Photos from Jill Stein's Texas tour

In Denton:

In Houston:

More to come from College Station and Kingwood tomorrow, and Laredo on Wednesday.

Texans' Arian Foster invited to meet Jill Stein in Houston tonight

He has not yet responded to my invitation.

.@ArianFoster If you're actually "in the @GreenPartyUS " then please come to this event in Houston tomorrow night: https://t.co/FO0VTUY4Q6
— PDiddie (@PDiddie) February 22, 2015

The 'actually' part refers to this 2012 NFL Network interview, via Foster's Wikipedia page, where he says he's "in the Green Party"... but indicated he was voting for Ron Paul.  As much as Foster likes to shine on the media, there are several interpretations of what he meant here, one being that "Green" might need to be lower case, and that the color reference could be to money or to marijuana.

Still waiting for clarification from the man on that as well.

After her appearance over the weekend in Denton, you can also meet Dr. Stein in town tonight...

...and on Tuesday afternoon at Texas A&M, Tuesday night at Lone Star College-Kingwood, and on Wednesday evening in Laredo. All the details on times and locations can be found here.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance congratulates Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant on the event of their wedding as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff took issue with the initial reactions to the SD26 special election runoff result.

Light seeker at Texas Kaos continues to take down Fox News and its cynical use of fear, divide & conquer strategies, and false equivalencies. Its tactics are literally tearing us apart. The Fear and Hate Chronicles (Part 2), and Part I can be found here.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme sees the Republican hatred of non-white people is stronger than their need to show off their manly (sic) military muscles. Their ignorance has a price and their plutocrat owners, unfortunately, are not the ones paying.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson explains that tax cuts are for the rich, with tax increases for everyone else in Dan Patrick's world (that we're now all living in): A Slow Migration - Patrick's Tax Swap Scheme.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein's Texas tour now includes College Station and Laredo, in addition to this week's Monday evening and Tuesday appearances in the Houston area. PDiddie's Brains and Eggs has more details.

Texas Leftist marks Sylvester Turner's official entry in to the Houston mayor's race.

Neil at All People Have Value took a nighttime walk. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

================

And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Unfair Park looks into some rather unconventional speakers for Earth Day Texas 2015.

RG Ratcliffe takes a deeper dive into Greg Abbott's campaign finance reports, and Socratic Gadfly points out some additional things we're learning about the new governor.

Carol Morgan tallies the cost of campus carry at Texas Tech University: $7 million.

The Lunch Tray finds another example of craven grandstanding at the expense of children's health.

HOU Equality reminds us that discrimination happens all around us, all the time.

TFN Insider reports from the faith leaders' rally for LGBT rights at the Capitol.

Grits for Breakfast does not see marijuana "legalization", however one defines that, in the cards this year.

Finally, In The 84th looks at the current legislative session in the most logical way, with GIFs and snark.

2016 GOP goombahs ranking and polling

Mahablog:

According to a CNN/ORC poll taken February 12-15, the Republican field currently ranks in this order, top to bottom: Mike Huckabee (seriously?), Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Rand Paul, Ben Carson, Chris Christie or None (tie), Marco Rubio, and Someone Else. Then there’s a four-way tie among Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Unsure. Then comes John Kasich, and finally scraping the bottom at 1 percent each are Bobby Jindal, Lindsey Graham and Carly Fiorina. Note that Bush and Christie were numbers one and two a month ago.  

Christie got roasted by the NYT a couple of days ago.

He does not return phone calls. He does not ask for support. He arrives late for meetings. And he acts as if he has all the time in the world.

The complaints have piled up for weeks, dismaying many longtime supporters of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and sending others into the arms of his rivals for the presidential nomination, according to interviews with more than two dozen Republican donors and strategists.

As a half-dozen other candidates aggressively raise money and chase endorsements in Iowa and New Hampshire, friends and detractors alike say Christie’s view of his status and pre-eminence within the Republican field is increasingly at odds with the picture outside his inner circle.

[...]

Some supporters critical of the governor’s campaign blame what they call “the Christie bubble,” a tight-knit group of advisers who have known him for years and have worked for him through most of his tenure in Trenton. Virtually impenetrable to newcomers, this small group is seen as effective at home but also now as shielding him too closely from the realities of a competitive national campaign. Even after the George Washington Bridge lane closings and the resulting scandal, and amid a continuing federal investigation, Christie has not broadly expanded (the number of his closest advisers).

Big Boy is still running third in Erick Erickson's primary, though.  Via Jon Tilove...

According to the RedState Presidential Power Rankings, Cruz now ranks seven among the top ten potential Republican presidential candidates.

Saving you the click-over to the guy who made history by coining the term "Abortion Barbie", the rest of his top 10 go like this, from the top: Jeb, Walker, then Fat Bastard, Rand, Rubio (LOL), Huckabee, Poop Cruz in seventh, and then Piyush Jindal (LMAO), Carson, and in tenth, Oops Perry.

Wanna see some of the polling they aggregated?

• Christopher Newport University (Virginia) (1/30/15-2/10/15) – Bush 21, Walker 16, Huckabee 10, Christie 10, Carson 9, Paul 9, Rubio 6, Ryan (Woo hoo!) 5, Cruz 3, Kasich 3, Jindal 2, Perry 1
• NBC News/Marist (South Carolina) (February) – Lindsay Graham 17 (LOL), Bush 15, Walker 12, Huckabee 10, Carson 10, Paul 7, Christie 6, Rubio 4, Perry 4, Santorum 3, Cruz 1
• NBC News/Marist (Iowa) (February) – Huckabee 17, Bush 16, Walker 15, Christie 9, Paul 7, Rubio 6, Carson 6, Santorum 5, Perry 4, Cruz 2
• NBC News/Marist (New Hampshire) (February) – Bush 18, Walker 15, Paul 14, Christie 13, Huckabee 7, Carson 7, Cruz 6, Rubio 6, Perry 1, Santorum 1

Bush, Walker, Huckabee.  Looks like a trend somebody predicted a week ago.

Update (2/23): In the most recent TexTrib poll, Scott Walker is statistically tied with Ted Cruz at the lead.

"Don't Know" is third.  We know you don't know, RPT.  We know.

Sunday Funnies

Houston 2015 elections: Of conflicts, and conflicts of interest

-- Sly makes it official.  Still the betting favorite, IMHO.

-- Via Charles, the grumbling about Harris County Democratic Chairman Lane Lewis juggling party politics and a city council bid has gone public.

There's enough at both those links to absorb, but what slipped mostly under the radar was this complaint in Project Q last month from AL1 entrant Jenifer Rene Pool.  Actually Wayne mentioned it in cautious tones when it broke, and TransGriot seemed a little irritated about it, but other than that, nothing else written about it since.  A lot whispered below the level of my impaired hearing, I'm sure...

Repeating myself, I'll support Lewis in AL1 and suggest that every other Democrat would be wise to run elsewhere, lest a repeat of AL3 in 2013 -- a runoff between Mike Kubosh and Roy Morales after the Dems canceled each other out -- occurs again.

As to whether he should hurry up and quit his chairmanship, that would be perilous at this time for the local Democrats.  Lewis' chief of staff, Diana Patino, just left this week to go to work for Sen. John Whitmire.  The ugly self-inflicted wounds from 2014's debacle barely have scabs, and with the lingering resentments over Battleground Texas' promises/effort/coordination with the county party, less disarray and not more is what is needed now.

So I think Lewis should stay where he is and make the call himself when to hand off to someone else, an heir not being readily apparent to me at the moment.  Much jockeying regarding that is undoubtedly happening outside my view.

Update: Texpate doesn't agree, and wants him to quit as a condition of supporting his council bid.  This is too harsh a demand, in my opinion.

-- Frankly I am delighted to see Jew Don Boney run for city controller against Carroll Robinson.  They have squared off before, and it wasn't pretty.  No matter his own bumpy history, I will be pleased to support former councilman Boney's campaign -- unless I vet the potential candidates for a better one -- because Robinson is not only shady himself but also aligned with the absolute worst political mafia in Houston politics.  I'm looking at you again, Hector Carreno, you slug.  And Reps. Miles and Thompson, you should know better.

But this "lesser of two evils" option once again might let the Republican slip into office.

-- This fellow seems like a qualified individual, but he's playing that "give me money while I decide which seat I want to run for" game.  He also drew hosannas from some of the most conservative Democrats I know, which makes me instantly suspicious.  I'll give Mr. McCasland the benefit of the doubt for now, as his early years suggest he has empathy for the poorest among us.  All of the Bill White connections -- his and those speaking in his favor -- rub me the wrong way, though.  White, for his part, is already (allegedly) supporting Adrian Garcia for mayor.  Big fat red X.

The best source for following what's going in Houston politics is Teddy Schleifer's Twitter feed.

Update: Mimi Swartz's take in Texas Monthly is a good place to catch up if you didn't get on in the beginning, with a couple of tasty morsels like this.

And what about Houston’s large and well-organized LGBT population? “(Chris) Bell has the money gays, Turner has the activist gays,” one observer told me.  [...]

Then there are the white power brokers, those guys who used to call the shots. They remember nostalgically the one-call-away days of mayors Lanier and White, particularly the latter, whose Harvard degree, financial acumen, and sophistication seemed so neatly matched with their vision of a modern city on the rise. Torn now between a questionably loyal (Bill) King and a foot-dragging (Stephen) Costello, the bigwigs are turning from disappointment to despair. Their inability to come up with a world-beater of their own is striking.

Put another way, this race has the potential to evolve into something akin to Bonfire on the Bayou, with the city’s diverse factions warring with one another and within their own ranks.

[...]

... (Annise) Parker’s endorsement might be of questionable value. One day she is said to be leaning toward longtime ally Turner, another day toward Councilman Costello, whose practical, just-show-me-the-numbers approach to city government is closest to her own.

Don't say 'legalize', say 'decriminalize'

Grits.

Judging from the press, the Marijuana Policy Project's lobby day at the Texas Capitol (this past Wednesday) appears to have gone well. See coverage here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Much of the coverage mentioned the professional presentation of lobby-day participants in contrast to stoner stereotypes, which is a good sign, though some reporters still can't discuss the issue without giggling. Happily, it sounds from the coverage like Speaker Joe Straus may be open to allowing bills reducing penalties for low-level marijuana possession to get a vote on the House floor. Bills to that effect have cleared committee in the past but never seem to get set on the House floor calendar.

Meanwhile the press, in reductionist fashion, continues to frame most marijuana issues as being about "legalization." However, though a majority of Texans support that, that's not what's at stake this legislative session. Instead, the bill with the most momentum appears to be Rep. Joe Moody's legislation to create a civil penalty for low-level pot possession, a move which would have kept nearly 65,000 people last year from being arrested and taken to jail while still punishing them. Other legislation by Rep. Harold Dutton and Gene Wu would reduce penalties for small amounts to a Class C misdemeanor.

Sen, Kevin Eltife (R-Tyler) and Rep. Stephanie Klick (R- Fort Worth) have each filed a bill to allow medical marijuana to be allowed specifically for certain epilepsy cases.  Rep. Elliott Naishtat has also carried the decriminalization water for several sessions.

In 2009 a Houston city council candidate who sought my counsel wanted to push for a city ordinance in favor of legal dope.  What I told him is what you see in the headline here.  Six years later, with four states (WA, OR, AK, and CO) and the District of Columbia having legalized, ten states (CA, NV, MN, NY, ME, MA, DE, MD, VT, and RI) having both decriminalized and allowed medical cannabis to be sold and consumed, another nine states (NM, AZ, MT, MI, IL, NH, NJ, DE, Hawaii) and the territory of Guam allowing legal medical marijuana only, and another four states (NE, OH, NC, MS) and the US Virgin Islands having decriminalized pot possession laws ... the rest of the states, including Texas, still sit in prohibition.

As Grits argued in a recent guest column in the Dallas Morning News, I don't view such bills through a "legalization" lens so much as from a "less government" perspective. Jails are a major driver of county property taxes. And, "If you want to cut the budget in a meaningful, sustainable way, you must identify something government is currently doing that costs money and choose not to do it."

Choosing to stop arresting and jailing pot smokers and paying for their indigent defense costs fits that bill precisely. Bottom line: If you want government to cost less, make it do less stuff. And this is one of those things the Legislature could just let the locals stop doing. 

Even though it became an issue in the Harris County district attorney race last year -- the Democratic challenger proposed decriminalizing possession in late July; the Republican incumbent followed suit by the beginning of October --  a Harris County poll released a couple of weeks before Election Day last November (right at the start of the early voting period)  showed 49% opposing legalization versus 43% who favored it.  But as to decriminalizing it, 62% were in favor, and just 29% were against.

Across Texas -- a year ago and according to the TexTrib -- the numbers are much more favorable to legal weed (in some form).

The executive director at the Marijuana Policy Project says 2019 will be the year something finally happens in Texas; he made that prediction last June in the Baker Institute's blog, where the rest of those geniuses are all over the place with their predictions.  And as reported here previously, the US attorney general-designate, Loretta Lynch, stands opposed to all of it: decriminalization, approval for medicinal purposes, and certainly legalization.

The bottom line here in Deep-In-The Hearta is that we're probably still a long way -- as in a few legislative sessions -- from easing the penalties for possession of a few joints, or even so much as allowing its medical use, because progress always makes Texas its last stop.

Who'd like to see me wrong in my prediction?  Hold up your lighters and yell "Free Bird!"

Update: RG Ratcliffe, now blogging at Paul Burka's place, asks the right question: 'Would Texas legalize marijuana if Walmart wanted it?'

Probably the biggest obstacle to the legalization of medical marijuana is the fear that people might have fun through inebriation. And that got me thinking about how Alexis Bortell and Walmart are sort of the same -- only different. Perhaps I think that because of the $435,000 that Walmart heiress Alice Walton poured into Texas political campaigns last year. I couldn’t find any donations from Alexis or her family. There also is a difference between Alexis and Walmart because the inebriating product Walmart is pushing in this year’s Legislature already is legal.

[...]

I don’t want to argue for or against legalizing marijuana or medical marijuana. But I do want to ask the question: Why can’t Alexis get some tender loving care and some THC if Walmart gets its package stores? 

Update (2/24): Charles hints that the Eltife/Klick bills might have the greatest chance of passage this session.  Alexis Bortell's parents find no solace in the current nomenclature, however.  The two opposing views...

“I have been talking to a number of members that feel like this is a way to separate those that want to see the therapeutic benefits of the substance without the potential for abuse,” said Klick, who is a registered nurse. “As is, [these oils] have no street value and no psychoactive effect. If we bump that ratio up, I think we will lose support.” 

Klick said there will also be a loss of political support if her bill is expanded to include other ailments, such as cancer, Crohn's disease or Lou Gehrig's disease.

[...]

As the bill is written, it stands to lose the support of Alexis Bortell, whose story has made national news and struck an emotional chord in Texas. In 2013, when Alexis was 7, she had her first seizure in the family's home in Rowlett, near Dallas. Since then, doctors have struggled to find medication that would offer her relief. 

“As the legislation is written now, Alexis would only be able to use CBD if we could show that there were no other FDA-approved treatments available to her,” said Dean Bortell, a U.S. Navy veteran and computer programmer. “That means trying several dangerous pharmaceuticals that she has already had a bad reactions to. The second one she tried she had trouble with, and we were far below the maximum dosage.”

I repeat: nothing is going to happen with weed this go-round.