The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes everyone Treason's Greetings with this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff is doing his best to keep up with filing news.

Socratic Gadfly discusses three big bits of political news from around the Metroplex area. First, he offers his initial take on Lupe Valdez's possible entry into the Democratic gubernatorial race. Second, he says good-bye and good riddance to Helen Giddings. Third, he offers a bigger good-bye and good riddance to Smokey Joe Barton.

Egberto Willies wants us all to be on the streets and more engaged in combating the Republican tax cut scam.

Texas Leftist also blogged about the #GOPTaxScam that was ultimately passed by the Senate in the wee hours last Saturday morning.

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez had a false start to her gubernatorial campaign last week, and once her bid for the Governor's Mansion is official, it will help carry a lot of downballot Democrats to victory, writes PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

Harry Hamid attended the Harris County Green Party's recent monthly meeting but was forced to stage an unintended walkout, and David Collins went to a community gathering about a sports bar's traffic issues instead of attending the same GP assembly.  Both bloggers used the word 'toxic' in their posts to describe their attendance (or lack thereof).  Perhaps the party's leaders will catch a clue.

Neil at All People Have Value suggested that personhood be taken away from human beings and extended to guns and bullets instead. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

jobsanger has a bar graph that shows the minimum wage in every state, and uses it to illustrate how that is not a living wage.

And the Lewisville Texan Journal passes along the details of that city's annual holiday pet adoption event, Santa Paws Village, being held this coming Saturday.

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In more Lone Star lefty blogs and news posts ...

Houston Public Media links to ProPublica's investigation of current and former military installations across the United States (more than 60 in Texas) contaminated by hazardous waste.  One of the worst sits roughly 15 miles east of downtown Houston.

The San Jacinto Ordnance Depot bunker.

In an aggregate of 2018 filing developments, a former Monsanto lobbyist is challenging Ag Commish Sid "Sharia Law" Miller in the GOP primary, and Christopher Collins at the Texas Observer sees both men pandering as hard as they can to freak Republican base voters.  In the wake of Joe Barton's somewhat involuntary retirement, the FWST was on the scene as his former chief of staff filed to replace him in Congress.  (The several other Republicans and Democrats vying for TX-6 are also mentioned.)  And the TexTrib has news about former state Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, who wants his old seat in the Texas House back.  He's running against Rep. Diana Arévalo in the Democratic primary for HD-116 (San Antonio).

Grits for Breakfast wonders what happens next after the latest details of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department's sexual abuse of child prisoners at the Gainesville State School have been made public.

Therese Odell at Foolish Watcher reacts to the Matt Lauer news and the reaction to the Lauer news by Donald Trump.

The Lunch Tray asks you to comment on USDA school nutrition standards.

The TSTA Blog keeps pushing back against school privatization untruths.

Bill Barker at The Rivard Report urges haste in adopting a Climate Action Plan.

Keep Austin Wonky offers his proposal for a 2018 City of Austin infrastructure bond.

And Ty Clevenger at Lawflog reports on the federal death row inmate who is appealing his sentence, hopeful to receive a hearing from a judge who is not drunk.

Sunday Afternoon 'Lock Him Up' Funnies

Sunday Funnies

Lupe Valdez false-starts gubernatorial campaign

Maybe it wasn't her but her county chair (see excerpt below).  Several Metroplex media reported late yesterday that the sheriff had resigned her post -- something she is not (see correction explanation in the comments) required to do, by the way --  in order to challenge Greg Abbott in November of 2018.  That hasn't happened yet.

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, a Democrat who has been exploring a run for governor, doesn't appear ready to quit her day job for a campaign yet, despite reports she resigned ahead of a likely bid.

Multiple local news outlets in North Texas reported her resignation Wednesday evening. At least two cited Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Carol Donovan as the source of the news. But a few hours later, Valdez's spokeswoman denied the reports.

“As she has stated in the past, the Sheriff is considering the next stage in her career," said the spokeswoman Melinda Urbina. "A letter of resignation was not submitted today. The Sheriff will make a formal announcement when her final decision is made.”

When I wrote a little over three weeks ago that she held the fate of the free world, which still includes Texas, in her hands, that wasn't hyperbole.  She changes the game for everybody in Deep-In-The-Hearta, but only if she pulls the trigger.

(And for the record, let's note that Valdez is much more comfortable wielding a firearm than either Wendy Davis or Greg Abbott.)

.@SheriffLupe is one of the only Hispanic female sheriffs in the U.S. She's the daughter of farm workers, a veteran of the U.S Army, a former jailer in a federal prison and a former senior agent of the U.S. Customs Service #tx2018 #txlege https://t.co/yEcGww10Wt

— Evan Smith (@evanasmith) November 29, 2017

Davis, you may recall, had to come clean on her appeal to the NRA Caucus.  Abbott couldn't fire a shotgun without going wheels up, even if his brake was locked and Luis Saenz stood behind him bracing his chair.  But the fetish of guns remains important in a state full of gun nuts.

Gadfly has a bit on her pluses and minuses.

Resignation or no, if/when Valdez commits to make the run as she remains promised to do, she mobilizes the Latin@ vote, the LGBT vote, the RGV vote, and the women of color vote, all of which must surge like Harvey in order to carry some Democrats into Austin (and Washington).  Maybe not herself, but certainly several others.

Like some of these these good people running for the statewide judicial bench.

From left: Franklin, Kirkland, Cheng, Jackson, Sandill.

The Texas Democratic Party is hoping their slate of Houston-area attorneys and judges running for seats on the state's highest courts will catch a "blue wave" of anti-Trump sentiment to carry them into office.

But the candidates said Tuesday they know they are facing a steep battle in 2018, given that Democrats haven't won a statewide race since 1994.

"We all know it's a stretch goal," said Judge Steve Kirkland who has served as a judge in municipal and district courts and is running for Place 2 on the Texas Supreme Court to replace Justice Don Willett who is expected to be confirmed to sit on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

[...]

"We've got a bully in the White House. We have a governor that's a bully," said Judge R. K. Sandill, who is running for Place 4 on the Supreme Court against Justice John Phillip Devine. "Texans stand up to bullies."

[...]

Six total statewide seats are up for election on the Texas' high courts: three on the Supreme Court and three on the Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest court for criminal matters. Each term lasts six years.

Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director Manny Garcia said the party currently has only five candidates and does not expect a sixth to come forward to run for the Criminal Court of Appeal's Place 8 at this time.

Texas Greens: ^^THAT^^ is your clue.  Get your shit together, your signatures collected and verified, and your asses on the ballot.

All five of the 2018 candidates are from Harris County. Of the four who are judges, none risk losing their current seat on the bench if they lose in the general election.

Judge Ramona Franklin is running for Place 7 on the Court of Criminal Appeals. She presides over the 338 Criminal District Court and would run against Justice Judge Barbara Hervey.

"So many people think the law depends on the amount of money they have," Franklin said. "The perception is wrong, but it is still perception... I think if we can debunk that, I've done my part."

Judge Maria Jackson, a presiding judge in the 229th State District Court in Houston since 2008, wants a seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals. She will run against Presiding Judge Sharon Keller for Place 1.

"I believe in being the judge for everyone," Jackson said. "I'm running because I can be a part of change in the law and making it more balanced."

Kathy Cheng, a Houston-area attorney and first generation Asian American born in Taiwan, largely handles civil litigation, asset protection, commercial and family law. She is the only Democratic candidate who is not a judge, and she's running for Supreme Court Place 6, a seat currently occupied by Justice Jeff Brown.


{...]

Kirkland is expected to face off against Jimmy Blacklock, Gov. Greg Abbott's trusted general counsel. The governor announced Monday he would appoint Blackock to the job if Justice Willett is confirmed to the federal circuit court.

All of these judicial candidates are known to me, some better than others.  Kirkland has been profiled and endorsed here in the past, as has have the others (Cheng came within a whisper of a Houston-area state appeals court seat in 2012).  If a blue wave in 2018 comes, they will be the most likely to benefit from it due to straight-ticket voting.  Historically, STV in Texas gives Democrats a slight edge, but that data was taken in presidential election years.  (The Lege abolished straight-ticket voting for 2020, but a lawsuit by Dems could overturn that.)

I'll have your early progressive Democratic slate of candidates forthcoming.  Your piss-off-the-centrist-Donkeys tip: It won't include Lupe Valdez or Andrew White, or Beto O'Rourke, or Sylvia Garcia, or either of the two top fundraisers in CD-7.

The Weekly Wrangle

With this week's lefty blog post and news roundup, the Texas Progressive Alliance has eaten enough turkey sandwiches, soup, casserole, and other turkey leftovers and would like some Tex-Mex (or Italian, or Chinese, or sushi, or...)

Off the Kuff notes that the odds are in favor of at least a couple of Democratic Congressional pickups in Texas.

SocraticGadfly takes a look at Cooperstown this week with a trio of posts. First he offers his thoughts on the new Hall of Fame ballot, with who he thinks will make it, should make it, and should not make it. Second, he salutes Joe Morgan's comments on steroids users. And third, he offers his thoughts on the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee ballot.

With Gene Green's retirement, Congressional District 29 has an opportunity to move left.  How far to the left is the question, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has an answer.

The Texas Observer's account of a Mesquite man mistaken for a burglar, shot twice by police, shackled to his hospital bed, and barred from seeing his family is demonstrative of the fact that many police officers have learned nothing from the multiple instances of abuse of their authority over the last few years.

Grits for Breakfast is amazed at the lengths that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will go to ignore police misconduct and uphold dubious convictions.

Ty Clevenger at Lawflog writes that the Texas Department of Public Safety is being investigated for forgery, and it's all because of Snoop Dog.

The Lewisville Texan Journal's editor announces the newspaper's plans to return to a limited print publishing schedule, along with the details of a profitability model (as a non-profit entity).

jobsanger sees how Congress has protected the sexual abusers within its halls -- it's a bipartisan effort -- and then uses taxpayer funds to pay the damage claims.

Texas Leftist returns after a hiatus to prepare for 2018 candidate questionnaires.

And Millard Fillmore's Bathtub has a glorious thread of photographs of great authors and the machines they used to write with.

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In a few hurricane-aftermath-related stories, Democracy Now! asks if Houston's recovery will remediate or exacerbate Houston's inequality.  Texas Vox wonders who is going to pay, emphasizing the suggestion that perhaps it is time for those who have both contributed to climate change and profited from it to do so.  And as Houston moves on from Harvey, Travis Bubenik at HPM takes note of the scientists moving in.

The Texas Tribune's Ross Ramsey states the obvious: politicians will start taking sexual harrassment seriously just as soon as voters do.  Echoing that sentiment, RG Ratcliffe at Burkablog thinks the timing of Joe Barton's sexcapade is going to enable him to skate past the worst of its effects on his career.

PoliTex, in their weekly roundup of North Texas political items, expands its view to Fort Bend County, noting that the woman with the now-infamous 'bumper' sticker, amended to include the county sheriff in her instructions, is offering them for sale.  To that end, The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon has the stocking stuffer you're looking for.

The Rivard Report offers some tips on avoiding cybercrime.

The TSTA Blog wants us to stop taking educators' votes for granted.

Scott Braddock ponders Greg Abbott's attack on Sarah Davis.

Nonsequiteuse says the way to fight gentrification is to buy local.

And The Lunch Tray has some suggestions for helping kids in need.

Sunday Leftover Funnies

"Trump Fans Are Owning Libs by Losing All Their Friends":

Trickle-down economics may be a big pile of Reagan-era bullshit, but trickle-down Trumpism seems to be a startlingly real factor behind this rise in manic tribalist behavior. Trump’s identity, and his style of governance, is based on highly polarized divisiveness and outspoken feuding. In just the past few weeks, he has started extremely public fights with everyone from NFL player Marshawn Lynch to basketball dad LaVar Ball to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The unifying factor in the Trump attacks is a complete scorched-earth strategy: The NFL should enforce his suggestions or face total boycott. Ball should be thanking Trump on both knees for keeping his son out of Chinese prison. There is no room for nuance or compromise or even just not talking politics—either you’re with Trump, or fuck you. And now his supporters are bringing this philosophy into their own lives.