Showing posts sorted by date for query texan of year. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query texan of year. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Saturday, September 11, 2021

The 2022 dilemma for Texas Democrats


Not sure where to start, so for what few Team Blue friends I have left, I'll ease into this with some recent reporting (which, both inside and outside the state, has been terrific all year).  Jim Henson, whom regular followers know conducts the polling for UT and the TexTrib, does my aggregating.


You could stop with those two pieces if you didn't want your sensibilities offended by what comes next.  But I try as hard as I can to tell the truth here.  And the truth is brutal.


Toonist Mike Fluggenock's excerpt from The Atlantic above implies what I've been saying for awhile now: there will be no Congressional relief from the ravages of SB1 (or SB8), and the litigal and judicial remedies are far away and uncertain as hell.



And with redistricting teed up, Dems in Texas are in deep doo-doo.


Some of those who would be most likely to break the quarter-century losing streak at the statewide level -- Beto, a Castro -- realize these circumstances, and will not respond to the exhortations of those who wish to hang their hopes on someone, anyone, which without the FTP Act or a liberal SCOTUS would be more of an albatross around their neck than a laurel wreath on their head.

Still, it seems the best-connected TexDonks don't understand this.


Read the whole thing and weep (if you care, that is) at the elitist white privilege.


There's more, and it's worse.


Read all the replies. It turns out that "literally" does not mean literally.

This might be less embarrassing for Evan if no Democrat was actually running for Texas governor, but there are three listed here and a few more possibles here.  What Evan and Harold and others such as Charles Kuffner mean is both heavily insinuated and plainly stated: you're not worthy of consideration unless you can raise the millions of dollars necessary to hire political consultants to tell you what to do, who will earn commissions from TV, radio, and direct mail media buys, and so on and so forth.

As if this was the model of success for Texas Democrats over the past 25 years.  Repeating myself again: if Greg Abbott loses in 2022, it will be in the Republican primary, and 'money raised' won't have a got damn thing to do with it.

Abbott raised $2.27M during the first special session. His largest contributors for the period were Houston foundation president Nancy Kinder ($250K), Midland investor Douglas Scharbauer ($100K) and San Antonio alcoholic beverage distributor Alan Dreeben ($75K).

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Speaker Dade Phelan, Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton, Comptroller Glenn Hegar, Land Comm. George P. Bush (running for AG against Paxton), Agriculture Comm. Sid Miller and Railroad Comm. Wayne Christian -- all also on the GOP primary ballot in 2022 -- raised $450K combined during the same period.

Former Republican Party of Texas chair Allen West raised $404K during the period, including $160K from Lake Forest, Ill. shipping supply company owner Richard Uihlein. Texans supplied 42% of West’s contribution total. In addition to Uihlein, West raised $73K from out-of-state donors.

(Since I'm on this topic -- and since Chuckles Kuffner doesn't seem to be reporting it yet -- Lee Merritt, one of the two Democrats running for the right to take on Paxton in the fall of 2022, collected more than all of the AG GOP contenders combined.  So there's that.)


Still, Progress Texas keeps throwing out wish lists.


I simply don't think anyone who broke quorum and then slinked back to the Capitol -- that excuses Gilberto Hinojosa's daughter -- is going to be running for a promotion to the Mansion.  I could of course be mistaken.


There's a link in that story with a list, Do.

Remember: Kuff is the one who said this was always going to happen, so I suppose he's not as upset about it as others.  The Vote Blue No Matter Poo crew is like that.


I. Am. Not. Falling. For the Banana. In the Tailpipe. Trick. Again.

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Thursday, August 26, 2021

Voter Suppression Day Wrangle *update


Update 2 (8/27):


Hold the phone ...


I'll check back in tomorrow evening (with a fresh post).

Update 1:


Original post:


Follow the action at the #TXLege hashtag or in my Tweet feed at the top right. In other news ...


Yes, the very bad is upon us, with the worst to come.


On this travesty, there is considerable pushback.


Others, not so much.  And new dangers loom.


With a few political updates:


Dowd would be primarying Mike Collier if he takes the leap; another Republican turned Democrat.  Moldy Caucasian conservatives are about all Texas Dems are good for any longer, I guess.

Here's the latest from the southern border.


Beginning my segment on the environment with an anniversary.


With a new storm brewing and taking aim at the Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast, keep in mind that personal responsibility is all you can count on in our headlong rush to "freedumb".  Take all necessary precautions now.


COVID, and then criminal justice news.


A union update:


And two calm-me-downs.

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Tuesday, July 06, 2021

Pre-Special Wrangle

Maneuvering for perceived advantage in the forthcoming 30-day special legislative session is in high gear, and among the developments to watch is, as Harvey Kronberg at Quorum Report has noted, the level of trust shown between Abbott, Patrick, and Phelan.

With his veto, (the governor) has terminated an entire support staff for an independent branch of government by vetoing funding. He has suggested he will not put Article X back on the agenda until he gets legislation he wants. In other words, the governor is offering a financial quid pro quo in exchange for specific legislative performance.

Democrats have filed a case with the Texas Supreme Court. Unlike most of what they do, there is no tort issue involved so we are unlikely to find a wink and a nod from their primary benefactors at TLR. And while some of the justices are serious people fully comprehending the precedent they will be setting, they are still under the thrall of the state’s current financial power structure.

That's all we get from Harvey w/o a subscription.  But it's enough to suggest that there may be some conservatives coming back to Austin with a chip on their shoulder ... just like all the Dems.  It's worth mentioning that two former Speakers and one previous lieutenant governor -- two of them Republicans -- have weighed in via amicus brief at the SCOTX against Abbott's veto.

So I'm anxious to see how, and how quickly, that goes.  In the meantime, if you'd like a briefing on the upcoming special, join Every Texan on Facebook tomorrow.


Lt. Dan and his Schutzstaffel at the Texas Public Policy Foundation stayed busy during the interim practicing their Lone Star-styled fascism.


Scott Braddock examined Patrick's deep and abiding convictions about "freedom of speech".  The Dallas Observer updated us on the latest assault on free speech being committed by Collin College trustees.  And Robert Rivard reviewed our state's long history of suppressing the vote, a topic given yet more urgency with the SCOTUS decision last week.


Among the items I'd like to see the governor add to the special session call are medical cannabis and Medicaid expansion.  Both have widespread public support.


Previewing my environmental post:


I'm amazed that Ted Cruz missed this list.  Not so much that none of our Texas Congresspersons found the courage to mention it; neither did the president.


Here's a look at the latest in social justice news ahead of a longer post.


Stace at Dos Centavos also had some thoughts about DA Ogg and Dr. Gokal.

David Collins highlighted the Texas Green Party's state meeting.  Houston mayoral also-ran Bill King thinks the answer is a new centrist party, aimed at Democrats disaffected with the liberal wing (LOL) and anti-Trump Republicans.

I have a lot more to get to before Lege coverage once again takes center stage.  Until then, here's the lighter-side items.

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Monday, June 21, 2021

The Monday Wrangle from Far Left Texas


We're still reading cabrito entrails from the session just past.


And reacting to Governor Wheels' latest temper tantrum/diversion.


As well as the rest of the nutty Tejas fringe.


Here's a few posts from yesterday's rally at the Capitol.


Greg Abbott is never going to be above petty maneuvering.


The Texas Signal sums up the next moves.


I do not favor passage of the For The People Act because of its onerous penalties to minor parties.

HR 1, also known as the “For The People Act,” is sold as a way to get money out of politics and to protect voters, but it contains several poison pills for democracy and opposition parties like the Green Party. Most alarmingly, HR1 quintuples the amount of money Green presidential campaigns will be required to raise to qualify for federal matching funds: from $5,000 in each of 20 states to $25,000 per state. Other poison pills in HR1 would:

1. Abolish the general election campaign block grants that parties can access by winning at least 5% of the vote in the previous presidential election. HR1 would eliminate this provision that was created to give a fair shot to alternative parties that demonstrate significant public support.

2. Replace the general election block grants (where each qualified candidate receives a set, lump sum of public funding for campaign expenses) with matching funds through Election Day -- a huge step backwards for public campaign finance reform -- using the above-mentioned criteria designed to squeeze out alternative parties and independent candidates.

3. Eliminate the limits on donations and expenditures candidates can receive and make. What kind of campaign finance reform is that?

4. Inflate the amount of money national party committees can give to candidates from $5000 to $100 million, an astonishing increase of 1999900% that would give party bosses virtually unlimited power to flood elections with big money.

And Joe Manchin's efforts to sell it -- and anything else -- to his good friends in the Senate Republican Caucus got caught in Mitch McConnell's wedge politics.


And we already know that Texas Democrats can't play any fairer when it comes to the Texas Green Party than the TXGOP plays with them.


So as I mentioned, it's best for TexDems and best for democracy if they have DOJ sue, get the courts to suspend the laws the TXGOP passes until the SCOTUS rules (which will be a year from now at the earliest), and hope for the best.  In the meantime, do what they should have been doing all along: blockwalking, voter registration, GOTV.  The Pukes did that during the pandemic, after all.

And think about replacing that tired old Padron chairman with a Black woman.

Here's a few scenes from Juneteenth.


This program was expertly done, with both Houston and Galveston's history, conversations with activists, and a lot more you did not know.  Highly recommended viewing.  And here's a blast from Dallas' past celebrations.


And an online event today.


Finally, let's not forget that Juneteenth did not celebrate the end of slavery.  It marked the day when the US Army sailed into Galveston harbor and told Texans that slavery had ended two years before, and to cut it out.  And Texas -- and a lot of other states -- didn't.  And still don't.


Bud Kennedy at the Star-Telegram wrote about how a 1939 Fort Worth race riot sparked Opal Lee’s long effort for a Juneteenth federal holiday.  And Kimiya Factory for the San Antonio Report tells why she celebrates.

I think that catches me up to current.  I'll go back and pick up my environmental and social and criminal justice news in posts I said I would get to earlier in short order.  Here's today's soothers.

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Wednesday, June 02, 2021

The king is dead. Long live the king

Mood.


Indeed, Alexa Ura tweets for all of us, and about the entire legislative session now finally over.  It was not a slog or a grind, it was a death march.  And like all Trails of Tears, the trauma continues long after they end.


Biden's passed the buck to VP Harris, who's already trying to escape the last quagmire he dumped in her lap (the border crisis).  And as long as Joe Manchin is king of the Senate, how much do you think is going to happen?  Really, we can have voting rights or the filibuster, and the status quo means 59-41 is still a losing score for Senate Democrats.

Good times.

Meanwhile Supreme Commander Abbott will strike out the pay of those who labored through this 140-day nightmare ...


... and if you thought he had finished off all his Haterade, you had better think again.


After securing Trump's endorsement in his 2022 re-election bid -- neutering Sid Miller and the rest of the Super Goon Squad -- Governor Helen Wheels is going on offense again, changing the subject from his fails at the Lege.


His chances of sweeping back into the Governor's Mansion for another four years just increased dramatically.  More politics in the next post.


Progress Texas posted their ten best and worst moments, but stuck to their usual "Democrats good, Republicans bad" script.  A fresh exception was the dishonorable mentions of Sen. Ed Lucio and Rep. Harold Dutton.  But there were plenty more bad Donkeys in this session, and some of them were your favorites.


(In a Svitek update, Minarez and Bernal apparently intended to vote against, and had that corrected.)


Accurate.  They killed some decent bills along with the bad, and SB7 will be brought back from the dead in a special.


Robert Rivard at the San Antonio Report had his fill of the 87th and the bizarre priorities of the state's leaders.  Reform Austin condemned the lack of action on fixing the power grid.  Jessica Montoya Coggins, blogging for the Texas Signal, offered some advice about accessing an abortion now that SB8 passed.  And Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast abandoned bipartisanship and called it what it is: fascism.

Harvey Kronberg also came up from the bipartisan ether.


So with a lot more to blog, let me post some of the other items, good and sad.


On a much-needed lighter note, The Great God Pan Is Dead introduces you to Houston's notorious "Darth Vader House", which is now on sale for the low, low price of $4.3 million.

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Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Guns Up, Voting Down Aggregation


Not so much a Red Raider Wrangle as a Wild West one.


You might find yourself envious of all the Democratic and Republican attorneys having an orgasm thinking about the billable hours they'll accrue when all of this legislation goes to court.


So let's not spend much more of our beautiful mind, or day -- the sun is trying to come out from behind the clouds after two weeks of dreary -- thinking about the wickedness pouring out of the Pink Dome like slime from a sewer.  After all, they still have voting to suppress, trans kids to stop from playing sports ...


... and all of this.


Then there will be redistricting in a special session later in the year.  A fresh hell for many dead bills to be resurrected.  In other words, there will be plenty to get irate about later.

Besides, there has been some good news.


Talerico wins my award for best lawmaker, going away.  He found several ways to make a positive impact during the most hideous legislative session ever.


Patrick's got it bottled up, though, so if this is your jam, it's time to act.


From my cheap seat, nobody has done a better job of Johnny-on-the-Spot advocacy than NORML this session.  Every Texan's Dick Lavine has been relentless on Chapter 313 and Texas Watch's Ware Wendell similarly on the trucking tort reform bill (which passed, unfortunately), but the weed folks have really moved the needle.

Corporate media has been shafted by Lege leadership, and transparency has been ... translucent when it hasn't been opaque.


That is to say, when they have not embarrassed themselves.


And some Republican state leaders learned the hard way that telling the truth is hazardous to their political health.


Dr. Hotez elaborates from his perspective.


So our beloved Texas has a poor prognosis for democracy, facts, and justice, unless the courts can come to our collective rescue.  Yes, I know.  Not the kind of blue anybody wants to turn.

Hard-right politics rules the day, week, month, year, biennium, and perhaps decade.


Are moderate Republicans -- and Democrats who vote in the GOP primary -- the only ones left to rescue the state from this fate?


It's a serious question.


I still I have a lot to post on these and other topics I have promised, but I'll pause here. One soother.

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