The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance thinks that big GOP candidate debate needed more balloon animals and seltzer bottles as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff gives his campaign strategy for defending Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance.  And Texas Leftist reports on the latest lawsuit filed by HERO's opponents.

Harold Cook presents the GOP Presidential Debate Drinking Game, which will come in handy for the next debate, if you ever recover from the first one.  And Dos Centavos wonders if the poll reflecting 25% of Latinos as Trump supporters is really accurate.

Socratic Gadfly looks at the hoo-hah over Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments and his eventual $70,000 salary for employees, and has a mix of cautious applause and skeptical concerns.

A blogger started a petition to have the NFL relocate the 2017 Super Bowl away from Houston if the HERO is defeated by the voters in November. And then a Houston television station picked up the story. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs is in wonderment at how things can snowball -- or go viral, as the kids say these days -- so quickly.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants everyone to know that Texas Republicans are denying birth certificates for Hispanic babies born in Texas.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson sees more GOP mug shots coming this week: That Ken Paxton is Attorney General proves our political system has failed and Wilco DA Jana Duty.

Egberto Willies gathers some responses to critiques of Bernie Sanders and Black Lives Matters protesters.

Neil at All People Have Value spent the past week in Chicago and the Chicago area. Neil's blog has interesting pictures of that great American city.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Texas Clean Air Matters urges state leaders to meet the Clean Power Plan with innovation and not resistance.

The TSTA Blog reminds us that long before he was indicted on felony charges, Ken Paxton was bad news for public education.

Juanita Jean watched the Republicans debate each other and then made the observation that the fellow who spoke the least was voted the winner.  Silence really is golden. And The Rag Blog makes the point that if one of those kooky conservatives manages to get elected, your best investment is body bags.

Ted at jobsanger charts the proof that Planned Parenthood supporters outnumber those who oppose their existence.

Media Matters captures video of Houston LGBT activist Noel Freeman shooting down lies about the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.  And Moni at Transgriot reported from the scene of the HGLBT Caucus endorsement meeting.

Lone Star Ma celebrates World Breastfeeding Week 2015.

Kevin Walker says Dallas needs a 21st-century blueprint for building a better city.

The Texas Election Law Blog noted the fifty year anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and the conflict and mourning surrounding it.

Rafael McDonnell reports on a training program he attended for LGBTQ people running for political office.

The Houston Justice Coalition lays out its goals for addressing police brutality at the root.

Honorary Texan The Slactkivist advises Texas politicians on the best way to pose for their future mug shot.

And Fascist Dyke Motors made a cool .gif of the inside of her head.

Sanders interrupted by Black Lives Matter protesters again

Way back in June, I said that if Bernie didn't start to attract people of color to his campaign, he was going to be dead in the water as a Democratic primary presidential hopeful.  That was three weeks before the Netroots Nation matter, and trust me when I say that almost nobody was talking about Sanders' troubles reaching people of color prior to Independence Day.

More recent events don't seem to indicate he is making progress.  For the second time in thirty days, he was targeted by Black Lives Matter protesters at a rally in Seattle...where he left before it began.  From the Seattle P-I:

 ...Sanders was just starting to address several thousand people gathered shoulder to shoulder at Westlake Park when two women took over the microphone. Organizers couldn't persuade the two to wait and agreed to give them a few minutes. As Sanders stepped back, the women spoke about Ferguson and the killing of Michael Brown and held a four minute moment of silence.

When the crowd asked the activists to allow Sanders to speak, one activist called the crowd "white supremacist liberals," according to event participants.

After waiting about 20 minutes, Sanders himself was pushed away when he tried to take the microphone back. Instead, he waved goodbye, left the stage with a raised fist salute and waded into the crowd. He shook hands and posed for photos with supporters for about 15 minutes, and then left.

More from the Seattle Times:

“If you do not listen … your event will be shut down,” one of the protesters told organizers, who offered to let them speak after Sanders. After a back and forth with the screaming protesters, organizers relented and said the demonstrators could go first.

Some in the largely white audience booed and chanted for protesters to let the senator talk. A few yelled for police to make arrests.

Marissa Johnson, one of the protesters, shot back, “I was going to tell Bernie how racist this city is, filled with its progressives, but you did it for me,” accusing the audience of “white supremacist liberalism.” She cited Seattle’s own police problems, including an ongoing Justice Department consent decree over use of force.

Update: Video from the rally yesterday.  Before we get to the commentary, let's excerpt how the rest of Bernie's day got a little better.

Sanders later issued a statement on his website expressing his disappointment about the interruption.

In a written statement addressing the Westlake protest, Sanders said he was “disappointed that two people disrupted a rally attended by thousands … I was especially disappointed because on criminal-justice reform and the need to fight racism there is no other candidate for president who will fight harder than me.”

In a news release posted on social media, local Black Lives Matter activists said they were holding Sanders and other white progressives accountable for failing to support their movement.

Citing the anniversary of Brown’s death, they said, “We honor black lives by doing the unthinkable, the unapologetic, and the unrespectable.”

That's actually the best explanation of their actions I have read.

As an old white progressive myself, I have to admit to the same curmudgeonly discontent with the BLM protests that Sanders is feeling.  Maybe that's just my white privilege talking.  There are plenty of African American voices noting the mission fail of BLM, but it still doesn't make their protest against the only person who has walked the walk (and not just talked the talk) more comprehensible.  My well-renowned empathy of ten men is falling short here.  Dave Atkins at Political Animal says it best, at least for now.

In that vein, it’s reasonable to ask if forcing Bernie Sanders off consecutive stages is a useful strategy for bringing issues of police violence and structural racism to the foreground. On the one hand, doing so provides an opportunity for activists to make headlines and gain an audience among individuals who are supposedly allies but may not be doing as much as activists might like on their issue of choice. Certainly, climate activists and anti-war activists (among others) could leverage the same complaints. On the other, there is such a thing as bad publicity. And there’s a fine line between disrupting the activities of one’s allies to bring more attention to one’s issues, and being so aggressive with them that they actually become hostile to one’s interests.

That said, if these actions have done more damage than good, the fault lies not with the protesters so much as the event coordinators who have handed the disruptive agents the microphone at these events. No matter how righteous the disrupters’ cause may be, giving away the microphone to any non-scheduled element loses control of the event, altering the power dynamic in such a way that the candidate is forced to either adopt an apologetic and submissive position agreeing with everything being said by the upstaging individuals (certainly undesirable for many reasons), or to argue with them (even less desirable), or simply to walk away from the stage (the best of a series of bad choices.)

But giving away the microphone to protesters in this way isn’t just harmful to the candidate. It’s also harmful to the event organizers and ultimately to the protesters themselves as well.

The Black Lives Matter effort is headed down the same road as the Occupy movement.  Which is to say, marginalized and irrelevant.  And it would be a terrible shame if that happened, because what they are angry about is what Bernie Sanders, and I, and a host of other people who look like us are also angry about.

They're simply channeling their outrage in the wrong direction.

If the group engaging in civil disobedience is willingly granted the microphone at a managed event by the supposed oppressor, it’s nearly impossible for the disruptors to maintain the audience sympathy required to forgive the chaos and upset caused by the disruption itself. This is, of course, doubly true when the supposed oppressor is not an enemy but an ally within the tent. In order for an action of civil disobedience by an oppressed group to work, the oppressed group must actually remain oppressed in the context of the event. If they’re treated as equals with underdog outsider presidential candidates on stage, it simply looks like a circular firing squad of fractious activists rather than a civil rights movement speaking for the dispossessed without a voice. Once you have the stage and a microphone with a presidential candidate standing behind you (and you’re registered to vote!), it’s hard to gain sympathy for the claim that you don’t have a voice in the process.

That, of course, leads to a key question: why aren’t BLM protesters staging these disruptions at Hillary Clinton or Republican candidate events? The simplest answer is that they would be unlikely to be invited to the stage and given a microphone. But that is precisely why those are the events that BLM should be protesting.

The people who are handing over the microphone and helping them onto the stage aren’t the ones protesters should be taking advantage of for a cheap media opportunity. And event organizers should be mindful that providing such an opportunity for protesters doesn’t do them any favors, either.

Rosa Parks didn’t pick a bus in Berkeley; she picked one in Selma. If civil disobedience is the weapon of choice, it’s probably time to take that weapon to the real enemy.

Let's watch and see if Secretary Clinton -- or any GOP hopeful, for that matter; how about Ben Carson as a start? -- starts drawing some BLM folks to their events who want to take the stage.  Their success in doing so will convince me that they have a real movement focused on the agents who need to change -- and who will more likely be in the place to effect changes.

But I really don't expect Hillary Clinton or a single Republican candidate -- or any of their staff, supporters, or members of the audience on hand -- to react as calmly as Bernie Sanders.  We should find out if I'm right or wrong about that soon enough -- again, if BLM is properly organized.

Sunday Funnies

HGLBT Caucus endorses Sylvester Turner for mayor of Houston

The largest attendance remembered caused nearly an hour-long delay in getting started.

290 members here at the @HGLBTCaucus endorsement meeting, where the group just officially endorsed #HERO, as expected #houvote

— Rebecca Elliott (@rfelliott) August 8, 2015

In an early (1 p.m.) surprise, Adrian Garcia got the recommendation from the board despite Steve Costello getting higher scores overall.  Sylvester Turner, the apparent crowd favorite, came in a close third.

But the official vote is still a ways off.

The steering committee got a lot of intense questioning about the Garcia recommendation.  They were split 2-2 so the decision came down to...

Viability, LGBT knowledge, knowledge of city issues and the screening were the factors in recommendations #thecaucusendorses @HGLBTCaucus

— Shelby Hansen (@ShelbyAHansen) August 8, 2015

After a couple of hours of wrangling, the Caucus finally voted to endorse Turner for mayor in the 3 pm hour.  They followed with Chris Brown for city controller, Lane Lewis for AL1 and Doug Peterson for AL3.  I'll have more and link to their full slate later.

Scattershooting the unblogged after a very busy week

(More post-debate Trump developments below.)

-- Thanks to Kuff for plugging the petition to the NFL's powers that be to relocate the 2017 Super Bowl if HERO can't clear the bar in November.  World class cities aren't run by bigots and homophobes.  And when an offensive lineman clips a linebacker, or a defensive back commits pass interference, the whole team gets penalized, not just the infractor.  Sign it and share it.  It's already making waves.

The effort to recruit Beyonce' Knowles to the cause also continues to gain momentum.

-- The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) will hold its 2016 presidential nominating convention in Houston next August.  This is kind of a big deal.  Jill Stein, the most recent and also presumptive nominee (though she has competition) has visited Houston twice previously, in 2012 and earlier this year.  Both times she had a full itinerary and full houses at scheduled stops, and raised a lot of money (okay, a little money, but a lot by GP standards).  And both Stein and Bernie Sanders are clearly aware of the value of going into the lion's den of the South to break the stranglehold of the conservative populists.  And it also helps people lose their fear of the S-word.



-- Donald Trump spent most of yesterday feuding on Twitter and teevee with debate moderator Megyn Kelly, conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, and RedState proprietor Erick Erickson, whose annual convention of the freakiest of the freak right wing is taking place this weekend.

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday he can't recall using words such as "dog," ''fat" and "disgusting" to insult women he believes have slighted him, but such language litters his Twitter feed and other public comments he's made for years.

The issue took center stage at the first Republican debate of the 2016 campaign for president, when Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly asked Trump about his use of such language and whether it reflected the "temperament of a man we should elect as president."

Trump largely dismissed Kelly's question at the debate, but on Friday he went directly after her.

Before dawn, he had retweeted a post calling Kelly a "bimbo." The post was later deleted, but on Friday evening Trump called Kelly a "lightweight."

"She's not very tough and not very sharp," Trump said during a phone interview on CNN. "I don't respect her as a journalist."

Referring to Kelly's questions during the debate, Trump said, "There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever."

Citing that remark, conservative commentator Erick Erickson said he was withdrawing his invitation for Trump to appear at his RedState Gathering in Atlanta on Saturday. "I just don't want someone on stage who gets a hostile question from a lady and his first inclination is to imply it was hormonal," Erickson wrote on the RedState website Friday night. "It just was wrong."

Erickson knows misogyny; he's the guy who coined the term "Abortion Barbie".  Update: Trump "clarifies" that he meant her nose, and calls everyone who thought he was referring to another part of her anatomy "deviants".

Trump's campaign responded: "This is just another example of weakness through being politically correct. For all of the people who were looking forward to Mr. Trump coming, we will miss you. Blame Erick Erickson, your weak and pathetic leader."

Besides what's obvious about these tirades of his, the fact remains that he can say them and Tweet them and pay no political price for doing so, unlike any other Republican running for president.  What Erickson is trying to do by shutting him out is to assert some control over Trump, a contest of wills that I wouldn't bet on just yet.  Reince Priebus is a eunuch at this point; the GOP establishment is Erickson now.  Even Rush Limbaugh is on Trump's side.  If the insiders don't do something now to slow his roll, the attacks just might make him stronger, and more difficult to defeat later.

This is what civil war looks like.

Make no mistake; The Donald is uniquely qualified to tear the Republican Party down to the bedrock under its foundation.  No matter whether he emerges as its nominee or runs as a third party independent, the GOP is already cooked for 2016 as it relates to the presidency.

And this may be the long-awaited earthquake fault line along which the Republicans crack in two.  It's the same fissure I'm trying to drive a wedge in with my HERO/Super Bowl petition.  Moderate, pro-business Republicans who are socially tolerant are continually being cleaved away from the radical Tea Party extremists.  Look at what's happening in the Texas Legislature for more clues to the future.

Except for Trump, there just wasn't all that much stupid and crazy going on last Thursday night.  Most of the ten-member varsity debaters looked weak, with Marco Rubio a notable exception (and the same for Carly Fiorina during the Happy Hour).  If the GOP nominated those two -- or to use another formidable example, John Kasich and Condoleeza Rice -- then Hillary Clinton and Julian Castro might be in real electoral trouble.

Don't worry; neither of those is happening.  And even if they did, Donald Trump as an indy would swamp their kayaks.

Update: More on the Trumpenstein Monster from No More Mister Nice and Oliver Willis.

KHOU on the HERO petition to relocate the Super Bowl

Some unnamed blogger started it, you know.

 

Boosters of big sporting events in Houston are nervous about the fight over the equal rights ordinance.

Opponents of the ordinance have succeeded in putting the issue on the November ballot. Now, some HERO supporters are calling upon the NFL to move the 2017 Super Bowl out of Houston if the ordinance is repealed. The online petition was launched by a blogger and it has dozens of signatures.

"Well, I think if Houston is ever perceived as an intolerant, bigoted place, it will greatly diminish our opportunities to bring sporting events to town," admitted Sports Authority Chairman J. Kent Friedman.

Houston's Super Bowl Committee had no comment.

Scared haters got something new to be scared of and hate.

The NFL reportedly considered moving a Super Bowl out of Arizona over legislation that would've offered legal protections to businesses that discriminated against gays. That never happened, because the governor vetoed the bill.

HERO opponents say it'll never happen here either.

"That's simply a red herring. That's simply what they tried to do in Indiana and Arkansas and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," said ordinance opponent Jared Woodfill. "It basically shows that they are going to do anything and everything they can to skew the issue."

"I think it's a real threat," said KHOU 11 Political Analyst Bob Stein. "Now, how it plays with the voters is very interesting. It could conceivably become one in which voters have a backlash against it, see it as a -- how can I say this? -- a threat."

Houston voters will go to the polls in a little less than three months, but it's already game on for the equal rights ordinance.

Sign the petition, and if you already have, then share it.  Let's keep the momentum going.  Because when Houston's worst conservatives reveal they're worried, it means everybody else is winning.

Nobody wins GOP food fight

Trump met high expectations for bombast and blather, Rubio and Kasich got good marks for steady demeanors and answers, the rest failed to stand out (even Paul and Christie's nasty exchange wasn't all that).  Bush underwhelmed.

The Donald chokes on his own saliva.

What's wrong with this picture below, besides the obvious fact that there is only one demographic represented (as always at GOP debates)?  Like an NBAer who hits a clutch three, they're all looking for Godot after that "Jesus" question.

There were a lot of "I caught a fish once, and it was THIS big', Jesus-on-the-cross poses.

And they ran long, so everybody switched over to Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" finale.

Some photos from the JV Happy Hour kid's table debate

Courtesy NYT live-blog.  Click on 'em for bigger views.

Yes, that's the live audience, about 30 minutes in.

From both the Twitter feed and the Times' coverage, it seems that Carly Fiorina did herself the most good.  The rest, not so much.  George Will is currently spinning it out for Fox viewers as it just concluded, so I changed the channel.  The main event begins in about 2.5 hours.

A 2016 roundup, just in time for the debate tonight

From my days as a newspaper advertising salesman, I always appreciated the "Just In Time For Christmas!" taglines that stores would use in their Yuletide spots.  (Usually all inappropriately capitalized, just like that.)  So here we go with an aggre-update on all that's been going on with the prezidenchuls during that time of year when the media likes to say that no one is paying attention (thanks to Bernie Goldberg for a blast from the past).

Some teasers, links, and an excerpt or two.

-- Megyn Kelly of Fox, one of tonight's debate moderators, got trolled intensely on Twitter yesterday and it was glorious.  Want to join in the fun?  Here you go.

-- Sorry Hillary fans, those email server questions just aren't going away.  And her polling numbers are sliding like a kid in a cardboard box downhill on ice.  You're going to have to start dealing with that.

In the past month, Hillary Clinton’s key voter support (such as white women) is plummeting. Even her key supporters are now having difficulty justifying her political and corporate lifestyle.

According to a recent WSJ poll, Hillary’s favorability rating among white women has fallen from 44% in June to 34% in July. Her unfavorable rating increased from 43% in June to 53% in July. In the first three months of this year, suburban women had a positive view of Hillary by a margin of 18 points. In July, these same women have a negative view of Hillary by a 5 point margin.

The trend can also be seen among independents. In the first quarter of the year, independents were about evenly split in their perception of Hillary. By July, 27% had a positive opinion, compared to 52% who had a negative opinion.

Even Hillary’s perception among African Americans is beginning to falter. In June, 81% of blacks had a positive opinion of Hillary. In July, this number fell to 66%.

In June Hillary’s lead over Bernie Sanders was 75% to 15%. In July her lead was down to 59% to 25%.

There is a reason Joe Biden will enter this race, and it’s because the Democratic Party knows Hillary is in trouble.

Whether Biden gets in or stays out, Clinton still has a problem.  It's one of yin and yang.  Here's the good news: the Daily Kos not-a-scientific poll has her closing a 15-point gap between her and the front-runner, Bernie Sanders.  So don't give up hope just yet.

-- While Clinton won't say whether she supports or opposes Keystone XL, Sanders will go to Liberty University (that's where Ted Cruz kicked off his campaign). This is another example of the vast differences between the two campaigns: one runs not to lose, while the other runs with nothing to lose.  People see and understand that difference.

Of all the tough questions he might get, immigration issues might be the toughest.  Read both Dos Centavos and Vox for more on this.

-- Bill Clinton pulled a Frank Underwood, quietly encouraging Donald Trump to enter the race for the GOP nomination two months ago.  Just not in those exact words.

Former president Bill Clinton had a private telephone conversation in late spring with Donald Trump at the same time that the billionaire investor and reality-television star was nearing a decision to run for the White House, according to associates of both men.

[...]

Trump took the call from his office in Trump Tower in New York, according to the four allies, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly. The call came as Trump was making a final decision about whether to run, and he was candid about his political ambitions and his potential interest in seeking the White House during the talk, these allies said.

The 42nd president listened intently and then analyzed Trump’s prospects and his desire to rouse the GOP base, the Trump allies said.

The tone of the call was informal, and Clinton never urged Trump to run, the four people said. Rather, they said, Clinton sounded curious about Trump’s moves toward a presidential bid and told Trump that he was striking a chord with frustrated conservatives and was a rising force on the right.

One person with knowledge of Clinton’s end of the call said the former president was upbeat and encouraging during the conversation, which occurred as Trump was speaking out about GOP politics and his prescriptions for the nation.

Give the Big Dog his props: he saw the potential of what we are now calling the Trump phenomenon, and stoked it.  If you think the Republicans have a chance at the White House next year, you're as delusional as a Republican comes.

-- Speaking of delusional Republicans, their first debate is finally here, on your teevee this evening.  Rand Paul is fading, Ted Cruz is (or isn't) cooking bacon with a machine gun, Trump is Trump, Mike Huckabee's working diligently to come up with some wildly inappropriate statements to add to his list, and then there's Fat Bastard Christie.  How do low-talkers Rubio, Bush, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, and John Kasich actually break through the sure-to-come lunacy of those five with some rotten red meat for the base?  The nation will be tuning in to see, that's for sure.

Poor Rick Perry, stuck at the kid's table in the early matinee with Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, and Jim Gilmore.  The glasses just aren't resonating with GOP primary voters.  Looking intelligent ain't all it's cracked up to be with this crowd.

-- Last, the fact-checkers tonight will be going into overtime.  You can count on lies, dissembling, obfuscation, and prevarication.  And that's when we're not forced to listen to the racism, bigotry, misogyny, and screeching about Planned Parenthood and "baby-killing".

Here are five of the worst things some of the debaters have said and done so far, and here's five myths about taxes we are certain to hear repeated.

On 50th anniversary of Voting Rights Act, 5th Circuit strikes down Texas photo ID law

It's not quite the full victory those of us who support voting rights wanted, but it's probably the best we can get from the Fifth Circuit.  Headlines first and then some expert analysis.

Texas’ four-year-old voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act but is not a “poll tax” barred under the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled that the Texas voter ID law has a “discriminatory effect” that violates the federal law that prohibits racial discrimination in voting, but it is not an unconstitutional “poll tax.” 

The ruling, which came one day before the Voting Rights Act turned 50 years old, was a narrow victory for critics of the Texas law. It prolonged a long-winding legal battle over legislation that some called the strictest in the nation.

The three-judge panel's unanimous decision sent the case back to a lower court, which will decide how Texas should fix its problems. But for now, the law stands as is.

Remanding the 'discriminatory' question back to Judge Ramos isn't a bad thing either, though that decision will likely be appealed by whoever is going to be filing lawsuits against Obama and the feds while Ken Paxton sits in jail.

In October, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of Corpus Christi ruled that Texas' voter ID law “constitutes an unconstitutional poll tax.” The state appealed the ruling to the 5th Circuit, arguing that the law improves ballot security and prevents election fraud. The 5th Circuit heard arguments in April.

Ramos found clear racial disparities between those who have IDs under SB 14 and those who do not, and she said the law continued a legacy of state-sponsored discrimination in Texas.

Wednesday’s opinion upheld those findings.

But -- and it's a big butt -- for the moment, the ID law remains in effect.

“It did not 'impose a material requirement solely on those who refuse[d]' to pay a poll tax, as proscribed by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment,” Haynes wrote in the ruling. “Rather, it drew from the State’s power to set voter qualifications by requiring all voters to present a valid form of photo identification at the polls.”

Citing that finding — and the fact that the law remains in effect for now — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a victory for the state’s right to protect the integrity of its elections.

"To protect the integrity of our elections".  With the same stubborn determination accorded the denial of climate science, the state of Texas has yet to acknowledge the Fifth Circuit's ruling.  From Joseph B. Kulhavy at the Texas Election Law blog, yesterday...

I find it troubling that the 5th Circuit remanded on the question as to whether the Texas picture I.D. law had a racially discriminatory purpose. Still, it’s at least a nail in the coffin of one of the worst voter suppression laws in the country.

Notice anything strange about these websites?

http://www.votetexas.gov/

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/index.shtml

That’s right – there’s not the slightest mention of the 5th Circuit’s decision. That’s quite a contrast from back when Shelby County v. Holder came out; (within two hours of that decision two years ago, there were notices plastered all over the Secretary of State’s website announcing that the State was doubling down on its special brand of violating voter’s rights and instantly applying the discredited voter ID law).

If a voter relied on the Texas Secretary of State’s website for information, they would think that it was all business as usual; http://www.votetexas.gov informs voters that a “picture I.D. is now required to vote.”

But you say, “Well, Joe, that’s kind of unfair. I mean … there’s all that HTML coding to do, and it’s after business hours, and …”

The decision came out at lunchtime. That’s six hours ago.

After all, the Texas Attorney General had time to put something up on that agency’s website.

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-paxton-statement-on-voter-id-ruling

What the … ? “Texas Voter ID Law to Remain In Effect”

Oh my god.

That’s embarrassing.

That’s really embarrassing.

I guess the A.G. takes the position that because the 5th Circuit remanded on the issue of intentional discrimination, the fact that the court upheld the trial court determination that the law is freakin’ illegal and unenforceable is somehow sprinkled with magic appellate fairy dust.

Then again, the following disclaimer should be prominently displayed and attached to all press statements made by the Texas Attorney General.

“Please note that the opinions of the Attorney General are those of an individual currently under indictment for three felonies involving acts of intentional fraud. Therefore, proceed with caution.”

So what next?

How Texas will respond to the decision is unclear. It has several options, Rick Hasen, an elections expert at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, wrote Wednesday in (his Election Law) blog post.

The state could ask that the 5th Circuit rehear the case "en banc," which means with the entire court present as opposed to a three-judge panel. Or it could appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Perhaps less likely, Texas could see how the case plays out again in the district court.

If the district court reviews the case once more, it could still rule that Texas intentionally discriminated in enacting law, but it must find new grounds for saying so.

Hasen wrote that the decision seemed written “as narrowly as possible to still give a victory to the plaintiffs,” but still called it a "significant victory for Voting Rights plaintiffs and the Department of Justice."

Still too early to celebrate; this will drag out a while longer, perhaps even to the presidential election next year.  But we take our victories where can find them here in Texas, and this is one, no matter what Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, or Paxton may think.

Update:

Texas’ statement on Wednesday's decision offered no hint of its next move other than that the state would "continue to fight" for the law. The state could appeal en banc, meaning to the all the justices on the 5th Circuit, or it could skip straight to the Supreme Court.

(University of Kentucky College of Law professor Joshua) Douglas, who previously clerked for the 5th Circuit, says it’s more likely Texas will chose the latter, as the unanimous three-judge decision was written by Justice Catharina Haynes, a moderate conservative who was appointed by President George W. Bush.

“The fact that she wrote the opinion -- which means she would almost definitely not vote to take it en banc -- makes the en banc vote in the 5th Circuit harder,” Douglas said.

Despite its narrow tailoring, the decision was notable as being first time a federal appeals court ruled against a voter ID law on its merits (rather than for procedural reasons) since the Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter ID law, as Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog noted. Since that 2008 decision, voter ID laws implemented by states have become stricter in both the types of IDs allowed and the remedial protocols when someone lacks the proper ID.

Paxton's week goes from bad to worse

As John has noted, he picked the wrong one to stop sniffing glue.

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton and another official to a contempt hearing over the state's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages following the June Supreme Court ruling, according to Dallas television station WFAA.

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia issued the order in response to a legal action filed by Texas resident John Stone-Hoskins, who asked the court to hold Paxton in contempt after the state would not amend his spouse's death certificate to reflect that the two were married, according to the Houston Chronicle.

According to Cole, when he asked the state to amend his spouse's death certificate, the state cashed his check but refused to complete the paperwork. A Department of State Health Services official wrote, "Until the ruling is fully reviewed, we will not be able to know the impact, if any, on the process to file or amend death certificates. We will keep your documentation in a pending file and will advise you once a determination is made," according to the Chronicle.

Garcia also ordered Kirk Cole, the state's interim director at the Department of State Health Services, to issued an amended death certificate for Stone-Hoskin's spouse, James Stone-Hoskins, according to the Chronicle.

Paxton and Cole must appear in court next week so that Garcia can determine whether the two officials violated his July ruling prohibiting the the state from restricting same-sex marriage.

Don't forget to bring your toothbrush, fellas.

Sign the petition: The NFL should relocate the 2017 Super Bowl if Houston turns down HERO

Let's start separating the pro-business Republicans from the social conservatives extremists.

Sign the petition: The #NFL should move the 2017 Super Bowl if #Houston voters turn down #HERO: https://t.co/8DA8qfDV54 #HouNews #Houvote

— PDiddie (@PDiddie) August 5, 2015

Charles' good ideas, worth repeating:

The good news about that is that I don’t think a lot of people have yet given much thought to this issue. Oh, they’re vaguely aware of it, in the way that most people are vaguely aware of most local issues, but it’s not locked in their consciousness yet. For these folks, a different kind of outreach is needed. They will need to hear, from voices they like and trust, why voting the right way on the HERO referendum is something they should do. For that, HERO defenders – and here I’m looking at Mayor Parker, who needs to be the one to make most if not all of the requests I’m about to suggest – should reach out to high-profile Houstonians in sports, music, business, and religion to deliver a message about Houston being the kind of place where everyone is treated equally and respectfully. Given the support of the major sports leagues and the individual teams for equality and non-discrimination ordinances, I’d move heaven and earth to get JJ Watt, James Harden, Jose Altuve, and Carli Lloyd to do a PSA-style ad in which they say something like “My league supports equality. So does my team, and so do I. The Houston we love is open and accepting to all. That’s why I’m [voting the right way] on [whatever the ballot proposition is called], and I ask you to do so, too.” I can’t think of anything the haters could do to counter a message like that, coming from people like that.

There are plenty of other people that could be plugged in to a spot like that, with the script modified to fit them. Bill Lawson. George and Barbara Bush. Beyonce. The members of ZZ Top. Former newscasters Ron Stone (sic, RIP) and Dave Ward. UH President Renu Khator and Rice President David Leebron. You get the idea. Sure, some may say No for whatever the reason, but I bet many would say Yes, especially if Mayor Parker asked them personally. The key here is to get those spots out quickly, before the haters get their mail and whatever else going. You don’t have to spend much on TV for this – buy a few slots during the evening news and stuff like that, but the real value will be in having them on YouTube. This is about good will, coming from good people. It’s worth a lot, and we should take full advantage of it, because the other side can’t touch it.

Let's get all of this done.  Let's turn back this tide of fear and hate and show the world what kind of city Houston is.  World class.  Sign my petition, show up at City Hall, wear your red, do what you have to do.

We can't let the haters win this time.

Update:

Kent Friedman, board chair of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, warned that if HERO is scuttled, it could cost the city the 2016 NCCA Men's Final Four and 2017 Super Bowl. The NFL title game brings an economic impact "north of $800 million" to the city, he said.

"It would be pretty consistent for those institutions to react the same way if Houston were perceived" similarly to Arizona and Indiana during debates over anti-gay "religious freedom" legislation, Friedman said.