Sunday, September 26, 2021

Sunday 'Raising Arizona' Funnies

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Friday, September 24, 2021

Friday's Lone Star Far Left Round-up


Let's do politics first, with Sly Turner in the barrel.  ICYMI:


Turner's not been one of my favorites almost since he was first elected, and these accusations of grifting come from an unimpeachable source in McCasland, who was vaunted for his mission upon appointment, again at the start of Turner's tenure after he (McCasland) lost a Council election.  The mayor makes "avoiding the appearance of impropriety" look worse with this move yesterday.


The old 'we investigated ourselves and found we did nothing wrong' whitewash.  Count on Groogan at Fox, as red as the local newshounds get, to take it as far as he can.  And don't anticipate reading it on OTK anytime soon, as usual.


Both of these orgs studiously ignore the most progressive female they could hope for, who's already running (and has been for awhile).


Which means they think the definition of "progressive" is limited to Democrats.  And that is horseshit.


And as if we needed to be reminded that Eddie Lucio is not a Democrat ...


This update adds Jim Murphy of west Houston to the growing list of bailouts.  A Democrat named Kristi Thibaut was once a candidate for this seat.  I wonder if she, or someone she might endorse, would take on the challenge.

A new episode of The Three Stooges aired yesterday, and I missed it.


I really don't care who wins this primary.  Do You?

How must it feel to be a Trump-endorsed Republican and have lost Tucker Carlson?


Governor Fish Lips' challengers are already whining about equal time.


Annnnd that's all of that I can tolerate.  Moving on to redistricting and other Lege developments; this being the latest.


That sound is Greg Abbott's wheels, spinning as fast as possible to accommodate -- and return to the good graces of -- his daddy.


This has been a good week for insider info.  I highly recommend this piece about my Congresswoman, and these two tweets as well.


I'm also not Fletcher's cheerleader.  I was not exactly shocked to learn that she has ingratiated herself even to Congressional Republicans like Michael McCaul.  Looks like I'm stuck with her unless they draw me out.

Last of the Lege business.


I would also say that I have been surprised by Spectrum News' very fair coverage of the legislative sessions, given their reputation.

A few updates to news items that have previously reported by yours truly earlier this week.


It's been a long time since I posted a "Republicans Behaving Badly".


*Whew* the stench!  Closing today with some book news.

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Thursday, September 23, 2021

Thursday's Wrangle from Far Left Texas


Not enough yesterday to post, and too much today.  Let's begin with Beto.


The math hasn't changed.  The Freedom to Vote Act, watered down to get Joe Manchin's approval but still too injurious to the Greens to get my approval -- not that I matter) still needs ten Republicans ... because Manchin isn't down with killing the filibuster.

Don't take my word for it; do take Ari Berman's.

(O'Rourke) predicted Democrats would lose their congressional majorities if they failed to pass federal legislation protecting voting rights.

“If we, as Democrats or pro-democracy Americans, are not willing to use every tool available to us—while Republicans are using every tool available to them to constrict and reduce and perhaps demolish the right to vote altogether—then we become complicit in the outcome,” he added. “And I’m not in for that one.”

Sounds clear to me.  Joe Biden made his pitch to King Manchin on the $3.5T spending bill last week, got nowhere.  This week he's begging.  So as it relates to busting out the filibuster ... I read this as wishful thinking at best, delusional at worst.

On to redistricting and the rest of the slate at the Lege.


It should come as no surprise that legislators are bailing out; ridiculously long hours, low pay, the frustrations of having to negotiate with freaks -- this can be taken from either extreme, mind you -- quickly leads to burnout.


Two other empty statehouse seats, HD10 and HD118, are holding special elections to fill vacancies as this is published.  And Celia Israel, who postponed her wedding during the quorum break, might enter the scrum for Austin mayor.  She would possibly join former state senator and more recently former dean of U of H's public policy school's Kirk Watson and conservative real estate broker Jennifer Virden, who declared in June.  CM Greg Casar and attorney Adam Loewy are also said to be thinking about running.

More politics in the next post; here's more Lege, new business.


According to this conservative source, COVID funds can't be used to lower taxes.  So once again we see the state's leaders acting defiantly.

Or just stupidly.


This could be stupid or just plain old lying.  Hard to tell.


So ... kinda not surprised at this polling.


More updates on the abortion law include:


And the Texas Standard spoke to Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at UT-Austin, who explains why suits filed against SB8 may not result in a SCOTUS showdown.

Sepper says that when the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to block SB 8, it set up the likelihood that state suits against the law would begin working their way through Texas courts. The Supreme Court could eventually hear one of those cases and could then rule on whether the law is constitutional.

Before that happens, Sepper says Texas courts might look at issues raised by the law, like who can actually file suit.

“SB 8 purports to allow anyone, anywhere to file a lawsuit,” she said. “Texas courts might not be able to go along with that. Usually in order to file a lawsuit you have to have standing, which requires some kind of injury.”

Beyond the standing issue, Sepper says SB 8 effectively bans abortion in the state.

“SB 8 is an unconstitutional law,” Sepper said. “It is unconstitutional because it has banned abortion in the state of Texas, contrary to the basic rule of Roe v. Wade for the last 50 years.”

Sepper says the lawsuits against (San Antonio physician Alan) Braid could move through Texas courts and eventually end up at the U.S. Supreme Court, or a lower court could dispatch the case before that happens.

“It is entirely possible that Texas courts won’t be played in this way, and they will say that these plaintiffs don’t have standing, and that the Legislature does not have the power to grant everyone in the country, or everyone in the state, the ability to use the courts to bounty-hunt against other citizens,” Sepper said.

I'll take that as my segue to these criminal and social justice updates.


As promised earlier, a longer post coming on this disaster.  Here's a couple of environmental pieces.


And since I haven't posted anything about COVID lately ...


(New Mexico reached 70% of its adult population vaccinated this week.  Just two died of invermectin poisoning.  If you're thinking of relocating, there are lots worse places.)

Okay then.  It's a beautiful day, looks like it will be a beautiful weekend.  You should get outside, feel the grass, do something fun, eat some delicious food.

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Tuesday, September 21, 2021

The Taco Tuesday Wrangle from Far Left Texas


Tacos at the end.  Updates to yesterday's Beto/redistricting post and a few new developments make for your early-week reading.


Governor Fish Lips used the invisible hand of the free market to kill the Lincoln Project's ad, scheduled to air during Saturday's UT football game.


And there's an election to fill another open seat in the statehouse going on.


Certain to become a 2022 campaign issue, the Haitian immigrant crisis at the Del Rio border crossing has exploded onto the national scene, and in the worst possible way for Joe Biden.


Lots more on this to come, separately.  At the Lege, as the third special session gets going ...


Note the Confederate flag and the "Pray to End Abortion" sign.  Some of these things are not like the other, except in the Q-hive mind.  Regarding new maps:


And the latest on women's reproductive (severely restricted) rights.


And here is some criminal and social justice news.

The Texas Observer, KXAN's investigative unit, KTEP, and the Fort Worth Report are collaborating on an accounting of the Texas Rangers' failings in prosecuting corruption by public officials (perhaps a result of there being too much on their plate).



And Techdirt references D Magazine's story last month about the Dallas PD's accidental deletion of data, which they kept hidden from the DA's office and City Council for months.

Some climate items.


Formosa Plastics, the Taiwan-based chemical giant, will pay nearly $3 million in fines for violating the Clean Air Act at its Matagorda Bay facility.  The Texas Signal reports that Congressional Democrats from the Lone Star State want federal subsidies for Big Oil and Gas to stay in the Build Back Better Act, the $3.5 trillion spending bill.  And they're catching some deserved hell for it.

“Unlike previous administrations, I don’t think the federal government should give handouts to big oil,” (President Joe) Biden said in January. “And I’m going to be going to the Congress asking them to eliminate those subsidies. We’re going to take money and invest it in clean energy jobs in America -- millions of jobs in wind, solar, and carbon capture.”

[...]

But this week the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee released the latest draft of the tax plan to fund the major spending bill that shows the subsidies for oil & gas companies largely intact.

The move comes after industry lobbying as well as a letter written by seven House Democrats from Texas in support of the subsidies [...] Reps. Henry Cuellar (Laredo), Vicente Gonzalez (McAllen), Lizzie Fletcher (Houston), Marc Veasey (Fort Worth), Filemon Vela (Brownsville), and Sylvia Garcia (Houston).


Biden, as close watchers know, is duplicitous about his green energy commitments.  What's refreshing here is that the Signal goes where other Dem blogs *cough*Kuff*cough* don't (i.e. criticizing Democrats for being hypocrites and sell-outs).  Our Revolution Texas piled on hard.

They had the gall to suggest that not subsidizing obscenely profitable oil and gas corporations with public money constitutes “punitive practices” which would somehow “impede the transition to a low carbon future.” This abused protest by these pro-oil politicians and clearly shows they’re shilling for Big Oil.
And last: as promised at the top ... your lunch and/or dinner suggestion.

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