Sunday "Still Has Dem in It" Funnies

Federal judge overturns California's 32-year-old ban on assault weapons

The king is dead. Long live the king

Mood.

Both my car and me when I got home at 1:30 a.m. after two very long days covering SB7 #txlege pic.twitter.com/r136zwJzwf

— Alexa Ura (@alexazura) May 31, 2021

Indeed, Alexa Ura tweets for all of us, and about the entire legislative session now finally over.  It was not a slog or a grind, it was a death march.  And like all Trails of Tears, the trauma continues long after they end.

Worst #txlege session in recent memory. Nothing to address ERCOT failure but plenty of freaks carrying guns w/o a licenses or safety measures, voter suppression bills, women’s rights crushed, white-washing American history, anti-LGBT antics - what other cray shit did I leave out?

— Tina Grider-Cannon (@tinacannonTX) May 29, 2021

In Texas, the most anti-Texan lege session in a generation is wrapping up.

*guns guns guns/more dead Texans
*we’re gonna be in litigation forever
*we hate women/more litigation
*we hate voters/more litigation
*curbing local control
*curbing 1st amendment rights#fixedit #txlege https://t.co/tAuSbcbMtU

— Becca Moyer DeFelice (@becca4TX121) May 30, 2021

Every extremist #txlege priority is a backlash response to popular progressive policies:
❌Voter suppression
❌Permitless carry
❌Attack abortion
❌Limit protesting
❌Criminalize being homeless
❌Limit convos on race in schools
❌Attack #BlackLivesMatterhttps://t.co/6ccKIMlDa1

— Tara Pohlmeyer (@tarapohlmeyer) May 31, 2021

tl;dr here is a synopsis of how Texas Democrats fared this year from @RoyceWestTX: "This is the worst legislative session that I’ve participated in." https://t.co/WQrQ6LlGWp #txlege

— Lauren “Vaxxed to the Max” McGaughy 🌟 (@lmcgaughy) May 31, 2021

Democrats win battle over GOP voting bill, but can’t win war without Joe Biden, Senate Dems https://t.co/ppUxRBlzpY

— Gromer M. Jeffers (@gromerjeffers) June 1, 2021

Biden's passed the buck to VP Harris, who's already trying to escape the last quagmire he dumped in her lap (the border crisis).  And as long as Joe Manchin is king of the Senate, how much do you think is going to happen?  Really, we can have voting rights or the filibuster, and the status quo means 59-41 is still a losing score for Senate Democrats.

Good times.

Meanwhile Supreme Commander Abbott will strike out the pay of those who labored through this 140-day nightmare ...

Keep in mind the legislators themselves will get paid -- that's in the constitution -- but #txlege staff and nonpartisan professionals are implicated.

You can tell a lot about someone who punches down when they're angry. https://t.co/ViAHbRTGks

— Mia Ibarra (@ThatMiaIbarra) June 1, 2021

... and if you thought he had finished off all his Haterade, you had better think again.

NEW: More chaos in the U.S. settlement of immigrant teens and children?
Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texas child-care regulators to yank licenses of facilities housing immigrant kids. | Latest with @RobertTGarrett https://t.co/nB2NC9qKEL

— Dianne Solis ✍🏽 (@disolis) June 2, 2021

After securing Trump's endorsement in his 2022 re-election bid -- neutering Sid Miller and the rest of the Super Goon Squad -- Governor Helen Wheels is going on offense again, changing the subject from his fails at the Lege.

ICYMI: @GregAbbott_TX issued a “disaster declaration” in response to the “border crisis”.@JudgeCortez of @HidalgoCounty responded: “Apparently, Governor Abbott has information that we don’t have.”

Full response below #RGV

Idk how many times we’ve been through this already... pic.twitter.com/CFCNpqlvp3

— Reynaldo Leaños Jr. (@ReynaldoLeanos) June 1, 2021

His chances of sweeping back into the Governor's Mansion for another four years just increased dramatically.  More politics in the next post.

Here’s what 140 days of the 2021 #TXlege session looked like through the lenses of Texas Tribune photographers: https://t.co/QEMFevfdMG pic.twitter.com/bNtu8yJV6u

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) June 1, 2021

Progress Texas posted their ten best and worst moments, but stuck to their usual "Democrats good, Republicans bad" script.  A fresh exception was the dishonorable mentions of Sen. Ed Lucio and Rep. Harold Dutton.  But there were plenty more bad Donkeys in this session, and some of them were your favorites.

The names: Bernal, Gervin-Hawkins, Guerra, Guillen, Herrero, Hinojosa, J.E. Johnson, T. King, Longoria, Lopez, Minjarez, Muñoz, Raymond, Rose, Rosenthal, Thierry, S. Thompson, J. Turner and Vo #HB1925 #txlege

— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) May 28, 2021

(In a Svitek update, Minarez and Bernal apparently intended to vote against, and had that corrected.)

Democrats walked out on SB7 but not the litany of other bad bills b/c it was the only bill that threatened their continued political power. Dems saw in SB7 the one threat that might cause them to lose reelection in their districts & that is one thing they couldn't bear to fathom.

— Bexar County Greens 🌻💚 (@BexarGreensTX) June 1, 2021

Accurate.  They killed some decent bills along with the bad, and SB7 will be brought back from the dead in a special.

How do y'all plan to circumvent @GovAbbott plans to pass the bill in a special legislative session?? Maybe if y'all fought for people instead of parties we wouldn't be in this mess. https://t.co/x1Kv8Omu1Q pic.twitter.com/BTXJ3bccvJ

— DelilahForTexas💚☮🌻🌎 (@DelilahforTexas) May 31, 2021

Robert Rivard at the San Antonio Report had his fill of the 87th and the bizarre priorities of the state's leaders.  Reform Austin condemned the lack of action on fixing the power grid.  Jessica Montoya Coggins, blogging for the Texas Signal, offered some advice about accessing an abortion now that SB8 passed.  And Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast abandoned bipartisanship and called it what it is: fascism.

Harvey Kronberg also came up from the bipartisan ether.

HK: If you can defund the legislature, you can defund the judiciary which would make things much simpler for Abbott #txlege

— quorumreport (@quorumreport) June 1, 2021

So with a lot more to blog, let me post some of the other items, good and sad.

Thank you to everyone who joined the Saturday rally and march and to ALL supporters who have fought shoulder to shoulder with us during this #TxLege session.

Joining a sea of Texans as they chanted “Abortion is health care” down Congress Ave.— That's power. pic.twitter.com/chy26v8l8G

— Planned Parenthood Texas Votes (@PPTXVotes) June 1, 2021

H. Drew Galloway, formerly of MOVE Texas, wants to take a page from startup culture and develop progressive social justice organizations. https://t.co/pnKD4VGi62

— San Antonio Report (@SAReport) June 1, 2021

B.J. Thomas has passed away at the age of 78. Lung cancer killed him. He grew up in Houston and graduated from Lamar Consolidated in Rosenberg, Texas. Massive hits with "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" and this song. He had an incredible voice.https://t.co/AxO8Jz0OfG

— Traces of Texas (@TracesofTexas) May 30, 2021

On a much-needed lighter note, The Great God Pan Is Dead introduces you to Houston's notorious "Darth Vader House", which is now on sale for the low, low price of $4.3 million.

“...I had to end where it all began. This room kicked off everything. This movie franchise, a whole new chapter of my life, my career, & everything all started here & I will never, ever, ever forget it.”

Thanks for helping us bring back movies, @johnkrasinski!

📸: Rick Kern pic.twitter.com/mljqzNUrw5

— Paramount Theatre (@ParamountAustin) May 29, 2021