(I dropped the national Jackasses in a vat of bubbling grease back here.)
This aggregation is reserved for our less aged and yet just as incompetent state and locals who are mostly serving as tackling dummies for a rapacious gang of junior MAGA Republican Christofascists in the Texas Lege. Democrats running Harris County Commissioners Court and City Hall also continue to exhibit an ongoing but still shocking lack of immunity from malfeasance and unforced errors. And they spend entirely too much time telling us how hard they are fighting back as their losses pile up like corpses in Gaza.
This dead Donkey's for you, Lone Star Dems. The good news is you have all the liberty you could possibly want to pray in public over the body.
The 89th Legislative Session lurches to an end and the best we can say is that a very large number of heinous bills have died agonizingly in committee, or under an avalanche of POOs, or subdued by the numerous shattered gavels of Speaker Burrowed. Texas Dems voted for the lesser evil over David Cook in January and by Gawd got exactly that. Without much in the way of contrast, Gene Wu became House minority leader, replacing TMF, and was never, ever too busy to give us relief from his insipid social media.
The real disgrace falls, as it nearly always does, on those who sell themselves out.
Dem ayes on #SB3 consumable THC ban:
— Renzo Downey (@RenzoDowney) May 22, 2025
Allen, Campos, Cortez, Jo Jones, Lalani, Longoria, Manuel, Martinez, Martinez Fischer, Eddie Morales, Ordaz, Turner
Morales Shaw voted “present”
GOP Brian Harrison was a nay#txlege pic.twitter.com/vXDhbHBXyR
Public school finance -- vouchers, teacher pay -- generated much heat before and during the session which sadly came to no good end for our children nor their educators. IMHO no bill's passage will galvanize more opposition to those Democrats AND Republicans who voted in favor of SB3. The animosity I'm seeing from the electorate is bipartisan, and I expect to see it translate into retribution at the polling place in 2026.
Maybe that's a bright spot. Too soon to say.
One thing that isn't too early to reveal is that while Vikki Goodwin is a fine state representative and has taken the early initiative to challenge Nanny Patrick on his cannabis con, I won't be voting for her -- or any other Texas Democrat -- on the basis of 'not MAGA'. I don't do lesser evil voting, and neither should you.
There's the same old trouble in Bayou City, as Harris County Democrats, who finally rid themselves of one dirty DINO (Kim Ogg) continue to feud viciously with each other.
Nothing surprising about those Democrats voting against Judge Hidalgo they don't like her. https://t.co/5S3oCKCiY6
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) May 22, 2025
The Mayor is willing to lie to get his hands on this money. https://t.co/Akxpmcy50C
— WalkandRollHouston (@walkrollhouston) May 25, 2025
I like Hidalgo but she has brought a lot of stress on herself, attempting to reward her friends with contracts and perks and such. I truly don't know why she keeps doing that and I wonder whether she's long for the job for a variety of reasons. Garcia -- or more probably Briones -- seems eager to push her out and run for judge themselves, certainly alongside Ogg's pal Annise Parker. Then there's John Whitmire, perhaps Houston's lousiest mayor (for which competition has been stiff going back decades). He got elected with the assist from the Harris GOP scum, lesser-evil voting him in over Sheila Jackson-Lee, who returned briefly to Congress *ahem*.
A politician’s health is the people’s business. The district once represented by Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner is finding out whyhttps://t.co/vVIyOSx2QQ
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) May 21, 2025
It's all a nastier cesspool than the Ship Channel turning basin.
If you must subject yourself to this toxicity, your best follow for the infighting is Neil Aqueeno (I'm not mocking him; that's how he pronounces it), who once told me that blogging about local politics was a traffic killer. This was when he was still calling himself 'Texas Liberal' and his most-clicked post there was about Shamu, the killer whale at Seaworld. I note he's also not calling himself a rank and file Democrat any more, FWIW. All that and his relentless, Egberto Willies-styled self-promotion (I'm guessing for his own council run in the future?) aside, he remains a committed activist and a solid blogger. And he's capable of evolving, which is certainly more than can be said of Shell Kuffner, who's more obsessed lately with measles than even campaign finance reports.
So ...alternatives?
At least one more Green Party candidate is expected on the ballot next month. John Proctor is running in a 10-way race for five seats on the New Augusta City Council in Mississippi. The position is nonpartisan.https://t.co/ZXO0t9JCYC
— Independent Political Report (@I_P_R) May 23, 2025
For the love of Mike, run for something. Just not as a Democrat or a Republican. That is, if you are of the mind that voting or elections is still something that can be counted on to make change.
5/21/2025- Seashells #JamesComey #Trump #EightySixFortySeven #Seashells #Shells https://t.co/IB3WqqqPBH pic.twitter.com/qgiYfdMyec
— Clay Bennett (@BennettCartoons) May 20, 2025
Mission accomplished some time ago, Clay. It was a bipartisan effort.