More from Jill Stein's Texas tour

McAllen (click to enlarge all photos):

At Texas A&M International University:

Jill Stein, pre candidata presidencial por el Partido Verde (Green Party) visitó Laredo el fin de semana para detallar su plataforma política.

Bajo el nombre de “Green New Deal” (Nuevo Compromiso Verde), la plataforma política de Stein proyecta crear millones de empleos con un sueldo suficiente para vivir, a la vez que propone crear energía renovable 100% limpia para el 2030.

El domingo por la noche, y durante dos horas, Stein se presentó en un evento organizado por TAMIU Normal y el Partido Verde del Condado de Webb.

“Muchos de ustedes se preguntaran ¿qué hace una doctora en un trabajo sucio como la política? Bien, me veo a mi misma como una médico política”, dijo Stein. “Con generacionales ciclos de pobreza, guerras interminables, familias sin hogar, abusos a los derechos de los inmigrantes y mucho mas, es necesario hacer algo”.

Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein got a first-hand look at illegal immigration and the robust oil and natural gas activity just south of San Antonio during a Monday visit to the Eagle Ford Shale.

The presidential hopeful visited U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement's Karnes County Residential Center for illegal immigrant families, the site of an oil well blowout near Karnes City and the location of a proposed oil and a natural gas waste dump in Nordheim.

San Antonio:

And more from Houston, last weekend.

And starring Biff Tannen as Donald Trump

October 21, 2015: The future has finally arrived, only hoverboards aren't commonplace, DeLoreans still don't fly, and the Mets -- not the Cubs -- won oops, made it to the World Series.  There's another thing from the seminal BTTF films that we have to hope doesn't come true: Biff Tannen getting elected president.  John Vibes at AntiMedia.

We have now officially surpassed the future date foretold in the Back To The Future films, and with the series back in the news, many have noticed a striking similarity between the antagonist “Biff,” and recent presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In Back To The Future Part II, Biff Tannen is seen as a casino tycoon who uses his riches to influence the Republican party. Biff’s casino was called the Pleasure Palace Hotel. Trump has numerous hotels and casinos. Biff was also known to have been married and remarried on many separate occasions, just like Trump. If photos of the two are placed side-by-side, they even look alike.

In recent months, the similarities between Tannen and Trump have been pointed out a number of times, but a recent interview with one of the film’s original writers shows the character of Biff Tannen actually is based on Donald Trump. The connection is no coincidence.

Bob Gale, writer of Back to the Future Part II, told the Daily Beast in a recent interview that Trump was their inspiration.

“We thought about it when we made the movie! Are you kidding? You watch Part II again and there’s a scene where Marty confronts Biff in his office and there’s a huge portrait of Biff on the wall behind Biff, and there’s one moment where Biff kind of stands up and he takes exactly the same pose as the portrait? Yeah,” Gale said.

“Yeah. That’s what we were thinking about,” he added.

Additionally, on the Internet Movie Database trivia page for the film, Trump is listed as an inspiration for the character.

This is really kinda scary.  Make sure you are voting next November, and as a trial run, go ahead and vote this year, will you please?

Biden and Webb and the next GOP debate

-- Joe Biden shocked his own team with his announcement.

Many of the rumors about a potential Biden campaign suggested a decision would be tied to Hillary Clinton’s testimony before the House Benghazi committee on Thursday. Because of Clinton’s impending hearing and the fact the first Democratic presidential debate took place on October 13, the chatter in the vice president’s office was reaching a fever pitch. Biden’s staff had been engaged in constant speculation and was aware that the various deadlines that had been thrown out in media reports about his potential campaign had come and gone.

From the link embedded above, what I wrote on the morning of October 14: "(I)f Clinton can hold her own against the rapidly crumbling Benghazi witch-hunters later this month, Joe Biden will not enter the race."

(Yesterday) morning, many members of Biden’s staff figured he would make his move on the weekend. They wondered whether his remarks would be pegged to the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Saturday. Others thought he might make a statement in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

Suddenly, Biden’s secretary made an announcement. He would be speaking in the Rose Garden shortly after noon. Biden’s staff had approximately a fifteen minute warning. Based on the location, they assumed that, if his statement was related to 2016, he would be exiting the race. They ran over to hear him speak. After exhausting their minds and bodies, Biden’s team officially learned the vice president would not enter the fray along with the rest of the country.

-- Jim Webb dropped out on Tuesday -- sure seems like old news already, doesn't it? -- but still might run as an indy. 

Long-shot candidate Jim Webb said Tuesday he is dropping his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and will explore the possibility of an independent bid.

"Our country is more important than a label," the former Virginia senator said during a news conference held a week after the first Democratic debate of the 2016 election cycle.

Webb, a former Republican who won election to the Senate as a Democrat in 2006, said both parties are too influenced by big money that tends to favor "extremes" and promote gridlock. He said he has agreements and disputes with policies in each party and would be a strong independent voice.

"Our political process is jammed up," Webb said. "It needs an an honest broker."

While saying "this country needs a new dynamic," Webb did not formally declare an independent candidacy, saying that "I'm thinking about all my options." Webb did not give a time frame for a decision, saying he wants to talk to a variety of people first and see how much support he could garner.

I just don't see the smallest opening in either party for a moderate Republican to run for president.  Do you?

-- It's still a week off, but the rumblings of the next GOP debate are already being heard.  You might recall that the co-leaders last week briefly held it hostage before CNBC ceded to their demands.

(Donald) Trump and another Republican candidate, Ben Carson, submitted a letter to CNBC stating their opposition to the debate criteria. “Neither Mr. Trump or Dr. Carson will participate in your debate if it is longer than 120 minutes including commercials and does not include opening and closing statements,” said the letter, which was written by Michael Glassner of Trump’s campaign and Ed Brookover of Carson’s.

Okay, you win.  It looks like Christie and Kasich and Paul are still registering a beep or two on life support, so they get to be on the varsity stage.  Not Bobby Jindal again, though.  The biggest news seems to be the rapid deflation of Carly Failurina.

In the CNN/ORC survey published Tuesday, Fiorina garnered just 4% support, behind six other Republican candidates and tied with two others.

"Fiorina's decline comes across the demographic and political spectrum, with her support now topping out at 8% among those with college degrees. Last month, she stood at 22% among the same group," wrote CNN's polling director, Jennifer Agiesta.

"Fiorina has dropped 11 points among women and 12 points among men, fallen 18 points among independents, 17 points among those age 50 or older, and 15 points among conservatives."

Fiorina surged to become a top-tier contender after breakout performances in the first two Republican debates. She was at 15%, in second place behind Republican front-runner Donald Trump, in a mid-September CNN/ORC poll.

Let's hope her lies about Planned Parenthood clandestine videotapes have done her in. 

-- The most remarkable development in my humble O is Trump devastating the candidacy of Jeb! Bush, with their Twitter war over 9/11.

I don't know if Donald Trump will win the Republican nomination. But even if he doesn't, it's increasingly clear he's going to destroy Jeb Bush before he loses.

Over the past week, Trump and Bush have been in an argument that basically boils down to the question of was George W. Bush president on 9/11/2001?

Trump insists that Bush was president both prior to and during the 9/11 attacks, and he was therefore at least partly responsible for the security failures that permitted the tragedy. And to Trump's credit, there is considerable evidence that George W. Bush was president on 9/11/2001.

Jeb Bush's position is harder to parse: He argues that his brother was only responsible for what happened after 9/11, suggesting, perhaps, that someone else bore the responsibilities of the presidency on 9/11/2001. Or, to be a bit kinder to his position, he argues that the measure of responsibility as president isn't whether something like 9/11 happens, but whether it happens again.

This, as we know, has been the Democratic argument for as long as there has been a 9/11 to have a discussion about.  Presidential daily briefings in mid-August of 2001, at the Crawford 'ranch', entitled "Bin Laden determined to attack US", anyone?

The result is this absolutely brutal interview CNN's Jake Tapper conducted with Bush. "If your brother and his administration bear no responsibility at all," Tapper asks, "how do you then make the jump that President Obama and Secretary Clinton are responsible for what happened at Benghazi?"

Bush's response is almost physically painful to watch.

Go watch it.  Nutgraf:

Trump has a bully's instinct for finding someone else's true weaknesses. His continued crack that Bush is a "low-energy" candidate is devastating precisely because it identifies a weakness not just in Bush's campaign style, but in the nature of his campaign.

Just nails it.

Now Trump has pulled Bush into an even more dangerous quagmire: his brother's presidency. Trump is reminding every Republican voter that nominating Jeb Bush will mean running a general election campaign with two disadvantages. First, Republicans will have to answer for George W. Bush's failures in a way they wouldn't if they nominated Marco Rubio or Carly Fiorina or Donald Trump; and second, they'll need to somehow explain why they're holding Hillary Clinton responsible for Obama's presidency even as they don't hold George W. Bush responsible for George W. Bush's presidency.

And Trump, having realized how weak Bush is on this issue, isn't stopping. He's moved from 9/11 to the Iraq War:

Jeb, why did your brother attack and destabalize the Middle East by attacking Iraq when there were no weapons of mass destruction? Bad info?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2015

Update: More from Steve Benen.

More than 14 years after the 9/11 attacks, the Bush/Cheney administration’s handling of the crisis is generally untouchable for much of the domestic political world. This is especially true in Republican politics, where George W. Bush’s documented 9/11 missteps are not only ignored, his response to the terrorist attack is actually seen as a triumph.

The “Bush kept us safe” line, despite its conflict with the real world, is actually quite common in Republican circles.

And yet, Trump has no use for GOP orthodoxy and has no qualms about broaching a line that most Republicans go out of their way to avoid. For his part, Jeb Bush was not only caught off-guard trying to explain why Obama should be blamed for Benghazi but his brother shouldn’t be blamed for 9/11, the Florida Republican also finds himself once again replacing his usual campaign message with a public defense of his brother’s failed tenure.

Don't kid yourself, ladies and gentlemen: Jeb Bush is NOT going to be the nominee of the Republicans.  On that you can make bank.

Marco Rubio -- who was in town just yesterday and played to an adoring throng that rained cash on him -- or Ted Cruz.  The two currently running just behind Carson and Trump, like I said on October 9.  Kevin Drum at Mother Jones caught up with me a week later.

If you're reading this blog (or if you're reading everything I'm reading), then you look smarter than all your friends.

A shot in the ear

Yesterday, instead of embarking on a glorious and long-planned 9-day fall foliage tour, Mrs. Diddie got a shot in her balky knee, hoping to make it to knee replacement surgery next month, and I got a shot in the ear, hoping for some relief from the worst of the Meneiere's symptoms I have experienced all year.  I might get another one next month in the other ear if this one helps.  So far not so much, but I'm supposed to be patient.  (That's why they call us that, you know.  All the waiting.)

-- Turnout might be up but it's still too early to tell.

"I always vote, and it's much easier for me to come out to early voting ... than it is for me to stand in line on election day," said Michael Epstein, 77, who wanted to support HERO, City Councilwoman Ellen Cohen and mayoral candidate Chris Bell.

"He's a very honest, transparent fellow with a lot of experience, and I'd like to see him finally succeed," Epstein said of former Congressman Bell.

Good man, that Mr. Epstein.

-- Shitty man, that lieutenant governor of ours.

With the start of early voting Monday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick began lending his voice and his pocketbook to radio and TV ads urging Houston voters to reject the city's embattled equal rights ordinance.

The radio and TV ads totaling about $70,000 were paid for by Texans for Dan Patrick. 

The unfortunate thing is that the pro-Prop 1 folks don't have a somewhat famous endorser, despite what I am certain have been their efforts to secure one.  Beyonce' left them high and dry, and Noel Freeman, while tireless, committed, and -- at the moment -- Houston's most important activist in the fight for rights for everyone, doesn't quite have the profile of Hate Caucus jerks like Patrick and Lance Berkman and Bob McNair.  We need a late breaking hero for HERO, please.

-- "Is Hillary Clinton copying Bernie Sanders?  And why does it matter?"

“Bernie Sanders has rubbed off on Hillary Clinton. Not only has she stopped combing her hair, she’s railing against billionaires and Wall Street. But how tied up with big money is the Democrats’ darling? And what does this mean for the presidential campaign and party as a whole?”

-- Finally, the best of the news of the day. week, month, and maybe year.  Scalia says the death penalty is on the way out.

Referencing rulings to restrict capital punishment and changing sentiment within the Supreme Court, Justice Antonin Scalia said Tuesday he wouldn't be surprised if the nation's highest court invalidates the death penalty.

Scalia addressed capital punishment during a University of Minnesota Law School appearance in which he also made clear retirement isn't in his near-term plans. The death penalty came up as Scalia described his judicial view that the Constitution is an "enduring" document that shouldn't be open to broad interpretation — while sharing frustration that his colleagues too readily find flexibility in it.

Scalia said death penalty decisions from the court have made it "practically impossible to impose it but we have not formally held it to be unconstitutional." Earlier in his remarks, Scalia said "it wouldn't surprise me if it did" fall, a comment that drew scattered applause in the mostly full, 2,700-seat auditorium.

He said the high court has increasingly made it difficult impose the death penalty. He said rulings have added mitigating circumstances that must be considered or made it impermissible to automatically sentence people to death for certain crimes, such as killing a police officer.

The Supreme Court this month began its latest term and has already heard one death penalty challenge out of Kansas. While that case is limited in scope it was the first high court hearing on death penalty cases since a bitter clash over lethal injection procedures exposed deep divisions among the justices last term. The court intends to consider a case from Florida that questions whether judges, rather than juries, can impose a death sentence, especially when the jury is not unanimous in recommending death.

The conservatives in Texas would lose what's left of their minds, wouldn't they?

The Early Voting Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready to vote as it brings you this week's roundup.

It's Election Day in Canada, and with early voting in Harris County and Texas also beginning this morning, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs presents the "P Slate".  And Dos Centavos has the "Stace Slate".  And the Lewisville Texan Journal outlines what's on the ballot there.

Off the Kuff would like to clear up some myths about sexual assault.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos, and contributing to Daily Kos, argues Governor Greg Abbott cannot claim to be pro-life when he denies federally expanded Medicaid coverage for 766,000 Texans, in The Holy Ones and the Senseless Cruelty of Right Wing Dogma.

Socratic Gadfly offers up a Democratic debate-related trio. First, he presents his snarky, under-the-bus debate preview. Second, he provides his take on debate winners and losers. Third, he tackles a post-debate conspiracy theory by some Sanders supporters, that anti-Semitism is behind some opposition to Sanders.

jobsanger, a diehard Clinton backer, praises Bernie Sanders (and then damns him again).

McBlogger, another Clinton supporter, bankersplains why reinstating Glass-Steagall is a bad idea.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes Republicans choose the CEO, even if headquartered out of state, over the citizens they were elected to serve. Worker safety? Not at the expense of profits. The water you drink? The air you breathe? Even the wind. Not yours.

Nonsequiteuse, writing for Burnt Orange Report, points out that voting yes on Prop 1 in Houston isn'’t just the right thing to do, it'’s your patriotic duty.

Texas Leftist aggregates his candidate questionnaires for the Houston muni elections.

Neil at All People Have Value took a picture of the sun over Houston. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

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

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

Juanita Jean reports on the #CocksNotGlocks protest at UT.

Grits for Breakfast has a suggestion for Dan Patrick if he really wants to reduce police officer deaths.

First Reading followed the Texas Tribune Festival, and asked "Really, how conservative was that legislative session just passed?"

Texas Clean Air Matters would like to change the conversation about the Clean Power Plan in Texas.

Half of all the donations to presidential candidates in the 2016 election have come from only 158 families, and eight of them are neighbors in River Oaks, the toniest enclave in Houston. CultureMap Houston has the reveal.

Free Press Houston pointed out the hypocrisy in the 'local control' argument forwarded by the Republican candidates for Houston mayor.

Carol Morgan helps dispel the ignorance and fear surrounding the 'S' word.

Texas Watch has a Netflix recommendation for you.

The Texas Election Law Blog wonders if we are ever going to get a court order regarding 2016 legislative and Congressional boundaries.

Amy Valentine navigates her way through Amazon's creative standards as she attempts to promote her book about her breast cancer experience for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Melissa Hudnall bemoans anatomically incorrect spider costumes and decorations.

The P Slate

-- For Mayor of Houston: Chris Bell.

He's peaking at the right time.  He wasn't always my choice, but he gradually demonstrated that he is not just the best but also the most progressive option.  Sylvester Turner, the acknowledged front-runner, is a good man and a good candidate.  Both men understand how to work the levers of power, and that cannot be said of any of the other candidates.  Let's hope we get these two good Democrats to choose from in the runoff.

-- For City Controller: Dwight Jefferson.

It's probably going to be Chris Brown and Bill Frazer in the runoff, but in the first round Jefferson's experience as a judge and with Metro, along with an even-handed bipartisan disposition and his stated goal of managing the city's books in ministerial fashion makes him my pick.

-- For At Large 1: Lane Lewis.

Far and away the top choice in this contest.  Tom McCasland is a good Democrat, a little too much on the conservative side for my taste, and because of Republican Mike Knox, probably won't make the runoff.  The other six five in this race will hold the top vote-getter well under the 50%-plus-1 threshold, forcing a December rematch.

-- For At Large 2: David Robinson.

It should be close, as it has been in the past, but the incumbent deserves re-election.

-- For At Large 3: Doug Peterson.

The Democratic and progressive community has coalesced behind Peterson.  Even the Green Party passed over the only candidate they had running in these elections for him.  That's the mark of a quality candidate.  Peterson is bound for a runoff with incumbent Kubosh, and the community needs to return to the polls a month later and make a change in this seat.

-- For At Large 4: Amanda Edwards.

Far and way the best, but also essentially your only progressive option.  All the rest of the candidates in this race oppose HERO.

-- For At Large 5: Philippe Nassif.

Tahir Charles is a good candidate, but the objective is to force the incumbent, Jack Christie, into a runoff, and that will only happen if the Democrats and progressives unite behind one of the two.  My pick is the youthful Nassif, whose future in politics looks bright if he can prevail in both November and December.

For the District races I never got a chance to profile, here are my recommendations.

District A: No recommendation.
District B: Jerry Davis (incumbent)
District C: Ellen Cohen (i)
District D: Dwight Boykins (i, unopposed)
District E: No recommendation.
District F: Richard Nguyen (i)
District G: No recommendation.
District H: Jason Cisneroz.
District I: Robert Gallegos (i)
District J: Mike Laster (i)
District K: Larry Green (i) and my councilman.

I have no recommendations to make in the contested Houston Community College trustee's races.  For Houston ISD District II: Rhonda Skillern-Jones (i).  District III: Ramiro Fonseca, ousting the awful incumbent who deceived his way into office at the last election.  District IV: Jolanda Jones over Dr. Ann McCoy.  Both are qualified picks, but JoJo has long been the best progressive holding city office, and she's earned my vote.  And in District VIII, please vote for the incumbent Juliet Stipeche over the tainted challenger, who's had her turn and blown it.

Statewide propositions:

Prop 1:  I'm a NO.  I don't need the tax cut and this state's budget is too austere already.
Prop 2: YES
Prop 3: NO
Prop 4: YES
Prop 5: YES
Prop 6: As Progress Texas has indicated, "it doesn't matter".
Prop 7: Not just NO but hell no.  Force the Lege to do its job and fix the loopholes that are causing our highways to fall apart.

Update: Socratic Gadfly, crankier even than me, says a 'no' vote is in order on all of the state props except for 2.  Read his take and see if you agree.

I'm also voting in favor of all four of he Harris County bond provisions.

I'm a Yes on HERO (City of Houston's Prop 1) of course, and as previously indicated, a Yes on changing the terms of Houston's council members (Prop 2).

Print this out and take it with you to the poll -- you can bring printed materials into the voting booth, but cellphone use, including using your camera to take a picture of your ballot, is a violation of the law.  Or e-mail it to your friends at the link below or share it on social media if you wish.

Some photos of Jill Stein's Texas Tour (so far)

From yesterday's East End Street Fest...

From Thursday in Dallas, the conference on addressing police brutality.

Dr. Stein with Ballet Folklorico Azteca

The real last mayoral debate before early voting begins

Unless there's another one I missed that happens today.  They're saying this is the last one, and from last night, televised on KHOU and coming from Ruds, there wasn't much in the way of sharp elbows thrown except for this...

In one of the more fiery moments of the night, Garcia showed a picture of King on his yacht, trying to throw a barb and imply that he's not a man of the people.

Ha.  The format's lightning rounds were designed to cram as much into one hour as possible, which made the Tweeting difficult to keep pace with.  And the station even cut off Sylvester Turner's closing remarks, for a commercial, and then to their network's Dateline show or something.

So there's still some conversations among the seven that will keep happening -- probably a few of their own teevee commercial duels -- but if anybody paying attention is still undecided, they need a checkup from the neck up, as Zig Ziglar used to say.  Here's the video, and here's the liveblogging.  More attention was paid to moderators and analysts than is typical for these.  I ignored most of that, recommend you do likewise.  This sort of talking-head blather reminds me of the people who said Hillary Clinton won the Democratic debate last Tuesday... even though she didn't.  (You might recall that I thought she did, and I'm not voting for her under any circumstance whatsoever.  So take all of this "who won" back-and-forth with the proper grains of salt.)

Update: Free Press Houston, which was a co-sponsor of the debate and whose publisher, Omar Afra, served as one of the debate moderators, takes on the local control flip-flopping going on among the conservative candidates.

If these “small government” Republicans want to appear so brash and brazen in their resistance to federally-imposed standards when it comes to issues such as taxation, reproductive rights, education, and guns, why are they so willing to acquiesce or kowtow or punt their beloved local control and defer to the Big Bad Feds when it comes to the minimum wage and people’s freedom to engage in the victimless “crime” of marijuana consumption?

Early voting begins tomorrow, and there are some new locations from previous years.  There are state propositions, aka constitutional amendments, and that link is your best analysis of them.  Charles has the Chron's take; they suggest 'no' on a couple and I'm inclined that way as well.

Update: Progress Texas has released their voters' guide on these; they recommend an either/or vote on 1, a 'no' on 3 and 7, a 'meh' on 6, and a 'yes on the rest.

County propositions (four bond approval items), and the Houston Community College and HISD board positions follow that on your ballot (others have details on those candidates, if you care.  There's a couple of interesting races there, but most are just too low on the radar for me to get to.)

For city of Houston residents, besides the election of mayor, controller, and sixteen city council members, there is Prop 1 (HERO) and Prop 2 (city council term revisions).  I've outlined options on all of these in many prior blog posts  -- I'll gather and link them for the "P Slate" later today -- except for the changing of CM's time in office.  I like the idea of two four-year terms rather than the current 3 two-year terms, because I have grown weary of watching council members turn right around and start campaigning for re-election barely after they have been sworn in.  There might be some lessening of the temptation for corruption here.  I'd like to think and hope so.

Full "P Slate" -- how I'll be casting my ballot, and I'm voting Monday morning -- this evening.

Sunday Funnies

Why Hillary Clinton won the debate (even though she didn't)

Sparks fly in last debate before early voting

Some real action among the debaters running for mayor last night.  The newspaper picked the former sheriff's awakening as the best rumble.

Mayoral hopeful Adrian Garcia, hoping to retain what polls have showed is his slipping grasp on a second spot in a likely December runoff, used Friday's televised debate to go on the offensive for the first time.

Just days before early voting begins, the generally amiable former sheriff of Harris County especially took aim at rival Bill King, who polls have showed is in a dead heat with for second place behind frontrunner Sylvester Turner. Garcia highlighted King's former role atop a politically connected tax collection firm and the 1980s bankruptcy of a bank he ran.

"You drove a savings and loan into bankruptcy while other CEOs across the country were able to save theirs, and then you were out there trying to take the homes of veterans," Garcia said to King, referring to tax collection efforts of Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson.

I always thought it was going to be Barzini err, Chris Bell that Garcia would lash out at.  What this suggests is that Garcia thinks his only rival for the right to square off against Turner in the runoff is King.  (He might be right about that, he might be wrong.  We'll see.)

The brief exchange represented the only new talking point or tactic from any of the top seven candidates, who have attended so many forums together that some have jokingly offered to answer questions in place of an absent rival.

I don't know about that.  Seems to my POV there were a handful of new angles.

Frontrunner and state Rep. Turner again stayed above the fray - despite being a longtime subcontractor for the Linebarger tax collection firm himself - as the candidates vying for the second runoff spot jostled, sending occasional barbs each other's way.

"All of the candidates jockeying for second were more aggressive than we would normally see, in part because of the exposure of the debate," said Rice University political scientist Mark Jones, naming Garcia, King, Bell and Costello.

See?  Even a blind partisan red hog found an acorn.

Garcia and Bell revisited their squabble over whether Garcia's tenure at the sheriff's office saw declining or rising crime rates, and whether the office came in over- or under-budget during his six years.

Bell's campaign compares spending at the sheriff's office to the county's initial adopted budget figures, while Garcia's uses the ones after budget office adjustments later in the year.

Costello defended ReBuild Houston, the city's fee-driven street and drainage repair program of which he was a key architect. Polls have shown street conditions are voters' loudest complaint.

"Only the city of Houston could have come up with a 24-step process for filling potholes," Bell said, repeating his frequent call for the city to better use technology. "If you can watch your pizza being made at Domino's in this day and age, you should be able to watch a pothole being filled in your neighborhood."

A better summary from KPRC (watch their 3-minute report from last's night's newscast):

"I've learned from Adrian Garcia that you can run up a budget up over $82 million during your six-year tenure as sheriff, but then come before a crowd such as this and still claim you saved $200 million," mayoral candidate Chris Bell said. 

"I'm a little shocked to hear Adrian's statistics, because actually, during his watch of the county, crime was up," candidate Bill King said. 

"If those who want to attack my record that I worked hard for and risked my life for, then let's look at their records," Garcia said."

Bell had a very good night.  Costello, not so much.  Hard to tell about Garcia or King, but King's rise probably isn't going to be slowed by last night's shots.

Those four and Turner, as the latest poll released just before last night's match showed, is where the action is going to be as we start voting next week.  Nobody mentioned Turner's questionable business affairs, a development that has broken late in the cycle, and it was mostly consultants on the Twitter feed last night spinning it for their respective clients.

So it's still anybody's game for second place.  Fun (as one lobbyist likes to say).

Ahead of televised debate tonight, KPRC poll shows 4-way tie for second in mayor's race

First seen at Mike McGuff (whose links are shit, by the way), the KPRC/Survey Houston mayoral poll released today, in advance of their telecast of the debate tonight reveals...

• Undecided: 22%
• Sylvester Turner: 20%
• Bill King: 14%
• Adrian Garcia: 13%
• Chris Bell: 12%
• Steve Costello: 11%
• Ben Hall: 4%
• Martin McVey: 1%
• Other: 3%

This I can buy.  With a margin of error of 4.5%, and based on the reputation of an outfit like SUSA, we have the most believable poll on the contest so far.  It's a wide-open race for the fellow who is to join Turner in a December runoff.  Except for Ben Hall, who is sinking like a stone.  The conservative whites are breaking away from him in the late game.

It also has HERO leading by nine, and almost at 50%, but I doubt that one in five likely voters is actually undecided about it.

• 45 percent of those polled said they will vote in favor of Prop 1.
• 36 percent plan to vote no.
• 20 percent are not certain.

Mark Jones, who has lost all credibility and is blissfully unaware of it.

"You really do have to consider that a majority, or perhaps three quarters of people who say they're undecided or say they have no response, will end up if they turn out, will end up voting no," Mark Jones, political science chair at Rice University, said.

No, you don't. That's a bald-assed guess on your part, favoring your own position.  Jones thinks people who oppose the ordinance would not reveal that to the pollster, another premise without any facts to back it up.  Why does anyone ask this man anything any more?  Is his conservative bias unclear to the media that has him on speed dial?  Is it the "Rice University" part?

He is an epic failure, and so are those who consider him a source of objective analysis.

Anyway, the King and Garcia and Bell and Costello campaigns can now rev their engines for the start of the race.  And a shout-out directly to the HERO haters: it's slipping away from you.  Fold your tent and slither back down into the sewer from whence you came.

Friday news and views (or: scattershooting a target-rich environment)

No canned hunts but lots of clay pigeons.

-- Sylvester Turner finally takes a body blow.  Whether it's a real damaging shot or too late in the fight for to affect the judge's scorecard, we'll find out shortly.  Early voting begins Monday; the only thing the polling has consistently shown is that there are still a lot of undecided voters.

-- Chucky no likey my petition to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to move the Super Bowl out of Houston if the city's voters reject HERO.  Meh.  I'll start another one if HERO loses, referencing the Final Four.  (That better?)  Juan at BAH says the ugly teevee commercial the haters are rolling is both right and wrong.  He's correct.  And John Royal spears the Texans owner with his helmet, but is not penalized for doing so.  Just a good solid hit, a fair football play as they say.  It's been hard work on Bob McNair's part to be a more foul POS than Bud Adams or John McMullen, but "mission accomplished", as one of his financial benefactors once flew a banner that said.

-- Hillary Clinton hearts Julian Castro.  As if this was a secret or something.

-- No court hearing today for Ken Paxton, but a portion of the turgid saga concerning his legal fate will be decided by the judge in writing later.  Update:

A district judge ruled Friday to release information related to the selection of Collin County grand juries to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s defense team.

The ruling by District Judge George Gallagher came over objections by special prosecutors in the case, who filed a motion to quash the subpoenas, saying the request was improper and not shown to be relevant.

Court filings indicate the defense seeks evidence to challenge the formation of the grand jury that indicted Paxton over the summer on two counts of first-degree securities fraud and one count of third-degree failure to register as a securities agent.

Special prosecutors say the defense won’t find any improprieties in the grand jury selections.

-- Paraphrasing Upton Sinclair: how can we help people understand something when their livelihood, especially in Houston and in Texas, depends on their refusal to understand?  Is this effort just trying to teach pigs to sing?  Grist asks an expert who has had some success with it.

-- When a Texas state representative accuses Bernie Sanders -- a Jew -- of being a Nazi, then you know that the GOP has really gone from the gutter to the sewer and have taken up residence in the septic tank.  It's not this sort of thing but also the actions of Donald Trump's supporters that increasingly denigrate the conservative POV.

-- Then again, the Democrats have their own ridiculous hypocrisy to overcome.  Did you read the Drone Papers yet?  Set aside a little time to absorb the impact (no pun intended).

-- Posted without comment, mostly because I'm without words to respond with: "The World’s Largest Detention Center Is For Black Jews Seeking Asylum In Israel".

-- Even fake football is corrupt, which must be why Phyllis Schlafly has put fantasy football on her list of threats to America, and why the two leading purveyors of the weekly games whose ads blitz every television program have been ruled out of bounds by the Nevada Gaming and Control Board.

-- See you at the East End Street Fest, where a presidential candidate will be making an appearance and my favorite charity, Barrio Dogs, will also represent.