Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Two-fer Tuesday Round-up from Far Left Texas


Twenty-twenty two is warming up as summer approaches and dreams of electoral sugarplums dance in a few heads.  Greg Abbott draws his first -- far from the last -- far-right primary challenger.


If the MAGAts don't split their vote among other freak-right foes with delusions of grandeur, then their strike at the king might not miss.  On the other hand, Scott Braddock observes that it will likely come down to a runoff.


I'll repeat my assertion that Governor Wheels only loses in 2022 to a Trumpist.  I doubt whether that will be Huffines, but there are plenty of other loonies in the bin with better bonafides and fewer marbles.  Maybe even somebody with more money than Huffines, for that matter.

Which is also the reason why I encouraged Progress Texas to stand up for their principles instead of being a flack for the Donkey nominee again.


Fat chance, I know.

The other candidate taking a leap yesterday is a centrist Democrat who wants to replace Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson in Congress.


Hamilton joins one of the best progressive Democrats in the country, already declared for this race but as usual not getting the free corporate media coverage.  I wonder why (not really; I know why, and have for a while now).


And Jacob Vaughn at the Dallas Observer has the Big D city council races you might want to know about.  It was kinda nice to lead off this post with something besides shitty Lege conduct, although they did not absolve themselves yesterday.


One big victory.


Progrexas links to the TexTrib's story about an alliance of state oil and environmental interests that blocked a bill that would've given a West Texas nuclear waste company a break on their fees.  And Luke Metzger for Environment Texas is counting down the days (25) left in the regular session with an update on where his organization's priorities lie.

I haven't posted anything about COVID in a long time, and all the links I've been saving have gone stale.  This story, below, is of concern for the most obvious of reasons: it's one thing to decide not to wear a mask or not get a shot; it's quite something else to attack the doctors who are safe-guarding the rest of us.


A spot of good news:


Topic de jour in The Big Greasy yesterday was the large Bengal on the loose in west Houston.  The story quickly got much weirder.


Just go read Miya Shay's other tweets.


Topical, in light of what is happening in Gaza.


Leftist and labor activists have been busy.


And the Screwston Anti-Fascist Committee kept George Floyd's crypt safe from potential vandals over the weekend.

Reid Hopkins, one of Jim Henley's former students, wrote a touching remembrance of his former teacher for the Houston Press.

Closing out today with one art and one lit tweet, courtesy Texas Monthly.

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Monday, May 10, 2021

"I Can Almost See Sine Die" Wrangle


A tumultuous week last.


"The most conservative 48 hours in Texas history", Bud Kennedy at the Startlegram wrote.  And it still wasn't good enough for them.


At least Texas Democrats can muster a protest on the south steps of the Capitol, amirite?


Saturday was local and consent calendar day, and the mood was ...


Find the rare Texas Republican that gets the Pink Floyd reference.

Since these beans were hashed, smothered, fried and refried last week, I'll move on to some topics neglected; namely election and politics news developments.

The biggest enchilada left on the buffet for the Donks is the mayor's seat in Fort Worth.


In this Wrangle last week I posted that Austin had approved ranked choice voting for their city elections.  D Magazine says it's time for Dallas to do the same.  (Hey, Houston? San Antonio? Bueller?)

Serving notice to Joe Biden on his failures in South Texas are John-Michael Torres of La Unión, Norma Herrera of the Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network, and Roberto Lopez of the Texas Civil Rights Project, writing in the Rio Grande Guardian.  Nathan Newman in The Week points to a lifeline that the president could throw to El Paso and other blue cities in red states.

El Paso is being squeezed.

In 2019, the Texas state legislature passed SB2, which limits property tax increases to 3.5 percent per year. Meanwhile most of the city's budget is based on largely unfunded state mandates. And where the state in 2008 funded 45 percent of local education costs, that's been reduced to just 39 percent today.

So even before the COVID-19 crisis hit, "the wiggle room we have to spend on projects we think are important becomes smaller and smaller," observes El Paso County Commissioner David Stout.

A city similar in size to Boston and Washington, D.C., El Paso is politically a blue triangle at the far end of a sea of red in West Texas -- and Stout thinks politics plays a big role in the increasing limits on local spending: "The state legislature wants to stop local progressive policies from being put in place."

[...]

Luckily for the residents of these localities, there's new hope for an escape. President Biden's American Rescue Plan and the revival of Congressional earmarks are giving local cities, particularly in red states, the first chance in a generation to creatively plan new local projects to demonstrate the possibilities of progressive government.

El Paso's Stout says since Texas "has preempted us so much and taken over our budget, the only way we can fund anything else is through money coming from the federal government."

Read on.  And the H-Town firefighters whipped Sylvester Turner again.  Long past time to throw in the towel and pay the men and women, Mr. Mayor.


Criminal and social justice and injustice news:


Which member of the Supreme Court said that racism is over in America?  I forget his name -- I think it rhymes with Juan Boberts -- but I hear he's supposed to be the swing moderate vote now.  He's probably not on Twitter anyway.


*heavy sigh*

How about some environmental updates?

Rachel Meidl at the Center for Energy Studies at Rice’s Baker Institute, writing in the HouChron, thinks that the Bayou City can become a leader in the circular plastics economy.  Space City Weather explains Houston's new climate normals.


Elon Musk is taking over both South Texas and Austin.


The RGV is putting up some resistance.



And the Austin Chronicle lampooned Musk last month.


Proclaiming "an end to a century's worth of frustration and a great day for the schoolchildren of Texas," Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law today (Thursday, April 1) Senate Bill 3236, authorizing the purchase of the entire city of Austin, excepting the Capitol Complex and University of Texas campus, by area Technoking Elon Musk, henceforth to also hold the title of "Iron Mayor."

That's a good one to transition to the remaining soother.  I'll have more as the Lege works their, uh, magic this week.

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