Monday, October 10, 2016

McMullin-Finn

A wrap of last night's shitstorm is coming later today; while you wait ... did you know #NeverTrump candidate Evan McMullin's running mate is a Kingwood native named Mindy Finn?


Finn, 35, has worked for former President George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Twitter and Google. This cycle, she was a senior digital strategist for the RNC and oversaw digital programs for the NRSC’s targeted races in 2014.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Finn explained why she wanted to join the unlikely never-Trump ticket.

“I’ve been part of the group opposing Donald Trump in the Republican Party really since he announced last summer and as he continued to alienate and vilify people in this country” and while she has “encouraged others to run for office, this is now an opportunity to walk the walk.” 

Disillusioned Republicans and sober Libertarians: this is your ticket.  They're good to go as a write-in here in Texas and thirty or so other states.

In 2012, she worked for Twitter, leading their politics and advocacy sector. A Republican activist who has worked to encouraged female Republicans to run for office, she also founded the non-profit Empowered Women, a network to connect center-right and independent women.

She described seeing Republicans coming around to Trump as “pretty discouraging,” but now she is “thrilled to be on the ticket” and she is “all in for the right reasons.”

“This is how it should feel to participate in a democracy,” she said. "I’ve also been incredibly impressed by the amount of traction they have in such a short amount of time and I am thrilled to be part of continuing to build a new movement."

The McMullin campaign acknowledges what an uphill climb they have up against Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Most polling does not include McMullin, who announced his bid in August. Their strategy is dependent on attempting to block Trump and Clinton from obtaining 270 electoral votes and sending the election to the House of Representatives. An election hasn’t been decided by the House of Representatives since 1824.

Click on that most previous link and note that this #OpDeny270 effort is something the #StillSanders crowd is also advocating.  Our political lines have really been blurred this cycle, haven't they?  It sure would be horrible if the House were the only ones picking our next president.  Thankfully it stands no realistic chance of happening.  Still, hats off to the brave.

“The path is difficult, but not as unlikely as people think,” McMullin strategist Rick Wilson told ABC News. "This is all about giving Americans a sense they can vote for people they can be proud of and have a more affirmative version of leadership in this country.”

They really ought to campaign in Montgomery County at the very least, where some of Kingwood lies and where Dan Patrick says the free conservative world hangs in the balance.

(Who says I don't want Hillary to carry Texas?)

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance has never said anything like what Donald Trump said to Billy Bush when they thought no one was listening, not in a locker room and not anywhere else.  No decent person says things like that because no decent person thinks like that or acts like that.  What the TPA does say is in this week's roundup.


Off the Kuff looked at turnout and voter registration patterns and what they might say about this year.

Libby Shaw at Daily Kos shares an exposé as well as her own personal experiences to describe how Jim Crow continues to pervade the voter registration laws in Texas, in Jim Crow Actively Lurks in Texas: The State’s Voter Registration Laws.

Socratic Gadfly looks back 150 years or so into Southern racial and class history and finds one key word --— "mudsill" -- that explains much of the Trump voter phenomenon.

The Libertarian ticket seems to have hit their ceiling, and not just because Gary Johnson has short-term memory issues, writes PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is glad that poverty is down in Texas, but food insecurity is still high.

Neil at All People Have Value discussed an interactive art work on the streets of Houston. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

Texas Leftist scolds Congress for overriding Obama's veto of the 9/11 legislation.

Txsharon at Bluedaze posts details of the Earth Wind and Fire Energy Summit, in Addison later this month.

The Lewisville ISD sent out a parental advisory about the creepy clown appearances making news in Texas and other states, as reported by the Texan-Journal.

Egberto Willies amplified the Houston Press' commendation of  KPFT as the Bayou City's best radio station.

And Dos Centavos enjoyed the Festival Chicano this past weekend.

===============

Here's more great Texas blog postings from last week!

About a quarter of Texas police shooting deaths over the last decade -- more than 200 -- went unreported to the office of the Texas attorney general despite criminal penalties on the books for noncompliance, according to Grits for Breakfast.

The Texas Election Law Blog reminds those who aren't yet registered to vote in the 2016 election that they have until tomorrow to do so.

The Texas Observer reports on the bursting of the Texas private prison bubble.

Houston has higher levels of inequality and segregation than every U.S. metro except New York and Los Angeles, according to a researcher quoted at The Urban Edge.

The Texas Freedom Network has the latest from Pastor Robert Jeffress, who claims that your right to privacy as interpreted by the Supreme Court is an imaginary construct.

Lone Star Ma celebrates Texas Influenza Awareness Day.

State Rep. Garnet Coleman writes about the Sandra Bland Act that he intends to file next session.

Eileen Smith waded into the fetid swamp of Donald Trump's sexism, a couple of days before that swamp got even nastier.

Betsy Barre has a problem with the collective reaction to the Donald Trump "grab her in the p----" video.

And Ashton Woods at Strength in Numbers publishes the first edition of the Chronicles of an Angry Black Queer.