Monday, November 18, 2019

The Weekly Wrangle

With the weekly round-up of blog posts, Tweets, and news from around and about our Great State, the Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you not to use your official letterhead envelopes to hold your cocaine.  Just in case you lose one at the airport.


The execution of Rodney Reed was stayed by court order.


As Democratic presidential candidates prepare to debate on Wednesday in Atlanta, neither of the two Texans will be on stage.  Beto O'Rourke's exit and Julián Castro's inability to meet the polling qualification leaves the Latinx vote in flux, both nationally and in the Lone Star State.


More immediate election news is also occupying Texas writers' interest.



Kuff did a series on who's filing to run in 2020: for Congress, statewide, and SBOE, Senate, and the Lege.  The filing deadline is December 10.

With the impeachment hearings taking center stage, a handful of Texas bloggers focused on the president.  G. Elliott Morris found some data that caught the cultural wave flipping Obama supporters to Trump (hint: for those about to rock, we don't salute you).  Paradise in Hell is trying to learn the lessons of the Trump regime.  Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer noted the local connection to Trump minion Mina Chang.  And the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding Trump's ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy.



In other state capital news, the Texas Signal reminds us that redistricting technology does not have to be used for evil purposes, and the TSTA Blog explores the myth of the Texas Lottery.



Egberto Willies blogged about the National Organization for Women's rally in Houston, "Unlock the Future for Women and Girls", and has some video of the fireside chat ahead of it: "Organizing in the Face of Resistance".  The Rivard Report covers the Texas Mobility Summit in San Antonio.

Kanye West's appearance at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church created something of a frenzy.





SocraticGadfly looks at the growing number of "Nones" and ponders the possible First Amendment implications, along with offering his own hopes.

Time to wrap up another Wrangle with some lighter news from last week.




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Sunday, November 17, 2019

Sunday Funnies








White has long been a key spiritual adviser to Trump who believes that she makes the White House “holy ground” simply by her presence.





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Friday, November 15, 2019

The Weekly Twenty Twenty Non-Impeachment Update

All you could ever want right over there. --->>>

Here, it's The Billionaires Strike Back Week.  First things first, though.


Candidates who met the polling and fundraising requirements set by the Democratic National Committee are former Vice President Joe Biden; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; California Sen. Kamala Harris; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; billionaire businessman and activist Tom Steyer; Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

Regrettably, IMO, no Julián Castro.

Last week the Democratic former San Antonio mayor’s team slashed staff in two early states. Last month he threatened to end his White House bid if he didn’t raise $800,000 in the final 10 days of October -- a goal he narrowly hit.

His campaign insists he’s not exiting the race now, but staying afloat with months to go before February’s Iowa caucus will be a tall task. The debates, in a sense, have been one of the few places for Castro to make his mark on the national stage in an attempt to boost his campaign’s poll numbers and fundraising.

Now with that no longer an option, his campaign is suggesting that it no longer sees having a national platform as a must. Instead, it’s staking its hopes on a strong finish in Iowa, Nevada, and his home state of Texas.

His voice -- and notably his debate points scored against rivals -- will be sorely missed.

While Castro has targeted Nevada and Texas in large part because he hopes he can appeal to their diverse populations, Iowa’s Democratic electorate is overwhelmingly white. And if Castro were to finish in a strong position in Iowa, he’d need to quickly pivot to New Hampshire, the second primary state, which is also disproportionately white and where he recently shuttered his campaign.

[...]

Perhaps in a nod to the challenges he has faced as a candidate of color in the first two primary states, Castro said over the weekend that the order of the primaries should change.


This was in stark contrast to his good friend Liz Warren's "I'm just a player in the game" retort to Amy Goodman, at the Environmental Justice forum last week.  Plenty of people were quick to play the race card; Castro, in pointing out the hypocrisy of the Democrats' primary schedule, just exposed the party's unawakened bias.  That's too much to unpack there for this blog post, however, so I'll leave it to further rumination on your part, reader,  and that of others.

W/r/t to Castro: if Michael Bloomberg or Deval Patrick or, for that matter, any of Bennet or Bullock or Delaney or Messam or Sestak or Williamson actually believe they have a path to -- or even a perceivable mathematical chance at reaching -- the White House, then round those percentages up to the nearest whole number, add them together, give them all to Julián, and he'd have a rightful, righteous shot at being the first Latino president.  Ifs and buts, candy and nuts, Merry Xmas.

I still say he's Warren's veep if she wins the nom.  Biden or Sanders will tap a woman of color.

-- Nowhere is the pale alabaster blandness of the Hawkeye State more evident than in the 'surge' of BootEdgeEdge.  "The strong vanilla flavor of his political porridge".  I just threw up, and not a little, and not just in my mouth.

-- Since we're taking our Zofran, let's check in with Hillary Clinton at the funny farm.

“I will certainly tell you, I’m under enormous pressure from many, many, many people to think about (running for president in 2020)”.

"Doctor, I recommend increasing her dosage of tiapride."




-- Jokes aside, let's get Hillary in the hot tub with Bloomberg and Patrick.  It's not as if they're taking any votes away from Bernie, after all.


Now with all of these new shitlibs crowding in to replace the ones that are dropping out, there are some Berners fretting about super delegates and second ballots at the convention and Bernie getting robbed again.  I can all but guarantee if that happens, then what is happening in Hong Kong right now -- and for that matter Bolivia, and France, and Chile, and a few other places  -- will look like a Gay Pride parade compared to the streets of Milwaukee next summer.

-- I really do like North Korea's way with words.  A 'rabid dog' that needs to be 'beaten to death with a stick'.  I wouldn't go that far -- I like dogs -- but Biden is surely a 'doddering old mummy with a skull full of dumpster juice'.


--Once again wrapping a snarky Update with good news from the best candidate.

Bernie's immigration plan: Abolish ICE, make DACA recipients legal

Bernie's Green New public housing plan:

Dubbed the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, the proposal aims to transform the entire stock of public housing in the US, 1.2 million units, into energy-efficient homes powered by onsite renewable energy. Authors say the bill would create about 240,000 jobs per year and reduce greenhouse emissions equivalent to taking 1.2 million cars off the road.

Corporate media can black him out all they like.  His message is getting through anyway, and it is resonating with people.

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Monday, November 11, 2019

The 'Winter is Coming' Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly round-up of the best lefty blog posts, news, and Tweets about and around the Great State is woefully late -- and abbreviated -- today due to doctors' appointments and preparations for the incoming cold front.  (Will be adding to this post tomorrow.)


The battle between the state of Texas and the parents of Luna Younger, first reported in last week's Wrangle, has become a national story.

Amber Briggle, writing for TIME, excoriates Ken Paxton for being a hypocrite and violating the "privacy and safety" of a trans child.


In another case that has received nationwide attention, the fate of Rodney Reed still lies in the hands of a mute Greg Abbott.  Reed's growing support network has been anything but silent. 



Houston's muni elections shift into runoff overdrive, and Kuff gave his initial thoughts.  PDiddie at Brains and Eggs made predictions in the races in three separate posts, with a fourth on the alphabet districts still to come.

With some 2020 presidential developments, SocraticGadfly offers a trifecta of Green Party stories. First, he talks about the big hot mess the nomination process has become and why.  Second, he says Jill Stein is slouching further toward Gomorrah with her apparent support for one ticket.  Third, he looks at the financial and ballot difficulties in running as a Green.  And PDiddie also had his weekly update, with Beto out and Bloomberg in, a new Libertarian declaring, and an early preview of the next Democratic debate on November 20.




In the wake of the state's takeover of HISD, the TEA has scheduled community hearings this week to explain what's happened, and what happens next.

Dan Solomon at Texas Monthly adds some context to that Atlantic story about Texas secessionists.


Therese Odell at Foolish Watcher takes a break from documenting all things impeachment to highlight the appearance of Donald Trump Jr. and his ex-Fox News girlfriend on The View.

Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer reminds us that our old pal Rick Perry is now a key figure in the whole Ukraine debacle.



TransGriot looks forward to the 20th anniversary of Transgender Day of Remembrance.

And the TPA is saddened by news of the death of transgender activist Nikki Araguz Loyd.


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Sunday, November 10, 2019

Sunday Funnies












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Saturday, November 09, 2019

The Weekly Twenty Twenty Update

YouGov is polling Texans right now on the Democratic presidential primary and Senate race, so look for some fresh numbers, post-Beto, shortly.  The survey includes this question:

-- "I would prefer to support a candidate who is willing to take on established interests to fight for big ideas and pass legislation that will bring about larger changes"

-- "I would prefer to support a candidate who is willing to compromise with Republicans to work together and pass legislation that will bring about incremental changes"

Those are the choices, aren't they?  The two answers to the question, besides 'do nothing and see what happens' (the GOP answer).

At a moment in history when the science concludes that our Earth is within 12 years of being uninhabitable; when hundreds of people die every day because they cannot afford to go see a doctor or pay for their medicine; when one generation, or class, or creed says to another, "If you will just wait ! ..." when there is no time left; when waiting means dying ... then the philosophical divide -- the political division -- comes into tighter focus.

I've always felt it was about empathy.  Conservatives have little to none, centrist liberals have some to varying degrees, and progressives have ... well, too much for our own good at times.  This is why Bernie Sanders speaks to me when he says: "Will you fight for someone you do not know?"

Because he always has.

On to the horse race.



"OK Bloomer" was a big hit briefly, for flowers, bread, and old-fashioned underwear.  For the billionaire who has reconsidered his withdrawal from the primary?  Not so much.

Sneaky Pete also had a bad week.



What he's offering is yet another bastardization of the word 'progressive'.


**APPLAUSE**


Makes me long for video of Amy Klobuchar eating a salad with a comb.

But the best snark came from sad/mad Betocrats under the at-least-initially-serious hashtag #PeteforGovernor.


And *BOOM*



Hard to top all of this with some serious news, but I'll give it a go.

Billionaires Behaving Badly:



It's not Elizabeth Warren that all of these wealthy people, Wall Street, etc. are worried about.  She's just a strawman for Bernie.  Allow Hillary Clinton to demonstrate.



Which begs the question ...


Not snark.  Totally serious.

Couple more things.

On November 1, Jacob G. Hornberger declared for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination. He is better known than the other declared candidates for that nomination. In 2000 he sought the party’s presidential nomination, losing to Harry Browne. For many decades he has headed the Future of Freedom Foundation.

Hornberger hails originally from Laredo.

We know about Facebook's refusals to police lying in political advertising on their platform, and via Election Law Blog's Rick Hasen ...

Issue One’s latest report, “Digital Disaster: The failures of Facebook, Google, and Twitter’s political ad transparency policies,” reveals how piecemeal, voluntary approaches by the largest social media platforms to stop disinformation campaigns fail to protect our political system from foreign interference.

As the report shows clearly, the companies’ political ad transparency policies are a mess, and they do not measure up to the existing standards governing political ads on broadcast television and radio or the guidelines set by the bipartisan Honest Ads Act. The databases of political ads that they’ve created to help the public monitor digital ad spending in U.S. elections are also deeply flawed.

Yes, yes, don't believe everything you read online.  And certainly don't retweet or republish it on Facebook if it's a questionable source.


Their heads are quite clearly not in their hands.

Don't we have more important things to worry about, anyway?

This book should be a best-seller.

And hey, we've got ten for the debate in eleven days (but not Castro, unfortunately).

The clock is ticking for Democratic presidential contenders hoping to make the fifth debate on November 20 -- just 4 days left to qualify-- and the sixth debate on Dec. 19. And a new survey of the Iowa caucuses by Quinnipiac University has given two candidates the final qualifying poll they need. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard got 3 percent support in the new poll, which qualifies her for the November debate, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar earned 5 percent, putting her on the December stage. By our count, this means 10 candidates have now made the fifth debate and six have qualified for the sixth, so let’s check in to see where things stand for the other candidates.

First up, the November debate. It looks as if Gabbard might be the last candidate to qualify by the Nov. 13 deadline. Of the six other “major” candidates who haven’t yet qualified but are still in the race, not one has a single qualifying poll for the fifth debate. Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro has met the donor threshold, but he’s had no such luck in the polling department, so watch out -- Castro might drop out soon, as he has said it will be “the end of my campaign” if he doesn’t make the stage.

One thing driving the pundits' yaps furiously is where Beto's support may be going.  It seems clear it won't be going to Boot Edge Edge.
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Friday, November 08, 2019

Houston's runoffs, part 2

Blog posting schedule: today will also include another lengthy 2020 Update, with (perhaps) the third part of Houston's runoffs tomorrow, the Funnies on Sunday, and Monday's regularly slated Wrangle.

============= 


Space City could have five Democrats sitting in the At-Large seats around the Bagby horseshoe come January 1, 2020, or five Republicans.  Or some combination of the two, if a bunch of bipartisan weirdos split their votes.


The current conservative faction of Mike Knox, Michael Kubosh, and Jack Christie have held a 3-2 edge, reflecting what liberals hope is the evaporating trend of suburbanites voting Republican.  (Even Dennis Bonnen said so, after all.)  In AL 1, Democratic turnout pushed Cowboy Knox -- he has friends who are black; scroll down -- into a runoff with hard-working millennial Raj Salhotra, who represents in every single fashion the progress Houston needs to take entering the next decade.

The AL 2 runoff is a carbon copy of 2015, with ultra-conservative pastor Willie Davis squaring off again with incumbent CM David Robinson.  This one isn't a brainer.

AL 3 features another odious conservative, Michael Kubosh, who has done the best job of scamming African Americans out of their votes of any Republican in the city.  It's truly remarkable how much hypocrisy he's been able to get away with.  If you want to know when this long con began, start here (hint: red light camera ordinance, feeding the homeless ordinance.  Thanks, Annise!).  Janaeya Carmouche is just the woman to end this madness.

And At Large 4 offers H-Town voters a similarly stark choice between a regressive, inexperienced, unqualified Republican running against a talented, capable African American woman: Anthony Dolcefino versus Leticia Plummer.  Previously blogged, there is just no sense in voting for a young man whose residence is listed as a couch in his dad's office to represent nearly five million of us.  His dad is looney toons, and that's who'll be calling the shots here.

Christie will be replaced with either the highly competent establishment Democrat, Sallie Alcorn, or the ridiculous Republican Eric Dick -- laughable not just because of his surname.

Alcorn, to quote Beto O'Rourke, seems to have been born for municipal service.  She has served the past decade with 3 CMs -- Pam Holm, Steve Costello, Greg Travis --  and Costello as 'flood czar'.  She also worked with Chris Bell when he was the Congress critter for the 25th, from 2003-05.  That's one of the largest piles of bipartisan credibility you'll find on your ballot in any year.

You might note that two of those bosses are Republicans, and the other two might as well be.  That's H-Town government for ya.  While Alcorn may be Charles Kuffner's or John Cobarruvias' idea of  the best representative of the people in public service, in my iteration as DSA/Green/Berniecrat/whatever, I endorsed Ashton Woods early on in this race for the change at City Hall I believe is needed.  But Alcorn is quite obviously knowledgeable about the inner workings of municipal government and should be a most capable member of Council.

None of the above, as everyone knows, could be said of Dick.  Vote for Ms. Alcorn in AL 5.

Republicans will be strongly motivated in turning out the vote for Crazy Pants Richie Rich Buzbee and this slate of freaks above.  Kubosh in particular sells himself as a check-and-balance against Mayor Turner's so-called worst instincts.  In the first round last week I voted for more progressive candidates, but the choices above would keep the city on the road to progress, and the wrong ones won't.  Let's flip these seats and get going on the changes we know need to be made.

Lagging behind with these, so the rest will come after the Weekly D-2020 Update.
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