The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance sends warm thoughts to everyone who's digging themselves out from under the snow again as it brings you this week's roundup of the best of the Lone Star lefty blogs from last week.

Off the Kuff reports on opposition to the proposed high speed rail line.

Libby Shaw, writing for Texas Kaos and contributing to Daily Kos, is appalled by efforts to pass an open carry law in Texas. What should Texans fear the most? ISIS or Open Carry?

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is tired of Republicans using hurtful, hateful tactics to appease their racist base and cause harm to the people in the Valley.

Neil at All People Have Value wrote about the ongoing federal cover-up of a plot to kill members of Occupy Houston in 2011. Occupy Houston protestors were peaceful people. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson notes that the Texas GOP plans to give the wealthy in Texas a tax cut, no matter what. The cost will be high for everyone else: The Cost of Tax Cuts.

Texas Leftist reports on the most significant changes to the Houston region's public transit infrastructure since the creation of METRO. With System Reimagining now approved and the final route maps in selected, transit in Texas' largest city will never be the same.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is coming to Denton this weekend, and Houston next week, as part of the kickoff to her bid for the presidency of the US. PDidddie at Brains and Eggs has the details.

The Lewisville Texan-Journal updates the list of events for the area this coming week.

Egberto Willies reminds us not to overlook that 'atheist' part about the man who shot three Muslim honor students in North Carolina.

Dos Centavos was on the scene for the Americans United presentation on "The Bible in Texas Schools? Why Not?"

And jobsanger emphasizes that Dan Patrick's desire to keep Texas National Guard troops on the Rio Grande border is butting heads with fiscal responsibility.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Lone Star bloggers.

The Anti-Media has a list of the ticking time bombs in Texas.

Moving forward after the jury verdict in Houston's equal rights ordinance trial, Free Press Houston says that we still need a HERO.

Socratic Gadfly points out that state Rep. Molly White is one of the many reasons that we just can't have nice things in Texas.

Lone Star Ma calls on doctors to do a better job explaining the need for vaccinations.

Texas Vox would like you to tell President Obama to veto the Keystone XL pipeline, while Tar Sands Blockade wants us to remember that KXL South is already fully operational.

Jef Rouner and his five-year-old daughter encounter an open carry demonstration.

Purple City sees cultural undertones in the opposition to the proposed high speed rail line in Texas.

Texans Together reports on the State of Black Houston 2015.

Jeff Balke goes back to high school to explore when kids and faith collide.

Grits for Breakfast is encouraged by the possibility of grand jury reform.

Austin Contrarian demonstrates how street design can lead to major traffic problems.

Joe the Pleb at BOR takes a look at the Texas rebels who are up in arms about a 13-year-old boy's plan to rename "Confederate Heroes Day".

Finally, Fascist Dyke Motors is welcoming our new aquatic overlords in her post entitled "Phantom Fins of Pharmacology".

Jill Stein in Denton and Houston later this month

*Updated schedule of events with dates in College Station and Laredo below.

The presumptive Green Party presidential nominee knows that the Lone Star State is the cradle of all of the worst of conservative experiments incubated, cultivated, and then exported nationally, and she has a base of support here (however nascent it may actually be).  Which is why Texas is at the top of her list for this early campaign tour, following last week's announcement of her intent to seek the presidency of the United States.

Next weekend in Denton, the first Texas city to ban fracking:

The South by Southwest Ecosocialist Conference will take place beginning Friday, February 20 at 5 pm and lasting through Sunday, February 22, at Wooten Hall, on the campus of the University of North Texas in Denton. The event is sponsored by System Change Not Climate Change; coalition partners include the Ecosocialist Coalition, of which Solidarity, the Socialist Party-USA is a member, along with ISO, DSA, and others. SCNCC currently has Texas chapters in the DFW Metroplex and Houston.

Speakers at the conference will include Green Party 2014 presidential candidate Jill Stein and ecosocialist author Chris Williams, as well as panel discussions featuring a broad spectrum of Metroplex activists. Panels will include intersectionality between the climate and environmental crises and social and economic justice issues. The conference will also include nonviolent civil disobedience training and a "World Cafe" small group discussion session.

Cost is $50 for standard registration, $25 for low income, and $75 for supporters wishing to make an additional donation to support the cause.  Registration is now free, as fundraising has exceeded expectations.  Donations remain welcome.  Please register online at this URL: http://www.southbysouthwestecosocialistconference.com

The website also provides detailed location info for persons unfamiliar with the UNT campus and a daily schedule for the conference. The facility can accommodate up to 120 attendees, so please register now.

And following that, in Houston. 

She will likely meet with striking USW members on the picket lines at area refineries, with some additional speaking engagements at community colleges in the suburbs in the days following.  Details on those appearances to come later.

Gallup poling has revealed for several years now that Americans want other options besides the Democrats and Republicans.

A majority of U.S. adults, 58%, say a third U.S. political party is needed because the Republican and Democratic parties "do such a poor job" representing the American people. These views are little changed from last year's high. Since 2007, a majority has typically called for a third party.

The results are based on Gallup's Sept. 4-7 (2014) Governance poll. The first time the question was asked in 2003, a majority of Americans believed the two major parties were adequately representing the U.S. public, which is the only time this has been the case. Since 2007, a majority has said a third party is needed, with two exceptions occurring in the fall of the 2008 and 2012 presidential election years.

Italicized emphasis at the end of that excerpt is mine, because you may recall that -- among many similar electoral results -- Kenneth Kendrick, the only sane candidate running for Texas Agriculture Commissioner in 2014, polled as high as 9% in mid-October... but received just under 2% of the vote.

Maybe this is obvious already, but I'll let Sudden Clarity Clarence underscore it.

Wake up and smell the coffee, y'all.  Get yourself out to one of the events above and see if Jill Stein's words and actions are what you've been looking for.  If they do, then follow through on that the next time a presidential election rolls around.

Update (2/23): Stein's itinerary now includes a speaking engagement at Texas A&M in College Station on Tuesday the 24th and a trip to the Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday the 25th.  Find all the details -- times, locations, etc. at the calendar posted here.