Monday, August 23, 2021

Busting the Democrats' Quorum Break Wrangle


Lege back in session. Not without some bitterness.

Update (p.m.):


Original (a.m.):


These are quite obviously not the developments you'll be reading on the various online mouthpieces of the Texas Democratic Party, although the Signal doesn't completely ignore the topic like Kuffner does.  And tap-dancing around the criticisms while playing both sides of the fence is ... well, mostly embarrassing.  (Hardest-working fellow you'll ever see who tries not to offend anybody and fails every time.)  Thus the dirty job nobody wants to do falls to this recovering Democrat.  I am, of course, more than happy to pick up the slack.

Let's begin, as we usually must, with the "Save Us Beto You're Our Only Hope" Caucus.


O'Rourke is, as one reply there notes, waiting to see if the US Congress can pass the two voting bills -- the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act -- before he decides whether he will run.  And because Joe Manchin loves the filibuster more than he does democracy, the bills won't pass.  Correspondingly, I have laid heavy stakes on 'Hell No, Beto'.

The Donks will have some sacrificial lamb, as they always do, and they will trumpet that third or fourth option -- do I really need to post again that the Castro Bros don't run for something if there's the slightest chance they might not win? -- as their godsend, saviour, what TF ever.  The down-ballot nominees will have to row harder to pull the dead weight, and the ballast includes Mike Collier, who holds his own delusions of defeating Dan Patrick in a rematch.  Let's hope he can convince more Republicans to vote for him than last time, because that's his only chance.

All this is a crine ass shame because Joe Jaworski or Lee Merritt could legitimately defeat Ken Paxton without all these drags on the ticket.  It's possible the winner of their primary still could.  Only this contest, IMHO, has a decent chance of flipping at the statewide level in 2022.

You're best off sending a message that we need wholesale changes in Austin.


I foresee a return to a more active blogging schedule this week, so with COVID, environmental, and the usual topics bookmarked, I'll pause the serious stuff here and end today with the soothers.


Stace at Dos Centavos honored journalist, poet, playwright, and cultural critic Gregg Barrios, who passed away suddenly last week.


Here's the story on the mural project.

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Sunday Not Very Funnies



Famous Moments in History, Reimagined by Centrists (4 of 4) Leave no political cartoonist behind.
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, August 20, 2021

The Friday Texas Fold 'em Wrangle

"I’ve always said in politics, your enemies can’t hurt you, but your friends will kill you."
-- Ann Richards

Karl Rove, writing in the WSJ, made himself look prescient with the headline I borrowed.  He's also back to teaching his master class in projection.


You're excused for not wanting to read the whole thing, whether because the paywall stops you or your gag reflex does.  Still, for purposes of understanding the modern-day Goebbels in his favorite environment, you might give ol' Turd Blossom a click at his shop.

And yesterday, as if by magic, three Houston Democrats bent their knee (bad pun intended) and let the statehouse have its quorum.


There was considerable dissension in the Blue ranks.


And while there were questions as to whether a quorum was legitimately present ...


... the shitshow must go on.


Though out of the office until Monday, Dan Patrick does not cotton (another lousy pun intended) to staying out of controversy.


Rep. Bernal has really been spittin' the facts of late.

I could make this post longer with the SCOTX's latest, some Permian environmental bad news, and the usual Republican suspects saying stupid things (like Louie Gohmert's exploding birds, Ted Cruz's book sales, and John Cornyn's US troops in Taiwan), but I got a lot of shit to do, including prepare to visit my brother for what will quite possibly be the very last time.  So the rest will appear in the Tweet feed to the right ... or not at all.
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Governor COVID


Since I'm an atheist, I'm not supposed to believe in karma.


I do wonder who among this enthusiastic crowd might contract the virus, be hospitalized, but not be able to buy access to Regeneron or monoclonal antibodies.  Or a third shot.

Greg Abbott's selfishness, greed, and dark, hard heart is eclipsed only by his rank hypocrisy and his malignant sociopathy.  If, as so many devout Christians believe, their fate vis-à-vis not protecting themselves medically and scientifically is demonstrative of their powerful faith; that they are placing their lives and well-being in the "hands of God" ... then God just clapped his hands together and crushed a mosquito.

Not that our governor is a bloodsucker or something ...

Seriously, he's going to continue to be a lot better than okay.  The rest of us?  Well, we have to take our chances on dying for freedom.

Abbott likes to say, in another context, “the most precious freedom is life itself.” We agree. More than 54,000 Texans have lost theirs now -- some because they believed vaccine conspiracies and some because they believed political leaders who claim a face mask is more tyrannical than a deadly infectious disease.

The governor is reportedly feeling fine ... He seems to be in good hands. If only we could say the same for Texas.
Posted by at 1 comment:

Monday, August 16, 2021

The Epic Failure Wrangle from Far Left Texas


It looks the same wherever you are standing, whether that's inside the Lone Star State or outside of it.


Q isn't sending their best into the streets to protest, it seems.  But they still get their grievances heard ... and approved.


News item: Eastern Harris County lifts shelter-in-place after "mysterious odor"

Update: "What in the sweet libtard hell is this" ... why, that's Briscoe Cain, demonstrating once again that long-term exposure to the fumes in Baytown have damaged his brain.  See, there's a reason why I post cartoons: it's for (those with the intellect of) the children.


One more snarky bit.


One climate update (with more snark following):


As if there might actually be a god, and she's sending Austin Rethugs a message, there'll be another quorum call this afternoon in the Texas House.  Those attending might ought to wear galoshes.


And Stace at Dos Centavos posted some facts about asylum seekers as Abbott and the TXGOP spread COVID lies.  Perhaps there might yet be a political price to be paid by Governor Strangelove for his kow-towing to the lowlife in the GOP.


Don't count on Texas Democrats to capitalize, though.


Okay then.  Probably should post a few items regarding the redistricting/gerrymandering data that dropped last week.


Kuff also took a look at census data.

Wrapping up today with these.

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Sunday "Crazy Enough" Funnies

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, August 13, 2021

A very gloomy Friday Wrangle from Far Left Texas




Perhaps these performative actions still have some value to "excite the base", or stimulate a bit of fundraising.  Beyond that ...

Two arrests, or two more defections today -- or at some point soon -- and the statehouse will have a quorum, and then will get on with the business the Senate has already conducted.  Another 'E' for effort from Gene Wu, et. al.


If you're Team Blue and reading this, I don't mean to be derogatory.  It's just that with the US Congress currently on vacation, a voting rights bill on the schedule in September isn't going to be of much help to the Tex Donks' hard-fought cause.


And next month's third special session is when redistricting becomes the bulldozer that buries the Democrats six feet under for another decade.


I think it's more like 8 months; I seem to recall both Obama and Eric Holder saying that redistricting would be a top priority after they left office, though I can't find that reference now.  Maybe it was a topic of discussion at the birthday party last weekend.  (That would sure harsh your 60th-year mellow, wouldn't it?)

Anyway, fight on.  Or keep blaming Jill Stein or something.


The good news is it doesn't seem as futile as trying to get Joe Manchin and the rest of the Blue Dogs in Congress to save the planet.


And Joe Biden?  Well, don't blame me; I didn't vote for him.


If you're getting mad again, please consider that I'm just the messenger.  Blaming Republicans is too easy (though some fun), but I long ago concluded that the problems we suffer come out of a delusion that one party is trying to help.  And that, far too often, is not the case.


TTP, above, is a far-right freak, for anybody brave enough to click through.  Here, I'll save you some trouble: he thinks Democrats voting in the GOP primary are the reason Republicans like Greg Abbott keep getting elected.

If Abbott wins the coming GOP primary, it’s a win-win for the Left. The GOP base is less likely to turn out for traitors like Abbott who do nothing but screw them, so a Democrat is more likely to win (especially with legalized ballot stuffing via mail-in). However, if he does survive the 2022 midterms, Abbott will go back to business as usual: placating the Left, leaving the border open, allowing child genital mutilation, and generally carrying on with screw jobs.

AHAHAHAHAHA

We are all so fucked.


Soothers, please.

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, August 08, 2021

Sunday "Leave the Rest to Me" Funnies

 

'Facebook bans academics who researched ad transparency and misinformation ... on Facebook'

 Please support the work of editorial cartoonists here.

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, August 06, 2021

Friday End/Beginning Wrangle


Easing back into the saddle.


This post will have more than the usual focus on human mortality.


Well, mortality human and otherwise.


So much to overcome, and with needless hurdles thrown in the path.


Winding down with a few more notable passings, and perhaps another post on the other goings-on ... if I can get to it.

The Austin Chronicle talked to Billy Gibbons about the death of Dusty Hill and the future of ZZ Top.  Glasstire eulogized Tejano artist Ruben Cubillos, who designed Selena's iconic logo.  And union leaders across the country reflected on the life of AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka.

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, August 01, 2021

Sunday 'No Vaccine for Stupid' Funnies



Google's in-house political cartoonist quits over company's unfunny apparent lack of ethics

(Former Google unofficial corporate satirist Manu) Cornet was even able to feel the asphyxiating grasp of the Google oligarchy firsthand. When he published a selection of Goomix comics as a book in 2018, the then-Google employee claims a murder of corporate lawyers descended on his office and tried to coerce him into dropping some of the more critical comics of the Glorious Techpublic.
Having seen his satirical art barely affect the decline of the Alphabet utopia into a data dystopia, Cornet finally threw his floppy hat with bells into the ring. In 2021, he tendered his resignation from Google, citing: “I have to draw the line in the sand somewhere.” But since a fool is nothing without a foolish king, Cornet now draws his lines over at Twitter.

Please support the work of editorial cartoonists here.
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

The Environmental Round-Up, Part 2


As I mentioned a few weeks ago in Part One, this post will have more Texas-related news.  First, a few aggregations.

Desi Doyen compiles an exhaustive list twice a week in her Green News Report for the Brad Blog, which is really the collation you want to read in order to keep up with this topic.  Here's her latest.


Corporate media is waking up to the issue at last, but they still have to tread carefully around their Big Oil and Gas sponsors.  No such smidge of conscience from our elected leaders, however.


Honestly however, the criminals are literally everywhere you look.


  This woman is NOT one of them.


"Energy Transfer Partners".  Haven't we heard of them?  Why, yes we have; just a moment ago.


The corruption is so vast and varicose that its tentacles rival the capillary nature of the Texas power grid.  Speaking of:


The deeper you dig, the worse the stench gets.


Who was president ten years ago?


Had enough yet?


It's not all bad news.  Some people are actually trying to do something.


But some suggestions have failed, and others are too little, too late.


And we still have the deniers of facts, logic, science, and truth to overcome.


I'll add a few more as a thread when this post gets Tweeted shortly.  If I missed anything, mention it here in the comments or post it there.
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Scenes from the Medicare for All Marches



Corporate media and Congressional Democrats did their best to completely ignore this event. All that did was demonstrate how choked they are by Big Pharma (try to imagine watching CNN or browsing your social media feed of choice without seeing an ad for Keytruda, or Ozempic, or any other flavor-of-the-month wonder drug).

The two biggest letdowns besides Bernie Sanders were AOC and Nina Turner, who counter-programmed with a stumping for Turner's OH-11 bid.


By contrast, Austin's march was refreshingly bipartisan (Green and Dem), and held in coordination with the 50+ other events across the nation.


The two co-sponsors were Delilah Barrios, Green for governor, and David L. Anderson for TX-22 (primarying Lloyd Doggett).


At least two people who could not get to Austin held their own rallies; one in San Marcos ...


... one in The City Under Seven Flags.


For reasons perhaps mentioned above but to which only they can address, a consortium of Texas orgs chose not to join this march -- indeed, specified their disaffiliation -- but will hold rallies this Thursday evening across the state. TOP, Our Revolution, and others are spreading the word, and a variety of issue-oriented activists as well as DSA and newly-elected municipal officials are speaking.


Besides Oliver and Anderson making another appearance, the roster includes Vanessa Fuentes (Austin CM), Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (San Antonio CM), Jessica Mason (running in a potentially crowded TX-30 Democratic primary to replace the allegedly retiring Eddie Bernice Johnson), and Teri Castillo (also a freshly-minted SA CM). Follow Sofia Sepulveda for updates.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)