Wednesday, May 06, 2020

Race for the White House Update: Live and Let Die


As Jimmy Kimmel observed, it's difficult to think of a better metaphor for the president's response to the pandemic than that.

-- Andrew Yang's lawsuit  was successful, and as a result Bernie Sanders is back on the June 23rd New York primary ballot.


I don't take this to mean any more than it is.  I do not anticipate Sanders re-entering the race for the nomination even if Sleepy Old Joe Biden withdraws or becomes "officially" incapacitated.  With so many of Bernie's former campaign staff having moved on -- to start Super PACs, with Nina Turner having joined the Movement for a Peoples Party and Briahna Joy Gray's full break with him -- I just don't see him getting the band back together.

If Biden has to check out ...


... then Tom Perez, the rest of the DNC, the superdelegates, et.al. are going to pick the nominee, and not the delegates at this summer's convention.  About that: it's 'On, Wisconsin'.


And while some Bidenites present convoluted logic for continuing to support him even when they believe he should drop out, all this speculation places tight focus on his choice for running mate.  The betting odds would seem to favor Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, but I'm still of the view that Amy Klobuchar or Gretchen Whitmer is ultimately his (or perhaps I should say, Anita Dunn and Jill Biden's) pick.  I discount Stacey Abrams for a variety of factors that I'll mention if I'm wrong and she winds up on the ticket.

Warren's replacement in the Senate (short-term; there was early gaming-out about this) would be a Republican.  And the last time Massachusetts held a Senate special election, Scott Brown won it.  Kamala energizes African American women voters, which may help in the South, but passing her over is perhaps a greater electoral danger than selecting her would be a strength.  Amy and Gretchen are ideologically and geographically the most compatible with Biden, as well as helping him swing the Midwestern states.

Otherwise my thoughts align with Perry Bacon's, who sees the Democratic Party strongly controlled by neoliberals, conservative Dems, former moderate Republicans, and #NeverTrump-ers.


-- That just ain't gonna be my party any more.  So with respect to the front-running third party for progressives, there were several breaking news items this week.


David Collins, the Texas Green Party's US Senate nominee, telegraphed this, and for my part I could not find any evidence that Ventura was publicly supporting Medicare for All -- despite him cracking on Mike Bloomberg for not doing so, back when MoneyBags was still in the primary -- during his "waters-testing" period, and this Tweet appears to reveal his hypocrisy regarding that.


Jesse can't afford an Obamacare policy?

Meanwhile, Howie Hawkins picked a running mate yesterday.


Walker was the vice presidential nominee of the Socialist Party USA in 2016, and ran as an independent on a Black Lives Matter platform for sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin in 2014.  Should Ventura actively campaign for this ticket, it could be an exciting fall season.

-- Justin Amash could also cause some trouble in November, as Geoffrey Skelley and Julia Azari write in FiveThirtyEight.com, but as posted in the last White House Update, it's not clear whether that trouble will be Trump's or Biden's.  In other Libertarian news, the party put off their national conclave, scheduled for later this month.

(Last Saturday, May 2nd), the Libertarian National Committee voted to:
  1. Invoke the “impossibility” clause in its convention contract with the JW Marriott in Austin, Texas; and
  2. Postpone the 2020 Libertarian National Convention to a place to be determined, and an opening date no later than July 15; and
  3. Adjourn their e-meeting to (this coming) Saturday to consider options for that move.

Thomas Knapp, the author there, has more thoughts at the embedded link.

-- A former Lib contender has repositioned.

New Hampshire state Representative Max Abramson, who previously sought the Libertarian Party’s 2020 presidential nomination before withdrawing in March, has decided to seek the presidential nomination of the Veterans Party of America.  Abramson broke the news last Tuesday on his campaign blog.  Last month Abramson told IPR that two different political parties had contacted him about running for their presidential nominations.  He did not specify which ones at the time.

According to Abramson, the Veterans Party of America is in the process of organizing for November on a platform of “restoring the Constitution and bringing the troops home.”  It plans to hold its national convention May 17 online.

The Veterans Party of America was founded in 2014.  In 2016, it ran reliability engineer Chris Keniston for president.  He appeared on the ballot only in Colorado and Mississippi and received 7,251 votes. ...

Although the party, which describes itself as “centrist,” is concerned with veterans’ issues, being a veteran is not a requirement for membership.

More about Abramson at the top link.

-- Trump will have a little competition from his right; the Constitution Party nominated former coal magnate Don Blankenship to be its presidential candidate last week.

Blankenship, 70, was the CEO of Massey, a coal mining company, from 2000 until 2010.  During his tenure, the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster killed 29 people in West Virginia. Blankenship blames the disaster on the negligence of officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.  The federal investigation that followed the disaster led to the prosecution of Blankenship.  At the criminal trial, the jury rejected three felony charges but found him guilty of conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws, a misdemeanor with a prison sentence of one year.  The prosecutors were later found to have committed reckless misconduct due to their failure to disclose witness memoranda. Blankenship continues to maintain his innocence and decided to run for West Virginia’s U.S. Senate seat after leaving prison in 2017.

During the three-man 2018 campaign for the Republican nomination, at least 105 media outlets and individuals falsely described Blankenship as a “felon” and/or “convicted felon.”  Blankenship alleges the coverage implied his responsibility for the deaths in the mine disaster and cost him the election.  He sued for defamation and the case is currently going to trial.  After losing the primary, Blankenship joined the Constitution Party and attempted to run as the Constitution Party nominee for the seat but was denied ballot access.

Blankenship announced his intention to seek the Constitution Party presidential nomination in October 2019.  During his campaign he sought to out-Trump Trump, meaning he wanted to present himself as a better reflection of the President Donald Trump’s moment than Trump himself.  This included a populist platform of restrictive immigration and protectionist trade policies.

Ahead of the national convention, Blankenship participated in a few presidential debates and won the non-binding primary in Missouri.  He also won the binding primary in Idaho that effectively left him as the nominee of the unaffiliated Idaho Constitution Party.

Blankenship’s running mate, William Mohr, is from the Michigan Taxpayers Party, the Constitution Party affiliate in Michigan.  He ran on the party line for state legislature in 2012 and 2014, receiving 3 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, in those elections.

According to the April 2020 print edition of Ballot Access News, the Constitution Party is currently on the ballot in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.


May do another electoral map next week as all these things settle out a bit.
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Tuesday, May 05, 2020

TexProgBlog Wrangle II: Revenge of the Fifth


The Trump administration's own Bay of Pigs fiasco in Venezuela, reported last evening, featured two Texans in leadership roles.



Here are a couple of citizen action items for today.



Some additional accounts of the lawsuits against limitations to early voting by mail (aka absentee voting, mail ballots, and a few other names):



And other litigation updates.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided Monday that a case challenging the Texas prohibition of government entities from contracting with companies who boycott Israel is moot.

The court vacated the preliminary injunction and remanded the case to the district court to dismiss the complaints. The order did not address the constitutionality of Texas’s law.

Judge (E. Grady) Jolly wrote that the case was moot because all of the plaintiffs are sole proprietors, and Texas enacted legislation that exempts sole proprietors from the “No Boycott of Israel” certification. The plaintiffs claim that the law violates their First Amendment speech rights.


Rather than go long on the plethora of coronavirus updates from around the state, this piece from Rich Shumate of Chicken Fried Politics provides insight to the travails of governors, senators, and state legislators across the South in dealing with the competing interests of capitalism and public health and safety.  What troubles Greg Abbott is not different from what concerns the governor in Florida or the Senate Majority Leader from Kentucky; their respective reactions -- and whether they are up for re-election this year -- certainly is.

Still, we must acknowledge the shortcomings of our leaders.




In a follow-up to an item in last week's Wrangle ...


All together now: "Okay, Alex; EAT. MY. ASS."


As difficult as it is to top that, one salon owner tried her best.


The tornado that ripped through Polk County in East Texas last week produced debris that will be a long time cleaning up.  Elsewhere on the environmental front ...


Wrapping another Wrangle with some of the lighter items, such as they are.


In a pair of stories from the Valley, Jose Antonio Lopez writes at the Rio Grande Guardian about Alonso de Leรณn, another of the Spanish explorers and settlers of Texas.  And Dan Clouse at LareDOS has a tale from Uncle Billy about a map to buried treasure at Lake Falcon.



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Monday, May 04, 2020

The Weekly "May the Fourth Be With You" Wrangle

With this week's edition of the best blog posts, Tweets, and lefty news from around and about the Great State, the Texas Progressive Alliance celebrates a variety of holidays.



Beginning today with the latest from General Hermann Goehring Ken Paxton:


“Public officials shall not advise voters who lack a qualifying sickness or physical condition to vote by mail in response to COVID-19,” said Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton in a letter to county judges and county election officials (PDF). Further, third parties advising voters to apply for a ballot by mail out of fear of contracting COVID-19 without a qualifying disability “could subject those third parties to criminal sanctions.”

The letter follows District Judge Tim Sulak’s decision last month to grant a temporary injunction enjoining Travis Co. Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir from “rejecting any mail ballot applications received from registered voters who use the disability category of eligibility as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The state immediately appealed that decision to the Third Court of Appeals. Paxton said Sulak’s injunction is stayed during the appeal.

Paxton’s argued that fear of contracting COVID-19 is an “emotional condition and not a physical condition” under Sec. 82.002, Election Code and this “not, by itself, sufficient to meet the definition of disability for purposes of eligibility to receive a ballot by mail.” In his ruling, Sulak determined it was “reasonable to conclude that voting in person while the virus that causes COVID-19 is still in general circulation presents a likelihood of injuring [voters’] health, and any voters without established immunity meet the plain language definition of disability.” Paxton’s letter does not appear to address this reasoning.

Appellate briefs in the case are due by May 29.

Previously on mail voting ...


And previously on Paxton:


Moving on to the governor's restarting of the state's economy ...




JIm Schutze at the Dallas Observer writes that someday we'll know if this move by Abbott was a good one or not.



There was civil action on May Day yesterday.




Some fresh polling broke a little news:


Kuff looked at that poll showing Joe Biden with a one-point lead over Donald Trump in Texas.


The presidential race in Texas is a statistical dead heat in the latest Texas Survey released today (Wednesday) by Democratic national polling firm Public Policy Polling. Joe Biden leads President Trump, 47%-46%, well within the survey’s margin of error. Respondents to the survey favored Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016, 51%-42%. Seven percent of Trump’s 2016 voters said they would vote for Biden and another 7% were not sure. Self-identified “independents” favored Biden, 50%-34%.

Biden led among Hispanic/Latino voters, 68%-21%. This is dramatically different than the most recent Univ. of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, which showed Abbott leading Trump, 50%-40%, among Hispanics/Latinos.

SocraticGadfly looked at some coronavirus conspiracy thinking and how it shows the "horseshoe theory" is sometimes true.

Better Texas Blog urges us to protect immigrants as they power our economy.

Eater Dallas explained the dangers of reopening for small restaurants.

Ken Hoffman at CultureMap Houston found that Hobby Airport is as empty as you'd expect.

Dos Centavos shared his tortilla recipe.

And a pair of books to read, courtesy their authors (and Texas Monthly).



More Wrangling with Alex Jones, Ray Benson of Asleep At The Wheel, Willie Nelson, Matthew McConaghey, environmental and criminal justice developments and a lot more in the next edition tonight (or maybe tomorrow)!
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Sunday, May 03, 2020

Sunday 'Now Serving' Funnies











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Saturday, May 02, 2020

May Day through the years



So is the past due to repeat itself? In many respects, it already has. The battles of 1919 and 1934 are as relevant now as they were then, and despite a century of technological innovation and social progress, many of the same wretched, oppressive, dangerous conditions that 20th-century workers fought so hard against remain today. Those glaring structural flaws — rampant capitalist exploitation, the greed of soulless bosses, government disinterest in workers’ lives, and a lack of proper sanitation, safety measures, or health care — have only been magnified in the harsh light of this pandemic. It’s no wonder that the workers themselves are drawing on the lessons of the past to demand a better future, and if a general strike truly is in the cards, now’s the time to show our hand.

When Emma Goldman wrote, “Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread” in her 1910 collection Anarchism and Other Essays, she could not have imagined the exact contours of the crisis workers face today. For many, there is no work, there is no bread, there are no masks. But there are their fellow workers, and for now, that might just be enough to win the rest.











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Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Race for the White House Update: Justin Amash and Jesse Ventura

-- Conventional wisdom (sic) holds that this is bad news for Joe Biden, not Trump.

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan said Tuesday that he is launching an exploratory committee for the 2020 Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination.

The Republican-turned-independent said on Twitter that the U.S. was ready for new leadership. He also posted a link to a new campaign website.

“Americans are ready for practical approaches based in humility and trust of the people,” Amash said. “We’re ready for a presidency that will restore respect for our Constitution and bring people together.

Amash announced last July that he was leaving the Republican Party, saying he had become disenchanted with partisan politics and “frightened by what I see from it.” He drew ire from President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans when he said the president had engaged in impeachable conduct as described in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

I don't see it ...


But the polling shows it.


Do click on that Bulwark link (even though it's The Bulwark; the conservative perspective is important in this calculus).  Amash's bid explains why Gretchen Whitmer (the governor of Michigan) is a finalist in the veepstakes, though she doesn't seem to want the job as much as Stacey Abrams.

It's amusing that #NeverTrump Republicans are already calling Amash the "new Ralph Nader".  He inspires the regularly scheduled fear and loathing among neoliberals as a result.


HuffPo has more detail on the constituencies Amash might draw votes from.

-- So if that's not enough November fun for you ...

Jesse Ventura, who served as Minnesota governor as a member of the Reform Party, said Monday that he is "testing the waters" for a potential 2020 run for president on the Green Party ticket.

In a pair of tweets, the former wrestling star, who has repeatedly floated a White House bid, said he endorses the Green Party's platform and had authorized a letter to the party signaling his interest in running for its presidential nomination.


In my WH Update last week -- and in IPR's account on Monday -- both of us indicated skepticism about Ventura throwing in.  So while we wait for my humble crow pie to come out of the oven, let me reiterate my personal objection to voting for Jesse unless he can clear up a few things about his platform, specifically his lack of support for Medicare for All.

Jonathan Bernstein probably has the right take as of today.  I still see the Green Party nomination going to Howie Hawkins, though I wish Dario Hunter was running stronger.

-- Bernie Sanders thanked his supporters yesterday in an online chat.  He did not release his delegates, as some feared, following the cancellation of the New York primary.  He also did not acknowledge pleadings to unsuspend his campaign or withdraw his endorsement of Biden due to the bubbling scandal related to Tara Reade's rape allegations.

A handful of his top campaign aides started a SuperPAC to support Joe Biden.


"Ye shall know them by their fruits."

-- Hillary Clinton endorsed Joe yesterday.



Don't think for minute that both Trump and the rest of the GOP are beyond making hay out of this "whistling past the graveyard" business on the part of the Democratic establishment.


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Monday, April 27, 2020

Wrangle II, "May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor"







It's difficult not to cheer observe that the vast majority of those who will place themselves in the greatest danger are the same people Trump and down-ballot Republicans are depending on for votes in November.  These are still our neighbors, family, and friends, however, and all of us -- of all political persuasions -- run the risk of contracting the deadly COVID-19 by virtue of a group who will throw caution to the wind.

There's a few bad apples in every barrel.



Just as there are some good ones.

N-95 model face masks have been in high demand during the coronavirus pandemic, but thanks to a Black chief executive nurse at the University of Texas Health System, a new and even more efficient model is now on the horizon.

According to a local ABC affiliate, when nurse Tommye Austin saw on the news how COVID-19 was infecting communities all over the country, she made the decision to proactively create masks for her own colleagues.



"We had this AC filter material we purchased from Houston ..."

[...]

(W)hen they tested their design, they were stunned to find out the new masks’ filtration rates were at a stunning 99.5 percent with one material and 97.8 percent filtration with another. Both were more efficient than the current model which eliminates 95 percent of the virus or bacteria that tries to get through.


Some Texas Democrats doing good ...


Some not.



Some recent court victories include:



And some court cases worth keeping an eye on.



There are two cases.

https://www.txcourts.gov/ (select courts and then 14th Court of Appeals. Select Case Search. Make sure 14th Court of Appeals is selected and enter the Style: Hughs (no ‘E’) v. Dikeman.)

14-19-00969-CV is the state’s appeal of the TRO against imposing the filing fee on applicants for consideration for nomination. Before the appeals court stayed the TRO, most Libertarian applicants had filed.

14-20-00078-CV is the state’s appeal of whether the district court could even consider the case, given state immunity from some lawsuits. There are exceptions. The state can not act in a unconstitutional manner. The law and its implementation is collection of equal protection and due process violations. The SOS can not exercise authority outside the law. The law imposed a filing fee on a specific class of individuals. The SOS is attempting to impose the fee on additional persons.

If the plaintiffs win their case before the Court of Appeals, the case would return to the district court for trial on the merits. At that time (July or later) I assume a court would grant a temporary injunction placing candidates on general election ballot.

An update to this morning's Wrangle article on the Austin PD's ongoing problems.


Without much fanfare, Houston announced the city's Climate Action Plan.


In San Antonio, there has been much quarreling over the plan to relocate the Cenotaph at the Alamo as the first phase of a $450 million renovation of the plaza.  Here's the latest development.


Stormy weather in East Texas made life a little rougher there.


Texas Muslims began their holy celebration of Ramadan.


And Luis Guerra's "Ceremony at San Pedro Springs", posted earlier in the month by LareDOS, is republished by The Rag Blog.  It is a story he wrote nearly ten years ago, inspired by the environmental calamity of Deepwater Horizon, the memories echoing in the time of coronavirus.



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The Post- (or perhaps still Pre-) Apocalypse Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance has treated this week's roundup of the best blog posts, Tweets, and lefty news about and from around the Great State with Clorox and UV radiation, but that isn't going to save the oil bidness from dying of COVID-19.


Some -- among them, the nation's cartoonists -- don't have much pity.


And why should they, after all?  With men like this funding people like Abbott and Patrick ...


... our beloved Texas has become a national laughingstock.


Because there's always a conservatard watching who says, "hold my beer".


The good news is that the toonmeisters have plenty of inspiration.


There is some election news to post!


Kuff looked at the ways that election officials across the state are preparing for the July runoffs and the November general.


Unfortunately some Texas Democrats are also behaving badly:



The O&G industry -- perhaps even more than the cruise industry -- needs an enforced DNR.



SocraticGadfly had a trio of posts for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The first, with photos, looked at the past fifty years of wildlife preservation efforts — the good, the bad, the ugly.  The second said that King Hubbert was correct, using his parameters of rational, profitable exploration, that the US hit Peak Oil in 1970.  The third, per the Daniel Day-Lewis movie, said there will continue to be blood for oil.


With some criminal justice developments ...


Grits for Breakfast interprets the bizarre state Supreme Court ruling on Abbott's executive order regarding the release of non-felon violators from jail.


Food supply issues were reported in last week's Wrangle but intensified with news closer to home.



Happening today:



And on the lighter side ...

Dos Centavos is making tortillas, as we all should be right now.




Greg Abbott's press conference on restarting the state's retail economy is scheduled for this afternoon, and there are plenty more Tweets to add for a second Wrangle later this evening.
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