Friday, October 26, 2018

Spooky early voting updates


-- From Grits, from Monday afternoon (should have made it into the Wrangle), under the subheadline "The least-discussed vulnerable Republican on the ballot".

Grits does not expect Beto O'Rourke to win. But if he were to pull off the upset, many other dominos could fall in succession as a result, with at least three Republican senators, Texas' Attorney General, and potentially even the Lt. Governor at risk. Another race likely to flip if Dem turnout goes that high is Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Incumbent Sharon Keller won her primary with only 52% of the vote, and CCA races have consistently been among the lowest vote-getters over the years among Republican statewide officials. There is no Libertarian in the race, so the Democrat, Maria Jackson, should get all the anti-incumbent vote. If, on election night, the US Senate race at the top of the ticket is competitive, or heaven forbid, Beto pulls an upset, check down the ballot for this race; it may flip, too.

Statewide judicial contests are vital to tilting Texas away from one-party rule.  If you cannot vote for a Republican or a Democrat, these races are the only ones where I would endorse -- half-heartedly -- your voting for a Libertarian where there is one running.

I am long on record as being in full-throated support of all of the Democrats running for judge, from the top of your ballot to the bottom, in whatever county you may reside.  And two ballots from my household were cast that way on Monday morning.  With one exception: Harris County Probate Court #4.  The Chronicle op-ed board agrees with me; don't vote for the Democrat (I undervoted because I don't vote GOP no matter what).

-- A straight-ticket vote in Harris County leaves some races undervoted.  If that's your intention, fine.  Just be sure you check it carefully before you hit the red 'cast ballot' button on your e-Slate.

Voters are reporting odd problems on both the Republican and Democratic side of straight-party voting in Texas.

Mickey Blake was one of the voters in those early voting lines in Houston earlier this week.

"I hit straight Democratic ticket," Blake said.

She says she expected all Democrats to come up on her screen, especially Rep. Beto O'Rourke, but when she got to the last screen to review her choices, she noticed a problem.

"It's all Democratic except for Ted Cruz was checked," Blake said. So she backed up and did it again. And again. "I tried it a third time and the same thing happened," she said.

The same thing happened to Cordell Hosea in Fort Bend County.

"When I got to the end, I just so happened that I glanced at the screen, I saw Ted Cruz was selected as my senator," Hosea said.

He too voted straight ticket Democrat.

But hey, it's a bipartisan issue.  Voters 'on both sides', according to our Greg Abbott-appointed state elections administrator -- his name is Rolando Pablos, for Ted Oberg's information -- are to 'blame'.

But it's not just a Democrat problem. Voters who select straight-party Republican unselect Sen. Cruz and wind up voting for no one. Either way, officials say it's a rare issue that happens, but not to everyone.

It's popped up across Texas often enough for the Secretary of State to put up a statewide advisory on Monday to every Texas election advisor.

The Secretary of State calls it 'operator error.'

Nope.  Not in Fort Bend County, anyway. (bold is mine)

"We've heard from voters over a number of elections about this," said Ft. Bend County Election Administrator John Oldham.

Oldham says it's a problem he's seen for years.

He even told the Secretary of State about it years ago and it's still happening.

"It's not a glitch, it's a user-induced problem that comes from the type of system that we have," Oldham said. "I think both sides could be equally hurt."

It's unclear how widespread it is.

"As long as you don't hit the red button to cast, then you can get some assistance from the poll watchers," Hosea said.

Oldham tells us he recalls the problems for at least six years and says he's talked to the Secretary of State more than once about the problem. It has not been fixed aside from signs provided by the Secretary of State to warn voters to check their selections.

Oldham also said he was able to replicate the issue in his offices after multiple attempts.

"I'm really disappointed with the State of Texas," Hosea told us.

Sam Taylor, at the Texas Secretary of State's office, tells 13 Investigates the problem is "user error" and not something their office could fix. Taylor suggests a vendor could or should handle any upgrades, but the state has not asked vendors to do so.

Oldham and another election expert tell 13 Investigates that in some states, pop up screens warn straight ticket voters if they purposely or accidentally select a candidate of the other party. Texas has no such electronic warning.

Oldham in Fort Bend County told us it is most likely caused by voters simultaneously twisting the selection dial and pushing the enter button. It may not even be purposeful, but done by voters in a rush who don't realize they are still interacting with both.

That's why the SoS is calling it user error.  Expect some "Democrats too dumb to vote" comments from the #FakeBombs Republicans.

Brad Friedman is on it.  Stan Stanart is not.  Vote for Diane Trautman.

-- The TexTrib's last poll before the election is not good news for Team Donkey.

... but in TX07, everybody appears to be in a dead heat, according to the Upshot.


I believe LPF can pull this one out if EV stays strong next week.
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Thursday, October 25, 2018

#MAGAbomber, #FalseFlag, #FakeBombs


Twitter is where all the breaking news action continues to be, especially if you don't want to be spoon-fed the headlines from the teevee talking heads.  But it's important to avoid -- i.e., mute or block -- the trolls and cyberbullies.  Your personal data isn't going to be stolen and if you employ a good adblocker you won't see any spam.  Last I checked, only about 15% of the general pop had an account, so it's still somewhat of an insider's track.  Mrs. Diddie is telling me things every morning she's watching reported that I read last night.  Stay ahead of the curve.

But you also need to be able to recognize satire from serious, and disinformation, propaganda, and #FakeNews -- real fake news -- from truth.  And some good folks, like Buzzfeed here, don't enjoy having to separate the wheat from the chaff.

So with that ... I spent a little time yesterday morning false-flagging the false-flaggers.






They're still hard at work this morning, though.


More funny like that here.

The usual suspects were first out of the gate; Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, followed closely by John Bolton butt buddy Frank Gaffney, and then MAGATwitter went rabid with it and eventually Fox News started working in the magic words, going from 'sympathy vote' to guests to Tucker Carlson laughing about the pipe sent to George Soros.

Oh yeah, the most powerful Democrat of them all, the man who was first on the mailing list, also got featured in a House GOP attack ad two days after the bomb at his home was discovered.

Ted Cruz, true to form, piled on. (video there)

(MSNBC's Chuck) Todd brought up the breaking news to the Texas senator, who claimed that the bombs were part of a Democrat scheme while blaming the media for focusing too much on Donald Trump.

“The media always focuses on the president,” Cruz said. “There are too many Democratic politicians that are actively encouraging this.”

The GOP appears to be terrified of the surging early sympathy vote.  That counter-prop machine the vast right-wing groupthink can deploy at a moment's notice is truly something to behold.  The Democrats quite obviously have neither the skill nor the will to fight like this in the realm of social media opinion-shaping.  Perhaps if they're not too scared of being shot or blown up they can manage their very own anti-Kavanaugh bump at the ballot box anyway.  #BumpVotesNotBumpStocks?  There's another weaponized boogeyman under the conservatives' collective bed, however; the swelling #MigrantCaravan of Hondurans headed for the southern border, slated to arrive on Election Day (according to Fox's Stuart Varney), ready to vote illegally.


Oh wait, I got Varney wrong; he thinks that's "working FOR the president".

Yes, it's certainly hard to keep track of the daily conservative conspiracy theory.

Meanwhile, the NRA's Dana Loesch reminds you to take your gun(s) to the poll(s).  To protect yourself from all of these #AngryMob progressives... interrupting your meal at a public restaurant.

Trump said something about all of this last night, but it was about 'media hostility'.

In scripted remarks at a Wednesday night rally in Wisconsin, the president vowed to catch the perpetrator, while calling on the media to end "constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories".

(Trump) also called for more civility in public life, saying: "Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective.

"No one should carelessly compare political opponents to historic villains, which is done often."

However, the president made no specific reference to the intended recipients of the packages.

Obviously he didn't like the Hitler and Mussolini references.  Thanks for clearing that up, Creepy Porn President.  That should be helpful in calming everybody down.
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Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Texas EV scattershots

-- This poll has Congressman WhataBeto trailing Senator Serpent Covered in Vaseline by four percentage points, 50-46, with the MoE at 4.  No crosstabs at the link.  The Lib, Neal Dikeman, polled 2% and 2% are undecided.

At first glance this would look like good news, but note that GSA Strategies is affiliated with Citizens United, and both are, shall we say, "progressive" outfits.  So there's a leetle bias.

Except for this one, there's been no fresh polling for nearly two weeks.  Update: As this was posted, the TexTrib via Progrexas has Reuters/Ipsos/UVA's latest, showing Cruz by 5, which is an increase of three points over their survey a month ago.  

Real Clear Politics (without the influence of either of the above yet) has the rolling 30-day average at Cruz +7.  Texas Politics Project (Blank and Henson at UT, also for the TexTrib) has history back to April, but the song remains the same.

#TrumpRally and #EarlyVoteTexas should be influencing actual vote counts now, but we can keep divining tea leaves and interpreting cabrito entrails until Election Day.  Just keep in mind that the polls could be as wrong as they were in 2016.

-- O'Rourke gets an assist from the Librul Media in the form of a town hall with Tweety.

MSNBC host Chris Matthews is coming to the University of Houston next week to interview U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke for his “Hardball College Tour” special.

Matthews announced during his Tuesday night broadcast that he plans to record an hour-long interview with Sen. Ted Cruz's Democratic opponent a week before the November election on Oct. 30 at Cullen Performance Hall.

After Matthews' on-air announcement, tickets were made available through the school’s website. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. while the taping begins at 6 p.m., the site reads. Attendees are prohibited from bringing “promotional or political affiliation displays.”

And another pop culture merger for the Democrat.


Artist Chris Rogers has been at work on the mural for weeks, according to progress documented on his Instagram, but he put the finishing touches on it just as early voting began in the state.

The mural, located in East Austin, features O’Rourke, a rising Democratic star, standing in front of a Texas flag with his shirt unbuttoned to reveal a “B” emblem, reminiscent of Superman’s “S.”

“Out of the darkness comes the light,” Rogers wrote of the mural, which is entitled “Beto For Texas.”

Rogers said that the mural took 40 hours to paint, according to Austin Monthly.

I thought Election 2018 was going to be all about Texas Latin@s and Lupe Valdez, but I'm going to be wrong about that, of course.  As Beto goes, so go Texas Democrats, as we all know now.

-- You should check this fellow's Twitter bio and then read the numbers here.


Ryan's Tweet here indicates that a lot of people who don't usually vote in midterms are voting -- almost 30% of those who have already cast an early ballot.  After just two days.  The TexTrib has raw numbers for Harris and Dallas Counties.


I don't underscore Harris just because I live and vote here or because it's the largest county in Texas, blahblah.  It represents about a fifth of all the Democratic votes cast in the state.  And you may have read that new voter registrations here shattered records.  So the reports this week of hour-long waits at EV locations in Harris County -- and for that matter, across Texas -- could be something the polls are missing.  But this NBC account says "hold on there, blue wave" (emphasis mine):

Republican-affiliated voters have outpaced Democratic-affiliated voters in early voting in seven closely watched states, according to data provided by TargetSmart and independently analyzed by the NBC News Data Analytics Lab.

GOP-affiliated voters have surpassed Democratic-affiliated ones in early voting in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, Tennessee and Texas, the data showed.

[...]

In Texas, 53 percent of early voters had a Republican affiliation, compared with 43 percent who had a Democratic affiliation and 4 percent who were not affiliated with either party.

[...]

Women voters have outpaced men voters so far in ... Texas (59 percent to 41 percent), (and) urban voters have outpaced rural and suburban voters in Arizona and Texas.

Here is the important qualifier to this data.

As of Oct. 22, over 5 million votes have been cast early or absentee in the 2018 midterm elections nationwide.

This piece, dated Monday 10/22 and helpfully time-stamped at 2:49 p.m. (probably EST) does not include any in-person votes for Texas.  That is to say: these are all mail (aka 'absentee') ballots, and party affiliation is reflected (at least in Harris) by efforts of those at the county party level who push to identify and augment those numbers during the voter registration period.  You may recall that Harris County Republicans used to have a big advantage in this regard, but Harris Democrats have considerably whittled that down.

Update: Local political consultant Mustafa Tameez expanded on the problems with the TargetSmart data in his Tweet linked here.

So while there may be considerations for other states in the article to be concerned about w/r/t to "Blue Wave", Lone Star worries are overblown, to this reporter's POV.  At this time.

-- Perhaps you noticed that Michael Avenatti quietly canceled his Texas anti-Trump counter-rally.  (Avenatti's Tweet about doing so, and at least two mentions by TexTrib reporters that I bookmarked, have also disappeared.)  Perhaps you noticed that he's been keeping a (somewhat) lower profile for the past week or so, since his client lost her defamation lawsuit against Trump.

Back here I speculated (doubtfully; scroll to the end) about whether local deep-pocketed Democrats attending his Harris County Dem money bag drag would mention his responsibility -- ascribed accurately or falsely -- for the Kavanaugh bump Republicans seem to be enjoying.  That fundraiser, on 10/16, happened the day after DNC chair Tom Perez was also in town helping the HCDP with some cheerleading, a geographically proximal coincidence that largely escaped public notice.

I should have put two and two together.  Two being Harris County judicial kingmakers Gerry Birnberg and Dave Matthiesen, who together with Perez -- and let's say, for purposes of rounding, at least one other Houston legal eagle who wrote a $2500 check for VIP entry -- very likely cornered Avenatti and asked him to please freeze it.  For the sake of the downballot, you know.

Check Avenatti's Tweet feed above, scroll back in time to about the 16th and then forward, see if you think he heard a message somebody sent him.
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Tuesday, October 23, 2018

I would pay to see that fight

Greg Abbott v. Vlad Putin, in a leg-wrestling contest as part of a decathlon of 'World's Most Powerful Dictator' events.  On pay-per-view.  What should the Vegas line should be?


At a rally on Monday night, the governor of Texas declared himself 'more powerful' than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Greg Abbott was warming up the crowd for President Donald Trump at the Toyota Center in Houston when he bragged that his state's economy is the tenth-biggest economy on the planet.

"By comparison, the Texas economy is larger than Canada -- it's larger than Australia. And get this, the Texas economy is even larger than the economy of Russia," the Republican governor told the crowd.

"That makes me more powerful than Putin!" he boasted to applause.

You might be forgiven if you thought this was going to be a rally for 'Beautiful Ted' Cruz.

Now perhaps General Abbott and his Army were simply volunteering for service in the War on Russian voter electoral fraud.  In Trump's one-hour and eighteen-minute address to the faithful last evening -- Senator White Castle only spoke for thirteen minutes; your clearest tell he was an afterthought -- Our Greatest President Ever did not mention scrapping the intermediate nuclear missile treaty that is provoking tension with his Kremlin BFF (or so both Fox and  Democrats keep telling us.  He did repeat some fake news about a middle class tax cut before Election Day.)

But I don't want to digress from our Dear Paraplegic Leader's boast.

Let's give the Guv some credit for maintaining an ideal body weight and trim figure after all these years off his feet.  Isn't it remarkable how many calories a man can burn being a total sociopath?  He might not have been nimble enough to avoid being struck by a falling tree when he was young, but in the decades since, he's carefully watched his diet and has no discernible middle-age paunch.  I would hazard a guess that's without being able to do any sit-ups.  I'll also bet that he can take a body blow from the Russian Bear if they decide to spar a few rounds.

Who do you think wins in a 90-second lightning round fundraising competition?  We can ask Charles Kuffner to be the judge of the campaign finance reports.

Probably no distance running, but a 50-yard dash/roll could be interesting.  Gymnastics, like those Olympic rings or parallel bars, or better yet, monkey bars.  A hand over hand climb gives Abbott too much of an edge, I suspect.

A pandering-to-your-millionaires faceoff would be close.  Call it Plutocratic Pugilistics.  Separate from the Money Chase above, this contest would be determined by how much you could promise to do in exchange for a government position ("Tap That Crony") or a relaxation of regulations, rather than a monetary donation.  The minimum acceptable standard would have to be Trump's own recent world record; his awarding of the South African ambassadorship to Mar-a-Lago member and handbag designer Lana Marks sets a pretty high bar for Abbott and Putin to clear.

I can't handicap this match.  Who gets home field advantage?  Is it a best of five, or seven?

This could be the almost-ultimate Battle of the Ages.  Armageddon, Jr.  World War 2.5, televised on Fox, emceed by President Reality TV, for all the Nationalist marbles.  Sponsored by the NRA (they have large and equal bets on both sides), the Southern Baptist Convention, and Super Poli-Grip.

These people will buy and swallow anything.
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Monday, October 22, 2018

The Early Voting Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance encourages you to go get your vote on this week, before the lines get any longer.


Numbers will be trickling in from all over the state later today, but for now we are getting reports of very long lines for casting ballots even at polling places that have traditionally been more like ghost towns on the first day of early vote.

All over Texas –- in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, The Valley, Lubbock, etc. – wait times are 30 minutes to an hour at traditionally empty polling places. Some Texas House members down in San Antonio and elsewhere told us they’ve been getting calls from constituents complaining of long wait times.

Long lines are also reported in big suburban counties like Williamson, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Collin, and Denton. Those places, it is worth noting, saw some of the biggest surges in Democratic turnout during the primary this year.

Indeed, that was this blogger's experience.


And then there's this:


Meanwhile, the MAGAts swarmed the Toyota Center in downtown Houston, hoping to get inside to see President Reality TV Show, Governor Hell on Wheels, Lite Gov. Dan Patrick (in Hiding), and Senator Rafael "Tough as Taffy" Cruz.




Here's a few of the best of the lefty blog posts and news from last week ...

Abby Livingston at the TexTrib asked the $64,000 question: Will Trump's Houston rally for Cruz motivate Republicans -- or Democrats?

SocraticGadfly, collating and expanding on several previous posts and Twitter interactions, explained why he plans to undervote the U.S. Senate race.

Stace at Dos Centavos got what he wanted in a Beto O'Rourke immigration ad.  In fact, Beto hit Cruz pretty hard.

In covering the final debate between the two US Senate combatants, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs saw Whataburger defeat White Castle in a split decision.  And Juanita Jean at the World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon named her favorite moment from the Cruz-O'Rourke debate.

Forrest Wilder at the Texas Observer will be looking to see if Lupe Valdez's performance against Greg Abbott is a good test of the strength of the 'Beto effect'.

Off the Kuff published an interview with Kim Olson, the Democratic candidate for Ag Commissioner.

Grassroots organization Houston Justice Coalition's board voted unanimously to support Proposition B, the Space City firefighters' pay parity proposal.

Grits for Breakfast has an election season podcast posted, and within that some excerpts from the Dallas County DA's debate. 

The late Anthony Bourdain visited Marfa and Big Bend in some of the last 'Parts Unknown' stops, and asked residents there about the border wall.


Texas Vox finds meaning in organizing after reading the IPCC (climate change) report.

Five death row exonerees were photographed in front of the Texas Governor's Mansion following the March to Abolish the Death Penalty last Saturday, courtesy the Texas Moratorium Network.

Better Texas Blog wrote about the staggering unfairness of the state tax system.

Millard Fillmore's Bathtub posted about Scout campfires and their role in the BSA's Order of the Arrow program.


David Collins reviewed The Fiery Cross, the fifth of Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" novels.

And Harry Hamid has part 617 of the further adventures of George Soros.
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Sunday, October 21, 2018

Holly Dorrell, 2008 -2018


 Her kidneys were failing, and we ended her suffering yesterday morning.

She came to us in January of 2012 via the wonderful people at Barrio Dogs (please foster, adopt, or contribute), after they were able to rescue her from a pile of boxes in front of an East End house that had burned.  She was waiting for her people to come back, but they weren't.

They had tried several times to catch her, luring her with food; in retrospect, knowing her as the most food-motivated dog ever, it seemed incredible that multiple capture attempts were needed.  They had documented the effort on their Facebook page over the course of several days, which is how I came to decide that I/we would like to get involved.  This period of time, right around Christmas 2011 -- thus her name -- was frightfully cold, with temps dropping into the low 20's over consecutive nights.  When they finally managed to get her, they took her directly to the vet and determined she was high-positive for heartworms.  The doctor told them she might not have survived another cold night.  She's the only dog I ever heard of that had to have two shots; one to kill the adult heartworms, and another shot 30 days later to kill the microfilaria, or the baby heartworms born when the parents die.

We were going to just foster her, but became known in the parlance as 'foster failures'.

When she first came to live with us, she curled up on the welcome mat just inside the front door.  I encouraged her to get on the ottoman in the den, and eventually she made herself at home on any piece of furniture she chose, without reprimand.  Mostly she stayed or slept wherever I was.  She was my dog; she liked everybody, there were no strangers to her, but she preferred men.  And especially me.  (All of my other dogs like my wife's company better.)

She had a joie de vivre unlike any dog I ever owned.  She would sometimes just jump out of sheer pleasure.  Not at a person but up in the air, when nobody (but me) was watching.  And she verbalized her joy; barking twice when I asked if she wanted to "peedle", or if she was ready for breakfast or supper.  'Car ride' elicited a stream of excited yips and warblings from the time we reached for her collar all the way to returning home.  She was so constantly loud on the rides it was stress-inducing.  If Mrs. Diddie and I began a conversation at the dining room table, Holly would invariably join us, climbing up on a chair as if to listen better.  Similarly, when we boarded our pack at the kennel upon leaving town, the staff invariably adored her little chatterings while she took to the handlers, especially the guys, charming them all.

A few weeks ago she strained something in her back jumping from the bed to the floor, and we gave her some meds prescribed by the vet, which helped her pain.  But within a couple of weeks she began to lose her appetite and became listless; she stopped speaking at all.  Blood tests confirmed the worst, and we chose not to prolong her misery.

My family had many dogs throughout my life growing up, and one or two as a boy that were mine, close to me.  But after I left home for college, and until we got our first puppy about thirteen years ago, a span of about thirty years passed between my canine ownership periods.

I was hoping that by writing this post, I would get to some healing place.  Not yet.  My heart remains shattered by her departure.  The Bible says that dogs cannot go to heaven, which only reinforces my atheism.  As Will Rogers said: "If all dogs DON'T go to heaven, I want to go where they went."

Me too, Will, and I sure hope my little Holly is waiting there for me.
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Sunday Funnies









Politico: Hillary Clinton isn't going away - and Democrats aren't sure what to do about it

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Thursday, October 18, 2018

On the whole I'd rather

... watch an Astros-Brewers World Series but I don't think that's going to happen.

[Long sidebar: When Jim Crane purchased the Houston franchise from Drayton McLane in 2011, he not only paid an inflated price (among other reasons, for reneging on a 2008 handshake deal to buy the team) and a small -- comparatively -- penalty to settle a racial discrimination case against his trucking company, he also had to agree to switch leagues with Bud Selig's franchise ... the Brew Crew.  Crane had already missed on buying the Texas Rangers in 2010 despite being the apparent high bidder because Bud didn't like him.  You can read about all of this here, except for the NL-AL flip-flop part, which you can find at Crane's Wiki page.  It says (original MLB.com link there is dead) McLane had agreed with Selig to do this before selling, but Crane wrangled $35 million back from Uncle Drayton and the league -- presumably the other owners -- to hold to that arrangement.

One more thing: Crane sued McLane a few years later because Comcast couldn't sign up cable and satellite carriers for the fees they wanted to charge for the games.  This was during the bad years, when the 'Stros lost 100 games in three consecutive seasons.  How the lawsuit eventually worked out is of little consequence -- just another quarrel over a few million dollars between two billionaires, after all -- but Comcast's sports network for Astros and Rockets games eventually went defunct and was replaced by ATT.  The team improved, people wanted to watch again, the rest is history.

So a Houston-Milwaukee Fall Classic would contain some elements of retribution -- or poetic justice if you prefer -- for the winner and the loser.]


I'm not as mad about the blown Joe West/Altuve home run call as everybody else is.  That's a hard one to get right in real time.  Slow motion replay showed, to me, that Mookie closed his own glove before the ball got there (pick it up at 0:25); no fan interference.  Even if West gets it right the first time or it gets overturned, and all else being equal from there, Benintendi's bottom-of-the-9th grab sends the game into extras.  Point being: teams of destiny seem to get the breaks like that, as well as diving catches with the bases loaded for the final out, and the other stuff.

Verlander tonight, hopefully back to Boston with Gerrit Cole, who looked a little intimidated last time in Fenway, and then Keuchel, who's been no great shakes all season, but if it even gets to seven I'd be shocked.  As for the Dodgers, they will have Kershaw again in a seventh game should that be necessary, which I doubt.

Dodgers-Red Sox, the networks are thrilled.  Kenley Jansen wears tighty whities.

Update: This best encapsulates the Astros' season, especially if you believe -- as I do -- that everything in life ultimately comes down to luck.
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Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Whataburger defeats White Castle in split decision

It was a close contest all night, as both men spoke rapidly, sweated profusely (Ted guzzled more water than Brett Kavanaugh), and lashed at each other like a couple of guys with bullwhips.

Yes, Beto brought the boxing gloves, although there were only a few knockdown punches thrown by the challenger.  Ted's smirks, snorts, and chortles were his defense.  This review summarizes the conservative POV as well as any I found: accurate in its description of Cruz's obnoxious condescension, amiss in its interpretation of how the Cuban Canadian's authoritarian demeanor goes over with anyone not a MAGAt.

Just consider the stunning hypocrisy of the Zodiac Killer's close.


Also painfully unaware of the studio's lighting away from his podium.


Yes, Ted Cruz is as tough as Texas a stale bag of shitty out-of-state hamburgers.  A man who eats his own boogers (when he's not eating Trump's ass, that is) but who cannot stand the taste of avocados is simply not someone to be trusted on his culinary decisions, to say nothing of his judicial or legislative ones.  We have nevertheless been blessed by Jeebus with all three of these wisdoms for the past six years, and if that's not enough to convince you that there is no God, you aren't open to persuasion.

When the local Fox affiliate loses you, you've lost.

I simply don't have confidence -- as many of you are already aware -- that Beto will represent my interests often enough to give him my vote.  I just can't bear to watch him be more Joe Manchin than Bernie Sanders should he make it to Washington.  For many of you reading this, he's good enough, so good on ya.  Like most of our options this election year, "not the GOP" comes up aces more often than not.  We're all going to make as best of the situation as we can.

Last night a poll revealed the numbers may be tightening back up, so that development bears watching.  Here's some related reading.

#TexasDebate: Three key moments (Vox)

Scott Braddock at QR: Beto learns to make a fist

TexTrib: O'Rourke swings harder

With respect to tomorrow night, two updates about whether it will be Beto-only or that Cruz will join.  From RG Ratcliffe at Texas Monthly (first link, top) with the CNN Tweet embedded (via Patrick Svitek at the TexTrib).

This likely was the final debate between Cruz and O’Rourke. CNN is hosting O’Rourke to a town hall in McAllen on Thursday. Cruz turned down the offer of one of his own, but asked Tuesday if the Thursday event could be converted into another debate. CNN officials said the network would agree if O’Rourke would. Since Cruz at the close of this debate referred to it as their last, that does not appear to have worked itself out.
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Tuesday, October 16, 2018

"The biggest stadium in Texas we can find"

As big as his hands.

Not only is the arena Trump picked not the biggest in the state, as he promised, but it’s not even the largest in the neighborhood. Nearby NRG Stadium – different from NRG Arena – holds tens of thousands of people.

As the Dallas News pointed out, “At least one venue in Texas holds more than 180,000 and NRG Arena isn’t even the biggest venue in Houston, let alone in Texas.”

But it is the biggest one they could find.  Allegedly there's something like 50 high school football stadiums in the Lone Star State that can seat 8,000, so settling for the place where the Houston Rodeo holds a horse competition is probably due to the fact that Poop just isn't very familiar with Texas, as Texans already knew.  Sometimes it's hard to believe Trump called Cruz "Lyin' Ted" because Ted wasn't smart enough to nickname Trump that first, isn't it?

Ashton Woods has a terrific idea for you disruptors out there.


(Don't use your real name.  Trump is having peaceful protestors arrested, you know.  Has been since his inauguration.  So be careful out there.)
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Whataburger vs. White Castle tonight

In San Antonio, or on your teevee (or laptop, or tablet, or cellphone).



This was to be the third debate in the closely watched race, but the second debate, scheduled for Sept. 30 in Houston, was canceled because of Cruz's participation in the Senate's confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. While the first debate in Dallas was focused on domestic policy, this one is expected to cover domestic and foreign policy.

All the same advice I gave Beto for Thursday night's CNN townhall solo (so far) applies to this evening's debate.  Whether he takes my advice or not, for the sake of Texas Democratic fortunes down the ballot and across the Lone Star, let's hope he has upped hs game.  This is still too weak, IMO, to cut the mustard.  Don't bring a pillow to a gunfight, Bob.

W/r/t Thursday night ... this message is approved (and maybe even paid for) by Ted Cruz.

In what he is calling the largest single campaign complaint in history, Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Neal Dikeman is alleging that a planned town hall meeting by CNN amounts to an illegal $10 million in-kind campaign contribution to Democrat Beto O’Rourke.

Dikeman filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission on the heels of news last week that O’Rourke shattered fundraising records with a $38.1 million take in the final quarter before the November 6 election. Dikeman alleges in his complaint that a town hall scheduled for Thursday in McAllen violates federal election law because it will give O’Rourke an hour-long prime time forum worth millions of advertising dollars.

“Politics should not be about money, and corporations should not be funding politicians,” Dikeman said in a prepared statement. “Particularly in this race as Congressman O’Rourke is running fundraising campaigns touting his exclusion of special interest money. Excluding a Libertarian nominee from the debates because you think I’ll take more votes from you than the other guy is one thing, politics is politics. But violating campaign finance laws, especially on this scale is much bigger than that. The scope of this violation should give every American pause.”

Neither the O’Rourke or Cruz campaigns responded to a Texas Monthly request for comment.

That's one way to get the publicity you seek.

Third-party nominees being left out of the conversation is, as everyone already knows, a chronic condition in our so-called democracy.  Just can't have the duopoly questioned, challenged, or so much as casually intimidated.  Texas is one of the worst states in the Union at this shitty disenfranchisement game.  Texas Democrats, with a helpful assist from the TXGOP in the state Lege via the Election Code, are the primary reason you don't have any Texas Greens on your ballot this season.  But the corporate media, which is making millions upon millions of dollars in advertising revenue this autumn -- at a time when they cannot lose or squander so much as a dime -- is the two-party systems' partner in these electoral crimes.  If you'd like to suggest some other reasons for the traditional electoral blackout of any party other than the two that can afford wall-to-wall television advertising, I'll advance your premise here or feature it in a follow-up post (your choice).  Because try as I might, I have not been able to come up with any good ones myself.

So best of luck to Mr. Dikeman in his legal challenge.  I suspect it may become moot, as I'm betting Poop Cruz winds up on stage in McAllen Thursday night with Beto and Dana Bash.

Somebody order a bag of White Castles delivered to the debate hall, please?
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Monday, October 15, 2018

The Weekly Wrangle

As Pages of Victory noted last Thursday, his mail ballot is already in the can, no doubt alongside thousands of others across the state.  That's right; many Texans are voting at this moment, and the rest of us still have to wait one more week before we can cast an early ballot in person.  The Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly roundup of lefty blog posts and news collects the final arguments from the candidates -- and the opinions from the poiliticos -- as the end of the 2018 midterm cycle draws near.  You'll still have to look at Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott way too much on your teevee, unless you're better than Quick Draw McGraw with your remote than he was with his gun.



The McAllen Monitor caught up with Beto O'Rourke as he made his latest swing through the RGV, this trip with Rep. Joe Kennedy III, which prompted a predictably shitty joke from Ted Cruz.

PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had some unsolicited advice for O'Rourke on how he should be counter-punching the Zodiac Killer.

The San Antonio Express News joined the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News in endorsing Kim Olson for Agriculture Commissioner over the incumbent, Sid Miller.  (This is a low bar, considering Miller is hot garbage as both elected official and human being.)

DNC chief Tom Perez comes to Houston this afternoon for a schedule of events.


Stace at Dos Centavos was at the GOTV rally/concert with Little Joe y La Familia, hosted by Sylvia Garcia and attended by Lupe Valdez, Lina Hidalgo, Adrian Garcia, a throng of other Harris County candidates and electeds and about 200 voters and activists.  (Photo slideshow at the link.)

Progrexas links to Ross Ramsey at the TexTrib for his ten hottest state races.


After the clusterf in Waller County last week regarding voter registrations and an arrest of Mike Siegel's campaign employee for complaining about it, everything turned out well in the end.


The debate between John Culberson and Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, originally slated for this evening, has been rescheduled for October 21 -- the night before early voting begins.

NYT's Upshot poll is back in the field surveying TX-23 (Will Hurd vs. Gina Ortiz Jones) and the early results are predicting a walk-off for the Republican incumbent.

After a two-week hiatus, Off the Kuff comes back to the Wrangle with a pair of interviews: Attorney General candidate Justin Nelson and Harris County Judge candidate Lina Hidalgo.

SocraticGadfly was at an education-related campaign forum for a group of statewide and Northeast Texas regional candidates and offers a few takes.

Jim Schutze at the Dallas Observer sees that with Dwain Caraway off to prison, the Dallas City Council is once again up for sale to the highest bidder.

Texas Vox blogged about the shocking news from the International Panel on Climate Change.  The Texas Tribune's collaboration with ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity, and others was a long and disturbing read about the Permian Basin's contributions to the problem.  And the Houston Chronicle's piece about surging wind power generation forcing coal plants in Texas to close is a bright spot among the dark clouds.

Grits for Breakfast collated criminal justice developments for the week and led with the story from Huntsville about a prison guard who murdered a handcuffed inmate.  The correctional officer has been charged only with aggravated assault to this point.

The (guard) had been ordered by a supervisor to stay away from the inmate after a confrontation earlier in the day, but he allegedly violated orders, took the inmate into an empty shower area, and beat him to death.

Five death row exonerees will speak at this Saturday's March to Abolish the Death Penalty in Austin, reports the Texas Moratorium Network.


David Collins wrote about Facebook and Twitter's censoring of progressive and anti-war websites.

Harry Hamid blogged about what he did on his summer vacation.

The San Antonio Current saluted Texas sorta-legend Joe Bob Briggs.

Finally, the TPA wishes Texas Leftist all the best as it transitions from blogging to podcasting.
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Sunday, October 14, 2018

Sunday Evening Funnies





"I love him so much I can hardly explain it." -- Televangelist and Trump adviser James Robison




News item: Entire fleet of F35s grounded

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Sunday Funnies










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Saturday, October 13, 2018

38 million bucks, 50 million yard signs, 9 points behind

And here comes the Zodiac Killer to finish him off.




As you may be reading and hearing from the chattering consultant class, Beto is going to have to start punching back.

Harold Cook, a Democratic strategist in Texas, said the reality at the moment is that "two candidates are defining Beto, and only one candidate is defining Cruz." He said O'Rourke is "going to have to present a compelling reason why voters should fire their incumbent."

"Against a candidate like Cruz, I don't think it's even that tough and it doesn't take that long," he said, pointing out that Cruz's hardline approach has rankled some Texans. "But it's time to do it."

Miller, the GOP consultant, agreed that "if you want to bring Ted Cruz back to Earth, you're going to have to go after him."

He said he didn't know if that tactic would ultimately succeed, given that time is starting to run short to make a real difference. But he made clear that if O'Rourke doesn't put his money into a "real aggressive, kind of mean campaign," then the "race is lost."

More from Cook, who's been grifting off Texas Democratic politics for so many years that he certainly understands what losing entails.  So he's credible here.

O’Rourke in campaign appearance after campaign appearance and in interview after interview since entering the race in March 2017 has said repeatedly “I’m not running against anyone” as a way of telling voters he prefers the high road.

But it also reinforces an image that Texas Democrats of the past two decades can’t seem to shake: They seem to prefer losing honorably to getting their hands soiled in a winning effort.

Ahem. 

Here's a little unsolicited advice that goes beyond what Richard Linklater and Antonio Arellano, et.al., have already been doing on your behalf, Beto.

-- Re-invite Cruz to the CNN townhall debate next Thursday before he bullies his way in.  Have some boxing gloves ready to put on; circle his podium in a shadowbox-punch routine.  Or challenge the pudgy Cuban to a 5k run after the debate.

"How about a guacamole eating contest for all the marbles, Ted?"

-- Educate this dumbshit Republican on the differences between communism, socialism, democratic socialism, and social democracy.  Remind Poop that you're a Blue Dog, which is why all the actual socialists in Texas aren't voting for you.  (I'm not a legitimate socialist myself; more of a social democrat, and for that matter, a lousy Democrat and kind of anti-social these days.  These labels are hard; it's no wonder Cruz and his home-schooled ilk can't get them correct.)

-- Raffy, like Trump, has a seriously bad addiction to hypocrisy and prevarication.  A quality oppo research effort should be able to produce  -- should already have produced -- reams of examples to throw in his face next Thursday.

Start there, Bob, and hurry up.  I hope somebody who reads this blog uses the 'email post' link at the bottom and sends this to the campaign.  Sort of like Kuff, they have chosen to completely ignore me over the course of the past year; can't imagine why.  Maybe it's time for a new strategery, fellas.  Who knows?  If you take my advice for once I might even be able to vote for ya.
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