The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance congratulates the US women soccer team on its FIFA World Cup victory as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff reports that thousands more Texas state employees are now eligible for spousal benefits thanks to the SCOTUS ruling on same sex marriage.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos, and contributing to Daily Kos, observes that it should be obvious the state's government has become a gathering place for crooks, crony capitalists, religious fanatics, homophobes, racists and misogynists, in Texas Governor's Cruelty.

nonsequiteuse's serious question is: why hasn't Ken Paxton resigned yet?

SocraticGadfly takes a look at American exceptionalism, and the subject of counterfactual history, to produce some musings about the Fourth of July and American independence.

TXsharon at Bluedaze has some frackquake lawsuit updates and other fracking news.

There are two things that will probably keep Sen. Bernie Sanders from acquiring the Democratic nomination for the US presidency, writes PDiddie at Brains and Eggs in the first of two posts on the topic. Clue: one of them isn't money, and the other isn't the questionable intelligence of the average American voter.

jobsanger -- the biggest Hillary Clinton supporter in the Texblogosphere -- grudgingly acknowledges that Bernie Sanders has closed the gap on the front-runner in Iowa.

Dos Centavos noted the Donald Trump outburst and its potential impact on Latino voting.

And Egberto Willies has video of the Kingwood Area Democrats marching in the Fourth of July parade.

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

Grits for Breakfast writes about the rigged criminal justice game in the Waco bikers shootout.

The Rag Blog rounded up a handful of its recent podcast interviews, from historian Victoria Bynum on Southern history, racial violence & the Confederate flag, to Maria Svart of the Democratic Socialists of America, to pioneering gay activist and Houston ‘Living Legend’ Ray Hill.

Somervell County Salon reminds us that a hundred years after the birth of America, women were still denied the right to vote.

State Impact Texas takes a lot at what's next after HB40, the Lege's ban on local fracking bans.

The Lunch Tray updates us on her "pink slime" legal case and her use of Texas' shield law.

Eric Berger explains why some rocket launches fail.

Elizabeth Rose has no trouble reconciling her Christian faith with same sex marriage, while Cody Pogue finds no good reason to oppose it.

Two Houston Tomorrow interns share their bus-riding experiences.

Isiah Carey relates the never-before-told story of how his infamous "bug-in-mouth" video got out to the public.

And Fascist Dyke Motors had a much more interesting holiday weekend than you.

Fourth Funnies

Trump: I didn't expect the backlash to be "quite this severe"

We should know later today, Angela.

"The British government remained willing to conceive of Native Americans as subjects of the crown, similar to colonists," Ethan Schmidt writes in Native Americans in the American Revolution. "American colonists … refused to see Indians as fellow subjects. Instead, they viewed them as obstacles in the way of their dreams of land ownership and trading wealth." This view is reflected in the Declaration of Independence, which attacks King George III for backing "merciless Indian Savages."

-- "Three Reasons the American Revolution Was a Mistake", from Dylan Matthews at Vox.  The thing to keep in mind here is that one man's treason is another's righteous rebellion.  The Tea Party is hardly different from the Occupy movement in this regard.  And history, as we well know, is written by the victors.