in Texas? #txlege https://t.co/B9DXPzchzp
— harvey kronberg (@HKronberg) March 8, 2022
“The average pay for teachers has not increased between 2010 and 2019; it instead decreased from $55,433 to $54,192.”
— Emily Ramshaw (@eramshaw) March 8, 2022
You’re welcome, task force. https://t.co/G6hcQv8EOF
Texas Library Association forms coalition against banning bookshttps://t.co/v2J03VGs6Q
— KXAN News (@KXAN_News) March 8, 2022
ICYMI: A 3rd @collincollege professor has filed a free speech lawsuit against the school.
— Kate McGee (@McGeeReports) March 9, 2022
In this case, the prof claims the school didn't renew his contract after he called for Confederate statues to be removed in Dallas & criticized their COVID plan:https://t.co/d98hZAXx7N
Brittney Griner becomes a secondary casualty -- or perhaps a prisoner -- of the Russian war on Ukraine. She may eventually be a bargaining chip.
Over the weekend, news broke that the WNBA star, one of the best basketball players Texas has ever produced, has been in custody in Russia for weeks. How that happened: https://t.co/oVQZnB7Diq
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) March 7, 2022
Abbott megadonor Kelcy Warren's attorney against @BetoORourke has represented Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a close associate of Vladimir Putin and a business partner of Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort. So, not much different. https://t.co/pLd8BTOhlf
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) March 7, 2022
I may have more about this defamation lawsuit in a subsequent politics Wrangle, or I may just Tweet a few items. This is the sort of red-blue bantering that simply does not interest me all that much any more, TBH. I will echo Shells Seas and say that when we start barbecueing the 1%, I'm lining up for a fatty piece of Kelcy Warren's rump.
Let's see what the bad-behaving cops have been up to lately.
Billie Davis was an unhoused Houston man repeatedly harassed by cops. He couldn't pay a few thousand dollars cash premium to buy his release after he was charged with trying to get away from cops. Because he was poor, he was transferred to a for-profit private jail in Louisiana.
— Alec Karakatsanis (@equalityAlec) March 4, 2022
BREAKING NEWS: The sheriff of Dimmit County, Marion Boyd, has been arrested on charges involving stalking, oppression and evidence tampering.https://t.co/PvgpqPyjmA
— News 4 San Antonio (@News4SA) March 3, 2022
Denton police have confirmed that a woman was struck by a University of North Texas police car as law enforcement drove Republican Jeff Younger from a speaking engagement on campus Wednesday night. https://t.co/1kehM5E0rP
— DentonRC (@DentonRC) March 3, 2022
(You miss the Jeff Younger talk? He didn't get to say much actually.)
ICE quietly collected millions of people’s financial records as part of a surveillance program that fed the information to a database accessed by local and federal law enforcement agencies. https://t.co/RiZkQJLxwy via @Haleaziz
— Adolfo Flores (@aflores) March 8, 2022
BOOM!
— RAICES (@RAICESTEXAS) March 4, 2022
Today, the courts sided with our client. A federal court ruling will prohibit the government from using public health authorities, like Title 42, to deport families seeking asylum at our borders. pic.twitter.com/Oy7fNHsS11
Both the ACLU of Texas and anti-gun death activist Shannon Watts noticed the Border Patrol's fascist actions at Brownsville's Charro Days weekend-before-last.
Scoop: Texas State Bar complaint moves forward against AG Ken Paxton over attempt to overturn 2020 electionhttps://t.co/jM6gbK2pWS
— Taylor Goldenstein (@taygoldenstein) March 8, 2022
BREAKING: Austin officials have settled a lawsuit for $2.95 million from Brad Ayala, who was 16 years old when a police projectile seriously injured him in the May 2020 protests. The city has now agreed in total to pay more than $13 million in protester claims from the munitions. pic.twitter.com/FDp2PS3w35
— Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) March 3, 2022
Last: H-Town mayor Sly Turner still loves him some po-po.
Someone ask the mayor how much these police raises are expected to cost the city and how we'll pay for it.
— Jaison Oliver (@oJaison) March 3, 2022
Last I heard, the city is consistently strapped for cash because of the revenue cap, and HPD is the city's biggest department so...are we rich now?https://t.co/UoxuYtoUNS
For an in-depth look at why police unions are so powerful, please read my @TexasMonthly profile of former @HPOUTX president Joe Gamaldi. You'll learn that Mayor Turner and nearly every member of the Houston City Council receive union campaign contributions https://t.co/e7JuX1YbwK
— Michael Hardy (@mkerrhardy) March 4, 2022
All eyes are now on the Texas Supreme Court after Mayor Turner doubled down Wednesday in their fight against equal pay for firefighters. https://t.co/h6pUNMPJi3
— Chron (@chron) March 9, 2022
One conservative who behaved badly got his comeuppance this week.
Guy Reffitt, Texan whose son turned him in, guilty on 5 charges from Jan. 6th insurrection https://t.co/NF5Ruv4qEy
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) March 8, 2022
But the fascists aren't letting up.
Meet @MrAndyNgo's new buddies @KeepDallasSafe, who ran a firm called Crowds on Demand using paid actors to manufacture political incidents for corporate clients. More recently they've been manufacturing incidents with Ngo, the master of the craft.https://t.co/4Ybo7c3SMT
— Barrett Brown (@BarrettB) March 6, 2022
A few labor pieces:
Workers at the Starbucks location on 24th and Nueces streets near the University of Texas have formed a union. https://t.co/xLWgvHgHjn
— KVUE News (@KVUE) March 8, 2022
While Kroger's profits soar, their workers are left out in the cold.
— Austin DSA (@austin_DSA) March 8, 2022
This is what bosses really think of the "essential workers" they once lauded! https://t.co/8M07TBEz8f
Healthcare workers in TX are being pushed to our limits, but a new report indicates @HCAhealthcare may be exacerbating the crisis with TENS OF THOUSANDS of unnecessary ED patient admissions: https://t.co/f7qt01WgVW
— SEIU Texas (@SEIUTX) March 3, 2022
When @Gannett’s lawyer stops by the @statesman for a visit…you can bet the @AustinNewsGuild will send a welcoming committee 🦇#keepaustininformed #saveourstatesman #FAIRCONTRACTNOW pic.twitter.com/S5oLTGLWCa
— Madlin Mekelburg (@madlinbmek) March 3, 2022
"It galled me that the Cowboys refused to pay their cheerleaders a living wage, only to pay them off handsomely behind closed doors. That $2.4 million settlement could have covered all the cheerleaders’ measly $15 per game for more than 550 seasons."https://t.co/VLhKIeZKLZ
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) February 26, 2022
Wrapping up this very long Wrangle with some social justice and injustice items. A couple of people picked up on the irony of renaming SH288 the Barbara Jordan Memorial Parkway.
The Texas General Land Office discriminated against communities of color when it doled out federal relief funds after Hurricane Harvey, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found. https://t.co/sFi06tYSXV
— WFAA (@wfaa) March 8, 2022
Houston is hailed as a national success for fighting homelessness. But the reality isn’t quite as rosy. https://t.co/mvVyYB3qkM via @TexasObserver #HouNews #HTX
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) March 8, 2022
4,164 Texans died from gun violence in 2020.
— Giffords (@GiffordsCourage) March 9, 2022
Yet Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn do everything in their power to block change. The #TXleg passes weak gun laws that endanger public safety.
We installed the Houston Gun Violence Memorial to call on their #CourageToAct. pic.twitter.com/70a41PmZhE
Larry Callies says historically white men were cowhands and slaves were cowboys until Hollywood took on the term the in 1920s. https://t.co/0DIzDDPGQK
— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) March 6, 2022
German detainees in a beer garden in the Crystal City Internment Camp in Crystal City, Texas, back in 1944. Many Texans don't know that, from 1943-1948, the U.S. government operated an interment camp in Crystal City for families of German and Japanese descent. pic.twitter.com/sHDFTfyN6M
— Traces of Texas (@TracesofTexas) March 9, 2022
